Macross Delta Mission 17: Infection on Stage

Roid wonders why Windermerians are fated to live such short lives when other humanoid species lack their runes and strength. However, he believes their current struggle will change all that. On an airfield, Bogue, Theo and Xao examine all the new Draken IIIs that have been produced to directly attack the New U.N. Government. Kassim and Hermann discuss how the upcoming operation was Grammier’s will, but Hermann notes that only Roid supposedly heard it. Berger interrupts Roid’s watching of a Walkure performance and mentions that he’s also had his eye on Freyja and Mikumo. He asks what interest Roid has in them, and Roid answers it’s important to know your enemy. Berger reports that the delivery of Drakens is complete and that he hopes Roid will share his complete analysis of the Protoculture system with the Epsilon Foundation. On the Macross Elysion, Arad announces to Delta Flight and Walkure that they need to infiltrate Windermere’s territory and do something about the Protoculture system if they want to break the planet’s control over the Globular Cluster. That means going back to Voldor, which makes Kaname think of Messer. After infiltrating the Protoculture system, Walkure will sing and collect data. Makina asks why Voldor again, and Kaname explains that they have some allies there who built up Var immunity thanks to Walkure songs. Those allies have reported that Windermere has been scaling back their armed presence on the planet. Chuck thinks the Windermerians will be on alert since they infiltrated Voldor before, and Arad agrees that it won’t be easy this time. Later, in response to Windermere seizing the Globular Cluster, Walkure broadcasts a show on the Galaxy Network. Arad tells everyone that the broadcast carries a computer virus that Reina created, but it also has some sexy videos of Makina so that they can make some money out of it. Mikumo tells Freyja that her singing has changed and asks if it’s because of Hayate. Freyja tells Mikumo that her singing has also changed and went from being sparkling and rainbow-colored to sparkling and unsteady. Kaname recalls Mikumo telling her at Freyja’s birthday party that she had no memories of her parents or where she grew up. Mirage frowns when she sees the look on Hayate’s face as he watches Freyja sing “When My Rune Sparkles.” Hayate has a strange feeling as he starts to resonate with Freyja’s singing.

Hayate brings Freyja a bottle of water after her song, and she asks him how she did. He agrees with Mikumo’s assessment that her singing has changed and got him pumped up, which makes her blush and cover her rune. She starts to tell Hayate something until an old couple interrupts her to say how wonderful she was on stage. Freyja tells Hayate that before coming to Ragna she never saw wrinkly old people since Windermerians don’t live that long. She wonders if that couple will stay together forever, and Hayate mentions that he hasn’t seen his mother in a couple of years. Freyja tells him that family is important, and he responds that a year or two is no big deal, which upsets Freyja and makes her rune go dim. On a Windermerian Battleship, Bogue catches several soldiers watching the Walkure concert and berates them for listening to enemy propaganda, but he finds himself strangely compelled by Freyja and Reina. Reina’s virus reaches 100 percent penetration and causes wide-scale communications failure throughout the Globular Cluster. The Aether takes off, and Hayate runs into Robert in a corridor. Hayate says he wants to know about his father, but Robert tells him he shouldn’t get involved with Windermere and carry that burden. Hayate then storms into the operations center and demands answers from Arad. People start leaving the room, but Arad tells them to stay because they’ll eventually find out anyway. Arad reveals that Wright was the pilot who dropped the Dimension Eater on Windermere seven years ago. He explains that Wright was secretly in contact with the Windermerian independence forces and stole the Dimension Eater from NUNS, which he then used to wipe out a NUNS base. Kaname asks why NUNS would cover that up, and Arad answers that even bringing a Dimension Eater onto a planet is prohibited by treaty, which NUNS clearly violated. Hayate wants to know why Arad never told him, and Arad responds that it’s a top level military secret. After the briefing, Chuck asks Mirage if she’s worried about Hayate or just in shock that NUNS lied to all of them. He then states that he can understand the Windermerians a bit since Ragna is also a colony planet under the control of the New U.N. Government. Arad finds Hayate in the hangar and tells him that Wright was an eccentric man who collected junk and always played with local children, likely because he missed Hayate. Arad says that he doesn’t know the truth about the incident, but he doesn’t think Wright was the type of man who could kill innocent people. He asks Hayate what he believes, but Hayate looks at his Siegfried and says nothing. Later, the Aether de-folds and rendezvous with a Cargo Transport and NUNS ace pilot Alberto. Chuck calls Hayate, and Hayate answers that right now he has a mission to focus on, but someday he intends to discover the truth about his father. Mirage pledges to do whatever she can to help.