Editing KSGU:Volume 5 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 5===

"I got a funny telegram from headquarters. Shall I read it to you?”

Lieutenant Garrett said as he lifted his ace from the monitor, but as he met the people who arrived in the eyes, he immediately hid his smile. Daguza seemed to have revealed his expression on his face, and to hide the awkwardness of having his subordinate read his thoughts, “Please.” he simply muttered and passed through the surveillance room door together with Conroy.

“…Yes. Sender, Space Marine Special Operations Headquarters. Receiver, commander of ECOAS 920 in active service on the “Nahel Argama”. Adding on to message 1430. The chances of the enemy pursuing are very high, ample alertness is recommended. That’s all.”

Conroy inadvertently grinned, and Daguza could not help but curl his lips up as well. “Such a scary and useful advice.” he remarked wryly, and Garrett finally showed a relieved expression.

“To think that they would remind us of something we already knew…what’s their intention?”

“Someone must be trying to prevent us from carrying out our investigations. Some certain people must be thinking of bringing the “Nahel Argama” back and let the key to the “Box” fall under the army’s management. But if we look at the Senate Council’s side, there’s no way they can completely ignore the Vist Foundation’s order.”

“So they sent this meaningless warning and tell us to decide based on the situation?”

“It’s just a failsafe. Also, it’s an indication that they tried to stop us.”

Daguza did feel that it was too much for him to say such things, but Garrett, who shrugged his shoulders, did not seem to mind. Conroy looked at Daguza’s expression and interjected, “A telegram’s a telegram, so tell those guys from 729 as well!”

“As we planned, the operation will begin at 2300. Can both “Lotos” launch?”

“Yeah. We and the pilots from 729 have started to hear out the instructions for this operation. The Nahel Argama squad will launch 2 ReZELs. The machines are equipped with atmospheric-entry equipment just in case.”

“Alright, we don’t have much experience with carrying out operations in low orbit. Go listen to the strategy for this operation too so that the squads can coordinate well, Lieutenant.”

''Eh?'' Daguza was surprised for a moment as he turned to look at Conroy, but Garrett had already answered “roger!” as he got up from his seat. ''Sorry there.'' Conroy gave this expression as Garrett slipped by him and walked out of the room that functioned as ECOAS’ command room. ''Did Conroy detect my mood too?'' Daguza felt somewhat awkward and yet thankful for the concern of his old friend as he sighed out a long breath he accumulated since the moment he was in the captain’s room. ''What kind of responsibility is it that I have to start killing!?''—he recalled the expression and voice that pierced through his chest as he sat on the chair in front of the console.

“The government and the Foundation are duking it out for the “Box”…something definitely stinks here.”

Conroy pretended not to notice Daguza’s sigh as he poured the coffee and sighed. Daguza himself heard the voice from behind.

“I can understand how Cardeas Vist felt when he wanted to hand the Box to Neo Zeon. Seeing the politicians who only cared about their own well-being and luxury, surrounded by Foundation members who were fighting for their own benefits, he probably thought about giving everything away. The reason why he chose the “Sleeves” was simply because he wanted to obtain the results from elimination. Amongst everything in the world that’s trying to create havoc, only Neo Zeon has the discipline of an army and organizational ability—

“Conroy, do you still remember the operation at “Sweetwater”?”

Daguza interrupted the other person’s words and raised another topic. Conroy’s hand that was pouring coffee into the mug shuddered, and he remained silent for a while before squeezing out a deep voice, “How can I possibly forget?”

“I’ve been having nightmares of that even till now, you know. I kept dreaming of the corpses of the kids floating out of the hole in the colony…even though the colony never had a hole blown in it.”

Conroy went silent and continued moving his hand that froze. He tried to shake off the memories that immediately rose up in his mind, and there was an urge of anxiety, trying to look to the future coming out from his shoulders. Daguza, who saw the back of that normal suit during that operation from the driver seat of the “Loto”, had that image overlapped on the other man in the room at this point, and the sinister fragments of memories budded in his mind.

