Part 98: Mission 29 - Prologue
No options are available in the intermission menu so we'll jump straight into the next mission's prologue:
Somewhere inside Heliopolis, Kira is thinking back on his decision to board a mobile suit and fight the Zaft - among whom is his best friend Athrun.
His friends are all duly impressed by his phenomenal combat skills and indeed grateful to him for saving their lives.
From left to right: Kuzzy, Miriallia, Sai, Tolle.
The most level-headed of all is captain Murrue Ramius, who was with him in the cockpit as he rewrote the mech's OS on the fly while taking it into combat.
Kira explains that he boarded the "Gundam" because couldn't bear to stand by and watch his classmates get slaughtered.
Murrue figures it could be called a Gundam as the Strike does indeed resemble the famous mechs that were active during the Revolutionary War, and is about to revolutionize the little pocket of safety that the kids have enjoyed until now.
She demands that they all accompany her back to Federation military space now that they've interacted with a top-secret machine, and tells them that the neutrality which supported their little idyllic life is over as of today's fracas.
Lest they forget, she points out that the Radam and Eviluders are on the offensive - to say nothing of the war between Coordinators (that would be Kira) and Natural – their only chance of survival is to come with her.
Kira does what he's told and takes the Strike to the Archangel so it can depart on time.
Mihiro's log entry doesn't sound very happy over the fact that her brother is alive - instead, she is saddened over the fact that he ran away from her and she has no way of seeing him again.
Carret tries to cheer her up, but there's only so much a robot can do; regardless, he’s sure that, as Bless’ son, Kazuma will come around.
Meanwhile, some new arrivals on board (Lowe and Kisato, and the snappily-named "Professor") ponder Kazuma's reappearance.
Consensus: leave him be until he's ready to come back on his own terms; more importantly right now, the reason the Junkmen called them over here is to hire the Trailers for some work.
One of the other guests, Liam, explains the mission they've got for the Valstork, starting with the rumpus at Heliopolis a few hours ago.
Galent reported how there were several Mobile Suits being developed in secret by the feds but Akane doesn’t understand how, seeing how Heliopolis is an Orb colony and, supposedly, was neutral.
Professor figures that the Feds were forcing Orb's Morgenleite Industries to help out, naturally drawing the ire of the Zaft.
Whatever the case, the formerly neutral haven for Naturals and Coordinators that followed George Glenn’s ideals is neutral no more.
The new mechs will positively get into combat, and when they do little bits are going to be blown off and Liam wants our help to go snag those bits after the fact; Shihomi accepts in short order.
Mihiro is still sad over the whole Kazuma-situation, so 8, Lowe’s AI companion, tries to cheer her up too.
Turns out that 8 was the battle computer for a certain ship Lowe salvaged from space, which takes professional pride in having an encyclopedic knowledge of mankind's history of war; 8 is small enough to fit into a suitcase and is a valued member of Lowe's team, and is the greatest piece of trash that Lowe, the consummate junkman, has picked up to date.
But the bits of trash to come off the Heliopolis’ prototypes look to be even cooler, provided we can get to the scene in time.
Horis quickly gets informed that a Zaft fleet is closing in on Heliopolis and that seems like our cue to start heading to the scene.
The Zaft units are blowing the crap out of Heliopolis, and Murrue's mission won't let her hang around and try to help.
She orders the Strike and Muu's Mobius recovered so they can head off towards Federation command.
The Coordinator boys leading the attack observe their escape and start to disagree over whether to capture or destroy the escaping "G", the fifth and last of a set.
Their superior, Athrun, quickly vetoes the idea and orders to let them go for now.
Yzak in particular thinks that’s a cowardly attitude.
That one in the previous image is Yzak, these two above are Nicol (on the left) and Dearka (on the right). The one below is Athrun.
Athrun is no coward, however, and realizes that whoever is aboard the Strike is no Natural, but his best friend Kira.
What he wants to know is, why is Kira helping the Naturals? Furthermore, both him and Nicol think they went overboard with the destruction of the entire colony as a means to capture the Gundams.
