The red and black magma-like glow was the proof that there was a chain reaction exploding inside the ‘cove’. The pulsating hot red light seeped out from the cracks, causing the boundaries 4 asteroids that crashed together at this point to appear vaguely. The scattering rubble and dust that flew with the wind was dyed a light red because of radiation, and “Palau” looked like it was burning thoroughly from afar.
Several mobile suit were basked under the same radiation light as they flew out from the bottom of the cracks. The monoeyed giants forced their way out from the gaps between the asteroids that crashed into each other in waves, and it would be appropriate to describe them as hellish devils. Nasri caught sight of an old “Geara Doga” from the pilot use periscope and squeezed the trigger of the low recoil cannons. The “Loto” with the 729 logo poked its head out from behind the rocks and fired the 120mm cannons on its shoulders.
A slight tremor passed through the machine, and the shells flew out from the two low recoil cannons. The bullet speed was as slow as a snail when compared to the sublight mega-particle shots, but it was not a problem in this distance of approximately two meters. The winged shells that was also designed to work under atmospheric conditions hit the “Geara Doga” in less than a second and blew up its body above the waist. The “Loto” let out its burner flares to move backwards before the enemy’s forcefully separated upper and lower bodies were devoured by the explosions. “FIRE THE LASER AT THE CRACK!” Nasri shouted without warning as he turned the periscope to the crack.
The laser support designator installed on the “Loto”s head fired an infrared laser. That invisible light was reflected on the crack, forming a reverse-cone shaped beam called a laser cone, and it was used to show the target coordinates to the “Complete Jegan” that flew in from above.
The “Complete Jegan” shot out the anti-ship missiles installed on its shoulder missile launchers, and lit its booster pods on the back above the cracks. Under this close distance and the laser guiding through the optical sensors, the Minovsky Particles could not block the eyes of the missiles. The large missile heads that could even be equipped with nuclear shells flew into the laser cover and hit the tip of the cone—the crack indicating the enemy’s escape hole.
White hot light expanded, and the dirt that was blown apart by the impact flowed deep into the cracks. The mobile suits that were trying to escape were caught in this torrent of debris, their limbs were crushed as they exploded, and the new impacts blew up the cracked surface. Mobile suits limbs and flames shot out together, forming a burnt furnace at the crack. The absolute zero space surrounded everything at this point, causing the melted and collapsed rock surface to freeze quickly.
With that, the slightly large crack was basically sealed off. We just have to shoot down all the enemy units that are coming out from the crack— Nasri glanced at the rocky surface that had frown steam and gas as he looked for the next enemy under the periscope. They managed to seal off the main forces in the ‘cove’, but they still could not relax. The path leading from the tunnel to the spacegates were not covered, and they had limited ammunitions.
If we miss the timing to leave, we’ll be surrounded and unable to move. “Has the 920 sent a signal?” Nasri saw their allied “Loto” moving towards the highest point of “Palau” as he let out this umpteenth prompt. “Unable to confirm.” His vice commander answered with an anxious voice, and Nasri nearly cursed out.
It had been 12 minutes since the ECOAS 920 “Loto” fought its way through the 14th space gate. Hasn’t that guy reclaimed the target? He recalled his old friend showing an emotional face that was different from before, and suddenly felt his stomach hurting. That most stubborn blockhead in ECOAS kept insisting on saving that target civilian in this operation. He’s not a guy who’ll make a wrong decision based on personal feelings, but if we want to carry out the mission of retrieving the RX-0, he has to be colder than usual when making decisions on the spot. If the situation requires for it, I may need to fight my way into “Palau” and kick that guy’s butt…
“A large number of enemies appeared at the south side! Coming in fast.”
The vice commander let out a sudden voice, causing Nasri’s latter thoughts to vanish. It was too early to say that they were enemy reinforcements. He held his breath for just a moment as he saw the large swarm of enemy markers appearing on the sensor range. “FIRE A SIGNAL TO THE “NAHEL ARGAMA”!” He instinctively shouted.
“RETREAT BACK TO “COROLLA”. CONFIRM THE NUMBER OF ENEMIES FIRST—”
“They’re here!”
The pilot let out a whimper, and the main camera monitor was immediately filled with a white light. The tremor rocked the machine, and the buzzing of the siren filled the control seat. Nasri held onto the grip of the periscope and put his eyes on the eyepiece. The remaining particles of light spread in space, and multiple enemy unit markers overlapped each other. A mobile suit that was right in front appeared on the one-to-one scaled display.
The machine did not have a serial number, only the logo “Sinanju”, and instantly closed in its distance with them. Nasri aimed the low-recoil cannons at the enemy unit and stared at the CG corrected machine image. This machine gave out a red afterimage, flickering its thruster unit that was reminiscent of wings, as it flew over the “Palau” surface to them.
“The red mobile suit…!?”
Nasri let out this doubt from his mouth and squeezed the trigger. The moment the 120mm cannons were shot out, the red machine seemed to vanish from their sights at that instant. We can’t win. We’ve been had. This instinct pierced through Nasri’s body, but he did not even have time to think as he immediately moved the periscope to try and catch sight of the enemy. At that moment, the nightvision monitor suffered a blackout, and an impact several times that of before rocked the “Loto”.
The condition monitor showed the “Loto”s CG network, and the cannons on the shoulders were flickering red. The red person got below them and used a beam saber to slice off the low recoil cannons. The AMBAC program could not correct the loss of mass in time, and the “Loto” lost its balance as it crashed onto the rocky several. Short-circuited sparks came out from the pilot seat, and the air bags that were shot out from the console covered Nasri’s head.
“EVADE! BEFORE DAGUZA AND THE REST ESCAPES—”
WE CAN’T LET OURSELVES TO BE FINISHED HERE! In the midst of this tremor where he could have bitten his tongue, Nasri’s voice was immediately swallowed by the heat spurting out wildly from the control seat.
The “Sinanju” swung its beam saber from the “Loto”s shoulder to the flank, vaporizing Nasri and the rest inside the control seat. in the face of the particle beam saber that melted the metal, the 8 ECOAS members kept in the infantry transport room at the back were also vaporizing by their lit normal suits and scattered into space like dust. The “Loto” that was sliced diagonally exploded, and the black corpses were vaporized cleanly without even a fingertip as the red machine was the only thing at the scene reflecting the light of the explosion.
Angelo knew that the small machine that exploded was the transformable mobile suit the Special Forces used. It was the mobile suit of those guys who stealthily entered the civilian colony and carried out the act of terrorism under the name of counter-terrorism—the Manhunters. He did not feel anything else about this just desserts they suffered as he stared at the “Sinanju” that appeared amidst the explosion before stepping off the landscape of the “Palau” like he was touring around. Full Frontal’s mobile suit lit the light for the counterattack as the red machine flew off to find its next prey.
Wave after wave of “Geara Zulus” wielding beam rifles in their hands let out thruster trails as they followed the “Sinanju”. Angelo felt unhappy that the mobile suit other than those of the escort squads were interfering in Frontal’s battlefield, but it could not be helped as it was a organizational battle. He let his machine shoot out flares from its booster pod and stared at the ships waiting at the back.
The flagship “Rewloola” was at the center, and he could see the Salamis-class patrol ships and the disguised trading ships lined up, causing the ships that were putting out the flames to be covered in darkness. The number of ships that left the ‘cove’ and hid themselves amidst the sea of debris during these past 1,2 days amounted to about 80% of all their forces stationed at “Palau”—in terms of fighting strength, it was 95%. Most of the ships and mobile suits that were sealed inside the ‘cove’ were antiques that were past their usable life, and the soldiers were just a coalition of anti-government forces who had no other place to head to. Those people who came over with the idea of changing directions according to the times were just ‘old blood’ that should be changed. These things were tails that should be changed without pity if they wanted to break off their bond with “Palau” and let the Neo Zeon Army revive for real.
That Federation army that didn’t know this and thought their attack succeeded will now see the real hell. Angelo broke ranks and looked over at the space that had become a battlefield from the southern tip of “Palau”. The rubble and Minovsky particles that were scattered everywhere meant that the motion sensors were practically useless, but they could still catch sight of the enemies within a range of 40km. The enemy units that broke into the “Palau”s anti-air range was a special specs Jegan, a transformable unit with serial number RGZ-95, and also—
“What? They only sent in such few numbers…?”
Angelo moved the unit to the “Corolla A” with the red hot surface. It was impossible to catch sight of the enemy ship’s powerful mega-particle cannon, but it was impossible for the number of units covering the ship to be more than the advanced squad. Even if they counted the Manhunter mobile suits that were hiding on “Palau”, that was still less than ten. He could not ignore the possibility that there were other units waiting to seize the moment, but there was no greater chance than this to send in a large number of forces to the enemy base. Angelo let the machine move through the 3 “Corollas”, inspected the battlefield that was a mess full of anti-air fire, and matched the speed of the “Sinanju” at the “Calyx”. On approaching, the “Sinanju” quickly raised its hand out and held Angelo unit’s hand like it was pulling someone.
“Captain, I can’t estimate the number of forces the enemy has. Even if we consider the strength attacking “Palau”, it’s still too little. There should be a main force hiding elsewhere…”
(They’re aiming for the “Unicorn”. It’s possible to attack with very little forces if they just want to create an opening to reclaim the target. It’s just as expected.)
The voice that came back through the communicator caused the doubts within Angelo to disappear quickly. That’s right, the Federation doesn’t have the guts to launch a full-scale battle. This is not beneficial to them. It’s because they’re surrounded by so many things that they can’t move properly, which is why we’re going to fight the advanced squad using their own plan as expected.— Angelo reflected on these words as he spoke to affirm, “Then, has that guy found that Unicorn yet?” Frontal moved the monoeye of the “Sinanju” sharply,
(It begins. We just need to deal with them without wearing out our forces. At the right moment, retreat.)
The voice that felt like it could see through everything rang in Angelo’s ears, and the “Sinanju” broke contact before lighting the thruster unit. Angelo sent a laser signal to the escort squad searching for the enemies to order to retreat. He saw the escort squad’s units give a hand signal to show that they understood before turning around, opened the slot and stepped on the foot pedal. The wings on the back swayed about like a tail, and the purple “Geara Zulu” raised the beam launcher to the waist as it got ready to take on the enemy. It accelerated like a bullet.
If that’s the case, there’s no need to waste time exerting our fighting strength. The Captain and I alone are able to crush these weaklings. Angelo dodged left and right and eyed the specially equipped Jegan as his first target. That heavily armed Jegan that was equipped with large missiles outside the missile launchers floated between the “Calyx” and “Corollas’ That was crashed into each other. It seems that this guy’s mission is to fire missiles into the gaps between the asteroids that are the escape holes and seal off the ‘cove’ completely.
“Such a cowardly thing to do! You’re planning to deal with “Palau” by using a billiard-like trick…!”
Angelo did not want to use long-ranged weapons to get rid of the enemy. He let the machine jump on a rubble, closed in on the Jegan and drew out the beam hook before the opponent could dodge. He suppressed the head of the Jegan as it fired the beam launcher, and let the machine get behind the enemy. The enemy machine turned around with the AMBAC and shot the beam rifle, but the beam could only graze past Angelo’s unit head before dissipating in the air. Both sides faced each other, and the beam hook sliced neatly into the Jegan’s abdomen.
The part that was equipped with multiple armor was flipped out, and the pilot that was exposed to the high heat was melted together with the cockpit. Angelo then sliced the missile launchers and let his unit leave the scene before the huge fireball was triggered. The surrounding rubble exploded, and with the remnant of the enemy unit vaporizing behind him, Angelo turned to look for the next prey.
“This is to open a way to Neo Zeon’s revival. None of you can think of returning back alive…!”
The light expanded through the bridge window, and there was an explosion different from that of a normal mobile suit’s explosion. Otto inadvertently got up from the Captain’s seat “What’s the matter…?” and muttered. (Juliet 5’s signal got cut off!) Mihiro’s voice rang in his ears.
(There’re many enemies appearing from behind. The advanced squad is being surrounded!)
The sensor operator called out, and Otto turned his frozen face to the main screen in front of him. A large amount of rubble was blown out from the asteroid’s collisions, and the motion sensors were basically useless; however, they could use the optical observations to detect the enemy movements. The advanced squad had just gotten close to “Palau”, and an unknown large number of mobile suits came moving over from somewhere. Looking at the numbers, it seemed that the number of ships on standby at the back were not just a few. One could tell from this that there were hidden main forces beside the fleet docked at the ‘cove’. The main force was in ambush, waiting for the moment because they predicted the attack from here.
Those left inside the ‘cove’ are just bait. It’s a trap. Otto felt this understanding numb his limbs as he raised his volume, “Call the covering forces to back them up!”
“Deploy the anti-air fire. Use the dummy-rubble. Our ship will head straight in. Is there contact with ECOAS?”
(The line got cut. The laser signal too was cut after they got into “Palau”.)
Mihiro transferred the reply from Operator Bellard in the second communication room as she turned her pale face over at Otto. It’s too slow. The fake balloon were expanded, and countless fake rubble appeared, but Otto ignored them as he held onto his hands that were covered by the normal suit. The plan was that there would be contact once they retrieved Banagher Links or the “Unicorn”. Leaving aside the “Unicorn”, it’s weird that they haven’t met Banagher yet. Has he not reached the retrieval point? Otto checked that it had been 15 minutes since the battle started, and looked at the “Palau” that deployed its anti-air fire, only to frown because of the words he heard (We’ve been had!)
(The “Sleeves” predicted our action and set the trap first. They’re not an opponent we can beat by fighting head on. Captain, hurry up and give the order for our ship to retreat!)
Alberto supported his large body that was slumped into the commander’s seat and continued to say such self-explanatory words as he reached his neck out to Otto. It seems that he has forgotten that this ship is so reckless because on him. “Our allies are still in a battle. How can we retreat like this!” Otto growled back and looked away from Alberto, never wanting to meet his stare again.
“There’s a 30 minute time limit in this operation. ECOAS should be contacting us soon. Until then…”
Can we hang on? Otto swallowed the words he was about to say back down his parched throat, and exerted force on the fingertips resting on the armrests. The engine power’s back to normal. There’s also the option to retrieve all surviving units and escape with maximum speed. If we miss the timing to leave, we might end up in a calamity where we’re annihilated— Otto stared at the beams that were flashing silently, and as he gritted his teeth, (There’s a new laser signal from “Palau”!) Mihiro’s urgent voice rang through the wireless communicator.
(Is it ECOAS!?) Liam shouted out as she turned to the communication console. (No, this signal is…) From behind, Otto stared at Mihiro, who was stumped for words as she worked on the communication console, and saw a look of surprise on her face as she turned around.
(It’s the “Gundam”!)
The flames caused by the explosions at the back ripped apart the cracked surface as it burned wildly. Just before the shockwave could surround the body, and the scorching flames could cover the all-view monitor, the “Unicorn” flew out from the crack and flew into space.
With the burning hot rocky surface at its back, the machine lit its positional burner and dodged the rubble that was still. He had no optional equipment in his program—and randomly took portable weapon from the factory called the Beam Gatling Gun or something—and thus, the AMCAD could not work properly. Banagher tried to correct the program as he stared at the anti-air fire lighting the surroundings of “Palau”. The number of beams was less than what he expected. He could vaguely see the lights of battle through the rubble, but the mobile suits in the battle looked too be Neo Zeon units.
“Didn’t they bring in a large number of forces…?”
Banagher put on the helmet and pulled down the visor. The normal suit was left inside the cockpit, perhaps because it was investigated to see the synergy with the mobile suit, but it was really lucky of him. Banagher moved the machine behind the rocks and modified the display board. He opened the Identification of Friend or Foe (IFF) window, and could find two units that belonged to the Federation from amidst the rubble and dummies on the window. The two RGZ-95 was surrounded by Neo Zeon machines.
The disadvange the Federation had was obvious even to outsiders. Banagher recalled that there were no real decent ships docked inside the ‘cove’. Does this mean the Federation got ambushed? He just thought of this, and the siren indicating that a laser signal was received rang. The newly opened window showed the ship Banagher knew and its coordinates.
“The “Nahel Argama”s here too? What’s going on…!?”
He could not be mistaken with this signal that was tagged with the mothership. The battleship that was severely damaged and had Audrey and other non-combatants on it would be the one leading the charge in this assault—no, it might seem that this was the only ship sent over from the number of mobile suits that were deployed. Banagher did not feel that this was feasible as he intended to catch sight of the ship’s silhouette flying in from the top, but felt a bone-chilling pressure striking him from behind.
His hairs were on its ends as his body started moving on its own to move the machine away. At that moment, a mega-particle came flying down from above, and the countless rubble that came with the explosion rained on the “Unicorn”s back.
The machine left the surface and adjusted its position. Banagher caught sight of the machine that came flying over from amidst the scattered rubble. It was a mobile suit with the AMS-119 machine serial number, a unit of Neo Zeon registered with the name of “Geara Doga”. “Please stop! I have no intent of fighting!” Banagher continued to cry out as he subconsciously worked on the weapons and removed the safety of his portable rifle. The “Unicorn” wielded a long Magnum Gating Gun that replaced the personalized beam rifle that was depleted, and pointed that 4-barreled gun at the “Geara Doga”. The crosshair overlapped on the monoeyed unit that was rushing over, and the alarm indicating lock-on rang.
“LET ME GO! THE FEDERATION WON’T RETREAT IF THEY DON’T RETAKE THE “UNICORN”!”
But even as he shouted, it was impossible for him to tell the enemy pilot this. The glowing monoeye gave a killing intent, and Banagher moved the shield equipped on the left hand to the front. The shield that was automatically deployed from an I-field barrier, twisting the beams the “Geara Doga” shot out from. The scattered beam bullets hit the landscape at his feet, and the rubble that flew and those that mixed with the wind covered the “Unicorn”. Just as the all-view monitor was covered by dust, Banagher sensed the “Geara Doga” moving behind him and pointed the Gatling gun over there. The I-field would not have effect if it was not a beam attack from the front. If he were shot from the side, he would surely be massacred—
“DO YOU FEEL THAT IT’S ALRIGHT EVEN IF YOU TURN “PALAU” INTO A BATTLEFIELD!?”
Banagher yelled and exerted strength on the fingers on the trigger. The 4-barreled gun turned and blew apart the beam shots that were of a higher output than a machine gun. The “Geara Doga” had mega-particles rained on it before it could even adjust itself, and it became a real beehive as its thoroughly battered machine exploded. Banagher inadvertently saw flames shoot out from the arms that were ripped over, looking like it was trying to grab space as it opened its hands.
“Why did it end up like this…!?”
To Banagher, there was no difference between enemy or allies. He just wanted to get rid of the seeds of battle, but caused a new sacrificed. The uneasy feeling inside his stomach came out in a voice, and Banagher turned his eyes away from the remnant that was instantly vaporized. You’re already a part of it. Marida’s words echoed in Banagher’s mind, and the chilly feeling spread on his skin where his hairs stood.
What occupied the sight on the entire view of “Palau” was not a scene of two armies fighting each other toe to toe. There were anti-air fire appearing and lots of explosions, but those were all rubble and dummy balloons, and it was practically impossible to detect mobile suits exploding. The enemy squadrons in ambush showed no signs of moving aside as only two enemy units were moving about enthusiastically, seemingly toying with the “ReZELs” that entered the perimeter. As for the 6 enemy machine silhouettes that were launched, it was unknown if they were launched to sneak the “Nahel Argama” caught on the sensor. The other covering units were sent to support the advanced squad, and the mothership was the only thing left at this point—
Amongst the assumptions he thought of before, this would be considered the worst. Riddhe punched the display board and groaned, “Damn it!”
“We fell right into the enemy’s trap…!”
They could not retreat even if they wanted to. Including the ECOAS unit, their side lost three units, and the situation was such that the “Nahel Argama’ could not even defend itself on its own. Their plan was to let their machines move forward and create a perimeter against the enemy, but if he move all the way there, he would lose the chance to leave the battlefront in the end, and this understanding caused Riddhe to hesitate on what he should do.
In another sense, there’s no better chance to execute the plan than this, but if even the fighting strength of the “Delta Plus” was lost, what will happen to the “Nahel Argama”? A battle isn’t decided on a mobile suit such that it can overturn the situation, but if I escape, the chances of the ship’s survival will definitely decrease. As a pilot in charge of protecting a military resource, and as a human, this is something I definitely can’t allow—but on the other hand, there’s something I can do and I have to do right in front of me.
Riddhe’s thoughts took a roundabout. The duty and responsibility a person present should have was just a sense of realism that had weight in this ideal, and he could only hold onto the control stick without aim. “Please go!” This voice came from behind right at the moment the enemy squadrons were scattered to two sides.
“Don’t worry about me. Just fulfill your duty.”
Mineva spoke. This voice seemed to see through everything, “Bu, but…!” and Riddhe was at a loss of words.
“If we try to push ourselves too much here, we won’t be able to reach our destination. It’ll be pointless for us to return back to the “Nahel Argama”.”
Mineva did not say anything else as she merely answered with an unwavering stare. This bitterness of trying to find an excuse rose up in Riddhe, and he had to look away.
“…The enemy’s Neo Zeon, you army! Are you really fine that I fight against them?”
“I won’t think that it’s fine, but that’s my problem. You have your duty and responsibility to fulfill.”
Riddhe felt that Mineva’s words were deliberately trying to tell him not to use her as an excuse as their eyes met. Mineva, who was clinging onto the assistance seat at the back, had already accepted this current situation in front of him. She left her life to him, seeming prepared to be blamed for all of eternity.
Riddhe did not want to disappoint her like this—no, he did not want to be mocked by her like this. Such a thought rose rapidly in him, shaking his body that was stuck at the spot. Mineva probably did not like a man who would think of what happened after and hesitate over the present. He did not have the will like Mineva, and had no belief that he could show decisiveness, but hoped that he did not give a wrong impression to her. That was her shtick, and Riddhe acknowledged in his mind that he may had been toyed by this woman of Zeon as he continued to stare at her eyes.
“You’ll probably regret for the rest of your life if you turn back now. Please follow your heart. If you make a decision from the bottom of your heart, I’ll accept it no matter the outcome.”
She finished, and her emerald eyes looked as sturdy as crystalline jade. He had no chances of winning her. Since the beginning, this girl barged into the Vist Foundation alone, and showed what she was made of when she became a hostage for the Federation. “I really have to hand it to you…” Riddhe mused as pulled down the helmet visor. I may have really fallen for an unbelievable woman. He again realized this.
“The anti-G resistance on the assistance seat isn’t complete. It’s not going to be as easy to deal with as a roller coaster ride.”
“Right.”
“Once our allies start retreating, I’ll immediately leave the frontlines. Sorry for making you accompany me till then..”
Mineva fastened her body on the assistance as stared at the space that became a battlefield. I really want to say that I’m being played by a woman. How can I bear such heavy things like duty and responsibility with logic alone?Riddhe managed to clear his doubts, and he felt relaxed in his heart as he turned his face to the front. Just got to fight it out. He muttered deep inside his heart and stepped on the pedal.
BOOM. The shockwave that was like an explosion came from the force of the thrusters at the back, pushing the machine forward. Riddhe read the attack pattern on the monitor as he turned the control stick forward, turning straight down as he transformed the “Delta Plus”. The humanoid turned aside and immediately broke its shape and formed a spacecraft-form waverider. The forward of the enemy forces were detected by the motion sensors before they could get used to the sudden dip in angle before it went from moving down to moving forward.
The enemies seemed to be a modified version of the “Geara Doga”, the newest model of main forces the “Sleeves” had. Riddhe could see two similar type machines moving on standby behind this lead machine that was headed to the “Nahel Argama”, exchanging shots with the “ReZEL” Romeo 010. He read the situation through the through the markers that were flying all over the place, and deduced that this “Delta Plus” alone would be enough as he first aimed at the two mobile suits behind. He let the machine turn around, dodge the beam shots that came flying over from the forward unit, and squeezed the trigger of the beam rifle located above the unit.
The waverider’s firing state was right in front of the unit unlike how it was with the rifle. The beam went by the forward unit and mere grazed the left top side of the machine, but it was enough to divert the enemy’s attention. He pretended to be providing covering fire for the allied machine as he caught both the attentions of the machine that turned abruptly and the forward unit.
The G-force that struck up the feet wore down on Mineva, causing her to groan in agony. Riddhe’s sights were covered by the cheeks that rose up, but caught sight of the monoeye of the forward unit in front of him. Riddhe’s machine continued to rush into the battlefield without slowing down, and he transformed into a mobile suit before collision. The beam sabers formed its blades, and the crosshairs gave the alarm indicating lock on before Riddhe pressed the attack trigger down completely.
The slash that came sliced the arms of the forward unit together with its weapons. The forward unit lost the parts under its arms as it was unable to maintain balance, and immediately went to the back. Riddhe exhaled a moment later after having gathered all his concentration for that moment, and yelled “NOW YOU HAVE A REASON TO RUN AWAY. GO BACK!” He then aimed at the next enemy. The two machines scattered and left the Romeo 010 that lost its arm, and riddhe saw another machine with a beam hook coming right at him.
This attack looks like it was coming from the bottom, but it’s actually trying to get to the back. The enemy pilot’s thoughts entered Riddhe’s forehead, causing him to immediately stop in his tracks. The “Delta Plus” turned half a round and manipulated the beam saber in its left hand to intercept the enemy’s attack. The particles from the clashing blades let out sparks for just a moment, and the “Delta Plus” used the recoil to flip and deal a strike right at the enemy unit’s waist. The multiple layers of armor melted, and the beam saber sliced off the movable frame, creating a vibrating feeling inside the cockpit. However, there was a sharper killing intent that came stronger than this vibration, shaking Riddhe’s senses.
The remaining unit attacked one he stopped. Riddhe was prompted by this killing intent that was closing in, and did not even take time to aim as he raised his beam rifle to shoot. The mega particle beam that was released pierced through the “Sleeves” unit right from the front, and the expanding fireball lit the deep grey color of the “Delta Plus”. Riddhe shook off the debris that scattered and let the beam saber stop working before leaving the scene. The enemy unit that was sliced apart by the beam saber gave out sparks and was crushed by the impact as it slowly floated in space.
“Amazing…! Did I just take them all down?”
Three units down once I sorties. Is it the “Delta Plus” abilities or the strong power of the Goddess of Luck that I’m able to showcase such fighting abilities. This joke-like development caused Riddhe to remain for a moment. “Another one from above!” Mineva’s voice rang, and Riddhe immediately dodged. A thick and large beam then came right down from above, and the scorching hot particles were sprayed on the “Delta Plus”.
There was a second, third shot that came flying over, and obviously, they did not from a beam rifle, as they were high energy output beams that was on a beam launcher’s level. Riddhe indicated that he wanted the Romeo 010 to move back, and squeezed the trigger to fight back while estimating the enemy’s location from the line of fire. The optical sensors caught sight of an enemy suit that was closing in, and the CG corrected image showed a purple machine on a wide window. This mobile suit had its data entered since the last battle with the “Sleeves”, and it was a special specs machine with booster pods on the back. “Lieutenant Angelo’s “Geara Zulu”…!” Mineva murmured as her expression changed.
“Someone you know?”
“He’s the leader of the escort squad, a very dangerous man. Be careful.”
The beams continued to rain down on Riddhe as it anticipated his dodging, seemingly backing up Mineva’s words. Riddhe did not even have the time to transform as it took him a lot of effort just to duck under the fire. The sublight blocking his way let out afterimages, closing in slowly on the “Delta Plus” as he remained restrained. The malice that was stickier than hostility descended on Riddhe, causing him to have goosebumps.
It was an enemy that was looking for its next prey and felt like it was time to hold back. The machine itself could not be found in the database, and the unique appearance caused Angelo’s blood to boil.
“That Gundam-like machine…!”
Angelo let his machine move down behind the beams, and closed in on the relative distance to the enemy. The optical sensors caught sight of this enemy unit the moment they clashed, and it looked like a “Gundam” without horns. The machine was a dark grey color, but it was definitely a variation of a Gundam-type. The Federation wants to keep using that White Devil legend that has a tail and make us recall the past humiliation again and again!Angelo was motivated by his agitated nerves as he continued to squeeze the trigger of the beam rifle. The enemy unit intended to keep its distance, but was unable to remain steady, and the beams that were shot back left empty light axis in the middle of this pitch darkness.
“I won’t let you get away even if you want to transform and escape. If you’re a “Gundam”, fight like one—”
The 4-barreled grenade launcher equipped inside the shield was fired, blowing up the path the enemy unit was headed to. Angelo used the moment the enemy unit hesitated due to the fireballs and slowed down to pull the beam hook out and shoot its booster pods.
