Editing KSGU:Volume 7 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 20===

The thin air in the thermosphere blew upon the ship, causing the “Unicorn Gundam” lying on the deck to be red hot, and the all-view monitor was dyed a pink light. Bangher held onto the sticks that were vibrating without stopping as he looked at Zinnerman’s face. The bearded face was cradling Marida as he looked at a certain spot silently, but just would not let his silent stare look back. Banagher looked at those black eyes devoid of emotion, and could not tell if he was hesitating.

''Maybe this won’t do.'' The weakened soul whispered to Banagher. There was too much baggage for Zinnerman to act on instinct. This was the gravity called responsibility—but Zinnerman still came to save him. Even if it was the inadvertent result of wanting to get this “Unicorn”, his actions brought about the chance to save Audrey and Marida at the same time.

''Sometimes, if we act not on logic, but by what our hearts say, we’ll get unexpected results.'' Banagher told himself. He could only trust in the other man as he looked at the red vision on the monitor. Audrey had the same feeling too. Even if the world denied it, he still had a strength supporting him, allowing him to fight on based on his beliefs.

The “Garencieres” moved down the Equator to the East, and was intending to use the Earth’s rotation to enter space; the “Nahel Argama” was moving in the same direction as it approached from behind. There was only one chance for both sides to meet. If the “Nahel Argama” orbit the Earth once more, the “Garencieres” would fall due to a lack of fuel. Banagher adjusted the angle of the rear camera, tried to catch sight of that red light on the enlarged window, and felt sweat on his forward. ''Hurry up!'' He resisted the urge to prompt, and as he gritted his teeth, “Flaste.” Zinnerman spoke with a heavy tone.

“Continue forward. Get ready to meet with the Federation ship. Follow their instructions and raise the Grapple Beam.”

Zinnerman glared at Banagher, who looked back inadvertently, and looked away awkwardly, “It’s better than remaining on Earth and getting ourselves picked off. Stay on guard!” Upon hearing Zinnerman add on, (Roger that!) Flaste answered with a somewhat cheery tone. ''As expected, everyone has the same feeling.'' Banagher secretly felt delighted. He recognized that the situation was guiding them to the necessary path, and the power of the common view was with everyone. The term Newtype appeared in his mind for an instant, and he grabbed onto the control sticks tightly as he caught sight of the current location of the approaching “Nahel Argama” on the monitor. The displacement between them was less than 100km. the enlarged window with a lot of noise on it showed the light, and the plasma light from the ballute was the only thing that could be seen as the target looked just like a burnt meteor.

The ballute looked like an umbrella on fire as it opened up from the aft, and the “Nahel Argama” was closing in at a speed of Mach 20. “That’s…” Zinnerman muttered as the ship brought the long tether cable above the “Garencieres” and gave a light signal from the belly. The “Garencieres” shot out its Grapple Arm, and a long crane-like pillar rose from behind the “Unicorn Gundam” that was prowled. The mast hook at the center of the ship looked like a fishing rod, and the pillar that was approximately 20m long started to reach towards the “Nahel Argama”. 

The “Nahel Argama” would immediately shoot its tether to hook onto the mast hook, and the “Garencieres” dangling by the wire would be able to use the other ship’s momentum to gain acceleration, escape the atmosphere, and enter space; this was the theory behind a tether thrust. The “Nahel Argama” gradually passed by above the “Garencieres”, and their displacement was more than 10km. This would be the maximum limit for a standard tether cable, but would they be able to get close? As the signal continued to flash, Banagher and Zinnerman held their breaths as they waited for the wire. However, an impact jolted the cockpit from below, causing their hearts to panic. The “Garencieres” gave a dull sound again, and the ship descended by 10km or so.

The “Garencieres” tried to maintain its altitude, but it could not remain steady as it inched away from the “Nahel Argama” above it, trembling. “What’s going on!?” Zinnerman shouted, but Flaste yelled back, (The turbine output is dropping! We’re at our limit!) Upon hearing their conversation, Banagher looked up at the “Nahel Argama” covered by the shock cones. ''We can’t make it, the tether’s about to fire.'' “Not good…!” Once he inadvertently said this, a white light brighter than the signal flashed by his head, and the tether cable that was fired through left a black line in the middle of the scorching colors.

The thrusters located at the front hook let out a flare, and the tether cable broke through the wall of shock cones as it flew right at the “Garencieres”. The latter ship forced itself to move towards what seemed to be the end of a spider strand dangling right in front of it, and was ostensibly forcing its last ounce of energy on running the turbines. The long Hyper Carbon Nanotube was reaching forward at full speed, and upon seeing it reach above the “Unicorn Gundam”, he immediately lifted the sticks and stepped on the pedal.

