{"id":28803,"date":"2019-08-26T16:26:17","date_gmt":"2019-08-26T23:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=28803"},"modified":"2022-12-07T18:37:26","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T02:37:26","slug":"sbl4920","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/sbl4920\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Blazers Lambda<\/em> Chapter 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Story and art by Ryuko Azuma
\nSee it in larger format on Comic NewType<\/em> here<\/a>
\nNarrative reads right to left<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Right side: Linne Aigis stands in an area, surrounded by interrogators<\/p>\n

Left side: Carlos Jones asks her where she intended to take her assigned ship, the Mark 7, after she avoided surveillance to enter space station Vimana<\/em>. She answers, \u201cOut of your reach\u201d and says her intent was to gamble on luring out Seireness. A new character wearing a mask (Cess Cardinas, chairperson of \u201cNirvana\u201d) says she won the bet thanks to Linne and Yu Yamato. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Linne growls that Cess played a dirty trick, and Cess replies that it was the space-time crystal that chose Yu Yamato. \u201cYou boarded the Mark 7 to protect him, what\u2019s your complaint?\u201d Linne states that the game is well-designed to find candidates for Topness, but the members of Topness don\u2019t know the real rules. Cess explains that the pieces in a game don\u2019t need to know the rules. \u201cDestroying Seireness\u2026we are the players who perform the scenario of mankind. In this space, all souls are saved.\u201d The scene transitions back to Linne in her own quarters on Vimana<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scenario of mankind\u2026or the scenario of you and Nirvana?\u201d Chapter 4 title: NIRVANA<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The scene shifts to an unknown space. Yu Yamato wakes up being cradled by Linne. She tells him they are in the \u201cCocoon of Intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He gapes at a huge, deformed version of her with an arm dropping off. When he turns back, the \u201cfirst Linne\u201d also loses her arm and tells him, \u201cThe diva is coming here soon. It\u2019s chasing you. You\u2019re really dumb, but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sort of happy. Goodbye, Yu.\u201d Yu wakes from a dream and is startled to find the real Linne in his bed. He tumbles backward and hits his head on the floor.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Right side: Linne tells Yu that if he keeps hitting his head, he might end up as a college student. (Mifune pops up to explain that research proves most college students got hit in the head as children.) Yu gets an eyeful of Linne\u2019s cleavage and turns away, embarassed.<\/p>\n

Left side: She asks what\u2019s up, and he describes his weird dream. Linne is shocked by the description and immediately calls up the command room. \u201cSeireness is coming!\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Right side: Abby and Alexei rush to the command center to hear that energy readings have risen sharply, a sign that Seireness is attacking for the second time. The members of Topness have entered their core ships. As the core ships dock into the vessels of NerfThis fleet, Yu wonders how Linne knew this was coming.<\/p>\n

Left side: The launch process continues. Abby tells Nina (Mark 1 pilot) to take careful measures, and she answers that there will be a delay before her \u201cSecond Sight\u201d [overall field data] can be interpreted. All seven ships launch and Nina deploys her Second Sight drones.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Seireness warp in, instantly attacking the fleet with a glowing sphere.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Right side: In the Vimana<\/em> control room, all the pilots\u2019 vital signs are spiking. Their connections will soon be lost. Linne names the enemy weapon: Magneta.<\/p>\n

Left side: Alexei realizes that Seireness is attacking with a strong magnetic field. Marina (Mark 4 pilot) asks Linne what they\u2019re facing, and she explains that it can de-magnetize water and destroy their cell tissue. She tells everyone to get away from the glowing sphere as fast as they can.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Right side: Hugo (Mark 3 pilot) doesn\u2019t think they have a chance of outracing this attack. Nina says that the magneta is supported by a gravity field, which can be disrupted by combining the Yu\u2019s Wave-Motion Gun with Hugo\u2019s Lightning Bolt attack. Hugo launches his Thunderstorm.<\/p>\n

Left side: \u201cWith the two of us together, we\u2019ll grill them like fish! LIGHTNING BOLT!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Seireness counterattacks, blasting their song at Hugo. Marina shouts his name\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2026and deploys her Frost Aster shield in Hugo\u2019s defense. Yu reacts as a Seireness pushes its giant arms through the shield and pursues him. Hugo tries to reach Marina, but she\u2019s out cold.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Right side: the control room announces that the Fraser Ship (Mark 4) is down. Nina orders Aisha (Mark 5) to tow her out of danger. Yu is about to be caught when Linne calls out, \u201cDeploy Gravity Shield!\u201d<\/p>\n

Left side: Linne flies in (in the Mark 7) and cuts off the Seireness chasing Yu. Nina tells Linne to break off as soon as Yu gets clear, but now it looks like Linne\u2019s ship is about to be lost, too. Carlos Jones chooses that moment to leave the command room, puzzling both Abby and Alexei.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Right side: Carlos is back in the Nirvana arena from the start of the chapter. He updates Cess on the losing battle and says, \u201cIf a Cocoon of Intelligence occurs here, our scenario can\u2019t be carried out.\u201d She orders him to release their copy of the space-time crystal. \u201cThe anti-matter giant is the last dagger for the future existence of Seireness. The Mark X cannot be used.\u201d Carlos protests that at this rate, the original will fall into their hands, and mankind cannot then be led into Nirvana. Cess answers, \u201cDon\u2019t worry. The Mark 3 Topness (Hugo) will know what to do in this battle. Leave this fight to him and Maya\u2019s son.\u201d<\/p>\n

