CURRENT OBJECTIVES
-RETURN TO PHOENIX NEST FOR RESUPPLY
-WAIT FOR FURTHER ORDERS
"Hey Phoenix. About Arcee, is she hot?" Roy called out on the radio.
OBJECTIVES UNDER CONSIDERATION
-NEUTRALIZATION OF THE ANNOYANCE KNOWN AS LIEUTENANT ROY FOKKER
Over the pacific, nearing NUNS Samuels
August 5, 2014, 1313 hours
"Come on, Roy. Quit giving him a hard time." Rick defended.
"Hey, come on. I'm just curious." Skull squadron leader countered.
"Alright now, knock off the chatter." Lisa interrupted. " Skull leader and Vermillion leader is to land on runway one. VTF-0 is to land on runway two and proceed to the maintenance deck for diagnosis."
"Roger." All SMS fighters replied even Phoenix.
It was an odd sensation for Phoenix, using his voice. Before the assault on Darkmount, he had thoroughly believed he didn't have a voice. After he remembered Arcee he remembered he had a voice but not what it sounded like. He still doesn't know why he chose a young man's voice, it just seemed natural to use it. Unfortunately, while it was good he was starting to regain his memories and he had his voice, he disobeyed orders, he expected an earful from Gloval
The NUNS Prometheus is a new prototype carrier created for the use of mecha and large-sized planes, as part of a new breed of super-carriers. It's about two or three times the size of your average carrier. The front of the ship looked like a hand or a claw. It comes with two pairs of launching and landing runways that are designed for small two fighter jets or cargo aircraft like C-17's. Its bridge was under the landing deck so it had been theorized that it could land a large commercial passenger aircraft but no one's been too enthusiastic to try that. What wasn't theory, was that it could hold 200 hundred aircraft with room to hold the necessary pilots. Right now it had the only had fifty or so aircraft. Only ten of those were fighters and the rest were transports for the Destroids. It more of a mobile base than a naval vessel.
Phoenix let Roy and rick land first, they pulled off into the side and into the elevator, and they dropped to the lower deck. Phoenix followed in onto runway two, as he slowed down he taxied to the elevator which lowered him to the maintenance deck which was below the hanger decks. An aircraft towing vehicle called a pushback hooked onto his front landing gear and pulled into the deck before backing him in a bay that mechanics hardware and toolboxes. Above him was a catwalk that surrounded the bay that had advanced computer monitors.
A man in a lab coat with brown hair and solid black eyes walked in front of Phoenix on the cat-walk. "Hello, Phoenix."
"Hello, Dr. Lang." The mech replied. Dr. Lang had a tablet in his hands that was patched into Phoenix's signaled that allowed his voice to go through.
"So. Looks like we had another memory flash." Dr. Lang flipped through some papers on a clipboard.
"Yes, sir."
"What did you remember?"
"Not much, sir. Just Arcee."
Lang looked up from the clipboard. "Remember, I'm your doctor and your therapist. Even though I'm not qualified for therapy nor any good at it, but that's not the point. The point is you can trust me."
Phoenix may not remember if he had a family, he feels like he doesn't need to. His team was his family. Dr. Emil Lang was like that uncle you could trust no matter what. Lisa was the over-watching big sister. Roy and Rick were his brothers, while Gloval was like a father to him.
Phoenix sighed. "I remembered that she's the one I've been wanting to protect, that I felt bad for leaving her. She was the partner I felt like I needed to help all this time."
"I knew you had a girl on the mind, but to be thinking about her that much. You must really like her." Roy called out with a laugh.
Off to the side of the catwalk, Roy and Rick laughed and Phoenix's embarrassed spluttering.
"Well, now that we've had our entertainment for the evening. Phoenix we're gonna have to unplug you and check you out. You may not remember much but today's events may have opened a gate that could allow us to force the rest of your memories out. Plus it seems like there was some damage done to your neural pathways, some repairs are going to be made." Dr. Land said as he placed the tablet on a nearby tray
"Understood."
PREPPING SLEEP MODE…
DEACTIVATING OPTICAL SENSORS
…
DEACTIVATED
DEACTIVATING AUDIO SENSORS
…
DEACTIVATED
DEACTIVATING LIMBIC SYSTEM
…
DEACTIVATED
SHUTTING DOWN ALL PROGRAMS
…
ENTERING SLEEP MODE
Once Dr. Lang saw the notification pop up on the tablet that Phoenix was asleep, he sent the deck crew to collect the 'Cranium'. The deck crew pulled air tools off the wall and hooked them to air hoses. The loud whirring of the tools filled the bay as they unhooked the metal canopy and brought a harness on chains to lift it away. A cockpit was revealed but instead of a dashboard, an electronic assembly holding a dark-colored technological sphere with blue lights that looked that it was ripped from a sci-fi movie.
