Macross Fan Fiction ❯ Robotech: Beneath a steel sky ❯ Chapter 2 - The Lance Vanguards ( Chapter 2 )

---- Chapter 2 ---- The Lance Vanguards

 

A television broadcast is being held by one of Macross City's publicity networks… Holding a microphone with the symbol of MCNN, a reporter is reporting live somewhere at one of the many hotspots within the city while surrounded by several inhabitants and bypassers trying to have a look on what was going with several policemen trying to keep them away. Standing in front of a cameraman, the man continued his speech:

“” … Reporting live from the `Yale Hastings' District - Yes Mary, many accidents have occurred right after the lights vanished throughout all districts around one o'clock A.M. MITZ. While the police here are trying to keep everything under control, emergency crews of the RDF responded to those areas that require immediate assistance. We've tried to gain more information on the status of this area here as well as the sudden blackout, but both the law enforcements as well as those of the RDF have denied giving any comments - as usual. I will report more as soon as the police will let us through. Before I end this broadcast, I must warn everybody about a strange automatic soda-vending machine moving aimlessly through the area. If you see this vending machine moving suspiciously away from you, please report this to the police or to any personnel of the RDF. This is Alvin Pascalli, MCN Networks. Back to you, Mary…””

As minutes went by, the publicity network continued their reports about the current incidents.

 

----

 

Macross City deck…

Although filled with thousands of worried civilians, the situation within the inner city slowly began to calm down and things started to go their usual way. Throughout all districts, all lights and other electronic systems powered by the SDF-1's power grid have been reestablished. Just like in a real city, the city deck was very loud and active - From crowded sidewalks to local traffic jams. As life went on, a certain familiar voice hollowed along alarm siren throughout the gigantic halls of each district.

Behind the many buildings within a certain district, a Veritech military barracks could be seen. The area was filled with guards and other military-looking soldiers moving along and minding their own buisness. Surrounded by an open field filled with military jeeps and other vehicles, the barracks itself actually was a gigantic building which had a very large access lift connection to the high ceiling of the Macross City deck, leading to the Veritech hangar deck high above. "Ft. Rico - Recruit Training Grounds" stood on one of the signs next to the guard posts at the entry section into this base along with an flag pole high above showing the typical RDF symbol. Unlike other bases and barracks, these recruit bases usually did not need to respond to any alerts since these pilot usually lack the basic experiences in real combat... but this time, things were about to go a lot different than usual.

 

Closing in on a certain habitat quarter of the base, a young pilot can be seen through the window having a nice and cozy sleep.

It was Private/Airman Lars "Mick" Mickerson, who belonged to one of many recruits of "Cascade Knights - 40th Valkyrie Squadron". 22 years old, being tall, slim and having blue eyes and short blond hair, Mick was just an ordinary rookie pilot like those of his division. He also belonged to those recruits who were first citizens of Macross Island who then joined the RDF onboard the SDF-1 - A pure and fresh rookie from the books, always with a smart comment - but never the less, he was just a pilot who recently mastered his skills in understanding and controlling the VF-1 Valkyrie, the backbone variable fighter of the RDF. It took many weeks until he and his comrades of the squadron managed to finish the first part of their intense training. Suddenly woken by the loud noise of alert sirens from the rooms speakers along with a loud female voice saying, ""Attention! Attention! All Military Personnel... This is not a DRILL..."", he immediately turned his head around and covered his ears with his pillow.

Right after the call, the voice of his commanding flight instructor whose name was Major J. Bronco, who is also known as "Sarge", spoke as the alert sounds continued, ""Recruits of Squadrons: Starwolves, Lance Vanguards, Wing Jaeger, Cascade Knights and Mercenary-Wildguns are to report Valkyrie Launch Deck 12 - Alpha at 0500! All recruits must be in full HECS. This is not... ""

 

