Part 22: Mission 7 - Prologue

Kazuma confides to the ship's log about the Valstork's two week stay at GGG, ostensibly waiting for a transport mission to Mars.
What's going on at Mars isn't clear, and Hyuuma and Lady have been trying their best to get the Valstork Family to consent to their offer; Taiga however has been ignoring the Valstork, counting on everyone else to fight the Zondar.
The boredom is starting to affect morale, though Shihomi is keeping herself happily occupied with shopping.



Nevertheless, Kazuma is hung up on the Trailer maxim "Be not fettered by anything, be free", and is determined not to fight at someone else's behest, no matter what his father says.
Duo then checks in, having just returned from fighting a Zondar that had old-school German army guns incorporated into it.
Others might be able to face the Radam and terrorists, but only your people can face down the Zondar.



Kazuma, noticing that Duo is trying to make him change his mind about Project W, won't soften his stance even for him, despite Duo's observation that no one would have problems if stubbornness were all it took to pay the bills.
He then tells Kazuma that Galent's gotten a message to the GGG via underground channels, relating to the events on Mars.
Kazuma's momentary elation gets quickly deflated when Duo tells him that the Valstork won't likely be needed.



On Mars, the Nadesico is surveying the area where the Utopia Colony once stood.
The Jovian Lizards' first attack wiped it off the face of the red planet, though Akito heard it was as much due to the crash landing of a Federation ship as to the Jovians.
Akito isn't sure how he survived the blast himself, only knowing that he somehow woke up on Earth.
He does however remember the smile of one of the little girls with him in the shelter, someone possibly named "Ai".



Akito desperately wanted to see if his memory is correct, even if it means numerous attacks by the Jovian Lizards on the way here.
Megumi takes the chance to ask what Akito's relation to Yurika is, and he tells her that Yurika's family used to live near his on Mars: they were childhood friends and only that.
Megumi figures this means she's still got a chance, but before she can press her advantage, Ines calls in.
She tells Akito it's about time for him to return to the ship: he's wasted enough of the Nadesico's time.


Yurika is also suspicious of what Akito and Megumi are up to, despite Akito's protestations that nothing's going on.
Either way, Ines wants to lead the Nadesico to the one spot on Mars where survivors might be



Contrary to Gai Daigouji's hope, the flames of Justice have not been rekindled in Akito at the sight of his desolated homeland.
Gai then demands that Akito join him in a Geki Ganger marathon to reeducate him but he is ignored.



Akito explains that it was half the Federation's fault that Utopia got trashed.
He asks what point is there in some reckless battleplan that results in the death of countless civilians the military was supposed to protect?
Yurika tries to caution him, but Akito now burns with rage: just who the hell is to blame for the wreckage of his home?!



Ines had figured Akito for a pretty straightforward guy, and is disappointed at this resentful outburst, criticizing the leadership of someone to their face.
That pulls Akito up short, as it dawns on him who she means: Fukube.
Apparently he was the only one who didn't know Fukube's service record, and by the looks of things he's not going to be easily placated when the man half-responsible for destroying his colony has been living in the same ship.



When Yurika questions Ines' words, Ines claims she too thought Akito knew.
Plus, somehow she felt the need to tell Akito off.
Fukube tells Akito to strike him if it will make him feel better, but Akito won't allow Fukube to make himself the victim here.
Fukube tells him he can think of nothing else to offer, and Akito runs out of the bridge in fury.



Gai wants Akito to turn that anger against the Jovians, but Minato says that Akito presumably wants time to calm down.
Gort would rather worry about recovering the survivors for now - assuming there are any.
Ines favors him with an ironic glance and notes that her very presence here should be proof enough they exist.
She came to greet the Nadesico, which holds special meaning for her, one of the scientists at the Nergal lab that designed it.



She's a rather unusual scientist, mixing the physical sciences with archaeology, and Prospector allows her to explain so long as she doesn't let any secrets slip.
She begins with the discovery of ancient ruins on Mars, which to oversimplify greatly yielded the technology used to build the Nadesico, its Distortion Field generator, and its Transposition Engines.
Gai is psyched to be piloting some mystical mecha from the days of yore, and Uribatake now knows why Nergal sent the Nadesico here: to secure those ruins for them once more.
Prospector can neither confirm nor deny, but Gort says the mission is to recover the research data and take any survivors back to Earth.



Ines doesn't care about the data, but says that she and the others have no desire to ride the Nadesico, since there's no way it can make it back to the Earth in one piece.
Before Yurika and Ryuoko get further annoyed at her, Ruri says the Nadesico reached the airspace above the residential area.


This next mission isn't as big as the last ones so I'll probably update it on just one part. Expect it around Friday, give or take.