Ch 7 Prologue "Force Recon"

We've been using the time the Tesseract and the Nirvana have been using trying to locate the Pillar of Autumn crashsite by giving Idris a crash course lesson in piloting one of the many UNSC Longswords in our hanger. We've got more than enough Verein units and spare Zakus in the hanger with more than enough equipment to arm two or three to the teeth but we really need more capable flying units since we haven't got the flight upgraded AG-01 or the UFO and the Leoship comparatively sucks...

Easy come easy go. Dan has a gut feeling that there's something very wrong with the ring like structure we're currently on, the Tesseract and Nirvana unable to properly locate the Pillar of Autumn's crashsite. He has no real option other than to cut loose and go out on a solo man operation to check the ring world on his lonesome leaving the rest of the team to continue the rescue operation without him. Easy come easy go...

There is an upside though, he's leaving Rin in our care whilst he's out. Our own fairy, now we'll never be alone! Captain scientist will call for a mission briefing as Idris continues to work on locating the crash site .
John's still a little butt hurt about the Jackie affair back on Amatsu but someone needs to inform the Master Chief about how a bunch of kids in hastily put together mechs fended off an attack all on their lonesome. At least he's a realist but if he wasn't so confrontational about it maybe he'd be a little more popular.

Idris has managed to locate where the crash site is and with an adjustment to the two ships' course we should make it in about four hours. The conversation then moves onto what should be done about the ring world and the heavy Covenant presence.
The thought of blowing the whole place up makes Jean let slip a piece of information she shouldn't know. Master Chief will grill her a little on where she aquired this information but she's been sword to secrecy based on her honor as a mercenary for hire. Magno eventually joins the briefing as well via a communications link and is about to be brought up to date on the plan when Hotariko decides to throw a few questions she's been meaning to ask Dan.
Rin's habbit of being all moe and speaking in one word sentences acts as a cockblock buffer but Hotariko still manages to extract what she wants to know with a bit of psychological analysing. The sly devil...nun. There's a multitude of cute new facial expressions for Hotariko here as well.

The rescue operation will involve a scouting team who'll be responsible for actually locating our downed allies and make sure the place we find them in is secure enough for the ships to move in on. It's going to have to be small so as not to draw attention to itself. Magno is commiting a Dread to the operation, whilst Natalie decides Emma, Ikarane, Jean and Keeruu will be best for the scouting unit as well.

If Emma doesn't have the highest possible relationship so far with Anderson then she'll be really worried about being left in an almost all girls team with Keeru around and will be replaced with Hotariko. Otherwise...
Emma's a good girl who want's to rescue Anderson even if it means having to put up with Keeruu for the next few hours. With the debriefing over if you picked up the battle mastery from the last mission the Natalie will request Tenea and Master Chief's help in putting together a new frame for the Verein Zero, not that it'll be ready any time soon.
Ramuiko, Anderson and Caile have currently set up camp, trying to get a hot meal down their throats as Keyes, Gaiablade and the prisoner scout out a Covenant position blocking their way further down a valley.
The meal comes to an abrupt end when the scouting team return with a covenant patrol coming after them. With the jig being up it's time to head out and meet them head on, Anderson will tinker a bit if Keyes took the Warthog so that it's rear mounted LAAG can be fired from the driver's seat without a rear gunner. Even the grunt prisoner we've caught seems to be fired up, more due to a desire to stay alive than to fight his friends since he's now pretty much conidered a traitor for what he's done.

Sub Mission 6 "Boarding Action"

What's that? What's that glimmer? That tiny light in the distance coiled in obsidian? Is that...it is! A glorious update after an uneasy tide of silence. With it a vast number of updates from new gameplay features to new improved graphical updates and even another chapter. Since there was no sub mission 5 we move onto the fifth sub mission, numero six which'll probably lead to nothing but confusion later on. Oh well.

When we last joined the task force we were in a pretty sorry state. We've lost Ramuiko's Zeon team, the Pillar of Autumn and even our loveable commander to a long drawn out engagement with Covenant forces. There's a rescue operation drawn up to get whoever's still alive on the ring like structure back into the saftey of the Tesseract so almost everyone's going about their daily buisness...however some people are affected by the ordeal a little more than the others...

Jean's in a pretty bad way, without her favorite walking talking plush toy out and around on deck to bug about the huge number of miscellaneous contracts that are piling up (I guess the poor lass forgot we're now in the ass end of nowhere). She's left with a big massive void of time to wallow in an Andersonless enviroment but worry not, help is at hand.
The two female characters who are the most desperate for Anderson's love in a game mechanics sort of way short of Albino maido sharing a room together can't be good... Or as it turns out maybe it is. With someone to room with Jean gets to unload a little of what's weighing her down on Emma who turns out to be pretty understanding, as to be expected of the greatest girl next door character.

If Anderson's been charming the socks off Jean whenever possible then when she mentions an incident involving him walking in on her after a shower she goes into a little more detail.
Nothing happened though but it's revealed the Anderson's pretty comfortable around Jean's company, even if she is sopping wet and naked. The commander's a pretty cool guy, walks in on naked girls and doesn't afraid of anything.

After this short exchange the first flag based off battle masteries will kick in. If you've been a good boy scout and endavoured to accomplish every little task then Jean will be hit by an excellent idea, the possibility of her own Aer frame, putting to use that useless Leoship we have but it looks like she's going to need Emma's help.

MEANWHILE. In Keeruu's and Bruno's quarters.
Not good, not good at all. Here we get another conversation based on past events. If Yohko gave Keeruu a sound beating over being a jerk with the quiz in sub missions past then she'll attempt to patch things up between the two. Keeruu's a bit of a blockhead though and messes up Yohko's mojo a bit. You can feel the love.

