Chapter 3.1 (1/2)

Treize File 3

Heero Yuy had no intention of looking at me whatsoever, instead he got out of the frozen capsule and stood up [beside it]. Normally, it would take a whole day before you could stand up after being brought out of stasis. He had an unbelievably strong body. In the freezing air, he wiped the frost from his eyelashes and his breath came out in white puffs as he spoke.

“(Tell me) what’s the status of the situation……”

“Before I do that, there’s something I need to confirm [with you],” said Master Chang as he stood before Heero. He slowly punctuated his words; it sounded like he was confirming (his) will. “You had once said-“

“……”

“’I won’t kill anymore.’”

“…I remember.”

“And that feeling has not changed, has it?”

Heero was quiet for a long time.

…Not kill anymore? I find it hard to believe that those words were spoken by a Gundam pilot. That’s my candid impression. If that’s the case, how can we carry out Operation Mythos? Honestly, I was starting to wonder if we ought to have [bothered] waking him. I think there’s simply no pace on the battlefield for a soldier who will not kill. Duo couldn’t stand the long silence and interrupted with an ‘Oy, oy!’

“Hey, Fat Max, this ain’t what we talked about.”

“Cut it out, Duo,” Father Maxwell reproved without losing his smile.

“Hey, Duo……” Heero said as he turned to face the two Duo Maxwells. However, he only addressed the priestly one. “Who’s that noisy waste of s.p.a.ce?”

“What!”

Before the young Duo could explode with anger, the priest grabbed the boy by the braid and said, “He’s my son.” It looked to me like the priest’s smile was [now] embarra.s.sed.

“Your son…. then there’s no help for it.”

“Ha ha ha, I guess not.”

The priest was laughing but he immediately seemed to pick up on a deeper meaning to Heero’s words.

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

You didn’t need hear it twice to realize he probably meant the “good for nothing” part was hereditary. It seemed like the father and son pair weren’t the only ones possessing caustic irony. Heero jerked his head in my direction and spoke.

“And she’s a mini-Sally?”

“I beg your pardon!” I would not tolerate being referred to as ‘mini.’ IT seemed as though this boy Heero Yuy was planning on making every one present into an enemy. Just as I was about to [bive him a piece of my mind,] Master Chang [stopped my retort] and put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a look that read ‘calm down.’

“…… Master.”

“There’s something you [still] have to do…… until you finish that, whatever he says isn’t wrong.”

That might be right. (And) when you thought of how he checked all the data in the files in the same amount of time I’(d had [and had yet to finish] it was clear that Hero was far much more better than I. (To the extent that I wanted to express my dissatisfaction). I still hadn’t read [all about] their pasts and only has a vague understanding of the history. As I wondered how Heero would answer Wufei’s question ‘Will you not kill anyone?’ I put on the virtual visors. The past came flooding through my consciousness. The Hero Yuy there was still just six years old. As for me, I could tell you it was much (better) for my metal health to be where I was.

AC 186 SUMMER

At the L-1 colony cl.u.s.ter s.p.a.ce port, Treize Khushreanada was grasping for strategies and tactic for the moon. The difference between a victory or defeat was most likely mobile power. It would be down to the ability of the commanders leading each corps to gain control of that mobility.

Gravity one sixth of that on Earth.

The overly thin atmosphere.

The vast and boundless lunar oceans.

If this was the battlefield, then a suit with even more mobility than the nearly perfect Leo III (Chimera) would be necessary. The new (type) mobile s.p.a.ce fighter ‘Greif’ (Leo IV). The OZ Specials were astonished at the near perfection of the suit. Overlooking the production costs, they far exceeded the ma.s.s production (level), certainly it was not an exaggeration to say that it was a compilation of [all the previous] Leos’ special specifications. When Seis Clark, the head engineer in charge of the (manufacture design/plans) saw the ‘Greif’ he flew into a burning rage.

“Isn’t this just the Tall Geese?” What had been the point of lowering production costs he surely wondered. “No, I absolutely cannot let this fly.” He was so resentful that he resigned as OZ’s head engineer in charge of the mobile suit print production. [He didn’t quit] because they where painted white, the characteristic color of the OZ Specials. In addition to having the Leo’s heavy artillery and the Aries’ high flight speeds, there were two beam sabers stores on the shoulders for use in close-quarters combat and. like the Aries, it was equipped with high output burners. Also, there was a canon equal to the Tragos’ mid-range one set in the right shoulder and a disc shaped s.h.i.+eld as standard equipment. By installing mid-range canons in both shoulders, the suits offence could be stronger; rifle, beam rifle, and more could be interchanged and it would be possible to stand out prominently on the front line. This [kind of] efficiency allowed the Greif to keep up in any kind of battle situation.

