In the meeting room, everyone's expressions were grim.
"Blue Cosmos, wetware CPUs, enhanced humans, Gryps…"
Andrew frowned, rubbing his temple with his only remaining right hand.
"For a moment, I even thought… maybe it's better to just let this world be destroyed."
"Captain Andrew."
Although Lacus's expression wasn't great either, "the more desperate the situation, the more we can't give up!"
"Eh, of course I know, Miss Lacus."
Andrew smiled at Lacus. "Everyone needs a way to vent their emotions, right? A world this twisted… just thinking about it is depressing enough."
"Clone units, Neutron Jammer Canceller, and that GENESIS… Even though Blue Cosmos is an anti-human organization, ZAFT isn't exactly innocent either."
Murrue looked at the whiteboard in the meeting room, reviewing the intelligence both sides had compiled, feeling a headache coming on. "If it's only us… this is going to be a long battle."
"At this rate… it'll never end."
Kira read the words on the whiteboard. He knew each character, but combined, the sheer weight of it made it hard to breathe.
"They won't stop on their own because everyone's in an arms race."
At this moment, Roz pressed a few buttons on the remote. The previously turned-off screen split into four sections, showing footage of the Narrative Gundam fighting the Black Knights and the information Roz had gathered on the Requiem project.
"This is the intel I recently acquired. At least Blue Cosmos seems divided into two factions."
Roz waved his hand, pointing at the screen. "This faction of Blue Cosmos built the superweapon Requiem on the Moon, and their collaborators are using these black mobile suits that mix ZAFT and Earth Alliance design elements."
"Kira and Athrun have already faced them when Orb confronted them, right?"
Roz glanced at Kira, fists clenched, and the scowling Athrun. "In any case, what's most worth noting right now is their special armor."
"This armor can currently withstand direct hits from beam rifles, but it will still be breached by higher-output beam weapons."
Although Roz explained it simply, everyone watching the upper-left footage—the surprise attack during Orb's great retreat, where the armor resisted beams—was thinking hard about how to deal with such MS.
No one naïvely assumed this unknown MS would stay the same; it could become more troublesome, even… immune to beams?
In the CE world, where beam weapons developed rapidly, being beam-immune and heavily armored basically means invincibility.
"…Maybe try weapons combining beams and physical armaments."
Mu was pondering the newly-emerged enemy armor, seeming to come up with an idea.
"Ship-cutting sword."
As someone who had piloted the Strike Gundam before, Kira naturally understood what Mu meant.
"In any case, that's roughly the situation."
Roz sighed. "Because I previously assaulted the Moon base and destroyed Requiem, the Earth Alliance is now strictly monitoring the Moon base, and General Halberton has gone silent."
Upon hearing Roz, everyone looked at him again—Roz, who had destroyed Requiem and two Black Knights while escaping from the encircling ten fleets—with some disbelief.
At least Kira thought to himself, under these conditions, he couldn't achieve the same mission with Freedom.
The room fell silent for a long while, as if in a stalemate. This chaotic world left them unsure where to intervene.
"If we can't think of a method right now, why not take a break first?"
Seeing the scene, Roz naturally understood that no effective plan could come from today's discussion.
"Everyone must be tired. Let's rest… anyway, a solution will come eventually."
-----------------------------------
At night, in the operating room.
Roz had changed into a light blue surgical gown, looking at Andrew lying on the operating table, maintaining his peculiar smile.
Beside him on a nearby rack, two prosthetic eyes, a left hand, and a left leg lay quietly, waiting to be used.
Apparently, Lacus had heard from Kira that Roz had "advanced prosthetics," and as soon as the meeting in the conference room ended, she came over, insisting on fitting Andrew and Aisha with prosthetic limbs.
Roz had initially wanted to refuse and then spend a quiet evening with Murrue, but Lacus's offer was too generous to decline.
Truly befitting the most famous singer of the PLANT and daughter of Siegel Clyne: the credit card Lacus casually pulled out showed numbers beyond normal imagination, convincing Roz.
However, since these were rushed products, there was no way to add artificial skin like Mayu's.
"Industrial Seven: Second Prosthetic Installation Surgery—begin!"
Roz skillfully pulled a circular saw from an unknown corner. The loud whirring of the saw echoed throughout the operating room.
Andrew, asleep, felt as though the missing parts of his body were being cut, polished, and drilled…
But since Andrew was a Coordinator, the doctors had increased the anesthesia dosage to ensure he remained in a stable unconsciousness. He was completely unaware of what was happening to him.
Meanwhile, Murrue, Lacus, and Kira waited outside the lit operating room.
After an unknown amount of time, the operating room lights went out, and two hospital beds were pushed out, one after the other. The previously missing parts of Andrew and Aisha had been replaced with silver mechanical prosthetics.
"Phew… exhausting."
Roz had somehow changed back into his regular clothes but still wore the white lab coat.
"Their rejection responses were slightly stronger than a little girl I previously treated."
Roz sighed, handing Lacus two sheets of paper. "One is for post-operative recovery—takes a year; the other is a lifelong suppressant to prevent complications from the prosthetics."
"A year… isn't that too long…"
Hearing Roz's conclusion of "one year recovery," Lacus voiced her concern. After all, the upcoming battles would not give them a year of downtime.
"In fact, they'll be able to walk in three days, and might even pilot a spaceship like a mobile suit."
Roz waved his hand.
"However, because they won't fully control the prosthetics at first, they might accidentally crush cups, railings, and such."
"As for the recovery period, it only mitigates or even eliminates the body's rejection reaction to the prosthetics."
On the hospital bed, Andrew's new left arm gleamed a faint silver under the lights. On the adjacent bed, Aisha's previously amputated legs had been fitted with new prosthetic limbs, lightly reflecting a metallic sheen.
.......................