Part 56: Mission 19 (Galia Route) - National Blizzard - Part 2

A quick hit from Kei clears the last WaDom of his squaddies.



While that’s going on, Rand inches forward and repairs the damage Loran took.







Gain, Glomar and King Beal clean up that WaD group that went for our ships.



Now, I never showed this before but, if you’ve a ship standing next to a squad, you can select the “Recovery” option to pull that squad into the ship you’ve just moved.
I’ll be doing this with Kouji’s group to have a backup in case I need one more attack to down Harry (mind, while a unit stays inside a ship, it loses 5 morale per turn but has its HP, EN and Ammo restored).



Enemy Phase!



Here comes another group of WaDs, this one going after Loran.










“Her majesty doesn’t wish for war!”







Gain and Kei get attacked, with Gain scoring an easy kill against a weakened WaD.



Some soldiers of Diana’s Royal Guards have deployed with Harry and they’re using the new Silver SUMOs.














Even regular mooks have special lines: “This thing isn’t just big?!”



Here comes Harry, making a beeline for Loran.



: White Doll! Is it you piloting it, Loran?!
: Please stop attacking, Lt. Harry! Her Majesty is—
: Don’t, Loran…! Kihel could be placed in danger if we act imprudently!
: Y-yes…!
: (I’ve no choice but to fight Lt. Harry if I'm to protect Lady Diana…! But, can I actually pull it off…?!)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3dH3HNWKXQ
Might as well take this chance to show off Harry’s TRI attack (and an example of mook hive-mind) .
Also, Harry taking a weak hit from the Turn A: “It seems I overestimated the White Doll’s capabilities…”



Player Phase!



Asuham keeps attacking ammo-dependent people and, this time, it’s Rag’s turn.







Either way, we need to deal with Harry right now if we’re going to get that Skill Point.
Thankfully, he moved right in range of Roger’s Chrom Buster and King Beal’s Ion Cannon (everyone needs Strike to hit him reliably, of course).



Work your magic, Kei.












Good man.







Let’s take some extra cash and experience before we wrap this up: Kappei takes out the last WaDom, while Rag and her team get working on a group of WaDs.



Might as well give Elchi something to do.












And it pays off! She learns Prevail L4 and Support Attack L2!




Gain quickly punches the last WaD into oblivion.



Alright, let’s take Harry down.














Jiron versus (I think) good-looking men: “Looks don’t decide fights! Here I goooo!”



Harry drops an excellent Megabooster (like a Booster but gives +2 to movement), while Jiron and Joseph, respectively, learn Prevail L6 an L4.



Harry wonders if his defeat was caused by his doubts.
However, he inwardly thinks that maybe he’ll see whether this Diana is the real deal or not if they get their backs against the wall. With her safety in mind, he retreats.









With both the advance troops and the royal guard destroyed, Phil angrily orders an attack on the Dome itself - "Diana" has had enough, though, and orders him to stop.
She addresses every living person in the battlefield, asking them to lay down their weapons and listen to what she has to say: she introduces herself and says she doesn't want this battle.
The Catez people are also watching, this being their first time seeing the Queen of the Moon (and “commander” of the Diana Counter) in person.
She says that Earth was once a ruined planet, where no man could live: “this frozen land of Siberia also bears the scars of that era…the Black History.”, she says.

However, it seems that the people of Earth have forgotten about that – why would that be? Because it’s the sad nature of humans to want to forget painful experiences but they, the Moon Race, have been living on the moon, waiting for the world to recover.
The world did regenerate and, although it was mixed with other ones, she knows humanity will prosper. Thus, the Moon Race has returned home and they wish to work together with the earthlings to prevent the mistakes of the past from being repeated.



The Catez folk are surprised to hear the Queen speaking of peaceful coexistence with Earthlings and Fran knows a scoop when she sees one.
Even the real Diana has to admit to Loran that Kihel is saying it better than she could – he, too, is very impressed with her. Kihel continues, saying the people were able to gain the power to recover only by sealing their legends and the Black History away as it would’ve been impossible for them to recover if they only had those terrible memories.
Thus, their interpretation of the Black History period was, in some cases, changed and, in other cases, completely overwritten. Roger sees a parallel with Paradigm City and wonders if their memory loss also served a purpose of concealing some kind of dreadful past event.

