The voice that was heard from the headphone sounded like water flowing under the floor. Swoosh, kok kok, such irregular sounds seemed similar to the sounds that would be made when changing water pipes.

“…I don’t know.”

The sonar operator opened his closed eyes and took off the headphones from his ears. The two on-duty crewmen beside him looked over at the sonar panel to check that all the functions were working properly, and then put their headphones back onto the console hook. The dim lighting of the sonar room showed the wry faces of shrugs, and Adi, who sat on the duty officer chair, felt a sense of despair.

The 42-year-old sonar operator was relatively experienced even amongst the highly experienced NCOs. When Adi was still a toddler learning how to walk, the sonar operator had already got onto the submarine. In terms of reading sonar, there was no doubt that the sonar operator was Adi’s senior, but he lacked sensibility. The sonar operator was used to not using his imagination, and kept following the conclusion made by the sonar receiver. However, no matter how advanced technology was, a submarine crew member required instinctive intuition and the ingenuity of a craftsman.

“This is the sound detected by the pa.s.sive sonar 30 minutes ago. It really did not feel like the wavelength of a jet engine, and the sound does seem to flicker from time to time.

Of course, it was impossible for a rookie sonar operator who just got a.s.signed here half a year ago to criticize him face to face. Adi put the sampling number of the audio record into the a.n.a.lyzing monitor, and cautiously said,

“However, there is a regular rhythm in the sound we received. This really doesn’t sound like an underground volcano activity. Some submarines amongst the old nuclear submarines would let out such sounds. If we can compare it with HQ’s database…”

The a.n.a.lyzing monitor showed uneven waveforms. Despite the ship database showing a lack of match, there was no guarantee that this was not a sound from the propulsion system of a submarine. At this point, the screw propellers would only be used when navigating on the water surface, and when submerged, the fusion water jet engine that produced less noise would be used. However, a noiseless propeller system technology had already been the subject of research ever since the old centuries, when USA and the Soviet Union were in the midst of their cold war. The sound displayed on the curve was similar in some extents the early silent propulsion system.

Adi probably would have viewed this as a noise created by natural phenomenon if he had not found past records in the library of the submarine school. He continued to increase the intensity level of the sound a.n.a.lyzing monitor, but the sonar operator gave him a sighing voice, “I say, Adi…”

“It’s a good thing to be pa.s.sionate about your research, and I admit that your ears are very sensitive. However, this isn’t a group activity a student’s doing here. Is it possible for a nuclear submarine in the old times to appear here? It’s true that some certain old century submarines are still in service, but their facilities are already upgraded. Do you feel that anyone will still use those antiques that are shelved outside the ship’s database.”

The sonar operator stood up, got behind the duty crew member, and put his hand on his fat waist. He, who had maintained a nice slim figure when he was young, finally succ.u.mbed to the biggest enemy of a submarine crew member, a lack of exercise. What was worse was that the food provided in submarines were the best in the army.

“Listen up, we’re looking for a s.p.a.ceship here, a s.p.a.ceship of those Zeon remnants who pulled off this one heck of an acrobatic and fell into the Atlantic Ocean. They definitely injected water inside the ship and submerged underwater. It’s impossible for that ship to make the noise of a water jet engine, and it’s definitely more impossible to make the sound an ancient nuclear engine. You’ll just hear the sound of the ship hull being compressed because of this unexpected submersion, and that should be what you’re looking for. The navy isn’t giving you expensive equipment just to satisfy your own interests.

The words that pressed down on Adi’s head caused him to feel that it was no different from the water pressure pressing down on the ship body. He lowered his dejected face, “Yes” and put on the headphones again. The sonar operator snorted, pulled his stomach in and pa.s.sed behind the duty crew member to leave the sonar room that could be said to be as cramped as a can of sardines.

The curtain rail that was used as a separation was pulled aside, and the air came flowing into the sonar room from the neighboring command room. Unlike the cramped sonar room, the command room that was 10m wide would often have 10 important crew members ranked below the captain working there. To the Earth Federation Submarine EFS “Bonefish”, this block was basically functioning as a brain. The sonar room that was connected directly to it had to use the sonar sensors equipped inside the ship to act as the ears as far as possible, and report the situation around the ship to the central command. All duties were handled mechanically in rhythm in this 200m long Juneau-cla.s.s submarine, and this was one of the organs supporting it.

At this point, the submarine was 300m in depth. It was moving at 10 knots per hour as it moved between the African continent and the South American continent. The Atlantic Ocean below the equator continued to search below the wide ocean s.p.a.ce approximately 50m below. This belt of mountains underwater in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean was called the Romansh fault zone. As the young crust formed here had some magnetic minerals, it was very difficult for the sonar sensor to detect. If the Neo Zeon s.p.a.ceship wanted to hide, this would be the most suitable s.p.a.ce. The precipitous reefs around the fault were also in the way of the search, but it was imaginable that the enemy would not submerge too deep. Even if they have similar air capacity, the pressure resistance specifications of a s.p.a.ceship would still be far inferior to a submarine. If they wanted to sink deeper, they would be crushed by the water pressure before their allied forces came to save them.

No, basically, it was worth doubting whether there were forces on Earth that could be considered their ally. It had been three days since they started the search, and the underwater search monitor only showed signs of reefs, and the source of this sound that was detected was the allied ship that was carrying out the search at the same time. The mood in this submarine that was under the normal marine department felt as relaxing as naval training, and the crew all forgot about the tension they had when they started launching. Adi felt that he was quickly losing interest in the source of this unknown sound as he sighed. Beside him, Corporal Genon heard him out and said, “Don’t think too much about it.”

“The sonar operator is an athletic type who became famous for football, so he can’t get along with an academic-based man like you.”

Genon took down the headphones on his ears as he smiled, “But I do feel that it’s not an ancient nuclear submarine as well. There’s no response on the sound screen anyway, so I think you probably heard the sigh of a “Sea Ghost”.”

“A sea ghost?”

“it’s just a rumor. About half a month ago, the SOSUS detected an unknown sound at the Atlantic control branch. At that time, they were wondering if there was a system malfunction…”

The so-called SOSUS was a defense system spread throughout all oceans in the world by using the sonar receptor embedded at the seabed. This system was particularly concentrated at the ports of several const.i.tuent countries, and it was not a laughable affair when the SOSUS of the Atlantic near the Federation government capital, Dakar malfunctioned. “Why doesn’t this news get reported?” Adi pointed out.