The “Unicorn Gundam” got up from the deck, raised its right hand to grab the tip of the tether, and used its left hand to grab onto the Grapple Beam firmly. It raised its thrusters to grab the tether cable that was out of fuel, and intended to pull it down to the arm of the Grapple Beam, but a rapidly falling feeling struck Banagher. The “Unicorn Gundam” feet left the deck of the “Garencieres” which dropped in altitude again, causing it to float into space as it grabbed onto the tether and arm as it experienced a tugging feeling, and it ended up pulled by both sides as it was basked in the scorching currents.

[[Image:KSGU7 301.jpg|thumb]]

The frame was pulled to the limit as it let out a rattling sound trying to pull up the falling “Garencieres”. The overload sign appeared on the display board, and the alarm indicating insufficient power rang by his ears. ''If I let go here—this one line linking them will remain severed forever!'' “Don’t force yourself! The machine will split if you keep this up!” Zinnerman exclaimed, but Banagher ignored him as he used all his strength to pull the sticks up, and opened the throttles of the machine to its maximum.

“This “Unicorn Gundam” isn’t for show…!”

The “Unicorn Gundam” took the mass of the “Garencieres” on one side and the thrust of the “Nahel Argama” on the other as it let out a metallic roar. The Psycoframe was glowing brighter, and Banagher could sense the luminous light shining through the cockpit. He gritted his teeth at the same time as he gathered his entire will into the machine.

(Banagher…!) Audrey’s call faded. The machine let out a cry as it reached its limit, and Banagher felt the pain of his body being ripped into pieces. This was because the Psycommu System was starting to reverse, causing the machine to feel a burden, turning it into a sensation of pain that was transferred to the brain. There was no reason for a mobile sui alone to support the mass of two ships. ''Let go, let go!'' the system was warning him as it echoed through his head, and he let out a groan from his gritting teeth. ''That’s too reckless already, isn’t it?'' the timidity within him started to whisper, and right when his numb hand was about to let go of the sticks, a hand reached over from the side and grabbed it.

The fuzzy warmth of the body came from this other hand, and the tortured senses eased silently. Banagher widened his eyes, looked over at the owner of the hand, and found Marida, who was lying in Zinnerman’s hand, opening her eyes slightly as she looked back at him. ''You should be saying ‘even so’ now, right?'' Her smiling expression let out these words, and that hand that was holding Banagher’s seemed like it was going to spread all the warmth in its body. The raging heat flowing within the body went from the hand to the entire body, and Banagher again gathered strength on his hands grabbing the sticks. The luminous light on the Psycoframe got brighter and brighter, and at that moment, the light expanded as it seemingly saturated.

The red luminous light that came from the machine was swallowed by a new gentle light that rose out, and both lights gradually became one. That light, which may look green, yellow, blue or even red at times, filled the Psycoframe of the “Unicorn Gundam”, and the rainbow-like refracted light spread across to the surrounding mobile suits. Banagher saw a small needle-like  glow scatter around, and saw the “Garencieres” and the “Nahel Argama” basked in that light. “What is this light…?” Upon hearing Zinnerman murmur, Banagher started to hallucinate as he saw his body become light that spread across space.

This light was different from the savage light that appeared when he was battling the “Banshee”, and as it surrounded the “Unicorn Gundam” like an aurora, the machine that was stretched to its limit started to move. Because of the arms pulling the tether and the Grapple Beam, the massive hull of the “Garencieres” was gradually pulled up. As both ships closed in distance, Banagher’s thoughts flew through the light and into space, and sensed the thoughts of the humans on both ships.

Audrey was calling from the Captain’s seat, Flaste and Alec were steering the “Garencieres”, Captain Otto was giving the instructions, Ensign Mihiro was giving notices through the ship, First Officer Liam was running to the engine room, Haro was floating through the corridors of the ship, Takuya in the mechanic uniform was running along the mobile suit deck, and Micott in the refugee block seemed to realize something as she looked up—

However, Marida, who was tightly embraced by Zinnerman in his arms, let out a smile beside the shell Banagher left on the cockpit. Banagher looked down at the two hands pulling the sticks, and felt the warmth of the flesh from them…once his spiritual consciousness realized this, the hook mast was latched on, and the feeling of the tightened rope pulled Banagher back into his flesh.

The “Nahel Argama” lit its Reverse Thrust as it accelerated. The “Garencieres” hull was dragged, and accelerated as it was pulled up. The roaring winds passed by to the back, and the scorching colors of the sky dulled as the unblinking starry space covered the two ships from above while the deafening silence enveloped them. The resistance of the atmosphere covering the ships disappeared, and the power of inertia pushed both ships forward. The “Garencieres” and the “Nahel Argama” left the atmosphere at the same time, becoming two satellites orbiting around Earth. On their paths, one could see the Earth in its night state, space with no signs of the moon, and the countless stars.

The “Unicorn Gundam” pulled the tether cable linking the ships as it too returned to space safely. As the rainbow weakened, the Psycoframe was reverting back to its original red color, and the colors scattered around let out an afterglow of a trail. This afterglow became a belt of light linking the Federation ship and the Neo Zeon ship, also leaving behind a bright aurora that would not disappear from a corner of Earth for a while.