We had been brought to a command center of sorts, having been invited to Orb as technical advisors. Through the observation window, three M1 Astray units were visible.
"Asagi, Juri, Mayura."
"Yesss."
Three voices responded to Erica's call. These three must be the so-called "Astray Trio."
"Oh, Cagalli-sama?"
"My, it's really her."
"What's this? You came back?"
Their voices filtered through the comms. Though they used the honorific "-sama," the tone was casual, hinting at a close relationship.
"Sorry to worry you."
"Begin."
Erica issued the order, ignoring Cagalli's somewhat sulky demeanor.
"Yes, ma'am."
The M1 Astrays acknowledged and began to move. But it took several seconds just to take a single step. They attempted close-quarters combat maneuvers, throwing elbow strikes with the agonizing slowness of a staged dance. Comparing them to turtles would be an insult to the reptiles.
Watching the spectacle, Cagalli sighed in exasperation.
"Same as always."
"Even so, they're nearly twice as fast as before."
Kira and I exchanged a look at that statement.
"...That is twice as fast?"
"Yes. As pilots of G-series machines, could I hear your honest opinion?"
"Um... I'll leave that to Axel."
Kira deftly passed the buck to me. I chuckled and shrugged.
"They're nothing but target practice. Frankly, a Mobius or Skygrasper MA would be more useful in combat than this."
"Mean! Just because you can pilot a mobile suit!"
A voice complained over the comms; clearly, they could hear me.
"Er, I think Axel's putting it a bit harshly, but... sending these into battle would be difficult."
Kira seemed to share my assessment. At the very least, against these M1 Astrays, even a Glasgow could fight with an advantage.
"Look out, lose focus and you'll fall over again... Unfortunately, what they say is true. That is why we want to make that stronger. Like the Strike and the Blitz."
"Eh?"
"The technical cooperation we want from you, Kira-kun, is the development of a support OS for that machine."
"From what I can see, the hardware itself seems reasonably complete, but..."
Watching the Astrays totter around, I decided to ask something that had been bugging me for a while.
"Chief Simmons, I have a question about the M1 Astray, if you don't mind."
"Go ahead. And since we'll be working together, you don't need to be so formal. Just Erica is fine."
"Understood, Erica. Given Orb's philosophy we heard earlier, is it safe to assume the M1 Astray is primarily a defensive mobile suit?"
"That's right."
"...Then why is it designed for ground combat?"
"Excuse me?"
"Aerial combat might be asking too much, but for an island nation like Orb, why prioritize land warfare? To prevent Orb from becoming a battlefield, shouldn't you have prioritized developing amphibious mobile suits to intercept enemies at sea before they reach the mainland?"
Given Orb's geography, an enemy landing means an immediate battle on home soil, which guarantees civilian casualties. To prevent that, the fastest solution would be to detect the invasion and deploy underwater MS to sink them before they get close. Yet, for some reason, the M1 Astray is a ground-pounder.
Ideally, flight-capable MS would be best, but since even the five Gundams don't have full flight capabilities, I knew that was asking for the impossible.
Erica sighed at my question.
"Ideally, yes. I think so too. ...But due to 'high-level political decisions' by the Morgenroete upper management and certain government factions, development of ground-use MS was prioritized over amphibious ones."
Granted, the Earth Alliance was the primary client for MS development, and outside of specific terrains like Orb, land combat was the expected theater of war. If that was the logic, I suppose developing land-use MS first was inevitable.
"Also, even if we wanted to develop an amphibious MS, we needed a base machine first. Trying to build an underwater unit from scratch without basic MS know-how wouldn't get us anywhere."
I see. Just as the Zaku II served as the base for the Zaku Marine Type, which then provided the data for the Gogg and Acguy in the One Year War.
This information is useful. If I provide a proven amphibious machine like the Sea Lion, using its data to build an underwater MS shouldn't be difficult. Especially in an island nation like Orb; anyone with foresight should understand the critical importance of underwater defense.
This will be a powerful card in negotiations with Uzumi Nara Athha.
"I understand. But since Orb is a potential battlefield, I suggest you develop underwater MS as soon as possible."
"Is that advice coming from your experience fighting ZAFT mobile suits on the surface?"
"Yeah. We were attacked by ZAFT underwater units in the Indian Ocean, and it was a mess. The Blitz lacks effective underwater weapons, but the terrain advantage of the ocean is massive."
And that's coming from me, someone with an S-rank adaptation for sea terrain. I can't even imagine how hard it would be for a normal pilot in an M1 Astray to fight an underwater enemy.
"Kira, what did you think about fighting the Goohn underwater?"
I turned to Kira, who was listening nearby. Since the Strike handled most of the underwater combat, his opinion would carry more weight than mine.
"Well, the water resistance slowed my attacks down significantly, and I could only use physical rounds. In contrast, the Goohn was fast and agile underwater; it really threw me off at first. I only managed because it charged straight at me, letting me stab it with the Armor Schneider at point-blank range."
"There you have it. If you don't want this 'nation of peace' turned into a sea of fire, I suggest prioritizing underwater MS development."
"Thank you. But even to develop amphibious units, we first need to perfect the M1 Astray to serve as the base. Still, coming from active pilots—and a Natural, no less—I'll definitely pass this up the chain. Did you notice anything else?"
"...Well, I know flight-capable MS are out of reach for now, but what about developing something like ZAFT's Guul? Fortunately, there should be a captured unit in the Archangel's hangar. If you negotiate with Murrue and the others to analyze it and build something similar for the M1 Astray, it could drastically change your deployment capabilities."