“Because the system is just t.i.tular decorations after the Zeon remnants navy got dispersed. They’re scared that the budget will be cut if they reported this malfunction.”

“Is that so…”

“It seemed that the people from my dad’s time even had a fierce fight with Zeon’s “Mad Anglers”, but currently, it’s impossible for the diving fleet to meet actual battle anyway. Even our “Bonefish” is an old granny of 17 ship years. The navy would have been toast together with the army if not for the consideration of unemployment. In this age, the reason why everyone can live is all because of the s.p.a.ce forces.”

“Then why did you join the army?”

“To obey my parents. If the son isn’t serving in the army, the retired officer living off pension will be sent to s.p.a.ce. At their age, I don’t want to send them to live in the colony. Aren’t you the same?”

As Genon glanced over at him, “I…” Abi could only mumble as he turned to look at the sonar board. Adi’s father was a NCO in the navy, and without that relationship, there was no way he could have entered the army. Deep inside his heart, he did think that he could continue to remain on Earth as long as he stayed in the navy, but he did not choose to join the navy simply because of self-preservation. He simply loved ships, not the ships flying around in s.p.a.ce, but a real ship that moved on the sea.

Due to his father’s occupation, he was often near a base in his youth. Perhaps it was because of this that he loved the sea ever since he was young. Adi always respected his father, who was awarded a shiny dolphin mark that was hung in front of his chest, and the bedtime stories that were told when he was young left him longing for the sea. The singing of the whales that could be detected from the sonar, the beauty of the sea surface at sunset, the mobile suits of Zeon that looked like Krakens", and the suffocating intense battles against enemy submarines—especially at the end of the One Year War, where the great naval battle near the coast of Jaburo, the old headquarters of the Federation army, took place. Adi kept begging his father to keep talking about that story, and he did not know how many times he heard it.

When he was young, Adi hoped to enter the navy when he was young and board a submarine. Despite him becoming distant from his father in his youth like ordinary people, he never lost sight of this aim. He successfully entered naval cadet academy, got more points than what was required to graduate through extra-curriculum studying, and was given the right to be a.s.signed to the “Bonefish”, considered the newest submarine even as the naval fleet’s equipment were stagnated. It was of the same cla.s.s of submarine as the one Adi’s father rode on in the War, both Juneau-cla.s.s ship and Adi definitely understood its structure and capabilities as well as the captain. He enthusiastically embarked on his first voyage, but the seas after the war was different from what his father said. It was not a place of adventure.

After two Neo Zeon wars, the Zeon remnants left on Earth were basically swept, and the ones were merely some sporadic terrorist attacks from guerilla forces. Earth did not experience a real large scale war for 5 years. Despite the Neo Zeon forces that were derogatorily called “Sleeves”, the uprisings normally happened in s.p.a.ce, and it was completely unrelated to the navy, especially the diving fleet that would only remain underwater.

“I heard that the battle before caused the relic of “Laplace” to be wrecked.”

Genon changed the topic. Adi remembered seeing the debris of that official residence in low orbit through the window when he went on a s.p.a.ce camp in primary school. He added on, “Looks that way.”

“They said that the Neo Zeon ship crashed into Earth together with the relic there…those aliens were really persistent.”

Genon gave a wry look as he put the headphone back on to end this idle chat time. That’s right, those aliens have come to our territory. Adi thought about that again as he held onto the headphone tightly. The s.p.a.ce forces did not know about the seas, so if a commotion in s.p.a.ce is dragged to the sea, we’re the only ones who can respond. Adi mused in his head as he looked back to inspect on the various functions on the console.

He inspected the underwater search monitor that could recreate the situation at the seabed through CG and the sound screen that showed the shape of the target through the active sonar reflected off the bottom of the sea. The main sonars that were installed on the bow and the sides, separated equally, could block off all excessive sounds and concentrate the detected sounds inside the head phones. The excessive sounds here would refer to the machine sounds from the “Bonefish” itself and the fusion water jet engines installed on both sides letting out sounds of sea water being stirred.

The air pressure from Earth to s.p.a.ce would actually go from one to zero, but in water, the water pressure would increase according to the depth. Considering that the place was not suited for humans to live in, a seabed of 300m was an isolated zone like s.p.a.ce. Even if the enemy s.p.a.ceship sank into the bottom of the ocean, it was not easy to save it. However, there was a chance that the Zeon remnants had a submarine for rescue. Adi closed his eyes, put his elbow on the console and paid whole attention to listen out for the sound. He p.r.i.c.ked his ears upon hearing the water flow that sounded like it was shaking an old pipe, and wanted to identify the enemy presence that was submerged underwater.

The area around the submarine was darkness, where light could not return. If there were windows, it was possible that they would be seeing darkness that was darker than s.p.a.ce. Above this place was the ocean surface, sky and s.p.a.ce where there were tens of billions living there. What kind of people do the people living in the colonies see us as? Adi gave a wry smile as he suddenly thought about him. He, who remained on Earth, stayed in a large metal tube that was moving at the bottom of the sea. It seemed that the people who moved to the s.p.a.ce colonies called Earth as a gravity well, so people like him probably drew the short stick of the gravity well by staying over here—

Gonk! At this moment, the blunt sound of metal knocking into each other rang in Adi’s ears.

The hand that was pressed on the headphone immediately tightened up, and he looked over at Genon beside him. It seemed that the other man heard the same sound too. Adi turned his pale face, worked on the console, pulled out the problematic sounds, corrected them, and stared at the round screen of the sonar radar. Soon, the screen showed an orange light, and a sound beeping alarm rang as it entered Adi’s ears.

There were no matches. It was impossible to detect the propeller noises, but something was approaching gradually from the starboard. The distance was less than 1,000 meters, and an unknown metallic sound continued to ring. Adi only called about taking up the wireless communicator microphone in the ship as he yelled, “COMMAND, THIS IS THE SONAR!”

“Sonar detected, position 132. Target speed estimated at 30 knots.”

