Nein didn't refute Reid's words, calmly stating that she naturally needed time to analyze the technology before designing a new Mobile Suit.
Reid sensed Nein's emotions and detected no negative feelings like disappointment, proving she truly wasn't planning to design her own Mobile Suit yet. So he patted her little head and went to arrange work for Kirst Mosjous.
Just as Reid had expected, when Kirst Mosjous saw the Epyon System inside the Epyon Gundam, he showed tremendous interest and immediately entered work mode.
Seeing this, Reid withdrew from Kirst Mosjous' laboratory and had people monitor his experiments.
He specifically reminded the support staff to watch out for any unauthorized human experiments with special systems. All his experiments must be conducted under supervision to prevent him from driving too many pilots insane and tarnishing the research institute's reputation.
After finishing these tasks, Reid first went out and bought a large amount of chocolates and other sweets, along with flowers to give to girls.
That evening, Reid used these sweets and flowers to create some romantic moments with his wives, making Noin and Murrue laugh happily.
Of course, Ange knew that Reid's sudden inspiration might be because he thought he still needed to appease her about the Nein situation.
So, although she wasn't really angry anymore, Ange still pretended to need comforting, arguing that becoming a queen didn't mean she was no longer a little princess.
Unfortunately, Ange only knew part of the story.
While Reid did buy many things to please his wives, he intentionally purchased extra - not quite enough for a full portion, but sufficient to please someone else.
Naturally, the person Reid wanted to comfort privately wasn't in Star Palace City, nor even in the CE Universe. He just wanted to see if he could coax Haman to avoid fighting immediately upon meeting.
So the next day, Reid quietly took the extra items to the Factory Module, boarded the Hermes Zero, and directly entered UC0123, the Border 4 Colony Satellite Defense Battle.
UC0123, the Border 4 Colony Satellite Defense Battle - the initial battle from the Gundam F91 movie where no powerful enemies appeared, making it suitable for solo travel.
Reid's actual target was the F91 Gundam, and he particularly disliked the Rona family's so-called "space aristocracy" theory, so he entered without aligning with any faction.
This time, the system directly dropped Reid in a forest within the Colony Satellite. With no combat reactions around, it seemed the Border 4 Colony Satellite battle hadn't started yet.
So Reid activated the Hermes Zero's Electronic Camouflage System, becoming invisible while waiting in place.
However, Reid wasn't waiting to ambush the protagonist Mobile Suits from both sides, but rather anticipating Haman's possible arrival.
To be honest, after entering this world and seeing that the mission's protagonist units were Dorell Rona's XM-04 Bellg Dallas and Sibuk Arno's F50D Guntank R-44, Reid completely lost interest.
The former was worth 20 Merit Points, the latter only 5 Merit Points. Just looking at the point values showed how lowly the system rated these two.
It must be said that by the year UC0123, while Mobile Suit performance may have seen slight improvements, the overall combat effectiveness of the Earth Federation had significantly declined compared to the period between UC0093 and UC0100.
By this time, the Earth Federation was rotting to its core. The main forces defending the four border Colony Satellites consisted of various minor modifications of the RGM-89 Jegan - the primary grunt unit from the Second Neo Zeon War - along with the Earth Federation's earliest mass-produced small-scale Mobile Suits: the RGM-109 Heavygun and F71G Cannon.
In essence, all these units followed the same logic: cost reduction.
The Minovsky reactors of this era provided substantial output even for mass-produced machines, making each unit quite powerful in terms of raw energy.
However, none of these units were equipped with Beam Shields.
Although UC Beam Shields utilize I-Field technology, they employ the same principles as Beam Sabers and cannot compare to CE Beam Shields in defensive capability. Still, they were impervious to outdated units like the Jegan with virtually unmodified weaponry.
(CE Beam Shields with sufficient energy can withstand Positron Cannons, while UC Beam Shields cannot even block High-Energy Particle Cannons - even standard Beam Rifles with enhanced particle penetration can breach them.
Of course, their energy consumption isn't comparable either. CE Beam Shields require enormous energy and can only be equipped on Custom Machines.
UC Beam Shields use I-Fields to contain Plasma formation, consuming minimal energy, allowing even mass-produced units to equip them. Their primary function is to deflect solid ammunition with high-temperature Plasma and block lower-output Beam weapons using the same principle as Beam Saber clashes.
