Editing KSGU:Volume 7 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 8===

The sounds of the machines became a Figured Bass shook the air of the mobile suit deck, and suddenly, there was an irregular sound. Mineva felt her body float up seemingly and looked back at the opened hatch.

She could slightly see the clouds below her eyes from past the Medea transport craft. Before this, the scenery outside the aircraft was hidden by the hatch and could not be seen. ''Are we falling?'' as she felt puzzled, a crewman shouted, “5th main unit, both engines down!” and hurried footsteps could be heard from above.

“I heard that there’s no external damage. It’s not a power system malfunction?”

“There’s a problem with the 4th unit too. Call anyone that’s free to head to the engine room!”

The crewmen panicked as they notified each other and ran over the catwalk along the wall. ''There was a commotion over a report that someone may have snuck in just now. Is it…'' the moment she thought about it, Mineva looked up at the ceiling far away from the wall. “I can hand you Banagher and the “Unicorn”, but this determined voice caused her to turn to the front in shock.

“But I want her back. If you refuse, I’m going try and get her back with all I have.”

Riddhe aimed his automatic handgun with both hands as he took a step forward. Alberto, who had lost out in terms of willpower, started to back away, and the surrounding black suit subordinates had their hands reached within their chest pockets, but their hands were trembling. In this extremely tense situation, Martha was the only one who showed an emotionless and undeterred expression. “Do you understand your situation here, Ensign Riddhe?” Martha did not move forward nor backwards in the face of the black suit barricade, and even showed a light sneer, but Riddhe’s helmeted head shook slightly.

“We’re in a battle here. Even the prince of the Marcenas’ family won’t be able to escape the fate of an accidental death. Who else will know that you’re dead other than you yourself?”

''Thud.'' The black subordinates let out this sound as they closed the perimeter. However, Riddhe remained unmoved by Mineva’s urge to shout out as he remained calm and turned his stare and the gunpoint at Martha, “The military certainly fusses over the cause of death over anything else.” He said as he gave a stiff smile.

“Everything I said will be recorded in the black box of the “Delta Plus”through the wireless communicator. Let me tell you first, it’s useless to finish me off with the machine. When the machine’s about to be wrecked, the system is set that the information will reach the nearest ally machine.”

A subordinate whispered something to Martha, and the sneer immediately vanished from her face. Mineva deduced that he probably told her that Riddhe was not bluffing. If they were to kill Riddhe here, the “Garuda” and all the surrounding mobile suits would become witnesses. At this point, she finally realized the intention Riddhe had when he barged in here, and turned to look at his tense face again. “You have two choices.” He pressured on as the flashes and boom of the mega-particles shook the atmosphere.

“Do you hand her over to me obediently? Or do you kill me and become an enemy of the Settlement Issues Council? I don’t care what you choose anymore.”

The muzzle was pointed decisively at Martha now, who, upon witnessing that stare full of madness, showed less than a second’s worth of faltering. Her white, slender face showed a little bitterness, and she immediately showed her poker face again as she raised her hands and stopped the subordinates who would shoot anytime soon. All the subordinates removed their hands from the chest when her stare reached everyone, and Riddhe, who had been retreating slightly, turned to look at Mineva.

“Hurry. Get onto the “Delta Plus”.”

Riddhe growled as his gun was pointed at Martha unflinchingly. Mineva looked back at him and stopped her legs from nearly moving on instinct as she clenched her fists and remained here. ''I’m going to say something stupid—no, something vicious.'' She understood this well, and inhaled before turning her chiding stare at Riddhe again.

“What do you intend to do once you take me away? Are you going to lock me in the house again?”

She would not budge unless this was clear. ''BOOM'' an overhead explosion rang again, and she stared over at Riddhe, who did not seem to understand the question as he looked back, and showed a pleading look for a short moment. “We’ll talk about it after we leave!” he turned back to look at Martha again.

“Hurry up and get onto the “Delta Pus”. Those guys are using you as a hostage.”

“It’s the same in the Marcenas residence.”

“Audrey…!”

