As you remember from last chapter, a huge new Hive was discovered, and Lumia had come rushing in to tell you about it and create a cliff hanger. You start off in the presidents’ chambers where you learn that between Moatoob and the sun is a huge mass. It was actually discovered by the vector track inspectors. Who, as you know were repairing a lot of the vector tracks in the last chapter, after the whole endgame of episode 1. Dr. Tomrain has not yet been informed. (why?) There is a lot of a-photon and SEED activity near it, and it is the size of a whole planet.

So why didn’t anyone find it until now? A very valid question.

It is explained that no one can see it from the Colony or Parum because of a huge distortion field is around it. This field is like a huge nano-transe and has been there for a few months. Likely, this strange planet has been either “building up” or “warping in” within the distortion field. Interestingly this also suggests either a VERY convenient natural phenomenon (the hiding part) OR some kind of central intelligence, which the SEED had not been revealed to have up until this point. The SEED have always seemed rather like a mindless plague, much like locusts who show up when the a-photon food is ready, swarm, then leave regardless of how many are killed or not. But the idea of amassing a huge force and hiding it is something new.

Laia then notices you and Lumia are lingering around and says to go rest, she doesn’t mean to drag you into it..so Leo says she has no tact. Now that she’s the president, is it time to fix that? But alas, it’s so hard to change her untactful ways…

Return to your room?
Stay & hear more?

Well, there wouldn’t be a plot if you simply went to your room. So…Laia is glad you’re concerned if you stay, but the over-all strategy for the development is not your concern. Laia and “Glasses” (her assistant) have to do it, so you should go rest and keep the whole thing a secret. Glasses sort of protests that it may not be his job to do overall strategy. (this sort of thing is usually left to military, science and the political leaders, after all) so Laia says “Isn’t it?”. He’s only assigned to assist her. But, she counters, why waste manpower? Everyone these days has to double up on work. He’s somewhat relieved by this because he doesn’t know if he had what it takes to be the president’s assistant. She says he’s doing fine right now, and not to really get into it. Everyone has their worries. Glasses also finally gets a name, and it is Clamp Manyel. Who then asks…”What the heck do we do?”

3 Days Later

You return to the Guardians counter to see Mina. The latest task is to investigate something on Neudaiz, but you should stop at the medical room first. Maya should be in there. Instead, you find all 3, Maya Laia and Hyuga. Laia wants you and Hyuga to go to Neudaiz to investigate. Maya pipes up right away, saying she didn’t know that’s what Laia had in mind. (Obviously she’s still worried about Hygua’s health) So Laia says the vaccine is still working, right? And everyone’s short handed now, so Hyuga should have to come. But he’s not listening. When he snaps out of it, he says he’ll go.

Now that everyone’s sort of agreed, you learn that reports say that Ethan Waber is planning to invade the LSS (Lattice Shield System) facility which turns spirit energy into a defensive shield around Neudaiz. As you remember, this is what kept Neudaiz unharmed in the 2nd big SEED attack. It is actually the only thing to ever withstand SEED.

Laia has requested the “How to do it” for the LSS for everyone in Gurhal, but Rutsu has so far come back with only excuses, such as that it is “a miracle of the Divine Maiden” etc. So Maya deduces Laia’s plan: Send in you and Hyuga under the excuse of “Ethan’s Coming!” to investigate the LSS. (and hopefully get a good enough idea of it to forcibly share it with the other planets)

Laia wishes she’d of made a move sooner like during the confusion of a terrorist attack. What a Lou saw in their facility was a kind of prototype for the system that they’re using now. The real LSS is at Ohtoku Shitenkaku and is heavily guarded. Can Lumia go too? She’s eavesdropped the whole thing from behind the door! Oh but she was just there to see Maya….

Take Lumia
Ask Laia

Ask Laia: Laia can’t refuse your request, but really if Lumia goes it adds more credibility to the story. (so this choice is pointless) While all this asking is going on, Hyuga’s spaced out again, so Laia warns to keep an eye on him. She then goes to a counter by a window sill to sleep, but Maya has other ideas. She wants her to go to her own room or her office for the nap. Laia pesters her right back with the fact that Clamp never lets up, or a report comes in…so she’ll never get any rest there. After arguing this, she promptly falls asleep anyway leaving Maya to work on the vaccine and ponder. Maya knows that the old Laia would have gone on the mission, but now she recognizer her presidential duties and her ability to count on you…which makes Maya a bit jealous…to support her as a partner.

