The mass accelerator—the most efficient "stairway" for humanity to enter space after the beginning of the Space Age.
Using a sufficiently long acceleration track, humans could launch large numbers of spacecraft into space.
Of the three mass accelerators on Earth today, one was occupied by ZAFT, one was located in Panama and firmly held by the Earth Forces, and the last one—"Kaguya"—was located in the neutral nation of Orb.
Orb's mass accelerator very quickly transitioned into a dual military-civilian function, and Orb's economy began to grow steadily around it.
Roz Links walked through Orb's spaceport with Christina, while Big Haro sat on Roz's shoulder. The three of them carried only a single travel bag.
Speaking of which, Yzak Joule was also repatriated back to ZAFT today. Though Roz didn't know what price the PLANTs paid, the heavily damaged Duel Gundam followed Yzak onto the repatriation ship.
But when they said their farewells, once Yzak learned that Roz was heading into space, he wore an expression that clearly said: "You bastard, are you running away?!"
Roz and Christina did not wait in the departure hall but entered a door accessible only to internal personnel, heading straight through the internal passage toward the Hangar.
When Roz arrived at the Hangar, a white space shuttle had already been waiting for some time.
Ground crew were performing final inspection work on the shuttle, and had just finished loading Roz's Haros into the cabin. The secretary of Uzumi Nara Athha—whom Roz had only met yesterday—was standing beside the shuttle, waiting for Roz to arrive.
"Mr. Roz Links, this is the space shuttle prepared for you by Lord Uzumi," the secretary said as he saw Roz approach, nodding politely.
"The fuel has been fully loaded. For the next hour, the mass accelerator will conduct launch control, and your shuttle will launch first."
"Understood, thanks for the work."
Roz waved to Uzumi's secretary and boarded the space shuttle with Christina.
After placing their luggage, Roz walked straight into the cockpit. Although there were many manufacturers of space shuttles, aside from custom-made cockpits, most shuttles used the same cockpit layout and operating logic.
"Star map sync, coordinate upload, system check…"
Roz operated the shuttle skillfully, while ground crew began their practiced evacuation procedures.
"All right, send the launch request."
Once Christina sat in the co-pilot seat and fastened her seatbelt, the control tower finished scheduling. The fixed shuttle was carried by the platform onto the accelerator track.
"Hah… We're heading out, Christina."
Roz habitually took a deep breath and placed his hand on the throttle.
"Mm. Let's go, Roz."
Hearing Christina's words, Roz pushed the throttle all the way forward.
Feeling the familiar G-force, the shuttle accelerated rapidly along the mass accelerator track, reaching its maximum speed. The track's angle began to shift, changing from parallel to the ground to a vertical ascent.
The shuttle detached from the track. Amid vibrations and the pressing G-forces, it continued climbing toward space.
Higher, higher, continuing to rise… until the view showed the blackness of space and the boundary of Earth's blue curve.
As gravity shifted, the shuttle entered zero-gravity. Big Haro, originally resting in Roz's arms, floated upward.
After setting the coordinates, Roz activated the autopilot. For now, the shuttle no longer required manual control.
"Go rest first, Christina," Roz said, patting her shoulder. "We still have a lot to do next."
As the cockpit door slid open, they saw the once-neat cabin now filled with Haros floating everywhere in midair—complete chaos.
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The "shipyard" had already become busy.
"Starting construction on two machines at the same time? That'll slow down the progress of the other projects, won't it?"
Marvin scratched his green hair, frowning at the two frames in front of him.
"If only big brother Roz were here. With him around, our efficiency would increase several times over."
Inside the two mobile suit frames, one was bulkier—its production speed, which was originally rather slow, had now slowed even further. But the other, slimmer-looking machine was having countless mechanical arms install various components onto it at extremely high efficiency.
However, both machines had something in common: they both required a massive amount of mental-power frame filling.
"I already told you, didn't I? Roz's machine blew up."
At that moment, Big Haro—who had taken over the shipyard's scheduling operations—spoke. Its turquoise-colored eyes flickered repeatedly.
"The development of Unit RX0 can be slowed a bit, but Unit RX9 must be completed as fast as possible."
"But the design for this RX9 is way too ridiculous! There's barely any exterior armor!"
Looking at the design projected into his prosthetic eye, Marvin couldn't help but complain.
"Most of the frame is exposed, and look at this battery pack that's been forcibly stuffed in. Isn't this basically a half-finished machine? How could big brother Roz submit a design like this?"