“If you were going to do all that, you’d have been better off just ma.s.s producing Tall Geeses from the start!” Seis Clark took pride in having successfully ma.s.s producing the Leo. Having the very foundation of that pride overthrow was the equivalent of negate his entire existence. If he was angry, it was for his jealousy.

However…

The Greif was, in Treize’s mind, both a throwback to the Tall Geese and their chance to win this war. It was down to a question of pilots. The moon’s surrounds were quite nearly a vacuum. Compared to fighting on earth, the senses were different. Treize taught [his cadets the importance of] the different kinds of ‘intuition: sensing the subtle distances between oneself and the enemy; understand unique ‘air’ of the battlefield; having the strength of mind to heighted one’s concentration even while under extreme stress. In order to obtain that, it was crucial to eradicate all hesitation in battle. That had been accomplished on Earth, but in s.p.a.ce, the story was somewhat different. As a matter of course, depth perception, the sense of touch, and concentration all dropped. The difference in gravity and atmospheric density changed the senses into something wholly different. Where as the enemy – the Anti-Alliance- by dint of having lived for an extended period of time on the moon surely had developed s.p.a.ce senses. Of course the Greif was loaded with the latest enemy-searching equipment but the battlefield wasn’t quite slack enough to mean that alone would be enough to fight [well in s.p.a.ce:. The most pressing issue for the Specials was to rid themselves of their sense of Earth’s gravity as soon as possible and acclimate to the change in gravity.

General Million’s causing the Marius Plant to vanish was an enormous strategic gaffe, yet tactically, it was greatly helpful. He had eliminated the worry over the enemy’s [ability to use the plant to create more mobile suites and thereby the] ability to increase their power. At that juncture, they had the leisure of choosing their options: attack or defend. (You could say) they received a grace period in which they could consider which option to pursue. For the young soldiers of the Specials, who had been pus.h.i.+ng themselves on this expedition [to the moon], they recovered from two days worth of pains caused by s.p.a.ce travel and could rest up @for the coming battle].

Treize set the date for their lunar landing to be three days away.

“For the next three days, [I want] every one of you to develop your s.p.a.ce senses,” Treize ordered.

“What will we do if the rebel army attacks the lunar base in the next three days?” asked cadet Izumi.

“Then [I suppose] you should be prepared to scramble.” In typical Treize fas.h.i.+on, his views were a foreshadowing of the tides of war [to come].

“We land on the moon in three days, that has not changes……” Treize looked at the doubtful faces of his cadets and supplements, “Men, with the Marius Plant blown up, this war has already been lost…… and our goal is not to control the rebels, nor should you worry about rescuing the lunar base.” No one had any questions. What, then, were they supposed to do? Why, then, were they going to fight? They had already learned the answer to those questions.

“Take action as you deem appropriate.”

“For the future soldiers!”

This was their absolute consciousness.

Treize added, “I pray for your successful training (lit: discipline). Dismissed.”

At this point, the full forces of the Cosmo Arma at the lunar base consisted of the following: 50 main force mobile suit, Chimera (Leo II); 5 Tragos (model II for lunar battle); 5 s.p.a.ce fighters. Against this, the Anti-Alliance had the giant lunar battles.h.i.+p Sagittarius and to this, their fire power included no less than 80 new Chimera (Leo III). Even with Treize and the Specials joining in with 25 Greifs (Leo IV), empirically, the ratio (of military power) stood at 50 against 80. If the Anti-Alliance’s Sagittarius [was counted as being] 50 mobile suits, the Cosmo Arma was at an overwhelming disadvantage of 50:30.

Suppose the Anti-Alliance army did attack the lunar base before Treize's arrival, they most surely would have won. Anyone would think it was an honor to be the one who conquered the moon. The soldiers in the resistance movement were particularly strong in promoting doing just that kind of thinking. The laborers, on the other hand, were skeptical and were weak-kneed.

That was a topic of much daily discussion, in the briefing room aboard the Sagittarius, which was anch.o.r.ed in the Ocean of Storms, the debate continued between the soldiers and the laborers.

