Click to see the mission!
Back again and things are still tied up. The enemies seem to like going after Ozma just as much as the Voltes and Combattler.
The Daiku Maryu crew comes preupgraded at 2 bars, so I spend some of the cash mainly to get Daiya up to speed, along with some buffs to Voltes.
As for squads, I just made a few changes to accommodate the new folks:
Tetsuya/Jun
Ichitaka/Dick
Kouji/Boss
Combattler/Puria
Daiya/Yanma
Zechs/Noin
Voltes/Canaria
Heine/Klan
Ozma/Luca
Alto and Michel are going out as event units.
Let’s get to it.
: Hah, you’re not going anywhere today!
: You guys’ve been raining on our parade ever since we got back to Earth, but that’s coming to an end!
: Take care of them, Sting, Auel, Stella. And remember that we can’t afford any more failures.
: OK… I’ll do my best.
: Our path’s completely cut off!
: We’ve 4 MSs available, including Athrun’s… we can’t win against them all.
: What do we do, then, captain?
: We’ll disperse them with the Tannhäuser – that’s the only way we’re breaking through their lines.
: Copy that! Tannhäuser, standby!
Wiiiiirrrrr!
: We need to bring down the Minerva this time – any more failures and it’ll only worsen Orb’s standing with the Alliance. There’ll be no more chances if we don’t turn this around here and now!
: The ship’s defenses are thinner towards their portside, so engage them from there!
Orb’s Murasames blast forward.
: Oh…? I suppose we might as well go and back them up with that, then. Auel, Sting, you and your two squads harass the Minerva from starboard; Stella, you take portside!
: Aye, aye, Neo!
Off they go.
: We’re being outflanked!
: Captain, the ship has no room to even alter its course!
: Urk, they’re too numerous for us to manage!
: Shinn, the two of us’ll open up a path for them. Rey, Luna, cover us!
: Y-Yes, sir!
: Beam blasts?!
: Huh? Where’d those come from?!
: That’s… the Freedom! Kira?!
: …
: What happened?! Status report! Now!
: Yes, sir! Several presumed warning shots rained throughout the battlefield… Then, right after, the Freedom and…
: Wait, what did you just say?!
: This is Cagalli Yula Athha, Representative of the United Emirates of Orb! All Orb troops are to cease hostilities and retreat immediately!
: C-Cagalli?!
: For real?!
: Exigent circumstances demanded that I, the daughter of Uzumi Nara Athha, depart my homeland, but that changes not the fact that I still am Orb’s Representative!
: And I command you with the full authority of that title! This battle does not align with our nation’s principles, so any and all troops are to cease fire and retreat!
: Urgh…!
: Cagalli…
: (The Archangel, the Freedom and Orb’s princess. I don’t know if she’s really who she claims to be, but I wonder what he’ll do…)
: U-Um… that’s, err…
: (Not looking good there… but even I didn’t see this coming. I’ve to do something to turn this around or we’ll be done.)
: Do you not hear me, soldiers of Orb? Do you not understand what I’m saying?!
: The Archangel… they’re helping us?
Beep, beep!
: Captain, we’ve unknown bogeys coming in fast – many of them!
: Those units…! Everyone watch out!
: Even more uninvited guests…! All troops, change of plans! We’ll make a temporary retreat and reorganize!
: Don’t need to, Neo! Those things aren’t moving anywhere on the same level as a Mobile Doll – we can handle them!
: Yeah, them Valkyries we saw in space flew way better.
The kids move in.
: Stop, you two! That’s a feint!
Two of the unknowns blast forward!
: What?!
: Sting, Auel, watch out!
: GAAAH!!
: AAAAH!!
: AUEL!!
: … Sting, retreat! Do it or you’ll end just like him!
: They got Auel…?! What about Stella?! She alright?!
: No signs of an explosion, but she’s not responding! We’ll just have to believe in her now!
: Damn it all…!
: Yuna Seiran, what are you doing?! Recall your troops or they’ll die for nothing!
: A-Ah… Retreat! Retreat!
: Wh-What the hell are those…?!
: Do you know anything, Kira?!
: Not much… All I’m sure of is that they’re up to something and that’s sending our world down the wrong path.
: What…?
: And I…!
Kira: “I won’t ignore those who’d twist our world…!”
: …
: That’s the Freedom…! What kind of person’s piloting it…?
: Regardless, we’ve at least managed to avoid the worst case scenario. What happens next depends on the Archangel, though.
: To the ZAFT battleship Minerva: we don’t wish to fight you. My weapons are down and I’m headed your way.
Cagalli (in her Strike Rouge) moves up to the ZAFT group.
