The three-day vacation came to an end, and the Nahel Argama returned to its operational state. After recovering all crew members and activating the Mirage Colloid system, the "behemoth" began its voyage across the sea.
High above, three ReZEL Type-C units in Waverider (WR) mode circled the skies.
"Doesn't the Nahel Argama's radar have better range than ours? Besides, the Mirage Colloid is active... why does a ReZEL team still need to fly combat air patrol?"
Inside one of the ReZEL cockpits, a data cable ran from the console to a port behind the right ear of a girl with short blonde hair. She crunched a hard candy in her mouth, chewing rhythmically.
"Even with a scramble launch, it takes time for a ReZEL to take off from the ship. Coming out to fly and honing our team coordination is a good thing."
A gentle female voice responded over the comms. "Besides, Louise, the reason we're out here is because of Brother Roz's..."
"Premonition. I know, Evelyn, I know."
The girl called Louise grabbed another candy from a storage compartment and popped it into her mouth. "Brother Roz sensed a battle coming... and his premonitions are never wrong."
"Don't eat hard candy while piloting a Mobile Suit."
A third female voice joined the channel, sounding much more stern than Evelyn's.
"Please. Our bodies aren't even human anymore; we don't even technically need to breathe. With how strong our teeth are, eating a piece of candy while piloting shouldn't be a problem, right?"
At the sound of that serious voice, Louise's expression slumped. "Why was I younger than you two when my brain was preserved... and your name is so hard to say, Kakyoin Tsubaki."
"If you accidentally bite your tongue, it won't be fatal, but the coolant leaking from the wound would cause your core temperature to rise. We are combat personnel; maintaining peak bodily function is vital."
Inside another machine, a girl with black, shoulder-length hair sat impeccably straight in her pilot suit. Cables connected her specialized helmet interface to the console.
"Besides, word is this world has bio-prosthetic technology. We might eventually get human bodies back. If that happens, this habit of yours will be a real problem."
"Get human bodies back..."
Biting down on another candy, Louise fell silent.
The sweet flavor was converted into electrical signals, encoded, and transmitted to her receivers. Her brain "felt" the sweetness, but Louise always lived with a sense of detached trance.
The prospect of "regaining a real, human body of their own" held immense allure for the crew of the Nahel Argama, and Louise was no exception. She desperately wanted to shed this heavy yet oddly floaty chassis—a body so powerful that her mind struggled to keep up. It had taken her a long time of training just to calibrate her mental commands to her prosthetic frame.
"I... probably won't change back..."
Louise looked at her hands gripping the controls. Her voice dipped slightly, though she forced a casual tone to hide her vulnerability. "If I go back to a flesh-and-blood body... I wouldn't be able to keep up with MS-level maneuvers, right? I'd probably be forced to retire. This cybernetic body is better for now."
The atmosphere in the comms channel grew heavy following her remark.
Beep, beep, beep...
The communication channel chimed.
"This is Romeo 2. Nahel Argama, go ahead." Evelyn, her blonde hair in wavy curls, sighed and answered the call.
"Northwest direction. MS signatures detected. They are Union Flags."
"Understood. Romeo Team is moving to intercept."
As Evelyn finished her sentence, the once-relaxed demeanor of the ReZEL squad vanished instantly. Storage boxes were snapped shut, helmet visors slid down, and their eyes glowed with the light of high-speed data transfer. The three ReZELs banked sharply, banking toward the coordinates provided by the Nahel Argama.
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Above the ocean waves, a military-green Flag was cruising at a constant speed.
"Seriously... this is stupid."
Graham Aker, clad in his pilot suit, muttered a critique of his own actions. Perhaps it was the frustration of failing to intercept the Gundams before, the sudden urgency felt after seeing the Penelope, or his own boastful desire to clash with a Gundam—a cocktail of emotions swirled within him, filling him with pressure.
As his close friend, Billy Katagiri understood Graham's state of mind perfectly. Under the guise of "testing pilot data," he had secured a flight permit for him. After all, compared to conventional relaxation like taking a vacation, operating a Mobile Suit was what actually made Graham feel at ease.
By some strange twist of fate, Graham had instinctively flown back to the area where he had failed to stop the Gundams.
