Part 59: Mission 17 (Pacific Route) - Prologue

Pacific Route Chapter 17 Part 1


Last time on Super Robot Wars Z; Silly misunderstandings abound, but things were resolved mostly peacefully.

Current Top Aces:

1. Setsuko - 37 Kills
2. Holland - 30 Kills
3. Kamille - 27 Kills
4. Quattro - 25 Kills
5. Roybea - 25 Kills

Holland's strength against aerial units pays off in making his kill count skyrocket.


Next I spend all of my money buying everyone accuracy upgrades. Accuracy is the single most important stat to upgrade and is always priority one. It doesn't matter how strong a unit's attacks are if they can't it.


I give Holland a Behavior Restraint System, which ups his LFO's mobility by 20. The Gekko Go is given a VR Met, which ups Accuracy by 10.


Oh look, one stage of free Squad use and I'm back to nothing but event deployment.


We find ourselves in a flashback of the planet S-1, with the emperor Trinomius, the 3rd, being told by a woman, Aphrodia, that he must die for the future of the planet.
The confused emperor asks the woman’s commander, Gattler, if the armed forces are staging a coup and, indeed, they are – Gattler and his peers are done waiting for the scientists to figure out a way to purify the environment; the people of S-1 need land to live in peace and, for that, Gattler has decided to conquer a new planet for them.
The emperor tries to stop him and Aphrodia guns him down where he stands; now, all that remains is to pin the blame on those same scientists, completing their purge.


Gattler praises her good work, as expected from the captain of his elite troops, and she pledges her loyalty to him as the new supreme ruler of S-1 - Gattler likes the sound of that “supreme ruler” business.
Aphrodia relates how she’s already sent her brother, Milan(Another one.), to capture the science institute and she expects him to be finished by now; Gattler approves and sends her over there to make sure everything’s according to plan.
The Aldebaron are about to begin their voyage towards their new world and anyone who opposes them will be eliminated – for the future of S-1!



_{Behold, the perfect generic shop theme.}

Back at Renton’s market, we find the kid telling his sister how they’re traveling together with the Freeden and its super robots towards Trinity City.
He was supposed to help Jobs and the others with maintenance but he’s stuck watching the store; he’s interrupted by Toshiya asking for the price of a magazine.
Renton tells him its 5 bucks and thanks him for the purchase; sadly, Toshiya thinks that’s too steep as there’s only one article he wants to read: the impressions about a new model of Air Bike.


Renton quickly gets annoyed at him reading without paying, yelling that he needs to make a profit here lest Talho punish him; Julie and Tex are also there, telling him that having people read without buying is an inherent cost of running a convenience shop like this.
However, by ignoring this and allowing the client to browse around, they might buy something else, so it evens out in the end; at least, that’s what they suggest but Toshiya simply finishes reading and runs off without buying anything, annoying the kid once again.
Such is the difference between theory and reality because, unfortunately, Tex forgot to account for the fact that Toshiya has no money to spend and one should always do that…whoops!
Now, as compensation for this “valuable” lesson, they’ll help themselves to a billiard table that’s kept around, adding a small wager to make things interesting;
As they play, Tex tells Julie that he reminds him of Witz, an ace pilot who's working to raise money for his far-distant family at home; not what Julie would have expected given Witz' cavalier exterior and, even though the story has nothing to do with their game, it’s enough to hamper Julie’s concentration.
Tex’s psychological warfare is impressive but Julie’s still up for a rematch, so they leave to the Freeden’s rec room to try another game; as they leave, Renton tells his sister that, though he gave it his all during the last battle, everyone still thinks he’s incompetent…


Garrod comes in and Renton meekly welcomes him, which prompts him say that the hero who stopped that last battle shouldn’t sound so down.
As Garrod introduces himself, Renton is amazed by him: they’re around the same age and he’s already a Gundam pilot; either way, Garrod was told by Eiji and Runa that Renton was similar to him so he figured he’d come visit.
Renton isn’t very sure about that, seeing how everyone acknowledges Garrod and the others and they’re always doing so much even in battle – as for him, he’s just an apprentice mechanic, an “extra” aboard the Nirvash and a shopkeeper.
Garrod asks why he’s so bummed out but Eureka then enters, asking if he’s not feeling well – the kid quickly perks up saying there’s no problem at all! He asks if she’s here to buy something but, no, she’s just here to check up on him.
Renton gets all fuzzy at the thought of her worrying about him but, sadly, that’s not the case: Holland told her to keep an eye on him to make sure he’s not slacking off; as she leaves, Renton is still happy and the idea that she’s thinking about him comes as a blessing…even if she’s doing so to keep tabs on him.
“Ah-ha…I see what you and I have in common.”, Garrod says.


They’re interrupted as Tifa enters the room looking for Garrod.
He asks when she came aboard the Gekko and it was just now – she had a small vision; well, if it’s worrying her, Garrod says she should tell him what it is as he’ll do whatever he can to help.
She thanks him but her vision is still a bit blurry and, in that case, he tells her to call him whenever she needs and he’ll come running – she agrees and wanders off (inwardly, Garrod’s glad they’ve been getting closer ever since they first met).

: I see where we’re similar, too, Mr. Garrod.
: Just Garrod will do. Now, no matter what happens, we’re friends…no, we’re KINDRED SPIRITS!
: Garrod…we’re…!
: Yeah! Let’s do this, Renton!
: (Sis…it was sudden but…I made a friend…).



