Chapter 3: Too Many Questions
"C.E. 130.3.17: A Credible link has been discovered between a once deemed 'harmless' band of pirates and the Z.A.F.T. prison satellite."
"Prison satellite?" Mori wondered confused.
"Z.A.F.T. conspirators, their families, along with many others convicted of war crimes were exiled to a remote satellite on the outer fringes of the L3, L4 area in space. They were deprived of any means of technology beyond what was deemed necessary to maintain their survival. In fact the exact location of the satellite has been a closely guarded military secret and it's believed only those on it knew of where it was." Akiko explained drawing a little map on the floor with her fingers.
"Oh so these pirates found it? But why is that so bad?" Mori was still confused.
"They started trading technology for resources. A large amount of raw material."
"So they started building ships?!" She gasped and Akiko nodded.
"C.E. 130.4.1: Operation New Fool went off without a hitch. The first RPC mobile suit division earlier today eliminated a recently discovered manufacturing plant on the prison colony Compound 1. The first set of "Keys" have been unlocked as a precaution. The pirates still remain at large."
"So did they actually use the "Keys"?" Mori wondered wide-eyed as she moved in closer. She was clearly enthralled in the story. Akiko scanned some more then gasped.
"C.E. 130.9.21: The pirate threat has been eliminated and the Specials have set about disposing of the "Keys" A plague has started sweeping through the new space base at L2 of the RPC. Only NCs remain to run all operations. The NCs population has dwindled in recent years due to lack off RPC reproduction operations. With these events in perspective the continuation of the project in unlikely."
"So they just killed those poor kids?" Mori gasped in outrage. "That only thing sound so barbaric!"
"The kids got the last laugh though. The disease that wiped out the Naturals was probably released when the Keys were unfrozen. It goes on to say that the project personnel was cut in half and NC reproduction was completely halted in C.E. 140."
"So the project doesn't exist anymore? All of that for nothing?" Mori asked angrily.
"No I guess it... Oh gosh... Here it is..." Akiko's eyes grew huge.
"The Specials unit became annexed by the Space Police Force in 142 in order to gain intelligence of possible future threats. In 143 a new threat was discovered but was dismissed by the body over the RPC. The second set of Keys were unfrozen against orders as a precaution and two Specials officers were assigned to monitor the situation. That has to be my Mom and Dad!" Akiko looked at up her wide-eyed. She thumbed through some of the other papers looking for more information.
"149, the Specials officers self-destruct to stop a pirate warship from delivering supplies necessary to complete mobile suits..." Mori grabbed the papers and rushed forward and hugged the stunned girl.
"You were right they wouldn't just self-destruct for no reason. They did it so that all of us could be safe. You should be very proud of them Akiko." Mori soothed.
"Hey wait... It says here that a band of scientists destroyed any evidence of the Keys' whereabouts in order to protect them... And that the pirate leader was still at large... That means the Keys' are still out there somewhere and the pirates!" Akiko pushed Mori off and looked at her sternly. "After the last attack the RPC was unofficially disbanded and the colony abandoned. We have to do something Mori. There could still be a threat to the peace!"
"What can we do?" Mori wondered looking at her strangely.
"Maybe if we can find this satellite I can re-program the mobile suits' OS and we can hi-jack them!"
"What makes you think the mobile suits weren't destroyed?" Mori wondered skeptically.
"I'm going to have to finish reading but I don't think they would just be destroyed especially with the Keys and pirates still floating around." She got up and stretched. "I bet the disk has even more information on it."
"Well I don't know about you but I'm going to bed I've had just way too much excitement for one day." Mori replied getting up herself and yawning. "Akiko." She said in a more serious tone. "If you really believe that the mobile suits exist and you can use them, I'll get you to space. I want you to finish what your parents started."
"Thanks Mori. Thanks for everything. Good night." They picked everything up and Mori took Akiko to her room. She shut the door then laid everything out on the amply sized carved mahogany desk. She thumbed through the rest of the papers but there wasn't much else in them. The only encouraging information was that the RPC headquarters and all related material was moved to a country that strongly supported the program being maintained in the last year. The papers ended after that with the Security Chief's retirement a month later.
"So let's see what you have." She whispered popping the disk in the computer. The screen lit up flashing a red alert. 'Password required.' Blinked over and over again. "Password? Hmmm." She clacked some keys quickly and the alert disappeared. "They'd tried to hide the disk itself but never thought to put an anti-bypass mechanism?" The screen started blinking again. 'Encryption activated.' "Great this is going to take a while..." She started clacking away at the keys as the hours dragged on until finally in the early morning hours she had decoded the disk and started reading it.
The phone rang and a tired and grouchy old man with white hair stumbled in the dark. "What's the word?" He asked in a irritated voice.
"I'm sure that means you're wanting a password however I don't know it. So simply put, if you want the case back and no secrets to be leaked Dr. Entrada you'll meet me at the Chihioru Café tomorrow at noon exactly. Answer my questions and you'll get your things back without a problem." The voice said calmly and with a certain amount of authority.
"How did you... Know my name?" The old man asked shocked.
"I hacked the disk. I have to admit you must be a brilliant man because it actually took me more than an hour to break the encryption." The voice replied. "I took the liberty of re-encrypting it for you in the exact same manner in which had originally."
"If you have that kind of intelligence then I'll meet with you and answer all of your questions." The Doctor responded clearly impressed.
"By the way Doctor. Come alone. I'm not a people person."
"That's the only true way to be." The Doctor responded and the line went dead. He hung up the phone and stumbled back to bed only to stare at the ceiling with a look of thought. "It's entirely possible that she is..." He mumbled with a sigh.
Akiko slid the phone back and collapsed on the bed half asleep. "I still have too many questions left..." She pulled her legs up on the bed and fell asleep hugging one of the many over-sized pillows.