The retrieval team attached smaller air tools to the hoses and unhooked the sphere or as it was known by "the Cranium". The 'Cranium' is the device that holds Phoenix's consciousness. It was composed of the most advanced quantum computers humanity had to offer, as well as technology from recover cybertronians and the mysterious technology from the spacecraft on Macross Island. The deck crew hooked the cranium to another harness and brought to the catwalk where more crew set brought the device to a table covered in computers and unhooked it from the harness.
Lang hooked up the mixture of technologies to a group of computers. The screens flashed to life, data streaming across it. Eventually, it took the shape of a human brain. He began typing on the keyboard instructions to look for the memories of Jack. As well running a diagnostic.
"I'm still a little confused about something," Rick said.
"Oh? Go ahead, shoot." Lang replied.
Rick put his two pointer fingers together and apart before he held his hands out in confusion. "Are Phoenix and Jack like two separate personalities or what?"
Emil shook his head. "Phoenix and Jack are the same personality, the memories are just missing."
"I've read the file on Jack and he's not like Phoenix," Roy added.
Lang sighed. "You have to realize that Jack was raised just like any other teenage boy, Phoenix is what jack would be if he had joined the military."
"Ah, okay, but what had caused his memory loss?" Rick continued his questioning.
Lang held up a finger. "Memory loss is a misnomer in this case. It's more like memory repression. Right now there is a mental wall blocking his memories. What we believed happened was that his mind couldn't handle the transfer from the biological brain he was into the technological one. So, to protect his consciousness it locked his memories and personality in a box. Over time they've been leaking through. We're hoping to break through all the way eventually."
"Speaking of which, what's his progress?" Captain Gloval appeared beside Dr. Lang.
True to their military training, both Rick and Roy entered a salute.
"At ease." Ordered the captain.
Lang greeted, "Hello, Captain."
"Hello, Lang." Gloval nodded.
"As far as progress, we made some steps today. I can confirm more memories have surfaced."
"It seems your theory was right." Commented the naval veteran.
"Yes, the more he's exposed to people, things, or events of his past. The more that mental barrier is broken. I suggest that we have him become more involved with the Autobots. That way the barrier can be torn down completely." Lang suggested.
"Isn't there a danger to doing that?" Gloval asked.
The doctor rubbed his chin in thought as he looked at the results on the computers. "Everything has a risk, but yes. As evidenced by the incident at Darkmount, the memories could come through too strongly and the portions of Jack that come with them could be damaged. Look here."
Gloval looked at the screen. It showed a 3D model of Phoenix's neural network. It was code that circled in rings that went in every direction. The entire thing was shaped in a multilayered sphere that was colored azure. Orange streaks of code shot through and across the layers. Coming to the top layer and going back down in loops. However, some loops and rings ended in burning red.
"The blue lines are all his basic coding, his current memories, and downloaded information," Lang explained. "The lines of orange are his thought processes as they access his memory and coding. The red ends are damaged pathways, fractured memories, and corrupted data."
Gloval looked at the damage in shock. There wasn't a lot but it was enough to be concerned about. "One small memory caused all this?"
"Well," Lang dragged the word, "It was one small memory, yes, but it seems that attached to the memory was a bunch of emotions from a bunch of experiences that were similar to what happened the other day. This Arcee figure in danger and Jack being helpless.
"Except for this time," Roy added.
"Except for this time."
The Captain hummed in thought. "I want you to lay it out for me. What exactly are the risks of having Phoenix work with the Autobots?"
"At best, Phoenix will regain his memories and suffer from an identity crisis which can be helped with proper therapy." Lang looked pointedly at gloval. "At worst, the memories and thus Jack can't handle the existing in a digital format and break down. Completely destroying his pathways going into a coma or going psychopathically insane and Judgement Day happens."
"What?!" Exclaimed the captain. "You expect me to send him to the Autobots knowing that."
Lang held his hands in supplication. "To be honest, the odds of the latter happening are pretty slim. Especially if we make sure to keep him properly maintenance. Permanent loss of memory is more likely, though still slim. However, expect more episodes like today."
