KSGU:Volume 6 Chapter 3
Chapter 3
06:06
The port of Dakar was located at the North-Eastern area of the plateau where the political and economic hub was. The port was completely filled with harbor facilities, and the grey seawall continued to extend to the neighboring Hann Bel-Air industrial zone. Including the artificial pier that formed a harbor, the water body stretched on for more than 30km, and there were only more than 200 ships moving within the harbor. The Dakar port was not some eye-opening large port, but it was a major base of production and energy generation filled with Gas Complexes and metal, chemical plants built on reclaimed land. To the locals who had enterprises coming in, it was an integral facility for logistic functions.
The average water depth of the harbor was 50m, but as a part of the seabed was dug up artificially, most of the water depth was around 25m. The block that was 100m deep from the pier was a relic of a “refuge trench”, built for the Federation army spaceships to dock—the absurd strategy to let the marine ships have the same density as spaceships and sink them to prevent enemy bombardment was acted here. In fact, most of the ships that once sank into the sea could not be used, and had no chance to be used in the refuge trench of Dakar’s port. However, the chiselled-out stretch remained as they were, and the submerged waterway leading to the port weaved under the sea like a giant snake. As for the security level of the capital, these completely useless facilities became relics with negative effects that caused blind spots. They could only let the sea’s radar network, the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) gather here.
On May 1st, the SOSUS detected a strange source of sound, and Dakar, which was in the Greenwich Meridian, was at 6.06am. two mobile suits, the RAG-79 “Aqua GMs” that belonged to the Federation navy, submerged to the bottom of Dakar’s port located 100m at the wharf wall, and started to clean up the sludge that piled at the bottom of the sea. They landed, activated their sensors to maximum output, and started to move to the port in the sea.
The machine of the “Aqua GMs” had jet units all over the place, and the shoulders that also functioned as ballast tanks were as high as the head. For a GM-type mobile suit that was lean and streamlined, this “Aqua GM” looked rather crude in its silhouette. It was built hastily during the War, was hardly improved on, and was not really easy to pilot. The massive block-shaped body had old-looking colors on it, but the Federation had no better amphibious mobile suits. The spaceship with the Minovsky Craft installed was flying in the sky above, and mobile suits gained wings called SFS at this point, so this amphibious mobile suit that could attack the enemy from underwater lost its advantage for a long time. The weakened Zeon remnants would naturally be unable to extend their forces to submerged motherships if it did not factor in the weakness of it not being easily usable. The Federation itself had half forgotten about it too.
But no matter the kind of machine, there would be people who would put their hearts and efforts in developments. One of the “Aqua GMs” that landed on the port of Dakar was piloted by Captain Feido, codenamed with the Call Sign Harpoon 1. He was a pilot of the amphibious mobile suit ever since the One Year War. The Zeon amphibious mobile suits had launched raids on the coast many times, cutting ship supplies, and terrorized the seas on Earth. At this point, they had disappeared, but the underwater was a world that could not be surveyed easily even by watching, a place filled with natural Minovsky Particles called water. Even if the “GM III” rode on the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) to stand guard, some situations require diving underwater for a response. This confidence caused the pilot to give up many chances of changing vocations and retraining as he continued to be an amphibious unit pilot. To him, this was a rare opportunity for him to prove his point. After the Federation navy submarine “Bonefish” met its demise, the tale of an Atlantic Ocean monster “Sea Ghost” suddenly became very realistic. Many used to see it as a malfunction of the SOSUS, and they did not even have any antisubmarine measures at that time. However, that attack was detected extremely close to Dakar, and was determined to be the doing of a Zeon submarine.
