Part 9: Episode 09 - Sincerity

Chapter Nine: Sincerity

Music: Intermission



Hello again everyone. Without the ‘Garage’ option there’s really nothing much we can do here, so let’s get on with the story.

Music: Black Ops



: Nadia. What happened?

: You were resting. I'm very sorry, I will come again another time.

: I don't mind. What do you need?

: Noth...well, er...How are you feeling?



: N-no! I, er...

: What? You don't like me anymore? Come here.

:...

: Nadia. Don't look at me like that.

:...Are we doing the right thing? Mars has reached its limits. If things continue in this way, a full-fledged war may break out any day now.



:…need for weeds on this land.... Are you worried about your fellow Martians?

: N-no. I rid myself of such sentiments the day I pledged my life to you...However, I think that the progression of these battles...

: There's no such thing as a bloodless revolution. Besides, don't you think that it's time to bear the hardships...For our future?

: Our...future?



:...An Earth-bound ticket?! You remembered our promise!

: Once things settle down a little bit, let's go together. You'll be reborn as a true Earthling worthy of me.

: Thank you! I don't know what to say...I...

: Are you going to stand there forever? Come over here.

: Y-yes.

:...Heh heh heh...



: Er...Is something the matter? What is...?

: It's a tracer! Dammit! How long have you had this on you?! Go to full alert! All units in position!!

: Y-yes Sir! Excuse me!

Nadia runs off.



Welp, there goes the plan…

Music: Tension



A very loud and annoying alarm sound effect plays throughout this entire scene.

: Is that a security alarm?!

: Affirmative. I suggest a quick evacuation.

: What?! I can't do that. Ares is in there!

:...I thought you'd say that. We can leave whenever you would like to.

: Good job Pharsti! Let's go!

: Razma! Get up, we're goin'!

: I'm already up. You're the one holding us up.





This should say ‘Scene 09: Sincerity’.



:…just find them! (Hm? What was that?)



BIS units appear.

: B-BIS! It’s them!! Those idiots…snooping around where they don’t belong…Catch them!



:…going in to get them!

: We’ll have to distract them until the two of them can make their escape.

: I hope they're okay...

:...I'm sure they are. After all, Ares is there!

: Ahhh...You trust him that much, do you? Anyway, let's get going!

: OK!

Player Phase Music: Sortie
Enemy Phase Music: Sudden Assault



Mission Map:



Control is given to us at this point. Razma told us to cause a distraction, so let’s get the mayhem ball rolling.



It should be noted that all of our units are in the same status they were at the end of the previous mission, so energy, health and ammunition have not been replenished. On the plus side, the Spirit we accumulated is also retained.



The enemy moves down and the clusterfuck begins.



As with the previous mission, Razma takes the first shot. There’s little reason to hold back now so I open up with a Calamity Kiss right off the bat.





Cage strikes the final blow.





Oh yeah, Mebius can use Moon Ballista again, can’t she?







She’s pretty much out of energy now. But that’s okay, because Deckson is here.







Oh hey, finally a use for the Handgun!





That’s about all I can do for this turn. Neither Warren nor Semyl are in range of any enemies, so I move them up and end the turn.



One of the Machinegun LEV’s moves down and tries to maul Warren with its laser blade.





It doesn’t go well.



One of the Missile LEV’s tries to do the same to Deckson, unfortunately with more success.



This is irritating since I don’t have the Blade to heal him up again.



An LEV engages Yukito in melee and misses. Nothing else happens this turn aside from the AI shuffling some units around. The enemy’s turn ends…



…and the Blade appears at one of the factory entrances.

: Ares! Are you okay?

: Yeah. We got the data too.

: Thank goodness…

: Aren’t you worried about Phil too?

: Oh, I’m sorry…how are you holding up?



: Okay.



:…makes these tensions worse?!

Unfortunately Nadia chooses this moment to show up with a bunch of reinforcements.

: You’re…Nadia!



: Yes, I hear you.

: I am getting out of here. You take care of them. You can do that much…can’t you?

:…Yes, I understand! Even if it costs me my life, I will see to it that we triumph over them!

Nadia gains 30+ Spirit.

: Heh heh…good girl. (You see to that.)



Bolozof vanishes, leaving Nadia behind. Now we have a problem.



That being that Nadia and her cronies are smack bang in between our main group and the Blade. The fragile, un-upgraded Blade piloted by Phil, BIS’s worst pilot.





Initiating Operation: Run The Fuck Away.



Meanwhile to the south the enemy has clustered up nicely.



This gives me the opportunity to show off the Durandal II’s ranged attack, Blade Cannon.





…Yeah, it’s pretty underwhelming. The range is really short and if you’re in range to use it you’re in range to melee, so there’s no reason to ever use it.



Razma snipes the enemy once again. He only has enough energy to use Calamity Kiss once more before running dry.



With that said, Deckson will be on hand to fill him back up once he runs out.



The key here is to destroy as many enemy LEV’s as we can whilst moving upwards to intercept Nadia’s group, because there’s no way in hell that the Blade can last if they all go after it. Yukito kicks this guy in the face…



Then Deckson tries out the Edge’s newly upgraded cannon.







It’s pretty good at killing stuff.



Meanwhile Semyl finishes off the enemy that Razma damaged earlier.





With that done it’s time to show off Cage’s other new attack.







It’s basically just a larger Tear Bullet. It deals less damage than Nail Laser, but Nail Laser only has two shots before it runs out of ammo.



