Part 7: Mission 4 - The Wings Have Landed - Part 1
We open up aboard the Elshank, with Gameran reporting that they’re about to enter Earth’s atmosphere. The ship’s crew has grown since last we saw them, with Mike (blonde) and Joe hyped as no one’s business to finally fulfill their dream of reaching on Earth. Same goes for Rennie (blue hair) and Damian, as it’s their first time laying eyes on the beautiful planet.
At the very least Joe’s lived there while he was a small kid before his family took part in the Mars colonization – the other three spent nearly all their lives on the red planet. And from what Joe remembers, life on Earth was a whole lot better than that hellhole Mars: it’s got blue skies and oceans, the air is clear, it’s got greenery, and everything!
“This is our homeworld!,” Joe proclaims, “How long have I been looking forward to this day…!” Gameran, however, sniffs at their giddiness and points out that their situation is still just as bad as it was before.
As Ylbora reminds them, the Elshank’s pursuers aren’t limited to just The Boom Army anymore (who’ve been chasing them ever since they left Planet Ladorio) – the earthling armies of the Martian Development Bureau are also gunning for them.
Sure, but that’s why Joe’s childhood friend is currently talking with the Federation’s bigwigs. He’ll sort things out. “Hmph. You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t put much stock in the friends of people like yourself,” Ylbora harrumphs.
Before Joe can get in his face for that, Shaff steps in and tells them to pipe down. She reminds them of all the hardships they’ve overcome to get here and Princess Romina says they must, first and foremost, focus on reaching the surface safely.
The Elshank’s kylhasium is running dangerously low, as Ylbora points out – if they find themselves in combat down there, they might be unable to defend themselves. Indeed, and Joe is doing what he can to try and prevent hostilities from breaking out, no? He and his group have been, and are being, very helpful for the Ladorians, so Romina wants them to trust in Joe’s friend.
Ylbora concedes her point, and Joe inwardly asks Ronin to come through – their fates are lying on his hands!
Unfortunately, by the Federation parliament, things aren’t looking good. Ronin’s testified that the Elshank isn’t hostile – rather, it’s come to Earth seeking aid – but Hester points to the info presented by Director Hazard (the real ugly dude).
Indeed, Hazard has photographic evidence of the Elshank assisting in a terrorist act with Joe Maya, Rennie Ai, Mike Coil and Damian, a known member of the Martian North Pole’s guerilla. The damage caused by those four is incalculable.
Ronin calls bull, yelling that they’d never do anything of the sort, but Hazard asks if he only says that because one of the terrorists is an old friend of his. Oh, yes, Hazard knows much about Ronin, the son of the former director of the Martian Development bureau.
All that being said, Ruri speaks up and says she has a few questions regarding Hazard’s report. Shirin agrees, and an investigation of their own indicated that Martian Development Bureau, i.e. Hazard and his people, have made a habit of abusing and exploiting the colonists. Couldn’t what he calls “terrorist acts” be, instead, described as the people rising against his oppression?
Hazard is APALLED by the accusation, saying he’s not oppressing – rather, he’s simply maintaining order. First off, he figures we should also know that some of the colonists have undergone genetic manipulation to better adapt to their environment, so referring to them as “people” is a stretch. These are violent insurgents, so a few firm measures have to be taken to control them.
Cagalli calls Hazard out on his antiquated notions, reminding him that the Federation was created precisely to reflect on their past mistakes and work towards removing war and discrimination from our society. Hazard gives her a condescending smirk – what a fitting speech for the Representative of Orb, the eternally neutral nation! Is he going somewhere with his sass?
He is: Hazard has heard “dark rumors” that she’s been dealing with a rather questionable group of mercs under the table. Where were her lofty ideals then? Cagalli fumes at him and Hester calls for silence. The purpose of this committee was to decide on what to do about the aliens, not to butt heads with one another.
