February 7, 2009 it is a festive mood on Macross Island. To commemorate the launch of the SDF-1 an air show with three aerial demonstration teams along with static displays of mecha and aircraft.

Every nation state with a VF-1 Valkyrie squadron is show casing one of their veritech aircraft on static display all across Macross Island Airbase. While the reason for multiple displays of the same aircraft is partially a point of national pride it is also the first time civilians (other then military contractors) have been able to physically inspect and walk around the veritech fighters.

The air show begins with the US Navy's Blue Angels, flying legacy FA/-18 Hornets followed by the U.S. Air Force's Thunder Birds, flying F-16 Fighting Falcons who are then followed by the Russian Air Force's Russian Knights, flying SU-27 Flanker's. The last team to fly is United Nations Angel Birds, flying VF-1 Valkyrie's. In the middle of the Angel Birds demonstration some idiot in a civilian fan jet tries to fly into the middle of the demonstration. The civilian fan jet is intercepted and forced to land. The Angel Birds restart their aerial performance. After this performance all four flight teams conduct a joint aerial performance display. With 28 aircraft all flying at the same time in such close proximity it is a wonder none of them collided with one another.

---

First Lieutenant Meiko Levina, U.S. Marine Corps currently assigned to VMFA-314 Black Knights as part of the 2nd UN Spacy Air Group, UES Prometheus stands by her assigned VF-1A, designated Black Knight Four painted Gloss Gull Grey, with black on the nose and vertical stabilizers as an homage to the squadron colors used during the Vietnam War.

The advanced Robotechnology aircraft is on static display, with six of 'dummy' BAE ALARM anti-radar missiles on the outer hard points and three 'dummy' AGM-65R Maverick missiles on the inner hard points. The only working item is the unloaded GU-12 gunpod. The nose cannons are of course loaded, but really just for trim purposes.

You have the following gear:

• Mecha Pilot Flight/Space Suit (in digital woodland MARPAT)
• USMC Garrison Cap - Female

You do not have:

• 5.7mm Five-seveN sidearm (or ammo)
• Holster for sidearm
• Flight helmet (in digital woodland MARPAT), it is on the other side of the airfield where the squadron has its off ship ready room.

Not expecting any trouble, Meiko is answering questions and being diplomatic.  Having been raised speaking Japanese probably helps with some visitors, and of course English being the official language of the UN and being a native speaker is priceless.  Though if any Jewish show, her command of her father's Yiddish might also be handy!

She tries to stay relaxed, and has on some sunscreen against the pacific sun, even this time of year.  Her flightsuit is crisp and proper, but not beyond regulations.  No starch/etc, since that is not regulation.

"Yes, sir.  VMFA-314 was the first Marine Aviation unit to field the F-4, the F/A-18, and now the VF-1.  We are very proud.  The unit served with distinction in World War Two, Vietnam Conflict, and the Global Crisis."

"Yes, sir.  I would wear a flight helmet normally... I think there is a mock one somewhere about, or you can go over there and they should have a real one if you really want to know."

A laugh.

"No sir, we wear diapers for long missions, embarrassing, yes?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:21, Mon 26 Mar 2018.

A pair of young men walk over to admire the VF-1A. The skinny kid with his hair dyed blue and wearing blue tinted aviators checks out the VF-1A. The slightly overweight tries to make it look like he's checking out the VF-1 but is instead checking out Meiko.

She engages them without worrying about the hormones of young men.
She tries English first.

"Afternoon Gentlemen, she's a beauty, isn't she?  Knight Four here is painted just like an F-4 Phantom from the Vietnam conflict would have been."

She's said that line a few times today already.

[Secret to group Japanese: "I'm Lieutenant Levina, United States Marine Corps, and I am Commander of this bird."]

If they look at her blankly, she will repeat it in Japanese.  (Worth a try)
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:07, Mon 26 Mar 2018.

The blue haired kid looks at the leg connection port just aft of one of the 20mm guns. "I'm a aircraft mechanic over on the civilian side of the base. I've noticed some odd things on these planes. For example what's this behind cannon? I'm trying to figure out what it does."

