The Dawn Company's new Mobile Suit unveiling ceremony was a great success. Kira's MS piloting skills were leagues ahead of a certain "2000-time man," so there was absolutely no chance of a mishap.
This was true even though the Mobile Suits acting as opponents for the Strike Gundam were two MVF-M11C Murasame units still in the testing phase.
Reid was actually a bit surprised to see the Murasame appear at this point in time. According to his intelligence, these two Mobile Suits were failed test units. A total of three Murasame test units had been produced, but they failed due to issues with their frame strength. High-speed aerial transformations could easily cause damage to the frame's transforming sections, which was how the first test unit had been lost.
Therefore, Reid figured the Dawn Company was planning to make the most of these two test units. After all, their frames would be scrapped after a few more transformations anyway. It was better to have them serve as opponents for the Strike Gundam, allowing them to be shot down for a final use while also showcasing the Dawn Company's pilot protection systems and excellent transformation performance. The audience, of course, wouldn't know about the major issues with the Mobile Suit frames.
With Kira's skills, there was no risk of an accident like hitting the cockpit while aiming for the thrusters. Furthermore, the Murasame units were piloted by Asagi and Mayura, two of Orb's "three young aces" whose futures Reid had changed, allowing them to survive the first war. They were now veteran pilots, so putting on a show would be no problem for them.
And so, during the unveiling ceremony, Orb put on a spectacular display of its technology. First, the two Murasame units engaged the Strike Gundam in aerial combat, with the Murasame on the offensive and the Strike Gundam on the defensive, using live ammunition.
It could only be said that even with Asagi and Mayura giving it their all, constantly using various technical maneuvers and switching between MA and MS modes, it was completely impossible for them to land a hit on Kira, whose Mobile Suit was far superior in performance.
Throughout the entire fight, the only hits landed were two Anti-ship Missiles, their power greatly reduced, which struck the Strike Gundam according to the script. This was a deliberate move by Kira to demonstrate the VPS Armor's variable capabilities, with the missiles only producing a large explosion.
However, because it was a real fight, the scene was truly spectacular. Those in the know could also discern the performance differences between the three Mobile Suits.
When Kira calculated that the two test Murasames were about to have problems if they transformed again, he launched a sudden attack, slicing off the wing of one test unit with a single sword strike to shoot it down. He then used his Beam Rifle's submachine gun mode to force the other Murasame to reposition, before switching to sniper mode and taking out its wing with a single shot, downing the second one.
Both Murasame units had incorporated a cockpit escape system based on the Union Flag's. When the Mobile Suits went down, their cockpits ejected, transforming into small aircraft that flew directly back to the training grounds. (This wasn't a Core Fighter system, but more like the UC's spherical cockpit ejection, except this cockpit was rectangular and could be modified to unfold wings for a short flight.)
Since only the wings were hit, the two Murasame units didn't explode upon hitting the sea and could be salvaged later to recover some of their materials.
After the unveiling ceremony, all participants—except for Durandal, who was with Reid—received a confidential price list detailing the military hardware the Dawn Company had for sale.
But on the last line of the lists held by the front-line arms dealers for the major powers, the words "Independently Developed Minovsky Particle Fusion Reactor" were conspicuously written.
This line was written in volatile ink. Once the price list was opened, the words would disappear after about ten seconds. If you didn't see it, it meant it wasn't meant to be.
However, it was impossible for anyone who came to the Dawn Company today not to see that line immediately. To them, the three keywords "Nuclear Fusion Reactor" were more eye-catching than a naked white woman in a crowd of large Black men.
Moreover, the use of volatile ink clearly indicated that Orb was planning to sell them secretly, behind the New Misurugi Kingdom's back, and thus couldn't leave any evidence.
The people who received the special lists exchanged glances, and after confirming through eye contact that only a select few had this item on their lists, they were inwardly bursting with joy.
They knew Orb wouldn't deliberately toy with so many major clients. It seemed this grand new Mobile Suit unveiling was also intended as a secret gathering to discuss business.
This was, of course, all a setup by Reid. After confirming that the intended people had seen the list, Reid tactfully led Durandal to a secret conference room to meet Lacus and Athrun, then promptly left Orb.
That's right, Reid had no intention of listening in on the conversation between Durandal, Lacus, and Athrun.
Lacus was no longer in her original state of seclusion; she was exceptionally active on the international stage. There was no way Durandal could find a double to borrow her influence for his own platform like in the original story.
As for Athrun, he was now in charge of some of Terminal's intelligence. He wouldn't be as easily fooled as in the original story, because he would genuinely investigate Durandal's entire family history before making a decision.
