S5E06: War

'''While being stationed at one of the Alliance's research bases to learn what they can from the recently-captured Rotter, the STU finds itself in the center of a surprise assault. The sky goes black as the first days of the Sayan invasion are repeated. Will the STU be able to repel the attack this time and redeem themselves with the assistance of The General's might, or will history repeat itself once again?'''

Plot Summary
Following the events of the previous episode, Captain Hood and the STU delivered the Rotter to research station BZ3. For several days they and the Iron Princess waited in orbit, while the science team there analyzed the Rotter and extracted Cyem. Eventually, Hood and Sirus recieved a request to head planetside, and they decided to have the rest of the STU join them.

Upon entering the base, the STU had a small discussion with Sirus about the somewhat advanced and not-fully-pragmatic decor. Sirus revealed that even though most of everyone was chipped, that didn't mean they had to share The General's taste for "crappy aesthetics." People were born and spent their entire lives in this base, having never seen the outside. It was only natural that such a living enviornment would attempt to have a somewhat tasteful appearance. It had the practical benefit of keeping the personnel productive, as well.

One of the researchers led the STU down to the lower labs within which one of the labs was seen to contain the Rotter. Despite the researcher's insistence that a chance of it escaping was next to none, a small garrison of soliders were stationed around the lab, just in case. Cyem was in a nearby cell, and Hood went to his side immediately. It was confirmed that Cyem was perfectly all right, as his personal shield generator kept him safe throughout his time within the Rotter's insides, and during the extraction process. Just to be safe, however, they replaced it with a new one to avoid any potential pathogenic contaimination.

The Captains and Vate were soon called away, as the science team wanted to go over their findings with the Rotter. However, they were unable to bring the rest of the STU, since Hood and Sirus took the rest of the STU, and there was simply not enough room. As such, Sirus ordered the members of the sTU who stayed behind to help Cyem get back on his feet.

Cyem, naturally, needed no such help, and even removed the monitoring equipment he was hooked up to by himself. Seeing that they had their chance, Olyn decided to ask why Cyem was known as "Nero," a name she overhead the researcher refer to him by. Cyem said that that was his project name, "Project Nero-A." He was an experiment of The General to see if he could control a living weapon like Cyem, with Cyem's intelligence and tactical skill intact. The General did not want to risk giving Cyem a lesser Conscription for fear that the chip may have been faulty, and The General would have a rogue nigh-unstoppable monster running amok. At the same time, a full Conscription would have rendered Cyem little more than a mindless beast, removing his ability to think entirely. Project Nero, named for an Earthen Roman Emperor, was a test to see if fear would be a viable alternative control method.

Cyem then confirmed their suspicions: the remaining Cimorian population were rounded up after The General's assault on Cimoria Prime, and held within starships that orbited their former homeworld. At the first sigh of disobedience, or a rescue attempt either by himself or through the Rebellion, The General would immediately detonate the starships, eliminating the Cimorian species. Emperor Cyem, already a devoted leader to his kind, was thus forced to obey The General's every command. Though he knew The General was working towards omniversal destruction, Cyem knew that whether he rebelled or whether he played his part, the end result was the same: the extinction of the Cimorian species. As such, he chose to stick with the option that would let them live for as long as possible.

Cyem also went on to reveal that, should Cyem die a loyal death in service to The General, having never betrayed him, The General was planning to do the same to other versions of him. He was planning to build an army of Emperor Cyems, all bound by the same leash. Naturally, in order to prevent picking up a rogue one, he had dispatched spy satellites to watch over parallel versions of Cimoria Prime, and ensure that every Cyem he rounded up was as devoted to his people as the first.

Cyem said all of this with no real emotion, simply stating it all as a matter of fact. He also advised the STU to not look at him as a true "friend," as he was certain that in another life they would still be enemies. Cimoria Prime was a dying world, and for the sake of preserving his kin, the Cimorian Empire expanded to the stars, conquering, enslaving, and even killing other races. Emperor Cyem stood opposed to many races' champions, and made it clear that every match was one of survival. Either the Cimorians lived, or the race they were conquering did.

Even so, the STU, particularly the Squad, empathized with Cyem, saying that even if they would have been enemies in other life, they were allies in this one, if only for the time being. Oneiros even apologized for the harsh works he flung at the Emperor during their encounter within Dark Side's starport. Cyem accepted the apology, but said he would only forgive him if when they next met as enemies, they could keep the relationship amicable. Cyem still bore no ill will toward the Sayan Squad, and once again made it clear that all altercations are done under orders alone.

Still, that left the big question. If Cyem was Nero-A, who was Nero-B? Cyem confirmed that Project Nero-B was Captain Hood. However, he did not state what circumstances brought Hood into the fold, only noting that it was a "different kind of fear" that kept Hood in line. Any more, however, he would not say, stating it was not his place. They would need to ask Hood himself for those answers.

However, Hood and the others were nowhere to be seen. Kazoku expressed his frustration and annoyance at not only being kept waiting, but being left in the dark. Cyem admitted that, since he spent a long time within the creature while they studying it and attempting to figure out how to remove him at the same time, he overheard a great many of their preliminary results.

