In the year SD (Standard Date) 195-05-08 (May 8th, SD 195), a mysterious military group composed mainly of Lepines with ILR (Independent Lepine Republic) hardware invaded the distant, peaceful planet of Derzon in an attempt to cause discent within the ranks of the Confederation of Planets (ConFed) by causing massive mayhem in the planet, including outright murdering any EDF (Extraplanetary Defense Force) or defecting ILR Lepine they managed to get in their hands.
Meanwhile, in another planet, Erma Felna, a young 25-year old Feline pilot officer hailing from the planet Dornthant was dining with her boyfriend Tavas, when she received a call from the EDF calling both to them to duty as soon as possible. While packing her stuff and before taking off to Derzon, Tavas tries to convince Erma to not to go there for fear to losing her in battle, albeit the real reason was to avoid duty while retaining Erma in his leash. Erma quickly figured out his real intentions, and after having a bitter discussion, not only she refuse to leave her duty as a soldier, but she also broke with him as well.
After some briefing regarding the situation in Derzon, Erma receives the Commander position after her previous superior officer was unable to go to Derzon since he had to stay in home to another mission. While the rest of the members of the squad aren't exactly happy with the change of leadership, partly because Erma is a woman, she showns them that she's able to be a competent leader by her own right.
Erma and her squadron manage to reach Derzon after facing the ILR's anti-air defenses on the planet, but Erma's aerodyne is shot down by a MANPAD, forcing Erma to face down the Lepine forces on the ground. After a very bloody battle, with lots of military and civilian casualties, the EDF forces managed to repel the ILR invasion successfully, but with a very high body count and lots of collateral damage. Meanwhile, while patrolling some buildings searching for enemy remnants, Erma is injured by a group of ILR soldier who ambushed her in a building. While she managed to neutralize them, Erma receives a gunshot in the gut. Luckily, she was wearing a flak jacket, but the kinetic impact of the bullets managed to broke some ribs, leaving her unconscious. The issue ends with Erma being transported out from Derzon while receiving medical attention.
NOTE: Tropes about the prototype issue, the regular black & white issue (both are included in Gallacci's official homepage) and the color remake are separated since each incarnation of the Battle of Derzon are somewhat different between each other.
Tropes about the prototype issue:
- Artifact Title: Despite the story being named Erma Felna, Erma herself doesn't appear in the story at all.
- Asian Buck Teeth: The Lepines in this story, unlike their counterparts from canon, sport these, despite neither being Asian nor even human in first place, making them more menacing and creepier. Also overlaps with Fangs Are Evil.
- Downer Ending: Unlike what happened in the regular canon story, the "rabbit forces" managed to take over the planet without any opposition.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: There's a lot of things the prototype issue differs from the original continuity:
- Since the art was very, very sketchy since this was Gallacci's first attempt to do professional work, almost everybody looks incredibly creepy, especially the Lepines, which have a very terrifying appearance.
- The EDF is named Astro Force in this version, while the ILR is named just as the rabbit forces instead.
- Neither Erma nor any named character appears here.
- The story ends in a very different fashion, with the "rabbit forces" managed to take over the planet.
Tropes about the original black & white version:
- Accidental Heroine: This is how basically Erma became a well-known heroine in Derzon: Her original role was just piloting a transport vehicle to Derzon and nothing more, but since her senior officer was unavailable and her aerodyne was shot down by ILR gunfire, she is forced to fight against them on foot, while leading the EDF forces within the city.
- Armor Is Useless: Downplayed: Erma's flak jacket protects her from being killed by gunfire, but it doesn't protect her from the kinetic impact of the projectiles and the ILR gunfire managed to broke her ribs.
- Bittersweet Ending: The EDF managed to stop the ILR from invading Derzon, but at a great cost in civilian lives, severly damaged infrastructure and Erma is injured by enemy gunfire when she is ambushed in a abandoned building.
- Dirty Coward: Tavas tries to convince Erma not to go to Derzon by accepting a Desk Jockey job as long he could get Erma out of duty as well. Not only Erma rejects this, but she also finish her relationship with him as well.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: This is the only issue with a title on it (Opening Moves). Later issues remained nameless instead.