(However, at this stage, Durandal was still genuinely innocent. He likely only contacted the extremist Zala Faction members after being re-elected as Chairman in C.E. 73 and replacing most of the Supreme Council, aside from the military committee members, with his own people. Otherwise, given the nature of the extremist Zala Faction, they would not have waited so long to act.)
Of course, Reid didn't really care if Durandal actually managed to trick Lacus and Athrun into returning to PLANT. The two of them were the type to turn against him the moment they saw his version of the Destiny Plan. After all, when it came to turning traitor, it was a matter of "once bitten, twice shy" for them.
As for Durandal's safety? From a procedural standpoint, he was now on an official visit to Orb.
Reid made it clear that he was only there to attend the Dawn Company's new Mobile Suit unveiling ceremony. The subsequent handover ceremony and Durandal's itinerary had nothing to do with him.
Besides, wouldn't Reid's departure make it easier for Orb to fleece its customers? Durandal would surely buy a few Minovsky Particle Fusion Reactors to take back with him upon learning that Orb had "independently developed" them. The money paid to PLANT for high-precision industrial equipment would then come right back.
It was worth noting that while the Minovsky Particle Fusion Reactors Reid gave Orb were old models from UC 0079, they were of the specification used by the original Gundam, not the Zaku II.
(I won't write down the specific power output. The power figures for UC Minovsky Reactors are all over the place. Looking at just the anime and official movies, up to the V2 Gundam, the one with the highest output was surprisingly the Enhanced ZZ at 7860KW. The Freedom Gundam's fission reactor has an official rating of 8826KW. By the time of the Strike Freedom, the officials realized the power figures were off and didn't dare to list them. So, we'll assume here that the Z-era Minovsky Reactor's output is slightly lower than the Freedom's, and the later ZZ's surpasses Freedom's fission reactor.)
Although the original Gundam's reactor output was far lower than the Freedom Gundam's fission reactor, this was because the I-Field, while confining the nuclear fusion reaction, also limited the output, similar to trying to propel a sailboat with an electric fan.
Later in the Universal Century, as they gradually mastered the I-Field and came up with creative applications, they progressively solved this problem and unleashed the full potential of the nuclear fusion reactor.
Reid wasn't afraid that others would develop their own nuclear fusion reactors and steal his business, or stop buying new ones, after discovering that the I-Field could confine nuclear fusion.
This was because, in the eyes of other nations, the mystery of the terrifying Beam Cannon on the Hermes Zero was now solved. It was the immense power output of nuclear fusion that allowed a Mobile Suit-sized machine to fire such a terrifying beam.
Therefore, once they discovered that the Minovsky Particle's special field could confine nuclear fusion reactions, they would know they were on the right path. The current output being far lower than nuclear fission was just a matter of technical hurdles yet to be overcome.
This was also why Orb didn't say a word when they received the Z-era reactors and found their output was slightly less than the Freedom's reactor.
Orb had certainly discovered the I-Field by now, but the output of the reactors they first tried to replicate was probably even lower than a Zaku II's.
With even Orb in this situation, other nations would continue to buy reactors from Orb even as they tried to figure out what the problem was.
So, there was no worry about the sales of the reactors the New Misurugi Kingdom gave to Orb.
Because while the Minovsky Particle Fusion Reactors Reid provided to Orb wouldn't explode if disassembled while inactive, only heaven knew what would happen if one was reassembled and forcibly started. If a fusion reaction were to leak, only the organization that dismantled the reactor would know how many people would die in the explosion.
In any case, when Orb sold the reactors, they would surely give a thousand warnings not to assume a dismantled reactor could be used again after being put back together. For such a high-precision device, even a crack invisible to the naked eye could lead to disaster. Orb would certainly not take responsibility if something happened.
At that point, the organizations and nations that dismantled the reactors and still learned nothing would definitely buy more, allowing for another round of fleecing.
Three days after Reid returned, Orb sent over the sales figures for the Minovsky Particle Fusion Reactors.
The first batch of 20 reactors had all been sold, each for over 5 billion. Furthermore, upon hearing the news, other nations and organizations had already placed remote orders for over 200 more, with many people flying directly to Orb.
However, other nations could roughly guess the manufacturing speed of these reactors with a little research. The Dawn Company believed that producing 30 to 40 units in six months was a reasonable range. The price would also decrease over time, eventually stabilizing at around 1 billion if other nations' technology didn't advance.
If there was a technological breakthrough, the price of more advanced reactors would actually be lower, because others would have grasped the technological iteration process.
To be honest, a fund of 100 billion was not that much on a national scale; it could be spent in a flash.
