Editing KSGU:Volume 5 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 8===

(Today, there are more than 100 representatives from different countries in the Earth Federation. After some discussion, we shall sign the charter of the Universal Century. This Charter shall be known as the Laplace Charter, and it shall act as a contract between Humanity and the World.)

The “Unicorn” drew the barrel out from its back attachments and set the magazine in it. The assisting grip on the side in front extended together with the barrel, and the hyper bazooka was ready to fire.

The “Unicorn” put the beam rifle onto its back, and raised the barrel of the hyper bazooka that was about as tall as itself over the shoulder, ready to fire. The 3 “Geara Zulus” quickly dodged and went right at the “Nahel Argama” at the back. Banagher caught sight of one enemy unit flying over him on the reticule, held his breath and squeezed the trigger.  The propulsion gunpowder that was used for firing exploded inside the barrel, and the 380mm shot took this momentum as it came flying out of the nozzle. The heat and wind pressure that was released from the smoke evacuator caused a thick trail of gas to scatter around.

The 380mm shell continued to spin as it flew in a straight line, dragging a trail of thin smoke as it grazed past the accelerating “Geara Zulu”. The proximity fuse activated at the same time, causing hundreds of metal balls to fly out from the exploded shell. The large number of balls that were 5mm in diameter scattered out, and the “Geara Zulu” legs took direct damage as it got knocked off course greatly, but it did not take fatal damage. Banagher immediately stepped on the pedal to let the “Unicorn” rise. The beam that came flying in grazed past the “Unicorn”s legs, and the machine gun-like beams came ripping over.

The other two mobile suits caught up to the “Nahel Argama”, moving through the intercepting fire as they let loose a rain of beam bullets onto the ship. The enemy units accelerated, got above the ship, and after seeing that they hit, decelerated immediately and pull away from the firing range below them. The increase and decrease in speeds would show the difference in heights, and they were executing a hit and run tactic that could only be executed in low orbit. In contrast, the two “Lotos” that were equipped onto the battleship were tactless. The anti-air machine guns and the 4 Gatling cannons that were equipped on their shoulders respectively fired, but only added some empty lights amidst the lines of fire. On the other hand, the two “ReZELs” that were protecting the ship from above and below fought back with beam rifles, but even they looked to be having a tough go in this battle that was different from an ordinary space battle. The allied mobile suits movements were not sharp enough as they had to concentrate on maintaining orbital speed. In contrast, the enemy forces that could only snuggle around the mothership continued to fight using an irregular rhythm as they continued to carry out hit and run attacks. It was because the enemy was overwhelmingly familiar with fighting in low orbit.

The bridge did command the “Unicorn” to return, but in this current situation, it could not do so. Banagher’s consciousness was mostly distracted by the speedometer and height meter, but he continued to fire a second hyper bazooka shot. The scattered shots exploded around the enemy unit’s head that was lowered greatly, creating sparks in the armor. But that was not enough to cause a fatal hit.

The “Geara Zulu” descended again and accelerated as it fought back with the beam rifle. Banagher dodged as he closed in on the enemy with the 3 hyper bazooka rounds. He determined the attacking route of the enemy, and as he aimed the reticule slightly below the target, “It’s disadvantageous for you to attack a moving enemy with a bazooka.” Daguza’s voice rang in his ears.

“You should use the beam magnum. At this distance…”

“No. That’s too powe3rful.”

''A mere graze from a beam magnum shot can melt a mobile suit’s armor into nothing, and even trigger an explosion—even if I don’t use this weapon, I can still force the enemy to retreat.'' “This is not a time to hold back, you know!?” but Banagher ignored Daguza’s growl as he let the machine stop immediately.

The machine descended drastically, and the relative distance with the enemy unit was pulled closer. “You’ll fall!” Daguza shouted, and Banagher accelerated at a height of 200km and got around the feet of the “Geara Zulu” that passed by. The 4 thrusters on its back lit up at the same time, and the “Unicorn” rose quickly as it pursued the enemy unit from below.