To counter the number of refugees that were drastically increasing during the war and after, the Federation set up “Sweetwater” in L2 space. It was a refugee colony hastily formed by connecting an open-type space colony and a closed-type space colony, both of different in structure and diameter. This hastily built refugee colony had bad living standards, and it could be said to be a slum in space. It would not take too long for this place to become a base for anti-government forces, and during “Char’s Counterattack”. “Sweetwater” became a working base for Neo Zeon. After the conflict ended, the defeated troops formed guerrilla squads, and “Sweetwater” became a breeding ground for terrorist planning, and it was a natural thing for such pus to be tucked away in “Sweetwater”.

The Side Nationalism (Controllism) erupted due to “Char’s Counterattack”, and the Federation naturally hoped that sweeping Neo Zeon would have immediate effects as they tried to seal off the voices calling for Elementalism. These factors caused the Central Intelligence Branch to be unnaturally enthusiastic as they investigated this terrorist activity and sent out ECOAS, which was formed not too long ago as a response. There was an empty building on a land behind a cleaning factory in a certain sector of “Sweetwater”, and the plotters of the terrorist organization were gathered there. ECOAS launched a raid and destroyed them in one shot. Those terrorists ignored human rights and laws, so their crimes that went beyond the law should be punished by means beyond the law—in order to pass this hidden message from the Federation government to the anti-government forces, they chose to use an extremist option of ‘eliminating’ the building together with the terrorists, so Daguza and the ECOAS 920 members rode on the “Loto” and got onto the outer wall of the colony.

They used beam burners to burn apart the outside wall and invaded the underground service roads in the ground block. They installed bombs on the common passage that should be located together with the building, and planned to use the steam that would explode from the water tank to destroy the ground, causing the building to collapse as well. The building in question was a desolate place that was planned to be taken down, located alone behind the newly built cleaning factory, so there was no need to worry about whether anyone would approach there in the day. There were Intelligence Branch agents waiting at the space colony, ready to report everything that happened from their surveillance, ready to carry out any backup just in case. They just needed to wait for the masterminds of this terrorist organization to gather at the scene and let some electricity flow through the detonative device. Everything the “Hunters” set up was perfect, and the target terrorists started to gather at the building one after another, causing the ECOAS members to understand that the information they got was correct—except for one exception. A school bus was parked right in front of the abandoned building, and there were many children visiting the factory alighting in front of the entrance.

Once they checked that the last target entered the building, the events happened after the surveillance team withdrew. If the fact that the parking lot was full that day was a coincidence, the fact that the bus was directed to the targeted building was also a coincidence. If there was a need to press on for whom was responsible, it would be the Intelligence Branch’s fault for failing to report to the army that there would be a factory visit that day, but in the end, Daguza and his men who were hidden underground would have no reason to know these. The explosion caused the targeted facility, the building to collapse immediately, and they were then swallowed under the collapsed land. The target was crushed by several tons of concrete, and the school bus was buried under it as well.

Amongst the 37 children present, 30 of them died at that moment, and another 3 died after they were sent to hospital. The remaining 4 who survived miraculously lost some limbs, and suffered damage that could not be erased in their lifetime. One of them still never regained consciousness at this point even after 3 years, and even though that child was braindead, the parents could not give up on their flesh and bone that was still growing. It was said that they would visit the hospital to take care of their child every single day.

The investigation committee concluded that it was an unfortunate accident caused by a aerolite, and the media created a massive report on the tragedy that befell on the young children. In the end, only the management of the colony communal was to bear responsibility, and there were no reports about the men and women inside the building. But on the other hand, related rumors spread around the special forces of the Federation, and ECOAS was dubbed the “Manhunters” after this incident. The Federation sent a strong message with regards to terrorist activities, and gave them fear and hatred that they had never imagined.

They were a hunting force that specialized in killing; they were an organization that did all sorts of dirty work, from assassination and abduction to killing young children—after that, the members of ECOAS saw many missions that should not be spoken of, and were despised by the other soldiers in the army. None of their members could live their lives peacefully ever since then, “It was a tragedy.” Conroy mused, and Daguza inadvertently looked at his back.

“It was a mistake on the Intelligence Branch’s part. We couldn’t even do anything.”

“Yeah.”

“We were facing a group of people who would throw either colonies or meteors onto Earth. There might be more children killed if we didn’t take them all down in one go.”

“Yeah…we have to allow for a little sacrifice for the sake of many.”