Of Course you will
She’s wearing me out

Of course: it’s what she wanted to hear. Well naturally you needed to do that choice because the mission is already underway. The other choice only lets you be vaguely anti-Laia--to no real effect. On Neudaiz Lumia looks to Ohtoku and wonders how to get in, while Hyuga covers up his face. Lumia thinks to just tell them it’s an investigation, but Hyuga wants more subtlety. Being somewhat wise, Lumia then asks if his idea of the subtlety is to seduce the front desk girl?
(provided it is a girl…which no one seems to consider it might be a guy.)
She then goes on to explain that Ethan has told her all about Hyuga’s ways of hitting on girls to get what he wants. Being seen-through, “grr!” says Hyuga, so Lumia comes up with another plan. Why not say that she is there for her brother? She actually came up with that one on a lark, and doesn’t think it would work, but Hyuga actually thinks it’s a good idea.

Leave it to Hyuga
Leave it to Lumia

Whether or not it’s a solid plan, it’s the only one you have, so either choice leads you to go through with it. If you leave it to Hyuga he strolls right over and you go toward the temple front area. There are lots of temple servant type people around, so you hang back and see what happens. Someone comes out, gives a short talk, and then everyone runs in. Now’s your big chance! …but Hyuga is spacing out again. Once you can drag him inside, you make it into some of their outer halls. But a COG member sees your team. So the “Ethan Attack” excuse comes right up in handy, however he has not heard of the Guardians being assigned to investigate it. Was he just not informed? No…because he’s the head of the guards! Time to run off!

Go back out of the temple
Keep going deeper in

Well, you wouldn’t have an investigation if you just went right back out--so you can't. If you Keep Going, it’s the right decision according to Hyuga so run right on into the block to fight Obme, a woman with a bow and Basta, a man with a spear and their Bysha guard robots. Lumia worries about fighting against people (as it is her first time to fight other people) but Hyuga says just KO them not kill them. KO’ing them does the trick, as they disappear when defeated, just like in ordinary missions. If you can defeat all the guards and some Shinowa robots you can get to the big odd control room. Everyone wonders at this while…

Ethan appears!

He’s surprised to see Lumia and Hyuga but Lumia has to explain things because once again, Hyuga is out of it. Perhaps the vaccine isn’t working so well, or having side effects. Hyuga says she’s cuter when she’s not mad. Not expecting to actually run into Ethan, Lumia asks why he’s here. He explains that it was to be a diversion…but Lumia says that Laia has enough trouble without him. (Which is odd, because up until now it seemed Ethan could do no wrong with Lumia) This makes Ethan explain the obvious to her which is:

“Ethan TOLD Laia he was going to the LSS so that she would have an excuse to send Guardians in” This is mutually beneficial because the Guardians could get the LSS secret while Ethan rescued the Divine Maiden. But why does she need rescuing? Because it turns out that the machine sacrifices people like the Maiden. (AKA uses them up and kills them) It had been hinted at that the machine was very destructive to the people inside it before, but this is the first time that anyone’s come out and said “It off’s them”. The LSS has always been presented as something slightly sinister, and Rutsu as someone who wouldn’t be afraid to let (and train) people to give up their lives for the church. Ethan also knew that he wouldn’t be able to rescue the Maiden on his own, so he was counting on meeting up with the Guardian’s team. (How did he know to come RIGHT THEN? It’s too big of a coincidence. Well, all bets are on Laia actually phoning him up and telling him)

He then explains that the LSS was fine up until the 2nd seed attack. On this attack, the Divine Maiden powered the machine of her own free will. (Because she is so powerful, it didn’t take the team of girls to do it) However, now Rutsu is forcing her to keep the shield up. But now, she’s growing weaker so Rutsu has begun to throw Sisters of Holy Light in there with her as support. It isn’t clear if any of them have actually died yet. Lumia suggests leaking it to the media because the public of any planet wouldn’t tolerate that kind of sacrifice just to keep up a shield in a time of non-heavy attack. Ethan says Rutsu wouldn’t hesitate to simply kill off the Sisters to hide the evidence. He’s that kind of guy! Even the Guardians knowing about his facts makes Rutsu a danger. But why is Ethan so interested in the Divine Maiden? He explains that it’s really Karen in a disguise (Remember! The whole thing has been covered up in the public eye. Anyone not closely involved does not know that Mirei is dead and that this is an all new Maiden) He’d like to explain further, but he’s out of time.

