Murrue Ramius sat in the captain's chair, her expression grave as she stared at the screen before her.
Yet her mind was not fully on it. She was still thinking about what that had meant.
Had he been hinting that she should do as he wanted? Was he threatening to hurt the people aboard this ship otherwise?
Their accidental collision, which had sent the electronic device in his hand flying and forced her to keep it for him, had in fact been part of his calculations.
After all, such hints and threats could not be made openly. He probably did not want Lacus Clyne to know about them either.
So for the safety of this ship and everyone aboard it, she had no choice but to accept his hint. She had no choice but to accept his threat.
She had never expected that this cold-looking man would be so despicable. So vile.
"Captain? Captain? Lieutenant Ramius!"
Natarle Badgiruel could not help raising her voice, snapping Murrue out of what looked like a daze.
No, perhaps she had not been dazed. She had likely been thinking about what the enemy intended to do.
"Huh? What is it, Ensign Badgiruel?"
Although they had already decided to defect from the Earth Alliance, their Earth Alliance ranks naturally no longer held any formal meaning.
Still, some habits could not be changed immediately, especially military habits.
Besides, keeping the existing chain of command gave them a stronger sense of discipline and allowed everyone to know their duties.
"We have two possible routes. Which one do you choose, Captain?"
One route was the shortest and would let them reach Orb faster, but it was also closer to the Earth Alliance sphere of influence.
That route would be extremely clear. If ZAFT warships pursued them, the Archangel could be caught between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance, with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
The other route was somewhat longer and closer to PLANT, but it would take them through a debris field.
After humanity entered the space age, countless pieces of junk had formed fields like that, including the wreckage of warships and other debris.
The fragments of the colony destroyed during the Bloody Valentine incident roughly a year ago had also drifted into the area, making it an especially dangerous region.
They could use that debris field to shake off the ZAFT warships pursuing them, relying on the Archangel's hull, which was tougher than a ZAFT warship's, to thread through the wreckage.
Once inside, the sheer amount of metal would also interfere with ZAFT's radar scans of the Archangel.
In particular, once they entered the Junius Seven debris field, even ZAFT would likely hesitate to launch an attack in that graveyard. Further damaging that place would only disturb the dead even more.
Of course, that was a gamble. It depended on the enemy choosing not to do so.
If they attacked regardless, the Archangel would face a bitter fight and might even be sunk, especially with the area being so close to PLANT, where ZAFT reinforcements could arrive quickly.
But choosing that route would also be disrespectful of the dead. The Archangel would already be disturbing their rest.
"Captain Ramius, choose the Junius Seven debris field."
Lacus spoke up, aware that they were considering her feelings.
"Then set course for the debris field."
Murrue gave the order.
After weighing all factors, this route offered the better chance of escape.
From Natarle's reaction, Murrue could tell that Natarle would rather have chosen the other route.
On that route, the Earth Alliance would be less likely to sink the Archangel outright. They would want to recover the ship. The people aboard, however, would not necessarily be allowed to survive.
"Any new radar readings?"
Murrue asked the crewman in charge of that station.
"At present, we have only detected a ZAFT Laurasia-class warship following us. Judging from its speed, we should shake it off in approximately three minutes."
The enemy warship clearly could not match the Archangel's speed.
The only reason it had managed to keep up was that it had been waiting at a certain distance along the route the Archangel was expected to take. Even then, it had not dared come too close, remaining ready to flee at any moment.
But would they really shake it off in three minutes?
Murrue feared one possibility.
In the next second, the radar alarm sounded.
"Heat source detected. Bearing forward-left, distance..."
Just as she had feared, reality caught up with her. Another ZAFT warship had ignited its engines nearby on the right side. It intended to take over surveillance like a relay runner passing a baton.
Before long, they were close to the Junius Seven debris field and needed to begin decelerating.
If they charged in at their current speed, the Archangel would be torn to pieces.
After they slowed down, the ZAFT warships that needed them to reduce speed quickly caught up again.
Suddenly, another alarm rang out.
"New heat signatures detected!"
Two new heat sources had appeared, one forward-right and one rear-left. They were clearly moving to pincer the Archangel, and Murrue's heart sank.
Then the screen showed faint static and flickered slightly, as if there were a problem with the display. Her face grew even more grim.
"Strong electromagnetic interference, Commander!"
The meaning of that action was self-evident. The enemy was preparing hostile action here.
