Shin Kidou Senki Gundam W: Frozen Teardrop – Shokuzai no Rinbu Chapter 2.1

reize File 2

Through the viewing window of the frozen capsule [cryogenic chamber] I could clearly confirm the boy's face and was at something of a loss. I had seen him before somewhere. Suddenly, I realized were. He bore a remarkable resemblance to the boy going by the name "Duo Maxwell" from the 'AC 195 Autumn' file Master Chang had me prepare. Perhaps he didn't just look like him, on the contrary, in all liklihood, it was the very same boy. To avoid any confusion, I knew I had to confirm with Master Chang.

"I heard Princess Aurora was Heero Yuy (but)..."

"It's Heero Yuy."

"But in the video [feed] I saw just now..."

"It's (not unthinkable) that you'd get confused," said Father Maxwell with knitted brows. "When this guy transferred to the Colony Gymnasium, he [took it upon himself to] use my name."

[Curiouser and curiouser].

"By 'this guy' you mean Heero Yuy?"

That would mean...

"Father, you're Duo Maxwell? The Gundam pilot?"

"Yup. Didn't I tell you?... By the way, so was Master Chang."

"Keep your big trap shut."

"No [way]!"

"A long time ago, he used to boldly introduce himself like this: My name is Chang Wufei."

I stared wide eyed [and slack jawed], too stunned to speak. Three of the Gundam pilots from the sealed records from the Earth Sphere were standing right here, right now. I was trying to make sense of the sight before me. The boy in the capsule whom we were trying to waken was Heero Yuy. The strangely affable middle aged priest was Duo Maxwell. His saucy kid with the braid was also Duo Maxwell. And my forever grumpy superior, head of the Preventers Mars branch Master Chang, was Chang Wufei.

"Master Chang, why didn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't necessary," he said. His sour expression just got all the more sour. "I would have let you know if and when the time came."

"Even so..."

"By the way," Father Maxwell said [again], bringing his face close and whispering, "he spoke just like that when he was an ankle biter, too."

I desperately [tried to] withstand this mind-blowing news. Even now, using that (cold/distant) manner of speaking was [all well and good] but that he should have been the same in his youth, he must have seemed overbearing. [basically, Kathy seems to be wondering what it must have been like working with Wufei when he was a kid- with an att.i.tude problem] What kind of connection did my mother, Sally, have with Master Chang when she was working with him at the Preventers? I couldn't even imagine. Anyway, a young Master Chang probably makes an appearance in the these files. There was a glimpse of the current Earth Sphere president Dorothy T. Catalonia, a.k.a. Neo-t.i.tanium Girl, at two years old.

"Lt. Cathy, have you finished (your examination of) those files?"

"No, not yet."

"Hurry up... you know too little. At this rate, we'll have to take you off the team," Master Chang pointed out (rightly). For the sake of executing Operation Mythos, I needed to know at least as much as the Aurora Princess [was going to]. I hurried to put on the virtual visor and continued viewing the files. Just a few seconds of watching history as a bystander was [more than] enough. The [data] (movie) that loaded after 'ZERO' appeared on the screen was from AC 185, two years after where the first file left off. Treize Khushrenada would be 14 years old.

AC 185 AUTUMN

Treize had a marvelous (school) record at military school. Strategic and tactical theory, as well as battle and combat techniques that would put mobile suits on the front lines, were mastered by Treize to the extent that he surpa.s.sed even Brigadier General Chilia ((he was promoted from Colonel the previous year)) when he [Chilia] was an instructor. In just two and a half years, he complete the entire course of study offered by the Alliance and he received top marks on the instructor qualification exam, garnering him teaching credentials. Brigadier General Chilia entrusted Treize with [managing] the newly established OZ training school situated at the Lake Victoria base in the heart of Africa. (However) this wasn't a demotion. In Europe, the old war veterans in the Alliance still threw their weight around as if they owned the place, so an instructor barely 14 years of age would only beget hostility. It is thought that Chilia predicted that result. Treize was a.s.signed the first teaching post [available/offered] at Lake Victoria and there, he successfully demonstrated his brilliance. Selected students were taught the high skills and knowledge necessary to carry OZ's future. Their grades were [more than a cut] above the rest [of the students'] and they ranked among the highest echelons of the inteligentista cla.s.s. Of course, their military resourcefulness couldn't be inferred from their academic [prowess] (power) or marks, but thereafter, if you look at the number of students [cadets] taught by Treize that went on to become excellent mobile suit pilots in the OZ Specials, it is clear that Treize was an excellent instructor. However, his elder contemporaries regarded Treize with suspicion; after all, what could the young and practically inexperienced Treize possibly know about war? People said that being brilliant was all well and good, but would it [translate in the ability to] kill people? They sneered that even if he mastered tabletop drills with excellent performances, it did not mean he pa.s.ses the muster. That was blatantly obvious. You cannot evaluate a thing if one does not have actual results. Particularly in the military discipline which had a strict hierarchy where there was abhorance towards young officers that borders on jealousy. Consequently, Brigadier General Chilia Catalonia was the only one who could evaluate Treize at that point in time.

