PHASE 03
"You
ready, Nigel?" Shere asked as he secured his spacehelmet.
"Ready
when you are" the red-haired Coordinator replied over the intercom.
Both
of them were standing alongside Silverwind's rocket anchor. The
vessel itself was floating alongside the Heliopolis Colony.
"We're
getting near Morgenroete's spaceport, amigo!" Rick spoke over the
intercom.
"Opening
the hatch!" Mia said. She and Rick were sitting in the bridge. Rick
was occupied with the ship's movement controls, while Mia operated
the rocket anchor. By pressing a button, a hatch opened in the ship's
hull.
Shere, standing on the other side of the hatch, firmly held on to a grip on the wall when space's vacuum sucked the air form the room. He saw the colony's remains move underneath him, and slowly what was left of a spaceport came into sight.
Mia
reached for her headset, and spoke: "I'm about to fire the
anchor. Stay away from it, and brace yourselves.!"
"Roger
that." Shere and Nigel replied over the intercom.
"3...2...1...Fire!"
Mia said as she launched the anchor. Immediately after the anchor
penetrated the docking station's door, Rick fired the thrusters
located on the ship's front.
After
the vessel shook for a few moments, Rick gave the all-clear signal.
"You're ready to go, amigo! The ship'll be in a stable orbit
around Heliopolis for at least two hours." Folding his arms behind
his head, he added "So you two just take your time and see what's
left in there."
Shere:
"Initiate radio jamming. From now on, long-range communication is
prohibited unless it's a code Red situation. If anyone finds out
Orb Mobile Suits are being salvaged here, we're toast."
"Not
that there is much chance a EA carrier would suddenly pop up..."
Rick said.
"Take
care." Mia said as she activated the launcher mechanism attached to
the rocket anchor's cable. After that, she initiated radio and
radar silence.
Rick:
" You wanna play cards or something?"
"No."
"You're
no fun, miss..." Rick proclaimed as he swung his legs over one of
his chair's arms.
"The
short-range communication line is secure." Nigel said as he stopped
pressing buttons on his spacesuit's wrist.
"Nigel,
we're about to launch. Hold on tight." Having said that, Shere
grabbed a handle on the vehicle's side and attached his spacesuit's
emergency cable to another handle. So did Nigel.
The
'vehicle' consisted of a large cargo holder with handles on it's
side. It was connected to the rocket anchor's cable through
multiple small wheels. It also had a launcher mechanism similar to a
downgraded rocket anchor on it's front and backside. This allowed
the vehicle to be shot from one from one of the cable's ends to the
other, and visa versa.
"Here
we go!" Shere said as he rammed his fist against a large red button
on the vehicle's side. Immediately the firing mechanism activated
and the cargo holder, with Shere and Nigel holding onto it, shot
forward towards the colony.
"Sure
you don't want to play Black Jack?" Rick asked while shuffling a
deck of cards.
"Rick,
I'm on guard duty! And so are you!"
With
a loud bang, which was nullified by space's vacuum, the vehicle hit
the anchor. Nigel and Shere both disconnected, and then moved towards
the spaceport's entrance.
"Looks
like the explosion blew quite a hole through the blast doors."
Nigel said, examinating the damaged entrance.
Shere:
" We stored some prototype bazookas around here. They must've
detonated." He pushed off from a derelict ship docking crane and
entered the spaceport. "Now we head for the construction facility.
This way."
Activating
his helmet's flashlights, he started to move towards a closed
hatch.
Rick
was floating upside-down next to Mia while randomly picking cards.
"Bridge?"
"..."
"Come
on, just for once!"
"..."
"But
I'm bored!"
"..."
"Please?"
Another
door broke open. Light illuminated the pitch-black hall. Slowly,
Shere ventured forward.
"Can
you see anything?" Nigel asked, following behind him.
Shere
didn't reply. Carefully, he stepped forward, letting his helmet's
flashlight slide over the hall's content.
"The
quantum computer harddisk seems totalled, as is the controlling
platform. The anti-beam coating tank seems fine..."
"That's
nice and all, but where is the Mobile Suit?"
"Don't
expect it to be in one piece. According to the intel, even though
this place wasn't completely whiped out by the self-detonator, the
damage is still pretty bad. I think that..."
"Well,
it looks just fine to me."
"Look,
I know this one card trick..." Rick said as he split his deck of
cards in two and held one half in each hand. He then tried to hold
the two halves with his index and middle finger.
"You
hold them like this, and then..."
Three
seconds later, Mia's keyboard was littered with cards.
"Oops."
Mia
tried to shove the cards away, and said "Enough! Rick Marble, go
sit in that chair over there RIGHT NOW!"
"But..."
"No
'but's young main!"
"Stop
talking like my granny!"
"Shut
up!"
"Eh..."
"SHUT
THE beep UP!"
"...that
sure ain't like my granny."
Right
then, the screen in front of Mia began to flash. An alarm went off.
Mia:
"We've got visitors! It's... ZAFT!
