Editing KSGU:Volume 5 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 12===

At that moment, the bright afternoon sun on the South side was starting to darken. “That’s the one.” Ronan Marcenas was prompted by the voice of Vice-admiral Mauri as he looked at the Eastern sky through the window glass.

With their backs facing the messy clouds, three black shadows gradually appeared. They started to get bigger in front of their eyes, showing their plane silhouettes as they started to descend onto the runway below.

Out of the trio, Ronan saw the two machines that were surrounding the centre one. '' Those are Federation fighter jets called TIN COD 2, I believe. '' As he thought about that, the machine in the middle suddenly slowed down, and Ronan could not help but put his face close to the window. He saw the machine that was slowing down disintegrate its parts at the next moment, and formed a silhouette that was completely different from before.

The steam that was released in an explosive manner became a thin layer that covered the machine that became a humanoid. ''That’s the “Delta Plus”—is that the mobile suit my own son ‘deserted’ in?'' Ronan tidied his tie and stared at the smart-looking unit that had a thick grey color. Ronan was already used to seeing such 20m tall giants before the One Year Year, when the Principality of Zeon army launched the “Zakus” onto Earth, and though it did not make this man who was in his fifties speechless, the instant transformation of the plane into a humanoid was still amazing. The “Delta Plus” burst out the main thrusters on the back as the two TIN Cods IIs passed by from above. It did not descend onto the normal runway, but onto the landing spot for mobile suit training. The flames from jets supporting the large body caused the light to be refracted, and the glass of this command post more than 200m away rattled slightly.

A car ramp, fire trucks, and electric cars with armed guards were mobilized at that time as they rushed to the spot where the mobile suit landed. The “Delta Plus” landed splendidly onto the middle of the circle, the carbon lined spot that was burnt from the thruster flares. The deep rumbling reached the reception room where Ronan was, and the coffee laid out on the table rattled slightly. The humanoid machine put the beam rifle into the back rack before kneeling down. After that, it seemed to cease all actions.

''So that boy can pilot such a thing.'' Ronan imagined his son’s face on the rugged-looking machine, and felt a sense of pride and also a sense of abandonment. “What he does really troubles me.” Ronan looked back the moment he saw that, and noticed Vice-Admiral Mauri, who had all sorts of medals lined on his chest, give a concentrated frown as he looked outside the window.

“He left the battlefield on his own and broke through the Earth defense line on his own…because of the commotion beforehand, the defense line is already prepared to strike back anytime. I really wonder what will happen if we were a step late in our response.”

The Lieutenant Colonel, who was still waiting together just now, had left the room in order to supervise the retrieval. The attending officer who was acting as an aide went out with the commander too, so only Ronan and Vice-Admiral Mauri were left inside this reception room as they faced the runaway. “I understand. Thank you for your grace.” Ronan said with his back facing the other man. It had been 5 hours since Douglas came barging into the office this morning, having spent half a day contacting all related personnel and deployments to cancel all his scheduled appointments; and he could not bring himself to face the Vice-Admiral was giving a look that he did his best like this.

Even so, Mauri’s words were not an exaggeration. The Marcenas’ family name did reach within the army, but there was no reason that it would be so familiar that they would let anyone randomly pilot a suspicious machine and invade Earth like that as and when they wished. It was luck at work that Duty Officer of the Anti-Air forces made the call for confirmation, and it was luck at work when Ronan just so happened to be there, awaiting his slightly late breakfast. If the situation happened during a Parliamentary Session, the contact would definitely bounce around amongst the secretaries, and the “Delta Plus” would most likely be shot down without any confirmation of its identity.

If one had to mention it further, this Vice-Admiral Mauri would definitely be considered lucky too for being in North America at the right time. The “Delta Plus” was once detained in the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the reason why it was brought to this Atlanta Naval Air Station was mostly due to the power of Vice-Admiral Mauri, who used his authority as the highest ranked Aide. Mauri was getting ready to enter politics, and he had been spending half the year on Earth, working to expand his relations with people all over the world. In this sense, he would be the lucky one.

In the Senate Council of the Earth Federation, the largest council—the Migration Issues Committee had the initiative in deciding the Space Administration Plan. There were not many chances that he could make the Council Chairperson owe him a favour. I’ll hear out what happened later on.” Mauri, who spoke on, smartly emphasized his authority, and on the other hand, his face was showing surprise about this luck that befell on him.

“But is this really not what you ordered, Chief Senator?”

“Don’t joke around, whether it was the mail before this or this incident, they’re both shocking revelations to me. Of all bad things to get involved in, that incompetent son of mine actually got involved with the “Box”.”