Trying to ignore the loud and tough voice, Mick grumbled, "... not a drill, bla bla", then noticed something about the recent announcement, " - Wait a minute, did he say 'Cascade Knights' ?" Feeling very groggy and tired, Mick rolled out of his bed. The floor was pretty cold which made him really lousy as he tried to wake himself up. Slowly moving over to a table within his room, he picked up a watch and read the time. "Aw heck", he said as he read the time, "Only got about 20 minutes to get done!", and rubbed his face a few times, trying to get rid of the tiredness in his face. Deciding to wake up more faster, he immediately went over to the bathroom and took a very quick cold shower, dried up and put on some clothes. Wiping his face a few times again, Mick went over to one of the lockers in his room, opened it and pulled out a common flight suit for space operations, also known as "Hazard Enviroment Combat Suit", which not only offers hours of rebreathable air, but also protects from nuclear, biological and other hazardous enviroments. Another vital aspect of this suit was that it possessed a special unit which could seal any hazardous decompression holes within the suit with a special quick-hardening foam within milliseconds - Although dangerous, it is indeed better to suffer pain from a super-hardened foam rather than to receive fatal wounds through suit-decompression. As he fought putting on his HEC suit, he thought about the words of his commanding flight instructor once again, """ Wait a minute, I'm a recruit - I just managed to finish my Navigation and Veritech-Handling Training, and now they want me on a launch deck?! Hmpf, must be that wake-up call training thing Rooks talked about once - Oh well nevermind. Can't worry about that now. Gotta get to that deck or Sarge will toast me again."""

Mick got his gear on and activated the suit for a check-up to see if everything was tight. """Don't wanna end up sucked""", he thought, """ok, helmet, suit check-up... oh yeah, NH2VS-Gloves""", he remembered and grabbed these special gloves called NH2VS-Gloves - Neural Hand to Veritech Support Gloves - which supported the control of hand movements when a Valkyrie or any other Veritech in Battleroid mode. Without it, handling hand movements would be far more difficult, but still usable, nonetheless. The suit itself was colored mainly dark blue with black strips as the secondary color and fitted perfectly like a second skin. His suit also had thick shoulder protections that gave his appearance a sign of authority... A nervous feeling went down his spine as he constantly thought about the reason why his group was called to report to an unscheduled duty. After leaving his room and locking up the door, Mick walked down the long corridor and met up with many other rookie pilots who were on the same way to the main service elevators to the Veritech hangar deck.

 

 

Entering the gigantic service lift, Mick spotted many pilots of his and other fellow squadrons as well a few jeeps parked within the lift. The lift was so large that it even had space for two standing Destroids and could definitely carry anything that would weigh several tons heavier, thanks to anti-gravity technology. Many of them were just as young as he was, at least 20 years old or older. Mick turned around towards the group and asked, "Mornin' guys, what's up?"

One of his mates snarled, "Riding upwards, that's up", and then laughed. When the laughter stopped, he asked, "Hey - What is actually going on? Is this somekinda alert rush training?"

Mick replied, "Haven't got a clue - and I have no idea what those freaks up there are up to, but I don't think we're here for 'fending off some Zen's...", Mick looked up and said, "Hmm, this ride could take a while."

"Did anybody else notice that big shakin' around and the blackout?", one of the men asked at the group. "Nah", another pilot said, "Was far to sleepy!”

“Dunno what happened, first thing was the shakin', then everything went offline… and then it took several minutes until we finally got some lights again”, he added.

 

Private/Airman Dennis "Rooks" Henderson - One of Mick's squadmates spoke. Usually during training flights in space, he liked to stick in formation with Mick and play late-night poker with the squad. "Hey Mick", he said, "You heard about Sarge screaming some squad called 'Lance Vanguards' up with us, or? They don't seem to be with us here."

 

"Yeah, heard him... but I've never met anyone of them... Anybody ever did?", Mick replied. Everybody shook their heads, showing that nobody ever met a single pilot from that particular squadron. He continued, "So far I heard, those `Vanguards' got a lousy reputation. All of them got really sloppy flying skills - Oh wait, I've only seen them twice in action. The first time I saw one of their Valks was when it nearly skimming the hull of SDF-1". A few chuckled as Mick spoke further, "The second time was when I saw another `Lance Vanguard' Valkyrie at the shooting range here at Fort Rico. I must say, they might be sucky pilots, but they got a hell of an aim!"

 

Laughter... then all the sudden... Rooks and others shouted, "WHAT?!"

