KSGU:Volume 5 Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Part 1

(Universal Century. In ordinary terms it means ‘A Century for everyone’. The age of outer space should be written as ‘Universe Century’, but we deliberately used the word ‘Universal’, which means ‘for all’, as the name for the new century.)

Marida’s hearing that was dulled by the anaesthesia picked up this calm but determined voice. She opened her eyes slightly, and saw the ceiling inside the ship connector.

The fluorescent panels that were lined up in intervals continued to glide by Marida’s eyes, and the slow-flowing air struck her face. She moved her slightly numb hand, realized that she was fastened down on the zero-gravity use stretcher, and gathered her sights that were focused on both left and right eyes. The men wearing white normal suits were surrounding the stretchers, moving along the connector to somewhere else. At this point, this group of people looked like they were paramedics sending an injured sportsman, but none of them were focusing on the patient. Those faces were obviously showing strange looks as they looked forward, silently letting the lift grips pull them forward. The pistols grips on the men’s waist holsters showed that they were definitely not related to any medical work in any sense.

Marida originally thought that they were conversing with each other, but that was not the case. The ‘voice’ she heard came from the internal wireless speakers of the helmet. Who’s the one talking? She swallowed her saliva that had some bitterness of the anaesthesia and pricked her eyes to hear this ‘voice’ that sounded like someone’s speech. However, another person’s voice “You’re saying that the message came from the “Unicorn”? caused her face to twitch.

“I’m saying this alright. The machine started to let out this signal once they made contact with the debris of “Laplace”.”

“Did the Laplace Program unseal itself? How’s the NT-D?”

“I don’t sense any activation of the NT-D here…”

Marida turned her eyes to the source of this voice. From the back of the normal suit, she saw a man with a fat face tensing up. They are not crew members of this “Nahel Argama”. If I remember correctly, that man from Anaheim Electronics is called Alberto. She felt her head aching somewhat as she recalled these scenes, and closed her eyes for the time being. She had not recovered completely, and the effects of the anaesthetic did not fade off completely. However, it seemed that the fastening belts on the stretchers were not secured that tightly, and she gradually clenched her fists to awaken her still sleepy body. She then widened her eyes and looked around.

From the area she could see, she saw Alberto and 3 other men who looked like his henchmen. They were probably heading to the shuttle that was linking over, and from what she heard before she fell asleep, it seemed that she would be brought to Earth together with this group of people. If she were detained in a military facility, the chances of her escaping would become even more difficult. Marida did not think that she could survive and make it all the way back to the Neo Zeon camp, but if she were injected with drugs and revealed information she should not say, she would end up putting her master and everyone else in a pinch, and she had to prevent that no matter what. She twitched her body that was in the worker normal suit, checked on her thoroughly hurting body due to her injuries, realized that she was not completely immobile, and started to observe the men’s actions.

The men seemed to have swallowed the opinion of the military doctor who said that Marida would be unable to wake up for half a day, and did not pay attention to her. Can I take down such numbers? As Marida held her breath and asked herself, “What should we do? Do we delay the launch and hear out the outcome of the investigations?” a subordinate asked, and Alberto’s back shuddered as he held onto the lift grip.

“Continue to keep contact with the bridge. Call the captain of the “Klimt” and tell him and we may change our departure time according to how things develop.”

“Yes.” The subordinate answered as he stepped on the floor and moved back Alberto, who muttered, “What kind of joke is this…” without looking at the other person. His voice echoed through the corridor, and Marida saw that he seemed to be terrified from behind as she heard that ‘voice’ from the broadcast inside the ship. She suddenly recalled Banagher’s name and looked up at the ceiling.

It was said that this ‘voice’ came from the “Unicorn”. Is he called to be the pilot again? Marida relaxed her tense body as she let her consciousness float towards that ‘voice’. She closed her eyes and tried to catch the pulsation of the “Unicorn”, but felt an icy feeling suddenly pierce through her chest.

She could not help but widen her eyes, and her fingers stiffened at this point. A certain presence was rising up from below the fall, passing through the normal suit and the stretcher, and she clearly felt goosebumps that rose from the skin on her back. This presence did not come from the “Unicorn”, and it was not from that ‘voice’. Another thing was approaching. Someone was staring at the “Nahel Argama” with killing intent.

Marida knew that this was not a term she should be saying as a prisoner, but she could not find any other term to describe this sharp ‘presence’. Her body that was lying tense on the stretcher traced the certain person’s presence rising from her back as she gathered her concentration that was wandering around in space, and then chose the words that formed in her heart.