"That is not part of one of my checks, but I believe it has to do with being able to quickly change out weapons load-outs.."

She smiles, and looks where they are looking... but knows better than to say anything about what that is really for.

"What sort of aircraft do you work on, sir?"


(I have no idea what language we are speaking, lol!)

The portly kid answers Meiko "We both work for Hawaiian airlines. Max works on the air frames, and I work on the avionics."

A slow nod.

"Think a space capable fighter might have a few things you haven't seen, gentlemen?"

"By the Way, I'm Lieutenant Levina, United States Marine Corps, and I am Commander of this bird."

She points to a line of text below the cockpit cowling

1LT M. Levina, USMC

"uh...yeah, I thi..th..I guess so." The blue haired teen stammers.....

The portly teen doesn't seem the least bit shy, and pats his friend on the shoulder. "Max here is just a little shy around girls."

"You ever take this plane up into outer space miss?" It's obvious that the kid doesn't know much about military titles, but he is at least trying giving the Marine veritch pilot some level of respect.


[Private to Meiko Levina: Yes you have flown the VT into outer space. The VF-1 is capable of reaching low Earth Orbit on its own, but needs to be refueled afterwards.]

She laughs a little at the boys antics, shakes her head slightly.

"I'm not a girl gentlemen, I'm a marine with curves.  Dangerous curves."

She grins then pats a wing.

"As a matter of fact I have, I've been flying these since they were first released to the Corps.  She can make Low Earth Orbit on her own engines, as a matter of fact."

She sounds proud, and she is.  It's a great honor to be a Variable Fighter pilot, and worth a lot of bragging rights in bars, as well.

She points to a badge on her chest.. her flight wings, or one set at least.



"These are astronaut wings, gentlemen."

OOC:  She's had a spaceflight, so she should have Astronaut wings.  Which is cool.

The blue haired teen shyly looks at the Space-Qualified Naval Aviator wings on the woman chest. The portly teen checks out both the wings and curves out.

The blue haired teen then begins to walk off, rather hurriedly. "Come on Ben there are more planes to look at."

OOC: You would actually have 'Space-Qualified Naval Aviator' wings http://robotech-aod.com/rdf-insignia.html

The portly teen walk off to follow his friend, but turns around with his hands up "Sorry miss he gets this way!"

---

Another group of 'local tourists' arrive asking various questions.

"Have a good day gentlemen!"  She calls after them, and switches gears to talk to the new folks arriving.

"I'm Lieutenant Levina of the United States Marine Corps, and this is the VF1A, painted in the traditional colors and pattern of the US Marines VMFA-314's Black Knights.  If you will look to the left...."

The days events continue.....

When it happens only a few people on the airfield (military and civilian alike) see it at first. The bow of the SDF-1 Macross splits and begins to glow. The air is then filled with a massive amount of static for several seconds before a massive energy blast erupts from  he  bow of the SDF-1 Macross. The energy blast travels over a portion of Macross city and then vaporizes a portion of the hilly part of the island.

Where there was once hill and spectators watching the air show there is now nothing and a section of Macross city is now considered beach front property.

Air raid sirens begins to sound. Not having been precluded by a 'This is not a drill' message in several languages causes pandemonium to breaks out among the civilians. The last time such sirens were activated it is wasn't a drill was back in 2005 when the island had a much smaller population.

The military personnel on the other hand begin to head towards their assigned location/duty in the event of an attack.

---

Meiko's assigned location during an attack is back on the UES Prometheus. The UES Prometheus, along with the UES Daedalus are doing 'laps' around the island and have been periodically launching barrages of firework over the island all day.

OOC: Make a perception roll. Get a 12 or higher and you take notice of the SDF-1's bow splitting open. Fail and well you of course notice the static and subsequent energy blast.

23:18, Today: Meiko Levina rolled 12 using 1d20 with rolls of 12.  Perception.

Meiko sprints to grab her gear from the ready room, she ain't called lightning because of her electric personality.