"Treize is a war genius," said five year old Dorothy.

"In the battle field, he is beautifully elegant. It seems almost like a dance- a waltz perhaps- and he goes on to gracefully defeat his foes."

That was the norm for all of Treize's evaluations.

"Really?" said Dorothy with stars in her eyes.

"Yes, really."

"Wonderful! I want to see Mr. Treize fighting."

"No, Dorothy... the battlefield is no place for a chil."

"But... isn't Mr. Treize still a child?"

"Yes, but [that's different]." Chilia was hard pressed to answer. Around that time, Dorothy started making remarks that cut to the chase and had [developed] a characteristic [habit] of giving people a hard time.

"Dorothy, you really like Treize, don't you?"

"Yes! Very much! But you must keep it a secret from grandpa. It shall be our little secret," she said with her typical charming smile.

At Lake Victoria, Treize was testing his trademark mobile suits with drills in efficient deployment used in actual battle.

A mobile suit's characteristic was it's mobile performance and efficiency. At the time, however, the Alliance only made use of them as backing for foot soldiers and defense of their stationary bases.

Let us now look back at the history of those mobile weapons made in man's image which we call mobile suits.

Originally, a mobile suit was a manned apparatus intended to perform large scale construction work on s.p.a.ce stations and for colony construction. They were excellent machines due to their interchangeable tools that allowed just one mobile suit to perform almost any construction task. It was the Anti-Alliance resistance, not the Alliance, who thought of converting the useful suits for use in the battlefield. The Alliance had oppressive weaponry that the Resistance had no hope of duplicating on a military level, so instead they were rather successful fighting [back] with the mobile suits' interchangeable drills, wrenches, and hammers. From then on, the man-shaped machines were called mobile suits and the Alliance, Especially the OZ technical officers, embarked on earnest development of them.

It was AC 175 when the project came to a halt when the five technicians responsible for the development of the Tall Geese fled. However, Chief Engineer Seis Clark picked up where they left off and finished the base construction of the Tall Geese and successfully developed the Leo for ma.s.s production. At the same time, he also developed the Aries, a suit modified for flight and succeeded the Tall Geese's mobility. It is safe to say that this arrangement of abilities and care towards the mobile suits called for a particularly unique talent. Seis youngest brother Trant had [a] unique attachment, a tenacity, for the "ZERO" system on board the Wing 0 gundam in AC 195. Apparently, "unique" runs in the veins of all technicians. Meanwhile, Engineer Tsubarov was excited by the "gun tower" and armaments of the Tall Geese and he developed the Tragos.

At the beginning of production, it was best to give each of the three types of mobile suits their own division.

[Despite their producing mobile suits,] the Alliance executives of the day thought nothing of how to practically employ the suits. They could not deviate from the previous century's military ideal of land-sea-air weaponry; each division and each unit to which mobile suits were a.s.signed only ever served in the capacity of providing a.s.sistance. For this reason, people were inclined to look at mobile suits as useless things. Providing maintenance and defense on the front as their primary function did not in the least reflect what Seis, Tsubarov and the other developers intended for the suits in the least. However, the thoughts and ideas of the aging Alliance executives were resolutely unchanging and [the Alliance stagnated] (they had entered a time of stalled thought). As such, a kind of estrangement between the planned intent and the actual outcome began to occur.

Still, the "heavy equipment" Leo was used in multiple ways. The Tragos, which was used for indirect bombardment support, was only recognized as a moveable battery or portable gun. In reality, [the Tragos' ease of movement made it difficult for immobile enemies to land a hit.] Ergo, these highly mobile tanks were ipso facto better. Hence, the Tragos went to the front lines to see how they would fare as a tank would.