"Oh?"
"Well, it depends on the strength of the memory but there may be a chance when he remembers it may become his only thought. Like today when he remembered Arcee. He would've gone no matter what you did."
"I know," Gloval stated with a frown.
"What I thought," Lang smirked before starting to type into the computers. "Now, give me space, I've got to start repairing these pathways."
Gloval nodded. "When you're done and put him back in, notify me I need to have a talk with him. Tell him we're going home. We're picking up the manned veritech fighters for Skull squadron and Lieutenant Rick will finally have reason to be called Vermilion leader."
Rick looked flabbergasted and Roy smiled, but both kept their mouths shut respectfully.
Lang had to stifle a laugh. "I'll tell him."
Gloval turned around and left. The brothers took off to the quarters arguing about Rick getting subordinates. Lang shook his head and continued his work. Ever since they had uploaded Jack's mind into the VF-0, the creation of manned veritechs took off. They planned on syncing the mind with the machine so the pilot could better man the guardian and battloid forms. Unfortunately, they had issues creating the device. Phoenix had allowed them to backtrack from a full-dive like Phoenix was to a half-dive. It was like the difference between virtual reality and augmented reality.
They still had to do a test run to see if the machines work outside the simulators.
New Autobot HQ, Nevada
August 5th, 2014 1941 hours
"Are you sure, absolutely sure that he sounded like Jack?" Ratchet asked.
Arcee slammed her fist against the wall. "He didn't sound like him, he is jack. I'm sure of it!"
Optimus held up a reassuring hand. "Calm down Arcee."
After the Battle of Darkmount, the Autobots received a new headquarters in one of the human air force bases. Agent Fowler had given thanks to the Autobots on behalf of a lot of important people. While it was nothing like their original base but it still felt like home. It would feel closer to home if Jack was here and that's what Arcee was trying to do. For the past few hours, she's been reciting her encounter and trying to convince them that Phoenix was Jack. So far, it hasn't been working to her advantage.
"I can't calm down, I have to go get Jack!" The femme shouted.
Bulkhead thudded over. "I don't mean to be like this but… Jack's dead."
Arcee incinerated the larger 'bot with her stare. "Then why did he use Jack's voice."
Fowler held his hands in uncertainty. "Maybe it just… ended up like his."
Arcee countered. "No way had it just ended up like his, out of the Seven billion people on this planet."
"Lucky chance?" Smokescreen added in, to which Arcee glared in response.
"Arcee," Optimus butted in. "Could you speak with me in private?"
Arcee nodded and followed Optimus as he led her outside and into one of the other warehouses.
"What is it you wanted to talk about, sir?" Arcee crossed her arms.
"One thing I'd like you to know before I ask. You can answer as honest as you want to. Whatever you say will stay between us." Optimus said with a soft voice.
"Of course." Arcee rubbed her arms.
"Now, how do you know that Phoenix is Jack?"
"I…" She hesitated. "I don't know how. I just… you know that feeling when you know something with every fiber of your being?"
"I do."
"It's like that. I have no idea how but I'm sure that Phoenix is Jack."
Optimus looked at her for a few seconds, pondering. Arcee saw empathy in his eyes.
"I'll talk to Agent Fowler. There may be something he can find out or get into direct contact with these… SMS." He declared.
Arcee's eyes widened. "Thank You. Why…Why are you doing this?"
"I've been in your situation before and know how you feel." He said a note of sadness in his voice. "We should be getting back."
Arcee nodded. "Of course."
As superior and subordinate returned to the others, Arcee was filled with new hope. She planned on getting Jack back, even if it meant marching through both the Decepticon armada and the SMS.
Macross Island, located off the coast of Hawaii
August 9, 2014, 0921
The NUNS Samuels had pulled in at the Macross port sometime last night. Macross Island was a small piece of land that was only able to hold a single city, which it did. The city of Macross and in the middle of it sat a city-sized spaceship. The ship was covered in scaffolding and was still under construction. Several years ago an alien spaceship crash-landed on Macross Island. The ship was discovered and the SMS was tasked with repairing since then it was dubbed the SDF-1. Then for six years the ship was rebuilt and modified with a combination of human, cybertronian and the technology they found on the ship. The technology was named Robotech and as a fact was the same technology used to make Phoenix.
