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| Episode 10 - | Baptism |
| senrei | |
| First aired - | 5th June 2002 |
The new cadets have passed the first part of their initial training, and the next stage is an internship in a section of Galaxy Police for some valuable real-world experience. Each student lines up in turn and receives their commission from principal Mikami. Amane, who is overseeing the paperwork, throws Seina a wink when his turn is called. Seina steps into Mikami's office and salutes, and Mikami hands him his assignment card. He is to join the Anti-pirate Decoy Squad, a section of the Galaxy Police that act as bait to pirates and keep them away from the transport routes used by the GP delivery service (a highly profitable business run by the Galaxy Police that subsidises many of the other divisions). It is a dangerous assignment, a fact of which Kiriko is painfully aware. Upon hearing of Seina's assignment to the Decoy Squad earlier that day, she voiced her concerns to Airi, but her protests have clearly had no effect.
Seina's first problem, far from encountering any pirates, is actually finding the ship he is assigned to; the spaceport is huge, and even with a map he becomes lost. He spots a cleaner in the corridor and approaches her to ask for directions. To his surprise, he finds it is Mitoto. She merrily leads him in what she thinks is the right direction, mopping the floor as she goes.
Aboard a GP battleship in deep space, Kiriko has assumed her post on the command crew for a one-off mission. She owes the captain a favour, so she is providing her expertise for the duration. The captain asks her why an officer with her talents became an instructor at the Academy, and tells her that if she ever wishes to change to a military career she is welcome to join his crew. Just then, one of the crew members reports a pirate ship approaching their location, and also that two unauthorised personnel have been detected aboard the ship. The captain orders a strategic withdrawal, as their mission is more important than confronting space pirates. Meanwhile, Kiriko checks the security cameras for the two intruders and discovers that Mitoto and Seina have somehow found their way aboard. Mitoto even has Seina cleaning the ship with her! The captain, however, is not angry. He has already heard of Seina's remarkable ability, and is enthralled to see his pirate attracting skill for himself. Nevertheless, he attempts to keep Mitoto and Seina out of harm's way by luring them into the dining hall with trays of pudding and locking the door behind them.
Suddenly, a siren sounds; despite their cloaking device, the pirate ship they were trying to avoid has followed them. The bridge crew recognise it as the Daidalos, the ship of the notorious pirate Tarant Shunk. The captain orders a retreat, firing explosive charges at the Daidalos to mask their escape. However, the Daidalos is too fast for them. It catches them up and activates a tractor beam to prevent them from escaping. Dozens of tubes spew from the front of the Daidalos and attach themselves to the GP battleship. Each tube bores through the hull, allowing the pirates to board. Within moments the ship is overrun by pirates, who rampage through the corridors mercilessly gunning down the crew. On the bridge, Kiriko spots Seina and Mitoto on the security monitors. They have somehow escaped from the dining hall and are wandering the corridors, unaware of the pirate attack. Her worst fears realised, Kiriko begs leave of her post to go and help Seina before he gets into serious trouble. As she leaves the bridge, a warning display on her wrist indicates that the pirates have sabotaged the ship's main engines; time is running out for everyone aboard. She strips off her outer layer of clothes, and underneath she is wearing an optical camouflage suit which can render her virtually invisible to the naked eye. She takes off down the corridor and activates the suit, disappearing from view.
Mitoto and Seina step out into another identical-looking corridor, still clueless as to their location. Mitoto still believes they are in the spaceport! She suggests they ask someone for directions, and she turns to see Tarant Shunk approaching them. He draws his gun and aims it at them both.
Meanwhile, the pirates are withdrawing from the GP battleship ahead of the imminent engine overload. A faint shadow, the only evidence of Kiriko in her optical camouflage, passes over one of the pirates and he collapses to the floor. She grasps a second pirate around his throat and throttles him. On board the Daidalos, the sole remaining pirate on the bridge notices a strange energy reaction aboard the GP ship. He is about to call Tarant and alert him, but Kiriko has already found her way aboard. Unseen, she sneaks up behind the pirate and kills him.
Back on the GP ship, Mitoto and Seina run in terror from Tarant Shunk. He stalks them calmly along the corridors, firing his pistol at them. He seems to take a sadistic pleasure in his pursuit; he deliberately misses his shots to provoke further terror in his quarry. He soon tires of his pursuit and lines up his next shot to kill Seina. He pulls the trigger, but two GP officers carrying shields appear and deflect it. They fire back, but Tarant's GS (Guardian System) suit, an advanced defence garment, protects him by producing a force-stabilised holographic creature. The creature lunges forward and slashes one of the GP officers with its claws, killing him. The remaining officer leads Mitoto and Seina through a doorway into another room and locks it behind them. However, Tarant is close behind, and begins to break the door down. Fortunately, the walls of the room are lined with escape pods, and after explaining to Mitoto she is actually aboard a battleship, the officer helps her into one of the pods and sends her to safety. The officer steps into another pod and activates it, advising Seina to quickly do the same. Suddenly, Tarant breaks down the door and shoots the control panel on Seina's escape pod. Cornered, it seems Seina is done for. With a wicked grin, Tarant torments Seina by choosing a place to shoot him, pointing the gun at his head, then his chest, then in his mouth. Seina is too terrified to move. Suddenly, the pirate guarding the door collapses. Startled, Tarant grabs Seina and points the gun at his head. The vague shadow in the doorway resolves itself into Kiriko as she deactivates her optical camouflage. She is spattered with blood from the pirates she has killed, her face set in a cold and emotionless expression.
Shocked by her appearance, Tarant loosens his grip on Seina. Seina spots his opportunity, takes out his penknife and stabs Tarant in the arm. He drops his gun and Kiriko aims a flying kick at him. Tarant's GS suit activates, but too late; his shield shatters and Kiriko kicks him into the wall. Suddenly, the ship begins to shake, the sabotaged engines overloading. An explosion rips through the chamber, and Tarant disappears behind a wall of flame. Before he makes his escape using one of the pods, he swears to find and kill Seina. As the fire takes hold, Kiriko holds out her hand to lead Seina to safety. Seina is so traumatised by Tarant's attack on him and disturbed by Kiriko's fearsome appearance that he refuses to touch her.
After his harrowing experience, Seina spends some time recovering in hospital. Amane comes to visit and finds him in low spirits. She tries to comfort him by telling him that he would have to have met pirates face-to-face sooner or later, but Seina is depressed about how helpless he was and how he was afraid of Kiriko. As tears pour down his face, he wishes he could have been stronger. Amane holds him in a comforting embrace, and tells him that she will do all she can to help him.
At the GP spaceport a few days later, the Decoy Squad ship "Kamidake" stands in port. Alan, Barry and Cohen, the crew from the Galaxy Police Transporter have been transferred to the ship, and they wonder who will be their new captain. To their surprise, when the captain arrives it turns out to be Seina! As he and his new crew take their places on the bridge, the final two crew members enter; Kiriko and Amane. Kiriko is still clearly upset by Seina's earlier rejection, but he offers her his hand in a gesture of reconciliation, and she gladly takes it. The docking latches release the Kamidake and it accelerates down the launch tunnel and into space. Seina, with his friends at his side, heads out to face the galaxy head on.
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