Obviously, [they only needed a single test to know it was as dangerous as a nest of angry hornets.] The new mobile suit Aries was incorporated into the airborne troops and were almost entirely devoted to diversionary tactics. Using them in the airborne troops time honored surprise attacks [was difficult] because the Aries' vast size made them stand out [terribly.]

Treize came to the conclusion that all of these uses were wrong. If one was to make tactical, strategic use of mobile suits, then he thought it was best to group Leos and Aries and Tragos in the same corps. This lead to the establishment of the so-called Mobile Suit Corps.

The first [stage] of combat was sending the Aries for reconnaissance and a.n.a.lysis, and surprise attacks. They would unsettle the enemy's front line. The second [stage] of combat was giving the Aries' data to the Tragos and have them lay down protective fire for the Leos, which were the main [attacking] force, to charge. The third [stage] of battle was to focus all fire power upon the enemy's main forces and to keep firing until the enemy was surrounded. Doing so would ensure victory. This was the basic combat system for the newly designed MS Corps.

It is generally known that Napoleon Bonaparte, the hero of the Revolution, composed his cavalry of three types of fighters: light hors.e.m.e.n, heavy hors.e.m.e.n, and dragoons. With that strategy, he successfully overran several European countries. Similarly, the mad dictator Adolph Hitler established a tank corps modified to have improved mobility as an armored division that proved so effective, it made the very Earth quake. It could be interpreted that Treize [borrowed] these various methods and applied them to the MS Corps, but in that age, there was absolutely no one who put stock in that notion. It should be a.s.sumed that Treize devised the mixed corps by himself. Further, this strategy would allow a single MS Corps to have all three abilities possessed b the Tall Geese. A mixed corps was the obvious choice. There was no question that Treize hit upon that idea after seeing the Tall Geese at the Corsica base. However, for a mobile suit to survive a battle against the Tall Geese would have been difficult because of the Tall Geese's extreme efficiency. To demonstrate the full extent of its performance would require vast amounts of s.p.a.ce.

Of course, there was the open sea, the planes of Malaysia, and the Sahara desert that could provide virtually unlimited open s.p.a.ces, but with all the terrorism and revolts, most of the world was embroiled in some kind of local dispute. War, naval battles, decisive battles, they had all become the antiquated ideal of a long since pa.s.sed era. Needless to say, disputes continued with organizations outside the countries after the Cold War had continued unbroken ever since the second half of the twentieth century and brought the Alliance elite's mentality to a standstill. [I have no idea :DDD] The real problem was that there hadn't been absolute war since that time. In other words, in modern war where the idea that 'war' was an extension of a 'duel' was wholly refuted; rather than put importance upon hardware like new weaponry, a theory was established whereby software that use of a portable system was just as essential [as the hardware]. The reason Treize was called a genius was due to his having taken the dissimilar concept of war from the old days and successfully meshing it with the modern systematic theory [Didn't they just tell us that Hitler and Bonaparte, who we are lead to believe are from before the 'modern systematic theory', used diversification in their ranks to win battles?] And the incident that proved that occurred early the following year.

AC 186 WINTER

There was a revolt in the city of Mogadishu which lied in the eastern part of the African continent. The Earth Sphere Alliance had, at the time, trouble with European disputes and hence could not spare a single unit of its main forces - its land and air forces that is - to go (immediately) to Mogadishu. There was only their fleet of battleships in the Indian Ocean, but a blockade was the best they could do and that would not suffice to gain control of the rebellion's military power in the city. However, if they did not intervene, then it would allow the rebels to cede from the union as an independent ent.i.ty and form a provisional government.

The leaders of the Alliance Unification Headquarters held an urgent meeting and worried over [how to] handle the situation.

"If it's Lake Victoria, we can head out immediately," Brigadier General Chilia Catalonia started. "The Specials with their state-of-the-art mobile suits are at the base there."

"Don't be stupid. What can those children do?" Commander Venti voiced his opposition; he was the supreme commander of the ground forces.

"Children?" Said the boy who had been sent to the meeting to observe as proxy for Duke Dermail of the Romefeller foundation. "Commander Venti, did you just say those children are powerless?"

"I didn't mean you, Master Van Khushrenada."

