Part 151: Mission 37 (Rand) - Prologue

No event units today and we still have 11 slots to fill. There’s no need to change much, so we’ll stick with what works:

• Rand, Burume (Government), Rag
  
• Baldios, Riea, Enil (Esperanza)
  
• Kei, Maai, Adette (Rushrod)
  
• Getter, Michiru, Tekkouki
  
• Garrod, Jamil, Pala
  
• Gain, Jiron, Dyke (Galapagos)
  
• Duke, Hikaru, Sara (Mexbrute)
  
• Gainer, Witz, Bello (Dobeck)
  
• Roger, Löwen, Roybea
  
• Apollo, Matthew, Kira
  
• Renton, Holland, Hilda

Kira can take a timeout and work as Apollo’s backup as punishment for his idiocy.
Also, Gain’s squad is flying again after Dyke took that Minovsky Craft dropped by Neo.

That’s it!




Location: North-western North Ameria – Archangel interior



"Neo" is still asleep, having only regained consciousness once when the medical staff changed his clothes - at that point, he named himself Captain "Neo Roanoke" of the 88th independent mobile squadron.
But Murrue says his medical data is a 100% match with the Archangel's own database on Muu La Flaga…that is, his physical data matches anyway. Kira figures Banjou delivered him to us because he was probably aware of this fact.

When Jamil asks, Murrue tells him of Muu’s time as the ship’s crewmember and his death on the final battle of the war, two years ago. Her face easily tells Jamil that the guy was something important to her.
Cagalli asks Murrue to go back and explain what she meant when she said only his “physical data” matched. In that case, Neo opens his eyes and asks her to explain why they’re referring to him as as a “lieutenant commander”. They can’t really demote him just because he’s their prisoner.

His eyes turn on Murrue who’s at a loss for words: “Hm? What is it, beautiful? Love at first sight?", he nonchalantly asks, causing her to run off. Neo wonders if he said something wrong and, when Kira calls him Muu, asks if he’s talking to him.
Jamil wonders if he’s lost his memory but Neo denies it: while his past in shrouded in darkness, he is and remains Neo Roanoke of the New Federation. As Kira and Cagalli try to think of what happened, Jamil figures that it’s possible the Feds used their mental-manipulation technology to implant these “Neo Roanoke” memories into the guy.



Elsewhere, the Chiram president has to, begrudgingly, hand it to Durandal for his masterful plan to topple the Federation from within. Wesley figures the world-wide UN proved their undoing and wouldn't be surprised if the enraged masses lead to the quick fragmentation of the Federation.
Word comes in that the forces assailing the capital have retreated, which is totally understandable under the circumstances and the destruction of their new weapon by Zaft. Wesley sighs that they, unfortunately, owe this result to Durandal but the president isn’t feeling so grateful, considering the very likely scenario that they were nothing more than pawns in the guy’s plan.
He's got no proof though, and being openly hostile to the Plants would be dangerous given how “righteous” they seem now that they’ve exposed the corruption in the Federation.
Regardless, the president orders the ships to return to the capital. The dimensional manipulator is safe, which means they must resume Project D and take the reins of the dimensional repair.


: Incoming! We've a unit approaching at high-speed!





: Is that a Federal pursuer?!
: It matches a unit in a Special Forces’ report, though it doesn’t seem to be affiliated with the Federation!
: The path to the Taiji…is not for the unworthy.

*Asakim charges after the Chiram posse.*

: He’s going after the dimensional manipulator?!
: Open fire! Protect the device, no matter what!
: Too late.







: The manipulator!
: No…the project…the world…it’s all finished…
: Excellent... The fabric of the multi-dimensional world will tremble once again…





: No...I was too late again...
: Rand…we’re being left behind. Everything’ll be beyond saving at this rate…
: What just happened, Star 3?! Who was that man?!
: I’m sorry but I need to go after him - Asakim Dowin!
: If you want details, you can get them from Rand Travis of ZEUTH…!
: Wait! I still have more questions!
: Excuse me!





