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"The never-fading iron flower..."
Lacus seemed to see a group of youths wearing coats identical to Mikazuki's, each with the Iron Flower insignia on their backs. They stood on barren land, gazing longingly in a certain direction.
She turned her head to look, and a pair of pale green, icy eyes appeared above her. The battered Barbatos knelt on the ground with bent knees, a figure standing on its shoulder. Though she couldn't make out the face clearly, Lacus was certain it was Mikazuki...
Her vision blurred, and Lacus heard Hilda calling her name, pulling her back from the vision to reality. Hilda looked at Lacus worriedly. "Miss, you... why are you crying?"
"Hm? Crying?"
Lacus raised a hand and wiped her face, feeling a dampness. It turned out that her tears had unconsciously fallen when she saw that scene. She quickly wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, sniffled, and forced a smile. "No, I'm fine. I just thought of something sad. It's nothing, no need to worry."
"Is that so..."
Hilda finally relaxed, a faint smile appearing on her face. Lacus nodded, then poked her head out the window, looking at the cockpit area beneath Barbatos's head. Mikazuki saw Lacus's head emerge, gave a simple glance, and then paid no further attention.
The lack of Mikazuki's voice through the walkie-talkie made Lacus a little unhappy. She slumped back into the car, feeling deflated, while her mind kept replaying Mikazuki and Orga's words.
To survive, huh... What exactly did you go through? What's this 'space debris' all about...? And the Alaya-Vijnana System... Hilda, have you never heard of this Alaya-Vijnana System?
Hilda and her two bodyguards exchanged glances, then all shook their heads. "Never heard of it at all. Logically speaking, once such a human implant surgery appears, both the Earth Alliance Forces and our ZAFT would get intelligence on it immediately. But the PLANTs have never received intelligence on such a technology for many years. However, the appearance on Mikazuki's back is indeed something we've never seen before, and it's undoubtedly man-made. What they said should all be true."
Lacus smiled faintly. "Of course. I believe Mikazuki and the others, because there's no need for them to lie to us. The various signs, conversations, and behaviors since they appeared before us make me think that their Tekkadan had an accident; or that they themselves had an accident and lost contact with their team. Or perhaps they are visiting Earth for the first time and, similarly, cannot contact their team in space due to some accident. But no matter what, they are not enemies."
Listening to Lacus's analysis, Hilda and her two bodyguards nodded in agreement, feeling a heartfelt admiration for Lacus's wisdom.
On Barbatos.
Lacus and her subordinates' conversation was clearly heard by Orga and Mikazuki.
"Hey, hey, this young lady is really amazing. She deduced so much just from our conversation. It's very close to the truth." Mikazuki complained with a deadpan expression.
"It's all because you, Orga, revealed too much. The excuse you came up with wouldn't even convince a child," Mikazuki retorted disapprovingly.
The Iron Flower on the screen was pressed, then lit up brightly.
"Shut up!"
Orga's exasperated voice resonated loudly in the cockpit, but Mikazuki was already prepared, stuffing his ear with his comms.
"Still, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, right? Besides, we didn't lie later on. Their guard against us must have lowered now."
"That's right. In this unfamiliar place, finding a capable guide isn't easy. Our luck is pretty good. This young lady is clearly a person of great influence. For now, we'll follow her into the city and obtain some intelligence."
Mikazuki nodded, pressed the pedal, and Barbatos's legs and rear thrusters increased thrust, accelerating even more.
Half an hour later, Mikazuki finally arrived at the location Hilda had mentioned. Three different yet very inconspicuous cars were parked there. These cars were meant to pick up Lacus and the others. There was no need to explain why such inconspicuous cars were used. Mikazuki parked Barbatos in a very hidden crevice between large rocks, activating its stealth camouflage. Unless one jumped down from above, there was no way to enter. Mikazuki had specially pried open a gap for himself, large enough for him to enter and exit, and the concealment was very effective.
After everything was taken care of, Mikazuki put his headset into his pocket—this was what he used to communicate with Orga on Barbatos. He also carried a pistol and two magazines. He then walked over to the convoy. Lacus pulled Mikazuki into her car, not at all bothered by the dirt on Mikazuki's clothes. Along the way, she kept trying to strike up conversations with Mikazuki. However, Mikazuki's answers were always just 'Hmm,' 'Okay,' or 'Ah,' 'Maybe,' 'I don't know,' which made her question her own charm repeatedly.
Hilda, driving in the front, couldn't help but smile at this scene. She suddenly wondered if her young mistress had fallen for this boy. If that were the case... perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. She knew Lacus had an arranged marriage, and her fiancé was Athrun Zala, the son of Chairman Patrick Zala. The PLANTs adhered to a ridiculous decree: to improve the quality of their descendants, the PLANTs implemented marriage control, which was "excellent offspring born from excellent individuals," meaning that spouses were chosen based on genetic compatibility. This was one of the reasons why the PLANTs were divided into two factions.
Incidentally, Lacus's father was from the moderate faction, while Patrick Zala was from the radical faction. In other words, the leaders of these two warring factions had their children betrothed, which was rather amusing. Of course, everyone who understood the situation knew that this engagement was actually driven by ulterior motives, making the two young people political sacrifices.