In a conference room in Aprilius City...
"Well?"
Eileen Canaver's voice carried a hint of tension as she addressed Tad Elsman, who had finally looked up from the research materials.
Both were members of the P.L.A.N.T. Supreme Council, and each of its twelve councilors possessed expertise in different fields.
As chairwoman of the Diplomatic Committee, Eileen specialized in information science.
The man before her, Administrative Committee member Tad Elsman, was an expert in basic medicine, clinical medicine, biochemistry, molecular biology, applied bioengineering, and several related fields.
He had been examining the genetic research data Lacus had brought with her. His expression had barely changed, but Eileen could see the growing severity deep within his eyes.
"I can't find any errors," Tad replied in a low voice. "The only thing left is to conduct similar experiments and verify the results."
His answer made Eileen, Ezalia, and the other councilors present turn pale. It was almost the same as confirming that the research was true.
"If only Gilbert were... Never mind."
Tad sighed.
Gilbert Durandal was every bit his equal in this field. If Gilbert could participate in the verification process, they would reach a definitive conclusion much faster.
However, they could not allow Gilbert to see these materials. Evidence had already surfaced indicating that he was secretly plotting something dangerous.
Worse still, Gilbert Durandal had a close relationship with the extremely dangerous Rau Le Creuset.
The Junius Seven incident and the war between P.L.A.N.T. and the Earth Alliance had both been secretly encouraged by that man.
He might even have had some connection to the Bloody Valentine tragedy.
Under those circumstances, they could not allow Gilbert to examine this research. If he used the information within it to develop some kind of genetic virus targeting Coordinators or Naturals, the consequences would be disastrous.
"Hm? I understand!"
"What happened?"
Tad noticed Eileen's face turn ashen after she received a message.
"That bastard Patrick deployed an enormous number of nuclear mines in space to delay Siegel's fleet from joining forces with the Archangel."
Since Patrick had already left the capital, Eileen had forcibly assumed control of the entire city's security network. At the same time, she had ordered Siegel Clyne's release from confinement.
Siegel subsequently gathered the military forces aligned with their side, joined them with the Archangel, and set course for the Yachin Due fortress.
Their objective was to destroy GENESIS.
It was an extremely dangerous gamma-ray laser cannon that concentrated and discharged the gamma radiation produced through nuclear fission.
Within Siegel's fleet, however, many still questioned the purpose of their advance on Yachin Due.
They had been informed that National Defense Committee Chairman Patrick Zala intended to use the superweapon to exterminate every human being on Earth.
P.L.A.N.T. now understood that a group of scum within the Earth Alliance had secretly incited the war between Earth and P.L.A.N.T. Even so, they could not simply cast aside their hatred, and many still regarded Earth with hostility.
But that hostility was nowhere near enough to drive them into the madness of exterminating every human on the planet. They were not that deranged.
Besides, Earth was home to even more Coordinators than P.L.A.N.T. itself.
How could they possibly bring themselves to fire?
Consequently, many remained skeptical of the claim that Patrick Zala intended to aim GENESIS at Earth. They refused to believe that even the leader of the Zala faction could be so completely insane.
Others, however, believed it was entirely possible.
The recent attempt to drop Junius Seven onto Earth could never have been carried out by a small band of extremists alone.
Patrick Zala had most likely given the operation his tacit approval, if he had not secretly sponsored it outright.
Junius Seven had somehow evaded the Earth Alliance's detection systems, and those responsible had even obtained Earth Alliance technology. At the same time, the Earth Alliance had conducted its own sabotage operation against Orb.
Such perfectly coordinated actions strongly suggested that Patrick was conspiring with certain people inside the Earth Alliance.
Worse still, those people were arms dealers.
If Patrick had truly joined forces with them, then he had betrayed P.L.A.N.T.
Yet some people still refused to believe Patrick could do such a thing. His agents had infiltrated Siegel's fleet, reporting its movements and even carrying out acts of sabotage to delay its advance.
...
"There's too much space debris. There's no way to tell which pieces are hiding nuclear warheads."
Dearka stared at the vast field of wreckage ahead of them, feeling a headache coming on.
"If we don't pass through here, we'll have to go around," Nicol said. "That'll add another three hours to the journey."
They could not afford to give Yachin Due another three hours.
The preparations at the fortress had almost certainly been calculated to finish within that window.
If they wanted to reach Yachin Due in time, they would have to force their way through the debris field. The nuclear mines hidden within it made that extremely dangerous.
Clearing a path was not impossible. The fleet could advance while using concentrated fire to destroy the surrounding debris.
However, that created another problem.
By the time they reached Yachin Due, the fleet would have exhausted most of its ammunition. How could they possibly capture the fortress after that?
The enormous field of debris before them had likely been produced during the construction of GENESIS. Instead of disposing of it elsewhere, Patrick's forces had scattered it here to create a defensive barrier.
"That strange machine again."
Yzak's annoyed voice came over the comms.
The machine he was referring to had just emerged from the Archangel. Its strange, organic appearance made it look more like a living creature than a conventional mobile weapon.
This was the same machine that possessed an almost inconceivable ability to intercept laser fire. It had even demonstrated the ability to strike targets from three thousand kilometers away, well beyond visual range.
Were they planning to use it as a minesweeper?
The machine itself did not appear particularly fast, so it had been fitted with additional flight equipment for this operation.
It stood atop the flight unit like someone riding a surfboard, then shot straight into the minefield.
The moment it plunged into the debris, dense barrages of laser fire tore through the darkness of space in wave after wave, destroying countless floating objects.
Most of the objects struck showed no reaction at all. A few erupted in sparks.
Then a colossal flash suddenly burst into existence, illuminating a vast region of space.
...
The explosion crushed the last traces of hope among those watching.
Nuclear mines truly had been planted throughout the debris field.
"It seems to be targeting only the objects that contain electronic equipment."
The fleet began following behind the machine as the surrounding debris vanished one piece at a time.
Eventually, they determined that nearly every piece of "space debris" it destroyed had contained electronic components.
The machine apparently possessed an extraordinarily sensitive radar system capable of detecting electronics. It was not merely scanning for metal, since it had completely ignored some metallic objects.
In the blink of an eye, only a small section of the minefield remained between the fleet and open space.
From their current position, they could already see the colossal Yachin Due fortress.
However, the changes taking place around the fortress gave everyone a terrible sense of foreboding.
The device used to focus GENESIS's gamma radiation appeared to be moving into position at the center, like a bullet about to be chambered.
"Damn it! We're not going to make it!"
"It's aimed at Earth!"
"Patrick's really going through with it!"
Faces throughout the fleet turned ashen.
Once GENESIS fired, the entire fleet would also be destroyed. They were directly between its firing aperture and Earth.
At that moment, the strange machine that should have continued clearing the remaining mines abruptly stopped and returned to the Archangel.
Something peculiar began happening across the Archangel's hull. Streams of matter flowed together, assembling a device that somewhat resembled an electromagnetic railgun.
The pilot climbed down from the machine.
He was not wearing any form of combat suit they recognized. Instead, he appeared to be clad in power armor.
Then the flowing material enveloped him, forming a metallic sphere around his body.
The sphere was loaded into the electromagnetic launcher.
No one could quite believe what they were seeing.
Were they seriously going to launch him from that thing?
In the next instant, a silver meteor tore through space, hurtling directly toward GENESIS.
(End of Chapter)
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