VOTOMS Ep. 30: Phantasm

A large number of Fattys approach Space Battleship X. Chirico attacks them and destroys several units. However, he is outnumbered and the Fattys destroy one of his arms and legs. Chirico hides on the ship’s hull and fires a round into an exhaust vent to destroy some Fattys. Chirico runs out of ammo and ejects his bazooka to destroy another Fatty. His remaining arm and leg are blown away, leaving him with no weapons. Several Fattys approach Chirico, but Fyana destroys them with her Scopedog II. Blood floats out of Chirico’s flight suit before he loses consciousness. At a Balarant command satellite, Supreme Admiral Musa Zanjeny is briefed on the violation of Balarant territory by Space Battleship X. Officers Rubindel and Torone tell report that two Meez class cruisers and 20 Fattys were destroyed by a single AT. They don’t know where it came from or who it belongs to, but the patrol group managed to intercept an enemy communication. In a radio transmission, Chirico tells Fyana that he can’t stop the attack now because the Balarant can’t know the ship has a PS on board. Zanjeny wonders if the PS refers to a Perfect Soldier, but according to their intelligence reports the Gilgamesh never completed a PS. Zanjeny wants to investigate further and orders a task force to pursue Space Battleship X and keep it intact on the chance that it has a PS aboard. On Melkia, Rochina is informed about an unknown ship entering Balarant space and destroying two patrol ships. He has an intelligence expert named Carmel LeBanche examine the data from the last battle in the Kummen war. Chirico and Fyana weren’t part of the bodies found in Kanjelman’s palace, but records show a non-standard shuttle leaving the atmosphere and being picked up by a large ship. Rochina figures it must be the ship that picked up Chirico and Fyana. He then receives a report from an operative named Bluebird in the Balarant territory. Bluebird says that the Balarant are chasing after the mysterious ships. Rochina goes to Battentain’s office to report the news, but Battentain tells him that he’s off the PS case. Rochina tells Battentain that he shouldn’t let politicians dictate his decisions. Rochina thinks they should part ways, and Battentain asks him what he wanted to say. Rochina mentions the Balarant issue and says it probably has nothing to do with Chirico. He leaves, and Battentain calls the Intelligence Division.

As the music blares, Fyana searches the ship and finds a feverish Chirico watching the Red Shoulder video. He asks to make it stop, to at least make the sound stop. She tells him he should go back their room and helps him get up. He tells her he wants to escape from the ship, and she asks him where he would go. He pushes away from her and stumbles around before collapsing on the floor. She takes Chirico to a bed and lays him on it. She then falls asleep while watching the video. When she wakes up she finds that Chirico is gone, so she searches the ship for him. She finds him watching the Red Shoulder video on one of the large monitors. He pulls out his gun and attempts to shoot the screen, but Fyana tells him the screen is connected to the sensor system. She struggles with him until they both fall to the floor. Chirico insists that he has to shoot the screen, so she injects him with a syringe to put him to sleep. Later, Fyana watches the video monitors and sees that Chirico has gone to the AT hangar. In space, a Balarant fleet approaches and deploys its Fatty units. Chirico looks at a light and asks it who it is and what it wants with him. He says he recognizes the light as the souls of all the people he’s killed, and he knows they want him to come to them. He bangs his head against the wall and asks the spirits to take him away. The ship suddenly shakes when the Fattys blast holes in the hull and enter the ship. Fyana jumps into a Scopedog II and destroys the intruders. She then snipes Fattys in space and goes outside to fight them off. Chirico wonders why she is fighting for him, as well as why he fights for anything.