The air was hot and humid even inside the General's office at California Base. Derek Carter, dressed in a black suit with a dark grey shirt, tried to will himself not to sweat bullets as General Williams looked over three folders from a pile on his desk. Everything in the pile was marked 'Classified' Derek was sure it'd be best if he didn't look at the contents.

"Private Carter," Williams said gruffly, "I'm sure you must be wondering why you've been called here, and why you were ordered to have a brainwave analysis. To put it simply, you are about to learn things that are infinitely above your pay grade young man. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that this is one of many upcoming discussions that never happened." The General's eyes narrowed at the last sentence, driving his point into the young soldier.

"U-understood sir, but, what's this all about anyway?" Derek asked.

"Take a seat son, this will take a while..." Williams said, motioning to a nearby chair as he pulled a recent combat report from the stack of classified files.

Much confusion and explanation later, Derek emerges from the office, now holding a small stack of classified files in hand, the General not far behind him. Derek paused to think, pulling a cigarette from the crumpled pack in his pocket. Williams grabbed it with surprising speed, tossing it in his trash can before closing and locking the office door.

"We can't have you smoking today." He said, "As for the reason you were ordered to arrive in formal attire, you'll be tagging along with me at an important dinner. The brass just need to see their man, not hear from him, so just keep quiet and enjoy a free meal."

The two climbed into the back of a large dark green sedan, which would ferry them to the thinly veiled meeting where Derek's fate would be discussed. As they rode on, a solid black panel separating them from the driver, Derek began to look at the files.

"So these people all had the same results as me?" He asked, referring to his brainwave test from this morning. Williams seemed disinterested, but replied. "More or less, a few of them barely qualify, but they're the top of the list."

"Why Leos exactly? Isn't there something a little more....." Derek trailed off, as Williams glanced over to pull a file from the stack, open it, and hand it to his confused subordinate.

"Leave the flashy prototypes to the test boys, the Leo's a workhorse, and it's biggest strength is adaptability. It's the perfect control group for this experiment, now quit asking questions, and leave those files in the car once we get there."

A while later, the two arrived at an expensive looking restaurant. Several introductions were made, but Derek couldn't keep track of all the important people he was meeting. They all seemed relaxed and unconcerned about what they were saying, and it didn't really feel like the kind of secret, cloak-and-dagger meeting he'd expected. A few hours later, the sun sat low over the skyline, and the officers and government officials spilled out of the restaurant to their waiting cars. As Derek and Williams stepped up to the General's car, he motioned the young man not to get in, opening his own door and speaking.

"I'm sorry but I'm not heading back to the base tonight, so you'll have to take a cab or something. Take these along, and don't worry, that stunt you pulled the other day won't go on your record. I've never seen a Leo do anything like that, I suspect neither had the smugglers." With that, the General handed Derek the stack of files once more, which had now been slipped into a large unmarked envelope, and departed.

Too cheap for a taxi, Derek walks through town on the way back to the base. It'd be a long walk, but he didn't mind a little exercise to distract him from his day. He reached into his pocket for a cigarette, surely the General wouldn't mind one now that the brass wasn't looking. He found one, but sadly it was the last in the pack. "Smoking and exercise don't go well together anyway..." he thought as he pulled the cancer stick to his mouth. A sudden impact ensured it would never reach it's destination, as some random punk stumbled into him, knocking the envelope and cigarette to the ground, only to be stepped on by one of the punk's friends.

"Outta the way dude!" The punk yelled, kicking Derek lightly on the butt as he bent over to retrieve the envelope, neither of the three punks noticed the sudden change in Derek's expression as he calmed himself and stood again. Looking past the punks, Derek noticed a large freezer holding bags of ice, and a glance to his left revealed that it belonged to the convenience store the punks stepped out of. "Excuse me." He said politely as he walked past the punks and into the store.

"Shit, not even gonna say sorry?" The punk said, but his friend stopped him from getting in Derek's way, whispering a cruel plan. "Hey man, let's just wait till he buys something, then maybe he'll slip. Sidewalk's kinda uneven y'know?" Both punks grinned evilly, but their third friend had a confused look on his face.

"Hey guys, where'd he goOFFF!!!" His words were interrupted by a twelve-pound bag of ice driving his head to the pavement.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" The other two shouted in shock, Derek smiled and spoke with an ominous tone.

"At times like these, it's chill or be chilled." He said, swinging another ice bag slowly in his right hand, "So boys, what'll it be?"

