Editing KSGU:Volume 5 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 11===
(We are now starting at the beginning, and there is no need to be troubled about other people writing the scripts in your life. Just use the God in you to look clearly at the future that is about to begin.)


The extremely hot particles let out a flash, and this impact-like sound that could melt metal rocked the cockpit Banagher was in. The hyper bazooka barrel was sliced in half as it floated it, and as the machine leaned backwards, the “Sinanju” kicked it in the flank the moment the crossed.

The impact of 25 tonnes, coupled with the relative velocity, was enough to crush a human body as it rocked the entire cockpit. The linear seat continued to shake nosily, and Banagher, who was on it, turned on the throttle to the maximum as he then stepped on the foot pedal with force. The recoil from the impact before caused the “Unicorn” to leave its original trajectory, and the machine dropped in height, causing Banagher to hurriedly light all the thrusters. The “Sinanju” continued to maintain its height skilfully as it continued to fire its beam rifle at the “Unicorn” that barely managed to prevent itself from falling. 

“Hurry up and fight back! Aim properly!”

“I’m aiming!”

Banagher growled back at Daguza as he abandoned the severed hyper bazooka to ready his beam rifle. The reticule overlapped over the red machine, and the lock-on alarm pierced his ears. The source of Banagher’s stress at this point was the Red Comet, the masked man who was called the “Second Coming of Char”—and Banagher visualized the scar between his eyebrows and the piercing stare. He sensed that his fingers on the trigger were so tense that they could not bend properly. At the same time, the mega particles came flying out of the “Sinanju”s beam rifle, and the “Unicorn” managed to dodge right at the last moment before squeezing the trigger a moment later. The depleted magnum cartridge was ejected, forming a column of high energy that flew out in a straight line, lighting the “Sinanju”s frame.

As the particles flew by, the purple “Geara Zulu” darted between them as it continued to fire its beam launcher. ''I should be able to graze it at least.'' Banagher gritted his teeth as he endured these words that accumulated in his mouth, and let the “Unicorn” fly away from the beam that flew above his head. He continued to search for the “Sinanju” that disappeared from the monitor while trying to break through the perimeter net the three enemy units set up. Once he sensed that he could not shake them off, he heard Daguza growl, “Firing to scare the Red Comet isn’t going to work here!” as it went through his body.

“Hurry up and fight seriously. The NT-D should be able to activate if you face that guy. You’ll be toyed till death if this keeps up.”

“Bu…but…!” The anti-G capabilities on the assistance seat aren’t complete. If I let the machine move at full power, Mr Daguza, you…”

''Won’t be able to hang on.'' Banagher said what he wanted to say deep inside his heart and said to his trembling body that he was just lying. He opened the helmet visor, wiped off his sweat, and checked his current location with relation to the “Nahel Argama”. As he had been escaping wildly, the “Unicorn” changed trajectories many times, and at this point, he could not see the white mothership within the sensor. The “Nahel Argama” was moving away every second, and the “Unicorn” was moving into the axis orbit. No matter how Banagher tried to shake them off, Frontal’s squad continued to pursue, and it was a given fact that the “Unicorn” was the only target.

''I’ll be killed if I don’t fight back—'' he knew this, but his body just would not listen. The fingers on the trigger were extremely tense, and Banagher felt that he was trying to dodge instinctively. That was because fighting was scary, and Banagher admitted this. He was scared about the transformation into the “Gundam”, that he would be devoured by the machine, and that he would become the core of the NT-D or whatever system it was. Logically, he knew that these were not as severe as death…no, he might be getting the wrong idea in the first place. The objective of Frontal and his men were probably wear down their forces before capturing this machine. If that were the case, should he just let them do as they please? This machine was meant to be in Neo Zeon’s hands. If he did not resist randomly and hand the machine to them—

“In that case, let me off and bring me back later.”

Daguza stopped Banagher from running away further with a fierce voice and showed a piercing stare. Banagher again held onto the control stick tightly with his hand that was not exerting strength.

“Those guys are probably aiming to wear out our side and capture this machine. But what will happen to the “Nahel Argama” once the “Unicorn” is gone?”

“…I understand.”

“Those guys are experts of war. They will not let go of prisoners easily or let go of enemies they can shoot down. Don’t forget, your friends are still on the ship—”

“I KNOW THAT! I know everything…!”

The faces and names of many people, including Takuya, Micott, Marida, Gilboa, Frontal, Audrey and Riddhe were all swirling in Banagher’s mind, and he felt uncomfortable and queasy. He stepped on the foot pedal and let the “Unicorn” accelerate.

He lit the thrusters and turned his back on the beams that were pursuing him as he did not bother to check the location of the machine and glided around on the orbit at midnight. “Banagher…!” Banagher covered his ears and ignored Daguza’s call as he merely thought about letting the “Unicorn” race forward. He was still very frightened, extremely frightened. He felt a burning sensation when he received this machine from Cardeas, and when he fought to protect Audrey, but at this point, he could not feel anything. The icy cold emptiness continued to swirl in Banagher’s abdomen, and he knew that the tinge of warmth that was left within him was about to be taken away. That was good—no, perfect for him. That burning sensation had the tendency to make him act violently, and it would cause him to hurt and kill without realizing, and cause him to bear a lifetime of guilt as a dishonest bystander…

The approaching alarm rang, and Banagher’s senses suddenly reacted, causing the machine to decelerate. He widened his eyes and saw the debris of “Laplace” approaching from the front on the enlarged window.

