Super Robot Wars Z Part #170 - Mission 42

Part 170: Mission 42 - Prologue

Chapter 42 Part 1

Last time on Super Robot Wars Z: We've settled things with the Chiram but the Earth's even more screwed up then it was last time.

Current Top Aces:

1. Setsuko - 149 Kills
2. Amuro - 118 Kills
3. Talia 109 - Kills
4. Shinn - 103 Kills
5. Kei - 96 Kills

One mission and Kei's already back in the top aces

So! I have dozens of new units, all needing upgrades since it's been fifteen stages. Remember Squad Tetris? Well, now it's time to actually buy upgrades for everyone. I put this off a stage just so I could show you all what I had to do. So.. let's start!

Garrod gets Will Limit Break and E Save.

Maai gets seven levels of SP-Up.

Jiron gets Will Limit Break and Cooperative Attack.

Matthew learns Backup Attack and four levels of SP-Up

Riea gets the same skill as her sister.

Roger learns Hit&Away and E-Save. No longer will I be held back by his P-attacks bad range.

Hilda copies Matthew.

For variety, Jun gets Cooperative Attack to go with her SP-Ups

Renton gets E Save and Predict _{and I waste some PP because I misunderstood his Squad Leader Bonus.}

Roybea learns Hit&Away like I said he should wayy back when.

Gain learns Backup Attack. As amazing as he is there just isn't room for another leader when I already have my "promote minor character to Squad Leader because I like them" slot filled.

Apollo gets E Save... that's it for now.

Hikaru gets four levels of Prevail... technically making her the first character to hit Level 9 in the skill! She then gets the usual SP-Ups, five levels this time.

Duke gets something special. He gets Attack Again. To help boost his already good Skill stat (For comparison, my two native Attack Again users Amuro and Kei both have 217 Skill) I pump ten points into it.

Witz gets Will+(Evade) and Predict. Generic Real skillset is generic.

Holland learns Focused Attack.

Pala's basically a Subpilot for Garrod that can do PLA attacks sometimes so she gets 7 SP-Ups.

Dike gets Backup Attack, because I can't think of anything else to give him.

I like swapping Rey to the front for a Hit&Away TRI, so Rag learns the skill so she can do the same.

Getter Robo is the only multi-pilot mech in which you always can teach skills to all it's pilots. So Ryouma gets Will Limit Break, E Save, and three levels of SP-Up.

Hayato and Benkei gets SP-Up for now.

Enil. Squadmate. Backup Attack. SP-Up-4.

Olson learns B-Save and Will+(Evade)! Kind of tragic, he's pretty decent and would be a Gain/Holland tier character except he gives a powerful combo attack to Kei, so onto his buddy's backside he goes!

Atena gets B Save too.

Adette needs two things. Backup Attack for stronger PLAs, and SP-Up for more Bless castings.

Sara learns Backup Attack and Predict.

Michiru picks up three levels of Prevail and Resupplyer.

Other then Backup Attack I can't think of anything Tekkouki needs.

Rey gets Focused Attack! Now his occasional ALL counter is better.

Rieka... has a problem. Her Squad Leader Bonus is +20% damage to Support Attack, yet she does not actually know Support Attack. I fix this now with two levels of it.

You knew it was coming! Gainer learns Attack Again and gets +10 Skill.

Sirius gets Will+(Damaged) I guess.

Jun gets Hit&Away because he's the Sniper Aquarion pilot.

Tsugumi has the worst stats of the Aquarion pilot but gets some of the best spirit commands, so she get some SP-Up.

Bello's hair practically takes up a skill slot on its own. He gets Backup Attack and 3 SP-Ups.

Pierre has a post move ALL, he gets Focused Attack.

Silvia learns Cooperative Attack.

Gauli sneaks in Backup Attack.

Shaya is a pure support ship. So she gets Reupplyer and Level 4 SP-Up.

Elchi joins the ranks of Battleship Captains that know Hit&Away.

Jamil will either be using the X Divider or a Satellite Cannon. Either way, Focused Attack is good.

Battleship Captain.

Sara Tyrell is another Support Captain. So Resupplyer and SP-Up.

I just bump Kei's skill up to 230.

As foretold in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Marin learns Hit&Away.

Shinn's skill slots are full, upping his terrain ranks won't do much for him. So, instead I start pumping up his stats! Melee gets +12 and Range gets +8.

The Zeta has an S rank in space, so Kamille gets his own Space rank upped to S.

And, finally, Toshiya learns E Save.

