The Battle on Planet Stravase[4] was a four-way battle that took place on Stravase early into the Gatlantis Campaign in December 2202. It was planned by the Desler Regime Revivalists as a trap to sabotage the Earthling battleship Yamato, but the Gatlantean Emperor Zworder also took part in the fighting, in order to test the resolve of Yamato's captain. Due to the participation of multiple Garmillan factions, it can also be considered part of the Garmillas Civil War.
Prelude[]
Klaus Keyman, real name Ranhardt Desler, acted as a triple agent aboard Yamato
In June of 2199,[1] the Earthling battleship Yamato fought against the forces of the Greater Garmillan Empire in the Battle of the Imperial Capital, leading to the apparent death of Supreme Leader Abelt Desler and the fall of his dictatorship.[5] Following the rise to power of a new provisional government on Garmillas, the empire began transitioning into a democracy. This led many hardliners who still supported the fallen Leader's authoritarism to form an underground group known as the Desler Regime Revivalists, which infilitrated the ranks of the Imperial Garmillas Defense Force and opposed the new government's attempts at rebuilding the country. The group shared a particular hatred for Yamato, blaming it for Desler's fall, and began plotting a revenge against the battleship and its crew. Ranhardt Desler, the nephew of the former dictator, joined the revivalists on a secret mission on behalf of the Garmillan secret service, with the objective of finding out their leader's identity. To convince them of his loyalties, Desler boarded Yamato under the alias of Lieutenant Klaus Keyman.[6]
The Desler Regime Revivalists give the Anti Wave-motion Lattice to Keyman
After the Battle of the eleventh planet, Yamato, which was on its way to planet Terezart, was stuck with 200 civilian refugees on board. A patrol fleet secretly loyal to the Desler Regime Revivalists was passing near planet Stravase, in the general direction of Terezart, and heading to the Earth. Keyman suggested to entrust the refugees to them. In the meantime, the Revivalists' fleet lured the Destruction Liberation Army, another Garmillan rebel group, to Stravase, so that they would target Yamato and possibly destroy it. The Revivalists and Yamato met on the planet on December 29, the two sides landed on opposite sides of a stone bridge and transfer of the refugees began under the supervision of the 7th Space Cavalry Regiment. Keyman met in private with the Revivalist commader Lutz Kazette, who gave him the Anti Wave-motion Lattice, a piece of technology that could infect Yamato's engine and deactivate it at will.[2]
While on board, Toko Katsuragi continued to play her role as a spy for the Gatlantis Empire. She convinced Professor Robert Redrowz, who had previously been turned into a living dead body, to leave Yamato to carry out an expedition to the Archelian ruins on Stravase. The Professor would be used to lure Yamato's acting captain, Susumu Kodai, to the secluded location so that the Gatlantean Great Emperor Zworder, who had grown interested in the battleship's actions, could talk through him with the Earthling officer.[2]
The Battle[]
The Destruction Liberation Army fleet firing
Redrowz's escape and the initial attack[]
As the transfer was underway, Redrowz stole one of Yamato's Type 100 planes and headed for the ruins. Kodai, who was trying to say goodbye to his fiancée Lieutenant Yuki Mori, who was to leave with the refugees, was immediately intercepted by Katsuragi, who revealed to him Redrowz's destination. The two took an airboat and began following the escaping scholar. Kodai was knocked unconscious in the ruins, and Katsuragi returned to Yamato.[2]
Keyman uses the Anti Wave-motion Lattice
While Kodai was away, the Destruction Liberation Army arrived on the battlefield and began bombarding the Revivalists' ships with a flurry of missiles, all intercepted by Yamato's prompt intervention. Executive Officer Shiro Sanada took command of the battleship and ordered it to take off and defend the refugees. Keyman seized the occasion and, since the engine room was understaffed,[4] he managed to sneak by and use the Anti-Wave Lattice on the engine as it started. As the battleship engaged the enemy force, the Destruction Liberation Army unveiled multiple Interplanetary ballistic missiles and placed them hovering 500 meters over the unstable planet's surface. This was an unexpected turn even for Kazette and his men, who still wanted to allow all civilians to escape the battlefield despite their allegiances. The injured Admiral Ryu Hijikata, who had been rescued on the Eleventh planet, was carried on Yamato's bridge and took command of the ship's operation against the terrorist fleet.[2]
The devil's choice[]
Zworder confronts Kodai speaking through the Professor's body
As these events unfolded, Kodai awoke in the ruins and was confronted by Zworder controlling Redrowz's body. The Emperor introduced himself and revealed that outside of Redrowz, three other living dead bodies were infiltrated among the civilians and had just now boarded the three ships making up the Garmillas patrol fleet. At the sovereign's order, they would drop into their respective ships' engine sections and blow it up. Kodai was given a choice, knowing his fiancée was on one of the ships, he could choose which one to save, but the remaining two would fall on the planet's surface and be destroyed.[2][3]
