Editing KSGU:Volume 2 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 13===

It’s still a visible battlefield, but the range is rather long when fighting in space. As both sides are moving at several kilometres per second, a little criss-cross will send them going about 100, 200m away. Thus, the pilots use a matter radar that works within 20km to catch sight of the enemy, get close such that the optical sensors—the mobile suits’ ‘eyes’ can be seen, and then attack when they’re getting past each other. They do use beam sabers to slice at each other at zero distance, and they’ll shoot at each other from 10km away as they will then get into the enemy’s blind spots.

Thus, to mobile suit, this ‘cylinder’ colony is way too cramped to fight in. They have to fight with a range of what’s basically a ground battle, use the AMBAC system to fight in mid-air, which is a basic must, and also, they have to handle this unexpected air resistance that is really annoying. Air’s continuing to flow in here as there are artificial currents used for heating near the artificial sun at the center axis, and at the inner wall, there’s air flow caused by the Coriolis’ Effect as the colony spins, causing the winds to interfere with each other and blow.

The mobiles suits of the Nahel Argama enter <<Industrial 7>>, and before they can get used to this environment, they’re caught under enemy bombardment. The first one to lose his life is the 3rd <<Jegan>> unit. The machine becomes a fireball and is pulled by inertia, ending up crashing into the inner wall of the colony and smashed to smithereens. Black smoke flies up from the crash point and is being dragged by the Coriolis Effect, forming a black ring in the spinning inner wall of the colony. They’re unable to scatter inside the narrow space colony, and the pilots of <<ReZEL>> no. 5 and 7 can only cover each other with their backs facing each other as they look around.

They know where the enemy mobile suit is, but what’s scary are the automatic cannons near the clouds—the <<Funnels>>. They’re so small that they can’t be detected easily, and may even slide into their blind spots. The advancement of the psycommu causes the distance control of the <<Funnels>> to be easier, and the movements of the enemy are rather otherworldly too as they haven’t gotten a single hit. This isn’t something that an ordinary pilot can do.

“Is that guy a Newtype...?”

The pilot of unit no. 5 whispered, and the pilot of unit no. 7 retorts back through the radio that’s full of static, “Don’t spout nonsense!” A Newtype can detect the enemy’s ‘presence’ through the armor of a mobile suit, predict their moves and attack; and to the pilots, that’s synonymous with ‘monster’.

In fact, the <<Kshatriya>> is fast, and dodged the moment its enemies were about to fire. However, it’s not an easy battle for Marida at all. The air causes the machine to become heavy, and the movements of the <<Funnels>> becomes slow. She has to consider the safety of the colony and use the <<Funnels>> to surround the enemies and take them down, but the blowing wind is causing trouble for her.

[[Image:KSGU2 106.jpg|thumb]]

However, she can’t just shoot to restrain. The power of the mega-particles may shoot through the outer wall of the colony if it’s shot recklessly. If she doesn’t shoot at the best moment, the enemy units may also crash into the inner wall of the colony. She has to predict the enemy’s movements and let them crash into the airtight walls or the construction place without anyone around. She doesn’t want to let an enemy machine land in the middle of the colony as it is now.

“All because I saw the colony a little bit…!”

The laughing children and the young mother pushing the baby pram appears in front of her eyes. Marida shoots the thrusters and continues to flip consecutively as she closes in on the firing lines of the Vulcan guns. She uses the pillar of artificial sun as a shield, lets out three new <<Funnels>> and use the mechanical arms in the pods to take back the <<Funnels>> that have run out of battery. There’s a mechanical arm for each of the four pods, called hidden hands. The main unit itself has a small beam saber and three simple fingers, and the <<Kshatriya>> takes the <<Funnels>> back like a monstrous windmill. The fire of the Vulcan gun lights its moss green surface, and there’s a grazing sound between the machine and the wide air; the 20m tall monster is flying in the night sky of <<Industrial 7>>.

The fires that are flashing within 3km in the sky look just like sparks from a fairy’s wand. Even when one can hear the sound of the thrusters and Vulcan cannons that sound like a noisy machine is being started, most of the residents still don’t know what happens. The Port Management gave an alert, but not many people at the Autonomy Bureau even knew of why this order was given, and the emergency broadcast on the television only shows the residents evacuating. The police and the firefighters who came out to check on the situation can only look up at the sky with the residents.