Mick continued, "Really! I'm not joking. Sayin' the truth", he held hand up innocently, "- They were quite good - Heck, they were pretty damn good! And their way of handling the Valk' in Gravity-Thrust training here at the base was remarkable, too! Wow - You should've seen it!", Many faces started to look confused.

Rooks asked, "Their Grav-Thrust ... wow? You mean really good?!"

 

Mick nodded positively, "Yup!". Even more faces got confused. "I don't get it", Rooks said, "but didn't you say they were lousy Valk' pilots...?". Mick started to understand he was trying to say. "You're right! How come they suck in outer space but are big time pros in movement training?" Nobody had a clue. """Now that's weird... Were they drunk?""", Mick thought. Before he could think of an explanation, the lift stopped suddenly. ""Veritech Launch Deck Twelve A"", a computer voice said. The lift gate-door opened upward.

 

As gates opened to the side, Mick and all of his squadmates entered a very active and hectic Veritech hangar deck. Many voices, sounds of turbines and announcements could be heard throughout the gigantic hall. There was an intense smell of metal, oil and fuel that really woke up those pilots who were still feeling sleepy. Hundreds of technicians ran back and forth, preparing many vehicles... lots of vehicles. This was the first time they were experiencing the deck in full alert, and yet they still did not know why.

"Holy, looks like the boys are on full stress", he added. "Yeah - and it's pretty loud here, too!", Rooks shouted. Mick, who took a short look around, spotted several VF-1A Valkyries under maintenance and others having their hull and armor being mounted upon them. Another massive truck passed by them, carrying a large rack with several gigantic cannon-rifles for Battleroids and Destroids. Although he did not understand what was going on, he did seem a bit skeptical if everything was going all right. Again, announcement voices spoke through the huge area…

 

"Uh-oh there's Bronco”, somebody shouted from the group, “ATTEN-TION!"

All recruits stood quickly formed rows and looked straight ahead, military style.

 

Major James Bronco came closer towards the rows of rookies, wearing a HEC suit with his helmet hanging down his back like everybody else. Although seeming slightly aged for the service as a Veritech pilot, he possesses great leadership skills that allow him to belong to one of the best commanders who stand besides the legendary Field Commander, Roy Fokker. If there were any other aspect that would describe Bronco's facial expression, then it would be toughness. Nobody can really explain why he always had such an angry look.

"At ease, rookies. Welcome to the deck! I hope all you ladies had a nice sleep - Well, we won't have enough time to explain much, so within a few minutes you guys gotta pack your stuff and get ready to scramble the Valk's! Ok, are there any questions?"

.

The whole row saluted back. As the arms dropped down, Rooks' hand rose from the bunch. "Major Bronco, sir? Yeah, I gotta question". Major Bronco looked over to him.

"What's the problem, Airman?"

"Um, I think I'm about to speak for all...", Rooks said, "We're rookies, sir. We haven't got any combat experience... Not even combat training, sir." Rooks shrugged with his shoulders as he asked further, "How come nearly all squadrons, including ours, were called to hit the jumpers?"

 

( >> Jumpers - pilot slang for launching from Hangar bays << )

 

Private/Airman Frederick "The Jester" Malone, who was another squadmate of Mick, tends to get loud and energetic when things do not work well.

"Yeah, what's the big idea, sir? I think the defending Valk's are better off with the `Lance Vanguards'..." Jester added. The whole squadron besides Major Bronco suddenly broke in laughter. Rooks could not keep in control of his laughter, "Yeah!", he said and laughed a few more times, "They're killing machines... ha-ha-ha until...", he coughed a few times due to the intense laughing, "... until they leave the bay!"

All rookies still laughed as Jester joked further... Bronco kept quiet - but for sure, he did feel as if his authority was being ignored. All the sudden, he shouted, "S I L E N C E!"

Surprised by his sudden shout, all went quiet, a few fought against their giggling.

 

Showing signs of anger, he spoke a lot louder than before, "Aw-right, all of you! Listen up", his voice was so powerful that it even silenced the last few of the rookies who still chuckled, "Sounds like all you people haven't met the `Lance Vanguard' squadron in person yet and thus, it looks like you people have no idea what happened during the last hour - but let me make this clear, you people are about to meet your new friends." Nobody understood what he actually meant... and once again, laughter exploded. "...From the `Lance Vanguards' squadron..." he continued. Laughter stopped immediately.