“We ought to negotiate for peace.”

“We ought to nit the Silent Sea!”

“No objections!”

“There’s no doubt we would win!”

Said the soldiers in strong tones.

“And then?” Commander Artemis, who normally did not partake in the discussion, asked. “After winning, what do you plan to do?”

“Obviously, we’re going to…” For a moment, the soldiers couldn’t finish the statement. Actually, nothing had been decided. “Our determination—we’ll make the Alliance acknowledge s.p.a.ce’s independence!”

“With just a Sagittarius and some Chimera (lit: with marksmen and boys)?”

“That’s plenty!” The young soldiers took to their feet. Now, they were just retorting.

“This is plenty of fighting power to drive the Alliance out of every colony.”

“If you bluff,” said Artemis with a deep sigh.

“Bluff?”

“You are familiar with poker? The card game?”

“We’re not talking about cards! We’re talking about war!”

“Yes, this is war, so……”

“Miss Artemis, please finish what you were saying. Tell us what we should do from here on out.” The laborers wished from the bottom of their hearts that the front line commander would be their guide. Artemis, however, spread her hands wide as she shrugged and all she said was “Well…..”

Someone from the resistance spoke up, “According to information from an ally, it looks like the OZ Specials have already arrived in the area of the L-1 colony……” The briefing room [exploded] in an uproar. They couldn’t maintain their isolation on the moon. The Specials had arrived for reinforcements and that meant there was the distinct possibility the Alliance would send more reinforcements from Earth. They needed the first ticket out of there. If they couldn’t decide, the Chimera ammunition, the soldiers’ rations, even purifying the very air they were breathing would become endangered. The Sagittarius was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with people being controlled by their impatience.

Treize had expected that situation. That was why he would land on the moon in three days [and not immediately]. It was a mere two days until their arrival, yet the battles.h.i.+p Sagittarius did not move. That alone was a basis [for planning as Treize had], but it became more than sufficient proof. The enemy was not united. That was how Treize interpreted it. Even if he were somehow wrong in that interpretation, and the Anti-Alliance opened hostiles first, Treize had relayed that they would immediately surrender to the Cosmo Arma base at the Silent Sea. If the base was taken over by the Anti-Alliance, then Treize could use the Anti-Alliance people at the base as a way to make a starting point to being cooperation between the s.p.a.ce colonies. There was also the possibility they could declare their independence from the Alliance. [As he thought about his second option] and the increased difficulties became readily apparent. The colonies close to the moon, L-1 and L-2, would first get armed then compete a protective/defensive line to the lunar base and the war of independence against the earth-based Alliance would unfold and there was no doubt that ultimately, they would be forced into a besieged war at the lunar base. It was a big gamble. It couldn’t be said for sure if Treize had foreseen events to that extent, but he thought of almost the same thing. If that weren’t Treize’s predictions, if there wasn’t any meaning to controlling the lunar base, even an average commander could make that decision. In fact, Artemis objected to controlling the base and the laborers also, who had spent much time on the moon, had no proof that taking over the base would put freedom in their hands. If it was possible, the laborers should have been trying to get off the moon. And all the more so with the OZ Specials en route. They could only imagine what kind of abilities the new Grifs the Specials were piloting had, but as far as mobile suit development went, due to their similar experiences, the laborers knew better than most what tremendous innovations could occur in a matter of months.

There was a large lounge at the L-1 colony cl.u.s.ter s.p.a.ceport; there was a restaurant where one could enjoy a light meal while gazing at the beauty of s.p.a.ce from the windows. Luretia and Zechs were seated by the window and drinking coffee.

“s.p.a.ce is beautifu, isn’t it Zechs…..” Even from there, one could see the summer constellations.

“In that galaxy, there’s the Milk Dipper, it’s [part of the constellation] Sagittarius…… you can see it more clearly [here] than you can from Earth.” It made the innocent girl’s face glow.

“There’s believed to be a black hose in the center of a star in Sagittarius…… Everything – even light- gets swallowed by the darkness…… but, there isn’t really anything there, right?”

“……”

Zechs didn’t know what Lucretia was trying to say.

“In a world without light, there is nothing…… or [at least] I should say nothing can be seen.”

