Part 69: Mission 38 - In the Name of Our Once-Sworn Peace - Part 1
Location: Spiral Castle
Our people now have both GEARs and the Data Weapons and the Spiral Castle is not happy in the slightest.
This cannot be allowed to stand and he’s willing to even outright destroy this world himself to make it happen. With that in mind, tells Absolute and Witter to prepare for takeoff. Their target: Earth.
Location: GEAR HQ
Misumaru’s just finished briefing our people on the upcoming Operation Bagration. Ruri pokes at how they outright ripped the name off the Soviets’ Operation Bagration back in WW2 (named after Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration, Russian general in the Napoleonic wars).
The gist of this operation will be to gather all MP Dragoons and MSs for an all-out assault on the Gulfer, Vegans, Giganos AND Martian Successors. In other words, Bright surmises, it’ll strike at every space-based enemy. Misumaru makes a haiku/pun about the name andUUUUUUURRRGH. It’s an awful, huge stretch of a pun and even Ruri calls him out on it.
The operation will be going down in a week from now and, of course, we’ll be right in there. Meteor sounds the alarm right then, detecting the Spiral Castle’s departure from the moon. It’s already on its way to Earth and will be reaching it in twelve hours.
Misumaru will organize a fleet of ships to intercept and he also wants us to get there ASAP.
By the hangar, Inoue has just finished making some modifications to the Dendoh and, with that, the bot can now be piloted by just one person. Ryouko finds it odd that they couldn’t do that before and Vega says the Dendoh and Ogre are essentially the same machine, and both draw upon the synchronized movements of two pilots. The Ogre simply has a special system in place to artificially mimic the lone pilot’s movements.
So, Inoue’s just installed the same system on the Dendoh, meaning it’s also good to go. Knowing that our upcoming battles will have humanity pit all it has against the Gulfer, Vega figured we needed to do the same. Thus, we’ll be fielding the Ogre as well. But who’ll pilot the thing?
Hokuto says he will, figuring it’s his responsibility what with Altair being his uncle. Which means Ginga will be handling the Dendoh and both kids are ready to make it work. Vega inwardly thanks Hokuto for stepping up, sure that Altair will also be happy to hear it.
Saburouta is quite impressed with the sight of both GEARs and the six Data Weapons fighting together. Eris is also confident we’ll emerge victorious even against the mighty Spiral Castle. Hokuto and Ginga echo the feeling – we just need to pool together everything we’ve got and we’ll send the Gulfer packing but good.
With that in mind, Vega says that in order to stop the Spiral Castle, we’ll need to head inside and strike at its core reactor. The Federation’s troops will go in first to disperse the enemy vanguard and, then, our squad will move in. This one attack will be called “Operation Screw Nail”, and we’re the tip of the proverbial nail.
Before that, though, Ginga asks Vega to leave for a bit.
: …I repeat: due to the approach of the Gulfer’s Spiral Castle, citizens all across the globe are encouraged to evacuate. Follow the instructions of your local police officers and Federal soldiers and find the closest shelter to your location. (He’s on TV.)
: Did you pack everything, Otome? We’ll be going to the shelter very soon.
; Um, mommy… what about Gin?: Gin is…*Door opens.*
: Mom…: Oh, Ginga…
: Yay! Gin’s here!
: Heheh… It’s been a little while, huh, Otome?: Hey…: What?: What are those dance clothes for?
: Ack--…?! N-No! They’re…!
: Hm?
: ...
: Th-These are... um… you know…: I… I’m actually the Dendoh’s…: Ginga… I know. I’ve known all along…!: Huh…?!: But you kept it a secret, so I did the same… Still, I hoped you would, eventually, tell us. And I’m so glad you did, Ginga… I really am…!: Mom…*Wiiiiirrrrrr.*
: …
: …: Wah! A lion and a piggy! You kept your promise!: They’re not stuffed toys but, yeah … And you got the first one right but the other isn’t a pig – he’s a wild boar.: Nice to meet you, Mr. Lion and Mr. Wild Piggy!: …: …: I’m gonna have to take off again, with them and Hokuto… and everyone at the Magnate Ten. But I swear I’ll come back…: Good luck, Gin!