 

Mick looked at his commander and said as he looked over with a surprised face, "What?! Friends? `Lance Vanguard' squadron?! Oh com' on, Sarge! We don't need wingmen who would be a greater danger to us than the Zen's, sir?! Remember Murphy's Law in combat, sir? 'The only fire which is more accurate than enemy fire is friendly fire'!", a few started laughing again... Bronco got more and more annoyed answering these questions. "Airman Mickerson! Did I say they were going to be your Wingmen?!"

 

Mick immediately looked straight again, in military style, but soon his face changed into pure confusion, "Sir? They are not going to be our Wingmen? ... But, sir... you said..."

 

Bronco looked over Mick's shoulder, seeing a mechanic wearing a blue vest waving his hand with signal, which meant that their Valkyries were ready.

 

The flight commander wove his hand, "Enough talking, men! Strap on your helmets and let's get to those Valkyries. Bay 4! Let's MOVE!". Doing as ordered, they replied, "Yes sir!", and started jogging towords bay 4. Several groups of mechanics ran back and forth, taking care of check-ups and other duties. As the whole group jogged along the area, Mick and a few others noticed the hectic and trouble going on, spotting several Valkyries and Destroids being more likely `patched' up, rather than being totally fixed. Reaching the bay within a few minutes, all rookie pilots looked into the bay where they expected their Valkyries. When they saw their Valkyries, they were not sure if they was theirs. For sure, they were VF-1s, but there were many differences upon them.

 

"Now wait a minute ...", Mick said, "these are not our Valkyries!".

"What is this?", another squadmate added, "Valkyries two-sitters?!"

Taking a closer look, the cockpit of the Valkyries was not made for a single pilot as expected. Instead, it possessed two seats for two pilots - tandem cockpit.

Rooks scratched his head, "What's this… Some kind of joke? I'm not really in a mood for having a babysitter!" Bronco threw one of his serious looks at Rooks, "Oops I mean..."

Mick turned around to his commander, "Sir, are we going to get flight commanders in the backseat?! It would be better if they would fly, we're just rookies, I mean, we are pure greenhorns - and not fully trained combat pilots, sir! The `Lance Vanguard' squadron could need two-seaters! Definitely, THEY need pilots! In fact - BABYSITTERS - to be precise, sir!"

 

As Mick stopped speaking, Bronco suddenly grinned... "Looks like you just answered the 'backseat passenger question'..."

The tough looking Major leaned slightly to the side, looking over the shoulders' of the recruits and noticed a group of familiar faces standing in a row behind the rookie pilots - Their faces soon were surely going to be a surprise for the "Cascade Knights". He continued, " ...and it looks like here they come... 'Cascade Knight' squadron! Salute to the `Lance Vanguards'!"

 

All recruits, in a row, turn around and saluted as they all turned... saying: "The Cascade Knight squadron welcomes the 'Lan- ..." - They suddenly interrupted or stuttered in their speech at the very moment they recognized the pilots of the other squadron. Nearly all every pilot of the 'Cascade Knights' could not even finish the greetings sentence as they saw the other group - face to face. They were more astonished than ever.

The whole `Lance Vanguards' group on the other hand, saluted and greeted with their speech - many soft voices spoke: "`Lance Vanguards' squadron is honored to fly with the 40th Valkyrie Squadron 'Cascade Knights'!"

Rooks was confused, "What the ... ?!", not looking to them in face, rather lower...

 

Jester was confused as well, "Nah, I'm not flying with them! How on Earth will I survive when I got freaking pilots like them on the lead?!"

"Watch your language, Pal!", Bronco snarled at him, "Who said they were going to fly for you?"

 

The voice of another squadmate asked, "What?", he said, starting to combine and understand the situation, "Sir, you mean, they're... ?". Bronco continued his sentence and nodded a few times, "You got it, Buster. They'll be your eyes, your ears, your aim and your gunner. You boys concentrate on the flying."

