Chapter 8 (1/2)
第四章「バーナムの森」2
CHAPTER.04 – BIRNAM WOOD (2)
Mehmet, having separated from his men, made his way toward the exterior of Axis with Danton and Arlette. After some time, they turned a corner to find their path blocked by a cold, metal gate. Judging from the identification number on it, it appeared that their destination was beyond this door.
“Just a sec.”
Arlette raised her small hand, bringing Danton and Mehmet to a stop, and walked over to a console mounted near the door.
“Good news. It looks like the electrical system is still working.”
Her fingers danced nimbly around the keypad, and the gate let out a dull groan as it slowly began to open.
“Let’s go.”
Unlike Arlette and Danton, Mehmet was unfamiliar with Axis, so he just followed their lead, stepping through the gate. There was an immediate s.h.i.+ft in their surroundings. Until a moment ago, their had been plenty of signs marking the pa.s.sages. But the severe lack of signage in this area indicated that it was a special division, only meant to be accessed by a select few.
“Where are we?”
“Up ahead is a private dock for Imperial Guard mobile suits. We should be able to get to Axis’s exterior from there.”
“The Imperial Guard…”
“Publicly, it was a group of personal bodyguards for Mineva Zabi, but as I’m sure you know, the Mineva that travelled with Haman Karn was a double. In reality, they were probably Haman’s private forces.”
Danton moved along the pa.s.sage as he disinterestedly explained things. Along the way, they encountered several gates blocking their path, but Arlette unlocked each one without difficulty. Finally, their view opened up all at once.
× × ×
“Woah…”
Mehmet eyes went wide. They were in a storage dock for mobile suits, where several where stood together in a jumble.
“These over here are Galluss series models. The ones lined up in the back are Gaza series…”
As Arlette murmered away, she made her way toward the back dock, where there were a variety of mobile suits that had been developed in Axis. Though a lot of them looked as though they had been abandoned half-way through maintanence, there were others among them that appeared operational.
“This is amazing. I can’t believe there were this many mobile suits left inside Axis…”
Trailing behind the others, Mehmet looked around in wonder.
“These were developed around the time Haman was in charge. Just like the Zaku III Custom we saw, these guys probably never had a chance to be deployed in the Second Neo Zeon War. Though who’s to say what would have happened if the fighting dragged on longer…”
In the middle of his explanation, Danton came to a abrupt halt.
“…”
He lifted his head with a scowl. Directly ahead of him stood a single mobile suit.
“Ahh…”
Arlette turned around as she realized what it was.
“What a blast from the past. So this little guy’s survived as well.”
“So it would seem…”
Danton stared at the mobile suit in front of him with a sour look on his face. It had a more slender build than the others around it, and it’s figure was reminiscent of a medieval knight. Combined with a light purple-on-white coloring, it gave off a refined atmosphere that one would expect from a work of art, not a weapon. The AMX-104 R-Jarja – a prototype made for close quarters combat, which drew from the YMS-15 Gyan model from the former Princ.i.p.ality of Zeon’s army.
“So you were left behind as well, huh?”
Arlette gazed up at the R-Jarja with a look of nostalgia in her eyes.
“It really feels like old times, doesn’t it.”
“Hmph…”
With a pout, Danton turned around and walked off.
“Let’s go. The gate to the outside is up ahead.”
“Ah, Danton!”
As Arlette chased after Danton, Mehmet followed after them from behind.
× × ×
At last, the three of them had reached the edge of the dock, where there stood a ma.s.sive gate used for deploying mobile suits. Half of the gate had been dislodged, perhaps from when Axis was split in two, leaving the exit partially open. The void of outer s.p.a.ce peered in through the gap.
“Looks like we’ve been saved the effort of opening it.”
Arlette made her way towards the opening, dodging the rubble that had been scattered about.
“We’ll exit through here and head towards the facility, following along Axis’s outer wall. Got it?”
At Danton’s brief instruction, Mehmet gave a slight nod.
“Understood.”
“Be careful as you step. We don’t have lifelines, so if you slip, you’ll be thrown into s.p.a.ce.”
“Don’t worry. I’m used to this sort thing. At least more than someone who runs a cleaners would be.”
“Fair enough…”
The three of them had stepped through the opening onto the outer wall, exchanging clever retorts, when the figure of a ma.s.sive bird flew over their heads.
“What the…?!”
They quickly ducked and hid themselves in the shadow of the gate. The figure flew off into the distance, its thrusters scattering a trail of light in its wake.
“That’s…”
The three of them stood baffled by what they’d just seen.
“A Byarlant…”
“What’s that doing here? Wasn’t it waiting to ambush us in the pa.s.sage?”
Just then, Mehmet’s transmitter received a call sign. It was the the unit they’d left in the pa.s.sage. He quickly worked the touch panel to begin the call.
