The Andrews Incident: The Untold Story

Well hey, I am back and I am indeed alive. I know, it's a surprise to me too.

So a while back I mentioned B.D. Andrews and how, for whatever reason, he had been building his own dossier on T.R. Edwards. That got me to thinking 'why'. Besides their shared love of coups and only using their first initials, what was Andrews' interest in Edwards, a guy who had left Earth over half a decade prior and had not been heard from since? And since Andrews is already a magnet for conspiracy nuts, I thought I'd jump in and engage in some light recreational probing of the subject myself.

As always, the usual disclaimers apply. I'm gonna try to keep this sane without going wild and losing myself in the weeds, so I'm not gonna start going off on tangents about the Xalon Process or the White Light of EEEEE or whatever else. But you know what? This is a crazy infocast. If you don't want a host that will go nuts every now and then you should be listening to one about asteroid mining or some similarly boring subject.

So anyway, B.D. Andrews. There's not much to say about his early life, largely because most records of it are free-floating atoms. By all accounts, he was born in the mid-late 1990s in North America, lived through the Rain of Death and eventually joined the UEEF during the reconstruction era. He starts out as an armoured cavalry soldier, but ends up in military intelligence based on a combination of skill and personal charisma.

And before you ask, no, I couldn't find any evidence linking him to T.R. Edwards. Honestly, as a junior officer in the UEDF's intel forces, I don't think Edwards was even aware of Andrews' existence, which makes his interest in T.R. even odder.

By the mid-2020s, Andrews is a Colonel in the GMP, overseeing defence operations for the greater Neo-Tokyo area which gives him authority over a number of other units. He does his best to keep his forces in shape, with wargames and manoeuvres and whatever else to prep against an invasion that might never come. At the same time, he's also getting chummy with a number of other officers in the region, especially the local CDU and TC commanders. Likewise, he builds contacts inside the Robotech Research Centre, specifically those working with the SDF-1's EVE computer. (I'll leave out the amazing BS that got the people of Tokyo to believe that EVE was a real person. Nice job of manipulating the masses everyone). This leads to his forces engaging in field tests of the new MODAT transforming motorcycle/data terminal which has a direct connection to the EVE system.

So this is where it gets strange. In the opening days of the Second Robotech War, the outer Neo-Tokyo sector is attacked by a Robotech Masters scouting force. Andrews leads the charge against the attackers, but his Battloid is destroyed and he is supposedly captured. The ASC issues a blanket cover story of 'military manoeuvres' in order to cover up what happened. All pretty normal for the weirdness associated with the Second Robotech War.

However, Andrews then shows up alive a week later, claiming that he managed to escape from the Masters. When members of his squad, specifically those who witnessed the aB.D.uction, start asking questions, he has them all silenced. At the same time, he begins the motions of setting up a coup in the Far East Sector, leaning on those contacts he'd made. The local GMP support him without question, since he's their commander and giving them a chance to put the jackboot down. His allies in the TC and CDU also are on his side.

As a part of the prep for his plan, Andrews has the MODAT prototypes impounded and destroyed; however, MODAT-5 manages to slip through his fingers. Undeterred, he sends GMP forces after it with order to capture it at all costs. At the same time, he orders his men to start uploading the contents of the EVE computer (most of which still hadn't been decoded) to a decommissioned satellite under the cover of a military exercise. And while yes, this move makes no sense on paper, we'll get to the possible explanation as to what was going on later.

Minister Embry, the regional director, objects and has Andrews' operation shut down. Andrews replies by launching his coup and taking control of Neo-Tokyo and the far-east sector, deposing the UEG officials (Embry included) and seizing direct control. The local TC and CDU forces support him, while it needs to be said that the other Southern Cross groups in the region simply chose to sit on their thumbs and do nothing about this, effectively giving Andrews their tacit support.

Andrews' plans came undone courtesy of one random biker punk who'd come in to MODAT-5. The two fought, Andrews was killed, the MODAT was destroyed and the EVE upload was terminated. In the aftermath, the Southern Cross put new people in charge and quietly swept the whole thing under the rug. Andrews' personal records fall through the cracks, and end up in the hands of the Shimada Yakuza where they eventually come into the hands of yours truly. Case closed, right?

But that's not what this Infocast is all about, is it? We know that there's no such thing as a nice, clean resolution to anything.

So I know I try not to get too crazy here, but bear with me. Why did Andrews upload EVE to an old satellite as an exercise? It made no sense and he wasn't getting anything out of it; after all, if he wanted to sideline Embry, there were plenty of more conventional ways to do it. But consider this; what if Andrews was working with the Masters?

We're talking about a civilization based on cloning here. It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine that the Masters captured Andrews and then replaced him with a clone that they were controlling. Consider that he began by silencing anyone who questioned his return, which could be the Masters covering their tracks to ensure that nobody realised the truth.

Uploading EVE to space was not an 'exercise', it was him transmitting it to the Masters. That would allow them to get their hands on all of Zor's secrets, while hopefully bypassing the need to attack Earth directly. I mean, nobody knows what was in there save for the Big Z himself, so it could have been all that the Masters could have wanted. That'd also explain why Andrews evil clone from space went after the MODATs in order to stop anyone from having access to the system outside of the Research Centre.

And when Clone Andrews is offed, the Masters lose their connection and can't resume it. They're forced to take more direct and physical action to get what they want, and the apocalyptic Second Robotech War is the outcome.

Is this nuts? I mean, it does all add up and it would explain a lot. And let's be honest here, we've seen crazy people peddle wilder theories with less evidence.

Which brings me back to where we started. What was Andrews' interest in T.R. Edwards? Now a part of me figures that Andrews may have been running his own private investigation into Edwards using his GMP goon access to do such. Maybe he had concerns over Edwards' connections to Leonard and how that could be used in the off-chance that the UEEF ever came back. Maybe he could see where this was going, and wanted a way to get in on Team Edwards. Maybe he was doing it for Aldershot who was looking for a magic bullet to put Leonard down like the mad dog he was. (Boy did I stretch the metaphors there)

Or, and bear me out, maybe the Masters already knew about T.R. Edwards. After all, they were aware of the fall of Tirol and the collapse of their empire, which had only added to their sense of urgency. If they were going to reclaim their homeworld and rebuild that empire, it'd be helpful to know who they were dealing with, and a treacherous snake like Edwards would be a possible avenue for them.

But then there's one other thing I need to bring up which could turn all of this around. Andrews, Embry, the Masters, Andrews being a clone, his interest in Edwards and whatever else might all be a ruse or a part of something else operating on a far higher level then we can even begin to figure out. I say this because of who was the director of the Robotech Research Centre in Neo-Tokyo, and remained such until the end of the war.

Lazlo Zand.

Just something to think about.