The Resistance Base saw the arrival of one of their commanders, Aiden Viscard, and his guests, the crew of the Eclipse Ark. Casey Aster walked alongside Aiden with his arms folded behind his back. When they entered, Stella, Sarrise, and Shiki were there, waiting for their arrival. "Oh, what have we here?" Aiden's red eyes curiously wandered over towards Shiki. "This is…?"
"Shiki Granbell. Captain of the Eden's Zero." Shiki replied to Aiden with a firm nod. "We've agreed to help you with your fight against Prometheus, Pandora, and the Goldstones. We're here to help you take back your planet."
"I see." Aiden gave a nod. "You must be quite powerful for Sarisse to ask for your aid. I will respect that."
"Aiden, what happened to you?" Stella asked, pointing to her friend's injured right arm.
"It's as I said, I had a brief encounter. It was going to go downhill for me until Casey here saved me." Aiden said, giving Casey a slight smile.
"It was no issue." Casey replied.
"That looks like a serious wound all the same. Come on, we're taking you to Medi. No questions asked." Sarisse's tone was strict and firm. She was showing why she was the one in charge. Nobody was going to disobey an order from their commander in charge.
Aiden just let out a small laugh. "I know there's no arguing with you. You're the glue that keeps everything together here." Aiden started to walk off, and to ensure that he was getting medical attention, Sarisse went with him.
"That's Sarisse for you." Stella smiled sheepishly. "I'm going to go with them. With everyone present, we're going to gather everyone, including your crewmates, so we can get everyone on the same page. Get along you two, we'll all need to work together to make this work!" And so Stella skipped off. The winds of change were finally blowing their way, she couldn't help but feel so happy!
Shiki, however, wasn't. He took a few steps towards Casey while glaring at him. This was the man that attacked Weisz, his friend. "What are you doing here?" Shiki demanded to know. "We're trying to do something important."
"So are we." Casey replied, undaunted by Shiki's aura. "We're here for the Black Moon Star shard that's on this planet. I originally had a different plan of attack, but seeing the state of the planet, I figured this was better."
"So you're just using these people! You don't have any intentions of really helping them, do you?" Shiki narrowed his eyes.
"Unlike you, we didn't get dragged to this planet." Casey replied. "We saw what happened to your ship. If anything, you have my thanks for being the scapegoat. We would've encountered the same fate had you not rushed here so gallantly. You're here to liberate the planet, we're here for the Black Moon Star."
It wasn't that cut and dry and Shiki knew it. "We're here for that, too. And there's no way we're going to let you get your hands on it."
Casey then smiled. "You have yours with you, don't you? In fact, you have it on your person right now."
Shiki didn't back down. "So what if I do?"
Casey shrugged. "It's just interesting to note. You may have a grudge against me for defeating your crew mate, but I honestly don't care about you. You may be a Galactica, but I'll take you down if you or any more of your crew gets in my way. But for now, we're on the same side. I hope you can learn to play nice. If you really cared about this planet's wellbeing, you'd put your feelings aside for the mission."
"The mission isn't always the most important thing." Shiki let out an annoyed sigh. Casey did have a point. For now, he'd play nice. "But if you try anything, gravity will crush you."
Geno was watching the two bicker from around the corner. He had been keeping a close eye on the strangers that offered to help. He didn't look at them with hope like everyone else did either. "We've been fighting for two years, and these bickering 'saviors' from above think they can just fix our problems?" He knew they were here for something else. That black shooting star he saw the other day seemed to be at the center of all of this somehow.
"So what's the move, kid? We take 'em out?" A voice came from Geno's wrist device. On the screen was an alien. A being composed of radio waves and ether; his appearances was similar to that of some kind of lion, his electromagnetic being composed of mostly green energy and he had red eyes, but he had dark blue armor around his body.
"No…" Geno shook his head. "We can't do that, Omega. I don't trust these guys at all…but Mom and the others seem to think they can really help us. I don't know how she can think that when the Eden's Zero brought androids. They could turn on us like the others did…whether they intend to or not, that's the reality of that's been happening."