Zworder stated he had given this choice to show Kodai how selfish and destructive human love could be stating that the Gatlanteans, as artificial lives, were immune to it. He was effectively demonstrating his philosophy and superiority to those who had been called by the goddess Teresa to Terezart.[3]
As Zworder talked, the patrol fleet finished boarding procedures and began departing. With the civilians seemingly out of harm's way, Hijikata ordered Yamato to start the Wave-motion Shield and ram the enemy flagship, which served as a control center for the interplanetary missiles. In turn, the Destruction Liberation Army's commander dropped the missiles. His flagship was riddled and crashed on the planet's surface. The missiles' explosions engulfed the remaining rebel ships, but despite the danger, Hijikata ordered Yamato to remain close to the surface so that Kodai could have a place to safely return to.[3]
Stravase's end[]
The giant explosions caused the already unstable Stravase to begin collapsing in and on itself. Aknowledging this, Zworder self destructed Redrowz's body. Kodai was spared by the explosion, thanks in part to the sudden intervention of Cosmo Marine commander Saito. The acting captain took the previously stolen Type 100 and broadcasted a message to the Garmillas fleet, asking for forgivness for the choice he was about to make. Before he could answer Zworder however, Mori jumped off from her ship, preferring to commit suicide instead of forcing Kodai to make a choice he would regret. Distraught, Kodai refused to play Great Emperor's twisted game, and moved in with his plane to save Mori. Infurated, Zworder made all living dead bodies explode, making all three ships fall toward Stravase's surface.[3]
The type 100 flies through the collapsed Stravase's center of gravity
As these events unfolded, due to Stravase's particular properties,[7] its collapse formed a black hole and turned into a gateway for another dimension.[8] Kodai's Type 100 rescued Mori, but the two ended up beyond the event horizon and into a space inbetween dimensions devoided of physical mass. From Yamato, Sanada managed to trace the plane's signal and the Garmillas fleet projected route of descent. They calculated the point where the two lines were to intersect, thus triangulating the planet's corruption point. Hijikata fired the Wave-motion Gun at that specific point, inserting a planetary-like mass in it and reverting the gravitational pull. The resulting force was enougj to push out both the Type 100 and the Garmillan patrol fleet.[3]
Aftermath[]
Soon after, Mori and Kodai were rescued and brought back aboard Yamato. The Garmillas fleet managed to escape the turmoil relatively unscathed, and the civilians were brought back to the Earth where the Earth Federation quarantined on a sanitorium on the Moon.[3] Their testimony on Gatlantis' tactics and objective would later be analysed by the Earth Federation Defense Force to decide the best course of action to take against the empire during their upcoming invasion.[9] Among the chaos, Katsuragi and the 7th Regiment, who were both supposed to leave with the Garmillas fleet, remained stuck aboard Yamato, and were forced to tag along with the battleship toward Terezart. This played into Gatlantis' hand, as they now had two spies, Katsuragi and Saito, who had been previously and unknowlingly turned into a living dead body, still on board.[3][10]
Keyman's sabotage of Yamato did not come into play during the battle, but the Lattice remained hidden in the ship's engine for the following months, and would be extremely significant during the Blockade of Terezart and the Battle of Saturn.[11][12]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Era of Space Battleship Yamato: Choice of 2202"
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 2.30 "The Trap at Planet Stravase!"
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 "Zworder, the Devil's Alternative"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Yamato Bridge Tower from Hachette Japan Magazine
- ↑ "One Man's War"
- ↑ "Farewell, Teresa! Flowers for Two Deslers"
- ↑ Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love Chapter 4 Theater Pamphlet p. 17
- ↑ Yamato 2202 story questions with Nobuyoshi Habara
- ↑ "Battle off the Coast of Saturn - Gather the Wave Motion Gun Fleet!"
- ↑ "The Beam of Light Flashes! / Radiance of the Wave Motion Gun"
- ↑ "Farewell, Teresa! Flowers for Two Deslers"
- ↑ "Yamato in Crisis - The Devil's Alternative Once More"
Japanese language information[]
惑星 シュトラバーゼでの戦闘 Wakusei shutorabāze de no sentō
| Battles of the Gatlantis Campaign | ||||||||
Battle of the eleventh planet · Battle on Planet Stravase · Battle between Dimensions · Encounter with the White Comet Empire · Terezart Landing Operation · Blockade of Terezart · Battle of Saturn · Attack on the annihilation missile fleet · Decisive Battle off Mars · Battle against Neu Deusura · Final Battle Over Earth
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