Editing KSGU:Volume 6 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 12===

Riddhe walked out of the Captain’s room, and the first thing that entered his eyes was Nigel, who was leaning on the corridor wall. He stared at the leader of the Tri-Stars who gave a silent stare, sighed and said, “I understand.”

“I’ll help clean the deck. Please tell the leader that I’ll be there to help out.”

Nigel was merely the captain of the Tri-Stars, and the mobile suit squadron of the “Ra Cailum” itself was run by another Commander. The other party was the ace here, but he had no intention of letting another man who did not know about the circumstances tell him off here. Riddhe passed by Nigel, who did not say anything, and intended to head to the mobile suit deck, “You’re too rigid.” but a voice caused him to stop.

“Your heart and body are so rigid and tense. It’s rare to have a talent like yours. You’ll just end up wasting it in the end.”

''He saw through me.'' Riddhe unconditionally felt this sense of defeat. The sunset shone in through the ship window, and Nigel showed Riddhe an eagle-like stare. Riddhe instinctively looked away and said, “I won’t cause trouble for you.” After that, he left the scene, but Nigel moved away from the wall and spoke,

“You’re a rookie who doesn’t even know the meaning of the word team? Well, us Tri-Stars do whatever we want, and there’s no need for us to give you suggestions, but I’ll shoot you down from behind if you dare to pull the Ra Cailum fleet down. You better remember that.”

Riddhe turned around to look over his shoulder, and Nigel did not let go of this opportunity as he said that viciously. ''So he’s still wary of me.'' He reaffirmed this sense of exclusion from the other man and convinced himself into thinking that this would make this easier, and said sarcastically, “This is a good ship!”

“A well-experienced captain, a united mobile suit squad; don’t you find this ideal?”

“Your sarcasm ain’t half bad there. Are you saying that us idiots who only know how to train are having a group orgy or something?”

“I didn’t say that. I just feel envious, because I’m…”

''I can’t get into your clique anymore—'' these unexpected words sank into Riddhe’s stomach, and he kept quiet. Nigel eased up on the killing intent surrounding him as he gave Riddhe a surprised look. He sighed and turned his face to the communication panel on the wall.

“You should know this already, don’t you? The “Jestas” were machines that were created to support the UC plan.”

The communication panel would normally show the footage captured by the external surveillance cameras. Riddhe, who heard this for the first time, stared at the side of Nigel’s face that was starting at the sunset sky.

“The Tri-Stars were originally piloted to be test pilots of the UC plan, but it was interrupted halfway through, and we ended up having to use the support machines.”

They were machines developed to work with and support that “Unicorn”—if that was the case, it would explain why the “Jesta” that had endurance and manoeuvrability would have different specifications from a mass-produced machine. He suppressed the throbbing in his heart as he turned towards Nigel.

“When the plan was interrupted, the “Sleeves” started to be more active in their movements. Now the entire army is desperately searching for a disguised ship that dropped onto Earth just because both sides once fought in space. In the end, even us Londo Bell is called in to help when we can’t even do anything. It’s obvious why we’re all becoming crazy here, isn’t it? If the product of the UC plan is taken away by the “Sleeves”, and if it were hidden on that disguised ship—”

“I don’t understand.”

He had no confidence that he could keep a straight face at all. In response to Riddhe’s quick response to end things, Nigel said with irony, “Me too.”

“A pilot doesn’t need a brain to look at everything. Even if the people up there are all idiots, we can only trust their decisions to fight. In this sense, I feel that our luck is rather good.”

“You’re talking about Captain Bright?”

“Yeah. Besides, he’s someone who made his career leading “Gundams” up till this point. He’s not going to be swayed easily, so you better man up.”

Nigel never stopped viewing Riddhe as an outsider throughout, and he left these words as he left the front of the communication panel. ''It can’t be helped. If a supervisor sent over from the Senate Council is pretending to look like a pilot here, I’ll show that kind of attitude too.'' He looked back at himself for having come so far, and suddenly felt a cutting pain in his heart. “It’s not that simple.” He said as he showed a slight smile on his face. Nigel stopped and again shot a stare full of killing intent from beyond the shoulder.

“That’s because our enemy may be that “Gundam”.”

He ignored Nigel, who gave this surprised expression, and looked at the crimson red sky on the communication panel. He was referring to that mobile suit that could open the grudge 100 years ago, the “Laplace Box”, and the boy who was chosen to be its pilot, Banagher Links. ''I feel you’re a man of your word.'' He shook off that voice from his mind as he stared at the sea that was dyed sunset, and a rich color that looked like it was burning intensely caused him to feel dazed. The speed of the “Ra Cailum” was the same as when he arrived, and the sea that was like blood flowed in front of his eyes without end.