Lucretia didn’t reply to that, she just sighed, elbows on the table and looking to the side [out the window]. “You can’t see what’s really important with your eyes,” she kept looking out the window. Zechs took up hos stone cold coffee and said, “Lucretia…… you know a lot about the stars.” So saying, he swallowed the last of his cold coffee. Putting down the cup, he turned to face her head on.

“Yes… I want to know all about the stars. Like you, Zechs, The Star Prince [Little Prince]. I want to know all about you, too,” she said looking at his eyes.

“The Star Prince, hmm.”

A m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic smile played on Zechs’ slips. On a very small planet, there lived a lonely prince and a single rose bloom. Zechs’ knew of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s novel.

“Tell me about it.”

“Really, *you* can’t see wah’t really important with your eyes, Zechs Merquise.”

“You’re a strange one, Lucretia Noin.”

Many suppose it was around this time that Lucretia Noin fell in love with Zechs Merquise. However, there were doubts as to whether she knew his real ident.i.ty. It was also estimated that their deeply nuanced conversation was [due to] Lucretia’s unique intuition in action.

Away from those seats, at the bar, was another couple [talking] over a dry martini and a gin tonic. The man was Odin Lowe and the woman was Aoi Clark, mother of the six-year old boy code-named Heero Yuy.

“Head Engineer Seis is looking well.”

“He’s left OZ also, seems like he’s going to be the Alliance’s advising engineer…… seems like he wasn’t very keen on the Greif’s development.”

“So that’s why he’s doing surveillance on the mission?”

“Well, that’s……”

“You only ever looked like an average mom and son.”

Now, she was Seis’ wife, but in reality, that was not certain. That was because she was a secret agent working for OZ.

“I remember colony hopping with you …… those were the days.”

“Isn’t it about time for you to retire?”

“And the kid is already six, to.”

“He’s looking well, that’s what’s important.”

“You feel a little responsible, don’t you.”

“I was against it,” Odin finished his gin tonic.

“I wanted to have your child that is,” muttered Aoi as she shook her gla.s.s and make the olive roll around.

“But if you’re always doing OZ, what about the boy?”

“I know, but it’s hard……” she sighed deeply. “Anyway, you were the one to leak Alliance information to Artemis, right?”

“Wasn’t it your husband who was ignoring the laborers?”

“That was Tsubarov…… he [Seis?] was off that project nearly from the start.”

“Oh, really.”

Tsubarov who would later go on to develop a most abominable pilot-les weapon, was licking the would of demotion and fell victim to a deep mistrust of his fellow man. Since the demotion, he had probably spent the ensuing ten years using the feelings of jealousy and revenge he harbored to design the mobile dolls. It could even be described as a terrible obsession. The bartender stood before them and asked if they wanted another drink.

“Another one of these,” Aoi ordered before turning back to Odin. “Why did you become a free agent?” Or haven’t you gotten over *that* yet?”

“Don’t.”

“That’s it, isn’t it.”

“That happened more than a decade ago.”

“Breaking up with me, it was because of that.”

“……”

“But it wasn’t an OZ order, it was Septum from the Cosmo Arma—“

“Same difference,” Odin said, cutting her off. “I was a big f.u.c.king idiot and it was still me that changed the course of history for the worse.” Their fresh gin and tonic and martini arrived then.

“Enjoy,” said the bartender before he retreated to the rear of the bar.

“The client this time is someone from the colonies, right?”

“b.u.t.t out, that’s business between me and them.”

“Isn’t that a little strange?” Aoi slammed down her entire martini. “The Marius Plant revolt and sending Artemis, the timing is too good.” Aoi was drunk. But the drink served to sharpen her [already] keen senses. “Of course, the whole point was to destroy Marius Hills Hall.” The revelation made her martini-eyes eyes flash. “Everybody knew Million would use that canon.”

“The colony technicians have succeeded in smelting that new alloy,” Odin uttered as he looked at the foam dissipating in his gin tonic. “I couldn’t let that fall into OZ or the Alliance’s hands.”

Aoi smiled, fascinated. “You aren’t saying that they are planning to make a gundanium mobile suit, are you?”

Their conversation didn’t progress past that point. Aoi had spoken half joking but [in truth] the colony scientists really were attempting to construct a mobile suit—a Gundam—from the gundanium alloy. And it was ironic that it would be their son who would pilot one of them.