“Die after you fight once!”
The particle blade in the shape of a sickle went right at the enemy unit’s abdomen. It’ll hit. The numb face showed a smile, and at that moment, a flash appeared right in front of him, blocking his sights. The rain of bullets hailed down, and the machine got caught in the shockwave as it was blown behind.
“What the…!?”
Angelo immediately let the machine steady itself, and looked over at the all-view monitor that was spinning less and slowing down. He saw a white machine with a thruster flare closing in on him fast. The automatic camera took a photo shot, and the enlarged version of it appeared on the window. The CG corrected image of the lone horned mobile suit was instantly etched in Angelo’s sights. It was wielding the Beam Gatling Gun with both hands, seemingly waiting for a moment to fire a second time.
“…I see. So you want to make things tough for me like this?”
It was the boy who saw Frontal’s true appearance and forced him to do a shameful thing. The RX-0 marker overlapped with Banagher’s face, causing him to forget all other things.
“How bold you are…!”
The tail stabilizers on the back rose up like a tail, and the “Geara Zulu”s beam launcher was aimed right at the “Unicorn”.
The animosity and malice that came from the purple mobile suit rocked Banagher’s heart like it had a physical hardness. The intention automatic system detected Banagher’s wavelengths, causing the “Unicorn” to ignore the manual controls as it went side by side. The mega-particle shots came flying over a tad late, and the beam that was dodged at the last moment was reflected on the white armor.
“That purple guy’s scary…!”
The delay time it took to show the killing intent before the shot was almost zero. If he made a mistake here, even the “Unicorn”s interface would not be able to negate the damage. Banagher did not have time to fight back with the Beam Gatling gun as he focused on the purple machine. The Federation unit that was fighting the purple mobile suit from before appeared right beside him.
“Is that a new Federation model?”
It was an unregistered machine, but it could be identified as a Federation mobile suit from the clean streamlined contours. The pilot had the beam rifle at a position where he could fire readily, but he hesitated as he let the machine float around. Banagher thought that the mobile suit was waiting for the “Unicorn” to take action. A pulse suddenly started to rise deep within Banagher’s heart, and as his consciousness was attracted by that thing for several milliseconds (Where are you looking at!?) the voice came from the wireless communicator, hitting his eardrums.
The purple machine that got to his feet struck up from below. The “Unicorn” reacted to the direct killing intent by half and round, and despite deploying the I-field barrier on the shield, Banagher’s consciousness was too slow, causing the machine to lose its relative reaction speed. A beam of light came radiating out from the purple mobile suit, and the shield that could not block from the front directly was blown aside. The base of the shield cracked due to the impact, and the purple mobile suit used the opportunity presented when the “Unicorn” lost its protection as it closed the distance completely.
A beam blade appeared in his spinning sights. There was no time to adjust. Banagher’s brainwaves made this snap decision as he let the “Unicorn” draw out its beam saber.
“Tch…!”
It was a click of a tongue, but also one that could motivate him. He exhaled, and the machine was manipulated into wielding the grip and swing right down at the enemy. The purple machine too swung over, but the particles that were gathered in the form of a hook missed as it cut the space. In contrast, Banagher could see the “Unicorn”s saber being absorbed into the purple machine.
The beam launcher was raised to the front in place of a shield, eating up the extremely hot beam blade. The purple machine immediately let go of the long and thick cannon in its hands that was sliced and melted into half, but the distance to dodge the triggered explosion was still too close. The purple machine pulled the cartridge belt-like connector away from the backpack, and the beam launcher was sliced in half and floated in space for just a moment. The internal generator exploded and formed a huge fireball, and the purple machine took the heat and shockwave as the boost pods' jets were blown aside weakly.
Got him— But it was not a fatal blow. Banagher let the machine steady itself, and looked around for the purple machine that left the sensor range. He had already activated the transmitter the Federation spy gave him, but there was no definite proof that the other side could receive the signal in space combat. He had to hurry up and reach the “Nahel Argama”, but he would not be able to talk if he did not fight back the purple unit. Banagher had the feeling that the purple machine would insist on fighting him no matter what as long as he did not shake off that person. He recalled the killing intent that was formed, the presence that was overly sticky, and recalled the voice of the pilot that remained in his ears, only to hear an approaching alarm ring out of a sudden, shocking him.
The IFF response window opened, indicating the coordinates of a Federation unit. Banagher understood that it was the new Federation unit from before, and a familiar voice rang in his ears (Banagher! You’re Banagher Links, right!?), causing his mind to go blank.
“Audrey…?”
Banagher let out a hoarse voice as he looked behind at the new model that was closing in. The Gundam-like new model suit was gradually becoming clearer in front of his eyes, and he felt his chest fluttering even strong as he subconsciously let the “Unicorn” machine turn around. The new machine raised its left arm that had a large shield on it and grabbed the “Unicorn” on its left arm.
(Are you alright? Banagher? It’s me, Mineva…Audrey Burne.)
Banagher had no reason to mishear the voice that came through the speakers. “Audrey…is it you, Audrey?” He leaned forward from his linear seat and stared at the new mobile suit. (That’s great that you’re fine…!) this voice came from the mobile suit without horns, but had the face of a “Gundam”, making Banagher feel that he was talking to a giant.
“Why’re you at such a place…are you piloting it?”
(No. I’m the pilot here, Ensign Riddhe Marcenas. You remember the model plane you caught before?)
The man’s voice entered the channel. Bnagher recalled the plane model in his mind and the expression of the young officer pursuing it, but it could not help him understand this situation. The new model left Banagher alone as he was unable to understand the situaton and could only look back blankly; it faced the “Unicorn” and opened the cockpit cover.
The hatch deep within then opened, and the normal suit with its back facing the lights of the cockpit snuck out. It was impossible to tell the physique from the heavy-type normal suit, and it was impossible to see who it was as the face was covered by the helmet visor, but Banagher managed to feel it from the presence within. She actually showed herself on the battlefield in space. “That’s too reckless, Audrey!” Banagher chided as he expanded the window and moved the cursor over to the helmet of the normal suit.
He could see the bright energetic eyes sparkling under the visor. Those were the emerald eyes that indicated the start of everyone. Audrey’s eyes caused the nerves on his body to resonate and the passion to engulf his heart and body—
(There’s no time, Banagher, so listen up. After this, I’ll ride on this “Delta Plus” to Earth with Ensign Riddhe.)
Those eyes of hers were staring at Banagher firmly as she let out an adamant voice. Why must you do this? Banagher responded as he did not wait for his mind to clear, and Audrey’s voice continued, (This is what I decided after thinking).
(The Ensign’s father is a senator of the Senate Council, and a Central figure of the Space Migration Act. I intend to meet him and tell him everything about this. I want to settle this peacefully as a person who inherited the Zabi heritage—)
At that moment, an arm reached out to grab Audrey from behind and pulled her into the cockpit forceful. Banagher too pulled the control stick without waiting for the cockpit to close, and let the “Unicorn” move away from the new mobile suit called the “Delta Plus”. An object flew in at a high speed right at the last moment, passing between the two units. An explosion of light was than emitted less than a meter away.
It’s that purple guy. Banagher turned his back on Riddhe, who seemed to detect the same thing, and the “Delta Plus” he was piloting. He caught sight of the enemy from the sensor and hailed suppressing fire on it. The purple unit skillfully dodged the continuous fire of the Beam Gatling, drew out a rocket from its shield and loaded it into the launcher. The launcher that was at the waist let out a small spark, and the rocket was fired out as it closed in on the “Unicorn”, triggering a flash of explosion that ignited from close range.
The “Delta Plus” fought back with the beam rifle amidst this unstable situation. The purple unit continued to glide in space, dodging the fire as it continued to load the rockets. The “Unicorn” adjusted itself and raised the Beam Gatling gun. (I know you’ll be confused because it’s too sudden.) Banagher heard Riddhe’s explanation through the communication channel.
(But I’ll bear the responsibility of protecting Mineva…Audrey. It’s not easy to do this, but we’ve already tried our best to think of a good way to settle this. Please understand.)
(You should return back to the “Nahel Argama”. As long as you return with the “Unicorn”, the Federation Army will retreat. First…)
The fireball of explosion exploded beside, and the noise that got heavier covered Audrey’s voice. The impact shook the cockpit, and the scattered bits hitting the armor let out clear metallic sounds. What in the world are they saying? Banagher felt puzzled as he did not understand what was going on, and even though he had the feeling that he was being betrayed, he continued to search for Audrey’s voice amongst the channel as he kept the “Delta Plus” ferrying her in his sights.
He was right beside her, but he could not touch her. They could only give fleeting looks to each other, and he had no way of asking what her true intentions were. Why didn’t I get out of the cockpit and meet her? This regret tightened his chest, torturing his body that was being manipulated by the G-force.
The purple “Geara Zulu” lost the weight of the beam launcher, and it was a lot more mobile than before. It showed off its unique trait as a long-ranged support machine as the large boost pods on the back, and it continued to follow no matter how Banagher and co tried to shake it off. They shot through a dummy balloon that expanded to the size of a mobile suit, but this was unable to fool the eyes of the pilot. The “Geara Zulu” with the commander blade antenna continued to cut down the dummies in its way. The large anti-mobile suit rocket, the Strum Faust was fired out from the handheld launcher, causing the dummy balloons caught within the explosions to dissipate immediately.
Despite losing the stability of its posture during this challenge, the “Unicorn” continued to raise its Beam Gatling gun and fired, trying its best to restrain the enemy’s action. The way it fired the shots had the flair of a novice, but there was no sense of fear in his action. He however felt that the machine wanted to move forward to attract the enemy unit’s attention. Even though he was scared, he hung on. With their glances at the unit with the monoeye, Riddhe calmly fired the beam rifle in quick succession, covering Banagher’s back.
He realized that with Mineva on board, the “Delta Plus” could not fight as it wished. He should have told Mineva what was on his mind, but in this situation, it was impossible to grasp everything through limited words. She herself hoped to understand everything at least—this unknown emotion created an impulse, and Riddhe squeezed the trigger of the beam rifle until its maximum. The purple “Geara Zulu” dodged the fire and shot out a new Strum Faust.
The “Unicorn” and the “Delta Plus” were forced back by the impact of the explosion, and the interface opened automatically. (Audrey, just tell me something). Banagher’s voice rang within Riddhe’s ears.
(Is what you’re going to do what you have to do? Or is it something you wanted to to?)
The unexpectedly calm voice caused Mineva, who’s seated on the assistance seat, to shudder. After an instance of silence, she answered, “It’s something I want to do…I think.) Banagher’s reply then came in with the noise amidst the approaching sirens (I get it).
The “Geara Zulu” waved its beam saber to slice down the dummies and got behind the two machines from their feet. The “Unicorn” skillfully used the AMBAC’s functions to change its position as it contacted the “Delta Plus” behind with a formal tone. (Ensign Riddhe!)
(I feel you’re a man of your word. I’ll leave Audrey to you.)
Riddhe had no time to answer. The “Unicorn” immediately broke contact with the “Delta Plus” and let out maximum output from the back boosters as it flew towards the enemy unit. The beam Gatling let out a sharp trail of beams, forcing back the purple “Geara Zulu”. Flashes of explosions occurred, and Riddhe stared at the sparks of the beam sabers clashing with each other. At that moment, they felt so distant from him; the battlefield in front of him and Audrey, who held her breath in anticipation. Numbing words were the only things echoing in his head.
The outdated words kept restraining his thoughts unconditionally. You’re just a kid. What big words are you spouting there? Why are you so open-minded? I never showed any sense of trustworthiness here—
“Such moving words…I don’t have a chance of winning here.”
There was a sense of heat that he never felt before, rising within his chest and expanding within. Riddhe ignored Mineva, who frowned in doubt, and turned the “Delta Plus” away.
Riddhe continued on to transform the mobile suit into the wave rider, and at that moment, he only considered about how to leave the battlefield. “Ensign, Banagher’s still…!” Mineva protested, but Riddhe had no intention of caring about it.
No matter how sharp this girl was, this was the only thing she definitely would not understand. That was because Banagher set a curse on him in a way only a man could do. “I understand.” He mused and looked forward.
“This is a matter between men. Please don’t interrupt.”
To her, this might be the first time in her life she was told off with a commanding tone. Mineva closed her half-opened mouth and lowered her silent face. Riddhe could no longer move forward or retreat, and experienced that he bore the fate of the person named Banagher as he turned the unit to “Palau” that had dust surrounding it. The anti-air fire was obviously decreasing, and the bright lights of the battle on the back observation window shone intensely into his eyes as a result.
The Federation unit that transformed into a fighter jets flared its thrusters on the back as it hurriedly moved away. Angelo wanted to pursue it immediately, but was blocked by the bullet screen that was in the shape of a fan, and shuddered before he felt angry.
The ideal bullet array was to use the unit as the axis and spray the beam bullets out, and the “Unicorn” understood how to use the Beam Gatling gun in less than a minute of fighting. It managed to maximize the effectiveness of the armament it was not equipped, and even bought time for the new Gundam-type to escape.
“Those two Gundam planned this beforehand…!”
Considering the time the two units interacted with each other, it would be impossible for him to be so adept at this so quickly. What kind of composure does this brat have? Angelo used up the last Strum Faust, threw the launcher at the “Unicorn” and let the “Geara Zulu” fly over at it. Right when the beam hook was about to materialize completely (Lieutenant Angelo, can you hear me?) A calm voice came from the wireless communicator.
(Retreat back to the “Rewloola”. Let Ensign Marida be the “Unicorn”s opponent.)
Frontal’s voice came from beneath the noise, and Angelo’s mind that was gushing full of blood calmed down. “But…!” He tried to argue back for a moment, “I should have told you the plan, have I not?) the voice interrupted Angelo’s attempt to argue back, and he stopped the vibration of the beam hook.
(The “Kshatriya” is heading there now. This is something only she can do.)
Angelo stepped on the foot pedal and raised the ball-shaped control stick to move above the “Unicorn” as it raised a screen of bullets, looking for the coordinates of his ally unit on the motion sensor.
It was the NZ-666 “Kshatriya”; while the other allied forces were retreating, this was the only mobile suit being indicated on the sensor, moving closer. There was a sense of presence that that was beyond electronic signals, engulfing the sensor screen. Angelo looked back at the “Unicorn” that looked bothered as he continued to retreat, and had the anger of a prey being snatched away reigniting within him as he looked forward and said, “Roger that.”
“…It’s a job for Cyber-Newtypes, huh?”
He accidentally blurted it out in his anger, annoying him. The Newtype Research labs were used to create artificial Cyber-Newtypes for military use. In the past, it was said to be used for research on ways to create Newtypes, but in fact, they were experimenting on lab subjects that would not offer any ill consequences—said to be mostly underaged war ophans—as they ignored the ethics of life.
Their research ranged from injecting drugs, forcing ideals on them, manipulating and rewriting memories to manipulating gene composition to improve their respiratory functions. The results of them manipulating the human mind and mental capacity were that they simply created a bunch of useless people who were addicted to drugs. They managed to obtain decent results in their research during the Neo Zeon war later on, but the emotionally unstable human-like weapons that were developed easily became double-edged swords. It had been a long time since the Federation and Neo Zeon ceased such research, and, looking at the significance of how official records did not leave any traces of this, it could be said that Cyber-Newtypes was a shameful history that was erased by Man after the war.
Most notable was Marida Cruz, who inherited the best gene samples that were ‘enhanced’ and specialized in high mobility combat. It was said that she was at a level where the other Cyber-Newtypes could never ever match. So we’ll let a monster handle a monster? Angelo glanced aside at the RX-0 that was becoming distant and mused to himself as he navigated the unit’s trajectory to the southern tip of the “Palau”.
Frontal’s “Sinanju” too was gradually returning back to the southern tip to gather with the fleet. Everything’s proceeding as planned— yes, this was a battlefield enacted out under Frontal’s plan. As for what kind of nature the monster that devoured the “Laplace Box” would show, their side just needed to watch it from the other side. Angelo managed to more or less appease his unhappiness as he looked at this abnormally shaped mobile suit that bore this responsibility. The “Kshatriya” was not limited by the massive bulk that was several times that of an ordinary mobile suit as it skillfully turned around and passed by the “Geara Zulu”s feet.
Marida activated the binder that was just repaired, and let the machine turn around. The front left binder was the only one amongst the 4 binders flapping, and it managed to stop the “Kshatriya” from turning sideways any further.
The controls felt a little light, but it was not bad in any means. Marida had no need to deliberately activate the calibration system as she got used to the AMBAC functions. She then used the sub-arm hidden inside the binder, which was destroyed together with the binder in the last battle, and the base unit part had to be replaced. It quickly extended out, and the fingertips did a hook. CRAK CRAK. The sound entered the cockpit in the form of a tremor, and Marida knew that the unit was repaired.
It’s really lucky that the Psycommu isn’t damaged. Marida again had this thought. At this moment, Neo Zeon did not have the technology to build the Psycommu frame, and the spare parts of the “Kshatriya” only consisted of ordinary mobile suits alone. The reactivity of the unit would be reduced by half once the Psycommu frame installed around the cockpit was damaged, and they could not repair it at will later on. This ‘spare part’ and this one and only unit were all built from lost technology—to what extent would she face off against this opponent that was built from a Psycoframe? Marida expanded the monitor window, directed the cursor to the CG corrected lone-horned body and cautiously closed in her distance with the “Unicorn”.
The “Unicorn” did not commit the foolish act of letting the enemy corner it from behind as it raised the Beam Gatling while retreating steadily, showing that it was observing her actions. The weapon in its hands is newly developed for this “Kshatriya” here, Marida gave a wry look as she looked right at the white machine that was intending to slip away from her sights. Did he randomly take this when he was intending to take the machine out of the factory? It’s really something that nonchalant-looking boy with keen foresight would do; to be able to use his sharp instincts to grab such a powerful weapon.
(I don’t know how that brat got hold of the “Unicorn”, but there’s one thing I know now, and that is we can’t let that machine fall into the Federation’s hands.)
Zinnerman’s voice could be heard amongst the noise from the “Garencieres”, currently at a rear side of the fleet. Marida exhaled and removed her wry look.
(You can destroy any other part as long as the cockpit core in intact. Your top priority is to secure the unit. Don’t think about the pilot.
The soft voice proved that Zinnerman was concerned about the pilot, or perhaps he was considering the fact that they would have to fight him as their opponent. “Understood. I’ll secure the unit as priority.” Marida answered without any expression as she ceased all meaningless thoughts. If possible, she would capture the unit without any damage; if not, she had to rip out the cockpit’s core without even the pilot was crushed. Marida herself had no hesitation no matter who it was on board. There was no need for an Artificial Being to spend time thinking about it.
Even till now, Marida found it hard that Banagher Links, that boy with puppy-like earnest-looking eyes was the pilot of the “Unicorn”. At this point, there was no clear explanation as to what sort of thoughts he had, and what methods he used to reach the ‘cove’, but the fact remained that the “Unicorn” joined the battle. Marida looked through the machine’s specifications, and knew that she would be massacred if she did not go all out. She could only accept this situation, face it and try to deal with it. if she could do it well and end things properly, her failure at “Industrial 7” would be negated. She did not have any honor and pride worth protecting, but she had to erase the black mark on MasterZinnerman.
“There isn't any just war, is there…?”
Even though she tried to conceal these words within, such personal thoughts still leaked out. If only humanity could have Gods, there would be as many Gods as Man. Justice would not exist in this case, and righteousness might not be the only thing that could save humanity. No matter what the thing saving humanity was, the Cyber-Newtype, an artificially created being, no other means of beliefs to rely on, and there was no need for her to change—Marida shook aside the image of the boy’s face she saw in the chapel and looked forward with an antagonizing look. She accelerated the “Kshatriya” by boosting the thrusters to the maximum and started to close the relative distance with the “Unicorn”.
The transported goods were filled inside the large bucket and sent onto the rail of the electromagnetic catapult. As the bucket reached the end point, the contents would be thrown into space. This would be a crude way of explaining things, but it was the working principle of a mass driver.
The transported goods that were thrown out would pass through space through inertia, and the mass catcher at the destination would receive it. The mass catcher was a round cone-shaped thing 100m long in diameter and 150m long, and it resembled a funnel safety net. The transported goods would be covered by a bag made of fiberglass, and it would be shed away when the goods flew into the mass catcher. With that, only the contents would be left within the funnel. Thus, it was possible to carry out zero costs space transportation other than the operating fees of the facility and the disposable bag. Obviously, this facility was not suitable for transporting humans or delicate machines, but it was fine to make the transport a little more rough if they were sending mineral resources. Thus, the Moon would have such a facility as a frontline base to build space colonies, and to mining colonies like “Luna Two”, a long rail required for a mass catcher would be imperative.
“Palau” was no exception in this case, and the mass driver was located on the front of the bow-shaped “Calyx”, with 10km’s length of rail protruding into space. The mineral rocks that were excavated would be sent onto the rail in order and fly to the mass catcher in Side 6 as part of the mining process. The “Delta Plus” shook off the pursuit from Angelo’s unit as it head towards “Palau”. At this point, what appeared in front of it was the triangular prism supporting the mass driver rail.
The rail was extended out from the mining tunnel, supported by numerous pillars that rose out from the rocky surface, and the endless high frame remained unmoved in the midst of the darkness. Riddhe cautiously let the “Delta Plus” float around with the units that were basically turned to dust and close the distance with the rail. The scattering winds picked up bits of fine particles, and looking over, it was not easy to distinguish between the floating rubble or the mobile suit rubble. The debris that were floating around the mass driver was abnormally more than usual amongst the rocks that were not launched successfully. The “Delta Plus” moved along the pillars that were 2km tall at maximum and reached the side of the rail, stopping its relative velocity in front of the access panel for maintenance use.
The left manipulator hand reached for the panel screen, and a sensor cable was shot out from the part that was basically the base of the thumb. The cable that shot out like a whip approached the panel screen, and the universal-use access panel opened its connectors automatically as the front tip of the sensor cable was connected. The computer immediately started reading the information and sent the data of the mass driver over to the cockpit of the “Delta Plus”. The launch acceleration, the transport bucket launch schedule and the current trajectory were revealed. “How is it?” Mineva asked, unable to catch up the values that were scrolling dwon in front of her. Riddhe ignored her and stared at the data for several seconds and answered, “Right, looks like it can work” and turned his brightened face at Mineva.
“It’s just as I guessed. The direct hit from the hyper mega-particle cannon redirected the course. We’ll be able to reach Earth like this.”
The original setting of the trajectory was directed to the Side 6 mass catcher, but at this point, it was redirected to Earth. The “Delta Plus”, which used up a lot of its thruster jets during the battle just now, could not reach Earth on its own, so this would be a great relief to it akin to recovering a lost train ticket. They just had to let the machine ride on the transport bucket and prepare for the countdown before they launched to Earth. If the access panel was not locked, they could probably let the control system from here.
Mineva could not help but feel relieved. She would have lost her chance to escape if she was brought back onto the “Nahel Argama” again. Riddhe opened the visor of his helmet and wiped away the sweat on his forehead as he showed a relieved expression, uttering out, “We might have gotten some of that guy’s luck too” jokingly. That guy—Banagher Links; Mineva deliberately restrained the pricking pain in her heart as she looked at the space on the other side of the rail that had become a battlefield.
The situation was reduced to an extent that only anti-air fire appeared from time to time, and there were basically no signs of beams or explosion lights. Amidst them, Mineva detected a glow that was sharper than the stars, and the killing intent were all gathered at a point in space. She reached her hand out at the all-view monitor to stare at that spot.
The killing intent continued to gather, racing amongst the starry sea as thin beams crossed each other. What Mineva saw was not a normal battle between mobile suits. There were flashes of funnels’ fire, and the one on the other side, dodging the attacks and firing back with beams was the “Unicorn”— a “Gundam” said to be built for fighting Newtypes. If not, it would be impossible for the unit to dodge the funnel attacks that were swarming from all directions.
As far as Mineva knew, there was only one person amongst the “Sleeves” who could control the funnels. The hand touching the monitor tensed up as Mineva continued to stare at the flashes of light despite wanting to look away. Marida was fighting against Banagher, and she sealed her heart while fighting, her killing intent reaching out to this place. If she could use that kind of power properly, she could have realized that Mineva was at this place.
“What is it?”
Riddhe said as he looked behind and gave a probing look at Mineva as he stopped the hand that was changing the mass driver settings. He’s really too concerned for others. Mineva felt annoyed “It’s fine…” as she looked away.
“Hurry on to the next step. We have nothing else to do.”
Mineva diverted her focus away from the killing intent that remained and looked in front. There was an endless darkness appearing in front of the long rail. Mineva did not look at any expression Riddhe might have on his face as he continued work, and focused on looking at the path deciding her destination. The the battle between the “Kshatriya” and the “Unicorn” showed no signs of ending, and the icy cold stare continued to sparkle in a corner of Mineva’s sights.
ZAA. These sounds were let out as the small cannon pods surrounded the unit. They were like metal sand attracted by a magnet, sticking onto him no matter how he tried to shake them off, and would let out swarming attacks from all directs without stopping.
“These guys!”
Banagher continued to squeeze the trigger of the Beam Gatling without aiming and turned the “Unicorn” to the side. The automatic cannon pods that moved into the dead angles let out beams at the same time, and the fan-shaped bullet screen interfered with the mega-particle bullets, creating chains of sparks. As the flashlight-like lights continued to radiate, Banagher saw the source of the automatic cannon pods fly above his head. The 4 binders opened up like petals, and immediately got right below the linear seat.
“It’s that 4-winged, huh…”
It was the abnormally shaped mobile suit that brought about calamity to “Industrial 7”, and it was blocking the path in front of the “Unicorn” like it switched with the purple unit that retreated. I should be making contact with the “Nahel Argama” as soon as possible. Banagher anxiously squeezed the trigger, and the automatic cannon pod that got behind it attacked like it was mocking him. The “Unicorn”, which lost its shield and the protection of the I-field, felt a shock, and a killing intent that came right below pierced through Banagher.
The “Unicorn” Intention Automatic System responded, and it turned 90 degrees as it pointed the gun at the source of this killing intent. At that moment, an automatic cannon pod that got diagonally below gave another hit, bending the Beam Gatling gun that took a direct hit. Banagher immediately let go of the weapon, but he could not evade the threat of the explosion that expanded from zero distance. The anti-glare filter could not reduce the flash that lit the cockpit, and the machine took the shockwave as it rattled.
“You!”
That four-winged rushed into this flash, lit its monoeye and struck from below. This killing intent blew through the cockpit, and Banagher felt the wind pressure nearly peel his scalp off. The “Unicorn” automatically drew the beam saber that let out particles and hacked right at the saber of the 4-winged horizontally. The colliding sparks exploded, and the large frame of the 4-winged grazed above him. Suddenly, there was a sweet aroma mixed within the killing intent.
“What’s going on…?”
It was a sweet fragrance that surrounded his body, a complete mismatch for the skin-crawling killing intent. Of course, that was because a girl’s sweat smelled sweat—
“Miss Marida…is that you?”
These unexpected words came out from Banagher’s mouth, and he felt his throat tensing up. He did not know why, but he could conclude that this sweetness belonged to Marida. This was the scent he smelled from her in the detention room on the ship and the silent chapel. The four-winged looked like it was in no mood for negotiations, but there was that defenseless silhouette hidden within. The eyes that resembled the deep sea color of Earth, the eyes that looked like they contained a gentle light when she smiled, they were looking at him from deep within the thick armor—
“Miss Marida!? If it’s you, please listen to me! This is Banagher Links!”
The small automatic cannon pods were two meters long, and as they were too small, they could not be picked up on the motion sensor as they gathered a large amount of killing intent and closed in. Banagher detected an opening from amidst the multi-direction ball-shaped attack that was showing signs of disorder, let the machine swing the beam saber and stepped on the foot pedal.
The automatic cannon pods seemed to scatter in doubt. There was a sign that the 4-winged mobile suit in front was retreating. “I’m right…!” Banagher mused as he used this momentum to step on the pedal and let the “Unicorn” rush towards the 4-winged.
The normal suit sensed the G-force coming from below and hardened the jelly-like fluids within into a metal-like state. Banagher’s upper body was held in place tightly, but it could not prevent his blood from rising up, which caused the blood vessels above his neck to expand. He endured the pressure as his pores felt like they were spurting out blood, and shook off the pursuit of the automatic cannon pods as he got right at the four-winged clutches. As the “Unicorn”s left arm was about to touch the heel of the opponent, the four-winged quickly flipped, got behind and was about to swing down the beam saber in its hand.