Ronan immediately let out these words to observe the expression on Mauri’s face that was tanned from golfing. Mauri immediately looked and vaguely met Ronan in the eyes through the reflection on the window before answering timidly, “Regarding that, the Senate Council would have mistakes too.” Ronan noticed that expression which relaxed at that moment, determined that he was not suitable for politics, and looked outside the window.

“There aren’t just one or two pets reared by the Vist Foundation and Anaheim within our circle. I suppose since it’s not an actual battle, not all guns will be pointed out…I didn’t know anything until I saw the mail sent to you, Chief Senator, about your son being a crew member of the “Nahel Argama”.”

“It will be easy to deal with if the military can understand the importance of the “Box”. They actually let the Foundation instigate them into letting the “Nahel Argama” attack “Palau” on its own…logically, it is possible to kill off the “Sleeves” if Londo Bell were fully mobilized.”

“What you say may be reasonable, but we have no idea what exactly the “Box” contains. It’s really hard to use more military force than that when we’re not even certain of what it is…”

Mauri lost the smug expression he had before as he spoke with the look of a public official, a general. ''This man is lucky,'' Ronan thought. ''It’s better for him to view this urban legend of how the existence of this “Box” can topple the world as something with very questionable validity here.'' Ronan reached his hand to stroke his chin that dropped noticeably, tidied the tie that was loose, and argued back without looking, “It seems the “Sleeves” have abandoned “Palau”.”

“Have the Senate Council understood the meaning behind this?”

“Of course. Since Neo Zeon gave up on their base, it seems like they’ll launch an all-out attack while destroying everything. We should thus strengthen our defences—”

“Nope. Full Frontal is a very shrewd man. He won’t give up a base easily if he estimates that he won’t be able to match the Federation in strength.”

“No way. But Neo Zeon’s current fighting strength is less…”

“There’s still the “Box”.”

Ronan concluded and looked right at Mauri. Mauri gulped and gave a doubting look to the other man.

“The mobile suit in this UC plan has the key to opening the “Box”…I did hear that the “Nahel Argama” reclaimed it, but there’s definitely a transmitter installed by the “Sleeves” there. Don’t take random action on that mobile suit; it’ll be better if we can hurry up and send it to “Luna II” fast.”

“Yes, but…”

“The Federation took the initiative, right?” Ronan pursued on while staring at the mumbling Mauri. “The “Sleeves” will also give pursuit. If we let them make contact with the “Box” first…”

“I’ll send the message to headquarters.”

Mauri said quickly and hurriedly scampered out of the reception room. It was already late, but in a certain sense, he would still work hard, and would have the excuse that he did all he could. His instincts in regards to his job were not sharp, but people like him would show terrific reflexes to protect themselves. “That’s good.” Ronan muttered to himself and looked out of the window again. The “Delta Plus” lowered its head right in front of him, and was surrounded by numerous a large number of vehicles, giving off red signal lights as they surrounded the scene furiously.

The car ramp was moved to the side of the giant, and the roof reached the cockpit cover at the abdomen. It seemed that the lights were still refracted due to the leftover heat from the machine, and for safety sake, the guards who were the size of beans raised their rifles and aimed it at the cockpit. The wireless communicator should have connected, but the “Delta Plus” showed no signs of opening. He probably understood that he has no right to grumble even if he was shot to death—no, he probably considered the safety of his passenger.

Ronan could not help but sigh. Most likely, his son was requested by his superior officer to send a mail for aid from the isolated “Nahel Argama”. After he helped carry out procedures to withdraw him, he escaped back onto the battleship, causing chaos, took a fighter unit on his own, went right back at Ronan, and even had a ridiculous passenger with him, the Princess of Zeon.

Even if they manage to block the media, the Dakar residents with sharp eagle-like eyes were not that that easy to deal with. In a few days, the developments would spread amongst the Senators, and it will affect the countermeasures the Congress would make regarding the “Laplace Box”. While he wanted to reveal the intentions of the plotters and deliberately keep himself away from this incident, he still ended up being involved at the core of this incident. ''Is this the magic of the “Box”?'' Ronan mused, and his chest started to ache as he clasped the hands behind his back.

''Riddhe, you came to the last place you should be at—'' Ronan felt his chest suffocating as he murmured, and he silently noticed the cockpit cover on the “Delta Plus” abdomen opening. He saw the pilot raise his hands and walk out from the cockpit. It had been 3 years, but he could tell from first glance that the person in the pilot suit was his own son as the son walked down the car ramp before removing his helmet in front of the guards. Ronan felt that his son was looking right at him, and his chest started to ache again.