The aftermath

Purple Haze is dead. The city of Batangas is (apparently) wiped out. But at least Midas is gone! Good news, everyone!!!

Emma and Kazuki are back at Third Fleet before everyone else. Emma gives her bleak report to the captain, and she's as morose as you'd expect. He feels the same but reminds us that we completed the mission. Midas has been used, and only Emma knows how to create a new one. The threat is past. This news doesn't make her feel better. It's because of her that the city of Batangas is gone. The cutscene clearly showed the bomb detonate offshore, but I guess latent heat or something wiped it away. Emma goes to her room to be alone, and we hear that the submarine crew is back. But they're missing a few things...

Lukov, Alisa, and the unnamed scientists aren't here. They were never picked up after Kazuki saw them off. Everyone jumps to conclusions and assumes Lukov is a double agent. I think we know he went to DHZ territory, but it feels rushed. Either way, we need to capture him. Kazuki informs Emma of this event, and we get some backstory. Emma and Alisa are biological sisters. When Emma was young, her parents were killed. Alisa was adopted by the Takamuras, while she was saved by the USN. A cutscene plays, and we see Emma and her parents chased by a helicopter through a wasteland. The car the Klamsys were in flips, and the parents tell Emma to run just before the copter shoots the car. It chases Emma through the forest before being shot down by a USN wanzer. Now, Emma feels like her sister will never care for a murderer. Emma takes all the blame for Midas, but she wants to save her sister. We regroup with Ryoji, Yun, and Blindy back in the briefing room.

Lukov has killed the scientists. Alisa wasn't among the dead, so we suspect she's still alive. We'll be chasing him through Taiwan. We come up with a plan I don't fully understand, but it involves airdropping the wanzers into a war zone. I think we're officially declaring war on OCU, which means we'll be under the command of the nameless captain. Kazuki is enraged because he still has a problem with reasonable authority, but Emma calms him down. We see the wanzers drop into the outskirts of Taiping, and we'll need to fight our way in.

Battle one is at a dam. It's a sneak attack, and I think how fast we win will determine future fights. If we win in six rounds, reinforcements don't arrive. I managed to do it because Yun is a monster. She's duel wielding shotguns, and I taught her Duel Shot. This means she can fire both guns at the same time. That triggers pretty regularly, so expect this child to develop PTSD soon.

There's supposed to be a second diversionary attack squad nearby, but we've heard no word from them. We chose which path to take now: either check on Charlie squad or follow directives. I went the way I was supposed to.

Battle two is a simple fight along the river in a small forest. Yun finally speaks for the first time in a while.

Battle three is in a small village. If we win here, our base of operations can be formed. The first enemies we see can die in three turns, but reinforcements will always arrive when there's one man standing. They're a bit tougher, but that might be because they spawned on top of us. Han didn't get that promotion! From here, we'll make our way to Taipan and speak with the USN ambassador at a bar. He'll take us to our actual base and fill us in. Lukov is heading to DHZ territory, but there's resistance between several aspects of this plan. Namely the Chiongli army, who we suspect he's joining up with. We might be able to ambush him before that happens, though. We'll have a chance to visit the city and blow the 16000 credits I have on upgrades and new weapons. When you're done, return to the safe house. We'll try to get the jump, even though Kaz thinks this is a trap, on our former ally...

...tomorrow!

The wanzers I've been liberating tonight have some great skills associated with them. I've also decided we're the new Purple Haze unit. We've been running around in a not color coordinated mess for twelve hours, but we've finally got our look! Long live the Haze!