"Are they really planning to attack the Archangel? Do they truly not care about their chairman's daughter?"
"Perhaps they believe they're trying to rescue her. They may think we're holding her hostage."
Many on the bridge accepted that possibility. If their positions were reversed, they would likely think the same.
"I suspect this is Captain Rau Le Creuset acting on his own."
Lacus, who had been silent, gave her assessment.
She had always had a deeply unpleasant impression of Captain Le Creuset, one even stronger than the impression Athrun's father gave her.
If he truly was the same kind of man as the one in that fan-made animation, then the ZAFT fleet's current attempt to attack the Archangel was most likely Rau's private action.
And this private action might well result in her "accidental" death on the Earth side, further inflaming hatred between Earth and PLANT.
"Rau, huh? That does sound exactly like something he'd do."
That answer came from Mu La Flaga in the hangar. He had crossed blades with Rau before and had investigated him thoroughly. He believed the man was perfectly capable of acting on his own.
"All hands, Condition One battle stations!"
Murrue immediately gave the order.
Her gaze could not help shifting once more to another feed. It showed the hangar, where Mr. Kain had remained silent ever since sitting down. He had not moved or spoken, his eyes closed, as if he had turned into a statue.
If not for the ship's life-detection system confirming that the number of living beings aboard had not changed, she might have thought he had died.
But speaking of the ship's life count, a strange situation had appeared. They had only just discovered it.
According to the system, the number of life signs aboard did not match the actual head count. In reality, there were three extra people.
At first, they thought something had gone wrong, perhaps that three people had suddenly died.
But after eliminating possibilities one by one, they finally determined that the three extra people were the three women who had accompanied Mr. Kain.
Their bodies showed no trace of life signs, yet they were able to move.
Combined with their behavior and mannerisms, this led to an unbelievable conclusion: they were robots, ones almost indistinguishable from humans.
It was hard to believe technology existed that could reach such a level.
And if that was true, then Mr. Kain's terrifying abilities raised another suspicion. Perhaps his body had also been modified, with parts of it replaced by machinery.
"Captain, heat sources detected ahead again. It's the same Nazca-class high-speed battleship as before! Enemy mobile suits launching. That's...!"
The crewman reporting suddenly froze in shock.
"They're already deploying our captured machines? They learned to use them this quickly?"
Natarle stared in disbelief at the silhouettes captured on the monitor.
Was this the difference between Naturals and Coordinators?
Could the weapons that man had brought with him stand against them?
There were three new-model mobile suits and twenty GINNs.
Eight of them, including the three stolen machines, were coming from the front, while the rest were moving to surround them from three other directions.
"Launch tracks are open. Units may sortie!"
From both launch tracks, four of the Ho 229s that man had brought launched in succession.
One was piloted by Lieutenant Commander La Flaga. Of the remaining three, one was piloted by a woman called 60, who also controlled the other two.
Finally, the man himself launched in what appeared to be an upgraded Ho 229.
The moment it left the Archangel, the massive unit on its back released a tremendous surge of thrust. Its speed seemed to surpass even the future-class heavy Thunderbolt, sending it straight toward the enemy warship ahead.
At this speed, that Ho 229 would engage the enemy first.
Everyone watched closely.
Once it seemed to have entered the enemy's effective firing range, the enemy fired without hesitation. Dozens of missiles launched at once, and they were anti-ship models.
Faced with such an attack, the man showed no intention of intercepting them. He did not even try to evade. He simply maintained a straight-line advance.
Was he insane?
The missiles drew closer and closer.
"It's too late!"
In her heart, Natarle wanted to say the same thing. Was he insane?
Or had something gone wrong with that newly upgraded fighter? Was it unable to turn?
The instant her words fell, every missile struck him.
In the next moment, flames and light swallowed the fighter.
It was over.
"How did he..."
Cagalli, coming back to her senses, murmured in panic, only for the words to catch in her throat.
An abnormal sight appeared, leaving everyone on the bridge stunned, including Lacus.
Though Lacus trusted him deeply, even she did not yet know what capabilities that new fighter possessed.
And now, before their eyes, that transformable machine burst through the fireball completely unharmed and continued forward.
"They missed?"
"Impossible. With that explosion radius, even if its speed doubled, it couldn't have escaped."
It had clearly been hit.
Yet it was completely undamaged.
(End of Chapter)
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