: Yup, yup!: Gin…! : Yeah?: Do you… do you remember what I told you before? : Strength comes from the heart…!: Right?: …Right. Stay strong and come back safe.: Yeah, I promise!
Location: Skull Moon Base
Big man King Vega and his weird hat have come over. Gandal gives him the royal welcome to the base, though does wonder what brought him here when they’re just about to complete their preparations to take over Earth. Indeed, Zuril figured he could simply wait for the good news back at Planet Vega…
Or not, as the king says the homeworld has been lost – utterly obliterated from the face of the universe. He shows his lieutenants footage of the Vegan satellite Zeta 4, where the Veganium is mined to provide the majority of Planet Vega's energy.
Unfortunately, the unthinkable happened and one of the Vegatron mines exploded, setting off a chain reaction across the others that eventually blew Zeta 4 to pieces. The resulting Vegatron fallout reduced the planet's surface to a dead wasteland. At first the king and his peoples took shelter in the underground but the aftermath of Zeta 4’s explosion was wreaking havoc across the surface. The stores of Vegatron up top started blowing up one after the other and, ultimately, the planet shared the fate of its former satellite. The place is space dust now.
So, Vega rounded up whatever survivors there were and brought them over here. In other words, those at the Skull Moon Base are the last of the last. With their homeworld gone, their sole option is to conquer Earth by any means necessary.
But what has happened instead? Duke Fleed and his collaborators have brought their invasion to a screeching halt! Gandal stammers that a lot happened but King Vega is hardly interested in excuses.
The King’s heard news that the Gulfer’s base has departed, meaning its very likely Duke’s group will move to intercept them. They must make use of this opportunity to eliminate them all!
Gandal swears to personally see that it is done but Balendos speaks up, saying it’s his duty as captain of the royal guard to tackle this. King Vega is rather doubtful that these two can pull it off after their many failures. No, he’ll entrust this task to someone he brought along with him.
It’s one of the most uninspired villain designs I’ve ever seen, one that could very well be a mook if not for the fact that he has eyes: Mors, and Balendos is surprised he’s still alive. Gandal has heard of the man, prince of Planet Moor and member of the royal guard. Problem, is he’d also heard the guy and his Jigajiga mech were engulfed in a cosmic storm and gone MIA.
Yet, he survived and returned from the blackness of space even as meteors and cosmic rays reduced his mech to a legit skeleton. King Vega praises his loyalty and tenacity, fitting of a leader of the royal guards… in fact, he now IS the leader of the royal guards!
King Vega tells the appalled Balendos that he’s fired and to take some time to think on his shortcomings. Meanwhile, Mors is honored and gladly accepts the post and the mission: he’ll destroy Duke Fleed in the name of King Vega, the one who saved him after Planet Moor was destroyed.
Off he goes, then, to repay King Vega for the trust placed on him. He’ll destroy Duke Fleed, the one who threatens universal peace, even if it takes his life!
Whoa, déjà vu.
As King Vega sneers at how dedicated the guy is, Balendos and Gandal wonder if this is the best choice. Mors is prince of a conquered world AND a very close friend of Duke Fleed, so why give command to a potential traitor? Zuril and King Vega are certain that will never happen – the guy’s loyalty is absolute. Before that’s explained, though, the king’s daughter, Rubina, stomps in and spills the beans: they’re changed and overwritten Mors’ mind.
But, yes, three years ago, after the Vegan army conquered Moor, they took the guy prisoner. It’d have been a shame to simply kill him, though, so Zuril went and messed with his memories to make it look like Duke was the one who wrecked his world while King Vega saved him. So, now, Duke’s old friend hates him with every fiber of his being.
