Part 27: Mission 13 - Route Split

We open up at JUDA, where Ishigami’s just received news that the Frontier Fleet and the Advanced European Union (AEU) have signed a treaty with one another. It's ostensibly a treaty for the provision of Frontier tech to them, but, and here's the kicker, the contents are clearly that of a military treaty.
The Union and the HRL won’t take this quietly, and Richard, back in action, can see why: access to both the Fleet's forces and their warp tech is something folks the world over would kill to get their hands on.
The speed with which this treaty was signed strikes Ishigami are very odd, and, from what Shirin’s told Cagalli, the whole thing was brokered by a certain shadowy mastermind. Scarlet’s also up and about, and immediately suspects Hazard.

We can’t say for sure if he was behind it, but the fact is this could really ramp up tensions between the Big Three Nations. That, in turn, would allow the Martian Development Bureau and Hazard to further increase their influence within the Federation under their banner of “maintaining world stability”. And, to top it off, we still can’t take action against The Boom Army while the Federation views them as allies.
Hazard’s showing himself to be far more cunning than Ishigami gave him credit for, and Cagalli says something must be done and quick. Give him any more leeway and the entirety of the Earth Sphere will all but be under his sway. But Orb can’t take any overt action against him, can they? They can’t, which is why she’s assigning Shinn and Luna to work with the UX as an emergency measure.


Richard’s surprised she’s giving them two of the top aces from the 2nd PLANTs/Earth Alliance war, but Cagalli says it’s only a matter of time before the Federation comes pressing down on Orb now that its ties to the UX and Tatsumiya have been exposed. She wants to make sure those two will be out of their reach.
Richard takes her up on her offer, then, and offers his sympathies. And with wishes for everyone to be careful, the call’s closed. Richard sees that things are taking a turn for the worse. Ishigami can’t help but be curious about Hazard, though.
Until not too long ago, he was someone whose area of influence was primarily around Mars. How has he come to wield so much power, so quickly, over the Earth Sphere? Scarlet doesn’t think the Federation government and army are stupid enough that he could just walk all over them, but Ishigami seems to have an idea…


Cut to halfway across the globe, the Rubens Foundation in New York, Mishima’s called over to thank Rubens for mediating their deal with the AEU. On the contrary, Rubens thanks Mishima for accepting the proposal: the Frontier’s Fold technology is essential for laying the founding stones for Earth’s future. And, with this, Rubens can finally move to the next stage of his plan.
Mishima hopes both their futures will turn out as wonderful as they envision, and ends the call. Rubens has a laugh that the Frontier Fleet also has scummy men like Mishima at its core, but it doesn’t matter: the entire world will now be set in motion.


A hidden man wonders aloud if Rubens will now step onto the world’s stage himself. Heavens, no: he’s merely laying the groundwork for what’s to come. If that’s the case, then the man is satisfied.
Inwardly, though, Rubens tells his observer to keep on watching: when the moment arrives, the world will…!


Over by ALVIS, Makabe’s called in an emergency meeting: the Federation knows Tatsumiya’s current location, so he wants the island temporarily relocated to the northeastern archipelago. Kondo asks if he means engaging the Brünnhilde System, as the thing is supposed to still be disabled.
Makabe thinks otherwise, seeing in the fact that Solomon’s issuing warnings an indicator that “she” is already awakening (Soushi is silent). They can’t allow the Federation to interfere with their mission, so he wants the island moved ASAP. In that case, Soushi has a proposal to make as a precaution in case the Feds do try something: send the Fafners and their pilots out of the island… which would also help get some needed live-combat training.

Kaname is outraged that Soushi wants those kids flung into the war outside, but he argues that this already is a war they’re taking part in. And Kariya thinks it’s a good idea too: if the Brünnhilde System’s active, that means the island’s self-defense systems are as well. They should take this opportunity to get the non-Kazuki pilots used to real battles, and she figures the UX would be perfect to make that happen.
“The UX?! You may as well be teaching our kids to be murderers if you’re sending them to a mercenary group!” Toumi objects, and Kariya wonders why she’s suddenly decided to care. “How many people have you already sacrificed to this project?”
Toumi doesn’t argue back, and Kariya wonders what Cmdr. Minashiro would’ve said about this if he was still alive. Regardless, Makabe decides to go with it – he’ll set things up with the UX through Cagalli. Toumi speaks up again, asking if he realizes that working with the UX will mean fighting against other humans… and, in that case, Makabe says she’ll be accompanying them as a way to care for their mental state.


Back to JUDA, Shinn and Luna have arrived and were acknowledged by Richard as interim members of UX. Arnie’s worried if the guy and Scarlet are good enough to be doing stuff, and they are… though Richard’s in no state to pilot the Orphes. Still, they can at least serve as tacticians for our crew. As for Scarlet, she wants Tsubasa to keep manning the Wingle – she’s already gained much experience over these past battles, so she’ll be fine.
Indeed, Ishigami’s heard of our jaunt from Yokosuka, to Byston Well and to Tatsumiya; that was quite the series of battles, but he’s glad everyone made it back OK. Moritsugu wants to know how things here are faring after our absence: badly, Ishigami says. In truth, he wants to split our forces into three groups and for us to carry out multiple operations at once.

