"What do you mean the new prototype Daggers were stolen?!?" roared Mr. Reynald as he spoke to a Blue Cosmos agent through a video transmission.
"W-well, sir...when m-my team arrived to test the units, the entire s-storage facility had been leveled. A-and there's no trace of mobile suit debris s-so it's a safe bet that the new units w-were stolen," stammered out the agent on the other end.
Before Mr. Reynald could yell some more, Lord Djibril took over the conversation. "In that case, have your team get back to the Victoria base. You'll receive further orders there."
"Thank you, sir!" The agent showed a look of relief before signing off.
"With all due respect, sir...how can you be so calm about this?" asked Mr. Reynald. "Those units were supposed to be our tools for catching up in the mass production mobile suit race against those blasted Coordinators!"
Lord Djibril sat back for a moment and took a sip of his wine. "Let's look at this very carefully. Number one is that technically, ZAFT abandoned all their operations on the planet. I suspect that's not the case. I would bet that there are still small underground pockets of Coordinators working for ZAFT or perhaps another employer. Number two is that these units were only mass production prototypes. They weren't prototypes similar to the old Raider, Forbidden and Calamity suits. The technology in both units isn't anything that the Coordinators haven't seen before. The only real negative setback for us is that we need to wait a bit longer for testing to be complete until we can launch the mass production of the Dagger L."
Mr. Reynald frowned. "The backup test prototype units would be complete by two weeks or so. That means mass production wouldn't be able to start until late December or early January."
"We'll just have to make due with what we have. Besides, technically we still have a ceasefire going. At the moment, we should have time to rebuild ourselves..." Lord Djibril then thought of something. "You know...it may be possible that those hidden Coordinators could be posing as members of the Earth Forces."
"If that's true...what are the chances of hidden Coordinators among our own group?" asked Mr. Reynald with a gasp.
"That's a disturbing thought. I would like to see if I can set up a policy to test people for their genetic information should they register as a member of Blue Cosmos or the Earth Alliance. It's time we started taking some better precautions to prevent more Coordinators from infiltrating our ranks."
**********
Lane Kaxton climbed into his custom ZGMF-LRR704B GINN Long Range Reconnaissance Type and prepared to launch out of the catapult to begin his mission. Other than the standard features of the suit, he had installed space to include the standard GINN MMI-M8A3 76mm heavy assault machine gun and a pair of M68 "Pardus" 3-barrel missile launchers on the legs. He would have liked to install Mirage Colloid on his suit but that would have required taking his suit apart and rebuilding it from scratch. "This is Lane to control. I'm ready to check up on the Orb Union."
"You are cleared for launch. Just remember to stay out of sensor and radar range of the Orb Union. And keep an eye out for Earth Forces units. If they start getting too close, get back here as fast as you can," said the officer on the other end.
"Copy. Lane Kaxton! Here we go!!" A few moments later, his suit had exited the Carpentaria base and headed towards the Orb Union.
**********
"Basically, the only thing that we really need to work on is the Fatum-00 backpack for the Justice. The suit itself is complete and the boomerangs, CIWS units, vulcan guns and beam sabres are already loaded on," explained a technician.
"And how about the N-Jammer? It's working fine?" asked Andy. He hoped that there wouldn't be any problems. He had to call in many favours to get the necessary components together for the N-Jammer.
"The N-Jammer is working out nicely. The proper calibrations have been made so you don't need to worry too much about it," replied the technician.
Andy gave a small sigh of relief. "In that case, you mind if we can do a few tests of our own with the suit? After all, the Eternal was originally intended to be the support ship for both Freedom and Justice."
"Be my guest."
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(Posted Wed, 04 May 2005 21:40)
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