Editing KSGU:Volume 7 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 17===

There was a little opening in the thick clouds, and the sunlight shone upon the landscape like a sword. It shone upon Torrington Base, full of rubble and black smoke, and also lit the front deck of the “Ra Cailum” which had its main cannons wrecked. The porthole of the ordinary bridge was covered by the warm sunlight.

“We got confirmation that the “Garuda” was destroyed.”

Meran spoke as he took up the telegram the communications operator handed over. The battle had ended just an hour ago, and he, who had been raising an eyebrow over how slow their comrades in Torrington were doing, finally started to regain his usual composure. “It’s said that the Captain and everyone else under him managed to escape safely.” Upon hearing this report from behind, Bright turned towards the porthole in front. He looked on at the second main cannon that was still hot after the direct hit bitterly, “What about the “Garencieres”?” and asked without looking back.

“It’s said that they’ve escaped. From their acceleration, it seems that they intend to fly to space. The “Unicorn” is with it too.”

Meran ended his report with a meaningful tone, and stood beside Bright. Despite the unexpected loss of the “Garuda”, the situation was still developing in the way Bright hoped for. “Is that so.” He simply answered as he moved his hand to the bottom of the porthole and inspected the situation of the base located on the ship’s starboard. Ignoring the gentle sunlight shining through the clouds, the only term that could describe the devastation in Torrington Base was messy.

The command tower situated in the center of the base was still smoking, and there were fire trucks and ladder trucks surrounding it. The barracks was basically rubble in the form of a hill, and the relief-aid work was still proceeding as four-wheeled drives of the ambulance squad were rushing through the base. The reason why the vehicles could be seen snaking around was most likely because the drivers had to avoid the holes and cracks on the road. The little MLRS scattershots rained down from above bombarded the surface that could barely be called a road, leaving behind wounds that the base could not remove in short order. The only ones that could move freely were the mobile suits, and the “Jestas” of the “Ra Cailum” were sent out to aid, as he could spot them removing the rubble from the porthole. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were the only ones moving the burnt debris of the Zeon machines, and two “Jestas” were removing the wreckage of a Dom-type mobile suit on the runway, where there was an explosion that left a radial burn mark.

It was said that the situation was the same on the coast, as the base Defense squadron took tremendous damage while the Zeon forces were completely annihilated. The Zeon remnants could have abandoned the base, but they came to attack with a suicidal intent. Even if there were machines that could survive miraculously, how would those people fare in the future—Bright suddenly thought about it, and sighed hard. He looked up at the “Jestas” with the Tri-Stars logo sprayed on their shoulders, thought of Lieutenant Nigel’s expression, “Inform the mobile suit squad about this too.” And spoke to Meran.

“Once they hear this, those proposing to chase after them will probably give up.”

The Tri-Stars were the ones who proposed to ride on the Base Jabbers and argued for it for some time. Perhaps the way they were shaken off by the “Unicorn” so easily made them really unhappy, as even the usually unflappable Nigel would not back off. '' Ensign Riddhe sure is troublesome for leaving alone like that, how young he is…'' Bright concluded while harboring the thoughts of an old man, “Yes” felt that this reply from his First Officer was not really convincing, and glanced over. Meran paid attention to the stares of the other crewmen in the bridge, and asked,

“Are you certain they can handle this…?”

Meran approached the porthole and narrowed his eyes as he looked up at the sky. “we can only do this now.” Bright followed his stare as he answered.

“Let us believe in them. We can only rely on their luck now.”

Meran continued to look up quietly. There were ''those people'' who were rising up to space, and ''those people'' who were waiting to receive them in orbit. Bright imagined their meeting in between sky and space as he continued to look up at the clouds letting through light. He had already done what he could do, and the rest would have to depend on their luck. The ships and the fleet were attracted by the “Gundam”, and formed a relationship because of it—but one could only hope that they could get along. The only way they could break through the situations where they could not deviate from would be to rely on the power of possibilities humanity had. That boy called Banagher was born with the power called harmony.

''It's all up to you now.'' Bright looked up at the clouds that never stopped with the flow as he tightened the grip on the windowsill. The sunlight, which appeared for a while, was immediately covered, and the thick clouds shadowed the “Ra Cailum” on the ground from above.