Mission Log 061 - The Hunt for CVS Iapetus
The 21st's return to New Zealand affords Punchout a chance to visit with his family, and with Celesta, who has been welcomed in by Geoff's parents. Many of the Tirolians who have been kept hidden in Geoff's hometown are being evacuated by the REF, who plan on repatriating them back to Tirol. Some, including Celesta, are reluctant to go as they have come to view the town as their home. Geoff tries to convince his parents to evacuate the planet as well, but he is not sure if they will.
The squadron's vacation is interrupted by orders to return to the Ulysses. They have received information passed onto the REF from Scandinavia, who received a message from Mikhail Krueger. Krueger's contacts in the EBSIS have warned him that in an effort to prove that the Soviets are the dominant world power and should lead the defense against any new invaders the military is planning a strategic attack against a UEG/REF-allied stronghold. The target is to be New Zealand, which will serve an additional bonus as payback for the 21st's recent victories against the Soviets. Krueger's intelligence indicates that the attack will be a surprise strike launched from the Iapetus, a Prometheus-class submersible aircraft carrier (one given to the Russians before the First Robotech War). The only vessel with a chance to find and sink the Iapetus before she can strike New Zealand is the Ulysses.
Though the newly formed air and sea defense forces of New Zealand begin intensive anti-submarine patrols, the truth is that the Iapetus, like the Ulysses, can dive far deeper than any surface ship could detect. After several days of searching, the Ulysses lucks out and detects the Iapetus. The 21st, in their submersible hovertanks, move to intercept and find themselves engaged by Soviet underwater mecha. The Blackjacks fight off the enemy mecha and the Ulysses is able to outmaneuver the Iapetus and sink her with torpedoes. After the battle, a salvage mission to examine the wreck reveals that the Iapetus was carrying several squadrons of NWO-type mecha in addition to more traditional Soviet ones. The only explanation for this must be that the EBSIS have reactivated the NWO mecha factory in the Himalayas that was captured near the beginning of the NWO war.
Mission Log 062 - Shangri-La
With the reactivated mecha factory, the EBSIS is a major threat to the REF's efforts to re-establish the United Earth Government and consolidate the planet's military forces to defend against the coming Invid. Though Col. Wolfe is still reluctant to engage the Soviets directly, the government in New Zealand and the military commanders in Oceanus base deem the factory a major threat and want it taken out. Despite the REF's reluctance, the 21st also feel the factory is a threat that must be neutralized and agree to undertake a dangerous mission into enemy territory to neutralize it. Echoing the earlier mission where the squadron first discovered the Himalayan factory, the 21st is taken to the shores of the Pakistan wastelands where they start the perilous overland trek to the mountains and the factory.
The 21st manages to reach the area around the factory before being discovered by a Soviet mecha patrol, which they quickly dispatch. Observing from a nearby mountaintop, the squadron decides that a surprise frontal assault is the only feasible method to gain access with their hovertanks. Once inside, the tankers plan to quickly make their way to the geothermal tap that powers the factory and sabotage it, disabling and, if done correctly, possibly destroying the factory. The initial assault goes well and with the VHT-1A's main cannons they 21st are able to punch a hole through the base's main blast floor and access the mecha hangar. Once inside they target munition and fuel to cause as much damage as they can before taking the central equipment elevator down the central shaft of the factory base. Going level by level, the team splits up, with some groups leaving their mecha to plant explosives in human-sized areas of the base, all the while staying a step ahead of EBSIS forces that are scrambling to understand what is going on amidst the fire and explosions.
The squadron reunites and reaches the lowest levels where they discover that the Soviets never reactivated the geothermal tap and instead build a hydroelectric generator system that uses an underground river. With enemy mecha forces arrayed above them, the 21st's only escape is down and out through the underground river, but not before destroying the dam walls and flooding the factory floors. The underground rapids carry the tanks away, the 21st staying mainly in battloid mode. When the river tunnel narrows, the group takes a chance and blows their way out through a mountainside. Emerging into a bindling snowstorm, the 21st struggles to continue, but the time spent underwater has soaked the mecha and the sudden emergence into freezing temperatures has caused major damage to several of the mecha, some becoming crippled when the pilots attempt to transform into tank mode. The situation goes from bad to worse when an avalanche is triggered, toppling the crippled mecha and their pilots down a crevasse to what appears to be certain doom.
When the members of the 21st awaken, they find themselves not buried beneath tons of snow but lying comfortably in beds, stripped of their armor and wearing simple clothing. A quick check verifies that the whole squadron is present, spread out amongst several rooms. The building they are in appears old - the walls are stonework and the windows only have shutters, no panes. Outside is a warm, sunlit valley; a far cry from the freezing blizzard the group last found themselves in. A further search of their rooms turns up the squad's armor and weapons, but the location of their tanks is unknown. Spotting several people moving about outside, the group leaves the building in search of answers. The first person they locate is dressed like a Tibetan monk and tells the squadron they are in the legendary valley of Shangri-La!
