The tenth episode of Iron-Blooded Orphans begins with the Isaribi and Hammerhead leaving Saisei. This scene gives a great sense of scale. Those two tiny little blue lights? That's the Isaribi and Hammerhead. Yeah, Saesei is that big.
Mika and Nadi stay behind while the upgrades to Barbatos continue. Mika is a little forlorn to see the ships leave, and Nadi seems a little surprised by this. He reflects on how young Mika really is despite all he's been through.
Aboard the Isaribi we see them loading/securing some cargo. They've got a shipment from Teiwaz that's bound for one of the colonies. Takaki is taking the work very seriously. This is their first job from Teiwaz. Their first job besides escorting Kudelia.
We see Atra standing alone by one of the windows. She's missing Mika and pondering the budding relationship between Kudelia and Mika.
The Tekkadan crew get some messages from Mars. We hear from Dexter Culastor who tells us that they're doing well. The finances are in a good place.
Biscuit looks impatient. We learn that he's got a message from home and he doesn't want to watch it out in public. Lots of the Tekkadan crew don't have families and he doesn't want them to feel bad. So he goes and watches his message in the dining room.
Biscuit gets a message from Cookie and Cracker. They tell him that the harvest is already done. There were more sandstorms so the yield wasn't as good... Made the harvest faster... But they're doing OK.
Takaki shows up, looking for privacy so he can watch a message from home too. He's got a sister, Fuka, back on Mars. She's in an orphanage and he's hoping to save up enough money to put her through school. Biscuit and Takaki both resolve to work as hard as they can for their families.
Kudelia also gets a message from home, but it's not as cheerful. Her mother just talks about how much her actions are upsetting her father. Her mother wants her to stop. To come home.
Kudelia vents a bit to Fumitan... And, again, it's very clear that Fumitan is having some deep thoughts here. She's got something going on that she's not sharing.
Aboard the Hammerhead, Orga finds out that McMurdo wants a liaison of sorts aboard the Isaribi - Merribit Stapleton. He's not thrilled about it. He doesn't like being told what to do. He doesn't like the idea of somebody keeping tabs on him. And, worse, he remembers meeting her when he was horribly drunk back on Saisei.
For her part, Merribit keeps things pretty professional... But she's clearly not happy about how things are being run at Tekkadan.
Kudelia and Atra wind up chatting again... We learn more about Atra's past and how she met Mika. She used to work at something like a brothel. It wasn't a good fit, she kept making mistakes, and the women there were cruel. She eventually ran away.
She met Mika on the street and he found help for her. The shop-owner took Atra under her wing. Gave her a job. And she's been friends with Mika ever since.
Kudelia is sad and kind of envious? Despite the hardship that Atra has endured she actually has people who care for her. A family of sorts. Kudelia has a family, but they don't care for her.
Atra reassures Kudelia that she's part of the Tekkadan family now.
And with that reassurance we see the first inklings of an idea forming in Atra's mind. If they're all part of the Tekkadan family, maybe she doesn't need to compete with Kudelia for Mika's affections? Maybe they can share like the Turbines do?
Akihiro goes out on patrol ant Takaki tags along with him. Takaki has been doing a lot of practicing in the simulators and he wants to get some real experience... But, honestly, this seems like a terrible idea. That mobile worker is just dangling behind the Graze on a wire.
The two get to talking and we learn that Akihiro has a brother - Masahiro. The two grew up on some kind of merchant ship hauling freight from one place to another. Seems like it was a happy childhood... Until they were attacked by pirates. They killed all the adults and took the children as human debris. Akihiro and Masahiro were split up and sold to different people.
Akihiro promised to find Masahiro, but life got in the way. The day-to-day tasks of survival occupied his thoughts. Eventually Akihiro all but forgot about his brother.
As if summoned by the mere mention - pirates arrive. They're flying around in these chonky green mobile suits we haven't seen before. Akihiro flees back to the Isaribi... But he's hard-pressed. There's three pirate suits attacking him, and he's trying to keep Takaki alive too. It's really not looking good for them.
Mika arrives in the newly-upgraded Barbatos, saving the day as the credits roll.