“If it’s a close-ranged battle…!”

Banagher deliberately turned the reticule away and fired the hyper bazooka. The shell grazed past the “Geara Zulu”, exploded 2km away, and the metal balls that came flying out rained on the thick green machine. The “Geara Zulu” took more than a hundred metal balls from the front as it lost its balance, and the beam rifle in its right hand dropped off. The beam rifle seemed to have taken damage from the direct hits of the metal balls as it exploded immediately, creating an orange ring of light in space.

With the light of the explosion shining, the “Geara Zulu” shot its balance verniers as it slowly retreated. The generator was not damaged, and it probably would not be dragged down to Earth by gravity. After confirming this, Banagher scanned around to look for the other two mobile suits. At this moment, Daguza gave a deep voice from behind as he said, “You deliberately missed that, didn’t you…”

“If we force them to retreat, there’s no need to kill them, right?”

“They’ll end up being reclaimed by the mothership if you do that, and they’ll become enemies with us again.”

“I’ll just force them to retreat again when that time comes.”

Banagher said without looking at the other person. “Do you think this is a game, you bastard!?” the angry growl rang through Banagher’s ears, and his body that was grabbed on the shoulder was held down onto the linear seat. Banagher bit his lips, unwilling to meet Daguza in the eyes.

“I don’t want to repeat what that man just said, but you should take the enemy down when you go. The enemies you let go may end up being the ones killing our allies, or even you.”

The shoulder that was grabbed by the other man cooled off, and the clever reality spread through Banagher’s body. If he admitted this, he would be swallowed by the machine, and would become a living core of negative emotions ready to explosive. He thought about the thoroughly injured Marida, and the certain person whose name he did not know that got shot and killed by a stray shot—and had enough of this. “SINCE WHEN AM I PLAYING HERE!?” he squeezed out this voice from his abdomen and waved away Daguza’s hand on his shoulder.

“WHETHER IT’S MY DEATH, OR THE DEATH OF OTHERS, I CAN’T JUST JOKE AROUND HERE. THAT’S WHY I’M TRYING MY BEST HERE, ALRIGHT!?”

Daguza met Banagher’s stare right in the eyes, and he showed a wavering expression as his eyelids shivered. Banagher finished and looked away, only to hear an approaching alarm of an unknown clinging tightly onto his heart.

The motion sensor indicated that there was an enemy approaching from above, on the right side. The relative distance was less than 20km, and it was too late to dodge it. Banagher let the “Unicorn” draw its beam saber and got ready to take on the enemy mobile suit that was approaching rapidly. He caught sight of the enemy that was a little dot, and this enemy soon became the size of a fist. The “Geara Zulu” that was wielding the beam rifle then covered Banagher’s sights.

The beam hook that was shaped in a light sickle swung down, and the beam saber took this hit as bright sparks were emitted. As the high-heat particles cackled, Banagher saw the antenna of the enemy unit that had a feather-like decoration, (Can you hear me, Banagher?) this voice caused him to widen his eyes in shock.

(Fall back. I have no intention of fighting with you here.)

“Mr Gilboa…!?)

The savage looking face of the “Geara Zulu” that was lighting its monoeye overlapped with the dark-skinned face Banagher faced on “Palau”, and the fingertip pressing onto the button of the beam saber was shuddering. As Daguza gasped beside him, (We won’t sink the ship. Retreat back before things end!) Gilboa continued.

(Our aim is to bring Marida back. The “Garencieres” is nearby for this.”

“But that…what do you intend to do!?”

(Everything’s set.) The “Geara Zulu” continued to clash with the “Unicorn” at close range as it turned its monoeye around to check if there were anyone else on board, before finally looking back at Banagher. (Listen, you must retreat. Tikva will be sad if you die.)