At the end of the day, we’re all humans – there’s no difference between the Earthlings and the Moon Race. Aki and Michi are also listening, understanding that she means that we CAN co-exist.
Kihel says that she came to Siberia in hopes of building a nation for the Moon Race while also living in harmony with those that already lived here. That being said, her group is willing to be leave Catez but she asks them to understand that they are the humans’ own kin who seek to come home.
Gwen and everyone else are impressed by her will and Loran wants to get to the Soreil before it leaves but Diana says she can entrust the Moon Race to Kihel for a while longer. In the meantime, she’ll continue to observe the Earthlings of this land with her own eyes.
Kihel orders all troops called back and, while Phil protests that it’ll embolden the Federation, she won’t take no for an answer.



Diana has new fans in the form of Dav and T-Bone but Beck isn’t as happy: thanks to her, their plans are completely ruined!
They have bigger problems, though, as Dorothy and Norman have just found them and the butler is very eager to hear the details of said plan. Beck and company try to make a run for it but Norman is packing a machine gun and starts shooting.
Our people notice the gunshots and so does Asuham, who rushes over to stop Norman. That’s the chance we need and Gain tells everyone to shoot where he indicates.





The attack strikes Asuham, destroying his camouflaging overcoat and revealing him.
Gain points out that him covering his mooks was his undoing and, as they expected, the thief’s invisibility was an OverSkill and Asuham is pretty pissed that he can’t use it anymore – Kei’s still impressed that Overmen can do such things. Gain’s rather disappointed that Asuham’s fallen so that he’d resort to stealing in order to take advantage of the ensuing battle.
Asuham yells at him to shut up as he’s more than willing to take him out personally when his plan has failed.
He calls for the usual backup and Jiron isn’t about to forgive Hola for trying to use the Moon Race like that – Hola insists that this is a little something called STRATEGY!
Roger, however, knows that it was their fault that his negotiation fell through so he’ll now lay proper punishment upon them. Asuham says that won’t happen, though, because they’ve hired suitable opponents for him.





That’d be Beck, Dav and T-Bone and Norman apologizes for being unable to catch them.
Roger figures that’s fine as it allows him to pummel them personally and his fancy way to speaking is ever so annoying to Beck. each of them has their own Victory Deluxe which Beck was finally able to mass-produce.
Roger figures Beck probably fled Paradigm City to escape the police and Beck’s knee-jerk reaction seems to confirm that. However, he insists that TODAY is the end of the road for Roger and prepares to pay him back for all the trouble he gave him before.

Beck asks Asuham to let him deal with “crow-boy” and he does but tells him to make sure to take him out for good.
“Come, you hoodlums. As per Galia’s law, today I will outright face you via brute strength,” Roger says.
As for Gain, he doesn’t have time for this reunion with Asuham, so he’ll have to make him leave. Good news is that Kona has finished setting up the Turn A’s spare equipment, so she calls Loran over and quickly returns his stuff.

Gengoroh tells everyone to focus on downing the enemy leaders so we can wrap this up quickly. Mel understands and cheers her darling to take out the “thief and gold hoodlums” – Asuham isn’t amused at being called a thief by a little girl.
Gain says she’s only calling it as she sees it. Asuham has had enough of Gain and promises to settle everything with him right now.


Dav and T-Bone don’t really warrant a closer look (they’re worse pilots than Beck on all accounts and only know Prevail L3 and Support Attack L2) but let’s take a quick look at our new Overman enemy:



Jinba (Asuham Boone)

Asuham has done a wee bit of leveling up since our last encounter (his Prevail is now L4) but, overall, he’s the same. The Jinba, however, is quite a bit different than his Golem: compared to the old Overman, this one has higher HP and mobility but lower defense, accuracy and attack power (its TRI attack is stronger, though, but Asuham’s flying solo).
Two things you need to worry about here: the first one is that he’s equipped with an A-Adaptor which gives all his terrains A rating (this is what Roger wants to fix his terrain issues); more importantly, the other problem is his OverSkill which, when over 130 morale, gives him permanent 100% hit rate.
Not nice, especially considering that he’ll likely use it against Gain so watch it (not that him being shot down would matter, what with Roger’s Negotiator skill but…).



Gainer needs to boost his morale, so I send him right to the frontlines and after Geraba.
















Geraba’s easily double attacked by Gainer while Kouji and Maria, in Wide Formation, deal some decent damage to his squaddies.



Enemy Phase!




Gainer gets attacked by a bunch of things but he dodges every single attack before dealing some decent damage in return.



During all that, Maria gets a level and learns ESP L4.



Hola isn’t wasting time today.



: Cut it out, Hola! Go and find some real work instead of staying on that sinking ship!
: Shut it! You, a gold digger, dares lecture me?!
: I didn’t fall in love with Elchi because she’s a captain! I did with the woman, Elchi Cargo!
: Aw! You’re embarrassing me, Jiron!
: Uuuurgh! QUIT SHOWING OFF!!






