S5E07: Four

When you can't trust anyone else to do it right...

Plot Summary
Shortly after being awoken in their new personnel barracks aboard the Iron Princess, the STU was called to the bridge for a mission briefing. Arachnos, however, was still in the brig from the incident the previous night, and as such, was forced to sit the mission out. Ratatosk had also been pushed to the front of Aurion, who was forced to take control when Aurion didn't want to wake up.

On the bridge, the STU was greeted by Amadeus, who had to inform the unit that their mission to track down the Sayan Homeworld was temporarily being put on hold. As for why, he turned to the man behind him: The General. After learning from Captain Hood that the Sayans had been using Angolian Steel, The General had looked into the matter personally. He managed to narrow down where the Sayans had procured it: a planet named Errus. Errus sported a continent named Amerus, which was rich in Angolian Steel. In order to stop the Sayans from using it, the Alliance was planning an assault on the world to drive them off. However, he wanted to procure the metal ahead of time, so that it would not be destroyed in the ensuing battle. To this end, he required the STU, particularly the 447th. As among the best of The General's soldiers, he had confidence in their ability to hold off the Sayans while a fleet of transports, led by Epsilon's Mjolnir and Admiral Holzknect, extracted the material. The STU would not be alone, as they were to be working alongside the 10,387th and the 10,786th GARCs.

Soon after, the Iron Princess rendezvoused with the Mjolnir, and both ships descended towards the surface of Errus-M356. Upon touchdown, the STU noted how silent the world was. The stench of blood and death weighed heavily in the air, but no corpses could be found. Bloodstains where bodies fell, but their owners were nowhere to be seen. After unloading the STU, the Princess returned to orbit to watch for Sayan reinforcements. This all occurred, however, under the watchful gaze of shadowy figures.

As they approached the capital city, they found it in ruins, and half-covered by the terraformer. As they moved throughout the streets of the empty city, Holzknecht answered their questions about the planet. They were in a country named Angolas, the namesake of Angolian Steel. The country, above all other parts of Amerus, was particularly rich with the ore, making the kingdom a superpower. Holzknecht also mentioned that Angolians were very proud of their history, which is why most of the buildings were a mix of modern and medieval contsruction.

According to Holzknecht, Errus and its multiple versions were something of a dimensional nexus. Many realms and other universes tended to intersect with Errus, and as such their history had seen its fair share of bloodshed as many of the dimensional incursions were hostile. Holzknecht found humor in the fact that he and The General's forces could be counted among the latter, as they had conquered many versions of Errus all to get at the Angolian Steel.

As they approached the metalworks factories, Holzknecht deployed the transports to retrieve stock from the warehouses, but had the STU investigate the main building. Inside, they found the facility to be, like most of the city, empty and dead. At least, half of it was. The other half was covered in the terraformer, with strange tendrils poking out. Ratatosk tried attacking one, only for it to be revealed that the factory was in fact not covered in the terraformer. Instead, it was a horde of uniform Sayans, who instantly began moving for the STU. Sirus ordered the STU to fire blindly into the factory as they retreated, only to discover that more and more Sayans were coming out of hiding. To make matters worse, Sayan starships were seen launching from hidden locations on the surface, and were beginning to encircle the Alliance forces. They had also brought out a communications jammer, preventing the STU or Holzknecht from calling for help from the Princess.

Their backs against the metaphorical wall, the Alliance had no choice but to try and fight. Without Cyem to assist them, the Alliance lacked a heavy hitter. Holzknecht himself volunteered, deploying a custom modified MEP Unit known as the F-001. To further bolster their offensive abilities, most of the 447th, 10387th and 10786th also activated their Butcher Systems, going berserk on the Sayan horde. However, even despite this, they were severely outnumbered and outgunned once the Sayan warships arrived. The transports' mission quickly changed from extracting metal to extracting soldiers, trying to carry as many as they could back to the Mjolnir. Unfortunately, the Sayan ships opened fire on the transports, destroying some outright. Another was invaded and the crew mutated, forcing Holzknecht to destroy his own transport to spare the others.

One transport was observed having a strange device on it, only for it to violently rupture, its fragments crashing into the ground and killing everyone aboard, and taking many additional soldiers out on impact. Another soon followed, and the STU was faced with a man described as being handsome and beautiful. This man, later identified as "Conrad," brandished a pair of nunchaku that he was able to manipulate with Nihility. This allowed him to make it elongate far past what should have been physically possible, as well as change the size of the bludgeons. He was also terribly quick and numble, able to avoid most of what the STU threw at him with ease. All the while, he playfully taunted them.