: As Orb’s Representative, I’d like to beg your forgiveness for our unannounced volley and the confusion we brought to your battlefield.
: Psh, still got that silver tongue at the ready, huh? And weren’t you supposed to be kidna—
Beep, beep!
: C-Captain, another hostile’s just popped on radar!
: !!
: Huh? That’s not an MS or an Arma…!
: Based on the readings I’m getting, I think it’s with those unknown units.
: Now this is a nice surprise to find during our tests. Everyone who’d displayed “potential” during the Great War, all together in one place.
: How is the prototype doing? Can it manage some combat?
: Currently operating at 80% capacity. The question is whether the throughput can keep up with them…
: Well… I’m a bit queasy over having it face the Freedom, but just avoid doing that and it’ll be fine. In terms of “potential”, hmm… Have it focus fire on the ZAFT unit and the Strike, I guess.
The unit blasts forward.
: That thing’s fast!
: Rey, Lunamaria, the Unknown’s headed for the Impulse! Support Shinn!
: R-Roger!
Moves right past Kira, towards them.
: …! It’s gonna get both Shinn and Rep. Athha like that!
: …
Takes aim!
: I’m not going down here! I…I made a promise to Stella that I’d see her again!
: Aaah, magnificent! Behold, “potential”! But, unfortunately, those actions had already been inputted. Engage!
: What?! I can’t shake him!
: That unit’s movements… Athrun!
: I know! I’ll cover Cagalli!
: Urgh…?!
: Athrun!
: Hrm…! ZAFT pilot, are you OK?!
: The Freedom… Why did you…? W-Wait, forget me – that guy’s more important! He shot down Athrun!
: Raaaaaargh!!
: Oh, very nice! His handling changed from how it was a few moments ago! That’s certainly the “potential” that’d pave the way to the future!
: Excellency, we’re past the thresholds. Neither the AI nor the unit can withstand much more.
: Just when things were starting to pick up… I suppose about now is when I should go and ask Prof. Grife for his help.
: Cagalli, we’re exposed here. Bring Kira back and we’ll leave these waters right away.
: Good luck on your voyage, Cpt. Gladys.
: Huh…?
: No signs of hostiles in the surrounding areas, captain!
: Have Rey recover Athrun while the Impulse searches for the downed Gaia. We’ll leave here as soon as that’s done.
Over by the Minerva’s sick bay, Shinn’s explaining to Talia how the Gaia’s pilot is the girl he met elsewhere. He doesn’t know much about her, but could see from the get-go how much she’d suffered because of war.
Still, as the Gaia’s pilot, she’s an Extended of the Federation: even cursory scans showed various issues with her body. Despite all that, Shinn made a promise back then: “that I’d keep her safe”. Arthur gets in touch to relate that we’re drawing very close to Diokia and Talia tells him to handle our approach.
Once we reach port, the girl’ll have to be taken off the Minerva – one, they can’t keep her aboard as a captive indefinitely, and, two, the ship isn’t equipped to care for someone like her. On that note, Stella wakes up and is rather confused. Shinn, however, is very relieved: “You’re alright, Stella! Don’t worry – I’m right here! You remember me, right? Shinn?”
Maybe not, as the girl flips out: “I don’t… I don’t know you! Neo! NEOOO!!”
Talia explains to him that, according to intel received, the Extended are biological CPUs raised by Blue Cosmos – thus, it’s very likely she’s been on the receiving end of various mental adjustments, including to her memories. She can’t remember him.
This is precisely what she was talking about and says that, when Stella disembarks at Diokia, they’ll try and find a way to help her. Shinn slowly confirms.
Back to the Quarter, Lady Une’s briefing us on Operation Carnival: we’ll be headed towards Diokia, where we’ll take part in the PLANTs show for peace. In summary, we’ll be joining the PLANTs to appeal against hostilities between humans. It also helps that the Daiku Maryu’s quite well-liked by the general public, so our voice should carry far.
But what, exactly, are we supposed to do in this “carnival”? Maybe bike stunts, Hyouma ponders? Chizuru not too sure about this as she doesn’t really know any tricks to entertain folks. Thankfully, it won’t be that sort of stuff: we’ll be making a show with our own bots. Ichitaka didn’t expect that, but Kouji says it wouldn’t be unheard of as Japan even has the regular aerial acrobatics and mock battles by the SDF.
Mind, while Diokia is currently occupied by ZAFT, this event will not involve the military in the slightest as a way to not antagonize the Earth Alliance. With orders for us to get ready to depart soon, Une cuts off.
