EPISODIUM
"Fyana...the last thing I remember was escaping the jungles of Kummen with Fyana. There's no doubt about that. But afterward, something took us..."
Chirico and Fyana wake up in the shuttle they used to escape Melkia. It has inexplicably come to rest inside the hanger deck of some large facility. They investigate their whereabouts and discover themselves to be on a gigantic space battleship, heading toward an unknown destination on auto-pilot. Left with no way of stopping it, the two finally have a quiet moment, in which Fyana is amused to learn that Chirico has never tasted alcohol before.
The peace is interrupted by blasting music, which comes from a self-playing video that depicts Chirico's notorious Red Shoulder Battalion slaughtering civilians during the war. Like the ship they are on, it is automatic - and try as he might, Chirico is unable to stop the nightmarish pictures. This drives a new and unexpected wedge between Chirico and Fyana. The shame he feels for his past is matched by her forgiveness and understanding... but neither of them knows how to give voice to their feelings.
Suddenly, an alarm sounds - their ship approaches a Balarant patrol fleet, and a platoon of Balarant ATs rockets toward them from the distance. Chirico rushes to one of the ship's Scopedogs and plunges into battle, desperate for a diversion from his inner turmoil.
"What else could I do? I knew what would happen if the Balarant captured a PS. Besides, I'm a Red Shoulder, a man born to fight. The only place I feel at home is in battle. Fyana and I had escaped the jungle to find a new world. And here I was, forced to confront old wounds. Trapped in an unknown ship, headed God knows where, having to fight the Balarant. And the woman I loved, who I was fighting to protect, seemed to be drifting farther away with each passing second."