Part 60: Mission 17 (Pacific Route) - The Blue Exile - Part 1
Chapter 17 - The Blue Exile
The Aldebaron UFOs enter the area and Minako congratulates the professors for their subspace radar; Kazami tells her not to be hasty, though, as the radar only serves to warn of their arrival.
Quinstein says there’s little meaning in detecting their movement if we’re unable to intercept; Tsukikage wonders what could be their objective as Trinity City has little strategic value for them (Quinstein has an idea, though).
The enemy troops are coming for the attack and Kazami knows the city’s defense systems would be enough.
Duke Fleed will handle that and deploys: he says he’ll keep the Aldebaron troops at bay and, in that time, they should call for help.
Kazami apologizes for making him do this and wishes good luck; Hikaru is with Duke and she’s ready to provide support.
: Aldebaron…! Whatever your objective is, I cannot tolerate an attack like this!: If you’re invading Earth, I’ll be your enemy!
OK here's our objective. We have to beat all the enemies. However, to get the Battle Mastery, we need to beat it by Turn Six Player Phase. So we have five an a half turns to do this.
Duke Fleed and Hikaru move down to handle these three Aldebaron UFO things. They're fairly weak so Gendizer can handle them just fine.
: The people of S-1… I can understand your wish for a new home…: But, as long as you bear your weapons at us, you’re just the same as invaders! : So, I’ll fight! I’ll fight until you change your methods!
And there we have it. Hey the weird clear UFO things are actually piloted now.
One minor annoyance is that I need to turn off Hikaru's Support Defend every round, because the Grendizer can take hits far better then even a defending Marine Spazer.
Anyways with his slightly stronger attacks Duke can oneshot the two near him.
Along the way he levels up and learns Mercy(5).
The other's close in on him but can't get into range.
Hikaru detects another group of troops approaching but it’s not the enemy: it’s the Freeden/Gekko Go team, arriving right on time.
Both Rie and Minako are both very happy to see Toshiya again, making Kiraken grumble about how different they treat him; Toshiya tells him to leave that talk for later, after they’ve dealt with the current issue.
Renton and Garrod have already joined up in the new Formation X and Renton plans to “unlock the Amita Drive’s limiter on the Satellite System”; Eureka is a bit surprised at his energy but he tells her to focus on piloting the Nirvash while he provides support.
Garrod tells Renton has he's got the key to making their strategy a success in his hands so it’s time for the kid to show what he’s got; Renton tells his sister that, with Garrod’s help, he’ll finally be able to show off his better side to Eureka (even if that “limiter” business was just a bluff).
Eureka doesn’t really understand what he’s saying, so she just goes with it; Runa sees that the two are already good friends but their little over-the-top stunt strikes her as a bit ridiculous and Eiji wonders if they did it to try to sound cool.
Holland has gone back to mumbling about all the fighting he's gotten mixed up in while hanging with the Zaft, but realizes he can't turn away from the battle now; Jamil, meanwhile, warns us that the Freeden will hold its position to dedicate itself towards being our command center and providing artillery fire (read: you can’t move the Freeden.).
Eina is very glad to see Duke and Hikaru after so long and Toshiya would’ve liked them to have gotten in touch since they were alive.
Duke apologizes but Toby says we can have our reunion after we’ve dealt with the UFOs – Setsuko does make it a point to tell Duke and Hikaru to stay alive, as Kouji and Maria are waiting for them.
As nice as that is, I'm going to instead have the reinforcements hang back this turn. Why? It's simple, if I move any of them closer to these UFOs then they'll move towards my mechs, but they won't be shot down so I'll have a much harder time getting the Battle Mastery. On the other hand, if I just keep Duke Fleed down there they'll all attack him and he can pretty easily oneshot them.
So let the saga of "Grendizer solos everything" begin!
Seeing mooks do minimal damage is always a joy.
This ends up triggering Grendizer's "Dizer Full Power" skill, which hasn't had cause to be brought up until now. Once the pilot of Grendizer hits 130 Will then all damage done is increased by 1.25.
Oh yeah and Hikaru learns Alert.
And thus the saga of "Grendizer Solos everything" comes to a close.
The enemies are quickly dispatched but, before Eina can congratulate everyone, Rie has another ping in the subspace radar and, this time, the signal is much bigger.
It’s an Aldebaron battleship commanded by Aphrodia and she quickly tags Trinity City as the place where the traitor/Marin is at; Kazami figures that’s the command unit of the transparent UFOs and Jamie knows there’s no way the island’s defense systems can hold against it.
