[Hathaway's Flash] Vol.02 Ch.01

Chapter.01
Standing Position

Gigi Andalucia, her body still hot from her shower, stepped out onto the veranda of the cottage, exposing her entire body to the night air. The air wafting in from over the surface of the ocean seemed to invigorate the cells deep inside of her.

"Hm..."

She quickly pulled her hair back with both hands, letting the wind caress her neck. She didn’t care for the heavy feeling of wrapping her hair up in a towel. Instead, she leaned her body against the railing and looked out at the lingering sunlight across the ocean. Gentle ridges sloped down into the sea on either side, while to the west, they floated in darkness as the calm sea faded from dark blue to black in preparation for nightfall.

"Hathaway Noa, huh...?"

Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of this high-strung yet quick-witted young man being on the other side of the ocean she gazed out upon. But, not far from the cottage she was staying at was the base where Captain Kenneth Sleg of the Circe Unit, the man who would probably confront him, was.

For Gigi, she had no choice but to sell her body to older men, so having the opportunity to ogle at men like them was thrilling to her. Still, that compulsion was something she could do nothing about, and it made her uneasy thinking about what lay ahead. So, she took long showers and stood out on the veranda, trying not to think about the issues involving her.

Even so, her position between both men—Hathaway and Kenneth—was one she savored.

"..."

The sky overhead was bristling with high, white clouds, typical of the tropics, and beyond the haze above them, the gleaming light of several stars sparkled as the night grew.

"I had better hurry... seeing that I’m changing my plans."

Her invigorated consciousness made her feel that way.

Ding dong.

At the sound of the doorbell, she rushed into the living room, wrapping a bathrobe around her body, and brushed her hair as she looked into the small monitor above the intercom.

The middle-aged maid, whom she had seen last night, was smiling amiably. Those that came and went from the officers’ cottage at Goettingen House were employed by the armed forces, so her identity was secure. She had come to deliver Gigi’s dinner and breakfast for the following day.

"Why, it seems like the perfect kind of evening for a lady like you to have some company, but you’re not having anyone over?" she asked, putting the things that needed to be reheated in the oven and those that didn’t on the table before she left.

Gigi didn’t need the delivery lady to remind her how difficult it was to be alone, yet she knew how to cope with it. One could say that the vast majority of people’s lives require 365 days of patient endurance for one actual day of enjoyment. At the same time, it’s also true that one perfect day can get a person through a grueling year. Even if you can find some semblance of success in society, the time you spend in the limelight is a one-time affair.

Even if you’re lucky enough for it to last a few days, it’ll cost you several years of thankless, solitary work in exchange. It also goes without saying that this moment of glory is the result of some less-than-honorable deeds.

That’s just how life is.

Gigi ate her dinner alone, watching the local news on one of the few cable tv channels she could choose from.

"..."

She had to understand what was going on so she wouldn’t make the wrong decision when faced with the unthinkable one day. This awareness is what drew her to watch the news. However, the newscaster, who should have been in a studio in Davao, was just straight-to-the-point with old news about Captain Kenneth Sleg arriving as the new commander and the Kimberly Unit being renamed the Circe Unit.

"Everyone’s keeping it a secret... Sounds like something the Federation Forces would pull."

Still, she didn’t think it would be good for her to stay with the Circe Unit, even though it was convenient for her to gather intel. Kenneth probably would have arranged for a hotel near the base if she really wanted to, but her gut told her that would have meant selling herself mentally to him. So, she elected to stay at the cottage that Kenneth suggested for her, seeing that it was the only place she could stay far enough away from the base so long as she was there.

The relationship between Hathaway and Kenneth was still unclear to her, which is part of the reason why she wanted to keep her distance from them.

With temperatures rising on Earth, the areas around the Equator became too harsh for people to live in, so when immigration to space colonies began, most people who lived in these regions were forced to migrate into space. Despite that, the number of people left behind to preserve nature and historical sites is probably a million across the entire South Pacific. Still, as the era of space colonies cemented itself, the value of these areas for tourism and nature preservation grew higher, and the number of residents from the space colonies began to climb.

This, in turn, allowed anti-Federation activists to infiltrate, forcing the Federation government to be cautious about its surveillance, which was not an easy task in a region dominated by the sea. So, they set up new staffing of police and military officers to expose illegal immigrants, yet they avoided making the organization too large.

Even the Federation government was aware of the perils of bureaucracy and attempted to sidestep it, using its unique privileges to increase the number of people residing on the planet. In this respect, at least, the Federation government had some insight. However, when the work carried out by such a small staff group tried to be more efficient, their operations went to the extreme. Regardless of whether the intel was accurate, they caught illegal residents roughly and deported them to jobs like meteorite collection.

This led to them being dubbed "Man Hunter" behind their backs. These actions by the Man Hunter(s) are what Hathaway had witnessed in Davao. However, the Earth Federation government—which governed the hundreds of space colonies scattered around the Earth—tolerated the Man Hunters tactics because removing the dissenters was not an inconvenience, but a benefit, now that those in the inner circle of the government came back to live on the planet.

This had been the attitude of the Federation government in recent years in how it managed the planet.

Nevertheless, the global uptick in the activities of an organization calling itself Mafty Navue Erin in recent years—and at the same time, the Federation government’s plan to hold the Central Assembly meeting in the south Australian city of Adelaide—led to Kenneth Sleg, accompanied by the new mobile suit Penelope, being quickly transferred to the Kimberly Unit in the Pacific region.

Mafty Navue Erin, whose name translates to ‘Just Prophet,’ is the spearhead of an anti-Federation government campaign to assassinate key figureheads in the Federation government. Prior to Kenneth’s appointment, the Pacific region—under the command of Kimberly Heyman—had been at the mercy of Mafty Erin.

With the development of the mobile suit, Kenneth Sleg, who had the idea of defending Adelaide, was ordered to defend the cabinet meeting. However, at this point, Captain Kimberley Heyman’s final operation against Mafty was still underway in Oenbelli, a small town in northern Australia. He was hoping to make a difference and avoid being demoted before his successor, Kenneth, arrived.

The Australian continent was just beyond the sea from her cottage. That made Gigi’s thoughts race across the sea. And, just as she had predicted, Hathaway Noa—whom she met on the Haunzen shuttle on its return to Earth—would be joining up with the private army in Oenbelli.

"Lane Aim’s Penelope was shot down. Word has it, it was by a wannabe Gundam..."

When Gigi heard this from the Circe Team, she had a sneaking suspicion that it had been the work of Hathaway. She was right, but Kenneth hadn’t been able to confirm that yet.

That was where the three of them were that night.

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