The dead planet they visited was, in fact, the body of a Queen. Cyem explained that to-be Queens, or "princesses" essentially transformed into a "heart." That's what the massive chamber they encountered was. When a princess ascends into a Queen, they assume control of the entire body, and this body becomes the new Sayan Homeworld. It is from here that they extract the terraformer from the Queen's "skin." Furthermore, that dead husk of a planet had probably been rotting in space for several thousand years.

The Rotter was confirmed to not be a Sayan itself, though it is made of them. Specifically, the corpses of dead Queen Hearts/Princesses that fall below the chamber. Once the Rotter accures enough corpses, it assembles a physical form out of them, and then begins to devour the homeworld from inside out. This forces the Sayans to flee the homeworld and establish a new one, the process of which is unknown, and then the cycle begins again. In all liklihood, the "original" homeworld that the Sayans first spawned from is likely long gone.

The science team wasn't able to conclude what exactly moved the Rotter. Some theories proposed a supernatural element, such as the angered and vengeful spirits of the Princesses striking back against the Sayans, or that it was an abberational response to the abberations that are the Sayan race. Likewise, it was unknown if the Rotter existed as a single entity that reformed on every homeworld, or if there were multiple Rotters.

Hood, Sirus, and Vate finally returned. After being informed that Cyem had already brought them up to speed, Sirus cut right to the chase. In light of their new information, their entire list of homeworld candidate planets was rendered null and void. Hood suspected that they were probably just more factory worlds, and as such the Alliance would take care of them. Their job was to find the homeworld, whcih was more important. To that end, Sirus revealed that not all hope was lost. Given how the Rotter seems to exist purely to devour Homeworlds, the science team was hoping to perhaps figure out a way to use it as a "soft scanner" of sorts to try and locate the current one.

Just then, a base-wide alert went out, notifiying its personnel of an unknown inbound aircraft. Sirus told the control tower to patch them through to the communique so they could hear what was going on on their way to see it for themselves. As they ascended the tower, they heard a familiar voice ask to dock with the station, but were unable to place the voice. His requests were continually denied, until the STU reached the control room of the tower and saw his face on one of the monitors.

It was the wheelchair-bound man from before. Furthermore, they were able to place his voice now too: one of the Sayans that fled the Head. Changing his tone quickly, the man demanded that the base turn over the Rotter to him. Meanwhile, Sirus had Williams scan the craft, and confirmed there was only one life-form aboard: a Sayan.

There wasn't time to dwell on how it could have a human form without sporing them, however, as the Sayan revealed that while it had kept them distracted, an assault fleet had entered BZ3 airspace and was currently on its way there. The station attempted to activate its defenses against the craft, but found they had all mysteriously been disabled. The craft transformed, flipping its steel plating inside out to reveal the ultra-hardened flesh that Sayan starships were made out of, immediately before it made a bombing run on the base. The Sayan managed to damage all the hangar entrances that stored the base's Zs and MEPs, and promised that not only did he know of their location, he also knew of the location of the Rotter.

Arachnos wondered if it was a bluff, but Sirus said that given all that it had done already, they had to assume the worst case scenario and take its words at face value. Securing his helmet and ordering the rest of the 447th to do the same, he requested Hood stay within the control tower and assist the base in transferring the Rotter to one of the civilian hangars for extraction. Meanwhile, the members of the Sayan Squad would head out and face the starship themselves, thought without Saiyo. He ordered her to stay in the control tower, and for Hood to push her into using her weakness-spotting ability.

As the battle began, Saiyo was resistant at first. As such, the squad had to fight without her advice. They soon discovered that the ship was absurdly resilient, moreso than a craft of its size should have been. Remembering back to when the ship was still in disguise, Hood noted the steel plating, and quickly informed the Squad that the ship was protected by Angolian steel. Angolian steel was known to be one of the hardest and firmest metals known to The General's military, and as such was a key component in the construction of his own starships. This pushed Hood into pressuring Saiyo harder, who bordered on Red Mode in her fury. Already enraged at Hood's earlier threats towards Ketsueki, Saiyo had to force herself to not attack. Eventually she got a good read on the ship, and revealed that its weakpoint were the engines, where Angolian steel was not present.

After a short battle, the Sayan in the craft realized he had been beat, and began to retreat. However, at the same moment, the reinforcements he warned about arrived, and prevented any further pursuit. Not even Cyem or the Iron Princess, both of which participated in the battle, could squeeze through the bombardment. From within the base, Sirus ordered the STU to fall back and regroup. The invasion foce had begun to ransack the base, the bombardment opening holes in the roof that let Sayan hordes pour into it. Worse still was that the holes they made into the research station also let in the planet's unbreathable atmosphere, which was starting to take civilian lives as well as military. Furthermore, the Sayans were once again displaying uncharacteristic military intelligence, and were using the poison air to their advantage. Instead of trying to kill the soldiers themselves, the Sayans attempted to knock their air-sealed helmets off and suffocate them.

