Editing KSGU:Volume 7 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 9===

In terms of outcome, there was no need for Riddhe to correct his opinion on the Torrington Base. The local time was 1330, and the base took in the “Ra Cailum” that was expected to dock in. it was a place of paved concrete in a corner of the wilderness.

A desolate mountain range—naturally, these mountains did not originally exist. They were the rocks left behind from the impact—the base 2km wide was fenced up with the mountains at the backdrop, and the headquarters, barracks and hangars, these impersonal buildings were everywhere within this place. The garrison mobile suits in the hangar comprised of the old machines from the initial 3rd generation machines, but there was no sight of the latest “Anks”a" mobile suits. There was a little war memorial in the base, filled with the mobile suits’ debris that were exploded and burnt, but this was most probably the result of haggling over the expenses for the asphalt. The base did not look like it came to life, even with the flagship of the Londo Bell docked in here out of a sudden, but even when looking from afar, the operatives that were obviously demoted looked emotionally drained. It seemed that the barren sight at the end of the world was overlapped with the gloomy day as even the music from the welcoming band seemed melancholic.

The “Ra Cailum” turned the cooling plate at the bottom of the ship 90 degrees inwards and landed on the temporary dock located at the western end of the base. There were countless landing pads on the docking ground, bearing the weight of the 500m long ship equally. However, though it was called a temporary dock, there was not a single wall around. The “Ra Cailum” was sitting in a corner of the base undefended, but there was no need to worry about it being spotted by anyone in this empty wasteland. Once the landing was done, Riddhe, Nigel and company got down to the mobile suit deck. The entire ship was to be on guard until the “Unicorn” and the “Banshee” were moved. Riddhe, who was still excluded from the squad, had to check the heavy repairs done to the “Delta Plus”.

This stop had to remain low profile, so all ceremonies of having soldiers lineup or the base commander invite them were omitted, but the inside of the ship was still in a frantic mess as the two mobile suits were moved out. The deck crewmen were all running around without rest, either packaging the spare parts of the “Banshee” or coordinating the large trailer moving the “Unicorn”. The shutter leading to the deck at the back were all opened, and even as the air outside was flowing into the mobile suit deck, Riddhe continued his own work. “We came all the way here, and they still want us to remain on standby? There has to be a limit to how cautious we can be.” Watts once complained, but his view would definitely change if he had known that Mineva Zabi was on this ship. Either way, it was a good thing for Riddhe now that he had a job he could focus on. He would not have to worry about any other thing during this time, and he would not have to curse himself for being unable to do anything or feel out of place for being unable to vent his frustrations.

Even till this point, he had not established contact with his father, and though he had looked for Captain Bright, the situation had not improve, and Mineva would definitely be taken to space with the people of the Vist Foundation. He spotted the large Medea-type transport carriers on the runway outside, and wondered, ''how are they intending to head into space?'' The white frame of the “Unicorn” was lifted by the two “Jestas” and laid down horizontally on the trailer, and as he glanced aside at this, Riddhe blankly let his mind thing. Unlike the “Banshee” that was moving into the “Medea” on its own, the “Unicorn” was dragged over by the trailer, and the reason for this was due to the only pilot, Banagher, refusing to work with the Vist Foundation.

''That’s his style alright''…he thought, but felt Alberto’s words appear in his mind again, and bit his lips in the cockpit alone. His rational side was telling himself that there was no reason for him to feel angry, but he could not understand why he felt cheated, and this goosebump he could not leave alone continued to swirl in his heart.

''That guy gave that ordinary look like he simply got involved in this—no, there was already an abnormal feel about him right from the beginning. If he really has the Vist bloodline, I can only describe my two battles alongside him as ironic. He’s supposed to belong to the other side, but I got fooled by him saying ‘you’re a man of your word’, and ended up knowing the fate of my cursed family. I’m like a clown performing here.''

''Is this the curse of the “Box” at work too?'' Riddhe ended up thinking back about the “Box” again, and just when he wanted to shake off this thought from his mind and gather his focus on the inspection, a familiar chestnut-colored hair appeared in the corner of his sights and he felt his heart, which had been beating loudly up till this point, suddenly went silent.

She, with that natural chestnut-colored hair on her, was flanked by the surrounding Vist subordinates in black suits, and was about to get onto the electric car parked at the deck. She appeared on a window of the all-view monitor that was fully switched on during this system check, and her back was clearly shown on it, and Riddhe’s heart, which stopped once, started to beat wildly. He snuggled out of the cockpit like he was trying to leap out from it, and jumped onto the gondola parked beside the hatch. “AUDREY!” he immediately pressed the button to move the gondola down. “What now!?” Sergeant Hanna’s voice rang from before, but Riddhe got down to the deck and yelled, “IT’S ME, AUDREY!” as he leapt off the gondola.

Mineva’s eyes widened as she looked back, and she wanted to break away from the ranks, only to be restrained by the subordinates in black suits. Riddhe however did not care about Martha’s piercing stare as she walked in front as he continued to dash down the mobile suit deck. Mineva could be seen occasionally through the gaps between the subordinates as they waited for the car to pass by, and just when RIddhe was about to see her face, “How troublesome”, Alberto said as he got in front of them.

“I should have told you that you’re not to see her, Ensign Riddhe.”


Alberto’s round face looked hideous, and the pilot of the “Banshee” appeared behind him. Her face under the black helmet looked like a watchdog that would leap at all criminals on her master’s command. Riddhe stopped in his tracks, watched Mineva get accosted away from beyond Alberto’s shoulders, and let out a restrained voice as he said,

“Just let me talk to her for a moment.”