But the arms trade was indeed incredibly profitable. These reactors weren't purchased by Reid from the system but were manufactured in Star Palace City's surface factories. The cost of one unit was just over a million, which meant a 5000-fold profit.
Even when selling more advanced reactors in the future, the cost wouldn't increase by much. Other nations, lacking the manufacturing processes from a hundred years into the Universal Century that Reid possessed, would inevitably have high manufacturing costs. They couldn't compete with him in a price war.
Reid could even sell them for less than his own production cost and still make a profit.
Moreover, this was not Reid's only method of fleecing them.
After Nanai Miguel met with Lacus and returned, she obediently followed Reid's instructions and took over the Iron-Blooded Orphans universe's Nanomachine Medical Bay project. Once she made some progress, she would announce to the world, under her own name, that the New Misurugi Kingdom had achieved a breakthrough in limb regeneration technology.
At that point, the Therapy Bays for treating common injuries could be rolled out. This would be a pure gold money tree. Whether it was renting out standard Medical Pods that could rapidly heal common physical injuries or charging the wealthy exorbitant fees for advanced Medical Pods capable of limb regeneration, it would be immensely profitable, and the business would be endless.
As for the problem of other nations reverse-engineering them, all Reid could say was that if they could reverse-engineer the nano-medical technology from the IBO universe from a standard Medical Pod, he would be truly impressed.
In any case, Reid himself wasn't confident that Star Palace City's surface factories could produce the advanced Medical Pods. Even Nanai Miguel, a doctor specializing in human evolution, had to learn this information from scratch.
But the Medical Pods were for later. The world needed a month or two to digest the fact that Orb's Minovsky Particle Fusion Reactor had revealed the existence of huge technical difficulties with Minovsky Particle Fusion Reactors.
Reid wasn't worried that the other four major powers would be discouraged and give up. They knew very well that not making a breakthrough was tantamount to a slow suicide.
The New Misurugi Kingdom was already becoming too big to fail, and the other four powers could never truly unite.
When the New Misurugi Kingdom's industrial strength increased, its energy advantage would become exceptionally obvious. They would then have to consider whether to surrender and lose only half, or die with more dignity.
Since the matters concerning PLANT and Orb were settled, Reid had to start preparing for his assessment mission.
He needed to use the mission during the civil unrest in the Azadistan Kingdom to meet Alejandro Corner and Ribbons Almark. He also had to find an opportunity to return the rebuilt Gundam Virtue to the Innovators.
And this time, Reid planned to bring Tekkadan along.
According to Belfgang, Tekkadan had now learned to obey orders without question and no longer acted like a militia that ignored commands.
Reid actually agreed with Belfgang's assessment. The last time he went to see the members of Tekkadan, everyone's loyalty had surpassed 60. In this situation, as long as Reid himself didn't do anything that extremely violated Tekkadan's moral code, their loyalty wouldn't waver easily.
Since he was bringing Tekkadan, he would definitely have to prepare Mobile Suits for them, as he didn't have any Mobile Suits equipped with the Alaya-Vijnana System.
However, Biscuit and Nady (whose legs had been restored by an advanced Medical Pod) were logistics personnel and didn't need Mobile Suits.
Eugene's talent lay in commanding warships, so he wouldn't be going this time. He would stay behind to study warship command under Grodek Ainoa.
As for Belfgang, his current personal unit was the Mysterious Lightning, with its psychic-linked cockpit removed.
Xia Yulan's personal unit had been switched to the Blade Angel, which Reid had only piloted once.
This Mobile Suit was, after all, prepared for the IBO universe. Unless Reid went back to the IBO universe, he generally wouldn't pilot this machine again. If he really needed to, he would just switch to another unit.
But the Blade Angel's performance definitely surpassed the Mystic Lightning's, so it was a fitting upgrade for Xia Yulan.
Therefore, Reid needed to prepare seven Mobile Suits for Tekkadan to pilot.
Fortunately, in Reid's view, only Mikazuki, Akihiro, and Hilda needed specially built Mobile Suits. The others could just pilot Ghost Jegans, as their MS piloting talents weren't particularly strong. (Norba Shino being able to pilot a Gundam felt like a case of being the best of a bad bunch; he didn't show any particularly outstanding abilities in the original work.)
You ask why Hilda's name appeared when talking about building Mobile Suits for Tekkadan?
That was, of course, because Reid knew that if two of the newcomers in Tekkadan got new Mobile Suits this time and she didn't, Hilda would absolutely throw a fit.
Only heaven knew what she would do then. Whether she went to complain to Ange or launched a direct night raid on him, he would be the only one left in an awkward position.
So, Reid planned to take this opportunity to replace Hilda's Delta Plus. Paying to avoid trouble was the best policy.
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