Well, Orb’s just paid the UX for the Tatsumiya battle, so Richard figures they’ve the cash handy to run three separate squadrons at once. What does Ishigami have in mind? Well, this would be both a sort of self-defense plan against the Federation, and also…
Ogawa runs in right then, bringing urgent news: Garan’s forces have just left Machine Island and are headed towards Europe! Ishigami doesn’t seem as shocked as the rest of us over this.


As Richard explains, our folks have free rein to choose which group they go with: the three destinations available are America, Europe or to stay here in Japan. The main point of this split is to distract the Federation but, of course, there’ll be plenty of fires for us to put out when we get there. America is rife with the Skrugg, Europe now has the Garan Forces to contend with and Japan has the Katou Organization prowling about.
Seeing how they didn’t take care of Garan back at Machine Island, Kaido and Magami will absolutely be headed for Europe. Hearing about Garan piques Fei-Yen’s interest, so she’ll be coming with – she feels like he’s calling out to her. The Liu Bei crew will also head for Europe after the history they had fighting at Machine Island.

Lux, however, wants to head to America: while the USA Sakomizu fought in WWII has long since become the Union, its essence still remains and she wants to see it for herself in hopes of understanding a bit of the delusion that binds her father. Aesap rubs his temples, sighing at circumstances pushing him deeper into the Byston Well war - he never signed as a soldier to begin with.
Well, Cham says all he should do is help Lux, not fight a war. And he, a Holy Warrior, can do that, no? He still thinks she’s not one, mind. Moreover, Cham feels Shou – his aura – calling out from America. She feels Marvel as well, surprisingly.
Seems to Richard that this group is set and he’d like the Ptolemaios to go with them there. When Sumeragi asks, he explains that the Hadou Financial Group sent in a request for the UX, so he’d like the CB to help with that. Arkham City’ll be this group’s first stop, then.


As for the Elshank crew, Joe figures, since Romina’s still looking for ninjas, they’d best stay in Japan. If he says so, then the princess agrees to remain here (Ylbora frowns). Sun Quan’s team will do the same, as Lu Bu’s hanging out with the Katou Organization.
Lu Xun’s a bit dejected that they’ll need to impose on JUDA again, but Shizuna and Yamashita tells him not to be a stranger. We’ve all fought together a bunch of times already, right? Shangxiang’s happy to hear that.
But what about the UX units proper? Where will they go?


And here’s the biggest route split in the game, and the sole reason why it takes 3 passes to get all secrets:

America Route:
Wings of Rean
00 Gundam
Fafner
SEED Destiny
Dancouga Nova

Secret Alert x5!
Take this route for these secrets: Demonbane (3rd step), Dunbine (1st step), Heroman (1st step), 00 Gundam #1 (2nd step) and Wings of Rean’s (2nd step).

Japan Route:
Tobikage
Linebarrel
Sun Quan team
Fafner
SEED Destiny
Dancouga Nova

Secret Alert x3!
Take this route for these secrets: Tobikage #1 and #2 (2nd step) and Linebarrel’s.

Europe Route:
Fei-Yen
Mazinkaiser SKL
Liu Bei
SEED Destiny
Dancouga Nova
Macross Frontier

Secret Alert!
Take this route for these secrets: Frontier secret (2nd step) and… nope, THAT’S IT! As if I needed any more reason to be sick of them.

Eida, Shinn and Luna are either official or interim UX members, so they’ll accompany Arnie and Saya wherever, but, as you can see, the Fafner kids will only do that for the America and Japan routes. We’ll start with the America route, but I’ll ultimately have to keep the Europe route in order to stay on track for the Frontier secret (which I’m contractually obliged to get…)


Richard decides for America, figuring if the almighty Hadou princess is looking to hire them, something big must be afoot. Eida fears that the Skrugg invasion may be picking up steam – and that’s not even taking into account the Black Lodge.
Saya’s a bit worried for Arnie and he knows why: if we run into Graham and Jin’s team, they might well be hostile to us. “Even a second of hesitation can get you killed in the battlefield. And you’re a mercenary now – make sure you don’t forget where you stand,” Saya warns.
Finally, the Tatsumiya folks have sent in a request that we take the Fafners and pilots along with us. Shinn’s pleasantly surprised to hear that, and Richard figures ALVIS has its reasons for doing this. Whatever the case, they’ll load the bots and the Siegfriend System aboard the Ptolemaios once they arrive.


Zhuge Liang, however, is a bit bothered by how synchronic these supposedly different plans have been. Isn’t it strange that the signing of the AEU and the Frontier Fleet’s treaty happened pretty much in tandem with Garan marching on Europe?
True, Rennie does concede that the timing was awfully good. What would have happened if, say, Garan had decided to invade China or Japan instead? Would those countries’ armies have to contend with Garan by themselves? Zhuge Liang has the sinking feeling that, had that happened, we’d instead be hearing news of the Frontier Fleet signing a treaty with either China or Japan’s governments. “So you mean that, regardless of what country Garan chose, the resulting event would’ve been the same…?” Moritsugu ponders.

And that’s correct, though Zhuge Liang’s not referring to just Garan’s Forces: “Alien foes like the Skrugg and The Boom Army; visitors from a different universe like us and the Frontier Fleet; the Machinas; the Black Lodge… All these seemingly random events – as though lead by an unseen hand – wound up tying into one another, weaving a complex spider’s web…”
A spider’s web? “Aye, I fear we find ourselves squarely atop that web, wholly unaware of whatever lies at its center,” Zhuge Liang finishes, and Richard looks somber.