Week Four: Robotech Art Three by Carl Macek
We have left Robotech Art Three's episode by episode guide for the first two weeks, and now we are onto the week by week synopsis for the next eleven weeks. So, I'm just going to list the plot points from Week Four entitled The Liberation of Carbonara.
Notes from Character Profiles
The Farrago has left the Valivarre star system on it's first mission, to liberate the planet Karbarra from the Invid, and upon defolding in the Yirrbisst star system, find themselves in the middle of an Invid fleet.
This fleet is commanded by an Invid known as Senep, and he has been commanded by the Regent to take a force from Karbarra's garrison as reinforcements to the defense of Tirol (which has already been freed from the Invid).
And because Senep believes the Farrago to still be under Tesla's control, he is caught by surprise as the new captain of the Farrago, Admiral Lisa Hayes-Hunter, orders the GMU to fire upon Senep's command ship, destroying it immediately.
The Invid are loosed from their clamshell carriers, and once again, Alphas and Invid Battle in space.
The battle is over fairly quickly, and the Sentinels begin to plan a quick strike offensive on Karbarra with the Karbarrans objecting for reasons of their own. Something to do with the Shapings of Things, their version of Fate or Destiny. Vice Admiral Rick Hunter and Lron argue, but they eventually form a consensus. The Sentinels will send a recon party down to the planet's surface. The party will consist of Lron, Kami, Rick, Bela, Gnea, Lt. Jack Baker, Lt. Karen Penn, and Rem, and within a few hours they board a Karbarran Shuttle for the planet's surface.
The recon party lands in a "safe" area on the barren surface of Karbarra, an abandoned mining facility a few hours away from Karbarra's only major population center, Tracielle.
Meanwhile on Optera the Regent orders forces from the outer fringes of his empire to reinforce Karbarra, and on the Farrago, Vince notices that Crysta gets morose when he mentioned children, and urges Jean to talk with her, while the Sentinels command staff are puzzled by the obvious lack of fighting on the planets surface.
As the recon party enters the abandoned mine shafts and tunnels of Karbarra to make their way to Tracielle undetected by the Invid leaving Rem and Gnea to guard the shuttle and act as a communications relay with the orbiting Farrago, more Invid Clamshells defold, and the Farrago once again launches the Skull Squadron to battle the Invid in space, while Col. Wolff's Hovertanks take up positions on the Farrago's Hull to defend the ship. The battle is short however, and the Sentinels are once again victorious, but the victory is short lived as Jean discovers from Crysta that the Invid are keeping the Karbarran cubs as prisoners in order to keep the Karbarran adults docile.
The Farrago sends the message of the cubs imprisonment to the shuttle, but before Rem and Gnea can relay the message to the recon party in the mines, they are attacked by two Hellcats. They manage to fight them off, but one made it into the shuttle and destroyed the communications relay.
Rem and Gnea cannot contact the party in the mines.
Concerned over the lack of regular communications with the shuttle, Rick's group in the mines set up camp at the entrance of a mine shaft and send Bela's Falcon-like pet bird, Hagane, with a message capsule back to the shuttle, and take a rest.
Before Hagane returns, Kami abandons his post as guard to follow a Gerudan Atmosphere induced vision, and is quickly captured by the Invid.
Not long after that Hagane returns with a message from the Farrago and the Shuttle informing them of the plight of the Karbarran cubs and Lisa's plan to free them, and liberate Karbarra from the Invid.
In the Karbarran Invid hive, the living brain receives a message from Tesla. In front of Tesla, chained, sits Learna, Crysta, Veidt, Sarna, a Praxian warrior, and Lisa. He requests permission to land the Farrago after fighting off the Sentinels in space so he might repair his vessel. Unbeknownst to the Brain, Veidt and Sarna are using their telepathy to help give Tesla's words the ring of truth, Tesla is wearing a collar made of jewels and explosives, and that this is all part of the Sentinels plan.
As the Farrago descends towards the planet's surface, Skull Squadron and the Wolff Pack are launched and ordered to find the Invid prisoner camp while the recon shuttle picks up Rick's party, and Kami is taken to the camp where they are holding the Karbarran Cubs prisoner.
In the camp, Kami meets Lron and Crysta's son, Dardo, and comes up with a plan to escape and notify the Sentinels of the location of the new camp, in an abandoned Sekiton processing plant. He covers himself with the peat, and uses it to protect him from the Invid's energy barrier, as the Farrago lands in Tracielle, Tesla exits the ship followed by REF Destroids, and the surface battle begins.
Before the Invid Brain orders the extermination of the Karbarran cubs, Kami recovers his weapons, deactivates the barrier, and manages to build a Sekiton powered signal fire, which attracts the recon shuttle to the location of the camp, while the Skull Squadron discovers the original camp to be abandoned.
The battle to free the cubs is a long one, and is almost a failure, but upon finding out that their cubs are safe, the Karbarrans take up arms against the Invid, and Karbarra is liberated from their conquerors.
Elsewhere in the universe, Breetai returns to his residence in Zarkopolis, the city Zentraedi miners built on Fantoma, and is seduced by his traveling companion, Kazianna Hesh, General Edwards has pretty much taken control of the REF, Minmei opens a service club in Tiresia, The Invid Regent makes contact with Edwards and Edwards readily gives the Regent all the intel data on the Farrago and tells him that the Sentinels are on their way to Praxis after Karbarra, and the Regis leaves Praxis for Haydon IV.
Back on the Farrago, Tesla convinces Burak that only he can save Peryton from it's curse and convinces him that he should bring Tesla the Fruit of the mutated Flower of Life growing on Karbarra.
The Farrago departs Karbarra once repairs are complete, and begins it's journey to Praxis.