Said veritech was currently helping with the construction, right now, as a kind of punishment for him disobeying orders. He helped with the heavy lifting, carrying steel plates, lining them up and holding them still as they were fixed into place. There wasn't a lot for the once-human to do and besides the workers were interesting company. Phoenix stepped back from holding a steel plate in place. He turned to grab another but at the fence separating the city and the construction was a teenage girl in a yellow dress and blue jacket with a wide sun hat. She had dark blue hair with _ eyes and was of Japanese descent. Beside her was Rick and both of them were waving.
"Hey guys, I'll be right back." Phoenix notified the others, speaking through his newly installed speakers.
The head construction worker nodded. "Don't take too long."
Phoenix walked over to where to the fence and crouched by the humans. "How ya doing?"
The girl – Minmei – smiled. "I'm doing good. How about you?"
"Oh, just working." The mech jerked a thumb towards the construction.
Ricked piped up. "I'm surprised that you're here. When you're off duty it's all but impossible to wake you up."
If Phoenix could glare he would. "Gloval assigned me as punishment for what happened at Darkmount. Anyways, what are you two doing here?"
Minmei shifted her weight. "Oh, I was just wondering if we're gonna do our movie night."
Phoenix nodded. "Wouldn't miss it. What about you, Rick?"
"Command sent me down to tell you they want you to help with the test run of the new VF-1J's. Also to help break in the newbies. They're waiting for you at the airbase" He folded his hands behind his head.
The Japanese girl put a finger in her chin. "That's right you're getting subordinates today aren't you?"
The lieutenant scoffed. "Don't remind me."
"Speaking of which, how do you feel about that?" Phoenix asked
Rick shrugged. "I'm more open to the idea than I was a few days ago."
Phoenix hummed. "Well, tell Lisa I'm on my way."
The two turned and walked away. Phoenix stood up and turned to the workers.
"I've gotta go, the military calls!" Phoenix shouted.
They waved goodbye as Phoenix entered guardian mode and ascended into the sky. Once he was well above the buildings, he changed into fighter mode and he made his way to the airbase. The veritech circled the base to get an aerial view. Several Vf-1J's were lined up as flight crews worked on them. Many of the advanced fighters had Skull squadron paint jobs. Only four of them had oddball paint jobs, one was primarily blue with white stripes, the other had a beige design. The other two he recognized, the Skull leader design and the red stripe design.
OBJECTIVE LOCATION REACHED
LINING UP FOR LANDING
ACTIVATING EDI PROGRAM
Macross Air Force Base, Macross Island
August 9, 2014, 0929 hours
"I'm old enough to rock n roll"
"I'm old enough"
Roy sighed. "There he goes again."
One of the subordinates that were sitting next him asked. "Who?"
The one who spoke was Max Sterling. He a bit small compared to some of the other pilots here, but he was taller than Rick. He had on a white and blue flight suit with his helmet on the ground. Max had blue hair and wireframe glasses covering his green eyes. Ben Dixon was the other subordinate, and he had some muscle mass. He had brown hair and brown eyes. His suit was white and beige. Ben was usually boisterous where Max was humble.
Roy ran his hand through his hair. "Oh, just Phoenix. He can be a little bit of a show-off."
As if to prove Roy's point, Phoenix did a fly-by over their heads. He turned sharply and lined himself with the runway. He shifted into guardian mode and stuck his legs forward to slow down. The feet scraped against the ground until they were solid on it. The engines were cut and Phoenix turned right and inertia still carried him the same direction. Battloid mode was activated and he slammed his hand against the ground, stopping right in front of the humans. The runway had a few scrape marks but was relatively unscathed. The runway was also modded to handle mechs.
Phoenix stood up as the music cut. "How was it?"
"Some fireworks, a little smoke, but otherwise not bad," Roy commented. "Meet Rick's subordinates, your new wingmen."
Max walked up. "Hi, I'm Max Sterling. I must say it's an honor to meet you. I would shake your hand but…"
Phoenix laughed. "It's a pleasure."
Skull leader slapped the bluehead on the shoulder. "This kid sure is something. He passed that Mecha Combat course you made with a solid 100%."
The rookie rubbed his head. "Yeah, it was slightly difficult."
"Slightly difficult? I was shot down in the first three minutes. How in the hell did you make that?" Ben exclaimed in disbelief.
"Anime," Phoenix said straight.
Ben just stared in more disbelief.
Phoenix held up a hand. "Ok. More like various works of fiction. I went on a beige awhile back watching various movies and shows and other entertainment related to Mecha and robots. After I had observed them I created that simulator to learn how to do Mecha Combat."
