Editing KSGU:Volume 4 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 4===

They passed through the gravity block and went to the portside container block, also called the first container deck. It was unknown how many gas canisters Riddhe set up at which locations and it was a layer of thin mist once they passed through the air lock. It was unknown where the smoke came from in the wide space that was 100m long and not less than 30m wide and tall. The piled up containers, preparatory goods and the hanging crane arms from above were all covered with a thin veil. It seemed that new air was being switched in, but they probably could not turn off the air flow. The smoke continued to disperse in from the air ducts, and it looked like the damage was spreading.

“If we don’t know where the fire’s starting from, can’t we just turn off the air flow?”

“We should know where the reported area is from, right? What do you mean that you can’t detect the heat source!?”

Growls echoed all around as the agitated crew members were scurrying around. If the source was a gas canister, they would not be able to pick up the location through a heat signature sensor. Mineva looked down at the chaos from the catwalk railing, and nearly knocked into Riddhe, who suddenly stopped. Riddhe grabbed her hand and pulled her nearly floating body back. He leaned near the communication panel and picked up the microphone on the deck.

“All hands, prepare for vacuum. We’ll now draw away the air on the container deck. Those without normal suits are to evacuate. There’s 30 seconds till the hatch is open.”

The voice that rang throughout the ship’s speakers caused the scattering crew members to stop immediately. The next moment, the black wave of fear started to fill the container deck, and they started moving at a speed several times that of before.

Some leaned towards the lockers with the normal suits inside, some were heading towards the airlock leading to the bridge, leading people in. “Who’s the one making that broadcast? I never heard of such a thing!?” “Hurry up and confirm with the bridge!” The officers’ voices rang as they fought for the. However, these voices would not be able to calm them down. Mineva saw the figures in normal suits rushing around, and stepped on the floor of this passage on Riddhe’s prompting. She grabbed onto Riddhe by the shoulder as he was using the cable gun, and both of them glided past the passage of the container block. They were headed to a space launch on a launching pad. Over there, as the smoke floated around thinly, a green ball-shaped object suddenly appeared from the shadow of the ship, and it rolled its way into Mineva’s sights.

“Haro…?”

She unwittingly called out, and people dressed in normal suits appeared behind it as they waved over. One of them waved over at them, while the other carried Haro and watched their surroundings before hiding inside the launch. Mineva did see that face that was without a helmet on despite her wearing a normal suit. It was Micott Bartsch—''so in that case, the one waving over at us would be Takuya Irei, is it?'' Mineva did not have much time to think as the white frame of the space launch was right in front of them, and Mineva followed Riddhe as she reached for the ceiling.

Both of them used inertia to glide to the launch and grabbed onto the open hatch on the portside. Riddhe slipped into the launch first. “Hurry up” a familiar voice could be heard from behind. Mineva got into the space launch together with what looked Takuya in a normal suit.

This space shuttle had been used by the Federation before the One Year War, and there were 4 laser rocket engines installed on the frame that was less than 10m in length. It had a capacity of 10 people excluding the driver. At this point, Micott was sitting on the passenger seat, and she was looking tense and pale as she stared at the steering seat. She met Mineva in the eyes, and looked away awkwardly as she clinged onto Haro on her knees. Mineva felt a sharp pain at the bottom of her stomach as she passed by Micott and moved towards the steering seat in front. The console lights were already indicated, and Riddhe sat on the seat as he did the checks before take-off.

Mineva sat on the co-pilot seat and fastened herself down with the safety belt. She felt pressured by this atmosphere as she got all the way till here. ''Are we going to escape using this ship?'' This doubt that came way too late spread inside her, but she did not have time to speak up. Takuya closed the hatch, panted and grabbed onto the back of the pilot seat. “Is the airlock opened enough?” He asked as he stared at Riddhe’s face, who did not stop moving his hands as he continued the checks and answered.

“This kind of space launch can be used as an escape shuttle, so it’s possible for us to access the deck controls from here…those guys have finished evacuating, right?”