"No matter how I look at it, the Gundams have left. How could they still be here..."
Though his words sounded discouraged, his hands on the control sticks felt incredibly relaxed. "Right. I'll turn back in a bit."
Just as Graham was about to bank the Flag around, he inexplicably turned his head toward a specific direction. Vaguely, he felt as if something was there, yet the machine's cameras and radar detected nothing. It looked like an ordinary, unremarkable stretch of sea.
Beautiful as always, the sunlight glinted off the crests of the waves.
Wait—the waves?
At that moment, Graham noticed something. The sea area was indeed calm, but there was a localized, discordant disturbance in the swell. If Graham wasn't mistaken, those were the wakes generated by a sailing vessel.
But there was no visual... was the ship invisible? Using some unknown stealth technology? Was it Celestial Being?
Just as Graham intended to close in and investigate, the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He instinctively yanked the control stick, forcing the Flag into a lateral barrel roll.
A green beam descended from the sky, striking the water and erupting into a geyser of spray and steam.
"An attack?!"
Seeing the exploding sea, Graham instinctively pulled up to gain altitude. The Flag was an aerial-combat-specialized machine; getting too close to the surface would limit his evasion space and leave him shackled.
Only then did Graham see his attackers. Three strangely shaped, deep-blue "fighters" were closing in. The beam rifles mounted on their frames were clearly the weapons that had just fired.
"Ugh... since they aren't those AEU guys, I can't really go for the kill, can I?"
Inside her ReZEL's cockpit, Louise watched the Flag she had locked onto. She had initially reached for the missiles on her Defenser A-Unit backpack but tapped her helmet in annoyance instead. "Why couldn't it have been those Agents in the AEU?"
"Regardless, we need to force this Flag down," Evelyn said, her gentle demeanor replaced by a cold, business-like tone. "He was clearly flying straight toward the Nahel Argama."
Seeing the three blue fighters nipping at his heels, Graham gripped the sticks and kept the Flag at maximum throttle. Gritting his teeth, he suddenly transformed the Flag into MS mode.
Its limbs extended forward as the leg thrusters fired in a reverse burst, forcing the machine to a dead stop and letting the ReZEL squad overshoot him.
But in the next second, he watched with his own eyes as the ReZEL squad performed an anti-human, near-acute-angle turn. They transformed into three machines—far sturdier than the Flag—and charged back.
Graham deployed the Sonic Blade from the Flag's forearm. The hilt spat out blue plasma, forming a blade—this intermediate product of the Union's beam weapon research shimmered into existence.
Seeing Graham's move, Louise didn't hesitate. She swung her ReZEL's standard beam rifle; a blue-white beam blade extended from the muzzle, cleanly parrying the Flag's plasma blade.
The collision of plasma and beam particles sent sparks and electricity flying. The massive kinetic impact immediately pushed the lightweight Flag backward.
Graham boosted his engine output to the limit just to stop his retreat. Only then did he get a clear look at his assailant. It was a deep-blue machine, far more "thick" than the Flag but still possessing immense mobility. Under its green "sunglasses," a glowing "mono-eye" stared deathly at the Flag.
Such a sight would normally exert immense psychological pressure on a pilot. But Graham didn't notice that; instead, his gaze was drawn to an emblem illuminated by the flash of the clashing blades.
Painted on the ReZEL's left chest plate was a Raven with burning wings.
"The Raven... As I thought, you aren't alone."
Despite being technologically outmatched, Graham was becoming abnormally excited. "Even if it's not the man himself, a little appetizer first is a fine choice!"
The machine that haunted Graham's dreams—the one he wanted to fight more than the active Gundams of Celestial Being—was the mysterious and powerful "Raven." Now that he had finally found a trace of it, he was ecstatic.
Watching the Flag increase its engine output in an attempt to push back against her ReZEL, Louise's icy expression turned slightly peculiar. She quirked an eyebrow.
Then, she performed a skill that was practically a mandatory graduation requirement on the Nahel Argama.
The ReZEL abruptly shifted the angle of its beam rifle, closing the distance between the machines instantly. Then, the ReZEL's right leg whipped upward in a sweeping kick. The massive force sent the Flag tumbling through the air, nearly kicking it into pieces.
...................