Even if it’s like this, the firefighters and patrol cars are moving down the roads after seeing the residential area burn. Some residents are already taking action on their own. Most of them are people who experienced war, and from the stench of ozone in the air that came with the wind, they start to evacuate without waiting for the Autonomy Bureau to advise them. Families of all sizes are carrying emergency backpacks or filling their electric cars with their valuables, and the roads leading to the air-raid shelters are slowly packed out. The Autonomy Bureau never changes the evacuation plans, and the police’s coordination is too slow, making these reasons why the chaos got escalated. Honks and roars continue to echo, and <<Industrial 7>> is gradually sinking into panic.

The oxygen masks that are on the roadside are activated, and calls can be heard. “EVERYONE GET ONE EACH!” “MAKE SURE YOUR CHILDREN HAVE ONE, ALL RIGHT!?” The electric cars that are stuck move towards the opposite lanes out of impatience, and accelerate off while ignoring the police. There are air-raid shelters for emergency refuge all over the place, and people can reach them without taking electric cars. However, they are aiming for the underground space below the colony. 150m deep into the outer walls, there are passages for emergency use leading to capsules for escape.

“Even if we evacuate to the air-raid shelters, we’re dead if the colony’s wrecked. Better get on the capsules.”

Those drivers with experiences of disaster drive off to the construction area. The elevators down into the underground are managed by the colony’s management, and they are not to be opened without the Autonomy Bureau’s permission. However, there’s a chance if it’s the construction area where works are under way. The elevator’s not locked and still activated. Once the information came from the workers, the rows of electric cars cross the barricade and enter the colony. However, there’s a large congestion of cars when they arrive at the cargo lift entrance.

This isn’t because the hatch is closed, but that they feel that the elevator’s moving up. The door’s suddenly rammed open from the inside, and a large tank comes out. This one unit takes up the space of 6 cars as it moves up the elevator. The brown armored vehicle that rises to landscape of the inner wall seem to hesitate on seeing the large number of electric cars blocking their way, but it immediately starts to move forward.

The men who were trying to open the metal door frantically create a path. The tank that’s 10m long and 6m wide at most rushes into the electric cars. The caterpillar wheels are about to crush the electric cars in front of them when the tank suddenly activates its thrusters and flies its vehicle body over the drivers’ head.

[[Image:KSGU2 111.jpg|thumb]]

Its shape transforms, and both ‘feet’ land in the gaps between the cars. The surrounding electric cars are sent flying because of the impact. The upright tank again lets out its thrusters, ignoring the shocked residents. It transforms into the mobile suit <<Loto>> and gets past the cars as if it were jumping over stones, breaking the barricade and leaving the construction area. Daguza watches the disorderly evacuation in a disappointed manner, but he immediately pulls down the captain's periscope and uses the green night vision monitor to look for enemies.

The enemy mobile suit on the monitor that is flailing its 4 wings easily dodges the 60mm Vulcan cannons from the two <<ReZELs>>. Daguza activates the automatic tracker set and calls for the driver to move forward. If possible, he doesn’t want to leave this construction area that has very few people, but a necessary landscape is required to use anti-psycommu weapons. The <<Loto>>’s large body tramples the road of the complicated commercial district, and the jet exhaust of the thrusters shatter the shops’ glass. The <<Loto>> leaps towards the office area.

A 3rd <<ReZEL>> flies out from the cargo transport entrance in the ‘hill’, and fires of Vulcan guns can be seen blazing in the air. they can’t use powerful beam rifles in the colony, and can only take down the enemy’s cockpit with a beam saber. However, the 4 wings cause them to be unable to do anything. The 3 <<ReZELs>> can only be played around with. Suddenly, a beam comes in from a completely different direction, cutting through the night sky and lighting the artificial sun pillar that’s in darkness. The <<ReZEL>> that got hit has its leg broken the explosion rocks the <<Loto>>. There’s static on the night vision, but Daguza notices that the movements of the 4 wings are a little slow. There’s an opening when it’s going to take back the battery-depleted <<Funnels>>—Daguza presses the firing mechanism on the periscope’s grip.

The 25mm cannon that is equipped on the right shoulder of the <<Loto>> releases sparks, and fires out a tracer round out of every five shots. The green light glides through the sky. Physical bullets that are shot on Earth will create an arc down due to the pull of gravity, but the colony’s Coriolis’ effect cause the fire to spin in the opposite direction. Of course, the firearms control system of the <<Loto>> reloads it. The fire flies towards the enemy unit at a very high curve, but the 4 wings immediately dodged the fire. It was set at automatic lock-on, yet the machine dodges it with a beautiful somersault.