The metallic sound that had a mysterious rhythm to it did not stop. As Adi and Genon were carrying out their own identifications, the voices of the captain and the sonar operator rang inside the sonar room. The captain looked skinnier as compared to the sonar operator, and he looked less lively as before due to a recent gastric ulcer surgery. However, to a marine, the captain was still a respected figure, “What do you think that is?” Adi saw the captain lower his head to stare at him, and tensed up as he answered,

“I don’t know. This sounds different from a torpedo tube being opened, but it still does sound metallic. I’m guessing that it’s a machine running…most likely, the sound of an actuator running.”

Adi finished, and he himself felt that this was the case. This deep ringing sound that persisted on did seem similar to a crane or a similarly large machine. The sonar operator said, “This guy’s a rookie, but his ears are sharp.” The captain put the standby headphones over his ears and put his mouth to the nearby wireless communicator microphone. “Command, this is the captain speaking. Get the torpedo crew to position. Head east and prepare room for vessel operations. Increase speed by 10.”

Ting, ding. The speed indicator rang, and as the submarine sped up as it changed its course, the inertia that was caused started to act on the bodies. The sonar operator put his hands on Adi’s to support himself, and it seemed that he was praising the rookie for responding quickly. The competing sense of delight and tension rose in him as he looked tense while operating on the console, “Target’s increasing in speed!” but was shocked by Genon’s called.

“Distance at 800. Coming right at us!”

The flickering on the radar was quickly approaching the circle. It went pa.s.sed 40 knots, the fastest speed a Juneau-cla.s.s could move in water. The captain with an obvious black-ethnic blood immediately turned pale and commanded to the wireless communicator. “Command, increase speed by 10 again. Go full throttle.” At the same time, the sonar operator yelled “Hit the piner!” and Adi immediately pressed the active sonar on the console.

KONG!A shrill sound spread through the speakers, rocking the ship body of the “Bonefish”. The reflected waves bounced through the machine 4 times faster than it was in air, and the target silhouette appeared on the sound screen. One could feel that everyone present gasped.

As both sides were basically maintaining the same height, the shape of that thing was definitely how it looked from the front. However, the target’s silhouette was extremely abnormal. It was shaped like a flat rhombus, its longest length was 80m long, and its height was more than 30m tall. Looking at its shape, it was most definitely not a submarine, or rather, it was far from an ideal submarine. Also, the target was changing shapes from time to time as it approached the submarine underwater at a high speed.

“Is that the sea ghost…?”

The captain mused. The object continued to approach with its propeller system still silent, charging right at the starboard of the “Bonefish” that turned back. It doesn’t have a fusion water jet engine, so why it is able to move so freely in the sea? Adi’s mind went blank as the sonar operator pushed him aside to work on the sonar board. “60! It’ll crash into us directly!” he warned. “Emergency evasion…” the captain ordered in the wireless communicator, “Too late!” but Genon yelled louder as the sudden feeling of death that came caused Adi’s body to stiffen.

I’ll die in such a place. I haven’t done anything yet. I’m not as active as dad, and I never experienced such adventures. The sunsets, whale songs, everything, I haven’t experienced—

“IMPACT!”

The captain’s voice that sounded like a scream rang in the ears. Then, the sound of metal being ripped echoed through the ship, and Adi was thrown off the ship.

Genon too was knocked aside, and the captain and sonar operator had their backs crashed into the wall. The alarm rang, the lights were flickering, and Adi heard the sound of the ship being crushed. A large amount of seawater was rushing in through the ripped shape, and the hull where up and down could not be identified continued to sink. The sea ghost that bared its sea monster-like fangs gnawed the entire submarine to shreds—and Adi’s consciousness faded as he swallowed the fear his father never experienced.

The ‘claw’ that penetrated through the rubber-like sound-absorbing material cut a hole through the belly of the submarine and pulled it out.

The high pressure of air inside the ballast tanks spurted out of the crack, and the “Bonefish” was surrounded by the forceful air bubbles. The seawater replaced the air as it flowed in, tilting the submarine to the right, and the buoyancy was completely negated as the “Bonefish” sank to the bottom of the sea. The hull hit the seabed violently, and before the dust of the reefs being scattered spread in the sea, the object nicknamed the sea ghost started to float slowly.

The unit had 3 sharp claws on its pair of arms—or rather, forelegs, and they bend back with the sound of the actuator ringing. The part that was installed at the base of the arms were arched shaped armor that looked like sh.e.l.ls, and from the front, its silhouette looked like a flattened rhombus, but it was merely a small part of this complicated model. The gigantic arms and narrow streamlined body made its mechanical silhouette look like a crustacean residing in the sea, while the rear end of the body looked like a hermit crab that was much larger in volume than the body. Looking down from above, its front end had the form of a spade, and it was reminiscent of a raptor. The part that looked like a head had a crack on it, and one could see a brightly glowing ‘eye’ inside.

The mono-eye sensor that was first developed by the old Princ.i.p.ality of Zeon flickered, and the air bubbles carried its back that was giving off air bubbles as it started to leave the bottom of the seabed that was in eternal darkness. Its arms turned behind, overlapping with the armor on its shoulders, and changed its form. The arms turned behind, shelved in with the shoulders armors. It changed its form to become a completely streamlined body, but the form itself showed no sense of submersion at all. It was possible to find such machines that were shaped like monsters in this Minovsky Particle era of weapons, weapons that were half similar to a mobile suit—mobile armors. The AMA-X7 “Shamblo” flipped over its large body that looked like a kraken as it moved amidst the high pressure of the deep sea. The Magneto Hydro Dynamics (MHD) units installed within its shoulder armor continued to let out a different noise from the fusion water jet engine as it changed its course horizontally at a depth of around 100m.

Unlike mobile suits that were fixed to be humanoid mobile weapons, mobile armors were not fixed in shape. As long as it could satisfy its original purpose, the size of it did not matter, and the limbs that controlled the unit’s mobility need not be limited to limbs alone. The “Shamblo” itself was no exception, and in fact, it looked like a submarine that had arms for combat, but the unique trait was that only a few pilots were needed to operate this, unlike a submarine that required many people. There was a c.o.c.kpit block with a linear structure in the middle of this unit that could be considered a motor fortress—and over there, one could see Mahdi Garvey seated on the captain seat, looking down at the CG corrected seabed image.

