Editing KSGU:Volume 8 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 1===

"Nigel Garrett, Uniform 007, launching!”

The countdown timer showed 0, and the catapult was fired. Nigel Garrett grabbed the control sticks as he took on the G force that amounted to a maximum of 5G.

The catapult deck that slid by below was a lot shorter than the one on the "Ra Cailum", and the launch velocity was slower as a result. Once it left the deck, Nigel stepped on the pedal. The "Jesta" got into the darkness of space as it used its thrusters, and pulled itself away from the Base Jabber in front of it. Right when the 20m tall machine was about to use its manipulator to hold onto the platform, the machine behind was at the start of the catapult deck. 

Daryl McGuninness "Jesta" too followed the same process as it launched from the catapult of the "Carrot". This ship of the Clop-class was only approximately half as heavy as the "Ra Cailum", as there was only one deck that was aligned to the bow. Daryl's machine had to follow the same path as Nigel's as it merely activated the AMBAC on its limbs to adjust itself and connected itself under Nigel's machine. Unlike the machines with specifications for Earth use, the Base Jabber for space use had platforms on the top and below, and the flat machine, commonly called the "Clog", could allow for two machines to ride on it. The tremors came when Daryl's machine connected on, and Nigel stepped on the pedal again. The "Jestas" crouching on the platforms lit their thrusters again, and the SFS ferrying them started to accelerate. It took the thrust from Daryl's machine and pulled its distance from the "Carrot" and entered the darkness of the vacuum.

He activated the laser communication with the mothership as he looked around the all-view monitor. The Earth was behind him, the size of a basketball, and there were 3 celestial objects that could be seen above in front of him, Capella, Aldearan, Rigel. The stars that were CG corrected for astronomical observations were giving off unnaturally large glows. He could see the “Tenenbaum” that was of the same class as the “Clog” below him, and numerous thruster flares could be seen dragging from the side, forming silver trajectories in space. Those were the lights released by the mobile suits of the Tenenbaum fleet. There were two SFS, one “Stark Jegan” and two normal “Jegans”. Nigel saw that they were also headed to L3, turned to the space region in front of him where the “Luna II” could be seen; then, he spotted the Base Jabber catch up from behind, and the 3rd machine riding on it appeared in his sights.

The beam cannons and Gatling cannons equipped on its backpack were protruding out, and the enhanced armor had missiles and grenades all over its limbs. This heavy-armed “Jesta Cannon” included a hand-wieldable beam rifle and a grenade launcher set with physical ammunition. The bulk of the machine really complemented the stumpy Watts Stepney. “Looks heavy there, Watts.” Nigel looked at the hulking machine that was standing watch on the “Clog” as he muttered this, (It’s nothing much.) However, the gruff voice came, and Watts let his personalized Base Jabber spin once.

(We’ve been trained under Earth’s gravity. We’ll repay them the debt we owe from Torrington Base.)

(We’ll leave it to you, Tri-Stars brothers. That disguised merchants ship caused our Carrot fleet some suffering too.)

The lieutenant in charge of piloting the Base Jabber injected through the contact loop. (Roger that. We won’t forget the grace of this pit-stop.) Upon hearing Daryl’s voice, Nigel turned forward again with a stare intending to hunt the enemies. The Moon was across the other side of the Earth, and the space in front of him looked like a bottomless abyss. The radars could not work under the effects of the Minovsky Particles, and they could not detect the target’s thruster flares; however, they could be certain that the “Garencieres” was nearby. The fake Neo Zeon merchant ship took down the mobile suits of the “Carrot” and wrecked the “Ra Cailum” to a point of paralysis. With the “Unicorn” it stole, this “Sleeves” ship was definitely somewhere in this pitch darkness, hoping to meet up with the main fleet.

