Chapter 2 (1/2)
第一章「赤い彗星の残照」2
CHAPTER.01 – AFTERGLOW OF THE RED COMET (2)
Arlette and the others hid in a back alley, peeking out to study the mobile suits as they strode through the streets. Several of Mehmet’s subordinates who had gotten separated from the team had been able to rejoin them, but there were still many they were unable to contact. Fortunately, thanks to the Minovsky particles still shrouding the area, there was no fear of their location being discovered with heat sensors or the like. It would be the end of the line if the enemy indiscriminately shot at the whole area, but they probably wouldn’t do something that reckless in such a narrow residential district.
“I never imagined a Gundam would appear… Just what in the h.e.l.l is going on here?” Danton posed the question to Mehmet’s back as the latter surveyed the scene. “Think they’re after the same thing as you guys?”
“The probability of that is high, I’d say. Although we still don’t know who they really are.”
“Tch…”
“…”
Danton shrugged his shoulders dejectedly as a silent Arlette remained deep in thought beside him. There was no doubt that suit was a Gundam type. To be precise, it greatly resembled the Gundam-type mobile suits she was familiar with, but didn’t exactly match any of them.
“A type that wasn’t in the data… A new model? But, in that case…”
“So, what’re we gonna do? We can’t just sit here playing hide-and-seek.”
“Seeing that we don’t have any mobile suits of our own, these aren’t the lot we can take on with any decent chance of winning. All we can do is keep moving so they don’t find us.”
“A mobile suit, huh?”
Those words made a single thought pop into Arlette’s mind. If this place was still as it was in her memories, then they did have a way to break out of this deadlock.
“Hey! Arlette!”
Arlette suddenly ran out, and a panicked Danton chased her.
“Ugh, this girl! Always running off the moment she gets an idea!”
“Lieutenant Mehmet!”
Pus.h.i.+ng through the fine dust, Arlette rushed over to Mehmet’s side.
“Miss Arlette! It’s dangerous here, fall back–” Mehmet yelled, but Arlette silenced him with a pleading look, then whispered:
“There’s a mobile suit hangar directly below this residential area.”
“Did you just say a hanger?”
Mehmet reflexively turned to face Arlette.
“It’s a hangar for storing prototype mobile suits the facility made for research purposes. There might be at least one still down there.”
Guessing what she was getting at, Mehmet’s eyes went wide.
“And you think…it could still be operational?”
“The power supply for everything related to the research facility is independent from the residential area.”
“Well…no, even so, it’s impossible. Even if there were a functioning mobile suit, there’s no pilot…”
“Yes there is. Right here.”
Arlette turned to look back with a bold smile. Danton shook his head, making a face as if he’d just bitten into a lemon.
“Who, me…?”
Memories of days spent with Arlette came flooding back into Danton’s mind. Their time in the facility, too, and the time after the war’s end, when he moved to Side 6.
That’s right. This little girl’s been getting me into trouble since way back in the day.
At the same time, he remembered something else: no matter how much he expressed his disapproval, she wouldn’t listen to a single bit of it.
“He’s a former Zeon test pilot. There’s no questioning his skill.”
“Yes, but that goes too far beyond merely receiving a.s.sistance from civilians…”
Danton responded to the bewildered Mehmet in a resigned tone.
“Far as I’m concerned, that’s not a problem.”
“Mr. Danton?”
“We’re already far past that point anyway, aren’t we?”
Danton shrugged as he started to walk away, followed by a smiling Arlette.
“See, Lieutenant? He’s okay with it, so…”
“Yeah, and who’s fault do you think that is?”
× × ×
Arlette and company distanced themselves from the main streets, heading toward the areas connected to the outskirts. Mehmet and his troops could hold the enemy mobile suits at bay, but probably not for long.
“I’m pretty sure we can take a shortcut through here.”
After pa.s.sing through the gigantic, empty shaft of a disused freight elevator, Arlette and Danton landed in the mobile suit hangar that stretched out directly beneath the residential district.
“It’s up ahead. Hurry!”
“Hey, hold on!”
Arlette took the lead as she headed toward the hangar she was aiming for. Danton followed her, but when he noticed the identification number written there, his sour face soured even more.
“Say, this hangar, don’t tell me it’s…”
“Don’t you think this mobile suit is perfect for us?”
“You gotta be kidding me…”
× × ×
With an experienced hand, Arlette opened the emergency compressed air-style k.n.o.b and slipped into the hangar. Danton followed close behind her. Just as expected, there was one mobile suit still housed there.
