Steel Step Suite

Steel Step Suite (記憶の島) is the sixth episode of ALDNOAH.ZERO, it first aired in Japan on August 9, 2014.

Synopsis
The Emperor of Mars broadcasts an official declaration of war against Earth. Inaho and his friends are drafted into the military and Slaine is on the run.

Plot
Act One Emperor Rayregalia Vers Rayvers re-declares war on Earth. Seylum is shocked. She, Inaho, and the others watch the broadcast from the mess hall of the Wadatsumi.

Learning that Slaine used the audience chamber to talk to the Emperor, Count Cruhteo orders his men to hunt him and execute him on the spot.

He receives another message from Count Saazbaum, who wants to question Slaine regarding his father's Aldnoah research.

Slaine pinpoints a Vers soldier to the elevator's floor and demands to know about the orange Kataphtakt Sir Vlad was pursuing.

Seylum is upset over her grandfather's formal declaration of war. Inko is disappointed that the cease-fire ended so quickly, Lt. Marito comes from behind and states that the First Earth-Mars War never ended only, only they pretended not to notice and agrees with "the old fart" that the princess' death opened their eyes to the truth.

Seylum startles and assures the crew that Princess Asseylum has no desire for war and tried to act as a bridge of friendship between Earth and Vers. Still, she ended being the spark that set it off, as Lt. Marito states, he goes further to say that it is what they, the Orbital Knights had always dreamed of, a righteous cause that would let them pull out all the stops. Inko wonders if the Martians tried to sacrifice their own princess.

Warrant Officer Kaizuka comes into the mess hall to tell everyone to assemble in the briefing room. She also demands that Inaho calls her Warrant Officer Kaizuka as they are not officially at war. Captain Magbaredge drafts all of the students and some of the refugees as soldiers. She announces that they will resupply and make repairs at Tanegashima Base, which appears to make Lt. Marito nervous and then head for United Earth HQ in Russia. She orders everyone to go to their stations immediately and dismiss them.

The civilians are interviewed, Dr. Yagarai enlists to. Eddelrittuo explains that her "big sister" Seylum did not go to school, and thus was not trained as a pilot because she was sick. It is a close call as she calls Seylum "Her Highness". It is Rayet's turn to be interviewed. She pauses when asked whether she wants to do her part to defend Earth from the Martians.

Each recruit has been given a uniform. Calm does not the like the fact that he's been put in maintenance work, Inko reminds Calm that he flunked piloting and states that mechanics are just as crucial to the war. Without them, the Kataphrakts wouldn't work. Lt. Marito retorts to Calm's complaint of not being able to do battle with a reminder that no one has seen any real action in the past 15 years.

Those who did; are all dead, as Lt. Marito states. He metaphorically says friend and foe alike are virgins like them to war. That is, Calm gets confused, whereas Inaho simply replies "not all of us", which gives Calm and Inko a wrong impression. Inaho means Lt. Marito has experience for her lived through the First Earth-Mars War. Lt. Marito says the Tanegashima Report he wrote got buried. Tanegashima was first to be hit by Heaven's Fall event that destroyed the moon 15 years ago Inaho states but Lt. Marito mentions something came down before the moon; the Martians.

The UFE forces went up against monster Martian Kataphrakts in old tanks and thus no match… but there was no physical evidence of the incident. Lt. Marito's report was interpreted as the ramblings of a madman written in terror. Calm says it was true because Mars' Kataphrakts are way beyond what Earth's technology can produce. Lt. Marito believes the result will be the same regardless of the facts because the Earth doesn't have Aldnoah Drives.

Slaine escapes gunfire from inside Castle Cruhteo as he is reeled into a Sky Carrier. He manages to launch himself. Meanwhile, Inaho sits in a forklift on the top deck of the Wadatsumi reading about the KG-7 Areion on his smartphone.

Inaho sees Seylum sitting on a create looking at the blue sky above and blue ocean below. She remarks that they are beautiful and confirms to Inaho that blue skies are unusual to her.

Inaho has been brushing up on the KG-7 stats, but he's not sure how useful it will be because Earth does not have Aldnoah drives. Inaho asks Seylum what Aldnoah actually is. She explains that it is the technology belonging to a super-civilization discovered in the ancient ruins on Vers - the world Inaho's people call Mars.

The first person from Earth to make contact and awaken Aldnoah was Dr. Rayregalia Vers Rayvers, her grandfather/the ruling Emperor of Mars. This event led to the belief that Aldnoah recognized the doctor as its rightful heir.

The Aldnoah activation factor was "burned" into his genes. Only people who have the "innate" ability to activate Aldnoah are the Emperor and his descendants, including Seylum. However, the power can be still be granted to, for example, the Emperor shared his power with the Orbital Knights.

The Orbital Knights used their power to create mighty castles and Kataphakts to rule over the colonies. Now, those who settled on the desolate lands of Mars have set their eyes on Earth, the cradle of humanity. A land blessed with water and air in such abundance that they refract light to make the sea and sky appear blue.

Inaho corrects what Seylum had learned from Slaine regarding why the Sky is blue; it is the result of Rayleigh scattering, as shown on Inaho's tablet. Seylum's face gets redder. Act Two Nina asks if it is alright if she took over a position on the bridge. The sailor asks her what grades she got in Docking. It was A-Minus, so he requests Nina to watch him next time they come to port. Kisaki asks Shigo why they don't have uniforms, Shigo explains that they don't have enough and hopes that they can stock up at the next port. Yutaro looks at Nina's skirt and senses something isn't right.

