Gundam Fire Still

Seeming to see that someone looked skeptical, one of the technical officers behind Remy spoke up to explain, affirming that the system wasn't nearly good enough to screw up operations or betray humanity - it wouldn't be used casually if it got that far.

"So our mission objectives are scattered across this large area? Waste merchant settlements in the gravel belt, and the L4 ruins?" Looking at the markings on the star map, someone got confused, "The waste merchants and pirates in the rubble belt won't welcome us."

"Technically, we have multiple mission objectives for this mission, which is why we need to have marines involved in this mission. Before we give background information, our mission is as follows

1. Search for escaped Blue Perestroika warships and destroy them if necessary.

2. survey the gravel belt and L4's abandoned satellite cluster as fleet range and supplies permit."

It was clear that there was more to this second order than what the text said, the size and confusion of the debris belt made it almost impossible to investigate, and the abandoned satellites of L4 were nothing to investigate - if it was just a bunch of abandoned satellites, so this so-called investigation was bound to serve a purpose, and the fleet was not searching all the potentially inhabited ruins, but one of them.

There was a slight pause, and while the officers present were allowed to digest the information contained therein, Remiret and Hoffman switched to another encrypted channel and had a brief exchange.

"cortana, check the secrecy levels of the officers in the meeting, those with secrecy levels above top secret stay behind, the others return to their battle stations." Remiret said squarely, the next was obviously the real point, after about 30 seconds the faces on the virtual conference room were half missing, "Alright Mr. Eisenhorn, you can come out now."

The screen belonging to some people disappeared, then new screens and figures appeared in front of the 3D projected star map.

"It's been a long time, gentlemen aboard the Archangel," the old man, who was familiar to some of the officers present, appeared on the screen, still wearing a uniform with no rank, "It's good to see you all again, but unfortunately, I bring with me another special mission with a classified rating. "

"But it's a lot better than the Second Special Service Fleet, at least this time, our fleet is in the friendly identification system." Mathi. Lamias was the first to reply, and she was quite fond of the old man who had worked with her on that difficult voyage. In a corner she hadn't noticed, Ramiret scowled.

"Obviously, simply tracking and searching Blue Perestroika doesn't require such a nice fleet. But some intelligence from various sources is telling us some troubling facts. cortana, pull up file c05-mG072B."

An electronic file began to be projected on the desktop, and the old man pulled the virtual projection down to a picture of a middle-aged white male, whose well-made suit and slightly flabby cheeks showed that he was used to living a life of plenty.

"Federal congressman, Jim . Rahel, was found missing from the HsD a few days ago. He was shown to be in contact with a number of Adjusters, most likely from PLAnt, and a message left by himself claimed that he had not been kidnapped, but had volunteered to meet with a friend from PLAnt. His next location was Copernicus on the moon's surface, where he left the moon's surface in a shuttle after about 12 hours of hiding in some provided safe house, but still left a message claiming he was going to meet with an informant from PLAnt and providing information that ZAFt was considering using nuclear weapons." The old man briefly summarized the intelligence.

"It could be a decoy, a falsehood."

"Yes, it is a possibility, but the next thing we know, within a day, we all know what happened to PLAnt, Klein is wanted, an unidentified warship forced out of port and encountered a chase. If this was all part of the bait, then PLAnt paid too big a price to be paid in return. Jim. Rahel is not a very important person, he has very limited classified information, and we? I don't think they're spending a lot of effort to trap our little fleet."

"Also, Siegel . Klein's message to PLAnt after he was wanted also states exactly that about nuclear weapons, and when the two corroborate each other that means the likelihood of this being true is increasing."

"Thus, we have reason to think that the person to be meeting with him is a high-ranking member of the PLAnt Klein faction, and that the fleeing ship could be that meeting person, or it could be a front to attract ZAFt to the chase. But either way, we need to find Jim. Rahel, and the man who met with him, if possible. Their likely meeting place, in our current intelligence, is a settlement of the wanderers of the rubble belt-including waste traders, mercenaries, smugglers, and other forces-or the ruins of the L4 satellite cluster."

The old man pointed to two small areas marked yellow on the 3D projection in front of him.

"In any case, the intelligence can't be completely accurate, and that's a problem." MI5's Borgman wasn't here for the MP, but he also had a sufficient level of secrecy to attend the meeting and tended to be cautious in his remarks, perhaps he was more anxious to get to L4's Mendel for his own little investigation?

"Best case scenario, that would be Siegel . Klein himself flees the PLAnt to meet with him, but we'd better not think about that."

"In that case, we'd have to face three NASCAR ships." Hoffman shook his head, "Even that escaped ship could have been sunk in some corner of the universe by now just for all we know, and then all this lovely senator would be waiting for is Zaft's killer force."