Oliver and Raita deploy right then, apologizing for the unauthorized launch.
Raita had been told that their mechs had their upgrades complete and, this being all-out war, they want to fight alongside us; Eiji’s glad to see they’re as enthusiastic as ever and Tsukikage gives them the go-ahead.
Toshiya welcomes them aboard and Aphrodia recognizes his unit as the Eldar target - she decides to take them all down as a display of Aldebaron’s power.
She launches three giant octopi mechs and Julie warns everyone to take care as they’re equipped with some unknown technology.
Indeed, Aphrodia gives the “Big Octos” the command and they start performing subspace jumps all over the battlefield, blindsiding our troops; their second jump has them surround Oliver and Raita and they can’t really react against those tactics.
Mizuki realizes they can jump in and out of subspace at will and Toshiya asks Kazami how they’re supposed to fight against this; Kazami says that, while the subspace radar can detect their movements, it’s not quick enough to do so as they’re constantly jumping around.
Matthew asks if he’s saying we’re sitting ducks and Holland tells everyone to scatter, lest they all get hit; Aphrodia sees us trying to escape but says, no matter where we go, the Aldebaron will hunt us down.
The entire area is bombarded and things are looking very bad – our only option is to keep spread out and stop the enemies from getting closer; Tsukikage and Quinstein know that, at this rate, their only option will be the recently completed New Pulsar Burn.
Problem is, they haven’t done any actual combat tests with a pilot but Tsukikage says Marin is still around and he was the original pilot; Quinstein seems hesitant to put his life at risk but Kazami points out that we’ll get completely destroyed if we don’t do something.
So, Quinstein asks Jamie to call Marin to the hangar.
They can feel the shockwaves of the enemy bombardment even there and Marin asks what they want.
He wonders if they’re planning on sortieing him on his unit; however, Quinstein says, it’s no longer his old Pulsar Burn – she’s upgraded it.
She shows him the New Pulsar Burn and Marin isn’t happy that she modified with his mech without permission; he figures this means he’s of no further use to her and tells her to kill him already.
Quinstein, however, says we need his strength right now and she requests that he pilot the New Pulsar Burn on behalf of the earthlings – of course, he’s free to accept or refuse; Marin’s surprised she’s giving him a choice but this IS a dangerous assignment, as the New Pulsar Burn has done only one flight test.
Furthermore, even if he does hate the Aldebaron, Quinstein knows he’s under no obligation to help Earth; Marin asks if she’s aware that he could betray them at any time but she doesn’t think he’ll do so – she’s willing to bet on the anger he feels towards the Aldebaron.
Marin glares for a bit but agrees to pilot the damn unit and runs off towards it; Tsukikage is still a bit uneasy in trusting Marin and Quinstein admits that she’s not 100% sure, either - especially considering that even Earthlings themselves can't be trusted to stop wrecking the multi-dimensional world.
Quinstein, however, believes in and understands the desire for revenge that Marin carries inside him…
Back outside…
: Duke Fleed! There’s something launching from Trinity City!
: Is that…!
: That’s it! The form’s different but I’m certain that’s the traitor’s Pulsar Burn!
: You...!
: This is Marin! I’m here to help you!
: Marin?!: The three of us should work together and get on the offensive!: No way! As if I would work with an alien!
: We can fight without help from the likes of you!!: FINE! Then I’ll do whatever I want, too, if that’s how you’re going to be!: That's enough! You'll never win if you don't accept each other!: Stay out of this, Daisuke! Are you taking his side?! He’s an alien!: I’m…: I’m also an alien!
: What?!: My name is Duke Fleed. I’m from the planet Fleed, which was destroyed by the armies of the planet Vega…
: Duke Fleed is an alien…
: Then, if Maria is his sister, she’s also one!: You…: Attack me if you want! But know that I, Marin and you are the same – people, with the same heart!
: That’s right! Duke Fleed… Daisuke has been fighting for the sake of Earth!: Anyone who says Daisuke is an enemy will also need to fight me!: …
: Well, I trust you, Duke Fleed…! You too, Hikaru!
: Yeah…! You’ve fought alongside us before! That makes you our friend!
: And Marin! Are you also ready to risk your life fighting beside us?: Of course! That’s why I’m here!: How about you, Oliver, Raita?: You don’t need ask that!: We’ve also fought till this day to protect Earth!: Oliver, Raita! Just this once, lend me your strength!: Argh! Just do whatever you want!: But you better make sure to defeat the enemy!