But wait! There's more! No less then three new mechs have been put up on sale in the Bazzar!

First, we have a Galapagos. It's a Walker Machine. It's main strength is it's really strong, long rang TRI.

Next, the Jenice Enil Custom. It's an OK Mobile Suit if you want to sawp around one of the spare Gundam X characters.

And last, but not least, the Golem! It's a shiny new Overman. Which is handy for me. I have a lack of them compared to a Rand Route player, who by now would also have a Mexbrute and Rush Rod. The Golem's Overskill is simple enough, it raises its Armor by 300 when it starts.

I also buy a Solar Panel and a Nanomachine Unit. This has been a good day for the Bazzar.

The Getter gets a Nanoskin Armor, and I put the new Solar Panel on King Gainer.

I equip the Nanomachine Unit on the Big O.

You know what I hate? Having money! I spend a bunch on starting the upgrade process for returning units.

Finally, here's the Squads for this stage.

Setsuko, Garrod, Palla
Shinn, Matthew, Atena
Kamille, Roberto, Four
Loran, Witz, Katz
Athrun, Riea, Sochie
Kouji, Tetsuya, Maria
Toshiya, Fa, Holland
Amuro, Miashey, Roybea
Quattro, Renton, Gauli
Duke, Hikaru, Löwen
Ryouma, Sayaka, Michiru
Roger, Rag, Gavane
Marin, Emma, Adette
Gainer, Sara, Enil
Pierre, Jun, Gain
Jiron, Joesph, Dike.

Teral pays a visit to his army’s brig, finding far fewer prisoners than he expected. His Char-clone soldiers explain that the Earthlings staged a jailbreak the other day and Teral assumes the only people left are those who weren't in time to flee.
Not so, they actually played decoy in order to allow their weakened comrades escape ahead – Michi says the people here are able to endure the situation some more but not the others. Taichiro assumes all the blame for the escape and tells Teral, if he’s going to punish anyone, to do it to him; Kouzuki protests, saying he was ready to face the music too, but Taichiro says the kid still has a task to do and he cannot die before then.
Teral’s simply watching and Kouzuki asks if he’s thinking of turning more of them into bombs but he quickly protests that only the Gaizock approve of such vile methods – the Eldar are proud people and wouldn’t stoop so low…at least, not until today.

When Jane asks, Teral says their motherland has decided to stop worrying about methodology and merely focus on achieving their goal and, now, the Eldar’s once-proud struggle will degenerate into a devilish massacre. He’s sure that Gagarn will be merciless and not even them, POWs, will be spared.
That’s why Teral wants to, at the very least, release the women and children before he has a chance to do anything to them.
Kouzuki isn’t buying it, though, thinking it must be some kind of trap but Jane believes it – she can see the noble spirit in Teral’s eyes and knows he’s not lying. Teral finds it a bit pathetic for him to be sympathized by the very POWs hurt by his comrades-in arm.

Aphrodia shows up right then, asking Teral if he’s serious about this. Yes and, as a matter of fact, he’s called her here because he’d like HER to transport the women and children back to Earth for him.
She tells him to ask Leets or Jeela to handle that but, unfortunately, those two will be sortieing with him so he has no one left to ask. That said, as an Aldebaron soldier, Aphrodia loathes the very thought of transporting their enemies and, regardless if it’s a personal request, she’s compelled to refuse.
Teral tells her to be honest with herself: he knows the kindness that lies within her but it’s her sense of duty and loyalty to Gattler which keeps that suppressed.

: Cmdr. Teral… if you’re trying to insult me, know that I’ll respond in kind.

: Do you know the code of the Aldebaron? I’ll tell you.

: …

: 1st: death to those acting selfishly! 2nd: death to all who show the enemy their back!

: 3rd: death to those showing or being shown mercy by the enemy! 4th: death to those sowing disorder in the ranks!

: !

*Sword slash!*

: Ah--!

: I apologize for my lack of manners… But I want you to remember the kindness you once had.

: Cmdr. Teral...

: Lady Aphrodia…it’s hardly appropriate to waste your time with my rambling but I’ve a story I’d like to tell you.

: …

: …On a certain planet, there were a man and a woman who promised to spend their lives together. However, war came and the man died, leaving the woman alone…

: In order to be one with her beloved for eternity, she had her mind transferred to the man’s body and swore revenge against the entire planet whose people killed him.

: Was that…

: A man’s body with a woman’s mind...she fought and lived as a man and a warrior…

: But she was slowly crushed underneath the futility and sorrow of war.

: ...