That’s fine with Ronin and, in that case, he wants her, as secretary-general and representative of the Federation Government, to inform her opinion on this. It is…
Yeah, the Federation’s decided to tag the Elshank as a threat and Ruri sighs to Alex that the Skrugg invasion is making the people progressively more anti-alien by the day. To say nothing of the exceptionally strong lobbying the Mars Development Bureau has madein regards to this matter. Indeed, and Cagalli is outraged that Hazard was allowed to speak as he did.
Ronin apologizes for worsening the ladies’ political standing – since he personally requested their help here – but Shirin says crying over spilt milk won’t get us anywhere. Rather, they must now act quick to avoid the worst case scenario.
But won’t it be very difficult to overturn the government’s decision? True, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have any cards to play. Shirin will tap in her old Katharon contacts and put Hazard under the microscope. She’s certain she’ll find some evidence to expose him.
While Shirin does her work, though, Ruri says we’ll need to make sure the Elshank is kept safe. Cagalli will see to that, though she’d also like Ruri to allow the ship to land by Arkham City for a while. That can be arranged, but Ruri’s curious as to why she wants that.
It’s just so the Elshank can rendezvous with its escorts, and Cagalli asks Alex to contact “them” again. They should be working around that area.
Over by the battleship C-Terahertz, Grathan is trying and failing to contact The Boom’s homeworld, and curses Romina for forcing him to travel all the way to the galactic boonies. And, surprise, Hazard is evil and calls in to report. Grathan flips out at the sudden appearance of his ugly mug and the Director laughs at how mean he is.
Regardless, Hazard relates that the government’s decided to treat the Elshank as hostile aliens; moreover, The Boom Army’s mechs have been officially incorporated into the Martian Peacekeeping Forces, so they can now operate openly on Earth.
That’s wonderful for Grathan, so he orders Hazard to send them after the Elshank immediately – lest he forget, the only reason they managed to reach this planet in the first place was due to his screw-ups on Mars. Hazard promises not to disappoint and signs off.
Grathan grunts at the greedy little snake – his rotten nature is perfectly reflected across his hideous face.
And by the California base, Graham runs in and tells Arnie and Jin that they’ve just been ordered to intercept and sink the alien ship. That said, the caveat is that they’re not to attack the bridge – seems to Jin the brass wants them to capture the aliens inside, then.
Novel agrees with him and figures that, while capturing them alive would be ideal, not blowing up the bridge would, worst comes to worst, at least allow them to recover the aliens’ corpses. Arnie isn’t too happy with being ordered to sink a ship that hasn’t, as of yet, shown any signs of hostility. Why aren’t they even giving them a warning or anything?
Graham understands where he’s coming from, but the Skrugg have set a bad precedent: it’ll be too late if we wait until they actively attack us before reacting. Maybe, but… “What’s with that wishy-washy attitude, man? We’re soldiers, aren’t we?! Who’s gonna protect the people if we don’t?!” Jin argues.
Arnie inwardly agrees with him as a soldier, but as a person…
Cut to the Arkham City church, Kurou is grumpy over the hell he went through yesterday because of that grimoire; the idea of a robot powered by magic shows Denton that his previous assessment of fact being stranger than fiction was right on the money. Oh, and Joey notices that Saya and Richard have been gone for a bit, but Lina relates that, apparently, they went grocery shopping.
Those two seem to have a habit of just up and leaving at the drop of a hat, Kurou notes – even yesterday, when they ran off somewhere while everyone was smack-dab in the middle of that mess.
Psy figures it’s simpler not to stress over them. Rather, he wants to know what happened to that sorcerer girl that was with Kurou. “Hell if I know! I never wanna see that pest again!” Kurou harrumphs.
”That may be an issue, considering you established a covenant with me,” says the suddenly appearing Al. Where did she come from?! Why, Kurou didn’t honestly believe he could escape her, did he? Their covenant means she’s always with him. “But I never agreed to any of this!” Kurou cries.
