S4E22: Broken Moon

'''High above Earth-M745, a weapon known only by the name "Blackstar" is being built upon its moon - with the power to shatter reality itself. A desperate mission is planned... The prototype is up and operational, and it's left to RAG and the Sayan Squad to destroy it before The General can use it and complete his dreams of total annihilation.'''

Plot Summary
Outside Universe 45's Sol system, the Rebel fleet prepared ot assault the Moonbase where Project Blackstar's prototype was said to be located. While Amadeus strategized the flagship Carrion with Universe 45's Commander Nostrad, the crew of the Vulture and the Sayan Squad prepared for battle. Jack and Kanako were still out of commission, but the latter along with Saiyo went to see the group before they left. Saiyo expressed her apologies for not being able to join them on the mission, due what happened previously.

Amadeus soon returned to the Vulture, much to the captain's surprise, who expected the Commander to serve aboard the Carrion with Nostrad. Amadeus said that he would be directing the ground battle while Nostrad would command the space battle, and as a result Amadeus needed to be with the carrier group, of which the Vulture was designated as the leader.

Nostrad's fleet entered their warp tunnels taking a "slow jump" to allow for final strategies. Amadeus had G Squadron and the Anathemites prepare to assist them in the space battle, providing cover fire while the carrier group moved for the moonbase. Amadeus warned them to prepare for a full battle, as he had no doubt that the Supervisor was expecting an attack like this. Their specific mission during the flight in was to keep the Vulture can the rest of the carrier group safe, which also meant taking out several of the moonbase's anti-aircraft guns. After that, the carrier group would move to their designated landing zones and the soldiers they carried with them would infiltrate the moonbase, the Sayan Squad included. Arachnos offered to help during the flight, but Amadeus denied his request, saying he wanted him in full shape for the ground mission.

Shortly thereafter, the Vulture returned to real space, right into the heart of a massive space battle. Nostrad's forces had fully engaged the Supervisor's defenses, which also included Pacifiers, Patrols, and legions of Z-24s and MEPs. The dark side of the moon was lit up by all the crossfire and by the moonbase itself; their target.

Amadeus led the carrier group through the battlefield and towards their target, while the Anathemites stuck close to protect them. They were met by Z-24s and MEPs, while the Pacifiers turned their attention to the carrier groups themselves, the Vulture in particular. Nostrad dispatched several wings of Mimics to act as escorts, while Rebel battleships took on the Pacifiers. The battleships greatly outclassed the Pacifiers, allowing the battleships to sacrifice their own shielding for the sake of the carriers against the Pacifiers' "Big Ones." Rebel Destroyers also moved in to protect the carrier group, lending their support.

Half of the escort later left the carrier group to attack the lunar defenses, while the carrier group hung back. A massive radar-dish like device soon protruded from the moonbase, and charged up. After a few minutes' charge, it fired a massive and devastating black beam, revealing the "face" of Project Blackstar. It would fire several of these shots throughout the battle, taking several minutes between each volley to charge. Nostrad sent battleships to block the blast, crippling their shields in the process. Nostrad warned Amadeus that the ground troops had to land soon, as Nostrad wasn't sure the battleships could handle another blast.

Amadeus ordered the carrier group to split up into three lines, making them harder targets for the Blackstar prototype to hit. Once all three sub-groups reached the moonbase itself, they scattered to make it to their landing zone. The Vulture recalled the Sayan Squad, and directed them towards a dome-like structure near Blackstar itself. The Vulture, Anathemites, and other carriers of the group opened fire to blow a hole in the dome's ceiling, and rushed into the spaceport before it sealed itself up.

Once inside, the carriers demolished any space-worthy craft in the hangar and assisted with clearing the spaceport of the enemy presence. The soldiers leaped from the carriers as they hovered, and pushed outward. Ketsueki led the charge, making a foolhardy rush into an access hall. The rest of the Sayan Squad followed him behind, and behind them the rest of the soldiers. The Rebels were met with strong resistance beyond the door, in the form of The General's soldiers. The Rebel soldiers managed to hold their own however, and another fierce battle was waged within the narrow halls. Yet another machine designed by the Supervisor, this type surprising the enemy by coming out of floor tiles, was unveiled, and was used against the Rebels.

