A/N: Starting to get back into the swing of writting. A few years ago F-14 Tomcat Lover messaged me about a story idea of his that I honestly think hold much promise to be a rather good tale for the Robotech Universe. As I caught up on the PMs some of y'all have sent, this idea stuck in my head. Now this is not how his looked, but more of my own take on it. BTW, VMFA 232 which is mentioned in this is an actual Squadron and one I breiefed many times when I was Active Duty in the Corps. Hell, my MOS was a weather Marine so I had to handle quite a few briefs for squadrons. In fact VMFA 232 is actually based out of the same base I was staioned at which is MCAS Miramar. Anyway, this may or may not kick into a full fledged story but my efforts are on chapter 2 of Darkness. Anyway, fly Safe!

Always Faithful

Earth. The Blue Marble as it was called. The one place it seemed in all of the Universe that life had flourished. Humans had for millennia asked the question if they were alone in the cold of space. In the year 1999, the question had been answer came crashing through the scientific community. And quite literally at that. A massive space craft of unknown origin hurtled through Earth's atmosphere, slamming down on an unremarkable island in the south pacific. Over the decade since it's landing, the foremost nations of the Earth came to a multinational agreement, signing what would be called the United Earth Government into place. Most correctly assumed that the discoveries on the vessel lead the world leaders to decide to combine their efforts to combat what could be a very large threat to Humanity as a whole. Of course, while freely admitting the existence of Extra terrestrial life was a given, they had not released any details on the aliens besides the fact that they were humanoid in appearance. If the average citizen actually knew just how large the Aliens were, there would be mass panic.

But those thoughts were not on anyone's mind today as the world prepared for the launch of the rebuilt vessel originally dubbed Alien Space Ship One. For Press Relations to remain positive, it was renamed the Super Dimensional Fortress One, or SDF-1 for short. As the masses of Macross Island flocked to the airfield and dry dock that housed the massive ship, the final few military units were settling in. Forces from different countries were working together for the first time since the official end of the War. Many truly believed that mankind would no longer fight among each other over what now seemed to be small problems.

On the bridge of the ship, her command crew Alpha shift were taking their positions and running the final few diagnostics before her take off. Operations Control Officer Lt Commander Lisa Hayes, one of the first class of command level officers in the UN Spacey that had no prior service, scanned through the Delta Shift reports and nodded in satisfaction before one detail caught her eye. Every country had sent who they felt were needed. Germany had sent Engineers who were led by the Defacto Chief Engineer Doctor Lang, The British had sent Catseye pilots and ground crews. Every nation was involved with personel and military units. The US had sent Fighter Pilots. They had sent quite a few from every service that had an aviation element. In fact, the last unit they were currently waiting on was a detachment from VMFA 232, who were called the Red Devils.

"Any word from our final unit?" Lisa asked, checking the boards.

Behind her, the TRACON operator, Ensign Vanessa Leeds turned to respond. "I have them at 30 nautical miles out Commander. They've already been advised to contact the Operations Officer at 20 out."

Lisa nodded her head in satisfaction and watched as Claudia tried to stifle a yawn beside her. Lisa rolled her eyes, not in the mood to tear into her best friend over her after hours activities. Lisa sighed before her console started beeping. Checking the display, she gave a nod as the speakers crackled to life.

"SDF Control, this is Red One. We are 20 nautical miles out at five thousand. Request landing clearence."

Lisa frowned slightly as the voice sounded familiar but she couldn't place it. Mentally shrugging, she keyed her communications system. "Red One, SDF Control. You are clear for Main Deck landing. Contact LSO at runway visual."

"Contact LSO at runway visual. Red One out."

Lisa ended the call as she heard Claudia speaking to someone she quickly identified as the CAG of the SDF-1. One Commander Roy Fokker.

"It's werid Claudia. He hasn't answered any message or letter for almost a year. I had hoped inviting him would have helped fix the problems."

"I know Roy." Claudia's voice was soothing as she spoke. "But you know how stubborn Rick can be. I'm sure he's on his way. Maybe he was just held up on a transport."

Lisa heard the humorless snort over the comm. "That boy would rather fly himself then trust someone else too. No...I think my little brother really doesn't want anything to do with me. Anyway...I've got an air show to get moving. Let me know when those Jarheads decide to show up. Cocky bunch they are."

"Hello Pot, have you met Kettle?" Claudia rebuked in humor. Lisa cracked a small smile as the Bridge crew giggled at the statement. It was well known Commander Fokker was a pretty egotistical man at time, but they had to admit he did have a right to be. "Yeah yeah. I know. I'll call in once the show is complete."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Roy sighed as he made his way though the crowd and found himself staring at the Veritech trainer craft. He had hoped his little brother would have come to see just why he stayed on and signed up for the Veritech Project. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a very familiar voice.

"You keep staring at that plane and Claudia might get jealous Roy."

Grinning widely, Roy spun around. He froze at the sight before him, his grin turning into one of shock and surprise as he saw the man before him. Rick Hunter stood before him, grinning, but it wasn't his little brother's grin. It was the uniform he was wearing. For Rick hunter stood clad before him in a tan flight suit with the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor of the US Marine Corps slapped onto it. Roy's eyes spotted the 2nd Lieutenant bars on his shoulders and found himself unable to speak. Rick smirked and crossed his arms. "Surprised?"

"Yeah." Roy sputtered. "Yeah. Surprised sounds like the right word. Though shocked and confused also spring to mind. I have one question...when?"

Rick chuckled as Roy shook his head. As he opened his mouth to speak, alarms blared to life with a might mechanical rumble filling the air and both officers turned in time to watch the mighty bow reconfigure itself. Watching they saw the massive reflex cannon coalescing with raw energy was a truly mesmerizing and near blinding sight. He could feel the charge of energy in the air as the high pitched hum, see the massive build up of energy between the two portions of the bow that housed the primary energy capacitors and the main guns of the SDF-1. After several moments, the raw primal power of the SDF was unleashed with a roar of an angry god, blasting instantly through buildings and the crater wall created from the SDF's crash landing, marking the passage of the massive beam of pure energy already turning ninety degrees and shooting upwards into space. Rick was the first to speak, his voice deadly serious as RDF personal snapped into motion as air raid sirens wailed to life, signaling an imminent attack.

"We'll need to shelve this conversation for now." Rick clapped Roy on the shoulder. "See you in the air."