Suddenly, the STU came under attack from all sides, and soon Conrad was standing beside three others like himself. Among them was the Scholar they had faced previously, also going by the name of Elias. Beside them were two women, one a young lady in a torn, bloody dress identified as "Princess," the other an incorrectly proportioned little girl. They said they were known as "Attendants," creations of the Sayan Queen herself to oversee the war. They confirmed that the "Doctor" they faced was in fact the Sayan Mastermind the Squad battled with aboard the Head. Thus, the Attendants were second-generation Sayans just like it was, though their human forms remained unexplained. Conrad also claimed that he had taken care of the "Beast," scaring the Squad as they believed he meant the Rotter. However, they called it a buff, and refuse to believe him.

Further answers were not forthcoming, as the Attendants lept into attack. They unleashed spores that rendered their forms invisible to anyone not within the air-sealed confines of a Mimic. G Squadron tried to spot for their allies, but the Attendants were prepared for this. The Mimics were soon under assault by legions of airborne Sayans, who forced G Squadron to pull away.

To further isolate their enemies, Elias also detonated a set of charges, forcing most of the remaining members of the STU to fall into a crater. Seeing that the Attendants were mostly interested in the Anathemites, Sirus ordered the 447th, along with Kanako, to follow him out of the crater. He left Wicker and Aurion (who had since took back control) to assist the Anathemites and keep the Attendants busy. Williams could only stare on mournfully before he followed suit. Minutes later, Sirus shouted "now!" and charges of his own went off. These were designed to make the crater itself collapse, burying the Attendants alive, but taking their targets along with them.

As the five below prepared for death, time suddenly froze around them. The falling earth remained suspended in mid-air, and the Anathemites found that their Nihility powers no longer worked. A doorway appeared out of thin air, bathing the crater in golden light, and a voice spoke out to them, telling them to enter the door. The Anathemties recognized the voice as the same from when they Manifested and Awakened, and the same presence that saved the Vulture when it was about to be destroyed by the Head. Faced between following the mysterious voice or being crushed to death, the Anathemties chose the former option. Aurion and Wicker were allowed to follow, as the voice said he would prefer not leaving them to die. Though Wicker had to exit his frozen Mimic in order to follow.

Hours later, the battle on the surface had turned in the Alliance's favor. Without the guiding hand of the Attendants, the Sayans reverted to their regular dumb tactics. The communications jamming was also removed, allowing the Iron Princess to join in the fray, lending Cyem as extra support. As the Alliance began finally driving the Sayans back, Vate went over to the covered crater, digging with his bare hands to try and reach his allies, Wicker and Aurion in particular. Sirus shouted at him to stop, saying that they were gone. Paladin rushed in, shouting that like hell his son was gone, and he completely removed the earth covering the crater...freeing the Attendants in the process.

No longer wishing to humor the STU, and quite furious over the way they were buried alive, the Attendants prepared to make a killing strike. Already the Sayans were beginning to amass once again, and push back towards the Alliance. Just then, the ground beneath the Attendants shook, and Wicker and Aurion (controlled by Ratatosk) emerged from below, taking the Attendants by surprise. However, there was no time to answer any questions, as the Attendants immediately went on the attack. Still, they had bought enough time for the Alliance to prepare a retreat, and retreat they did.

Both the Princess and the Mjolnir raced towards one of The General's premier medical facilities to treat the wounded. As they did so, G Squadron returned their Mimics to the Princess' hangar, meeting Sirus and his own men there to try and understand what happened. However, Wicker reported he had problems trying to leave his Mimic. Thinking the door was jammed, Ketsueki and Vate pried the door open, only to discover that there was nobody inside. However, despite this, Wicker continued to talk to them as if he was. Williams even registered his life signs, which all indicated that there was someone inside the Mimic. But of course, there was no one they could see or interact with. Somehow, Wicker was his own Mimic.

At about the same time, Ratatosk realized that he couldn't sense Aurion within him anymore. He was permanently in control, with Aurion's consciousness having simply vanished. Neither Ratatosk nor Wicker could account for what happened in the crater; the last thing either remembered was being about to be crushed by the crater's collapse.