Still, Gandal and Balendos argue that they shouldn’t make light of Duke and his cohorts but King Vega already has a backup plan. Should Mors fail, he’ll simply blow the guy up along with Duke.
Rubina seems ill at ease and starts to leave – she meet with Duke face-to-face, which is why she came here to Earth. Yeah, no, the guy is the Vegan Empire’s sworn enemy… but, in Rubina’s eyes, he’s still a very dear person. King Vega is not happy to see that she is still hung up on the guy and that’s all the more reason to not allow her to set foot outside.
As a mook shows up to escort her out, she yells that she has something she NEEDS to tell Duke. While Zuril’s ears perk up at that, she begs King Vega to stop his battle with the guy. Not happening, and he orders her taken away.
Zuril sighs at how much more beautiful Rubina’s gotten since last he saw her but, unfortunately, the eight years did nothing to eliminate the love she had for Duke while they were together as children. King Vega had his daughter live in the care of King Fleed as a way to make him lower his guard for the eventual invasion but, in hindsight, that was a bad move.
King Fleed’s idea was to have Duke and Rubina marry as a way to foster peace between both their worlds, Zuril’s heard. But, regardless, King Vega is leaving her in his care and he may even take her as his servant. He hopes that once Duke is out of the picture, his daughter will finally pipe down.
Balendos speaks up again, begging the king to let him fight our guys as well – he swears to crush us as a way to save his honor as guard captain. Fine, fine, he lets him go as Mors’ rearguard and if he manages to take us out, he’ll be reassigned to his commission. But should he fail, he'd best not show his face before Vega again.
That’s all he needed to hear and Balendos asks Zuril if a certain army of robots is ready to go. Of course – why does he think Zuril worked with the Hundred Demons for? He’s completed the bots with the material earned.
Excellent. Duke and the Magnate Ten are about to feel the full might of the proud, tenacious Balendos!
Mission 38 – In the Name of Our Once-Sworn Peace
Our people are already headed towards the Spiral Castle, with Linda reporting that the Dragoon squads have already started engaging the Gulfer. Once the enemy’s vanguard is dispersed, it should be simple enough to break into the Castle.
But then Megumi detects some very non-Gulfer signals headed towards us: the Vegans, at the worst possible moment. Misato didn’t well expect the enemy to simply ignore what was going on but this doesn’t help in the slightest. Quattro says we can’t afford to waste time here and miss our opening, so he suggests we put the pedal to the metal and force our way out of here.
Bright agrees and is on the verge of sending everyone out when Rose notes an incoming transmission from the Vegans: it’s Mors, demanding Duke come out. He’s here to get vengeance for his compatriots!
Duke recognizes his voice and immediately deploys, followed by everyone else. He’s shocked to see Mors alive, who proclaims he won’t die until he’s made him pay for his destroyed world. And, no, he doesn’t believe Duke when he says otherwise.
Kyoshiro figures the guy’s an old acquaintance of Duke’s but this hardly strikes Nana as a happy reunion. Duke cries at the guy to stop this nonsense – the two of them were the greatest of friends. NO, REVENGE! It was the Vegans who wrecked his world! King Vega saved him and he’ll kill Duke as a way to pay him back!
This is going nowhere fast but Duke couldn’t bring himself to kill his dear friend. Foul play is obviously at work but what can he do? “What are you doing, Duke Fleed?! If you truly believe in your friend, then why don’t you ante up your life and bring the truth to light?!” Domon yells.
Maria says that’s crazy as Mors is really trying to kill him but Duke agrees with his assessment: he DOES believe in Mors, so he’ll have no fear. The only way to show Mors the truth is to go right up there and make him listen. We’re still in the middle of Operation Screw Nail, though, so Duke tells us to get going and let him handle this.
Losing the Grendizer will costs us but Domon says he’ll cover for Daisuke’s absence, so there should be no problem. When asked, he says he’s well aware of the pain ignorance of the truth leading one to fight friends and family. Rain knows where he’s coming from, having been tricked by Ulube into fighting his brother after he’d been captured by the Devil Gundam.