Rooks slapped his hand gently against his head, "Ok... now we're screwed...", and moaned.

 

Mick was looking at first at the feet of one of the many `Lance Vanguards' pilots... The suit boots seem the same like his, although colored either in apple red, cyan or purple... He looked slowly more upward... The from waist to torso, the profile was like "bottle-shape figure" in a tight suit... He looked more upward... to the chest region... and he saw something that he would have never expected... similiar to two round balloons... under the suit... He came to a conclusion: All pilots of were ... women.

 

The whole 'Cascade Knight' squadron was more likely still having trouble trying to keep their mouth shut. "All right, knocked if off, Knights", Bronco said with a very aggressive voice, "Show more respect to your co-pilots! I guess all of you still didn't get the message.

"Uh oh...", another squadmate whispered from the side, expecting Bronco's incoming typical argument manor - and for sure, he seemed very angry.

Walking slowly back and forth, he spoke with such a voice that even a few of the women behind them shook, "Listen up, I want all of you to listen up. These women do not need to be insulted by a crowd of greenhorns like all of you are. They are skilled!", he shouted loudly, "- They have proven bravery - They have flown already several times - Hell, they have even flown during the last World War ... and all of you greenhorns got to show as appreciation for their knowledge is to underestimate their skills? You guys probably didn't get the message that all of you are responsible for your new RW co-pilot. Their lives lie in your hands - if you screw up, they'll definitely screw up with you. You'll be tearing them down into the deep like an anchor tied to their legs. So show more respect!", and paused shortly. "Got it?"

 

"Yes sir...", the whole 'Cascade Knight' group said.

"I can't hear you!", Bronco shouted back.

"YES SIR!"

There was a very short moment of silence despite the loud ambience of the hangar deck from behind. Having his arms on his hips, Major Bronco lifted his head and said with a much calmer voice, "Alright. Better... and you guys better apologize to your co-pilots in person later - That's an order... and now, let's get on with the plan...", the tough flight commander said and wove his hand over to the group of women standing behind the pilots, "`Lance Vanguards', please get closer. I guess we grown-ups can carry on with these kids..." Mick heard somebody grumble shortly when he just heard what Bronco snarled. Just a few moments later, three other groups of female pilots and one woman who seemed highly ranked lined in rows behind… "As all of you may have noticed, bridge command wishes to introduce the VF-1D 'Valley-Cat' into it's first mission with the pilots of the 'Armadillo' division and those of the 'Venus' division. The situation explained to us commanders did not sound very good, but you all will get recap when we are out there..."

 

Having mixed feelings, Mick was not sure if he should feel anxious about his first mission or nervous about the situation Bronco just mentioned...

The voice of Bronco spoke as Mick daydreamed further, "The 'Valley-Cat' is a hybrid prototype Valkyrie specially designed for the use of multi-targeting missile systems and an advanced warning system. It also possesses augmented drives, providing it with more versatility and flexibility for evasive maneuvers. The 'Valley-Cat' is reliable and tough - but it requires the care of two willing pilots. The cockpit does not differ much from the other ones, so you guys will be able to familiarize yourself in it with ease. Your RWs know most of the basics already… We don't have the time to go into details, but I think all of you will make it. Treat `Cat' well and the 'Cat' will treat you well."

 

"Meow...", Jester heard as one of the women whispered the typical sound of a cat from behind.

 

"I cannot tell you all what is actually going out there, but bridge command has ordered us up - and that definitely was a serious decision. I bet a bunch of ya got questions over questions but we don't have the time for it now", Bronco explained, "All I can say is that were are running against time and we've got a deadline to beat. But anyways, we need to carry on. I'm giving the word further to Lieutenant Commander Singhilde Vikksdottir who is the commander of the 'Venus' division and the `Viking Thunder' squadron will assign each of you to which co-pilot you belong to." Waving his hand as a welcome to the space aside himself, while looking at a certain person in the row, Bronco called her name and grinned shortly, "Commander?"