Good man.



Everyone else goes after Gainer and so does Asuham: evasion decay has skewed the numbers a bit but I think it’ll be fine.



: Pilot of the silver Overman! I might forget that I saw you if you surrender that unit nice and easy!
: King Gainer is mine and I'm not about to hand it over to anyone else!
: Besides, your Overman's already a perfect fit for your dirty tricks!












Sure, sure.



Player Phase!




Destroying Hola’s mooks would be annoying, so I just send Zambot in to cut him down to size.



With that, the way is clear for Roger.














Roger’s line against Breakers (or just Hola/Geraba?): “Although you were hooked by the reward, you really should’ve been more selective of your employer”.



Hola drops a High-Spec Radar and Roger gains a level, learning Spirit.



Hola asks why he can’t win against Jiron – especially when he’s already so much more good looking.
Jiron's got the real answer: Elchi hates droopy-eyed guys like him. Hola yells that he’s lying just as his mech explodes and Sochie figures Jiron’s words were the final straw for him.
Gavane notes that Hola did manage to eject but figures his pride is what took the most damage.




Bye, Enge!



He had hoped that siding with the Saint Reagan would improve his situation but things are the same as ever and he’s certainly not willing to put his life on the line for this.



Geraba and company have already taken some damage, so let’s have Jiron join in on the attack.



: Geraba! Your biggest issue is that you’re a terrible judge of character!
: Zip it! I took a gamble with my bro! We’ve hit a rough patch but we’ll still make it big!
: Whaaaa? So you knew that Hola’s plan was going down the drain and still stuck with him?
: Time to pay the piper, then! You better not get mad when you lose!












Jiron takes a small hit but it’s alright.



Give him what for, Rand.



: Come on, The Crusher!
: …
: Wha-?! HEY! Get angry like you always do!
: Sorry…but you're just so sad that I can’t even bring myself to do it.
: Y-you’re actually a good guy...sort of…
: Aw, shucks. Relax, I’ll just give you a teensy, tiny dismantling today.
: After all that, that's what you do?! You ARE The Crusher!!
: You said it twice!! Even God gets pissed if you hit him twice! Grit your teeth!!
: Darling…destroying proverbs is never okay…












Going in with Wide Formation allows Bello and Sara to take out his squaddies, too.

FYI: the proverb Rand's playing on is 仏の顔も三度まで, which, essentially, means "even a saint will get angry if insulted multiple times(lit. Even Buddha may be upset if his face is hit thrice)" - Rand's change comes from replacing 三度, thrice, with 二度, twice.



Bello takes a level and learns Invincible.



As his unit blows up, Geraba yells that, if things are gonna go like this, it would’ve been better if they had stayed in Zora.
Keiko notes that he was crying while running off and Uchuuta can only feel bad for the guy – especially once those tears start to freeze up.









Gainer TRI attacks a squad of regular Under Golems (activating his OverSkill from the kill) while Loran takes a shot at Dav.

Also, I totally forgot that he had lines after Kihel’s speech:



: (Mistress Kihel was magnificent as her majesty’s substitute…!)
: (Then, my mission is to protect the real Queen Diana! I must succeed!)



Just need to weaken him a wee bit more.












Good, good.




And Shaia takes him down.



Dav isn’t to up being shot down here and freezing to death, so he quickly ejects.



Enemy Phase!







Gainer gets jumped by Asuham and sniped from afar by Jaboli and Kejinan.
Meanwhile, Elchi is attacked by T-Bone, Zakki and a Saint Reagan Under Golem, having no choice but to tank the Overmen’s attacks.



Player Phase!




Zakki is using Asuham’s Golem so he’s a bit more resilient; still, the size difference between it and the King Beal means nice damage is done to his entire squad.



Let’s see how Gain does with some help from the Iron Gear.


















Adette’s Wide Formation attack takes down one of Zakki’s squadmates , so she levels up and learns Support Defense L2.







I could focus on the bosses but Overmen enemies give a nice amount of cash, so I want to shoot those down.
Kei takes a couple while Elchi downs Zakki’s surviving squaddie.



Do it, Rag!














Very nice.



Everyone takes a level but Dyke learns both Support Defense L2 and Iron Wall.



Zakki complains that everything would’ve been fine if they had destroyed the exodizers before Gain came back – this awful turn of events is all because of Asuham vendetta!




A quick jab from Rand and T-Bone is also downed.