- Heroic Second Wind: A very realistic depiction of this trope: When Erma is ambushed by ILR troops inside a building, and even after receiving many gunshots, Erma managed to repel the attack and kill the aggressors by herself as quickly as possible.
- Lonely at the Top: Erma doesn't receive too much help, despite being the leader, from her own peers, since she is a woman.
- Pyrrhic Victory: The EDF manage to stop the ILR invasion, but Erma in the infirmary figures out that was part of the ILR's plan to force the EDF to win while inflicting the maximum amount of unavoidable collateral damage to help undermine the Confederation's political viability by stoking civilian resentment in the process.
- Shown Their Work: Broken ribs (like the one Erma suffered in Derzon) produced by attenuated gunfire when using a flak jacket are very common in Real Life by modern military forces.
- Trojan Horse: Just like in the prototype version, this is the way how the ILR managed to infiltrate inside Derzon by using commercial callsigns to dupe Derzonii air traffic to let them into the spaceport.
- You Are in Command Now: Erma became the leader of the EDF task force to Derzon after Cmdr. Quetzelholhoi, Erma's senior officer, was called for duty to his home planet instead, much for her (and the male members of the EDF) dismay.
Tropes about the Color Special:
- Adaptation Expansion: In a stark contrast with previous versions of the Battle of Derzon, the color remake expands the following parts:
- The bitter discussion between Erma and Tavas and the following fallout between them is shown from Tavas' POV rather than Erma's from the black and white version and Tavas gave a very lenghty explanation why Erma should not go to Derzon. Erma herself gave her also lenghty explanation why she wants to go there as well.
- The battle of Derzon itself is shown with more detail and it also showns the attrocities the ILR does against the civilian population of Andis, the capital city of the planet.
- It also includes the political consequences of the ILR attack on Derzon from the point of view of all the involved parties, including also the civilian leadership of the ConFed.
- Some characters that are only mentioned briefly in the B/W version had more expanded roles here.
- Unlike what happened in the B/W version, Erma receives more help from her peers during the travel between the EDF main base to Derzon, regardless of her gender.
- The color remake also include expanded scenes that happened during Erma's Flashback Nightmare regarding the battle when she was in Ish-tako describing the events that befall to her there to Toki.
- Adaptation Distillation: On the other hand, some events are portrayed in a different way, and sometimes, in a compressed way:
- The very first scene of the comic, when the ILR attacks the Andis spaceport, is solved in just three panels when in the B/W version it was solved in two pages instead.
- The color version removes the scene when Erma and her squadron reaches Derzon and the ILR repels them via anti-air fire.
- Ascended Extra: There's two named characters, Lt. Hotzektel, one of Erma's comrades and he only appears briefly during the briefing session regarding Derzon in the B/W version, and Cmdr. Quetzelholhoi, Erma's senior officer, who is only mentioned by both Hotzektel and the EDF's top brass during the briefing in the B/W version as well, who have expanded roles in the color remake. Both men are notable for having a deep relationship from years ago and it's heavily implied they're both deeply religious regarding the Creators.
- Berserk Button: Tavas made the mistake of mentioning Erma's father in front of her and questioning her if the real reason why Erma wants to go to Derzon is because she wants to avenge him. Erma basically gives a verbal beatdown to him because of this.
- Bilingual Dialogue: This is one of the few times we see the Standard Language in its untranslated form, more especifically we see both Hotzektel and Quetzelholhoi speaking it without translation for the readers and it's heavily implied they're both praying to the Creators.
- Boom, Headshot!: An ILR sniper killed one of his own men after that soldier murdered an entire family and some EDF soldiers wanted to kill him for that, likely to prevent him from being captured by them.
- Another ILR soldier is killed that way by an EDF sniper, while holding hostages.
- Bloodier and Gorier: The Battle of Derzon is shown in all its gorier glory, in stark contrast with the B/W version. There's lots of military and civilian casualties from all the sides of the conflict.
- Death of a Child: An entire family with children is murdered at cold blood by a lonely ILR soldier in an attempt to escape from EDF soldiers.
