[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/bRHyVHF.jpg[/img][/center][color=lime][sub]SDF-1 Hangar 0900 Hours
February 21 2009
5th Special Operations Team: "Fox" Squadron[/sub][/color]

Today was the day. Those four words stirred no small amount of excitement in almost everyone on Macross Island- the small island city built around the SDF-1 that had spent the better part of the last 10 years working to restore the alien craft, or to support those who were doing the restoring. A decade of hard work finally complete and the city was nearly electric with excitement. The SDF-1 was one part warship, one part symbol or the world's ability to unite and take a great step forward together. While there was still a small number of notable dissidents who combated the new way of the world- and stood against the unification of the world's nation, but for the most part all eyes were on the SDF-1 as they prepared for humanities next step.

No matter how everyone viewed the SDF-1, it was still at its core- a warship. Not the first spacefaring vessel the world had invented, and surely not the last- but it was by far the largest and most powerful. While the SDF-1 was definitely a symbol for the people of Earth, its crew had no doubts that they had a bigger purpose than just to make a show. There were whispers and talk of top secret reports- but everyone assumed that they were heading into space looking for a fight- why else would the ship be packed to the gills with weapons and fighters. It was rumored that the lost contact with Mars and several colonies were not just a case of communications gone silent, but the Mars colonies revolting and seceding from earth. 

The truth of those rumors were unknown, but the ship had been rapidly staffed and the crew had been conducting wargames for the better part of two months now. Though the rigors of those military exercises had already worn off for some- the majority of the ship's crew had been given a week leave the week before the launch. As a result, everyone was in relatively high spirits just coming off a week long vacation of merrymaking on Macross Island. The city itself was also in a state of festivities- the launch of the SDF-1 was cause for celebration and the streets were filled with noise and laughter, and anyone wearing the colors of the SDF-1 were often given generous discounts or even freebies. 

McKnight breathed out an audible sigh. The past week had indeed been a fun one, but now it was over and here they were, getting ready for launch. The SDF-1's maiden voyage- a trip to the lunar base to meet up with the rest of the fleet. From there they'd probably fly to Mars in force. Might as well give the military [i]something[/i] to do- all these resources built up building the ship and fighting off the now practically defunct Anti-Unification League had left the RDF with a lot of military personnel and hardware, and not a lot to do with it.

The hangar itself was a mess of activity- mechanics and technicians ran back and forth- some on bit auto-loaders moving military hardware. Throughout the hangar men in the drab olive green flight suits of the RDF Airwing crowded together by squadrons. Some stood in a highly regulated military line, with their squadron leader walking up and down like a peacock, other squadrons- like Fox- had pulled together a handful of crates and sat or stood in a rough circle chatting up their past week.

"Right then." The cockney accented squadron leader murmured to himself. Samuel leaned against a nearby crate, pouring over a clipboard in his hands- occasionally popping his eyes up to look at the pilots gathered in front of him. Like an old schoolteacher marking attendance, he'd flip to a dossier, match a name and photo to a pilot sitting on a crate, make a mental checkmark and move onto the next. While most of the squadron was old faces, he had a few new ones due to show up. 

Newbies were always a mixed bag- some of them were just new to the squadron and had some experience under their belt- others were green as grass and fresh out of flight school. Some of the pilots loved to haze newcomers, others just wanted to see who they were getting and if any babysitting was going to be needed. Samuel generally placed himself in the latter camp. Fox Squadron- while composed of mostly high performing pilots wasn't all that different from other fighter squadrons, they just had a different set of rules to abide by.