Part 16: Mission 6 - Route Split

Back at the Minerva, Meyrin reports Junius Seven picking up speed. Talia’s orders are to call the Mobile Suits back – the ship’ll head into the atmosphere after the falling colony to try and blast it with the Tannhäuser.
Arthur’s a bit queasy with that plan and while Talia isn’t sure how well this’ll work, she’s still going for it: “Simply watching it fall, knowing that I might’ve been able to do something, would leave a terrible aftertaste in my mouth.”
She tells Meyrin to inform LOTUS of what they’ll be doing, dejected that she won’t be able to bid the SMS crew a proper farewell. Talia also wants Cagalli to leave the ship but she refuses to stay passive while the Minerva’s crew are about to risk their lives to save Earth. Besides, Athrun’s still out there.
With that decided, Arthur gets on the PA to tell the rest of the crew what’s what – they’ll be moving to break Junius Seven ‘til the very last second.



Out in space, Yzak’s crew has received the info on the Minerva’s plan. Heine approves of their selfless persistence and wishes they could lend a hand.
We’ve all done everything we could, though, so now we just pray for their success, Dearka thinks.



The Quarter has also been briefed and Jeffrey’s impressed – we should also help with that.
What does he have in mind? Well, we’re still in good range to fire the Macross Cannon. There’s no time to charge it fully but it’s better than nothing. Sounds good to Bobby, eager to give Junius Seven a spanking.



Back to space, Reiji’s requesting Lady Une to allow LOTUS to follow the Minerva and head with them into the atmosphere – we might, at least, be able to minimize damage from the colony drop that way.
That’s fine with her, though she’s also worried that the terrorists might try something else if left unchecked. We can’t send all our troops back to the surface and Reiji, having already thought of that, will only be bringing the JUDA, Build, Dannar Teams and Iczer-1 with him. Everyone else will stay up here.
Une chuckles at his foresight and asks him to send her regards to the Minerva crew.



Quick message to Talia and she thanks Reiji for the assist, asking Meyrin to bring in the LOTUS units before their descent.
Long-range comms will be disabled once Phase 2 starts, so we need to hurry.




: Urgh, what the hell… I could swear I saw the MSs a second ago…

*Beep, beep.*

: Oh…! Ichitaka, I’m picking up some faint signals on the radar… I’m pretty sure it’s the Minerva’s Impulse and ZAKU!
: Nice one, Alice. We’re gonna get in there and help with whatever we can!

*Beep, beep.*

: Stand down, Nagumo. I think that’s enough insubordination for a day.
: R-Reiji…!
: Half of LOTUS’ll be accompanying the Minerva’s descent, trying to destroy the debris as much as possible.
: Your mission, however, is to head over to the Space Station and guard the area. Your unit should still be capable of escaping Junius Seven, so hurry.
: But Reiji, there’re still some other MSs—
: I’m aware, but those two are equipped to handle the atmospheric reentry. You don’t have to worry about them.
: (What do I do…? Those units looked pretty beat up but…)



And here’s our first route split of the game. Top option is to stay and rescue the Mobile Suits, while the bottom is to do as told and leave the area.
We’ll be doing both paths, as usual, but here’s how the series are split:

Rescue the MSs:
Linebarrels
Iczer-1
Jeeg
Godannar

Leave the area:
Mazinkaiser
Combattler V
Gaiking
Macross Frontier

If you choose to stay…

: …Sorry, Reiji, but I wanna help the Minerva’s folks. I could be reading this wrong but I think they might not manage the reentry the way they’re looking.
: And what kind of champion of justice keeps his distance when people might die?
: You seem pretty resolved for this.
: I dunno about resolve… I just don’t wanna regret it later.
: Very well, then your mission is to make it alive to the Minerva. But you better not leave any of those units behind after that bombast.

*Bzzt.*

: Thanks, Reiji…!
: Their signal’s grown fainter – we must hurry!
: Alright!



: Urk… Just a bit more…!
: What the hell are you doing? They sent the order to retreat and I’m sure you received it!
: I know. You go on ahead – I’ll head back as soon as I get this Meteor Breaker online!
: The thing’s still not working…?
: Yeah, but if I turn it on manually, it might start on time.
: But it’ll be you who’ll be out of time if you go for that. You really sure about this?
: Even the Minerva’s main gun might not be enough to destroy it for good, so if I can increase our odds even a bit…
: Fine, then I’ll help. Let’s wrap this up quick and head back.
: Hm, right.



: Tannhäuser – FIRE!
: SPIN STOOORM!
: GOO!
: Macross Cannon blast, incoming!



: I hope Ichitaka’s safe…
: He went to rescue the Impulse and the ZAKU.
: What?!
: Then he’ll also be boarding the Minerva?
: Yes, I told him to come this way after the two MSs are safely out. I know it’s a rather sudden request, but I hope it’ll be no issue.
: But we’ll be entering Phase 2 soon! Is he really going to make it here in time?!
: And if we’re in Phase 2, he’ll likely burn to a crisp, won’t he?!
: …
: We’ll continue to work on destroying the debris. Any objections, Mr. Moritsugu?
: None. There’s little time left but we’ll carry on to the bitter end.
: Damn it, Ichitaka, hurry up and get outta there…!
: (What are you doing, Shinn…?!)



*Boooom!*

: There, it’s on!
: No time to pat yourself on the pack! The thing’s running, so let’s get out!
: My main thrusters are gone. I couldn’t leave even if I tried.
: Now you tell me…? Why the hell is someone like you with Orb…?!