But! UC lore establishes that the most effective counter to Beam Shields a century later would be large rockets, claiming that explosions can tear through the thin layer of I-Field and Plasma, with subsequent shrapnel effectively damaging the Beam Shield generator to achieve shield break.)
Thus, after miniaturizing their Mobile Suits, the Federation pursued a single goal: repeatedly reducing armor and weight to enhance mobility.
Except for the UC0093 batch of Jegans that couldn't be lightened and instead received additional armor, subsequent Heavygun units had their weight compressed to under 10 tons.
This directly resulted in these units becoming as fragile as paper. Even so, none of the Federation units stationed at the four border colonies were equipped with Beam Shields.
Meanwhile, veterans who survived the One Year War would be around sixty by now, long since discharged. Even if still serving, they wouldn't be common soldiers at the border colonies.
Therefore, the current Federation garrison consisted mostly of soldiers from the past decade, many without combat experience. Their Mobile Suit piloting skills were consequently predictable.
As everyone knows, for rookies experiencing their first battle, giving them a sturdy Shield would improve survival rates far more than installing an extra thruster on their backs.
Thus, it's hardly surprising that in the early stages of the story, the Federation forces in the border colony clusters were completely dominated by Cosmo Babylon.
That said, Reid's assessment didn't consider Cosmo Babylon particularly formidable either.
Frankly, if not for their superior machine performance, these guys would have been cannon fodder if placed in the UC0079-UC0100 era. This is evident from how they were defeated by a single F91 Gundam, while struggling in protracted battles against the Earth Federation's rookie soldiers defending the border colonies.
It's important to understand that the F91 Mobile Suit technology at this stage was far from complete—it was purely a prototype. The MEPE (Metal Peel Effect), which created mass-like afterimages during inertial movement, might appear impressive but was actually a design flaw. Sustained use would cause significant mass loss in the Mobile Suit, potentially leading to armor failure—no laughing matter.
Moreover, this feature placed enormous strain on logistics support, making it more trouble than it was worth. Consequently, the function was entirely removed from the mass-produced F91 models.
In short, being defeated by an unfinished Mobile Suit led Reid to seriously question the Cosmic Babylon's actual combat capabilities. This directly diminished his interest in the ongoing battle. After coordinating with Haman, he planned to casually eliminate one protagonist Mobile Suit before heading straight to Frontier I to seize the F91.
However, even if Reid slacked off, the war would continue. About five minutes later, Reid detected abnormal vibrations in the Colony Satellite. Three minutes after that, a hole appeared in the satellite's outer wall. The Death Vanguard, under Cosmic Babylon's command, began their invasion with the goal of eliminating the Federation garrison and seizing full control of the Colony Satellite.
Yet Reid paid no attention to these developments. His Hermes Zero, activated with the Electronic Camouflage System, remained hidden in a forest area devoid of military structures or other Mobile Suits. Since no Mobile Suit would specifically target random woodlands for destruction, any passing units simply flew overhead without detecting the Hermes Zero below.
Approximately ten minutes later, as explosions within the Colony Satellite intensified, a system-transmission-like glow suddenly appeared before Reid, materializing into a Qubeley.
Without hesitation, Reid launched a frontal assault, immediately seizing the Qubeley's shoulder armor, then opening a one-way communication channel:
"Haman, we need to talk."
Truth be told, Haman had anticipated traps beneath her landing point or long-range sniper fire after teleportation, but she never expected Reid to simply be waiting for her on the spot.
By the time Haman registered the movement in front of her, her Qubeley was already captured, the two Mobile Suits standing face to face.
Feeling Reid's familiar psychic wavelength, Haman sighed resignedly:
"Such an aggressive man. Fine, let's step out and talk. By the way, Reid, don't tell me you're afraid to exit your Mobile Suit?"
Having said this, Haman proactively opened her cockpit and emerged.
Under normal circumstances, Reid would never leave his cockpit, but with Haman having exited first, he had no choice but to follow suit.
Since the two Mobile Suits were pressed against each other, their opened cockpits placed them so close they could practically jump into each other's compartments.
Reid remained in full combat readiness with his spacesuit, whereas Haman wore neither a spacesuit nor her signature Neo Zeon commander's headdress, instead dressed in casual home attire.
Judging by her appearance, both her height and figure had matured—likely recruited by Amelias many years after his unexplained departure.
While Reid observed Haman, she was equally studying him. Noting how he gripped his firearm and wore a helmet that obscured his face, she remarked with slight sarcasm:
"Reid, I don't know how long it's been for you since we last met. But it must have been considerable time. Is it really necessary to be so hostile when we see each other?"