After saying that quickly, the “Geara Zulu” pulled back the vibrating beam hook away from the “Unicorn”. “Wait, Mr Gilboa…!” Banagher shouted, but the other person did not respond, as what was left in Banagher’s sights was the back of Gilboa’s unit that lit its verniers as it left. The “Nahel Argama” continued to let out intercepting fire as it appeared in front of the unit that merged into space. Banagher did not have time to think too much as he stepped on the pedal, hurrying the “Unicorn” to where the other person was.

“Did he say that they set everything up…?”

Daguza mused amidst the accelerating G-force, but at this point, Banagher did not have the need to meet the passenger behind him in the eyes as he was thinking the same thing as what Daguza was thinking. The enemy unit that struggled to attack the “Nahel Argama” let itself get shot into pieces deliberately, and a certain perpetrator used that opening to sneak inside the ship. “RX-0 calling Romeo 010, please transfer the channel to the “Nahel Argama”.” Banagher heard Daguza speak into the wireless communicator, and he let the “Unicorn” maintain an acceleration that was barely enough to leave the course as it charged right at the “Nahel Argama”.

(There might be an intrusion inside the ship. The guess is that the enemy is aiming to recapture the prisoner. Strengthen security immediately, and if necessary, patrol around. Over.”

At this distance, it would be more reliable to ask an allied machine to send the machine as the message would be more likely to reach the receiver. The “ReZEL” that was below the “Nahel Argama” let out a signal flare, indicating that it understood, and closed in on the distance with the ship. Banagher saw this and felt somewhat relaxed as he turned to look at the “Nahel Argama”. He saw the space shuttle that was connected to the portside, confirmed that Marida was still within the ship, and suddenly had a doubt, wondering what exactly he was doing at this point.

If Zinnerman and the rest were here, it would be much better to hand Marida over to them. This was an obvious fact that did not require thinking, and it was because Gilboa believed that Banagher would have this similar understanding that he spoke of the plan for this operation. Even so, Banagher forgot about this untila  moment, and he, who detected that the enemy had entered the ship, kept thinking of warning his allies to respond.

Enemies and allies—no, this kind of classification was not suitable for him. He know both sides personally, and no matter which side it was, he would help out the moment he saw someone in danger. In the end, Banagher was an observer who did not belong to either side, and could not help either side. He was so timid that he did not want to hurt others and himself, pretending to be kind, but would only add fuel to the battlefield. He was always pretending to be a victim, but killed others with random shots.

''This won’t do. It’ll only cause the situation to get more confusing. I won’t be able to save myself, let alone others, so what shall I do?'' Banagher could not think properly as he had all sorts of thoughts, and strength was seeping from his hands that were holding the control sticks. He shook his head and looked in front. On that side, where the fires continued to flare, Captain Otto and Lieutenant Commander Conroy were still fighting; Ensign Mihiro and Gilboa were still fighting, and even Takuya and Micott were probably fighting with fear.

''Then, what about me—?'' As Banagher stared at the lights that were crossed in front of him, he repeated his self-questioning mindlessly, only to see the “ReZEL” approaching the “Nahel Argama” get shot down and explode.

The fireball that engulfed the blue machine immediately expanded, and the static and electronic interference noise entered the ears. Banagher let the “Unicorn” accelerate and rise. He could tell at a thick beam of a long distance cannon snipe grazed past his feet, and the beam scattered as if it was trying to light Earth that was shrouded in night.

“A new mobile suit…!?”

Daguza muttered. Looking at the direction and power, it was not a beam that was shot by Gilboa and his men. Banagher looked over at the front of the “Nahel Argama” where the beam came flying from, and he sensed a certain pressure his body recognized closing in from there. The new enemy came entering from the equatorial orbit in a completely opposite direction from his, approaching at an alarming speed. That oppressiveness became a wind pressure that felt like it would rip the scalp off, and at this point, a term passed through his chest like a beam of light.

''The Red Comet—!''