*Machine gun fire!*

: Urgh!
: More enemies?!
: My daughter died here! The world won’t change unless the colony falls and burns it!
: Not on my watch!!

*Lightning Fist!*

: Gwaaargh!!

*Boom!*

: It wasn’t easy but we’ve finally found them…! You guys alright?!
: Thanks to your assist, yeah. Now who’re you and what’re you going here?
: Ichitaka Nagumo, from LOTUS. I figured there were some MSs who didn’t bail out in time, so I came to help!
: I see… but don’t bother. You and Shinn get back to the ship – I’ll stay here for the atmospheric reentry.
: Patrick Zala – my father – caused all this tragedy… this is how I’ll repay those who suffered.
: The hell are you on about?! I’m not just leaving you behind!
: How do you figure dying’s the right call here?! Try to dress it up as much as you like, you’d just be running away from your problems with that – pure and simple!
: The ZAKU’s made to withstand an atmospheric reentry. I’m not about to die like that.
: Bull! Didn’t you just say your main thrusters were gone?! And then you got shot! Even if you made it through reentry, you’d crash straight into the ocean!
: …
: The descent sequence should be reaching Phase 2 soon and we really don’t have time for you to have this crisis!
: Come on! If we hit the gas on both our units, we oughta make it to the Minerva in time!

*Beep, boop.*

: …Sadly, no – we’re out of time. They’ve entered Phase 2.
: Then we can’t make it to the ship?!
: Hm… we’re left to our own devices now. Shinn, use that mech there to shield yourself – do it right and you’ll both make it out alive.
: But what about you?!
: He’s right! This won’t mean anything if we all don’t make it back! Alice, can you think of anything to help all mechs?!

*Beep, beep, beep.*

: Analyzing… I’ve got it! The analysis’ results say that if we engage the Laplace Wall and extend it, we should be capable of forming a field to neutralize the thermal energy!
: Meaning we can save everyone with that?
: I don’t think there’ll be any problems with friction, yes. With the three units enveloped by the field, we should be able to make landfall with relative safety.
: You don’t “think”, huh… Well, it’s the best we’ve got now…!
: … Sorry. You’re only in this mess because of my selfishness.
: Don’t try taking the easy way out again and I’ll give you this one as a freebie.
: And I came here pretty much on my own, so I can’t really give you crap for this.
: Thanks, you two. I appreciate it…
: Athrun…
: Heh, but I don’t think we can afford to keep with this melodrama. Get ready for reentry, men.
: R-Roger that. Angle adjusted, heat dispersion system all green. Autopilot system, on. Switching ECS to neutral.
: Reversing energy flow, extending Laplace Wall…!
: Get behind the Rushbird, guys!
: (We’re making it back – all three of us… That’s a promise!)




If Ichitaka complies with the orders to pull back, Reiji tells him to have faith in the two pilots: one’s a veteran from the war two years ago and the other is FAR more skilled than Ichitaka.
They better leave before the Rushbird gets too close to Earth and Reiji promises that his group’ll destroy Junius Seven.



Far away, Hyouma spots Ichitaka’s arrival and the kid’s quick to apologize for running off by himself. As for Junius Seven, it’s looking like the Quarter is about to shoot it again – after that, it’ll all be up to the Minerva and our other crew.
Ichitaka sees that the Macross guys aren’t the evil enemies that Blue Cosmos’ propaganda had been saying. Still, Kosuke notes that their technology IS incredibly advanced and even if some people see that as a threat, he’s just amazed. Tetsuya says something can be deemed a threat only after means and motive are brought together – on the other hand, some people looking to fan those flames are showing up here and there.
The Quarter blasts Junius Seven and, indeed, it broke the thing apart… but that only means we’ve avoided the worst-case scenario. Kosuke still expects the fragments to deal enormous damage throughout the surface.

Kouji’s pissed, figuring things could’ve ended better if he had the Kaiser available but Tetsuya tells him to stop. We couldn’t stop this even with all our forces combined, so he alone wouldn’t have changed the outcome. Still, that doesn’t help this feeling of worthlessness that Kouji’s got.
Daiya tells him not to beat himself over it – we did everything we could. Now, adds Sayaka, we can only pray. Lady Une calls us right then, saying she’s brought her shuttle into one of ZAFT’s ships. She’s heading towards the PLANTs and will be helping us from there as LOTUS’ representative.
Meanwhile, we’re to set up shop at Yumi’s Space Station to resupply. Once that’s done, she’d like us to carry out patrols throughout the sector. Off we go.



Finally, Une calls up the Quarter and thanks them for the help today – it was only with their help that Earth avoided its complete destruction. Jeffrey gives her the old “just doing our job” and recalls the Skull and Voltes Teams for them to head back to the Frontier.
Cathy’s deep in thought, however, pondering how the SMS were the only ones the president’s office bothered dispatching for this mess. However much the NUNS forces are needed to safeguard the fleet, it is very strange that none were sent to help. And that’s especially true since she’d expect an ambitious man like Mishima to jump at the chance to show their military’s strength to everyone else.

When Bobby asks, she says she’s just worried about the political scene at the Frontier. Well, Bobby’s very interested in gossiping – especially considering Mishima is her fiancée. Not really his type, though, as he’s not into the mysterious, smug guys. Mushroom-head ought to be more open and friendly.
Regardless, Cathy’s dad trusts Mishima but she figures it’s best to be safe than sorry – just a small investigation to make sure.