Alrighty, put all the important modules onto whoever Korbac said, annnd Dustproof on Mazinger. I replaced a Booster on Mazinger for the Dustproof but I'm pretty sure an S rank in a terrain gives you a movement bonus on that terrain anyway so it's not much of a loss. I gave the booster to Sayaka, and the OS to Strike.
We also switch the Strike gundam to the Strike frame as we'll be on solid ground for the first time in a while, which isn't to say the launch from is bad on the ground, I just like to mix it up. We also switch all the Aesties to the ground frames.
On the surface, they've discovered a rather expansive Radam forest. As a reminder, the radam turn into purple trees once they land on earth. They don't appear to be doing anything yet, but it's still pretty fishy.Sayaka:Wow, they're even more impressive up close...
Festenia:Speaking personally, these things creep me out... a lot.
Akito:What the hell ARE these things?
the invaders "Radam, it only makes sense that we should call them "Radam Trees". (Missed a screencap here, that's not exact, but it's close enough to the original dialogue)
Aki:Scan complete.
Noal:How's it lookin', Aki?
Aki:Atmospheric pressure and composition normal. No radioactivity detected. No enviromental abnormalities either.
Akatsuki:Didn't I tell you? They're making these things all over the world, but they've done no harm so far.
Katia:I wonder what their goal is...
Akatsuki:If D-Boy would tell us the truth, then we could ask him, but he'll just say that he doesn't know, or throw out another lie, saying it worries him all the same.
Noal:Maybe we should start worrying about these purple potatoes, too. For all we know these things are his whole diet!
Melua:Wanna try taking a bite out of one of them?
Since it feels like Melua hasn't said a lot lately, she's a member of the original cast in this game.Noal:Whoa, let's not get carried away! I'm only kidding!
Aki:Still, seeing these on Earth... It almost seems like a totally different planet.
Koji:Don't get depressed about it. We were on Mars when it happened, after all.
Akatsuki:All right, that ends our little field trip. Now that we have an idea of where we stand, we should head back.
Back on the archangel...Murdoch:It isn't any worse than what we already expected, but even if we took some of the Nadesico's crew to help, it's still gonna take a while to repair.
Natarle:We simply lack manpower, then?
Murdoch:It'd take even longer on our own, but yeah, we'd finish eventually.
Murrue:No, it's fine. I approve. I'll ask Capt. Misumaru about borrowing crew members to help with the repairs.
Natarle:But Captain, you can't let them enter certain sections of the ship...
Murrue:Because it's supposed to be a military secret, correct? I don't think this is the time to worry about that. ZAFT, the aliens, or even the Jovian Lizards could show up at any time. Our priority is to arrive at a Federation base safe and sound. End of story.
Time passes.Uribatake:Okay, if we focus on repairing this plate first, we can exchange those and...
Murdoch:Heheh! I gotcha. That'd really speed up the repairs, huh?
Murrue:That's our main concern. Thanks for agreeing to help us out, Mr. Uribatake.
Uribatake:Come on, girl! A man gets a request to mess around with the thing he loves best by a babe-rageous Captain. How am I NOT supposed to dig that?
Murrue:I-I see. Sgt. Murdoch will assist, so... I'm counting on the both of you!
Uribatake: Yeah, yeah. Just leave the mechs and the hangars to me! All right, let's get to work!
Meanwhile, in the cafeteria.Kira:......
Flay:Yeah, sure! But... Kira, I'm sorry about what I said before. I was really scared. I said some awful things to you, and I'm sorry.
Kira:Flay... It's all right.
Flay:I just hate war, and... I hope it ends soon!
Kira:Same here.
Flay:Kira, please! Do your best and get revenge for my dad! Take them all out for him!
You may note it seems odd she was against war just a second ago, and is now asking for Kira to totally kick the shit out of the bad dudes. It's semi understandable, given she lost her dad, and is likely confused, but uhh... well, give it a minute.Kira:Hmmmmm...
Flay:(That's right... No matter how much you hate it, you have to keep fighting. You have to keep killing them until they kill you. Otherwise, I'll never be able to forgive you...!)
Huh. Yeah, she's pretty much gone full tilt nuts at this point.In the hangar...I bet you're excited to see them in action. (See above.)
Murdoch:Definitely. We've got a practice simulator, too. I'd reccomend leafing through the manual before trying to fly one of em, though.
They're talking about a new unit Mu will be piloting for this mission, and pretty much any earth mission for a while. It's worse then his Mobius, but the Mobius also can't be piloted on earth, due to, well, gravity. It's not exactly aerodynamic after all, and I don't see any rotors. The new unit has some special features worth noting, but we'll get to them when we get to the mission.Mu: Of course. I'm not looking to kill myself, after all. What's this I hear about them being able to hold Striker Packs, though? THey'd really boost the firepower on one of these things, sure, but aren't they for the boy to use?
Murdoch:Lieutenant, as long as it's you in that thing, our bases are covered. Heck, once the adjustments are finished, I think it'll be ready for you to take it out for a test flight!
Mu:Damn, I'm gonna be busy!
Or they'll go over it now.
The new units, Skygraspers, can equip frames like the strike gundam. This is decent, but generally they don't add a ton of firepower to the unit. (Although they hit really lightly so anything helps if you want to actually use them.)
The real THING about them is that can also repair, resupply, and on top of this, can "deliver" a frame to the strike. So for instance, the launch strike has an enemy close in on it, it's in a terrible position, but hey, you've got a skygrasper flying around with a strike pack equipped. The Launch strike ejects the Launch pack, and the skygrasper flies up, adjacent to it, and gives it the strike pack. Now it can bash the unit that got up in it's face with impugnity. You can even switch back to launch if you move the skygrasper back into a battleship and get the launch pack back out. It's pretty neat! Arguably not terribly useful, but part of the fun of SRW is seeing how they impliment the various doodads and complicated stuff in the series they show. It can also be used to pull off some fancy fancy stuff.Uribatake:Hey! What are you guys talking about? You gotta let me in on this!