Hood also then entered the hangar, and had further bad news. He had just finished speaking with someone over at ETZ, who confirmed that as of 7 o' clock that morning, the Rotter was dead. The matter was still under investigation, but someone had managed to enter the Rotter's holding area and dispense the mutagen to it, which killed the Rotter when it came in contact with it. Unfortunately, no one had seen anyone enter or leave the Rotter's chamber, so there were no suspects.

The grim reality began to set in on the STU. They were up against opponents who were smart and could control the Sayans very effectively, and essentially infiltrate whatever they wanted without being detected. They had lost three of their heavy hitters, with two more stuck in a strange limbo. Their engineer was in the brig, and was soon joined by Paladin, as it was his actions that re-released the Attendants. And it was because of them that they suffered a tremendous loss at Errus, as the Sayans managed to retain control over the planet. And in the process, they managed to hurt the Alliance badly, with high casualties even for the 447th, a fact Sirus was not happy about. He had to go and clean out the quarters for the men who didn't come back, and then told Davis to get the beer ready. Once he was done, he wanted to drink until he forgot today ever happened.

His sentiments were echoed by many others within the STU.

Soundtrack

 * 1) Opening Theme - Gold Rush (Ancient Aliens)
 * 2) Bridge Briefing - Main Theme Reprise (Star Wars: Rogue Squadron)
 * 3) The General - Babel Tower (Rockman ZX Tunes)
 * 4) The Mission - Evil Incarnate (DOOM II)
 * 5) Angolian Ruins - Agon Wastes (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes)
 * 6) Red Factory - Stalag 3-D (Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour Edition)
 * 7) The Horde - Big Boss Battle 1 (Super Metroid)
 * 8) Hard Rain - Vs. Meta Ridley (Metroid Prime)
 * 9) Unmatched - Darkness (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes)
 * 10) Fall of the Beast: Suspense 2013 (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies)
 * 11) The Attendants - The Four Heavenly Knights (Monster Girl Quest)
 * 12) Loss - End of Doom (Doom)
 * 13) Anger - Stage 13 Intro (Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine)
 * 14) Ratatosk - From Darkside - Emil (Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World)
 * 15) Reflections - End of Doom (Doom)
 * 16) Ending: Gold Rush (Ending Mix)

Trivia

 * This episode attempted to start two weeks previous, however the events within went on for so long and were considered so necessary, that it was spun off and considered to be episode 6.5.
 * The world of Errus is based off of another of SDM's "private backstories" much like Cyem, this one for WGRealms 2, a mod for Duke Nukem 3D. However, unlike with Cyem, almost none of the elements that belonged to the game it was based on were carried over. Only the names, which were SDM's creation to begin with.
 * In addition, SDM considers what was presented here as being the "far future" to the original world, thus excusing all the missing elements.
 * The references to the world being a "dimensional nexus" is a reference to the game in question, including a nod to the game's first level.
 * Despite starting relatively early, this episode proved to be one of the longest runs ever done, stretching towards the latest hour any of the Anathemus Mythos RPs had ever seen.
 * An additional chunk of content was also nixed in order to save time. The missing portions of the episode regarded the second half of the battle against the Sayan horde after the crater was covered, and would have involved Holzknecht returning to the Mjolnir and trying to salvage the original mission.
 * While developing the episode, SDM saw an opportunity to insert fanservice in the form of featuring Admiral Holzknecht as a main supporting character for this episode. Admiral Holzknecht was previously seen throughout the Admiral Glacius arc of Hellgate 2 Part III, the end of which saw a battle against him and another customized mecha.
 * Holzknecht's modified MEP, the "F-001" was designed in the image of a Jester. This harkened back to his boss fight in H2P3, which saw the F Squadron do battle against similarly-themed modified X-2 units known as the EFS-001 "Harlequinn" and the EFS-002 "Pierrot."
 * Holzknecht was originally supposed to die at the end of said boss, however he proved to be extremely popular. This prompted SDM to consider letting him live so as to allow him to return, and was also the reasoning behind featuring him in this episode.
 * After the previous episode ended in a surprise Alliance victory, SDM swore revenge. This episode, which was intended to be a loss anyway, was doubled-down on the stakes and casualties in order to make the players "pay" for winning the previous episode, which was to have the Rotter die before their eyes.
 * Since the previous episode ended in a surprise victory, SDM's planned music for their loss had to be scrapped. One of those tracks, "The End of Doom," was salvaged and re-purposed for this episode.