These three days

The Anti0Alliance soldiers had devoted themselves to maneuver drills. They had the Specials beat when it came to experience in lunar battle as well as with their formidable numbers: eighty Chimera and the Sagittarius. These, in Commander Artemis’ head thought up her battle formation for certain victory. Experience on the battle field was valuable, but it was not strictly necessary. The enemy was not (limited to) attacking with identical battle tactics. The enemy was not expected to fight with the same weapons. The Anti Alliance soldiers, however, a.s.sumed an air of superiority that bordered on blind faith.

“Whatever they attack us with, it will be their pilots’ first time [in those suits] and they won’t be familiar with the battlefield! By comparison, we’re all experienced Chimera pilots! There’s no doubt we have the advantage!”

It seemed both the soldiers and the laborers shared this opinion. In the previous battle, they had gone from 100 down to 80 Chimera but in making the battle formation, a change from an eight-point to a six-point star was of negligible difference. Though they had unwavering faith in their twenty search and destroy Chimera piloted by ace pilots, the six commanders at the head of six units that contained ten mobile suits a piece were a little uneasy. Artemis believed that as long as they couldn’t wipe out that small measure of worry, it wouldn’t be possible to win. As their opponent was Treize Khushreanada leading the Specials, there was no mistaking that leaders.h.i.+p was the most important point [for the Anti Alliance to consider]. Also, she a.s.sumed Treize would open hostilities with a surprise attack that played up the characteristic of the highly mobile Greif and that would lead to a breakdown in the command system whereby they would [have to ] move according to their own judgment which would then destroy their star formation. The danger of complete decimation grew higher. The Anti-Alliance, however, was a medley of soldiers and laborers and so their (consciousness) and purpose were dissimilar. It would be almost impossible to lead [them]. Artemis chose sic of the twenty search and destroy ace pilots and entrusted them with the command of six units. They, the search and destroy team, were primarily good at taking solitary action: so to lead a corps of nine others was no small burden they were expected to bear. Nonetheless, Artemis was adamant in her volition [to have them lead the corps]. At the very least, if they failed to gain a victory in the lunar battle, it was self evident that any further strategies wouldn’t [stand a chance].

Three days later, the OZ Specials arrived at the Silent Sea Cosmos Arma base where they joined with the Alliance but did not make any immediate moves.

There was no surprise attack. Artemis was relieved. If Treize was considering doing as General Million had and approaching the lunar battle as a full scale war, then she could counter with the same formation as before. To fight on the moon, being comfortable with the one-sixth gravity was a prerequisite. Thinking (backward) from that, it was quite understandable to choose full on war over a surprise attack. In that case, the six selected ace pilots would return to their original search and destroy corps and they could take on the enemy with the protective double star formation. Artemis believed that selection was the most strategic means.

She was rather conscious of Treize. Simply put, she was *too* conscious of him. That made her feel close to [being in a] command potion from which victory could be gained merely at the effective employment soldiers who were practically laymen. At some point, it evolved into a rivalry. However, that was not truly the case. As she had done with General Million Artemis studied her opponent’s character and defensive tendencies before the battle as per usual.

Familiarity with one’s enemy saves you one hundred battles.

That was a saying she kept close to her heart. Meanwhile Treize shoed no interest in the opposing commander and likely didn’t even know Artemis’ name. And the difference between these two worthy of mention was [their confidence in the face of this query]: Do I trust my troops? Artemis was dead set in thinking of soldiers as pieces on a chess board or shogi board where as Treize respected each soldier as a person and had come to believe in entrusting everything to their volition to fight. At the time, Van Khushrenada was paying a visit to the medical facilities in the L-1 colony cl.u.s.ter. The official reason was to make a plan of action concerning the continuing spread of a new virus on the L-2 colony which was situated between L-1 and the moon. With the death rate over 40% and the infection rate similarly high, it was a very dangerous virus. Civilians called it the “colony cold.” If a vaccine wasn’t made and distributed immediately, it would become a crisis. Brilliant medical staff from the former Cinq kingdom had defected to the health care facilities on the L-1 colony.

“Now, we can only depend upon them.” Van promised to provide funds and implored them to put a priority upon [making] the life-saving vaccine.

One doctor commented, “On the one hand, you Romefeller people are turning a profit on making murder weapons and on the other, you sued that money to save lives.” That certainly was a contradiction.

“[Spare me the irony.] We want to help the people in s.p.a.ce. Please help.” The medical staff accepted from a humanitarian point of view. They completed the vaccine and immediately distributed it to the L-2 colony cl.u.s.ter.