Macross Delta Mission 7: Behind Enemy Lines

The Aether hides behind an asteroid near Voldor, which is surrounded by the Windermerian fleet. Reina and Makina hack the Windermerian defense network while singing “Silent Hacker,” which allows Delta Flight and the Walkure shuttle to sneak by undetected with their optical camouflage. On the surface, Kaname announces the group assignments for infiltration into the city. Everyone is disguised with cat ears and tails to mimic the local population, and Hayate reminds Kaname that he’s allergic to cats. Kaname explains that Voldorians evolved from felines, and Messer tells him to leave if he doesn’t like it. Freyja makes multiple cat puns and tells Hayate that they can’t lose, which reminds her of Mikumo’s scolding earlier. She vows to show Mikumo that she’s useful and only notices then that Mikumo already left. In the city, Messer and Kaname stage a diversion so that she can scratch a Var-infected NUNS soldier and get a blood sample. Reina analyzes the blood sample and finds Seidznole, the cause of Var. Hayate sneezes uncontrollably and attracts unwanted attention, so Mirage and Freyja grab him and take him away. Hayate complains about being on an infiltration mission since they’re pilots, and while Mirage agrees, Arad had told her that experiences build character. Freyja boasts of being trained in infiltration between dance classes, but she suddenly runs off when she smells something nice. Hayate and Mirage find Freyja at a fruit stand with a vendor selling Windermerian exdel apples. He explains that domestic produce has been restricted, but these apples aren’t bad. After buying some apples, Freyja stops when she hears a song. The three find two young children singing to a Nightmare Plus, and Mirage identifies the plane as belonging to Alberto Larrazabal, the ace pilot of NUNS’ Voldor fleet. The boy yells at their father to answer them and wonders why Walkure’s song isn’t working. Alberto is given new orders and leaves, and Mirage sees that ace pilots are being controlled to do grunt work. The young girl thinks that healing songs are a lie, and Freyja tries to run over to her, but is stopped by Mikumo. Mirage asks Mikumo where she’s been, and she shows them cicada-shaped mini drones that can record sound and video. She pulls up the feeds for a secret government meeting, and they watch as Roid meets with the leader of Voldor. The Voldorian thinks Windermere’s demands of declaring war are too much, and Roid points out they don’t have much time. The Voldorian relents and comments that Windermerians indiscriminately kill friend and foe alike with Dimension Eaters, which he hopes aren’t on Voldor. He asks what’s going on at the ruins, and Roid tells him that it’s just academic research. The Voldorian recalls that Roid is an academic and wrote a paper arguing that the last humanoid races developed by the Protoculture were in the Brisingr Cluster, so they are the rightful heirs to the Protoculture. He asks if Roid really believes that, and Roid responds that the answer might lie in the ruins. Kaname reports that she’s found the Paraganaal ruins, which were left behind by the Protoculture. The Voldorians consider it a holy place, but the Windermerians have locked it down and built a facility there. Mikumo decides to meet up there.

After the meeting ends, Keith reports to Roid that there are intruders on the surface because their fleet was hacked. While riding in a truck, Freyja asks Mirage about Dimension Eaters, and she explains that they distort space-time to cause mass destruction. They are banned by treaty, but one was used by Windermere during their independence war seven years ago. Freyja recalls seeing a bright explosion as a child and that Earthlings were blamed for using it, but Mirage notes that Windermere used it against NUNS, killing millions of their own civilians. On Windermere, Heinz visits his bed-ridden father Grammier, who senses darkness in his son’s heart. He asks if Heinz saw the hole and says it has been bored into the hearts of all Windermerians and can only be filled with revenge. Outside the ruins, Mikumo senses a strange wind and disappears again. Reina scans the security system, and Makina sees that the soldiers guarding the ruins are heavily armed. Reina and Makina hack the patrolling drones and take control of them before hacking the security on multiple doors. Hayate is impressed with how in sync they are, and Kaname tells him that they didn’t get along at first and argued frequently, which led to the cancelation of multiple Walkure shows. The group finds a large cave under the ruins filled with water silos. Messer finds bottles that indicate it’s just plain drinking water commonly seen at military facilities. Reina thinks about the water being used by the military and notes that 61 percent of Var cases have been in the military. Mikumo explores the ruins and asks who’s beckoning to her. Reina scans the water and finds nothing abnormal. Freyja discovers crates of Windermere apples, which Messer mentions were common in the military due to their nutritional value. Makina tests an apple and also finds nothing abnormal. An alarm goes off, and Bogue orders the infected NUNS soldiers to find the intruders. Hayate thinks about the apples and water and decides to combine them when he looks at Reina and Makina. An analysis shows that when combined, the apples and water contain a high concentration of Seidznole. Kaname figures that other Protoculture ruins must have similar water, so Windermere is using the apples and water to artificially spread Var. The victims are then controlled by the song of the wind. Mikumo stands inside a relic chamber and starts singing, which Freyja hears. A door closes and cuts off Mirage, Hayate and Freyja from the rest of the group. They escape through the ventilation system and enter another cave chamber, where they find Bogue, Hermann, Kassim and the Jussilas waiting for them.