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The Hagane continues its slow journey towards Africa.
Kai pulls Ryusei and Bullet aside in the cafeteria with a request: try to befriend Arado. He figures they'll have the best chance at sounding him out, since they're closest to his age.
Ryusei: "Why do you want us to do this?"
Kai: "I'd like for him to choose his path for himself."
Lamia: (What...?)
Yes, Arado is a prisoner of war, but if he's willing to fight alongside them, they might be able to avoid long-term detention, just like Ryoto and Leona before him. That said, Kai doesn't want to pressure him into fighting.
Although "fight with us or go to prison" sounds a lot like pressure to me. 
Rai is less sanguine about his chances than the rest. With his School indoctrination, loyalty to the Divine Crusaders might be ingrained too deeply. He might not look like much, but if anything that would just make Arado a more effective spy.
Unexpectedly, Lamia is the one to come to his defense. Arado nearly died before being brought aboard the Hagane, only surviving because of an equipment malfunction; if he were a spy trying to get into their confidence, surely it would have been less risky to feign surrender, or something similar? Furthermore, they stand to gain for more information from him than he could gain from them.
Lamia: (What am I doing. There's no need to defend that soldier... are there errors in my basic decision-making, even?)
In any case, Rai's concerns have been noted, but Kai is doing this for Latooni's sake as much as anything; like Garnet and Giado did for her, Kai wants to treat the graduates of the School as human beings rather than tools of war. After a little more pushing from Excellen, Rai bows to his superior's decision.
Lamia: (Treat them as human beings? But a soldier is a tool of war, above all. Thinking otherwise will just interfere with the mission... But why am I thinking this now? Is it because of them?)
In the original this is followed up with a stern lecture from Kai about how Ryusei and Bullet are not to push Arado into joining under any circumstances; he says it'll be good experience for when they have people serving under them one day.
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Meanwhile...
The Hiryu Kai has arrived at the L2 sector, where the Federation units went missing. According to reports, two Peregrines disappeared along with their mech squadrons; a search and rescue unit was sent to find them and likewise disappeared. No sign of a battle, with DC remnants or otherwise; the units simply vanished, bringing to mind the Bermuda Triangle or Sargasso Sea. Either way, Lefina isn't taking chances after their recent battle and orders Octo Squadron launched on combat alert.
This conversation wasn't in the original; it just cut straight from scenes on the Hagane (from before Mission 14 to the battle.
Mission 16: A Mysterious Space
Eun: "Octo Squadron, you are cleared for launch."
Katina: "All right! Let's go, ladies!"
Katina: "Hm? Where's Gan-Duro?"
Leona: "Here he comes."
Tasuku: "Octo 3, sorry I'm late."
Katina: "What was the holdup?"
Tasuku: "Finishing checks on the Gan-Duro."
Katina: "Good. Don't want to take chances."
Tasuku: "....."
Katina: "What?"
Tasuku: "You're being nice to me... I didn't trip some kind of love flag, did I?"
Katina: "...The hell was that?! I'm gonna use your skull as a hood ornament, asshole!"
Tasuku: "S-Sorry..."
This exchange was completely different in the original. Tasuku is late, so Katina yells that Leona should discipline him properly, being his wife and all. Leona corrects her, Tasuku launches and takes issue with the correction, banter ensues. Then Tasuku tries to get Katina to say the Giganscudo Duro's name properly (this being its first appearance in the original game), and she threatens him until he agrees that it's the Gan-Duro from now on.
Part of an effort to make Katina less one-note than she was originally. A little less.
Anyway...
Doing their best to ignore Octo Squad, the people still aboard the ship proceed with the operation, deploying an unmanned probe to investigate the area.
:alert:
Eun: "Multiple heat sources approaching at high speed, 12 o'clock, range U4!"
Lefina: "Could it be the missing units?"
Eun: "No, ma'am! Identification code is... Urchin!"
Lefina: "Huh!?"
There's a shock of recognition from the crew as the "Urchins" appear - the same drones they encountered at Antarctica before the DC war began. (Recognition from everybody except Katina, that is, who can't be bothered to remember things that she killed that long ago.) Sean takes particular interest; since the strange drones never reappeared during the conflict, some suggested that they weren't actually Aerogater weapons. For whatever reason they've surfaced again, providing a likely culprit for the disappearances.
Lefina gives the pilots clearance to engage, but tells Katina to bring one back intact for analysis.
In the original, the enemies here were Aerogater Megillots from the first game. The team flips out at the prospect that the Aerogaters might be back for revenge; aboard the ship, Sean says that it's "just as they suspected," but rather than withdraw, Lefina suggests that they pretend to fall for the enemy's ruse.