"Of course," Van just nodded. At the time, he was only 13 years old. However, the people around him acknowledged his superiority as the next representative of the Romefeller Foundation and it was said his statements were both clear [i.e. to the point] and apt and razor sharp.

"Those whom you call 'children' [here] are called 'soldiers' on the battlefield. That is obvious even if you look at the condition of the European Anti-Alliance forces." 

"That may be..."

"And isn't it the reason the Alliance land forces cannot move, because of those 'soldiers' you call 'children' are being held up [by the rebels]?"

Commander Venti kept his mouth shut. Anything else he might say would expose his incompetence.

"But Master Van, there are only trainees at Lake Victoria and all of them have absolutely no experience in actual battle," Venti admonished Van and Chilia with that polite objection. "This [situation in Mogadishu] will not be taken care of with mere play," Venit added without thinking.

Van chuckled and said, "I take it that by 'play' you mean 'sports'? In the later part of the Anno Dominae history, the war historian Krefeld wrote in The Changes of War that war is not an extension of the government or politics, but rather more closely a kind of sport."

Like Treize, Van also was well versed in the history of war and theoretical strategy.

"Of course, you may protest me, but if you are in agreement with Krefeld, then you have no grounds for objection." He looked at Venti who was coughing and looking for all the world as if he had no intention of addressing Van again; he [Van] turned his attention to Noventa.

"No soldier starts his career with actual war experience by default..... General Noventa, even you must have had a first battle," said Van. He was pushing for his esteemed brother to be permitted to take his very first campaign. "By sending the Specials to Mogadishu, the potential of the mobile suit corps be ascertained and I believe we could not hope for a more appropriate venue for doing so."

"I second Mr. Van's opinion. He is my most excellent pupil and if it's Special Commander Treize Khushrenada, he will surely accomplish the task."

"If you say so, then we shall permit the OZ Specials to attack (sally)... however,"

Van interrupted Noventa, "There is no need to fear, myself and uncle Chilia shall a.s.sume full responsibility."

From then on, Van was not merely an observe, he became one of the main speakers at the Alliance Unity Military meetings.

"Fine, let's see what (this corps of toys) can do," Venti said sarcastically.

"Let us then show you what these 'toys' can do," said Van as he looked fearlessly at a general decades older than himself as if he could pierce him through with just his eyes. He was a child prodigy who could be described in speech, knoweldge, and manner as being diabolical. They immediately gave Treize at Lake Victoria the order to attack.

"Affirmative," Treize said with this face full of confidnece. Chilia's worried face appeared on the monitor and he spoke his heart, "Treize, be carefull."

"I am not educating my students to over do it. We shall obtain victory by taking the proper action."

"For the time being, I've told the Alliance Marina to prepare for [your potential] request for a.s.sistance."

"Please inform them that that will not be necessary... we can manage everything on our own."

"Brother," Van stepped up to the monitor, "The dignitaries here have (ridiculed) the mobile suit corps as being a corps of toys."

"Really? That's. .h.i.tting a little below the belt."

"Please show them what kind of results are typical of your corps."

"Van Khushrenada, we'll put up a good fight [in order to] live up to your (high)expectations."

"I won't wish you luck, you are certain to win."

Treize nodded slightly with a smile playing about his lips.

At once, Treize selected five cadets: Zechs Merquis ((10)), Lucretia Noin ((10)), Izumi Tarnoff ((14)), Solac Delbruck ((12)), and Elv Honneger ((13)). Each of them had only just barely cleared [the double digits in age] but they were at the top of their cla.s.ses and had excellent performances during their mobile suit battle simulations.

According to the records, Treize Khushrenada and Zechs Merquise's first sortie was in AC 191 ((j.a.p point rebel control)). That, however, was not the truth. The reason [for this] will become clear in due time, but now is not that time.

Treize pulled up a map of Mogadishu on the monitor and explained the operation as he used a simulator to show the corps' moves.

"Today with the setting sun at 1800 hours, we will carry out the operation. Cadet Zechs and I will take Aries. Cadets Lucretia and Izumi will provide ((indirect backup)) backup in the Tragos. Once we announce the exact position, focus all your fire power on that point."

"Full power... if we do that, there's a chance Professor Treize and Zechs will be hit," Cadet Izumi smartly mentioned the possibility of being unable to evade [the first].

"We won't be hit," stated Cadet Zechs firmly. "We'll dodge. Don't worry about us, just [pump the lead]."