If however you beat the rest of the boys in the quiz then it's just a simple house call to get Keeruu off Emma's back with all the latest teasing. Just outside the room Natalie will run into the group and will announce she intends to board the Nirvana to properly introduce herself to our new allies. Keeru, Bruno and Yohko agree to tag along only to get interrupted by Emma and Jean arriving on the scene, they want to come along too. If Jean's bright idea popped up in her head a little earlier though you might be prompted to make a choice.

All the way back in sub mission one whatever you decided to do will effect the possibility of getting an upgrade for Jean. If you decided to keep the UFO and the reward then the friendship sparked up between Natalie and Jean will get you the option of upgrading the AG-01 to a full flight mode. If you did anything else then I'm afriad it's going to be up to the commander when he gets back.

With all that done and dusted it's time for the group to head over to the Nirvana for general introductions and it looks like Tenea and Idris are coming along as well.
Damn aliens and their football pitch sized bridges. From here on though everything's pretty linear as the small group of Verein pilots, Anderson's "Pets" and Captain Scientist trade calling cards. Oddly enough though amongst a ship almost entierly crewed by women Keeruu and Bruno want to talk to the Vanguard's pilot and are taken to the brig where the males onboard are being held.
The guys in the brig have some pretty extremist views about our women. Hotariko maybe, but gentle little Emma? Tenea feeding off entrails? There's a vore guro doujin in there somewhere.

After the girls have finished up their meeting it's revealed that the Nirvana crew could be from the future or even from another dimension. It's the only real explanation that would make sense. With nowhere else to go they agree to assist us as their own independant organization seperate from the G.A.C officially at least untill they can find a way home.

The crew of the Nirvana are all formed up on the bridge for a full introduction of the Nirvana crew. It takes a bit of effort to drag Keeruu and Bruno away from the Nirvana bridge, but nothing good old Yohko can handle.
Back onboard the Tesseract Jean and Emma endavour to tell everyone else who wasn't present about everything that's happened onboard, Natalie and Tenea will go about ship buisness and Bruno runs off for some exercise leaving Keeruu and Yohko alone for an akward moment if their relationship has started.

From here it's pretty much buisness as usual as we prepare to enter the atmosphere of the ring world. Nothing else changes in the dialogue but for the final moments we get Jean attempting to break the ice with Mr Stoic Master Chief, Joel (Remember him?) ending up as unofficial ship bartender and another new nickname for Anderson's pet.
Reward
No real major reward here unless you got the chance to upgrade the AG-01 in which case...
- Upgrade AG-01J to AG-01J FLY

Snapshot: Everyone but Natalie Level 15

A quick look at where everyone stands at level 15 after the shenanigans that were Chapter 6.

Anderson Haaru
Statistics
SP 80
MEL 98
RNG 96
ACC 110
EVA 113
SKL 100
REF 97
Abilities
-Command- Support attackers act before counter attacks.
-Leadership Rank 4- +20 to accuracy and evasion stat to friendly targets within 2 squares.
-Intercept Rank 4- Chance of intercepting ranged attacks with the 'physical bullet' keyword with ranged weapons.
-Slasher Rank 3- Chance of nulifying melee attacks with the 'rush' keyword and ranged attacks with the 'physical bullet' keyword with a slash capable melee weapon.
-Shield Block Rank 4- Chance of applying shield effects from currently equiped shield.
-Helper Rank 2- Two support actions per phase.
SP Commands
-Fleeting 10 SP- +5 to next movement.
-Attention 25 SP- Accuracy and evasion chance set to 100% for an entire turn.
Possible Relationships
-Emma Galstein Rank 1- +5 morale
Notes: Nerf paladins.

Bruno Rodriguez
Statistics
SP 80
MEL 95
RNG 99
ACC 106
EVA 106
SKL 97
REF 97
Abilities
-Intercept Rank 3- Chance of intercepting ranged attacks with the 'physical bullet' keyword with ranged weapons.
-Helper Rank 2- Two support actions per phase.
SP Commands
-Great Effort 20 SP- Doubles next battle's experience reward.
-Concentrate 15 SP- Accuracy and evasion are adjusted by 30% for an entire turn.
-Hot Blood 40 SP- Next attack's damage calculation post defensive abilities is doubled.
-Accelerate 10 SP- +3 to next movement.
Possible Relationships
-None!
Notes: "Bruno Rodriguez, sniping the target!"

Emma Galstein
Statistics
SP 90
MEL 91
RNG 97
ACC 114
EVA 109
SKL 99
REF 103
Abilities
-Slasher Rank 3- Chance of nulifying melee attacks with the 'rush' keyword and ranged attacks with the 'physical bullet' keyword with a slash capable melee weapon.
-Shield Block Rank 2- Chance of applying shield effects from currently equiped shield.
-Helper Rank 2- Two support actions per phase.
SP Commands
-Mercy 10 SP- Next attack will not destroy a unit despite damage calculation.
-Concentrate 15 SP- Accuracy and evasion are adjusted by 30% for an entire turn.
-Flash 15 SP- Evasion chance is set to 100% for next attack.
Possible Relationships
-Anderson Haaru Rank 2- +8 morale
-Tenea Rank 1- +5 morale
Notes: Miracle of the universe.