"Bah. So what do you want to do then? I'm not gonna sit around on my laurels for too long." Omega replied.
Geno walked away from the corner. "We'll just watch them for now. If they try anything, we'll deal with them however we need to…." Geno didn't trust any newcomer to this planet. The situation on Delta Ridge was far too tense. The fact they could potentially liberate the planet soon, after two years of conflict felt too good to be true. "I promised Dad I would protect Mom…and I'll do that…."
.
.
After a short break, the meeting room of the Resistance was filled with all parties. The crew of the Eden's Zero, the three Resistance commanders, and the crew of the Eclipse Ark. There was some tension in the room, Weisz glaring at Casey, who didn't seem entirely interested in whatever grudge the young professor had against him. "…Tch. I can't believe he's here…" Weisz grumbled.
"I know. I don't want to deal with him either." Shiki said in agreement.
"…Where did Blair go?" Rebecca asked, looking around.
"She's been outside." Couchpo answered. "She didn't want any part of the planning…so she just left and said she was going to eat some wildlife."
"Ah…" Rebecca frowned a bit. "I hope she's careful out there…" That was her concern more than those of the Eclipse Ark right now. They were an entirely different can of worms.
"Okay." Sarisse clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention. Her voice alone commanded attention. Stella and Aiden stood on either side of her, while Geno stood in the corner of the room. Let's get this meeting started. First thing's first, introductions. We have two outside forces aiding us, so I believe we should start by introducing them to our main forces. I will begin. My name is Sarrise Hibiki, I am the commander of the Resistance of Delta Ridge. I've held the front lines strong for the past two years, but I never could have done it alone. I owe to my second in command, my sister, Stella Star, and our good friend, Aiden Viscard." She smiled to the two of them, who bowed after being introduced.
"Together, I'm sure we can take back this planet!" Stella said excitedly.
"You would do well to take this more seriously, Stella." Aiden chided Stella's excitement. "I am our scout. I ensure that the enemy hasn't made any sudden movements. This means I go out in the field a lot. I've nearly been done in a few times…it is a dangerous job."
"But we're lucky to have him. He's been the reason we've been a single step ahead of the enemy. He's kept us alive." Sarisse said. "Now then…over there, we have Medi. She's our medic. Together with Sister Ivry of the Eden's Zero, they'll take care of the injured." Sister waved. "We have Tristan Gareth and Asuka Ichiro over there." Tristan Gareth was a man with short, tan hair with red eyes. He was donning a suit of armor. Asuka Ichiro was a younger girl with purple hair and yellow eyes. She was bouncing around excitedly, punching at the air since it sounded like the fight was about to pick up.
"I'm in charge of our armory, including repairs." Tristan held his arm up. "If any machine is damaged, I can repair it."
"I think you and I are gonna work well together." Weisz said with a grin.
"I've got Ether Gear. So you can rely on me." Asuka pointed at herself confidently. "I'll kick everyone's ass!"
Sarisse pinched the bridge of her nose. "Asuka, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. Stop rushing into things. And over there is Geno Star, my nephew. He's not exactly a fighter, but he has some important information to share with us."
"…" Geno didn't say anything.
"We have a number of people willing to fight as well. They are civilians turned soldiers because of the circumstances around our planet." Sarisse clenched her hand into a fist. "The state of our planet has been intolerable for so long. Humans and androids thrown into conflict by a force beyond our control. But we won't falter! I promise that we will take back Delta Ridge!"
"She gets so passionate about this. She really loves this planet." Medi said with a small smile.
Sarisse did get a little embarrassed about it, though. She got carried away. "A-Ahem…now then, Casey. Why don't you introduce yourself and your crew to everyone?"
"Very well." Casey gestured the group of five behind him. "This isn't everyone. The others are taking missions elsewhere, and we have a few basic androids doing maintenance on the ship in the meantime. But first, this is Ano Lyrai." He gestured to the young hacker.