Murdoch:Oh, uh, well... Good job with the repairs! Let's take a break.
Of course, it's still a military secret.
Time passes...Akatsuki:Taking a nap?
Uribatake:Well, if it isn't the resident ladies man, Dr. Nagare Akatsuki! What're you doing in here? Don't tell me you're chasing after that blooming flower of a Captain, along with that bitchy 2nd Lt.?
Akatsuki: Please! Don't talk about people behind their backs. It's simply not good form. Of course, the Captain DID get my attention with that amazing chest of hers, but...
Japan being Japan. Don't think about it too much.Mu:Hey!
Luckily Mu at the very least, is classy about it.Akatsuki:My apologies! I speak only in jest. I'm merely concerned about what happened after we let that little Princess escape. I've been walking around the ship, hoping to hear some news on the subject.
Mu:Oh. If you're still wondering about that situation, it's already been wrapped up. The boy and his friends aren't military personnel. They didn't get away without reprimand, of course, but they also didn't go to the firing squad. Hell, the boy got out with just a warning! 'Course, that means Lt. Badgiruel's even angrier then usual, but there you go.
Akatsuki:That's to be expected, yes.
Mu:That stunt they pulled was bold, all right. What do they think being in the military is all about, anyway? They can't just defy orders like that on a regular basis...
Akatsuki:No one was happy about what they had to do, but they made a compromise. I'm more worried about that Coordinator boy, to be perfectly honest.
Mu:He said an acquaintance of his is part of the Creuset Squadron, so I'm sure he must be itching to get the hell off this ship... It'd be nice if he understood our predicament a little better.
Uribatake:Why the hell are you worried about that kid, Akatsuki?
Akatsuki:A Coordinator assisting the Federation is incredibly significant, especially considering the kind of assistance he can give to our forces. I want him to keep up the good work. That's all.
Mu:Hey, if you're gonna rely on the kid like that, at least have the common sense not to say so in front of him, okay?
On the Nadesico a discussion is occuring.D-Boy:I only want to fight the Radam. I don't care about ZAFT or anyone else.
Hyoma:What a jerk...
There is kind've a subtle plot interaction going on here. Combattler was built to fight aliens that were invading earth. The Radam are very similar to this situation, so Hyoma is really not buying this whole "I'm really from earth I can just turn into a cyborg honest" thing, and generally suspicious of the whole situation. Luckily, Juzo and the other more uhh, grounded, members of the Combattler team tend to keep him in check.Yurika:We have to fight the Radam too, so why don't you tag along?
Chizuru:Do you have a place to stay if you leave the ship?
D-Boy:Not really.
Yurika:It's settled, then. You're coming with us! Ah, er... Is that all right with you?
D-Boy: I'm not following anyone's orders. You're facing far more than just the Radam. Fighting your battles doesn't interest me.
D-Boy is still kind've prickly about the whole situation himself.Erina:Are you saying you don't have anything to do with this? I'm sure you're aware of the state the Earth Sphere is in! If you're really an Earthling, you can't ignore the Gradosian army and the PLANT-Federation war!
D-Boy:I don't care about either of them. I already have my hands full with the Radam.
Noal:Radam this, Radam that. This guy's a total Radam fanboy... Creepy!
Noal, as always, is a class act.Aki:But D-Boy, it's going to be difficult to fight them all alone. If you stay with us, then we should be able to help you out.
Juzo:Yeah, like when we collected your carcass the first time we met you!
D-Boy:......
Ruri:We barely know anything about the Radam. If you come with us, we'll be able to learn more about them. You may be free to do what you like, but you don't even have a place to call home. What do you think you can accomplish under these conditions?
D-Boy:I just...
I missed all four of these screenshots, I'm beginning to think irfanview is bugging out or something. Anyway, Elizabeth goes on and mentions that there's still a lot they don't know about the Radam, like what those enemy Tekkamen are doing, how they're different, what the radam trees will do, what makes the enemy Tekkamen different, and how D-Boy, a normal human, can transform into a Tekkaman.
D-Boy:For the answer to that, you should take a look at this Tek Crystal.
Inez:It's no use. We simply can't figure out how it works with our current technology.
D-Boy:...I see. I'm sorry to hear about that. I was curious about it, too.
Yurika:Huh?
Yurika speaks for us all. The tekkaman plot can be kinda... dense. It'll make sense eventually.Erina:At any rate, you'll need backup when fighting the Radam. No matter how strong you may be, you're still made of flesh and blood. You'll have to assist the UEFA anyway at some point, so why not come with us?
D-Boy:The UEFA's efforts will be useless against the Radam. You're different, but...
Captain:...Captain.
Yurika:What is it?
Ruri:It appears a battle has broken out in the vincinity. Numerous Jovian Lizards detected.
Calvina:We have to investigate this immediately. Who are they fighting against?
Ruri:I don't know. I'm confident they aren't the invaders. They appear to be some kind of mobile weapons.
Ryoko:Are they the Federation's?
Inez:This area is within ZAFT's sphere of influence, so chances are slim.
Yurika:Unknown units, huh... Megumi, please inform Capt. Ramius at once! Should we send out some scouts?
Calvina:I'll go. How many should I take with me?
Yurika:Let me choose the team. We can't get careless now!
Calvina:Understood. Go ahead.
Annnd that's the end of that. Next time, my favorite gundam ever.