Defend the New World
A communications stations has been built on the planet. Colonel Cross discusses his upcoming retirement with Hawkins as they examine the new base. Hawkins is told his ship is ready for his return to the Explorer. The Explorer and the support fleet sit in the bay.
On the Explorer, Hutch and Marvin bring a pile of "laundly" to Ms. Gertz. Hilarity ensues.
Hawkins returns to the Explorer flight deck via a fighter. The ship prepares to launch, and the teams gather in the observation corridor, while Shannon illustrates just what an insensitive jerk he is. Then the Explorer and the escorts launch.
At the Drule HQ, Nerok tells Hazar that the Explorer is leaving, and urges him to destroy the base. Hazar tries to dazzle him with some bracelet (?!), but Nerok stomps off. No doubt to go blow up stuff. Mongo is displeased. The other captains just seem to listen intently. They also mistakenly give Mongo's voice to some other character who's clearly exclaiming that Nerok's fleet is launching.
On the planet, Colonel Cross is testing the base's communications. He requests more personnel.
Nerok's fleet approaches, and intercepts the request for more troops. He plans an attack.
The Colonel and his men are eating in the mess hall when Nerok's forces attack. He enters the control room as the staff are calling for the Explorer, but he countermands the order and launches fighters. They meet heavy resistance. This scene also has the awesome line "Do you want a court martial?" "I want to live!"
On the Explorer, the writers have a dementia lapse and write lousey dialogue about art contests as the team looks at the painting from the last episode. Then Crick feels a disturbance in the force. He calls Jeff on the bridge and has him call the base, but they get no response.
Colonel Cross orders a blackout, and his officers argue with him. The blackout convinces the Drule fighters to pull back, and Cross calls out his final wave of fighters. The Drule capital ships take out the support fleet.
On the Explorer, Cinda starts to feel the disturbance in the force. Crick calls to bug Jeff again, but the alert sirens go off and the Voltron Force scrambles.
The base is in flames and the Drule fleet destroys the final capital ship of the support fleet. Colonel Cross looks on in horror. Nerok wants the base completely destroyed--then they detect the approach of the Voltron Force.
Cross' radio operator insists on calling the Explorer. Cross tries to physicially restrain him, but the scuffle causes the lights to go back on, attracting the attention of the Drule fleet. Hawkins finally gets through to them as Jeff and the Voltron force fly over the base.
Jeff sees the Drule ships and loses his mind. They take out several Drule destroyers, then Nerok launches another Invid-designed robeast (this one seriously looks a lot like the Invid Gamo/Pincer Command Unit/whatever you want to call it--I wonder if they shared mechanical designers). The Robeast knocks Jeff unconscious, and Crick forms a headless Voltron. Voltron's responses are slowed, and Crick tries to rouse Jeff as he throws solar combat spears at the robeast. Drule fighters strafe Jeff's position as he relaunches and destroys them.
Voltron takes a couple of hits, and then Jeff docks and takes care of business--he forms the blazing sword. The robeast has his own sword. They do the standard martial arts movie "let's charge into a stalemate" and they both get hit by overeager Drule fighters. Then the inevitable happens and another robeast bites it.
The Explorer and its escorts leave the planet, and Jeff discusses today's events--with some stock footage. Oh, and Colonel Cross is okay. Heh.
Desperate Struggle for Planet K
The base on the planet of the Red Moon is nearly complete. Hagi is very proud of the results of his labors, but Ise cautions him that the real work is to come. Ise is due to leave at 1 P.M., and Hagi offers to detach some ships to escort him. An aid (Sparks?) arrives to ferry him back to the explorer.
Nagato and Izu bring their unfolded laundry to the laundly. Hilarity ensues.