Leaving the rows of rookie pilots, Lt.Cmdr. Vikksdottir walked ahead towards the side of Major Bronco. As she walked, she pulled out a computeristic pad, which Mick has seen a few times in the hands of Veritech officers. From what he heard of, flight commanders used these pads to receive their mission information such as duty rosters and other additional messages. Just as she joined Bronco's side, somebody from the 'Cascade Hunters' whistled quietly... The sound they normally whistled when they see something 'hot'. All groups made a half circle in front of their commanders as they stood in rows. Speaking with a Swedish but understandable accent, Vikksdottir sounded pleased as she spoke with the whole group, "Thank you, Major. As all of you have heard, we need to hurry up. I will now declare which squadrons will be combined together and the names of those pilots and co-pilots who will fly together..."

 

Mick, who still was daydreaming and worrying about the mission nearly overheard all the names of the squadrons - but luckily, he heard the name of his squadron mentioned with the one called `Lance Vanguards'. But then again, he looked away slightly, loosing interest in listening to the groups, letting himself be distracted by something else. His mind was elsewhere, wondering about how it would be out in space again. It was not the first time being in space, but it was the fact of flying into a real mission that did sound very dangerous which made him slightly unease. As the names were mentioned in pairs, Mick looked back down and started wondering to whom he would belong to. Looking slowly to the side, Mick looked at the groups of rowed female co-pilots who were grouped along with their 'tighter' HEC suits colored equal to their squadron-colors.

 

Another group of pilots ran past them… but Mick kept his eyes peeled on the rows of women standing.

"""`Lance Vanguards', ey?""", Mick thought as Lt.Cmdr. Vikksdottir spoke further and looked at the group of women who came first. The color red and black were the primary colors as well as purple shoulder colors as secondary stripes. As he observed the group, he started to notice that many of them were from many different nations as well as differences in age - and for sure, they did had the looks of determination as they stood proudly. Staring at a certain pilot of the `Lance Vanguards', he spotted one of the smallest and perhaps youngest person of the group who did not seem to be like an adult at all - but just as he guessed how old she was, she sensed him looking straight at her... which caused Mick to look away.

"""'Their lives lie in your hands - if you screw up, they'll screw up...'""", were the words of Bronco that went through Mick's mind a few times - and he knew he was right. It would be his responsibility to keep whoever would be sitting behind him alive. Just the thought of responsibility made Mick more nervous than ever. As the large group of rookies started to split up, both male and female pilots heading together to their new fighter, the large group of men and women slowly became smaller and smaller. Since there were several members from squadrons, it took a very long while until Mick suddenly heard familiar names.

"...Airman Frederick 'Jester' Malone? You'll be flying with Airman Cassandra 'Sparrow' Freeman, Airman 1st Class Neil 'Rixler' Madison - Airman 1st Class Jenna 'Genesis' Calahan..." - countless names were called up and Mick started to feel bored, although it was only a few minutes left until everybody was assigned. Waking up totally from his daydreaming after a short while, Mick suddenly noticed that only 'Wiseguy' stood aside from him. Looking over again, he also noticed that there was only one female pilot left who had tanned skin with a face, which seemed of Hispanic heritage. She had her arms crossed and did not seem really happy at all - as if she were angry about something. Now Mick was really worried, how come was there only one female co-pilot left if there were still two pilots to be assigned?

"Betcha a can of Nukem-Cola if it's me, Mick?", Wiseguy said quietly.

"Uhm...", was all he could reply.

 

Another truck loaded with several packs of ammunition rode by…

Looking upon her pad, Lt.Cmdr. Vikksdottir finally called upon them with her Swedish accent, "Welll well, we are almost through. Airman Vincent 'Wiseguy' Gregory? You will be the pilot of Airman Esmeralda 'Piranja' Dominga-Sanchez - and you're Valkyrie is parked right over there."

"""Hmm...""", Mick thought, """Ok, now what?"""

Clapping his hand shortly Mick's shoulder, Wiseguy said with a low voice as he went by , "You owe me a coke, dude", snarled a sound with his tongue and pointed his finger like a gun towards Mick as he winked with his eye. Walking towards Piranja, Wiseguy reached out his hand wanting to shake hands with her as he greeted her with, "Hi Piranja. Hope we'll have a good hunt out there"... but instead of shaking her hands back with his, she only ignored his hand and walked her own way pass Wiseguy, saluted shortly to the commanders and headed to their Valkyrie. Standing with a lonesome hand stretched out, Wiseguy turned around as she walked away. It was the cold shoulder she threw at him that really made him worry. "Geez, was it something I said?", he asked, wondering why she ignored him just like that.

