Third Lieutenant Roy Hunter of the United Nations Spacy sits on the synthetic polymer seat of the Stonewell Bellcom VFA-6 Alpha veritech fighter. The veritech combat aviator trainee looks at the flight and engine instruments, making sure nothing happened at the last second that would require the lieutenant to abort this deep space training exercise.
His heart beats a little faster. He had trained for weeks under the supervision of Commander Arihiso Hamato, getting used to the fighter, guardian, and battloid modes. He had even done this exercise virtually three times.
He looks around the flight deck, a large chamber, with the far end open to the vacuum of space.
"These controls," Commander Hamato said to him and the rest of the veritech aviator trainees, "the systems, the robotechnology- they don't care about your religious beliefs, your skin color, your eye shape, what world you're from, or your parentage. What matters is how well you use these robotech machines. If I feel you can not live up to these standards, I will fail you. Do you understand?"
"Sir, aye aye, sir!" Hunter and the others snapped.
"Greenhorn Six, you are cleared for takeoff," says the air boss.
"This is Greenhorn Six, taking off," says Lieutenant Hunter, after glancing at his instruments one last time.
He pushes the throttle and the Alpha's engines push out exhaust. The veritech machine flies out of the flight deck of the Ikazuchi-class carrier U.E.S. Anatole Leonard. He looks around and sees the moon Tirol above him, and the huge gas giant planet Fantoma below him.
Inside a command center on board, among all the consoles and blinking lights, Commander Hamato listens.
"Greenhorn Five is taking off," a female voice says.
Hamato glances at the controller and his cadre staff. The Spacy commander is under great pressure to not just teach these new officers how to fly veritechs, but how to fly them exceptionally well. It is hard for the head veritech flight instructor for the United Nations Spacy to believe it had been nearly been a decade since the Robotech Wars ended.
"They are approaching the debris field," says a technician sitting at a console.
Hunter takes a look at the various irregular shapes orbiting around the moon. This twisted pieces of robotechnology had been left over from a huge battle between two interstellar powers known as the Robotech Masters and the Invid Regency, about a decade before he had been born.
One important skill in space combat aviation was maneuvering around obstacles in space, from asteroids to space debris. Tirol is far from the only place in the Milky Way Galaxy where pieces of starship hulls orbit around.
He glances to his right, seeing a green Alpha veritech in its fighter mode. He knows that Third Lieutenant Hyun Seuk is in the cockpit.
"We are approaching the debris field," she says. "ETA ten seconds."
"Confirmed," says a technician aboard the Leonard.
Commander Hamato listens carefully. He recalls having to fly through these floating space graveyards, often while dodging enemy missiles and particle beams. He looks at the holographic screen, seeing the two blips as they approach the larger images represented large fragments of what used to be space vessels and space habitats.
Lieutenant Hunter holds the control stick. He had practiced this in the sims.
He takes a deep breath.
He moves the stick to the left, causing the vernier thrusters to burn, causing the robotech war machine to move to the left.
It is only four klicks before we emerge.
He once again maneuvers to avoid a piece of twisted piece of starship hull about thirty meters wide.
"Look out!" yells Lieutenant Seuk.
Both Lieutenant Hunter in his veritech, and Commander Hamato on board the Leonard, instantly react upon hearing this.
The two veritechs collide.
Hunter looks and sees the other veritech crash against a one hundred meter wide piece of debris and explode.
And then he feels something hit him hard, rattling his very core!