It had been 3 days since the Zeon remnants attack on Torrington Base. The “Ra Cailum” could not leave the ground as its engines were wrecked, and the reason why the Tri-Stars were the only ones who went up to space was because Nigel and company insisted on not letting go of them, and the “Carrot” needed to make up for the loss in fighting strength it had, resulting in an outcome where both objectives were met. They immediately launched from a nearby launch base, and met up with the 3rd team, 16th Task Force of Londo Bell that was moving by in low orbit. However, it seemed that the “Garencieres” had already left Earth’s Absolute Defense zone, and since they were unable to keep track of their target, the “Carrot” and the “Tenenbaum” were surrounded by an urge to give up. But one hour ago, the atmosphere changed when they detected a source of Minovsky Particles moving quickly.

They still did not know where the “Garencieres” headed towards L3 was headed towards as it scattered its Minovsky Particles. Lagrange Point 3 between Earth and the Moon had only the Side 7 colony cluster that was under construction and the “Luna II”, the stronghold of the Federation space fleet; it would be hard to imagine that there would be “Sleeve” bases nearby there. Side 6, where the Neo Zeon fleet was rumored to be hiding in, was at L5, a completely different place, and it was improbable for a rendezvous to be held here.

''Where is it going—no, more importantly, where has it been during the 3 days after the commotion in Torrington Base, and what had it been doing?'' Nigel felt the excitement in him as he stared at the location the mothership indicated. (Did you hear, Leader? The rumors regarding the “Nahel Argama” of Team 4?) the communicator rang, and Daryl spoke as they were exactly 100,000km away from Earth behind them.

“You’re talking about the ship that went missing after carrying out the secret mission of the Senate Council?”

(Yeah, the “Carrot” crew said that they saw it before the attack on Torrington, before we arrived there.)

Nigel felt a chill down his spine, and once he confirmed that this was simply a lone channel with Daryl’s unit, “Oh”, he answered while pretending not to care about it. (It seemed that they activated the Ballute, and the angle’s extremely acute if they were planning to enter Earth.) Upon hearing the rest of Daryl’s words, Nigel felt the chill on his spine intensify.

(It’s the same time as when that disguised merchant ship entered space. I don’t feel this way, but Captain Bright’s attitude has been weird…)

“Yeah, it doesn’t feel like he wants us to chase after them.”

''Now that I think of it, it seems that the slow response during the Torrington raid was deliberate. Captain Bright would normally have us chase after the enemies even if our butts have to be spanked.'' (That Ensign Riddhe used to belong to the “Nahel Argama”, right?) Nigel kept his voice down.

(And if he has any beef with the pilot of the “Unicorn”, this so-called secret mission from the Senate Council…)

We can deduce it. The weird happenings that had been going on this month or so, from the Dakar incident to the Torrington attack incident all had the involvement of the “Unicorn” in it. It was a product of the UC plan—the crux of the Earth Federation Space Realignment plan, and though it was meant to destroy the Zeon myth of Newtypes, why would the entire army be up in arms for this?'' He felt the sweat on his back freeze, and remained silent for a moment, (We see it!) But Watt’s call caused his heart to jump suddenly.

(L 8 degrees above. I’m going first!)

The rocket flashes of the Base Jabber ferrying the “Jesta Cannon” lit once he said this, and the accelerating machine faded to the top left corner. However, it was moving rather fast as it had only Watts’ unit on it. (Oi, Watts!) Daryl yelled, but Nigel stopped Daryl, saying, “It’s okay, let him be.” He checked the source of light above the indicated location, and felt anxious that he did not detect this first, but he still activated his Base Jabber and chased after Watts’ machine.

“The “Jesta Cannon” range is longer. Let him delay them first.”

(But leader, he may start firing without telling the ship to stop first, you know?)

(GET OUT HERE, “UNICORN”! WE’LL SETTLE THE DEBT FROM BEFORE!) As Daryl expressed his concerned voice, Watts’ bellow was mixed in, and as he saw Watts’ unit charge right in, Nigel muttered to himself, “This doesn’t look good…”. Then, he let his Jesta leave the Base Jabber.