I know it all
OK, Tell us next time

Here, either option leads to not talking about it more, so oh well. If you say you know it all, this shocks Ethan, but there’s no time to get into it. Now, Hyuga is clearly not well, he’s letting off dark energy! He begins to have a fit, and turns into…the Seed Venas! It had been suspected that either the Venas was drawn to Hyuga or actually WAS Hyuga up until this point. (as he did not ever appear at the same time it did, but always showed up right before or after the Venas attacked) Fortunately this time, the Venas is not invincible (as it was every previous time) and it can be defeated. Hyuga falls. Ethan remembers that during the Sochee incident and the Colony incident that the Venas had attacked, but what to do with him in the meantime?

Reach Maya to save Hygua?
Save the Maiden?

Since Hyuga seems to be in more trouble, if you pick “Save Hyuga” Lumia will go but Ethan says there’s nothing to do for him now that he’s KO’d. It turns out who you choose to save first didn’t matter because suddenly the place is rocked by explosions and some of the consoles catch fire. It turns out Hyuga wasn’t out for long, and turning their backs to him was a bad idea. He’s now separated by a wall of flames, but it’s clear he’s responsible for this destruction. It’s like he’s been hypnotized by the SEED. It makes him destroy anything that keeps it from multiplying. Since he’s escaped, you have no other choice but to go try and save the DM, and the Sisters of Holy Light.

You’re in for a fight because Hyuga’s little disaster has let loose the animals that were being studied. Now you’ve got to try and reach the Divine Maiden and battle the creatures. If you can fight off the monsters, someone else appears to block your path. It’s Rutsu! And it looks like he is preparing to do…something because he changes his clothes right there in the hall!
Now in a more ‘street clothes look’ he accuses everyone of disturbing his work, so Ethan shoots back that he is making the Maiden suffer. Ethan demands to see Karen, but Rutsu won’t do it because he says you’re all here to destroy the LSS. (duh why) Rutsu continues to think everyone wants to start a fight, or is plotting something—but really Ethan is just out to save Gurhal, so why not cooperate?

Because the ‘only hope’ is the LSS and the Maiden. Rutsu says that because of “Absolute Power” (?) that COG should be the ones administering justice as agents of the Holy Light. Which is dangerously close to “Divine right of Rule” which is never really a good thing unless an actual physical deity that everyone sees and can access is involved, and is ok and active with decisions in the plan. Which in the case of the Holy Light, it isn’t. So far, all that the Holy Light is proven to be is a natural phenomenon tied into energy found within pretty much all sentient humanoid life forms in this particular solar system. He then elaborates that the Rebirth of Gurhal (he hasn’t noticed that at this point the continued EXISTANCE of Gurhal isn’t a sure thing as everyone is still fighting for their lives) should have Neudaiz at its center. Suggesting that Neudaiz, Rutsu and the Maiden should be rulers over everything in Gurhal. He says he can’t trust the Guardians, and that even the Divine Maiden left the Guardians (not really—she’s only there because of her sense of duty to the people, and that she can’t hold down both jobs at once)

Ethan says she’s only in the LSS because Rutsu forced her in there. This is a false accusation though, so it prompts Rutsu to come clean with some of what’s going on. First, the Divine Maiden has not awoken yet. Next, that 3 months ago when the SEED did their big attack on the Colony and planets, the Maiden rushed into the LSS by herself while it was still being developed. Rutsu had actually tried to warn her away from it due to danger—but she wouldn’t hear of it.