Heine’s a bit at loss for words over LOTUS’ recent activities: first a movie shoot and, now, we’ll take part in a carnival? He doesn’t think less of us because of it, of course, but this isn’t exactly what he expected we’d be using our cutting-edge ships and units for.
Daiya is all for the idea of putting up a show for the entire world and he figures our folks’ll like it too. Alice agrees: our mission is to put a smile on everyone’s faces. It’s with that mindset that we fight? Heine doesn’t quite know what to think…
Well, Sheryl figures she’s keeping her end of the bargain as Alto’ll have his chance to fly around for fun. Yes, it’ll be part of a show and kind of a mission but Alto’s given up trying to complain. More importantly, why does he have to work with her again? Does he have a problem with that? Plenty! For one, Alto doesn’t like having to carry her up the stage with his Valkyrie!
Still, Grace said it’d maximize the impact of her entrance, so they’re going with it. So Sheryl hops inside the Valkyrie’s cockpit – no, she doesn’t ask for permission – and finds it actually more spacious than she expected. Before Alto has a chance to yell, she spots her earring hanging within. W-Well, isn’t the thing supposed to be a good luck charm? He figured he needed to strap it somewhere.
Sheryl says no, though: he needs to carry it on his person the whole time or it won’t work. Her objection’s interrupted when a hacking cough starts – she says she just got a bit choked up and it’ll pass.
It’s then that Luca comes in, looking for Michel – they can’t find him. Alto figures the womanizer’s out trying to score with some of LOTUS’ women, but Luca doesn’t seem so certain. Klan’s also around and seems to have an idea.
Cut to Diokia, Lacus Meer’s already here and ready to sing so that everyone may enjoy a life of peace. Athrun’s looking on, somberly seeing how hard she’s working to help stoke the anti-war sentiment, though Luna’s a bit dejected with him. She’d hoped he’d be happy to see his “ex-fiancée” after all this time and had half a mind to ask her to cheer him up.
Athrun asks if she thinks he’s depressed that the Saviour’s wrecked – while he isn’t HAPPY with it, he’s not going to agonize over it. Indeed, Athrun figures he did what he had to do as Orb losing Cagalli would only make things worse over there. Luna tells him not to speak like that, as it strikes her as very reckless – problem is, Athrun says, an inept man like him can’t speak or fight in any other way.
And speaking of reckless, how’s Shinn doing? Athrun figures he must be going through a tough bit with seeing Cagalli again and what happened with Stella, but Luna says he’s got Rey there with him. She figures she shouldn’t intrude.
The convo’s interrupted when Meyrin comes with some big news: Durandal’s coming here! Athrun inwardly thinks that this is too sudden to be related to the Saviour’s destruction – he must have something to do planetside.
And Talia very much didn’t expect him to turn up, though this wouldn’t be the first time he surprised her. Durandal first salutes Rey, who’s so very happy when “Gil” praises his good work. As for Athrun, he’s heard of the difficulties he’s faced after making it back to the Minerva; he’s also been briefed of what happened in the previous battle, including that mysterious organization that seems hostile to the Alliance, Orb and PLANTs.
Athrun does apologize for failing to live up to Durandal’s expectations – even losing the brand new prototype – but the guy’s just happy everyone’s in one piece. Moreover, he thinks Athrun did the right thing. Finally, Durandal’s also heard much of the very nervous Shinn and Lunamaria and invites the crew to come have a meal with him.
Amidst the food, Durandal’s rather interested in Shinn’s opinion that this war’s to blame on some selfish groups like the Blue Cosmos – he won’t say it with absolute certainty, but he thinks their presence makes it impossible to NOT have conflict.
Durandal concedes his point that there are people around who’re simply unwilling to tolerate the existence of certain things – but what if he told him that there are folks, behind the scenes, manipulating and profiting off this conflict? Without war, there’s no need for weapons and, thus, there’d be no profits. Thus, in the eyes of those people, wouldn’t it be in their best interest to have war?
Indeed, throughout our history, there have been those who’ve cried for bloody murder, for intolerance, for vengeance, who see war as merely another industry, and who’ve moved to expand it accordingly. All for their personal gain.
They’re called Logos and Durandal is sure that their hand is behind this conflict – they’re the Blue Cosmos parent organization – and while they remain in power, war will continue between the Earth and PLANTs. Durandal has long sought to do something about them, but it is certainly no easy task. He knows that even Lady Une, a former OZ operative, has been having difficulties as she tries moving against them at the UN.
Athrun asks Durandal what he thinks of the Archangel’s activities, but he turns the question back at us. He’d especially like to hear Athrun’s own opinion, seeing how he fought alongside that ship in the last war.