“That thing still active? Do you realize how many years it’s been since then?”
“Hey, I made this baby. There’s no reason it’d be so weak as to get rusty in a few years.”
The huge, crimson fuselage closely resembled the high performance machine which had formerly been the symbol of Zeon during the One Year War: the MS-06. However, this one was bigger overall, and its rugged thrusters, placed throughout, made one feel its superior maneuverability. Furthermore, in many places along its body, it had various armaments the MS-06 did not.
“AMX-011S… The Zaku III Custom. It’s been a while. Have you been a good boy?”
The two of them kicked against the floor to float up to the c.o.c.kpit. When they flipped the entry switch, the hatch opened easily.
“I knew it, the reserve power is still good! Come on, Danton, get in!”
“I know, I know.”
Danton sat down in the linear seat, and Arlette sat in front of him. In this position, Danton was practically hugging Arlette, but by now this caused him no discomfort. Back then, they were like this almost every day.
“Please start by activating the main fusion reactor. I’ll boot up the base system.”
“Since I don’t have my personal disk, the settings will have to stay as the Captain had them. I won’t be able to fight full strength, you know. The Captain was so picky about the settings…”
“You can take your complaints directly to the Captain. Besides, there’s no problem as far as your personal data’s concerned.”
Arlette winked mischievously, then reached into a pocket of her normal suit to pull out a well-used disk.
“Hey… I thought I told you to get rid of that thing.”
“Well, aren’t you glad I didn’t?”
“Tch…”
Upon inserting the disk into the slot, each component of the suit started setting itself up in accordance with Danton’s registered personal data. Next, when Danton activated the fusion reactor, the panoramic monitor in the c.o.c.kpit lit up, displaying a CG view of their surroundings in the hangar. The light in the monoeye came on with a dull, “vwoon” sound.
“No rifle, huh? Guess I shouldn’t have expected one here.”
“It’s okay. The internal weapons will be more than enough.”
“Easy for you to say…”
The setup was completed as they continued their conversation, and all system indicators switched to green.
“Alright, we’re taking off! Hold on tight!” Danton yelled. The moment he was about to close the front hatch, Arlette suddenly stood up and nimbly exited the c.o.c.kpit.
“Hey!”
“You won’t go all-out if I’m on board, right? I’ll be waiting with Lieutenant Mehmet, so make quick work of those guys then come meet up with us.”
“Hey, there’s no guarantee I won’t get killed instead! See if Mr. Lieutenant can protect you when that happens!”
Danton cursed at Arlette, who simply smiled mockingly while waving her hand as she walked away.
“You’ve got the Captain’s orders, right? Do your best! I love you as a father!”
“You little brat!”
The c.o.c.kpit hatch snapped shut as if to add a parting slap.
Awakened from its transient slumber, the red giant took off with a roar.
× × ×
Meanwhile, in the residential district, Mehmet and the Mastema Special Forces under his command were engaged in a battle for their lives. Hiding within the cloud of debris, Mehmet sneaked up on a Jegan from behind. Without making a sound, he leaped into the air, and just when he’d reached the Jegan’s torso, he immediately backed away.
“Alright…”
In that instant, a blazing light split the area around the Jegan’s c.o.c.kpit open. The large frame of the mobile suit faltered.
Having noticed the confrontation, another machine rushed over, but Mehmet was faster: he aimed the muzzle of the small rocket launcher he’d brought along at the wounded Jegan’s c.o.c.kpit and immediately pulled the trigger. Riding the bomb blast, he got away from the scene. Behind him, the huge Jegan went limp, like a marionette whose strings had been cut.
“I trained in low gravity hand-to-hand combat countless times, but never imagined I’d take on a mobile suit like that…”
With a wry smile, Mehmet confirmed the situation. Attacking in waves with explosives set in various places and with the arms they carried, they had succeeded in immobilizing one enemy mobile suit. For having fought a mobile suit in the flesh, it was an astounding military gain. However, the losses were proportionately larger: more than half the unit had already been taken out. There were still two other enemy mobile suits. More importantly, the Gundam type remained unscathed.
“…!”
Mehmet looked up and bit his lip. There, right before his very eyes, was the Gundam type suit. Rifle at the ready, it slowly descended toward him. The muzzle was aimed dead at him.
“I knew I couldn’t stay hidden forever…”