KSGU:Volume 2 Chapter 2
Chapter 2 (continued)
Part 1
“Return back to the ship?”
It’s 4.02pm. As the light of the artificial sun started to weaken, Marida was talking to the receiver in the public phone. (That’s right). Zimmerman answered.
(End the search for the time being and come back before the deal begins. Same goes for Alec and Besson.)
It’s been more than 2 hours since they lost her. They didn’t have a way to break through the large construction area, and it’s true that they were just wasting time. However, they ended their search too quickly. Marida looked at the electric car that was parked beside the public phone on the road. Alec, who was in the driver’s seat, was staring at the neighboring building—the school compound of Anaheim Electronics. It’s impossible to see from here, but Besson should be behind the school watching through the same method.
Of course, nobody could guarantee that the student will come back. But after the huge commotion in the construction area, it’s impossible for him to stay there, and there’re no other leads. Marida looked at the watch to see that there’s still some time before the transaction’s done, and said with a somewhat anxious voice, <‘the girl’ must have entered the space colony builder>.
“We know the identity of the student who helped her ‘escape’. Most likely, it may be something related to the Foundation. Once we wait for him to come back…”
“That Foundation contacted us already. The location of the transaction is changed to the space colony builder.”
The fingers holding onto the phone trembled. The Vist Foundation that made contact with ‘her’ is now requesting a change in location for the deal—and in their territory too. Feeling the irritation of having the initiative snatched from them, Marida asked: <what about the ‘girl’?> (Play dumb) Zimmerman said.
(We have no idea of what their intentions are, but we can only pretend that we know anything. Go get ready just in case something happens.)
Then, shouldn’t we be going to the colony builder together instead of going back to the ‘Garencieres’? Marida wanted to say instinctively, but swallowed her words. The assumption here Zimmerman’s thinking of isn’t something that can be handled with just one or two people being on guard, but mobile suits that have to be on standby.
It’ll be great if Vist Foundation, who deliberately opened their stronghold, hand her over. If not, at that time—Marida answered ‘understood’ as she watched the school gate of Anaheim Electronics. It seemed that it’s after school, and the students that were in plainclothes were laughing and walking out from the gate to the electric car carpark.
What causes them to laugh like this? Marida saw a young woman pushing a baby cart along, walking beside them, and felt really happy. It’s not because that she imagined these pedestrians getting involved in the ‘assumed situation’. Once they’re involved, it’s easy for their lives to vanquish easily. However, they will never dream of such a thing. They never actually thought about their deaths actively or subconsciously, and think that today’s just like yesterday. Marida was really unhappy as she understood that peace was just a mistake made by this group mentality, and that it was extremely fragile.
I took in too much air outside, she thought. Even though she wanted to capture that student called Banagher and interrogate him about ‘her’ whereabouts, she herself isn’t suited to do this kind of work. She wanted to get rid of this tight-fitting clothing and return to the ship…
(It’s finally time. Let’s go check out what’s in that treasure box.)
Zimmerman said through the phone, perhaps reading through her thoughts. Marida wasn’t looking at the strangers, but looked up at the sky of the warm space colony that made her uncomfortable.
Part 2
Below Marida’s feet, about 50m away from the inner walls, at the outer walls of Industrial 7 that’s in direct contact with vacuum, two objects were closing in.
The larger one was more than 15m in diameter, and the two objects that were of irregular shapes look like normal pieces of rock in the dark space region. The pilot of the <<Geara Zulu>> that was hidden on the back of the solar panel, Savoir, saw it. It’s unknown whether it was a block of dirt from the destroyed portion of the space colony, or whether they’re debris from some mineral refining satellite. Either it, it’s moving at the same speed as Industrial 7, and even if it touches the space colony, it will only graze the outer wall. The port management’s radar should have detected it. if they decide that there’s danger, they can set up countermeasures like using the colony-defense missiles to change the trajectories and so on. Savoir made this conclusion, and didn’t pay attention to the enlarged visual of the CG.
If he focused attention on a certain point, the overall surveillance will be eased. He has been watching outside alone for more than 12 hours, and he had already listened to the music he took out to listen to pass the time once. He felt that his concentration was weakening. He opened the visor of the helmet and used a tissue paper to wipe away the sweat. Savoir looked at the numerous windows on the full-view screen. The 4 miniature camera devices that were set around the machine showed their visuals over to the cockpit of the Geara Zulu. There were the lights of a civilian ship that came into the dock, the subway lights that’s running on the outer wall of the space colony, and the two blocks of rock that were closing in. Savoir checked that everything was normal, and thought that it will be over in another 3, 4 hours. Once the deal’s done, he can return to the <<Garencieres>> and stretch his limbs nicely. He, who hasn’t had more than a thousand hours of flying, was treated as a rookie by the crew of the <<Garencieres>>, and is finishing a day’s worth of recon without handing over his duties…
Suddenly, the surveillance camera showed a signal, and the broadcast channel music that was playing inside the cockpit became static. Savior hurriedly put his hand on the arm-raker, amplified the volume of the high frequency wireless radio and concentrates his consciousness on the countless conversations through the statics. The signal vanished after about 10 seconds, and Savoir heaved a sigh of relief.
