It's Anybody's World/Teles and Asimov

It's Anybody's World

It's morning on the contested planet, and the Alliance fleet is hovering over a plain while herds of herbivores move across. it.  Jeff, Cliff and Crick comment on how peaceful it looks.

Newley and Hawkins are on the bridge of Newley's flagship.  They discuss the fact that Hazar himself is coming, and that they are willing to give Hazar the planet as long as they don't use it as a base for conquest.

Hazar is preparing to leave for the negotiations, and Borgam storms into his office, trying to convince him not to negotiate.  Hazar's fleet leaves with two robeasts as a frustrated Borgam takes Hazar's place at the windows.

Hawkins' shuttle returns to the Explorer, and Hawkins asks Jeff if they've received communications from Noran, the Drule commander.

Hazar and Dorma approach the planet.  The Explorer bridge crew see the arrival of this large fleet, and Noran contacts them to tell them that Hazar is on his ways, and they lay out the conditions for the negotiations.  Noran pauses before agreeing, causing the bridge crew to chatter, but he accepts.  Hawkins sends the Land and Sea teams out to examine the designated meeting area.  Hawkins deploys the fleet to the holding zone as Noran and the robeasts follow suit.

Borgam calls Valen and orders him to report on Hazar's actions.  Hazar, Dorma, Noran, and Valen are in an observation room of the ship as they proceed to the meeting place, Hazar with whine and Valen smirking.

The land team scares a brontosaurus-looking thing, and reports that the meeting area checks out.  Crick flies among some coelecanths, and concurs with Cliff.  Sparks orders him to check the airspace.  Another bridge crewmembers tells Jeff all is ready, orders the shuttle launched.  Hazar and Noran are waiting with their own shuttle (a new or recolored design).  They begin the meeting, and Newley and Hazar shake hands.  The discuss the crisis of the Drule homeworld.

The Sea and Land teams are patrolling when Cliff sights a column of smoke.  They move in low, and see humans around a campfire.  The primitive humans watch the Alliance mecha.

Hawkins and Newley are waiting while Hazar contacts Throk.  The conversation with Throk doesn't go well, but he grudgingly accepts.  Hawkins gets jittery when a communication alarm beeps in his shuttle.  Cliff informs him of the stone age settlement, and Hawkins sends them back to the Explorer.  Hawkins tells Newley, and then Hazar comes out of his shuttle.  Hazar is more confident that his conversation with Throk should have left him, and then Newley drops the "This planet is inhabited" bomb.  Hazar is thunderstruck.

Newley says they will have to work out an arrangement with the natives.  Newley has another stipulation--the Alliance-observed disarmament of the Drule Empire.  Hazar goes to contact his superiors again. Jeff is watching on the bridge when Cliff and Crick arrive.

Hazar is trying to convince Throk on the homeworld, who is not easy to convince.  He yells at Hazar until he cuts him off.  He comes out of the shuttle troubled.  He tells Newley the truth, and says the Drule supreme commander refuses to accept the terms, but Hazar intends to disobey orders and leave the planet without fighting.  Newley tries to stop him, and Hawkins commends Hazar's conduct.  The shuttle lifts, and Newley suggests leaving a small garrison force as a precaution.

Newley is back on his bridge, sending the lookout detail while Hawkins launches the rest of the fleet.  Hazar's fleet and the robeasts launch as well.  Borgam, meanwhile, tells Throk of this development, and Throk tells him to send Valen back to the planet.

Hazar sends Noran and Valen to continue surveying for suitable planets.  The fleet divides, and Borgam sends Valen back.  Valen likes this idea.

Sparks detects the arriving Drule fleet.  Hawkins believes that someone other than Hazar gave the order, and he deploys the Voltron force.

The garrison fleet is getting pummeled by Valen's superior force.  Dorma rushes to Hazar, and Hazar punches the wall in frustration.  Valen deploys the robeast.  It makes a mess of the Alliance fleet.  Valen gloats.  Then the Voltron force arrives, and he sends the robeast to meet them.  They form Voltron.

The robeast and Voltron tangle, and animals flee the forest.  Crick is concerned that they'll destroy the forest, so they move to the cliffs.  Newley and his fleet are rushing to return to the planet.  The robeast and Voltron fight on a cliff, and the robeast actually has multiple swords.  Voltron his hanging off the edge of the cliff when Jeff throws the robeast into the ocean with the Raybeam Whip.  They form blazing sword and slice up the disabled robeast on the bottom of the ocean. 

Valen's XO tells him that the robeast is destroyed and the escape ship is ready.  Newley and Hawkins close in.

Hazar broods as he returns.  He is sure that Valen had orders from Throk.  Dorma looks depressed.

Newley and Hawkins determine that now they have to reach the Drule homeworld and liberate the Drules themselves.  Then we get lousy time-filler dialogue in the lounge.  And a Voltron commercial.

