Part 10: Mission 3 (Setsuko) - Two Worlds
Chapter 3: Two Worlds
Neo's realized that our ship is faster than theirs; they'll have no choice but to turn around and fight, and here's as good a place as they're likely to have available. Ian is more concerned about deploying the Extended; Neo assures him they've rested enough, but the very fact that they need to be checked up after use is a bad sign on its own.
And aren't they mentally unstable, or something? Neo promises they are at least fit for the job they've been given; they'll carry out missions and obey his orders. Besides, you can't blame them for being under development. "The ship is," he muses at that, "and so are the Mobile Suits and the pilots. And even the world."
The Minerva catches up to Bogey One; even its crew is surprised by its speed, but Talia realizes that they could have kept us running for much longer. They wanted to engage us here, and now we have no choice but to fight; she deploys Shinn's MS team!
Rey and Lunamaria deploy in their Zakus...
Followed by Shinn in the Impulse, this time with the Blast Silhouette.
The Extended recognize the Gundam from Armory One, and apparently, it can switch its parts out as it deploys. Auel figures they can snag that machine while they're at it.
Meylin lets Shinn (and us) know that as long as the Minerva is nearby, the Impuse can swap Silhouettes at any time - but it can only use each one once each time it deploys. Anyway, this may be a trap, but we have no choice but to fight for those Gundams and for our lives. Besides, they'll be okay - they've earned their ZAFT red uniforms.
Something about the red strikes a chord with Alex. Like Durandal, Cagalli insisted on being on the bridge to see the enemy for herself. This all seems to be going according to Neo's plan, though - "all the players are on stage," he cackles.
Right! Here we go. Our objective is simple enough. It's the Battle Mastery that's the real trick. We have two options, we can destroy Ian in his Battleship, or we can defeat Sting, Auel, and Stella, and once we beat those three we blow up Neo. Either way we have to do it in four turns. For reasons I'm going to do the second.
I begin moving people up, and Rey has the honor of being the first person to get in shooting range of the Daggers.
And we're off to a grand start.
Luckily, the Dagger's are hilariously weak and exist solely to get our heroes Will up. Finish him off Luna.
Wonderful, next!
Shinn's going to stab this Dagger now.
He's a reliable guy like that.
On the enemy phase the Dagger tries to fire back.
It ends predictably.
Darn it Luna! Not buying any upgrades might not have been the absolute best idea, but whatever.
You better not screw this one up Rey.
OK I guess you've redeemed yourself.
The Extended kids move up, and it's back to our turn.
Shin figures that, if the mothership falls, they can settle this battle in one move; he calls Rey and Lunamaria and warns that he’s going to charge at it.
Lunameria warns him against being too impatient, they must first take out the defenders.
Shin tries to protest but Rey tells him to calm down as he also agrees with Lunameria’s assessment; he adds that, to accomplish out the missions they’re given, they must carry out their roles in battle.
He reminds Shin that he’s not fighting alone here.
Shin acquiesces and apologizes to Lunameria, though she doesn't really mind, as long as he understood what she was saying, she’s glad.
With that, she asks Shin and Rey to show the power of Zaft’s “red coats” to these thieves.
Neo sees them breaking formation and takes special interest in the white mobile suit - Rey realizes he’s being watched.
Right. Now then I move the Minerva up to the front, and target a Dagger.
Finishing off these mooks is pretty simple.
I have Rey handle the one next to him, since he has Hit & Away I can still move him up to meet the Extended afterwords, I make sure to keep him in range of Talia's Command.
I move Shinn and Luna up, but don't attack. Next turn I'll be doing the actual fighting.
Stella targets Luna, and we can see what a pain it is to hit these people. Especially with Luna, who can only afford Strike once. Oh well, gotta roll the dice this turn.
: Get back here, thief! I couldn't deploy at Armory One, so I've got a lot to make up for!
Darn it Luna! At least you managed to get a hit in.
Auel, meanwhile, targets the Minerva.
: They stole our Second Series mechs and now they're using them against us...