The fighter carrying Ise lands in the Rugger Guard flight deck, and Ise hurries to the bridge where Aki is leading the pre-launch checklist. The Rugger teams are gathered to look out the observation windows as they launch. Kaga is hopeful that they are going to find the descendents of the people who once lived here, but Izumo is completely unromantic and points out how few planets support life. Patty comes to Kaga's defense. The Rugger Guard and her escorts lift off as the ground crew looks on.
At the Galveston frontline HQ, they receive word that the survey force has left, but a base is established. Lafitte is all for destroying it, Teles wants to wait to see how it will affect their situation. He wants to focus on exploration, while Lafitte wants to destroy the earth force's foothold. Drake is aghast as Lafitte leaves, but Teles' hands are tied due to Lafitte's ties to Caponero. Then Lafitte's fleet launches and Teles watches in anger.
At the staging base, Hagi contacts Date at the space fortress, who relays the communication to Earth and Hagi details the reinforcements he needs.
Lafitte's fleet intercepts the communication, and Lafitte decides to destroy the base before reinforcements arrive.
The base crew are eating dinner in the mess and we get one of the few musical numbers of Dairugger. Apparently, the crew are hearing it over Armed Forces Radio or something. We get a view of the red moon, and then the alarm goes off. The crewmen scramble to their post. Windows are shattered by volleys from Galveston fighters and men are shot down as they run.
Hagi enters the radio room and countermands the operator's attempt to recall the Rugger Guard. Fighters are launched and the first wave of Galveston fighters move to retreat. Hagi orders the fleet mobilized to cut off their retreat. Lafitte's XO warns him of their arrival, and his fleet engages them.
In space, the Rugger Guard and her escort and moving to their next destination. The plate of art Kaga discovered is now restored and displayed in the lounge. They debate if it's a flag or just art, or if they'll ever find their decsendants. Then Keats feels a disturbance in the force. Kirigas asks him whats wrong, but he brushes her off. He contacts Aki on the bridge and suggests that they contact the bridge. Aki tells Ise, and he takes it seriously. The radio operator finds the base's communications disabled.
On Planet K, the fighters are bombarding the base. Hagi realizes that they are targeting the lights. He orders them to cut power and again refuses to contact the Rugger Gaurd. The fighters are recalled to assist in the battle with the fleet, but are caught by another wave of Earth fighters. The two fleets fight it out and Earth destroyers are taken out by Galveston fighters.
Kirigas confirms Keats' premonition, and then the alert is sounded and the Rugger teams are deployed back to the base.
The base is in flames, and we hear that song played sadly as the final remnants of the fleet are destroyed. Hagi watches in horror as Lafitte's fleet advances. Lafitte prepares to occupy the planet as a new radar signature is detected. His XO warns him that it may be the survey force, and that they've lost a great many ships. Lafitte decides to hit the communications tower one more time.
Hagi and his men argue, and the lights are accidentally turned back on and communications reopened. Hagi explains the situation to Ise, and then dies in an explosion.
Aki sees the enemy fleet where they were hiding, waiting for the Rugger teams to leave. Aki loses his mind and charges the fleet, singlehandedly shooting down two destroyers. Lafitte orders the battle machine launched and Aki's ship targeted. The rest of the team fire on the battle machine when Aki is disabled. Lafitte doesn't seem to think they can combine, but Keats leads them in the combination anyway.
The Invid battle machine uses the massive cannons that are its shoulders, and Keats responds with the shot arrows. Keats rouses Aki and he relaunches just in time to evade and destroy a trio of Galveston fires. The battle machine hits Dairugger one more time, and Aki joins them. They form the Rugger sword, and the two machines face off before charging with swords. Fighters join in and take advantage of Dairugger's preoccupation, but they also hit the battle machine, momentarily freezing it so that Dairugger can destroy it with the sword. Lafitte's forces withdraw.
Lafitte is angered, but his XO advises him that if they don't withdraw, they will be destroyed. Lafitte orders all the collected data to the Galveston homeworld.
Meanwhile, Aki and the rest of the team struggle with the fact that they must continue the fight at the expense of the star mapping mission.
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