In a higher Earth orbit above the region where Junius Seven had originally been located, an Earth Alliance fleet was stationed.
This was the same fleet that had just made a token attempt to intercept Junius Seven.
Aboard one of its warships, however, the bridge looked as though it were in the middle of a mutiny.
The executive officer, who had been promoted only a few days earlier due to her promising performance, had been forcibly detained on orders from the flagship.
"What did she transmit?"
A blond man appeared on the bridge's communications screen, his expression dark as he questioned the captain.
"Our fleet's coordinates. More specifically, the coordinates of your flagship, Lord Azrael. She revealed that you're aboard that ship!"
The captain's report caused the man on the screen, Muruta Azrael, to scowl even more deeply.
"Leave this area immediately!"
He promptly ordered the flagship to withdraw.
"Execute Badgiruel for treason!"
He issued that final command before terminating the connection.
The detained woman, Natarle Badgiruel, showed no fear at the words. Instead, she gave a cold laugh, her expression filled with grim resolve.
She had wanted to send Orb one crucial piece of intelligence: Muruta Azrael's location. She had never expected the bastard to be aboard the fleet's main flagship.
Using her authority as executive officer, she had ordered the warship to transmit a high-powered signal toward Orb.
Such power had been necessary because Junius Seven's descent had disrupted the atmosphere, making it difficult for signals to reach the surface.
Even though Junius Seven had already been destroyed, the interference would not disappear immediately.
This had been the only way for her to transmit the information, but the signal had also exposed her as a spy.
Now she could only hope that Murrue and the others had some way to catch up and eliminate the monster who intended to drive the world toward destruction.
Suddenly, a new command appeared on the screen, and Badgiruel's expression changed.
That bastard Muruta Azrael had issued another order.
Launch the nuclear missiles.
Of course, he knew the nuclear missiles would probably be intercepted by those lasers, so he had ordered them to detonate at high altitude instead.
He intended to launch an EMP attack!
"Do you intend to become criminals against the entire world? Are you Muruta Azrael's private army? Who are you supposed to be protecting?"
Badgiruel's heavy voice carried unmistakable anger.
Not everyone in the fleet was willing to accept Muruta Azrael's atrocities.
"Don't any of you have families on Earth? Who was it that just saved them?"
Her voice grew more impassioned as she continued. She could already see that some of the crew were wavering.
"Do you really believe it was a coincidence that no one detected Junius Seven? Do you honestly believe the Lightwave Barrier technology was simply stolen?"
None of them were fools. They had their suspicions, but no one had dared to step forward.
After hearing her words, even more of them began to hesitate, their expressions turning contemplative.
"Shut up!"
The captain immediately drew his pistol and pressed it against her head. Badgiruel could see the murderous intent in his eyes.
His finger tightened on the trigger.
Bang!
The gunshot echoed clearly across the bridge.
At the same moment, a dazzling white light poured through the viewport.
An immensely powerful beam had pierced the atmosphere from the planet's surface. It flashed past the side of their warship and struck the retreating flagship.
It was a beyond-visual-range shot fired across nearly a thousand kilometers!
The flagship's metal hull visibly began glowing red beneath the beam. At most, it would last another three seconds before changing from solid metal into molten liquid.
Warm blood ran down Badgiruel's face as her eyes widened.
"Burn through it!"
The cry tore from her lips. They could not let that bastard escape.
But the beam was shrinking and weakening, filling her with frustration.
In the next instant, it suddenly surged back to full intensity, only to dissipate almost immediately afterward.
The beam had still failed to penetrate the flagship's outer armor.
Damn it. Had the attack failed?
No, it had not.
The flagship had suddenly fallen silent.
Although it continued moving, it appeared to be drifting on inertia alone.
Faint flashes of electrical sparks could be seen inside the vessel.
Bang!
Another gunshot rang out.
Badgiruel's expression changed as her heart lurched violently. The captain who had tried to shoot her now had blood spraying from his head. The pistol he had been about to fire again slipped weakly from his hand.
It was the chief helmsman who had shot him.
The captain's first bullet had not struck Badgiruel directly. It had merely grazed her face.
The moment she noticed the intense light outside, she had jerked her head aside and slammed her shoulder into the captain, ruining his aim.
Huh?
An incoming transmission appeared.
The communications officer froze for a moment before accepting it with a mixture of hope and anxiety. A new window appeared on the screen, revealing someone who left Badgiruel stunned.
"Admiral Halberton..."
She murmured the name instinctively.
He was the commander of the Eighth Fleet, someone they could trust.
"This is a formal warning..."
Admiral Halberton issued a warning to the entire fleet. He had determined that its recent actions constituted crimes against humanity and demanded that every vessel stand down immediately. Otherwise, the approaching Eighth Fleet would mercilessly destroy any warship that displayed hostile activity.
Rather than being alarmed by the warning, the crew members around Badgiruel looked relieved. Some immediately locked their weapon systems without the slightest hesitation.
Space fighters soon approached the flagship to investigate it. Their preliminary report suggested there might not be anyone left alive inside.
The high-energy laser might not have penetrated the hull, but it had turned the flagship's interior into a hellish oven.
...
Unit-01 Beta was now shrouded in white mist from head to toe.
The heat radiating from its body distorted the surrounding air.
When it plunged into the ocean, it was like a piece of red-hot iron being dropped into water, instantly producing even more white mist.
No, it would be more accurate to call it steam.
Inside the cockpit, Kain swallowed a panacea pill. Only then did his brain, which had felt as if it were about to boil, begin to cool.
The countless numbers, symbols, and geometric figures filling his mind gradually faded away. It felt as though he had just finished solving an extraordinarily complicated mathematical problem.
The amount of data involved this time had been enormous, forcing him to push Bullet Time to its absolute limit.
Using the direction, angle, altitude, coordinates, and other data transmitted by Lacus, he had combined that information with Unit-01 Beta's astonishing electronic sensor capabilities.
Its effective range was roughly one thousand kilometers, though that applied only to unobstructed detection in space.
He had needed to identify a single satellite nearly one thousand kilometers away among the countless objects within that enormous range.
Had the attack hit?
He was certain it had struck something, but he could not tell whether it had hit the correct target.
The distance was also too great for him to confirm whether the full-power superheavy laser had destroyed it.
Hmm?
A message arrived.
The target had been hit.
Although the flagship had not been destroyed, everyone inside had most likely been cooked alive by the extreme heat.
With that, the greatest pest within the Earth Alliance had finally been eliminated.
That left only a few people on P.L.A.N.T.
(End of Chapter)
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