Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume12 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 11===

Quenser, Catherine, and Heivia managed to regroup. The evidence they had found allowed the Legitimacy Kingdom’s 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion to act swiftly.

As soon as the report came in, armored vehicles and military helicopters left the maintenance base zone on Malta.

“I repeat! We have received word that locals supplied with weapons by the Capitalist Corporations have mixed in with the harmless evacuees. Therefore, we will be searching everyone’s possessions to prove your innocence. Please obey the instructions of the powered suit unit. And a warning to the culprits! Your copied anti-personnel grenades will have no effect on our armored weapons!! If you do not fire, you will remain a normal citizen, but once you fire for any reason, you will be recorded as a local saboteur! This is your final chance, so please follow our instructions!!”

When Quenser and Heivia returned to the south side where badly injured Myonri waited, they ran to the roof of the building, lit colorful smoke bombs, and waved them through the rainy sky. There was no heliport there, but a transport helicopter still descended.

They did not need to return to base.

A medic and an old military doctor disembarked onto the rooftop.

“Can the injured be carried up here? The back of the helicopter can be sterilized and isolated for field surgery. It will be enough to extract the bullet and provide a blood transfusion.”

“Thank god. And I mean it. I’m going to let that busty commander step all over me later on. This way!!”

“I was hit in the shoulder by a ricocheting bullet, so could you remove that after you’re finished with Myonri?”

Their busy time was over.

They could not let the 130,000 normal citizens inside the maintenance base zone. Even if it meant delaying the construction of temporary residences, they had to build some roofs around the base to keep out the rain. Everyone was put to work on that. All of the spare materials used (along with the more than one hundred giant vehicles) to construct the maintenance base were dragged out, the usable pieces were gathered from the rubble in the city, and it was all combined as best as they could manage.

In what felt like no time at all, the sun rose high in the sky and then sank back down.

As Heivia had predicted, the Legitimacy Kingdom had begun releasing its rations to the normal citizens. Either way, a large transport ship full of supplies would be arriving soon. Being freed from the unease about the immediate future meant a lot. If they had failed in that, those 130,000 people might have transformed into a rioting mob.

It was late at night when the rain from the dust of the asteroid explosion finally cleared up.

“Big brotherrrr…”

“Hm? What is it, Catherine?”

“I’ll be honest since it’s you, but my bikini’s knots have been a serious problem all day long. They’ve absorbed so much water I can’t get them undone…”

“Catherine, do you know what pi is used to mean in military slang? There are some problems that simply can’t be solved. If they can’t be untied, they can’t be untied. Go see Frolaytia or the old lady and they’ll cut the strings for you.”

“Big brotherrrrrr!! No, don’t abandon me…sob…”

“Stop that. Don’t cry, Catherine. Oh, honestly! Then head back to the barracks and grab a towel. Wrap it around your waist and I’ll use a scissors or a knife to cut the side strings!!”

“Really? Heh heh.”

“Wait. What happened to that tearful look from just ten seconds ago? And come to think of it, you could do this on your own if you borrowed a knife in the barracks. Right, Catherine?”

Quenser sighed, tested the motion of his shoulder now that the bullet had been removed, and called out to Heivia who was walking by.

“I heard Myonri’s going to be fine. Is that true?”

“Yeah. And speaking of which, you took a bullet too, didn’t you?” His awful friend sounded exasperated. “More importantly, the transport ship is going to arrive at the port soon. Looks like we can avoid having everyone starve for the time being. We might actually get something tastier than those soap-like rations we normally get.”

“So that’s why everyone’s been so excited…”

They were on the coast of Malta where Second Venice had come to resupply. Even inside the maintenance base, they could see the transport ship’s flashing signal light out on the dark sea.

“Once this is done, this whole mess will be over. I guess the next step is setting up curtain dividers in the shelters. If we don’t separate out the male and female living spaces, the morals will collapse in no time. Then we’ll have to deal with the kids, the elderly, the pregnant, and the injured. After giving everyone else such a warm welcome, we’ll be the only ones left out, won’t we? Don’t tell me we won’t get any of the fatty steaks.”

Then a large shadow passed by.

“Is that the Information Alliance’s Rush? I guess the Oh Ho Ho is on there.”

“I wonder how she’s doing. I doubt she likes protecting the transport ship in the Princess’s place.”

And as they discussed the situation, “it” happened.

A cruelly blinding light filled the dark sea.

In an instant, the large transport ship was blown away as easily as a sugar sculpture.

The two idiots’ minds went blank.

They very nearly gave up trying to figure out what was happening before their eyes.

But that would not stop it from happening.

Yes.

“Wait, what just happened…?” Heivia forced the words out of his dry throat. “Did the damn Rush really just do that? Did she sink a peaceful ship full of humanitarian aid!?”

“Oh Ho Ho, are you serious…?”

They watched as the giant dark demon calmly crossed the deadly sea. No other Object in the area could move. No matter what ship or aircraft approached, that cutting-edge Second Generation could destroy them.

And the Legitimacy Kingdom had already released their own food supplies to the normal citizens on the assumption that they could resupply.

They had no food.

If their supply line had truly been severed, Second Venice and Malta were entirely isolated in the middle of the sea.

The only ones that were safe would be the Information Alliance military who had yet to take any action. They had formed a fleet out at sea and there had been no word of them releasing their food supplies. If they were fully supplied, they could stay there for a month or two.

Was this to take back Second Venice now that the Baby Magnum was out of the picture?

Or did they have some other reason?

There was only one thing they could say.

“You’re willing to go that far, Oh Ho Ho? Do you intend to starve 130,000 unrelated civilians to rob us of our power!? Goddammit!!”