Well… Athrun doesn’t think they’re enemies – hell, Kira even saved Shinn in that battle. The problem is that things have been happening at such a breakneck pace that they haven’t had a chance to stop and talk to each other about what’s going on.
Durandal understands and, if anything, is more concerned about those mysterious enemies that started showing up around the Earth Sphere. If the Archangel’s pursuing those, that’s good, but there are still plenty of things that we can’t really decide one way or another without talking to them. This subject doesn’t pertain only to Athrun, so Durandal would like to ask that, if we manage to get in touch with the Archangel, that we let him know.
That being said, he invited them here because he wanted to speak with us. Luna’s still a bit nervous but she has something she’d like to ask. Durandal’s more than willing to answer, but begs that she relax – the night’s still young, after all.
By Diokia’s storage area, the mooks have just found a rather big piece of cargo that wasn’t in their registries. A soldier reports hearing that it’s equipment for the upcoming show – apparently Sheryl’s crew’ll come pick it up later and wanted to store it here ‘til the evening.
The officer in charge sees no problems with it, but is a bit miffed that they decided to spring this in the eleventh hour. Still, they’ll have to put up with it.
As they leave, Brera confirms to G that everything’s in place and ready to go. The larva’s also in position within the expected area of effect. With that, G asks him to come back and is very much looking forward to Operation Carnival – what an amusing coincidence that our op had the same name as their plan.
Sheryl’s already arrived and is being shown around the stage – she didn’t expect something so grand for a so-called “carnival” but it goes to show how big Lacus is in this world. Maybe less so recently, though, as Sheryl heard that the public interest for this has been a bit akin to expectations.
She’s still coughing, but chalks it up to a bit of weariness over the recent workload… and she gets halfway through giving some instructions before fainting right then and there! Grace scrambles to her rescue, but, inwardly, her reaction’s a bit different: “Everything’s going according to plan”.
And, over by the Quarter, Elmo rushes in calling for Ranka: Sheryl’s fallen ill and Grace’s called, asking for Ranka to replace her.
The girl’s a bit taken aback by the idea, wondering if she could handle something as big as that. But she remembers what Alto said before and quickly jettisons those doubts out her head – she’s going for it!
Talia and Jeffrey are seeing each other for the first time since Junius Seven – the whims of fate are surprising, indeed, for them to be here at the same time – and she’s also honored to speak with the captain of the Daiku Maryu.
They heard Durandal wanted to talk with them and, Talia thinks, he’s backstage right now.
Indeed, he’s just finished talking with Meer, who promises to sing her heart out as Lacus’ stand-in. As he wishes good luck and takes off, Meer’s still impressed with beloved Lacus is by everyone, and while she’s a bit embarrassed to be impersonating her, her desire to lift up everyone’s spirits is very real. So she’ll try her best to, like Lacus, touch the people’s hearts with her song and bring a speedy end to all this violence.
Bobby and Ranka come in right then to get some quick makeup done, and the girl’s blown away to see “Lacus”. She’ll be singing soon, too, so Meer gives her the room while she goes and prepares.
Bobby could hear the nervousness in her voice, and Ranka figures even big stars like Lacus can get a bit antsy face a big stage like this. He’s not so sure about that…
Cut to the infirmary, Alto’s grumbling at Sheryl not taking care of her own health – how unprofessional – and she can’t well disagree. She does apologize for pulling the plug on his air show with this but Alto tells her just to rest. They’re expecting some ruffled feathers, but Ranka’ll cover for her.
Grace explains that she’s agreed to represent the Frontier in her stead, so Sheryl tells Alto to get out there and cheer for her. This is Ranka’s debut show!
Back to the dressing area, Alto’s doing just that – he’ll be watching among the crowd. He tells that Sheryl isn’t doing too good, but she still took the time to insist he be here for her.
And Ranka’s very grateful: “it’s only thanks to you that I decided to step onto that stage. And I’ll sing with all my heart – I want this huge crowd to listen to my song!” That’s the way and Alto tells her to leave it all out there.
As the call ends, it’s almost go-time. She hasn’t had time to rehearse, but Bobby knows she’ll knock it out of the park. The big stage awaits.
Out there, the Voltes, Combattler and Gaiking teams are running the show with their yoyos, spinning tops and rolling dinosaur ships. The crowd seems to be really digging it, and Ichitaka’s a bit sullen that he didn’t have any cool tricks to show with the Rushbird.
Zechs tells him not to sweat it as he’s not alone on that subject – only those guys had experience with this sort of stuff. Ichitaka wishes he and Kouichi could be up there on stage, making people happy as a team.