Ikarane Delerain
Statistics
SP 75
MEL 97
RNG 94
ACC 109
EVA 106
SKL 90
REF 102
Abilities
-Helper Rank 2- Two support actions per phase.
SP Commands
-Concentrate 15 SP- Accuracy and evasion are adjusted by 30% for an entire turn.
-Fetter 10 SP- Reduces an enemy unit's movement to 1 for a turn.
-Super Guts 40 SP- Repairs the unit to full HP instantly.
Possible Relationships
-None!
Notes: Mellow hacker with real and super type Sp Command listing.

John Corry
Statistics
SP 90
MEL 100
RNG 95
ACC 109
EVA 104
SKL 94
REF 96
Abilities
-Slasher Rank 2- Chance of nulifying melee attacks with the 'rush' keyword and ranged attacks with the 'physical bullet' keyword with a slash capable melee weapon.
-Helper Rank 2- Two support actions per phase.
SP Commands
-Super Guts 40 SP- Repairs the unit to full HP instantly.
-Flash 10 SP- Evasion chance is set to 100% for next defensive action.
-Lock On 15 SP- Accuracy chance is set to 100% for an entire turn.
Possible Relationships
-None!
Notes: Kai Shiden turned super pilot.

Keeruu Alhamdah
Statistics
SP 82
MEL 97
RNG 96
ACC 103
EVA 103
SKL 95
REF 94
Abilities
-Endurance Rank 1- Improved damage reduction when choosing to defend during defensive actions.
-Helper Rank 2- Two support actions per phase.
SP Commands
-Accelerate 10 SP- +3 to next movement.
-Lock On 15 SP- Accuracy chance is set to 100% for an entire turn.
Possible Relationships
-Yohko Miury Rank 1- +5 morale
Notes: Pervert.

Ray Va'Shir
Statistics
SP 85
MEL 90
RNG 76
ACC 112
EVA 116
SKL 94
REF 85
Abilities
-Helper Rank 2- Two support actions per phase.
SP Commands
-Great Effort 20 SP- Doubles next battle's experience reward.
-Flash 15 SP- Evasion chance is set to 100% for next attack.
-Bless 60 SP- Doubles money earned by any allied unit in their next battle.
Possible Relationships
-None!
Notes: Still useless. More Russel now that he has bless but it costs far too much.

Yohko Miury
Statistics
SP 79
MEL 97
RNG 92
ACC 112
EVA 109
SKL 96
REF 98
Abilities
-Mechanic Rank 2- Improves the final calculation of activated repair effects.
-Helper Rank 2- Two support actions per phase.
SP Commands
-Lock On 15 SP- Accuracy chance is set to 100% for an entire turn.
-Sense 30 SP- Gain the effects of Flash and Lock On.
-Steel Soul 35 SP- Doubles unit's armor rating for an entire turn before damage calculation.
Possible Relationships
-Anderson Haaru Rank 1- +5 morale
Notes: Moralfag turned Super Robot pilot. Steel Soul!

Jean Kay
Statistics
SP 100
MEL 97
RNG 106
ACC 122
EVA 115
SKL 107
REF 106
Abilities
-Character Rank 3- +30% to all experience earned from any source.
-Intercept Rank 1- Chance of intercepting ranged attacks with the 'physical bullet' keyword with ranged weapons.
-Helper Rank 2- Two support actions per phase.
SP Commands
-Concentrate 15 SP- Accuracy and evasion are adjusted by 30% for an entire turn.
-Flash 15 SP- Evasion chance is set to 100% for next attack.
-Focus 40 SP- Instantly gain +10 morale.
Possible Relationships
-Anderson Haaru Rank 2- +8 morale
Notes: Nerf hunters.

Hotariko Kirumanzy
Statistics
SP 90
MEL 102
RNG 85
ACC 119
EVA 121
SKL 85
REF 97
Abilities
-Slasher Rank 2- Chance of nulifying melee attacks with the 'rush' keyword and ranged attacks with the 'physical bullet' keyword with a slash capable melee weapon.
-Helper Rank 2- Two support actions per phase.
SP Commands
-Guts 15 SP- Instantly repairs a third of a unit's maximum hit points.
Possible Relationships
-None!
Notes: Nerf shadow priests.

Stana Obal
Statistics
SP 106
MEL 96
RNG 97
ACC 107
EVA 117
SKL 96
REF 90
Abilities
-Potential- If hitpoints fall below 1/4 maximum then accuracy and evasion are adjusted by 30% until above 1/4/
-Proud=Beam- All weapons with the "Beam" keyword do additional damage.
-Helper Rank 2- Two support actions per phase.
SP Commands
-Flash 15 SP- Evasion chance is set to 100% for next attack.
-Concentrate 15 SP- Accuracy and evasion are adjusted by 30% for an entire turn.
-Great Effort 20 SP- Doubles next battle's experience reward.
Possible Relationships
-None!
Notes: Das loli.

Idris
Statistics
SP 67
MEL 95
RNG 101
ACC 113+5
EVA 118+5
SKL 113
REF 110
Abilities
-Android- +5 to accuracy and evasion. Maybe some future advantages later on?
-Intercept Rank 1- Chance of intercepting ranged attacks with the 'physical bullet' keyword with ranged weapons.
-Helper Rank 2- Two support actions per phase.
SP Commands
-Analyze 1 SP- Give detailed statistics on enemy target.
-Jamming 30 SP- Halves an enemy's overall accuracy calculation.
-Mastery 20 SP- For one turn all non MAP weapons are considered post-movement weapons.
Possible Relationships
-None!
Notes: Das robut.