As Setsuko leaves, Atena wonders who that girl was – she led her and Olson here but they don’t know anything aside her name.
No time to wonder, as Olson will also be taking his leave: Project D’s as good as finished with the device destroyed, which means the Chiram brass is likely to once again turn their sights on the Singularities as a mean to perform the dimensional repair.
That said, Olson’s begun to doubt whether it's actually for the best to capture Kei and play along with that plan and wants to see Kei once more before making up his mind.
Atena wants to come along too, but he tells her she's got to stay in Chiram and gather information.: both on this Asakim guy and on the mess in the Federation.
He flies off, and Atena can only wish him well as he vanishes from view...



Location: Galia – Bellforest



As expected, the people are rioting against the Sage Council and their collaborators and Axel watches in disbelief as their torch a company’s business whose CEO got tagged as one.
Despite the revelation, he thinks they’re taking things too far with this but the people aren’t very willing to listen, considering the guy helped those warmongers – they’re all fruits of the same rotten tree and need to pay for their crimes.
Axel can only hope that Renton hasn't abandoned himself to anger the way his fellow townsfolk have.



Back in the Thurston Garage, we find Dominic watching the place at Axel’s request. He does not mind having to do so but he asks how things are looking in town.
Things are crazy after Durandal’s speech, just as Dominic had anticipated, and Axel asks if he really should be hanging out here (what with him being a Federation soldier and whatnot). Indeed, he’ll have to go back soon and, when Axel asks, immediately denies being one of the Sage Council’s supporters.
Axel tells him to relax as, while he may not know anything about Dominic, he’s an acquaintance of Renton which means he’s welcome in this household for as long as he wishes to stay – Dominic’s thankful for that.



They’re interrupted when a certain man approaches, having arrived here while Axel was away - he introduces himself as Hayato Kobayashi.
Axel sees that he doesn’t appear to have any mechs with him to be repaired, so he asks Hayato what he needs. actually, the guy says he has a big job for Axel but, before it’s ferried over, he wanted to speak a bit.
Axel finds it a bit odd that he’d bring such a job to an old guy like him but Dominic says, despite his age, he’s still a worldly famous mechanic. That's an odd notion for one of Renton’s friends, considering how Axel figures the kid sees him as just a “curmudgeonly old fart in a backwater town”.

As Dominic lies quietly outraged that Renton doesn’t know his grandfather’s greatness, Axel figures any work is good work in this world - he invites Hayato inside to talk over a cup of tea and the guy’s glad to see the old man’s passion for his craft still lives.
Yeah, well, you gotta work to put food on the table… a concept people around the world seem to be forgetting. Indeed, many of the common folk seem to be losing their will to live and their ability to judge by themselves, in what a journalist friend of Hayato has dubbed "Lost Syndrome".

Given how many lives were lost in the Break alone, and how many are still jeopardized by random space-time warps, the darkness engulfing people's hearts isn't that surprising. But one mustn't give in, Axel says, lest people stop thinking for themselves and start living out their days as puppets, dancing to someone else’s tune.
In fact, that's what Hayato thinks is responsible for the worldwide revolt happening right now and, inwardly, Dominic remembers Dewey saying that fear and anxiety deprive humans of willpower and the ability to think.
Everything’s happening as he anticipated and next would be…Dominic doesn’t say but Axel really hopes that Renton isn't one of those who’ve lost purpose in life.



Location: North Ameria – New Earth Federation HQ, Sage Council



Things aren’t looking good for the old men, as Dewey’s has brought troops and is making his way over here as they speak. Braya’s pissed that he’d use Durandal’s speech to strike at them and his timing’s a bit too good for this to be a spur-of-the-moment thing.
Dewey comes in, saying this is all because the Sages insisted on keeping the truth hidden. Braya points out that just spilling the truth out for the public to see isn't automatically a good thing - in fact, it can sometimes be the opposite.

Kuzemi says that it was too late when the Ageha report came in: the population had already grown too large and there was no way to possibly fit everyone back into the Arks they’d previously used to reach this world (before the Break).
Dewey pulls out a gun, announcing he's going to remove these people from this era's stage. That would be a sort of freedom, Kuzemi says, from the pain of concealing the truth from the world's people - a burden that Dewey would have to inherit if he kills them.
He’s willing to accept that and guns them both down - now, all that’s left is for Scirocco to do his part.