The Squad found the 447th holed up in one of the station's schooling blocks, trying to hold off the horde. Sirus informed them they got cut off from the rest of the 447th, which were now battling the Sayans in a nearby hangar, the one with the Rotter in it. Soon after, they heard a nearby explosion, and SGM Ranger informed the Captain that the Sayans had broke through the roof. Seeing no other option, Sirus ordered his men to activate the "Butcher system," which turned out to be that berserk state the Squad witnessed on that factory world. This time, however, not even Sirus and the senior members were spared, and they all became inhuman monsters as they threw themselves at the horde.

Though the Butcher suits took away their self-preservation, it was just enough to give the STU the edge it needed to push their way back to the hangar. There they found that the Sayans were starting to overwhelm the soliders there, and had already begun attacking the rotter. Ranger joined his CO in their madness, and together the soldiers tried to fight off the Sayans. The Squad, on the other hand, got closer to the Rotter itself to try and defend it using a triple-empowered shield provided by Hood, the Arathemites, and Paladin. The Rotter was still unable to tell friend from foe, though, and would occassionally strike the Squad.

Eventually the roof was completely demolished, and the craft from before returned, carrying a canister of some type. Dropping it, Hood attempted to shatter it, revealing it was a canister of the mutagen. The shield just barely managed to protect the team and the Rotter from its effects. Later on that same ship returned, making a kamikaze strike with another canister in tow. The shield almost collapsed under the impact, but it managed to resist the mutagen once again.

With their tactic failed, the invasion ships began another bombardment on the base, attempting to kill the STU and the Rotter under a hail of cannon fire. Arachnos opened a fissure in the floor, dropping himself and the Rotter in it to try and protect it as the shield finally collapsed up above. But just then, an Alliance fleet entered the airspace, and chased off the invaders.

The Squad was relieved to hear that their reinforcements were lead by none other than Amadeus, now commanding the Iron King. Amadeus immediately dispatched medical teams and support soldiers to rescue the STU and the surviving base personnel.

Hours later, the Squad looked down upon the carnage the Sayans unleashed upon BZ3 in their attempt to get at the Rotter. Hood wondered why they attacked with such ferocity. but Jack replied that it was probably precisely for what science team was hoping to do: use it as a means to find the homeworld. With such a tool in the Alliance's hands, the war would be over swiftly.

Amadeus assured them that they wouldn't dare repeat this attack, as even as they spoke, the Rotter was being transferred to one of the most secure locations in the omniverse: LTZ, ETZ's moon. Meanwhile, Oneiros wondered what the Sayan they met was talking about. Before they battled, he had said the words "The Doctor is waiting." Oneiros wondered if he meant Dr. Greenspan, but Jack reminded him that back on the Head, he had also said that they "killed" the Doctor. As far as everyone knew, Joseph was still alive.

Unable to come up with any answers, Amadeus simply told them that what they had to say were all good questions.

Soundtrack

 * 1) Opening Theme - Gold Rush (Doom: Ancient Aliens)
 * 2) Homely Concessions - Industrialism (ZX Tunes)
 * 3) Emperor Cyem IV - Call to Arms (Doom 64 Intro variation)
 * 4) History of the Cimorians - Gotham (Duke Nukem 3D 20th Anniversary World Tour Edition)
 * 5) Target Acquired - Nightmare (Nox Aracana)
 * 6) The Craft - Brave (Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine)
 * 7) The Scholar - Stage 13 Intro (Dr. Robotnik's Mean Beacn Machine)
 * 8) Vs. The Scholar - Metalhead Dance (Sonic the Hedgehog Epoch)
 * 9) Invasion - Omega Ridley (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption)
 * 10) The Butcher System - Plunge Saw (Plutonia MIDI Pack)
 * 11) Overwhelmed - Crisis (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption)
 * 12) Victory - Main Theme (Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike)
 * 13) Smoke and Ash - Endgame/Text Screen (DOOM II)
 * 14) Ending Theme - Gold Rush (Ending Mix)

Trivia

 * This episode aired after a very long hiatus due to outside factors.
 * The episode was never intended to end in an Alliance victory. Quite the opposite, in fact. The STU was intended to fail to protect the Rotter from the mutagen, which would have then killed it and robbed the Alliance of a key asset in locating the Sayan Homeworld. However, the player characters' shields proved too much for the Sayan forces. SDM decided not to scratch, saying he would play it exactly like the Attendants would, and engage a Plan B. Said Plan B was discussed in a solo released almost immediately after the episode finished.
 * Likewise, there was never intended to be a solo released after this episode.
 * In line with the changes made to the ending due to the STU's unplanned victory, several songs had to be cut.
 * Other songs were cut due to their respective sections being cut due to time.
 * This episode marks the first time that Cyem's backstory was revealed and confirmed in-story, SDM having explained it long before the character's actual debut.
 * The name of "Angolian" steel originates from a text document similar to the one that Cyem was eventually re-worked from.