"What can't you just use normal dogfighting skills with veritechs," Ben asked.
Roy answered. "You can but in the simulator, I noticed it was kinda ineffective. Mecha Combat is an odd combination of dogfighting skills and ground combat skills. It's hard to explain but it's effective against both air and ground units. It is a rather complicated style but handy."
Ben gestured to Roy. "What did you get?"
"I only got a 61." The ace answered.
"What about Rick?"
"59."
"Speaking of which, where is our squad leader?" Max asked.
"Right here!" Rick shouted as he drifted the military jeep in beside them. He hopped out. "Sorry, I'm late. The taxi stayed five below the speed limit."
"Well, we're late for our test flight. You can make your introductions in the sky. Let's go." Roy rushed everyone to the jets.
Phoenix took off as he had at the construction site. It took some time for both squadrons to take off especially in the case of Skull squadron was a ten-pilot unit. Vermilion was only three but that totaled to thirteen jets. After they finished taking off, Phoenix pulled up in between Roy and Rick who was heading a V-formation. The group did some basic maneuvers, turns, rolls, and the like, getting them used to the new fighters.
" These things handle like a dream but how would these handle in combat." Roy noted
"We have the live combat simulator. We could use that?" Phoenix asked.
"Live combat sim?" Ben asked.
Phoenix affirmed. "Yeah works kinda like laser tag. You get hit and your jet will enter autopilot and land you at the airbase. What do ya think?"
He heard a unanimous agreement but Rick had an issue. "Who's gonna be the enemy or are we gonna teams?"
Max piped up. "Well, we're comparing the VF-1J's to Phoenix's VTF-0, right? So it makes that we fight him."
Roy agreed, "Max's logic is sound. Well, Phoenix?"
"Thirteen against one? Not fair, but I'm game." Phoenix hit the afterburners and disappeared from their sight.
LOCATING LIVE COMBAT SIMULATOR…
FOUND
LOCATION: (SMS/SIMS/IRL/LIVE COMBAT SIM)
DOWNLOADING...
…
DOWNLOAD COMPLETE
RUNNING SIM
SIM LOADOUT DISTRIBUTED TO ALL UNITS
1 X ENERGON PULSE CARBINE/3,200 AHEAD ROUNDS/2 X SPARE CARBINE MAGAZINES
12 X SEMRAAM (SYNTHETIC ENERGON MEDIUM RANGE AIR-TO-AIR MISSLES)
24 X SESRAAM MICRO-MISSILES (SYNTHETIC ENERGON SHORT RANGE AIR-TO-AIR MISSLES)
2 X FAST PACK ADDITIONAL FUEL SYSTEMS
ACTIVATING PROTOCOL EDI
"put on your war paint"
"you are a big-time Juliet"
"striking me down"
"light a match and burn me to the ground"
Phoenix chose his 'theme song' as his fellow wingmen call it. Protocol EDI is just more than theme music, it jams the enemy's radios on all channels and throws them into chaos. However, since this was allied radios he kept to a few channels. Once he felt he was out of sight he pulled a wide loop de loop hoping to come down from above Phoenix made sure to use his shadow device to disappear from their sensors, but they did the same. At this point he was coming right down on them, all he needed to use was some math and he'd be in the prime attack position. However, the veritech had performed the maneuver in a cloud.
Phoenix continued his maneuver and primed his 'weapons'. The sim worked on radio signals between the fighters and projects the line of fire for the Gunpods, and missiles. It also shows their projectile paths on the HUDS making as life-like as possible. The sim breaks in the fighters and tests out the skills of the two rookies. He came out of the cloud and as he had predicted they were still in formation. Phoenix locked his Micro-missiles on the most dangerous Rick, Roy and…
'Wait. Where's Max?' He thought.
Phoenix got a missile warning and he pulled out of the dive and into some hardcore evasive maneuvers. The best thing about not being a fleshie, don't have to worry about the g-forces. Max flew by before he entered battloid mode and fired a burst from his Gunpod. Phoenix barrel-rolled avoiding the sim rounds, then transformed into battloid and fired at Max. The two combatants circled around each other, firing round after round including the occasional missile at each other. The battle didn't last long as the rest of the V-formation joined in on the fight. Phoenix fired a wide swarm of Micro-missiles. Micro-missiles are missiles that launch twenty smaller missiles. The barrage took out three jets, they turned and headed for the landing strip.
