Battle Mastery: All enemies destroyed within 6 turns
Arado has decided to stay on the Hagane for now and Captain Daitetsu leaves him in Kai's hands. Excellen and Ryusei are dispatched to the Moon to retrieve mechs from Mao Industries: the R-1, the Wildfalken L, the Wildwurger, and the Mukebein Mk III, which are being rushed for Operation Mole Hunt. They will rendezvous with the Hiryu in orbit. When Excellen says she intends to enjoy this trip, Ryusei says he doesn't want to get shot by Alteisen. Also, Arado is going with them to be examined by Radha, the closest thing these guys know to a real psychologist. The scene ends with you choosing which route to play: The Moon with Excellen and Ryusei, or Ethiopia with everyone else. I'll go to Ethiopia to work on Kai and Lamia's kill counts. There's a secret tied up with Arado's kills, but it's not too hard to get all of these.
Dr. Agilla Setme, an exceptionally sinister old lady, awakens Aurum 1 at the Earth Cradle. Aurum 1 is a beautiful young woman with golden eyes and green hair- Ouka, whom all The School students love. Elsewhere in the Cradle, Vindel Mauser discusses the approaching EFA forces with Colonel Van Vat Tran, saying he wants to stop the Hagane. Archibald arrives, but says nothing important.
Elsewhere (it's a big place), Yuuki and Carla talk about what they'll do after the war. Carla wants to become a dancer, Yuuki doesn't think any of them can really go back to normal. Seolla's off with Dr. Cero for more treatment.
Lemon and Vindel will be taking on the Hagane directly, but a lot of mechs have been dispatched for other missions or still being tuned up. W16 (Echidna) will lead this mission, mostly using some mechs that the First Jumper will immediately recognize if he's watching. She will also deliver a new radio for W17.
Cero and Agilla discuss Latooni's encounters with Seolla and Arado. Ouka will be heading out to see if she can bring Latooni back. Memory and mental adjustments are treated as very common for pilots from The School. Also, Arado's body was being tested as the basis for a “new model.” Agilla doesn't thing Latooni has been brainwashed since the only mental specialist on the EFA side is Dr. Kobayashi and he doesn't go in for that.
The Hagane comes under attack from... a force of Gespenst Mk II Ms? Those are pretty rare mechs, with the Lion being much more cost-effective. Why would the DC have so many? There are 17 Gespensts blocking your way and they're pretty far from your starting position. Might as well just charge full speed.
The Gespensts clock in at 6900 HP, and have decent accuracy and dodging stats, but their weapon range is pretty short. By turn 3, they've all moved up enough for me to start smacking them down. The Hagane takes a few hits, but it's sturdy enough for it not to matter. By turn 4, 10 Gespensts are still flying, but they're all pretty badly beaten up from counterattacks. One Gespenst drops a Servo Motor, and the last three go down to counterattacks in turn 4, earning my BM.
More Gespensts fly in, with a couple units that look a lot like the R-Blade. The three existing units are all accounted for, and it's unlikely Mao Industries has leaked the plans. These units shouldn't exist: They have Tesla Drives and shoulder-mounted beam cannon. They're R-Schneides, which are still on the drawing board.
Ouka is flying one R-Schneide and tries to talk Latooni into joining her. Latooni refuses, saying she found her real self fighting and living with everyone outside The School. Echidna has the other unit and contacts Lamia. Lamia informs Echidna of her broken transmitter and speech module, and Lamia promises to drop the spare transmitter Lemon sent.
Ok, the second part of obtaining the Ash Saver is upon us: Once Echidna is defeated, you have to move Lamia onto the square where her unit had been. Lamia will say that she should retrieve the transmitter, but here's no dialogue to confirm she got it.
The R-Schneides have 32K HP each, with VERY good dodging capabilities, so you'll need Strike to hit them. Echidna retreats at 10K HP and that happens after one turn of focused fire. Lamia has her radio now and all that's left is to send Ouka packing. Ouka has a nice leitmotif
of her own, which shares a title with this stage. She talks to everyone she fights, but doesn't say anything too interesting. However, Lamia calls her unit an R-Eins, eins being German for “one.”
After taking enough hits, Ouka runs off with a headache and Captain Daitetsu orders the retrieval of all Gespenst wreckage. Analysis by Ryoto at Mao Industries confirms that they're Gespensts, but Mao doesn't make them any more; maybe they were produced at the Earth Cradle. As for the R-Schneides, his best guess is that they came back in time.
Lamia finally decodes her orders: Continue covert actions and seek out Helios. Latooni has a flashback to Ouka taking care of her at The School and is unhappy about the war pushing them together like this. At the Earth Cradle, Dr. Setme decides to rewrite Seolla and Ouka's memories so that Arado is an enemy.
I've decided to give Latooni Gunfight level 4 since I usually put her in mobile mechs with lots of guns. While her final canon mech has some powerful melee moves, I use its guns more.
Lamia kill count: 32
Kai kill count: 19; level 13