Meanwhile, Joey confirms to Denton that that’s the girl who came falling out of the sky yesterday. Leica walks in, having heard Kurou’s yells from the other room and asks if something’s the matter. “Oh, and just who is this darling little girl? A friend of yours?” she asks. “I am not his friend. Rather, I am his property,” Al answers… immediately worrying the nun.
Could she please not give Leica the wrong idea?! “I’m soorryy, master! Are you going to punish me again?!” That’s not helping. As Leica freaks out over Kurou finally showing his “true colors”, he swears up and down that this is NOT like that at all!
“Pleeease don’t leave me alone, master! I promise I’ll do anything you ask!” Leica is now praying for Kurou’s soul, who’s starting to fall in a daze. Denton, however, is quite amazed at the fearsome powers of a forbidden grimoire. Was this one of her spells at work?! Joey doesn’t know.
Thankfully for Kurou, something explodes outside.
Mission 4 – The Wings Have Landed
: Waaah!
: Urk…!
: Your Highness, are you hurt?!: I-I’m fine! And more importantly…!
: Wh-What are The Boom and Earth’s forces doing here?!
: That looks an awful lot like an ambush to me!
: The hell’s going on, Ylbora?!
: That’s what I want to ask you! Wasn’t it your “friend” who told us to descend on these coordinates?!: Ronin?! No, I haven’t heard from him yet…: Then who…?!
: Sir Ylbora, we’ve clearly been deceived by that Earthling named Ronin!: You take that back right now! He’d never do anything like that!: This is hardly the time for a debate! We must find a way out of here…!: Kch… We’ll go and work something out!*Joe and co. leave.*
: Joe…!
: (The aliens aren’t firing back. Are we really doing the right thing…?)
: All troops, focus fire solely on the ship’s engine sections!: Maj. Graham…?!: Settle down, Ensign. If we just damage their engine, we can fulfill our orders to sink the ship without taking any of the crew’s lives. : Y-Yes, sir, Major. Copy that!
: Hold on there… the aliens are about to start fighting back, I think.: ?! Huh…?!
SRW UX - Love Survivor
: Damn it all! We finally get to Earth and this is the welcome we get?!
: I don’t doubt Hazard’s fed the Federation a bunch of lies!
: But what now?! Way this is going, we’re really gonna end up a bunch of rebels!: Save that for later! They’re the ones who fired first!
: Those are… UX’ units?!: Wh-Who’re those?!
: Do you read me, alien mechs? I’m Maj. Richard Krueger of the Unknown Xtrikers! : “Unknown Xtrikers”…?: The powers that be hired us to back you up! That means we’re friendly, okay?: Alright, Joe! We finally got some help!: Yeah, and I’m sure we got Ronin to thank for this!: Maj. Graham, what’s going on…?!: The UX are siding with the aliens, as surprising as it might be…!: I’d hoped to avoid this, but now we’ve no choice. Engage and destroy the alien battleship, their mobile weapons and the UX units!: Ensign Spencer, roger!: (Hrm… Is that really the only way?!)
: That’s both the ace from Center City and those two mechs with accelerated particle engines...: Yesterday’s friend is today’s enemy, I guess. Sorry, but I’m not cutting you any slack!
As usual, destroy everything without losing anyone. A wee bit harder than the previous missions, but still not by much. We’ve got a bevy of The Boom mechs up ahead plus some GN-XIV, none of which are particularly powerful (though the Banks got a decent amount of HP and can apply the Attack Down debuff!). Richard and the Elshank crew can easily tear through them, though do be mindful of the deceptively hidden water pools right in the center of the map – you might send your units underwater and not even realize it until it’s too late.
Arnie, Jin and Graham are, of course, the only real threats here and you only need to down one for the plot to kick in. Arnie’s by far the easiest to drop (though he hits hard), but I’d advise going after Jin if you can as he’ll drop a Hit & Away Skill Part, whereas Arnie only has Counter. Graham has a Celestial Being: The Movie, but that’s not all that important.
