Part 107: Mission 29 (Setsuko) - The Burning Sea - Part 3
These Moon Race mooks aren’t that different from what we’ve dealt with in the past but Swesson and his posse bring a new model to the table.We only need to wreck Swesson to end this mission, mind, so let’s see what he’s packing:
Mahiroo (Swesson Stero)
Pilot Skills:
- Prevail L5
- Support Attack L3
- Cooperative Attack
- Commander L3
Swesson’s Voice Actor: Tora Uganda
Swesson’s on par with the other named characters that we just fought on stats but trades some of his evasion for more survivability; his big command aura will make his nearby Mahiroo allies all the harder to deal with and make sure you keep an eye on potential support attacks that he can do – they’ll hurt.
Get rid of his squaddies ASAP to stop his rather long-range TRI attack.
Not a whole lot of our people are left with their moves, so only a handful head towards the Moon Race.
Setsuko and Camille start their underwater trek to rejoin our group.
Enemy Phase!
A few Mahiroos detach to intercept Setsuko’s squad but everyone else moves towards our people.
No one’s in range, though.
Player Phase!
*Beep, beep.*
: A transmission now…?!
: It’s been a while, Setsuko Ohara.
: Asakim Dowin!
: You look like you're doing pretty well. Did you already forget all about Denzel Hammer and Toby Watson?
: Ah, aah...
: I got you a present. A small serving of despair.
: What is it, Setsuko?: They... they're coming...
Oh, crap…
: Moon Race reinforcements?!: N-no…
: What’s wrong, Setsuko…?!: They…they’re with Asakim!
: With that creep?!
: That's right, Setsuko Ohara.: You’re with Asakim, aren’t you? Tell me your name!
: I don't see the point. You're going to die here…: That's--: Not going to happen, right? That's not in your power.: You’re overwhelmed by your fear of Asakim. You're frightened, in pain, and so deeply saddened...: ...!
: Cry, if you must, but know that both you and I are bound up by fate’s unbreakable chains. : Ugh...
: Camille, support her! She can’t fight like this!
: Roger!
: Look alive, people! It seems those crows are going to attack whatever’s close!: You have to die, Setsuko Ohara! The world needs you to!: (Chief…Toby…I’m…)Well, frig. Unlike the nice folk in Rand’s path, Setsuko keeps getting stuck with the evil versions of characters.
Eliphas (Ziene Espio)
Pilot Skills:
- Focused Attack
- Guard
- Morale+ (Damage)
- Prevail L4
- Resolve
- Very Lucky
- Jamming Function (Entire squad gains +10% to accuracy and evasion rates)
- Pilot-Affecting Status Immunity
Ziene’s Squad Leader Bonus: Accuracy and evasion rate +10%
Ziene’s Voice Actress: Rie Saitou (other known works: Eri Anzai in SRW OGs, Mayer/Re-I in Ergo Proxy and a few others).
Ziene as a boss maintains the same script from Rand’s side – she’s very dodgy and accurate but has piddly defenses (compare her to either Olson or Atena but with higher damage potential).
Her strength isn’t all THAT (Swesson’s TRI attack is stronger than her Nightmare Strike) but all her attacks are post-movement and she’ll be gunning straight for Setsuko/Camille, who’ll take big damage due to that Focused Attack and their naturally low defenses.
Her newest trick is an attack called Mirage Lightning which is a huge MAP. It works like the Iron Gear’s Potan Cannon in that you choose a target area (in her case, anywhere within 1 to 7 tiles) and hit everyone in a 4x4 radius.
This is especially dangerous if you’ve low HP units (say, if Kira blasted them into 10 HP) as she’ll wreck them all but, provided you don’t give her a chance to use it, it won’t be a problem.
Killing her if you’re out of SP for Strike can be a headache, though, so focus on Swesson if that’s the case.
I’ll be doing it, though, because of Kouji’s perfect timing in learning Valor!
We’ll switch Camille to the front and use his group to bait Ziene closer to us; meanwhile, we’ll deal with whatever Moon Race troops are in range.
Loran gets a nice critical hit but it’s not enough to kill a WaDom in one go. So, Kappei moves right in front of him and finishes the job.
Athrun’s squad was really hurting, so we pop a few Trusts casts and send them after a new WaDom.
Tetsuya needs to conserve EN for Kouji to hit Ziene with a Double Burning Fire, so he lands before going in.
Alright.
Shinn had switched to his Blaster frame, so we’ll use him to work on Swesson’s squaddies.
Everyone else moves forward a bit.
Enemy Phase!
Tetsuya and Zambot get attacked and hit back for some nice damage but no kills.
Swesson also guns for Kappei.
: We've trained ourselves on months and years of drills and battles with aliens! We have nothing to fear!: Valiant soldiers of the Ghingnham Fleet! I will show you how Sesson Stero plies the art of battle!
Alright, we’re good.
You son of a bitch…that’s my money!
Ziene also goes after a nearby WaDom and weakens it.
Player Phase!
Gotta draw her in some more, so we mark her range on the map and position everyone accordingly; meanwhile, we’ll keep workin on Swesson’s posse.
: Why are you doing this? You're of the Moon Race, aren't you?!: What's the matter? You have a problem with the Ghingnham Fleet’s methods?: Lady Diana is trying to resolve this peacefully! If you keep trying to stop that...
: Then I'll fight you!
Bah, fell just short of taking them down.
There. Amuro pulls it off and, also, Tetsuya snipes Ziene’s kill.
Just in case I need a bit of extra oomph against Ziene, Kappei moves back and gets resupplied by Sochie.
