Chapter 13: SEED – The Battle for Heliopolis
Tolle Koenig looked over the data on the Nazca-class high-speed battleship, smiling as he spoke.
"This is really nice. Once it's truly mine, I'll have to give it a good overhaul.
Nami, once the assimilation is complete, don't assimilate any other ships. And in the subconscious of this ship's crew, make them a little more… cowardly.
Then, secretly reinforce her—fit her with PS armor, layered armor, and Mirage Colloid. But unless it's absolutely necessary, don't use them.
If personnel or mobile suits are transferred away, the neo DG cells are to leave their hosts immediately and remain on standby inside the ship. The ship takes priority.
Make sure that before I have the strength to take her back, both the ship and the suits haven't all been destroyed."
"Understood, Master."
"I wonder when I'll finally get to openly pilot a Gundam. For now, I can't reveal this ship—might as well not even have her.
Looks like before we get to Artemis, I shouldn't even think about it. For now, I'll just practice piloting MAs on the Archangel's virtual simulators."
Kira piloted the Strike Gundam, carrying everyone to the launch catapult deck of the Archangel.
They had just stepped onto the deck when a group of men in Earth Forces uniforms came rushing over. From a distance, a woman's voice called out—
"Captain Ramius!"
Tolle Koenig spotted a tall, short-haired young woman in uniform—the same person he had seen earlier—Ensign Natarle Badgiruel.
Murrue Ramius saw her and called out excitedly,
"Ensign Badgiruel!"
Natarle ran up to Murrue, snapped a salute, and said,
"Captain Ramius, it's such a relief to see you safe."
Murrue returned the salute.
"Ensign Badgiruel, the same to you. Thanks to your protection of the Archangel, we were able to make it through."
Natarle's eyes widened as the Strike Gundam's cockpit opened and Kira Yamato, still looking like a child, slowly descended.
Sergeant Murdoch from the maintenance crew also gaped, asking curiously,
"Hey, what's going on here? That's just a kid—why was he sitting in there?"
Natarle turned to Murrue and asked,
"Captain Ramius, who are they?"
Just then, Mu La Flaga strolled over at a leisurely pace.
"Well now, this really is a surprise.
Hello, I'm Captain Mu La Flaga of the Earth Forces' 7th Fleet."
"Captain Murrue Ramius, 5th Special Division, Sector 2."
"Same division, Ensign Natarle Badgiruel."
Murrue, Natarle, and Mu began discussing the Archangel's current situation.
Mu then looked toward Kira's group.
"Captain Ramius, who are they?"
Murrue explained,
"As you can see, they're civilian kids from Heliopolis. During the attack, they somehow ended up in the factory district. I had him board a G-weapon.
His name is Kira Yamato, and thanks to him, we were able to repel a GINN and protect this unit."
Natarle was astonished.
"He repelled a GINN? That boy did that?"
Mu stepped forward and addressed Kira.
"You're a Coordinator, aren't you?"
The moment the soldiers heard the word "Coordinator," they immediately raised their rifles toward Tolle's group.
Tolle instantly realized—ah, time to put on a performance.
Feigning alarm, he stepped in front of Kira and said to the soldiers,
"What the hell are you doing? Even if Kira's a Coordinator, he's not the enemy.
Didn't you see just now? He drove back the GINN—drove back ZAFT's attack.
What's wrong with you, pointing your guns at your own people…?"
Murrue lowered her head and sighed softly. She gestured to the guards.
"Put down your weapons. There's no need for alarm. This is Heliopolis, a neutral colony.
It's perfectly normal for there to be Coordinators here who want nothing to do with the war."
The soldiers obeyed and lowered their guns.
Mu scratched his head with a sheepish smile.
"Ah, sorry about that. I was just curious, but I nearly caused a major scene.
On my way here, I saw some of the pilots for these machines—during simulation training, they could barely move, let alone fight.
It's a real headache. And outside we've got the Creuset Team—that guy's a real pain. We don't have time to stand around chatting."
With that, Mu headed off toward his Moebius Zero to work on repairs.
The maintenance crew followed, starting checks and repairs on the Strike Gundam and the Moebius Zero.
Others began gathering supplies from the Heliopolis satellite's factory.
Sai Argyle turned to Murrue and asked,
"Miss Ramius, when can we leave?"
Tolle rolled his eyes at Sai, thinking,
(Leave, my ass. We finally got aboard the Archangel and you want to go back out and die? Oh, you're going in my little notebook. Next time you're in trouble, I'm not helping.)
Natarle spoke firmly,
"You've seen classified military equipment. We can't just let you leave—"
Murrue cut her off.
"Ensign Badgiruel, that's enough."
She then addressed Kira's group gently,
"Even if we let you go now, you can't get into the escape pods—they're all sealed. And outside, the earlier battle has already triggered a Level 9 alert.
There could be another battle at any time. Letting you wander around an unprotected colony in that situation would be irresponsible."
Murrue's eyes were warm and sincere, and her reasoning was hard to refute.
With a Level 9 alert, the passages to the escape pods were completely locked down. The pods themselves had been moved to the launch bay, ready to be fired. If the alert rose to Level 10, all pods would be launched immediately.
If Tolle and the others left now, they would be in constant danger in a colony that could become a battlefield at any moment.
Under the persuasion of Murrue and Mu, Kira agreed to keep piloting the Strike Gundam to protect the Archangel and his friends.
At Murrue's suggestion, the Strike switched to its Sword Strike configuration, reducing the risk of further damage to the colony.
Before long, the Archangel's radar picked up an energy reading—the ZAFT Special Forces were moving in.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The urgent alarm suddenly blared, and everyone on site tensed instantly.