Because it was still in development, apparently something isn’t right and she won’t come out of her trance-state. When Rutsu saw her energy weakening, he went to the Sisters to ASK for their help in supporting Karen in the machine until a solution could be found…and they agreed right away. (well obviously you can’t simply turn it off, and also, who wouldn’t want to save the Maiden?) Ethan says that risking the lives of the SHL is not what Karen would want…but Rutsu says he doesn’t know. Of course, anything at this point is arguing over pure speculation.

Wake Up Rutsu!
Fight Rutsu!

Either option provokes Rutsu more and essentially does the same thing. He doesn’t like you either! And the only way to save Gurhal is working together, but he won’t hear anything of it. If he can claim justice from power, then the Guardians will defeat him to prove that wrong. Rutsu again denies joining forces and will prove his case with…The Alterez Gohg!

Summoning this dragon makes his change of clothes even stranger, because it looked like he’d done it in preparation to fight you. Perhaps his official outfit was simply itchy. The world may never know. The Alterez Gohg attacks your team while Rutsu fades into the background to let it do it’s job. Unfortunately for him, this is one of the weaker dragons in the game and it is easily defeated by your team.

The defeat of his summoned dragon causes Rutsu to fall down. He’s amazed that it could be defeated by a team of Guardians. (WTH? This may be here to show he has no real clue of what's going on in Gurhal outside the temple walls as it's totally obvious that the SEED is a larger menace than any Gohg and that the Guardians were previously doing fairly well at repelling much stronger threats) Ethan then commands him to turn loose the Sisters, but he says that they’d have to kill him first.

Before anything can escalate, Karen appears!

She explains that while sleeping in the LSS she was aware of what was going on. And this apparently includes being able to eavesdrop the whole building. She was just in there waiting for Rutsu to understand and make the connection in his own mind about the right thing to do. Now that it’s come to a head, and he’s on the floor and summoning dragons, she’s finally come out.
She says that at the time of the big attack, she went into the LSS to save Neudaiz. However, she didn’t mean for the other 2 planets and colony to be ignored and left out in the cold. Then, she comes down on Rutsu, saying that he and others with high personal photonic levels think they’re righteous. However, since she wasn’t raised in COG, she knows that everyone is different and there is no absolute power.
She then re-explains the necessity of working together, and how Ethan had broken into COG many times to try and talk. Once, he did it to get her out (As you remember from the very first mission when she was supposedly “Kidnapped” by the Vols.) but she returned of her own free will because of her duty to COG and helping the people. It is then revealed that Rutsu kept the big SEED attack in Karen’s vision a secret from the public (why?) which only led to more disaster. Under this barrage, Rutsu repents, he’ll change his ways. He doesn’t want to be Light Master any more.

Agree
Don’t Forgive Rutsu

Either option here is pretty valid. Can Rutsu really be trusted to keep being the Light Master after all his previous faulty decisions? Or, has he really changed his ways and ‘seen the light’ from the Divine Maiden? Fortunately, both options lead to the same thing here, if you agree, Karen is glad and thanks you for the support. She knows that if Rutsu changes, COG will follow his lead, so he’ll stay. Laia calls, so everyone passes their communicators around to hear about Hyuga. Rutsu promises his cooperation and Laia is glad.

The Maiden has had a unification vision. But how? The new planet is affecting everything. It is also apparently trying to infect the sun some how? It is revealed that the old records called it Rykross, and that now Dr. Tomrain is investigating.

While this mission initially looked like it was going to lead to the SEED planet, it instead took off in a totally different direction with COG. It was also one of the wordiest missions with the least fighting up until this point. However, some decent facts were revealed:

Hyuga was the Venas
People CAN in rare instances change back and forth from SEED forms
SEED may be smarter than a simple plague
SEED can somehow affect a nano-transing mechanism or ‘come out of’ the gates of Denekaya
The LSS will be shared with Gurhal, and if enough high-photon volunteers can be found, give the other planets a chance to repel SEED
SEED can act on people’s minds without turning them into monsters
Rutsu can summon things
Karen is actually OK & has semi-telepathic powers

This chapter also didn't raise any questions it didn't answer--so it's actually come out AHEAD for once, by answering things and not stirring up any new trouble or dangling plot points.