''It’s like that machine detected our ‘killing intent’. '' Daguza gasps and yells at the pilot, “IT’S COMING FOR US! MOVE!” He wasn’t hoping that the cannon will take the enemy down at all, just focused on watching their own unit. Daguza leaves the driver seat of the <<Loto>> before it changes back into a tank and moves, and opens the hatch leading to the outside.

The wind pressure that strikes surrounds him. Daguza glances aside and sees the buildings gathered in the office area on both sides, and moves up onto the <<Loto>>. He gets onto the cannon which is still smoking with heat, and moves over to the hidden head. He uses the hook that’s fastened on the steel ring to steady his body, and raises a rocket launcher with both hands. 

He puts his face near the conductance bar and watches the aiming scope. Small jet of lights appear in the sky, and the lights that he see in the night screen are becoming bigger. 1, 2…there are 3 <<Funnels>>. Daguza fires the activation switch of the launcher and removes the restrain on the warhead.

The tank-mode <<Loto>> knocks aside the electric cars that are parked on the road shoulders and runs on the road at a top speed of 150km per hour. The <<Funnels>> continue to chase with a speed no less than 300km per hour even with the Coriolis’ effect. The enemy probably won’t shoot from the sky to avoid damage to the colony, and will try to get close, surround and shoot at one point. Daguza puts his finger on the trigger of the rocket launcher and waits for the chance. The <<Loto>> reaches a cross junction, and the vehicle turns 90 degrees.

A <<Funnel>> that got away from the Coriolis effect and are flying 10m away from the ground suddenly stopped. ''Now!'' As they appear from the corner of that large building in front, Daguza squeezes the trigger, and the launcher fires a ‘net’ 10m wide with tremendous backfire. It expands in mid-air, and a <<Funnel>> lands inside the steel wires as it's restrained.

If it’s not touching the wall, the centrifuge force won’t work no matter how low it’s flying. The <<Funnel>> under zero gravity won’t slow down or fall, but the net that caught it affects its trajectory and causes it to crash into a building. Once it touches the building under 1G worth of gravity, the object itself will be captured by the 1G gravity. The <<Funnel>> that touches the building shatters the glass, slams through the wall, and slides down on the tarmac surface for several meters before crashing into the phone booth and stopping.

The <<Funnel>>-type automatic cannon is captured by gravity and doesn’t have the capability to fly. Daguza reloads and waits for the next chance to fire. It’s not a flashy plan, but it’s effective. Once he uses this plan to eliminate the <<Funnels>>, his allies can take down the enemy that doesn’t have it’s trump weapon. Daguza is very delighted that the anti-psycommu tactic works. He feels a resounding sense of a real battle, and that’s something he can’t get for being unable to see actual combat. He’s enjoying the bitter taste of adrenaline.

Perhaps this excitement causes his vision to narrow. The next moment the <<Loto>> reaches the next corner, Daguza fires the second shot. The second net that opens takes down another one, but there are people on the road. The crowds of people heading from the offices to the air-raid shelters are walking down the streets in lines.

The <<Funnel>>’s 2m long, but the weight of it isn’t something that can be compared an oil barrel filled with crude oil. The <<Funnel>> that crashes into the ground crushes the electric car on the shoulder, crashes past the barricade and lands on the path. Daguza looks at that twisted piece of metal crush and what seemed like an office lady under it; he's already involved several people in this. He hears the crashing sound and the screams, and hesitates as he’s about to reload a third time.

This is a fatal error that must not be made in a real battle. The <<Funnel>> slides into the blind spot and aims the cannon at the <<Loto>>. Daguza is too late in detecting the mega-particle light.

The beam pierces through the back of the <<Loto>>, evaporating the control  zone and cutting through to the front. The <<Loto>> explodes and blows apart the armor on top. Daguza’s sent flying into the air and crashes into the building’s wall with the debris. His cervical spine isn’t snapped thanks to the specially made normal suit and his own luck. Daguza passes out, and the <<Loto>> that’s engulfed in fire explodes.

This explosion that rocks that office area is a lot better than the second time the attack comes at the residential area. The <<ReZEL>> no. 7 that has its leg torn off by a cannon hit from a <<Funnel>> crashes into the school compound of Anaheim Electronics Industrial College. The body itself is a mobile suit 25.8 tonnes heavy, and crashes into the wall in a spiral at a speed of 167m per second. There’s no explosion, but the school compound is completely crushed. The <<ReZEL>>’s buried in the rubble. The pilot is protected by the safety airbags and saved from a concussion, and in his groggy vision, glares at the enemy suit.