It would take some time before the allied submarines that departed would arrive here. If there were really an enemy unit submerged, there would be no doubts that the diving team’s mobile suits would be the only ones that could deal with it. Feido stared at the LCAC hovering over his head, let the “Aqua GM” charge right at the port and descend to the seabed 150m deep. The amount of light was such that it was impossible to see a hand stretched out in front with the naked eye, and all the all-view monitor CG could determine were the sunk ships and reefs. Feido used the night-vision camera and sonar to determine the situation in the sea, and activated the optical fiber communication channel once the “Aqua GM” called Harpoon 2 landed behind.
The communication was carried out by active sonar that started to spread. The sonar from Harpoon 2 started to let out a sharp echo in response to Feido’s unit that was flickering its light from the visor, and the unit then used the jet units on its back and waist to stamp off the seabed. The machine was holding a torpedo missile launcher in its hands, and gradually floated like a diver, swinging its arms as it swam over to the other side of the reefs that overlapped the “Water GM”. The water surface that looked like an aurora would not even let through the light of a star, and the machine immediately merged into the veil of thick seawater.
The pinger on the sea surface would let out sounds at regular intervals, creating a perimeter on the sea where the Sea Ghost was. Also, one could discover a sonar buoy that was casted down for the anti-submarine machines. There was a tanker that was veering greatly to the left, and it definitely changed course because of the LCAC that was on patrolling requesting it to change its course. There were not a lot of ships that were entering and exiting the port, but there was a need to work together with the coast guards and regulate the transport inside the port completely, if the raid would only end after noon. Once the enterprises and media express their unhappiness over the economic loss, the first party to be affected would be the navy. Feido did not have the time to even curse as he let his unit navigate towards the open sea.
The “Aqua GM” machine became a lot lighter as it released the seawater from its high pressure ballast tanks. The machine left behind a trail of water flowing as it left the seabed. The “rescue trench” dug during the war and the seabed that could be seen appeared in his eyes, and he spotted a black shaped object moving out from the shadows of a sunken ship.
It looked like a mobile suit, but it was not a GM-type. The machine had arched surfaces all over it, and its head was located in its short and stout frame. Its relaxed arms were not holding any weapons, and in fact, given the shape of the hands, it was impossible for it to “wield” any weapons. The end of the arms that looked extremely fat looked like a class when viewed together with its head, and the silhouette of that thing which looked like a shelled crustacean was practically—
“…No way.”
That silhouette was reminiscent of the Zeon Repulic army’s “Z’Gok” amphibious mobile suit. Is it a remnant of the War? Feido could not even confirm what he just saw as he stared at the ghost-like figure. It’s impossible for such a thing to appear in this age now. I don’t know if there’s really a Sea Ghost at the bottom of the sea or the dead souls of those who should have died off in the War—but everything is planned too perfectly. Feido tried to convince himself with a bitter smile, but something leaped up from behind the “Aqua GM”, rocking the cockpit with a tremendous shockwave.
“What’s that…?”
The mechanical hand that had 5 fingers reached over from the back, covering the main camera. The vision of the all-view monitor was covered by something, and Feido immediately pressed the message button of the pinger to report this emergency.
The Harpoon 2 will immediately realize something was amiss once it hears the soundwaves that moves 4 times faster than in air. Even if I’m to be sunk here, I should be able to leave it to him. That was what Feido planned, but the active sonar of the machine remained silent as the sonar communicator could not take effect. That was because the arm of the “Aqua GM” that was suppressed from behind covered the sonar signal located on the mask.
The right arm of the machine was completely restrained too, and he could not fire the torpedo launcher that was equipped to its arm. Feido tried his best to move the “Aqua GM”s left hand and pull the beam pike from the waist. He considered the fact that the beam would be negated in water, and that it would only release the beam when making contact with the enemy armor, but the beam pike fell to the bottom of the sea before he could make use of its abilities. The enemy wrecked the pinger, quickly raised its other arm, and used the heat knife to stab through the cockpit of the “Aqua GM”.
