PHASE 04
Shere
turned around. Nigel already had is flashlight aimed at the Mobile
Suit floating above the door through which they had just entered. The
MS carrier frame, which should've held the Suit in place, had been
damaged. As a result, it had broken off the cargo crane.
And
thus the white and grey coloured Suit was now floating around amid
the remains of it's carrier frame.
"Not
bad." Nigel spoke, putting his right hand against his hip.
"The
left leg seems to be damaged, as is the shield. Probably caused by
the carrier frame's collapse. But that can be repaired." Shere
said as he moved towards it. Pushing himself in the MS's direction,
he floated towards the cockpit. "All the weaponry is equipped, for
some reason. I'll go see if the new OS has been installed. Nigel,
go check out the data disks over there."
Shere
placed a hand and a foot against the Suit's chest to stabilise
himself. "Hm, I wonder if the battery upgrade has been-"
"Hold
it." Nigel said calmly.
"Huh?"
Shere replied as his hand reached the opening switch.
"Don't
move a muscle... Natural!"
Nigel
yelled the last word over the intercom. From his eye's corner,
Shere could see Nigel was holding a gun with both hands. Obviously,
it was aimed right at him.
"Why
the hell did we include firearms in our equipment, anyway?" Shere
thought.
Stuffing
his deck of cards in his pocket, Rick asked if Mia wasn't joking.
"I'm
dead serious. A ZAFT Nazca carrier is heading our way." She pointed
at the radar to show from what direction they were coming. "They
haven't detected us yet because of the colony's remains floating
around and our radar jammer. Although I don't exactly get how the
radar jammer works..." she said, as she glanced at the radar
jamming device, which had the label 'Actaeon Industries'.
"Anyway, they'll find us if we keep sitting here much longer!"
"Umm,
aren't we in a civilian spaceship? We're undercover, right?"
"And
what exactly would a civilian ZAFT vessel be doing in Orb territory?
Not to mention what those ZAFT people are doing here..." Mia said
as she readjusted the blackglasses on top of her head. Stroking a
hair from her face, she continued. "But we don't have time for
this kind of talk! Contact commander Shere at once!"
Rick
quickly returned to his chair. "Deactivating the Radio Jammer!"
he said as he pressed some buttons with one hand, while putting his
headset in place with the other. "Calling 1, 2, 3! Shere, are you
there?"
"Shere
are you there?" both Shere and Nigel head from their intercoms.
Nigel,
deactivating his long-range reply channel, said "Don't even try
to answer that call, or I'll shoot."
"Amigo,
you've got to return immediately! ZAFT is coming this way! Shere,
wait, Commander, it looks like they want to enter the research
facility! I don't know for how long this line can be maintained,
but..."
The
signal was cut off due to radio disturbance.
Shere
thought about the possibility of replying to Rick, and whether or not
he would be able to dodge the Coordinator's shot.
But
before he could decide, Nigel screamed "Be silent, Natural!", and
pulled the trigger.
"Commander!
Do you read? Shere!" Rick yelled through the intercom. "He's
not replying..."
"I
already noticed that." Mia said while her fingers flew across the
keyboard.
"Adjusting
the ship's orbit. Wing-based boosters stand-by. Hauling in the
anchor cable..."
"Hauling
in the rocket anchor! Are we gonna leave them behind?"
"Of
course not. I'm just moving closer to the colony. That might buy us
some time..."
"We
can't wait here too long, should I launch in a Moebius to get
them?"
"Are
you mad? Letting them think that we're EA is the last thing we
want! Get the return flares ready!"
"All
right. Return signal flares stand-by. But why..."
"Fire
them at an 45 degree angle from the ship's front, along the
colony's side. We'll distract them with this."
With
sweat on his forehead, Rick readjusted the signal flares. "Checking,
at a 45 degree angle form the ship's front, right alongside the
colony's surface."
"Confirmed."
"Here
goes..."
-
in the ZAFT Nazca carrier -
CIC:
"Sir, there are signal flares coming from-"
Commander:
"What the..."
Another
CIC person: "The reconnaissance unit has detected a civilian vessel
alongside Heliopolis!"
Commander:
"On screen!"
The
large screen in the middle of the bridge flashed, and showed the
Silverwind vessel firing return flares.
Commander:
"Return flares! Do they have troops in there! Send out the GINNs
now!"