“What do you want to protect? Me? The secret of the “Laplace Box”? Or do you want to protect this secret to maintain your family honor you maintained up till this point?”

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT MY FAMILY!”

The voice that came from deep within the stomach rang in everyone’s ears, causing Mineva to falter from deep within. Riddhe did not look at the speechless Mineva as he pointed the gun at Martha. “What I care about aren’t about those. The secret of the “Box” isn’t what you think…” he muttered as his face was twisted with anguish.

“Everything spun out of control since 100 years ago…when the Prime Minister Residence “Laplace” was blown up. No matter whether it was me, my dad, or the Vist Foundation people here, everyone ended up being here because of this loss of control. But no matter how crazy the world is, there’re still 10 billion people…what can I do? Am I limited to protecting this kind of world? I can’t topple everything like those people of Zeon…!”

Riddhe turned his pleading stare back upon Mineva, ''Please understand,'' his eyes were sparkling as he expressed these words in his stare. However, Mineva could not find words to answer immediately, whether it was the Prime Minister residence, the explosion…she repeated the unnerving words in her heart, “Tha…that’s right.” And spotted Alberto take a step forward as he said this.

“That’s why we had to protect the secret of the “Box”. Her Highness Mineva knows that too. In that case, you should assist us and extract the information of the “Box” from the “Unicorn”—”

“SHUT UP!”

Riddhe yelled as he aimed his stare and the muzzle at Alberto, whose face tensed up as he retreated weakly.

“You don’t understand anything at all, you’re just someone who only knows how to use your authority. Don’t you dare talk to me as if you understood everything. Your Founder is the one behind everything. Syam Vist took part in the terrorist attack on “Laplace” and took the “Box”. That was where everything began…!”

In contrast to Martha, who narrowed her eyes slightly, Alberto widened his. Mineva suppressed her jolted heart as she looked back at Riddhe’s face. “From your expression, it seems that your aunt has more or less known about what’s going on.” Riddhe glanced aside at Martha as he continued, and deliberately lowered his gun that was pointed at Alberto.

“At that time, Syam was just a twit who had nothing. The explosion attack was not planned by him, and the way he got the “Box” was simply out of coincidence. But after that incident, everything fell into his path. The first Prime Minister Ricardo Marcenas was assassinated, and The Federation administration used that as an opportunity to harden their stance. A certain someone wrote a script, but ended up ruining it as Syam managed to get the “Box” as a weapon and climb up, which still wasn’t nothing up till that point. That was, until the One Year War…where everything changed drastically. At that moment, Syam, and the Federation government that had been following the railpath he set, finally realized after that moment. They finally understood the significance behind what they did, and discovered the true “power” of the “Laplace Box”. Not many can remain calm when bearing such a secret. The ones who know the contents of the “Box” are the leader of the Vist Foundation and part of the government led by the Marcenas. Everyone else doesn’t know the contents and feared it, and to protect themselves, they quietly protected the rules they set…just like a well-trained dog.”

“And you know the contents of the “Box”.”

Mineva spoke up before she could think, and her body took a step forward. As everyone looked over her, she stared at Riddhe and asked, “Please tell me what is this “Laplace Box”.” Their faces met for a while, and Riddhe diverted his gaze away from Mineva to escape.

“Everyone here has the right to know. What exactly is the secret of the “Box” that’s causing you so main pain to such an extent?”

“…So what if you know? Once you know that it really has the power to topple the Federation, do you intend to get Neo Zeon to steal it?”

“Ensign Riddhe…! You knew that I didn’t have the intention and brought me over to Earth, right?”

Mineva strengthened the tone in her words, causing Riddhe, who was unwilling to look back at her, to frown. A hundred years ago, it was said that there was a “Laplace Box” that was born at the same time as the birth of the Universal Century—in fact, no matter what it was within, she could turn her back away from it. She had to face the truth, think and accept it no matter how it was, all in order to solve the situation in front of her. With the noises of the battle still going on behind her, Mineva waited for the other man to say the truth. Riddhe glanced aside, and their eyes met for a short moment before he turned his head away, “…If I can say it, I’ll really do so.” And murmured with a barely audible voice.