Coda expected this to happen when they set Dewey free from prison and wants to know what he plans to do now: “What I’ll do? Extermination is the only way for us to truly survive. I’ll eradicate the Coralians before space-time collapses.”, he says.
The Kute-class Coralian (that huge cloud thing back on mission 26) is no more than a gate and, soon, the “antibodies” will emerge from it, signaling the beginning of humanity’s annihilation. Thus, Dewey will destroy them before it comes to that, lest our kind and the world face its end.
This will be a battle to decide the rulers of this planet but Coda says that those without power shouldn't deign speak of "rulership". Dewey asks if she’s implying that he’s powerless but, regardless, she pledges her loyalty to him.



Elsewhere, Jamitov was as blindsided as the others, admitting that his biggest mistake was not noticing Scirocco’s ambition. Ambition? No, Scirocco says he merely couldn’t entrust the world to a man who cannot see beyond such base emotions.
When Jamitov asks, he says Djibril has already left the area along with Bask: so wonderful that they, who once showed such contempt for each other, have joined forces, no? Scirocco knows that posse will resist until the very end, driven in their quest for worldly domination – they’ll strike against any and all sides.
Thus, we’ve a loose group of both warmongers and power-hungry folk whose bigger focus will be less on their endgame and more on simply surviving and venting their anger – perfect patsies - and Jamitov’s impressed that Scirocco thought that far ahead.
Scirocco smirks that a new age demands a new genius, and he's got the gun in hand to prove it - the time for these old men is past.



As Jamitov collapses to the floor, things don't look so good for Copeland, the "glorious" first president of the New Earth Federation.
Without the Sage Council and Logos to support him, it seems it's time for him to "retire" as well, but Scirocco has one final job for a man of his position: calming the people's fear.



Back to our people, everyone’s talking about the worldwide chaos derived from Durandal’s speech but, considering he was more willing to sacrifice the Chiram, Sirius figures it’s all a part of his strategy.
At the very least, Jun has to give credit to how well the chairman anticipated so many factors – of course, the less-than-moral steps he took to get this far curb our admiration pretty nicely. We’ve been briefed on the fact that his “Lacus” isn’t the real deal and while Sirius can understand a politician wanting a way to better express his voice to the masses, creating a doppelganger seems excessive.
Sirius has no doubt that a schemer of the guy’s caliber already has his own ideas of what the world should be like and both Kei and Ryouma figure, after Zaft’s attempted arrest on us back in Emaan, that our group has no place in said world.

Sara wonders if they’re pissed that we went our own way after Yapan but Gainer thinks Zaft are more afraid of the military threat we pose. Marin agrees as, as powerful as we’ve become with all these members, the fact that we act on our own, unaffiliated to any group, makes us a nuisance.
Gainer’s saddened that they simply tried to arrest us for that reason because, after all the times Zaft helped us, he would’ve seen no problem in lending a hand had they just asked.
Of course, now that things have turned this sour between us and that we’ve gained insight into Durandal’s plan, Hayato and Sirius know there’s no way we could simply come to an agreement.
It’s a sad state of affairs, compounded by the fact that our other half’s helping out with said plan – that’s the path they chose when they teamed up with Zaft, though.



Rand has to wonder what all this will mean to the Plants/Federation war and whether they’ll actually continuing fighting each other. Löwen thinks, before any war’s resumed, there’ll be some infighting within the Federation itself.
When Mel asks, he says a wave of chaos spread through the organization with Durandal’s revelation, as those opposed to the Sage Council try to oust those loyal to them. He expects a bloody purge to be taking place but the Chimeras want no part of any of it, since Edel's policy all along has been to solve things peacefully.
In the end, Löwen fears the odds are good that all that the coup’ll accomplish is shifting the reins from the Council to some other power.

Rand asks if he’s been able to get in touch with Edel yet but, no, and despite Schlan’s best efforts, they’ve been unable to find anything. Löwen figures there’s a big chance she’s being held somewhere by the Council’s opposition for her role as chief of the Federation’s supply lines.
Mel's sure she's okay wherever she is and he thanks her for the pep-talk.

Just then, word comes in that the Feds are staging their own UN broadcast – could it be a rebuttal from the Sage Council, Mel wonders? Rand ain’t all that excited and she chides him for acting like this doesn’t concern him.
Call him jaded but that’s how he feels - the higher ups don't give a damn about the unwashed masses like us.