There was no time to activate his beam saber. The “Unicorn” turned around, but it was too late as the beam saber was right in front of Banagher’s eyes, and a shock that nearly caused him to bite his tongue rocked the cockpit.Am I killed? Banagher could not even let his nerves close his eyes properly as he merely felt his lower body relax, and saw the monoeye appearing on the all-view monitor.
The opponent let the emotionless monoeye move under sharp Mohawk-like head like it was intending to observe Banagher’s action. The 4-winged pretended to swing down its beam saber as its 4-wings were just restraining the “Unicorn” body. It was unknown when the sub-arms were deployed as they reached out from below the binders, grabbing the “Unicorn”S limbs. “Marida—” Banagher realized that his unit was being sealed off completely as he was about to open his trembling mouth. At that instant, the 4-winged placed the grip of the beam saber it was wielding onto the flank of the “Unicorn”, and the heavy sound of metal crashing into each other rang within the cockpit.
(Surrender, Banagher Links, or I’ll burn the entire cockpit down.)
A monotonous voice rang, and the beam saber that was resting on the abdomen rattled the cockpit with loud noises. “Miss Marida…! Why’re you—” Banagher eked out his voice, (I should have said it before.) but felt a chill down his spine after hearing her respond with cold words.
(Once someone rides on a mobile suit and enters the battlefield, he can only be considered a fighting unit called a pilot. Whoever it is sitting inside, it has nothing to do with me.)
The cockpit let out an unsteady resonance as the beam saber’s grip remained in idling state. (Cut the main generator, and get out from the cockpit—) and Banagher ignored her words as he argued “Even so!”
“Even so, you’re still Miss Marida to me. I do apologize for running away on my own, but I can only do this. You don’t want “Palau” to turn into a battlefield, right? The Federation army will retreat once they can take back this “Unicorn”.”
(That’s just the enemy’s view.)
The 4-winged binders that resembled a beetle fluttered as the hidden sub-arms holding the machine shook it. “LISTEN TO ME!” Banagher yelled as he held on tightly to the linear seat that was rocking unsteadily.
“Audrey…your princess has returned back to the battlefield. She rode on a mobile suit to stop this battle—”
On saying this, Banagher’s back suddenly froze. You idiot, why did you say so many unnecessary things? He cursed himself in his heart, and Marida’s voice got sharper, (The Princess’ here?), and Banagher clicked his tongue inadvertently.
(I’ll take the Princess back as well. Where’s she?)
The 4-winged used its large body as a pivot as its hidden arms shook the “Unicorn” unit twice, thrice. Banagher felt the tremor that felt like his brain was being meshed up, and he tried to pull the control stick and stepped on the pedal to leave. The thrusters on the back let out flares, and the moveable frame let out a shrill rubbing sound. The “Unicorn”s raised its arms slowy, and in an instant, it pulled aside the hidden sub-arms that resembled an insect’s legs. However, the 4-winged quickly used its main hands to grab the “Unicorn”s head.
The 5-fingered manipulator hands that were held down tightly were held down tightly, and the head with the lone horn was tilted back. The all-view monitor let out noise, and the malfunction windows continued to appear. If this kept up, the machine would be snapped, “MISS MARIDA!” Banagher yelled out, but his voice was half-buried amongst the buzzing alarms.
“Please just think about how to end this battle! Tikva and the rest may get involved in it!”
(Then just surrender and tell me the Princess’ whereabouts so that our army will retreat too.)
I can’t do this. Banagher immediately had this thought as he asked himself, Why? (Do you see?) He continued to listen to Marida’s words while at his wits ends.
(You keep saying that you just want the battle to end, but you’re thinking from the enemy’s viewpoint. That’s because you’re already a part of things here.)
“No! You’re the one wrong here! It’s because your thoughts are too straightforward that Audrey wouldn’t stay there. I feel I can’t hand over the “Box” or Audrey to people like you because…”
(I said that’s the reasoning of the enemy!)
The hands were pressing down on the 4-winged, and the overload sign showed up on the condition monitor. The frame continued to let out a rattling sound, and Banagher felt like Marida was seriously trying to destroy the “Unicorn” as anger stronger than fear exploded within him. You pretend not to see it even though you can see it. That’s a power you’re exerting stubbornly after sealing your heart. You of all people know that brute force alone won’t be able to solve anything here—!
“YOU’RE REALLY UNREASONALE!”
Red phosphorus light glowed through the armor gaps, and the moveable frame the expanded aside nocked back the 4-winged hidden sub-arms. At the same time, the leg frames popped up and extended, and the movable armor slid aside, shaking aside the hook of the hidden sub-arms.
The lone horn split into two, and the face cover that rose up knocked aside the manipulator hands of the 4-winged. The thruster nozzles on the back let out a burst of flares, and the machine that shook off the restrains of the hidden sub-arms finished its transformation as it lit its pair of matching ‘eyes’.
(“Gundam”…!?)
Marida’s muttering faded far away, and arms came out of the headrest, fixing Banagher’s helmet in place. There was a slight shock from the arms and ankles, and Banagher realized that the anti G-force drug delivery system “DDS” was already activated as he let the “Unicorn” move above the head of the 4-winged.
The stinging fragrance spread in his nose, and the heat flow of the brain pulsating rushed throughout Banagher’s body. The black impulse rose within him, and the nervous system that was in sync with the machine had been dyed just like tar. Not good, Banagher thought, but his rational sense that was trying to think could not work as he already viewed the 4-winged in front of him as an enemy. It’s pointless to talk further against an enemy who just want to overpower through force. I’ll have to beat this person here to ensure that Audrey can return back safely, and that I can get back to the “Nahel Argama”. Don’t think I’m just a pushover here—
The flickering “NT-D” logo shone through the helmet visor, dyeing Banagher’s sights red. The vaguely drifting sweet aroma scattered, and Marida’s scent vanished from the cockpit.
“NT-D activation confirmed. The target’s now fighting with the “Kshatriya”.”
This voice came from the operator seated at the communications console in a corner of the “Rewloola”s standard bridge. “Good.” Frontal answered, and his voice echoed down from the tall ceiling. His tall and lanky body that was draped in bright red was standing beside the captain’s seat.
“This Psyco Monitor isn’t perfectly effective. Focus on the signals from it, understood, captain?”
“Understood.” Captain Hill, who was seated on the captain’s seat, answered with a calm expression on his head. This would definitely be the only chance for him, the captain of the “Rewloola” to show off his skills as he could only remain at the back, watching the battlefield while his subordinates did not even have the chance to perform. “Warm up the main unit first. Our ship will head out from behind “Palau” based on the situation. Take care not to let down your guard against other units.” Angelo passed through the bridge door beside Captain Hill who raised his volume. He minded about how he walked in in the normal suit drenched in sweat as he stood beside the red figure looking up at the main screen.
The screen displaying the optical visuals showed the two mobile suits clashed in a deathmatch. The crude would let out beams of light from time to time, but it was impossible to see the silhouettes of the mobile suits. It was impossible to tell whether the “Kshatriya” or the “Unicorn” had the advantage, but the details of the battle did not matter here.
The necessary information would be transmitted from the Psyco Monitor installed on the “Unicorn”s Psycommu—a Psycommu receiver device. This tapping installation would activate the moment the NT-D was activated, and would send the details the unit gave in large amounts. As the waves that were sent were released from the Psycommu, there was no worry about the Minovsky particles interfering. The sending range was limited, but they should be able to gain complete unmistakable information. In fact, the sub-monitor of the communication monitor was already collecting information at a high rate, and started probing into the Laplace System that was activated together with the NT-D.
The coordinates that was suspected to indicate the location of the “Box” was shown before. Then, what would be the content be—Angelo swept his sweaty bangs that were hanging on his forehead and looked at the binary files that were being rolled in, but a certain roar “WHAT’S GOING ON!” caused him to raise his eyebrows. Zinnerman, who was dressed in a normal suit, was holding a helmet on one hand as he rushed into the bridge.
Zinnerman ignored Captain Hill, who was shocked as he looked back, and let his body float under zero gravity to the Captain’s seat. So he came? Angelo saw the rage within the black eyes, and was blocked by Zinnerman in front as he stood in front of Frontal. “Captain, did something happen to the “Garencieres”? Frontal gave an interested look at Zinnerman, who glared back at him and roared, “WHY DID YOU LEAVE MARIDA ALONE!?” The gruff and heavy voice echoed through the bridge, and everyone present stared at Zinnerman.
“I heard that you gave the order to the entire army to fall back. Why is Marida the only—”
(To activate the NT-D, we’ll have to let beings that are similar to Newtypes clash. This is a job only Ensign Marida can do.”
The overly simplified explanation curbed Zinnerman’s momentum as he frowned. “The “Unicorn Gundam” has a Psyco Monitor installed on it.” He said quietly as he looked back at the main screen.
“Once it’s activated, we can obtain new information from here. Since we can’t analyze the Laplace Program, it will be faster to let the Program unseal itself. For this aim, I guided that boy Banagher to the “Unicorn”. I’m really sorry to hide it from you too.”
They used the Federation spy, planned it such that Banagher would ride on the “Unicorn”, and prepared a program that would start reading once the NT-D. This assault might have granted Neo Zeon a new rebirth and helped sweep away the ‘Old Blood’ of unease within their camp, but they had to fool even insiders thoroughly in order to complete this program. From the investigations up till their point, they knew that the NT-D system could not be fooled by a mock battle. It would be impossible to activate the NT-D unless it was a real battlefield with lives on the line.
Is everything on the battlefield an act Frontal planned— Zinnerman seemed to have this understanding as he turned pale. “But Marida..” and his vague voice showed no signs of ending. “I understand.” Frontal answered and lowered his head slightly.
“The Cyber-Newtypes are those with their nervous transmitting system upgraded through artificial means, and they can’t be considered pure Newtypes. But Captain, what exactly are pure Newtypes?”
Zinnerman swallowed his words and remained silent as he gave a doubtful look at the face wearing the mask. Frontal did not care about the other party as he turned his stare to the screen and said, “No one can answer it.”
“Are they people who have exceptional senses such that they can cause the Psycommu weapons to work? In terms of effect, Ensign Marida can be said to be a Newtype. Then, the NT-D will use this phenomenon as basis to determine the opponent as a Newtype and use it’s original power.”
The hard lights and shadows could be seen crossing each other on the zoomed footage caught, right in front of the stare under the mask. Both giants continued the dance of death as they tried to kill each other, not knowing if the perpetrator planned this. Beside him, Zinnerman stared at the screen too, and Frontal gave a mystical-like smile on his lips.
“That “Gundam” hasn’t showed its real form yet. We’ll have Ensign Marida draw out its real nature.”
The funnel that was shot down became a fireball, and the shockwave scattered in all directions. Marida wanted to flip the machine at the last moment, but it could not dodge the “Unicorn Gundam” that came rushing in while cutting through the explosion of dust and gas that occurred.
The enemy unit fired its Vulcan guns, and two trails of fire grazed the “Kshatriya”. Marida continued to dodge as she checked the positions of the deployed funnels as she passed her intent over to these Psycommu installations to shoot from behind the “Gundam”. The nearby funnels immediately lit their burners to adjust and shot out beams from their tips. At this moment, the “Unicorn Gundam” did a roll, let out a flash from its burners, and disappeared from Marida’s sights like a scene in an action movie. The funnel beams crossed the vacuum, and the “Kshatriya”s thick green machine floated in the darkness.
“Stop dodging around…!”
Marida muttered, and she stepped on the pedal. The “Kshatriya” went full throttle as it followed the “Gundam”, and the G-force that came pressurizing from above caused her flesh to tremble about. The blood vessels contracted, and the blood that was pressed down by the centrifuge force remained where it was. The 12 organs inside the body supporting the heart pulsated to grant a steady blood supply to the head. The body of flesh that was designed for high mobility combat shuddered, and the nervous system was quickly processing the movements of the “Unicorn Gundam”. The enemy’s acceleration and sharp turns were not usual—but her eyes were gradually getting used to it. There was not much improvement in this direct movement that had the flair of an amateur compared to the fight she had at “Industrial 7”. Marida deduced that she could win if she attacked calmly.
Speaking of which, it was impossible for an ordinary person to last so long under such conditions. The enemy was not even a professional pilot here. If this amateur really blurted it out accidentally, it meant that he did not say this in an irresponsible manner. There was a need to hurry up and wear out the “Unicorn Gundam” and reclaim Mineva who seemed to be nearby. Zinnerman had always been protecting Mineva Zabi as he placed his dream of Neo Zeon’s revival on her. Even though he never said it before, he had always viewed reclaiming Mineva as his top priority. Marida herself did not have any interest in Neo Zeon’s revival, but her master’s wish would be her wish, and her master’s enemies would be her enemies. Marida had to do what she must do even if she had to sacrifice her life. To Marida, who gained life as an artificial being, there was no philosophy she exalted more than this.
Speaking of which, Zinnerman would probably tell her that this was not right. You’re not an artificially-created thing, you’re a person. Decide where you want to go. He would probably say such things, and because of this, I have to live on as an artificial being. I have to become a humanoid weapon that makes use of this body that had its genes manipulated for battle and protect Master. There’s no way I’ll be able to repay him, and I can’t repay the thing that save me, that thing Master called the ‘light’—
“…This will be over!”
This thought process lasted for less than a second. Marida saw through the “Unicorn Gundam”s flight path and let her thoughts control the 16 funnels through a voice. The automatic cannon pods that received the commands of the thought waves moved as if they were dragged, and the “Kshatriya” fired mega-particle cannons from its torso and the binders. The sublight bullets that were refracted through the I-field flushed in from all directions like a tap with the stopper pulled out from the faucet at full stream, raining down on the “Unicorn Gundam” that was moving around at high speeds.
The burners located all over the body let out flares, and the “Gundam” machine did an emergency turn. The funnels that first got over in front of the “Gundam” tried to shoot out beams as it intended to force the machine into the other funnels range as they were aligned in a sphere. The “Gundam” sensed the perimeter that was formed with killing intent, and the next term would be the crucial moment. The thruster lights continued to flare, and Marida saw that the “Unicorn Gundam” was moving in the direction it predicted beforehand before sending the attack thoughts to the funnels that were on standby.
The pink beams crossed a certain point, hitting the thruster vane on the back of the shins. Just when the second hit looked like it was going to hit the machine that lost its balance, the right shoulder armor got crushed first, and the Psycoframe that was revealed after the shedding let out a bloody luminescent light. In less than a second, the funnels surrounded this machine that was spinning under such force and lost its control. Marida deliberately chose not to aim at the generator as she shot the burners and the thrusters to nullify it. She gathered the sight of all 16 funnels into her consciousness, and as she turned this expanded instinct into an attack, the machine of the “Unicorn Gundam” suddenly shot out a ‘presence’ that seemed to form a giant wind that had a physical effect, flowing right at the cockpit Marida was in.
It was impossible to imagine that this came from the pilot within there. The ‘air’ that was now filled with powerful antagonistic intent passed through the normal suit, ruffling Marida’s sweaty skin as it blew behind. The feeling of a rotten slug passed through her body and dug in—the sealed memories rose up Marida’s throat, and in an instant, she could not tell which direction was which any longer as she could only gather her attack thoughts to the funnels. However, the funnels remained unmoved as they surrounded the “Unicorn Gundam”, waiting silently with no signs of moving.
It felt like time stopped. The enemy unit, surrounded by the funnels that were floating weakly, continued to let out this overwhelming ‘air’ as it stared at Marida. You dare to hurt me— a thought, not from the pilot, but an arrogant and merciless thought pierced the membrane of Marida’s mind, and as the ‘existence’ that felt like it was pulsating nearby spread through the vacuum, the “Unicorn Gundam” raised its right hand slowly.
The 5 fingers that were opened let out an invisible wave, causing the funnels that were still remaining to let out their burner flares. They then moved according to the “Gundam”s fingers, and turned around with their cannons pointed at the main unit, the “Kshatriya”.
The matching eyes reflected the glow on its Psycoframe as they turned red, flickering like they were making a mockery. The “Gundam”s the enemy—this thought appeared in Marida’s mind, and at that moment, the “Unicorn Gundam” swung down its right hand, causing the funnels filled with antagonistic intent to attack Marida.
The beams then came firing out from the cannons, and multiple beams were aimed at the “Kshatriya”. Marida immediately dodged and tried to gather her thoughts on the funnels, only to be shocked that she could not plot out the funnels’ paths. Marida did not know where the funnels were. Due to the wave interference of the “Gundam”, the Psycommu lost its contact and control of the funnels’ locations.
“What’s going on, funnels? Can’t you recognize me!?”
The funnels that lost their sense of self were firing the mega-particle cannons, pecking at their mother bird “Kshatriya”. A graze caused an impact to rock Marida, and her face that was buried inside the safety airbag. She could only release the expanding the mega-particle cannons reluctantly. The sublight scattered shots came flying out of the chest, and the two funnels that took direct hits let out explosions of light. The “Kshatriya” turned its back on that light and sliced the funnel that was closing in. Marida let the machine rush out of the array and turned her sights at the source of this wave that was surrounding her.
“You bastard, what did you do!?”
The “Kshatriya” ignited its thrusters at full power and got behind the white unit. The “Unicorn Gundam” remained still at that spot in space, not moving at all. It raised its arms up and spread them out wide, and the attachments installed on the arms became beam saber grips. The two grips were located at the cuffs supported by the arms, and the front of the “Gundam”s arms showed sharp blades of light.
The arms that became beam sabers extended out from both left and right side, and the machine immediately moved, disappearing from Marida’s sights. Marida blinked in astonishment as she looked around through the all-view monitor, but the impact that came from right below immediately caused her to scream. The starry sea that filled her sights moved, and immediately, the sight of the sliced binder tip appeared right in front of her, gradually moving away from the body. The “Gundam” did not let go of this opening. While the “Kshatriya” stopped and turned around to fire the mega particle cannons, it slashed right that the enemy and dragged a trail of red phosphorus light over the enemy’s head.
The beams that came raining down from all directions caused the machine that had the sabers molded together with it to leap as if it were dancing. The mega-particle cannons beams were dodged easily, and the enemy got into a dead angle and shot an icy cold wave at Marida’s bag.
Marida shot out a dummy balloon, something she had never used before, and used it to hold off the enemy figure that was hacking at it like a wild wind. She knew she was being toyed with, and felt a chill from it. This movement was different from the “Gundam” before. It was reading Marida’s movements completely as it slowly but surely tortured the “Kshatriya”, and its thoughts were reaching Marida’s skin. It was a thought that had cold delight mixed in it, one belonging to the joy of a hunter—
“Who…are you?”
Banagher Links’ silhouette did not appear there. There was no sense of anger or madness, and the “Gundam” that transformed into a hunting machine sliced off the dummy while the funnels supporting it wore down the “Kshatriya” armor. Marida screamed as she saw the funnels gather together to form the shape of a giant hand. The “Gundam”s the enemy, the terrifying enemy that took away our light. The memories buried within her inherited genes exploded, and a certain person called Marida reverted back to its original state—
That abnormal scene could be distinguished despite the blurry optical images. As everyone on the bridge held their breaths in anticipation, Angelo continued to stare at the main screen with horror.
“Is that…something that brat’s doing?”
Zinnerman continued to stare at the stiff lights and shadows that were dancing, muttering with a look of utter disbelief. Angelo had no disagreements about this. If this were that guy’s ability, I would have been shot down during the battle before. “That’s far from the truth.” Frontal said.
“Once it deems the enemy as a Newtype, the machine’s limitations would be removed, and everything from the movement controls to the weapons controls would be controlled by the system. The pilot here would not even be a system software here. It plays the part of receiving the thought waves and converts them into antagonistic intent.”
“Then, what the heck’s controlling that “Gundam”!?”
“Why, the NT-D. The Newtype-Destroyer System.”
Frontal said nonchalantly, and Angelo gulped the saliva in his mouth as he looked at the side of Frontal’s masked face. “Destroy…?” Zinnerman asked back, frowning.
“That lone-horned will detect the thought waves of the enemy, while the “Gundam” would be in charge of destroying it. What we see is an interface that uses the Psycoframe to carry out cadence that far exceeds human limits, and also, a hunting machine that’s equipped with the ability to control enemy Psycommu weapons. This Program was created to exterminate the last greatest fable Zeon left behind, Newtypes.”
“This is too ridiculous…it’s impossible for normal humans to pilot such a machine.”
“That’s right. The pilot has to be enhanced. This isn’t a machine a Newtype created by artificial means can pilot, but that a real enhanced being can do.”
The deliberate voice caused Zinnerman, who realized what was going on, to give a tense look on his face, “I see. So it’s a product of technology used to purge Newtypes. In that case…”
“It can bury the fable of Zeon completely.” Frontal followed up and continued, “They wanted to dissolve the Zeon Republic and the Newtype fable together with the 100 year anniversary, and use this to wipe off the nightmare called Zeon completely. As habit, they call this the UC plan.”
UC was an abbreviation of Unicorn, and also, it signified the Universal Century itself. The nightmare that caused the first 100 years to be stained in blood called Zeon shook the foundation of the Universal Century from its base, so they had to remove this nightmare before they welcomed the next hundred years. The theory of evolution human kind would have after entering space was just a fantasy, and the so-called Newtypes were just monsters with ridiculous amounts of fighting abilities. The sayings that Newtype perceptions were outstanding were just rhetorics, and they could overpower it through the power of science and technology. To prove this, a Gundam-type mobile suit would be most fitting. It was a symbolic existence of the Federation, and up till this point, the “Gundam” was a machine that could not be separated from the Newtype fable. Mobile suits with “Gundam” appearances were being mass-produced as part of the Federation army’s realignment, and the power of science alone would be enough to exterminate the monsters. There was no method that was more effective than this political propaganda if they wanted to erase the “Newtype” theory. They would imitate their forefathers who single-handedly built the Federation organization, and this would be the time to take great strides and push for massive changes, all in the name of making sure that Earth would be at peace at the Universal Century’s 100 year anniversary-
Neo Zeon, which was raised as a separatist, tried to maintain an economy that could not last without war on one hand; while on the other hand, such forces were allowed to continue existing because of this trail of thought. Angelo felt that this was not something a sane person would do, and looked horrified at he stared at the “Unicorn Gundam” on the other side. It was a monster born out of the fear of the Newtype theory and Zeon, the source of it. To think the Federation’s fear for us is so deep…
“Cardeas Vist installed a mechanism on that monster and left the key to opening the “Laplace Box” to it. Even the activation conditions of the NT-D were modified, so if we want to finish out its true identity, we can only activate the NT-D and let it remove the seal gradually.”
“…In other words, you want Marida to be a sacrificial pawn here!?”
Zinnerman summoned back the killing intent that once faded and gave an ominous look in his eyes. “This is only something she can do.” Frontal emphasized as he stopped Angelo from trying to stand in front of him.
“The Ple series have their hatred and animosity to the “Gundam” ingrained within their consciousness. She’s the only pilot who can draw out the “Unicorn”s true nature and fight it.”
“But Marida’s—”
“Ple Twelve.”
The words interrupt sharply as Frontal stared right back at Zinnerman. “That’s her name. She’s an experimental model codenamed serial number 12 amongst the line of artificial Newtypes that were cloned and genetically modified.”
The mouth that was half-opened, wanting to argue back, closed again, and Zinnerman averted the other person’s stare as he clenched his fist. “Even so, I understand you’ll say that she’s a person.” Frontal said silently.
“But it’s dangerous to put exceeding emotions on her. If the Ple series lose their master, they would be unable to ensure their sense of self. Sometimes, this would create a sense of dependence on the master, especially someone like Ensign Marida who lived through several cruel years for a female—”
“Don’t say it.”
This was a sharp voice that sounded like a knife was placed right at the back of the neck. Angelo glanced back at Frontal’s expression as he stopped, swallowed his saliva, and glared at Zinnerman, “You dare to be insolent to a superior…!” Zinnerman did not say anything as he suddenly reached out to grab Angelo on the collar.
“It’s because it’s a superior officer that I’m saying such things. It’s not that easy if it’s you.”
Zinnerman reached his thick arm and pushed Angelo into space. Angelo managed to launch on his feet immediately, but he had no strength to argue with Zinnerman, who was giving an ominous look, and could only retreat back behind Frontal, who remained silent and unmoved. Zinnerman looked at them for quite a while, and turned his sights back to the screen where lights of battle were occurring. He suppressed the emotions that were about to explode out right at this point, and his expression that was more serious than usual caused the atmosphere in the bridge to become heavier.
Everything and anything became bloody red through the reddish-black filter; whether it was the 4-winged that was attacked by the automatic cannon pods it released or the dummy balloons that would be crushed the moment the beam sabers touched it. This was not due to the alert image shown on the visor. Perhaps this would be the blood below Banagher’s eyes filling his sights, and he recalled someone telling him this, that the eyes were the weakest organs against the G-force. Who exactly said it to me—
This thought was just a little pebble mixed in between amidst the surging impulses. Destroy the 4-winged and eliminate anything that’s giving off antagonistic intent. Banagher hurriedly moved the “Unicorn Gundam” as the intensity of the impacts kept shaking his organs. The slashes that crossed by sliced the knee armor of the 4-winged, and the machine that was spurting out conducting fluids spun about in an ugly manner. The left hand was already severed, and the binder with its armor ripped off could not function as per normal. However, this person did not intend to stop resisting. Whenever there was an opening, it would reach out the hidden sub-arms and swing the blade of its beam sabers at the “Unicorn Gundam”s chest.
—The “Gundam”s the enemy!
The monoeye of the 4-winged flashed as it accepted the consciousness of the person within. That’s too straightforward, Banagher argued in the corner of his mind. It’s because you guys are giving off antagonistic intent like this that everything became like this, not just what happened to “Industrial 7”, but also forcing me to ride on this thing and take part in this battle.
The “Laplace Box”, the Vist Foundation, Neo Zeon, everyone keeps promoting their beliefs and ideals; they wouldn’t even listen to anyone else. Nobody wants to listen to me, no one wants to be on my side. Dad’s dead, Audrey’s gone, why must I bear all these troubles? Why must I suffer such terrifying things alone!? All I want to do is to save Audrey. Why am I still at such a place even when I left Audrey in another guy’s hands—!?
The “Gundam”s folded arms expanded out sideways as it sliced off two hidden sub-arms the enemy reached out. The 4-winged staggered back slightly, and the automatic cannon pod array surged forward. They had lost all power in their batteries, but it did not matter to him. Go on, wreck the enemy! Banagher muttered silently in his mind, and the automatic cannons that were afflicted by this destructive impulse started to charge at the 4-winged.
The impacts of the sparks appeared, and the 4-winged that was desperately swinging its beam saber staggered as it tilted. The tattered binders were overlapped in front of the body, and the 4-winged that was reduced to a short and stout humanoid figure continued to be knocked back by the funnels. Banagher realized that his lips were curling up as he let the “Unicorn Gundam” rush right at the enemy. The machine spun like a top as it touched the 4-winged, and the 4-winged’s hand wielding the beam saber was knocked back into space.
The 4 beam cannons on the torso were also hacked apart, and the machine that lost its almost all its weapons bent backwards. Banagher looked at the enemy that could not use the AMBAC function and had its last sub-arm sliced by the cross-beam sabers. He used this impulse to aim the cursor at the cockpit of the 4-winged.
There was a source of antagonistic intent from within the cockpit cover, unnerving him. The nerves that were on the same length as the sensors captured the position, and the Psycoframe got right in front of the 4-winged as it reflected the pilot’s will. The “Unicorn Gundam” cleared off the conducting fluids and broken bits of armor around it, and just when it was about to stab the beam saber through the cockpit, there was an ‘air’ that came fluttering out of the machine, letting Banagher know it was a sweet aroma that was teasing his nose.
This is a smell I recognize. The moment he thought about that, a soft flash appeared around Banagher’s forehead, and time stood still. Everything stood still, from the 4-winged that remained exposed defenseless, the beam saber that was about to stab through the cockpit, and even the particles that were forming a shot that was released. The light glow that radiated at his forehead reached forward. That light mixed into together with the a’ir’ released by the 4-winged, forming a ‘forcefield’ that surrounded the two mobile suits. This ‘forcefield’ removed the bloody color in Banagher’s sight and expanded out together with the soft light—
—Light…!
Someone called out. A girl’s voice? Perhaps it’s my own voice. That might not be a voice if I look at things further. The 4-winged in front of him was basked in light, and the antagonistic intent clinging onto the skin faded away like fog as the existence within the enemy’s cockpit closed in on him. What’s going on? Who’s intending to enter my body? Banagher could only look around as his head was fastened on the headrest, and he saw the linear seat with light behind it.
—You’re the light that came to free me. Have you came to receive me?
Marida Cruz was seated on the linear seat weakly, giving a weak smile right back at Banagher. to him, the profile of the girl reaching her hand out to him was like a girl of around 10 years old.
—Who, are you?
Banagher too reached his hand out to the girl smiling back at him on the other side. The light dipped, and their thoughts were immersed into the bottom of the icy cold water as though the water surface was blown apart.
Light. A white light that was just born.
Banagher saw the white and transparent light that was shown on the surface. The feeling gradually rose from his body as it left the empty depth. The hand that reached out from the water surface immediately felt the cold air from the outside, and Marida felt an unknown hand pull her up. This was the first time she felt human warmth…
“Welcome to this world. Do you feel cold?”
The blond boy that reached his hand out smiled at her. The neat room that was surrounded by white light had several casket-like capsules laid out, and it seemed that she was obtained from one of them. Banagher looked at the face of the young man wearing a Neo Zeon uniform, and Marida felt a chill from this young man’s expression that was colder than the surrounding temperature.
“You’re the 12th sister. Your sisters are working outside. Come together with me to the outside world.”
The boy held her hand, and it felt warm. Marida got up from the capsule and as her bare foot that touched the outside air touched the floor, she instinctively understood that this man was her master. Is that how it is? Banagher had some doubts as he wondered how her consciousness entered his mind. There was a girl around 10 years old with blue eyes shown right in front of him—
Light. A savage and violent light that radiated through space.
That kind of light that appeared on the all-view monitor was a light of explosion. “Ple Three is killed!” Banagher and Marida were inside the cockpit as they heard the girl call out.
“Master’s dead too. He’s dead!”
“What should we do?”
“Calm down. There’re still enemies left on the battlefield. We have to purge the Federation. We have to eliminate all of master’s enemies, whether it’s the “Gundam” or Haman!”
The 4th sister called out, and the sisters regained some calmness. The black mobile suits became their limbs, and the binders that were extended out from their shoulders made them look like machines with wings. The sisters lined up and attacked the enemy, understanding what to do. We just needed to use the funnels to get rid of anything that gives any antagonistic intent. We’re not complete, but we can do it. We’re created to do it.
But what exactly is the enemy? Marida thought as she joined the line unconditionally. Is it something that’s hurting master? Is it something master deems to be a target? We were trained all this while to protect master, we take quite a few painful injections nowadays, our minds are stuffed with so much knowledge they can blow up, but I can endure it all for the sake of master. My sister with the same faces and abilities are also following master, like how they were pursuing that light when they were born. Service and dedication were the only values we were taught.
But that master who taught us this isn’t around. Do we still have to fight when master’s not around? Even though we’re all designed to be in the same form, all of us are different. The 6th sister would call herself ‘this me’, while I call myself ‘I’. We’re all multiplied from a single source, and we received similar training, but we’re different individuals. I heard from the doctor before that this is an individual difference. I heard of this term ‘soul’ before. Everyone’s different, and there will be as many different things as there are people. Are our souls the same? Are souls lonely? Even though we have so many people, I still feel very lonely…
Nobody said anything about this, but there was this feeling. They could not hide the wavering of their minds caused by the loss of their master, this core of their lives. Their mobile suits movements were obviously slow, and they would be massacred if they gathered together. The 12th sister broke the rule for the first time as she was the only one to leave the line a little.
In an instant, a beam of light ripped through space, and the black mobile suits were devoured. The mobile suit was ripped apart by the mega particles that scattered and came in from all directions, and she was thrown out into space.
The all-view monitor was swtiched off, and the cockpit, which was covered in darkness, spun around. It was severed; Marida’s bond with the sisters and the machines were forcefully severed as everything else was returned to Heaven. She desperately reached out her hand, searching for greenery amidst the darkness. The weakly flickering alert image caused the hand that was grabbing emptiness to appear—
Light. Lewd, vulgar and contemptible neon lights.
There were several bars lined up along a street on this secluded area. The scene changed to a corner of a bustling street that had corroded vomit and stenches of pee. A middle-aged woman with her back facing the neon lights frowned as she said, “This kid stinks!”
“She’s just a kid. It’s impossible to sell her like this.”
“There are customers who like such things, right? She was seated in an escape pod when I picked her up. It seems that she went completely bonkers here. Her mind’s all blank, so she’ll listen to anything no matter what!”
The woman looked at the girl’s face. There was an irritating smell of perfume moving up the girl’s nose, and though she thought that this was basically the smell of a toilet air freshener, her body and mind would not react. The woman clicked her tongues as she hummed, nudged the girl by the head and pushed her into the shop. The girl’s swaying footsteps stepped right into the water puddles, and the neon lights reflected off the water surfaces shook as well.
Banagher and Marida were staring at the girl’s face there. That dirty face with a head full of unkempt long hair was facing them. The 12th position underaged girl remained defenseless as her body remained there, looking up at a certain spot in the sky…
“So then.”
The man received some money from the woman and hurriedly left. The man who pulled me out from the darkness of the cockpit, the man who should me my new master is leaving. Master; the girl pursued after the man as she gave a voice from her throat. “I’m your master from today on!” The woman grabbed the girl by the shoulder and exhaled a smelly fat smell.
Master. She would not be able to survive without her master, the one thing bonding her to this world. But as the girl was about to step into that world, her master would change every night. Her new mission was to accept any requests the master made and satisfy them. They would be rotten slugs licking all over her, and after everything ended, the girl would feel that she was garbage. The dirty water accumulated within her, and her sense of existence would gradually vanish. Finally, what was left was the bag of dirty water under the raw skin that accumulated.
However, I had to listen to master. That’s because I’m alone. There’s no difference between getting into a mobile suit to fight and serving different masters every day as I can’t let my own will interfere. In the end, artificially created beings don’t need wills. I should have just followed orders to serve and dedicate like my sisters, and I wouldn’t be left behind as a result.
The cheap bed let out a creaking sound, and the smelly stench blew all over her face. She endured the backlash from the lone intention she accidentally had, and at this moment, the hollow blue eyes were looking at the ceiling that was swaying up and down. The rotten smell felt like it was corroding her body, and it became her smell—
Light. Icy cold light that represented loss.
She could see the white ceiling. It was the ceiling of a treatment room that looked much poorer and dirtier than a Neo Zeon medical facility. The bald man in white clothes mused with a tired voice, “She’s still so young…”
The silver washbasin that was placed beside the bed vaguely reflected her face. The 12th sister body that became 15 years old was lying on the bed, and she blankly opened her numb and dazed yes. Her expression suddenly tensed up, and her hand that searched for the thing under the lower abdomen froze.
It was gone. It was stolen. Something that grew under the body, that certain thing that was becoming bigger bit by bit was taken away. The girl did not know what it was, but she understood that something very important was already…
The man who looked like a doctor walked out from the curtain, and she could see the treatment table that had apparatus to fix the legs down. The syringes, scissors and a hook shaped rod were left on the table without much thought. Did that thing pull it out? The moment she made that guess, she was prompted by fear as she nearly screamed, and her body nearly rolled off the bed and landed on the floor. She could not stop shuddering, and what rose up within her was a feeling a disgust. Someone secretly dug out something from her body, and the unforgettable pain spread through her body.
What exactly, have I lost? The words were formed within her chest, but she was unable to convert them into words, and she was carried out of the treatment room by the doctor. “You didn’t hurt the product, did you?” the middle aged woman waiting in the standby room was smoking there “No, but…” the woman did not really look at the doctor who answered “Then, let’s go back.” as she merely turned behind. The 12th sister stopped in her tracks as she stared at the woman.
Her body felt weird ever since a while ago. She felt something around her stomach forming, and her periods stopped as well. What is it? I hope I can put it back if I can. That’s a part of me, and it’s definitely something important.The girl turned her voice that was not released into a stare, and the middle-aged woman momentarily changed expressions as she looked over, “Let’s go. What are you doing!” The woman commanded her as she pulled the girl, and the girl could only stutter over.
“THAT HEAVY STONE WAS TAKEN AWAY, RIGHT? SO COME HERE, YOU!!”
The woman screamed hoarsely as she tried to pull the girl’s body as she remained rooted to the floor. No, that’s not a huge stone. The voice in her chest never materialized itself in the end as she was pulled onto a dilapidated street. She was pulled onto an electric car that was parked beside the street, and the car moved towards the bustling street the shop was. The usual and mundane street scenes passed by outside the window, and the complex looks people had passed by. The bicycles were gathered together, the children were running around on the streets, a young mother was pushing a baby car, a baby was crying there…
These scenes passed by in a blur, wet manner, and icy cold water flowed down her cheeks. Tears. She never cried when she lost her master and her sisters. She didn’t bear a child willingly. Banagher continued to feel them flow down the blue hollows as he thought. However, whether I was willing or not, it was still a ‘light’. Marida’s thoughts answered. A ‘light’ was born within an artificial being’s body, and it was much more dazzling than any light she had seen till this point. It could have been a ‘light’ that could light this dull, dark and cold world.
That thought can be considered the selfishness of a mother. The two thoughts continued to merge with each other as they toyed with each other That may be true, but I still want to rely on this ‘light’. That’s because souls’ are lonely… and tears continued to roll down the girl’s cheeks as she touched the lower abdomen where there was no heat left. Her teary face was reflected off the car window, and the wet reflected image disintegrated—
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU! BARGING INTO OUR SHOP LIKE THAT!”
“SHUT UP! YOU OLD HAG! YOU’RE TREATING A BRAT AS A THING HERE! IF YOU DON’T MOVE ASIDE, I’LL WRECK THIS SHOP!”
Someone roared. The girl raised her lazy body and she sat up and looked at the metal door on the dirty wall. The high decibel sounds rattled through the door, and the shocked mice hurriedly scampered away.
The bottle that was used to store urine was toppled onto the floor, and the stains spread on the floor as a result. I’ll be beaten if I don’t hurry up and clean up. The girl thought, but she had no strength to get off the bed. How long has it been since that unlicensed doctor pulled that stone out of my stomach? That girl’s body was wrecked ever since then, and she could only remain in this underground room and lie around like a slob. As I expected, that was my other half. The 12th sister stared at her skinny hand that was like an old person, giving an unconcerned look as she heard the noise outside. This bag where the other half of the body was ripped off could not even contain the dirty water anymore. The body that inhaled the damp air of the underground room was just a pile of sodden residue.
GATAK. The sound that shook the room rang, and the metal door was opened. The light from the corridor shone into the room, and the girl could not help but use her hands to cover her face. It was a light that was overly bright to her eyes as she had never seen the sun for several days. A man was standing there with his back facing the light. The man was about to step into the room, but hesitated as he used his hand to cover his nose, and the urine bottle the mice toppled was lying there. The man looked at the girl and said “it’s her.”, while another hulking figure appeared there.
That person never showed any signs of disgust with regards to the puddles at his feet and the stench that filled the room as he gradually approached the girl. Is this man tonight’s master? The girl understood this, and her body moved on her own as she stood on the icy cold floor. As the sweaty and stained clothes slid off, the girl faced them while being completely naked. Perhaps those figures gasped because of the bruises all over her body? The girl was slightly relaxed as she knew that this master did not seem to have that kind of interest. Her current situation was such that she probably would not be able to finish those bondage or beaten missions…
“HOLD ON A MOMENT! THERE’S A SCARY BIG BROTHER WATCHING OVER THIS SHOP! GET AWAY FROM THAT GIRL RIGHT NOW!”
The woman screamed outside the room. The man silently picked up the towel beside the bed and draped over gently over the girl.
“I’m taking this girl away.” This voice echoed through the room, and the face that was covered in thick sturdy beard entered the girl’s gaze.
“This girl’s our military’s property. Thank you for taking care of her.”
The infuriated face that was of stark contrast to the deep, calm voice filled the man’s face. “WHAT’S WITH THE INVOLVEMENT WITH THE ARMY? ARE YOU THE DEFEATED SOLDIERS OF ZEON? I’LL CALL THE COPS THEN…” the woman said that, and the man’s voice interrupted, “Try it if you dare.” and the grip of the handgun in the man’s clutches was shaking in front of the girl.
“I’m very angry now. It doesn't matter whether it’s the police or the mafia here; I can kill a hundred of them in my state of mind right now. Don’t piss me off.”
The other man pulled the woman, who shut up and retreated back, onto the floor, and screams and growls gradually faded away. The girl did not mind the noises as she walked towards the bearded man in the room. The towel draped over her body slid off, and the skinny girl stepped on it. As the girl reached her hand out, intending to touch the face’s bearded face, the man seemed to force out the words “That’s enough” as he used his wide hands to grab the girl’s arms.
“You don’t have to do such things anymore. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry…”
The face with the light behind looked down, and the eyes of the man that were holding onto the girl’s arms tightly showed a slightly glowing thing. Why is this man apologizing? And why is he crying? The doubts that passed through the girl’s mind was merged together with the heat that resonance, and her matching blue hollows continued to stare at the man’s face. The girl had been hugged by many masters before, but no one held her arms so forcefully and yet so gently.
However, the girl could recognize this warmth. A long time ago, a hand reached out to her from the water surface. The warmth of the human hand she touched when she was pulled out from the capsule was about the same as this so as this hand. The girl focused all her consciousness on the thick and hard hand of the man. Warmth flowed out from there, and as she felt the cells within her shaking, the girl looked up at the man’s eyes. The slightly wet man’s eyes reflected her black and dirty face. Who are you? The girl tried to ask.
I’m me. The her present in the eyes answered. You’re not the 12th sister, but a one and only existence granted the name of Marida Cruz. You have a real master, so you must live for master. Don’t live on because you’re created this way, but give your all to serve your master.
This warmth is the real ‘light’, the one and only ‘light’ that reached into this darkness. Don’t let go of this ‘light’. Go do what master hopes for you to do, fight master’s enemies until this body of yours get burned one day, and all your sins and guilt return to nothingness— Marida’s thoughts were calling out within Zinnerman’s eyes That’s just a curse on yourself! Banagher’s thoughts interrupted at this point. That’s just a curse you set on yourself. The Captain doesn’t want you to do that in the first place.
I know. You’re right. But I said it before, didn’t I? Righteousness might not be the only thing that can save humanity… Marida’s retorting thoughts merged into the light, surrounding the girl that was standing blankly in the underground room. The white light covered the entire room, and the girl o opened her arms wide let out tears, and Banagher saw the light transform into heat as it evaporated the tears.
Light. A purifying light that burned all sins and guilt—
This was a sensation that happened within a hundredth of a second.
The mega-particles cackled as they scattered, and the blade of the beam saber was pointed at the cockpit of the 4-winged. Banagher recognized Marida’s existence inside the cockpit, got back his physical senses and pushed the control stick down with full intention.
The “NT-D” sign continued to flicker as the machine braked suddenly, and the impacts echoed within the machine. Marida was not moving, and her deep blue eyes were looking at the sky, waiting for the light closing in on her to swallow her. She was waiting for the ‘light’ that could undo the curse she set on herself, one that would burn the grime inside her body. She was waiting for her battered heart and body to return to nothingness, just like the girl that was lying on the floor of the dim underground room.
Since where is there this kind of redemption? Banagher yelled in his thoughts with all he hand as he tried to make the rioting machine stop. I understand you, whether dream-wise or illusion-wise. When our thoughts overlapped and resonance in that sensation, I saw your existence. Humans can understand each other—and that is the real ‘light’. What you want to redeem you is to reveal the possibility that’s dormant and release the inner god within you. However, you only looked at your past—
The filling thoughts became a light and was released from the Psycoframe. However, despite slowing down, the “Unicorn Gundam” never slowed down in its moments. The pilot’s will clashed with the system, and the machine ended up in a state where it could not control itself as its inertia forced it to rush right at the 4-winged. There was just a few meters left before contact—I definitely won’t allow you to get killed. You wild horse, listen to me!Banagher exerted all the strength in his body to put the control stick down to the maximum and shouted out with all his emotions,
“STOP IT!!!”
The blade of the beam saber beamed the 4-winged’s cockpit hatch, and the Gundarium metals were ripped out as well. At that moment, the beam saber suddenly vanished, and the scorching hot grip was left as it touched the 4-winged’s abdomen. The “Unicorn Gundam” followed its momentum as it slammed right into the 4-winged, and the two giants got tangled together as they stopped their movements, clinging onto each other as they floated along with the inertia of the impact in space.
The red phosphorus light quickly faded, and the dual-eye sensors changed back to its original green color. The face cover then slid off, the V-shaped multi-blade antenna became one, and the light disappeared from the “Unicorn” that lost its “Gundam” form. The helmet attachments were removed, and Banagher bent his body that was practically lying down, puking out the stomach juices that rose up in him.
He took off his helmet, and his back rose up and down as he panted heavily. He coughed a few times, wiped his face that was dirtied by sweat and vomit, and noticed a water droplet, different from sweat, lying beside his eyes. It was not water from his body, but from within his heart. The memories ingrained in the other person’s mind released a form of painful heat and created a resonance in his brain, forming a drop of tear on his eyeballs…
What kind of experience was that? Banagher rubbed his eyes and searched through his memories that were just about to start fading from his impressions as he stared at the 4-winged in front of him. The machine had all sorts of short-circuited sparks spurting out from all over, and as the monoeye was switched off, the face of the giant that was lowered showed no signs of the monstrous look it had when it destroyed “Industrial 7”. The battered, weary and unsupported mobile suit floated within Banagher’s sights, overlapping together with the thoroughly battered naked girl, and the deep blue eyes of the girl that swallowed all filth were giving off cold air, “Miss Marida…” Banagher could not help but call out. The voice should have been heard through the communication channel, but there was no reply.
The cockpit functions might have been destroyed after taking so much damage. The burnt, dented cockpit cover remained as it was. Banagher looked away from the machine that might have took lots of damage, and looked up the moment he vaguely heard some coughing sounds.
(…Only humans, have gods…)
The weak voice rang through the communication channel. Banagher held his breath as he listened to Marida’s voices.
(The ideals they want to describe, the power to approach their ideals…even artificial beings have them…)
Banagher recognized these words—he accidentally blurted these words his father said when he faced that chapel. At this moment, what he heard were the words that followed, these words only he should know, and he lost his voice.
Marida knew these words, and just like he understood her, she understood him. Marida was within him, and he was within Marida…
Suddenly, an intense emotion that could not be suppressed rose up Banagher’s throat, and he clenched his trembling fists. He understood that she was trembling inside him. The strong-willed spirit that harbored the deep abyss of loss, who would not say that she was hurting even though she was, who would not say that she was suffering even though she was, was trembling. What should I say to someone who’s hurt so deeply? I just feel more distant after entering her heart; how can I face this loneliness and sadness—
“Ev…even if…you do this because of this, it’s still not right. Killing off your means to continue living…it’s just too sad…”
The useless words came out, and the helpless tears seeped out as they wet his eyes. Banagher could not say anything. An impulse he could not control rose up his body, and he became one of the many people who tortured her through violence; he had no right to criticize the world for being unreasonable. Marida suddenly smiled and said, (Righteousness might not be the only thing that can save humanity…)
(However…I feel that it’s good that you can say ‘even so’ like that…)
A feeling of respect came from deep within Marida’s thoroughly battered, crushed heart and soul. The voice she eked out crushed Banagher’s heart as he mused, “That’s enough, don’t talk anymore.” as he lowered his eyes that were rolling out hot passion in a flowing manner. You’re not an artificial being. You’re more human than any human. This intent reached the “Unicorn”s skeletal frame, and both hands moved on its own as it cuddled the 4-winged machine into its clutches.
The fires of the battle ended, and as both allies and foes vanished in this starry sea, the two mobile suits embracing each other floated around. The “Unicorn” cockpit finally received its allied unit’s laser signal, telling Banagher that there was a Federation machine approaching him.
The marker indicating the “Nahel Argama” gradually approached Banagher from behind, but despite the calls the Federation machine started making through the wireless communicator, the “Unicorn” and the 4-winged di not move. The two machines floated around, entrusting themselves to each other with “Palau”, covered with dust, lying in the background. The patrolling Federation unit seemed puzzled as it let out burner flares. The weak light surrounded the two still machines, but it could not prevent the scars from appearing in space.
“We lost response from the “Kshatriya”. It’s taken by the enemy ship.”
“The signal from the Psyco Monitor is cut. There’s no change in the Laplace Program. The seal’s still in the same state.”
The operators’ voices rang, and Angelo looked around as if he just woke up from a dream before looking back at the main screen.
The white hull could be seen moving to the enemy ship on the zoomed-in visual that was full of noise. It seemed that the “Unicorn” and the “Kshatriya” were left on the rear deck, but the interference of the block noise made it hard to tell. How long did my consciousness fly off? Angelo shook his numb head, which was still somewhat numb, as he wiped away the sweat on his forehead, and lifted his head on hearing Frontal’s words, “Of course.”
“So if we don’t move to the targeted coordinates, the program won’t move onto the next step even if we activate the NT-D?”
Frontal continued to stare at the screen, and had no other thoughts. The moment the “Unicorn” touched the “Kshatriya”, time stood still, and a suffocating feeling that stuffed their chests surrounded the “Rewloola”s bridge. Did Frontal not experience that kind of inexplicable feeling? As he thought about that, Angelo saw Zinnerman leave the scene wordlessly, and grabbed his shoulder. “Where are you going to, Captain?” In response to these words, Zinnerman shot a vicious look at him.
“Prompt action, of course. I’m going to get Marida back.”
The shoulder Angelo was touching gave off an electric jolt filled with killing intent, and he inadvertently released his hand. Zinnerman used his glare to force aside the bridge crew out of his way as he stepped on the floor and let his massive body float to the do. “Wait! The pursuit order’s not…” Angelo did not have the courage to touch his shoulder as he tried to call the other party, “It’s alright.” But Frontal interrupted the words he was going to say.
“We’ll have the “Garencieres” take charge of tracking down the enemy ship’s whereabouts, but be careful.”
The voice that came from below the mask caused Angelo to understand that there was no intent to lead the fleet and pursue them. He looked over at Frontal with a probing expression, and Zinnerman, who turned his face full of restrained killing intent, “Yes.” muttered as he left the ship. At this point, the Garencieres had lost its main fighting strength, the “Kshatriya”, and had only 3 “Geara Zulus” left as part of its fighting force. Angelo looked at the old ship model that was connected to the side of the “Rewloola” through the monitor, and the captain, who might launch some special assault, could be moving through it. He asked, “Is it okay?” and Frontal used his hand to stroke his chin.
“There’s a need to send someone to send the signals from the Psyco Monitor. The “Garencieres” is suited for this job. The coordinates the Laplace Program indicated isn’t a place where we can send in a large fleet easily.”
Frontal looked up at the input coordinates blinking on the navigation screen, and curled his lips with a self-mocking flair. The coordinates suspected to be where the “Laplace Box” seemed to be an overly dangerous place if they wanted to carry out a military operation here. Perhaps Frontal, who believed that a disguised transport ship could do the job, predicted such a predicament? Even if the release of the “Unicorn” and the reading of its data was just as planned, the capture of the “Kshatriya” by the enemy would be unexpected here. Angeo saw that the masked face showed no expression on the side, and could only look back at the enemy ship that was gradually moving away and put his hand on his heart that had yet to calm down.
Despite the battle that was happening, Marida and Banagher had an intense exchange of senses, and Zinnerman did not hid his killing intent in his eyes as he glared at Angelo. Have I enjoyed such deep emotions with others that were so intense? No, what I should ask is, will I get this kind of relationship in the future? Angelo could not find the answer from this red silhouette which seemed to be living in another dimension, and he turned his fleeting stare outside the window, into the vacuum.
“The pilot’s fine too, right? …I understand. We hope to follow along when we inspect the enemy unit. Please be careful with dealing with it; that’s all I have to tell the captain. Over and out.”
The communication ended as they moved at a similar relative speed to the waverider, and the hands fastened themselves on the grip on top of the machine. After contacting the “Nahel Argama”, Daguza stared at “Palau”, which was moving further away from the “Loto”s driver seat. The enemy fleet never did anything, and there were no signs of enemy suits pursuing. “Palau”, which had cleared itself from its military functions, appeared on the back surveillance monitor through the thin layer of legoliths.
Amongst the ECOAS729 squad that went off first, the “Loto” managed to make contact with the mothership, and the “Unicorn” safely. Their initial objectives were reached, but to Daguza and the rest who were mentally prepared to die as they charged into “Palau”, it felt like they were let off easily in this situation. Banagher Links did not follow the spy’s instructions, but boarded the “Unicorn” itself and even took the 4-winged back to the ship as a bonus.What in the world happened for him to do such things? Despite being willing to accept all outcomes, it seemed that Conroy himself could not view this objectively. “Things really developed well.” There was an abnormal heaviness in his voice.
“That four-winged seemed like it was deliberately left there…let’s hope they don’t pull a joke on us like putting a bomb in it.”
“I don’t think that they need to deliberately come up with some tricks since they can sink a ship like the “Nahel Argama” easily, but Banagher might have been released deliberately.”
“That means those guys will still come after us, right? Those bastards.”
Conroy answered cautiously as he pointed the cursor of the rear surveillance monitor to the southernmost side. Including the dummy ships, there were more than 20 enemy ships that predicted the raid and moved out of the dock. If they wanted to, they could have destroyed the “Nahel Argama” whenever they wanted to. Considering how the enemy left them off, the assumption that Neo Zeon could not analyze the Laplace Program would be correct here. They probably intended to let the “Nahel Argama” and the “Unicorn” go before snatching the “Box” back at the crucial moment.
So we’re still being toyed by the enemy, huh? Daguza clenched his left hand that did not have its cast removed yet as he sighed lightly, “However, I don’t think this mission was in vain” but Conroy’s words surprised him.
“Without the 729 fighting a way out for us, the “Unicorn” wouldn’t have the chance to escape.”
Despite knowing that the enemy planned for this, Conroy still concluded so with a stiff voice. Nasri’s “Loto” had broken communications with them, and they could not retrieve a signal piece of debris. “Of course.” Daguza answered with a similar stiff voice and closed his eyes for a while. From the communication channel, they heard news that three other allied units were missing. One of them was the “Delta Plus” that Ensign Riddhe Marcenas, who ‘returned back’, rode on.”
“…You have to come with us, Nasri.”
Daguza muttered and opened his eyes. He saw the hull of the “Nahel Argama” that lost its portside catapult, and there was a ghost-like ship floating on the monitor.
Think. The shaking machine interrupted Mineva’s sleep, and she woke up.
The narrow cockpit was filled with the sound from the generator, and the walls of the all-view monitor were filled by the CG space. She could not feel any G-force striking her, and she could not see any debris or anything as such. Have we passed through the shoal space region? Mineva inspected her body that seemed to have passed out before, and opened the helmet visor, only to blink when she saw the drinking tube that was handed right in front of her.
“Is there any part of your body hurting now?”
Riddhe, who was sitting on the linear seat, gave Mineva a concerned look. The acceleration of the mass driver was overly powerful, and darkness surrounded Mineva’s eyes as she experienced the fear of nearly sinking into the seat. How long have I passed out? Mineva took the drinking tube and answered, “I’m fine” as she started drinking. The sensation of her gullet throbbing, a feature zero gravity had, reached her throat, and her blurred consciousness became awake as a result.
“The battle’s over. It seems the “Gundam” was taken in by the “Nahel Argama”, though I really could see it properly.”
Riddhe turned his eyes forward and started drinking from the tube. “We broke off laser communication here. Nobody’s pursuing us. They probably think we’re dead now.”
The self-mocking voice had a sense of burden, one which a soldier knew that he was doing something improper. Mineva did not feel that any spoken apology would have worked as she muttered softly, “…Is that so?” as she looked over at “Palau” which was becoming distant.
The silhouette of “Palau” became smaller than a pinkie’s fingertip as it was buried amongst the stars, and it was impossible to distinguish the shape clearly. What exactly did I betray, and what did I leave behind to come all the way here? Mineva could not arrange her thoughts in this situation as she harbored restlessness over her ignorance. She stared at the “Palau”, and the words “Don’t look back” caused her shoulders to jolt.
“We can only move forward, whether it’s you, or me…”
Riddhe said, using a tone that seemed to be an attempt to convince himself as he exerted force on the control stick. Mineva did not say anything as she looked back forward.
There was an azure blue light, the size of a tennis ball, sparkling before the endlessly expanding space, floating in space in a middle manner. That place is the start of everything, a place we have to return to— Mineva mused in her chest unwittingly, and the “Delta Plus”, which transformed into a waverider form, continued to sprint through the eternal darkness. The Earth looked like it was ignoring the disputes that happened in space as it radiated a one and only light, waiting in front of the duo.
The red and black magma-like glow was the proof that there was a chain reaction exploding inside the ‘cove’. The pulsating hot red light seeped out from the cracks, causing the boundaries 4 asteroids that crashed together at this point to appear vaguely. The scattering rubble and dust that flew with the wind was dyed a light red because of radiation, and “Palau” looked like it was burning thoroughly from afar.
Several mobile suit were basked under the same radiation light as they flew out from the bottom of the cracks. The monoeyed giants forced their way out from the gaps between the asteroids that crashed into each other in waves, and it would be appropriate to describe them as hellish devils. Nasri caught sight of an old “Geara Doga” from the pilot use periscope and squeezed the trigger of the low recoil cannons. The “Loto” with the 729 logo poked its head out from behind the rocks and fired the 120mm cannons on its shoulders.
A slight tremor passed through the machine, and the shells flew out from the two low recoil cannons. The bullet speed was as slow as a snail when compared to the sublight mega-particle shots, but it was not a problem in this distance of approximately two meters. The winged shells that was also designed to work under atmospheric conditions hit the “Geara Doga” in less than a second and blew up its body above the waist. The “Loto” let out its burner flares to move backwards before the enemy’s forcefully separated upper and lower bodies were devoured by the explosions. “FIRE THE LASER AT THE CRACK!” Nasri shouted without warning as he turned the periscope to the crack.
The laser support designator installed on the “Loto”s head fired an infrared laser. That invisible light was reflected on the crack, forming a reverse-cone shaped beam called a laser cone, and it was used to show the target coordinates to the “Complete Jegan” that flew in from above.
The “Complete Jegan” shot out the anti-ship missiles installed on its shoulder missile launchers, and lit its booster pods on the back above the cracks. Under this close distance and the laser guiding through the optical sensors, the Minovsky Particles could not block the eyes of the missiles. The large missile heads that could even be equipped with nuclear shells flew into the laser cover and hit the tip of the cone—the crack indicating the enemy’s escape hole.
White hot light expanded, and the dirt that was blown apart by the impact flowed deep into the cracks. The mobile suits that were trying to escape were caught in this torrent of debris, their limbs were crushed as they exploded, and the new impacts blew up the cracked surface. Mobile suits limbs and flames shot out together, forming a burnt furnace at the crack. The absolute zero space surrounded everything at this point, causing the melted and collapsed rock surface to freeze quickly.
With that, the slightly large crack was basically sealed off. We just have to shoot down all the enemy units that are coming out from the crack— Nasri glanced at the rocky surface that had frown steam and gas as he looked for the next enemy under the periscope. They managed to seal off the main forces in the ‘cove’, but they still could not relax. The path leading from the tunnel to the spacegates were not covered, and they had limited ammunitions.
If we miss the timing to leave, we’ll be surrounded and unable to move. “Has the 920 sent a signal?” Nasri saw their allied “Loto” moving towards the highest point of “Palau” as he let out this umpteenth prompt. “Unable to confirm.” His vice commander answered with an anxious voice, and Nasri nearly cursed out.
It had been 12 minutes since the ECOAS 920 “Loto” fought its way through the 14th space gate. Hasn’t that guy reclaimed the target? He recalled his old friend showing an emotional face that was different from before, and suddenly felt his stomach hurting. That most stubborn blockhead in ECOAS kept insisting on saving that target civilian in this operation. He’s not a guy who’ll make a wrong decision based on personal feelings, but if we want to carry out the mission of retrieving the RX-0, he has to be colder than usual when making decisions on the spot. If the situation requires for it, I may need to fight my way into “Palau” and kick that guy’s butt…
“A large number of enemies appeared at the south side! Coming in fast.”
The vice commander let out a sudden voice, causing Nasri’s latter thoughts to vanish. It was too early to say that they were enemy reinforcements. He held his breath for just a moment as he saw the large swarm of enemy markers appearing on the sensor range. “FIRE A SIGNAL TO THE “NAHEL ARGAMA”!” He instinctively shouted.
“RETREAT BACK TO “COROLLA”. CONFIRM THE NUMBER OF ENEMIES FIRST—”
“They’re here!”
The pilot let out a whimper, and the main camera monitor was immediately filled with a white light. The tremor rocked the machine, and the buzzing of the siren filled the control seat. Nasri held onto the grip of the periscope and put his eyes on the eyepiece. The remaining particles of light spread in space, and multiple enemy unit markers overlapped each other. A mobile suit that was right in front appeared on the one-to-one scaled display.
The machine did not have a serial number, only the logo “Sinanju”, and instantly closed in its distance with them. Nasri aimed the low-recoil cannons at the enemy unit and stared at the CG corrected machine image. This machine gave out a red afterimage, flickering its thruster unit that was reminiscent of wings, as it flew over the “Palau” surface to them.
“The red mobile suit…!?”
Nasri let out this doubt from his mouth and squeezed the trigger. The moment the 120mm cannons were shot out, the red machine seemed to vanish from their sights at that instant. We can’t win. We’ve been had. This instinct pierced through Nasri’s body, but he did not even have time to think as he immediately moved the periscope to try and catch sight of the enemy. At that moment, the nightvision monitor suffered a blackout, and an impact several times that of before rocked the “Loto”.
The condition monitor showed the “Loto”s CG network, and the cannons on the shoulders were flickering red. The red person got below them and used a beam saber to slice off the low recoil cannons. The AMBAC program could not correct the loss of mass in time, and the “Loto” lost its balance as it crashed onto the rocky several. Short-circuited sparks came out from the pilot seat, and the air bags that were shot out from the console covered Nasri’s head.
“EVADE! BEFORE DAGUZA AND THE REST ESCAPES—”
WE CAN’T LET OURSELVES TO BE FINISHED HERE! In the midst of this tremor where he could have bitten his tongue, Nasri’s voice was immediately swallowed by the heat spurting out wildly from the control seat.
The “Sinanju” swung its beam saber from the “Loto”s shoulder to the flank, vaporizing Nasri and the rest inside the control seat. in the face of the particle beam saber that melted the metal, the 8 ECOAS members kept in the infantry transport room at the back were also vaporizing by their lit normal suits and scattered into space like dust. The “Loto” that was sliced diagonally exploded, and the black corpses were vaporized cleanly without even a fingertip as the red machine was the only thing at the scene reflecting the light of the explosion.
Angelo knew that the small machine that exploded was the transformable mobile suit the Special Forces used. It was the mobile suit of those guys who stealthily entered the civilian colony and carried out the act of terrorism under the name of counter-terrorism—the Manhunters. He did not feel anything else about this just desserts they suffered as he stared at the “Sinanju” that appeared amidst the explosion before stepping off the landscape of the “Palau” like he was touring around. Full Frontal’s mobile suit lit the light for the counterattack as the red machine flew off to find its next prey.
Wave after wave of “Geara Zulus” wielding beam rifles in their hands let out thruster trails as they followed the “Sinanju”. Angelo felt unhappy that the mobile suit other than those of the escort squads were interfering in Frontal’s battlefield, but it could not be helped as it was a organizational battle. He let his machine shoot out flares from its booster pod and stared at the ships waiting at the back.
The flagship “Rewloola” was at the center, and he could see the Salamis-class patrol ships and the disguised trading ships lined up, causing the ships that were putting out the flames to be covered in darkness. The number of ships that left the ‘cove’ and hid themselves amidst the sea of debris during these past 1,2 days amounted to about 80% of all their forces stationed at “Palau”—in terms of fighting strength, it was 95%. Most of the ships and mobile suits that were sealed inside the ‘cove’ were antiques that were past their usable life, and the soldiers were just a coalition of anti-government forces who had no other place to head to. Those people who came over with the idea of changing directions according to the times were just ‘old blood’ that should be changed. These things were tails that should be changed without pity if they wanted to break off their bond with “Palau” and let the Neo Zeon Army revive for real.
That Federation army that didn’t know this and thought their attack succeeded will now see the real hell. Angelo broke ranks and looked over at the space that had become a battlefield from the southern tip of “Palau”. The rubble and Minovsky particles that were scattered everywhere meant that the motion sensors were practically useless, but they could still catch sight of the enemies within a range of 40km. The enemy units that broke into the “Palau”s anti-air range was a special specs Jegan, a transformable unit with serial number RGZ-95, and also—
“What? They only sent in such few numbers…?”
Angelo moved the unit to the “Corolla A” with the red hot surface. It was impossible to catch sight of the enemy ship’s powerful mega-particle cannon, but it was impossible for the number of units covering the ship to be more than the advanced squad. Even if they counted the Manhunter mobile suits that were hiding on “Palau”, that was still less than ten. He could not ignore the possibility that there were other units waiting to seize the moment, but there was no greater chance than this to send in a large number of forces to the enemy base. Angelo let the machine move through the 3 “Corollas”, inspected the battlefield that was a mess full of anti-air fire, and matched the speed of the “Sinanju” at the “Calyx”. On approaching, the “Sinanju” quickly raised its hand out and held Angelo unit’s hand like it was pulling someone.
“Captain, I can’t estimate the number of forces the enemy has. Even if we consider the strength attacking “Palau”, it’s still too little. There should be a main force hiding elsewhere…”
(They’re aiming for the “Unicorn”. It’s possible to attack with very little forces if they just want to create an opening to reclaim the target. It’s just as expected.)
The voice that came back through the communicator caused the doubts within Angelo to disappear quickly. That’s right, the Federation doesn’t have the guts to launch a full-scale battle. This is not beneficial to them. It’s because they’re surrounded by so many things that they can’t move properly, which is why we’re going to fight the advanced squad using their own plan as expected.— Angelo reflected on these words as he spoke to affirm, “Then, has that guy found that Unicorn yet?” Frontal moved the monoeye of the “Sinanju” sharply,
(It begins. We just need to deal with them without wearing out our forces. At the right moment, retreat.)
The voice that felt like it could see through everything rang in Angelo’s ears, and the “Sinanju” broke contact before lighting the thruster unit. Angelo sent a laser signal to the escort squad searching for the enemies to order to retreat. He saw the escort squad’s units give a hand signal to show that they understood before turning around, opened the slot and stepped on the foot pedal. The wings on the back swayed about like a tail, and the purple “Geara Zulu” raised the beam launcher to the waist as it got ready to take on the enemy. It accelerated like a bullet.
If that’s the case, there’s no need to waste time exerting our fighting strength. The Captain and I alone are able to crush these weaklings. Angelo dodged left and right and eyed the specially equipped Jegan as his first target. That heavily armed Jegan that was equipped with large missiles outside the missile launchers floated between the “Calyx” and “Corollas’ That was crashed into each other. It seems that this guy’s mission is to fire missiles into the gaps between the asteroids that are the escape holes and seal off the ‘cove’ completely.
“Such a cowardly thing to do! You’re planning to deal with “Palau” by using a billiard-like trick…!”
Angelo did not want to use long-ranged weapons to get rid of the enemy. He let the machine jump on a rubble, closed in on the Jegan and drew out the beam hook before the opponent could dodge. He suppressed the head of the Jegan as it fired the beam launcher, and let the machine get behind the enemy. The enemy machine turned around with the AMBAC and shot the beam rifle, but the beam could only graze past Angelo’s unit head before dissipating in the air. Both sides faced each other, and the beam hook sliced neatly into the Jegan’s abdomen.
The part that was equipped with multiple armor was flipped out, and the pilot that was exposed to the high heat was melted together with the cockpit. Angelo then sliced the missile launchers and let his unit leave the scene before the huge fireball was triggered. The surrounding rubble exploded, and with the remnant of the enemy unit vaporizing behind him, Angelo turned to look for the next prey.
“This is to open a way to Neo Zeon’s revival. None of you can think of returning back alive…!”
The light expanded through the bridge window, and there was an explosion different from that of a normal mobile suit’s explosion. Otto inadvertently got up from the Captain’s seat “What’s the matter…?” and muttered. (Juliet 5’s signal got cut off!) Mihiro’s voice rang in his ears.
(There’re many enemies appearing from behind. The advanced squad is being surrounded!)
The sensor operator called out, and Otto turned his frozen face to the main screen in front of him. A large amount of rubble was blown out from the asteroid’s collisions, and the motion sensors were basically useless; however, they could use the optical observations to detect the enemy movements. The advanced squad had just gotten close to “Palau”, and an unknown large number of mobile suits came moving over from somewhere. Looking at the numbers, it seemed that the number of ships on standby at the back were not just a few. One could tell from this that there were hidden main forces beside the fleet docked at the ‘cove’. The main force was in ambush, waiting for the moment because they predicted the attack from here.
Those left inside the ‘cove’ are just bait. It’s a trap. Otto felt this understanding numb his limbs as he raised his volume, “Call the covering forces to back them up!”
“Deploy the anti-air fire. Use the dummy-rubble. Our ship will head straight in. Is there contact with ECOAS?”
(The line got cut. The laser signal too was cut after they got into “Palau”.)
Mihiro transferred the reply from Operator Bellard in the second communication room as she turned her pale face over at Otto. It’s too slow. The fake balloon were expanded, and countless fake rubble appeared, but Otto ignored them as he held onto his hands that were covered by the normal suit. The plan was that there would be contact once they retrieved Banagher Links or the “Unicorn”. Leaving aside the “Unicorn”, it’s weird that they haven’t met Banagher yet. Has he not reached the retrieval point? Otto checked that it had been 15 minutes since the battle started, and looked at the “Palau” that deployed its anti-air fire, only to frown because of the words he heard (We’ve been had!)
(The “Sleeves” predicted our action and set the trap first. They’re not an opponent we can beat by fighting head on. Captain, hurry up and give the order for our ship to retreat!)
Alberto supported his large body that was slumped into the commander’s seat and continued to say such self-explanatory words as he reached his neck out to Otto. It seems that he has forgotten that this ship is so reckless because on him. “Our allies are still in a battle. How can we retreat like this!” Otto growled back and looked away from Alberto, never wanting to meet his stare again.
“There’s a 30 minute time limit in this operation. ECOAS should be contacting us soon. Until then…”
Can we hang on? Otto swallowed the words he was about to say back down his parched throat, and exerted force on the fingertips resting on the armrests. The engine power’s back to normal. There’s also the option to retrieve all surviving units and escape with maximum speed. If we miss the timing to leave, we might end up in a calamity where we’re annihilated— Otto stared at the beams that were flashing silently, and as he gritted his teeth, (There’s a new laser signal from “Palau”!) Mihiro’s urgent voice rang through the wireless communicator.
(Is it ECOAS!?) Liam shouted out as she turned to the communication console. (No, this signal is…) From behind, Otto stared at Mihiro, who was stumped for words as she worked on the communication console, and saw a look of surprise on her face as she turned around.
(It’s the “Gundam”!)
The flames caused by the explosions at the back ripped apart the cracked surface as it burned wildly. Just before the shockwave could surround the body, and the scorching flames could cover the all-view monitor, the “Unicorn” flew out from the crack and flew into space.
With the burning hot rocky surface at its back, the machine lit its positional burner and dodged the rubble that was still. He had no optional equipment in his program—and randomly took portable weapon from the factory called the Beam Gatling Gun or something—and thus, the AMCAD could not work properly. Banagher tried to correct the program as he stared at the anti-air fire lighting the surroundings of “Palau”. The number of beams was less than what he expected. He could vaguely see the lights of battle through the rubble, but the mobile suits in the battle looked too be Neo Zeon units.
“Didn’t they bring in a large number of forces…?”
Banagher put on the helmet and pulled down the visor. The normal suit was left inside the cockpit, perhaps because it was investigated to see the synergy with the mobile suit, but it was really lucky of him. Banagher moved the machine behind the rocks and modified the display board. He opened the Identification of Friend or Foe (IFF) window, and could find two units that belonged to the Federation from amidst the rubble and dummies on the window. The two RGZ-95 was surrounded by Neo Zeon machines.
The disadvange the Federation had was obvious even to outsiders. Banagher recalled that there were no real decent ships docked inside the ‘cove’. Does this mean the Federation got ambushed? He just thought of this, and the siren indicating that a laser signal was received rang. The newly opened window showed the ship Banagher knew and its coordinates.
“The “Nahel Argama”s here too? What’s going on…!?”
He could not be mistaken with this signal that was tagged with the mothership. The battleship that was severely damaged and had Audrey and other non-combatants on it would be the one leading the charge in this assault—no, it might seem that this was the only ship sent over from the number of mobile suits that were deployed. Banagher did not feel that this was feasible as he intended to catch sight of the ship’s silhouette flying in from the top, but felt a bone-chilling pressure striking him from behind.
His hairs were on its ends as his body started moving on its own to move the machine away. At that moment, a mega-particle came flying down from above, and the countless rubble that came with the explosion rained on the “Unicorn”s back.
The machine left the surface and adjusted its position. Banagher caught sight of the machine that came flying over from amidst the scattered rubble. It was a mobile suit with the AMS-119 machine serial number, a unit of Neo Zeon registered with the name of “Geara Doga”. “Please stop! I have no intent of fighting!” Banagher continued to cry out as he subconsciously worked on the weapons and removed the safety of his portable rifle. The “Unicorn” wielded a long Magnum Gating Gun that replaced the personalized beam rifle that was depleted, and pointed that 4-barreled gun at the “Geara Doga”. The crosshair overlapped on the monoeyed unit that was rushing over, and the alarm indicating lock-on rang.
“LET ME GO! THE FEDERATION WON’T RETREAT IF THEY DON’T RETAKE THE “UNICORN”!”
But even as he shouted, it was impossible for him to tell the enemy pilot this. The glowing monoeye gave a killing intent, and Banagher moved the shield equipped on the left hand to the front. The shield that was automatically deployed from an I-field barrier, twisting the beams the “Geara Doga” shot out from. The scattered beam bullets hit the landscape at his feet, and the rubble that flew and those that mixed with the wind covered the “Unicorn”. Just as the all-view monitor was covered by dust, Banagher sensed the “Geara Doga” moving behind him and pointed the Gatling gun over there. The I-field would not have effect if it was not a beam attack from the front. If he were shot from the side, he would surely be massacred—
“DO YOU FEEL THAT IT’S ALRIGHT EVEN IF YOU TURN “PALAU” INTO A BATTLEFIELD!?”
Banagher yelled and exerted strength on the fingers on the trigger. The 4-barreled gun turned and blew apart the beam shots that were of a higher output than a machine gun. The “Geara Doga” had mega-particles rained on it before it could even adjust itself, and it became a real beehive as its thoroughly battered machine exploded. Banagher inadvertently saw flames shoot out from the arms that were ripped over, looking like it was trying to grab space as it opened its hands.
“Why did it end up like this…!?”
To Banagher, there was no difference between enemy or allies. He just wanted to get rid of the seeds of battle, but caused a new sacrificed. The uneasy feeling inside his stomach came out in a voice, and Banagher turned his eyes away from the remnant that was instantly vaporized. You’re already a part of it. Marida’s words echoed in Banagher’s mind, and the chilly feeling spread on his skin where his hairs stood.
What occupied the sight on the entire view of “Palau” was not a scene of two armies fighting each other toe to toe. There were anti-air fire appearing and lots of explosions, but those were all rubble and dummy balloons, and it was practically impossible to detect mobile suits exploding. The enemy squadrons in ambush showed no signs of moving aside as only two enemy units were moving about enthusiastically, seemingly toying with the “ReZELs” that entered the perimeter. As for the 6 enemy machine silhouettes that were launched, it was unknown if they were launched to sneak the “Nahel Argama” caught on the sensor. The other covering units were sent to support the advanced squad, and the mothership was the only thing left at this point—
Amongst the assumptions he thought of before, this would be considered the worst. Riddhe punched the display board and groaned, “Damn it!”
“We fell right into the enemy’s trap…!”
They could not retreat even if they wanted to. Including the ECOAS unit, their side lost three units, and the situation was such that the “Nahel Argama’ could not even defend itself on its own. Their plan was to let their machines move forward and create a perimeter against the enemy, but if he move all the way there, he would lose the chance to leave the battlefront in the end, and this understanding caused Riddhe to hesitate on what he should do.
In another sense, there’s no better chance to execute the plan than this, but if even the fighting strength of the “Delta Plus” was lost, what will happen to the “Nahel Argama”? A battle isn’t decided on a mobile suit such that it can overturn the situation, but if I escape, the chances of the ship’s survival will definitely decrease. As a pilot in charge of protecting a military resource, and as a human, this is something I definitely can’t allow—but on the other hand, there’s something I can do and I have to do right in front of me.
Riddhe’s thoughts took a roundabout. The duty and responsibility a person present should have was just a sense of realism that had weight in this ideal, and he could only hold onto the control stick without aim. “Please go!” This voice came from behind right at the moment the enemy squadrons were scattered to two sides.
“Don’t worry about me. Just fulfill your duty.”
Mineva spoke. This voice seemed to see through everything, “Bu, but…!” and Riddhe was at a loss of words.
“If we try to push ourselves too much here, we won’t be able to reach our destination. It’ll be pointless for us to return back to the “Nahel Argama”.”
Mineva did not say anything else as she merely answered with an unwavering stare. This bitterness of trying to find an excuse rose up in Riddhe, and he had to look away.
“…The enemy’s Neo Zeon, you army! Are you really fine that I fight against them?”
“I won’t think that it’s fine, but that’s my problem. You have your duty and responsibility to fulfill.”
Riddhe felt that Mineva’s words were deliberately trying to tell him not to use her as an excuse as their eyes met. Mineva, who was clinging onto the assistance seat at the back, had already accepted this current situation in front of him. She left her life to him, seeming prepared to be blamed for all of eternity.
Riddhe did not want to disappoint her like this—no, he did not want to be mocked by her like this. Such a thought rose rapidly in him, shaking his body that was stuck at the spot. Mineva probably did not like a man who would think of what happened after and hesitate over the present. He did not have the will like Mineva, and had no belief that he could show decisiveness, but hoped that he did not give a wrong impression to her. That was her shtick, and Riddhe acknowledged in his mind that he may had been toyed by this woman of Zeon as he continued to stare at her eyes.
“You’ll probably regret for the rest of your life if you turn back now. Please follow your heart. If you make a decision from the bottom of your heart, I’ll accept it no matter the outcome.”
She finished, and her emerald eyes looked as sturdy as crystalline jade. He had no chances of winning her. Since the beginning, this girl barged into the Vist Foundation alone, and showed what she was made of when she became a hostage for the Federation. “I really have to hand it to you…” Riddhe mused as pulled down the helmet visor. I may have really fallen for an unbelievable woman. He again realized this.
“The anti-G resistance on the assistance seat isn’t complete. It’s not going to be as easy to deal with as a roller coaster ride.”
“Right.”
“Once our allies start retreating, I’ll immediately leave the frontlines. Sorry for making you accompany me till then..”
Mineva fastened her body on the assistance as stared at the space that became a battlefield. I really want to say that I’m being played by a woman. How can I bear such heavy things like duty and responsibility with logic alone?Riddhe managed to clear his doubts, and he felt relaxed in his heart as he turned his face to the front. Just got to fight it out. He muttered deep inside his heart and stepped on the pedal.
BOOM. The shockwave that was like an explosion came from the force of the thrusters at the back, pushing the machine forward. Riddhe read the attack pattern on the monitor as he turned the control stick forward, turning straight down as he transformed the “Delta Plus”. The humanoid turned aside and immediately broke its shape and formed a spacecraft-form waverider. The forward of the enemy forces were detected by the motion sensors before they could get used to the sudden dip in angle before it went from moving down to moving forward.
The enemies seemed to be a modified version of the “Geara Doga”, the newest model of main forces the “Sleeves” had. Riddhe could see two similar type machines moving on standby behind this lead machine that was headed to the “Nahel Argama”, exchanging shots with the “ReZEL” Romeo 010. He read the situation through the through the markers that were flying all over the place, and deduced that this “Delta Plus” alone would be enough as he first aimed at the two mobile suits behind. He let the machine turn around, dodge the beam shots that came flying over from the forward unit, and squeezed the trigger of the beam rifle located above the unit.
The waverider’s firing state was right in front of the unit unlike how it was with the rifle. The beam went by the forward unit and mere grazed the left top side of the machine, but it was enough to divert the enemy’s attention. He pretended to be providing covering fire for the allied machine as he caught both the attentions of the machine that turned abruptly and the forward unit.
The G-force that struck up the feet wore down on Mineva, causing her to groan in agony. Riddhe’s sights were covered by the cheeks that rose up, but caught sight of the monoeye of the forward unit in front of him. Riddhe’s machine continued to rush into the battlefield without slowing down, and he transformed into a mobile suit before collision. The beam sabers formed its blades, and the crosshairs gave the alarm indicating lock on before Riddhe pressed the attack trigger down completely.
The slash that came sliced the arms of the forward unit together with its weapons. The forward unit lost the parts under its arms as it was unable to maintain balance, and immediately went to the back. Riddhe exhaled a moment later after having gathered all his concentration for that moment, and yelled “NOW YOU HAVE A REASON TO RUN AWAY. GO BACK!” He then aimed at the next enemy. The two machines scattered and left the Romeo 010 that lost its arm, and riddhe saw another machine with a beam hook coming right at him.
This attack looks like it was coming from the bottom, but it’s actually trying to get to the back. The enemy pilot’s thoughts entered Riddhe’s forehead, causing him to immediately stop in his tracks. The “Delta Plus” turned half a round and manipulated the beam saber in its left hand to intercept the enemy’s attack. The particles from the clashing blades let out sparks for just a moment, and the “Delta Plus” used the recoil to flip and deal a strike right at the enemy unit’s waist. The multiple layers of armor melted, and the beam saber sliced off the movable frame, creating a vibrating feeling inside the cockpit. However, there was a sharper killing intent that came stronger than this vibration, shaking Riddhe’s senses.
The remaining unit attacked one he stopped. Riddhe was prompted by this killing intent that was closing in, and did not even take time to aim as he raised his beam rifle to shoot. The mega particle beam that was released pierced through the “Sleeves” unit right from the front, and the expanding fireball lit the deep grey color of the “Delta Plus”. Riddhe shook off the debris that scattered and let the beam saber stop working before leaving the scene. The enemy unit that was sliced apart by the beam saber gave out sparks and was crushed by the impact as it slowly floated in space.
“Amazing…! Did I just take them all down?”
Three units down once I sorties. Is it the “Delta Plus” abilities or the strong power of the Goddess of Luck that I’m able to showcase such fighting abilities. This joke-like development caused Riddhe to remain for a moment. “Another one from above!” Mineva’s voice rang, and Riddhe immediately dodged. A thick and large beam then came right down from above, and the scorching hot particles were sprayed on the “Delta Plus”.
There was a second, third shot that came flying over, and obviously, they did not from a beam rifle, as they were high energy output beams that was on a beam launcher’s level. Riddhe indicated that he wanted the Romeo 010 to move back, and squeezed the trigger to fight back while estimating the enemy’s location from the line of fire. The optical sensors caught sight of an enemy suit that was closing in, and the CG corrected image showed a purple machine on a wide window. This mobile suit had its data entered since the last battle with the “Sleeves”, and it was a special specs machine with booster pods on the back. “Lieutenant Angelo’s “Geara Zulu”…!” Mineva murmured as her expression changed.
“Someone you know?”
“He’s the leader of the escort squad, a very dangerous man. Be careful.”
The beams continued to rain down on Riddhe as it anticipated his dodging, seemingly backing up Mineva’s words. Riddhe did not even have the time to transform as it took him a lot of effort just to duck under the fire. The sublight blocking his way let out afterimages, closing in slowly on the “Delta Plus” as he remained restrained. The malice that was stickier than hostility descended on Riddhe, causing him to have goosebumps.
It was an enemy that was looking for its next prey and felt like it was time to hold back. The machine itself could not be found in the database, and the unique appearance caused Angelo’s blood to boil.
“That Gundam-like machine…!”
Angelo let his machine move down behind the beams, and closed in on the relative distance to the enemy. The optical sensors caught sight of this enemy unit the moment they clashed, and it looked like a “Gundam” without horns. The machine was a dark grey color, but it was definitely a variation of a Gundam-type. The Federation wants to keep using that White Devil legend that has a tail and make us recall the past humiliation again and again!Angelo was motivated by his agitated nerves as he continued to squeeze the trigger of the beam rifle. The enemy unit intended to keep its distance, but was unable to remain steady, and the beams that were shot back left empty light axis in the middle of this pitch darkness.
“I won’t let you get away even if you want to transform and escape. If you’re a “Gundam”, fight like one—”
The 4-barreled grenade launcher equipped inside the shield was fired, blowing up the path the enemy unit was headed to. Angelo used the moment the enemy unit hesitated due to the fireballs and slowed down to pull the beam hook out and shoot its booster pods.
“Die after you fight once!”
The particle blade in the shape of a sickle went right at the enemy unit’s abdomen. It’ll hit. The numb face showed a smile, and at that moment, a flash appeared right in front of him, blocking his sights. The rain of bullets hailed down, and the machine got caught in the shockwave as it was blown behind.
“What the…!?”
Angelo immediately let the machine steady itself, and looked over at the all-view monitor that was spinning less and slowing down. He saw a white machine with a thruster flare closing in on him fast. The automatic camera took a photo shot, and the enlarged version of it appeared on the window. The CG corrected image of the lone horned mobile suit was instantly etched in Angelo’s sights. It was wielding the Beam Gatling Gun with both hands, seemingly waiting for a moment to fire a second time.
“…I see. So you want to make things tough for me like this?”
It was the boy who saw Frontal’s true appearance and forced him to do a shameful thing. The RX-0 marker overlapped with Banagher’s face, causing him to forget all other things.
“How bold you are…!”
The tail stabilizers on the back rose up like a tail, and the “Geara Zulu”s beam launcher was aimed right at the “Unicorn”.
The animosity and malice that came from the purple mobile suit rocked Banagher’s heart like it had a physical hardness. The intention automatic system detected Banagher’s wavelengths, causing the “Unicorn” to ignore the manual controls as it went side by side. The mega-particle shots came flying over a tad late, and the beam that was dodged at the last moment was reflected on the white armor.
“That purple guy’s scary…!”
The delay time it took to show the killing intent before the shot was almost zero. If he made a mistake here, even the “Unicorn”s interface would not be able to negate the damage. Banagher did not have time to fight back with the Beam Gatling gun as he focused on the purple machine. The Federation unit that was fighting the purple mobile suit from before appeared right beside him.
“Is that a new Federation model?”
It was an unregistered machine, but it could be identified as a Federation mobile suit from the clean streamlined contours. The pilot had the beam rifle at a position where he could fire readily, but he hesitated as he let the machine float around. Banagher thought that the mobile suit was waiting for the “Unicorn” to take action. A pulse suddenly started to rise deep within Banagher’s heart, and as his consciousness was attracted by that thing for several milliseconds (Where are you looking at!?) the voice came from the wireless communicator, hitting his eardrums.
The purple machine that got to his feet struck up from below. The “Unicorn” reacted to the direct killing intent by half and round, and despite deploying the I-field barrier on the shield, Banagher’s consciousness was too slow, causing the machine to lose its relative reaction speed. A beam of light came radiating out from the purple mobile suit, and the shield that could not block from the front directly was blown aside. The base of the shield cracked due to the impact, and the purple mobile suit used the opportunity presented when the “Unicorn” lost its protection as it closed the distance completely.
A beam blade appeared in his spinning sights. There was no time to adjust. Banagher’s brainwaves made this snap decision as he let the “Unicorn” draw out its beam saber.
“Tch…!”
It was a click of a tongue, but also one that could motivate him. He exhaled, and the machine was manipulated into wielding the grip and swing right down at the enemy. The purple machine too swung over, but the particles that were gathered in the form of a hook missed as it cut the space. In contrast, Banagher could see the “Unicorn”s saber being absorbed into the purple machine.
The beam launcher was raised to the front in place of a shield, eating up the extremely hot beam blade. The purple machine immediately let go of the long and thick cannon in its hands that was sliced and melted into half, but the distance to dodge the triggered explosion was still too close. The purple machine pulled the cartridge belt-like connector away from the backpack, and the beam launcher was sliced in half and floated in space for just a moment. The internal generator exploded and formed a huge fireball, and the purple machine took the heat and shockwave as the boost pods' jets were blown aside weakly.
Got him— But it was not a fatal blow. Banagher let the machine steady itself, and looked around for the purple machine that left the sensor range. He had already activated the transmitter the Federation spy gave him, but there was no definite proof that the other side could receive the signal in space combat. He had to hurry up and reach the “Nahel Argama”, but he would not be able to talk if he did not fight back the purple unit. Banagher had the feeling that the purple machine would insist on fighting him no matter what as long as he did not shake off that person. He recalled the killing intent that was formed, the presence that was overly sticky, and recalled the voice of the pilot that remained in his ears, only to hear an approaching alarm ring out of a sudden, shocking him.
The IFF response window opened, indicating the coordinates of a Federation unit. Banagher understood that it was the new Federation unit from before, and a familiar voice rang in his ears (Banagher! You’re Banagher Links, right!?), causing his mind to go blank.
“Audrey…?”
Banagher let out a hoarse voice as he looked behind at the new model that was closing in. The Gundam-like new model suit was gradually becoming clearer in front of his eyes, and he felt his chest fluttering even strong as he subconsciously let the “Unicorn” machine turn around. The new machine raised its left arm that had a large shield on it and grabbed the “Unicorn” on its left arm.
(Are you alright? Banagher? It’s me, Mineva…Audrey Burne.)
Banagher had no reason to mishear the voice that came through the speakers. “Audrey…is it you, Audrey?” He leaned forward from his linear seat and stared at the new mobile suit. (That’s great that you’re fine…!) this voice came from the mobile suit without horns, but had the face of a “Gundam”, making Banagher feel that he was talking to a giant.
“Why’re you at such a place…are you piloting it?”
(No. I’m the pilot here, Ensign Riddhe Marcenas. You remember the model plane you caught before?)
The man’s voice entered the channel. Bnagher recalled the plane model in his mind and the expression of the young officer pursuing it, but it could not help him understand this situation. The new model left Banagher alone as he was unable to understand the situaton and could only look back blankly; it faced the “Unicorn” and opened the cockpit cover.
The hatch deep within then opened, and the normal suit with its back facing the lights of the cockpit snuck out. It was impossible to tell the physique from the heavy-type normal suit, and it was impossible to see who it was as the face was covered by the helmet visor, but Banagher managed to feel it from the presence within. She actually showed herself on the battlefield in space. “That’s too reckless, Audrey!” Banagher chided as he expanded the window and moved the cursor over to the helmet of the normal suit.
He could see the bright energetic eyes sparkling under the visor. Those were the emerald eyes that indicated the start of everyone. Audrey’s eyes caused the nerves on his body to resonate and the passion to engulf his heart and body—
(There’s no time, Banagher, so listen up. After this, I’ll ride on this “Delta Plus” to Earth with Ensign Riddhe.)
Those eyes of hers were staring at Banagher firmly as she let out an adamant voice. Why must you do this? Banagher responded as he did not wait for his mind to clear, and Audrey’s voice continued, (This is what I decided after thinking).
(The Ensign’s father is a senator of the Senate Council, and a Central figure of the Space Migration Act. I intend to meet him and tell him everything about this. I want to settle this peacefully as a person who inherited the Zabi heritage—)
At that moment, an arm reached out to grab Audrey from behind and pulled her into the cockpit forceful. Banagher too pulled the control stick without waiting for the cockpit to close, and let the “Unicorn” move away from the new mobile suit called the “Delta Plus”. An object flew in at a high speed right at the last moment, passing between the two units. An explosion of light was than emitted less than a meter away.
It’s that purple guy. Banagher turned his back on Riddhe, who seemed to detect the same thing, and the “Delta Plus” he was piloting. He caught sight of the enemy from the sensor and hailed suppressing fire on it. The purple unit skillfully dodged the continuous fire of the Beam Gatling, drew out a rocket from its shield and loaded it into the launcher. The launcher that was at the waist let out a small spark, and the rocket was fired out as it closed in on the “Unicorn”, triggering a flash of explosion that ignited from close range.
The “Delta Plus” fought back with the beam rifle amidst this unstable situation. The purple unit continued to glide in space, dodging the fire as it continued to load the rockets. The “Unicorn” adjusted itself and raised the Beam Gatling gun. (I know you’ll be confused because it’s too sudden.) Banagher heard Riddhe’s explanation through the communication channel.
(But I’ll bear the responsibility of protecting Mineva…Audrey. It’s not easy to do this, but we’ve already tried our best to think of a good way to settle this. Please understand.)
(You should return back to the “Nahel Argama”. As long as you return with the “Unicorn”, the Federation Army will retreat. First…)
The fireball of explosion exploded beside, and the noise that got heavier covered Audrey’s voice. The impact shook the cockpit, and the scattered bits hitting the armor let out clear metallic sounds. What in the world are they saying? Banagher felt puzzled as he did not understand what was going on, and even though he had the feeling that he was being betrayed, he continued to search for Audrey’s voice amongst the channel as he kept the “Delta Plus” ferrying her in his sights.
He was right beside her, but he could not touch her. They could only give fleeting looks to each other, and he had no way of asking what her true intentions were. Why didn’t I get out of the cockpit and meet her? This regret tightened his chest, torturing his body that was being manipulated by the G-force.
The purple “Geara Zulu” lost the weight of the beam launcher, and it was a lot more mobile than before. It showed off its unique trait as a long-ranged support machine as the large boost pods on the back, and it continued to follow no matter how Banagher and co tried to shake it off. They shot through a dummy balloon that expanded to the size of a mobile suit, but this was unable to fool the eyes of the pilot. The “Geara Zulu” with the commander blade antenna continued to cut down the dummies in its way. The large anti-mobile suit rocket, the Strum Faust was fired out from the handheld launcher, causing the dummy balloons caught within the explosions to dissipate immediately.
Despite losing the stability of its posture during this challenge, the “Unicorn” continued to raise its Beam Gatling gun and fired, trying its best to restrain the enemy’s action. The way it fired the shots had the flair of a novice, but there was no sense of fear in his action. He however felt that the machine wanted to move forward to attract the enemy unit’s attention. Even though he was scared, he hung on. With their glances at the unit with the monoeye, Riddhe calmly fired the beam rifle in quick succession, covering Banagher’s back.
He realized that with Mineva on board, the “Delta Plus” could not fight as it wished. He should have told Mineva what was on his mind, but in this situation, it was impossible to grasp everything through limited words. She herself hoped to understand everything at least—this unknown emotion created an impulse, and Riddhe squeezed the trigger of the beam rifle until its maximum. The purple “Geara Zulu” dodged the fire and shot out a new Strum Faust.
The “Unicorn” and the “Delta Plus” were forced back by the impact of the explosion, and the interface opened automatically. (Audrey, just tell me something). Banagher’s voice rang within Riddhe’s ears.
(Is what you’re going to do what you have to do? Or is it something you wanted to to?)
The unexpectedly calm voice caused Mineva, who’s seated on the assistance seat, to shudder. After an instance of silence, she answered, “It’s something I want to do…I think.) Banagher’s reply then came in with the noise amidst the approaching sirens (I get it).
The “Geara Zulu” waved its beam saber to slice down the dummies and got behind the two machines from their feet. The “Unicorn” skillfully used the AMBAC’s functions to change its position as it contacted the “Delta Plus” behind with a formal tone. (Ensign Riddhe!)
(I feel you’re a man of your word. I’ll leave Audrey to you.)
Riddhe had no time to answer. The “Unicorn” immediately broke contact with the “Delta Plus” and let out maximum output from the back boosters as it flew towards the enemy unit. The beam Gatling let out a sharp trail of beams, forcing back the purple “Geara Zulu”. Flashes of explosions occurred, and Riddhe stared at the sparks of the beam sabers clashing with each other. At that moment, they felt so distant from him; the battlefield in front of him and Audrey, who held her breath in anticipation. Numbing words were the only things echoing in his head.
The outdated words kept restraining his thoughts unconditionally. You’re just a kid. What big words are you spouting there? Why are you so open-minded? I never showed any sense of trustworthiness here—
“Such moving words…I don’t have a chance of winning here.”
There was a sense of heat that he never felt before, rising within his chest and expanding within. Riddhe ignored Mineva, who frowned in doubt, and turned the “Delta Plus” away.
Riddhe continued on to transform the mobile suit into the wave rider, and at that moment, he only considered about how to leave the battlefield. “Ensign, Banagher’s still…!” Mineva protested, but Riddhe had no intention of caring about it.
No matter how sharp this girl was, this was the only thing she definitely would not understand. That was because Banagher set a curse on him in a way only a man could do. “I understand.” He mused and looked forward.
“This is a matter between men. Please don’t interrupt.”
To her, this might be the first time in her life she was told off with a commanding tone. Mineva closed her half-opened mouth and lowered her silent face. Riddhe could no longer move forward or retreat, and experienced that he bore the fate of the person named Banagher as he turned the unit to “Palau” that had dust surrounding it. The anti-air fire was obviously decreasing, and the bright lights of the battle on the back observation window shone intensely into his eyes as a result.
The Federation unit that transformed into a fighter jets flared its thrusters on the back as it hurriedly moved away. Angelo wanted to pursue it immediately, but was blocked by the bullet screen that was in the shape of a fan, and shuddered before he felt angry.
The ideal bullet array was to use the unit as the axis and spray the beam bullets out, and the “Unicorn” understood how to use the Beam Gatling gun in less than a minute of fighting. It managed to maximize the effectiveness of the armament it was not equipped, and even bought time for the new Gundam-type to escape.
“Those two Gundam planned this beforehand…!”
Considering the time the two units interacted with each other, it would be impossible for him to be so adept at this so quickly. What kind of composure does this brat have? Angelo used up the last Strum Faust, threw the launcher at the “Unicorn” and let the “Geara Zulu” fly over at it. Right when the beam hook was about to materialize completely (Lieutenant Angelo, can you hear me?) A calm voice came from the wireless communicator.
(Retreat back to the “Rewloola”. Let Ensign Marida be the “Unicorn”s opponent.)
Frontal’s voice came from beneath the noise, and Angelo’s mind that was gushing full of blood calmed down. “But…!” He tried to argue back for a moment, “I should have told you the plan, have I not?) the voice interrupted Angelo’s attempt to argue back, and he stopped the vibration of the beam hook.
(The “Kshatriya” is heading there now. This is something only she can do.)
Angelo stepped on the foot pedal and raised the ball-shaped control stick to move above the “Unicorn” as it raised a screen of bullets, looking for the coordinates of his ally unit on the motion sensor.
It was the NZ-666 “Kshatriya”; while the other allied forces were retreating, this was the only mobile suit being indicated on the sensor, moving closer. There was a sense of presence that that was beyond electronic signals, engulfing the sensor screen. Angelo looked back at the “Unicorn” that looked bothered as he continued to retreat, and had the anger of a prey being snatched away reigniting within him as he looked forward and said, “Roger that.”
“…It’s a job for Cyber-Newtypes, huh?”
He accidentally blurted it out in his anger, annoying him. The Newtype Research labs were used to create artificial Cyber-Newtypes for military use. In the past, it was said to be used for research on ways to create Newtypes, but in fact, they were experimenting on lab subjects that would not offer any ill consequences—said to be mostly underaged war ophans—as they ignored the ethics of life.
Their research ranged from injecting drugs, forcing ideals on them, manipulating and rewriting memories to manipulating gene composition to improve their respiratory functions. The results of them manipulating the human mind and mental capacity were that they simply created a bunch of useless people who were addicted to drugs. They managed to obtain decent results in their research during the Neo Zeon war later on, but the emotionally unstable human-like weapons that were developed easily became double-edged swords. It had been a long time since the Federation and Neo Zeon ceased such research, and, looking at the significance of how official records did not leave any traces of this, it could be said that Cyber-Newtypes was a shameful history that was erased by Man after the war.
Most notable was Marida Cruz, who inherited the best gene samples that were ‘enhanced’ and specialized in high mobility combat. It was said that she was at a level where the other Cyber-Newtypes could never ever match. So we’ll let a monster handle a monster? Angelo glanced aside at the RX-0 that was becoming distant and mused to himself as he navigated the unit’s trajectory to the southern tip of the “Palau”.
Frontal’s “Sinanju” too was gradually returning back to the southern tip to gather with the fleet. Everything’s proceeding as planned— yes, this was a battlefield enacted out under Frontal’s plan. As for what kind of nature the monster that devoured the “Laplace Box” would show, their side just needed to watch it from the other side. Angelo managed to more or less appease his unhappiness as he looked at this abnormally shaped mobile suit that bore this responsibility. The “Kshatriya” was not limited by the massive bulk that was several times that of an ordinary mobile suit as it skillfully turned around and passed by the “Geara Zulu”s feet.
Marida activated the binder that was just repaired, and let the machine turn around. The front left binder was the only one amongst the 4 binders flapping, and it managed to stop the “Kshatriya” from turning sideways any further.
The controls felt a little light, but it was not bad in any means. Marida had no need to deliberately activate the calibration system as she got used to the AMBAC functions. She then used the sub-arm hidden inside the binder, which was destroyed together with the binder in the last battle, and the base unit part had to be replaced. It quickly extended out, and the fingertips did a hook. CRAK CRAK. The sound entered the cockpit in the form of a tremor, and Marida knew that the unit was repaired.
It’s really lucky that the Psycommu isn’t damaged. Marida again had this thought. At this moment, Neo Zeon did not have the technology to build the Psycommu frame, and the spare parts of the “Kshatriya” only consisted of ordinary mobile suits alone. The reactivity of the unit would be reduced by half once the Psycommu frame installed around the cockpit was damaged, and they could not repair it at will later on. This ‘spare part’ and this one and only unit were all built from lost technology—to what extent would she face off against this opponent that was built from a Psycoframe? Marida expanded the monitor window, directed the cursor to the CG corrected lone-horned body and cautiously closed in her distance with the “Unicorn”.
The “Unicorn” did not commit the foolish act of letting the enemy corner it from behind as it raised the Beam Gatling while retreating steadily, showing that it was observing her actions. The weapon in its hands is newly developed for this “Kshatriya” here, Marida gave a wry look as she looked right at the white machine that was intending to slip away from her sights. Did he randomly take this when he was intending to take the machine out of the factory? It’s really something that nonchalant-looking boy with keen foresight would do; to be able to use his sharp instincts to grab such a powerful weapon.
(I don’t know how that brat got hold of the “Unicorn”, but there’s one thing I know now, and that is we can’t let that machine fall into the Federation’s hands.)
Zinnerman’s voice could be heard amongst the noise from the “Garencieres”, currently at a rear side of the fleet. Marida exhaled and removed her wry look.
(You can destroy any other part as long as the cockpit core in intact. Your top priority is to secure the unit. Don’t think about the pilot.
The soft voice proved that Zinnerman was concerned about the pilot, or perhaps he was considering the fact that they would have to fight him as their opponent. “Understood. I’ll secure the unit as priority.” Marida answered without any expression as she ceased all meaningless thoughts. If possible, she would capture the unit without any damage; if not, she had to rip out the cockpit’s core without even the pilot was crushed. Marida herself had no hesitation no matter who it was on board. There was no need for an Artificial Being to spend time thinking about it.
Even till now, Marida found it hard that Banagher Links, that boy with puppy-like earnest-looking eyes was the pilot of the “Unicorn”. At this point, there was no clear explanation as to what sort of thoughts he had, and what methods he used to reach the ‘cove’, but the fact remained that the “Unicorn” joined the battle. Marida looked through the machine’s specifications, and knew that she would be massacred if she did not go all out. She could only accept this situation, face it and try to deal with it. if she could do it well and end things properly, her failure at “Industrial 7” would be negated. She did not have any honor and pride worth protecting, but she had to erase the black mark on MasterZinnerman.
“There isn't any just war, is there…?”
Even though she tried to conceal these words within, such personal thoughts still leaked out. If only humanity could have Gods, there would be as many Gods as Man. Justice would not exist in this case, and righteousness might not be the only thing that could save humanity. No matter what the thing saving humanity was, the Cyber-Newtype, an artificially created being, no other means of beliefs to rely on, and there was no need for her to change—Marida shook aside the image of the boy’s face she saw in the chapel and looked forward with an antagonizing look. She accelerated the “Kshatriya” by boosting the thrusters to the maximum and started to close the relative distance with the “Unicorn”.
The transported goods were filled inside the large bucket and sent onto the rail of the electromagnetic catapult. As the bucket reached the end point, the contents would be thrown into space. This would be a crude way of explaining things, but it was the working principle of a mass driver.
The transported goods that were thrown out would pass through space through inertia, and the mass catcher at the destination would receive it. The mass catcher was a round cone-shaped thing 100m long in diameter and 150m long, and it resembled a funnel safety net. The transported goods would be covered by a bag made of fiberglass, and it would be shed away when the goods flew into the mass catcher. With that, only the contents would be left within the funnel. Thus, it was possible to carry out zero costs space transportation other than the operating fees of the facility and the disposable bag. Obviously, this facility was not suitable for transporting humans or delicate machines, but it was fine to make the transport a little more rough if they were sending mineral resources. Thus, the Moon would have such a facility as a frontline base to build space colonies, and to mining colonies like “Luna Two”, a long rail required for a mass catcher would be imperative.
“Palau” was no exception in this case, and the mass driver was located on the front of the bow-shaped “Calyx”, with 10km’s length of rail protruding into space. The mineral rocks that were excavated would be sent onto the rail in order and fly to the mass catcher in Side 6 as part of the mining process. The “Delta Plus” shook off the pursuit from Angelo’s unit as it head towards “Palau”. At this point, what appeared in front of it was the triangular prism supporting the mass driver rail.
The rail was extended out from the mining tunnel, supported by numerous pillars that rose out from the rocky surface, and the endless high frame remained unmoved in the midst of the darkness. Riddhe cautiously let the “Delta Plus” float around with the units that were basically turned to dust and close the distance with the rail. The scattering winds picked up bits of fine particles, and looking over, it was not easy to distinguish between the floating rubble or the mobile suit rubble. The debris that were floating around the mass driver was abnormally more than usual amongst the rocks that were not launched successfully. The “Delta Plus” moved along the pillars that were 2km tall at maximum and reached the side of the rail, stopping its relative velocity in front of the access panel for maintenance use.
The left manipulator hand reached for the panel screen, and a sensor cable was shot out from the part that was basically the base of the thumb. The cable that shot out like a whip approached the panel screen, and the universal-use access panel opened its connectors automatically as the front tip of the sensor cable was connected. The computer immediately started reading the information and sent the data of the mass driver over to the cockpit of the “Delta Plus”. The launch acceleration, the transport bucket launch schedule and the current trajectory were revealed. “How is it?” Mineva asked, unable to catch up the values that were scrolling dwon in front of her. Riddhe ignored her and stared at the data for several seconds and answered, “Right, looks like it can work” and turned his brightened face at Mineva.
“It’s just as I guessed. The direct hit from the hyper mega-particle cannon redirected the course. We’ll be able to reach Earth like this.”
The original setting of the trajectory was directed to the Side 6 mass catcher, but at this point, it was redirected to Earth. The “Delta Plus”, which used up a lot of its thruster jets during the battle just now, could not reach Earth on its own, so this would be a great relief to it akin to recovering a lost train ticket. They just had to let the machine ride on the transport bucket and prepare for the countdown before they launched to Earth. If the access panel was not locked, they could probably let the control system from here.
Mineva could not help but feel relieved. She would have lost her chance to escape if she was brought back onto the “Nahel Argama” again. Riddhe opened the visor of his helmet and wiped away the sweat on his forehead as he showed a relieved expression, uttering out, “We might have gotten some of that guy’s luck too” jokingly. That guy—Banagher Links; Mineva deliberately restrained the pricking pain in her heart as she looked at the space on the other side of the rail that had become a battlefield.
The situation was reduced to an extent that only anti-air fire appeared from time to time, and there were basically no signs of beams or explosion lights. Amidst them, Mineva detected a glow that was sharper than the stars, and the killing intent were all gathered at a point in space. She reached her hand out at the all-view monitor to stare at that spot.
The killing intent continued to gather, racing amongst the starry sea as thin beams crossed each other. What Mineva saw was not a normal battle between mobile suits. There were flashes of funnels’ fire, and the one on the other side, dodging the attacks and firing back with beams was the “Unicorn”— a “Gundam” said to be built for fighting Newtypes. If not, it would be impossible for the unit to dodge the funnel attacks that were swarming from all directions.
As far as Mineva knew, there was only one person amongst the “Sleeves” who could control the funnels. The hand touching the monitor tensed up as Mineva continued to stare at the flashes of light despite wanting to look away. Marida was fighting against Banagher, and she sealed her heart while fighting, her killing intent reaching out to this place. If she could use that kind of power properly, she could have realized that Mineva was at this place.
“What is it?”
Riddhe said as he looked behind and gave a probing look at Mineva as he stopped the hand that was changing the mass driver settings. He’s really too concerned for others. Mineva felt annoyed “It’s fine…” as she looked away.
“Hurry on to the next step. We have nothing else to do.”
Mineva diverted her focus away from the killing intent that remained and looked in front. There was an endless darkness appearing in front of the long rail. Mineva did not look at any expression Riddhe might have on his face as he continued work, and focused on looking at the path deciding her destination. The the battle between the “Kshatriya” and the “Unicorn” showed no signs of ending, and the icy cold stare continued to sparkle in a corner of Mineva’s sights.
ZAA. These sounds were let out as the small cannon pods surrounded the unit. They were like metal sand attracted by a magnet, sticking onto him no matter how he tried to shake them off, and would let out swarming attacks from all directs without stopping.
“These guys!”
Banagher continued to squeeze the trigger of the Beam Gatling without aiming and turned the “Unicorn” to the side. The automatic cannon pods that moved into the dead angles let out beams at the same time, and the fan-shaped bullet screen interfered with the mega-particle bullets, creating chains of sparks. As the flashlight-like lights continued to radiate, Banagher saw the source of the automatic cannon pods fly above his head. The 4 binders opened up like petals, and immediately got right below the linear seat.
“It’s that 4-winged, huh…”
It was the abnormally shaped mobile suit that brought about calamity to “Industrial 7”, and it was blocking the path in front of the “Unicorn” like it switched with the purple unit that retreated. I should be making contact with the “Nahel Argama” as soon as possible. Banagher anxiously squeezed the trigger, and the automatic cannon pod that got behind it attacked like it was mocking him. The “Unicorn”, which lost its shield and the protection of the I-field, felt a shock, and a killing intent that came right below pierced through Banagher.
The “Unicorn” Intention Automatic System responded, and it turned 90 degrees as it pointed the gun at the source of this killing intent. At that moment, an automatic cannon pod that got diagonally below gave another hit, bending the Beam Gatling gun that took a direct hit. Banagher immediately let go of the weapon, but he could not evade the threat of the explosion that expanded from zero distance. The anti-glare filter could not reduce the flash that lit the cockpit, and the machine took the shockwave as it rattled.
“You!”
That four-winged rushed into this flash, lit its monoeye and struck from below. This killing intent blew through the cockpit, and Banagher felt the wind pressure nearly peel his scalp off. The “Unicorn” automatically drew the beam saber that let out particles and hacked right at the saber of the 4-winged horizontally. The colliding sparks exploded, and the large frame of the 4-winged grazed above him. Suddenly, there was a sweet aroma mixed within the killing intent.
“What’s going on…?”
It was a sweet fragrance that surrounded his body, a complete mismatch for the skin-crawling killing intent. Of course, that was because a girl’s sweat smelled sweat—
“Miss Marida…is that you?”
These unexpected words came out from Banagher’s mouth, and he felt his throat tensing up. He did not know why, but he could conclude that this sweetness belonged to Marida. This was the scent he smelled from her in the detention room on the ship and the silent chapel. The four-winged looked like it was in no mood for negotiations, but there was that defenseless silhouette hidden within. The eyes that resembled the deep sea color of Earth, the eyes that looked like they contained a gentle light when she smiled, they were looking at him from deep within the thick armor—
“Miss Marida!? If it’s you, please listen to me! This is Banagher Links!”
The small automatic cannon pods were two meters long, and as they were too small, they could not be picked up on the motion sensor as they gathered a large amount of killing intent and closed in. Banagher detected an opening from amidst the multi-direction ball-shaped attack that was showing signs of disorder, let the machine swing the beam saber and stepped on the foot pedal.
The automatic cannon pods seemed to scatter in doubt. There was a sign that the 4-winged mobile suit in front was retreating. “I’m right…!” Banagher mused as he used this momentum to step on the pedal and let the “Unicorn” rush towards the 4-winged.
The normal suit sensed the G-force coming from below and hardened the jelly-like fluids within into a metal-like state. Banagher’s upper body was held in place tightly, but it could not prevent his blood from rising up, which caused the blood vessels above his neck to expand. He endured the pressure as his pores felt like they were spurting out blood, and shook off the pursuit of the automatic cannon pods as he got right at the four-winged clutches. As the “Unicorn”s left arm was about to touch the heel of the opponent, the four-winged quickly flipped, got behind and was about to swing down the beam saber in its hand.
There was no time to activate his beam saber. The “Unicorn” turned around, but it was too late as the beam saber was right in front of Banagher’s eyes, and a shock that nearly caused him to bite his tongue rocked the cockpit.Am I killed? Banagher could not even let his nerves close his eyes properly as he merely felt his lower body relax, and saw the monoeye appearing on the all-view monitor.
The opponent let the emotionless monoeye move under sharp Mohawk-like head like it was intending to observe Banagher’s action. The 4-winged pretended to swing down its beam saber as its 4-wings were just restraining the “Unicorn” body. It was unknown when the sub-arms were deployed as they reached out from below the binders, grabbing the “Unicorn”S limbs. “Marida—” Banagher realized that his unit was being sealed off completely as he was about to open his trembling mouth. At that instant, the 4-winged placed the grip of the beam saber it was wielding onto the flank of the “Unicorn”, and the heavy sound of metal crashing into each other rang within the cockpit.
(Surrender, Banagher Links, or I’ll burn the entire cockpit down.)
A monotonous voice rang, and the beam saber that was resting on the abdomen rattled the cockpit with loud noises. “Miss Marida…! Why’re you—” Banagher eked out his voice, (I should have said it before.) but felt a chill down his spine after hearing her respond with cold words.
(Once someone rides on a mobile suit and enters the battlefield, he can only be considered a fighting unit called a pilot. Whoever it is sitting inside, it has nothing to do with me.)
The cockpit let out an unsteady resonance as the beam saber’s grip remained in idling state. (Cut the main generator, and get out from the cockpit—) and Banagher ignored her words as he argued “Even so!”
“Even so, you’re still Miss Marida to me. I do apologize for running away on my own, but I can only do this. You don’t want “Palau” to turn into a battlefield, right? The Federation army will retreat once they can take back this “Unicorn”.”
(That’s just the enemy’s view.)
The 4-winged binders that resembled a beetle fluttered as the hidden sub-arms holding the machine shook it. “LISTEN TO ME!” Banagher yelled as he held on tightly to the linear seat that was rocking unsteadily.
“Audrey…your princess has returned back to the battlefield. She rode on a mobile suit to stop this battle—”
On saying this, Banagher’s back suddenly froze. You idiot, why did you say so many unnecessary things? He cursed himself in his heart, and Marida’s voice got sharper, (The Princess’ here?), and Banagher clicked his tongue inadvertently.
(I’ll take the Princess back as well. Where’s she?)
The 4-winged used its large body as a pivot as its hidden arms shook the “Unicorn” unit twice, thrice. Banagher felt the tremor that felt like his brain was being meshed up, and he tried to pull the control stick and stepped on the pedal to leave. The thrusters on the back let out flares, and the moveable frame let out a shrill rubbing sound. The “Unicorn”s raised its arms slowy, and in an instant, it pulled aside the hidden sub-arms that resembled an insect’s legs. However, the 4-winged quickly used its main hands to grab the “Unicorn”s head.
The 5-fingered manipulator hands that were held down tightly were held down tightly, and the head with the lone horn was tilted back. The all-view monitor let out noise, and the malfunction windows continued to appear. If this kept up, the machine would be snapped, “MISS MARIDA!” Banagher yelled out, but his voice was half-buried amongst the buzzing alarms.
“Please just think about how to end this battle! Tikva and the rest may get involved in it!”
(Then just surrender and tell me the Princess’ whereabouts so that our army will retreat too.)
I can’t do this. Banagher immediately had this thought as he asked himself, Why? (Do you see?) He continued to listen to Marida’s words while at his wits ends.
(You keep saying that you just want the battle to end, but you’re thinking from the enemy’s viewpoint. That’s because you’re already a part of things here.)
“No! You’re the one wrong here! It’s because your thoughts are too straightforward that Audrey wouldn’t stay there. I feel I can’t hand over the “Box” or Audrey to people like you because…”
(I said that’s the reasoning of the enemy!)
The hands were pressing down on the 4-winged, and the overload sign showed up on the condition monitor. The frame continued to let out a rattling sound, and Banagher felt like Marida was seriously trying to destroy the “Unicorn” as anger stronger than fear exploded within him. You pretend not to see it even though you can see it. That’s a power you’re exerting stubbornly after sealing your heart. You of all people know that brute force alone won’t be able to solve anything here—!
“YOU’RE REALLY UNREASONALE!”
Red phosphorus light glowed through the armor gaps, and the moveable frame the expanded aside nocked back the 4-winged hidden sub-arms. At the same time, the leg frames popped up and extended, and the movable armor slid aside, shaking aside the hook of the hidden sub-arms.
The lone horn split into two, and the face cover that rose up knocked aside the manipulator hands of the 4-winged. The thruster nozzles on the back let out a burst of flares, and the machine that shook off the restrains of the hidden sub-arms finished its transformation as it lit its pair of matching ‘eyes’.
(“Gundam”…!?)
Marida’s muttering faded far away, and arms came out of the headrest, fixing Banagher’s helmet in place. There was a slight shock from the arms and ankles, and Banagher realized that the anti G-force drug delivery system “DDS” was already activated as he let the “Unicorn” move above the head of the 4-winged.
The stinging fragrance spread in his nose, and the heat flow of the brain pulsating rushed throughout Banagher’s body. The black impulse rose within him, and the nervous system that was in sync with the machine had been dyed just like tar. Not good, Banagher thought, but his rational sense that was trying to think could not work as he already viewed the 4-winged in front of him as an enemy. It’s pointless to talk further against an enemy who just want to overpower through force. I’ll have to beat this person here to ensure that Audrey can return back safely, and that I can get back to the “Nahel Argama”. Don’t think I’m just a pushover here—
The flickering “NT-D” logo shone through the helmet visor, dyeing Banagher’s sights red. The vaguely drifting sweet aroma scattered, and Marida’s scent vanished from the cockpit.
“NT-D activation confirmed. The target’s now fighting with the “Kshatriya”.”
This voice came from the operator seated at the communications console in a corner of the “Rewloola”s standard bridge. “Good.” Frontal answered, and his voice echoed down from the tall ceiling. His tall and lanky body that was draped in bright red was standing beside the captain’s seat.
“This Psyco Monitor isn’t perfectly effective. Focus on the signals from it, understood, captain?”
“Understood.” Captain Hill, who was seated on the captain’s seat, answered with a calm expression on his head. This would definitely be the only chance for him, the captain of the “Rewloola” to show off his skills as he could only remain at the back, watching the battlefield while his subordinates did not even have the chance to perform. “Warm up the main unit first. Our ship will head out from behind “Palau” based on the situation. Take care not to let down your guard against other units.” Angelo passed through the bridge door beside Captain Hill who raised his volume. He minded about how he walked in in the normal suit drenched in sweat as he stood beside the red figure looking up at the main screen.
The screen displaying the optical visuals showed the two mobile suits clashed in a deathmatch. The crude would let out beams of light from time to time, but it was impossible to see the silhouettes of the mobile suits. It was impossible to tell whether the “Kshatriya” or the “Unicorn” had the advantage, but the details of the battle did not matter here.
The necessary information would be transmitted from the Psyco Monitor installed on the “Unicorn”s Psycommu—a Psycommu receiver device. This tapping installation would activate the moment the NT-D was activated, and would send the details the unit gave in large amounts. As the waves that were sent were released from the Psycommu, there was no worry about the Minovsky particles interfering. The sending range was limited, but they should be able to gain complete unmistakable information. In fact, the sub-monitor of the communication monitor was already collecting information at a high rate, and started probing into the Laplace System that was activated together with the NT-D.
The coordinates that was suspected to indicate the location of the “Box” was shown before. Then, what would be the content be—Angelo swept his sweaty bangs that were hanging on his forehead and looked at the binary files that were being rolled in, but a certain roar “WHAT’S GOING ON!” caused him to raise his eyebrows. Zinnerman, who was dressed in a normal suit, was holding a helmet on one hand as he rushed into the bridge.
Zinnerman ignored Captain Hill, who was shocked as he looked back, and let his body float under zero gravity to the Captain’s seat. So he came? Angelo saw the rage within the black eyes, and was blocked by Zinnerman in front as he stood in front of Frontal. “Captain, did something happen to the “Garencieres”? Frontal gave an interested look at Zinnerman, who glared back at him and roared, “WHY DID YOU LEAVE MARIDA ALONE!?” The gruff and heavy voice echoed through the bridge, and everyone present stared at Zinnerman.
“I heard that you gave the order to the entire army to fall back. Why is Marida the only—”
(To activate the NT-D, we’ll have to let beings that are similar to Newtypes clash. This is a job only Ensign Marida can do.”
The overly simplified explanation curbed Zinnerman’s momentum as he frowned. “The “Unicorn Gundam” has a Psyco Monitor installed on it.” He said quietly as he looked back at the main screen.
“Once it’s activated, we can obtain new information from here. Since we can’t analyze the Laplace Program, it will be faster to let the Program unseal itself. For this aim, I guided that boy Banagher to the “Unicorn”. I’m really sorry to hide it from you too.”
They used the Federation spy, planned it such that Banagher would ride on the “Unicorn”, and prepared a program that would start reading once the NT-D. This assault might have granted Neo Zeon a new rebirth and helped sweep away the ‘Old Blood’ of unease within their camp, but they had to fool even insiders thoroughly in order to complete this program. From the investigations up till their point, they knew that the NT-D system could not be fooled by a mock battle. It would be impossible to activate the NT-D unless it was a real battlefield with lives on the line.
Is everything on the battlefield an act Frontal planned— Zinnerman seemed to have this understanding as he turned pale. “But Marida..” and his vague voice showed no signs of ending. “I understand.” Frontal answered and lowered his head slightly.
“The Cyber-Newtypes are those with their nervous transmitting system upgraded through artificial means, and they can’t be considered pure Newtypes. But Captain, what exactly are pure Newtypes?”
Zinnerman swallowed his words and remained silent as he gave a doubtful look at the face wearing the mask. Frontal did not care about the other party as he turned his stare to the screen and said, “No one can answer it.”
“Are they people who have exceptional senses such that they can cause the Psycommu weapons to work? In terms of effect, Ensign Marida can be said to be a Newtype. Then, the NT-D will use this phenomenon as basis to determine the opponent as a Newtype and use it’s original power.”
The hard lights and shadows could be seen crossing each other on the zoomed footage caught, right in front of the stare under the mask. Both giants continued the dance of death as they tried to kill each other, not knowing if the perpetrator planned this. Beside him, Zinnerman stared at the screen too, and Frontal gave a mystical-like smile on his lips.
“That “Gundam” hasn’t showed its real form yet. We’ll have Ensign Marida draw out its real nature.”
The funnel that was shot down became a fireball, and the shockwave scattered in all directions. Marida wanted to flip the machine at the last moment, but it could not dodge the “Unicorn Gundam” that came rushing in while cutting through the explosion of dust and gas that occurred.
The enemy unit fired its Vulcan guns, and two trails of fire grazed the “Kshatriya”. Marida continued to dodge as she checked the positions of the deployed funnels as she passed her intent over to these Psycommu installations to shoot from behind the “Gundam”. The nearby funnels immediately lit their burners to adjust and shot out beams from their tips. At this moment, the “Unicorn Gundam” did a roll, let out a flash from its burners, and disappeared from Marida’s sights like a scene in an action movie. The funnel beams crossed the vacuum, and the “Kshatriya”s thick green machine floated in the darkness.
“Stop dodging around…!”
Marida muttered, and she stepped on the pedal. The “Kshatriya” went full throttle as it followed the “Gundam”, and the G-force that came pressurizing from above caused her flesh to tremble about. The blood vessels contracted, and the blood that was pressed down by the centrifuge force remained where it was. The 12 organs inside the body supporting the heart pulsated to grant a steady blood supply to the head. The body of flesh that was designed for high mobility combat shuddered, and the nervous system was quickly processing the movements of the “Unicorn Gundam”. The enemy’s acceleration and sharp turns were not usual—but her eyes were gradually getting used to it. There was not much improvement in this direct movement that had the flair of an amateur compared to the fight she had at “Industrial 7”. Marida deduced that she could win if she attacked calmly.
Speaking of which, it was impossible for an ordinary person to last so long under such conditions. The enemy was not even a professional pilot here. If this amateur really blurted it out accidentally, it meant that he did not say this in an irresponsible manner. There was a need to hurry up and wear out the “Unicorn Gundam” and reclaim Mineva who seemed to be nearby. Zinnerman had always been protecting Mineva Zabi as he placed his dream of Neo Zeon’s revival on her. Even though he never said it before, he had always viewed reclaiming Mineva as his top priority. Marida herself did not have any interest in Neo Zeon’s revival, but her master’s wish would be her wish, and her master’s enemies would be her enemies. Marida had to do what she must do even if she had to sacrifice her life. To Marida, who gained life as an artificial being, there was no philosophy she exalted more than this.
Speaking of which, Zinnerman would probably tell her that this was not right. You’re not an artificially-created thing, you’re a person. Decide where you want to go. He would probably say such things, and because of this, I have to live on as an artificial being. I have to become a humanoid weapon that makes use of this body that had its genes manipulated for battle and protect Master. There’s no way I’ll be able to repay him, and I can’t repay the thing that save me, that thing Master called the ‘light’—
“…This will be over!”
This thought process lasted for less than a second. Marida saw through the “Unicorn Gundam”s flight path and let her thoughts control the 16 funnels through a voice. The automatic cannon pods that received the commands of the thought waves moved as if they were dragged, and the “Kshatriya” fired mega-particle cannons from its torso and the binders. The sublight bullets that were refracted through the I-field flushed in from all directions like a tap with the stopper pulled out from the faucet at full stream, raining down on the “Unicorn Gundam” that was moving around at high speeds.
The burners located all over the body let out flares, and the “Gundam” machine did an emergency turn. The funnels that first got over in front of the “Gundam” tried to shoot out beams as it intended to force the machine into the other funnels range as they were aligned in a sphere. The “Gundam” sensed the perimeter that was formed with killing intent, and the next term would be the crucial moment. The thruster lights continued to flare, and Marida saw that the “Unicorn Gundam” was moving in the direction it predicted beforehand before sending the attack thoughts to the funnels that were on standby.
The pink beams crossed a certain point, hitting the thruster vane on the back of the shins. Just when the second hit looked like it was going to hit the machine that lost its balance, the right shoulder armor got crushed first, and the Psycoframe that was revealed after the shedding let out a bloody luminescent light. In less than a second, the funnels surrounded this machine that was spinning under such force and lost its control. Marida deliberately chose not to aim at the generator as she shot the burners and the thrusters to nullify it. She gathered the sight of all 16 funnels into her consciousness, and as she turned this expanded instinct into an attack, the machine of the “Unicorn Gundam” suddenly shot out a ‘presence’ that seemed to form a giant wind that had a physical effect, flowing right at the cockpit Marida was in.
It was impossible to imagine that this came from the pilot within there. The ‘air’ that was now filled with powerful antagonistic intent passed through the normal suit, ruffling Marida’s sweaty skin as it blew behind. The feeling of a rotten slug passed through her body and dug in—the sealed memories rose up Marida’s throat, and in an instant, she could not tell which direction was which any longer as she could only gather her attack thoughts to the funnels. However, the funnels remained unmoved as they surrounded the “Unicorn Gundam”, waiting silently with no signs of moving.
It felt like time stopped. The enemy unit, surrounded by the funnels that were floating weakly, continued to let out this overwhelming ‘air’ as it stared at Marida. You dare to hurt me— a thought, not from the pilot, but an arrogant and merciless thought pierced the membrane of Marida’s mind, and as the ‘existence’ that felt like it was pulsating nearby spread through the vacuum, the “Unicorn Gundam” raised its right hand slowly.
The 5 fingers that were opened let out an invisible wave, causing the funnels that were still remaining to let out their burner flares. They then moved according to the “Gundam”s fingers, and turned around with their cannons pointed at the main unit, the “Kshatriya”.
The matching eyes reflected the glow on its Psycoframe as they turned red, flickering like they were making a mockery. The “Gundam”s the enemy—this thought appeared in Marida’s mind, and at that moment, the “Unicorn Gundam” swung down its right hand, causing the funnels filled with antagonistic intent to attack Marida.
The beams then came firing out from the cannons, and multiple beams were aimed at the “Kshatriya”. Marida immediately dodged and tried to gather her thoughts on the funnels, only to be shocked that she could not plot out the funnels’ paths. Marida did not know where the funnels were. Due to the wave interference of the “Gundam”, the Psycommu lost its contact and control of the funnels’ locations.
“What’s going on, funnels? Can’t you recognize me!?”
The funnels that lost their sense of self were firing the mega-particle cannons, pecking at their mother bird “Kshatriya”. A graze caused an impact to rock Marida, and her face that was buried inside the safety airbag. She could only release the expanding the mega-particle cannons reluctantly. The sublight scattered shots came flying out of the chest, and the two funnels that took direct hits let out explosions of light. The “Kshatriya” turned its back on that light and sliced the funnel that was closing in. Marida let the machine rush out of the array and turned her sights at the source of this wave that was surrounding her.
“You bastard, what did you do!?”
The “Kshatriya” ignited its thrusters at full power and got behind the white unit. The “Unicorn Gundam” remained still at that spot in space, not moving at all. It raised its arms up and spread them out wide, and the attachments installed on the arms became beam saber grips. The two grips were located at the cuffs supported by the arms, and the front of the “Gundam”s arms showed sharp blades of light.
The arms that became beam sabers extended out from both left and right side, and the machine immediately moved, disappearing from Marida’s sights. Marida blinked in astonishment as she looked around through the all-view monitor, but the impact that came from right below immediately caused her to scream. The starry sea that filled her sights moved, and immediately, the sight of the sliced binder tip appeared right in front of her, gradually moving away from the body. The “Gundam” did not let go of this opening. While the “Kshatriya” stopped and turned around to fire the mega particle cannons, it slashed right that the enemy and dragged a trail of red phosphorus light over the enemy’s head.
The beams that came raining down from all directions caused the machine that had the sabers molded together with it to leap as if it were dancing. The mega-particle cannons beams were dodged easily, and the enemy got into a dead angle and shot an icy cold wave at Marida’s bag.
Marida shot out a dummy balloon, something she had never used before, and used it to hold off the enemy figure that was hacking at it like a wild wind. She knew she was being toyed with, and felt a chill from it. This movement was different from the “Gundam” before. It was reading Marida’s movements completely as it slowly but surely tortured the “Kshatriya”, and its thoughts were reaching Marida’s skin. It was a thought that had cold delight mixed in it, one belonging to the joy of a hunter—
“Who…are you?”
Banagher Links’ silhouette did not appear there. There was no sense of anger or madness, and the “Gundam” that transformed into a hunting machine sliced off the dummy while the funnels supporting it wore down the “Kshatriya” armor. Marida screamed as she saw the funnels gather together to form the shape of a giant hand. The “Gundam”s the enemy, the terrifying enemy that took away our light. The memories buried within her inherited genes exploded, and a certain person called Marida reverted back to its original state—
That abnormal scene could be distinguished despite the blurry optical images. As everyone on the bridge held their breaths in anticipation, Angelo continued to stare at the main screen with horror.
“Is that…something that brat’s doing?”
Zinnerman continued to stare at the stiff lights and shadows that were dancing, muttering with a look of utter disbelief. Angelo had no disagreements about this. If this were that guy’s ability, I would have been shot down during the battle before. “That’s far from the truth.” Frontal said.
“Once it deems the enemy as a Newtype, the machine’s limitations would be removed, and everything from the movement controls to the weapons controls would be controlled by the system. The pilot here would not even be a system software here. It plays the part of receiving the thought waves and converts them into antagonistic intent.”
“Then, what the heck’s controlling that “Gundam”!?”
“Why, the NT-D. The Newtype-Destroyer System.”
Frontal said nonchalantly, and Angelo gulped the saliva in his mouth as he looked at the side of Frontal’s masked face. “Destroy…?” Zinnerman asked back, frowning.
“That lone-horned will detect the thought waves of the enemy, while the “Gundam” would be in charge of destroying it. What we see is an interface that uses the Psycoframe to carry out cadence that far exceeds human limits, and also, a hunting machine that’s equipped with the ability to control enemy Psycommu weapons. This Program was created to exterminate the last greatest fable Zeon left behind, Newtypes.”
“This is too ridiculous…it’s impossible for normal humans to pilot such a machine.”
“That’s right. The pilot has to be enhanced. This isn’t a machine a Newtype created by artificial means can pilot, but that a real enhanced being can do.”
The deliberate voice caused Zinnerman, who realized what was going on, to give a tense look on his face, “I see. So it’s a product of technology used to purge Newtypes. In that case…”
“It can bury the fable of Zeon completely.” Frontal followed up and continued, “They wanted to dissolve the Zeon Republic and the Newtype fable together with the 100 year anniversary, and use this to wipe off the nightmare called Zeon completely. As habit, they call this the UC plan.”
UC was an abbreviation of Unicorn, and also, it signified the Universal Century itself. The nightmare that caused the first 100 years to be stained in blood called Zeon shook the foundation of the Universal Century from its base, so they had to remove this nightmare before they welcomed the next hundred years. The theory of evolution human kind would have after entering space was just a fantasy, and the so-called Newtypes were just monsters with ridiculous amounts of fighting abilities. The sayings that Newtype perceptions were outstanding were just rhetorics, and they could overpower it through the power of science and technology. To prove this, a Gundam-type mobile suit would be most fitting. It was a symbolic existence of the Federation, and up till this point, the “Gundam” was a machine that could not be separated from the Newtype fable. Mobile suits with “Gundam” appearances were being mass-produced as part of the Federation army’s realignment, and the power of science alone would be enough to exterminate the monsters. There was no method that was more effective than this political propaganda if they wanted to erase the “Newtype” theory. They would imitate their forefathers who single-handedly built the Federation organization, and this would be the time to take great strides and push for massive changes, all in the name of making sure that Earth would be at peace at the Universal Century’s 100 year anniversary-
Neo Zeon, which was raised as a separatist, tried to maintain an economy that could not last without war on one hand; while on the other hand, such forces were allowed to continue existing because of this trail of thought. Angelo felt that this was not something a sane person would do, and looked horrified at he stared at the “Unicorn Gundam” on the other side. It was a monster born out of the fear of the Newtype theory and Zeon, the source of it. To think the Federation’s fear for us is so deep…
“Cardeas Vist installed a mechanism on that monster and left the key to opening the “Laplace Box” to it. Even the activation conditions of the NT-D were modified, so if we want to finish out its true identity, we can only activate the NT-D and let it remove the seal gradually.”
“…In other words, you want Marida to be a sacrificial pawn here!?”
Zinnerman summoned back the killing intent that once faded and gave an ominous look in his eyes. “This is only something she can do.” Frontal emphasized as he stopped Angelo from trying to stand in front of him.
“The Ple series have their hatred and animosity to the “Gundam” ingrained within their consciousness. She’s the only pilot who can draw out the “Unicorn”s true nature and fight it.”
“But Marida’s—”
“Ple Twelve.”
The words interrupt sharply as Frontal stared right back at Zinnerman. “That’s her name. She’s an experimental model codenamed serial number 12 amongst the line of artificial Newtypes that were cloned and genetically modified.”
The mouth that was half-opened, wanting to argue back, closed again, and Zinnerman averted the other person’s stare as he clenched his fist. “Even so, I understand you’ll say that she’s a person.” Frontal said silently.
“But it’s dangerous to put exceeding emotions on her. If the Ple series lose their master, they would be unable to ensure their sense of self. Sometimes, this would create a sense of dependence on the master, especially someone like Ensign Marida who lived through several cruel years for a female—”
“Don’t say it.”
This was a sharp voice that sounded like a knife was placed right at the back of the neck. Angelo glanced back at Frontal’s expression as he stopped, swallowed his saliva, and glared at Zinnerman, “You dare to be insolent to a superior…!” Zinnerman did not say anything as he suddenly reached out to grab Angelo on the collar.
“It’s because it’s a superior officer that I’m saying such things. It’s not that easy if it’s you.”
Zinnerman reached his thick arm and pushed Angelo into space. Angelo managed to launch on his feet immediately, but he had no strength to argue with Zinnerman, who was giving an ominous look, and could only retreat back behind Frontal, who remained silent and unmoved. Zinnerman looked at them for quite a while, and turned his sights back to the screen where lights of battle were occurring. He suppressed the emotions that were about to explode out right at this point, and his expression that was more serious than usual caused the atmosphere in the bridge to become heavier.
Everything and anything became bloody red through the reddish-black filter; whether it was the 4-winged that was attacked by the automatic cannon pods it released or the dummy balloons that would be crushed the moment the beam sabers touched it. This was not due to the alert image shown on the visor. Perhaps this would be the blood below Banagher’s eyes filling his sights, and he recalled someone telling him this, that the eyes were the weakest organs against the G-force. Who exactly said it to me—
This thought was just a little pebble mixed in between amidst the surging impulses. Destroy the 4-winged and eliminate anything that’s giving off antagonistic intent. Banagher hurriedly moved the “Unicorn Gundam” as the intensity of the impacts kept shaking his organs. The slashes that crossed by sliced the knee armor of the 4-winged, and the machine that was spurting out conducting fluids spun about in an ugly manner. The left hand was already severed, and the binder with its armor ripped off could not function as per normal. However, this person did not intend to stop resisting. Whenever there was an opening, it would reach out the hidden sub-arms and swing the blade of its beam sabers at the “Unicorn Gundam”s chest.
—The “Gundam”s the enemy!
The monoeye of the 4-winged flashed as it accepted the consciousness of the person within. That’s too straightforward, Banagher argued in the corner of his mind. It’s because you guys are giving off antagonistic intent like this that everything became like this, not just what happened to “Industrial 7”, but also forcing me to ride on this thing and take part in this battle.
The “Laplace Box”, the Vist Foundation, Neo Zeon, everyone keeps promoting their beliefs and ideals; they wouldn’t even listen to anyone else. Nobody wants to listen to me, no one wants to be on my side. Dad’s dead, Audrey’s gone, why must I bear all these troubles? Why must I suffer such terrifying things alone!? All I want to do is to save Audrey. Why am I still at such a place even when I left Audrey in another guy’s hands—!?
The “Gundam”s folded arms expanded out sideways as it sliced off two hidden sub-arms the enemy reached out. The 4-winged staggered back slightly, and the automatic cannon pod array surged forward. They had lost all power in their batteries, but it did not matter to him. Go on, wreck the enemy! Banagher muttered silently in his mind, and the automatic cannons that were afflicted by this destructive impulse started to charge at the 4-winged.
The impacts of the sparks appeared, and the 4-winged that was desperately swinging its beam saber staggered as it tilted. The tattered binders were overlapped in front of the body, and the 4-winged that was reduced to a short and stout humanoid figure continued to be knocked back by the funnels. Banagher realized that his lips were curling up as he let the “Unicorn Gundam” rush right at the enemy. The machine spun like a top as it touched the 4-winged, and the 4-winged’s hand wielding the beam saber was knocked back into space.
The 4 beam cannons on the torso were also hacked apart, and the machine that lost its almost all its weapons bent backwards. Banagher looked at the enemy that could not use the AMBAC function and had its last sub-arm sliced by the cross-beam sabers. He used this impulse to aim the cursor at the cockpit of the 4-winged.
There was a source of antagonistic intent from within the cockpit cover, unnerving him. The nerves that were on the same length as the sensors captured the position, and the Psycoframe got right in front of the 4-winged as it reflected the pilot’s will. The “Unicorn Gundam” cleared off the conducting fluids and broken bits of armor around it, and just when it was about to stab the beam saber through the cockpit, there was an ‘air’ that came fluttering out of the machine, letting Banagher know it was a sweet aroma that was teasing his nose.
This is a smell I recognize. The moment he thought about that, a soft flash appeared around Banagher’s forehead, and time stood still. Everything stood still, from the 4-winged that remained exposed defenseless, the beam saber that was about to stab through the cockpit, and even the particles that were forming a shot that was released. The light glow that radiated at his forehead reached forward. That light mixed into together with the a’ir’ released by the 4-winged, forming a ‘forcefield’ that surrounded the two mobile suits. This ‘forcefield’ removed the bloody color in Banagher’s sight and expanded out together with the soft light—
—Light…!
Someone called out. A girl’s voice? Perhaps it’s my own voice. That might not be a voice if I look at things further. The 4-winged in front of him was basked in light, and the antagonistic intent clinging onto the skin faded away like fog as the existence within the enemy’s cockpit closed in on him. What’s going on? Who’s intending to enter my body? Banagher could only look around as his head was fastened on the headrest, and he saw the linear seat with light behind it.
—You’re the light that came to free me. Have you came to receive me?