"Lowell Ryu." A young man with long purple hair that reached down to his lower back, coupled with hazel eyes. His appearance was on the androgynous side. There was a sword attached to his hip. He wore a black open vest, black pants and gray boots.
"Cygnus Gwydion." A man with short silver hair replied. He wore a red jacket with a black shirt underneath it, and black pants. He could sense the looks the crew of the Eden's Zero were giving him. They weren't fond of the Eclipse Ark for what they tried in Iceberg.
"I'm…Percival…" Next was a woman who had long green hair. She had red eyes, but one of her bangs covered her left eye. Her expression was vacant and she seemed out of it, but if she was here, Casey clearly deemed her capable enough to join the fight. Her attire consisted of a two piece swimsuit, and she just had a coat over it. Minimalist effort. "Nice to meet you…"
And last but not least…a woman with blue hair and blue eyes. She wore a shirt and had a shoulder guard on her left shoulder, along with blue pants. "…I'm Lluvi Palmero."
"And we know who the crew of the Eden's Zero are." Casey said. "But…aren't you missing a few people?"
"…We're going to look for them as soon as we can." Shiki replied. The whereabouts of Jinn, Laguna, and Kleene were unknown. Shiki was worried about them, but they couldn't waltz around Delta Ridge freely in an effort to look for them. Especially not with the deadly Goldstones around.
"Don't you worry. I happen to notice three falling ships earlier. I was in a rush, but I was able to triangulate their location and get a rough estimate of where they landed." Aiden told Shiki. "I'll let you know once we're done here."
"You already know where they are…?" Hermit was surprised. "That'll save us time. I hope they're okay…"
"I guess we can skip the introductions then." Sarisse wanted to get right down to business. A map appeared in the center table, displaying the location of the hidden base on the planet, and at the center of the planet, the large communication tower. "I'll make this brief but concise. Prometheus and Pandora are the two androids who have taken control of our planet. They have taken control of the communications tower at the center of the planet. Because this is their stronghold, the Kaede Cosmos cannot communicate with each other. In fact, it's been an arduous task to establish local communication."
"We have a total of four operations in place to take back the planet. We are currently in the middle of the first and most pivotal one." Stella continued. "Across the planet, several generators are in place. These generators feed power to the gate that blocks the main city. Our plan is simple: we disable the generators to disarm the gate, take control of the gate and use it to reach the city, and from there, we storm the Communications Tower to defeat Prometheus and Pandora. With so many capable Ether Gear users, it just might finally be possible…"
"But it won't be easy." Aiden spoke up, his tone low and grim. "We have a number of obstacles in our way. First, the androids. The mixture of the Skeleton androids and our own are already difficult to face. On top of that…there is the Golden Knight Gear."
"What is that thing?" Homura asked. "Someone was controlling it directly…"
"An interesting case." Aiden stroked his chin. "All I've been able to gather is that, for some reason, highly skilled humans have been taken…I don't know the connection just yet, but I can only assume those humans are being used for test subjects. Perhaps a human is behind the Knight Gear, or an android is. It's impossible to tell, we actually don't have many means of combating it. I managed to use our resources to create a single spear that could damage it…but using it is a different story. It's an extremely powerful Knight Gear."
"I can handle it." Homura said with a firm nod. "We have Knight Gear of our own in the Eden's Zero. I pilot the Warrior Maid 95. I was capable of giving the Golden Knight Gear an injury, so I am confident I can defeat if we must deal with it."
"Hah…so that was you who managed to injure it?" Aiden mumbled. "Impressive."
"If I can say something." Hermit said. "Ziggy's forces have installed cores onto the planet that take control of the androids. This planet has two…or rather, it had two. There's only one now. If we can destroy that, the androids native to this planet will regain their free will."
"Ah, I knew those things were suspicious." Stella was proud of herself. "I destroyed the first of those cores you mentioned, Hermit-chan."
"Chan?" Hermit blinked.
"Although….the second one is probably in the Communications Tower. Which means it won't be easy to get to." Stella sighed. That was something to keep in mind for later. "Um, there's also the Blue Bomber to consider. He's not an enemy, but he won't work with us either. I think we don't have to worry about him but if by chance, he does attack…don't hurt him too badly. I'd feel bad after all he's done to help."