Though disbelieving at first, the 21st soon comes to accept that they really are in Shangri-La. The monks are not the only inhabitants of the valley, and many are very long lived, if their claims to when they came to the valley are to be believed. The squadron gains a guide in the form of an RDF Veritech pilot named Jacques Belour who says he came to the valley in 2020, after the end of the Malcontent Uprisings. Belour explains that the groups tanks and other equipment are not in the valley and the 21st can get them when they leave. The squadron wants to get them now, but Belour explains that if they leave the valley there is a good chance they won't find their way back. He suggests they stay a few days to rest up before leaving. While some squad members are reluctant to stay, especially if there is some kind of temporal displacement where time passes more slowly in the valley that in the "real world", but others are happy to take advantage of the opportunity. Punchout seeks out several inhabitants of the valley to ask about philosophies and life, hoping to find some answers that will help him with his own questions. Brains, meanwhile, has sought out the monks' library, where he finds material from all ages in every language the planet has ever seen. There is so much to choose from he has trouble narrowing his research, and even begins learning some ancient languages to help him research. He is most intrigues to find references to other special places on Earth like Shangri-La, including ones to the sunken island of Atlantis. Bullseye hopes to find something useful strategically, but there is very little modern material in the library, only that brought by recent arrivals like Belour. Somerset, meanwhile, seeks out the valley's medical facility, only to discover it is primitive, like something from the Middle Ages. He is able to use local plants to make a suitable substitute for his own needs, however, preventing a possibly embarrassing or dangerous revelation.
After a few days, Bullseye decides it is time to leave. The 21st dons their armor and are led into a cave by Belour. He takes them on a confusing path through twisting tunnels before reaching where the hovertanks are waiting. While the group were in the valley someone made some basic repairs to ensure the tanks were functional, and Belour admits he had something to do with it. Another journey through a maze of tunnels follows before Belour takes his leave, giving them the directions to take them the rest of the way out and reminding them to not try to return to the valley through the cave. Belour turns and heads back into the tunnels, and as he vanishes from sight he gives the group a final message - "Look out for the Loup Garoux" - the same words that were the last thing the odd backwoodsman in Quebec, Sam Drapeau, had said to the group.
Following Belour's directions the 21st emerge from the cave, but instead of the Himalayas the squadron finds themselves in a tropical jungle! A radio check reaches REF forces who tell the 21s they had been missing for two months and were presumed killed on their mission. They also ask the 21st how they got to an island in the Carribean from the Himalayas. While waiting for transport to Point K, the 21s decide that no one would believe the truth so they come up with the cover story that after destroying the mecha factory they had to sneak through enemy territory until they reached a port and were able to hide themselves and their mecha on board a cargo ship bound for the Merchant Republic. When they were found, they had to destroy the Soviet ship and made their way to the nearest land, the island they were found on.
Mission Log 063 - Manifest Destiny
Things have not been going well while the 21st were in Shangri-La. The EBSIS has granted independence to Germany, ending the uprising and freeing up Soviet forces. The land invasion of Scandinavia has begun and all organized resistance their has collapsed. Globally, the EBSIS continues to refuse to cooperate with the REF and remains steadfast in their demand that they head up Earth's defense. Col. Wolfe has also had trouble with mass defections among former Southern Cross troops and has yet to form a coherent global network.
Amidst this chaos, the 21st remains stuck in South America. They learn that much of the evacuation of essential personnel has taken place. Indira is able to get a line to her parents, who have been relocated to Space Station Liberty already, and she is overjoyed to learn that her twin sister Sumita was still alive, having been amongst a group of Southern Cross forces that had managed to retreat to Mars Base after the disastrous final space offensive of the Second Robotech War, and had been reunited with their parents on Liberty. Due to spotty global communications Punchout is unable to determine if his family had been evacuated from New Zealand, however.
A week after arriving at Point K, the 21st are on the move again. Word comes that the Soviet forces are on the final march into the last UEG stronghold in Scandinavia, Stockholm. The remaining UEG forces and the last remaining members of the civilian government were due to be evacuated by a Garfish spacecraft, but after landing in the city center the craft found itself pinned down by EBSIS forces. The 21st and their mecha are loaded onto the cargo pods of a Horizon-T dropship and flown to Scandinavia where the ship performs a combat drop, dropping the pods on the outskirts of Stockholm. The Blackjacks break through the Soviet forces and clear a path for the Garfish to take off. The 21st race onto the Garfish's hangar pod as it lifts off, escaping with the remaining UEG forces and civilians and abandoning Scandinavia Quadrant to the Soviets.
The Garfish drops the 21st off at the nearest UEG base, at Reykjavik in Iceland, before taking the evacuees up to orbit where they can be transferred to Space Station Liberty. On Iceland, the 21st wonders how soon they will be able to get transport back to Point K, or perhaps to Oceanus Base or to New Zealand. Little do the battle-weary soldiers know that the long threatened arrival of the Invid horde is on the horizon...
Next: INVASION!