Phoenix could tell this was gonna be an interesting fight.
SDF-1 Bridge, Macross Island
August 9, 2014, 1049 hours
If the bridge crew wasn't on the Samuels, they were on the SDF-1 manning the bridge, keeping an eye on Phoenix.
"Lisa, what is the status of the test run for the new veritech fighters?" Gloval asked
The Coms-officer fiddled with some switches on her dashboard. "It looks like they're running that Live Combat Sim."
Gloval hummed. "Whose idea was that?"
"Phoenix's, sir."
"What I thought, go ahead and put it up on the main screen. Let's see how our top pilots do against Phoenix." Gloval smirked.
Lisa flipped a switch and the clear glass suddenly became a screen. As information streamed from the fighters and created a 3D model for the bridge crew to view at any angle. The girls exclaimed in amazement as Phoenix and the two squadrons battled it out. Despite being outnumbered, he was holding quite well. It seemed as if his focus was on Roy, rick and a VF with a blue paint scheme. Every time Phoenix went up against that blue fight, they're head-to-head in skill.
"Who's the piloting that blue veritech?" Claudia asked.
Lisa looked at her station. "Max sterling. It says here that he completed the Mecha Combat sim with… a hundred percent."
Sammie exclaimed. "But Phoenix is the only one who managed that."
"Not anymore," Lisa said.
'A rookie who's in his first veritech is matching Phoenix bullet for bullet. This Max is certainly an impressive pilot.' Gloval thought to himself.
"Captain, a call is coming in from our Autobot Watch team." Lisa notified.
"Let me talk to them." He ordered
Lisa nodded and did as she was told.
Gloval picked up the phone beside the captain's chair. "This is Captain Gloval."
"Gloval, This is Agent Smith. We have a problem." A deep male voice spoke.
"Go ahead." The Captain affirmed.
"Agent Fowler is looking into the SMS." Said Smith
Gloval hummed. "Go ahead and confront him, tell him everything. I'm already planning on Phoenix joining Team Prime."
"Yes, sir." Agent Smith hung up.
Gloval set down the phone and folded his hands together and placed his chin on it.
"What is it, sir?" Lisa asked.
"Agent Fowler had been trying to find out about us and since we're going to bring the Autobots into the fold, I've told Smith to tell Fowler first. Bring in our veritechs, land them at the Prometheus. The schedule has been pushed up." The captain declared as he stood up. "Also request Phoenix to find a new paint scheme. We don't need confusion amongst our ranks."
"Understood."
Gloval hit his head on the door on his way out. He rubbed his forehead, cussed in Russian and continued on.
DEACTIVATING PROTOCOL EDI
HALTING SIM…
RECEIVING NEW OBJECTIVES…
RECEIVED
NEW PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:
-RETURN TO PHOENIX NEST
-PREPARE FOR NEXT MISSION
ENTERING COURSE FOR PHOENIX NEST
Autobot HQ, Fowler's office, Nevada
August 9th, 2014 1100 hours
Fowler was sitting in his office with Raf. Raf was currently using his computer to hack into the NUN servers. Fowler hated having the pre-teen boy do this but Optimus had requested the Agent to collect anything he could find about SMS and Phoenix. It was kind of out of nowhere but Fowler did his best. Apparently, his best means absolutely nothing because all he could find was the NUN server, no real information So, Raf is trying his trade and breaking into NUN. Right now they were only three levels in, they still haven't found much.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Raf exclaimed.
Fowler asked. "What's wrong?"
The boy typed furiously. "I just lost connection. I think they cut the hard lines."
"We did." A man in a tuxedo walked in. He had dark hair and wore dark sunglasses. Raf hid behind Fowler
Fowler drew his pistol that was hidden under his desk. "Who the hell are you?"
"Smith. Agent Smith." The agent pulled out a card. "Of the NUN SMS."
Agent Fowler took the card but kept the pistol elevated. It read:
New United Nations
Special Military Service
The Autobot representative handed the card back and holstered the gun back under the table.
Agent Smith pointed to the open chair on the other side of Fowler. "May I sit?"
"Of course," Fowler said tersely.
Smith took the seat and placed his folded hands in his lap. "I'll keep this short and simple."
"I appreciate that."
"Good." The SMS Agent nodded. "The events forced my superiors to reveal their hand early, now due to necessity we are bringing you into the fold
"What fold?" Raf asked nervously
"The fold involving Phoenix and Robotechnology." Agent Smith smirked
Fowler scowled. "You have my interest."