Do remember that Arnie knows Support Defend, so he’ll readily cover for his mates if he’s near them.
Elshank (Romina, Ylbora, Shaff)
Pilot Skills:
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
All Attack L1
Command L1
Spirit Commands – Romina:
Trust (信頼) – restores 30% HP of the target ally.
Mercy (てかげん) – if the attacker’s Skill stat is greater than the defender’s, the defender will survive a killing blow with 10 HP.
Spirit Commands – Ylbora:
Accelerate
Strike
Spirit Commands – Shaff:
Cheer (応援) – target unit earns double exp from the next battle
Focus
Mech Features:
Resupply Module
Squad Bonus: Money earned +10%, HP +500 (Money +20%, HP +1000, 1250 Barrier, Movement +1)
Romina’s Voice Actress: Sumi Shimamoto (other roles: Ginrei in Giant Robo, Maria in Xabungle, Leia in Star Wars, and some more)
Ylbora’s Voice Actor: Kenyuu Horiuchi (other roles: Raiden in MGS, Light in Dragonar, Jamil, Jerry Seinfeld, Hugi Zeravire, Pain in Naruto and a billion more)
Shaff’s Voice Actress: Rica Fukami (other roles: Myung in Macross Plus, Sailor Venus, Monica in Friends, and several more)
The Elshank’s a pretty nice ship in that in covers its bases quite nicely. It’s got decent defenses thanks to that barrier and 2L size (though armor is rather low) and its strongest move is 1-3 range, but its second strong is 3-8 range and it also has a resupply module.
So you can play with it however you wish, though I think a mid-long range supporter is the safest bet as the game goes along. Romina’s lack of Prevail means that once stronger enemies start showing up, the barrier alone won’t be enough to stop her HP from plummeting rather quickly, which can lead to… complications.
If you’re going to keep the Elshank closer to the front, you’ll want to give Romina some defensive Skills. Mind, her stats are decent enough where they matter and having two subpilots providing spirit commands gives her plenty of wiggle room. Plot’ll dictate you use it often enough, so you might as well.
Kurojishi (Joe Maya)
Pilot Skills:
Ninja (忍者) L2 – raises accuracy, evasion and crit rate, up to 28% for the first two and 20% for the latter at L9.
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
Spirit Commands:
Guts (ド根性) – restores all HP on self.
Focus
Mech Features:
Sword
Gun
Squad Bonus: Armor +100, Melee weapons’ power +100, A in Land (Armor +150, Melee weapons’ +200, S in Land)
Joe’s voice actor: Kazuhiko Inoue (other roles: Rom in Machine Robo, Jerid in Z Gundam, Gai Murakumo in SEED Astray, Kakashi in Naruto and many, many more)
Bakuryu (Mike Coil)
Pilot Skills:
Ninja L1
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
Spirit Commands:
Iron Wall
Invincible
Squad Bonus: HP +500, Ranged weapons’ power +100, A in Water (HP +1000, Ranged weapons’ power +200, S in Water)
Mike’s voice actor: Masami Kikuchi (other roles: Joe in Digimon, Kaine in Dragonar, Tenchi in Tenchi Muyo, and many more)
Houraiou (Rennie Ai)
Pilot Skills:
Ninja L1
Support Attack L1
Support Defense L1
Spirit Commands:
Alert
Focus
Mech Features:
Sword
Squad Bonus: Mobility +5, EN +50, A in Air (Mobility +20, EN +100, S in Air)
Rennie’s voice actress: Noriko Hidaka (other roles: Erica in Sakura Taisen, Noriko in Gunbuster, Amane in SRW Neo and tons more)
Joe’s one of the dodgiest guys we’ll ever get thanks to his superlative Ninja skill, which makes that S rank I already have kind of unfair to the enemy. While melee attacks are his bread and butter, he’s got decent range covered (though his longest is his second weakest weapon) that he won’t be completely outranged by everything. Same goes for Rennie and Mike, though the latter kinda suffers from Getter-3 syndrome in usability.
