S4E34: Fear

She's listening...

Plot Summary
The Head blasts the Storm back into realspace above a black planet. With no other choice and the Head breathing down their necks, Amadeus orders Owl to drive the Storm towards the planet. A fleet of Blue Blood ships is discovered in orbit over the planet, but instead of assaulting the Storm, they pick the deadlier target and try to take on the Head. The majority of the fleet is completely annihilated, but it does delay the Head at least a little bit. Then, abruptly and without warning, the Head stops firing. It then just as suddenly retreats through a portal, leaving the rebels extremely confused.

Before they can make sense of the situation, however, the surviving members of the Blue Blood fleet accost the Storm, and order it to land. With the Storm crippled and up against several Blue Blood vessels plus an entire battleship, Amadeus sees no choice but to surrender. This decision was met with some degree of controversy, with Ketsueki and Wicker being Amadeus' most vocal detractors. Amadeus eventually ordered Ketsueki to be restrained, which Olyn and Terminos obeyed. Ketsueki irately told them to "bite him", in response Terminos injected him with a tranquilizer, and Olyn bit him in the ear out of spite. This got Saiyo to question Amadeus as well for allowing such a thing.

Meanwhile, Wicker continually kept criticizing Amadeus' decision, thinking it cowardly and pointless to simply throw their lives away. Amadeus eventually tried to say that he would appreciate it if the arguing and questioning of his authority would stop, to which both Wicker and Jack called him out on remaining silent the entire time until now. Amadeus had no reply. All he could do was order everyone to stand down and make no attempt at resistance. Wicker continued to refuse, enraging Amadeus. He explicitly ordered Wicker to step in line, and that as a former Imperial, he should know the importance of a hierarchy. Wicker eventually caved, but made it clear he was not happy about the decision.

The Storm landed outside a Blue Blood-controlled facility on a bleak, absolutely empty world. Blue Blood guards escorted them off the ship to meet the director of the Blue Blood forces on the planet named Saaf. The guards reported that Jack and Saiyo were among the prisoners, which delighted Saaf. He revealed that he planned to imprison the siblings until Dr. Greenspan arrived, but had yet to decide what would be done with the others. Saaf led them all inside, and the facility was revealed to be not of Blue Blood origin. It had been pre-built by none other than the Red Empire, and Blue Blood simply took control of it. Saaf said for a moment he was worried that the Head had come to claim the facility as its own, as it had supposedly many others.

Massive machines carrying pods were seen, and on the lower levels, Saaf revealed what was in those pods: Sayans, and thousands of them. The machines were also pre-built, and did far more than contain them. They cloned them, incubated them, and experimented on them. There were also several more of these facilities scattered around the galaxy, and in other dimensions as well. Thus, the origin of the mutant Sayans were discovered. Because of the automation, Blue Blood hardly needed to do anything except take pods as they pleased.

Learning that the Sayan Squad had experience and knowledge of Sayans, Saaf claimed he would actually spare them, and put them to work as feeders, caretakers, and live guinea pigs. The Greenspans, however, would remain imprisoned until Joseph came to take them, as apparently the doctor had promised a great reward to anyone who could return his children to him.

Before Saaf could continue talking, his heart was torn form his chest as Saiyo went berserk. She began attacking the guards, and the others were forced to join her. It wasn't long before reinforcements arrived, increasing the pressure tenfold. Saiyo brutally attacked the guards, damaging the Sayan pods in the process. This eventually gets her to focus on the Sayans themselves, shattering the pods and allowing them to escape.

The guards immediately fled, as the Sayan Squad attempted to do the same. The Anathemites tried to grapple Saiyo, but the attack of the Sayans allowed Saiyo to escape. Giving up on her, the Anathemites joined the others in escaping. However, the Sayans had begun to completely overrun the installation, cutting of the Squad's escape route. They were forced to flee deeper into the facility instead, eventually taking shelter in a laboratory protected by blast doors.

Within, Arachnos lambasted Saiyo, stating she was probably dead and "good riddance" to her. This completely enraged Jack, who shouted at him, as well as Kanako and Olyn who joined in the argument. Eventually Jack became so infuriated he tried to attack Arachnos, but was restrained by Olyn. G Squadron attempted to quell the fighting, but to no avail. Lydia tried to ask Jack if he could help her access some computer terminals in the room, but he would do no such thing. He accused them of hypocrisy, citing events such as Earth M745 where they, against Jack's insistence, had Saiyo use her powers, much to their later regret. He compared their methods of violently dealing with insubordination to The General and Blue Blood, particularly with in regards to the rather violent way Ketsueki was subdued. Kanako and Arachnos said that The General chips his personnel to prevent insubordination in the first place, but did not comment on Blue Blood. Olyn claimed that Ketsueki "should know better than to defy them," and said their team had no room for someone willing to go on guns blazing. Jack countered that it was completely unnecessary to bite him, which in Olyn's case, had nothing to do with the tranquilzation. This took Kanako by mild surprise. Olyn also said she would have gladly removed Ketsueki's mouth to shut him up, with only a small objection from Oneiros, whose main issue was their inability to do so over the inhumane nature of the punishment.