"Roger. I shall give no quarter."

It was Lucretia who was first to consent. Treize smiled and continued the explanation.

"Cadets Solac and Elv will break through the enemy front line in Leos, concentrate your fire on the enemy's head quarter's main forces. We'll be your back up so you needn't worry [who's got your back]."

"Yes, Sir!" acknowledged the dauntless, resolute pair with youthful energy.

"[Now,] the rebels have been notified of the time of our attack. This is for the sake of keeping civilians from being involved in the battle. Also, you shall not attack any one who is nonresistant, even if they are a rebel. Furthermore, since we are using mobile suits, I do not permit [any] bloodshed in the name of self defense! You will keep thse things in mind."

Then, the youthful general Treize encourage the young pilots off to a good start by saying, "This operation will be decided in an instant! [There is not a single element of defeat among us.] We will show them the true power of this corps of 'toys'."

Twilight, Mogadishu. The city had been turned into a fortress. The rebel soldiers who had taken control of the city thought of nothing but strict caution [against the coming attack]. The light of several searchlights lit up the dark night left and right and (sensed/gathered) anything that came near, and they had installed heavy machine guns to shoot down and destroy.

The OZ [aircraft carrier (lit: flight transport boat)] flew over the cit, maintaining an alt.i.tude high enough to ensure their thrusters weren't heard. There were two white Aries in the hangar. At the time, Treize had had all the Specials machines a standard white. He would, in later battles, unfailingly have all the machines white. White Leos, white Tragos ((transferred to Noin)) and so on, [he had a ] unique peculiarity for the color white. That continued until he at last boarded the Tall Geese II. Again, in AC 196, the Mariemaia army, proclaiming itself the successor charged with carrying out Treize's final wishes, also had its main forces ainted white: the mobile suit Serpent: white snake. It's rather hard to imagine that a mobile suit should be white. The color just stood out far too much. It was like hanging a target upon our neck and shouting "I'm over here!" to the enemy. Some thought he was bringing back the spirit of chivalry. Others commented that it [the white] revealed his excessive confidence. Treize never clearly explained the reason for the white. Perhaps it was that the image of those icebergs had been seared into his mind.

"Let's go, Zechs......"

"Yes, sir......"

The two of them were already in the c.o.c.kpits of their Aries. Then, Cadet Izumi, who was running (indirect support) contacted them.

"Professor Treize, aren't you going to sprinkle some anti-rader chaff?"

"There's no need... we will challenge them to a fair and square fight."

"Fair and square?" Zechs thought deeply (skeptically) about that.

"Is that what fighting is supposed to be?"

"A solider must not hesitated...... the first step must always be taken with composure."

The batch at the back of the aircraft carrier opened. Treize's suit slid out and descended freely without firing the burners.

"That is the path of glory!"

Zechs' suit followed after Treize's.

"That's also a path covered in blood!"

The white Aries fell from the sky. Treize's and Zechs' courses [regarding the nature of warfare] had already begun to differ b this time. Their mobile suits were falling on the same path, but their minds were going in opposite directions (literally: vectors). As they listened to the wind screaming by, both of them checked the whole of Mogadishu as it approached before their eyes.

Years later, Zechs Merquise would return to Mogadishu for another surprise attack. AC 195 after the collapse of the Alliance following Operation Day Break, the remnants of the Alliance holed up in a fortress in Mogadishu. It was the OZ 33rd independent corps on the Somalia front that beat them. Zechs was one of the soldiers in the Somalia Corps and it was there that he [first] saw the Tall Geese.

The two freefalling Aries were detected by the enemy's control room.

"We've picked up two objects falling! They're directly above the city, alt.i.tude 10,000 meters!"

