diff --git a/docs/re/BACKLOG.md b/docs/re/BACKLOG.md
index a79e140..9f2d634 100644
--- a/docs/re/BACKLOG.md
+++ b/docs/re/BACKLOG.md
@@ -531,6 +531,21 @@ search cannot find a *schedule*.
   a consequence of the phase, never its cause. ⇒ the logic is in **code**, and
   `default.xex` is encrypted on disc, so the decrypted image exists only in guest
   RAM. That is the honest end of the static search.
+* ✅🟡 **(2026-08-24) The mission script is READABLE — and phase 1 never advanced
+  because the pilot killed the wrong things.**
+  [`mission-objectives-text.md`](mission-objectives-text.md).
+  ✅ `language\*_local_string.tbl` is **`IXUD`, UTF-16-BE** (prefix `language\`,
+  a third convention) — that encoding is why earlier dumps looked like garbage.
+  ✅ Stage 02's nine sub-objectives in words (*"You destroyed all enemy
+  fighters!"*, *"You sunk all enemy warships!"*, *"You destroyed all enemy cruise
+  missiles!"*). ✅ **Phases confirmed twice over**: the guide script is three acts
+  — marked attackers → warship engine/weapons/shield → missiles — matching the
+  per-phase rosters, with phase 3's **`UN_e201_ADAN_ISCMissile` ×9** exactly
+  matching `SUBOBJ_013`. 🟡 **Phase-1 objective is stated outright: destroy the
+  MARKED ATTACKERS** (`UN_e010_ADAN_Attacker_S`, 4 squadrons) — but every loss
+  line in every run reads `UN_e007_ADAN_Turret`, because `SYLPH_HUNT`/`KEEPOUT`
+  were built for turrets. **42 kills were the wrong 42.** **Test: a pilot that
+  prioritises `e010` over `e007`**, watching `deployed` jump from 41.
   🔴 `SYLPH_HZ=3` refuted as a lever: it gave the LOWEST frame rate (8/s) with the
   most kills, so pilot polling is not the throttle.
 * ~~🚧 BLOCKER: t=210/240 unreachable in one turn~~ — **superseded, see above**;
diff --git a/docs/re/mission-objectives-text.md b/docs/re/mission-objectives-text.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..99c7b50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/re/mission-objectives-text.md
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+# The mission script in plain English — and why phase 1 never completed
+
+Status: ✅ the localised string tables are decoded and readable; ✅ the phase
+structure is confirmed narratively *and* by roster composition; 🟡 a concrete,
+testable reason the phase never advanced in any run.
+
+## ✅ `IXUD` — the localised string container
+
+`language\*_local_string.tbl` (the prefix is `language\`, a third convention
+after `stage\` and `message\`) is **not** IDXD. Magic is `IXUD`, and its strings
+are **UTF-16 big-endian**. That is why every earlier ASCII-oriented dump of these
+files produced garbage.
+
+Reading them is immediate once the encoding is known, and it makes the mission
+design directly legible instead of inferred.
+
+## ✅ Stage 02's nine sub-objectives, in words
+
+| id | text |
+|---|---|
+| `SUBOBJ_005` | You rescued the ally destroyer! |
+| `SUBOBJ_006` | You destroyed all enemy fighters! |
+| `SUBOBJ_007` | You sunk all enemy warships! |
+| `SUBOBJ_008` | You rescued the ally cruiser, Amalthea! |
+| `SUBOBJ_010` | The ally cruiser CALIBAN took no damage! |
+| `SUBOBJ_011` | You sunk the enemy destroyer targeting the ACROPOLIS! |
+| `SUBOBJ_013` | You destroyed all enemy cruise missiles! |
+| `SUBOBJ_014` | You destroyed all enemy missiles and units! |
+
+(`SUBOBJ_009` has no text.) 91 objectives are defined across the game.
+
+## ✅ The three phases, confirmed twice over
+
+The guide script reads as three distinct acts, and each matches the per-phase
+roster composition found independently in
+[mission-phase-deployment.md](mission-phase-deployment.md):
+
+| phase | script | roster |
+|---|---|---|
+| 1 | *"The attackers with the orange markers, right?"*, *"Protect the ACROPOLIS!"* | turrets, attackers, fighters |
+| 2 | *"destroy the ship's engine"*, *"destroy that ship's weapons"*, *"take out the enemy's shield projector"* | destroyers, frigates, cruisers |
+| 3 | *"start by taking out that missile"*, *"Concentrate on destroying the missiles one by one"* | **`UN_e201_ADAN_ISCMissile` ×9** |
+
+Phase 3's nine cruise missiles against `SUBOBJ_013` *"You destroyed all enemy
+cruise missiles!"* is an exact match between two files decoded on different days
+by different routes.
+
+## 🟡 Why phase 1 never advanced: the pilot killed the wrong things
+
+The phase-1 objective is stated outright — **destroy the marked attackers**:
+
+> *"Rhinos, prepare for combat. Are you all clear on your targets?"*
+> *"The attackers with the orange markers, right? Roger that!"*
+> *"Katana, those attackers are our targets!"*
+
+Those are `UN_e010_ADAN_Attacker_S`, of which phase 1 fields four squadrons.
+
+**The hunting pilot targeted turrets almost exclusively.** Every loss line in the
+run logs reads `UN_e007_ADAN_Turret`, with `UN_e010_ADAN_Attacker_S` appearing
+only twice across all runs — unsurprising, since `SYLPH_HUNT` was built to make
+turrets targets and `SYLPH_KEEPOUT` was tuned for them. So 42 kills were
+overwhelmingly the *wrong* 42.
+
+That gives a mundane explanation for the whole run of null results, and it does
+not require the frames reading or event-gating to be settled first.
+
+**Prediction:** destroying the phase-1 `UN_e010_ADAN_Attacker_S` squadrons should
+advance the phase, which is directly observable as `deployed` jumping from 41
+toward the phase-2 roster.
+
+**Test:** a pilot that prioritises `e010` over `e007` — a target-preference knob,
+not new decoding — and the existing probe watching `deployed`.
+
+This is 🟡, not ✅: the objective text is certain, but that *this particular
+objective* gates the phase advance is inference from the script's structure.