Hearing this, Erica immediately picked up a nearby comms unit and made a call. Likely preparing to negotiate with the Archangel.
"Thank you. That was very helpful."
"Glad to be of service. ...Now, back to the topic. Kira's job is developing the OS for Naturals, but what am I supposed to do?"
"I'd like you to be the test pilot for the M1 Astray, Axel."
"Test pilot... huh."
I looked at the machines still stumbling around in the distance. Honestly, talking about test piloting seemed premature given their current state.
Erica followed my gaze and chuckled, realizing what I was thinking.
"Not right now, of course. After Kira finishes the OS development. I'd also like you to give lectures on MS piloting for Naturals."
"Lectures? I don't mind, but... what do you think?"
I asked Kira, who was frowning slightly. He shook his head.
"I understand the idea, but I don't think it's a good plan. Axel's piloting style... it's more like he compensates for OS deficiencies with sheer physical ability, similar to a Coordinator. ...No, actually, his physical abilities exceed a Coordinator's."
"...I find that hard to believe... Is that true?"
"Yes. The Blitz used an OS set to the same parameters as the Strike, but there was an incident where the OS crashed because Axel's reaction speed exceeded its processing speed."
Kira's words brought the memory back. ...I never expected the OS to crash mid-battle because I moved too fast. That was a truly chilling moment.
"So, you're saying Axel's reaction speed is faster than yours, Kira-kun? A Coordinator?"
"Yes. In terms of pure physical ability, I'm not even close to Axel. After all, he took down a GINN at Heliopolis using the Blitz's original, defective OS."
"With that OS!?"
Erica looked at me with an expression of pure shock. Judging by her reaction, she knew just how bad the initial OS was.
"Though it was a really close call."
"...Are you really a Natural?"
"At the very least, the tests say I am."
Well, simple genetic testing can't detect my cheat-like abilities. But plenty of idiots will lower their guard because I'm a "Natural," so I'll exploit that for all it's worth.
Just then, the door near us flew open, and a man rushed in, looking flustered.
"Chief Simmons! What the hell did they do to that machine?!"
The mechanic—or at least, he looked like one—shouted the moment he entered the command center. His voice was loud enough to grab everyone's attention.
"Keep your voice down. By 'machine,' do you mean the Strike and the Blitz?"
"Yeah. The Strike is bad, but the Blitz is critical. The electromagnetic fluid sockets are worn to the absolute limit. The joint drive systems are on the verge of failure, too. Frankly, if it had seen combat a few more times, the joints would have snapped. This is the new model built at Heliopolis, right? How in the world did they push a machine this hard in such a short time?"
"...Well?"
Erica looked at me with an amused smile. I could only offer a wry grin in return.
"Don't look at me like that. I thought I was being considerate of the machine."
"You're the Blitz pilot?"
The mechanic who burst in turned to me. Or rather, "locked on" would be a more accurate description.
"Yeah. Is it that bad?"
"Bad doesn't cover it... Let's put it this way: imagine a brand-new sports car that suddenly turned into a junker with twenty years of mileage. That make sense?"
"A junker, huh."
"Anyway, it's amazing you could fight in that condition. Must be the skill of the Archangel's mechanics."
"Skill?"
"Yeah. Maintaining a cutting-edge machine that's being abused like that every single time... that kind of pressure forces a mechanic to level up. If they hadn't been that good, the machine wouldn't have lasted this long."
The machine raises the mechanic, I suppose.
"Either way, an overhaul... isn't going to cut it. Some parts need to be completely replaced with new production units. This is going to take time."
"Specifically?"
"Let's see... We can probably barely get it done by the time the Archangel's repairs are finished."
"Sorry for the trouble. And about the joint stress..."
"That wear is caused by the machine failing to keep up with the pilot's reaction speed. It's the side effect of forcing the OS to extract performance beyond the machine's specs."
Hearing this, Kira interjected apologetically.
"I'm sorry. I configured the OS settings. But to match Axel's reaction speed, I had to push the machine past its limits in certain areas."
"No, I know. I'm a pro mechanic too; looking at the state of the machine tells me most of the story. ...Basically, the machine's specs are insufficient for the pilot's skill. I can think of a few countermeasures, so I'll see what I can do. ...But, Axel-san, was it? The root cause is that the machine can't catch up to you, so any fix is going to be a band-aid solution."
Insufficient specs, huh. Without the Grouseivere, I guess I can't use my full abilities. If everything goes according to plan, the Grouseivere will have its turn eventually... but until then, I'll have to hold back a bit with the Blitz.
And so, my temporary assignment at Morgenroete began.
Name: Axel Almar
LV: 36
PP: 115
Stats:
Melee: 254
Shooting: 274
Skill: 264
Defense: 264
Evasion: 294
Accuracy: 314
SP: 446
Ace Bonus: SP Boost (Consumes SP to increase unit performance)
Growth Type: Versatile / Special
Terrain Adaptation:
Air: S
Land: S
Sea: S
Space: S
Spirit Commands:
Accelerate (SP 4)
Gain (SP 8)
Focus (SP 16)
Direct Hit (SP 30)
Awaken (SP 32)
Love (SP 48)
Skills:
EXP Up
SP Boost (SP Up Lv.9 & SP Recover & Focus [Skill])
Telekinesis Lv.10
Attacker
Gunfight Lv.9
In-fight Lv.9
Limit Break (Morale)
Geass (Gray)
???
???
???
???
???
Kill Count: 278
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