S4E23: Gravity

'''Project Blackstar all but destroyed, it's time for the Sayan Squad to resume their hunt for the source of The General's Sayan project. Once again, the Sayan Squad sets out to pursue The General's Head in hopes of discovering where the enemy is getting them from...'''

Plot Summary
Lynna, Oneiros, and Arachnos were standing outside EAO17 (with Kanako present via Olyn's orb), watching the rebel ships come and go, the numbers of which had increased as of late. They worried if it was all over them and their actions a week prior, and were concerned if The General had put them in his sights. Jack and Saiyo soon joined the conversation, the former sarcastically thanking everyone for putting him and his sister on a hit list, but quickly denied taking the opportunity to leave. He felt there was no escaping now, a sentiment echoed by the other members of the Sayan Squad.

Vate of G Squadron arrived shortly thereafter, alerting the Sayan Squad of another mission. In the briefing room, Amadeus greeted the members as they entered, but then introduced one more addition: Ruairi. Amadeus revealed that he was finally returning to active flight duty, alluding to being convinced tro give him another chance. Ruairi reflected a change as well, being noticeably calmer than he was before. Amadeus went on to say that Ruairi was to be considered "on parole" for the time being, until Ruairi proved that his change was permanent.

With that out of the way, Amadeus began the briefing, turning on the holographic projector. At first it seemed like the projector was malfunctioning as the Sayan Squad couldn't see anything until they looked closer: a very faint halo of light. They were, in fact, looking at a pitch-black planet, officially named Paa-M912 but colloquially known as the "planet of shadows." Amadeus explained that Paa was covered in a thick, toxic atmosphere that was so dense it blotted out all light as well as offworld communication. It was also known to be dangerous, as no recon team that went planetside ever returned. However, because of the atmosphere, not even their scanners could tell what was on the surface. In other words, RAG was completely blind as to what was going on beneath the clouds. Paa-M912 was also the last known location of the Head, reportedly having sat in orbit over the planet for several days.

Amadeus reiterated that despite their massive victory over on Earth-M745, they still ultimately failed in their mission to locate the source point for The General's Sayan project. As such, the hunt needed to continue, picking up right where the Sayan Squad left off: trailing the Head. Concerns were raised over chasing the Head after their near-fatal encounter with it the previous time, especially now that The General was most likely after them for what they did. Amadeus admitted that, unfortunately, there was little they could do. They couldn't bring an entire assault force without immediately tipping The General off, and no matter what the place The General was getting his Sayans from needed to be found. The best they could do was wait until the Head had left to start their investigation, which they had done.

On that solemn note, the briefing ended. Kanako was ordered to stay at base until his injuries recovered, but Vate decided to expedite the process by blasting Kanako with a healing solution. Once everyone was aboard the Vulture, the Sayan Squad set out for the shadow planet. It dropped into Universe 12 in the middle of a thick cloud of gas radiating off the planet. Even from where they were, the gas was thick enough to dull the light of the stars and the sun. A sense of unease took the crew of the Vulture as the bridge operator detected a strange object in low orbit of the planet. It was scarcely larger than a Mimic, and Amadeus ordered the Vulture get in closer for a better look.

When the Vulture was but a few feet from the object, a green beam of energy shot out of the object and ensnared the ship. Despite the helmsman's best efforts, the Vulture was perfectly stuck. The Operator identified the object as a "tractor anchor," which was holding the ship for however long the one responsible for putting it there wanted to be. Just then the Head warped in, along with two assault cruisers, pinning the Vulture. Captain Hood announced that everyone aboard the Vulture was under arrest by order of The General, and their choices were to either surrender or die.

Arachnos tore open a portal through the void, through which he and the Anathemites left the ship (as otherwise the tractor anchor would ensnare them, too) to try and disable the anchor while they and everyone else had a verbal confrontation with Hood. Amadeus asked why Hood was serving The General, to which Hood said it was none of their business. They tried to argue that he served someone who intended to destroy all that is, which of course Hood knew. They argued he was even directly helping The General by delivering the Sayans to targeted worlds. Hood seemed to feign ignorance of the project, despite all the proof that the Head was the delivery system itself. The Sayan Squad called him out on this, Ketsueki even attempting to leave the ship via normal methods to "deal with the fibber" himself.

Whatever the truth, Hood ended the conversation by dispatching the "Little Man," a large object that soon attached itself to the Vulture's hull. The anchor shut itself off and the "Little Man" turned out to in fact be Emperor Cyem, with a mission to destroy the Vulture. Cyem repeated his warning from their first encounter, and the battle began. Cyem was still equipped with his invulnerability generator, which also extended to a strong armor plating he wore identified as the "space module." It predictably allowed him to breathe in space, where he engaged the Sayan Squad as he attacked the Vulture directly. After being knocked off the ship once, Cyem swung himself over to the bow and tore off one of the carrier's cannons, his claw adapting to use it himself. He used it to great effect, seriously damaging the Vulture, but it was not protected by his shield. Before the Sayan Squad could destroy it however, Cyem used it to propel himself towards the rear, where he managed to destroy the engines.