"Good." Smith leaned forward. "I'll start at the beginning. Six years ago, the news reported a meteor crashing on an island in the pacific bringing a US coastal city to ruins."
"I remember that." Fowler stated, "I took part in the cleanup of that city."
"It wasn't a meteor but an alien ship."
"Cybertronian?" Raf asked curiously.
"No. Who though? we're uncertain." Smith shrugged. "I sure you remember the Unification War at that time that came grinding to a halt."
"Yeah, it was considered the greatest act of peace in this century," Raf answered.
"How do you know that? You're like twelve." The agent asked bewildered.
"Thirteen." The boy stated. "And I pay attention in social studies."
"Then you should know that around that time NUN was formed as an effort to bring about world peace." The agent continued. "What was hidden was the real reason the World's governments banded together. They started working together because of the ship that crashed on the island. They realized that humanity was not alone and that there were other races out there that were capable of warships, unlike anything that could be imagined. So, representatives from practically every nation meet on this island. In what was secretly known as the Macross convention which served not only to unite the world under a strong unified power but to discuss the possible alien threat. Of course, the US felt obliged to bring up its alliance with the Autobots."
"Bet that created waves." Fowler chuckled.
Smith nodded. "It did but they had ultimately accepted as a boon. They knew that the Autobots would act as a defense while they prepared. Part of that preparation was the Special Military Services. An organization made of the best of the best of the strongest militaries on the planet. Who dedicate themselves to keep the peace, train to defend the planet, and to rebuilding the crashed ship and learning what they can about its technology. As a result, half a year ago they built a new kind of fighter jet made of human tech, cybertronian tech and tech from the ship which they called robotechnology." Agent smith nodded at the surprise on their faces. "Yes, Phoenix. Now, the superiors I'm representing is offering a merger of our two forces. Team Prime and the SMS, specifically those relating to Phoenix. What do you say?"
"What's in it for your people?" Fowler asked suspiciously.
The agent paused thinking about his words carefully before taking off his glasses showing his blue eyes. "Alright in the spirit of cooperation, I'll be honest. The ship's nearing completion and it won't be long before we go public. Hopefully, by teaming with Prime's unit we will have enough goodwill and we can protect Team Prime from any backlash."
Fowler folded his hands in thought. "I'll have a talk with prime."
The Agent stood, straightened his suit and put on his glasses. "That's fine with me. I'm just the messenger. Phoenix will be here in a little over three days, with my superior. Have your decision ready by then."
Agent Smith left through the front door.
Raf came out from behind Fowler. "I guess we got what Optimus wanted."
Agent fowler nodded. "Close to it, anyway. Let's go to tell Prime."
Fowler stood up and led Raf out to the Autobot base.
Autobot HQ, Nevada
August 12, 2014, 1124 hours
Arcee leaned against the back wall of the base, thinking more than anything. Raf and Miko were at school. Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Smokescreen were lobbing the ball of wrecked steel they salvaged from the old base. As always Bulkhead managed to break something important to Ratchet. Like always, Ratchet got mad. Neither Optimus nor Ultra Magnus was nowhere to be seen. Most likely they were discussing the information that Agent Fowler had brought in. Arcee really didn't care about some ship that crashed. Her only thought was Jack or Phoenix or whatever they call him. Fowler had said that Phoenix and some SMS guys would be here today.
Arcee could faintly hear something in the distance, she walked outside. In the distance, she saw a helicopter. A Blackhawk, she believed.
"You might wanna cut down on the racket." She called out to the bot's inside. "They're here."
Optimus and Ultra Magnus came out of the warehouse next door. The rest of Team Prime walked out as the helicopter made its landing. The side door opened and two men walked out. One was in a lab coat with brown hair and solid black eyes, the other was in a blue captain's uniform. He had black hair and blues eyes with a mustache. The two men walked up fearlessly to the cybertronians.
The captain spoke. "Hello. I'm Captain Gloval of the SMS. This is Dr. Lang, our top mind."
Optimus nodded. "I'm Optimus Prime. May we go inside where we can speak more comfortably?"
"Of course," Gloval replied.
The Autobots went inside and the humans followed. Gloval and Lang climbed the catwalk that the Autobots were gathered around.
Once at the top Gloval spoke. "You must have many questions, but I think we should talk about the elephant in the room: Phoenix."