Daguza forcefully clasped his hands together, and felt like he was biting onto sand as he said, “We’re cogs in this large installation called the Federation. Cogs don’t wish for anything. They just follow the decision of what the installation wants and carry out the order, until the day they break down due to a fault…”

Daguza suddenly recalled Nasri’s face, the commander of ECOAS 729 who led the raid on “Palau” and died with his squad. For the sake of that man and the subordinates who died in that battle, Daguza and his men had to quickly secure the “Box”, no matter how much sacrifice they had to make and how much debt they had to bear. Daguza told himself that he never doubted this, and he could not doubt before letting out an exhausted sigh. Conroy handed him a mug of hot coffee and said silently, “When we complete our mission, all guilt and sacrifices will be forgiven…you said so that time, commander.”

“I believe in those words.”

''So please allow me to continue believing in these words.'' Conroy’s expression was saying this. Daguza brought the mug to his chest and he stared at his face being reflected off the pitch-black surface. Suddenly, he felt a bone-chilling uneasiness, and even felt himself trembling.

There was a face of a man there, who fooled his subordinates, himself, and even forgot that he was fooling others. Do I really want to drink this down? ''Whenever my hand stops, the memories would appear, so I still want to continue drinking, so do I want to continue drinking this to escape from this nightmare that will never disappear until my death?—''

“Maybe I’m just trying to run away.”

The urge to slam the mug down was released through his mouth in the form of such words. Conroy’s eyelids cringed somewhat.

“Up till now, we’ve been swallowing reality into our stomachs. If we don’t swallow, we won’t be able to continue on…that guy’s different. He wouldn’t swallow, he continues to struggle.”

He was shaking, but he could still stare right at those eyes that were giving him a doubtful look. Daguza recalled the impression of those eyes in his mind as he said this. At the same time, Conroy seemed to have the mental impression of those same eyes as he softly uttered, “He’s still a kid.”

“He sealed himself in a shell because he doesn’t want to be hurt. That won’t save anyone.”

“That might be the case, but to me, I feel that he’s the one who’s facing reality.”

Daguza sensed that Conroy gasped as he looked back silent. He continued to look at the swaying surface of coffee.

“Justice will change according to the times. An existence like us is required to maintain order. Once we swallowed such a reality, we became reality. However…”

''Let me ask honestly, what is this order we have to protect even if it means killing children? Nobody can clear or repay the guilt of ending lives that never began the anger the parents felt when they came to cut the nails of their children who will never wake up, because humans were not gods. Everything they did would never be rewarded, and no one will receive salvation. Despite understanding that, I still continue to kill myself off, telling myself consistently that it can’t be helped. Won’t I become a real cog gradually?''

''I swallowed reality and sold out myself bit by bit. In this sense, I’m a foolish creature who’s sealed in this shell called an adult.'' Daguza sighed as he looked at his heavy heart, lost in this depressive and silent time. Conroy closed his eyes and uttered, “I can’t say this can’t be helped” as he gradually tried to stir up something amidst this silence.

“There will always be room for the world to change, and there would be geniuses who would rejected reality and want to change the world. But there is a need for people to bear the time called present and carry on so that these geniuses can think for the future. The ones who have to bear this will be us, uninteresting adults who unfortunately became one with reality.”

Conroy smiled, perhaps laughing at himself for saying something that was not his style. If there were people who would bear this reality and support the world, there would be people who would resist reality and put their hopes on the future they could not see. ''Simply put, it’s a question of balance, is it?'' Daguza understood at this point and felt somewhat relieved as he finally lifted his head with intent. “Sorry, I understand.” He smiled as he answered, and Conroy shrugged while pretending not to hear anything.

''I’ve already done a lot of things most commanders shouldn’t be doing. If I continue this, nobody else will be saying such depressing things, but me.'' Daguza did not hope to be laughed at by Nasri as he looked away from Conroy and put his fist on his first to invigorate himself. “Also, there’s a problem with what I said.” this sudden voice shocked him.

“What I believe is not what you said, commander, but you yourself. Please take action according to your own thoughts. We’ll follow you from behind.”

Conroy put the mug of coffee he had not drank beside the pot and merely met Daguza in the eyes before walking out from the room. Daguza could not think of what to say as he looked down at the mug he was holding, and faced his reflection off the swaying fluid.

The ripples gradually eased up, and before the image was formed clearly, he immediately gulped the salted coffee that tasted saltier than usual.