Riddhe’s voice caused Takuya to bring his helmet-covered head to the concave canopy window and checked the container deck filled with white smoke. The alarm showed no signs of stopping, but there were no signs of any crew members on the deck. “Looks like it’s over.” Takuya answered, and Riddhe answered, “Alright, let’s go.” and quickly operated on the console. The ‘Air’ flickered on the deck wall, and the warning lights on the floor started spinning for a few seconds. They could feel the continuous alarm sounds fading away rapidly.

The smoke outside the window immediately vanished, and the partition walls in front gradually opened. The large hatch of the pressure room split aside up and down, and the 4-sided space outside the hatch appeared right in front of them.  It was the sound of the ship breaking away from the restraints and leaving, and it seemed that Riddhe and the rest were intending to escape from this ship. ''Where are they going?'' Mineva tried to think, but cringed due to the sudden impact.

A hammer-like sound rang twice, thrice as it rocked the ship, causing bright sparks to scatter all over the place, and the windows were jerking. ''Gunshots.'' Mineva realized this, and Micott screamed, “THEY’S SHOOTING AT US…!” “Don’t worry, hang on tight!” Riddhe growled. Mineva looked outside the window, and saw two people in normal suits pointing handguns at them as they approached the space launch. Flares popped out from their muzzles, causing sharp impacts to rocked the shuttle.

“We’ll cut the countdown. I’m going to make things rough here. Don’t bite your tongue!”

Riddhe spoke so loudly it was not drowned out by the bullets. Mineva looked back in front and held her breath. The space launch rockets ignited at practically the same time, and the G-force that struck from the front surrounded their bodies. The sight of the container deck instantly disappeared from behind, and the vacuum, where neither the Moon or the Earth could be seen, occupied the windows.

The monitor at the back showed the rectangular supply ship, moving further and further away. The pressure of the acceleration on their organs weakened within several seconds, and Micott’s heaving sound could be heard from behind. “Alright…!”  Takuya shouted with a restrained voice, and Haro’s voice rang too “Haro”. Mineva too heaved a sigh of relief, but at this moment—

“It’s not over yet. There’re still mobile suits in the ship.”

Riddhe said with a tense voice that never relaxed, and as a result, Mineva continued to look at the monitor behind. The Federation mobile suits escorting the ships were there, and obviously, this space launch would not be able to beat them. If this heart of the fusion with four limbs floating in vacuum were a fusion core reactor as the heart, the old space launch would be caught be it immediately.

''How many seconds passed before the ship grasped the situation and was ordered to pursue us—how much distance can we gain during this time?'' Mineva and the other three stared at this 5 inch monitor. There was a small light spot  the size of a small thumb appearing on the screen with a white trail.

The sensors showed two “RGM-89s” closing in quickly onto the space launcher. They started their pursuit, and they would be caught up in less than 10 seconds. ''Do you have a plan?'' Mineva intended to ask this as she glanced at the side of Riddhe’s face, who was looking intently as he focused on piloting. She suddenly felt the ship shaking, and frantically looked in front again.

A small rock flashed by the canopy window, turning the ship slightly with a small impact. The space debris flew in like bullets, faster than the motion sensors that showed many objects, and this showed that the space launch was moving into the shoal space region. The sizes ranged from pebbles to rocks larger than the launch. Though they were moving through the debris, they could not even slow down by one kilometer relatively. The debris field of past colonies continued to close in on them, moving through the body and floated back. They moved by a large rock, and 100m later, the minute debris that were scattered all over the place covered the ship like a sandstorm. Cracking sounds that bullied the armor caused the launch to tremor unstably.

“Wait, are we really alright?”

