Starscream cursed as the sleek fighter raced across the sky, desperately trying to get ahead of his pursuers. As the product of Cybertronian technology this should have been easy, but impossibly the wing of four fighters were keeping pace with him. "How is this possible?" Starscream asked himself, the metallic voice echoing in his cockpit. Seeing no other choice he banked left, arching around to face his pursuers. Twin lasers pulsed, blasting at them but with remarkable agility the fighters scattered, dodging. 'Things were going so well, too,' Starscream thought bitterly. A human collaborator had contacted him secretly, offering new technology to use against Megatron, and so he had ventured out to this waste to obtain it. 'Right into a trap,' he added bitterly. The fighters bobbed and weaved across the blue, streams of tracer fire aching dangerously close to his wings, some kind of high density projectiles. Starscream returned fire, but they were like ghosts, far faster and maneuverable than any human fighter he had faced, possibly even a match for his old friend Skyfire. 'The Autobots,' Starscream thought to himself furiously, 'they did this, gave our technology to these Micronian worms...' With a thought Starscream transformed, modular segments of his body shifting around to take on his robot mode. The humanoid robot body gave him full access to his weapons and allowing him to hover and easily pick the enemy force off. He brought his arms up, the slim cannons mounted on each ready then froze in shock at what he saw. "No," was all Starscream could manage. The cockpit and nose cone of the human fighter shifted downward as the central body slid apart, segments moving to predetermined places. The powerful rocket engines pointed down from each foot, the humanoid figure cradling a heavy looking rifle aimed directly at Starscream, the other three fighters following suit. "This is Izzy Randal of the Robotech Defense force," the voice came over a Decepticon frequency, "normally I'd offer you the chance to surrender or die." 'We can communicate,' Starscream thought wildly as the human piloted robots moved to bracket him, 'I can bargain with them, maybe get out of....' "But today we're not taking prisoners," Izzy finished coldly as all four of them opened fire, high density projectiles tearing through alien armor. ******************** The four fighters gracefully landed on the deserted airfield, once the home to some of the United States darkest black projects. Now it was home to a initiative prompted by desperate necessity, a project looking for a way for humanity to enter into a war for their very survival. The cockpit of the lead fighter, a sleek craft edged in green, popped open as a young woman climbed out, her lieutenant's bars still shiny on her collar. She walked to the woman standing on the edge of the field and saluted, "Commander Hayes." Lisa Hayes returned the salute, her long brown hair flowing over her uniform. "Welcome back Izzy," she said, "how did it go?" "Scratch one Decepticon," Izzy flashed a dangerous smile, taking off her curved helm, the visor clipped back. "He's flaming wreckage over Nevada," she finished, her own dark red hair falling into her eyes. "The Admiral will be glad to hear that," Lisa said as the fighters were rolled into the hangers, powerful motors lowering the specially built bunkers into the earth itself. She lead the way through a rocky outcropping, disguising the elevator down as she continued, "I think Dr. Lang would have liked another subject, but...." "Sorry," Izzy said, though she didn't sound too repentant. "I'm just glad we didn't lose any pilots," Lisa noted, swiping a card to grant them access to the highest security areas of the base. There was a soft thump when they hit bottom, the doors opening to reveal the research center at Area 51. A partially reassembled Decepticon fighter hung in a latticework of cables and supports, scientists crawling over it as they studied the technology, the robot's heavy guns laying on the floor beside it. Components were scattered about, diagrams of various devices pegged up around the work area as they strode by. "It still unnerves me, seeing Skywarp hanging there," Izzy conceded quietly. "I suppose we're lucky to have him at all," Lisa noted as they walked up a set of metal stairs, "if a recovery team hadn't found him or if the Autobots hadn't managed to clip him earlier, we'd still be just spinning our wheels." They passed a tall, blonde haired officer, a lieutenant senior grade. "Well done," Roy Fokker murmured, "the rumors are already flying." "Don't worry," Izzy paused long enough to give him a grin, "you'll be getting your chance to get the Transformers soon enough." "You're just lucky they drew your name out of the volunteer hat first," a grinning Roy shot back as the dashing blonde moved on. "You don't want to keep him waiting," Hayes put a bit of bite into her words and Izzy sheepishly jumped to it. "Sorry, ma'am," she said respectfully as they reached a door with a guard stationed outside. Izzy and Lisa were ushered through quickly, soon standing in front of a battered desk and the gray haired man behind it. Henry Gloval was almost a legend, one of the last submarine commanders before the arrival of Transformers changed everything. His cap shaded his eyes, the uniform he wore over his slim but muscular body suiting him well. In his forties Gloval was the old man of the division, but he easily commanded the respect of his people. "Lieutenant junior grade. Izzy Randal, reporting," she said, throwing a crisp salute, back straight and her uniform neat. "At ease," Gloval