Part 111: Mission 33 (Space Route) - The Golden Shadow Draws Near

Mission 33 (Space Route) - The Golden Shadow Draws Near





The quantity of debris is testament to just how fierce the fighting must have been.
Lowe is ready to get to work but 8 quickly detects approaching units.





Liam figures they’re a bunch of rival Junkmen who, as expected, are converging on this area.
Kazuma wonders if there’ll be trouble but Lowe is unconcerned – the Junkmen code states that it's first-come-first-served in situations like these.





The “Junkmen” don’t seem to care for the Guild’s rules and start blasting; In fact, they're not junkmen: they're space pirates and what they're after is the Red Frame, which they seem to have been lying in wait for.
Lowe plans to show that stealing is an even lower profession than junk-handling, and Kazuma still bears his Trailers Versus Pirates grudge.



Seems the game has decided to give us a freebie in the form of these chumps.
Let’s deal with them quickly.



: Junkmen Vs. Space Pirates! Time for a no holds barred brawl!








These things don’t even qualify as cannon fodder…



While Lowe takes care of things below, Kazuma will deal with the top pack.



: To fight for what you believe in – that’s what it means to live as a human!
: Still, I cannot forgive anyone that would kill people to satisfy their greed!










There’s that.



With Horis’ ever-useful Assail, Shihomi can move over and blast the northern Delphinium.
Home simply moves by the Valstork to keep it company.



Enemy Phase!



The pain-train begins. Kazuma’s Taurus gets totaled in one hit.




While Shihomi proves that the RNG gods are still on her side and beats the Mobius.



Lowe’s Taurus and Delphinium decide to get clever and attack Kazuma from outside his range.



The Birdman isn’t as smart, moving right next to him.




Boom.



Player Phase!



Time to wrap this up. Kazuma oneshots the Taurus with a Ray Blade crit.



While Lowe moves to wreck the Delphinium.












Nothing to it.



The kill gives Lowe and 8 a level – Lowe learns Guts.



The last pirate begs for his life, though our people, of course, don't plan to harm the pilots.
Lowe tells him to grab his friends and run off, while Kazuma points out that we don’t plunder other people’s lives and orders the pirate to take this pummeling as a lesson and to look for another job.







Before the pirates can get lost, Gai Murakumo shows up in his Blue Frame with some questions.
It seems Gai and his men were attacked yesterday by these same idiotic pirates, spurred on by some unseen adversary to destroy both Gai and Lowe’s units.
No time to ponder this, though, as Mihiro detects some approaching units.





It’s Heero and Wufei whose sudden appearance gives the pirates a chance to beat a very hasty retreat.
Lowe tries to go after him to ask some questions but Heero tags him as a target.





He opens fire and when Kazuma asks what the hell, Heero tells him that he’s after both P02 and 03.
Indeed, Wufei confirms that they’re here to destroy both the red and blue mobile suits; Gai asks if they’re following orders from the same person who sent those pirates but Wufei says he’s here on his own accord, not interested in any reward – this is for the future of the world!
As for Heero, he tells Kazuma that, as always, he's fighting for his own sake.

: Stand down, Kazuma. You are not one of my targets.
: I can’t do that…! Both Lowe and Gai are my friends!
: I can’t just hang back and just watch as they’re attacked…!
: That won’t be necessary, Kazuma. You should stand down.
: Gai…
: These guys are after us, so we’ll deal with them.
: That’s right, Gai. I feel the same way.
: Also, Kazuma…that Gundam with the wings is an old friend of yours, right?
: In that case, you shouldn’t fight each other. Just keep watch from nearby.
: Oh…you two sound very confident.
: Nah, I just trust my guts and my luck.
: But…
: Don’t make me repeat myself.
: Tch…I guess there’s nothing I can say to you…
: Sis! Let’s pull back a bit!
*Valhawk and Valstork retreat*
: Lowe!
: Don’t worry, Kisato! The enemies may be Gundams but I have Gai here with me!
: We’re gonna pin these guys down and find out who has it out for us!
: Let’s go…
: Mission start.



: Come on! I’ll show you how a Junkman fights!




Addendum: Keep in mind that you can only kill one of the Gundams before the plot moves along. Wufei has a BP+1 and Barrier S, while Heero has an EN Chip - I'm going after Wufei because I had forgotten about Heero's item.



Enemy Phase!



It takes a few turns but, eventually, everyone gets in range; Heero seems to prefer getting into a ranged battle with Gai.



: This man…he's good…!
: The Preventer’s “Angel of Death”…Seems they weren’t overstating his skill…












Gai is too Pro to be hit.



Wufei is getting his ass kicked by Lowe…while using a superior (for now) Gundam and having more fighting experience.



Player Phase!



The Altron Gundam’s short range allows Home to take a potshot at him.












Fucking barrier…



Gai will lend a hand and bring Wufei further down.



: For the future of the world and for my justice, I will defeat that machine!
: That so?...I'm starting to get an idea of who gave you your orders.












Just a little bit more



Now, he’s ripe for a counter-kill.



Enemy Phase!



Heero and Gai still trade blows, the cooler pilot coming out on top.



Afterwards, Wufei decides to commit seppuku.



: Stop this! This isn’t the way to make the world listen to what you have to say!
: For the sake of my justice, I will destroy that accursed machine!












Haw, haw!



Wufei is worth two levels, a Barrier (S) and a BP+1.



Despite his loss, Wufei says it was worth him coming out here
Heero tells him to leave the rest to him.
Kazuma returns and demands to know what Heero is fighting for, and Heero tells him to determine that with his own eyes.