Once the hall was clear, the Rebel soldiers split up, leaving two to back up the Sayan Squad as they moved for the Blackstar prototype's core. They were soon met with an ambush that had them pinned down. The Rebel soldiers tried to hold off The General's men, giving time for the Sayan Squad to reach their destination. Ketsueki lagged behind, stuffing a grenade inside a computer monitor to buy himself a clear path. Unfortunately, the doors had begun to seal, trapping the Sayan Squad in the core access without backup.

Supervisor Arachnos' visage became visible on the screens within, pleading with the rebels to stop. The Sayan Squad had no interest in what he had to say, calling him a hypocrite and accusing him of being a "traitor" to Gensokyo. They claimed he lied to even himself to hide that he had what he wanted all along: perfect order, and with this order came the ability for him to "tinker" with the lives of those subjected to his rule. Enraged, Arachnos warned them to prepare to face what he described as one of his "finest creations," since they clearly had no intention of ceasing their attack. The doors to the core itself began to open, and then the Sayan Squad blacked out.

The Sayan Squad found themselves trapped within a dream-like space, surrounding by an abyssal black void with their only point of reference being floating blue lights of various shapes. To each other, everyone was difficult to see or hear, though not impossible. At best everyone appeared hazy to one another, and sounded muffled. The Anathemites were of particular difficulty to perceive, sans to each other. In fact, the Anathemites were described as seeing each other "more clearly than they ever have before." Once everyone had established themselves, determining where they were became the central topic of discussion.

At first it was suggested that they may be in Nihility. However, they had no reason to believe The General had the means to utilize Nihility period, much less trap them in it. There was also the issue of them still being conscious. The idea would seem less and less likely as their time within it wore on. To try and test the theory, Terminos summoned a Nihility orb. It then subsequently exploded in his face rather violently. The resulting explosion was capable of being heard very clearly by all, and soon the Anathemites began to disappear. Though to the Anathemites, they saw the opposite. They witnessed the rest of the Sayan Squad fade away and become inaudible, until at last neither group was capable of interacting with the other.

The blue lights began to dance and move around in complex patterns in front of the remaining members of the Sayan Squad, Other colors soon joined in, until eventually the lights settled on a hazy image that appeared to the individual members as "home," that is, what ever member would consider home was what they saw (i.e., Arachnos saw Equestria, Vate saw Erinn, etc.). The homely image quickly twisted, however, showing their home covered with Sayans, with The General's ships hanging above them. Paladin, seeing Tarlach in the sight, attempted to reach out to him, only for the projection itself to stop him. He then felt a Sayan tentacle crawl up through him, as Druid attempted to rescue his comrade, only to suffer the same fate. Shortly thereafter, the image wrapped itself around all members of the Sayan Squad, and "consumed" them.

Each found themselves now cut off from one another entirely, and instead enduring their own personal hells, being confronted with their deepest regrets and losses. Arachnos was faced with the deaths of Princess Celestia and Flandre, as well as the rest of the Scarlet Devil Mansion residents with SDM himself accusing Arachnos of being responsible. Paladin found himself in Erinn, facing down Morrighan who scolded him for failing to protect Erinn from The General. Vate, meanwhile, walked through his hometown, witnessing either dead or conscripted friends. Kazoku, revealed to be the heir to the throne from his own version of Japan, stood in the same rom as his mutilated mother and father. Shade was trapped in a great void, where the home he never knew used to be. All the rest of G Squadron shared a similar fate.

The Anathemites, meanwhile, continued to experiment with Nihility, the explosions caused by it still capable of being heard even by the others. their actions brought their attention to a strange cluster of lights that moved for them, going faster with every explosion. The Anathemites never saw any of the things the rest of their friends did, at best they would see fragmented images. They heard a scream as an invisible presence tried to stop them from approaching the light cluster, but yet another explosion freed them. Desperate, this presence used all of its strength to produce an image of Executor, staring at them with disapproval from atop Canterlot. It was Olyn who destroyed the illusion, having dealt with Executor's passing already. The cluster came upon them, revealing it to be the Eye of Anathemus.

The Eye of Anathemus was different from what had been seen already. It felt more "real" than what had come across already, and its massive presence was even felt by the other members of the Sayan Squad. It was visible to them as well as the Eye washed over them all. The non-Anathemite members of the Sayan Squad found themselves experiencing a state between existence and non-existence, with parts of their bodies being lost to nothing only to return. The Anathemites themselves, however, experienced the opposite, feeling stronger than they ever had even before the Lunar Cell attack. The phantom screaming only intensified as the Anathemites literally tore apart the dream space, sending all members of the Sayan Squad back to reality.