Anyway, Mebius moves up and finishes him off. That’s all for my turn; now to see who the AI goes after.







The remaining southern enemies attack Semyl, Deckson and Warren, scoring hits on the first two.



Meanwhile two of Nadia’s cronies move up towards the Blade.



The rest of them charge forward to do battle with our main group. This makes things significantly easier.







Razma expends his last bit of energy by sniping another enemy.





Deckson finishes him off, gaining a level in the process.





Yukito kicks another dude.





Then Semyl hacks him to death. Now there’s only one enemy left out of the original group.







Hell yeah Warren.







Meanwhile Mebius damages another enemy with Moon Ballista.



Oh, yeah, and Phil continues to run away.



On the enemy’s turn the LEV Mebius previously damaged tries for a revenge attack with his Laser Blade.



It doesn’t take. None of the other foes are in range to attack, so they all move down towards our position.

At the start of our next turn a scene plays out.



:…energy.

: You mean…the facility is going to explode?!

: Affirmative. We have 10 minutes. Considering the Blade’s speed, we will have reached the safety limit on time.

: What happens if we exceed the limit?

Oh, Cage.



:…words…

: Okay, that’s all I needed to hear. Thank you. So what you’re saying is that we have to leave before the time limit is up.

: Correct.



:…that.) So…it’s them! How far are they planning to push me?! I will not let them get away with this! Never!!



On the fifth turn it becomes clear that Bolozof has rigged the entire facility to explode shortly. We have ten turns to get the hell out of here before the whole factory goes up in flames, and to do so we have to get the Blade to the bottom of the screen before the time limit is up. But that’s not a problem; ten turns is plenty of time to finish off every enemy here and get down to the bottom with time to spare.



Still, no sense in taking risks, so I move the Blade down a bit more.



Back in the main battle, Deckson finishes the LEV Mebius nearly killed last turn.





He explodes after a totally unnecessary critical hit.









Semyl does her thing.





Then Mebius deals the coup-de-grace.







Unfortunately nobody’s in range to finish that last guy off. Still, I currently hold a pretty overwhelming advantage.



Oh hey, Nadia’s attacking and oh Jesus Christ look at those numbers!



aaa



That, ladies and gentlemen, is what +30 Spirit can do for you. Keep in mind that Semyl has the heaviest armour in our team and Nadia’s attack still took away over half her HP.





Still, she’s pretty much the only threat at this point.





Here’s how things look as of our latest turn. First let’s pick off the wounded soldier.







I have enough firepower to take out Nadia in one turn, but I’m not going to do that. You see, certain plot details will change later down the line depending on whether or not you destroy Nadia’s Bizac before the end of this mission. For this playthrough I will not be destroying her Frame, so I get to have fun trying to dodge her attacks from this point on.



I therefore move everyone west so that I can intercept the two LEV’s chasing the Blade.



There we go.



Well there’s no way she was going to outrun her…



Semyl’s down for the count. Hopefully she’ll be the only casualty this mission.



We’re almost ready to intercept.



I hope Razma is better at dodging than Semyl was.



The answer? Yes, but only a little.



He manages by the skin of his teeth.



This map is pretty much won now.



The Machinegun LEV goes down first, and Warren gets to test out his new Gauntlet ranged Burst Attack on the other one.



Unlike the pathetic Blade Cannon, the Gauntlet has a very respectable range.







All that’s left now is to get the Blade out of here.



With a range of six movement, we should be able to make it out next turn.





Not worth trying to avoid it since we’re pulling out right after her turn ends.



: We are evacuating!

: Good! Let's go!

: Cage, would you like to warn the enemy?

: Oh...Yeah, that's a good idea. Will you make the connection?

:...Complete. Go ahead.

: Members of Acemos! Can you hear me? This facility will explode very soon. Please evacuate the compound!

:...



:...Go. I've lost. Go wherever you are going, I don't care!

: Are you going to stay here? This whole place is going to explode!

: This is something I brought upon myself... Leave me alone, and worry about yourself.

:...Pharsti.

: Roger.



: I'm taking you out with me!

: Stop... it. Leave me alone!

Cage uses the Testament to remove the Bizac’s cockpit block.

: Let... go of me!!

: Pharsti!



Everyone retreats, and seconds later a white flash obscures the screen.

Music: Every Day



: That was really dangerous!

: Wait... Who was that woman you saved, Cage? There are things that need to be taken care of, and we need to capture her...

: Hunh?!

: No, not 'hunh?!'. I'm saying, where is the hostage?



Oh, Cage.

: You're KIDDING, right?

: Well, now that you mention it, she was looking at me real funny...

: Hah! That's funny! Vintage Cage!

: Hey! It's not funny!



:...Ares. How did it go?

:...Perfectly. It was almost too perfect...

:...

: At any rate, there's no point in sticking around here. Let's go home.

: Ms. Myona! I tried really hard...



: Yeah...Was that really bad?

: No, I think it was good. I'm sure she's changed her mind about a lot of things now.

: You think so? That would be nice...

:...

: Phil...Don't make that face. At the very least, I think you did a good job.



All of the BIS members return home, but at the factory site…



:…Bolozof…What am I…what am I supposed to do now…?)





With that, the ninth stage is over. So far the mission’s we’ve been playing have been mostly setting up the game’s central conflict without actually resolving much. We have a rough idea of who our enemies are but no real information about their objectives other than vague attempts to cover up the Bonaparte’s crash. The next stage is where we start getting some solid answers and where the plot really starts to get moving. Until then…