We won’t have a chance to do that, as more enemies show up, led by an different kind of Tekkaman.
Horis figures the Radam have conquered several planets across space and have converted many alien races into servitude.





Kazuma asks Heero to lend a hand but he is confident we can handle them, and leaves with Wufei.
As for Gai, he knows he’s now mixed up in this fight, so he'll help at least.


By the way, Lowe did have a line against Heero but he never got attacked:

: Hey, you’re that Heero that helped us look for the bomb at the Moon Colony! Why are you attacking us?!
: I have nothing against you personally, so I will not take your life.
: Get real! This Red Frame and my life are the same thing!

All mooks move closer but nothing happens.



Player Phase!



The enemy Tekkaman moves in to concentrate his fire on Home, which isn't maneuverable enough to avoid the attacks.








However, right then, Blade appears and charges after the enemy Tekkaman.













Indeed, he does!



Kazuma and Mihiro are amazed and glad that D-Boy is really alive but he doesn’t answer their calls.
Akane starts to wonder if the same thing that befell Akito happened to him; Kazuma keeps trying to get in touch but Gai advises him to concentrate on the fighting and leave conversation for later.
Shihomi agrees and, while Kazuma accepts, he wants to have words with D-Boy after it’s all over.



Well, it’d be disrespectful to leave this Tekkaman alive after D-boy was so nice to leave him near-death.












Thank you very much for this gift.

Mind you, these guys have pitiful HP and defenses, while having no impressive Skills to back that up (the broken Size Modifiers obviously don’t help).



With Liam casting Gain, everyone takes 3 levels and Professor learns Fury.



After casting Assail, Strike, Iron Wall and Accelerate, the Valstork can get close enough to blast that Radam Mother without fear.
















Eeeew.
Also, they’ve gotten bulkier during the timeskip…



Blade may not be up for talking but he’s as reliable as ever.



As for Kazuma, he can take an easy kill before moving by the Valstork next turn.

Lowe and Gai move closer but don’t get in attack range.



Enemy Phase!



Oh boy, oh boy! A weak Radam Monster came after Blade and this allows me to show off his awesome, new Tek-Lancer (complete with Dynamic Finish)!





After that, Blade is attacked by a Radam Mother and Monster.
The Mother barely lives but the Monster gets wrecked.



Kazuma is accosted by the middle mooks, too.












Of course, he still has no fucks to give.



Another Monster and Mother with the same results as Blade – the Mothers’ bulk is stopping our reals from oneshotting them.



Despite the regen, this one should get dropped easily.












Like so.

None of the Alien Tekkamen do anything as their troops are getting slaughtered.



Player Phase!



We might as well let Gai handle the clean-up.














Very good.



Meanwhile, Lowe finishes off the last Mother.



Kazuma parks himself by the Valstork, before killing the last Monster.



Combining into the Valstork, we proceed to overkill the shit out of the other Alien Tekkaman.





As for the last one, Blade can easily deal with it.



: So, you had your hearts devoured by the Radam as well…
: In that case, I will defeat you! This is my reason for being, the only thing that matters!








Boom.





Our people call out to D-Boy but he zooms off after the battle, not saying a word.
Of course, there’s no way we can keep up with a Tekkaman’s speed; in any case, Lowe and Gai got no real clues to the person behind all the mercenary attacks, but from what Lowe remembers of Heero from the moon he doubts Heero would work for money.



Kazuma also doubts Heero is acting because of any kind of hostage situation.
Gai cautions that we're likely to be attacked again – Lowe tells him the same, they’ll have a target painted on their backs as long as they keep these mobile suits.



Elsewhere, two mysterious people are discussing the attack on P02 and P03; one opines that the more those two mecha act, the more their plans will suffer.
The other doesn't sound happy that the first used two of her guests to do the dirty work.



The first regrets that the sortie got interrupted, and plans to go himself next time.
He sounds confident that his "dance" will be over in a matter of minutes, but the woman isn't nearly so sure.
The man thinks there should only be one ASTRAY, and the woman won't stop him.



Another "shadowy" figure who looks suspiciously like Relena asks why the woman didn't stop the man, and the woman allows that P02 and P03 shouldn't have been created in the first place.
Orb's Uzumi Family bore the responsibility for the neutral nation's collaboration on these weapons, in Heliopolis, whether or not he actually knew about their creation - thereby accelerating Asuha's ascent to the top of the political heap.
This woman has been pulling the strings, and reminds Relena that she came here precisely to watch how her plans and the world turn out...



Akane wants to tell Aki and the Space Knights about D-Boy but Shihomi vetoes the idea, for the same reason that she wasn't more vigorous in pursuing Kazuma during his self-imposed exile.
It seems that D-Boy may have regressed to the emotional state Noal first found him in, focusing his entire being on the eradication of the Radam.
Still, Kazuma is confident he'll come back around.



Kisato asks about the Tekkaman’s naming convention (Blade, Evil, Dagger, etc) and, amidst that, Lowe finally gets the inspiration for a powerful, low-cost weapon for his mech: a sword!
Unlike the Zaft's bludgeoning battleaxes or his Beam Sabers, he wants a physical sword that can pierce through the Phase Shift Armor.
Horis happens to have information on a katana handy, as much a work of art as a weapon.



It's exactly what Lowe is looking for, but to make one for his mech, they'll have to find one of the only people left alive who know how to forge one - in an obscure colony once populated by a wave of engineers from Earth: Graveyard.


What will Lowe’s epiphany result in? Tune in next update for some patented LOWE AWESOMENESS!

See you all then!