The Vulture was left critical, and as a result was no longer able to resist Paa's gravity well. It began to plummet towards the surface, the Sayan Squad doing everything it could to try and stop the descent. Hood attempted to call Cyem back, but Cyem declined. Instead he told Hood to send him the air module so that he could "make sure they don't get back up again." Hood agreed, and Cyem swapped his space suit for an aerial-pack like device, and chased the falling Vulture.

Amadeus ordered the Anathemites to safely teleport the Vulture's crew out to the surface, but it had to be done one-by-one and only with one Anathemite at a time. Amadeus didn't want Cyem to be clued in on what was happening, lest he gun down the survivors while they were defenseless. The rest of the Sayan Squad was to play decoy, and keep his attention focused on dealing with them so that he may not notice when an Anathemite disappeared. Cyem's invulnerability was still in full effect, extended to even his air module. Only Arachnos was able to do any sort of harm to him, using a psychic screech that disorientated the former Emperor. When he recovered, he flew into a blind rage, focusing on killing Arachnos. Arachnos tried to exploit this to steer the Emperor away from the ship, however Hood scolded Cyem for letting his anger get the better of him. Cyem forced himself ot ignore Arachnos and returned to the Vulture.

Regardless, the ploy worked up until a certain point. Once the crew was out, the issue was safely getting the Sayan Squad themselves out without tipping off the Emperor. Arachnos suggested faking their deaths, but it would only work for those who could do it themselves. Ultimately, the Sayan Squad was forced to pull out with the Emperor knowing full well about it, only able to temporarily blind him, and watched the Vulture crash from a distance. On the surface of Paa, the dense gas was actually lessened some, allowing them to see their own lights. In this case, the Vulture's flaming wreckage as it fell from the sky and collapsed in a heap of metal and flame. Paladin, being a Knight of Light, as able to produce a beacon, allowing the scattered members of the Sayan Squad to regroup.

Meanwhile, the Head descended onto the planet to retrieve Cyem. Cyem reported that he doubted they were dead, especially with the psychics around. He advised Hood do a once-over of the immediate area with the Head just to make sure. Hood agreed, saying that the sooner they could confirm their mission complete, the sooner The General could rest easy, meaning the sooner they could rest easy. Hood also suggested recruiting the help of a "friend" to aid in their search, to which Cyem replied it would "give the old bastard something to do..."

Soundtrack

 * 1) Opening Theme - Dream a Dream (Pop It Don't Drop It Edit)
 * 2) Jack Greenspan - Strange People (Gyakuten Kenji 2 / Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney Investigations: Prosecutor's Path
 * 3) Ruairi - DragonKnight (Mabinogi - Generation 18 - The Drama: IRIA)
 * 4) Briefing - Main Theme Reprise (Star Wars: Rogue Squadron)
 * 5) Void Space - Main Menu (Doom 64)
 * 6) Trapped! - On the Edge (Remastered Tracks Rockman Zero Physis)
 * 7) Cyem - Introduction (Doom 64)
 * 8) Rematch - Hero (Instrumental Version) / War theme 1 (Serious Sam 3: BFE)
 * 9) Going Critical - Bomber Barbara (Part 2) (Sonic Rush)
 * 10) Goin' Down - Bomber Barbara (Sonic Rush)
 * 11) Ending Theme - Main Theme (Sonic: Time Attacked)

Trivia

 * This episode was delayed due to SDM wanting Aurion to participate so that he may reintroduce Ruairi. Otherwise, SDM warned that he would not get another chance for another 14 episodes. With the loss of the Vulture it can be surmised that the main cast will not be returning to base any time soon.
 * On a similar note, Kanako was planning on letting his self-named character sit out the mission due to the injuries he'd received in the previous, but for the same reasons as above SDM highly encouraged he reconsider. Aurion suggested using Yeshaida to heal him quickly as a result.
 * At the start of the episode, SDM mistakenly referred to EAO17 as ERAC HQ.
 * Continuing the trend from the start of the arc, this episode marks a return to old stories of SDM's. SDM has confirmed that Paa-M912 is the setting of the War of Light and Darkness, the original roleplay the official chat (And current home of the Xat RP) was originally designed for.
 * This means the chat has come full-circle, as SDM said the original was abandoned due to undisclosed reasons, but intends to finish the story he started so long ago with this miniarc, now a part of the chat's successor RP.
 * The name "Paa" is in fact an acronym that references the very original Xat chat SDM was a regular of and where most of the concepts in the War started. However, he refuses to say what PAA stands for.
 * The original plans for this episode only featured the first half of the Cyem battle followed by the crash (excluding the obligatory briefing). However, while working on the soundtrack, SDM re-discovered Bomber Barbara, and decided to homage the regular final boss battle of Sonic Rush by using the same song in a similar situation (that being a ship crashing into the planet), and as such added the entire second half. This new sequence inspired the episode's name.
 * During the first part of the Cyem battle, Amadeus says "This ship's about to go critical! Sayan Squad, we can't take much more!" This line references a similar quote from the captain of the Redemption, a medical frigate featured in Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader.