KSGU:Volume 3 Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Part 1

(The bow will be directed in a new direction. Opening the hatches for the 1st to 4th catapult. Mobile suit squadron, get into launching position.)

The voice of Operator Bradley could be heard as the catapult hatches opened. Riddhe moved the “ReZEL” unit 008 forward, let the machine step on the catapult, and could not help but let out a call of amazement as he looked at the scene outside.

“This is…!?”

The 3rd catapult deck was extend out into the vacuum—if the Nahel Argama’s shape could be described as a wooden horse, the right foreleg would be the exposed catapult. A large amount of debris was surrounding them in the midst of the current, as blocks of all sizes floated towards the stern of the ship. Occasionally, debris the size of a mobile suit would graze past the catapult. It felt like swimming in the midst of remains. However, the Nahel Argama itself was moving forward, and the reason why this misassumption would be thought of was because they were leaving the collapsed colony remains, and the scattered rubble flow looked like they were moving from the back to the front.

If we moved in the same direction as the debris, the relative velocity on both sides will be negated, and the surface area of the ship being hit could be reduced to the smallest possible area. This would be a welcomed arrangement for the mobile suit that would be shot out from the bow, but can we leave the ship safely? If we slam into a debris that comes from behind when we fly out, we’ll be squashed immediately…no, before I even worry about that, let’s think; how am I going to catch sight of the enemy in this messy space? Riddhe swallowed his saliva as he looked around the debris that kept floating around. (We chose a very bad time to launch), the voice from the wireless communicator caused him to close his mouth. It was Lieutenant Commader Homare of Romeo 004.

“It’s rare that you can remain on standby inside the ship. Is this really alright, young lord?”

“I’m not convinced about letting you guys handle this, Lieutenant Commander.”

He answered this dig with a dig back. It was something small, but this small action alone gave him a peace of mind. (Oh, you sure dare to answer back). Riddhe heard the Lieutenant Commander as he felt that he could finally be alone. (That’s all for chit-chat). Squad leader Norm’s voice interrupted.

(All units are to form elements after leaving the ship. Juliet 2 with Romeo 004. Romeo 008, follow me.)

The element, as its name would imply, was about using the smallest number of members when forming teams, active teams of 2s. Norm was the attack unit, and Riddhe was the defense unit. Thus, Riddhe’s unit had a long-distance support beam launcher equipped. Everyone was launched out, but it was unexpected that they would only have 2 elements. “Understood.” Riddhe suppressed the timidity that crept up in him as he answered.

(There are 4 enemy units closing in. We have similar numbers, so calm down before going.)

Squad Leader Norm seemed to read his thoughts, and behind him (Path clear. Please launch). Operator Bradley’s voice rang. Riddhe stared at the torrent of debris that showed no signs of stopping, and grumbled “What path clear…?”. (I can hear you, Romeo 008!) The Operator’s voice could be heard, causing Riddhe to cringe. “Got it!” Riddhe grumbled in his heart after answering, thinking that it would be great if Mihiro was the operator.

Looks like she’s still not released from her task to take care of the civilians. Speaking of which, I asked her out to see a movie. What was the type of movie she said she doesn’t really like? Riddhe thought in an absent-minded manner. He intended to think of that mini-tank’s round eyes in his mind, but suddenly ended up thinking about another pair of eyes, and was shocked by it.

Those emerald-colored eyes that looked like they were about to suck him in; those eyes that did not look like they could relax and look at him, the side of that awe-inspiring face overpowered the rest as it appeared in Riddhe’s mind, causing him to be shaken by the lack of understanding of his mindset. Why, why am I thinking of her face when I may end up dying—

“What the heck am I doing? Is it love at first sight?”

He unwittingly said it out. Are you serious? Riddhe asked himself. (…Don’t say it.) Operator Bradley’s seemingly disgusted musing could be heard, “Ah, no, I don’t intend that…” Riddhe was frantically trying to explain, but was shut up by a booming voice (Norm Basilicock, Romeo 001, launching!)

One could see Squad Leader Norm’s “ReZEL” unit 1 glide up from the 1st open-air catapult deck that formed the bow of the “Nahel Argama”. The “Jegan” unit 2 then shot out from the 4th catapult at the bottom of the ship. Riddhe grabbed onto the control stick. Let me survive this before thinking about the rest later. I won’t die, and I definitely can’t die. I must come back and meet Audrey. If I’m really in love, I’ll naturally find out where I should go.

The countdown timer display reached zero. That’s right, I’ll definitely survive. Riddhe muttered in his own heart as he got ready to launch. At this moment, he suddenly remembered. Is that letter to my father sent out yet?

Part 2

(Riddhe Marcenas. Romeo 008, launching!)

The vague voice through the wireless speaker rang. “Ah, it’s Ensign reading.” Banagher heard Takuya say this as he stared at the monitor panel on the wall showing the blue mobile suit with a transformable booster unit on the back glide on the catapult and fly into vacuum.

“Someone you know?”

“It’s the Ensign who had the model plane. I never saw him again after this.”

The biplane model that was fastened on the table with tape could be seen in the direction Takuya was pointing. That was something Takuya did after managing to hold onto the model tightly in the middle of the tremors, and prevent the same thing from happening. “Oh, that one…” Banagher answered he turned his eyes back to the monitor panel that as 10 inches. That’s the young pilot who was chasing the model on the mobile suit deck. He sure feels like he will doubt easily. As he thought, Riddhe’s machine could be seen flying off, leaving behind the blueish-white thruster jets on the monitor.

That machine dodged the debris surrounding the ship like flowing water, and gradually disappeared from the screen. His movements compared to the previous ones were not lackluster…or rather, it felt like that course he chose was the one that would use less effort. Banagher brought his face closer to the visual presented by the camera that was fastened on the catapult. “You guys can watch this later!” Mihiro growled, causing Banagher to cringe.

“Hurry here and put on the normal suits.”

Mihiro carried in 4 normal suits from the locker room and said to them with a sharp voice. She herself was covered in the white military normal suit, and was giving a look of a soldier who would not have time to pretend to be calm in a real battle. “Alright.” Banagher answered Mihiro as he looked back at Audrey and Micott.

Both of them had been in 2 corners of the wide room ever since they returned back to the recreational room, and they never intended to look at each other as they silently put on the normal suits even in this situation. The way they deliberately changed into the normal suits while turning their backs on each other gave an ominous vibe. While it was okay on Audrey’s side, it would not be weird for Micott to explode anytime soon—

“Try and hold yourself down and don’t leave this place. I’m going outside to check on the situation.”

Mihiro probably was not in the mood to notice the atmosphere as she hurriedly left the room while being tripped by the trays on the floor. Banagher looked at the normal suits that were left on the table, stared at the backs of the girls who were hesitantly changing, and was really not motivated to go to them as he decided to stay in front of the monitor panel. “Oh, this launched from the 2nd catapult.” Takuya switched the channel of the monitor as he mused with fast breathing. Banagher and he watched the back of the transformable mobile suit that got ready to launch.

It was not a misjudgment this time. The ship was attacked by the enemy, and the monitor was showing a real battle. It’s the enemy Neo-Zeon. Will that four-winged mobile suit come back again? “Leave this place with me'' Banagher recalled that cold tone as he glanced at Audrey. Her expression was stiff, but there was no sign of anxiety or fear on her face as she inspected the normal suit. It was like the time when they were facing each other in the dim storage room, the stare that refused from thousands of miles away was looking at something other than this place. Those emerald eyes were showing passive thoughts of taking it one thing at a time, her emotions suppressed by a sense of duty. The ones attacking may be her allies—

The reports announcing that they were leaving the ship were buzzing. “Please, you guys…” Banagher was prompted by Takuya’s earnest voice as he stared at the transformable mobile suit. The giant figure on the catapult deck looked to be smaller, and just when it was about to reach the end of the catapult deck, a pink beam appeared like static, sweeping through the image in a diagonal direction. At that moment, a white light was emitted from the mobile suit that was about to leave the ship, and the monitor suddenly turned black.

The room lost its light at the same time, and the noise of an explosion that rocked the air within the ship surrounded him. The floor was bumped by several meters, and Banagher was knocked into the ceiling for some reason. Amidst the darkness, the cracking sound of something being crushed echoed through the ship; the noises of breaking glass and compressed metal could be heard. Screams and moans echoed through the room. Banagher reached out his outstretched arm, and kept hitting the walls and the floor without grabbing anyone. At this moment, Banagher’s nerves were all numb with pain as he moved his arm, trying to grab something. Suddenly, the emergency red alert flashing in the room dyed the dark room red.

The monitor image was regained, and the visual from the same angle as before was shown on a corner. The image of the catapult deck, stretched into space, was captured by the camera—but the runway that should appear there disappeared. What appeared there was a dark void with debris that were moving in the opposite direction, shining. The pink beam that flashed again left some burns, and the darkness devoid of stars had two, three lights of explosions.

We got sniped…? Banagher stared at this pink beam that was obviously from a mega-particle cannon, took what he deduced and tried to let his aching body stand up. He looked around the room that was surrounded in red light, and checked the locations of the other 3 that were collapsed in the different corners of the room. Audrey was holding onto the holding, kneeling; Takuya had his head stuffed into the flower bed, and Micott, who had her lower body inside the normal suit. Banagher saw that the trio seemed to have escaped fatal injuries, and he was about to move to Audrey who was unable to stand up as a chilling premonition came down his spine without warning.

Something floated past the screen behind him. The red vestige was etched in Banagher’s eyes. That was not the vestige of a beam, but something that was with physical mass. This certain thing had enough killing intent to cause goosebumps was closing in on this ship. That thing was giving off a heavy presence, arriving here with killing intent that went through several layers of armor.

Banagher tried to look for the red vestige on the monitor. The meteor-like shadow did not appear again as a new explosion appeared, creating a dazzling white light in the vacuum.

Part 3

Even though the light filter took effect, the flashes that immediately appeared still dyed the window white, robbing the bridge members’ sighs. Otto collided into the normal suit locker at the back, barely managed to climb onto the captain’s seat rest, and shouted with all his strength, “WHAT’S THE SITUATION!?”

“it seems that a “ReZEL” that was launched got sniped. The left catapult deck took severe damage.

Operator Bradley growled back as he gave a brief damage report from the damage control room. The peripheral view of the ship was shown on the monitor panel above his head, and the damaged parts were blinking red. The portside catapult deck of the Nahel Argama was blown to bits as it was caught in the explosion of the sniped ReZEL. It lost the left foreleg of a sphinx. Otto saw that his ship looked like it was half blown off, and felt that what he saw was a moment of darkness. He put on the helmet of his normal suit tightly, and raised his volume, saying, “EVERYONE, CHECK FOR DAMAGES!”

“WHAT’S THE ANTI-AIR DEFENSE DOING! WE GOT AN ENEMY ON US!”

The 2,600 close-ranged defense artillery, and the main cannon that had a further range than the enemy unit had not been fired. “But adjustments aren’t…!”Otto angrily told off the cannon operator, who answered with a bone-chilling reply. They were trying to estimate where the enemy unit was, even though at this moment, trying to hold off the enemy with bullets without actually worrying about hitting was common sense in actual battle.

“NOW’S NOT THE TIME TO BE AIMING! KEEP FIRING!”

Otto let out a roar through the wireless network to all the units in the ship. He may have ended up embarrassing the cannon operator, but that was all. Anyone would lose functionality after being trained in precision and competing for it. Otto reflected on the time when he viewed ship efficiency as the most important thing and felt regret over it. at this moment, countless inception fire let out flashes outside the window.

The 60mm machine cannon that was meant to counter mobile suits let out a trail of fire of light bullets. Also, there were 2 main cannons equipped on the ship, one about and one below—the 2 twin-barrel mega-particle beam cannons let out sublight beam bullets. The secondary cannons hidden within the two domes on the flanks shot out beams, and the Nahel Argama shot out a screen of fire all over the place, but this was already a slow reaction. The debris that got hit exploded, and as countless bits of light were flickering around the ship, new direct hits rocked the inside of the ship. Otto got back to the captain’s seat, and several seconds later, he was bumped up and knocked into Daguza, who entered the bridge. As Daguza used his injured left arm with the cast on to grab the big man, Otto roared back in a voice loud enough to match the impact noises, “THERE’S ONLY ONE UNIT! KEEP FIRING!”

There was only one enemy that entered the ship’s range as the other 3 units were outside the attack range, intending to watch the battle from the sidelines. What enemies? Otto lifted his head to look at the monitor image, seeing this before returning back to the captain seat and fastened himself with the attachment at the back. Our machines that are fighting it can’t even match its movements. The remnant exploded after the direct hit from the beam, spewing hot debris, and the enemy unit got over to other heat sources to easily get through the fire. Such excellent reflexes—no, this was not a skill a human could pull off. It was like the mobile suit knows all the blind spots of the ship without any data help, dealing damage to the Nahel Argama which lost its foreleg.