That’s probably interference from the Minovsky Particles! Someone must have scattered the particles around this region to jam the electric waves as it expand, but the interference this time is really big. For precaution’s sake, Savoir did all sorts of mechanical tests, and checked the visuals of the surveillance cameras. There was nothing different from before other than the two blocks of rock moving behind the space colony and entering the blind spot of the camera.
However, Savoir didn’t know that the Minovsky Particles interference for that moment was so strong that even the port radar that had shielding parts was covered. The two pieces of rock then used this moment to change directions, not being what Savoir expected.
The uneven rocky surfaces let out glows from the control boosters, and the two stone blocks were slowly approaching <<Industrial 7>>. During the short amount of time while the boosters let out thrust, the stone blocks attained relative velocity to the rotational speed of the space colony, and they were stuck on a part of the outer wall that had the ‘Wheels’ on it. Then, the thing that looked like a stone block from the outside seemed to explode like a balloon; and what appeared inside was obviously an artificial object.
The tea-brown body that was inorganic like rock had limbs that didn’t seem to have anything to do with a solid object. Also, the eye-like visor that had the function of covering the sensor on the head made it seem like it’s a mobile suit humanoid weapon, but there’s a lot of characteristics that didn’t fit it. It copied the traditional look of the Federation Army made mobile suits, but its head is so flat that it feels like it was hit, and it is only 12m tall, 2 sizes smaller than a standard mobile suit. The mechanical shoulders do not have any hands at the wrists, only wrists that were designed uniquely for this squarish unit. The advantage of this mobile suit is that it’s very versatile in terms of use, as its arms can be used to holster weapons. Based on this, the state right now doesn’t look very efficient.
However, this is only one form of the D-50C <<Loto>> machines. The two <<Lotos>> removed their stone exterior—dummy balloons used for disguise, and got close to the space colony while being hidden in Minovsky’s Particles, and the machines that were obviously much smaller than mobile suits were facing the outer walls of the ‘Wheels’.
The stars in the background were moving relatively to the rotational speed of the colony, and the machines draw out the mechanical arms from under the wrists. The tip of the beam burners melt the outer wall of the ‘Wheels’. Unlike a beam saber that’s a concentrated form of beam, the beam burner shoots out hi-energy mega-particles directly, causing the outer wall of the ‘Wheels’ to melt like butter. Less than several seconds later, more than 10m square of the outer wall is sliced off, and both <<Lotos>> manage to successfully enter the place. One machine enters, and the second machine goes into to weld the outer wall from the inside. This is to simply weld the important parts and not spend too much time when escaping.
There’s no air filled in this outermost area of the ‘Wheels’ as the metallic frames were still being built. The ceiling is less than 10m tall, and the materials that were left aside were left behind the pillar, creating a view similar to the bottom of a ship or below a jumping board. As the <<Loto>> at the back is welding, the machine at the front sneaks into the narrow space, and ducks down as its feet touches the ground. It looks like it fell as it touched the ground because of gravity, but this is the correct operating process of this machine.
Just as its feet are about to touch the ground, the caterpillar units that are installed at the back are deployed; and the 2 set of crawlers that bore 4 wheels each bore the weight of the <<Loto>> unit as it land. Both legs then reached forward, and the thigh-equivalent parts were extended forward. The upper arms slide back, and the two wrist are attached to the left and right side of the machine, forming a machine with limbs all over the place.
The flattened head is half-entrenched back inside the body, and the six-wheeled crawlers that are equipped behind the thighs of the <<Loto>> land on the ground. The <<Loto>> that’s not a humanoid shape but a tank now moves its four crawlers and went forward as a tank. The <<Loto>> behind it transforms into a tank too without waiting for its ally to move far, and men in normal suits came out from the troop transport room behind it. They then leave the machine under zero gravity and use the boosters to go all over the place before quickly starting on their designated missions.