In Depth: Idris Levels 1-15

Idris

Starting Level: 8
Terrain Modifiers: Air- B Ground- A Water- C Space- A
SP Commands: Jamming 30, Analyze 1
Passive Abilities: Android, Helper Lvl 1
Weapon Preference: Ranged Attacks. Still pretty awesome with melee attacks.
Notes: Untill someone else says otherwise Idris is now a permanant pilot in the team and can really show the students how to operate mobile suits and Vereins.

Idris' base stats will show a glaring weakness in her SP pool which is TINY compared to everyone else in the team with only 67 SP available at level 15 which is a far cry off from the lowest of the current team Ikarane who has 75. Androids can't be hot blooded :(

Everything else about her is pretty amazing. Her attacking stats clock in well above average with a solid ranged statistic supported by a powerful melee capacity. Idris takes over as well as the character with the highest reflexes in the team surpassing that of Jean. Combined with her Android ability boosting her already impressive accuracy and evasion statistics Idris will be the most evasive member in the group and almost the most accurate.

She'll pick up a passive defensive support ability at level 11 in the form of rank 1 Interception and gains the ability to support two allies with rank 2 helper at level 10.

Idris' SP Command listing however is mostly team support based with no directly supporting abilities available to her at the start. She has Analyze which is exactly like SEAS in which we get to have a closer look at enemy units. Jamming costs her 30 SP to use but is a pretty big debuff on a single big enemy or boss, reducing the target's accuracy by half more of a full on team ability than a self defence ability.

This leaves a big gaping hole in Idris' defence which is somewhat smoothed out a little with Mastery becoming available at level 15. Mastery is a 20SP ability that turns all of Idris' attacks into post-movement attacks except for those with the map keyword. This means she can move and shoot with big weapons like the Beam Shooter or Gatling Maser, this can put her out of range of a counter attack and still be deadly or be incredibly usefull when movement is paramount in a stage.

Character Notes:
An emotionless robot built to be walking talking personal assistant to Anderson so far Idris' role has been pretty low key. She can't form her own opinion, she has no extremist views to draw off and the only dynamic to her so far has been her desire to go out and pilot something for survival purposes. She is true robot moe. Her inbuilt selflessness and robotic understanding that she's just a "thing" will probably be her true dynamic characteristic as our rowdy bunch of teenagers try to teach her that she's more than just a PDA with boobs, at least to them...maybe not Keeruu.

In Depth: C709-Longsword

C709-Longsword
UNSC Interceptor...

Obtained Where: Unit Survives Chapter 6
Fixed Weapons:
- 110mm Rotary Cannons
- 120mm Ventral Guns
- ASGM-10 Missiles
Hardpoints:
- None!
Adjustable Features:
-1 x Powerup Slot (Empty)
-1 x Armor Slot (Empty)
-1 x Shielding Slot (Empty)
-1 x Engine Slot (Empty)
-1 x Computer Slot (Empty)
-1 x Booster Slot (Empty)
-1 x Misc Slot (Empty)
-1 x Consumable Slot (Empty)
-1 x Food Slot (Empty)
Terrain Features: Full flight.
Piloting Restrictions: Nobody can pilot them! Halo characters only.
Notes: We've seen the UNSC pilots put these things through their paces. Now it's our turn! Or it would be if anyone knew how to fly the thing. Look at that delicious statline.

It's got a higher mobility and movement stat compared to the Lechiffon in it's fighter mode though it's medium size will probably bring just a little lower in evasive capabilities in exchange for a much more rugged unit capable of taking an extra hit or two and pushing out a slight more damage.

The Longsword's Rotary Cannons are a post movement range 1-4 shooting attack. It has a +25 bonus to accuracy with a good solid critical hit chance. It has a good ammunition reserve with 12 rounds and is the Longsword's most suitable weapon for engaging ground based targets and to a lesser effect those underwater.

The Ventral guns are pretty much exactly the same as the Rotary cannons with a near identical statline baring an upgrade to damage and different terrain modifiers. The Ventrals are the Longsword's weapon of choice when it comes to shooting down other aibourne and spacebourne targets.

The ASGM-10 Missiles are limited in ammunition with only 4 rounds but they have an extended range of 2-6. They're not as accurate or have as high a critical chance as the guns but they push out alot more damage. You'll probably have seen the Longswords swatting down covenant forces pretty well in the last two chapters with these things.

Just a real shame none of the students have an idea on how to fly this thing otherwise it'd be a really awesome replacement for the Verein on gravity levels for anyone with horrible ground terrain abilities.

In Depth: Gellme

Gellme
Stripped Down Maintenence Einhander...

First Deployed: Chapter 6
Fixed Weapons: None!
Hardpoints:
- None!
Adjustable Features:
-1 x Armor Slot (Empty)
-1 x Engine Slot (Empty)
-1 x Computer Slot (Empty)
-1 x Booster Slot (Empty)
-1 x Misc Slot (Empty)
-1 x Consumable Slot (Empty)
-1 x Food Slot (Empty)
Terrain Features: Full flight.
Additional Features:
- Field Repair System 30% Repair Function
Piloting Restrictions: None so far.
Notes: It's got an arm...so it's only a matter of time before some sassy scientist gets the idea of sticking a weapon on it. Anyway it seems the maintenece team have been keeping this nifty little unit a secret from the rest of us as it would have been nice to actually make Ray USEFUL beyond his ham handed wet noodle attacks.

The Gellme is a pure support unit, only mounting a Field Repair System, where it probably goes around with a welding tool fixing up a single damage unit which can greatly enhance the combat life of many of your units at the cost of loosing potential damage output and putting the Gellme dangerously close into combat.