: And I doubt they're being piloted by mere Naturals.: But those suits were meant for the Minerva. We can't let them go.: Focus fire ahead! Stop those mechs!
And of course I miss the 70% odds...
Let's see if Shinn does any better!
: You won't get away! We'll shoot you down and find out who's behind this!
At... at least he didn't get hit...
I think we know how this one is going to end.
: Gil's aboard the Minerva. I won't let you get anywhere near it.
: You're...
: What was that? That pilot... can sense me?: Who the hell are you, white baldy?
Slightly better than expected, Rey actually dodged!
Time to break out the big guns on my turn. Shinn casts Focus while Meyrin heals her sister with Trust.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsL7bxupsVY
Shinn's best attacks have a high energy cost, I can only use Kerberos once more before the Blast Impulse is drained. That's less of a problem then you'd think.
Next I move the Minerva over here, it's still not attacking this turn, but I need it to be in a better position for blasting things the next.
Rey uses Focus himself. One nice thing about Focus is that it lasts until the next player phase, so Shinn and Rey will have its benefits even on the enemy turn. With it shooting Auel will be easy. Spreading the damage around is important, it's much faster have two units attack two different enemies so both die from counterattacks on the enemy phase then it is to focus on one enemy.
: The enemy is probably affiliated with the Union. I'd wager they're a special espionage team.: This may go deeper than we could have imagined.
It's not much, but damage is damage, and Rey's in a stronger position for the next next turn.
Finally for this round, I take a risk. I don't want to use Strike yet, so I just have to hope the coin flip ends up in my favor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDcs0_kVPCo
It works!
Enemy phase starts with Stella targeting Luna.
This results in the first Extended kid getting shot down! Good, because...
SECRET ALERT: Stella should absolutely get shot down on this stage.
Neo calls Stella back to the ship; she protests, so Auel helpfully needles her. "You wanna die?"
But the mere thought of her own death sends Stella nearly catatonic, and it's all Neo can do to calm her down and get her to pull out. Ian was right - at least one of them is still dangerously unstable...
Riiiighht. Back to the fighting. Talia better redeem herself this time.
Of course not. I'm definitely regretting not buying these guys some accuracy upgrades right about now.
Shinn, of course, does much better.
So does Rey. All it took was 15 SP.
On my turn, as you can see, the Impulse is low on energy. Luckily, I can fix that easily!
As mentioned earlier, the Impulse can swap what Silhouette pack it has equipped out in the field. Granted, it can only do so once per stage. So once I swap I can't use Blast Impulse for the rest of the level, but that isn't a big problem.
And voila! Not only have I switched to the Sword Impulse, the Impulse itself is completely recharged! Shinn is free to continue blasting away with his best attacks now, and we'll need them to get the Battle Mastery!
It's time to bust out the big guns. Everyone casts the needed Spirit Command, even Luna uses Strike.
It's time to finish things here, with Shinn and Luna starting the barrage.
: I won't let a Mobile Armor beat me!
: You've got zeal, I'll give you that, but you won't win just throwing your mech around.: Wha-
: I guess I'll be taking it while I'm here!
Neo calls Shinn "Zaft no Ace-kun" which for some reason amuses me. He's just so friendly about it.
Rey weakens Auel...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnHftql5hjU
For Talia to get sweet revenge on this jackass avoiding all her attacks.
And not even a Counter getting off can save Sting from Luna.
Enemy phase comes and this is the moment that will make or break me. If Rey misses, I lose the Battle Mastery
Luckily, I manage to pull it off!
Neo decides it's time to peel off and instructs Ian to execute according to plan.
Ian flies his ship behind an asteroid.
Naturally, Talia sends the Minerva charging after them...
as Ian drops anchor onto the asteroid, then swings around it at full speed, evading the Minerva entirely -
and, at Neo's instruction, pelting it with missiles, pinning the Minerva under shards of space rock.
The ship's pinned down; Shinn's team moves to help it, but Neo cuts them off.
Suddenly, Alex asks how many of the ship's port thrusters are operational. Six, says Talia, but it's not going to get them anywhere. Alex knows that - unless they also fire the port cannons into the asteroid, using the force of the impact to break the Minerva free of the rock on top of it.
