Destreza Star System Movies

Minesweeper

Premise

Banya Villoris is a Minesweeper by trade: someone paid to disarm the mines and other lethal weapons left behind by mega corporation conflict. She’s content enough with her work, until she encounters the mysterious Zephyr and her buried memories start digging themselves up.

Play by Play

The movie starts with the classic Minesweeper music and a showcase of someone quickly completing a complex level before it transitions into 3D animation: the music swells and takes on a much more intense feel while a woman in a heavily customized Everest begins disarming mines. It’s clear that the planet she’s on has been devastated by war and she passes by symbols of various mega corporations. The camera pans up to the title: MINESWEEPER.

The main character, Banya Villora, disarms the last mine and immediately gets a video call from her younger brother. She answers and the two of them discuss his education and how he’s more interested in joining up with HORUS than becoming some fix-it boy for Union. Banya insists that he take his degree seriously and the two get into a bit of an argument. On the side, Banya is playing the actual game Minesweeper as a way to keep herself calm.

After the conversation with her brother, Banya slumps back in her pilot seat with a sigh, but successfully beats the Minesweeper level. She mutters something about people needing to be solved like levels and then begins heading to another sector of the planet for further mine cleanup. However, when she gets there, she sees a person in a cloak hiding behind an outcropping of rubble. There are Harrison Armory and SSC aligned mechs alternating between combatting each other and scanning the perimeter. The person is clearly injured. Banya freezes, debating whether or not to involve herself. Then, she gets a headache. The audience hears garbled words and sees a series of blurred memories. Banya decides to intervene.

Banya manages to retrieve the cloaked figure, who gets into the passenger section of her cockpit with surprise, but without complaint. However, her intervention results in getting caught in the conflict between HA and SSC. Banya goes into full on evasive maneuver mode. The animation displays the conflict similarly to the Minesweeper level she just cleared: she dodges Dusk Wing rifle shots, a series of Tokugawa torch swings, jumps over the full blast of a Sherman’s ZF4 Solidcore, and lets herself get carefully ping ponged between a Jünger and a Metalmark before finally getting away. However, as Banya and her cloaked passenger escape, one of the SSC-aligned mech fighters seems to ping Banya’s mech specifically: inside his cockpit, the pilot raises an eyebrow.

Banya and the cloaked figure, who reveals that their name is Zephyr, have the chance to talk. Banya begins to question Zaphyr about what they were doing and why it looked like HA and SSC were searching for them, but Zephyr interrupts. They instead ask what Banya thinks she’s doing, to which Banya takes offense since she saved their life. Zephyr seems disappointed, but reveals that both HA and SSC want them for their various “stolen” implants: things that make them both an ideal soldier and ideal luxury entertainment. Zephyr abruptly discards their cloak, revealing an entirely cybernetic body. Banya immediately looks away, but then looks back and gains a look of intense sympathy. Her head hurts again. Banya’s brother calls, revealing that he’s has remote access to Banya’s Everest and that someone has pinged her mech to track it.

Banya immediately gets her Everest back onto her small deployment ship. Zephyr comments that she’s a good pilot. Banya says she has to be and doesn’t further comment. As the deployment ship leaves the planet’s atmosphere, Banya is contacted by her manager, who wants to confirm that all the leftover mines were removed. Banya stumbles over herself, talking about the seemingly reignited mega corp conflict, but her superior is uninterested. She’s about to lie when a second hail comes through: it’s the previously shown SSC pilot who introduces himself as Max Great. He invites both Banya and Zephyr to a luxury party on a dedicated party planet, offering them a chance to simply talk. The threat of making an enemy of SSC is obvious. Banya is caught between trying to refuse for reasons she isn’t entirely certain of and wanting to do what’s “safer”. Zephyr agrees on both their behalves. The two of them sit in silence for some time. Banya’s blurred memories play out again, more slowly this time. The audience sees her Everest in a smashed heap.

It takes days to get to the party planet, and Banya and Zephyr spend that time talking. It’s sometimes awkward and sometimes like they’re old friends. Banya regularly spends intervals of travel playing different rounds of Minesweeper. Zephyr peeks over her shoulder sometimes, expression unreadable. At one point, Banya asks why Zephyr was to quick to agree to Max Great’s terms. Zephyr simply says that it was what needed to be done, whether Banya realized that or not.

At the party, Banya and Zephyr are both dressed reasonably well, but not nearly well enough for the environment. The movie shows Banya plotting multiple routes of escape, once again like eliminating various obstacles like in a Minesweeper level. Max Great insists that they enjoy themselves before getting down to business. Zephyr seemingly disappears, which worries Banya until she gets swept up in a brutal game of “advanced” blackjack. Banya manages to come in second with her intuition and quick thinking. Then, she hears Zephyr singing and her voice is beautiful. So beautiful that it’s distracting for most people, Banya and Max Great excluded. He tells Banya that she really does have the makings of someone born below their means. He offers to cut her a deal in exchange for Zephyr. Banya’s memories play out again in auditory form, even clearer than before: “Why aren’t you dead yet?” Banya grabs Max and takes him hostage with her concealed combat knife. She and Zephyr get away from the party, deciding that killing Max is too much trouble. However, they’re quickly captured by a Harrison Armory soldier named Victoria Grace.