“This is my issue with her. You don’t have the right to stop—”

“We DO have the right to stop you. I should have said before that we have to protect Her Highness Mineva.”

“You dare to say protect when you’re using her as a hostage!? Handle your family inheritance issues in the family! She shouldn’t be involved in such vulgar stuff!”

“If that’s the case, I do feel that it’s more vulgar of a Federation soldier to have a crush on her.”

Upon seeing the fat face sneer, an enraged Riddhe unwittingly walked forward. “Ensign Riddhe…!” Mineva, who was behind the “Banshee” pilot blocking him, was about to be carried up the electric car. ''You’re the only one I’ll definitely protect. That’s what I promise. I suppressed my inner heart and came here just to protect you, but I can’t do anything. We won’t be able to meet again—''this premonition caused his gut to sink, “AUDREY!” and he yelled out without a care for anything else in the world as he merely thought of pushing aside this pilot in front of him and charge right at the electric car. The pilot quickly dodged, reached her arm to grab his arm from the side, and pulled him towards her by using the momentum of the charge. Surprisingly, Riddhe’s legs left the floor easily, and he spun half a round in the air as he landed on the ground.

The tall ceiling of the mobile suit deck appeared in front of Riddhe’s eyes, and the face of the black-suited pilot did not twitch as it appeared in front of him. The electric car door was slammed shut, and the sound of the engine grazed by as the car drove off. Riddhe did not have the time to feel pain, and his sense of rationality was immediately broken as he got up and grabbed the pilot.

“You puppet…!”

''I won’t show mercy even if you’re a woman,'' Riddhe decided as he immediately reached his arm out at the pilot’s chest, but the pilot was faster as she grabbed Riddhe forcefully on the throat. Riddhe grabbed that springy hand and intended to pull it away, but he spotted some emotion flash by the bottom of the pilot’s eyes.

There was a dull light deep within that eyes that were reminiscent of hollows, and the azure blue eyes widened before she stopped moving. The strength of the hand grabbing onto the throat suddenly weakened, and Riddhe forcefully shook it off intently. The pilot backtracked due to the force of the release, and she showed a pained expression as she put her hands on the helmet covering her head. A certain emotion flashed through the bottom of her void eyes, and her eyes which were then filled with life immediately closed up.

“What is it? Is your head starting to hurt again!?”

Alberto turned pale as he pushed aside the flabbergasted Riddhe and went to the pilot. The pilot pushed the hands away and reached her hands for the handrail of the trailer, only to collapse onto the floor. Her hand, pressing onto her head, was tensed up, and her trembling fingers were pressing into her helmet as she ostensibly tried to rip it out—no, she looked like she was trying to squash the skullcap together with it and rip out the brains inside.

“Call Bentner in, quick.”

On hearing Alberto’s restrained voice, the subordinates hurriedly turned around and left. Riddhe did not understand what was going on, and originally intended to look at the pilot’s face as she knelt down. “DON’T APPROACH HER!” Alberto yelled with spite and furor, shocking Riddhe enough to stop him in his tracks.

“It’s because you did too many excessive things that things ended up like this. That’s why I said not to let her take the same ship…!”

Alberto ignored the expressions on the subordinates’ faces as he showed his true emotions and glared defiantly at Riddhe. He then knelt down and got behind the pilot. “Excessive things, you say…?” Riddhe answered, but Alberto did not care about this response as he was only concerned with the pilot, and spoke, “Oi, hang in there. I’ll tell someone to move the “Banshee” there. Head there to rest.” Riddhe took a step back from the place, and looked over at the shutter leading to the aft of the ship. The electric car ferrying Mineva would head through the mobile suit deck in the ship, exit the landing deck on the aft, and head down onto ground. He wondered if there was any way he could catch up, and looked around the mobile suit deck, only to hear a vague cough-like hoarse voice enter his ears.

“The enemy’s, coming…”

He could barely hear these words, and Alberto inadvertently turned to look at the pilot, who shook off the arm on her shoulder as she got on her trembling legs and turned her unsteady eyes at a certain spot.

“This feeling, master…?”

She muttered, and her eyes showed anxiety as there was a certain will rising up from the dark hollow to the surface of her eyes gradually—those were the eyes of a human. Riddhe followed the eyes that were suddenly full of life and stared at the pilot’s face. “Wrong, I’m your master.” Alberto immediately said as he got up, his pudgy back blocking Riddhe’s sight.

“I’m your guardian, I’m the only one who can protect and support you. Repeat this with me, the “Gundam” is the enemy—”

Alberto grabbed the pilot’s shoulders and looked right into her eyes. She turned her eyes, perplexed, and was attracted to his eyes as she repeated, “The “Gundam”…is the enemy”. Her eyes lost all glow, and Riddhe, who did not understand the situation, suddenly felt that this situation simply felt weird as he backed away. At this moment, the alarm rang without warning, causing him to tense up.

The red alarm set on the wall flashed, and everyone working on the mobile suit deck immediately stopped. Riddhe exchanged looks with Alberto, felt a sense of discomfort within him, and was driven by it to respond as he dashed without waiting for the bright to broadcast the report.

He darted past the work vehicles transporting the materials and sprinted towards the “Delta Plus” on the hangar. He was not sure why this was happening, but after witnessing the abnormality of the “Banshee” pilot, he understood that something abnormal was about to begin.