The two punks looked at each other in shock, then rushed to pick their friend up off the floor, seeing Derek still swinging the ice, and now within striking range, they slowly backed off, pulling their buddy along.

"Hey, we cool man, we cool!" The shouted as they ran off, choosing to be 'cool' over out cold.

"GET BACK HERE YA COWARDS!! WE'LL TAKE YA ALL ON!!!!" a female voice shouted from unexpectedly close behind Derek, enough to make him cringe.

"Gah! Do you have to yell so loud?" Derek said in shock, spinning around to see a familiar face.

"Better to yell real loud and make a big fuss than to spout some moronic one-liner and fail miserably at sounding cool." Samantha Wolfcastle mocked in response. Clad in dress greens, Derek didn't have to guess that she'd been transferred to the same base as him again.

"Saves me the trouble of going to get you I guess...." Derek muttered under his breath, "So what brings you here Sam?"

"Oh nothin' much, heard you had a brainwave check, did they find any?" She said, Derek hadn't noticed yet, but she was grinning all too much like a kid who'd snuck the last cookie from the jar.

"Any what?" He replied, more confused at how she always managed to know how to find him than why she seemed so happy. Her smile faded when he missed her joke, but she played it off with a light jab.

"I guess they didn't..." She said, spotting the envelope and making a grab for it. "What's that, get me a present?"

"No, it's not for you." Derek answered, pulling it away from her reach and starting to walk toward the base again. "I'm not really supposed to be talking about it." Sam's smile lit back up as she seemed to read his mind.

"Oh, it must be THAT, don't worry, that's why I got transferred." She said, pulling a squad patch from her pocket with 'NT1" emblazoned across it.

"Geez, they didn't waste any time..." Derek thought, wondering if the rest of his new team would be awaiting him at the base. "Well then, I guess welcome aboard. You still don't get to see what's in the envelope though."

"Awww.... come on!" Sam whined as she followed her childhood friend back to base.

The next morning, Derek, Samantha and a young soldier stood in front of the massive doors of Hangar HC-11. 'Hotel Charlie' as it was known would be their new home from this day onward. The story went that all hangars in block eleven used to house small spec-ops teams who operated entirely out of said hangar, and thus were all named 'hotels' as a joke or something. In any case, the names stuck, and while only a few continue to serve that purpose, the eight hangars of block eleven still proudly call themselves the hotels of California.

"So...." Derek said, "I guess this is the place then." He glanced over at the new guy, "And I guess that makes you..."

"Rodgers Sir, Private Mike Rodgers." The black-haired youth said with a salute.

"You really don't need to do that Mike, I'm not an officer or anything, heck I barely outrank you." Derek replied with a sigh, the young man didn't falter in his perfect salute.

"Afraid I do Sir," Mike said, still saluting, "You may not be an officer, but you are the squad leader, and thus my commander, and should be shown the appropriate respect."

"Hey Boss, how long you think he can hold that pose?" Samantha said with a grin.

"You gotta be kidding me, at ease already." Derek said, flipping a two-fingered mockery of a salute just so the newbie would put his arm down. "Listen Mikey, I can understand you wanting to do everything right in front of the officers and be a good soldier and all that, but there's really nothing to be gained by that stuff when it's just Sam and me."

Mike's expression lost a bit of it's professional look for a moment, "Please don't call me 'Mikey' Sir..." Derek didn't hesitate to mock his subordinate's expression and tone, "Please don't call me 'Sir' Mikey..."

"Anywaaaaayyy..." Samantha interrupted, "Shouldn't there be four of us?" She asked, rapidly looking around as though to find someone hiding.

"From what I hear she's arriving today, it's not like we're being deployed today so we can make do. Now, lets see what's behind door number 1!" Derek said, sliding the giant hangar door open with massive effort.

"Sir?" Mike asked from behind him as Derek muttered something about stupid heavy doors.

"Mikey." Derek replied, almost hearing a cringe from behind him.

"Why is there just one?" Mike asked, more concerned about the lack of mobile suits currently than being called 'Mikey' Looking into the dimly lit hangar, Derek shrugged as he saw that only his Leo sat in the huge bay.

"I guess they want us to take turns." He said, stepping inside and finding the light switch. Samantha followed in behind him, looking around like a kid in a candy store, but her words lacked the same enthusiasm.

"A pilot who's a day late and a hangar that's a few Mobile Suits shy of a squad? Are you sure about this NT1 thing Boss?" She mused, quickly discovering the individualized quarters and claiming one with a shout, "I call this room!" Aside from the general lack of equipment, it seemed the Hangar had been well converted to it's new role of being a base within a base. After unpacking, they met again in the main bay, Derek setting up an old card table and some folding chairs for them to sit at.