“I checked the path. If there’s no Minovsky particles scattered, the radar…”

Riddhe answered Micott’s shrieking voice and swallowed what he was about to say. He was wondering what was shining in front, only to find that a material the size of a human was rushing right at them. He immediately tilted the launch greatly, and the safety belt was pressed down on their shoulder muscles. Haro slid out of Micott’s hands and slammed into the wall, and Takuya cried out, “Is it really alright?” “We won’t be able to escape if we just do those cautious things…!” Riddhe answered as he continued to steer. He was already losing focus trying to stare at the settings panel. The sensors would capture the locations of the debris, and he had to use these to find the most suitable escape route. The monitor on the panel showed rectangular blocks entering, all repeating as they formed a 3-dimensional corridor.

The mobile suit pursuers were deliberately slowing down while being wary of the debris, but their speed was still very fast. Both mobile suits used the AMBAC function to dodge around, moving over at a speed the launch could not match. ''There’s still a little while until the computer calculates the course—'' Mineva saw that the navigation setting panel showed a bar that stated the progress, and looked back at the pursuers’ positions on the sensors, seeing that they were right in front of them. “Alright. It’s here!” Riddhe then yelled and clenched his sweaty fists.

“LET’S GO! GRIT YOUR TEETH!”

At that moment, the 4 laser rocket engines burst out flares, causing the launch to move forward at maximum speed. The hull let out a rattling sound, and everyone was forced down onto the seat. The path calculated by the computer was a complicated route of twists and turns through the debris, and Mineva and company were basically passengers sitting on a roller coaster as they did not know which side was up or down. As Takuya and Micott screamed out, the launch continued to repeat the complicated maneuvers that tested its limits and entered the shoal space region. The sea of debris floated by messily, and the beam a mobile suit fired raced into the flowing starry space, causing the debris that were hit directly to let out lights of explosions.

The scattered debris spurted out from a parallel level, and what sounded like a large number of pebbles being carried tortured their ears. “It’s just to scare us!” Mineva heard Riddhe’s shout as she looked at the large debris floating over from the front. That was the debris of a mirror that brought sunlight to a colony, and the cracked surface floated in the vacuum together. The launch in automatic mode continued to dodge the fragments floating around as it rushed right at the mirror.

“I’m going to do an emergency brake. There’ll be G-force coming from the back. Get ready.”

He stared at the countdown timer indicated on the navigation setting panel and shouted, 4, 3, 2…ignition <!--There is no ‘1’ in the original text here-->. Riddhe’s fist slammed onto the console switch, causing the launch that was headed to the mirror to let out its front exhausts to the maximum. The G-force that struck at that moment rendered Mineva breathless.

Everything that was not held in place were flying to the front of the body, and the safety belts stretched out so much they felt like they were going to snap as they quashed into the body. Mineva spent so much effort preventing her eyeballs from popping out as she did not lift her head. After several seconds that felt like eternity, the launch that braked suddenly stopped its reverse jets—and moved in amongst the debris of the mirror. The ship was moving at a relative velocity completely identical to that of the surrounding debris as it slowly floated in space.

''Cough.'' It was unknown who coughed. The launch was dark inside most probably because the engine lights were shut off. Mineva slowly closed her eyes and stared at the sensor image that was the only thing giving off light. The pursuers’ markers looked like they were puzzled as they scattered aside. ''This launch rushed into the shoal space region at a reckless speed and slammed into debris…whether this sounds crazy or not, it’s true that they lost sight of us.'' After what seemed like an exceptionally long time, Riddhe said, “Let’s go.”. Mineva however looked up at the canopy, and could see a pale green machine dragging a trail of thruster jet as it floated through numerous materials.

At this point, no one had the strength to yell out; only sighs of relief could be heard from the gang in this dim launch. Haro, who was bouncing around, finally seemed relaxed as it flapped its ears and asked things like, (Are you alright, Audrey?) This alias that Mineva thought up at the last moment—but was designated onto her during the past few days made her unable to answer as she merely lowered her eyes. Riddhe glanced at her secretly, and spoke up while trying to end things off, “We’ll spend the time here.”

“Once those guys leave, we’ll take action again.”

Riddhe pushed Haro over to Micott, and removed his helmet while looking like he was avoiding Mineva’s stare. ''He’s really an overly empathetic person.'' Mineva thought as she asked, “What do you intend to do?”