Left side: The four remaining Topness ships flee together. Hugo ponders their options, then asks Laine (Mark 2 pilot) to pierce his ship with Bind Needles. Laine says Hugo will be caught by the enemy. Hugo ignores him, asking if Yu is ready to fire the Wave-Motion Gun. He asks what Hugo is up to, and Hugo says that he will be the one to shield the fleet now. \u201cIf we miss this one chance, it\u2019s team death. Shall we\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Right side: Yu answers in the affirmative, willing to go to Heaven. Laine fires Bind Needles into Hugo\u2019s ship, saying this is crazy. Abby and Alexei watch, amazed.<\/p>\n

Left side: The Seireness are incoming. Hugo stares them down, claiming that he learned Fleming\u2019s Law<\/a> in junior high.
\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Right side: Hugo dares the Seireness to come at him. In the control room, an observer says, \u201cElectricity is flowing back into the internal circuit! The Richelieu Ship (Hugo\u2019s) is generating a strong magnetic field!\u201d Abby tries to stop him, saying it won\u2019t be enough.<\/p>\n

Left side: Hugo answers: \u201cWhy else am I here? I made it to Jupiter! Nobody else can beat them now! Good guys and bad guys\u2026the guys who mocked me and the ones who don\u2019t know me\u2026I\u2019m gonna protect all of them from this!! I was a lousy student, but the seniors have to protect the juniors!!!\u201d Energy builds to a critical point.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cCatch this, Yu,\u201d Hugo shouts as he releases his ship\u2019s energy at the enemy, \u201ca killer pass!\u201d
\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Yu lets fly with the Wave-Motion Gun\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2026and their combined energies wipe out the enemy. Alexei realizes it was a magnetic force that did it. Hugo is barely conscious as he looks out at Yu\u2019s ship. \u201cWhat a strange sight\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Right side: Yu is exhausted after the battle. Hugo walks up carrying a bag of Sky Ice from the station\u2019s single convenience store.<\/p>\n

Left side: Hugo says the previous stock all melted, so he bought this batch before it could sell out. Staring off into the distance, he says, \u201cThere\u2019s a lot you don\u2019t know. I\u2019m older than you\u2026if there\u2019s anything you\u2019re worried about, talk to me.\u201d Surprised to see Hugo\u2019s guard starting to come down, Yu asks if he wants to eat some Sky Ice. Hugo wants to get it into a fridge before it can melt, but then relents. \u201cOkay, just a little\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

TO BE CONTINUED<\/p>\n

\nReturn to 2202<\/em> report<\/a> <\/p>\n

Return to Chapter index<\/a><\/p>\n

Continue to next chapter<\/a><\/p>\n

Ryuko Azuma’s Production Memo<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This is a Hugo chapter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hugo, who played the role of a gatekeeper in chapter 3, is also feeling uncomfortable with his life. In Lambda<\/em>, all the Topness feel this. I’ve been told many times that It’s kind of a rut, but I want to portray a human drama, and I wanted people to know what kind of person Hugo really is. Ultimately, I think I want to portray a person, not a story.<\/span><\/p>\n

I brought out Nirvana, the organization that Alexei is after. Chancellor Cardinus is trying to accomplish a different goal with Jones where the Seireness are concerned. The important thing is Linne, and the other Topness are letting Linne speak as a frame to protect her. What Cardinus is up to will be revealed much later on.<\/span><\/p>\n

He’s wearing a skeleton mask, though. I was asked to differentiate between Cardinus and Jones, and I couldn’t change their personalities, so I changed their appearances. Cardinus is also Mexican-American, so the image is the Mexican Day of the Dead. I hope I was able to make him mysterious and extremely suspicious.<\/span><\/p>\n

The cocoon of intelligence is introduced. This is a keyword that has been at the center of this story since the beginning. I’ve been struggling with how to deal with this cocoon of intelligence for a long time, and I won’t reveal what it is for a while yet, but I’m sure those with good intuition will find out along the way. <\/span><\/p>\n

Also, I was reminded that Marina doesn’t really look good in battle. She doesn’t have a lot of offensive power, but she can save the fleet in a pinch many times. It’s a very difficult role that requires good reflexes and a good grasp of the situation. I like her clever personality, which is a bit different from other characters that have been portrayed so far. She doesn’t care too much about the Topness rankings, and protects Hugo, whom she hates, by making quick decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n

(By the way, Marina is also bullied by Hugo, just like Yu, though she pushes back because of her personality.) In the beginning of the project, I had an image of a character like Aska (from Evangelion<\/em>), but since Hugo had that image, I settled on the current character.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next chapter will be about Marina. Why did Marina come to Jupiter? What exactly is she trying to protect? I’m very happy to be able to tell you! Please root for her!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28803"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33401,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28803\/revisions\/33401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}