Either way, Harry tells Ruri that we’ve eighty minutes before Phase 3 of Screw Nail starts, so she figures we can spare five minutes helping Duke here. She argues to Bright that this might also help us gain some intel on the Vegans, so he allows it.
Five minutes is the limit, though, so Duke promises to make it work in that window. Meanwhile, Mors is still yelling about making an offering to the deceased out of Duke’s corpse.
Mission Objective: Within five turns, have Duke convince Mors
Mission Failure: Mors show down before convincing, Grendizer, Nadesico or Argama destroyed, five turns pass without completing the victory condition.
Different from the usual stuff but not difficult, provided you don’t dilly-dally. There are a good bunch of enemy units and they’ll be blocking Duke’s path quite nicely, so you’ll want to have folks plow the road for him. MAPWs can certainly make this easier and, if necessary, you can always slap a Megabooster on the Grendizer.
Oh, and as a side note, you might want to deploy Boss in the Borot for this mission. I hope you’ve been keeping him leveled up!
On to more interesting things, the Cellbooster has been upgraded again: it is now the Cellbooster Valhalla. An S in space means it’ll dodge nicely and the new Long Range Beam Cannon gives it a huge boost in range plus a new strongest attack – it also has more Dendoh batteries.
Its stronger weapons are still pre-movement, so Hit & Away on Vega or Kirakuni is always nice.
And the Ogre is finally available to us. As it was said before, it is pretty much the Dendoh – the only difference is that the available Data Weapons are limited to the pilot. Since Hokuto is manning it, the Ogre can only use the Unicorn, Dragon, Viper and Kiba. Conversely, the Dendoh has the Leo, Bull, Boar and Kiba.
The two GEARs together also have a new combined attack (point-blank range but post-movement) for added stopping power but… in truth, I don’t think this split works out in our favor.
One of the reasons why I love the Dendoh so much is that Ginga and Hokuto’s complement each other perfectly: Ginga has the power, Hokuto has the defenses, Hokuto has range, Ginga has offense. Taking them apart only gives you two good units instead of a great one and in a game with so many great units and limited space, that’s not a worthwhile exchange.
And that’s saying nothing about the fact that the FAs are still quite stronger than the combined attack and have a whole lot more range, so not even the new weapon compensates for the split.
Still, we're just gonna have to make do for now.
Nothing in range, so we all move onward.
Enemy Phase!
Excellent, some Midifoos go for Tetsuya.
He’s getting very close to fifty kills.
Player Phase!
Boss is doing well. He takes a kill while Tetsuya nabs another two.
The Saucerbeasts all know support defense now, so double attacking and taking out the core of their formation will make things quicker.
By the way, the EVA-01’s new S² Engine means Shinji’s now free of the power cord. The Engine’ll give him a full EN restore every turn.
Rom, Domon, Light and Camille start picking apart the Gilgil groups.
Next one.
Done.
Duke picks whatever’s close as he keeps moving.
Enemy Phase!
I’d moved the Zeorymer closer and the enemies start making a beeline for it.
Listen, if they insist on gathering right around my biggest MAPWer, then I can’t be held responsible for doing what’s natural.
The Koakoa’s do the same, though they’re gunning for Duke.
On the right side, EVERYTHING goes after Rom and he immediately reduces them to the consistency of fudge.
Player Phase!
Now we reap the benefits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Derbp6p_Y8Q
Here’s the Valhalla’s strongest weapon. Pretty good and perfect for setting up these Command-boosted support attacks with ships.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgjW0mGqvkA
Hokuto putting that training with Kazuya and the Shuffles to good use. Ginga didn’t teach him how to make cool poses, though.
Some of you may wonder if this isn’t getting too cheesy on my part.
No, there is no such thing as SRW approaches the endgame. Celerity is not being cheap!
And the Koakoa’s survived since I didn’t use Valor, so Boss, Tetsuya and Kouji take them out.