Daryl’s machine too left the Base Jabber, and the two machines got lighter as they followed Watts’ “Jesta”. The “Jegans” of the Tenenbaum squad leave their “Clogs”, got into battle formation, and started to accelerate; once Nigel saw that, he released a light signal, telling them that he was going to go first as he readied his beam rifle to fire any time soon. (We’re the Federation space fleet Londo Bell. “Garencieres”, please stop.) Daryl’s warning voice echoed, and Nigel looked at the image of the ship on the window that was enlarged to the maximum. There was no signs of slowing down as the “Garencieres” continued to accelerate as its engines, most probably modified illegally, continued to let out thrust.

''It has the “Unicorn” on it, that monstrous white machine.'' Nigel saw the thruster flares that were almost buried within the starry lights, and was shocked that he could not feel any sense of pressure at all. (The “Carrot” is…!?) Suddenly, he heard a scream from the wireless communicator.

He opened the rear monitor window to check the location of the mothership. The sight of the “Carrot” was there, and he saw it surrounded by blueish-white fireballs, creating a blurry image that dyed everything white. A silhouette that seemed to belong to that of a mobile suit passed by in the foreground, and an explosion of light that appeared again covered the ship of the “Carrot”. (Leader!?) Daryl exclaimed, and Nigel let his machine do an emergency brake.

“Watts, return back! The mothership’s attacked!”

His mouth consciously moved as he felt the G-force forcing his eyeballs out. ''A raid? From where?'' These fragmented words vociferated in his mind. He did not have time to wait for Watts to answer as he turned the “Jesta” while going above the safety speed limit. (Where’s it coming from!?) (Is it the “Sleeves”?) he heard the messages through the wireless communicator as he accelerated the machine towards the “Carrot” deploying its anti-air fire.

The main cannons on the two flanks of the ship fired, and two beams cut through the space. An umpteenth fireball boomed after the pink mega-particle cannon shots were devoured by space, and in an instant, the enemy machine that were instantly lit moved to the belly of the ship. The body of the enemy unit’s frame moved in an arc, and the thruster unit on its back looked like a set of wings as it ostensibly soloed the “Carrot”. The bazooka in its hand continued to let out consecutive trails of flashes, and the physical ammunition that were fired let out trails of gas, hitting the tail of the ship directly. The engines at the back of the ship were engulfed by a large fireball, and the “Carrot” shattered in the midst of the flash.

The expanding fireballs immediately cooled, and the ship that was severed in half scattered in the gas clouds that remained. (The “Carrot”…!)  A certain person’s cry entered Nigel’s overheated head, and he looked for the enemy machine that was hidden amongst the debris. It leapt onto a piece of rubble, changed its course at high speed, and spun the wings on its back at the “Tenenbaum”. The bright red color was captured by the enlarged window, CG corrected, and appeared in Nigel’s eyes.

“A red mobile suit…!? That’s…!”

''The Second Coming of Char, Full Frontal of the “Sleeves”.'' The machine searched through the database, indicated the name of the machine “Sinanju”, and the mono-eyed enemy left the sensor while seemingly mocking them. It was still far away from Nigel, and he looked around, searching for the enemy machine that disappeared. The red machine continued to step upon the shrapnel of the “Carrot” that was scattered around, and accelerated towards the next pretty by moving in a zigzag manner without using its burners. It looked like a replay of the “Char shot down 5 ships” recorded in the war. He employed a blitzkrieg by using a “Zaku” to shoot down 5 ships—

The “Tenenbaum” started to create a net of anti-air fire, but the “Sinanju” dodged it easily, charged right at it, and fired its bazooka. ''I’m still not in range? Nigel resisted the urge to click his tongue as he turned his anxious stare at the fireballs that continued to ignite, only to be taken aback by another light that came from somewhere else.

“What…?”

The “Jegan” that was moving on his right side was devoured by the beams, and its ripped limbs were scattered everywhere. The beams then grazed by the feet, and Nigel hurriedly evaded. ''There’s still another enemy?'' He looked at the sensor that did not respond at all, looked around, and found a beam pass right behind him, hitting the Base Jabber that was following behind.

