Perhaps because there were few Earth Alliance forces along the route back to the PLANTs, the Minerva returned home smoothly.
The moment the Minerva docked, Shinn, who had been "growing mushrooms" in a prison cell alongside Rey, finally breathed in the air of "freedom."
The wreckage of the ZAKU Warrior and the Freedom were unloaded, while various components for the Impulse began to be transported onto the Minerva. However, it seemed the ship's mobile suit complement had changed; no new ZAKU Warrior parts were brought aboard. For now, the Minerva was left with only one ZAKU Warrior cobbled together from spare parts.
"Is everything ready?"
Durandal had just found time to meet with the liaison from the Kingdom of Foundation, handing over the data salvaged from the Freedom's wreckage along with the Unicorn's combat records.
Durandal didn't doubt the Kingdom of Foundation's integrity; at the very least, the current Prime Minister, Orphee, was quite reliable. As for Aura, the Queen of Foundation, she was obsessed with her own research and rarely made public appearances, making her interference in political affairs even less likely.
"Talia has already gone to deliver her debriefing."
"As for you all, I have other arrangements."
With that, Durandal led them away from the Minerva.
Along the way, while one could feel a certain tension as the PLANTs entered a wartime footing, the fact that the Minerva had brought back a largely intact Gaia Gundam and the remains of the recently stolen Freedom Gundam helped ease the atmosphere significantly.
Under Durandal's lead, Shinn arrived at a place dedicated to Mobile Suits—the MS Research Institute.
Following the two recent MS theft incidents, ZAFT had tightened security and control over their MS hangars. One could say the level of surveillance was second only to the Supreme Council Chairman's office.
At the entrance of the institute, Shinn saw a young girl in a ZAFT uniform waiting for them.
"Councilor Durandal."
Upon seeing the three men approach, the girl glanced briefly at Shinn and Rey following behind Durandal before saluting the Councilor.
"Let me introduce them. Shinn and Rey are outstanding Red Coats who served aboard the Minerva and have achieved numerous confirmed kills."
Durandal waved a hand, introducing the boys to the girl.
"This is Agnes. She served on the Lunar front and has quite a record of her own."
For some reason, when Agnes heard Durandal mention that Shinn and Rey had "numerous kills," her eyes sparkled slightly.
"Hello, Shinn. Hello, Rey."
Softening her previously cold demeanor, Agnes greeted them.
"No need for further small talk; you'll have plenty of time to get to know each other later," Durandal said, cutting the conversation short. "Agnes will be reassigned to the Minerva, forming a squad with you two."
"Now, the main reason I gathered you here."
As they stepped into the MS Institute's hangar, three distinct mobile suits stood there in silence.
"Destiny, Legend, and Saviour."
Looking at the three machines, Durandal paused before speaking.
"These latest production units have undergone specialized data tuning."
"I will now assign the units. Rey will pilot the Legend, and Agnes will pilot the Saviour."
Durandal turned to look at Shinn—the youth he had personally gone to great lengths to protect.
"The Destiny will be piloted by Shinn."
"Ah... me?"
Clearly, Durandal's arrangement left Shinn in disbelief. After all, he had only just been released from the brig; to have the most cutting-edge machine handed to him was a reversal Shinn hadn't expected. He had assumed his best-case scenario would be piloting a ZAKU Warrior.
"You recovered one machine and the wreckage of another. You've earned this," Durandal said, conveniently leaving out the fact that the majority of Shinn's kill bonuses had been docked.
"Get used to the machines and prepare for battle as quickly as possible, everyone."
Durandal sighed, looking up at the inactive Destiny Gundam standing in the hangar. "There isn't much time left."
He was becoming increasingly aware that the battle that might blow both sides back to the Stone Age was fast approaching.
-----------------------------------
At this moment, on the Industrial 7 colony.
Stellar sat inside a red-and-white machine. Within a cockpit that appeared somewhat cluttered compared to other units, a data cable was connected to the interface behind her right ear.
Massive amounts of data flashed across her vision. Although she felt a slight swelling sensation in her brain, engaging in combat was no problem at all.
Scattered around this red-and-white machine lay a pile of fallen units of the same model, along with several M1 Astrays.
"I didn't expect... that simply linking to the machine to read data would provide such a significant enhancement to the pilot."
Erica stood behind the observation window, watching the machine standing in the field. It vibrated slightly, almost as if it were breathing.
Originally, Stellar was supposed to return to a normal civilian life just like Mayu. However, at her own insistent request, Stellar had once again climbed into a Mobile Suit.
"I want to bring Shinn back," she had said.
Having experienced life under both the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, Stellar instinctively viewed both places as dangerous. She subconsciously wanted to pull Shinn into her "safe zone."
Regarding Stellar's request to fight, although their official stance didn't support it—and they wouldn't say it out loud—Orb was actually quite welcoming to have a pilot with actual combat experience join their ranks. Consequently, Orb approached Erica and Roz to design a specialized custom machine for Stellar.
"This control system is still only in its simplest, initial stage. Once the full design is complete, she will be even stronger."
Roz glanced at the machine on the field for a moment before lowering his head again to continue sketching blueprints on his tablet.
To unleash Stellar's full potential as she requested, Roz had referenced the logic the Haros used to operate construction machinery. He created an adapter that allowed Stellar to link with the MS and read the machine's data directly.
After all, Stellar was different from the Haros. The Haros had gained their current ability to direct-link with machinery only after being tortured nearly to the point of madness in Blue Cosmos research facilities, where they were forced to interface with various machines and instruments repeatedly. Those who couldn't endure it had their brains fried by the massive data streams and were simply discarded.
Since Stellar's mental state was already fragile to begin with, Roz naturally wasn't reckless enough to let her link directly to the MS. He built the adapter to limit the size of the data stream, preventing her from suffering a sudden bout of Cyberpsychosis inside the cockpit.
"But... why does the machine you're designing this time look so much like a ZAFT GINN... or rather, their latest ZAKU Warrior?"
Erica squinted slightly as she looked at Roz's blueprints.
"If she wants to take Shinn, that boy, away from ZAFT... close-quarters combat is inevitable. Using an appearance similar to ZAFT's units might be better for disorienting them."
Without looking back, Roz continued to refine the sketch on his tablet.
On the screen, a machine similar to a ZAFT ZAKU Warrior—but featuring a long propulsion backpack and several sub-arms—was gradually being outlined.
................