S5E02: Counterpoint

'''An incomprehensible request. The General has called for an alliance between his military and the very Rebellion that opposes him. For the sake of uniting against the Sayan menace, the Supreme Commander of the Rebel forces has agreed to meet with the most hated man in the Omniverse aboard his own flagship, the Arinna, and RAG's own mobile headquarters. The uneasy tension may soon give way to disaster, though, as rumors abound. They say there are a select few of conspirators, willing to do whatever it takes to eliminate their enemy's leaders, and that they are armed...'''

Plot Summary
Amadeus summoned the Sayan Squad to the Arinna. Arriving aboard the Great Wing, the Squad steps aboard the massive starship to little fanfare. Expecting a hero's welcome but getting none, it was theorized the Commander wanted their arrival to be kept on the down low. They met him outside the docking bay, outside of what appeared to be a massve city being carried by the Arinna's massive bulk. Being ushered off to the side, Amadeus explained the reason he called them down.

Rumors had been going around about a possible assassination attempt. Amadeus wasn't sure by who or against who, but he wasn't prepared to take any chances. The Arinna was more than just a starship, or even a flagship, after all. It was the central headquarters of the entire Rebellion Against the General. Even a failed assassination attempt could critically damage the Arinna, leaving them without their home base. Hence why Amadeus requested the Squad's presence. He didn't want anything to interrupt the meeting that was to be held between himself, High Command, the Supreme Commander, and The General and his men. Forging this Alliance without enraging The General while he sat aboard their most vital location was of the utmost importance.

Just then, the Supreme Commander himself intruded, and asked what was going on. Kanako tried to explain, but was quickly hushed by Amadeus who told the Commander he was merely giving the Squad a tour of the Arinna. The Commander replied that he picked quite a day to do that, given the meeting. He then reiterated that he wanted nothing to interrupt the meeting or to give The General any cause for alarm. That meant rising even a finger against friend or foe, as he did not give any pause for the rumors. Amadeus gave the Commander his word and he departing, saying he would be on board the Ranger to await the arrival of The General's Head. Clearly unnerved by the encounter, Amadeus hurriedly led the Squad down to the meeting room.

By the time they arrived, they could observe the members of High Command filing in. Most were in considerably less shape than Amadeus, though Amadeus himself was busy noting the absence of guards. He soon joined High Command in the conference room, telling the Squad to keep watch but to "act casual." Following his advice, some members of the Squad decided to explore around while they waited for The General to arrive. Kanako led them down to some maintence tunnels, where they found it dark an empty. He attempted ot turn on a light switch, but tehy shorted out right as they saw a flash of light from the end of the corridor.

At the same time, they heard heavy footsteps from up above. Those of the Squad who remained behind saw their source: The General and his Inner Circle, approaching down the corridor. The members of High Command went rigid as his Inner Circle took up seats opposite them, as they even offered The General the Supreme Commander's chair, going so far as to address him as "sir". The General took it without question. However, shortly thereafter, tensions began to boil over as the Commander himself had yet to arrive. Members of the Inner Circle began to insult High Command, leading to an argument. It eventually reached a point where they drew blasters at each other. The General seemed almost amused at the violence around him, while Amadeus and the Squad were almost about to panic. Amadeus hurried out of the room to try and contact the Ranger via the wall-comm, but found it inoperable. And this deep into the Arinna, their normal comms were ineffectual, leaving them effectively cut off.

Amadeus rushed back into the conference room, urging the remaining members of the Sayan Squad to join their comrades in investigating what was going on down below. While exploring the shafts, Arachnos found a panel where the wires had been cut. He attempted to fix it, but the panel was then shot by someone in the dark. Giving chase, the Squad found that it was a man wearing a rebel tech uniform. He led them through the winding, maze-like corridors of the maintenance tunnels, and eventually to a small room where they ran into several other soldiers, all wearing Rebel uniforms. Seeming hostile at first, once they saw it was the Sayan Squad, they relaxed.