“Th(…)its(…)ats(…)”
The transmission was filled with static, so they couldn’t make out what the men were saying. We might be able to get a clearer signal from a more open location, but we’d risk being noticed. We set up some small relays on the way here, but it looks like they aren’t doing much. Mehmet switched the tuning from automatic to manual and focused his attention on the voices of his subordinates.
“Thank goodness, Commander. We finally reached you.”
It looks like they’ve been calling us for some time now. Though I can hazard a guess at what it’s about.
“The Byarlant is on the move.”
“I know. We’ve made visual contact.”
Mehmet’s eyes were fixed on the back of the Byarlant as it flew along the outer wall.
“This is unexpected, but perhaps it’s a blessing, seeing as we have one less enemy to deal with. Are the two Jegans still there?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then continue monitoring them. We’ll stick to our plan and head towards the destination via the outer wall.”
“Roger.”
Cutting the transmission, Mehmet turned to Danton and Arlette.
“You caught all that? Let’s hurry.”
“Yeah, but…”
Danton looked off in the direction the Byarlant had flown.
“What about that guy?”
“…”
After a moment in thought, Arlette suddenly looked up at them.
“You don’t think they’re after the landing s.h.i.+p?”
Mehmet clutched his fists.
“Most likely…”
“Why wait us out with an ambush, when they can just eliminate our means of escape?”
“The landing s.h.i.+p is equipped with some basic defensive weaponry, but they’re not prepared for a mobile suit. We’ll have to hope they can stay hidden.”
Mehmet tried to reach the landing s.h.i.+p with his transmitter, but all they got was static.
“d.a.m.n… so it’s come to this, huh?”
Dropping his shoulders, Danton begrudgingly turned back towards the mobile suit dock they had just left.
“Arlette.”
“Yeah?”
“Lend me that disk one more time.”
“Are you serious?!”
“I’ll do it. I’ll get rid of the Byarlant.”
“Danton!?”
Mehmet shouted out in surprise.
“The mobile suits here have been on standby, ready to be sent into battle when needed. They’ve got weapons; they can fight – as long as they have a pilot, that is.”
“Danton…”
Arlette looked like she wanted to say something, but Danton grabbed her by the shoulder and raised his voice.
“I’ve already fought once. There’s no point turning back, anymore. Now, give me the disk!”
× × ×
Danton leaned back into the c.o.c.kpit of the R-Jarja and continued checking the gauges. Everything was in shape – all parts functioning normally, like time itself had been frozen since they left. The White Knight of Axis was about to return from the dead.
“Danton.”
Arlette sat between Danton’s legs, fiddling with the console, just as she had done earlier in the Zaku III Custom.
“Are you sure you want to use this one? There are other functioning mobile suits…”
“I’m sure. I’m taking this guy.”
Danton cut off Arlette, who was showing a rare display of consideration.
“This is the machine you took care of.”
“Yeah…”
As he watched the monitor icons light up one by one, Danton sunk into thought about the last day he had piloted this mobile suit…
× × ×
It was all shaking. Countless stars were shaking violently in front of Danton. For a brief moment, his mind had gone blank. It took him some time to realize that it wasn’t the stars that had been shaking but his mobile suit. The R-Jarja he was riding had lost its balance and was trembling non-stop. Sparks crackled and leapt from the thruster on its back, and its usual jet stream had been replaced by a plume of black smoke. There was no doubt that the propulsion system had been damaged. In front of the staggering machine was the entrance to a familiar facility, the gate open.
“Danton! Can you hear me?”
“Yeah…”
“The test has been aborted! Can you make it back to base?”
“I’ll see what I can do…”
He glanced over his monitor, checking on the condition of each portion of the mobile suit. Firing the remaining thrusters on the arms and legs ever so slightly, he regained control of the machine using AMBAC. Alright, looking good. Now I’ll just direct this guy to the gate. The mechanics and engineers that had been waiting for him looked like specks, as they scattered about in a fuss. Finally, the mobile suit landed on the dock with a crash. Shaking violently, it collapsed, and the mechanics all came bustling back towards it. Danton felt a bit like Gulliver among the Lilliputians.
“Hey, Danton! You still alive?!”
The hatch began to open from the outside, and a fl.u.s.tered mechanic peeked his head in.
“I’m in one piece.”
“Danton, you…”
Extending one hand to the stunned mechanic, Danton crawled his way out of the c.o.c.kpit, and stumbled over to the corner of the dock.
“Why didn’t he just abort…?”
Hearing a bewildered mechanic muttering in the distance, he rested his back against the wall of the dock, and dropped to the floor as though he had just let out all the tension from his body.
“…”
He sat there for some time, eyes closed.
“…”