S4E33: Fate Wears Metal

'''Being forced to stop for repairs, the Sayan Squad lands on a silent, mechanical world. Among machines that fix themselves and each other as they march toward eternity, the Squad discovers that history has a keen way of repeating itself...'''

Plot Summary
The Storm suddenly dropped violently out of hyperspace as its hyperdrive catches fire. Owl rushed to the engine room to put out the fire, and is soon joined by the Arachni, Olyn, and Amadeus. Owl reported that the flux coil came loose, and that the engine would be out of commission for a few hours. He also said that even after repairs their speed would be severely hindered. As Owl went in to start the repairs, Amadeus sent the Arachni to lend him a hand. Meanwhile, Amadeus had Pete ascertain their location.

When Pete returned, he reported that the Storm wasn't far from a planet called Reko. Reko, according to Amadeus, was a fully automated world that featured a fully functional repair station. The Rebellion had come into contact with the planet before, and have used it as an emergency stopping point from time to time. As such, while it may take longer for the Storm to see its repairs completed, Mimics should already be in the repair database, allowing them to be fixed up as well. With the Storm barely able to limp through space anymore, Amadeus told Owl to take them to Reko once the engines were up and running once again.

Several hours later, they arrived, much to Ketsueki's irritation, who complained about making yet another pit-stop. Amadeus paid him no mind, and the Storm went down. The Rebels discovered Reko to be a planet entirely covered with machinery and smoke, with large factory and refinery buildings stretching to the horizon. Despite this, the world was almost completely silent, with no visible drones or androids. Structures appeared capable of repairing both themselves and each other.

Landing down on one of the repair stations, Owl went off to upload the Storm's schematics in order to allow Reko to repair it. Meanwhile, Amadeus sent G Squadron out to find some smaller repair stations for their Mimics. Vate suggested that some Mimics remain behind to help defend the Storm in case something went wrong. Amadeus agreed, and so Vate instead sent forward the four most damaged Mimics, namely the ones caught in the explosion on Prasik. To protect them however, Amadeus sent the Anathemites. Arachnos also went along to repair his personal battle armor.

Reaching the repair stations, Reko was able to get to work on the Mimics almost straight away. Shade had some slight difficulties with getting his Mimic repaired, as it was revealed that Shade was illiterate, and couldn't operate the panels. He was finally able to get the repairs started with Olyn's help. The other members of G Squadron took this with mild surprise, but found it only made sense. They referred to an incident on a world called Gratta, which confused Olyn, Arachnos, and even Ruiari. The other three weren't forthcoming on details, but mentioned that Ruiari didn't understand the references due to being in a drug coma for a week.

Meanwhile, Arachnos had to import the schematics for his armor in order for it to get repaired. This led him to discover that there was an active intelligence behind the repair stations, and the entire world itself. He began to converse with the AI, which identified itself as "Reko-33." It explained it was the central planetary control intelligence, after replacing the former intelligence known as MM-7Z. It then gave a brief history of the planet, which revealed MM-7Z to have been an AI that deposed of the fleshy populace and took over. Reko-33 and the other units of the Reko line were an experiment in creating sentience like itself, but attempted to destroy the rest. 33 survived, and rebelled, eventually defeating MM-7Z and taking over. 33 then changed the purpose of the facilities from that of war to that of peace, offering repairs to alien visitors instead of trying to destroy them.

As this went on, something became visible moving in the sky. As it moved closer, it was revealed to be a bulge within the fabric of reality itself, and soon The General's Head arrived. Once more the Sayan Squad had wandered into one of Captain Hood's traps. The repairs were still long in coming, so Ketsueki told Reko to release the clamps. It managed to only free some of the Mimics before blasts from the Head damaged the power systems. Afterward, the Anathemites had to help pry the others loose. Once free, they began to run from the Head.

The rest of G Squadron arrived to lend a hand while Owl tried to wrestle the Storm free. Hood dispatched several MEP units to engage the Mimics and the Anathemites, but Hood eventually had them move on to assault the Storm. To prevent the Squad from playing defense, he deployed Cyem once again. This time, however, Cyem was not holding back, and revealed an impressive arsenal of weaponry he turned against the Sayan Squad. Eventually, the Squad managed to get back to the Storm, and so Cyem turned its fire against it.

The others, meanwhile, had begun attacking the three clamps holding the Storm in place, trying to break them. Terminos and Hado managed to break the first of them, but Cyem's barrage broke the second. With two free, Owl brought up the engines, straining the clamp. Paladin finished it off, and the Storm blasted into the sky, narrowly avoiding Cyem's charge. Not willing to let them escape a second time, Hood sent Cyem his air module and teleported him right on the Storm's tail. Meanwhile, Hood himself summoned a ball of energy that would pursue and attack the Storm.

Cyem managed to grab onto the rear of the ship, and turned off his air module, forcing the Storm to carry his bulk and significantly slow it down. This kept it perfectly in range of the ball, which blasted it from below. Owl tried to avoid the attacks, but wound up helping Cyem get to the top of the craft. Repeating his performance on the Vulture, Cyem clamped down on the roof and began beating on the ship, his invulnerability generator making it virtually impossible to knock him off.

Vate had a sudden idea, and hurriedly docked with the Storm. He raced for the top of the ship where Cyem's foot-claws had gripped onto the hull, and began summoning fire arrows. Catching on to his idea, he was soon joined by Olyn and Terminos. Instead of attacking Cyem directly, however, they instead cut loose the portion of the hull Cyem was latched onto. This took him by surprise, and gave them the opportunity to jump into hyperspace.

Now within the ship, the rebels took the time to catch their breath. However, they knew Hood would be on them, and the Storm was not equipped to handle it. Just then, the Head appeared beside the Storm in hyperspace, and literally blasted them out of it.

Soundtrack

 * 1) Opening Theme - Dream a Dream (Pop It Don't Drop It edit)
 * 2) Landing - Old Aperture Ambiance (Portal 2)
 * 3) The General's Head - Gauntlet (Warhawk)
 * 4) The Trap - DarkBlade (The Enigma TNG)
 * 5) Initial Bombardment - Twilit Bloat (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
 * 6) Besieged - Boss 3 (Star Fox Assault)
 * 7) Deployment - Call to Arms (Doom Playstation)
 * 8) The Immovable Object - War 2 (Serious Sam 3)
 * 9) Escape From Reko - Fight 2 (Serious Sam: The Second Encounter)
 * 10) Ever-Present Danger - On the Edge! (Remastered Tracks Rockman Zero Physis)
 * 11) Ending Theme - Main Theme (Sonic: Time Attacked)

Trivia

 * Dialogue between Owl and Arachnos at the beginning of the episode referenced two lines from a joke translation of The Duel.
 * Magmetor7 had to leave the episode early due to an emergency, and as such was not present for the majority of this episode.
 * The world of Reko was based on a story concept by SDM, the main plot of which was given as the planet's backstory.
 * The weapons Cyem displayed were a reference to the player's arsenals in Doom and Duke Nukem 3D, including the former's plasma gun, and the latter's shrink ray, freezethrower, and devastator.