: Lady Aphrodia...do not forget the kindness that lies subdued within you. And if you truly love your people, give them peace.

: That is the duty of our commandant.

: But can true peace come from violence…? Every now and then, all this fighting just feels futile to me.

: …

*Aphrodia takes off her glasses.*

: …Fine. Your wish is perfectly clear, Cmdr. Teral.

: Lady Aphrodia…

: As just another person, I, Aphrodia, will see to their transport...

: I thank you. Now I can face this final battle with no regrets.

: I’ll pray for your success, Cmdr.

: Mind you, I’ve no intention of dying. I WILL be victorious and secure Eldar’s future.

Michi’s very happy that they’re being saved but Kouzuki reminds that it’s only the women and children, meaning Taichiro will stay here. He tells them not to worry about him, though, and to search for the missing Aki once they get back to Earth.
Kouzuki tells him stay strong as he’s sure Kappei, Toshiya and the others will come rescue him. Speaking of, Taichirou gives him a message for Toshiya: “I believe in your victory”.
Jane has a bad feeling that Aki might’ve been turned into a human bomb and Kouzuki can only hope that when they find her, she doesn't have that star-shaped scar on her back.

Location: L5 Sector – Axis, Audience Chamber

We find Mineva Lao Zabi, last child of Zeon’s Zabi family, in meeting with several bigwigs, among which is Zaidel Rasso (big, uniformed guy), leader of the Space Revolutionary Army. She has just been informed of everyone’s wishes in this matter and leaves it to Haman to handle the rest of the meeting.
The AEUG’s Blex and Wong are also here and know much of Haman Karn: Mineva’s regent and de-facto leader of the Zeon remnants who fled to Axis after the One Year War. Wong is, inwardly, a bit annoyed with having to pay respects to such a young woman like Haman and she quickly calls him out on that.

As he jumps in surprise, she sassily tells him it’s very easy to see what he’s thinking with just a look at his face – Zaidel is quite impressed, praising her insight as one of the famous Newtypes.
Though they come from distinct worlds, Zaidel says they, the Space Revolutionary Army, are fighting for the freedom of the Spacenoids just like she is and Haman’s heard that he’s been rallying his troops under the banner of leadership by Newtypes.
She asks what his thoughts about the nature of Newtypes are and he professes to believe that they are a new strain of mankind which will bring forth a new age for us. Haman ponders this but smirks and says that the man behind Zaidel might have a clearer grasp on reality than him.

She’s talking about the startled Lancerow but, regardless, this meeting isn’t about revolutionizing mankind: it's about an agreement, coordinated by Blex, to be made between her people and the Plants, AEUG, and Space Revolutionary Army.
The peoples of Axis are an amalgamation of those defeated and exiled from the Earth Sphere during the One Year War. Now that they’ve returned, they’re more than willing in throwing their support behind this group’s ideals.
Indeed, Axis will stand against the New Federation and join the Spacenoid Allied Army – mind, after Plant has affixed its signature, it’ll be rechristened the Aprillius Allied Army. Zaidel is eager to deal a major blow to those foolish Earthnoids and Haman shrugs that a purge might be inevitable.
Durandal’s sure to be happy with this news but, nearby, Blex and Wong ponder the arrangement: it might be necessary to oppose the New Federation but a prolonged conflict might put all of mankind in jeopardy. Durandal's charisma, Haman's ingenuity, and Zeidel's twisted justice make for a downward spiral that they may never extricate themselves from...

Either way, Haman turns back to the AEUG reps and wants to know of one of their members called Quattro Bajeena. Blex informs that he’s currently commanding troops on the surface and asks she’s an acquaintance of the guy.
Haman denies but says she’s heard many rumors of him and asks if it’d be possible to recall him back to space – she’d like a chance to talk to this man. Blex agrees, figuring he was going to do it anyway.

: (Char…I’m back in the Earth Sphere. And everything’ll be set in motion once you’ve returned to me…)

: (I’m waiting for you, Quattro Bajeena...or, rather, Char Aznable, the Red Comet...)

: (There’s little time…I must consider the possibility that something might happen to me…)

Elsewhere, we find Waltfeld’s team aboard the recently-recovered Eternal. He’s showing Harry around, telling of the battles they had with it in the previous war, and it’s surprising to Kihel that it’s in such good shape.
Luckily for Waltfeld, he's got collaborators in the Plants, a sign that Durandal's grip on them isn't perfect.

