It is the year 2005. Somewhere in northern California, a little red biplane bearing the banner of Pop Hunter's Flying Circus soars through the air to the sound of cheers from below. Piloted by the circus owner's son, Rick Hunter, it soon joins a formation with blue and white biplanes, all three deftly maneuvering in such a way as to create an impressive smoke trail pattern in the sky. Soon, this impressive display of aerial acrobatics is joined by a sleek modern fanjet. Old Pop Hunter recognizes the pilot--it's none other than Roy Fokker, recently returned from the war. Roy fires off a quick booster climb, shooting through the biplanes' formation to wild applause.

After the pilots have landed their craft, Rick and Roy are reunited on the ground. Naturally, Rick asks Roy to teach him that maneuver someday. Roy jokingly refuses, telling Rick that if he showed him all his tricks, he'd be obsolete. He then looks up. "Heads up, kid," Roy says, "bogies, two o'clock." Rick is momentarily confused, but then notices a mob of adoring cute girls surrounding the two, all of them armed with posters and pens. "You didn't tell me you'd become a superstar while I was gone," Roy says with a smile as he gladly autographs a poster. "Me?" Rick asks as he does the same. "I think they're here for you."

Roy looks out into the crowd with a glare and spots a familiar face in the back. "You may be right ..." Roy says grimly.

Later, in one of the circus's hangars, Roy has a chat with one of his "admiriers", Admiral Hayes. He assures the admiral he's wasting his time. "When the cease-fire took effect, I resigned my commission, and that means the government--even the new government--has no hold over me. I'm done being a fighter pilot." Hayes tells Roy that he knows what happened six years ago affected him deeply, but it affected everyone. Roy tells Hayes that what he doesn't seem to understand is that he had to watch everyone he served with--the whole squadron--die that day when "that thing" crashed into Macross Island. "I've seen too many people die. Hayes counters that all those men happened to be HIS crew, and that if he hadn't been called away to the Pentagon, he would have gone down with them. "So I think when it comes to survivor guilt, I can give you a run for your money, any day." He tells Roy to listen to him for a bit. "This is new territory for all of us. Before the incident at Macross Island, the world was coming apart at the seams. You remember--there was fighting breaking out all over, so much that you needed a computerized scorecard to keep track ... but recent discoveries at Macross Island changed everything. I'm privy to meetings with some pretty powerful people, and if there's one thing they all have in common, it's fear ... fear of what else is out there. That same fear is what led the world leaders to put aside all that petty fighting and ratify the United Earth Government."

"Okay," Roy says, "so if everyone's getting along just peachy now, why do you need a fighter pilot like me?"

Hayes smiles. "Who said anything about a fighter pilot? You were so eager to rip me a new one, younever let me explain why I'm here." Roy allows him to go ahead. Hayes tells Roy that over the past five years they've had a windfall of scientific breakthroughs, and they're now at the point where they need to start testing some of their new technology. "I need a test pilot, Roy." Roy asks if it's a new fighter plane. "It's not just a plane," Hayes says. "It's like ... nothing anyone has ever imagined before." Roy asks what kind of plane it is, but Hayes tells Roy he can't elaborate on classified matters here. "But you know how to get in touch with me if you're interested." Roy insists he's not going back into service. "Oh, we'll see about that. After all ... I know it's still in your blood."

"You promised."

Roy looks back. Rick was hiding in the shadows and heard the whole thing. Roy insists he hasn't decided anything yet, but Rick knows better. "I don't know if you're lying to me, or to yourself, but you've already decided. That admiral guy was right. It is in your blood. Just remember--you promised my dad you'd stay with the flying circus when the war was over. You promised." At that, Rick runs away, leaving Roy kind of depressed--after all, he realizes that Admiral Hayes and Rick are both right. "I have already made up my mind." He sighs and turns to the fanjet, putting his hand on the plane. "Listen, Rick's really a nice kid. I want you to take good care of him while I'm gone."

Shortly, clad in a United Earth forces flightsuit and flying a Dragon II over the Pacific, Roy mulls over his decision. "Dear Rick," he wrote before leaving, "I hope one day you'll understand why I felt the need to re-up. It's not that I particularly enjoy a lifestyle filled with rules and regulations ... but there's nothing like being at the controls of a machine with such an amazing combination of power and grace. A navy shrink once said I may be an 'adrenaline junkie.' I suppose there are worse things to be accused of. I know you think I broke my promise to you, but I prefer to think of it as delaying the promise. This assignment won't last forever, and when it's over I'll be back to fly beside you. Mark my words. As usual, I'm not allowed to disclose my location, in fact, as of this writing, I don't even know where I'm going! I was just told to fly to a specific set of coordinates, where I'll be relayed my final destination. Wish me luck. I'll write again as soon as I get a chance. Over and out, Roy."

"Control," he says, "this is Fokker. I've followed your heading, but now I need the rest of my coordinates. Over." An attractive but serious-looking young redhead, one Helena Chase appears on his monitor, and gives him orders to fly vector one-zero-nine and maintain that heading until the tower guides him in. "Roger that, control. Any chance I could buy you a drink after touch down?" Roy asks with a smirk. Chase tells him she's stationed at Alaska Base and his signal's being bounced off a satellite for security measures. "Geez," Roy says, "why all the cloak and dagger business?" "We're on a need-to-know basis," Chase says before signing off.