Unsettlement stirred among the Autobots but Arcee stewed in anger. It was time to see if she was right.
Gloval took off his hat. "First, how do I put this…? Phoenix is Jack but not in the way you think."
"Oh? What do you mean by that?" Arcee hissed.
Optimus gave her a reproachful look.
Gloval sighed. "You know the condition that Jack was in seven months ago. A couple of our agents came to him with an offer. We offered an escape from that. And I use similar words our agents did. The consequences were the loss of his body. And he may have temporary memory loss."
"What the hell do you mean?" Arcee growled.
"It's the side effect of the operation. The removal of his brain and placement inside of a war machine." Lang recited.
"That's messed up." Smokescreen commented
Arcee marched up and pointed her blaster. "So you treated Jack like a lab rat!"
Wheeljack smirked. "Ooh. This just got interesting."
Optimus reached over rested his hand on the blaster, and gently pushed it down. "I only have one question. Did you give Jack a choice?"
"We did. I gave explicit orders that Jack would have a choice." Gloval answered.
"While I may question the morality of it. You gave Jack the choice to accept your offer or not." Optimus stepped back.
Arcee stared at the Autobot leader in disbelief. "You can't just accept that."
Ultra Magnus butted in. "I only know what you all have told me, but what I understand is that the condition he was in was a no survival situation. Even if he lived long enough he'd only received a disease that would kill him."
Arcee growled but reluctantly retracted her blaster.
"There is one more thing you need to know. During the operation he lost his memories, however, they are retrievable. We noticed that if he's exposed to people or events that relate to his memories, they're brought out. We're hoping that being among you may bring all of his memories back."
Arcee's anger cooled down slightly at the idea of bringing jack back. "I'll go along."
Various forms of assent spread among the Autobots.
"There is one last thing to discuss before we can start to answer any more questions," Gloval stated.
(What's that?) Bumblebee asked in his buzzing language.
Lang answered understanding the scout perfectly surprising the Autobots for a few moments, "There is a danger with trying to get Jack's memories to surface. If you are too direct with Phoenix about him being Jack, his memories may come to fast and could cause damage, maybe insanity. You must treat him like you're just meeting him like he's Phoenix, not Jack."
"So, treat him like an absolute stranger. Like he wasn't our partner for over a year." Arcee said sarcastically. "Not a problem."
"I'm sorry, but that's the way it is." Lang apologized. "If we could come up with another way we would, but we can't."
Arcee scoffed.
Gloval nodded in vague awkwardness before stating. "Now you have a few hours before Phoenix gets here. Do you have any other questions?"
Rachet stepped forward. "Your agent said that cybertronian technology was involved with Phoenix's creation. What technologies specifically?"
"We use your Synthetic Energon formula and how to convert Energon into blaster bolts to provide a power source for the VTF-0, thruster fuel, and weapons tech," Lang responded.
"You fools!" The old medic cried. "Synth-En has a nasty side-effect of changing one's mind how do you know it hasn't affected what's left of Jack!"
"Because Synth-en affects only cybertronian minds." Lang countered. "The quantum computer system that houses jack is comprised of human technology and Robotechnology. The only cybertronian technology involved is the psychic cortical patch we built from scratch which is what allows Phoenix to control the VTF-0 mech."
"So, the machine is not really his body?" Smokescreen asked.
"He doesn't really have one, yet."
"What can you tell us about the race that built the crashed ship?" Magnus asked; his military mind analyzing a possible threat.
"Not much." lang answered, "We know next to nothing about their culture except they have a focus on their military and they are highly advanced. First of all, they have faster-than-light capabilities, their computer hardware easily matches Cybertronian computers, and they use energy-based weaponry. They also have a power source we have not yet learned how to recreate."
As the other Autobots continued to ask questions about there soon to be associates, Arcee turned and started walking out the warehouse.
Optimus looked at Arcee with concern. "Will you be alright?"
Arcee lied. "I'll be fine."
Honestly, the femme didn't know if she'll be able to keep a poker face around Phoenix. She could only hope that she could hang in long enough for Jack to remember on his own.
I would like to forewarn you that Macross Rising is gonna have larger scale battles like in the Bayformer movies, than the small skirmishes that happened on the show. Though the style will be in more of the shows. AKA no unnecessary explosions.
songs:
I'm old enough to rock n roll - Rainey Haynes - iron eagle soundtrack
The phoenix - fall out boy