The Gellme's defensive capabilitys can be reinforced though thanks to an adjustable armor slot and booster slot but sometimes offense will be the best defence. The Gellme's going to be great for getting lower leveled pilots up to the same standards as everyone else so if anyone's in a bad way experience wise give them a few rounds on an easy simulator repairing allied targets.

Ch 6 Epilogue "Captain King. Meet Admiral Scientist."

We're WASTED, at the lack of a better term everyone's pretty much pooped from all the combat. Despite having lost a few of our friends tempoarily to the combat, or in some cases a friend, a war hero and a bunch of dirty zeeks morale's still pretty high with a few new fresh faces onboard...

Okay maybe the Chief doesn't have as much of a face. Helmet. Tang Visor. Whatever. Eitherway he's oboard, Dan's onboard and so are the UNSC Longsword pilots who are probably recieving the most incredible high fives ever from the maintenence crews and the former Zaku I and Zaku Flipper pilots. Welcome to team background supporting cast where you'll never be heard of again...

The Chief's suprised that the G.A.C has it's own well armed military unit now out and about spreading peace and love through superior firepower. It all makes sense though when he realizes it's made up of almost nothing but kids.


Your times will come, don't worry. Jean will bring Dan and his assistant Rin onto the bridge to give her completly proffessional report to our acting commander Natalie. Her attempt to get into the piloting seat of the evil looking (and evily named Lost Guilty) will be shot down with little hesitation. Maybe she can hold Rin for a bit?


'Something' will spark up between Dan and Shiina it's nothing relationship based as their exchange is a little cold but maybe there's something there that'll help our resident amnesiac along in finding out who she is but Jean's hugging antics will put a stop to any of that.

Hotariko and Idris will also come up to the bridge, with Hotariko introducing herself to Dan and...well...that's it. ICE COLD KILLER. Natalie will also reassign Idris as a fulltime pilot for now until Anderson is rescued. Yes! More bait!


Onboard the downed Pillar of Autumn Anderson, the Zeon team and Keyes have secured themselves an escape route from the Autumn. They need to get out of the area and wait for rescue before making an attempt on salvaging the jump drive or they're going to get swarmed by any covenant forces present on the ring structure.

First however comes supplies, there's no telling how long the allied fleet will have to lay low before they can make both a rescue attempt and a salvage operation. Keyes will need some form of transport, he won't be able to sit in a Zaku's cusped hands all the time. Thankfully there's a selection of units available in the hold of the Autumn and we're prompted to make a choice.


The M12 LRV Warthog is going to be the fastest and the lightest of the three choices and will probably have a very high movement stat. It's actual combat options are probably going to be limited unless we magic up another marine with a rocket launcher to sit in the passenger seat so think of this as the short term choice if we get to keep this unit.

The M808B Scorpion is going to feel right at home trundling along side the Zeon mobile suits and the Verein Zero though it'll probably be as fast as a brick but heavily armored. It'll have a better choice of offensive options with it's machinegun and main battle cannon and with a bit of luck the cannon will hit so hard it'll knock people into next tuesday over crazy ranges.

The C709 Longsword is going to be exactly the same as the ones we saw kicking ass in the last two missions with three fully loaded hardpoints of well balanced firepower put onto a flying medium unit. If your Anderson landed feet first in the Sidus frame then the Longsword might be a good choice to grab to cover for your currently available force's lack of flight.

Having made a choice (we're taking the hog) it's off to grab some food, in true Tsukuyomi Fat Force fashion.

Our food mining operation (that's right, mining) is brought to a halt by the sounds of Covenant forces securing the interior of the ship. We're not armed...and neither is it. Five of us versus one unarmed Covenant pilot. We may have a chance.


Well...our new prisoner isn't the vicious blood thirsty beast we were expecting short of a single line of hurled abuse. We've pretty much caught ourselves a mascot but there might be a few options that'll present themselves to us incase we encounter any more Covenant forces. I'm sure we could tie it onto a Heat Hawk in the mean time.


We're back to the relaxation lounge and everyone's enjoying some R&R. Shiina bursts Jean's bubble when she waltzes in with a cooperative Rin sitting happily in her hands.

M-m-moe~


Keeruu's knocking heads together with the boys trying to come up with a plan for sneaking onboard the Nirvana to get freaky with the all female crew. Nobody else onboard the Tessaract however isn't quite as pumped for it apart from Bruno. Infact John's more fabulous than Lelouche as hard as that sounds. Fag.

Things'll deviate ever so slightly here depending on what happened with the quiz in sub mission 2 when Emma catches an earful of what he's planning. If the boys won Yohko will diffuse the entire situation just by being around, Keeruu must be suffereing from brain damage otherwise Yohko will clear the whole mess up with some tough love.

Back on the bridge if we cleared the stage mastery then Natalie will be pondering over covenant technology we managed to salvage. Those wonderful brain cells of hers are being put to great use as she draws up some designs for a possible new frame for Anderson when we pick him up later on.

After the plans are drawn up we're hailed by the Nirvana and it's crew, keeping all the dreads safe from harm results in Magno shipping us over some rather awesome equipment to spread out amongst our units.

Failure to keep the dreads in a good condition will skip the last two parts entirely and Natalie will organize a time when the allied fleet will make a rescue attempt for our brave hostage taking heroes.

Reward
No contract based reward for this. It was all just a battle for survival out here and we should be happy just getting out of this chapter alive.