Arthur objects that the ship will sustain damage, but Alex points out that the ship is already immobilized and under fire.
Over Arthur's continued protests, Talia agrees to give it a shot.
Long story short, it works, at the instant Ian fires his big guns too.
Talia's ready to get back to proper ship combat with the bogeys, but Meylin's sensors are going nuts, and she doesn't think it's a malfunction - something really weird is happening to the surrounding space. Rey and Shinn confirm their suits are getting the same readings. Neo and Ian noticed the same thing, too, and Neo decides to bolt before things get dangerous. He's looking forward to the time our paths cross again, the white boy in particular.
The Minerva's damage leaves it unable to pursue, and space begins to twist...
There's a burst of multicolored light and a high-pitched squeal - the same sound Shinn remembers from Armory One before the last event hit.
Captain Bright Noa and his men are terribly confused. The last thing they knew, they were fighting with the Titans, and then some sort of anomaly happened and they were here. They can't get their bearings,
But they can recognize a Gundam and Zakus when they see it.
Unfortunately, the Titans came with them, and they've decided that said Gundam and Zakus must be AEUG machines, and the ship a new AEUG model. Captain Jamaican orders them to open fire.
Emma is the only one who thinks maybe they should ask questions first; Jamaican shouts her down, barking that they can't risk those machines indeed being AEUG. Besides, Jerid points out that the Argama and its platoon are definitely AEUG, at least.
The Titans fire on both ZAFT and AEUG. Meylin asks Talia for her orders; Durandal steps in and suggests we side with the guys who are under fire rather than the ones who shot first. They may both be strangers, but in that case our priority should be self-defense.
Quattro reports to Bright that the bogeys (ZAFT) are moving to back them up, but can't figure out who they are. Like Durandal, Bright judges following suit would be most prudent to not die. He orders his pilots to focus on the Titans, but not to take their eyes off the unknowns.
Durandal seems to have a clue what's going on - "visitors," he calls them.
And we have a new objective! Reduce Jamaican's HP below 10,000.
The AEUG guys are neutral to us right now. We can't control them but they won't attack us. They just end their turn not moving.
As shown here, with me not being able to select anything but if the animations are on or off. Also hahaaha this Titan thinks he can hurt Quattro.
The Glory Star's getting rocked around inside the ship; Toby sure hopes Arthur knows what he's doing. Meanwhile, Denzel's been pondering Setsuko's theory, and despite his better judgment, it actually sounds like the best one we've got.
The monitor turns on, and we can now see that the ship's in combat with the Titans and AEUG forces. Toby instantly cheers up, since this means we're in our universe after all, but Denzel reminds him that they may simply have come the same way we did. There's no way to tell for sure with just what's showing up on the screen.
Luckily, just then, the door unlocks.
Denzel makes his decision - it's not safe in here, and we'll get more information if we go outside for ourselves. Sorry, Arthur!
Oh, but what is this.
The Virgolas deploy from the Minerva; Arthur demands to know how they got through the lock, while Durandal sits silently and inconspicuously. Denzel hails the Titans and asks them to stand down, but they figure we just turned coat; Jamaican responds that he will not suffer us to interfere with their mission, by force if necessary. Denzel pitches Setsuko's parallel universe theory, which makes a lot of sense to Arthur, but such a ridiculous excuse just convinces the Titans we really are traitors, and terrible traitors at that.
They open fire! Toby suggests we fight back; the AEUG isn't the one trying to blow us up. Denzel, on the other hand, remembers that we belong to the Federation; we're not so desperate we're going to join up with the AEUG just yet.
"Come on," whines Toby. "You cannot be this hard-headed! That thing's gotta be like titanium!"
But then, we're not going to try to join the Titans and shoot down the AEUG in a place like this either. Denzel grins. "We're going to fight with the Minerva. How do you feel about my hard head now, Toby?"
The Glory Star will fight in defense and interest itself, no more or less; Denzel will take it from there after we're out of the fire. Once again, though, we're not trying to explode any cockpits!