Zechs and Noin have heard of Kouichi and that he recently got picked up by JUDA (after an “accident”). The prospect of seeing his buddy again’s lifted Ichitaka’s spirit in a hurry, though Noin tells him to relax and enjoy the present. Seems like it’ll be Ranka and Lacus’ turn up stage next.
Luca brings the ZAFT crew over and Shinn quickly recognizes Ichitaka as the guy who tried to help him and Athrun at Junius Seven. Mind, his greeting comes with that traditional Shinn-esque attitude, which earns him some scolding from Luna – he might be worried about Stella but that’s no reason to be disrespectful. He says he’s not being disrespectful… it’s the whole “respectfulness” thing that doesn’t click with him.
Either way, after a quick introduction, Shinn explains that Yamashita and Goh told him of what Ichitaka wanted to do back then, and they figured they’d meet him in person once Luca said he was around. The two of them would also like to thank LOTUS for the assist at Junius Seven, but Ichitaka figures they’d be better off thanking Zechs or Noin – he’s too shy to handle that.
Regardless, Shinn’s thankful that Ichitaka and LOTUS cared to help them. Ichitaka gets all flustered, and Luca suggests they all watch the show together. It’s starting, so they better cheer Ranka good!
Meer gets on stage, greeting all the peace-loving people gathered here (Athrun’s still a bit sour with her impersonating Lacus). Following some words of thanks to LOTUS for the show, she gets ready to sing… and the alarms go off! The base is under attack – right now, yes!
Zechs scrambles everyone back to the ships, Shinn and co. also moving to deploy.
Mission 9 (Retreat Route) – Operation Carnival
Surprise, it’s the Alliance. They got wind of Durandal being here and are moving in for the kill – anything tries leaving the base, it gets shot. Orb troops are also around, very dejected, Yuna telling them not to worry about stuff like “collateral damage”. Getting rid of Durandal’s their one-stop ticked to world peace!
Trowa is still with them, pondering how it’s Logos controlling the Alliance from the shadows. These roots dig deeper than he expected, but it is not his mission to expose them.
Our folks deploy and Talia says Durandal’s getting everyone in the base into the shelters – we’ll need to hold the line until that’s finished and stop any Alliance soldier from getting too close. As Jeffrey tags the area, Alto sees that Ranka’s still around the stage. “Get to the shelter already… Hurry!” he thinks.
As Heine sees that the Minerva’s running short on troops and ponders how much they’ll be able to help here, Ichitaka notices that Michel isn’t around. Alice says he wasn’t feeling too good, so he’s being kept in reserve. Guess it’ll be up to us to handle this.
Kill everything without losing any ship, Alto or letting an enemy into the Diokia Base. Not too difficult provided you know what’s coming: you’ll want to send a handful of units down center, angling a bit to the left, while your more hardhitting folks head towards the Alliance.
Orb’s Murasames are a priority as they can fly and move quickly, meaning it won’t take long for them to close that distance. Their AI seems to prioritize moving, too. Form a solid wall and work your way out, focus-firing on the more distant Zamza-Zahs and Gells-Ghes due to their barriers (note that the former still have a MAPW, as does Trowa).
So everyone just goes forward.
Enemy Phase!
Same for the Murasames, Windams and Daggers.
Player Phase!
: No pushing! Please line up one-by-one! Everything’s all right!
: Shelters #4 and #5 are already full?! Then there’s only one left for all these people…!
: Prioritize the civilians’ safety! Use any available facilities, even those for officials and VIPs!
: M-Ms. Lacus wouldn’t take shelter at a time like this… What should I do, then…?
: Wh-What’s going on, Lacus?!
: Ranka! Didn’t you hear evacuation alarm?!
: I did, but how could I just leave everyone behind?!
: Aaah!
: Don’t panic! LOTUS will keep this area safe, so please remain calm!
: (This isn’t good… At this rate we’ll have a frenzy on our hands…!)
: I… What I can do is…
: … I’ll sing to them!
: Huh…
: I know there’s so much you can do, but I’m just a singer myself. And even if I’m a newbie, I’ll be professional about it! All that I can do… is sing to try and calm them down!
: (If Alto’s out there fighting, then I’ll fight too…!)
: Hold me to the edge of the galaxy!
: Hrm? Who’s singing…?!
: Suimen ga yuragu…♪
: This voice… Ranka?!
: Ranka, you…
: What? The attacks ceased…?
: (All those panicking people… they’re just listening to her now…)
: What’s going on?! Why do I hear music?!
: Heh…
Tweeep.
: (That’s… space-time is trembling?)