She will then sprint back to her plane and jumping in and powering up ASAP.

She needs to get this bird to the prometheus.

Alternately:  If she knows she can get gear while she is getting armed, she might just go without a helmet... but it didn't sound as far off for someone as fast as her, what is best tactically?

OOC: your about 500 meters away (516 to be exact) from the temporary ready room set aside for the Prometheus pilots participating int he air show.

Hopefully this will help you in making a decision.

She got the early jump on it starting, and she can make the run for gear, and be back with it in roughly 1.5 minutes, 2 tops.

How necessary is the gear?

OOC: Well you don't have a radio, no life support pack, and no helmet. Without a radio landing on the carrier will be problematic.

Her run speed is 800... so roughly a 40 second sprint to the ready room.  I have no idea how fast things are going down, but if there are things she NEEDS in there, it won't take her long.

Oh... read last post.

Might as well have her helmet.  Oh, and radio... and life support?  Egad.  Sprinting to get her gear, don it fast (Trained to do that!) and then back to her VF-1 to get it started.

While she is starting it up, she will try to reach her ground crew.

I looked up "Ready pilot" to launch time on a F-22, and roughly 5 minutes.  She is nominally close to a ready pilot.

OOC: So if your going to run to the ready room please post stating as such. You are not going to just poof there and poof back....

A voice in Japanese is heard over the loudspeaker located around the base and Macross City itself.

[Private to group Japanese:
"This is not a drill, I say again this is not a drill. All civilians please proceed to your designated air raid shelter. All civilians proceed to your designated air raid shelters."

"All military personnel please report to your assigned duty station."]

A second announcement is made. This time in English.

"This is not a drill, I say again this is not a drill. All civilians please proceed to your designated air raid shelter. All civilians proceed to your designated air raid shelters."

"All military personnel please report to your assigned duty station."

Um.. K.

Upon noticing that the ship was about to open up she sprints for the ready room to suit up.

... I was trying to give you a series of actions.

Meiko makes it about 30 feet before colliding with a civilian.  The two land in a leap of arms and legs. The man helps Meiko up while saying a thank you in English before running off.

As Meiko reach the 'ready building' she can see that in the adjacent hangers where the Angel Bird aerial demonstration team is parked techs are loading gun pods. A sure sign that whatever is going is serious enough to warrant arming them. About half of these VF-1's have pilots already in their cockpits doing preflight checks.

Off in another part of the airfield a number of veritech's take off, probably those that were going to escort the SDF-1 this evening when she was supposed to launch.

Entering the ready room Meiko can see several other pilots from the UES Prometheus situated around another pilot who is on the landline talking to someone. Most of these pilots have their flight gear on or  in their hands.

She checks her pockets, and for her ID, because people don't usually thank you when you run into them.

Meiko grabs her own flight gear and joins her fellow pilots from Prometheus, putting on gear as fast as she can in motion, and once arriving.

Meiko doesn't find any of her stuff stolen.

She witnesses the last few seconds of the phone conversation between the French Naval Officer with the rank of Capitaine de vaisseau, the equivalent of a USN Captain or USMC/USAF/US Army Colonel. These last few seconds are just a bunch of nods.

After hanging up the phone the Capitaine de vaisseau, Aviation navale (French Naval Aviation) addresses the assembled pilots in French accented English.

"Space Battle Group One has engaged alien spacecraft in orbit. That's all the information I have for you."

"Ess Dee eeF One is in charge of flight control. There are ground crewmen assembling two hangers down to load gun pods on our veritechs. Once the airfield is clear of civilians we are clear to launch/ We do not have clearance yet to use guardian or battliod modes, although it is my opinion this will change."

"Once air borne contact Ess Dee eeF One flight control and you will be assigned a wingman. If the situation permits we will land on the Prometheus and be loaded with under wing ordinance."

OOC: Imagine this guy speaking with the same accent as Captain Picard from Star Trek.

A cold feeling runs up Meiko's spine, but she ignores it and finishes putting on her gear.