Crossing her arms, Vikksdottir only smiled back at him and explained, "No need to worry, Airman. She's a person who tends to have a bad temper all the time. In fact - and you can believe me - You can expect her head to be harder than Hyper-Carbonite. And actually, you're the first person she did not scare away from the beginning - but no need to take it personal. She's a nice person to interact with when you get know her... but you better also keep an eye on her - She is also known to be as a very 'loose cannon'... I'm sure you'll make it"

Confused - or more likely - surprised by her words, Wiseguy slowly walked by, following the path of his new... and bad-tempered co-pilot as he saluted at his commanders and threw an envious look over to Mick. """Hot damn...""", Mick thought as one of his eyebrows went up, “””He'll be needing that coke alright…”””

 

Standing alone in a HEC suit, Mick started to even wonder if he was going to even fly out. No co-pilots were left and it was only him who stood as a rookie pilot in front of two highly experianced fighter pilots.

"""Holy - don't tell me I'm gonna be the pilot of Vikks... Vikks... whateverhernameis..."""

 

Both commanders looked back at the lonesome pilot at the same moment that stood still like a statue - A spotlight figure left alone.

"Last - but not least, huh, kid?", Bronco joked, with his arms crossed.

"So I guess you must be Airman Lars 'Mick' Mickerson", Lt.Cmdr. Vikksdottir said with a calm voice, "Sorry to have you standing here so long, but I did not know with whom you were going to fly with at first since I've received the list of assigned pilots and co-pilots just moments ago. As you may have noticed, you're co-pilot is not here."

"Oh, she's not here, Ma'am?", he replied nervously - which sounded stupid since he only repeated what she just said.

"Exactly. Oh yes, her name - Her name is Airman Roxanne 'FoxyRoxy' Keldon, a former pilot of the Central European Coalition, Holland - To which she has served three years long during the Great War against the AUL terrorists", Vikksdottir explained clearly, "A very intelligent person indeed. Since she knew that she would meet her newly assigned pilot sooner or later, she already went over to your Valkyrie in order to take care of the optimization of her cockpit-systems. She's left-handed, you know”.

 

“Airman?”, Mick wondered, “May I ask a question, Ma'am?”

“Sure”

“Practically all pilots under your command have served a few years - long before us… Why are they all equally ranked to us although they have served longer in the Military?”, he shrugged his arms as he hoped for an answer.

“It's a long story, Mickerson, but fact is that although they have served longer than all of you, they are novice to the RDF, the new Valkyrie and its sophisticated equipment… There's another reason, but there is no time to explain it - You better get moving to meet up with your RW co-pilot who should be waiting at your Valkyrie parked in slot 27-K, Airman. We're already slightly behind schedule, dismissed..."

 

Both commanders saluted at Mick - He did the same. Just as he left from the both of them, Mick heard Bronco said, "Hey, Mick". He looked back shortly as his commander gained his attention.

"Just keep cool, okay?", was all Bronco said and walked away with Lt.Cmdr. Vikksdottir. It was clear that Bronco noticed that Mick was pretty nervous indeed. Walking his way alone to the slot where his Valkyrie was parked, Mick spotted Rooks further away, shaking hands with his female RW co-pilot. Knowing how Rooks usually was, he was usually the cool-headed guy, but instead of being as usual, he seemed very nervous as well and over-polite towards his new RW co-pilot... As if he were on his first date.

 

After passing several Valkyries parked aside from each other with many mechanics, pilots, co-pilots and other deck operatives moving around, he finally found his new Valkyrie with it's wings set to the back. Looking upon it, he spotted several differences as well as the slightly thicker armor layer along its hull. The upper area of the Valkyrie had two small dual missile launchers as well as short frontload beam cannons hidden within the side of hull. Shortly walking under the wing, Mick spotted a different looking cannon-rifle stuck under the belly that did not seem to be the usual GU-11 gun pod at all. Unlike the GU-11 gun pod hanging far out, the cannon-rifle was slightly within the belly, perhaps as a safety measure in order not to shoot into the head cannon when it is activated.