Teles and Asimov

The Alliance fleet hovers over the surface of the new planet as Aki, Walter, and Keats watch herds moving over the plains.  Nolan has not responded, and Galveston is not likely to pass up a planet like this.

Ise and Asimov discuss Teles' arrival on Asimov's bridge.  Asimob is willing to allow them to immigrate as long as they don't try for galactic conquest.

Raucher arrives at Tele's office, and Teles informs him of his negotiation plans.  Teles tries to convince him that discussion is the safer route compared to aggression, but Raucher stalks off angrily.  Teles leaves with a fleet escorted by two battle attackers, and Raucher is the one left brooding at the window.

Ise returns to the bridge, and Nolan has still not responded.  Sirk and Teles watch as their fleet approaches the planet.  The Rugger Guard radar operator picks up Teles' fleet.  Nolan hails the Rugger Guard and shows them where to meet in an hour.  Ise offers additional terms--Ise and Nolan will attend with the commanders, and the fleets will stand off 20 km from the location.  He also wants a chance to scout it first.  Nolan accepts.  Aki protests that they'll be in danger, just the two of them, but Ise ignores him, deploys the Sea and Land Ruggers, and launches the fleet.  Nolan's fleet also moves.

Raucher and Juxon discuss the start of the negotiations, and Raucher intends to call Caponero.  Juxon smirks as he, Sirk, and Nolan sit in Teles' observation room.

The Land Rugger encounters dinosaurs but no threats, and the Sea Rugger finds coelecanths, but no threats.  They are ordered to meet up and scout the interior of the continent.  The fleet reaches its standoff position and Aki authorizes Ise's launch.

Nolan and Teles watch Asimov and Ise approach.  The four officers meet and introduce themselves.  There is a long (and Kurasawa-esque) moment of silence and swirly wind that was lost in Voltron, and then they introduce themselves.

Walter and Keats see smoke and a stone age human encampment.  The humans are awestruck at the two mecha.

Teles is communication with Caponero, and Caponero doesn't trust the idea of abandoning conquest.  He thinks the Alliance wants the galaxy for themselves.  He tells Teles, shockingly, to accept their terms.  Then the alarm rings in Ise's shuttle.

Commercial break--this one was dramatic enough that I thought I'd mention it.

Walter tells Ise of the humans.  He goes to tell Asimov, and then Teles comes out of the shuttle and asks for time to consider the proposal.  Asimov then tells him about the human settlement.  Teles is shocked.  Asimov admits that they alone can no longer decide the planets fate.  He says that in order for them to trust to coinhabit with the aboriginals, they must disarm.  Teles thinks about it, and then he and Nolan go back to the shuttle.  Aki, Keats, and Walter watch from the Rugger Guard bridge.

Caponero does not like the disarmament proposal at all.  Teles urges him to reconsider, but Caponero refuses.  He orders Teles to refuse, but Teles finally disconnects.  He walks slowly back to Asimov and Ise, and tells them that his government wants the planet to be acquired, even if it's by force.  However, he is going to take his fleet, and Asimov tries to call him back before he leave.  Asimov makes the momentous decision that the Galveston government must be overthrown.

The fleets are preparing to leave, and Asimov leaves a unit behind to watch for Galveston treachery.  On the Galveston homeworld, Raucher reveals that Juxon has told him of Teles' withdrawal.  Caponero is told that Juxon is trustworthy, and he smirks.

Teles orders Raucher and Juxon to survey other planets.  Raucher then sends Juxon back to the planet, a duty he looks forward to.    The Rugger Guard sees the change in course, and Ise realizes the small force left at the planet is in danger.

Juxon is already fighting his way through the Alliance squadron.  Sirk rushes to Teles' office and gives him the news.  Teles is angry.  The battle rages, and Juxon launches the battle attacker.  There's a slight animation error, I think--as it launches, the by-now-standard crotch missile launcher lights up instead of the three lights in its faceplate.  At least, it looks like an error.  Maybe it was just really excited to get into battle.

The Rugger team arrives and forms the big guy.  This battle attacker has a serious arsenal--its right arm is a big bladed weapon on a chain, and it has a beam weapon in its right wrist.  Dairugger leads the battle attack away from the jungle (which has a weird mix of dinosaurs and mammals).  The Dairugger lance is disarmed by the blade on a chain, which is in turn severed by the whip.  Then the battle attacker pulls another sword out of the beam emitter on its right wrist and wields it left-handed, driving Dairugger to dangle off of the cliff.  'Ruggs then throws the battle attacker off the cliff with the whip and finishes it with the sword.

Asimov's fleet returns in force and kills Juxon, wiping out his fleet.

Sirk tells Teles of the new events.  Teles knows that Juxon didn't act alone.

Ise and Asimov watch the sun set, and realize they have to reach the Galveston homeworld as quickly as possible.  They speak admiringly of Teles, and wonder what his fate will be now that he's disobeyed orders.