The smart normal suits that look like they’re for pilots to use have bulletproof vests with magazine pouches worn on the outside, and the holsters of the M-92F automatic pistol are attached onto their right legs. The arms and knees have hardened plastic guards, and there are recoilless rifles slung behind the shoulders. The men are all wearing this equipment, and didn’t do any unnecessary movements. The boosters that have jet fire caps to reduce the lights are moving, and the profiles of the people wearing helmets can be seen landing on the ground, not minding the gravity on their bodies as they begin to deal with the access hatches on the wall and the ground. They have to restore the alarm mechanism as the outer wall was melted, set up a mechanism for them to maintain contact with each other even with the effects of Minovsky Particles, and establish connections to control systems that manages lifelines and safety system. The assignment is completed in less than one minute, and during this time, the <<Loto>> that’s moving in front went down the split path and disappeared. In this faint passage with neither air nor sight of crowds, the rumbling of the caterpillars is slowly echoing as it moves further and further away.
The slight tremble echoed through the ground, causing the machine to jerk, and reach Commander Daguza Mackle in the control room. 45 seconds after the operation began, Daguza said ‘we’re through’, and a short (Go) went through the wireless communication, letting Daguza know that the relay device is set up.
“Safety system.”
(Go)
“Governor.”
(Go)
After a hushed exchange, the fully-armored men end their work and return to the <<Loto>>. The last one moves through the back of the vehicle, and Daguza indicate the pilot sitting at the front to start moving. The Strategic Naval Research Institute—SNRI developed mini core reactor gives off power that won’t lose to an ordinary reactor as it moves the 4 crawlers. Daguza’s <<Loto>> jerked as it does not move down the path the front unit went through, but through the narrow hatch.
The small size of the reactor allows the machine to be smaller, but the <<Loto>> can carry quite a few people. As a transforming mobile suit, it also has to fulfill the specs of a transport carrier during special missions, so, needless to say, it holds a transport room that can hold 8 troops inside. The control room can also contain 3 people, the captain, the driver and the communication personnel, and has the function of a command vehicle once it reaches a combat zone. On the screen at the captain’s seat, Daguza summoned out the map of <<Industrial 7>>. The flatscreen image of the space colony has the link between the space colony and the ‘Wheels’ as the center, and through the light spots, they’re able to tell where Team Alpha and Team Beta are at; allowing Daguza to realize how accurate the Inertia Navigation System (INS)—used to grasp locations through accelerations operation and time—is.
The operation has lasted for 1 hour and 40 minutes ever since they launched from the mothership <<Nahel Argama>>. There’s no delay in their journey, but Daguza isn’t taking any risks here. Earth, colonies, asteroids—to the members of ECOAS, special forces of the Earth Federation who believe in ‘fighting no matter where the location is’, invading colonies is just something normal for that. The problem is how to finish the mission without being seen. Daguza let the screen roll and focus on the stage of this battle. Down the inner wall of the ‘Wheels’, they will reach what’s basically equivalent to a dock of Industrial 7, the colony builder <<Magallanica>> that has a unique shape.
It’s a large facility governed as a public colony, but in fact, it’s the base of the Vist Foundation. That place has the target item, the <<Laplace Box>>. ECOAS’ mission is to confirm its existence, prevent them from handing it over to the third party, and if possible, reclaim it. It’s not stated, but Daguza knows that attached to the ‘stop’ word are the words ‘at any costs’, and ‘reclaim’ has the word ‘secretly’ attached to it. He knows this is a mission that the standard army can’t do and a mission that ordinary people can’t see, and that’s why the ECOAS are recruited. However, how much do their comrades on the command side know? They investigated through the insides of the <<Magallanica>> and the security system, but they have no idea of what the most important ‘box’ contains. Even if they find it out, he doesn’t know how to move it.
Thus, they have to confirm its existence. But with the involvement of the third party, the ‘Sleeves’, it can be said to be impossible for them to find this unidentified object. The success of this mission and the safety of the forces will all be in jeopardy unless they act ‘at all costs’. Daguza realize that they’re fighting with the savage title of manhunters, opened the visor of his helmet, pull the mask that was at his chin up to his nose before closing the visor.
Through the visor of the normal suit, what can be seen was only a cold expression. That nature of eliminating one’s own identity is ECOAS’ overall nature. In this get up, all members give up on their identities and become machines that will do their missions effectively, closing in on their targets silently and finishing the mission. They’ll disguise the results as an accident. Every person exists, and yet doesn’t, and are just a unit that form ECOAS.
They will eliminate the waste that’s released from this huge organization called the Earth Federation without anyone knowing, clearing them without mercy. The way some forms of media portray them were right, but parts have no wishes, and won’t have any expectations. As long as they’re individuals or organizations, there’ll be wastage when people live. This is something someone has to do—Daguza use this philosophy he adheres to in order to shake away the doubt in his mind and turned his sights back to the screen in front of him.
The two <<Lotos>> use the short layer under the ground of the colony to quickly move through at top speed and gradually close in at the entry point of the space builder. The time now is 5.06pm, and the <<Nahel Argama>> is about to take action. Daguza exhales as he watches the time tick by. The breath that’s under the incombustible fabric mask brings about a presence of actual combat into the nose.
