Editing KSGU:Volume 6 Chapter 3 (section)

===07:02===

“You’re saying Dakar’s attacked by the enemy?”

While the news to activate the anti-air surveillance branch was to be announced, he was in the captain room, washing his face to wake himself up. Bright rushed into the bridge and asked loudly, and once he heard First Officer Meran answer with a serious expression, “It’s a report from the Senate Council”, he felt like his breathing was blocked.

“An air raid? How many enemies are there?”

“I don’t know. The Senate Council itself doesn’t seem like it grasped the situation either. Our satellite link with the Dakar security is cut off too.”

Minovsky particles—no matter whether they were scattered by either ally or foe, the scale of battle was definitely abnormal. ''This is definitely not a trivial matter,'' he exchanged looks with Meran who said that, and turned to look at the navigation screen behind him to roughly estimate the estimated time required from their current position to Dakar. It had been more than 20 minutes since the “Ra Cailum” received the report of a launch exhaust from what looked like a VTOL ship and head off to the Western Sahara. The battleship that was still in the process of accelerating had already passed over the Libyan desert, and there was still less than 5000km distance left before they reached Dakar. If they considered the accelerating and decelerating, it would be approximately an hour later before they reached Dakar. It was impossible to shorten the time further due to the ship’s acceleration functions under the atmosphere. Even if they moved towards space first before rushing down to the atmosphere, they would end up moving over Dakar at this distance. ''So we can only rush over to Dakar directly in the sky?—''

“All hands, get to second alert. Mobile suit squad, standby.”

Bright’s lips moved before he could make a conclusion. ''There’s no time, and there’s no need to wait for instructions from the Senate Council. Get to the scene first and confirm the situation.''  The Londo Bell Task Force was granted an unconditional authority to do as they please during an emergency intrusion on the Federation government. “Our ship will now head to Dakar. Hurry up on plotting the shortest navigation course, equip a booster onto the Base Jabbers and get them onto the catapult decks together with the “Jestas” on standby.” Bright gave the orders he could think of immediately as he sat on the captain’s seat at the middle of the bridge. The ordinary bridge length of a “Ra Cailum”-class was more 15m, and the breadth was 6m strong, forming a horizontally structure. There were 8 crew members under the navigation branch, and soon after the alarm rang, two duty staff members that were on standby to assist during an alert situation rushed to the scene, and the bridge was filled with activities that were somewhat tense.

“Depending on the situation, we may open the battle bridge. All departments, check the circuits!” Meran yelled with a gruff voice and showed a battle-hardened face he had not shown after 3 years. No matter how much they educated, it was impossible to create such an atmosphere during training. Bright sensed that the fatigue he endured for the past few days was cleared off, “What are they planning…” as he mused to himself. For the past 2 days, the “Ra Cailum” rushed over to the Middle East, merely to detect the movements of the Zeon remnants forces. However, their bases that were scattered in the desert showed no signs of movements. It was unknown where this enemy came from, either from above ground or from below. “Does it have something to do with the VTOL ship that was reported?” Meran, who was standing beside the captain’s seat, added on uietly,

“If the exhaust fumes detected in the Western Sahara is from that “Garencieres”…”

“That is a possibility, but I don’t think it has the capability to take down Dakar. If the “Laplace Box” is on that ship, the logical thinking would be to return to space first.”

“I heard that “Palau” was abandoned. Is it possible for those “Sleeves” to launch an all-or-nothing attack after losing their base?”

“Those men of the man who called himself another coming of Char aren’t that simple-minded…we lost the initiative, I guess.”

These excessive words caused Meran to frown. Was the entire series of incidents starting from “industrial 7” related to this assault on Dakar? It was impossible to discern with just the information Ronan Marcenas provided. There should be a more complicated and deeply rooted reason that existed behind these incidents, just like the “Laplace Box” term that was filled with mystery. He knew that as long as he could not approach that core, he would become a chess piece that was easily to manipulate, always dwelling outside the situation.

He wanted information. This information he wanted need not be filtered by principles or benefits. A she thought about this, he remembered the faces of several people he was familiar with. “EWA, Uniform 011 is going to launch.” The voice of the communications operator rang, “Tell them to hurry up.” and Bright immediately answered back instinctly.

“There might be a need to continue. Tell the pilots to remain on standby and get ready to launch.”

“Understood. Informing mobile suit team.”

“Control room, your response is too slow. What are you doing!”

Once the situation began, his body that was used to responding started to move. He roared into the wireless communicator of the bridge as he observed the movements of the crew that had become dull after approximately 3 years, and endured the anxiety in his heart as he looked forward. ''I have to get the correct information before I get manipulated.'' As the ship rumbled due to the acceleration, this thought quickly fastened itself within Bright’s heart.