Inside the Columbus Colony Satellite, Zala walked briskly while operating a tablet computer.
From Athrun's perspective, he could roughly see that this female ZAFT officer named Zala was looking at the parameters of the modified Mass-produced Prototype Zaku.
However, when Zala reached the door of a room at the end of a corridor, she didn't go in. Instead, she drew a gun from her waist, aimed it at the ventilation duct where Athrun was hiding, and said with a smile, "Friend, you've been following me all this way. Isn't it time you came down for a chat? Are you planning to watch me change if you go any further?"
Seeing he was exposed, Athrun decisively pressed a button in his pocket. This Colony Satellite didn't have a Neutron Jammer. Once Hong Long, waiting outside, received the signal, its Artificial Intelligence would come to his rescue.
After doing this, Athrun kicked open the vent cover and jumped down. Relying on the bulletproof vest under his clothes to withstand the bullets, he also raised his pistol and said, "If I were you, I wouldn't force me out in a place like this when you're all alone."
Zala could now see Athrun's face behind his helmet visor. She smiled with exceptional brilliance. "People who bait their hooks for fishing are usually prepared to go home empty-handed. I didn't expect to catch such a big fish today. Athrun Zala, are you working for Reid Isaac now?"
Hearing this, Athrun wasn't surprised. The analysis report Reid had given him had already stated that this discovery was too coincidental and seemed guided by someone, so it was normal for it to be a self-directed setup.
Thus, Athrun decided to play along and asked directly, "Fishing? The Mass-produced Prototype Zakus here are real. And you do have dealings with those people who are disrupting the peace in my father's name, don't you?"
Zala was more cautious than he had imagined. She denied it outright. "Don't talk nonsense. The Mass-produced Prototype Zakus are real, but we have indeed removed their Anti-Neutron Jammers. You have no say in how these Mobile Suits are modified next, since you're no longer the son of a National Defense Committee member. Or rather, even with your former status, you wouldn't have the authority to question this matter.
"However, since you've trespassed on a ZAFT base, shouldn't you accompany me to the interrogation room for a chat? Out of respect for your former status, I can refrain from using violence."
After speaking, Zala opened the door behind her, and two guards armed with rifles rushed out. At the same time, two similarly armed men ran out from the corridor behind Athrun, surrounding him.
Seeing Zala's flawless words and that he was now caught between enemies, Athrun admitted to himself that he had indeed stumbled a little. But it wasn't a big problem. At that moment, red alerts suddenly blared throughout the entire base.
Zala's tablet also sounded a warning. Seeing this, she retreated behind the two soldiers, then picked up the tablet to look. She asked with a smile, "Strike Gundam? Is that your backup? Is Kira Yamato inside?"
The moment Athrun heard the warning was triggered by a Strike Gundam, he knew this wasn't part of Reid's plan. Besides, Kira was piloting the Strike Gundam now.
So Athrun also replied with a smile, "If I were you, I'd retreat back into that room and lock the door tight right now. I'll remember you. I hope you can tell me about my father's former subordinates next time we meet."
Just as Athrun's voice fell, an unusually sharp and piercing sound came from the corridor behind him, and a giant cutting claw extended inside.
It blocked the path of the two soldiers behind Athrun and also caused the air inside the Colony Satellite to rush violently out into space.
Zala now understood what Athrun meant by telling her to retreat into the room and lock the door. The Mechanical Claw extending from the outside was currently plugging the breach. If it retracted, the immense pressure difference would instantly suck everyone here into space. At that point, without a Space Suit, she would die in seconds.
Not wanting to die, Zala didn't hesitate and rushed into the room behind her with her soldiers, sealing the door shut.
As for Athrun, as Hong Long's claw retracted, he was naturally sucked into space. He then used a magnetic grappling hook to pull himself back to Hong Long's cockpit and got inside.
After starting up the Mobile Suit, Athrun saw a Strike Gundam outside already fighting a Mass-produced Prototype Zaku. It seemed that was the Mobile Suit the female ZAFT officer had mentioned.
At this point, Athrun had basically figured out ZAFT's intentions.
They had indeed leaked the information about this base on purpose, with the clear objective of capturing two of Reid's intelligence network agents.
Evidently, Reid's still-unknown intelligence network was making ZAFT lose sleep, so they threw out a bait that Reid couldn't possibly ignore.
In reality, apart from its strange location, everything about this base was legal and compliant on the surface. At most, one could say it was in a neutral zone where security wasn't guaranteed.