"So Mikey, tell us about yourself." Derek said, Samantha mimed pulling an interrogation lamp in front of his face and added, "Yeah! Tell us everything!" Before he could speak however, a car pulled up to the open doors.

The car door opened and as a man in a labcoat stepped out, a large van ground to a halt behind the car. He seemed like he was about to introduce himself, but stopped suddenly and turned to the men unloading the van. "You there! Take that to the infirmary! Those go inside! Why isn't the Mobile Suit here yet?" He shouted in rapid-fire. Turning back to the trio, he forgot all about introductions and approached them.

"...Private," He said after getting a look at Derek's rank insignia, "Where's the officer in charge of this field test?"

"Field test?" Derek responded, guessing the man was asking about NT1. "Well, I suppose that'd be me actually."

The labcoated man almost stumbled back in surprise, "I knew they were having trouble finding candidates, but to put an enlistedman in command of my testbed?" He kicked the ground like a disgruntled child, "It's bad enough they refused my request to make give the testbed a formal rank, but to put her under a mere private?"

Gritting his teeth the man pushed away his misgivings and chose once more to trust in the choices of his superiors. "Well, I suppose it'll have to do, I'm Dr. Johnson, I'm in charge of the testbed. If all goes well you won't be seeing much of me outside of the usual checkups and scheduled recalibrations." He extended a hand, and despite the grating feeling he got from the doctor, Derek shook it.

"PFC Carter Sir, I haven't been fully briefed myself, what exactly is going on here?" Derek said, the doctor almost looked shocked again, but quickly regained his composure as though he'd just realized something.

"Right... I suppose from your perspective we're dropping off your new comrade." He said, gesturing to the car as a young woman stepped out. "Introduce yourself." He said to her flatly. With almost mechanical movement, she snapped to a salute.

"Valeria Lockwood reporting for duty." She said, holding her salute even more steadfastly than Mike had. The doctor wasted no time in seeing that the equipment he'd brought along was unloaded, and got back in the car, slowly rolling down the window.

"Good hunting private! I expect good results from your next sortie!" He shouted as the car drove off, kicking dust into the air. As the dust settled, Valeria still stood at attention, still saluting.

"I did not sign on for this nonsense..." He said to himself, skipping the lame jokes and just quickly saluting back. "Ok, now that I've got you all here," He said, particularly eying Mike and the other newbie, "I have a standing order to all of you. No more saluting, seriously."

"But sir!" Mike started, but Derek quickly cut him off, "In battle if the enemy see's you saluting someone, they generally tend to kill that someone. If you don't salute me, they won't know which one of us is in charge, and thus won't be able to try and cut the head off the snake so to speak."

"That.... actually makes some sense..." Mike reluctantly admitted.

"Understood Sir." Is all that Valeria had to say on the subject.

"...Ok," Derek sighed, he didn't know how to deal with these cardboard cut-out, by-the-book soldiers. It didn't help that he had no command training whatsoever, but somehow he'd make this work, and pray all the while that NT1 didn't get sent into action much. "Sam, show her to her room will ya?"

"Yes Sir Boss!" She joked in reply, making a two-fingered salute that she then split into a sideways peace sign. She almost tackled Valeria, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her toward the hangar. As she dragged the new pilot past Derek's Leo, Valeria stopped. Despite Samantha pulling comically against her arm, Valeria simply turned back to face her commander.

"Where... is it?" She said, looking back at the Leo.

"You're MS isn't here yet, seems they're slacking off in requisitions or something. We'll get it sorted out soon, till then... I dunno, we'll play cards or something." He said, the last line ringing in her ears as though she'd heard them before.

"It's you." She said, her voice sounded like it was missing that sound of familiarity, but the point got across that she recognized him from somewhere.

"Have we met?" Derek asked, scratching his head, he couldn't recall seeing her face before. As she saw the confused look in his eyes, her own looked to the floor.

"Doesn't remember... no, didn't notice... doesn't matter." She said, giving in to Samantha's tug at her arm, and allowing herself to be led away to her room.

"Huh... She's an odd one." Derek said, Mike sat himself down at the card table, glancing back at his commander with a suggestion in mind.

"Maybe you should try to find out where she thinks she knows you from sir."

"Maybe you should try to find out where your Mobile Suits are Mikey."