Part 28: Mission 8.5 – Route Split

Mission 8.5 – Route Split



Taiga thanks Bless for agreeing to transport the troops to Okinawa.
Bless smiles and replies that he had planned on going in person to pick up Akane and Mihiro anyway; they are both quite surprised at Kazuma's sudden enthusiasm for battle – surely due to his desire to protect his family.
When Hyuuma asks, Bless says he can't tell whether the kiddies will feel like joining the fight for good tomorrow, or never.



Freeman notes that Project W depends on the individual will of the fighters to fight, and unless the Valstork crew can become motivated, neither side would benefit from their inclusion.
Rather than stringing them along forever, he recommends that Taiga try giving them a certain job as their "last" contract assignment: the Nadesico.
It and its war-altering technology are headed back to Earth, and Taiga would far rather see it back in Nergal hands than with the Federation military.



Unfortunately, the Federation Army won't be as easy to deceive a second time
Moreover, Taiga's heard about Nadesico's cargo of aliens who can communicate with humankind...and the alien fleet pursuing them - Taiga wonders if the Earth can afford having even more trouble.
So, the Valstork's mission is to be escort, with the Space Knights helping out.
It seems fair to Bless, seeing as how they've helped the Nadesico previously.



However, there's a more immediate problem: the plane carrying Minister Dorian, Mamoru and the "Angel" under Mithril's protection seems to have been hijacked.
GGG's intelligence reports that it's the work of multiple organizations, and Freeman is rightfully peeved that all these different keys to the Earth's future were put onto a single plane but it wasn't a coincidence.
Remember that engine trouble Dorian's plane had that caused her to board our guys’ plane? Sabotage.



Lady Une asks if she should activate the Preventer agent aboard the plane.
Taiga, however, doesn't want the Federation getting ideas about raiding the plane and putting all the hostages' lives in danger.
He orders the GGG and Preventers to head to the scene at once, but given that it's a plane that was hijacked, the Valstork seems natural to ferry the GGG to the scene.


We now are presented below with our choice. We either go rescue Prime-Minister Dorian and the others or head to space to escort the Nadesico:




The series that will be staying on Earth will be:

• Gaogaigar
  
• Gundam Wing
  
• Full Metal Panic!

And, in Space, we’ll be dealing with:

• Tekkaman Blade
  
• Martian Successor Nadesico
  
• Golion

Regardless of choice, the conversation continues pretty much in the same fashion.



Taiga says that the GGG will remain the command center, and tells Bless to keep in touch. Bless plans to carry out his contract in full, and tells Taiga to wait for the good news.



Meanwhile, Freeman passes Liger a disk full of information - information Liger would rather Taiga and Leo not know about.
All is fair in love and the Project W it seems, and Liger will take that data and Mike back to America to continue his research.
When he returns, he hopes to have Mike completed, and he thanks Freeman for his help.



After Liger walks out, Freeman tells Balzac to come out of hiding – an impressive enough operative that he was able to disable the locks on this room (though it took an entire month).
Freeman knows Balzac is really after the data on Tekkaman for the Federation, and doesn't seem to care after all he's learned working with the GGG.
Balzac seems a bit shaken at Freeman's equanimity, but Freeman as much as tells him to get his carcass out of his sight now that his mission is over.
On his way out, Balzac muses over how much good this data will do his career.



And Freeman, for his part, figures that the sword that this data on the Tekkaman, Radam, Zondar and Eviluder will forge will be a double-edged one, which may well end up at mankind's own throat...




Now it’s time for our first poll. Pick whichever route you prefer and make sure to post your choice in bold to make it easier for me to tally it up.
Voting will remain open until Friday when I’ll start posting the prologue of the chosen path.