Waltfeld’s second-in-command, Dacosta (Brunom asks: didn’t he die in SEED getting info on Genesis?? Doc Says: It's SEED, don't think tooth hard about it. ), reports in with info on Diana’s shuttle: it seems the thing didn't go straight to the moon but instead headed to the colony of Side 7. A worrisome prospect, Dacosta thinks, considering the place is under the Federation’s command.
We’ve no idea what they’re doing there but it’s certainly suspicious that the queen of the hostile Moon Race was kidnapped and brought straight into their area of influence.
Harry thanks Waltfeld and co. for their help but says he’ll be going there by his lonesome – they’ve their own battles to fight now. Waltfeld tells him not to be so unsociable, though: they’ll head to Side 7 just as soon as the repairs to the Eternal are done.

Indeed, Lacus says they also came to space to save Diana, who cares for the lives of both the people of the moon and Earth. Lacus herself has changed to her ~~world-conquering~~ battle clothes and Harry sees she, too, stands ready to take action.
They plan to meet up with Kira, who's heading from Orb to space, at Side 7; when Kihel asks what is it she’s after, Lacus says ~~world domination~~ peace and is prepared to give of her own blood in order to make it happen.

Location: Eastern North Ameria

Our pilots are fretting over the various effects of the Second Break, just as significant as the first one. Especially worrisome to Julie is the Trapar increase and simultaneous weakening of the Rivalry Zones: this gives the alien invaders a much easier time entering Earth.
Contrary to what common sense would dictate, the Earth/Space war only seems to be getting worse now and Loran’s dejected that, despite Durandal’s revelations of the Sage Council, the Federation’s policies remain unchanged. Not just the aliens, even, as the eventual awakening of the Coralians would mean the end of the entire world, so this HARDLY feels like the time for such antics.
That said, Stoner sighs and says it's human nature to focus on small comprehensible problems and ignore bigger, incomprehensible ones. Loran asks if the Trapar increase has any connection to the Coralians and Stoner figures it might, meaning time’s running out.
Hilda relates that the Tresor folks are trying to calculate when the full awakening of the Coralians will happen but, as Matthew remembers, there’s no way anyone could accurately predict that when the Feds go around blasting those Oranges everywhere.

Marin’s heard that Kazami’s been doing some research concerning the dimensional repair and asks Julie if he’s had any success - sadly, no. Actually, he hasn’t seen the guy in a while as he’s been locked away in his lab working.
Either way, Kiraken’s certain Kazami will come through and figure out a way to deal with the collapse but Oliver reminds him that the professor’s just human, so it’s not that easy. Exactly the reason why he’s immersed himself in his research so frantically and Julie figures he could stand to learn from his example.
Inwardly, Marin ponders the Trinity Energy’s capacity for interacting with space and time to the point where a time warp, “theoretically”, would be possible; he figures Kazami, the highest authority on the subject, might indeed be able to get some results.
Either way, the most drastic changes anyone's heard of isn’t on Earth but in space: the biggest example being the fact that Mercury and Venus have vanished into another dimension. Of course, if even planets were affected, you can bet there’ll be widespread panic and there’s some unknown person spreading several rumors in the UN, making things worse.

On both paths, we’ve Kamille and Gainer searching the UN for said information and we find that the memes are going crazy:

Mercury and Venus vanished because they were either eaten by a giant space monster OR destroyed by a secret weapon from the alien invaders.
The Siberian snow has melted and ancient humans, preserved in the saline rock formation, have emerged from underneath the ice.
Zaft is currently developing a new superweapon with the intent of attacking Earth directly.
Southern Galia has had an outbreak of some mysterious disease with a 99.99% mortality rate.
A wounded demon has shown up in space and is hunting aliens.

…All nonsense and Sayaka and Roger both see it as a transparent attempt of bolstering the uncertainty that’s gripping mankind. Indeed, Roger’s very disappointed that the UN’s ease of use leads to the irresponsible promotion of baseless rumors.
Kamille and Gainer both have been looking around to find who was responsible for starting these rumors. On this subject, Rand asks Gainer if he’s been able to find “THAT site” and Mel’s quick to chide him, yelling that this is hardly the time to ask about that.
Rand protests that he’s been bored since Holland’s left the local bachelor’s club but Gain quickly points out that Rand’s the “married man” around here; Löwen isn’t feeling very comfortable with this convo, so we go back to Gainer and Kamille’s search!