“I hope to at least tell you alone so that I can breathe easy, but I can’t. As long as you’re still of Neo Zeon…as long as you’re still in a position to topple the current order…”

He said this as he turned to face Mineva, “Can you become a part of our family?” and his eyes showing the same gloominess when he asked that question. The one asking and the one being asked however had the different situations, and Mineva lowered her head without thinking.

At this point, she felt that this was not the moment to address such problems, but she understood at the same time that all concerns for Riddhe revolved around that premise, and argued silently in her heart as she clenched her fists. ''But you never tried to take me away from that house. You tried to handle all the problems alone and merely pushed the results upon me. That night, if you had not grabbed my hand and wanted me to escape with you—''

BOOM. A dull explosion rang above, casting aside the troubles Mineva had for herself. The machine frame of the “Garuda” was tilted greatly, and she lost her balance as she ended up crashing into Riddhe’s pilot suit.

The hangars installed at the sides were rattling, and the cranes that were dangling from the ceiling were swaying like a pendulum clock. One of the wires holding down the Medea transport carrier snapped, and a wind hollered through the deck in a terrifying manner. “Is it a direct hit?” “Are you sure someone didn’t barge in to mess things up?” the subordinates were yelling. MIneva was supported by Riddhe, who lowered his gun and stood his ground amidst the rocking floor, and upon seeing a strange reflected light on his face, she gasped. The red and golden flashes were clashing, and two colors were gradually mixed into that inexplicable light—the source of the light that shone in from the rear hatch caused the Medea to appear within, and the empty mobile suit deck suddenly became bright and dark.

Her chest was starting to buzz, and her heart was starting to race. She looked out of the hatch, and spotted a thin veil of light covering the blue sky, seemingly swaying in the sky like an aurora. For every pulsation, the lights that were like capillaries formed a film of aurora that flashed through, and rained down tiny light particles that scattered everywhere. Those were similar to the scattered particles from the mega-particle shots, but they were not lights from the beams. The golden and red lights were radiating and clashing, creating a pulsation in the light covering the “Garuda”. That light caused everything within the space to resonate, and gradually created a power that could distort a large obect.

It was just like a nightmare. Mineva and the rest forgot about everything that happened as they were entranced by it. “This light…don’t tell me!” Alberto muttered as he limply backtracked. He pulled up the old man in white clothes and yelled out, “HOW’S THE BRAINWAVES OF THE SPECIMEN!?”showing an abnormal sense of anxiety. Martha, who glared at him from behind, frowned and asked, “What’s going on?” and without waiting for the white old man to operate on the observation installation, Alberto himself proceeded towards it and answered as he continued to tap at the keyboard, saying, “We’re not too sure…no, there isn’t any actual proof, I would say.” He proceeded with the checks quickly, summoned out other windows, and slammed the casing of the installation, ostensibly lost about the development of the situation.

“But there is that possibility. Why didn’t I notice it…?”

Alberto scratched his head as he muttered, ignoring the flustered old man. It seemed that Martha too felt a chill as she asked again, her voice showing anxiousness, “What’s going on?” A pale-faced Alberto turned his head around and spoke,

“The Psycoframes are resonating. The “Unicorn” and the “Banshee” may be resonating…and creating a Psyco-field.”

The reflected light was still swaying, but Mineva could be certain that Martha’s expression changed, and she definitely felt that it was the first time the latter showed such an expression clearly. As she continued to repeat the unfamiliar term Psyco-field, she looked at the sky that was flashing in the midst of this chaotic atmosphere. “That’s the “Unicorn”…is that the light from Banagher?” Riddhe muttered to himself as he too looked outside the hatch. The remaining light continued to fluctuate against each other, regardless of the air currents, flashing away—those were the light waves created by the “Unicorn” and the “Banshee” in their skirmish aboard the “Garuda”. Once she understood this, Mineva’s hairs stood in fright as she continued to stare at the light that shook the world itself. With the “Garuda” at center, the aurora-like light expanded gradually, ostensibly trying to fold the 500m wingspan weird bird under it.