Talia's glad to see we're helping, and interested to see that we know who both of the others are. Bright's confused, but he, too, decides that the best thing for now is to finish the battle, get to safety, and figure things out from there. Shinn's team gets orders to ignore us and focus on the Titans; he asks Rey how he feels, but Rey's response is a flat "Captain's orders. All we need to do is follow them."
Quattro is watching the flow of the battlefield, amazed that all these sides can work together without exchanging a word. Kamille can't put it into words, but he thinks it'll be okay. Apolly figures it's Newtype senses, but the words don't taste right to Kamille. And there are the same kinds of people, people worth trusting, among the Titans, too, he feels - people like Emma Sheen...
And Emma is beginning to see how this battlefield is a symbol of the Titan's rampage - shooting first and asking questions later, going so far as to fire on their own units if they get in the way...
With that the AEUG guys are under my control! So I move Kamille down to start the dismantling of the Titans Mobile Suits.
Bam!
I keep Roberto and Apolly near Quattro, moving the Argama down for better Command usage, while Quattro gets to cut another Zaku.
Under the Command Aura enemies are getting single digit hit rates on Quattro by the way.
Up Setsuko goes to commit treason! Good times.
Attacks look different if done in air or space vs done on the ground!
I don't know if Will effects evasion, or if the Zaku is just that bad, but the ZAFT fellows will do just fine against them even lacking any SP.
Anyways finish that guy off Shinn.
Good to see you being so reliable.
I... I give up. Sure, Luna, get hit on 20% odds now and forever.
Make me feel better Denzel, kill that guy please. Or not, are you still going for that whole "not hitting cockpits" thing.
Talia takes a potshot at the Zaku...
For Toby to finish off. Oh yeah, the Minerva's CWIS guns inflict an accuracy down debuff on the enemy.
Onto the enemy phase, they think that targeting Apolly will help them. Sadly, the Titans are even eclipsed by our redshirts.
Next!
Kacricon decided to attack Shinn, this isn't really going to end well for him. Even if Kacricon hits Shinn he can take the hit and smack back with a sword designed to cut battleships in half.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0yAdIu6Wes
Like so.
OK Luna, I don't think you can take a hit from Lila, so please dodge.
: I really only boarded the Alexandria to babysit, but this might be fun after all.
: Watch close, Jerid! I'll show you how to fight in space!
Whew...
On my turn again I swap to the Force Impulse. It's a bit weaker in pure power then the other two forms, but it has its advantages in a higher movement, being able to fly, and the strongest TRI attack and a post movement ALL attack. In general Shinn should start the battle in the Force Impulse, switching off to the other Shilloette packs once he's gotten into battle and expended all his ammo on ALL attacks.
Kamille casts Focus to hit a certain jerk in the face.
: Got you, Kamille! And this time, I'm gonna crush you!
: Lt. Jerid!: I owe you for taking the Mk.II from me at Gryps! And for that airport, too!: You owe me? Where do you get off saying that after killing my mom!: Look, that wasn't personal! It was part of the mission!: But I'm still taking you down! I've got too much pride in it!
: That's ridiculous!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGU38JbtT0k
Next I shoot him with Quattro, unlike Kamille, Quattro doesn't need any SP to deal with this guy.
Finally, I think it's time for some revenge for Setsuko.
: You're gonna get a face full of the Titans' power, Glory Star!
: Hey, Jerry! You know space doesn't just step aside for an Earthborn rich kid, right?
: Gh... I keep losing control of the inertial moment stabilizer!
: 2nd. Lt. Ohara, relax! In zero Gs, when there's no ground under you, if you lose your head, you're dead meat!
: Roger that! They may be the Titans, but we're the Glory Star!
: I'll fight for the Virgolas!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZbHxAUhAa4
Meanwhile Shinn is blowing up Kacricon
Denzel and Toby get Ready.
And Denzel gets a new level of Prevail!
Apolly finishes off the Last Zaku, now all that's left is Emma and Jamaican.
Emma targets Kamille, however, I do not attack.
