It was a war of such tragic intensity that Graham had never witnessed anything like it; it far exceeded the scope of the "security operations" he was accustomed to.
Even though both sides were human, they had launched a war aimed at "national extinction." Here, conscience and kindness were cast into the furnace, serving as the fuel that drove the gears of the war machine forward.
The camera followed a Mobile Suit sortieing from the Nahel Argama. Graham used the annotations on the side to observe the battlefield within the video.
Nuclear missiles, clone legions, bio-wetware units, giant MAs, satellite super-cannons, lunar armaments, asteroid fortresses... weapons of every conceivable kind emerged in an endless stream.
On this battlefield, the time between an MS entering the fray and being destroyed was measured in mere seconds.
Graham calculated the odds: even he could likely only manage to "stay alive" in such an environment. As for his teammates back in the "Over Flag" squadron, they probably wouldn't survive long at all.
How could such a situation be resolved?
Watching the footage of superweapons firing, Graham instinctively projected himself into the world of the video. Although part of him felt this must be a high-quality CG film, the label "Battle Records" made him feel, deep down, that this was real.
Just as Graham watched three superweapons fire simultaneously—a moment where even he felt like giving up—he saw a burst of wild, surging aurora.
"GUNDAM..."
Looking at the crystallized Unicorn Gundam in the video, Graham's eyes widened slightly as he whispered.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?"
A voice suddenly spoke beside him. Roz Links, dressed in his flight jacket and cargo pants, looked at the screen with a hint of nostalgia. "The collective will of humanity gathered together, forming the light that triggers miracles."
Graham had no time to respond. Whether it was the aurora forming around Junius 7 or the sight of both warring parties working together to push back Genesis, wave after wave of imagery bombarded his psyche.
"Phew... you're right. It's beautiful."
Graham set the tablet down and took a deep breath to maintain his composure.
"Especially the end—everyone working together to push that asteroid away from Earth. It really makes the heart race."
"I am Captain Graham Aker, a Flag Fighter of the UNION."
Graham looked up, meeting the gaze of Roz, who stood beside him.
At this moment, he felt a premonition born of pure instinct—and he trusted his instincts.
"I presume you must be the one they call Raven."
"Yes, I am Roz Links, the one you call Raven." Roz directly confirmed Graham's suspicion, which prompted Graham to observe him even more closely.
"Are you the one... who sent those boys and girls onto the battlefield?"
Finally, he voiced his primary doubt.
"Also, is this battle record real?"
He asked because even if Graham suspected it was some kind of special effects film, the sheer cost of producing scenes with that level of realism would be astronomical.
"The battle record is real, of course. You can ask anyone here and they'll tell you the same."
"As for your first question... it's not that I sent them to the battlefield, but rather that they were already caught up in it long ago."
Roz shook his head and pointed to the tablet screen, indicating an Earth Alliance Dagger with a "BS" emblem on its shoulder. "Wetware. You saw it, didn't you? That is what they looked like when they were first victimized. Their current appearance consists of artificial prosthetics, designed to let them feel like they are still living human beings."
"The extremist organization Blue Cosmos deceived and coerced a group of scientists into researching wetware technology for them."
"As you know, orphanages all over the world were their targets. At that time, there were simply too many war orphans."
"In other words... they were mutilated by Blue Cosmos?"
A powerful wave of revulsion surged within Graham. As a man who pursued "honor," he felt an instinctive rejection toward such a complete lack of moral boundaries.
"Now, I have answered your questions. It's your turn to answer mine."
Roz walked calmly over to where Graham's left hand remained cuffed.
"I saw it all. You were shot down from behind by a red particle beam..."
As Roz spoke, he pulled up the Penelope's battle records. "There is no doubt about it. You were backstabbed."
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After being released from his final handcuff and stepping out of bed, Graham didn't think for a second about escaping. Instead, he began discussing his discoveries with Roz, including various reports and findings he had gathered himself.
It could only be said that while the intelligence was largely the same, Roz was somewhat surprised that Graham had noticed the issues on his own and sought out the evidence.
When Roz suggested taking him to the Hangar to see his Over Flag—which had practically been reduced to spare parts—Graham readily accepted.
Using his past experience with injuries, Graham handled his crutch with surprising skill, managing to keep pace with Roz.
As the doors slid open, the interior of the Nahel Argama's hangar was revealed to Graham for the first time.
The first thing to catch his eye were several Haros operating construction machinery, busy repairing and reassembling the scattered components of his custom Over Flag.
However, Graham didn't focus on his own unit. Instead, his gaze drifted toward the rest of the hangar.
"Is that... a GUNDAM?"
He stared at the Destiny parked not far away—a machine with a fierce, almost predatory face that he had never seen in action.
And then, positioned alongside the Penelope and the Narrative Gundam, stood the pure white Unicorn Gundam he had just seen in the video.
Faced with such an array of Gundams, Graham, who was already obsessed with them, felt his brain momentarily short-circuit. But that was quickly followed by a sense of pure bliss. To see so many Gundams gathered in one place in his lifetime—Graham felt he was incredibly lucky.
His next goal in life was clear: he had to pilot a Gundam at least once.
Roz had a fair idea of what was going through Graham's mind, but he didn't pay it much mind, leading him over to the partially reassembled Over Flag.
The Solar Furnace that had been installed in the Over Flag was now stripped down to its individual parts, laid out to show Graham the structural flaws within.
Looking at the components on the ground, Graham frowned slightly. Even without a deep technical background in mechanics, he could sense the inherent wrongness of the design.
"You can see these missing parts; this is the reason you can only use red GN particles," Roz said to Graham.
"Your Solar Furnaces lack a pressure-boosting device, and they are missing the most critical component: the filter core manufactured only in the Jupiter environment."
.................