: A Vajra?!
: Y-Yes, sir! We’re pinging an uncommon De-Fold signal!
: It’s…!
: (Magnificent… The boundaries between parallel worlds are nigh-meaningless to the Vajra…)
: (The plan was just for Q1’s voice to stimulate the larva, but this is far better than what we expected.)
Bing!
: Do I secure the girl?
: (There’s been no change to the plan: securing Ranka Lee is a secondary priority. Disregard this command in case the primary objective can’t be carried out.)
: But she’s—
: (We’ve only seen one emerge thus far, so she’s no more than the subject of a hypothesis. She is not a priority. That’ll be all.)
: Copy that.
Bloop.
: (Still, that girl… If Q1’s voice can, in fact, make space-time tremble and influence the Vajra…)
: Damn those bugs… we thought we’d taken out all the one who followed us into this world, but I guess there some left?
: Skull Leader to all units: save the questions for later! We’re lucky it’s only one of them… so take out that Vajra right the hell now!
Well, we’ve got Ranka singing over the entire battleground now. Sadly, J-pop is not J-rock and, as such, we get no morale boost. Oh, well.
After Tetsuya and Jun cut these Murasames down to size, Rey and Luna move in.
: Gil’s in there, leading the civilians… I’ll protect this base with my life!
: If what the Chairman said is true and this war was caused by those Logos guys… then they’ll find that no one here’s gonna keep on dancing to their tunes!
There they go.
We can’t reach the Vajra just yet, but we can handle this wing of attackers.
Noin missed her target, mind…
But that’s fine. Ozma takes the leader, spreading the command aura, and Shinn moves in for the other kill.
: Both Stella and the Chairman are at Diokia! I’m not letting you do anything with the place!
There it goes.
This group here falls to Heine/Klan and Voltes/Canaria.
Enemy Phase!
The Alliance’s NE wing is starting to draw dangerously close, but they also choose to attack Lulu. She deprives the leaders of 3 groups of most of their HP.
Couple decide it’s a good idea to attack Hyouma.
It’s not. The Dagger gets oneshotted, the Windam barely hangs on.
Trowa and the beefier are mooks are moving in, but are out of range (same for the lone Vajra).
Player Phase!
Grace watches as the resonance is on the verge of reaching its apex and orders the “Dimension Eater” to be detonated. Meanwhile Brera’s to escape and await orders. With things going so incredibly well, all that remains is to tear down the fabric of space-time and let the larva’s cry echo throughout their world (that is, the Macross’) and to its brethren.
With the Fold Waves as a beacon, the Vajra will be led to this world en masse, and she takes even a link with the Queen to be possible. Within Diokia, Durandal confirms all civilians evacuated and is about to call Ranka and Lacus to come with when the Dimension Eater goes off in a purple explosion.
Our people have no idea what just happened, but Luca pings a small Fold rift being opened by the city’s storage area. And it is quickly followed by a bunch of other Fold signals emerging nearby – Monica tags them as being the same as the Fold made by that lone Vajra.
A bunch of the buggers warp in, including a few Knights, and Hyouma isn’t amused by enemies capable of turning up in the blink of an eye. Things just went south in a big way, Dick sees, and even more so when a Vajra flies into Diokia.
It makes a beeline for Ranka and takes her back to one of the Knights, which quickly leaves the area.
Alto’s on the verge charging head-first towards the things (ignoring Ozma’s warnings) when Brera shows up and blocks him: “You don’t deserve her,” he says and flies off. Alto recognizes his Valkyrie as the one from when the Vajra captured Luca and blasts away in pursuit to try and get Ranka back.
Ozma isn’t happy with anything that just happened, but also remembers Brera’s ship from Alto’s previous report. Lulu wants to have the Daiku Maryu follow but Michel finally gets in touch and says he’ll do it – the red Valkyrie’s pretty good and, plus, he was kept in reserve for emergencies like this, right?
Lulu allows it, so off goes Michel. Juzo can easily tell that something’s off with the guy, but Ippei says we can only count on him – meanwhile, what we can do is end this battle in a hurry. That means keeping Diokia safe while also wrecking the new Vajra.
Jeffrey, meanwhile, tells Monica to try running a trace on the escaped Knight Vajra and to make sure we don’t lose Alto or Michel’s signals.
Well, so much for Ranka’s debut. But, hey, at least she’s not being hunted down by a robo ninja in this game.
Priority is still the Alliance mooks as a bunch of them can reach the finish line by their next move.
: Did they chase the Minerva all the way here or are they after the Chairman…? But whichever one it is, we’ll defend this base to the death!
Bam.