The leader of the bunch openly admitted they were going to attempt to assassinate The General and his Inner Circle, using a bomb right below the conference room, which is where they were presently. The Squad attempted to reason with them, saying that The General would have prepared for such an event, especially with his personal shield generator. The conspirators believed not even the shield would protect him from the vacuum of space, but the Squad countered he probably prepared for that possibility as well. Still, the conspirators believed they had to try, even if it cost them High Command and crippled the ''Arinna. ''They did not acknolwedge or even seem to know about the threat the Sayans posed, believing that was just an excuse The General made to get High Command all together in one place. They wanted to strike first. The fact that the Supreme Commander wasn't there yet only made it easier for them.

Seeing that they could not reason with the rebel conspirators, the Squad took action. The Aanthemites used their Nihility powers to contain the bomb's explosion, leaving it to not even scratch the ceiling. This led to the conspirators attacking the Squad, but the Squad fought back. On orders from Vate to not kill anyone, the Squad quickly subdued the conspirators. Those who were not knocked unconscious soon threw down their weapons in surrender. They attempted to contact Amadeus to tell him what happened. However, he prevoed unresponsive.

Escorting the soldiers back up to the floor above, the Squad found Amadeus and the Commander talking outside the conference room. Explaining the situation, the Commander seemed to get mad over having his orders defied. However, once he was told they were planning to bomb the conference room and take High Command and potentially him with them (were he present), his tune seemed to change. He looked over the conspirators, and ordered the Squad to release them. Unwilling to so much as question the Supreme Commander, the Squad complied. He assured them that they would not dare make another such attempt, and even ordered the technician who destroyed the panel to work with Arachnos on repairing it.

With that taken care of, the Commander grimaced as he was prompted to enter the room with Amadeus, and meet with The General. Stepping inside, the door closed after them, leaving the Squad unable to see what happens next...

Soundtrack

 * 1) Opening Theme - Gold Rush (Ancient Aliens)
 * 2) The Arinna - Main Theme (Battlefield 1943)
 * 3) Rumors of an Assassination - Main Theme (Star Wars: Rogue Squadron)
 * 4) The Supreme Commander - Map (Star Fox 64)
 * 5) Arrival - Evil Incarnate (DOOM II)
 * 6) Tensions Rising - Thrill Theme ~ Suspense (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney)
 * 7) Pursuit - Roach Queen (Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project)
 * 8) The Culprits - Briefing 2 (Star Fox: Assault)
 * 9) Fighting Your Own - Wake Island (Battlefield 2142)
 * 10) Retribution? - Briefing Tension (A Fox in Space)
 * 11) Ending Theme - Gold Rush (Ending mix)

Trivia

 * This was the second episode of the XRP to be voted for through Shifting World's new policy.
 * Out of all the episodes of Season 5, this one was completed the earliest, with its concept and basic plot outlined long before even Season 4 finished. Even the previous episode was only partially completed by the time planning for Season 5 came around.
 * Much of the episode's middle was ad-libbed due to unexpected player behavior:
 * SDM wound up sending the group to the maintenance tunnels early after they avoided investigating the upper levels, which would have shown off High Command's living quarters.
 * This was itself ad-libbed, as the decision to explore around was made by the players, not SDM
 * Originally, the Squad was to head below after seeing a technician run away when called out to, after discovering the wall-comm's inoperability.
 * The Sayan Squad was themselves originally supposed to help calm down the tensions and the meeting, but due again to their decision to go exploring, SDM decided to let Amadeus do it off-screen while the rest of them were sent down to assist the others.
 * Likewise, instead of Amadeus contacting the Ranger, he was originally to send the Squad to do it.
 * This episode was designed as a "test" of sorts to see if the Anathemites would kill the conspirators against orders.
 * Though this episode serves to show the formation of the Alliance in the XRP, and the tensions surroudning it, SDM had gone on record to say that this episode's true purpose is to set something up for Hellgate 2 Part IV, set 20 years later.