Marida Cruz was seated on the linear seat weakly, giving a weak smile right back at Banagher. to him, the profile of the girl reaching her hand out to him was like a girl of around 10 years old.
—Who, are you?
Banagher too reached his hand out to the girl smiling back at him on the other side. The light dipped, and their thoughts were immersed into the bottom of the icy cold water as though the water surface was blown apart.
Light. A white light that was just born.
Banagher saw the white and transparent light that was shown on the surface. The feeling gradually rose from his body as it left the empty depth. The hand that reached out from the water surface immediately felt the cold air from the outside, and Marida felt an unknown hand pull her up. This was the first time she felt human warmth…
“Welcome to this world. Do you feel cold?”
The blond boy that reached his hand out smiled at her. The neat room that was surrounded by white light had several casket-like capsules laid out, and it seemed that she was obtained from one of them. Banagher looked at the face of the young man wearing a Neo Zeon uniform, and Marida felt a chill from this young man’s expression that was colder than the surrounding temperature.
“You’re the 12th sister. Your sisters are working outside. Come together with me to the outside world.”
The boy held her hand, and it felt warm. Marida got up from the capsule and as her bare foot that touched the outside air touched the floor, she instinctively understood that this man was her master. Is that how it is? Banagher had some doubts as he wondered how her consciousness entered his mind. There was a girl around 10 years old with blue eyes shown right in front of him—
Light. A savage and violent light that radiated through space.
That kind of light that appeared on the all-view monitor was a light of explosion. “Ple Three is killed!” Banagher and Marida were inside the cockpit as they heard the girl call out.
“Master’s dead too. He’s dead!”
“What should we do?”
“Calm down. There’re still enemies left on the battlefield. We have to purge the Federation. We have to eliminate all of master’s enemies, whether it’s the “Gundam” or Haman!”
The 4th sister called out, and the sisters regained some calmness. The black mobile suits became their limbs, and the binders that were extended out from their shoulders made them look like machines with wings. The sisters lined up and attacked the enemy, understanding what to do. We just needed to use the funnels to get rid of anything that gives any antagonistic intent. We’re not complete, but we can do it. We’re created to do it.
But what exactly is the enemy? Marida thought as she joined the line unconditionally. Is it something that’s hurting master? Is it something master deems to be a target? We were trained all this while to protect master, we take quite a few painful injections nowadays, our minds are stuffed with so much knowledge they can blow up, but I can endure it all for the sake of master. My sister with the same faces and abilities are also following master, like how they were pursuing that light when they were born. Service and dedication were the only values we were taught.
But that master who taught us this isn’t around. Do we still have to fight when master’s not around? Even though we’re all designed to be in the same form, all of us are different. The 6th sister would call herself ‘this me’, while I call myself ‘I’. We’re all multiplied from a single source, and we received similar training, but we’re different individuals. I heard from the doctor before that this is an individual difference. I heard of this term ‘soul’ before. Everyone’s different, and there will be as many different things as there are people. Are our souls the same? Are souls lonely? Even though we have so many people, I still feel very lonely…
Nobody said anything about this, but there was this feeling. They could not hide the wavering of their minds caused by the loss of their master, this core of their lives. Their mobile suits movements were obviously slow, and they would be massacred if they gathered together. The 12th sister broke the rule for the first time as she was the only one to leave the line a little.
In an instant, a beam of light ripped through space, and the black mobile suits were devoured. The mobile suit was ripped apart by the mega particles that scattered and came in from all directions, and she was thrown out into space.
The all-view monitor was swtiched off, and the cockpit, which was covered in darkness, spun around. It was severed; Marida’s bond with the sisters and the machines were forcefully severed as everything else was returned to Heaven. She desperately reached out her hand, searching for greenery amidst the darkness. The weakly flickering alert image caused the hand that was grabbing emptiness to appear—
Light. Lewd, vulgar and contemptible neon lights.
There were several bars lined up along a street on this secluded area. The scene changed to a corner of a bustling street that had corroded vomit and stenches of pee. A middle-aged woman with her back facing the neon lights frowned as she said, “This kid stinks!”
“She’s just a kid. It’s impossible to sell her like this.”
“There are customers who like such things, right? She was seated in an escape pod when I picked her up. It seems that she went completely bonkers here. Her mind’s all blank, so she’ll listen to anything no matter what!”
The woman looked at the girl’s face. There was an irritating smell of perfume moving up the girl’s nose, and though she thought that this was basically the smell of a toilet air freshener, her body and mind would not react. The woman clicked her tongues as she hummed, nudged the girl by the head and pushed her into the shop. The girl’s swaying footsteps stepped right into the water puddles, and the neon lights reflected off the water surfaces shook as well.
Banagher and Marida were staring at the girl’s face there. That dirty face with a head full of unkempt long hair was facing them. The 12th position underaged girl remained defenseless as her body remained there, looking up at a certain spot in the sky…
“So then.”
The man received some money from the woman and hurriedly left. The man who pulled me out from the darkness of the cockpit, the man who should me my new master is leaving. Master; the girl pursued after the man as she gave a voice from her throat. “I’m your master from today on!” The woman grabbed the girl by the shoulder and exhaled a smelly fat smell.
Master. She would not be able to survive without her master, the one thing bonding her to this world. But as the girl was about to step into that world, her master would change every night. Her new mission was to accept any requests the master made and satisfy them. They would be rotten slugs licking all over her, and after everything ended, the girl would feel that she was garbage. The dirty water accumulated within her, and her sense of existence would gradually vanish. Finally, what was left was the bag of dirty water under the raw skin that accumulated.
However, I had to listen to master. That’s because I’m alone. There’s no difference between getting into a mobile suit to fight and serving different masters every day as I can’t let my own will interfere. In the end, artificially created beings don’t need wills. I should have just followed orders to serve and dedicate like my sisters, and I wouldn’t be left behind as a result.
The cheap bed let out a creaking sound, and the smelly stench blew all over her face. She endured the backlash from the lone intention she accidentally had, and at this moment, the hollow blue eyes were looking at the ceiling that was swaying up and down. The rotten smell felt like it was corroding her body, and it became her smell—
Light. Icy cold light that represented loss.
She could see the white ceiling. It was the ceiling of a treatment room that looked much poorer and dirtier than a Neo Zeon medical facility. The bald man in white clothes mused with a tired voice, “She’s still so young…”
The silver washbasin that was placed beside the bed vaguely reflected her face. The 12th sister body that became 15 years old was lying on the bed, and she blankly opened her numb and dazed yes. Her expression suddenly tensed up, and her hand that searched for the thing under the lower abdomen froze.
It was gone. It was stolen. Something that grew under the body, that certain thing that was becoming bigger bit by bit was taken away. The girl did not know what it was, but she understood that something very important was already…
The man who looked like a doctor walked out from the curtain, and she could see the treatment table that had apparatus to fix the legs down. The syringes, scissors and a hook shaped rod were left on the table without much thought. Did that thing pull it out? The moment she made that guess, she was prompted by fear as she nearly screamed, and her body nearly rolled off the bed and landed on the floor. She could not stop shuddering, and what rose up within her was a feeling a disgust. Someone secretly dug out something from her body, and the unforgettable pain spread through her body.
What exactly, have I lost? The words were formed within her chest, but she was unable to convert them into words, and she was carried out of the treatment room by the doctor. “You didn’t hurt the product, did you?” the middle aged woman waiting in the standby room was smoking there “No, but…” the woman did not really look at the doctor who answered “Then, let’s go back.” as she merely turned behind. The 12th sister stopped in her tracks as she stared at the woman.
Her body felt weird ever since a while ago. She felt something around her stomach forming, and her periods stopped as well. What is it? I hope I can put it back if I can. That’s a part of me, and it’s definitely something important.The girl turned her voice that was not released into a stare, and the middle-aged woman momentarily changed expressions as she looked over, “Let’s go. What are you doing!” The woman commanded her as she pulled the girl, and the girl could only stutter over.
“THAT HEAVY STONE WAS TAKEN AWAY, RIGHT? SO COME HERE, YOU!!”
The woman screamed hoarsely as she tried to pull the girl’s body as she remained rooted to the floor. No, that’s not a huge stone. The voice in her chest never materialized itself in the end as she was pulled onto a dilapidated street. She was pulled onto an electric car that was parked beside the street, and the car moved towards the bustling street the shop was. The usual and mundane street scenes passed by outside the window, and the complex looks people had passed by. The bicycles were gathered together, the children were running around on the streets, a young mother was pushing a baby car, a baby was crying there…
These scenes passed by in a blur, wet manner, and icy cold water flowed down her cheeks. Tears. She never cried when she lost her master and her sisters. She didn’t bear a child willingly. Banagher continued to feel them flow down the blue hollows as he thought. However, whether I was willing or not, it was still a ‘light’. Marida’s thoughts answered. A ‘light’ was born within an artificial being’s body, and it was much more dazzling than any light she had seen till this point. It could have been a ‘light’ that could light this dull, dark and cold world.
That thought can be considered the selfishness of a mother. The two thoughts continued to merge with each other as they toyed with each other That may be true, but I still want to rely on this ‘light’. That’s because souls’ are lonely… and tears continued to roll down the girl’s cheeks as she touched the lower abdomen where there was no heat left. Her teary face was reflected off the car window, and the wet reflected image disintegrated—
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU! BARGING INTO OUR SHOP LIKE THAT!”
“SHUT UP! YOU OLD HAG! YOU’RE TREATING A BRAT AS A THING HERE! IF YOU DON’T MOVE ASIDE, I’LL WRECK THIS SHOP!”
Someone roared. The girl raised her lazy body and she sat up and looked at the metal door on the dirty wall. The high decibel sounds rattled through the door, and the shocked mice hurriedly scampered away.
The bottle that was used to store urine was toppled onto the floor, and the stains spread on the floor as a result. I’ll be beaten if I don’t hurry up and clean up. The girl thought, but she had no strength to get off the bed. How long has it been since that unlicensed doctor pulled that stone out of my stomach? That girl’s body was wrecked ever since then, and she could only remain in this underground room and lie around like a slob. As I expected, that was my other half. The 12th sister stared at her skinny hand that was like an old person, giving an unconcerned look as she heard the noise outside. This bag where the other half of the body was ripped off could not even contain the dirty water anymore. The body that inhaled the damp air of the underground room was just a pile of sodden residue.
GATAK. The sound that shook the room rang, and the metal door was opened. The light from the corridor shone into the room, and the girl could not help but use her hands to cover her face. It was a light that was overly bright to her eyes as she had never seen the sun for several days. A man was standing there with his back facing the light. The man was about to step into the room, but hesitated as he used his hand to cover his nose, and the urine bottle the mice toppled was lying there. The man looked at the girl and said “it’s her.”, while another hulking figure appeared there.
That person never showed any signs of disgust with regards to the puddles at his feet and the stench that filled the room as he gradually approached the girl. Is this man tonight’s master? The girl understood this, and her body moved on her own as she stood on the icy cold floor. As the sweaty and stained clothes slid off, the girl faced them while being completely naked. Perhaps those figures gasped because of the bruises all over her body? The girl was slightly relaxed as she knew that this master did not seem to have that kind of interest. Her current situation was such that she probably would not be able to finish those bondage or beaten missions…
“HOLD ON A MOMENT! THERE’S A SCARY BIG BROTHER WATCHING OVER THIS SHOP! GET AWAY FROM THAT GIRL RIGHT NOW!”
The woman screamed outside the room. The man silently picked up the towel beside the bed and draped over gently over the girl.
“I’m taking this girl away.” This voice echoed through the room, and the face that was covered in thick sturdy beard entered the girl’s gaze.
“This girl’s our military’s property. Thank you for taking care of her.”
The infuriated face that was of stark contrast to the deep, calm voice filled the man’s face. “WHAT’S WITH THE INVOLVEMENT WITH THE ARMY? ARE YOU THE DEFEATED SOLDIERS OF ZEON? I’LL CALL THE COPS THEN…” the woman said that, and the man’s voice interrupted, “Try it if you dare.” and the grip of the handgun in the man’s clutches was shaking in front of the girl.
“I’m very angry now. It doesn't matter whether it’s the police or the mafia here; I can kill a hundred of them in my state of mind right now. Don’t piss me off.”
The other man pulled the woman, who shut up and retreated back, onto the floor, and screams and growls gradually faded away. The girl did not mind the noises as she walked towards the bearded man in the room. The towel draped over her body slid off, and the skinny girl stepped on it. As the girl reached her hand out, intending to touch the face’s bearded face, the man seemed to force out the words “That’s enough” as he used his wide hands to grab the girl’s arms.
“You don’t have to do such things anymore. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry…”
The face with the light behind looked down, and the eyes of the man that were holding onto the girl’s arms tightly showed a slightly glowing thing. Why is this man apologizing? And why is he crying? The doubts that passed through the girl’s mind was merged together with the heat that resonance, and her matching blue hollows continued to stare at the man’s face. The girl had been hugged by many masters before, but no one held her arms so forcefully and yet so gently.
However, the girl could recognize this warmth. A long time ago, a hand reached out to her from the water surface. The warmth of the human hand she touched when she was pulled out from the capsule was about the same as this so as this hand. The girl focused all her consciousness on the thick and hard hand of the man. Warmth flowed out from there, and as she felt the cells within her shaking, the girl looked up at the man’s eyes. The slightly wet man’s eyes reflected her black and dirty face. Who are you? The girl tried to ask.
I’m me. The her present in the eyes answered. You’re not the 12th sister, but a one and only existence granted the name of Marida Cruz. You have a real master, so you must live for master. Don’t live on because you’re created this way, but give your all to serve your master.
This warmth is the real ‘light’, the one and only ‘light’ that reached into this darkness. Don’t let go of this ‘light’. Go do what master hopes for you to do, fight master’s enemies until this body of yours get burned one day, and all your sins and guilt return to nothingness— Marida’s thoughts were calling out within Zinnerman’s eyes That’s just a curse on yourself! Banagher’s thoughts interrupted at this point. That’s just a curse you set on yourself. The Captain doesn’t want you to do that in the first place.
I know. You’re right. But I said it before, didn’t I? Righteousness might not be the only thing that can save humanity… Marida’s retorting thoughts merged into the light, surrounding the girl that was standing blankly in the underground room. The white light covered the entire room, and the girl o opened her arms wide let out tears, and Banagher saw the light transform into heat as it evaporated the tears.
Light. A purifying light that burned all sins and guilt—
This was a sensation that happened within a hundredth of a second.
The mega-particles cackled as they scattered, and the blade of the beam saber was pointed at the cockpit of the 4-winged. Banagher recognized Marida’s existence inside the cockpit, got back his physical senses and pushed the control stick down with full intention.
The “NT-D” sign continued to flicker as the machine braked suddenly, and the impacts echoed within the machine. Marida was not moving, and her deep blue eyes were looking at the sky, waiting for the light closing in on her to swallow her. She was waiting for the ‘light’ that could undo the curse she set on herself, one that would burn the grime inside her body. She was waiting for her battered heart and body to return to nothingness, just like the girl that was lying on the floor of the dim underground room.
Since where is there this kind of redemption? Banagher yelled in his thoughts with all he hand as he tried to make the rioting machine stop. I understand you, whether dream-wise or illusion-wise. When our thoughts overlapped and resonance in that sensation, I saw your existence. Humans can understand each other—and that is the real ‘light’. What you want to redeem you is to reveal the possibility that’s dormant and release the inner god within you. However, you only looked at your past—
The filling thoughts became a light and was released from the Psycoframe. However, despite slowing down, the “Unicorn Gundam” never slowed down in its moments. The pilot’s will clashed with the system, and the machine ended up in a state where it could not control itself as its inertia forced it to rush right at the 4-winged. There was just a few meters left before contact—I definitely won’t allow you to get killed. You wild horse, listen to me!Banagher exerted all the strength in his body to put the control stick down to the maximum and shouted out with all his emotions,
“STOP IT!!!”
The blade of the beam saber beamed the 4-winged’s cockpit hatch, and the Gundarium metals were ripped out as well. At that moment, the beam saber suddenly vanished, and the scorching hot grip was left as it touched the 4-winged’s abdomen. The “Unicorn Gundam” followed its momentum as it slammed right into the 4-winged, and the two giants got tangled together as they stopped their movements, clinging onto each other as they floated along with the inertia of the impact in space.
The red phosphorus light quickly faded, and the dual-eye sensors changed back to its original green color. The face cover then slid off, the V-shaped multi-blade antenna became one, and the light disappeared from the “Unicorn” that lost its “Gundam” form. The helmet attachments were removed, and Banagher bent his body that was practically lying down, puking out the stomach juices that rose up in him.
He took off his helmet, and his back rose up and down as he panted heavily. He coughed a few times, wiped his face that was dirtied by sweat and vomit, and noticed a water droplet, different from sweat, lying beside his eyes. It was not water from his body, but from within his heart. The memories ingrained in the other person’s mind released a form of painful heat and created a resonance in his brain, forming a drop of tear on his eyeballs…
What kind of experience was that? Banagher rubbed his eyes and searched through his memories that were just about to start fading from his impressions as he stared at the 4-winged in front of him. The machine had all sorts of short-circuited sparks spurting out from all over, and as the monoeye was switched off, the face of the giant that was lowered showed no signs of the monstrous look it had when it destroyed “Industrial 7”. The battered, weary and unsupported mobile suit floated within Banagher’s sights, overlapping together with the thoroughly battered naked girl, and the deep blue eyes of the girl that swallowed all filth were giving off cold air, “Miss Marida…” Banagher could not help but call out. The voice should have been heard through the communication channel, but there was no reply.
The cockpit functions might have been destroyed after taking so much damage. The burnt, dented cockpit cover remained as it was. Banagher looked away from the machine that might have took lots of damage, and looked up the moment he vaguely heard some coughing sounds.
(…Only humans, have gods…)
The weak voice rang through the communication channel. Banagher held his breath as he listened to Marida’s voices.
(The ideals they want to describe, the power to approach their ideals…even artificial beings have them…)
Banagher recognized these words—he accidentally blurted these words his father said when he faced that chapel. At this moment, what he heard were the words that followed, these words only he should know, and he lost his voice.
Marida knew these words, and just like he understood her, she understood him. Marida was within him, and he was within Marida…
Suddenly, an intense emotion that could not be suppressed rose up Banagher’s throat, and he clenched his trembling fists. He understood that she was trembling inside him. The strong-willed spirit that harbored the deep abyss of loss, who would not say that she was hurting even though she was, who would not say that she was suffering even though she was, was trembling. What should I say to someone who’s hurt so deeply? I just feel more distant after entering her heart; how can I face this loneliness and sadness—
“Ev…even if…you do this because of this, it’s still not right. Killing off your means to continue living…it’s just too sad…”
The useless words came out, and the helpless tears seeped out as they wet his eyes. Banagher could not say anything. An impulse he could not control rose up his body, and he became one of the many people who tortured her through violence; he had no right to criticize the world for being unreasonable. Marida suddenly smiled and said, (Righteousness might not be the only thing that can save humanity…)
(However…I feel that it’s good that you can say ‘even so’ like that…)
A feeling of respect came from deep within Marida’s thoroughly battered, crushed heart and soul. The voice she eked out crushed Banagher’s heart as he mused, “That’s enough, don’t talk anymore.” as he lowered his eyes that were rolling out hot passion in a flowing manner. You’re not an artificial being. You’re more human than any human. This intent reached the “Unicorn”s skeletal frame, and both hands moved on its own as it cuddled the 4-winged machine into its clutches.
The fires of the battle ended, and as both allies and foes vanished in this starry sea, the two mobile suits embracing each other floated around. The “Unicorn” cockpit finally received its allied unit’s laser signal, telling Banagher that there was a Federation machine approaching him.
The marker indicating the “Nahel Argama” gradually approached Banagher from behind, but despite the calls the Federation machine started making through the wireless communicator, the “Unicorn” and the 4-winged di not move. The two machines floated around, entrusting themselves to each other with “Palau”, covered with dust, lying in the background. The patrolling Federation unit seemed puzzled as it let out burner flares. The weak light surrounded the two still machines, but it could not prevent the scars from appearing in space.
“We lost response from the “Kshatriya”. It’s taken by the enemy ship.”
“The signal from the Psyco Monitor is cut. There’s no change in the Laplace Program. The seal’s still in the same state.”
The operators’ voices rang, and Angelo looked around as if he just woke up from a dream before looking back at the main screen.
The white hull could be seen moving to the enemy ship on the zoomed-in visual that was full of noise. It seemed that the “Unicorn” and the “Kshatriya” were left on the rear deck, but the interference of the block noise made it hard to tell. How long did my consciousness fly off? Angelo shook his numb head, which was still somewhat numb, as he wiped away the sweat on his forehead, and lifted his head on hearing Frontal’s words, “Of course.”
“So if we don’t move to the targeted coordinates, the program won’t move onto the next step even if we activate the NT-D?”
Frontal continued to stare at the screen, and had no other thoughts. The moment the “Unicorn” touched the “Kshatriya”, time stood still, and a suffocating feeling that stuffed their chests surrounded the “Rewloola”s bridge. Did Frontal not experience that kind of inexplicable feeling? As he thought about that, Angelo saw Zinnerman leave the scene wordlessly, and grabbed his shoulder. “Where are you going to, Captain?” In response to these words, Zinnerman shot a vicious look at him.
“Prompt action, of course. I’m going to get Marida back.”
The shoulder Angelo was touching gave off an electric jolt filled with killing intent, and he inadvertently released his hand. Zinnerman used his glare to force aside the bridge crew out of his way as he stepped on the floor and let his massive body float to the do. “Wait! The pursuit order’s not…” Angelo did not have the courage to touch his shoulder as he tried to call the other party, “It’s alright.” But Frontal interrupted the words he was going to say.
“We’ll have the “Garencieres” take charge of tracking down the enemy ship’s whereabouts, but be careful.”
The voice that came from below the mask caused Angelo to understand that there was no intent to lead the fleet and pursue them. He looked over at Frontal with a probing expression, and Zinnerman, who turned his face full of restrained killing intent, “Yes.” muttered as he left the ship. At this point, the Garencieres had lost its main fighting strength, the “Kshatriya”, and had only 3 “Geara Zulus” left as part of its fighting force. Angelo looked at the old ship model that was connected to the side of the “Rewloola” through the monitor, and the captain, who might launch some special assault, could be moving through it. He asked, “Is it okay?” and Frontal used his hand to stroke his chin.
“There’s a need to send someone to send the signals from the Psyco Monitor. The “Garencieres” is suited for this job. The coordinates the Laplace Program indicated isn’t a place where we can send in a large fleet easily.”
Frontal looked up at the input coordinates blinking on the navigation screen, and curled his lips with a self-mocking flair. The coordinates suspected to be where the “Laplace Box” seemed to be an overly dangerous place if they wanted to carry out a military operation here. Perhaps Frontal, who believed that a disguised transport ship could do the job, predicted such a predicament? Even if the release of the “Unicorn” and the reading of its data was just as planned, the capture of the “Kshatriya” by the enemy would be unexpected here. Angeo saw that the masked face showed no expression on the side, and could only look back at the enemy ship that was gradually moving away and put his hand on his heart that had yet to calm down.
Despite the battle that was happening, Marida and Banagher had an intense exchange of senses, and Zinnerman did not hid his killing intent in his eyes as he glared at Angelo. Have I enjoyed such deep emotions with others that were so intense? No, what I should ask is, will I get this kind of relationship in the future? Angelo could not find the answer from this red silhouette which seemed to be living in another dimension, and he turned his fleeting stare outside the window, into the vacuum.
“The pilot’s fine too, right? …I understand. We hope to follow along when we inspect the enemy unit. Please be careful with dealing with it; that’s all I have to tell the captain. Over and out.”
The communication ended as they moved at a similar relative speed to the waverider, and the hands fastened themselves on the grip on top of the machine. After contacting the “Nahel Argama”, Daguza stared at “Palau”, which was moving further away from the “Loto”s driver seat. The enemy fleet never did anything, and there were no signs of enemy suits pursuing. “Palau”, which had cleared itself from its military functions, appeared on the back surveillance monitor through the thin layer of legoliths.
Amongst the ECOAS729 squad that went off first, the “Loto” managed to make contact with the mothership, and the “Unicorn” safely. Their initial objectives were reached, but to Daguza and the rest who were mentally prepared to die as they charged into “Palau”, it felt like they were let off easily in this situation. Banagher Links did not follow the spy’s instructions, but boarded the “Unicorn” itself and even took the 4-winged back to the ship as a bonus.What in the world happened for him to do such things? Despite being willing to accept all outcomes, it seemed that Conroy himself could not view this objectively. “Things really developed well.” There was an abnormal heaviness in his voice.
“That four-winged seemed like it was deliberately left there…let’s hope they don’t pull a joke on us like putting a bomb in it.”
“I don’t think that they need to deliberately come up with some tricks since they can sink a ship like the “Nahel Argama” easily, but Banagher might have been released deliberately.”
“That means those guys will still come after us, right? Those bastards.”
Conroy answered cautiously as he pointed the cursor of the rear surveillance monitor to the southernmost side. Including the dummy ships, there were more than 20 enemy ships that predicted the raid and moved out of the dock. If they wanted to, they could have destroyed the “Nahel Argama” whenever they wanted to. Considering how the enemy left them off, the assumption that Neo Zeon could not analyze the Laplace Program would be correct here. They probably intended to let the “Nahel Argama” and the “Unicorn” go before snatching the “Box” back at the crucial moment.
So we’re still being toyed by the enemy, huh? Daguza clenched his left hand that did not have its cast removed yet as he sighed lightly, “However, I don’t think this mission was in vain” but Conroy’s words surprised him.
“Without the 729 fighting a way out for us, the “Unicorn” wouldn’t have the chance to escape.”
Despite knowing that the enemy planned for this, Conroy still concluded so with a stiff voice. Nasri’s “Loto” had broken communications with them, and they could not retrieve a signal piece of debris. “Of course.” Daguza answered with a similar stiff voice and closed his eyes for a while. From the communication channel, they heard news that three other allied units were missing. One of them was the “Delta Plus” that Ensign Riddhe Marcenas, who ‘returned back’, rode on.”
“…You have to come with us, Nasri.”
Daguza muttered and opened his eyes. He saw the hull of the “Nahel Argama” that lost its portside catapult, and there was a ghost-like ship floating on the monitor.
Think. The shaking machine interrupted Mineva’s sleep, and she woke up.
The narrow cockpit was filled with the sound from the generator, and the walls of the all-view monitor were filled by the CG space. She could not feel any G-force striking her, and she could not see any debris or anything as such. Have we passed through the shoal space region? Mineva inspected her body that seemed to have passed out before, and opened the helmet visor, only to blink when she saw the drinking tube that was handed right in front of her.
“Is there any part of your body hurting now?”
Riddhe, who was sitting on the linear seat, gave Mineva a concerned look. The acceleration of the mass driver was overly powerful, and darkness surrounded Mineva’s eyes as she experienced the fear of nearly sinking into the seat. How long have I passed out? Mineva took the drinking tube and answered, “I’m fine” as she started drinking. The sensation of her gullet throbbing, a feature zero gravity had, reached her throat, and her blurred consciousness became awake as a result.
“The battle’s over. It seems the “Gundam” was taken in by the “Nahel Argama”, though I really could see it properly.”
Riddhe turned his eyes forward and started drinking from the tube. “We broke off laser communication here. Nobody’s pursuing us. They probably think we’re dead now.”
The self-mocking voice had a sense of burden, one which a soldier knew that he was doing something improper. Mineva did not feel that any spoken apology would have worked as she muttered softly, “…Is that so?” as she looked over at “Palau” which was becoming distant.
The silhouette of “Palau” became smaller than a pinkie’s fingertip as it was buried amongst the stars, and it was impossible to distinguish the shape clearly. What exactly did I betray, and what did I leave behind to come all the way here? Mineva could not arrange her thoughts in this situation as she harbored restlessness over her ignorance. She stared at the “Palau”, and the words “Don’t look back” caused her shoulders to jolt.
“We can only move forward, whether it’s you, or me…”
Riddhe said, using a tone that seemed to be an attempt to convince himself as he exerted force on the control stick. Mineva did not say anything as she looked back forward.
There was an azure blue light, the size of a tennis ball, sparkling before the endlessly expanding space, floating in space in a middle manner. That place is the start of everything, a place we have to return to— Mineva mused in her chest unwittingly, and the “Delta Plus”, which transformed into a waverider form, continued to sprint through the eternal darkness. The Earth looked like it was ignoring the disputes that happened in space as it radiated a one and only light, waiting in front of the duo.