Both of them have been able to trace back several of these rumors back to one username: Black Charisma. Kouji and Adette think this sounds very petty for such a verbose person and both Sara and Beltorchika have a hard time imagining him/her sitting on a UN terminal, with that mask and cape, and writing nonsense on the internets.
Regardless, it’s the same tactic that made us fight each other before, so Gainer and Kamille see a very high probability that the Charisma was also behind that. Löwen figures its worth looking into and asks the kids to continue scouring the UN for the Black Charisma while he also asks Schlan to do the same.
One thing Löwen won’t forgive is for someone to take what Edel created in order to calm the masses and use it for exactly the opposite effect. The best Rand and Setsuko can do is hope that she’ll be found sooner rather than later.
Löwen thanks them both and Beltorchika finds it amusing that, despite his gynophobia, the guy’s always so at ease with Setsuko.

Back in the Glomar’s hangar, Atena has now officially joined ZEUTH, made possible by Chiram's decision to help (and it made her “betrayal” in the previous battle a non-issue). Olson explains that she’s been appointed by the Chiram army to work with us which means she’s once again under his command.
She’s calling him “Captain Olson” but Kei says, since he’s no longer in the military, she’s free to call him “uncle” as before – hell, she could even call him by the first name, if she wanted. Atena frowns, telling Kei that her role here is also to ensure that ZEUTH doesn't betray Chiram.
Furthermore, she warns him not to forget that he's no longer absolutely needed for the dimensional repair now that everyone in ZEUTH is a Singularity - Kei's happier that way actually, since it means he doesn't have to shoulder as much responsibility himself.
Olson ponders how everyone seems to have their own way of dealing with the impending Coralian awakening and dimensional collapse: the Chiram and Emaan are supporting ZEUTH, the Federation is going with Dewey Novak's plan, and the Plants have some top-secret plan of their own from what Bright's heard. Given how high the Plants' tech is, Kei figures this trump card is probably something truly spectacular.
Kappei still has some one question he’d like to ask Olson (who’s inwardly dejected at how Kappei refers to him as “Uncle Olson” when Kei’s just another of his many “bros”): if Singularities can repair space-time, how are they supposed to do it? Do they just get together and wish the world saved, nice and easy?

No, the dimensional repair isn’t a wish or prayer that we can offer and forget about it - it starts with having a concrete image in mind. For instance, if Kei firmly imagines a world where Emaan still exists, Emaan will exist in the resulting world.
When Kappei asks of this “resulting world” bit, Olson says there’s an infinitude of parallel universes in existence - some where Emaan exists and some where it doesn't – and the dimensional repair amounts to creating a new parallel universe.
Mind, if the Singularities all have different visions, multiple parallel universes will result to match each of these visions – these worlds would disconnected from each other, of course.
The important part is that the Singularities have to consciously create the image of what they want: just a vague "let the whole world exist" runs the risk of the whole world NOT existing. This all worries Kappei as, despite our best efforts, he knows there’s no way to get everyone to have the same mental image

On top of that issue, Olson says we also need the Great Singularity – the origin point of the first Break and the location where all the energy that caused it is gathered - to even be able to perform the repair. Contact with the Great Singularity must be made directly in order to do the repair, too.
The problem is that nobody knows where to find the thing and that’s certainly a buzzkill to Kappei; mind, the Chiram and Emaanians are feverishly searching for it, so we can only wait.
Kei laughs at our supremely crappy situation, though it certainly doesn’t seem to Atena that he sees that way, judging from his usual easygoing attitude. Kappei has a laugh at the guy being scolded by his own daughter.

Atena takes a look at Kappei and confirms who he is – seems like she’s brought someone aboard the ship who wanted to see him…Aki!
The kid’s beside himself with happiness from seeing her alive and Kei wonders if that’s his girlfriend or something. Atena explains that the Chiram recently came across these refugees and she mentioned knowing Kappei – this seemed like a good chance to bring her over and, from how happy both kids look, she’s glad to have done it.
Kei thanks her in Kappei’s stead but she sniffs that she doesn’t want any such from him.
Inwardly, Olson tells Tina that her daughter finally met her real father. It might take some time for them to become a real family, but Olson asks her to watch over them until that happens.

Back in Kappei’s room, we find Aki apologizing for the horrible things she and her friends said to him back in Catez but he tells her not to sweat it – he’s just happy to be able to see her again.

Kappei asks if she knows what happened to Kouzuki and Michi – she doesn’t and, actually, there are plenty of things that she can’t remember.
First thing she remembers recently is waking up in the middle of some unknown town and her friends were nowhere in sight. That’s where the Chiram rescued her and, when they mentioned the Zambot, she told them about knowing Kappei.