There was a wide s.p.a.ce akin to that of a shuttle control room in this c.o.c.kpit, and there was a wall of screen right at the front. There were three operating seats in front of the screen, one to operate, one to detect, and one to defend. The captain’s seat controlled the attacks, and there was a very large and high s.p.a.ce behind the c.o.c.kpit. Of course, the captain’s seat could control everything in this system when things were critical.

The screen replicated the scenes in the sea through the combined information obtained from the nightvision cameras and the sonar, and the enemy submarine that was sunk was giving of air bubbles and floating materials that scattered everyone. Walid and Abbas, 2 young men that were old enough to have beards, were seated on the operating and detection seats respectively as they stared at that scene. The only female, Loni was seated on the defense seat as she continued to stare at the screen. Mahdi saw that her delicate shoulders were tensed up, “Are you scared, Loni?” and asked her from the behind the console of the captain’s seat. The light brown face covered by the helmet visor turned around, “Yes, father.” and Loni’s black eyes looked anxious as she answered.

“That’s good. Those who aren’t willing to show emotions will not be able to handle things coolly when something unexpected happens. Abbas, Walid, watch carefully too. We just killed more than 200 enemies. There’ll be more bloodshed after this, so don’t you look away from the corpses of the enemies.

“Yes.” Abbas and Walid answered in unison as they stared at the blood and entrails. As according to customs that lasted since ancient times, Madhi had many wives and many concubines, and the 3 people in front of him at this point had the purest of bloodline in the Garvey family. Madhi really wanted to let his deceased father, who was unable to see the faces of his grandchildren, everything, including the first results of the “Shamblo”. Fear and excitement continued to make him feel this way originally, but he immediately changed his mind soon. He thought about how it would not be long before he meets his father, and his beard that had some white hairs in it curled up above his mouth.

It had been more than 6 years since he inherited the inheritance from the First Neo Zeon war and started to build this “Shamblo”. Looking at the remnants of the submarine that sank in front of their eyes, the Earth Federation army would know that the sea ghost was not a mere illusion. Those people would understand immediately that this so-called thing would create a more direct threat to them. The dormant period had ended, and the time to take action had finally arrived. After the several battles in s.p.a.ce, the “Box” fell onto Earth—and they were fighting for this “Box” that could topple the Federation government.

However, it was still unknown where the Neo Zeon ship that had the “Box” went. It had been 3 days since they received the report, and Madhi searched around the ocean where they could have possibly crashed into, but there were still no results. He turned his eyes on the seabed search monitor that showed the bits of the enemy submarine that were swimming about. Abbas, who was seated on the central control seat, said, “The “Sleeves” Heavy Lift Vehicles will fall onto Earth immediately, and interrupted with a steady voice befitting that of the eldest son.

“I heard that the “Garencieres” entered the atmosphere in the middle of battle. Is it possible that it broke up in air or split into pieces when it landed in the water?”

“Zinnerman won’t make that mistake. But it’s possible that they went slightly off course and was forced to land in the desert…”

He met the captain of this cargo ship in question, Suberoa Zinnerman once. They had different beliefs, and Madhi felt that the other man was a warrior, but in the end, he felt that the simple truth was that the fate of humans was in G.o.d’s hands. The time that was set at Greenwich Standard indicated 6:40 am. After checking the time, Madhi checked the time it would take to reach the HLV reclamation point, decided that it was time to pack up, and lifted his head from the console.

“Can’t be helped. We’ll pause our search for the “Garencieres” for the time being. New course, position 020. Let’s go retake the “Sleeves” HLV.”

His three children repeated this command as they worked on their respective consoles. The MHDs propellers on the shoulders absorbed seawater, and the large body of the “Shamblo” tilted slightly.

The slits on the shoulders took in seawater, and the powerful magnetic field created by the superconductive coil triggered the tube-shaped propellers that would absorb seawater and shoot it backwards in an accelerated manner. The MHD was the earliest system that was developed amongst the silent propulsion systems, but it was soon forgotten because of the similarly silent fusion water jet engines that were becoming commonplace as it lacked output. For a large mobile armor like the “Shamblo” that completely abandoned hydromechanics with its exterior, this was still insufficient, and there was a completely different engine in it.

The machine that was like a large ray quickly spun rode on the water flow raised by the MHD propulsion system, and tilted its slanted position back horizontally. The Minovsky particle s.p.a.ceship engines that were hidden inside the arms were installations used when a s.p.a.ceship moved under gravity. It could scatter Minovsky particles regularly and create I-fields to let the object float. The engines the “Shamblo” had were considered amongst the newest amongst the Minovsky era crafts that were becoming smaller, and the seawater that was ionized by the I-field would become the ‘protective layer’, greatly reducing the resistance when diving in the water. This was the result from the Neo Zeon development plans and the Garvey Enterprises developing this. In fact, the expenses for producing a “Shamblo” alone was enough to build a solar generator that could power three basic industries.

However, this was worth it. The “Shamblo” that obtained the power of the Minovsky Craft system would show its real value once it landed. He sat in this c.o.c.kpit that would not shake, checked that the functions of the “Shamblo” were perfect, and said as if he was muttering to himself, “In the worst case scenario, even if we can’t find the “Garencieres”, there will still be a way.”

“Things are moving. The fact that Full Frontal, who remained completely silent before this is hurriedly sending reinforcements over here is the best proof. Also, with this “Shamblo”, I can look forward to settling the hundred years of grudge as a “descendant of Dubai”…”

Loni merely moved her head slightly as the three children did not say anything. They bore the tragic fate of their race and the power to topple the current situation. Madhi stared at the backs of the trio and looked over at the sea surface that was rippling 100m above. The CG corrected screen showed the sea surface, radiating with what he believed to be a Holy light, indicating for sure that Allah existed, and seemed to be blessing the “Shamblo” that managed to succeed in its first battle.

The large body of the “Shamblo” continued to move in the water as it shook the Neo Zeon medal that was a mere formality. The weak propulsion sound was not detected by the sonar’s eyes as the machine disappeared deep within the veil of the thick seawater.

“It sank?”

Ronan Marcenas could not help but parrot the other person’s words as he lifted his head from the doc.u.ments he read halfway. “Yes.” Patrick answered as he put the readied information onto the table.