"Stand by ready in our aircraft until gunpods are loaded, then, sir?"

She speaks carefully, so the Quebec native can understand her easily.

In reply to Meiko Levina (msg # 28):

The French officer nods "Yes." Then with a sense of urgency in his voice he "Let's go."

With that the pilots head out the building. Meiko ends up 'following the crowd' as they run past the hanger with the Angel Bird Flight Demonstration team. The next two hangers hold the other flight demonstration teams, and it looks like these craft are being left where they are.

The group of pilots reach a hanger where ground crews are loading gunpods on ammo carts and hooking the carts to MT-10 aircraft tugs.

Outside the sounds of surface to air missiles being launched is heard. This is shortly followed by explosion occurring in the air. This is then followed by even louder explosions as missiles strike nearby.

One missile impacts really close, and knocks everyone off their feet.

She picks herself up as fast as she can from the explosion rocking, putting sense of purpose in front of danger, if she can.  She looks for her ground crew, or any ground crew to try to get her bird armed up.

She didn't like the idea of flying an unarmed target.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:21, Sun 01 Apr 2018.

It takes a few more minutes to get things sorted out but every pilot eventually pairs up with a MT-10 aircraft tug that has a trailer with a gunpod on it. Everyone kinda sits where there is space on either the tug or trailers.

As the tug leaves the hanger, Meiko points the way to her veritech to the man driving the tug. As they exit the hanger, the adjacent hanger that was housing the Blue Angles is completely destroyed, having taken a direct hit.

The ground crewman driving the aircraft tug, not wanting to be out on an airfield that is probably about to hit by yet another missile strike pushes the aircraft tug to its limit in terms of speed. Unfortunately the max speed is at best 20 kph.

Across the airfield several veritechs and aircraft are burning or have been flipped over. It looks like only runway two is operational as a light grey and high vis orange colored veritech (the standard paint scheme of a VF-1D) takes off.

The VF-1D is followed by several veritechs painted semi-gloss white. Then from the other direction of runway two several dark blue painted veritechs take off.

Upon reaching Meiko's assigned VF-1A two of the ground crew begin circling the veritech and begin prepping the craft for flight. Two other ground crewmen park the trailer with the gunpod into position.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:10, Fri 06 Apr 2018.

Meiko thanks the ground crew, and suits fully up and gets into the cockpit to help them with attaching and arming as best she can.

If staying out of their way is the best help, she is willing to do that as well.

Once things are nearly ready she will report to tower that she is almnost ready to launch, while keeping an eye on her situation, ready to get going.

"You folks be safe, godspeed, and thank you." She says to her temporary crew.

"Once a Knight is never enough!"  She grins and salutes them. "Semper Fi!"

If tower is not quick to respond she will take off, careful of her ground crew.

After contacting the tower Meiko is asked what her combat load out is and then is instructed to taxi to either end of runway two and await further instruction.

As she taxi's over to runway two a BAE Systems built veritech pulls along side, and has markings indicating it is from the Finnish Air Force. The pilot of the other veritech is obviously a female as the blond haired pilot isn't wearing a helmet, but an aviation head set and a pair of sunglasses.

Once at the end of runway two, the two veritechs 'get in line' with about a dozen other veritechs which were previously on static display for the air show. The eight 'Angel Bird' veritechs are also present. None of the hastily sortied veritech's have under wing ordinance and just have gunpods.

OOC: I am going to assume that your air mask is on, and that your visor is down.

Your gunpod is loaded with APDS ammo.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:06, Sun 08 Apr 2018.

Meiko salutes the other pilot.  Awaits launch order, but her eyes and head are on pivot in case launch control cannot handle the situation, better to launch without orders if the boat is about to get bombed, but with no imminent threat, she stands by as directed.

(Yes, visor down, mask on.)

The side of her helmet has a hand drawn lightning bolt, likely with marker.  (Makes it easy to pick it out, we did the same sort of crap with helmet covers in the Army)

EXP TALLIED FOR THREAD