They awoke back in the moonbase, inside the Blackstar prototype's core. An oversized and mutated brain was observed suspended by some cables over them, still recoiling from the backlash of having its psychic hold over the infiltrators broken. Ketsueki did not greet the sight well, apparently quite disturbed by it. Before long, the brain recovered, and it was lowered into a modified Harvester chassis. The Harvester had three external optic sensors resembling eyes, one of which was closed. It was also colored gold and black, and decorated in roses, hinting that the brain at one point belonged to Koishi.

The special Harvester attacked the Sayan Squad with modified weaponry, as well as distracting them with a few illusions. After the second eye was destroyed, however, the third eye opened, bringing with it an entire new realm of psychic attacks. Koishi summoned several apparitions from the Sayan Squad's past, including Vocus and Hellgate, sending them against its enemies. It also altered its own appearance, such as taking on the form of Aurion. However, by then the Sayan Squad had caught on to the Harvester's tricks, and focused on taking out the last eye. Severely weakened, the Harvester unleashed one more crushing psychic wave in an attempt to bring down the Sayan Squad, but a few members resisted the pain, and destroyed the final eye. Meanwhile, Ketsueki climbed the crippled machine, now blinded and cut off from, its psychic powers. He tore off the machine's covering, exposing the brain. With help from Oneiros, Terminos, and Kazoku, they managed to break through its casing, and Ketsueki stuck a spare blaster straight into it. The Harvester collapsed, and momentarily blew up as the spare blaster overloaded.

The core itself was finally revealed, having been previously hidden by Koishi's illusions. Now exposed, the Sayan Squad attacked it directly, causing a crack in the Force Crystal core which started to arc around the room, severely damaging the machinery. The prototype than began to collapse, threatening to take out part of the moonbase with it. The Sayan Squad rushed back to the spaceport and the Vulture, shortly thereafter joined by other Rebel soldiers. The carrier group demolished the spaceport's shutters and returned to the space battle, watching the Blackstar prototype collapse and crush half of the moonbase.

Their victory was not long to last, however, as Commander Nostrad picked up a new group of enemy signals. Another division of the occupational fleet was inbound, led by a gigantic and heavily altered Suika, operated by none other than the Supervisor himself. Her brain had been removed entirely, and her hollow cranium converted into a control room for the Supervisor and his pilots and technicians. The Supervisor cursed the Rebellion and the Sayan Squad specifically for ruining everything, accusing them of putting Gensokyo in even more danger. He reiterated that everything he did was for Gensokyo's protection, and now feared it was all for naught and that they would all suffer The General's wrath. But, he reasoned to himself that if he could take revenge on those responsible, he could still "save" everyone.

Nostrad and Amadeus both ordered the Rebel fleet and the Sayan to attack Suika and terminate the Supervisor. At first, Giga Suika relied on her heavy mounted weaponry to attack. G Squadron was sent to take care of it while the rest of the Sayan Squad went for the face, where the Supervisor was operating her from. Both were assisted by the Rebel fleet itself, and Suika was pelted by fire from all sides. She held her own, however, and managed to take out a few rebel ships before losing her weaponry. Making a temporary retreat, Arachnos started calling on her magic, ripping off chunks of the moon or forming a miniature black hole to suck in and crush anything unable to escape its pull.

Nostrad began to order a retreat, to which Amadeus argued against. Nostrad said that they had no chance against that kind of magic, but Amadeus insisted that Arachnos wouldn't be using such abilities were he not in danger. For Suika's final attack, she started opening up hundreds of miniature black holes scattered across the battlezone, as well as white vorticies that unleashed torrents of destructive energies. The Rebel fleet and Sayan Squad were both forced to back off, all except Ketsueki. Ketsueki, against the pleas of the rest of his team and orders from Amadeus himself, Ketsueki charged forward, nearly losing his Mimic in the process. Nevertheless, he made it to Suika's face and cut right into one of the eyes. As the technicians scrambled to seal off the leak, the spell ended, leaving Suika vulnerable to attack. Amadeus had the Vulture rush forward while Kazoku brought Ketsueki's damaged Mimic to it (which had by this point lost everything but its torso and right arm). The rest of the Sayan Squad, however, pushed their attack, until the Supervisor was forced to detach his creation's head in an attempt to escape.

Giga-Suika's head rushed for earth in full retreat, but the Sayan Squad pursued. They focused their attacks on the engine, blowing it up and turning the head into a fireball as it fell to Earth. The Supervisor pleased with them to stop, but was ultimately silenced as the head malfunctioned.

