Editing KSGU:Volume 10 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 33===

The Lagrange Point, L3 was beyond Earth, located opposite the Moon. There was nothing special in this space other than the Federation space headquarters “Luna 2”, and the colony laser“Gryphios 2”.  The cylinder 15km in length was rumbling, the barrel 6km wide was exuding a scorching laser light.

The moment it was fired, one could see it spitting out a block of light, the result of the scorched residue in the cannon. The cannon was filled with a gaseous combination of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and helium, activated through the capacitors at the base. The restraining field next to the cannon sealed the charged gases, only bursting at its limit. Using the old era concept of laser oscillation, the charge was expanded to the size of a colony. The only thing different from a beam weapon was thatthere was no light to be seen. Once the explosive surge of light exploded, the laser would become an invisible light gliding through space, only showing torrents of light when it made contact with anything it touched. Due to the many years of exacavation and war in the Earth Celestial Sphere, there were lots of debris floating about, and trails of light would show the trajectory.

The distance to the target in the shoal space region was 795,000 kilometers. Even a laser travelling at lightspeed would take 2.65 seconds. The trajectory might have deviated a little due to the Earth’s gravity, but the laser continued to move towards its target. The axis of the beam kept spreading, for within the 2 seconds of firing, the angle of the “Gryphios 2” cannon was a little deviated. The laser 6km wide was already a 200km belt when it reached the shoal space region, eradicating all the space debris in its path. The first lifeforms to be devoured by the torrent of light were the members of the three ships navigating the shoal space region.

“Prepare for anti-ship combat. Once we fire away, launch the first wave of mobile suits. Prioritize saving Captain Frontal. Don’t let the “Mock Trojan Horse” approach the colony builder.”

They had pursued the colony builder that left “Industrial 7”, and the”Mock Trojan Horse” was finally within firing range. Hill broadcasted to the ships, and stared at the space before him in the battle bridge of the “Rewloola”. The light signal from Frontal was gone for a long time, and they could only deduce the enemy’s situation through far ranged visuals. They did not know the objectives and the firepower of the colony builder that moved, so they should avoid direct confrontation. Sending scouts out was a typical strategy, but if they lost Frontal, there was no way back. This notion drove Hill into deciding to attack.

If news of Frontal’s unit taken down reached them, the fleet would lose control. They could only attack the colony builder under the pretense of seeking and saving Frontal, and steal the “Laplace Box”. If they could do it, they could maintain the morale of the soldiers, and the Republic of Zeon, which remained silent the entire time, would surely contact them. In other words, they would going to make it a reality. Hill muttered in his heart as he looked towards the “Mock Trojan Horse” on the targeting screen. However, the ship that lost a catapult deck remained responseless. They did not fire a missile; did they expend them all during the prior battle?

“The mobile suits on deck don’t look like they’re sortieing…how far is it from the colony builder?”

“250km. Getting further.”

The second in charge seated next to him answered. Even if the “Mock Trojan Horse” was to deploy mobile suits, they were already far within a defensible area. It had abandoned the colony builder with the “Laplace Box”, and was leaving at full speed. Surely it was not enticing them?

“That’s weird…”

Hill muttered, and the moment his second in charge was about to answer, a ravaging light struck them from behind, vaporizing countless debris and swallowing the “Rewloola” whole.

The instance came so quickly, they did not realize that they died. The light immediately melted the “Rewloola”, and the crimson ship was blown apart like leaves. Hill was thrown off the captain seat, and was burned to nothingness before he could crash into the screen panel before him, scattered as parched dust. The engine tanks tied to the deck exploded one after another. The frame of the “Rewloola” was snapped apart, and it split into two. Next to it, the two Musaka-class cruisers were vaporized. The “Geara Zulus” waiting to sortie on the catapult deck were charred in less than a millisecond. Three explosions flashed through the torrent of light, vanishing immediately. All traces of the “Sleeves” were reduced to space dust, not even space debris.

The vortex of the colony laser continued forward, vanquishing thousands of debris, rocks and metals in its path as it continued to overheat. The expanding, massive light shot through the shoal space region, forming a vacuum tunnel in the sea of debris. It continued to fly towards the fixed position of “Industrial 7” ─and struck its target, the “Magallanica”.