“Vice Admiral Ted privately contacted us. The rescue team is currently sent to the water site, but the chances of the crew surviving are despairingly slim…”

It seemed that Patrick’s words tailed off weakly not just because he was feeling compa.s.sionate about the submarine that was sunk. Ever since the Neo Zeon ship that took in the “Unicorn” dropped onto Earth, Patrick had been busy running around the area where he was contesting for elections, and had to become the relay man between the Senate Council that included Ronan, and the Central Intelligence Branch. Ronan looked away from his anxious looking son-in-law as he picked up the information that had the works for internal use and quickly browsed through it.

The EFS “Bonefish” last sent a distress signal at the Atlantic Ocean, and lost signal after that. It was not hard to imagine that the military vessel that went to search for a Neo Zeon ship made contact with a Zeon remnant that was looking for the same target, and was sunk before it could fight back. Ronan looked at the crew list that had no purpose other than to act as a list of names, and muttered deep within his heart, Are these martyrs for the “Box”? He then took off his reading gla.s.ses and put aside the stacked information. This is retribution for dealing with the unemployment issue so carelessly, huh?”, he mused as he turned his chair to the window behind him. The office that retained light extremely well in this residence was basked in the midst of the scorching afternoon sunlight.

“The Minovsky particles jamming the sensors aren’t the cause of this incident. After the war ended, the reason why no one went to repair the surveillance network destroyed by Zeon was because people wanted to leave the surveillance job to the Earth military. That’s why it’s so troublesome to search for a ship that dropped onto Earth. Even if the remnant army managed to build up their forces, the current situation is such that the military is unable to grasp information about them. There’s no need to let people waste their lives like this if the surveillance satellites of the same level as before the war are still functioning in the first place…”

Patrick showed neither affirmation nor negation as he turned his face to Ronan. It was no wonder, as Ronan’s era was the one that established this system, while his era would be the one forced to pay the price. Ronan rubbed his eyes and held his sigh in forcefully as he looked back at Patrick with an appropriate look to his first secretary, and said, “Then, how are things proceeding?” Patrick took out the other information tucked under his armpit and spoke,

“I sieved through the namelist the vice-admiral handed over. This one should be most suitable.”

Ronan put on his gla.s.ses as he glanced at the information with the data. “Commander of Londo Bell, Captain Bright Noa…” he read as he looked up at Patrick, “So he came down to Earth?”

“He rode on the “Ra Cailum” to the Far East in order to test the newly equipped Minovsky Craft. This man is a commander, but he is also acting as a captain at the same time. I suppose it’s because he is a man who’s born to be on a ship, and I do find him a serious and upright person.”

“This man is stubborn. You’ve at least heard of his name, right?”

“Of course. To a young man like me, he’s a hero in the past anyway. I was engrossed when I read about the “Battle records of White Base.”

“The legend that time caused misunderstandings about him, and he was excluded from the mainstream military. The higher ups thought that he had thoughts of rebelling…to put it simply, they suspect him as a Newtype. After that, the Senate Council seemed like it had intentions of pulling him out, but he was merely satisfied with acting as commander of Londo Bell from the sidelines. Well, he’s not a man suited for politics.”

Ronan spoke of what he saw on the surface, “Can you rein him in?” and gave a probing look. Patrick did not avoid his father-in-law’s stare as he answered,

“That “Nahel Argama” belongs to Londo Bell. It had been severed from contact with the command of Londo Bell ever since the ship was loaned out to the Senate Council. To a man like Captain Bright, he will be tense over being unable to contact a ship under his command, let alone knowing that the ship is involved with the previous terrorist attacks.”

There’s hope if we go in from there, Ronan felt somewhat chilly in his heart as he saw Patrick’s face indicate this as such. He imagined how this man who was known for his sportsmanship, was gradually being dyed in the color of politics, and felt both reliable and guilty. He took off his reading gla.s.ses and gave the other man a serious look, “Is the “Nahel Argama” stuck in its...o...b..t?”

“it’s the doing of the Vist Foundation. The crew on the “Nahel Argama” are directly involved in these incidents. If they come out to testify, the allies supporting the Foundation will be in danger.”

“In other words, if they’re still in the hands of the Senate Council, we have nothing to sue the Foundation with. Also, the Earth military searching the “Sleeves” are under the Foundation’s watch. We need to get a p.a.w.n here. This p.a.w.n must have a sharp mind and must know how to deal with complicated situations.

Ronan stared over at the photo of Captain Bright which looked resilient and upright, and tapped his index finger on the table. After about 3 seconds, he made his decision and put the stack of information into the drawer, saying, “Help me arrange a meeting with him.”

“Looking at how we can’t survive without the tension of war, the Earth military is more reliant than the s.p.a.ce military. The news that Mineva Zabi accepted our protection has probably reached the Foundation’s ears. You have to proceed cautiously.”

“Alright. Meet in Dakar?”

“No, this place is good. Make it quick. I can’t leave Dakar for too long.”

It would take slightly more than 2 hours to fly from Atlanta to Dakar if he rode on the Hypersonice Transport (HST). He could return back immediately if he wanted to, but he did not want to talk about measures to be taken against the “Box” at the Parliament where the reporters would work in shifts and patrol there. He saw his first secretary nod his head, turned around, and wanted to look away, but recalled something as he called out to the other man facing away from him, “Patrick.” The son-in-law seemed like he detected the slight change in tone as he turned his face around and looked over his own shoulder.

“…Eh, are you still on good terms with Cynthia?”

Ronan sensed that his words at this point seemed hollow as compared to before, but he could not help but continue his words fluently. Cynthia did not know that the person called Audrey Burne was Mineva Zabi herself, and she was completely locked out of the loop in this battle for the Box”, but there was no reason why the very instinctive daughter of the Marcenas family would not detect the heinous air inside and outside the family. Ronan did hear from the butler Dwiyon secretly that Cynthia was feeling more and more frustrated with Patrick for being unwilling to say anything, and a cold wind was blowing amidst their relationship.

Patrick showed a somewhat unexpected look, “Please don’t worry.” and answered as he relaxed his mouth. That delicate smile showed a concern for the father-in-law, and also looked like it was teasing a man who was clumsy when it came to domestic affairs.