"Even if it hasn't sunk yet, we're going to be dealing with not only three NASCARs, but probably the Perestroika's ship as well." Remiret added with a grin on his face, "Worst case scenario, there's that ship from the ORB, that's a lot of fun." If I'm not mistaken, Remiret was a bit gloomy.

"Finally, to confirm the signatures, Colonel Hoffman, the command of this task force is yours, do you have any plans for the voyage?"

The bureaucrats at Moonface Command apparently didn't ignore the problem of these frontline officers belying each other, and they had the foresight to hand over command of the entire fleet to the more senior Hoffman. Remiret shrugged his shoulders and said he had no objections.

He was well aware that the brass would do this, since his own seniority was really too shallow to float a small paper boat and definitely no match for old Hoffman, who had been Chief of Staff of the Eighth Fleet; and he also understood that the brass had transferred the guy from the Intelligence Fusion who had worked with the Archangel, obviously to prevent them from forming some sort of unnatural intimacy, or rather, power, with their long-term cooperation, while avoiding the Intelligence Fusion A family of one; and with the addition of the old man who was supposedly an acquaintance of the President not only for that Congressman's secret mission and the subtle political game of Earth and PLAnt behind it, but also as an overseer to prevent potential conflict when the two small fleets merged - or at least to keep it from surfacing. And bringing in sH Marines instead of Cosmic Marines or Army Green Beret Special Forces is also a clear signal that the Marines are under the direct authority of the President.

It was, after all, what he knew best, the rotten, United Earth Force, and it was inefficient enough and just as efficient.

A few minutes later, Hoffman plotted his course on the star map, not the shortest distance directly to L4, but the reverse into orbit around the Earth, crossing the debris belt twice before circling to L4.

"We're not sure where they are, and we don't know every target, so I'd suggest a half-circle of Earth first, to gather and wait for intelligence. The route will skim the oRB's Imperial Pillar of Heaven a short distance away, followed by Eurasia's Artemis base, and if Eurasia has further information, there may be waste merchants in the gravel belt, and if I'm not mistaken, this mission doesn't strictly prohibit us from asking them for information."

Remiret didn't reply, the decision clearly resting with the old man.

"No problem, Colonel, dealing with the waste merchants can be left to me and my adjutant, and as for Eurasia, the quantum communication system on the Montgomery will allow us to contact the HsD and Ptolemy at any time, and then someone will help with everything."

"If there are no objections, proceed with deflection preparations and begin deflection into the scheduled course in 30 minutes."

6. forward warning

Archangel, hangar.

Carl drifted down the corridor towards the short sword that belonged to him parked at the end of the queue, although he had recently been tweaking the programming of the Gundam called Calamity, but that didn't stop his short sword from being painted as Squadron 1 in normal formations.Vms-03, claymore - broadsword squadron, the nickname wasn't as handsome as a few of the young men were expecting, but at least it wasn't bad, and he lifted the Head watched as the LSG sprayed the squadron's insignia on his airframe's shoulder: a broadsword, flanked by spread wings, with a deformed number 3 written on its spine.

A little further away, the Integral Squad was dismantling the two massive beam cannons on the shoulder of the Calamity Gauntlet, which were not only severely power-hungry, but also limited the maneuverability of the airframe; fortunately, the Blue Perestroika's design still used the Federation's standard weapon module interface, which meant he could easily remove them and replace them with other modular gear.

Such as the Battlefield Awareness Module and the Line Barrel Gun/u "A--V" module that he had been waiting a long time to install and was now fixed to the floor of the hangar; he had mentioned it in his feedback to the manufacturer when he had first started leading this squadron in Alaska Such a requirement - being able to give direct feedback to the manufacturer on his requirements was probably also a benefit of the test unit. He was well aware that this squadron, and the entire United Earth Force MS squadron, would be without specialized reconnaissance and early warning ms for a very long time - as it would take a long enough time to develop and manufacture both, which meant that generic reconnaissance/early warning modules as replacements would be best put into production early and then equipped to the troops. Early warning aircraft modified with the aid of external mounts can realistically support other aircraft in the data chain range even if they don't reach the operational effectiveness of specialized aircraft, and the difference in combat effectiveness with or without command aircraft was already evident in the last war.

Even under the influence of neutron interference, radar against visual still has an advantage that is hard to hide, because the human eye and brain decided that people can only pay attention to the movement of one direction at the same time, adjusters may be able to quickly focus on each screen, while the natural human can only use radar, even if it does not see as far as the naked eye, it can see what you do not notice, not in the direction of your line of sight and attention. In addition to the radar, integrated sensors including optronic systems, infrared and ultraviolet alarms provide multifaceted battlefield awareness, and with advances in computer technology, optronic cameras can now distinguish with a high degree of accuracy whether they are detecting ms, ships, or debris or wreckage.

Also with the advantage of being an elite squadron, the first batch of these freshly tested modules were provided to Vms03 Squadron, which was good news for Carl, who now had a bunch of different systems on hand with varying performance that desperately needed a platform for command and integration.