No one could imagine that a bomb had been dropped. However, as soon as they opened anti-aircraft fire, the freefalling stars made an about-face with a terrible thundering roar. The Aries fired up the jet burners and they simultaneously shot out, one to the left and one to the right. The anti-aircraft guns had no hope of following. Treize's suit followed the outer perimeter of the city and destroyed one enemy base after the other [er, probably means he destroyed gun towers but literally, says "base"]. Inside, Zechs suit flew above the heart of the city, confirmed [the location of] the enemy's headquarters and chief bunker and relayed the information to Lucretia and Izumi. At about the same time, countless long distance sh.e.l.ls were fired (lit: launched) from the white Tragos. The firing was precise. Neither Zechs' nor Treize's suits suffered any hits. But then, the senses of both were superhuman, they immediately sensed incoming fire and, needless to say, quickly avoided it. After all, that was what the sixth sense was for (lit: that 'sense' was something like a sixth sense.) The explosive noise, the howling wind, a moment of stillness, the staleness of the air, the shaking of the Earth, the rustling of the trees; all of this they felt; the evasion and the battle took place simultaneously. In the tension of the battlefield, man's five sense are sharpened (lit: finely honed/whetted). And that held all the more true for youthful boys [like the Specials]. What Treize called "hesitation" became "cowardice" and ultimately, danger would be unavoidable.

Placing himself between life and death, and when he ascertained the exact target, that ingle point lit up with a highly precise hit.

The fire from the white Tragos exploded around the city and everything was enveloped in dust and smoke. The two Leos had broken through the city walls and entered the heart of the city. The acme of confusion befell the resistance's forces. Even as they tried to return fire, nearly all their weapons had been broken. The Leos Solac and Elv were piloting arrived at the central headquarters without much effort and with almost no resistance [from the rebels]. For the [unarmed (lit: flesh and blood)] people, the appearane of these giant white G.o.dlike weapons was only a.s.sociated with fear. When the Tragos, which had been running clean up, came hovering into the city, the resistance raised the white flag. The battle had been decided in (that) exact instant.

A communications officer entered the conference room at the Alliance Unification Headquarters. He said there was a notice of the militar situation in Mogadishu. Lieutenant Commander Venti looked at his watch; his expression said See, those toys couldn't handle it. 

"Just as I expected, the mobile suit unit alone could not handle the situation. You'll be requesting reinforcements, I suppose?"

"Negative, we have accomplished the mission to capture Mogadishu. The mission is all over. Damage to allies: zero! Enemy casualties: zero! Civilian casualties: zero! The entire rebel army has surrendered.

"Wha-!?" Venit stood without thinking. As if such a ridiculous thing is even possible, he seemed to want to say.

"What about the mobile suit unit's fighting power?" General Noventa calmly said.

"I estimate there were roughly 60 mobile suits at least to have brought us this gain- were there that many mobile suits at Lake Victoria?"

With a satisfied smile, Van said, "According to Professor Treize Khushrenada's report, it appears he had a small unit of just 6 mobile suits. Ergo, there were naturally six 'children' piloting those suits."

"But... every one of them had, up until that point, no experience in actual battle," Brigadier General Chilia said with satisfaction.

Treize and Zechs got out of their respective Aries and stood on Mogadishu soil.

A breeze blew in from the Indian Ocean; it carried a hint of winter despite being so close to the equator. The sun was peeking over the horizon.

"Dawn..."

"Yes."

"Do you suppose we should welcome it?"

"If [this is] the start of [a new chapter in the book of] warfare," Zechs said as he looked up at the white machine, "then I cannot welcome it," 

The other pilots got out of their Leos and Tragos.

"Hm... [Now that I'm thinking about the cadets,] we just might have won a touch too thoroughly."

"Hm. [Not you (lit: you are different)], Zechs," said Treize, looking intently at Zechs.

"You are my friend, Milliardo."

Zechs shuddered. Four years ago, he had a.s.sumed a new ident.i.ty and swore revenge upon the Alliance [er, but isn't OZ part of the Alliance right now?] He had thought no one had noticed. That he was Prince Milliardo Peacecraft of the fallen Cinq Kingdom.

"And how long have you known?"

"Last year, when you came to Lake Victoria."

"How? (lit: Why?)"

"How indeed...... perhaps it was because you were so young to have the tears frozen, [forbidden from appearing upon] your young features."

It was true that Zechs had not shed a tear in the four years since The Event.

"What about you, are you cut from the same cloth, Professor Treize? (lit: are you the same)"

He did not answer the question. Treize could not sympathize with revenge.

"No, if anything..." he looked at the four approaching cadets, "my [feelings (lit: heart)] is probably closer to poor Lucretia Noin's," he said.

"Lucretia...."

All the other cadets were smiling with pride over their victory; there were tears only in Lucretia's eyes. Perplexed, Zechs asked, "What happened? Did you get hurt?"

"No, it's not that."