“We’ll take immediately once we get back onto the Nahel Argama.” Riddhe exchanged looked with Mineva for a while, and continued, “We can still catch up to them at this distance, and once we make contact with them, it’ll be the start of the battle. At that time, the communication channel will be sealed off, so they can’t possible contact the “Alaska”. Logically put, it’s impossible for us to be brought back.”

“And then?”

Mineva did not think that things would improve just by them reaching back onto the Nahel Argama. ''Does this man knows what fate will befall on him for taking away a troublesome prisoner like me and stole a military resource to escape?'' She took off her helmet, gave a doubtful look, and was shocked by another voice “We can only do that.”.

It was Micott. She lowered her eyes, not daring to look at anyone, and her hands held Haro onto her knees tightly. The backup power was connected at this time, and a red light appeared inside the launch, revealing Micott’s bitter and depressed expression.

“We saw what we shouldn’t be seeing, whether it’s that Gundam or you, so there’s no reason for us to be allowed back home safely, right?”

“Besides, there were a lot of people who died or were deemed missing in that battle at “Industrial 7”. We might be counted amongst them at all.”

Takuya followed up. ''They’ll kill people to protect their secrets— '' Mineva gave a confirming look to Riddhe, who stuttered “Eh, I don’t think things will develop to such an extent so easily…” as he looked up to the canopy.

“But if that were the case, what should we do? Even if we get back onto the Nahel Argama…”

“I already thought of it.”

Riddhe was only able to go straight to the point at this moment as he clenched his hands on the control sticks.

“It’s a risky gamble, but it’s not like it won’t work. According to the report I got before I left the “Nahel Argama”, it seems that their battle will start before afternoon on the 12th. That’ll be the moment when “Palau” is closest to earth.”

Mineva did not understand what she just heard. “Battle? Did you just say “Palau”…Mineva asked back, and Riddhe gave her a look while saying, “I hope you can help me.”

“This isn’t simple. I don’t know whether it will be successful, but as long as I meet you, even my father will…”

Riddhe stopped here and looked outside the canopy again. “Father…your father?” Riddhe said with a  forceful tone to block off Mineva’s musing, “It can’t be helped.”

“If this keeps up, everything will be swept under the table. I hope you can entrust your life to me in order to ensure your safety, and these two’s.”

The determined expression on Riddhe’s face as he left the detention room appeared as they landed on Mineva, causing her to look away immediately. No matter what Riddhe was thinking, his expression showed obvious consideration into this decision. She did not feel that she could simply agree to this easily, and as the void of silent time accumulated, Micott’s voice rang in her ears, “This is to save Banagher too.”

“I know this shouldn’t be something I should be saying. But sorry, I have no intention of apologizing to you. Your army was the one that decimated our colony.”

Micott spoke to Mineva, and suddenly looked down as she clasped her hands that were holding onto Haro. Mineva could only watch the face of this girl who looked more frail than anyone else in this launch silently.

“But I want to apologize to Banagher. If I don’t, I…”

The end of her words was vague due to her crying. Micott did not intend to speak up anymore as the silent time descended on the ship again. Riddhe seemed to realize that he was on a path of no return as he gave a determined look; Micott’s lowered angry face was trembling with wet eyes; and Takuya could only glance at Micott, wanting to reach his hand to her shoulder, but could not. Everyone’s feelings filled this launch, making the air inside hot and hard to breathe, and Mineva was forced to look for a place where she could lay her eyes on in the midst of this starry space with countless debris.

What expanded in front of her eyes was merely a frozen darkness, and she could not find anything to look at. However, the feelings of the people gathered here were running towards a certain place, intending to look for another place. ''Maybe I am look for some place I can run to, just like how I was guided by what warm hand. But to where?'' Mineva’s could not think properly as she closed her eyes and sighed out hot air. ''Even if we stay in the darkness, we can’t continue on to the next scenario. We have to start running—''