He’s also not willing to die while he’s enjoying his hard-earned freedom, so he ejects.







Beck’s coming after Roger but we can have Zambot and Loran intercept.



Time for Roger to teach you a lesson.












“You don't have what it takes to be a professional criminal! You should just go back to jail!”

Beck also drops a Hybrid Armor.



Beck is very annoyed that he’s been defeated twice and Roger just makes it worse: “It seems you missed one, Beck. If you consider the first time I got you arrested, this would be your third defeat.”
Beck tells him to shut up as those annoying coppers aren’t here to bug him anymore – he’ll make a comeback for sure and, when he does, the first thing he’ll do is come after Roger.
As he leaves, Roger quips that it would’ve been safer if Beck did his speech AFTER escaping. Still, petty parting threats are the mark of a hoodlum, thus Roger will respect it this time.







Next in line is Jaboli who falls easily against the combined powers of Jiron and Gainer.



Kouji takes a level, getting Prevail L5.



She has little excuse to offer but, as she retreats, promises to pray for Asuham’s victory.



Enemy Phase!




Kejinan takes my bait and attacks Gainer, taking some nice damage in return.



While the last two Under Golem groups decide to gun for the Iron Gear.














And that’s the story of how a tiny Overman survived a battleship being dropped on top of him.
Elchi did take out one mook in the other group, though.



Eeergh, Asuham has activated his OverSkill so Gain will need to defend this.



: Despite all that strategy, you’re nothing short of a thief! You’re a disgrace to your family name!
: Silence, Gain! You are calling me a thief?!
: Stealing someone’s heart is private matter. Karin won’t like it if you keep being such a mother hen, bro.
: I WILL NOT BE “BRO”'D BY THE LIKES OF YOU!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uHCsMAyA98
Ow.



Player Phase!




Alright. Time to wrap this up, so Jiron quickly dispatches Kejinan.



Everyone takes a level and Gavane gets Prevail L3.



Kejinan isn’t happy with these so-called Saint Reagan “elites”: they make him work so hard and, in the end, still fail to deliver?

I tried to get Adette in range to attack him but it didn’t fly:

: Batter up, Kejinan! I’ll put a final stop to our history right here!
: But, ma’am! What about my feelings?!
: Not my problem. If you want to tell me something, show that you’re a strong man first!







Now, Shaia and Loran quickly take down the last Under Golems while Roger leaves Asuham in the red.



Adette has saved enough SP to cast Bless, so we do that for maximum


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_216Bg-5iXg




Asuham drops his A-Adaptor and Kappei learns Accelerate!



Asuham realizes that his Jinba isn’t suited for head-on combat but Gain says “I could’ve won with a stronger Overman!” is a poor excuse.
Asuham has no choice but to admit defeat for today but, of course, he promises to return and with even greater power than today. Dyke sees that Asuham’s a real sore loser and Burume wonders if he shouldn’t be getting fired after getting his ass kicked twice.

That’s fine with Rag as she doesn’t want to run into him again and Gain only wishes that he would let things go.
Either way, all enemies have fled so Gainer would like to ask what the hell Asuham’s problem with Gain is. Rand is also interested as, from what he’s heard, it seems to be about someone called Karin.
Indeed, Karin is Asuham’s sister and Rand immediately figures that she must be Gain’s Ex but he says things never got serious like that. Kei sees that Gain’s just as much of a sharpshooter at night and he somberly agrees, seeing how Karin apparently gave birth to a child of his.

Either way, this is a problem between him and Karin (and Asuham) so there’s no more to be said – plus, he’s far more interested in hearing about Gainer’s little date.
Bello wants to know who the mystery girl was and Sara intends to have him explain everything once they get back. Inwardly, Gainer notices that Sara seems angry so maybe that his situation with her isn’t entirely hopeless.
Still, he knows that he’ll have to apologize to Cynthia for standing her up and, coincidentally, she saw the whole thing from Catez and is even more interested in the King. Angel is also present: “An Early Overman, a Turn Type, Fallen Angels and a “Big” Megadeus…is it a coincidence that they all gathered in this frozen land? Or is it destiny?”, she wonders.
Either way, she hopes to meet Roger again…



Aboard the Soreil, we find Kihel asking what Milan and Phil are up to. Harry says they’re planning their next move as her words today will likely force them to leave Siberia and head south.
This means Zora and Harry’s heard that it’s a land just as harsh as Siberia but she sees that as all the more reason for them to use it as their new home: they’ll restore that inhospitable land for the future generations.
“Ideals alone will not keep the army under control, Kihel Heim.”, Harry says and warns her that Diana wouldn’t have such naïve thoughts. Kihel protests that she merely looks like that girl and, as her underling, Harry should do as she says.
They’re interrupted as an incoming transmission is received by the Soreil crew: from Durandal…



Back at our team, Loran is thinking that Keith managed to open a bakery in Catez and Fran is an UN reporter tracking the Moon Race’s activities. They found a place to live in Earth, so surely the rest of the Moon Race can do the same.
Keiko is nearby, telling Kappei that it’s looking like the caravan refugees were accepted into Catez. Kappei says he’ll have to thank Roger later but, from what Kei’s heard, with the Moon Race leaving the area, there was no reason to deny them entrance anymore.