The Bakuryu and Houraiou are probably better used as squaddies but that’s only because they’re really good at that. Mike’s ranges actually make him rather suited to tag in with Joe, whereas Rennie, who’ll soon learn accelerate (and Luck later), can be a very good fit at pretty much any team. Better yet, all of their weapons are on the cheap side and they even got some nice stopping power with a combined attack!
As a protagonist, Joe himself has fine stats everywhere important and should remain a mainstay of your team for the entire game. Rennie and Mike lag behind a bit, but just their Ninja skills and terrain bonuses mean you really should consider finding spots for them.
Oh, and Joe, Rennie and Mike need to have a total of 150 kills between them by the end of stage 27 for a secret.
With all that, we set forth. The enemy still likes going after Richard, so about half of them split off to try (and fail) to kill him; the remaining ones are left to be made mincemeat by the Elshank crew.
SRW UX - Love Survivor: We’re not the ones scheming to invade Earth! That’s The Boom Army you’re looking for!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeqyVHtz-wY
SRW UX - Love Survivor: Why’d the Federation just up and attacked us like that?! Urgh, what are you doing, Ronin?!--
: Hazard, you piece of…! It took us forever to get to Earth and then you go and pull a stunt like this?!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzZYGoEEYX0
SRW UX - Shadows that Rend Darkness
SRW UX - Love Survivor: It was never our intention to seek battle when we came to Earth!
: Allow me to handle this, Your Highness! One cannot remain passive when danger rears its ugly head!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BKCcVYXcsU
SRW UX - Love Survivor
SRW UX - Shadows that Rend Darkness: (The UX are referred to as “Hell’s Executioners”, so why are they helping the aliens…?!)
: I need to be careful not to push that engine into running amuck…! Would it be possible to just cause it to shut down?
SRW UX - Shadows that Rend Darkness: (We attacked the aliens without a single warning, while they showed up to save them…) (Damn it, it’s like we’re the villains here…!): I can feel the pilot’s doubt all the way here… Still, I don’t pull my punches against anyone I meet in the battlefield!
: A-Argh, the Riot’s burning up! Engaging the extinguisher…!
: You alright, Arnie?!: Y-Yeah! The Proton Generator’s still good… I can keep going!
: Look there, Joey! Those’re the mechs that helped us a buncha times, right?!
: Y-Yeah… but why are they fighting the Federation army?
: We can’t stay here, you two! It’s too dangerous!*Teleport noise!*
: Hmhmhm… Here you are.*Tweep!*
: …?!: Wh-What the… where’d you come from?!
: Um, who are…?: Get away from him, woman!: Huh…?
: Begone.*Cast magic missile!*
: A-Aaaaah…!*Leica collapses.*
: Leica?! You… What the hell are you doing?!: Kurou, this man is extremely dangerous!: ?! What…?!
: Hmhmhm… and now we meet, Kurou Daijuuji. I suppose this is the first time, yes?: Although I likely know you better than you do yourself.: How… how do you know my name?!: In the interest of fairness, I shall tell you my name as well. I am Master Therion, he who seeks the Truth of magic.: M-Master Therion?! As in, the Black Lodge’s…?!: Hm, so you are at least familiar with his name. The Corrupt Beast, the Beast of Scripture…: He is the Grand Master of the Black Lodge! And he is my… rather, he is our foe!: It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Master of the Necronomicon…
: Leica! Stay with us, please!
: S-Someone call an ambulance…! : You bastard…! Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to hit women?!: Oh, are you talking about that Sister? I apologize. I am not so sensitive that I’ll pay attention to the insects crawling about my path.: Y-You… you son of a bitch!!
: ?! An explosion at the church?!