But in truth, how could the security here not be guaranteed? With 47 of the newest Mobile Suits, even if some had their Outer Armor partially replaced, you couldn't break through at this point in time without bringing a whole fleet.
Also, this was a ZAFT base, after all. Even if it was an unofficial secret base, it was still a base.
Soon, twelve Mass-produced Prototype Zakus poured out of the base, raising their Beam Rifles to surround Hong Long. Clearly, that female ZAFT officer had no intention of letting Athrun go so easily.
And Athrun, in fact, had no intention of just leaving either.
Although these Mobile Suits were being handled in a legal and compliant manner, he already knew they were likely intended for those terrorists. What more was there to say? Of course, he would destroy them before leaving.
ZAFT wanted to have its cake and eat it too. He was the fish, and these Mobile Suits about to be sold were the bear's paw. Well, if I kill your bear and smash the paw, you'll get nothing.
However, Athrun knew that the New Misurugi Kingdom's main forces were not suited for a direct assault on this base, as it was highly likely they wouldn't be able to catch the Zala Faction hardliners in the act.
So, Athrun began flashing a light signal with the signal lamp on the Mobile Suit's tail, as originally planned.
At this moment, Neil, hiding among the meteorites around the Colony Satellite, saw the light signal, skillfully activated sniper mode, and muttered to himself, "This feeling is so familiar. Just support, no assault needed? Fine by me. Haro, please prepare the ballistic parameter modifications."
After speaking, Neil fired a beam that instantly destroyed a Mass-produced Prototype Zaku behind Hong Long. Then, before anyone could react, a second beam shot out, downing another one.
Now all the Mass-produced Prototype Zakus knew there was a Mobile Suit sniping nearby. They fired a few random shots to force Hong Long to defend, then quickly began irregular movements to evade potential sniper fire.
Unfortunately for them, Neil's sniping ability was not something that simple irregular movements could dodge. Soon, two more Mobile Suits were sniped and shot down.
However, this also exposed the Dark Hunter Gundam's position. The remaining eight Mass-produced Prototype Zakus surrounding Hong Long immediately split off four to charge toward the Dark Hunter.
Yet Athrun wasn't about to let these Mobile Suits charge his ally so easily.
The Mass-produced Prototype Zakus here were all using GuAIZ Beam Rifles. The Electromagnetic Armor could withstand beams of this power.
So the ten beam rifle shots from before were basically just giving Hong Long a shower.
And now, of the four Mass-produced Prototype Zakus charging the Dark Hunter Gundam, two were sent flying by the High Vibration Cutting Wings, one was knocked away by a tail whip from the Mobile Suit, and the last one had its waist grabbed and crushed by a beam claw, causing it to explode.
However, the three Mass-produced Prototype Zakus that were knocked away quickly recovered their posture. It was clear that these three were Mobile Suits that had not yet had their armor replaced. Against Phase Shift Armor, the High Vibration Cutting Wings needed a sustained period of attack to cause damage without the assistance of Plasma or a beam.
But Athrun only needed to stop the enemy from charging their sniper.
Neil had been preparing to change position or even switch to melee mode, but he suddenly realized his teammate this time seemed exceptionally reliable. He began to complain about his old teammate, "So this is the sense of security you get with a competent front-liner. Not bad, not bad. Setsuna still needs more practice."
Then, as he spoke, two more Mass-produced Prototype Zakus were shot down.
In just two exchanges, the twelve Mass-produced Prototype Zakus that had surrounded Hong Long had lost more than half their number, with only five left struggling to survive.
On the other side of the battle, Courtney Hieronymus and Sven Cal Bayan were a bit dumbfounded watching the fight over by Hong Long. What was going on over there? One Mobile Suit was surrounded by twelve, and in two exchanges, it had counter-killed seven with the help of a teammate?
At this point, the ZAFT forces in the Napoleon Colony could clearly not accept such losses. They immediately sent out a return signal, ordering the MS to return to base.
Hong Long also received a Laser Communication from the ZAFT base. An adult male voice said, "Athrun Zala, leave at once. Don't forget you were once part of ZAFT. Your father sacrificed his life for PLANT, and was even nailed to a pillar of shame."
To be honest, hearing these words still pained Athrun's heart, but he immediately suppressed the hesitation in his mind and replied, "It is for that very reason that I cannot stand by and watch the hard-won peace be destroyed by people acting in my father's name."