The macromolecular compound ceramic-type blade broke through 3 layers of armor and reached right into the cockpit. Feido’s body was first sliced in half by the blade, and the blade that had electricity charged through let out an intense heat. The cockpit that was burnt together with its pilot let out a small explosion, and the cracks of the armor let out several bubbles and conducting liquid. The frozen body of the machine fell forward, and an arm reached out from behind to support the “Aqua GM” that had become a corpse before it could make any unnecessary noises. The mobile suit—the “Zee Zulu” let the enemy machine lie down on the seabed as it bled out conducting fluids and lit its head to signal its allied machine.
It raised the heat knife it was wielding in its hand, and its 3 sharp claws built on the side of its forearm provided a contrast to it, creating a crab-like silhouette on the machine. The black shadows that received the signal were of the same structure started to move, and though they looked similar to the amphibious machines Zeon made in the past, they were just a form the “Zee Zulu” possessed.
The basic structure of this machine was not too different from the main line of mobile suits “Geara Zulu” Neo Zeon used. However, the “Zee Zulu” looked vastly different once it was equipped with claws for close combated and vest-shaped diving equipment. The ballast tanks latched around the neck made it difficult to see the actual outline of the head and the body, while the fins on its legs made it look extremely big on its ends. It was humanoid and yet not humanoid, and was an oddly-shaped machine that could be called a demon in the sea—it inherited the genetics of the amphibious mobile suits Zeon had. The “Zee Zulu” moved out from the blind spot created by the sunken ship, and used the reefs as cover as it quickly approached the other “Aqua GM”. The moment it made contact, it used its sharp claws bent as a hook to rip through the abdomen of the enemy unit.
The pilot of Harpoon 2 did not manage to understand what was going on as the “Zee Zulu” immediately used its claws to rip the cockpit together with the pilot inside. It ignored its allied unit that was planning to take the next action as it let out a signal from its pinger. The large amount of soundwaves with different frequencies from the Federation mobile suits was released from the sea spread through several kilometers, and a 3rd “Zee Zulu” received these sounds through the SOSUS sonar receptor.
The 3rd “Zee Zulu” used its heat knife to club the cable of the sonar receptor as a response, and let its fin feet leave the floor. The machine moved to the port, and soon after, the reefs behind it started to rumble and create a large amount of dust that slowly floated up. The large black mass looked like a floating shell, and the artificial object showed the glow of its monoeye at the center, revealing its true identity as it followed the “Zee Zulu” and approached Dakar.
The Sea Ghost—the “Shamblo” hovered above the sonar receptors that were not working as their cables got cut, and showed its actual body and started to move forward. The sonar receptors on the sea would not detect the sound of the MHD propeller units moving forward, and the machine would not be affected by the perimeter of the pingers. The pingers were set beyond the range of the SOSUS so that the sonar receptors would not be overly burdened.
Of course, the controllers of the SOSUS would immediately realize that the cables were snapped, but it would be too late by the time the navy understood the situation and arrived. Dakar was right in front of the “Shamblo”, and Madhi Garvery grinned as he stared at the edge of the “Refuge Trench” on the main monitor. It was so easy for an enemy to invade Dakar, the capital of the most powerful organization in history, the Earth Federation government.
“It’s about time.”
Madhi said some unnecessary words. He looked down and saw his 3 children that were wearing pilot suits, Abbas, Walid and Loni. He was wearing a helmet with the corporate logo of Garvey Enterprises on it. The 17 opened leaves of the palm branch were surrounded by a circle, and the logo was designed off the bird-eye’s view blueprint of Palm Island, an artificial island that was built on the sea off Dubai. The consoles and seats of the cockpit had the same picture on them as well. The construction of the “Shamblo” was assisted by Zeon, so they had to show the logo of Zeon on the surface. This little logo however showed the real heart of the “Descendant of Dubai” quietly.
The “Shamblo” followed the 3 “Zee Zulu” and transformed into cruise mode as it approached Dakar. The pot of Dakar basked under the morning sunlight, reflecting it off the surface, not detecting the monster rumbling underwater.