“She is becoming a little nervous, but she is an adult. It seems that she’s getting along well with Miss Mineva…Audrey too.”

“Really?”

“But please find a chance to explain to her. She’s a member of the Marcenas’ family after all.”

I’m just an outsider after all these words that came out of left field entered Ronan’s unprepared heart, and Patrick left the office. This would be the fate of a man who did not care about his family, doing something he was not used to doing. He endured the pain that crept into his chest, pushed back the leather chair and got up. He stood at the window and looked at the courtyard where the sun shone down on.

The Dogwood trees that surrounded the residence were growing light pink flowers. The Late April of Southern USA accepted summer faster than the Northern Hemisphere. The greenness got thicker, and Ronan, who was fascinated by this scene under the shining sun, heard the sound of the horse galloping far away , and looked over there. He saw the horse rushing through the Dogwood.

He recognized that the hands holding onto the reins belonged to Riddhe, who had his legs tucked tightly around the horse’s abdomen, and he lowered himself such that his chest nearly touched the horse’s neck. The face that became one with the horse appeared and vanished between the gaps of the trees. He critiqued the school’s British horse-riding the school taught as boring, learnt Western horse-riding on his own, and did not look elegant at this point. He looked very different from the high cla.s.s people, and was racing as if he wanted to be primitive like the horse, but his flowing blond hair was so beautiful it throbbed in Ronan’s heart, who watched his son ride on the horse until he disappeared. His hair color looked like golden flames that were bursting with all sorts of emotions in his heart—

However, there was a tinge of dark shadow on his back. He managed to remain oblivious to the truth until a few days ago, but after knowing how fragile the base supporting this world was, he looked like he was racing on the horse while trying to shake off the shadow on him. But no matter how he dashed, those things could not be shaken away. Whether it was the truth about the “Laplace Box” or the destiny that await the Marcenas family, Riddhe could only view them as part of him and try to accept it as he continued. Ronan sighed deeply as he turned his back against the window. He could not shake off the galloping sound he once heard as it remained in his extremely unhappy body.

She heard before that there were no animals that were more sensitive to human emotions than horses. If the person on the saddle was filled with vigor, the horse would be willing to listen to the command; if the rider showed any fear, the horse would look down on the rider. It seemed that the horse could detect even a bluff as it would suddenly stop and move at times and do disobedient things to the rider. As its appearance showed, a horse was probably a very proud living creature.

At this point, this horse that was racing definitely understood its rider’s feelings. This Anglo Arabic horse let its pitch black mane sway as it ran around the outskirts of the wide courtyard, seemingly becoming one with Riddhe Marcenas. Even if someone stood on the terrace and looked down, that person could sense how the duo became one, and Mineva Zabi felt amazed by this. That horse looked like it really trusted Riddhe, or it would not be racing so quickly like that.

However, it was a little saddening to see it like that. The rider looked like he wanted to vent all the frustrations he acc.u.mulated for a long time as he was forced to pick up the reins, and the horse that felt its rider’s emotions looked somewhat fearful. The rider wanted to run away from something he could not shake off no matter what he did, and the horse looked like it was racing with fire burning on it…would its feet not be burned if it raced like that?

As Mineva thought, she subconsciously thought of poking her body out from the parapet of the terrace, and sensed someone behind her. Cynthia Marcenas appeared as she stood at the gla.s.s door that was pushed aside, and she met Mineva in the eyes as she said, “Its name is Pligrim, a horse Riddhe’s been taking care for a while.” She showed a smile that had no other intention as she strolled over while her blond hair fluttered. Mineva felt somewhat guilty in her heart as she avoided the stare of the other person.

“It’s not a horse that’s easy to tame, but for some reason, it’s extremely close to Riddhe. If I want to ride on it, it’ll definitely look away first. However, it’s been 3 years since that child left the house.”

Cynthia stood beside her and looked over, “How about you try to ride on it?” it was obvious from her stare that she was trying to test. “No thanks…” Mineva answered as she looked back at the courtyard.

Mineva remembered that when she was young, during the time when the Neo Zeon s.p.a.ce fortress “Axis” was still around, she had some beginner lessons on horse riding at a colony somewhere. It was too awkward to see the regent and her people look at her worriedly, and she once rode on a horse and sprinted off without listening to advice. However, she did not think that she could ride on that horse in her current state of mind. Even if she asked Riddhe to help her hold the reins, it would only bother the horse that would be carrying 2 people. Cynthia looked down at Riddhe that was riding on the horse, “He’s really a useless child.” She sighed as she mused, and Mineva did not feel comfortable hearing this.

“He’s always been like this in the past, always unable to hide what he was thinking, and never cared about the people around him when he put his mind to him. He’s already everywhere at once, but he’s attracted to small details for some reason, so he’ll always bear everything by himself alone.”

This is really a rather accurate correct a.n.a.lysis. Mineva felt impressed that Riddhe’s relative was able to see through him so thoroughly, but felt a little depressed as she thought about how she had not been talking to Riddhe during this while, and looked away to the sky.

It had been 3 days since the time she first stayed at the Marcenas’ residence. Riddhe was often not home as he had to deal with the repairs of the “Delta Plus” that was left at base and other things, so she did not have the chance to talk to him, while Ronan and Patrick would constantly avoid her. The ones who would meet her were Cynthia and Dwiyon, and it was obvious that the men with status were unwilling to meet her. Cynthia too detected this unnatural atmosphere—but to her, the girl should be the source of this strange phenomenon. Mineva thought about this, felt that the sunlight that could shine in her became uncomfortable, and lowered her face.

I just want to leave this place, she thought. I can’t do anything even if I stay here. Will I merely be imprisoned here as Audrey Burne and become a diplomatic card to be used in the future? Or will I feel the unknown attraction on my skin just like that night we had the party…

“Our family is like this, so it’s kind of hard to relax…but I hope that you’ll watch over Riddhe. I suppose that guy will recover to who he is normally after a while.”

Mineva’s shoulder that was touched shuddered slightly, and she recovered from her thoughts. Cynthia showed an understanding smile of one of the same gender before leaving the terrace. So being attentive to small details is a trait in the family? She watched the back profile of the calm and carefree adult leave as she felt miserable and grateful, muttering inside her heart that it would be great if that were really the case. However, Cynthia’s guess would most likely be wrong, as her view about anomaly in Riddhe’s heart being a one-time change was just a hopeful expectation. He, who was gradually changing, was suffering over it. It was because Mineva was an outsider who need not be responsible for this—or rather, she was the one who bore his emotions that flowed—that she was able to see the change in Riddhe most clearly.