Then, the person on the other end of the line just sneered and said, "Hmph, how can there be peace when the hatred has not ended? Why don't you take a look at the situation in the PLANT Colony cluster of Sextilis City in August before you say that? The world has never been at peace. We must possess weapons sufficient for self-preservation.
"Rest assured, this base will be abandoned immediately. These Mass-produced Prototype Zakus will all be sent back to the homeland.
"If you still don't believe me, I'll have no choice but to call in the fleet from the Armory (a PLANT colony in the new L4 city). Things will get out of hand then."
Hearing this, Athrun knew that this was as far as they could go today. If the ZAFT forces here really called in a fleet, the Earth Alliance forces in L4 (mainly the troops of the East Asian Republic from the rebuilt Nova Colony) would inevitably take action as well. The situation would become tense, and a misstep could truly become the spark for a war.
So Athrun said no more, turned Hong Long around, and left. The gains from this operation were sufficient anyway. He had confirmed that a female ZAFT officer named Zala was a liaison for the Zala Faction hardliners. The next step was to slowly investigate along this line.
Since Athrun's Hong Long had left, Sven wasn't stupid. He knew there were multiple MS in the opposing colony, and to fight them head-on would be foolish. He wasn't the pilot of that Dragon-type MS; fighting one Mass-produced Prototype Zaku was already an even match for him. If the enemy sent a few more Mobile Suits to surround him, he would be dead for sure.
Thus, the Strike Gundam E-Type IWSP forced back the Mass-produced Prototype Zaku it was fighting and also turned to flee.
As for the mission, Sven figured he would just report it as it happened. ZAFT deploying multiple MS in this neutral Colony Satellite would definitely attract the attention of his superiors.
And so, the battle at the Napoleon Colony Satellite ended with a bang but ended in a whimper.
However, while the armed conflict had ended, the political one was just beginning.
After receiving the message Athrun sent back, Reid had an "I knew it" expression. Sending Athrun to do this was the right choice. If it had been someone else, that Zala might have just given the order to open fire instead of chatting a bit more with Athrun.
After all, this woman was the assassin who, in the original story, tried to assassinate Lacus, leading to Meer Campbell's death.
But the problem now was that Reid had to ensure this batch of Mass-produced Prototype Zakus didn't end up in the hands of the Zala Faction hardliners and cause trouble for him.
Of course, accusing ZAFT of being entangled with these terrorists was meaningless now. Without evidence, it would just turn into a squabble.
Thus, Reid went directly to the PLANT ambassador to the New Misurugi Kingdom. With a murderous aura, he stated that he had heard PLANT intended to sell its most elite mass-produced test units to a scrap dealer. That was too wasteful. The New Misurugi Kingdom was willing to purchase them at the original price, guaranteeing that their nation would not suffer a loss.
The PLANT ambassador to the New Misurugi Kingdom was baffled by Reid's question. Only after making inquiries did he learn that it was something ZAFT had cooked up back home. Lacking the authority to make any promises, he could only say he would go back and ask.
However, while Reid's inquiry was very gentle, the Atlantic Federation was not so polite.
When Sven returned and reported the intelligence, the Atlantic Federation immediately and publicly called out PLANT, demanding to know what was going on with the ZAFT base in that Abandoned Colony Satellite, and even dispatched a fleet there.
But PLANT was also prepared. They stated that it was a secret factory for disposing of Anti-Neutron Jammers, and the Mobile Suits were transported there for the convenience of dumping them in the nearby debris belt.
Of course, Reid backhandedly and quietly leaked the fact that these Mobile Suits were actually being prepared for sale to a scrap dealer.
The PLANT Supreme Council was unaware of this matter, as it was an operation secretly hinted at by Durandal.
But since the Mobile Suits hadn't been sold yet, ZAFT could deny it in every way possible.
But Reid had achieved his goal. It was now impossible to secretly sell these Mobile Suits to a scrap dealer. The moment a scrap dealer dared to accept them, the Earth Alliance and the New Misurugi Kingdom would be at their door to "politely" buy them back.
These were, after all, PLANT's most elite experimental machines, and they still held value for disassembly and research.
Of course, if ZAFT didn't sell them to a scrap dealer, and these Mobile Suits still flowed into the hands of the Zala Faction hardliners, ZAFT would no longer be able to shift the blame.
The people of PLANT weren't stupid. With this matter now widely known, everyone understood what it would mean if the Mobile Suits still ended up with terrorists. If they played it that way, Durandal's perfect victim status would be gone.
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