A few days earlier, Big Haro had casually said "we need to call in more production lines," then had started tinkering with the new machine nonstop. This was the first time Marvin had actually seen the design.
"It is a half-finished machine. The intensity of the battles is increasing rapidly. Roz urgently needs a machine that can let him exert his full strength."
Big Haro detached from the console. Gas sprayed from the attitude-control thrusters on its spherical body as it floated toward the mostly formed mobile suit frame.
"Whether it's RX0 or this RX9, both are the best options. And this is the choice he made."
"…Fine. Since it's big brother Roz's choice, then all we can do is give it our best."
Now that Big Haro had invoked Roz's name, Marvin—who still had lingering doubts—immediately changed his attitude. He controlled the small gas-propulsion pack behind him and floated toward his workstation.
"In any case… don't worry. The original projects won't have their progress slowed."
"Don't underestimate me, boss lady! Before I was put into this body, I was rebuilt as the central system that ran the factory! A few extra projects? Watch me compensate for all the gaps with pure computing power!"
"Honestly… why are all the people under Roz just a bunch of single-minded gorillas?"
Big Haro let out a sighing sound and shifted its gaze from Marvin—who had already floated far away—back to the machines being assembled piece by piece.
"Let's hope we finish in time."
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The "shipyard" continued its busy work as night fell in Orb's time zone.
Technically, they should have been using Standard Space Time, but when Marvin brought a group of Haros here to establish the base, they switched to Orb's time zone in order to sync with Roz's schedule.
At this moment, RX9 already had its basic form, and even the head had been fully assembled. That Gundam face—similar to the Strike Gundam, yet also different—sat quietly on the frame.
"Unknown space shuttle detected… receiving signal… it's big brother Roz!"
"Understood. Opening optical guidance… opening the gate now."
The shipyard's gate opened, and the white shuttle carrying Roz entered an airlock compartment.
Mixed oxygen began filling the compartment, and the air pressure synchronized with the interior.
When the indicator light turned green, the second door opened.
The sight of the shipyard appeared before Roz's eyes.
"Welcome to the shipyard, Roz."
After Roz stepped out of the shuttle, Big Haro's familiar voice echoed again.
"This should be our first official face-to-face meeting?"
But the voice did not come from the small Big Haro sitting on Roz's shoulder—it came directly from the shipyard's broadcast system.
Roz looked around, and finally, in a place overlooking the entire shipyard, he found a familiar figure.
A two-meter-tall giant Haro stood with its back toward him.
Then Big Haro slowly turned around, facing Roz, who was floating in midair.
"So… long time no see?"
"Mm. Long time no see."
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"RX9, Narrative Gundam, we scrapped the original fighter-style cockpit and switched to a spherical cockpit, so a few adjustments were made."
After rejecting Big Haro's suggestion, "The atmosphere's right… want a hug?", Roz followed Big Haro and saw the half-finished mobile suit before him.
The spherical cockpit, as always, had four interfaces prepared for loading the mental frame.
Beside it, a bunch of Haros were operating mechanical arms, continuously installing components on the Narrative Gundam.
"However, on the battery pack side, we've reserved an interface so you can quickly swap batteries later or convert it to nuclear power."
The Big Haro floating next to Roz suddenly turned to him.
"As for your little buddy Marvin, he won't listen to anything right now. He's maintaining the progress of other projects, so until the production line is handed back in the next couple of days, he probably won't have time to see you."
"I see… he really is stubborn."
Hearing this, Roz recalled the early days of setting up the shipyard.
"I had to talk to him for a long time before he agreed to come to the shipyard."
Roz waved his hand helplessly.
"He even wanted to pilot an MS back then."
"Indeed… he really is a one-track gorilla…"
Upon hearing Roz, Big Haro, from somewhere, extended a mechanical arm and, in a very human-like way, tapped its head repeatedly, producing a "clang clang clang" sound.
Seeing Big Haro act so human-like left Roz a little puzzled.
"By the way… your dark circles seem to have faded a lot."
"That's because of the new overtime! The original dark circles are gone!"
At this topic, Big Haro got flustered, extending its mechanical arm to try and hit Roz's head hard.
But knowing Roz's body couldn't handle that force, Big Haro restrained itself and only tapped his head lightly twice.
"Knowing how hard I've worked, you should be pulling overtime with me!"
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