Inside a dim conference room at the Earth Alliance's lunar base, the commanders of all Earth Alliance space fleets had gathered. They stared at the screen—the only source of light in the room—and none of their expressions looked good.
On the screen was Roz Links, his hair now dyed brown, wearing an Earth Alliance officer's uniform. There were also photos of him in work fatigues, the security uniform of the Requiem Project's internal guards, and the combat footage from earlier—him piloting the Narrative Gundam, carrying out a sudden decapitation strike, then elegantly departing aboard the Archangel.
"...He's a dangerous individual."
After a long silence, the Commander of the First Fleet glared at Roz's photo, as if he wished he could kill Roz on the spot.
This series of actions—stealth, reconnaissance, and assault—was like a hard slap across the face of everyone present except Halberton.
"He disrupted Blue Cosmos's plans on the moon, and now the lunar colony residents are in a panic."
Thinking back to how the lunar colony administrators had questioned him, the First Fleet Commander felt a headache coming on.
"If not for Orphee of the Kingdom of Foundation discovering this intruder and identifying him, the lunar colony—left so defenseless by us—would still be clueless."
The moment he spoke, everyone turned toward Orphee, who sat to the side in luxurious attire.
Halberton glanced down at the report in his hand, thinking about how Orphee had discovered Roz.
Orphee's expression was awful. He was repeatedly replaying the footage of the Black Knights being defeated.
Compared to the time in Orb—when it had required the Narrative Gundam's 'evolved form' to destroy the FT armor—this time, the Black Knight had appeared in front of Roz for less than three seconds before the FT armor's mechanisms were completely unraveled. Those elite pilots of the Kingdom of Foundation, who ranked among the best and had even developed partial sensing ability through experimentation, were crushed instantly.
Although he had gathered some data and identified certain issues, losing three Black Knights to the Narrative Gundam gave him mixed feelings: On one hand, fury at the Kingdom of Foundation's pilots who collapsed under pressure, and on the other hand, shock at how rapidly the Narrative Gundam was growing stronger.
"...After all, we are all working for the sake of every Natural on Earth, aren't we?"
Suppressing his emotions, Orphee looked at the commanders present and showed a polite smile.
"As one who lives on Earth, I should contribute as well."
"Besides, his brainwaves were too strong—that's the only reason I was able to locate him."
Having undergone the same type of enhancement as the Black Knights, Orphee's understanding and application of mental sensing was still shallow. He could only vaguely feel the commanders' messy mixture of admiration and curiosity.
Among those emotions, something resembling 'scrutiny' had flickered briefly before vanishing, leaving him confused.
Halberton, forcing his expression to stay stern, took another look at Orphee and the report, committing both to memory.
"In any case, back to the main topic: this man piloting the White Demon—we don't know his real name. It's even possible his appearance is disguised."
The First Fleet Commander coughed twice and continued.
"The only thing we know is the identity he used while operating on the lunar colony: Amuro Ray."
"At this point, shouldn't you explain something first?!"
The Third Fleet Commander, who had taken the brunt of the Narrative Gundam's initial attack and suffered heavy losses, slammed the table and pointed angrily at the First Fleet Commander.
"That guy's identity was marked as First Fleet!"
"We found the officer uniform that this Amuro Ray used in the lunar colony," the First Fleet Commander said calmly, unfazed by the accusation.
"It was stolen from the supply depot. He likely infiltrated the First Fleet's station."
"But we didn't find any of his information on it. He wiped it very clean. Your people were in the joint investigation team—you can confirm this."
Thinking back to the joint investigation that swept both the First Fleet and the lunar colony, the Commander felt another wave of headache.
"As for his record in the personnel system... we're still checking."
"Hmph. Maybe the First Fleet's already leaking like a sieve. How are we supposed to trust you?"
"The First Fleet has no secrets. All information is available on the internal website."
As the atmosphere grew increasingly chaotic, Halberton finally spoke.
"Enough, everyone. Stop for a moment."
The noise gradually fell until silence returned.