That’s all the mooks, so fast forward a turn while I get Duke over to Mors.
Here we go.
: Do you hear me, Mors?!
: Oh, I do! I’ve never once forgotten the voice of the man who destroyed my homewold!: You need to open your eyes! It was the Vegan Empire that destroyed your world, not me!: After all this time, you’re now trying to fool me?!: Do you not remember the ties of friendship between Planet Fleed and Moor? We each studied in each other’s worlds, leaning the wonderful science of our peoples!
: What…?: You need to remember, Mors! All the years we spent as children studying, playing and building an unbreakable friendship!: You’re saying I was friends with you…?!: That’s right, Mors! You were there with me on Planet Fleed when the Vegans attacked! : I-I was…?!: And before you left for your homeworld, we swore to each other that we’d live and meet up again… Have you forgotten the vow we took?!: S-Silence! You won’t confuse me!: Mors!
: He really can’t do anything, then?
: I wouldn’t say that… If we’re dealing with some sort of mind control, a sufficiently large shock might be able to free him.
: Yeah! Wasn’t that how Duke saved me way back when?!
: When?
: You mean that Robot Museum thing? 
: Yeah, that!
: …Though it’s not a particularly proud moment of mine, mind you.
: But how are we supposed to do this…?: Mors… as everything burned around us, we swore to see each other again… and I’m ready to roll the die on the chance that we can carry out that promise!
: “Roll the die”…?!: Yes, I’ll destroy that Vegan Beast in hopes that the shock will kick-start his lost memories!
: Hold on! If anything goes wrong, he's a goner!: I will not allow that to happen…! I will save him!
: Alright… If you’re that committed, then I’ll lend a hand!
: Not “I”, Kazuya. We will lend a hand.
: Lt. Makibi, what’s the status on the allied forces?
: They’re pulling back in order to draw the RoBeast groups away. It’s likely the Federal troops will end their side of the operation without suffering any casualties. : Meaning, if we wait, things will only get harder for us.
: Still… things will be getting harder anyway, regardless of what we do.
: That’s true.: Which means we can go and back Daisuke on his gamble!
: And, really, this operation already is one huge gamble. Getting one or two smaller ones rolling on the side won’t change anything.
: Besides, it’s not like we could just ignore the Vegan army prowling about.
: Everyone…!
: Operational priority is still to break through this sector ASAP. Daisuke, it’s up to you to handle Mors.: I understand. Thank you, Captain.
: Save the thanks for after you’ve succeeded. There’s only room for certainty now.: Yes, sir!: And if that’s decided, let’s get to it! Go save your friend, Duke Fleed!: Absolutely! Wait for me, Mors!: Looks like you’re finally ready to fight! But I and my Jigajiga have braved and returned from the darkness of space – you’d best not underestimate us!(His Jigajiga is piss weak and barely qualifies as a miniboss.)
: Blasted earthlings! If you’re in Duke Fleed’s camp, then you, too, are my enemies!
: You moron! Weren’t you friends with Duke before?! Why the hell aren’t you even trying to listen to him now?!
: Oho… So even Earth has its share of capable warriors, huh?
: Thanks for the compliment but I really rather not fight one of my comrade’s friends.
And there he goes. I could have waited a turn to finish him off with Duke but naaah.
Here are the convos we missed with Mors:
: Mors! I promise I’ll save you!: What nonsense is this?! You are my enemy… and you’ll die by mine and Jigajiga’s hands!--
: Open your eyes, Prince Mors! My brother doesn’t not really want to fight you!: You’re Duke Fleed’s sister? I’ve no quarrel with you but I’ll show no mercy if you’re allied with him!!
The pain starts messing with Mors’ head, who begs King Vega to stop. Seems like we might be onto something but Mors ejects from his exploding mech right then.
Maria tells Duke to go after the escape pod and he does.
Inside the pod, Mors has set a new anime record and has ALREADY recovered his memories. He recognizes the relieved Duke but is very confused as to what’s going on; after a quick explanation, he does recall being captured by King Vega and placed in some weird machine.
