Chapter 22: SEED – Trapped
The moment the Archangel entered the Artemis military base, it was immediately surrounded on all sides by a large number of Moebius units.
A swarm of soldiers armed with submachine guns boarded the Archangel, taking control of everyone inside.
Tolle Koenig, feigning a look of confusion, asked,
"Captain, what's going on here?"
Murrue Ramius turned to the officer who had just finished inspecting the ship, clearly startled.
"Major, this is…"
The major replied expressionlessly,
"There's no need to be nervous. Please remain calm, Captain Ramius—this is a routine procedure."
More soldiers with submachine guns filed into the bridge, surrounding everyone there.
Each person in the bridge now found themselves staring down the barrels of their weapons. One soldier barked,
"Nobody move."
"What do you think you're doing?!" Murrue Ramius shouted angrily.
Natarle Badgiruel demanded,
"Major Biddulph, I expect an explanation for this. Tell us why this is happening."
Major Biddulph answered indifferently,
"This is a security measure. We're simply locking down control of the warship and securing the armaments."
"Locking it down? And why exactly is that necessary?" Natarle pressed.
One soldier suddenly stepped forward, aiming his gun at her. Biddulph continued in the same dismissive tone,
"Your vessel is neither registered nor equipped with our IFF signal. Given the circumstances, I allowed you to dock—but regrettably, you have not yet been recognized as an allied force."
"But—" Natarle began, only to be cut off.
"This is an important military base," Biddulph said, "so measures of this level are to be expected. I hope you'll understand."
Murrue and Natarle could only remain silent.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Biddulph went on,
"Now then, officers—if you'll come with me, I have a few questions to ask."
He escorted Murrue Ramius, Natarle Badgiruel, and Mu La Flaga away from the Archangel.
Everyone else, including Tolle Koenig, was herded into the mess hall.
Inside, Sai Argyle turned to one of the Archangel's soldiers and asked,
"Isn't the Eurasian Federation supposed to be on our side? I thought they didn't get along with the Atlantic Federation."
"That's not the issue here," the soldier replied.
Another sighed, "It's all because of the missing IFF signal."
Tolle, still pretending ignorance, asked the same soldier,
"Just lacking an IFF signal—would that really cause this kind of trouble?"
"Seems like it actually might," the soldier said helplessly.
From the maintenance crew, Sergeant Murdoch added quietly,
"The real problem must be somewhere else."
…
The entire morning passed, and the three who had been taken—Murrue, Natarle, and Mu—still had not returned.
The soldiers in the mess were still talking over the situation, while Kira Yamato sat in worry, thinking about Mu's earlier words to him and the Strike Gundam.
By afternoon, Major Biddulph returned to the Archangel and headed straight for the mess hall.
"Where are the MS pilots and technicians from this ship?" he asked.
Everyone stayed silent.
His adjutant's voice turned harsh. "The pilots and technicians should be among you, shouldn't they?"
Kira started to rise, but Sergeant Murdoch held him down, urging him not to be rash.
One of the Archangel's soldiers called out angrily,
"Why are you asking us? Is it because the captain wouldn't tell you, or because you couldn't get it out of her?"
The adjutant grabbed that soldier by the collar, snarling, "What was that—" and drew back a fist to strike him.
Biddulph stopped him, affecting the air of a reasonable man.
"I see. So you're the elite soldiers from the Atlantic Federation, specially selected for a classified project, aren't you?"
One soldier demanded, "What do you intend to do with the Strike Gundam?"
Biddulph replied evenly,
"Nothing in particular. But… before its official public debut, I'd simply like the honor of seeing it for myself. Now—who's the pilot?"
"Anything you want to ask, ask the lieutenant," the soldier shot back. "In the last battle, we all saw it—it's obvious that the only one skilled enough to handle a Zero-type Moebius like that is Lieutenant Mu La Flaga. I know that better than anyone."
Ignoring that, Biddulph slowly walked up to Miriallia Haw and suddenly grabbed her.
Tolle rose, ready to take him down—but he knew now wasn't the time. They were armed, and any fight would end badly.
Biddulph sneered,
"I don't think the pilot is a woman, but since the ship's captain is one…"
He twisted Miriallia's arm behind her back, making her cry out in pain.
Kira could no longer stand it. He jumped up, shouting,
"Stop it! That's too low—you're looking for me. I'm the Gundam's pilot."
Releasing Miriallia, Biddulph walked over to Kira.
"I understand you want to protect her, but are you seriously expecting me to believe a kid like you can operate an MS? Don't make things up."
He swung a punch at Kira—only for Kira to dodge and flip him over his shoulder, sending him crashing to the floor.
"I have no reason to let you hit me," Kira said coldly.
From the side, Tolle silently gave Kira a thumbs-up, thinking, Good hit. Serves you right for picking on my girlfriend. If I didn't already know you were doomed to die early, I'd slap some neo DG cells into you so you could neither live nor die. Scum. Trash.
Artemis soldiers rushed forward, but before Kira could move again, Sergeant Murdoch held him back.
Sai tried to step in to calm things down, but the adjutant shoved him away—sending him stumbling right into Flay Allster's arms.
Seeing her boyfriend attacked and then bump into her, Flay burst out angrily,
"Stop! Kira's telling the truth—he's the pilot of the MS."
"Don't talk nonsense," the adjutant snapped.
"I'm not lying," Flay retorted sharply. "That boy—he's a Coordinator."