When Roy looks up from the monitor, he realizes that he's been here before. "That's Macross Island! I can't believe I didn't recognize this patch of sea sooner. It looks like my coordinates are going to take me over the island." He figures that's where the alien object must have landed back in 1999. He wonders why he'd be coming all the way out here for test flights. "There's nothing--here." Roy stammers because he notices that he's wrong--in fact, there IS something here. Several somethings, actually, including a massive partially restored starship and sprawling pockets of civilization, none of which was here the last time he was. "SDF-1 control to aircraft on course one-zero-nine, please identify yourself," he hears on his radio. "This is Lieutenant Roy Fokker, clearance one-zero-one," he replies. This is confirmed, and he is ordered to change his heading fourteen degrees north to MacMartin Island, where he is cleared to land on runway one. "Lieutenant Colonel Edwards is looking forward to meeting you," the control officer adds.

Roy lands his plane on the runway, and as he opens his cockpit, he spots a large, tanned, burly man with long white hair and aviator sunglasses. The large man introduces himself as Lieutenant Colonel T.R. Edwards. Fokker salutes, but Edwards tells him to drop it. "No need for all those formatlities in this outfit." Edwards leads Fokker into a nearby hangar, where tarp-covered machinery is being worked on. Roy asks what the machinery is, but Edwards tells him they'll get to that. "So," Edwards asks, "how much grief did Pop Hunter give you for bailing on him ... again?" Roy asks how he knew about that. "We've done our research, Roy. We're not going to entrust this program to just anyone. I've got a full jacket on you. Frankly, you've got an amazing record. 86 enemy kills. Sole survivor of the celebrated Skull Squadron. You were last stationed in Wyoming defending the Ontario Quadrant before you resigned your commission. Did it have anything to do with the ... unfortunate ... luck of your wingmen?"

"With all due respect, sir," Roy snaps back, turning away from Edwards, "I'm a good pilot. I don't get men killed. I'm just ..." Edwards grins as he flashes his dogtags for an entrance scanner. "Relax, Roy, no one's accusing you. But ya got a bit of a guilty conscience there, eh?" Edwards and Fokker enter what appears to be a briefing room. "Well, buck up, hotshot. As a test pilot, the only enemies are you and the untested piece of machinery you're going to strap yourself into. I don't want your baggage entering the picture as another variable." Roy asks if Edwards can tell him what the piece of machinery is. "Ah yes, the reason why we're all here! Keep your eyes on the screen." Edwards punches a button on a remote control. The lights dim, and a holographic image of a somewhat familiar swing-wing fighter jet is projected from the ceiling in front of the overhead screen behind him. "The new fighter you'll be testing is unlike anything that's ever flown before. It's codenamed ... Project Valkyrie."

ARTWORK

The art is everything I've come to expect from Udon Studios: clean, well-colored anime-style art with generally good "out-of-focus" blurring effects on background elements and extremely sharp character art. Hayes looks even more like his TV self than he did last issue, as do both Rick and Roy. The flying circus uniforms, by the way, are straight out of the good ol' Macross and ROBOTECH artbooks. Not sure if the coloration is consistent with the TV series, but they only appeared in one flashback that was cut from the ROBOTECH version of "Boobytrap" and one quick flashback shot in "Bursting Point", and in the latter case we didn't get to see Rick. It's awfully close, though not quite the same, as the coloration used by the folks at Antarctic Press in the first installment of the second Prototype 001 story arc, "Variants".

Not sure if this was intentional, but the profile shot of Roy right after Rick runs off is extremely similar to the profile shot of Roy in episode 18, "Farewell Big Brother" right before Roy dies.

It has been pointed out that Macross Island as seen on the two-page spread at the end of this issue doesn't look quite like Macross Island as seen in the montage at the beginning of "Boobytrap". The SDF-1 is a little too solidly complete (though just as green as it appears in the montage), and the urban sprawl is set up a little differently and is a little more widespread. I'd argue it looks a little more like the picture of 2007 from the montage, in all honesty. However, the shot does do its job of getting the feel of the place down right, and kudos to them for making the SDF-1 the right shade of horrible olive green as depicted in the opening montage.

And then there is the introduction of the New and Improved T.R. Edwards. With his Guile (Street Fighter II)-like outfit, build, and jawline and his Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII)-like long white hair, he looks pretty cool. I've heard complaints about the design from a lot of people, but I quite like the way he radiates menace without being an over-the-top psychopath like good ol' SENTINELS Edwards. Plus, while some can't, I very much can see how, in seventeen years time, this fellow could end up being the T.R. Edwards of old. Maybe with a little darker skin and a little whiter hair than the old design, but essentially the same guy. It really comes off on the next to last panel of the next to last page. Hopefully the characterization will pan out in later issues.

The VF-1 that Edwards shows to Fokker is NOT the final VF-1 we see in production in the TV series; rather, it looks like it's based on one of mecha designer Shoji Kawamori's earlier development sketches. Like the YVF-14A Tigercat from Ted Nomura's Prototype 001, it looks only capable of transforming to an armless Guardian mode, based on the smoother undercarriage which does not appear to have the necessary parts for Battloid (head turret, arms) and the lack of a break before the cockpit for the chest shield. Actually, I'm not even sure about that--there aren't any breaks in the propulsion assembly that suggest that the "legs" swing down. Still, out of any parts that could be movable, those appear the most likely; it's possible that the breaks weren't drawn into the lineart for some reason.

The fact that it looks like a souped-up F-14 Tomcat also makes me wonder why Roy's looking at it all agape on the last page. Am I missing something here? Is there something "revolutionary" about the design that I'm not getting just because of my lack of knowledge on the subject? Or is he just basking in its coolness? His shrunken pupils on the next to last page seem to suggest otherwise.

Finally, I swear sharp-eyed anime fans are supposed to recognize some of the folks in the crowd back at the air circus, but none of them are clicking with me. The character designs are too distinctive to be random. There's a guy with a cyborg eye and a not-quite-mohawk, for crying out loud. That's GOTTA be somebody.