"You were just worried about Professor Treize and Zechs, they're fine! Shouldn't you be relieved?" the always cheerful Solac chimed in, half teasing.

"It's not that either, I..." Lucretia wiped way her tears and said with resolute pride in her voice, "I hate war."

Afterwards, Mogadishu was an important base connecting Eurasia and Africa. They erected a mighty fortress and set up an enormous laser canon crowned with Noventa's name, the Noventa Canon. In the eyes of the upper echelons of the Alliance, who did not want to concede the OZ Specials achievements, their att.i.tude- which bordered on hara.s.sment- came to light.

Nevertheless, the Specials' , with their so-called "toy soldiers," first foray had effected revolution in the Alliance command system including regulations regarding mobile suit usage, and all logistical support and communications.

You might say it was too successful. It is understod that what Treize and Zechs had called the "[beginning of a new chapter in the book] of warfare" was related to this success.

AC 186 SPRING

Following the capture of Mogadishu, naturally the higher ups in the Alliance set a course for the mobile suits that primarily employed them as a means to protect (lit: guarantee the lives of) the soldiers on the front lines. However, behind enemy lines at the resistance, they, too, jumped at the mobile suits and in the s.p.a.ce of a few months, mobile suits could be seen at battlefields the world over. And as the demand for mobile suits grew by leaps and bounds, Romefeller ama.s.sed a fortune. Romefeller controlled and ran the "Ocean of Storms," the Marius Plant. The cutting-edge factory made various new weapons and small-scale fusion reactors possible. Of course, the Leo, Aries, and Tragos mobile suits were also manufactured there. While the mobile suit battle went on, the Marius Plant continuously churned out mobile suits. Even so, the orders didn't cease, but rather steadily increased. Moreover, production of new model mobile suits was sped up. The Marina (lit: Marina, meaning some kind of naval force) wanted a mobile suit designed for underwater battle, the Pisces, and the s.p.a.ce forces wanted the Leo II, aka Chimera, to be quickly produced in order to guard convoys [commodity troopships? big ships carrying goods.]

By the calculations, the Alliance mobile suits should have been finished even if the factor hadn't operated until then. However, there was a traitor in the Alliance [there was someone within the Alliance who was sympathetic to the rebels/out right traitor] who sold vast quant.i.ties of mobile suits [to the rebels] on the black market. Also, acts of piracy occurred frequently where a ship carrying several hundred mobile suits would be attacked by a single Chimera and the entire shipment [would fall into the hands of the rebels]. Because of that, there was still a shortage of mobile suits despite the Marius Plant running 24/7/365. The Lunar plant was expanded in area and scale to increase production.

At the time, it was likely Earth's economy was [wholly] centered on the manufacturing of mobile suits and Romefeller certainly ama.s.sed an astounding fortune. Within the foundation, the Khushrenada brothers were conferred high value for their distinguishing services. Especially the younger Van, who, for the sake of improving the lunar plant's production efficiency, implemented automatization, shorter work hours, and a large increase in personnel shifts, all to increase profits.

Becuse of this, Van Khushrenada was only [at the tender age of] 13 when he was elevated into the heart of the foundation.

In the 'subtly' named rank of deputy director to the acting representative [Dermail], Van put the foundation's overwhelming financial power on the back burner and increased their political friends. He removed those who were unable to look beyond the old foundation style;and he purged the old customs and vested interests of the n.o.bility. He also denounced dirty politics and corruption.

Around this time, Hundert- head of the Khushrenada household at the time- had already retired, but the n.o.bility which had suffered hardships because of Van['s policies] came often to pet.i.tion him. "We were friends, once, weren't we?" They would say. Van, however, paid no heed whatsoever to what Hundert had to say; his words were entirely without meaning to him. As for Hundelt, he also bore no affection for the condescending n.o.bility. Nonetheless, the pet.i.tioners continued to come, Hundert became troublesome about every last little thing; and he took everything from Van and Treize and escaped to a medical colony in the L-1 cl.u.s.ter. [I'm not sure if Hundelt takes everything from the Khushrenada boys for the Khushrenadas take everything from Hundelt BUT since the actual sentence is not in pa.s.sive voice, I'm guessing it's Hundelt who takes it all] There, there was a special facility for the aged; also his wife Angelina was receiving treatment [at the same hospital] in a different section, but (the man called) Hundert did not once go to see her.

[END PART 1]