The curved frame was shown amidst space, and its whale-corpse like debris continued to be exposed on the orbit over the two axes. Its loose structure was not considered to be a cover, but Banagher did not care about this at all. He needed something to act as a cover, and he wanted to catch his breath without anyone seeing. The Intention Automatic System seemed like it may had detected this fear as it slowed the machine down on its own. The “Unicorn” viewed the “Laplace” debris as a lifeline as it reached its arm forward. It lit its verniers and ducked into the dim opening before stopping weakly. The shield that was deploying the I-field shut off at this point, and the dual-eye sensors that glowed under the facemask gradually lost its glow.

The voice of the speech that showed no signs of ending overlapped with the approaching alert alarm. Frontal’s forces were approaching—but Banagher would not lift his head. His shoulders were rising and falling, and he was panting as if he just sprinted along with the mobile suit. ''I’m useless, I’m really useless.'' His panting seemed like it was going to mix in with his whimpers, and he gritted his teeth, but he still could not control his sobbing, and Daguza silently called out, “Banagher” at this moment.

“I’m getting off. Open the cockpit.

As per usual, is commanding tone did not allow for any suggestions. Eh? Banagher turned his head, but Daguza did not care as he suddenly reached for the display board and pressed the switch of the cockpit hatch.

The sound of airflow struck the helmet, and very soon, it could not be seen. The all-view monitor in front was switched off, and the part that was the size of the hatch slid out. Soon, the debris that was shrouded in darkness appeared in front of them. Daguza let his tall and large body leave the assistance seat slowly as he floated out to the hatch, and beside him, Banagher saw him move, “At this time? Are you serious!?” and he shouted as he grabbed the other man’s elbow. Daguza silently got in front of Banagher and let his helmet stick over to the other party’s helmet.

“You should be able to fight seriously now. Hurry up and transform it into the “Gundam”.”

The vibration of the voice passed through the helmets, and it involved more human contact than the wireless communicator. His eyes saw through Banagher’s lies and weaknesses through the visor, “But that…!” and Banagher in term answered.

“It’s not...it’s not like that, it’s not like what you think. I just…”

“Banagher, I saw the moment where the NT-D was about to activate.”

Daguza said as he put his hand on Banagher’s hand that was placed on his elbow. On hearing these unexpected words, he blinked his teary eyes.

“It was the moment when we made contact with “Laplace”, when the speech started to play. It seemed like you didn’t notice it, but the NT-D seemed to be reacting to your emotions. It seemed that your heart sensed something when you heard the voice of the “Laplace” ghost.”

“My…heart?”

“This machine isn’t a killing machine…that’s meant to eliminate Zeon. There is another unique trait in the “Unicorn” that is completely different from that of a killing machine. The only thing that can pilot it is probably the pilot’s heart, a heart that can understand, gets hurt easily, and can cause fear in others, and also, a heart that’s fragile, lack efficiency, and one that should not exist sometimes.”

From behind the helmet visors, Daguza’s eyes that were giving a knife-like glint were smiling. A slight burning sensation beat within Banagher’s heart, and landed at the bottom of his abdomen that became gold. Banagher tried to look into Daguza’s eyes, and on a closer look, Daguza’s expression was wavering as well. Banagher stared at the eyes that were not different form his, and looked down at where the vibration came from.

“Maybe that is the true identity of the Laplace Program. It controls the NT-D activation conditions, and guides the passenger to the “Box”…your father is really not a fraud after all.”

These unexpected words caused Banagher’s heart to jump, and he could only look away. “That’s…” Daguza stopped Banagher with a  wry smile “That’s enough. I’ll ask you later on regarding this.”

“There’s no time to talk. Once I go out, retreat into the debris and wait for my signal.”

“What do you intend to do?”

“ECOAS has its own way of fighting. I rather do something worthwhile than to be a burden in the cockpit. You should fulfil your responsibility too.”

Daguza grabbed Banagher’s shoulder and pushed him onto the linear seat gently. “What’s my responsibility…?” he asked, and Daguza pointed at his chest, “This place knows well.” and said with a steady voice.

“This is a one and only cog that can make decisions on its own. Don’t lose it.”

After finishing off with this, Daguza moved his helmet away to break off contact. The eyes that had some form of closeness were gradually fading away, and the thick green normal suit that wrapped itself around the tall and large body floated out of the hatch. Banagher was bothered by this cockpit that suddenly felt wide, and called out through the wireless communicator. “Mr Daguza…!” (Close the hatch! The enemy’s nearby!) Daguza attached the land mover onto the life support system on his back as he ordered, left a small trail of jet flares and vanished amongst the vacuum.

The motion sensor indicated that the enemy forces were gradually surrounding “Laplace”. Banagher had no choice but to close the hatch, and tried to look for Daguza through the optically-corrected all-view monitor. ''It’s natural to be scared, it’s alright to be scared, to run, but don’t do anything foolish that will cause you to betray yourself'—'' the words Banagher heard before swirled in his abdomen, his originally cold body started to heat up with a fire-like ‘heat’ within him, and he sensed this as he put his somewhat tense hands back onto the control stick. ''Heart,'' this ordinary term throbbed within Banagher’s heart as if it wanted to let the ‘heat’ that was just born spread through the body.