After returning to Industrial 7 and taking on the pile of work dumped on him by Erica Simmons, a few days passed in a flash.
Though Roz had desperately wanted to toss the work back, the reality was that Orb was simply paying too much. The contract to provide humanoid bodies for the Haros following Roz after the war—funded by Orb—gave his perennially dying wallet a much-needed breath of life.
Consequently, Roz actually put some heart into the work. The end result? All the projects were completed ahead of schedule.
Currently, Roz stood outside a hangar. With a flick of his right fingers, a wrench spun continuously in his hand, as if he were waiting for a target to arrive.
At the sound of footsteps, Roz ceased his spinning. The handle of the wrench flowed smoothly into his palm; he gripped it tightly and tucked it into the pocket of his cargo pants.
Erica Simmons was walking toward him, accompanied by Dearka and Stellar Loussier.
In contrast to Stellar's calm expression, Dearka caught a glimpse of Roz spinning the wrench like a pen, causing his face to twitch slightly.
Everyone has used a wrench at some point; people generally have an idea of how much they weigh. Dearka, who usually prided himself on having "seen it all," had truly never seen someone twirl a heavy wrench like a ballpoint pen.
"You're here?"
Looking at the trio in front of him, Roz casually pressed a remote in his pocket.
The heavy, sealed doors unlocked and slowly slid open. Spotlights flickered on in an orderly sequence, revealing the mobile suits stationed within the hangar.
"That's..."
Although Dearka spotted his own unit at a glance, his gaze was immediately drawn to another red machine. "A GINN... no, is that the latest ZAKU Warrior?"
It was no secret by now that ZAFT had begun deploying ZAKU Warriors to the battlefield.
"Stellar's personal unit: the MS-06R Psycho Zaku."
Roz looked toward the red Zaku. On the surface, it maintained a very traditional Zaku silhouette; in fact, the ZAKU Warriors currently being mass-produced by ZAFT looked significantly more advanced than this red machine. However, the sheer number of thruster ports covering the Zaku's body gave off an indescribable, unsettling vibe.
"The unit runs on nuclear power. If you count the massive backpack sitting next to it, the entire machine has about fifty thrusters."
"How... how many? Fifty?!"
Hearing Roz state the thruster count, Dearka finally realized what that "indescribable vibe" was.
"That thing would shake a pilot to pieces!"
It all made sense now—this Psycho Zaku was absolutely reeking of "Ork technology"!
"That's why it's Stellar's dedicated machine... You should know her condition, right?"
Roz turned to Dearka with a slight frown. "The entire machine—from the control logic to the interface linked to Stellar—is tailor-made based on her personal data."
Unlike Dearka's shock, Stellar was calmly and meticulously observing the Psycho Zaku before her.
This is the power... the power to take Shinn back...
In a daze, she felt as though her long-still heart was beginning to beat again. She instinctively reached up and placed a hand over her chest.
"But, is that the backpack for this Psycho Zaku? It looks a bit too big, doesn't it? Won't it just be a sitting duck?"
Dearka was still critiquing the unit, shifting his attention to the auxiliary propulsion backpack sitting nearby, which featured three large fuel-tank-like cylinders.
"Three magazine-fed bazookas, two beam machine guns with four spare magazines, four Sturm Faust rockets, and two telescopic anti-ship swords."
Following Roz's explanation, Dearka's eyes were guided toward the dazzling array of weaponry on the racks.
"Aside from the handheld beam bazooka, all other armaments are mounted to this propulsion backpack and utilized via sub-arms. Of course, that's not the only reason we designed the backpack this way."
Roz paused and nodded to Erica, who had picked up a tablet.
"The real reason is that the thickest fuel tank houses eight DRAGOON units."
As Erica operated the tablet, four panels on the "fuel tank" standing quietly in the hangar suddenly slid open, revealing eight teardrop-shaped DRAGOONs.
"Furthermore, the internal frame of this unit was originally built for close-quarters combat."
At this point, Dearka was beyond the point of being able to complain about the absurdity of this machine.
It had a frame specialized for melee combat, yet it had been forcibly turned into a high-firepower, mid-to-long-range suppression unit. It even featured DRAGOONs, all while equipped with a propulsion backpack of that ridiculous size...
The whole thing felt like the "add more water to the flour, then more flour to the water" style of messy, improvised engineering.
-----------------------------------
Stellar and Erica remained in that area, as Erica was set to brief Stellar on the specifics regarding the Psycho Zaku.
Meanwhile, Roz led the still-dazed Dearka toward another section of the hangar.
"Alright, eyes on the prize, Dearka."
Before he knew it, Dearka had followed Roz to the feet of another mobile suit. Although its appearance had changed significantly, Dearka could still recognize whose machine this was at a single glance.
"Is this... the Buster?"
For some reason, Dearka's tone was laced with uncertainty.
"To be precise, it should be called... the Verde Buster?"
Roz scratched his head, trying to recall the name of the machine before him. "Whatever—whether it's Verde Buster or Sandstorm Buster doesn't matter. You just need to know it's the Buster."
"But, anyway, is it really okay to have two fully combined cannon barrels mounted up there? Won't the machine be torn apart?"
Since it concerned the unit he would be piloting, Dearka's questions were quite detailed.
"Oh, that? Those are two combined beam rifles, secured with a specialized mounting device."
As if recalling something amusing, Roz began introducing the machine's features to Dearka.
"This Verde Buster's armament combination is called the 'Thimble Double-Spray.' It consists of two beam rifles focused on long-range strikes, and your new weapons: two rapid-fire armor-piercing shotgun cannons equipped with retractable bayonets."
As he spoke, Roz gave Dearka a big thumbs-up. "Effective at both long and short range. Everyone who's used it says it's great!"
For a moment, Dearka was overwhelmed by Roz's rapid-fire explanation. His brain instinctively stalled, unsure of what to say.
But soon, he caught a crucial point.
"Wait a second? Rapid-fire armor-piercing shotguns? Can the barrels even take that kind of stress?!"
Dearka suddenly jumped, shouting his question at Roz.
"We discovered a new alloy..."
"Discovered in such a short time? Have you done any actual testing on it?!"
Faced with Dearka's interrogation, Roz maintained that oddly mysterious smile.
"Nope. It was manufactured as soon as the research produced it. Anyway, I reckon these barrels can keep firing those AP shells forever."
...................