The Base Jabber engine was blown up, and the cockpit at the bow was blown apart. (Where’s it coming from!?) Watts yelled. The “Jesta Canon” fired a sweeping trail of shots at the enemy it could not see, but the beam attacks did not stop as the mega particles charged in from the back of the “Jesta Cannon”, while another beam came flying in from another direction, grazing Daryl’s machine. (How many are there!?) Daryl called out. Nigel turned the machine and got ready to raise covering fire, but the strong killing intent he felt behind him caused him to feel a chill.

He lost all control over himself as he spun the beam rifle around and squeezed the trigger. The fire raced through the darkness, lighting something, and Nigel widened his eyes as he saw that strange object. The mini-object that looked like a remote-controlled object with 3 claws surrounding the cannons. It looked like an eagle claw, and the thick cable from its tail was lit by the light of the beam before disappearing into the darkness.

“Funnels!? No, that’s the INCOM…!?”

This was different from the funnels that were guided by the wireless system, but a psycommu installation that was wired and controlled from afar. The control was certainly better than a wireless system, but because it was cabled, there was a limit to the number of weapons that could be used. This still was a weapon that could attack in all directions on its own. Nigel did not make the mistake of chasing after that wired cannon at that moment as he only thought about how to leave the surrounding killing intent, and moved the “Jegan” in a zigzag manner as he looked for the main unit controlling the cannons. The criss-crossing beams caught a second “Jegan”, causing the exploding machine to be engulfed in a hot ring of light. It appeared again, lighting the cabled INCOM, and the abnormally shaped mobile suit floating afar appeared in Nigel’s sights.

The purple machine had a mono-eyed head and streamlined limbs. It certainly was a mobile suit, but that abnormally large shoulders looked like petals as they covered the head with several layers or armor, causing the balance of the humanoid profile to resemble that a monster. The abnormally shaped machine had blooming metal petals, and it resembled a rose as the cables at its hands slid like vines while it freely controlled the 2 INCOMs freely. The “Stark Jegan” seemed to have detected this rose with a savage presence as it dodged the continuous volley of cannons and drew its beam saber. It used its beam saber, intending to cut the cable, and the missiles on its shoulders let out gas as two sets of missiles charged right at the purple enemy.

The rose-like machine shot out the high-output thrusters and flew through the vacuum at such a high speed that did not match its image at all. It accelerated towards the missiles, dodged elegantly. The missiles that were timed to explode in close proximity exploded, creating a flash. At that moment, it left the flash behind it, got down below, and the INCOMs attacked the “Stark Jegan”. The smooth cables wrapped the machine, and the 3 claws stabbed into the abdomen. The “Stark Jegan” twitched as it got caught, and once it raised its beam saber, the beams fired from point blank, shooting through the cockpit of the “Stark Jegan”.

The humanoid that was severed at the waist became a fireball. (This guy…!) Watts yelled out and let the “Jesta Cannon” charge forward as it fired the beam cannons and the Gatling cannons on its shoulders. Nigel saw the beams and the ammunition cut through vacuum towards the rose machine, “Leave it!” and growled as he slammed into Watts’ machine. The tussling machines flew aside, and the criss-crossed beams grazed by them at the last moment.

“Our priority is to defend the mothership. A formation!”

The roar went in the opposite direction of the spinal cord (Roger!), Daryl and Watts answered in unison. ''First, we have to regroup and lure the enemy away—though it doesn’t feel useful against the monster Psycommu weapon and the Second Coming of Char.'' Nigel suppressed his true thoughts as he turned his back against the pursuing beams, and let the “Jestas” accelerate.

Daryl’s “Jesta” and Watts “Jesta Cannon” followed, forming a V. The “Tenenbaum”, which was was beside the icy cold debris wreckage of the “Carrot”, was surrounded by numerous fireballs, and looked like it was about to be whiffed out in the wind.