“Who in the world is that guy…” As he unwittingly mused, the umpteenth tremor rocked the ship again. The body of the ship was rocked by several meters, and the G-force hit the body that was on the Captain’s body. (The rear main cannon took severe damage). Before the voice of the report rang, Daguza muttered, “The enemy doesn’t intend to shoot the engine room.” Otto opened his closed eyes. Daguza grabbed onto the captain seat’s armrest, his helmet reflecting the explosions of light outside.

“That guy wants to neutralize us before taking the Box.”

Daguza did not look away from the window. The enemy’s trying to wear down our ship’s fighting strength to make us surrender while avoiding damage on the engine room that may sink the ship. That’s the kind o enemy we’re facing. Otto felt his face turn pale, and argued back, “Idiot, how can such a stupid thing happen! We’re talking about a single mobile suit trying to do this…!” He then caught sight of Alberto, who rushed into the bridge, from the corner of his eye. “Mr Alberto, this place is dangerous!” He ignored Liam’s warning that was earlier than Otto’s, and pulled the chair of the sensor. He handed a record card to the sensor operator and turned to Otto, saying, “Use the data inside to check.” Otto was overwhelmed by Alberto’s massive killing intent…or rather, thoroughly fearful face as he gave an expression allowing them to do so. The sensor operator then took the record card he received and put it into the console’s slot. Soon, the data that was read was shown on the sensor visual, and it started matching with the unidentified machine they were fighting.

In less than two seconds, a match was indicated, and the photo of the unidentified mobile suit was displayed through CG hologram. The 3-dimensional picture and the data was shown. Otto silently watched the sensor image. It was a mobile suit that had the smart body line of a Federation unit and also the curves of a Zeon-type mobile suit. It had a one-eyed head, a thruster unit on the back that looked like wings, and the machine was a dazzling red—

“So it’s the “Sinanju”. The enemy’s the “Red Comet” here…”

Alberto backed away from the console and muttered with a trembling voice. Otto felt the wavering air of uneasiness inside the bridge, and parroted back, “The Red Comet…?”

“It was two year ago. Our company developed a prototype mobile suit that was robbed by those guys during transport.” Alberto’s eyes could not remain focused as they moved, and he continued, “The Federation units that were sent to track it down came back in defeat, and the one viewed as the mastermind behind it was Full Frontal, that person called the second coming of the Red Comet—Char Aznable.”

Liam seemed to be enlightened as she lifted her heavy-looking eyelids and looked over. “I heard of it before. That red mobile suit single-handedly took down two Clop ships, called the pioneer of the “Sleeves.”

“That one called “The Lingering Soul of Char” who created a commotion that time, huh? But…”

Impossible. No, Otto himself wished that this situation did not happen. The red mobile suit was like a hallucination amidst the flickering explosions of light in space, and Otto clamped his glove that was drenched in sweat. The fallen king of the old Zeon Empire, Char Aznable, took the reins during the second Neo-Zeon War as the heir of Zeon Deikun. He was the man at the center of the conflict called “Char’s Counterattack”. Even if it were a joke, that Red Comet who vanished without a trace during that final battle could not have survived till now. Some idiot must have been using Char’s name after seeing that he might not have been shot down.

But if that’s the case, what’s with the overwhelming prowess of this enemy in front of us— “The color is different, but this machine is one of the two that were stolen.” Alberto’s next words caused Otto to swallow his stone-like heavy saliva.

“The RX-O is designed from this thing’s data! This isn’t a mobile suit that can be taken down with some half-baked mobile suits! Hurry up and run away!”

Alberto’s pale face was dyed with the explosion of light outside the window at the next moment. The blunt and heavy impact pierced through the bridge, and the bodies that were held down by the chair attachments could only shake. Otto grabbed onto Alberto’s normal suit just when Alberto was floating around, dragged him to the Captain’s seat with all he got, and yelled, “SEND THE RELEVANT DATA TO ALL UNITS!” The echo and the voices of damage reports rang, and the alarm indicating that the enemy was closing in sounded even more rushed.

“THE ENEMY’S NOT SOME DEAD PERSON OR ANY DAMNED THING! IT’S JUST A MACHINE THAT COMES FROM SOMEWHERE! WE’LL DEFINITELY HIT IT IF WE CALM DOWN AND AIM! TELL THE MOBILE SUIT SQUAD THIS!”

Even If we want to run away, we’ll just be hit from the back in this situation. Otto fought back the feelings in his heart that were overwhelmed by the term “The Second Coming of Char”, and stared at the beams that were all over the place outside. Daguza seemed to have some thought as he passed by Otto, while the explosions showed him leaving the bridge silently.