Regardless, he’s very apologetic for trying to kill his best friend – not that Duke cares to blame him for it. He remembers being a guest at Fleed’s royal palace when the Vegans attacked and Duke saving his life as the place burned down. With Duke’s help, he escaped to his world but kept Duke’s muffler as symbol of their promise to meet again – a muffle he’s wore even to this day.
Mors owes it to Duke for freeing him of the mind control and vows to pay him back in any way he can, so Duke invites him to fight at our side and keep Earth from also falling to the Vegans. On that subject, Mors does have an interesting bit of information: the King himself has come to the Skull Moon Base.
He relates the end of Planet Vega and how the only way they’ll truly end this battle is by defeating King Vega. If he can help make that happen – plus, get revenge for his world – then Mors is more than willing to help.
Their heart-to-heart is interrupted when explosions are heard outside. Kouji gets in touch and says Balendos has just shown up – Duke needs to get back outside. Time to give the guy a taste of Fleedian and Moorian rage.
Duke and Mors rejoin our team and Balendos is not amused to see that the guy’s recovered his memories – time for plan B. He flips a switch and the Jigajiga starts exploding. Mors realizes they had a self-destruct device installed in it and Balendos confirms: having forgotten his loyalty to King Vega, Mors can die along with Duke.
Or not, as Mors decides to make use of the slow-acting device to fly towards the Vegans. He promises not to forget Duke’s friendship again, even in death. Consider this his atonement to Duke as well as payback to the Vegans for everything they did.
Before he goes, though, he yells out that the Skull Moon Base is hidden in the dark side of the moon. With a request that Duke strike down the destroyers of Moor and return peace to the universe, he bids farewell to his eternal friend and takes a bunch of saucerbeasts in the explosion.
Balendos fumes at Mors for defying them even at his last breath but Duke yells that heartless monsters like him have not right to berate him. “Heart”? Nonsense. Power is the driving force of the universe and it is what brought Planet Fleed and Moor to heel.
Kouji and Tetsuya aren’t about to listen to his sickening rhetoric, so Balendos decides to make a more tangible example.
: A-Are those?!
: Great Mazingers?!: You think that cheap bluff’s gonna scare us?! I bet those’re just saucerbeasts underneath!
: Or maybe 3D models?
: No, those Greats aren’t like that!
: What?!
: Hmhmhm… Unfortunately for you, these Great Mazingers are all the real deal.: You think we’re stupid?! How the hell could you make…
: ! O-Oh, no…!: Oh, yes. I made sure to collect a bunch of data on the Great Mazinger when I stole it.
: So those really are…!: 100% legitimate models. Or, rather, they’re better than the original because we’ve also integrated our own tech into them. : No…!: Your planet’s beloved guardian hero has become a demon now! So, fight! Gape in fear! And DIE!!: Hah…hahahah.
: What’s so funny, Tetsuya Tsurugi?!: Have you said all you had to say, you petty thief? : You…!: You have absolutely no grasp on the essence of the heart – or even the essence of strength.: Sure, strong mechs are powerful by themselves…
: But it is the heart of those who pilot them that brings forth all that power!
: So all you’ve managed to build are a bunch of cheap imitations!: I-Imitations?!
: In the words of the wise, it’s one of those “plowing the field and forgetting the seed” kind of things… then again, it’s not like you would ever understand.
: Psh, now that is an actual cheap bluff!
: Then we’ll simply have to teach you that the root of true strength is always a person’s heart!
: And that your heartless puppets are hardly enough to frighten us!: Indeed… we will not be beaten by people who do not grasp the value of the human heart!: Rrrgh…! Great Army, attack! Slaughter them!: This is for all those who love peace and are eagerly awaiting our victory… and for the pledge I made with Mors! Balendos! This is where I end your life!!Oh, no, Mors died.
With that stuff out of the way, we can now focus on the actually significant part of this fight.