Kappei figures it wasn’t Roger’s handiwork, then, but he interjects saying that, while the Moon Race’s retreat certainly helped, this result was derived of the negotiation he had with the Catez folk.
Well, Kappei thanks him either way and Roger says it would’ve been a shame to leave without clearing that misunderstanding. When Uchuuta asks, Roger says that, while he was hired as a negotiator for Yapan’s Ceiling, there’s no further need for his services as the Saint Reagan will have to pull back for a while after today’s battle and our destination lies straight ahead.
Still, Sara says the aliens and Fallen Angels are still around and, when they attack, the power of his Big O would be needed. Sadly, fighting such things isn’t really in line with his job as a Negotiator – that’d be more of a self-defense service.

Well, Kei thinks Roger could easily make a living as a bodyguard but that is not his true calling. Furthermore, we’ll be getting people more suited for this job as we’ve received a transmission indicating that our Pacific team is coming back.
With that in mind, Roger will be returning to his true professional duties and, while he wouldn’t call her a replacement, Tiptree will still be taking a ride on the Iron Gear. Despite the Caravan folk finding a new home, it seems she and her people have voyage of their own to complete.
Kappei does find it strange that she’d do that after the trouble she went through to get here but, as a Vodarac cultist, even this blizzard is seen as just another manifestation of nature so she won’t shy away from it.



Mome is saying her farewells to Dorothy and she’s spent a good part of the past days teaching Dorothy how to properly perform her maidly duties. Dorothy doesn’t see herself as a maid but, since Mome went through the trouble of teaching her, she’ll give it a try.
Mome also tells her to remember to smile but Dorothy neither expects nor seeks Roger's approval that way.
Roger sees that Dorothy made a friend and it’s a shame that they have to leave like this. Still, Rand figures we have some sort of connection, so we’re bound to run into each other again.
Roger agrees with his assessment, seeing how they managed to have this reunion despite the size and state of the world.

It’s a promise, then, and Rand says he and Norman will make Big O all shiny before his departure – Roger thanks him and heads back to his train. After he goes, Mel is a bit silent and Rand asks if there’s something wrong as he’ll also need her help with said maintenance.
She asks about the place where Rand said he met Roger, Paradigm City. It seems she’s heard that town’s name before from Asakim and Rand’s surprised that he knew the place (Toby was also told about it while he chased Asakim down).
Mel remembered it because, just like Rand, she also mistook it for “Paradise City” when she first heard it. Either way, Rand wonders if there’s a connection between him, Roger and Asakim with the town.
Mel asks what about her, then, and Rand says she’s a little girl who shouldn’t try to muscle in on the friendship of GROWN MEN – with that, he quickly heads out to get Big O fixed up.



Bright has just finished giving Heizaemon the sitrep on the pacific, including Orb's union with the Federation.
With that in mind, Durandal has told them to join back with our team and head to Japan. The reason for that is that Japan holds a similar position to what Orb previously held, so Durandal wants to see if they wouldn’t be willing to cooperate with Zaft.
Heizaemon sees no problem with it, so he tells Ichitaro to set up a meeting point while Bright gives everyone his best and starts headed to the set area. As he cuts the comm, Heizaemon thinks that, with Orb’s alliance with the feds, the world will become even more bipolar.

Gengoroh figures humans each have their own principles so conflicts are inevitable BUT the problem is that the aliens can take advantage of this. However, because people don’t understand the gravity of the situation, even those who aren’t interested in the conflict end up having no choice but to fight.
Right then, Ichitaro receives a transmission from the Gekkostate: it seems want to do business with the Glomar/Iron Gear's Market, so they request to meet up with us. The irony isn’t lost on Gengoroh that the same Gekkostate that Talia spent so long chasing around is willingly coming over.
Heizaemon ponders how we’re all gathering in Siberia again and wonders if fate’s drawing them here…


Both routes join up from here on out so we’ll see the rest later.