SECRET ALERT: Do not shoot down Emma on this stage.
: Is that 1st. Lt. Emma Sheen in that Mk.II?
: Kamille Bidan?: 1st. Lt. Emma! You shouldn't be with the Titans!: You were there! You saw what they did to my mom to take back the Mk.II!: But...: So you should know what kind of group the Titans are! Why...
: Even so, I...
: Put down your weapon, 1st. Lt. Emma! I don't want to fight you!: Kamille Bidan…
When my turn comes up again, it's time to finish the stage, starting with Toby getting a hit in.
: You'll see how foolish it is for one squadron to take on the Titans!: How can you... we're all in the Federation...
: That's the Titans for you. They think they have a monopoly on justice and a supremacy on power.: We're just defending ourselves! And we'll do that even if we have to take on the Titans!: Then stay cool, Toby. Don't forget we're only fighting to keep our skins.
Jamaican pulls out; he can't afford to lose the Alexandria given him by Colonel Bask. Emma, however, stays behind; Kamille escorts her black Mk. II into the Argama. The question is, what now?
That's also the question facing the Glory Star. The AEUG may be the enemy, but they're also the safer option. Denzel has another decision to make...
Wait, nope. The Virgola's sensors act up again, and before anyone can react, they're off in a burst of light, noise, and spacetime. Kamille and Quattro, of course, recognize the phenomenon. So does Durandal, and he says that if we were, indeed, "visitors from another world," great changes are in store for their world.
Before we go, let's check in with Durandal, who wants to make contact with that unknown ship (that would be the Argama - at this stage, everyone's unknown to everyone). In fact, he's going over personally, with Rey as his bodyguard, of course.
Cagalli accuses him of wanting their military strength for ZAFT's. Durandal seems surprised she even has to task; today's battles seem argument enough that they still need power to survive in the new world. Cagalli spits back that this battle started because ZAFT built those three mechs; does he want more of that death and destruction? "Didn't we swear an oath? To keep such things from ever happening again? To choose to move forward together as one?"
And suddenly, Shinn snaps, "Idealistic promises are a specialty of the Athhas, aren't they?"
There's a heavy silence; Cagalli is taken aback, and Shinn's crew is shocked that he raised his voice to Rep. Athha. Sinn stomps off as Durandal explains that Shinn is from ORB, that he lost his family when ORB fell and found his way to PLANT. Alex suggests she turn in - she must be weary, and needs her rest.
Durandal muses just for Alex's benefit, though, that of all the questions that have come up today, we may begin to grasp the truth if we make contact with the unknown - "that is, if they come to us without pretense. For instance, their names. A name represents an identity; if your name is a pretended one, perhaps your identity is a pretense as well, Alex. No, I should say..."
"Athrun Zala."
We'll tune back into the Glory Star and their new whereabouts in the next chapter.
------Extra Dialogue----
Bright vs Jamaican
: Cease fire! We have to ascertain the situation first!
: You won't get me to drop my guard like that! I'm not that naive!: You see the world through your narrow lens, and judge everyone from your high horse... you're everything that's wrong with the Titans!Glory Star vs Kacricon
: Come on, Glory Star! I'll turn your ugly little prototypes into space dust!
: I know you're trying to sound cool, but that is some outdated trash talk, 1st. Lieutenant!: The Virgola are our pride and honor. We won't let you put a scratch on them!: Look alive, 1st. Lieutenant! Give the Titans a demonstration of our GS Combat Maneuver!: Yes, sir! I'll fight as a member of the Glory Star!Glory Star vs Emma
: Do you understand that what you've done is a breach of military conduct?: Come on, 1st. Lt. Emma! Are you telling me you think shooting your own units is proper conduct?
: That's...
: 1st. Lt. Emma, our first priority is gathering information. Now is not the time for combat.: But we received an order to open fire.: (She... she has her doubts, but she's still trying to carry out her orders.): (That's... what a soldier does...): As you wish, 1st. Lieutenant, but we will not lose the Virgola.: The Glory Star will fight you, but strictly in self defense!w