2022-02-13: News: Zeon Remnants Suspected in Shipping Raids
- Resource: 2022-02-13: News: Zeon Remnants Suspected in Shipping Raids
- Subject: A series of raids on sites and spacelanes around Luna are being attributed to Zeon remnants known as the Sleeves.
- Groups: All
- Date: U.C. 0096 02 13
- Summary: What's happening above the Earth? Is it safe to travel in space?
It's taken a few days to come together, but media reports across the Earth Sphere are reporting on a series of attacks that took place in and around Luna space - attacks allegedly attributed to, once again, remnants of the long-gone Principality of Zeon.
Facts differ, but the main thrust of the stories details two main incidents. The first involves a cargo ship destroyed with the loss of all hands, with the culprit allegedly being traceable to Zeon remnant forces. The second and more well-detailed incident concerns an attack on a Mao Industries factory on the Lunar surface outside Copernicus City, in which the attackers managed to briefly capture and ransack the facility before withdrawing.
Federation sources largely don't share a lot of detail, but media reports, citing anonymous sources, go on to describe the attackers' calling card: Their mobile suits carry distinctive black-and-white wrist cuffs enameled with Zeon iconography. The term "the Sleeves" is pretty easy to get to from there.
A few additional reports go further: Again citing anonymous sources, the media report that the attack on the Mao facility was led by a peculiar lilac mobile suit with a design consistent with Zeon command modeling of the Second Neo-Zeon War. The reports connect this attack to a sighting of a similar mobile suit in earlier attacks at Frontier Seven and off the Orbital Ring. The sources connect the unit to a pilot known only by the appellation "the Lilac Gale of Mars."
Taken together, the media parse the events as evidence that space travelers could be at risk. Pundits largely agree that the legacy of the Zabis is long dead - an opinion expressed even by pundits from the actual Republic of Zeon - and describe these attacks broadly as the last gasp of dead-enders fighting yesteryear's war. Yet there's still a worry about dangers to space travellers.
One of the most disturbing reports, however, concerns a rumour circulating among some Federal Forces.
A report of a distinctive red mobile suit that appeared a month earlier.