Battle Mastery Rewards
- 2 x PRAXIS Composite (HP 200 Armor 10. Beam Resist. Bullet, Explosion, Slash Weaknesses)
- 2 x PRAXIS Thruster (Booster. Speed + 17. Movement + 1)
- Covenant Frame Flag

Unit Survival Rewards
- New Unit C709 Longsword
- New Unit C709 Longsword
- New Unit C709 Longsword

Ch 6 Combat "Achievement: Feat of Endurance 30 Gamer Points"

We're not given a long time during the faster than light jump to get things prepped. We have just enough time to rearm and resupply our units when we're deposited out in the middle of uncharted space. Once again it looks like the Covenant have beaten us to it, damn their superior technology. Anderson and the rest of the kids have barely had a chance to stretch their legs and crack a joke before a full scale alert prompts them to an emergency scramble...

Considering the circumstances and the levels of exhaustion and fatigue, with everyone pushed to their limits every available unit and able man is called to their station. Well apart from the faceless Zeon pilots who were in the Zaku I and Zaku Flipper, I guess they decided to join the Tessaract crewmen after realizing how horrible and old their mobile suits were.

Ramuiko and her team of rookies are on sortee as well but she has a proposition to make. Having seen how we're nothing more than a noisy rabble of teenagers with attitude (Aye yai yai Zordon!) on the equivilent of the love ship she's willing to offer us her services as a combat instructor.

Optional Flag 1
Ramuiko, Gaiablade and Caile will launch along with Anderson and we're prompted on wether we want to take up Ramuiko up on her offer. There's absolutlety no reason not to play ball with her, selecting no will completly ignore this entire series of flags.

By agreeing to the offer you'll have an additional optional objective to clear in this stage. The Zakus and the Zudah can take all the punishment they want but you need to make sure none of them get shot down. If a single one of them gets shot down this optional objective is automatically failed, so you're going to have to pull off some babysitting.

Back to what's going on.
The Pillar of Autumn will also launch it's squadron of kickass Longswords who'll be of a bigger help here than the Zaku units. Idris will also volunteer herself as a pilot as well. It doesn't take too much convincing to get the local team Android mascot onto the team but Natalie wants her in the maintenence team's repairing vessel as this could be a long winded affair...but offense is the best form of defence, darn it!

Deployment
Friendly Forces
- Tessaract
--- Natalie
- Verein Zero
--- Anderson
- 10 x Units of your choice (Pretty much EVERYONE)
- Gellme
--- Idris Level 8

NPC Allies
- Zudah
--- Ramuiko Level 13
- Zaku II High Mobility Test Type
--- Caile Level 8
- Zaku II
--- Gaiablade Level 8

-Pillar of Autumn
--- Keyes Level 12
- 2 x Longsword Fighters
--- UNSC Pilot Level 10
- Longsword Fighter
--- UNSC Pilot Level 8

Enemy Forces
- CCS Battlecruiser
--- Gold Elite Level 13
- 2 x Seraph Fighters
--- Blue Elite Level 10
- 3 x Seraph Fighters
--- Grunts Level 8

Seems pretty overkill for taking on a small covenant recon force. Which means things can only get crazy, Devil May Cry crazy.

We're also prompted to equip Idris' Gellme before she deploys which'll give us some options in making her an efficient repair monkey.

We're loading up the Gellme with Titanium Alloy to enhance Idrises survivability and giving her Stana's old Quantum Driver, it's ability to ignore enemy units when moving combined with a Gas Core Booster gives her a enemy ignoring movement of 8. There's no need for a computer system to be installed unless you have a spare M.I.V.S lying around for a reflex boost but if you can try and fill consumable slot with a Repair Crate for herself. Mechanics Guide to Repairing doesn't seem to work with the Gellme's repair system so don't worry too much about the misc slot unless you have a spare Theif brooch or Overlord brooch around.

Win Objectives
Things are a little complicated by the fact that both the Tesseract and the Pillar of Autumn were rendered immobile by the jump. The Pillar has been drained of almost all it's energy and has no way of regenerating it, putting it's M.A.C gun offline. It still remains highly dangerous with it's Archer Missile Pods and it's point defence turrets.

With where the two capital ships are positioned and their general toughness to almost all fire you shouldn't be too concerned with looking after our capital ships. Just keep an eye out for Anderson and the Zeon pilots on this one.

Engaging
More covenant forces just like the ones deployed near the final stages of chapter 5. Engage as you did before, keeping in mind that in my humble opinion it would be easier to mop up the Blue Elites before clearing out the Battlecruiser and it's Grunt escorts.

You've got tons of terrain here to take advantage of all offering a 20% bonus to all defences and the ring like structure up in the North West provides less defence bonuses but also regenerates health and energy.

This chapter looks so god darn straight forward there HAS to be something wrong. So prepare yourself for a full scale cluster fuck for this one. This entire map is going to get surrounded pretty fast and things are going to get overcomplicated with three different sets of babysitting duties.

We need three volunteers to run decoy duty who'll be responsible for meeting an entire covenent battlefleet singlehanded, each. All three individuals need to be both capable of looking after themselves either through SP Commands and also capable of putting down alot of damaging firepower in a short space of time.

Those who aren't running decoy will form part of a kill team with Anderson's leadership at the core of this along with his relationship bonuses helping out so that pretty much means the majority of the female cast will be sticking with the kill team.

I'm sending Hotariko directly north of the currently deployed covenant forces in a heavily equipped Demetris. Her Guts SP Command combined with her high evasion/reflex calculation can mitigate a ton of flak and she can push huge damage with a Maser Blade.

Bruno I'm sending to the very north-west tip of the ring structure in a Zaku II equipped with a good old beam shooter and box machinegun. His concentrate capability combined with his solid damage output will work perfectly in that location and it's regenerative capabilities.