He then turned his attention on Amadeus, calling him out on allowing things to get to this point. Beyond criticizing his recent decisions, he specifically called out Amadeus; behavior with insubordination. He specifically pointed out how he allowed Ketsueki to be bitten by the Anathemites, but when Ketsueki talked about doing the same to Arachnos for his remarks against Saiyo, Amadeus scolded him. Jack said this was a double-standard, and that Amadeus allowed any action to be taken against those who didn't follow the line, and no repercussions for the actions carried out by those who do.

Ketsueki asked Vate if Vate was "holding back" in his punishments, or if RAG really was supposed to allow that. Vate admitted that, no, Rebel policy for discipline was scolding and grounding for the most part. Amadeus eventually silenced the arguments, sobered by accusations. He admitted that while he didn't agree with Jack on everything, he was most certainly right about one thing: Amadeus' lax punishment on those who benefited his authority. He admitted that he did indeed turn a blind eye to the rather brutal way the Sayan Squad kept itself in line, and said it violated what the Rebellion stood for. RAG stood to defend worlds and people from a man who imposes his ideas of what's right and what's wrong through brute force and fear, and yet here the Sayan squad was maintaining order through similar tactics, albeit not to the same scale. He also granted Jack that it was completely shameful for any of them to have cheered Saiyo's supposed demise in front of her only living brother.

Amadeus promised to take a step forward in putting his foot down on such things from everyone, not just those on the "right side." And the first item on the itinerary was to apologize. He apologized to Jack for letting things get this far, and had Kanako, Olyn, and Arachnos (with extreme reluctance) apologize to Jack for their behavior. Lydia also apologized without being ordered to for being insensitive to what Jack must have been feeling. Amadeus also apologized to Ketsueki for not stepping in against the Anathemites' unnecessary roughness, and for overall harshly focusing on him while ignoring out-of-line things done to him. Vate also tearfully apologized to Ketsueki for not stepping in, which Ketsueki responded that he barely even noticed anymore since he was "so used to it." Amadeus and Vate took this line rather hard.

With the heated argument at an end, focus was placed back on their situation. A lone Blue Blood officer stepped into the open after hiding himself from the group during their rather intense confrontation with each other. Ketsueki instantly pinned him against the wall, but the officer pleaded that as scum as he was, he could help the Rebels escape. He knew of a location of a ship that could get them off the planet. Amadeus asked if it had jumpdrive, to which the officer confirmed. He also asked to confirm if the facility was truly made by the Red Empire, which again the officer confirmed. Amadeus, with a sudden idea, then asked where the capital planet of the Red Empire was located, to which the officer responded with Earth. Wicker backed up this statement, and Amadeus said that they may be making one last stop before they return home.

The officer was let go, on the condition that he help them and as soon as they returned to EAO17, he would be locked away. The officer said this was perfectly acceptable, as when presented with the choice between remaining on a Sayan-infested base or actually getting to live even if in a prison, he would take the latter without hesitation. Oneiros then hoisted the officer onto his back, both to prevent him from escaping as well as to keep him safe. With that, the officer opened the blast doors and they re-entered the hallway, now covered in blood.

The officer warned them to be extra quiet, as alerting one Sayan would alert them all. Arachnos summoned a single lone spiderling to help spot Sayans, to which they would react accordingly, avoiding paths entirely if need be. The officer led them through a more disused section of the installation, where less Blue Blood personnel would have been, and thus presumably more Sayans. It was discovered through their journey that while only a few Blue Blood operatives were eaten, most were flat-out eviscerated. The officer theorized that, since the machines kept them well-fed, then more than likely the Sayans were enraged at their captivity, and took it out on Blue Blood.

Upon reaching the final corridor, they re-ran into Saiyo, who had just crashed through a nearby wall while fighting some Sayans. Jack and Ketsueki naturally followed after her, and then surprisingly Vate. Because Vate went, several other members of G Squadron followed. And with half of their Mimic squadron absent, the others had no choice but to follow. It was strongly implied that Vate caused this intentionally.