rumbled. He studied her thoughtfully before continuing, "Congratulations, Lieutenant, on a successful mission." Izzy let herself relax just a bit. "I hope Dr. Lang and his team can get useful data out of our flight recorders," she said, "and compare our performance against Starscream's." "I'm sure Lang is jumping for joy," Gloval murmured. Lisa Hayes had moved to one side, taking a seat nearby one of two data terminals. As she was logging on she looked up at Izzy, "I wanted to get your impressions of flying one of the new Valkyries, the other pilots are also being debriefed now." "Impressions, right," Izzy took a breath. Quietly she ran through details of the launch, the practice maneuvers out over the desert then the confrontation with Starscream, touching on the control responses, maneuverability and other issues. "Very nice," Gloval nodded. He looked at her thoughtfully a few moments, "Production of the VF-1A, our production model, will be beginning soon. Would you object to being assigned to other units to assist in training as we deploy them?" Izzy felt a flash of eagerness, "As long as I get to keep shooting down Transformers, sir." "I notice you don't say Decepticons," Lisa said mildly, "you know that the Autobots are considered our allies, Lieutenant." Izzy clenched her jaw slightly. "I'm not sure that's realistic ma'am," she answered cautiously, "the Autobots have done as much damage to humanity as the Decepticons, really." There was a flash of something darker in her eyes, "And innocents are caught in the crossfire." Gloval studied her with eyes that were far too perceptive than Izzy would have wanted. "I'm aware of your past," he finally said, "but don't let it overly influence you, Lieutenant. I'd hate to see a capable young officer stall her career. Dismissed." "Sir," Izzy saluted stiffly then left in perfect military style. After a few moments Lisa sighed, "She's not exactly wrong, sir." Gloval nodded glumly but continued, "She's occasionally a little blind, Commander." He sighed, "Not to mention her personal loss...." Back in her quarters the underground station Izzy angrily kicked a pillow, wishing there was something more substantial in the little room she could knock around. "Damn it, damn it damn it!" she muttered, "I can't believe I shot my mouth off like that!" Izzy picked up the pillow and tossed it on her bunk, flopping down to sit on the edge of the bed. As she let herself relax she sudden seemed less like an officer and more like a tired, stressed young woman in her twenties. She rubbed her face with her hands, her eyes tending to a photo that sat on the dresser nearby. Two women stood there in casual clothes, laughing as they hugged. Izzy looked a little younger than now, her hair longer and dressed in T-shirt and shorts. Beside her a older redheaded woman blushed as she was hugged, trying not to spill the two cups of soda she carried, her long pants and T-shirt suiting her tall thin form. "Commander Helena Chase," Izzy murmured softly, remembering. The Commander had almost frightened Izzy on their first meeting, this intense officer with a reputation as a harsh task mistress, and she had expected her tour at that base to be rough at best. But beneath her severe exterior was a goof officer, and as they worked together Izzy had gradually found herself warming to her. Then there was that meeting at an off base club, the slow building of a relationship outside of work, friendship sliding into love. Then it all came to an end. The Decepticons had attacked the area looking for fresh power sources, Starscream leading the team only to be opposed by some of the Autobots. They fought a pitched battle around the base, missiles and weapons firing as the humans crouched in their bunkers helplessly, and at least some of their weapons went badly astray. To this day no one knew who actually fired the shots that hit the command center, turning it into a mass of flaming wreckage, but the facility was a total loss. Frantically digging through the rubble in the aftermath of the battle Izzy prayed for survivors, but in the end it was all in vain. They found the dead body of Commander Chase still at her post, trying to organize the defense along with most of her command team. Izzy had been numb for a while, going through the motions of her life. She was shocked to discover Helena had named her in her will, had left everything to her as well as acknowledged their relationship. She buried her lover with full military honors, feeling odd standing in the role of Helena's wife, even as the other officers offered their sympathies. As the grief wore off it was replaced with something else, a burning rage. Izzy reached out to the photo, holding it as she studied the image sadly. "Don't worry love," Izzy murmured finally, "I haven't even begun making them pay for taking you away from me." End. Author's Notes: the characters of Izzy and Helena are from the Robotech PS2 game Battlecry, though any relationship between them is purely a product of my imagination. The idea that sparked this was simple: why weren't humans trying to get involved with the Transfomers war? This has evolved from a blatant self insert to an almost 'battletech' x-over, but Robotech seemed to be the best fit. The idea of Dr. Lang reverse engineering a Veritech from a fallen Decepticon was spawned by the movie Independence Day as was basing this in Area 51. I don't plan to continue this, but I may be surprised. I expect there will be an Arisugawa's Locket chapter tie in, at least, and if I get enough requests I may fill this out a bit.....
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