But at this point, Mineva could not tell what kind of emotions Riddhe was experiencing. She sighed and looked up at the blue sky where the clouds were gathered. She heard from the news that there seemed to be a battle in low orbit on the other end of the sky. If that battle triggered the recent commotion, is there a Neo Zeon vessel entering Earth? What’s the situation with the “Garencieres” now? What about the “Nahel Argama”, “Unicorn” and Banagher?

She continued to remain in where she was even as events were progressing at every moment. Mineva closed her mouth as she felt anxious and wanted to shout out. Riddhe’s shouts as he raced on the horse echoed through the echo, and the galloping filled with his anger vented on the ground pa.s.sed deep into her body and soul.”

The scorching sun continued to light the sky from above as it was so hot it seemed like noises would be made. The sunlight, which should be appropriately called heat rays, shone on a burning hot desert that stretched to a distant horizon.

The temperature was 42 degrees Celsius, and the hot air that blew by combined with the sunlight to rob the dry and hot skin of any moisture it had left. At this point, the sun had risen directly above them, and it was hard to find anything that could be used as a shade. Suberoa Zinnerman continued to peel the skin that was dry because of the sunburn, and looked up at the sand dune right in front of his eyes. The bow of the ship glittered under the sunlight’s reflection, and one could see the “Garencieres” buried under the dune.

“Sure looks like it was buried deep. We’ll be able to hide from the eyes of the surveillance satellites, so I suppose you can say that it’s good in some way…”

Flaste Schole said this as he reached his hand out to the exterior of the ship, “HOT!” and immediately pulled back his hand. It had been 3 days since they went off their estimated course and landed in Western Sahara of Africa. The result of trying to make the ship land on its belly was that the “Garencieres” ended up sliding in the desert by several kilometers and was dived into the sand dunes. There were two sandstorms after this, and it was buried under the sand. The bow and a part of the broadside lying horizontally were the only parts exposed, while the rear hatch of the aft was buried under several tons of sand. There were 3 main thrusters, and one of them had its nozzle exposed from the dune, but it looked like a mere rock amongst the rocks scattered in the desert. It was very likely that n.o.body would notice a cargo s.p.a.ceship buried in the desert unless they a.n.a.lyzed the satellite visuals intently.

Like the rockets that were launched into s.p.a.ce, the “Garencieres” landed in a vertical manner under gravity. Once it flipped onto the floor, it was no different from a tortoise with its legs facing up, and had no chance of changing its position on its own, let alone leave the land and fly. Basically, there was no way to move away other than to move this large amount of sand that was piled up, and they only managed to dig out the airlocks through manual labor. It was really impossible to drag out the cargo hangar at the aft of the ship if they lacked the a.s.sistance of a large machine. The rear hatch at the belly of this triangular ship was already more than 20m long, and at this point, the sand could only end up piled on it in a slope.

Besides, we’re surrounded in all corners. Zinnerman again understood the seriousness of the situation itself as he put the brim of the captain’s hat to eye level. Flaste looked over at the exterior of the broadside that was hot enough to cook an egg as he grumbled, “It’ll be great if the starboard can face up.”

“In that case, we’ll be able to use the unloading hatch on the side. We can’t do anything now that the hatch at the back is buried in sand. A mobile suit can get out if we shoot a beam from inside…”

“But the “Garencieres” will really meet its end. Let’s just treat it as a final resort.”

Zinnerman lifted his head as he drank the water inside the bottle, unwilling to talk about this topic again. The desert was not a suitable place for discussions, and the sweat that flowed out started to evaporate afterwards. The dust-like fine sand would enter all corners as long as there were openings. It would cause the machines to malfunction and wear people out physically and mentally—Flaste was extremely familiar with the terror and troubles it would bring as he once had to survive in Africa during the One Year War. As all the crew was hiding inside the tilted ship in this bright sunny day, Flaste exposed himself to this scorching weather, and he was definitely recalling his memories that time. There’s no time to hesitate now. We have to decide if we should go with our last resort.

He could only see sand, sand and more sand around him. The Sahara Desert that occupied 40 percent of the African continent was 13 million square kilometers in total area, and the largest desert in the world. The average temperature here was above 30 degrees Celsius, and the annual rainfall was less than 200mm. if anyone were to take off their clothes because of the heat, they would be burned red immediately and incur contagious skin diseases. In late April, temperatures could rise to above 40 degrees Celsius, and this place would become an actual burning h.e.l.l. However, this was a result of the abnormal weather conditions causing global warming to be accelerated after colonies were sent crashing to Earth, prompting the desertification of Earth. Despite all these, one thing that never changed since the old ages was that temperatures would drop drastically after sunset, and at night, there would be icy cold winds that could freeze people to death.

The cruelest thing about this was that this wide open place encouraged people to think that they could walk through a desert if they wanted to. A lot of desert victims were bothered by such mirages as they ended up moving around their point of accident, and finally ended up as dried up corpses in the wilderness. The dunes would move according to the winds, and the desert that would change the landscape as well was an overly cruel world where humans had to survive with their own power. While there was the advantage of not being spotted if they remained here, the chances of them being spotted by their allies would be marginally slim.

Thus, the desert became a hidden nest for Zeon remnants on Earth, and a few guerilla organizations set up base here to this day, but n.o.body knew how long it would take before they discovered the “Garencieres”. They did report beforehand when they pa.s.sed through the atmosphere, but their estimated course was the Atlantic. It would probably be a few days later before they realized that the “Garencieres” went off course and landed in the desert several thousand kilometers away from the estimated point.

The forced landing caused the wireless satellite device to be faulty. The only thing left was the wireless communicator of the mobile suits in the ship, but the range couldn"t exceed the horizon. The emergency distress call sender machine was still alright, but it was not practical to try it as they could not guess which side would detect the signal first, the enemies or the allies.