Within the room, they found Saiyo effortlessly slaughtering the Sayans. Though a few others tried to help, it was mostly unneeded. When Saiyo finally spotted the others, she immediately went to Ketsueki, embracing him. She asked him to stay with her, which Ketsueki refused. He tried to explain that they had a way out, but she hardly listened. She said she didn't want to go with the others because they kept fighting each other and weren't "fun," but said that Ketsueki was fun. Saiyo's madness clearly apparent, Olyn and Arachnos tried to talk sense into her. However, she was too far gone to register most if any of what they were saying. Eventually she became enraged without provocation, and tried to attack. Amadeus ordered her to be subdued, which the Anathemites complied. Terminos started beating on her with clubs, until her head became slightly misshapen and she began to scream in pain.

When Terminos finally stopped, Saiyo had come to her senses, with seemingly no memory of her rampage. Jack took her into his arms, but the officer immediately ordered everyone to freeze. The sounds of hissing and wet sliding could be heard, indicating an incoming horde of Sayans. As the horde enclosed on them, the rebels broke into a furious run towards the final door. Sayans came out of adjacent corridors, the ceiling and even the floor as they chased them down. Two real Sayans also appeared to hinder their progress. Trying portal past them, the officer was caught by one of the two, and hurled into the horde where he was gruesomely torn apart. Now without their aid, the rebels were forced to break down the door. The Anathemites broke down the first door, while Hado took out the second. Bloodwulf helped hold the horde off, soon joined by Oneiros and Terminos as the others boarded the ship.

Pete and Violetta said they would take the bridge, as a Blue Blood ship wasn't too different from a Rebel cruiser, being based off of the same tech. The ceiling hangar door remained a problem, however. Vate summoned the Mimics to try and crash through it, but only four responded. Still, it was enough and the ship was allowed to rise out of the facility. Unfortunately, the Mimics were left behind in the hangar, and all the rebels could do was watch as the installation was completely overrun with Sayans climbing out of every opening. They also overtook the Storm, rendering the remaining Mimics completely unrecoverable. The sad and terrifying sight the only remains of the building and the ship that carried them halfway across the galaxy, the rebels left the planet behind.

In space, an uneasy peace overtook the rebels. Though they were free, it was again not without consequence. Moreover, though they now had a jumpdrive-equipped ship and could return to EAO17 at any time, Amadeus wished to make one last stop before doing so. He believed there was only one person in the universe who could give them the answers they needed, and so ordered the course be set for Earth-M1012 to meet Emperor Red Eye. He had Saiyo detained in the ship's brig to keep her from going on another rampage, with Violetta assuring the others that the energy field within the cell should be able to contain someone of her power.

Just before they jumped, they saw the Head return. However, it didn't seem to notice them, instead pointing towards the planet. The rend in spacetime it dropped out of only grew instead of closing down, however, and soon a large and familiar black beam erupted from it, engulfing the planet. It only only destroyed the planet, but completely obliterated it and the region of space it sat in. Moreover, the blast was so terrible it tore through to other universes, eliminating parallel versions of that same planet.

This was a frightening revelation, as only one weapon had those specifications: Project Blackstar, thought destroyed when they took out the prototype. Time was not on their side, however, and Amadeus ordered a quick jump before the Head could notice them.

Soundtrack

 * 1) Opening - Main Theme (Sonic: Time Attacked)
 * 2) Encirclement - The Enemy Approaches! (Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance)
 * 3) Cornered - Blue Blood
 * 4) Inside - Pissed! (Duke Nukem 3D)
 * 5) Red Handprints - Gravity (Genesis Remix)
 * 6) Nightmarish Truth - Darkness Over World (Remastered Tracks Rockman Zero Telos)
 * 7) Awakening - Sheegoth Battle (Metroid Prime)
 * 8) Hiding - Alred H. (Duke Nukem 3D)
 * 9) Searching the Wreck - In The Grip of Madness (Playstation Doom)
 * 10) The Red - Main Theme (F-117: Night Storm)
 * 11) Madness - You Idiot (Undertale)
 * 12) Alertness - Qliphoth (Tales of the Abyss)
 * 13) Terror - Vs. Ridley (Escape Variation) (Super Metroid)
 * 14) Overrun - Dark Trooper Battle (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes)
 * 15) Uncomfortable Peace - Dark Samus Approaches (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes)
 * 16) Extermination - Robotnik's Theme (Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM))
 * 17) Ending - Dream a Dream (Pop It Don't Drop It edit)

Trivia

 * Unlike most stories in this arc, this planet was not based on any particular old story of SDM's.