"He's a wildcard. A factor neither we nor the enemy can control." Sarisse replied. "If he gets in our way, we'll have to deal with him. I don't want to take any risks. Speaking of, we haven't even gone over the most dangerous group on this planet: the Goldstones."
"What's up with them?" Sister asked. "Humans working for Androids hellbent on human extinction? Don't they get it?"
"They're bounty hunters. I doubt they care about what happens to this planet if they're getting paid enough." Sarisse clenched her hand into a fist. "They're all extremely powerful Ether Gear users as well. We've been barely surviving against them for months. Athena Goldstone is the oldest; her Ether Gear controls light, and she possesses a shield that is capable of blocking any attack; Maximus Goldstone is next. His ether gear allows him to control guns and warp to any them at any given point."
"…Is that why he moves so fast?" Homura asked.
"Indeed." Sarisse replied. "He's good at stealth, hiding away in the shadows or wherever he can. He can plant numerous guns in multiple locations, fire them from any location, and even teleport to them at will. Not to mention his marksmanship is terrifying. Near or far, if you don't know he's there…he will hit his target. We've lost many good people because of him…" Sarisse calmed herself and continued on. "Next is Kamara Goldstone, the youngest. But she might be the most dangerous. We don't know how her Ether Gear works. All we know is that everyone who comes into contact with her experiences the worst fears of their life. It leaves them open, or it just destroys them entirely. I'm certain her Ether Gear manipulates fear in some way, but…we don't have the luxury of asking for details. The Goldstones have no regard for opposing human life….and we'll never be able to take back this planet as long as they're around. They always seem to know our next move. If we want to take back Delta Ridge, we have to defeat the Goldstones."
"…" Lowell's eyes narrowed at the mention of Kamara.
Stella looked over to Geno. "You can speak now. You said you had something important to share?"
"Yeah." Geno nodded. All eyes were on him. "I don't know if this means anything…but several days ago, I saw something fall from the sky near the Communications Tower, where Prometheus and Pandora are. It was a black shooting star. My radar picked up some serious Ether from that thing…and it doesn't seem like a coincidence that the enemy's forces ended up getting a little stronger after that."
"Stronger for you, maybe. You don't fight like the rest of us." Asuka replied.
"You were struggling to finish one." Geno said dryly. This just irritated Asuka. But before they could start bickering, the cold glare of Sarisse put a stop to that. "…A-Anyway…" Geno rubbed the back of his neck. "I just thought our new 'allies' should be aware of that…so, yeah." Geno just awkwardly left after that.
"He kinda reminds me of you." Sister nudged Hermit.
Hermit was going to pretend she didn't hear that. But admittedly, something about Geno had her interest. She could feel that something was…different about him. She couldn't put her finger on it. More importantly, she was focusing on what Geno told them. "It's got to be the Black Moon Star that's here." Hermit told the others. "We know one is on this planet."
"…And it's fallen right into enemy hands." Pino's gaze lowered.
"Then we'll just have to take it back." Casey said with a smile. Considering he was competing with the Eden's Zero for the Black Moon Star, they didn't take too kindly to that.
"We have our work cut out for us, huh?" Rebecca said with a nervous laugh. Finding the rest of their crew, slowly working their way through Delta Ridge…
"We can do it." Shiki reassured Rebecca. "We won't lose anyone else, and we're not going to lose this fight either." They'd find their MIA crewmates, take back the planet, AND get the Black Moon Star before Casey and his crew could.
"In order for our grand operation to work, we need the smaller ones to succeed first and foremost. We must shut down the last generator, take the gate leading to the city, storm and capture the city, and then we can use that as our foothold to charge the enemy base." Sarisse looked to everyone in the Resistance. "Every single person is an important part of this operation. I'm counting on everyone to help take back our planet. Not just for us, but for the androids that are fighting against our will, and for the people of the Kaede Cosmos!"