Walking under his new Valkyrie from the belly to its nose, Mick slid with his hand upon its tough armor. For sure, this Veritech had the appearance of being state-of-the-art. Having the colors of both squadrons, it did give a proud feeling. Already armed and ready, it only stood there, waiting for its pilot and co-pilot to climb into its open cockpit. Strange for Mick, there was no sign of his co-pilot as he climbed up the integrated stepladder on the side of the cockpit and as he climbed upwards, he noticed two names on the side - One for the pilot, the other for the co-pilot. He read: Airman Lars 'Mick' Mickerson , with 'Mick' in a large style letters and a Smiley under his name showing a "teeth smile" as well as the symbol of his squadron, which pleased him. He then read the other name slightly next to his - A symbol of fox with red evil-looking eyes along with the RDF-symbol in the background: Airman Roxanne "FoxyRoxy" Keldon.

 

Mick sat a few seconds inside the cockpit. Many systems and controls did seem familiar, but there were many other things as well missing that he has seen in a normal VF-1. He then said to himself, "Well well, here we go...", and strapped on his seat-harnesses and clicked on the main engines of the Valkyrie. Taking a short look around, he started to find more and more differences in his cockpit. Definately, there were more navigational systems than those systems that were normally used for targeting. He also noticed that the new mechanics of Veritech controls were fitted in this Valkyrie as well which especially supported the NH2VS gloves. Just at the moment he grabbed both controls, certain frames and lines upon both grips started to glow slightly, showing that they have reacted to the presence of the gloves.

"Hmm", Mick said towards himself, "... maybe I'm in for a solo after all..."

Just as Mick leaned back shortly, a figure in a full HEC suit with a sealed helmet lifted it's head in the back seat and spoke with a soft voice behind Mick suddenly spoke, "- Oh, hello. You must be 'Mick'. I'm Roxanne Keldon, your Radar-Weaponary co-pilot". More surprise than ever, Mick looked around hysterically, wondering from where the voice was coming from, "- You can call me 'FoxyRoxy'... 'Foxy' or 'Roxy', your choice", the soft voice said and giggled. The voice was soft indeed and did have a slight accent of a person who came from a central European country.

 

Mick looked ahead and then pressed a button on his left screen, which showed the face of the person who was talking to him. The person, in fact, was a female co-pilot whose suit was colored the same like those of the `Lance Vanguards' squadron... specially made for women. Her face was actually tainted blue and hard to recognize due to the dark blue colored glass of her helmet, despite the reflection of her display features as well as the 'combined visor glass' that covered her whole eye section inside the helmet's glass. He felt surprised and did not what to say at first. Not thinking about what to say, he shot out, "Oh, um", coughed and cleared his voice, "... I... am Mick, yeah... that's me. Um, yeah... FoxyRoxy... sounds great..."

He paused... feeling more nervous than ever...

 

"Sorry I did not manage to meet you during the group assignments, but I'm a lefty and I needed to get things done before we would take off", she winked once again.

He clicked around on his panels, laid his left hand on the thrust control throttle and pushed it a little.

The engines of his Valkyrie started to make the typical humming sound he was familiar to. He tried to ignore Foxy-Roxy's face as he charged the Valkyrie's systems up...

Recognizing a smile through the dense reflections of her helmet, Mick could see FoxyRoxy smiling as she said, "I love that sound... Those DX-3 Protoculture drives surely sound harmonically, don't cha think? Oh - Just incase you are not informed, this baby we're about to fly is a VF-1D 'Valley-Cat' prototype. My squad didn't know that we were going to be needed today all the sudden, but our commander said that we were the right people for the job. But anyways, I will be doing the targeting for you while you fly us around. Just get me in the right position and I'm sure we can get into business. Pull the trigger when I get a lock-on for you, alright?"

 

Although she had a very friendly voice, Mick only threw a very short smile and a nod as a reply, then deactivated the image and threw his head gently against his seat... Just the thoughts about Major Bronco's advice of responsibility really made the young pilot more and more nervous by the second.

 

 

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