*At the Gekko’s living room.*

: You’re…
: Huh…?
: What’s your name…?
: I’m Eureka. And you are?
: Tifa…Tifa Adil.
: Eureka…you have the butterfly wings...
: ...

*The door opens.*

: You two…would you like some tea?
: Gonzy…
: Would you like some?
: …Thank you.



Location: Trinity City – Control Room



We find Daisuke and Hikaru, having just told everything that happened to them to the professors.
It seems he came to Trinity City to meet someone and he’s been traveling the world with Hikaru since the Break the World happened; he was trying to rediscover his reason to fight in this transformed world and, having done so, came here today.
He means to reveal his true identity but Tsukikage advises against it as it might cause further chaos in society – not only is there the usual strong anti-Coordinator sentiment but, with the alien invaders, the people are very anxious and scared.
Daisuke is well aware, having seen how that fear made the Jin Family exiles from the very city they were born in; still, he intends to fight for whatever flicker of hope remains.
Quinstein decides to believe in what he’s saying as, even though it was for a short time, his team and the Blue Fixer did fight together in the previous world; Daisuke thanks her and asks for where Marin is located.
Quinstein says he’s probably watching the ocean right now.



He is doing so, with Jamie commenting on how he’s always spending whatever free time he has on this very spot.
She asks if there were oceans like this on S-1 but Marin says their oceans were dead; he doesn’t know when it happened precisely, only at at some point in the distant past there was a great war that ripped across S-1.
During that war, the sky, seas and lands of S-1 became contaminated; his father was the leader of a group of scientists trying to find a way to remove the radiation that had gripped the entire planet – Marin was also helping in the project.
Once the research was complete, it would’ve been possible to resurrect S-1’s beautiful nature; but it all went to hell once the Aldebaron leader, Gattler, performed a coup, killing the Emperor and the Science Team in a bid to advance his plan for a second S-1.
When it was all done, Gattler took the remaining 320 million S-1 residents and left their planet in search for another one; Marin was trying to fight back in the Pulsar Burn after his father was killed, but he got caught in the subspace engine field of the Aldebaron fortress, Algol, and was teleported to Earth.
He knows that he wasn’t the only one, though, as the transparent UFOs appearing worldwide are recon troops in advance of a BIG Aldebaron invasion.



That’d be Raita and Oliver’s cue to show up, still taking Marin for a spy of said alien invasion.
Jamie doesn’t like their attitude but Oliver tells her not to believe that bullshit story of his; Marin gets in their face for this but Raita has proof that he’s lying: going by what he’s told, they searched for any sign of this S-1 planet of his and couldn’t find a single trace of it.
He can’t explain why that is, of course, which proves to Raita that he was lying about the whole thing; Jamie protests that it might be that they just haven’t found the planet yet – the existence of Marin’s Pulsar Burn and the transparent UFOs are proof that S-1 exists!
Oliver says that still doesn’t prove that what Marin said is true; what we DO know is that they’re a group of invaders gunning for Earth and, if Marin is from the same planet as those guys, then there’s no way they can trust him.
Quinstein and Tsukikage may have given him permission to walk freely around the city but there’s no way Raita and Oliver will let this go that easily – he’s a filthy alien spy!
Marin asks if they’ve said all they wanted – if so, he’ll prove his own free will and kick their asses; Oliver is intrigued and, while Jamie tries to stop them, Raita tells her to move aside as she doesn’t understand the situation.
Marin delivers the first punch and it doesn’t do much; Raita tells Marin to think of how many earthlings have been killed by his alien friends – he and Oliver also lost friends and their deaths hurt them as much as it did their families!


Raita’s punch hits Marin hard but he tells him to get up as this ain’t over yet.
Marin yells that he’s going to fight AGAINST the Aldebaron but not until Quinstein gives his Pulsar Burn back; Raita figures he’s going to run away the second he gets his ship back and Marin agrees: “I’m done depending on a group filled with short-sighted idiots like you!!”


Daisuke shows up then and joins with Jamie in telling them to stop.
Oliver and Raita recognize him and are glad that he’s safe after disappearing when the Break the World happened; he tells them to stop their fighting as he has business with Marin.
Raita doesn’t appreciate him butting in their business but Oliver reminds how Duke Fleed helped them in their previous world; Raita sighs and agrees to let it go, if it’s Duke asking.
Still, he tells that Marin that they’ll never trust him and they WILL catch him on the act sometime; as they leave, Hikaru checks up on Marin as he looks pretty hurt but he tells her to leave him alone.
Daisuke isn’t about to ignore an injured man, though, and wants to patch him up but Marin asks if he would be saying those things if he knew that he wasn’t an Earthling – he tells Daisuke that he’s the same as one of the groups of invaders.
Still, Daisuke says that Marin’s a person – he’s heard from Quinstein about his appreciation of the ocean’s beauty and his thoughts towards the lost nature of his planet; the love that Marin feels for what’s important to him shows that he’s the same as us.
Marin calls bullshit, asking what does Daisuke know about him; Daisuke says there’s something that he wants to tell him but, before he can do so, the air raid sirens go off.
The sound indicates Aldebaron troops are incoming and it seems Quinstein and Tsukikage’s new subspace radar is working nicely; Daisuke calls Hikaru over so they can deploy and Marin asks his name.
He introduces himself as both Daisuke and Duke Fleed and says, after the fight’s over, he’ll tell him everything.