As the clock struck noon, the different representatives that made up the current Orb government were more than halfway through the tour. So far, they had visited the northern cities and had made speeches to reassure the people that they would continue to provide efforts to rebuild what has been destroyed. After lunch, they would make a visit and deliver speeches to the two cities located near the volcano north of Onogoro Island. Right now, the representatives were sitting down for a meal along with their security escorts at a high class restaurant specializing in Chinese cuisine.
Considering the importance of these particular customers, the servers ushered the representatives over to a private room located near the washrooms in the north-west corner of the establishment. Two large circular tables with ten chairs each were the only pieces of furniture inside the room. Since both tables were set up for ten diners each, there were ten pairs of chopsticks, ten bowls, ten spoons, ten teacups, ten small plates and ten napkins on each table set up for each individual diner. On top of each table were a set of condiments such as salt, pepper and some spicy sauces. When the representatives sat down, they ordered a variety of dim sum items along with certain luxury items such as shark's fin soup.
The meal conversation had been rather normal, with topics revolving around Orb's international relations. Some representatives were thinking of bringing the representative from the Kingdom of Scandinavia to this Chinese restaurant when that person comes over to visit and check up on how the aid coming from the Kingdom of Scandinavia was being put to good use. Seiran had opted not to bring up the topic of Cagalli marrying his son to secure Orb's future for now since he felt that he had made his point over the past few days. When the time came for desert (sweet tofu pudding) at around ten to one (12:50), an officer from Orb's intelligence division dropped in the restaurant to inform the representatives of some interesting news. "Earlier this morning, we discovered that a mobile suit hijacking had taken place. We weren't able to get too many details other than the fact that the suits that had been stolen were manufactured by the Earth Alliance."
A few representatives began murmuring amongst themselves, thinking that the theft could trigger a major conflict. "Was that all the information that your division could find out?" asked Seiran.
"The last thing we were able to see clearly was one of the stolen mobile suits sticking up its mechanical middle finger towards the Earth Forces units. After that, things went out of focus and then there was an explosion. The mobile suit carriers were completely blown up and there seemed to be no trace of the stolen mobile suits or the hijackers..." Cagalli dropped her spoon when she heard what had been reported and quietly excused herself to go outside of the restaurant.
A part of her had assumed the worst case scenario in which Kou had died. Another part of her thought that Kou would be smart enough to get himself out of the sticky situation. She sighed quietly as the sun's rays warmed her light skin. 'Kou, what the hell did you get yourself into?' What she wanted right now were some answers and the only person who would be able to provide them would be Ledonir Kisaka. While she had been working with the other representatives frequently, a few aides of hers had kept tabs on what her other colleagues were doing. Just yesterday, she had learned that Kou had been speaking to Kisaka, Lowe Gear, Edward Harrelson and Jane Houston a few days back before he had left to work on this 'project' with Lowe. Speaking of Lowe Gear, she should also make time to pay a visit to Lowe's fellow co-workers in the Junk Guild. Perhaps they could shed some light on this little mystery.
"Marvin, please take me back to the Onogoro Island as quickly as you can," ordered Cagalli as she stepped into her personal vehicle. She knew that this conduct wasn't exactly that befitting a representative such as herself but frankly, she had more pressing concerns to worry about. Let her escort take care of things back in the restaurant.
**********
The small briefing room of the Obsidian Abyss submarine Sparrow was filled with the pilots of the mobile suits who would be attacking the Orb Union again. Tammy stood in front of the room with a map of the Orb Union projected behind her and began to brief her squadron. "The objective of the attack is to destroy the Kusanagi. Nothing more, nothing less. With that said, if I see any soldier purposely attacking a civilian target, I will personally put a bullet through that person's head. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, madam!" responded the group.
"Now if we are successful, the strength of the Three Ship Alliance would weaken and our forces in space should hopefully have an easier time dealing with them. This is a crucial battle that we have to win, people." Tammy paused as she highlighted where exactly the Kusanagi had docked and the surrounding environment. "Orb's military power is rather weak at the moment so they will have to rely on the Astray Red Frame, Gold Frame and the Strike Rouge as their primary defence. The leftover M1 Astrays would probably serve as a secondary defence. Me, Anna, Larry and the DINN squadron will try to direct the enemy suits closer to the water. Then you guys can keep them busy with hit and run tactics while we get past the secondary defences and then go after the Kusanagi."
"We'll need to be extra careful. The enemy would probably be on alert after our last battle," said Larry.
"Of course, Larry. And one more thing, people. Try to take the pilot of Gold Frame alive if possible. He was once a part of our child recruitment program and... it would be beneficial if we can bring him back alive. We'll begin the operation at 1430 hours. Dismissed!" As the group filed out of the room, Tammy hoped that she didn't sound too emotional with that last bit.
**********
"How much longer until we reach Orb?" asked Kou over the radio.
"Not too long now," replied Jane as she continued fiddling around with the Forbidden Blue's OS. "We've been going at maximum speed for around four hours or so. Anyways, I just finished reworking the OS of this suit so that I can at least be of some help in this thing in case of an emergency."
"All by yourself?!? I had to get Eight to help me with the Red Frame's OS," murmured Lowe. "When you said you knew computers inside and out, you weren't kidding."
"How did you think Edward was able to pilot his Sword Calamity so well? Without my special OS, he would barely be able to move it." Jane paused when she picked up some small combat lights ahead. "What in the world...?"
Kou growled as he felt a familiar sensation. "It's the Obsidian Abyss! They're making another attack on Orb! We've got to hustle!!" He had the Raider Full Spec let go of the sled and transformed it into its flight mode. The Raider Full Spec's flight mode was identical to the original Raider's flight mode except that there were another pair of wings attached to the claws with a machine gun attached to each side. "Lowe! Get on!!"
The Buster Dagger leapt up and secured itself on the back of Kou's mobile suit. "Wait! What about Jane?" asked Lowe.
"I'll be right behind you! The Forbidden Blue is an amphibious mobile suit and can move through the water fairly quickly!" replied Jane as she got ready to go ahead at full speed with her mobile suit.
"Works for me! Now let's move!!" With that said, the Raider Full Spec took off with the Buster Dagger on its back and the Forbidden Blue trailing them in the water.
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(Posted Wed, 15 Jun 2005 07:07)
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