Since this ship had the key to opening the “Laplace Box”, the Federation army would logically search around the area with all its efforts. In contrast, the Zeon remnants who hardly had enough resources probably would not be able to afford a large search party. “It’s almost impossible to repair the wireless satellite device if we don’t swap the entire thing.” Flaste said as he gave a look firmly believing that there was no time to hesitate.

“It’s a good thing that we have ample water and food, but we can’t just stay here all the time. We’ll be detected by the enemy if we don’t contact our side. Tomura just said that he heard the sound of a plane flying above us.”

Flaste looked up at the thing layer of clouds floating in the air, and took a gulp of water. Once they finished their search in the Atlantic Ocean, quite a few surveillance satellites would turn to look at the desert. Zinnerman blew out air from his nose as he answered,

“Looking at the map, we’ll see an oasis if we move 60km to the east. There’s a town called Atal over there, and we should be able to contact with someone over there. We’ll reach there quickly if we ride on a mobile suit.”

“That’s true…”

“Kwani’s unit still needs repairs, but Ivan’s “Geara Zulu” can be used. Even if we have to blow the ship to sc.r.a.ps—”

“You forgot one other machine.”

Zinnerman spoke up to interrupt. Eh? Flaste blinked his eyes and immediately gave a recalling look, only to give a wry look as he answered, “We can’t possibly depend on the “Unicorn” here.”

“I let the maintenance crew inspect through, and they said that they can’t remove the pilot’s biometric authentication. The pilot’s like that as well…”

Flaste pointed his chin at the entry hatch that was approximately 50m away. One could see Banagher Links covered with a sunshade cloth behind the dune piled up at the door, curled up there. Banagher did not detect the stares from Flaste and company as his gloomy-looking face kept staring at the sandy ground of nothingness. It was really hard to determine that he was a living person if n.o.body said that he was alive, and he was the same as when he was dragged out of the “Unicorn Gundam” c.o.c.kpit, not seeing anything in his eyes—

He looked like he was fatigued, a common symptom amongst recruits, but the medical officer said that it was not the case after inspection. His mind was overly fatigued, but his body was completely healthy, and he had no problems with his meals and other usual living conditions. However, he had no sense of will to live on by himself, and he would not ingest food if it was not prepared. If he was left alone, he would just sit around blankly for the entire day. It would be more appropriate to describe his symptoms as being very feeble instead of forcing himself not to live, and it was rather similar to those old-aged people that would give up easily. He made himself devoid of all sorts of concerns to seal his heart and soul, and he did not know that he was in a decline. This would be considered a subconscious self-neglect.

There were no effects no matter what they did, whether they tried to threaten him or please him; he would not resist, but he would not show any form of will on his own. He disappeared before they knew it, and would just spend the day s.p.a.cing out. It had been more than 2 weeks since he was involved in the “Industrial 7” incident, and perhaps the stress that was built up within him during this period had finally reached its breaking point. However, the crew could only feel extremely irked that this brat, who was not even a prisoner, was just wandering around lifelessly even as they were forced to make a decision of life and death. Flaste looked like he felt the same as well as he added with a vexing line, “Such a bother.”

“Even if the “Laplace Program” shows a new coordinate, we can’t make the next move if the “Unicorn” can’t move. We can tie the brat in and let the other mobile suits move it, but the coordinates are a troublesome thing here.”

Flaste took out the paper with the new coordinates from his clutches as he continued to grumble, seemingly feeling that there was no point to look at it any further. Zinnerman did not raise any objections here. A seal of the “Laplace Program” was undone after the activation of the NT-D the last time, but the coordinates given this time felt like a joke. It was a place that n.o.body with a weak resolve could enter just like the last time, and in this sense, the hurdle here would not be something the relics of “Laplace” could match. Flaste folded the printed paper into a paper airplane, pinched it with his fingertips, “What’s that and what’s that, really?” and threw it away.

“We keep opening, and we see a new box inside it…are we being fooled by Cardeas Vist here?”

Despite only saying this as a joke, his eyes were filled with intense anger. Either way, there’s no way Gilboa and the other men who died could rest in peace if they did not find out the truth. Do we wait for aid that might not come here, or do we wreck the ship and find aid— Zinnerman felt that there was only one option here in his heart as he looked at the direction the paper plane Flaste threw floated to. The plane that did not ride on the wind lost speed after flying for less than 10m, and fell onto the burning hot sand.

The fluttering sound of the paper amidst the sound of the wind moved the eardrums. Banagher Links lifted his head slightly as he looked over at where the sound came from.

It was a paper plane, half buried by the reddish brown sand. The plane got blown by the wind as its wings rustled, and gradually moved out of sight. Banagher had recently seen something similar, the paper plane Tikva once threw in the dusty town in “Palau”… no, it looked more like a glider. As he carelessly thought about that, a sharp shock pa.s.sed through Banagher’s body, and he exerted more strength into his arms that were holding his legs in.

You killed him. You killed Gilboa, Tikva’s father. He had no intention of attacking, and you simply shot him. Tikva’s pitiful for not having a father now. You and him have no fathers. You killed him, and you killed a lot a people—these words pa.s.sed through his mind in the form of this shock, You’re the seed of disaster, overlapping with the words Alberto said, and the body that was curled up in this scorching hot weather cooled off. The weather was so hot, and yet his body felt cold inside. His stomach felt tense, as if someone threw a lead block inside. What am I doing? n.o.body needs me, even I don’t need myself, so why must I stay curled up here?

The sunshade cloth was draped over his head, and he turned his eyes to the endless desert, but the blue sky that covered the faded land looked dark, perhaps because the sunlight was too bright, distorting his sight. Why is it that a light source from one point can light everything? Banagher, who grew up in colonies, looked up at the inexplicable sun, and then looked at the land of sand right on this unknown planet. We can just run through this desert,Banagher thought. The sunlight can burn the skin, blood my head, dry up all the fluids in my body, and I’ll just become dust. Even the lead in my stomach and this cursed family blood of mine will be burnt to nothing. If I can do that, the “Unicorn” will never move again, the “Gundam” won’t awaken again; I won’t have to kill others, I won’t be killed, and the “Laplace Box” will be sealed forever—

And then what? The abnormally cold voice interrupted to end the delusions. The impulse that rose in Banagher’s body quickly wilted as fatigue struck his mind. He found it difficult to think, curled back his body w