Speech taken from Caphi's translation on Setsuko's path.










Wouldn't you know it, his video shows our group, being branded as Feds to the entire world – with the Archangel as our flagship.
Bloodman adds that both our rescue of Cagalli from that political marriage and our attack against the Sage Council’s forces at Chiram were commanded by his group in order to strike at the Council. Everyone’s super confused and an angry Kei turns to Kira and asks if they actually tricked us into helping the Federation.
Of course not, this is the first he’s heard of anything like this and Löwen sees this for some classic manipulation of information, using us to recover their good will with the people and counter Durandal’s speech.

Garrod’s not happy with this dirty trick and it seems quite obvious to Duke that, despite the opposition having taken control from the Council, the essence of the Federation remains as rotten as ever.
Gain and Gainer see that these guys simply used Durandal’s speech as a pretext to remove any obstacles to their ascension to power and, rather than change the world, it merely served as fuel to expand the hostilities.



Indeed, Bloodman vows, in the name of restoring peace and tranquility, that the Federation will fight alien invasions, the Plants and anything else that menaces the peoples’ lives.
As the crowd goes wild, he also vows to hunt down and rain justice upon the Council’s remnants and the Logos faction. Pala and Sara are outraged at this guy clamoring for justice after using us like that and Roger has a feeling that he’s probably just a figurehead much like Copeland was.

Sirius and Gain agree, figuring this hidden mastermind is owner of intellect and foresight that rivals Durandal to be able to turn this mess around so effectively. Whoever that is, this person is the new de-facto leader of the Federation and Löwen fears Edel may have fallen into this group’s hands.
“My friends, I swear this to you: the New Earth Federation will stand firmly against any and all enemies! The New Federation IS the organization that unifies humanity’s will under a single umbrella and the only leadership who can guide this chaotic world down the right path!”, Bloodman yells as he finishes his speech.



Bask is pissed that Scirocco and co. set them up as prey to be hunted and Djibril can't believe a small fry like Bloodman got made the interim president. Whatever the case, Bask tells Jamaican that he won’t simply lie down and let Scirocco and Dewey get away with this.
Though their faction lost about half their troops in this coup, he’s still planning on making them pay and first order of business is to rendezvous on the North Atlantic’s Heaven’s Base where Djibril is sending all of their friendly forces.

They’ve some sort of ace-in-the-hole being prepped there and Djibril’s sure that “those men”, who’re privy to the truth of this world, will be helpful.
As Bask's fleet get ready to head there, the Frost Brothers radio in and Bask has heard of these Category-F men, agents of the intelligence bureau and failed Newtypes.
His contempt notwithstanding, they say they've valuable information and Bask figures they were too slow in jumping on Scirocco’s bandwagon and are looking for someone to take them in – with that in mind, he agrees to let them rendezvous with his fleet.



Yuna was also forced to flee for dear life and demands to know what he's supposed to do now that the Seiran family's name has been blacklisted – the Federation will be hunting him, too - but Djibril yells at him to shut up, go home, and get Orb's army on standby.
Djibril’s adamant that the battle isn't lost yet, and says that he'll need Orb's power if victory is to be theirs: he vows to crush Dewey, Scirocco AND Durandal before all is done.



Back to the Gekko, Holland is VERY angry at the Federation’s antics and Hap can’t help but be impressed.
Whatever impetus the “anti-Federation” sentiment had gained has been removed by the ousting of, and subsequent call-to-arms against, Logos and the remnants of the Sage Council and Mischa sighs at how easily people can be manipulated in this unstable world, just by showing them an enemy they never knew they had. It's safe to assume the new Federation regime has at least one more trick up its sleeve for situations like this.

Stoner quips that some “kingslaying” was necessary for this new leadership to assume and Holland quickly feels Dewey’s hand at work here. He’d thought that Dewey was just playing around by naming his team after Ageha but there's no doubt that he's acting for real this time.
Deliberations are cut short by Gidget detecting an approaching squad. Logos or their pursuers? Aliens? Chirams or Emaanians? Zaft? Siberians?
We’ve no idea but they’re coming right our way and Holland tells them to pass it along to the other ships to prepare.