Part 162: Mission 44 (Patrol Route) - Prologue

This path opens just like the other one, with Athrun’s escape with the Eternal, and their subsequent rescue by Serpent’s Tail.
Kazuma’s log is quite similar to the other path, so I’ll try to limit myself to the new bits.



Kazuma’s mentions to his log how Freeman and Michi are working at Orbit Base to study both the image received from Leave and Sinclyne’s information connecting Golion and The Database.
During these past days of patrol, our other group has already gotten the moon and started to investigate; he then remembers that it’s almost Christmas and it seems he’ll be spending the holiday patrolling space…
As he waxes nostalgic of the one year anniversary of the Marimea battle, he wishes he could have someone to spend Christmas with, just the two of them.



Lowe then comes to bug Kazuma, shrugging off the suggestion that he go to sleep if he wants Santa to come.
Lowe says that Santa has already come by – which makes Kazuma panic and say that he ALWAYS believed that the guy was real!
Lowe quickly bursts his bubble, saying that Santa came in the form of new junk, and maybe survivors, from a battle which occurred close to our position; Kazuma's fatigue is strong right now, but his spacemanly instincts to save life are stronger.





Our team arrives at the battle area and not a moment sooner, as Gai is having a hard time keeping his head straight with George’s constant flow of bad puns (almost as bad as Izumi’s).
Mikoto certainly didn’t expect THE George Glenn to be like this, Kisato mumbling that this STILL isn’t “her Georgie”.
Either way, there is one ship giving off a distress signal: a transport surrounded by the husks of the Zaft's latest ZGMF-600 GuAIZ mecha, who seem to have been protecting it; Benkei wonders if it’d be OK to save Zaft folk but Ryouma says we're not Federation soldiers, so we can save whomever's inside with a clear conscience.
Lowe notices an odd thing about the transport: it’s totally undamaged except for how its power plant and supporting machinery have been taken out – someone went through real trouble to make sure it couldn’t move but also stayed in one piece, meaning the cargo must be important.



There's only one person aboard the ship: a confused boy called Prayer Reverie.
He's lying unconscious next to a partially assembled Mobile Suit, whom he calls the "Dreadnought", and the kid quickly realizes that the head appears to have been stolen.
Duo figures it must be another Plant-made Prototype considering how it was so heavily guarded by Zaft; Prayer says that he's not a member of Zaft, and Kazuma notes a resemblance between the kid and another member of Neo-Wärter.



Prayer knows about us and claims to be a disciple of Malchio, and to have come to space to pick up the mech.
Lowe asks what a priest wants with a Mobile Suit and, when Prayer hesitates, our people decide not to press him about it, content with providing humanitarian aid; Prayer is very thankful for our help and understanding, though Kouji needs Sayaka and Lori to explain him who Malchio is.
Malchio is well known for his diplomatic and humanitarian work to bring about a peaceful coexistence between Plant/Earth (he's one of the only Naturals with a free pass to travel into both territories).



Things get complicated as 8 detects Federation troops approaching.
Gai was expecting them to come back, considering all the troops they sacrificed trying to take the transport.
Since they took care to only disable the ship, Quatre doubts that they'll attack you right away; while Prayer can’t say WHY they are still coming after him, he says that he’s on a mission of great importance to Earth.
Kazuma decides to move all the cargo from the transport ship to Re-Home as, despite the secrets, a Spaceman would never abandon someone in need.



This route has a whole lot more reliable units than the other, so I’ll call for voting time.

I’ve already taken the liberty of deploying the usual favorites (Gaofighgar, Mazinkaiser, Great Mazinger, Shin Getter, Heero) and Kazuma.
Also, Lowe is deploying as an event, which gives you guys 7 slots to choose from the following:

• Hyoryu, Enryu, Fuuryu, Rairyu, Kouryu, Anryu, Mike, Volfogg
  
• Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Zechs
  
• Sayaka, Boss, Lori, Jun (be sure to specify if you want someone to use the Mazinger.)

Voting will remain open until Sunday; I’d be very glad if we could get a new page, as this one is already HUGE.

See you all then!