Word then comes in from their commander Rau Le Creuset, who describes the destruction of Heliopolis as "unavoidable" before ordering his forces to pursue the fleeing Archangel.
As they leave, a mystery figure notes that only P01 got carted off by the Feds.
The figure says that 02 and 03 must be positively destroyed, for the sake of their ideals.
The Valstork shows up after the fact to find Heliopolis, and its civilian occupants, a smoldering wreck.
Shihomi orders the ship to search for any possible survivors in accordance with the spaceman creed, saving the treasure hunting for later.
Horis agrees, citing the Spaceman’s creed regarding the “importance of life” and Lowe is right behind them.
Inside, Kisato is a bit scared that the Zaft troops will return but Lowe tells her it’ll be fine – they have Mihiro on the outside patrolling the area.
Sadly, Mihiro is too small to be able to pilot one of the extravehicular pods; Akane tells her not to worry, saying that she’s sure she’ll get there soon enough.
Indeed, Horis is sure that Mihiro will be bigger (ifyouknowwhatImean) than Akane with no problems – this prompts a new “Stupid, Horis!” from Akane, saying that she wasn’t talking about hers or Mihiro’s breasts.
Survivors turn out to be in short supply, though, so the crew switch to salvage operations; they decide to split up and start looking for whatever valuables they can find.
Inside the Colony…
: Phew…seems this block still has some air inside. 
: …: …Akane…: What is it, Horis?: …I guess this is a good moment…there’s something I want to talk to you about.: Wh-what… why do you have that serious look on your face…?: There’s no one here to get in the way, so…Akane, I--: H-hold on! Please…wait a second…If you're gonna say what I think you are, then I have to prepare my heart…: So, please…: …Hm, it seems it’s not gonna happen right now. : I know you're in here, so please come out.
: …: Well, this is funny. I didn’t expect to run into you in such a place. 
: Yeah…I’m also surprised. : You’re…Kazuma…!: …
Big things are afoot outside: the Serpent Tail has taken over the Valstork at gunpoint.
Shihomi correctly suspects that the famed mercenary group isn't interested in the Valstork's salvage operations.
Her intelligence is as expected of Hawkeye’s daughter, Loretta figures; she says that what they've come for is to ensure that the Valstork family doesn't discover a certain something hidden in the wreckage of Heliopolis.
Shihomi relates that they’re not here on anyone’s orders, merely helping the Junkmen in a bid to avoid the 37th bankruptcy, which Loretta believes.
Regardless, the Serpent’s Tail members are all professions and they WILL carry out their mission, which means that, if our inside team finds out about this “secret”, they’ll have to make sure we can't tell it to anyone else.
Elsewhere, Kazahana has spotted Mihiro and figures she’s Kite’s sister.
She quickly introduces herself and Mihiro starts asking about him; sadly, Kazahana can’t reveal any more information other than that he’s inside the colony right now.
Lowe, Liam and Kisato are busy too, rummaging through increasingly valuable debris until they run into two brand new mobile suits: a red and blue one.
Liam has just found a golden arm that appears to be of the same type, and none of it appears to bear any Federation military markings.
This would mean that these mecha were developed by Orb itself, turning the tables on the theory of the Federation attempting to force the Orb's cooperation.
Of course, bad things would happen if these mecha's existence became known to the Feds, and Gai (Murakumo) shows up with orders to prevent such bad things from happening.
He’s here to eliminate both MSs and make sure all traces of them are erased; he quickly pulls out a gun and tells everyone to get their hands up.
Liam sighs that it seems they found something better left hidden and Gai prods them along, saying they’ve no choice here.
Liam asks Lowe what they’re gonna do: this guy is clearly a Coordinator, so running away won’t work and it doesn’t seem like begging for their lives will do much, either; Lowe figures that, in times like this, there’s only one thing to do…
Against a strong enemy like this, we won’t be able to escape using conventional means; so he tosses a piece of junk to distract Gai and hops aboard the blue mech!
Lowe tells them to escape and he’ll follow right after – he’s not about to abandon all the treasure they found and is planning to at least take the blue one along.
He moves to attack Gai, saying that there’s no way he’s gonna beat a mobile suit while on foot.