The General's forces on Earth-M745 suffered a major loss. Not only did they lose control of Gensokyo, but they lost the prototype Blackstar, the moonbase, and now their Supervisor as well. Amadeus reminded them all of this as he congratulated them for a job well done. He apologized that they did not find any Sayans, but even so the Sayan Squad had helped score a massive victory for the Rebellion. Amadeus, confident that Nostrad could clean up the rest, had the Vulture prepare to return to EAO17, but not before confronting Ketsueki over his actions. Saiyo as well had slapped him for it, but Ketsueki remained firm, saying that his move probably saved more lives and left it wide open. Amadeus countered that they would have suffered the same casualties plus one more if Ketsueki failed, but Ketsueki replied that he didn't fail.

Amadeus gave up on the argument, seeing as it was going in circles, and quickly returned to his previous demeanor. With promises of a celebration in the lounge once they returned, the Vulture returned home.

Soundtrack

 * 1) Opening Theme - Main Theme (Sonic: Time Attacked)
 * 2) Prepare for Warp - Restricted Area (Duke Nukem 3D)
 * 3) Mission Briefing - Main Theme Reprise (Star Wars: Rogue Squadron)
 * 4) Project Blackstar - Robotnik's Theme (Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM))
 * 5) The Battle of Earth-M745 - Bolse (Star Fox 64)
 * 6) Breakthrough - Gold Dusk (Twilight Wing)
 * 7) Into the Moonbase - Aliens, Say Your Prayers! (Duke Nukem 3D) (Arachno soundfont)
 * 8) The Supervisor's Warning - Stage 8 (Duke Nukem Manhattan Project)
 * 9) Visions of the Future - Burned Bodies (OFF)
 * 10) Shades of the Past (Nox Arcana)
 * 11) The Dreamer's Eye - The Last Judgement (Super Robot Wars 3)
 * 12) The Mind of Madness: Vs. Koishi - Demon Tale Sonata (dBu)
 * 13) Philosophy of a Hateful Person: Vs. Koishi Phase 2 - Hartmann's Youkai Girl (TAM and Keigo Kanzaki remix)
 * 14) Out of the Inferno - Wacky Workbench Bad Future (Sonic CD; Japanese version)
 * 15) The Supervisor's Wrath - Deathborn (F-Zero GX)
 * 16) Ultimate Weapon: Vs. Giga-Suika - Time Eater Phase 1 + 2 Mashup (Sonic Generations)
 * 17) Rage: Vs. Giga-Suika Phase 2 - Rage (Godspeed)
 * 18) Escape Plan - Neo Cortex (Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back)
 * 19) An End to Tyranny - Main Theme (Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader)
 * 20) Ending Theme - Dream a Dream (Pop It Don't Drop It Edit)

Trivia

 * This episode, like the one before it, was an interrupted broadcast.
 * The second part was ran the day after.
 * Like all episodes of the M745 miniarc, this episode was co-written and co-GMed by both SDM and Arachnos.
 * This episode's title has a twofold meaning: It first references the battle on the moonbase, and secondly foreshadows Giga-Suika's appearance, "Broken Moon" being the name of one of her themes.
 * Originally, Nue Houjuu was intended to appear in this episode, and Koishi Komeiji in the previous. However, the decision was made to switch the two at SDM's suggestion.
 * It was Arachnos' idea to have Koishi trap everyone in their own mental prisons, though the exeuction of it was carried out by SDM.
 * This was the first time the backstories of G Squadron members Shade and Kazoku were hinted at.
 * Originally, Koishi's battle would have involved two 30-minutes long phases. One would have been against her real form, and the second one was to be an over-the-top battle in the protagonists' minds against all of their regrets manifested against them, set to the music Rex Duodecim Angelus. However, due to multiple problems with the mechanics of this and the flow of the episode, the battle had to be modified at SDM's request. The "mental" phase was thus made a non-battle section and moved to before the main battle, which lasted 30 minutes and had two 15-minute mini-phases. The ability to summon mental constructs to attack the heroes in the second phase was carried over from the originally planned fully mental battle.
 * The "Bolse Defense Outpost" theme from Star Fox 64 was re-used and titled after its usage in The Hellgate Gaiden, where it was used for a similar space battle over Earth-M717.
 * This episode introduced a new type of drone - the Trapper, which lurks underneath trapped tiles and pulls enemies that approach through the floor. This drone was inspired by trapdoor spiders.