The sailor assisting Nina wonders why they are going to Tanegashima, thinking the area was sealed off. With their intel on the Landing Castles so spotty, XO Mizusaki would prefer to avoid any areas that are likely invasion targets. Tanegashima is an area that was devastated so severely that the very landscape was altered. Even now, there is no civilian population there. Thus XO Mizusaki believes the Martians wouldn't bother attacking this area and put their focus on Tokyo.

Lt. Marito kneels on the deck with a bottle of whiskey. As the Wadatsumi approaches Tanegashima, Dr. Yagarai approaches him and picks it up. Lt. Marito says it's for the ones that couldn't drink…like John Humeray, as Dr. Yagarai adds. Lt. Marito takes the bottle into the cove. He prefers to drink from the flask he keeps in his shirt pocket and requests Dr. Yagarai to join him. Capt. Magbaredge appears from behind and asks that she joins them too. Unlike others, she doesn't believe Lt. Marito's Tanegashim report was a fabrication; that is why she has a particular dislike for Lt. Marito. She reveals that her older brother also fought at the Battle of Tanegashima, listed as Killed in Action because... he was murdered by Lt. Marito.

Magbaredge is the name of the family that adopted the Captain. Her real surname was Humeray, which means her brother was Lt. Marito's best friend.

Yutaro reports enemy craft above Tanegashima. XO Mizusaki orders Nina to take the ship to open water for Anti-air combat. Captain Magbaredge arrives on the bridge and requests a damage report. Shigo reports missile impact on Block 18 with no detonation.

The sailors at the impact think it is a dud, but then it appears the projectile is alive as it begins spinning, the missile pulls out of the breach in the ship; it is a giant fist, as it pulls out the hand tears off some pipes and cables to damage the ship.

The fists fly and repeat the process to do more damage, causing Nina to lose control of the helm and allowing the Wadatsumi to crash into a sea wall. The fists return to the multi-limbed Martian Kataphrakt, Hellas, piloted by Femieanne on top of a high cliff. Captain Magbaredge realizes that it is a different Kataphrakt to the one in Tokyo. She orders the Kataphtakts to launch. Inaho asks Calm why his KG-7 won't start and does a system check.

Inko sits in her cockpit and sees Inaho run past. Inaho opts for a KG-6 Sleipnir, he checks that all the programs are functional. His platoon leader, Warrant Officer Kaizuka, orders him to be their marksman because he uses the trainer Kataphrakt. Inaho hesitates because Yuki's arm is damaged, but she believes that if her newbie brother can do it, so can she. She also allows her brother to call her Yuki.

The Friesian Platoon deploys at the bow, whereas the Mustang Platoon of Inaho, Inko, Yuki, and others. Femiane observes the Kataphrakts from high above, considering them to be pathetic. She initiates all six of the Hellas' forearms for a rocket punch move. The KG-7s struggle to shoot down the flying fists, one of them grabs a KG-7 in mid-flight and crushes it to pieces.

XO Mizusaki orders them to spread out so they won't be sitting ducks clustered together. Warrant Officer Kaizuka notices that AP rounds are ineffective against the enemy's armor and orders her platoon to switch to HE rounds and attack. Lt. Marito heads off to pilot a KG-7, he vows not to back out as this is his "home field".

Inko's KG-7 stands back to back to Inaho's KG-6. One of the Hellas' arms hits her KG-7 and pushes the two Kataphrakts across the ship's deck, and they both fall of their feet. Lt. Marito asks Calm to get a heavy barrel ready for the KG-7 he is going to pilot.

In the cockpit, he has visions of the Kataphrakt he faced at Tanegashima during the First Earth-Mars War. Kisaki reports that blocks 23, 24, and 25 of the ship are being flooded. Thus Captain Magbaredge orders evacuation of affected blocks immediately. Kisaki thinks they should do something about the bulkheads. Still, the Captain believes the ship is done anyway, so she orders non-combatants to abandon ship. As Rayet, Seylum, and Eddelrittuo evacuate, the Hellas cause further damage with its flying fists.

Suddenly, a projectile from the sky destroys one of the Hellas' fists headed towards the ship. The bridge crew wonders what's going on. HE rounds are discovered to be ineffective against the Hellas' armor; however, from Inaho's long-range, the blast pressure can still throw them off course. Inaho uses this technique to divert some of the fists into the cliffs of Tanegashima. With one last fist to destroy, Inaho runs out of ammo. Still, Slaine arrives in his hijacked Sky Carrier and destroys the remaining fist.

Quotes
"Emperor Rayregalia Vers Rayvers"

- With her death, Asseylum Vers Allusia, loyal countryman and beloved family member, has revealed the truth to us.

Through her pious act, she has opened our eyes

We are meting out justice. The Earth has spat upon our good faith, heaped insult upon insult, and now committed this atrocity!

This divine retribution is brought down upon them!

Today, the Vers Empire declares war against Earth!

"Inaho Kaizuka confuses his friends"

- Lt. Marito: Don’t be so gung-ho. These past 15 years, no one’s seen any real action. Those who did are all dead. On the Martian side, too. Meaning that friend and foe alike are all virgins, same as you.

Inaho: Not all of us

Calm: Inaho, are you saying you-

Inaho: You lived through it, Lt. Marito. Isn’t that right?

Calm: Oh, you mean that.

Songs

 * heavenly blue (OP)
 * A/Z (ED)

Trivia

 * When Inaho was reading about the KG-7 Areion on his tablet; the browser he is using is Safari, the KG-7’s description is translated as “Global Coalition Army Main production model katacraft” instead of “United Forces of Earth Main Production Model Kataphrakt” and later when he corrects Seylums misconceptions as to why the sky is blue, the website slightly resembles Wikipedia.


 * Errormsg.png When Inaho's mecha was damaged, an error resembling that from an Emacs bug report shows up on one of the screens.