Chapter 1 (1/2)
第一章「赤い彗星の残照」1
CHAPTER01 – AFTERGLOW OF THE RED COMET (1)
“Hey, Arlette We’re up”
Arlette Aled her on the shoulder
“T minus 180”
“Relative velocity to the target is +30”
“No response from the passive sensors”
The operators’ voices buzzed about from the speakers next to her ears, as she realized she had fallen asleep Noticing the vibrations in the seat against her back had grown slightly while she slept, she figured that the shi+p had begun decelerating She turned to the largenext to her
“We’re here?”
“Yeah we got here while you were konked out”
As Danton Hyleg ment, Arlette’s annoyance with hiht to herself, “I just woke up Would it kill him to be a little ht with hi in the front of the roo on a more professional face
She took in her surroundings again There were severalquietly in siray wall, without a singleIt was quite a stark sight
“We finally come back, and we can’t even see the view…”
Just as she was regrettingout fro in front of her
“Ms Arlette, I’d like you to take a look this”
The man, Lieutenant JG Mehmet Merca, held out a tablet towards her with a peaceful smile on his face, rather uncharacteristic of a soldier
“Are you certain this is the port you told us about?”
Arlette looked into the screen, which displayed the feed from one of the shi+p’s external caular rock surface, with a peculiar design drawn on it, exactly like the one she remembered
“I’m sure of it That’s the research facility’s private port”
“Thank you”
Mehht sain, Arlette found herself staring at the less walls, and again she thought of the view that lay beyond them
She was aboard an assault landing craft prepared by Masteovernment She knew that onewith them nearby Each shi+p had a full Mastema company aboard These two shi+ps were headed somewhere that Arlette and Danton were very familiar with, but it was not the same place they’d once known
It was Axis, once an asteroid base, a stronghold for Neo Zeon But on that fateful day – March 12th UC0093 – the asteroid was split in half Their destination this time was on one of those halves
×××
“Our destination, the research facility, lies on the half of Axis further ahead in orbit – on the side where asteroid Moussa was attached”
“Yes, but the facility is not on Moussa itself Moussa only contained residential quarters and some defensive weapons facilities”
“Is Moussa a special place?”
“To the people who lived on it, yes It’s existence is… how do I put it… a syin”
This is what Arlette explained to Mehh-speed transport shi+p disguised as a civilian transport During the discussion, Danton just stood to the side, nodding silently Though he had also lived on Axis for a while, he had never been granted permission to enter Moussa Newcomers such as him – who’d survived the One Year War and fled to Axis – were never allowed to even step foot in Moussa It was treated as a kind of holy land
×××
The increasing vibrations of the seats signaled that they would be docking soon They had arranged for shi+p number 2 to land first and confirm that the area was safe, before shi+p number 1, with Arlette and the creould dock The initiation of the docking sequence on their shi+p meant that shi+p nuer Before long, the light above each seat turned green, and the hatch creaked open, revealing a passage
“This is some real VIP treatment”
As Danton sighed, coently She switched her speaker to touch communication, and her voice entered quietly into his helmet
“We’ve come back”
“It’s not like this is our home”
“But the fact that it’s special hasn’t changed, right?”
Arlette’s voice was norht flicker of eh to notice that much
“I guess so It is where the Flanagan Institute fell, after all”
“This is where our lives were decided!”
“Yeah…”
Danton’s feelings didn’t change They never had, and they never would
“The only thing I’et you out of here alive That’s all I ever thought about”
“Just following the Captain’s orders, huh?”
“Of course”
Arlette gave a slight giggle and gripped his hand a little tighter
×××
Arlette and the crew got off the landing shi+p and passed through the passage fro the urban district, directly beneath the area where Moussa had been attached This here the research facility’s personnel and families had once lived
However, three years had passed since Axis had fallen – h time for the district to cease all functions
“It feels so different I re smaller and messier”
“spaces feel bigger when there are no people around”
Arlette and Danton, along with the Mastema special forces unit, lead by Mehmet, made their way down the district’s main street The entire residential sector was built to rotate to create artificial gravity, but the equipround with each step, being careful not to float too high This n to Arlette
“The target facility should be at the end of this street, correct?”
Meh in from the speaker
The Minovsky particle density inside Axis read very high, as if it were a lingering scent fro fine, but if they were to spread out enough to lose sight of each other, it was likely they’d lose communications as well
“It’s going to be a hassle if we get separated” thought Danton as he answered Mehmet’s question
“Yeah, it should be…”