The polygonal box with multiple cameras, antennas and radar arrays was being slowly lifted into the interface vacated by the fuselage's shoulder, and on the other shoulder, with the gun barrel and particle container removed, awaiting installation was what looked like a flat plate with three cylinders of line barrel gun modules on it.

This was an old friend of Karl's, having used the advanced but difficult to maneuver weapon back when he was still piloting a Möbius 0. The three cylinders now before him were almost identical in appearance to the original - except that they had been reduced in size. According to the manufacturer's instructions, instead of using solid rounds with inadequate armor-piercing capabilities, they were now replaced with single-barrel 57mm beam cannons, and the bases of the firing line cylinder cannons integrated charging and replenishing particles accordingly. Also benefiting from advances in computer programming, these canisters still require wire connections, but even if the wires break due to combat, their onboard computers can still perform certain combat tasks - or at least return them automatically.

Evidently, Cal intends to strike with this more advanced machine, and in a tense battlefield, technical merit is often the only evidence of the outcome of a battle - both the skill of the individual operator, as well as the technology of the machine and the entire combat system. The Gundam could retain maneuverability and firepower beyond the short sword even when equipped with the battlefield sensing module, meaning it could handle the same high intensity of MS battles while using its battlefield sensing abilities and data chain to assist friendly forces in combat.

"A broadsword in the hands of an angel? Nice name." The Marine captain appeared with his head up and was watching the painting process here, he and his soldiers had obviously trained in cosmic warfare and were now having some nothing better to do, they were quite adept at floating around the hangar and incidentally circling everything they hadn't seen and at the same time no one had forbidden them to look at. "

"But the broadsword, it always reminds me of that." The captain displayed the curved rectangular shape of the panel in his hand, belonging to an anti-infantry directional mine from the last century, the latter having been called a broadsword in its original model, a name that had been passed down through the ages.

"Do you still use this?"

"No, no, of course not, we've got better things." The Captain laughed and shook his head as he patted the tactical carrying gear that hung bulging at his waist, "I'd love to show you, but I think you have a friend coming for you."

In the direction the Captain was pointing, on the other side of the corridor, a figure in a purple standard uniform was approaching from the corner where the MS operating simulator was kept, and Carl recognized from a distance who this man who was not a member of his team was, and why he was here.

Major Frada, 'Antimion's Eagle', an ace known for being active and often misinterpreting orders, was clearly not happy to be sitting on the cold bench.

"Carl, Gundam lend me, I now have my MS operating certificate and I'm at your command when it comes to combat."

"I don't think I can expect you to take orders from me, Mu," Carl shook his head considerably, "but the airframe can be loaned to you, don't break it, just remember to write up a report and turn it in. Which one do you want? I'm guessing it's the variable machine?"

Karl, though more conservative than Mu, was not called pedantic or bureaucratic, and he was well aware that with the enemies the fleet might face, it was best to ensure as many combatants as possible, and it was obviously foolish to leave a well-known ace without an airframe to fly. Mu, while not always following orders and often acting on his own, isn't going to get himself killed or do anything stupid, and his risk-taking is more due to his confidence in the skill of his hands than the recklessness of a novice, so one airframe isn't a problem, his own squad doesn't need his cooperation, and he himself happens to be a pilot who specializes in solo roaming."

"Yeah, help tell them to take that meteor hammer apart, I'm not used to that stuff."

"Well you'll have to wait, the old squad is busy enough right now, I'll have to go out later to adjust the balance of the new components." Carl said as he turned towards the terminal on the wall, "Toby, Katarina, note the time, it's almost time for your low gravity training. Controllers, prepare to guide the ms back on course!"

"Bridge received, prepare to guide the ms back on course."

Carl turned off the comms and then drifted back to the body that was installing the components, "Mu, see you're quite free, when they're done installing them, you go out while I go out and tweak the balance, Thomas' body is going to be trained in cosmic warfare, you're going to give directions."

"That's a deal, I'll lend the airframe and I'll change the program now," Mu pointed his finger at his interlocutor, "and when you're done with the debugging over there, I'll just go out and get used to the maneuverability of the variable machine."

In 12 hours, 10 km ahead of the fleet.

This was Karl's second strike, and after the first, where he performed module tune-ups and balance state adjustments, the airframe could barely be considered in a state ready for combat. According to the already scheduled schedule of duty, rest and cosmic warfare testing, Carl attacked once more after replenishing his food and sleep. This time, he occupied an AWACS position 10km away from the forward outgoing fleet, a somewhat conservative distance for a neutron jammed communications series, and farther away would not be enough to lose communications, but as the first test of this subsystem installed on this airframe, a slightly conservative distance was correct.

"Oh, hell."

Carl looked at the main screen and whispered to himself, one wouldn't normally expect to find a target on the first test, but what was showing on the screen now told him that at least the battlefield awareness system wasn't broken.