As the commander of the Eighth Fleet—the fleet that suffered the greatest losses after the First and Third—everyone wanted to hear what Halberton had to say.
After all, the Eighth Fleet had lost two Drake-class ships and one Nelson-class ship, not to mention all the Daggers and MA units.
"There are still others present—arguing won't solve anything. Return to the main topic."
"Ahem… yes, that's true."
The First Fleet Commander nodded and continued.
"At present, the Requiem project is halted. Next, we must decide whether to abandon it or choose another location—"
"...No. We absolutely cannot abandon it."
Orphee looked at the top-left of the screen, where an image of Requiem's wreckage was displayed.
"Requiem is a joint project between the Kingdom of Foundation and Blue Cosmos. It cannot be stopped so casually."
"As for the new construction site…"
Recalling the Kingdom of Foundation treasury's usable funds, Orphee frowned slightly.
"Still the original site. Reinforce the wreckage zone and continue digging downward to build a new Requiem."
"As for the budget… that is not a problem."
"...Very well. If you insist."
The First Fleet Commander sighed and accepted the proposal.
"But from now on, both the lunar colony and the lunar base must enter strict control. Today's incident must never happen again."
"Next, concerning the pursuit of this Amuro Ray—"
"Before that, I have a question for General Halberton."
Just as the First Fleet Commander was about to conclude the final agenda item, Orphee interrupted.
He looked at Halberton with great interest, as if trying to confirm something.
"I recall that the Earth Alliance's Daggers do not have an ejection system. Why is it that in your battle report, the worst injuries were only 'severe,' and no soldiers died?"
"...Because we used discretionary budget to retrofit the Daggers with escape pods."
After a moment of deduction, Halberton instantly understood what Orphee was testing—and how he had located Roz.
Keeping his tone calm, he gave the same explanation he always used.
"In an era where unmanned combat components are fully in use, in order to prepare for a potential AI rebellion and maintain a usable fighting force for the Earth Alliance, the Eighth Fleet has always kept a traditional configuration."
Halberton spoke with such seriousness and logic that everyone was briefly stunned.
"And in the Eighth Fleet, before learning to fight, pilots first learn to escape—so that more combat power can be preserved."
"This battle proves the value of that decision."
"I see… I understand."
Orphee narrowed his eyes. Something still felt off, but he couldn't identify it.
The abnormal sensation he had felt earlier had completely disappeared.
"Then, what about the Archangel? According to intelligence, Murrue Ramius aboard that ship is your prized student, isn't she?"
"...Murrue's betrayal was something I never expected—especially her aiding the White Demon in escaping." Halberton sighed with apparent grief.
Inwardly, he was remembering the first time Murrue had arrived in Orb, contacting him over comms… and how it made him cough up metaphorical 'gold coins.'
The feeling of having carefully tended vegetables trampled by a pig wreathed in ghostly flames—no, actually, the vegetable had trampled the pig—that absurd mix of sorrow and fury shook Halberton so much his voice trembled.
"Everything happened so suddenly. I can only accept the result."
He paused, as if gathering his emotions.
"I overestimated myself. When I saw the Archangel, memories of her overwhelmed me—I couldn't pull the trigger."
"So, to avoid delaying the war due to my personal issues, I decided to reduce the Eighth Fleet's sortie frequency."
Orphee was simply too young.
Halberton had deduced almost the entire mechanism of Orphee's ability just from reading the reports. Now, with his masterful internal acting, he completely played Orphee in circles.
In the end, because Halberton's emotions matched the brainwave signals Orphee sensed, Orphee actually accepted his explanation.
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Meanwhile, on PLANT territory.
Two Nazca-class high-speed warships were patrolling the outer space of PLANT.
However, it was clear that the people on the two warships were not really thinking about patrolling; instead, they were busy with something else.
"The plan is ahead of schedule… but still within controllable limits."
The captain of one of the Nazca-class ships looked at the timer nearby and gripped the armrest of his captain's seat tightly.
