Amidst the blue skies, a link from past to future.
The sheltering wings of the protector...

Chapter One: Friendly Competition
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Okay, John, explain this to me again…"

The skies over the colony world of Sweetwater were as clear and beautiful as a cut sapphire. Rock formations dotted the arid landscape, as well as several impact craters from an asteroid shower that had long since passed into history. The only thing breaking the serenity of the area was the thunder of turbine engines. In the sky, a pair of VF-1X-Plus Enhanced Valkyries sliced through the open air.

"It's just a mock dogfight, Tommy. Relax! Remember what I told you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't panic and don't forget I'm in a Valkyrie. I got it, I got it!"

"Good. Well, let's do this. Break formation and come back around."

"Roger that." The two U.N. Spacy aircraft rolled knife-edge and broke away from each other. They circled around until they were coming towards each other, but one at a slightly higher altitude than the other. As they passed, John made the call.

"We're merged, fight's on."

"Roger that, fight's on." Tommy immediately made a hard vertical climb, trying to gain a height advantage.

"The old loop-de-loop trick? C'mon, Tommy, give me some credit!" John's aircraft converted to GERWALK mode, pulled into a hover, then spun around with its nose pointed right up at Tommy.

"Oh, no! Uh…flares, flares!!" Tommy hit a button, and his Valkyrie released a few flares to interfere with John's targeting system.

"Darn it…not bad, buddy. Here I come!" Converting back to fighter mode, John's aircraft chased after Tommy's. Every time Tommy tried to break away, John was still on his tail.

"…Jeez…I'm just not good enough to get away from him…!", thought Tommy dejectedly. Suddenly, an idea formed in his head. Tommy rolled his fighter 180 degrees, his lift vector pointing right at the ground. He made a hard break for the ground, shattering the sound barrier.

"Whoa! Where the heck are you going?!", cried John.

"Getting a little closer to Mother Nature, that's all."

"Yeah, and if you're not careful you're going to be splattered all over Mother Nature's face along with your bird!!"

Tommy leveled out after nearly reaching the ground, and switched to GERWALK mode.

"All right, Tommy, I warned you…!" John dived for the deck after Tommy, also going to GERWALK.

"Catch me if you can, old pal!", said Tommy as he ducked into an area between several rock formations. The GERWALK mode, which operated in a similar manner to a helicopter, was perfect for such tight areas.

"Tommy, I am going to hand you your head!!", said John, unable to suppress a small chuckle. His fighter pulled into the area and hovered after Tommy.

"All righty…if I position myself right here, I'll be ready for him." Tommy hovered his fighter right by a rock face. "He should pop right through that notch…and then he's mine…!"

Suddenly, an alarm rang out in his cockpit.

"Wha…lock warning?!"

"Surprise, buddy!" John's fighter had come around the side of the rock instead of the through the notch. He was right on Tommy; there was no escape.

"Locked on, missiles away!!" The mock missile signals were transferred to Tommy's fighter, sounding the kill alarm in his cockpit. Tommy sighed dejectedly.

"…And I thought I had it that time…I really did…!"

Meanwhile, in a house several miles from the local airbase…

"Whew…that was a good nap. Haven't slept that well in…oh, God, I'm almost late for work!!"

The green-haired woman quickly got out of bed and rushed to get herself presentable.

"Okay, where's my gloves…better skip breakfast…c'mon, get ON, you silly…WHOOPS! AAAAAHHHH!! Oww…that really hurt…!" Eventually, she was ready, still rubbing her forehead. She had to run to catch the transport as it was leaving her home.

"Wait!!! Don't leave me…!!!!" Luckily, it stopped and she was able to get on.

"Sorry about that…sorry, sorry…!" She took her seat and groaned to herself.

"Damn, Kina, that's the third time in a row you nearly missed the transport!", said the woman next to her.

"Please don't remind me, Aivea; I feel bad enough as it is. Say, do I have a mark on my forehead?"

"Uh…nope, I don't see anything."

Kina smiled a little. "Whew. I fell trying to get ready in time. I feel like such a klutz."

"Oh, come on, don't say that."

"I know, I know…I AM a klutz…"

After a bit, the transport stopped at the base. As Kina got off, she stumbled on the step a little.

"Whoa! I'm okay, I've got it, I'm okay!" She sighed as she followed the other workers. As they were going in, the sound of jet engines could be heard.

"Hey, what's that?", asked Kina.

"Must be a couple of Valkyries coming in; they've got a squadron or three here," replied Aivea.

"Oh. Y'know, I've never actually seen one of those up close."

"Huh. Really? Ooh, hey, c'mon, we're gonna fall behind." The two women headed inside.

A few minutes later, Tommy and John were back on land.

"Man…I still don't have it down!", grumbled Tommy as he took a sip of his beer.

"Don't let it get you down, Tommy. You've…got your whole career ahead of you. You'll improve!", said John with a slight slur.

"Ugh…that's what you always say, John! I haven't gotten any better since basic pilot training!"

"Oh, please, give yourself SOME credit. You had the right idea with that…deck dive and going to GERWALK mode, you just didn't follow it through right. You're getting better, man. You just…aren't seeing it."

"Yeah, that's true. So, what's on the agenda for tonight?"

"Tonight, we're going to scout out the loading area and find you a girl."

"Man, don't you think about anything else?"

"…No, not really. Anyway…a friend of a friend told me that there were some single girls down there. We'll look around, pick one out, and then…you'll ask them out when they're on break…which is in 2 hours and 43 minutes exactly, by the way…"

Tommy groaned. "For the love of…all right, but please be SOBER when that time comes. You know what happened last time…!"

"Okay, so I had a little too much to drink that time, sue me. Just have…faith in me, okay?"

"…John, you're really something."

"You'd better…believe it."

"…But I don't know exactly what," thought Tommy.