Reid's response was chillingly detached as he stated:
"Haman, you know I wouldn't casually put myself in danger."
Upon hearing this, Haman let out a self-mocking laugh.
"So you're saying I'm a dangerous woman?"
However, Haman could actually sense Reid's wariness, so she removed her earrings and necklace, tossing them all into the woods below the Mobile Suit.
She then openly took out her pistol and spare pistol, similarly discarding them into the woods below.
After finishing, Haman said with a provocative expression:
"Alright, Reid, I've thrown away everything on me that might make you suspicious. Are you still going to keep up this act? Or do I need to stand naked before you for you to let down your so-called guard?"
Seeing this, Reid naturally lowered his pistol, though unlike Haman, he didn't discard it outright. Instead, he holstered it back, then removed his helmet and said:
"Haman, it's really been a long time."
Seeing that Reid was willing to greet her properly, Haman began to mock him:
"Long time no see? Back then, you definitely left thinking we'd never meet again. Don't say I'm not giving you a chance—explain to me now why you left without saying goodbye back then.
Don't tell me you couldn't take me with you. If Amelias could do it, why couldn't you?"
Reid didn't think there was any reason to hide this question and replied directly:
"Indeed, I couldn't do it. There are only two ways for me to take someone with me:
First, I must obtain the person's consent, and they must clearly understand that from then on, they will be subordinate to me, with their life and everything else tied to me.
Second, the recruit dies, agrees to the first condition after death, and is then resurrected by my side.
Clearly, you didn't meet either of those conditions back then."So, back then, you judged that I would never go with you, so you didn't bother entangling with me and just ran away?"
Reid could feel that Haman held deep resentment toward him for running away, so he bowed in apology:
"I'm sorry, I admit it. Leaving directly despite sensing your feelings for me was irresponsible.
But back then, I truly thought it would be better to make a clean break and disappear than to have us either become involved or have a huge fight and turn against each other before I vanished."
Seeing Reid apologize, most of Haman's anger subsided. After all, she knew well whether she would have accepted Reid's recruitment back then—Reid's judgment hadn't been wrong.
But the latter part of his words reignited the anger she had just suppressed, making her wish he had let her get closure through a big argument before disappearing.
So Haman leaped right in front of Reid, grabbed his pilot suit, and pulled him close to her face, saying angrily:
"You made a clean break, but what about me? Do you know how many years I searched for you? Three years! A full three years! I looked for you after replacing the Earth Federation, and I looked for you after the Zeon revivalist rebels were suppressed.
After I became the de facto ruler of the Earth Sphere, I wasn't happy at all. I kept hoping you'd reappear to share my burdens.
But it turns out you, Reid, are just some lofty time-space traveler, and I'm just one stop on your journey. You changed my Destiny and then just walked away—how could you be so irresponsible?!"
Haman's words were spoken with tears welling in her eyes, her emotions so intense that she pulled Reid into a telepathic state, showing him all the memories of her search for him.
Reid now felt genuinely guilty, as he discovered that Haman had even begun praying later on, expressing her willingness to give up everything to find him.
Yet the one who responded to her was Amelias, which was why she was now filled with such grief and anger.
Knowing that anything he said would be wrong, Reid tried to change the subject, saying,
"I'm sorry, all I can do now is apologize. By the way, Haman, don't get so worked up. Would you like some dessert to calm down?"
As he spoke, Reid slightly shifted his position, allowing Haman to see the chocolate and Sumeragi inside the cockpit.
Upon seeing this, even though she was still seething with anger, Haman realized that Reid had anticipated she would be recruited by Amelias and had prepared an apology gift in advance. She felt that this man at least had the right attitude about apologizing.
So her emotions quickly stabilized, but she still said with a cold expression,
"You don't think a box of chocolate and a bouquet of flowers will let you off the hook, do you?"
Reid certainly knew Haman wouldn't be so easily appeased, but before he could say another word to coax her, a sudden wave of malice descended from above.
Since the Qubeley had no stealth system, the Hermes Zero had also revealed itself after seizing the Qubeley.
While Reid and Haman were talking, the Death Vanguard naturally noticed this suddenly appearing Mobile Suit.
Because the Hermes Zero closely resembled the Earth Federation's Delta Gundam, it was immediately mistaken for an Earth Federation MS, and they raised their guns and opened fire.
(End of Chapter)