I'm sending Stana quite far south of the currently deployed covenant fleet, hugging a nearby cluster of three asteroid fields. Stana will prove to be quite an able trooper with concentrate and can readily fall back against her potential should she take too many hits. The damage output of the ERX-75 is insane as well.

This is all build up towards the next set of events, so allow them to sit there looking pretty whilst the rest of your units deal with the targets on hand.


Optional Event 1
Moving the newely deployed Idris next to Anderson will prompt a short conversation where Idris hits home with a sobering fact that should she be destroyed she can just be 'rebuilt'. Idris...

Event 1
Taking out all enemy targets or starting on turn three will set into motion a new development. Just a fraction north from where we're skirmishing the Pillar will pick up a new jump signal. More coven- wait, what the hell is that?
Reinforcements
Neutral Forces
- Nirvana
--- Magno Level 11

Enemy Forces
- CCS Battlecruiser
--- Gold Elite Level 13
- 3 x CCS Battlecruisers
--- Gold Elites Level 15
- Seraph Fighter
--- Blue Elite Level 10
- 3 x Seraph Fighters
--- Grunts Level 7
- 6 x Seraph Fighters
--- Blue Elites Level 13
- 9 x Seraph Fighters
--- Grunts Level 8

That's a smaktard load of enemy forces. The Nirvana doesn't seem harmful to us for the moment we're ignoring it our major priorities are with the confirmed hostile covenant forces that have popped up all over the place.

The lower level covenant forces will deployed right ontop of Stana whilst the others will have popped in ontop of our decoy units and another fleet close to our kill team.

Have the Gellme concentrating on repairing the Longsword Fighters and have Natlie working on trusting the the Zaku team whenever they're severly damaged. Now's a good time to start burning survival based SP Commands to keep everyone healthy and in the thick of the fight. The more damage you can do now the bigger our rewards later on.

Event 2
After another turn has passed the Nirvana will deploy additional reinforcements from it's hangar in response to the Covenant opening up on them. It looks like another set of fighters and we're still not to sure what side it's on. Fortunatly Natalie is able to patch a line through just in time before we all start shooting each other and we're finally able to communicate with one another.

The unknown ship and it's crew are suprised to see both men and women working along side each other as if this was normal what's even more odd is that their entire crew is female AND THEY'RE PIRATES! As a stroke of luck they're not the kind of pirates we're after.

They'll open up all their communication lines and are willing to work together in dealing with the real enemy here. With visuals available the all female crew of the Nirvana are quick to remark on Anderson's...girlish appearance (COME ON ALREADY WE NEED THE TRAP OUTFIT NOW). Keeruu's really stoaked about an all female crew but first impressions for him don't go so well.

If Emma's trying to get into Anderson's pants she'll be even more so this time around. Captain Obvious is happy to point out this fact as a part of some additional dialogu. Oh Keeruu-Sensei.

Reinforcements
Friendly NPC Forces
- Dita SP Dread
--- Dita Level 9
- Jura SP Dread
--- Jura Level 10
- Meia SP Dread
--- Meia Level 12

Battle Mastery
The arrival of the Dreads on the scene brings about our Battle Mastery requirements. Objectives remain the same but if we want a really awesome reward out of this we need to make sure that the Dread s get out of this whole mess alive as well.

We've now got three babysitting operations to pull off.

The Zaku and Zudah unit are probably still mixed in amongst our units or are in a position to start moving towards the Covenant units threatening the Nirvana and the Dreads. For the Task Force runthrough it's mostly just Caile trying to rambo her way through to Hotariko right next to the Nirvana. Zaku defence should remain top prioritory as they really REALLY can't look after themselves. Fortunatly for us the Nirvana might be able to protect Caile from a few covenant attacks with it's auto defence systems.

Destroying the first batch of Covenant early will result in the Zaku unit detouring around and heading for the covenant forces near halo usually, hence why Bruno's there, fighting the good fight.

I'm going to start pulling off some of the Kill team to assist Hotariko as Anderson's in the prime position to map attack his set of targets until the cows come home. A nearby Battlecruiser is also in perfect position to fire a plasma torpedo at Caile, so we're going to hit the Battlecruiser with Idris' jamming ability and hoping. Our Yohko also has Iron Wall (lol level 15) so we're throwing her next to Caile as one last final precaution.

The dreads may or may not be self sufficient it'll all be based on evasion luck. The only real problem out here is Dita, the lowest ranking one out of the dread trio here as she's a bit of a klutz. If you can keep her out of trouble then the battle mastery should be easy to pull off. If attacked during the first turn there's a good chance they'll defend and let the Nirvana's Auto Defence take all the damage so their babysitting priority should come second.

The UNSC Longsword fighters are real stars here, they exceptionally good at keeping out of trouble and have pretty much intercepted and raped the squadron of Seraphs Stana heavily damaged leaving her nothing but the battle cruiser to really deal with. If you can keep any of these Longsword units alive you'll get them after the mission. They DESERVE a spot on the team as they'll keep intercepting damaged Seraphs taking them out of the equation so we're going to try and get all three out alive though their babysitting demands are low-teir.

Event 3
Another turn brings about some changes aboard the Nirvana, it'll finally get itself a helmsman that 'knows what he's doing' and will now start moving towards our other two ships. The Nirvana will start making it's way towards a target square close to our units meaning it's Auto Defence systems will be useless to us as we continue skirmishing with the Covenant elsewhere.