"We must hand over these two Nazca-class ships and the data on board to Miss Lacus."
"That's all the support the Clyne faction in ZAFT can provide right now."
Yes, these two Nazca-class ships were both operated by the Clyne faction secretly within ZAFT. Now that Lacus needed to evacuate PLANT, this was the maximum assistance the Clyne faction could give.
"How are the GINN adjustments coming along?"
The captain took a deep breath to calm himself.
"Don't mess this up later."
He had heard that some new MS called "Prototype Zaku" had already gone through testing. Unfortunately, it was too rushed to get one or two units, so they had to continue using the GINN to hold the line.
"These GINNs are at least specially customized and adjusted. But your Nazca-class ships aren't customized at all—make sure your bombardments don't hit us by accident."
A sharp female voice sounded through the comm. A woman with a black eyepatch over her right eye, wearing a pilot suit, was sitting in the cockpit of a GINN and smiling.
"We practiced for this! Hilda!"
The captain shook his head while looking at the woman on the comm, preparing to explain something.
"Beep beep beep, beep beep beep…"
"Captain, this is the action signal. Miss Lacus is ready to depart."
A nearby communications officer spoke.
The captain of the Nazca-class straightened his posture and switched to combat mode.
"All units, follow the scheduled plan!"
After saying this, he looked at the comm link that was still active.
"Black Tri-Stars, prepare for combat!"
"Understood."
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In a ZAFT dock, the people in the command room were in chaos.
"Has the Eternal responded yet?"
"No. After Captain Waltfeld spoke just now, the Eternal entered engine preheat mode!"
"What's going on? The departure order for the Eternal hasn't been issued yet!"
Meanwhile, on the Eternal, Andrew leisurely observed everything in the dock with his still-intact right eye.
"Captain, the gate program has been modified."
A crew member sitting at the control console spoke.
"There's no other way… then we'll have to be more forceful. Is that alright, Miss Lacus?"
Andrew turned his head to glance at Lacus in the captain's seat.
"Then… let's sound the alarm in the dock, Captain Andrew."
Lacus, who had already changed into a different outfit, smiled and nodded at Andrew.
"Main cannon, aim at the gate. Engines, fire. Keep them away from the Eternal and the gate!"
Andrew issued the commands with practiced ease.
"Aisha, it's up to you now."
Looking at Aisha in the helmsman's position, Andrew's tone softened slightly.
"Just lost my legs, that's all. My piloting hasn't gotten rusty, Andy…"
Aisha moved her arms and placed her hands on the throttle lever.
"Miss Lacus, the time has come."
"Eternal, depart!"
As the gate was blown open, flames shot from the rear thrusters of the Eternal, propelling it forward at high speed.
As a warship originally assigned by ZAFT specifically for the Freedom and Justice units, the Eternal's speed was faster than the Nazca-class. What looked like a long corridor was traversed in just over ten seconds.
"Captain, DaCosta and Athrun have been recovered."
The voice of the communications officer came through.
"But the home forces reacted quickly. The Copy units are piloting GINNs to intercept us."
"Whoa… the nearby defense forces react this fast?"
Andrew grinned, as if he had returned to those spirited days in the North African desert.
"Hold on tight."
Aisha pushed the throttle forward another notch, her hands still manipulating the rudder.
The Eternal executed a barrel roll maneuver, dodging most of the attacks from the white GINNs. Anti-aircraft fire continued to rain down, destroying many of the white GINNs.
Two Nazca-class ships blocked the Eternal's path, seemingly attempting to stop it.
But it was clear that Aisha would not let them succeed.
The Eternal, which had originally been heading straight toward the two Nazca-class ships, activated side thrusters and performed a drift maneuver, passing around the propulsion points of the two ships. Missiles, already prepared, were launched and destroyed the thrusters of the two Nazca-class ships.
After bypassing the two Nazca-class ships, which had lost most of their mobility, the Eternal quickly adjusted its course and sped toward the designated coordinates.
At the scene, only a group of stunned ZAFT soldiers remained.
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