One for Rey, one for Lulu.
Her Flame gets stronger after that!
The Windam leading this team was summarily shot down by Heine. Its squaddie immediately follows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPyw8n7e93I
By the by, a carryover from K is that pretty much everything but a couple of Daiya’s attacks have a dynamic kill. Someone at Banpresto really liked Gaiking LOD (as they should).
Kills for Tetsuya and Jun, Boss and Hyouma.
No more nearby threats to Diokia.
Ichitaka and Zechs’ll handle the last pair of Murasames, while Ozma (just in case) takes the lone Vajra that started all this.
: Alto… I swear to all that’s holy, if anything happens to Ranka…!
: These are two numerous to be stragglers from the flock that attacked the Galaxy…
: And that red unit… it looked like YF-27, so I should probably get in touch with company headquarters again.
Alright.
Enemy Phase!
Shinn and Lulu get harassed by the Zamza-Zahs, hitting back with varying degrees of pain. One gets too close to Kenichi and Canaria, though, and is gunned down.
Excellent.
On the other side, Zechs and Ichitaka are holding the line just fine against the little Vajra.
Player Phase!
Following a big hit from Lulu, Heine moves in.
Luna and Rey handle the Gells.
Right on time.
And Trowa’s deciding to be a dick, Support Defending mooks that I could easily kill. Time to get rid of him.
Let’s see how you like this!
And he’s very dead. I’ll make a video of this when I use it against something that won’t cheat me out of a DK…!
He figures he’s fought enough that no one’ll suspect him. The issue now is finding where Relena’s at.
By the Vajra, Ichitaka and Jeffrey each take a kill – the latter gets Invincible.
Next.
Ozma and Luca nab a nearby pair too.
And now this is pretty much clean up. The Alliance mooks are too far away to stand a chance at making touchdown and the Vajra are too frail to withstand my everything.
Cliffs notes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmCmtXi9xAA
“Anyone who doesn’t wanna die has one second to get out my sight!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld9cxRV4OUQ
Everything the Gaiking does is so satisfying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfw23yE-ibk
Zechs’ strongest weapon here, since I could.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x01OAMYzKw
Also since I could: FAAAAAACE OPEN!
And that’s the end of that!
As for Alto, Monica pings him bogged down by the red Valkyrie and unable to pursue the Vajra.
Brera flies around, Alto TRYING to keep up.
: Pull yourself together, Alto! You’re not flying like you usually do!
: Hmph, child’s play.
: Damn it, Ranka’s gonna get away!
: “Ranka this, Ranka that”… is it just about her? May I remind you that our mission was to protect a base filled with people! Have all these battles been just a secondary concern to you?!
: Screw you, Michel! It’s never been anything of the sort!
: Hmhmhm… Too slow.
: Urk!
: Keep him still, Alto! I can’t get a bead on him…!
: Shut up! I know!
: !!
: That’s it! Keep him right there and I’ll end it!
: Stand down! If I can catch him, then I can do this myself!
: Hah, just let me handle it. Be it with women or bullets, I always hit a bulls-eye.
Rifle charging!
: (Sis… I…)
: …?!
: My right engine?! Michel! The hell are you doing shooting me?!
: All that talk and you screw it up?! Or was that on purpose?!
: Hrk… Of course it wasn’t!
: …
Brera gets his Valkyrie up straight and blasts away.
: Damn it, Ranka! RANKAA!!
: …
Things aren’t doing too good now. The Quarter and Daiku Maryu are trying to figure out where the Vajra flew off to before going after, and Durandal offers to personally accompany us and help since he feels somewhat responsible for what happened.
Jeffrey tells him not to as it was only thanks to his efforts that the civs were mostly unharmed, but he still says we’d have had a much simpler time dealing with the Vajra if the Alliance hadn’t turned up around here. Plus, it was he who invited the Frontier guests over in the first place.
Speaking of, Sheryl runs in in a panic, having just heard what happened to Ranka. She slowly grunts at Jeffrey that she’s fine enough, and rather angry at Alto for letting the girl get kidnapped under his nose. He should be coming in soon, so she tumbles off to the hangar.
Still, Durandal says he and Lacus are as worried as Sheryl and hopes that Jeffrey’ll allow them to help. Furthermore, he’d also like to speak with Heine a bit.
Ichitaka and Alice confirm that both Alto and Michel are doing fine – Hiyoshi was more than a bit worried at how he’d cope if those two ended up dead. Still, Tetsuya reports that they lost those Vajra due to the red Valkyrie.
So much for Alto’s unauthorized rescue mission, Puria sighs… but Daiya figures we’ll manage to get Ranka back as our ships are already tracking the buggers down. Granted, Ozma is beside himself with worry in the meantime.