If you manage to clear the map before the Nirvana reaches it's goal then you've yourself some down time before the next event happens. You've got one whole turn to burn after it reaches the target zone so take the time to repair what you can.

You'll want to split up your forces again into two groups. You'll want your hardest hitters to remain in formation near your small fleet of ships and have the rest making headway towards the east side of the map again. We're nowhere near done yet.

Event 4
Yet another wave of covenant arrive in the far south-west, it's another formation of Seraphs with a CCS Battlecruiser at the center of their formation. It'll open fire on our three ships, missing the Nirvana, but hitting both the Pillar and the Tessaract. With the Pillar damaged Covenant boarding teams launch an assault on the Pillar of Autumn.

The Zeon team being a bunch of REAL soldiers and not a group of kids want to board the Autumn and help repel the borders but Keyes has other ideas. Master Chief is on deck and out of cryostasis. Keyes orders the Pillar to be abandoned. The Pillar of Autumn is going face first towards the ring and the Chief is taking Cortana off ship.

We'll have to assist the Pillar's final approach towards the ring, keeping what Covenant ships we can off it and rescue the captain later. The all female crew of the Nirvana are impressed by Keyes balls of steel.

Enemy Forces
- CCS Battlecruiser
--- Gold Elite Level 13
- 2 x Seraph Fighter
--- Blue Elite Level 10
- 3 x Seraph Fighters
--- Grunts Level 7

All allied NPCs get a free turn here as the Pillar of Autumn starts limping towards the ring so be quick on your feet in engaging incase the NPCs look to be on their last legs. The Nirvana and Tessaract will remain high value targets for the Covenant so they might be able to buy you some time.

Event 5
Killing off one of the new enemy targets will result in MORE reinforcements popping in but thankfully it's really small compared to everything else. The Nirvana takes a near miss that grazes it's shielding but in response we get yet another unit deployed on our side.
Reinforcements
Friendly NPC Forces
- SP Vanguard
--- Hibiki Level 10

Enemy Forces
- CCS Battlecruiser
--- Gold Elite Level 13
- 2 x Seraph Fighter
--- Blue Elite Level 10
- Seraph Fighter
--- Grunts Level 7

By now you should be well versed in Covenant killing, and the Vanguard is a welcome addition to the fight. It's not well armed but it's another damage soaking NPC out on the field that we're not required to look after in any way shape or form so let Hibiki do his own thing and keep worrying about the rest.

Bruno and Jean both have something to say to Hibiki so you might want to move them over to him and have a little chat. This isn't a required event but just something interesting to have a look at.

Event 6
The Pillar will reach the ring in 4 moves. With a bit of luck you might clear out the covenant a little before then. Cortana and the Chief will pilot their escape pod over towards the Tesseract but whilst they do two Seraph fighters attempt to stop the Autumn on it's descent.

If any of the Zeon team were shot down they'll redeploy once again and make a move to assist the Pillar from the intercepting forces together with Anderson. They're going to go down with the ship all the way onto the surface of the ringworld, shooting aliens as they go.

Tenea's realtionship with Anderson should automatically be sufficient enough for her to add a few moemoekyun~ lines as long as you ran through Sub Mission 4.
CANON CANON CANON. I'M SHIPPING ALBINO MAIDO AND ANDERSON AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. Emma and Tenea's reaction is pretty priceless here.

A combined attack from Ramuiko and Gaiablade drops one of the enemy fighters whilst Caile and Anderson cripple the other only for atmospheric entry to interupt them. The Zaku team and Anderson will be leaving us for the remainder of the battle as the go down with the Autumn.

With Anderson out of the picture Natalie suddenly enters extreme Drill Instructor mode...I think she might be more of a megalomaniac than Anderson but at the very least we've still got ourselves a capable leader.

There's another god damn wave of enemy targets closing in from the east just to make sure we aren't already drained from all the combat and this time it's three more clusters of Battlecruisers. FUUUUU-
Wait...wat!?
OH GOD YES

Our new support obliterates one of the Battlecruisers. It looks like this newest set of reinforcements we're getting harrassed by this thing all the way here and as such are heavily damaged. It's also being piloted by a real pretty boy as well...and dat communication sound...hngghhh.

And he has an even BETTER rape face than Hotariko. New favorite male character confirmed.

Reinforcements
Friendly NPC Forces
- Lost Guilty
--- Dan Level 25 HOLY CRAP
--- Rin

Enemy Forces
- 2 x CCS Battlecruiser DAMAGED
--- Gold Elites Level 15
- 3 x Seraph Fighter DAMAGED
--- Blue Elites Level 10
- 5 x Seraph Fighter DAMAGED
--- Grunts Level 7

This is pure mop up. The Lost Guilty is so disgustingly armed you can sit back and watch it kill everything on it's side. It's got a +50 Overlord brooch so there shouldn't be anything to worry about. You'll purely be competing for kills here. If you haven't had the chance to go and talk to Hibiki with Jean and Bruno.

Clearing out the last of these reinforcements finally results in a job well done! Pat yourself on the back if you got through this clusterfuck intact. A small conflict will flare up between Emma and Keeruu but if Emma's hot for Anderson then Bruno will manage to defuse it all by teasing her a little on her crush. D'awwww.

With Master Cheif saftley aboard and the entire god damn area clear of any more battlecruisers everyone reboards their respective carriers. Dan's coming with us in his machine of awesomeness and the crew of the Nirvana, who are just as lost as we are, decide to fleet up with us until they can get a better idea of what's going on. If the Longsword pilots are still around they'll also dock with the Tesseract as we make for the ring world to rescue our stranded allies and our only hyperspace drive.