: Big Octos, aim for the Pulsar Burn! They’re up to something!!
: Quickly, Marin! The combination code will respond to your voice!: Let’s go, Oliver, Raita!
: BALDIOS! CHARGE UP!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a6wdD46i5g
: Ours and Marin’s mechs…
: They combined?!
: WHOOOOAAAAA! That was awesome! Totally awesome!!
: This world really is crazy, huh? : That won’t do you any good! Go, Big Octo!
: Not gonna happen! Don’t think you’re the only ones who can jump into subspace!
: They did it! They shot the enemy down with one attack!: W-we…we shifted into subspace?!: That’s right! Baldios can also perform the Subspace Jump!
: Alright! With that Super Robot, we can keep tabs on where the enemy’s jumping!
: All units, attack! Join up with Baldios and take them out!: Damn you, Marin! You sold the technology of S-1 to the earthlings!: Come on, Aldebaron! You won’t have your way with this planet!
Right, it's still the enemy phase. Another advantage of having Duke Fleed solo that first part, it greatly increased the speed at which the stage progressed, we're still at turn 2! The enemies will spend their time getting closer to us, so we can clear everything faster.
But right now, things are targeting our new Super Robot!
: Take a look, Gattler! This is the power of Baldios – the power that’ll defeat you!: Let's do this, Baldios! We'll give them a taste of my rage!
By the way, Baldios has an Afterimage ability.
Hits hard enough too.
Aphrodia isn’t happy that Marin’s intervention has turned the battle around and Eiji’s already calling for us to keep pushing them back.
Toga, however, sees something else coming – a batch of Eldar led by Leets; he notes that Aphrodia seems to be having a hard time but she yells that she doesn’t need their help.
Leets tell her not to be so unkind as, after all, they’re all members of the Skull Moon Alliance; he tells her to make use of these forces that Teral sent her and retreats to observe the fight.
She wonders if Teral ordered him to stay back to avoid dishonoring her but, either way, she plans on a comeback now; Eina is surprised that the Eldar ship pulled back but it’s pretty obvious to Mizuki that they came over to bring reinforcements.
This points that the Aldebaron have also joined with the other aliens and Julie can only sigh that the invaders are far more apt when it comes to cooperation than the earthlings are; Marin isn't surprised that Gattler would stoop this low to get what he wants.
As Duke Fleed points out, only by cooperating themselves can we stand a chance of winning; Toshiya and Toby agree wholeheartedly, with Setsuko remembering how Denzel decided to fight when faced with a situation like this before – she’ll do the same!
Rand also likes Duke’s passion and says he wouldn’t be THE HEAT if he didn’t give it his all!
Space Warrior Baldios
Marin Reigan - Baldios
Voiced by Kaneto Shiozawa
Raita Hokuto - Baldios Subpilot
Voiced by Tessho Genda
Jack Oliver - Baldios Subpilot
Voiced by Kiyonobu Suzuki
Skills:
* Prevail(Level 4) - As the character takes damage, hit rate, evasion, defense, and critical rate will increase.
* Will+ (Damaged) - The pilot gains +2 Will every time an enemy damages the pilot.
* Blocking - If the mech is equipped with a shield and/or sword, can use Sword Block and Shield Block. Sword Block will neutralize melee and missile attacks, while Shield Block will reduce damage taken. Activation rate is based off the skill stat.
Spirit Commands(Marin)
* Accel(20) - The Caster's squad gains a one use +2 to movement.
* Invincible(15) - The next attack that hits the caster will do 10 damage.
Spirit Commands(Raita)
* Guts(35): The caster regains all HP.
*Gain(20) - The caster's squad will gain double the Experience Points from the next attack
Spirit Commands(Oliver)
* Scan(1) - Reveals an enemy squad's stats without having to fight them
* Strike(20) - The caster will have 100% Hit rate for that turn.
Squad Leader Bonus
*+1 Movement +10% Evasion rate
Baldios is great. Not only is it a massive tank, it's 2L sized which means most things do less damage while it does more damage to them. But even then it gets even better. It's unique ability, Subspace Rush activates when Marin hits 130 Will. When it does Baldios ignores terrain penalties for movement (Because it teleports everywhere) and gains an Afterimage effect with a 25% activation rate, and since it's so tanky and Marin has Will+(Damage) that makes it go even further. The biggest unique thing about Baldios is that while most Super Robots are close range bruisers, Baldios is more of a long range sniper. Hit&Away is priority one for Marin.
The remainder of the stage to be up by the end of the week!