A bit later, Michel and Alto have returned and the former isn’t doing too good. Klan tells him to keep his chin up as it’s only a matter of time before we figure out where Ranka’s at. It’s not the Ranka business that’s gotten him down, though, but that friendly fire incident – Klan only needed to take a look at the hole in Alto’s VF-25 to have an idea of what happened.
Speaking of Alto, Luca’s trying and failing to keep him from immediately getting in Michel’s face: “What the hell was with that shot?! Are you trying to get me killed?!” Michel says nothing, and Alto doesn’t appreciate the silent treatment – say something, damn it!
Luca tries arguing that it’s only human to make miss a shot or two but Alto’s not one bit interested in losing his life over one; besides, the guy doesn’t “miss”! Didn’t Michel always go on and on about how he got his “sniper sense” from his sister? Or, maybe, screwing up’s the only thing that’s in his blood?!
Michel snaps at that and straight up punches Alto. It falls on Ichitaka, Hyouma and Daisaku to break it off, but Alto isn’t having it: “Lemme go! If he’d just kept his head together, Ranka wouldn’t…!”
Things stop when Ozma runs in and punches both men – what the hell is fighting one another going to achieve? Tetsuya joins in, asking if Alto thinks he’s the only one here who wants to save Ranka. Did he ever stop to think of how hard Ozma’s struggling to keep his personal feelings in check, not just today but also during the movie shoot battle?
Sheryl stumbles in right then and she seems to be taking a turn for the worse. Still, she tells Alto that he needs to save Ranka before crumbling to the ground. Alice yells that she shouldn’t be walking around in her condition; and despite what she might say, Alice’s sensors pick up several problems with her: excessively low temperature, fatigue and more.
She calls up Canaria, who says they’ve got plenty of room to take Sheryl in, so Alice lifts the indignant singer up and carries her away. Michel’s taking off as well, telling Ozma that he’s going to do some training and make sure he doesn’t screw up again. That’s fine, but Ozma wants him to take a few people with.
Heine’s looking on, sighing that he won’t be leaving the Quarter on a lighter atmosphere. Wait, what? See, Durandal’s requested that he transfer over to the Minerva to supplement its dwindling forces – they’ve no flight lead now that Athrun’s lost his Savior. Still, he very much enjoyed working with us, short-lived as that might’ve been.
Kouji tells him not to get so bummed out – it ain’t like him – and figures, when things with the Alliance settle down, the PLANTs will likely join up with LOTUS. Heine confirms that Durandal said the same, but whether or not he himself’ll get back with us is a different story. He’d very much prefer to be dealing with the Jama Kingdom and Cthulhu and whatnot, mind, and Daiya figures we’ll see each other again as it comes to that.
Well, Heine would’ve liked to give everyone a proper farewell, but this doesn’t quite look like the best time for that. He merely asks them pass a message to Alto: “don’t let love blind you to your duty.”
By the Quarter’s firing range, Michel’s missing a whole lot; Ippei sees that he’s not himself and asks what happened. Well, how familiar is Ippei with his personal history? Not much – no one would even gossip much about him. Klan sees where this is going and asks if it’s about Jessica.
Michel says absolutely not – he’s just been going to bed by himself lately and that’s made him all lonely and whatnot. Maybe Klan would care to come on over tonight and remedy that? No one buys his story and Ippei asks how that Jessica fits in Michel’s past. Ippei can’t even look at him right now – he’s looking even worse than after that time they fought.
Still, Michel asks them to quit meddling in his business, as they’re not helping him calm down. Juzo argues that we can’t just ignore him, either, but Klan takes a more pragmatic approach of calling him and idiot and punching him. Even micronized, her fists still hurt plenty…
Some time later, back at the hangar, Alto’s staring at Sheryl’s earring – it’s already been a while since he “borrowed” it. His train of thought’s interrupted when Ranka’s Aimo starts playing through the thing!
Cut to the bridge, he’s just told them about it; Alto’s sure he heard Ranka’s voice and it wasn’t just his mind playing tricks. Her song was seemingly coming from a specific direction and Luca’s pinged faint Fold Waves being emitted that way. Do you think that’s…?
A call comes in from Japan’s SDF right then: it’s our friend Igarashi and he reports that one of their patrols just found the beasties we were looking for. It’s a flock of Vajra about west-southwest of the Okinotori Islands and their numbers, varieties and signals correspond to those that emerged at Diokia.
Seems like we have our target, so Jeffrey commands the Quarter and Daiku Maryu to go after.