The enemy’s here—

Part 2

(As humans need to reside in outer space, it’s important for all of humanity to unite together. We can’t let this miracle…become a special occasion…)

The noise started to mix in amongst the voices, proving more than anything else that an enemy was approaching. Otto restrained his inner heart that felt horror as he loudly asked the crew, “Minovsky Particles, you say!?”

“The density is rising rapidly. It’s not an interfering wave.”

The sensor operator seated at the left console seat added on as he looked over at Otto. Minovsky Particles were detected inside the ship, and it was not scattered here from a trading ship somewhere as a precaution against pirates. Someone was definitely releasing Minovsky Particles in this area to cover the eyes of the “Nahel Argama”. To think that we’ll end up with an enemy attack at such a time. Otto exchanged glances with Liam and immediately asked the sensor operator, “Where’s the source?”

“Unable to confirm. The spreading pattern is still unstable. It seemed that the Minovsky radar caught interference.”

“What about the motion sensor?”

“There’s no response in the sensor range. No heat signature either.” The enemy launched an electronic battle from outside the detectable range, and the Minovsky radar failed because of the enemy. There was no room for suspicion in this current situation, and Otto used the reflexes he honed during this past week, “PREPARE FOR ANTI-AIR BATTLE!” he yelled, and the voice echoed through the bridge.

“All personnel, put on your normal suits and prepare for battle. Prepare the cannons. The enemy may be hiding amongst the surrounding civilian ships. Carry out tight anti-air surveillance. We should be able to detect the location of all the ships from the radar information.”

But even so, hundreds of ships continued to move around on the Earth’s orbit. The “Nahel Argama” could not easily pick up the enemy’s location, and it could not expect to fight a decent defensive battle while being thoroughly battered. Otto heard the repeated instructions and alarm sounds as he muttered to himself, “What kind of enemy is there…” Liam received the normal suit from the duty soldier as she coolly answered him, “I don’t think there’ll be many of them here.”

“Besides, this is the absolute defense zone of Earth. Even if the enemy’s disguised as a merchant ship, it probably won’t have the fighting strength of a fleet to invade.”

“That’s the problem. Since they’re willing to fight us with few numbers, they probably came up with some plan.”

Liam, who was putting on her normal suit, stopped what she was doing as she gave Otto a stunned reaction. Otto too felt a little troubled that he spoke with the tone of a very experienced commander as he avoided Liam in the eyes, asking, “Where are our allies location?” Liam zippered up the fastener of her normal suit as she answered,

“The patrol fleet is on duty, but they’re retreating towards the geostationary orbit. Even if we immediately ask them for aid, it’s hard to tell whether they can reach in 30 minutes.

“30 minutes…if this were an enemy raid, it’ll be over by the time they arrive.”

Doesn’t matter what the result is now. Otto added on in his heart as he too received the normal suit and turned to Mihiro at the communication operator seat, saying, “Call back the scouting scout.”

“Once they return, call Romeo 010 and 012 to cover the mothership. The ECOAS’ “Loto” probably can be used as cannons, so do tell them as well.”

“Yes…then, what about the “Unicorn”?”

Mihiro put on her helmet, returned to her seat and gave a meek expression at Otto. From an objective viewpoint, the “Unicorn” would clearly be the most powerful fighting force the ship had. Otto felt words that were stuck in his throat, and he pulled up the fastener of the normal suit in one go, “Tell him to remain on standby inside the ship.” He answered while avoiding the other party’s stare.

“That mobile suit is still releasing that ridiculous speech. Hurry up and let it retreat back inside before it becomes a live target for the enemy.”

We can’t let the kid help in this battle anymore. “Roger that”, Otto saw Mihiro answer “Roger” as she turned her face back to the console, and he looked back onto the screen in front before remorse rose in him. The debris of “Laplace” was ferrying the “Unicorn” over the Southern Hemisphere of Earth, and for every second passed, it would pull away from the “Nahel Argama” that was located on the equator. The electric noise that was mixed in with the speech seemed to be leaving together with the old Prime Minister residence.

Less than 100 years ago, the voice of the first Prime Minister of the Federation government was released all over the world. Ignoring what kind of relation this speech actually had with the “Laplace Box”, these would definitely be difficult to listen to at this point when times had changed. Unknown world, brand new century, humanity that managed to create a united government called the Earth Federation— Otto continued to digest on those words, and he heard someone say, “How ironic” before it was overwhelmed by the loud sound of the alarms.

“A glorious outcome created when all of humanity is united…we, who’re living under such a result, are still killing each other.”

Liam’s voice sounded ever so vicious, and Otto had no reply for her as he put on the helmet of his normal suit without saying anything. The voice that announced the start of the Universal Century did not stop completely as it continued to remain beneath the noise and rang through the wireless radio.