: Haah… haah…: Hm, so you’ve become a Magius. Your latent magical power is quite impressive.: Keep talking! You won’t be by the time I’m done!
: Compose yourself, Kurou! And, more importantly, summon the Demonbane! Quickly!: Wh-What’re you on about?! That guy’s on foot!: Aye, and that is how hopeless the difference between your strength is at this moment! Carry on and all you shall find is a quick death!: Hrm…! Fine, I’m doing it!: From the hate-scorched sky, with righteous anger in our hearts, we draw forth the sword that smites Evil!: Thou art the innocent blade… DEMONBANE!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akXCWM1LrR8
Quick video here because Kentaro Ito’s yelling deserves it.
SRW UX - Deus Machina: Wh-What machine is that…?!: Gah, here we go again… and you can bet the princess’ll be even more pissed off this time…
: This is hardly the moment to concern yourself with such things, fool!: Joey, you gotta call Heroman too!: Huh? But…: That guy’s a whole different ball game… even I can tell that!
: O-Okay! Heroman… ENGAGE!
: Oh…? We’ve a rather curious guest this time.: Then I suppose I must also change the usual script… Etheldreda!*Flash!*
: …: A-A girl?! No, wait… she’s!: Hmhmhm, allow me to introduce you. She is my grimoire, the Pnakotic Manuscripts. And this…
: Is the Liber Legis – my Deus Machina.: There’s another one of those…?!: Stay on your guard, Kurou! His mechanical god is that which bested my Aeon and I!: Wh-What…?!: In truth, this is slightly sooner than when you were supposed to first lay eyes upon it…: But I suppose this time is special. Go, Etheldreda.
: Yes, my master…
: Waaah! B-Bro…!: That guy’s just blasting everything…!: Kch..! Think you can just walk all over us, do ya? I’ll show you!: Jin…?!
: What…?!: Th-The hell?! The Riot’s attack didn’t do anything to him…!: Idiocy… Disappear.
: Aah… Aaaah!: JIIIIINN!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s_eB_TMROc
: ?! Arnie…!: Hrgh…!
: …?! Major, we’ve got trouble! The readings off that unit’s accelerated particle engine are spiking! It’s going critical!: What…?!: Engaging the emergency shutdown system…! I-It’s not working…?! And the generator’s pressure is… A-Aah—!: Hrm… That impact must’ve sent the engine’s anti-particles out of control! If we don’t do something, the particles and anti-particles will all collide and…!*Richard blasts off towards Arnie’s Riot!*
: Major…?!: What’s that UX mech up to?!: Lepton Vectrer, emergency acceleration! Engine pressure rising, synchronization coefficient 68%... Come on, make it!
: Argh…!
: …?! N-No… Arnie?!: Haah, haah… Least I managed to stop the particle annihilation…: Y-You…! You killed Arnie…! YOU KILLED MY FRIEND!!
*Graham flies after Jin and grabs him.*
: Ensign Spencer, stop!: L-Let me go, Major! He was my best friend! I gotta get payback for—: Stop and think of what just happened! It was that self-absorbed mentality of yours that put Ensign Berge in that situation to begin with!: ?! M-Major…!: All forces are to withdraw immediately! Are we clear, Ensign Spencer?!: Y-Yes, sir…
: (Sorry, Arnie… but I swear I’ll avenge you…!)
: (Looks like I’ve earned the scorn of yet another person…): Hmph, is the drama over now? Then, it’s your turn, Kurou Daijuuji… and I’ll be sure to savor this battle.: Master Therion…!: Wh-What do we do, bro?! Should we make a run for it?!: What’re you, stupid?! We can’t just take off and leave a guy like that free to run loose!: He’s right! Earth is our world too, and we’ll make him pay for messing with it!: Our chances of victory are exceedingly low… but we still must prevail, or it shall mean the end of this city!: I know! Let’s do it, grimoire!