“Damned Zeon monster…”

As he shakes aside the rubble, the beam rifle in the <<ReZEL>>’s hand shoots out the mega-particle cannons. The pink beam axis crosses through the colony and hits the site preparation area that’s in the way. Marida manages to dodge it and the last side, and feels a chill from the ‘presence’ of the pilot that comes over faster than the beam.

It’s not just an enemy’s intent, but also hatred. The thick killing intent is released from the beam shot of the beam rifle, causing the skin underneath the normal suit to have goosebumps. Marida sees the site preparatory block that’s hit directly by the beam and exploded from the inside, and the floor of the large steel structure is covered in flames. Her control movement of the <<Kshatriya>> starts to slow down. If she moves wildly, the enemy’s trajectory will change, causing the inner wall in the trajectory to be wrecked by the beam rifle. She can’t expect the pilot that’s overwhelmed by hatred to control his sanity and shoot patiently, and she has to keep him silent. This anxiety causes the psycommu installation’s effect to increase, and the <<Funnels>> that are activated rush towards <<ReZEL>> no. 7.

Unit 7 is still shooting the beam rifle wildly. The three <<Funnels>> rush there, cutting through the air and closing in on the enemy. At this moment, <<ReZEL>> no. 1 rushes over, causing Marida to have to focus on controlling the <<Kshatriya>> again. She feels that the <<Funnels>> are becoming less reactive and are disturbed by the Coriolis’ effect. That resistance inside her is pressing on her senses, and her mind’s being dragged aside.

“Too strong…!”

As she subconsciously moans, the enemy swings its beam saber over as the Vulcan gun’s fire closes in. The beam that’s shot from the inner wall grazes the <<Kshatriya>>’s armor. Marida’s being agitated by the pressure of three strong antagonistic intent, and now focuses her attacks all over, causing the <<Funnels>> to open fire.

The 3 <<Funnels>> that sweep past the ground shoot out their mega-particle cannons. One shot hits the cockpit in the centre abdomen, one shot hits the mechanical arm with the beam rifle, and <<ReZEL>> no. 7 is down. However, the last hit pierces through the thruster pack from the side, hitting the small reactor core hidden inside.

A nuclear reaction happens inside, and the reactor that provides energy is crushed—a power of a nuclear bomb expands out to the surroundings. The radiation is kept inside the core and the <nowiki><<I-field>></nowiki>, which prevents it from leaking, but with the explosion, the heat waves released ignites all the combustibles, and a supersonic wave becomes a storm that sweeps the interior of the colony. <<ReZEL>> no. 7 becomes a really hot fireball, lighting the night sky of <<Industrial 7>> like a miniature sun.

The concrete parts that are scattered all around the machine are instantly evaporated. The school that’s hit by the impact is crushed and collapsed. The unit itself landed in the school, so most of the heat waves are covered by the Anaheim Electronics compound, but the direct hit causes the houses within a radius of 500m to be wrecked, blowing away the residents that are evacuating. The inner wall itself is also caught in the collapse. The area of the explosion start to blister due to the extreme heat, the heat waves and the impact move through the layers of the colony, reaching the outer wall 50m below, breaking the common linkway, exploding the energy block with the water tank for water vapour explosion, and finally rupturing through the outer wall and entering space. A corner of the <<Industrial 7>> cylinder is caught in a light of explosion.

A flash is released from the residential area, and a large cabbage cloud appears there. The smoke that’s like a cauliflower immediately shrinks back. This isn’t because of air flow, but that a corner of the inner wall has a hole, and the air’s starting to flow out. Marida evades the enemies that are distracted by the explosion and sees that scene. At the center of the residential area, there’s a round black burnt mark about 1km wide in diameter, and there’s still a burning light on the charred surface. The flames quickly disappear with the strong winds, and a large amount of smoke, rubble and human-shaped charred remains are sucked into the round hole. The vastly decreasing pressure creates mist, and it’s hard to tell what’s the situation with the hole, but that hole is definitely not just 100m wide in diameter. The hole that’s opened is way too big, and the armor repair parts on the machine definitely can’t fill it as the rumbling white mist is gradually expanding—

“Damn it…”

''I actually hit the reactor directly.'' Marida bites her lips hard. The many ‘voices’ that are wrecked by the fires and sucked out into the vacuum echo in the colony, causing the <<Industrial 7>> air that’s normally being sucked in by this thin membrane to roar. The lips that are bitten let out blood that form small blobs of blood that float in front of Marida’s eyes.