Touga quickly wrecks a WaDom by himself.
Finally, because I know Ziene’s going after them, I have Torres heal Setsuko.
Enemy Phase!
The WaDoms snipe at people from afar but the Mahiroos charge right in: Camille, Loran and Touga all hit back nicely but only Gravion’s target was weak enough to be killed.
Touga does learn Counter L5 and Faith from it.
Finally, Ziene walks right into our kill-zone and even takes a nice hit from Camille.
Player Phase!
This is wholly unnecessary but…
: I bet you think you're just an innocent, helpless victim.: ...!: Well, I've got some bad news for you! Your very existence is ruining a whole lot of lives!: Your commander and your partner both died for you, didn't they?: Stop! Please!: Yeah, just like that! He, and the world, need your tears!
Setsuko vs. Ziene: “If you’re one of Asakim's allies, then you’re my enemy…!”
Ziene vs. women: “You know, I’m not averse to women, either…”
As you’d expect from a character that dresses like her, Ziene has a lot of sexual lines.
Alright, that’s enough out of you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDeYmOqNCiA
!!!
: Did we get her?!
: No, her unit’s still moving!: Tch…I can’t die in a place like this!: Setsuko, after her!: R-right…!
: Oh, you fell for such a transparent ploy? Not very clever, are we? 
: Wha—: Just a tiny piece of the power that left our fate in ruins. Ironic, right?
: Setsuko, pull back!: I-I can’t! The Virgola’s...!: Now, drown in sadness and despair! Such is your role!!
: NOO!!
: What?!
: I won’t let you hurt her...!: Toby…! Toby, is that you?!: Tch…another pest? I have to pull back!
: Damn it…you’re not getting away!: Toby…you’re--!: Sorry, Setsuko. I gotta run off again…: Huh...
: But I'll be back, I promise. Keep the Glory Star burning for me until then.
: Toby…Well, that raised a whole lot of questions…
While I’d love to have Bright MAP all four squads in front of him, it’d take out some of our guys so he’s forced to just down a couple of Mahiroos; Toshiya TRIs another squad, taking one kill, and Tetsuya downs the rest.
Next up, Quattro primed this group for Shinn to deal with.
And there go all three of them.
Quickly, Joseph switches in and downs the last Mahiroo group.
Fucking finally, we’re done.
With the excuse that he’s not used to fighting in gravity, Swesson turns tail and runs but now Kihel knows that Ghingnham has put his pieces on the board.
Nothing feels good about this victory to a battle that raised too many questions: what are those crows? What is the Archangel doing? And why has the Moon Race broken its alliance with PLANT?
And on top of everything, we lost Heine…Toshiya knew he was a good man and Gavane somberly says those are oftenly the ones to die young.
: Eiji, what do I do when this happens?
: I think all we can do is be sad…
: …
: (Stella…I’ll…)
Setsuko regrets that all her hard work and training were for naught - and Heine died because she was so weak.
Camille blames himself - if he hadn't been preoccupied with Four, he'd have been able to protect Heine - but Setsuko feels like he did all he could; and if there's anything she learned from her own fight with Asakim's minion, it's that she didn't, and can't, do so as long as he can bring out her fear and her sorrow.
And even Toby's survival doesn't make her feel any better. If anything, it was a reminder that he's far beyond her, and she'd only get him killed.
: That's enough, Setsuko.: Lt. Amuro…
: Heine is dead and, while no one of us killed him, we all share the responsibility. : Setsuko, you should know what the living can do for the dead.: But…
: Setsuko…if you realize your weakness, you can’t wallow in it. Right now, all you're doing is running away.: There's nothing a dead person can do. But you're still alive, and you can still get stronger.
: But…
: Stop it. If you want to live as a soldier, you can't ever cry for yourself.: If you mourn Heine’s death and understand your weakness, then decide what YOU want to do with your life.: …: (Toby…help me…)
Meanwhile, Camille tells Quattro that he doesn't quite believe Amuro's claim that Heine's death was everyone's responsibility.
So he's decided that however it ends with Four, he'll be the one to do it by himself.
"Would you kill her?" Quattro asks; "If I have no other choice." he answers.
Quattro doesn't respond. "Lalah," he thinks, "once again, a meeting was the beginning of their tragedy..."
In the meantime, Vino reports that the Minerva can't be fixed up en route as usual; she needs to touch down for a while to be properly repaired.
Luckily, we're in ZAFT territory, where the Phantom Pain will be loath to strike. But what about the Archangel, Joseph wonders.
What about the Archangel, the ship of the group that abducted Rep. Athha? Julie explains that in his world, they're the heroes of a previous war - the one between Naturals and Coordinators.
Back then, the Archangel split from the Alliance and PLANT to form its own, third side, bringing both of the others to a peaceful stability.
And back then, Rey adds, Captain Athrun was one of their members.
Unfortunately, even Athrun doesn't know what they're trying to do or how to convince them to stop.
Shinn angrily blames them for the way the battle went: everything going to hell, Heine getting killed and, particularly, the part where he wasn't able to rescue Stella.
And ever the motivator, Tetsuya tells Athrun that he has to be the one to deal with his old friends.
"That's what Heine said too," thinks Athrun. "If the captain hesitates, the whole squad will lose their way. But..."
Arthur's come to let the soldiers know that ZEUTH will stop at a nearby base to handle the Minerva's repairs, and that while she's docked, they'll be able to take some leave.
It's well-earned, but no one's in the mood to celebrate.
He's also come to call Shinn and Ray to the captain's room; the short version is that they have an assignment - to investigate another facility nearby...