In the Minerva's dormitory, Shinn stared at the hard drive in his hand, remaining silent for a long time.
Because Mayu and Stellar were in Orb, his inner allegiance still leaned toward Orb. On the desk lay several sheets of paper printed with portions of Durandal's plan, alongside Lacus's thoughts on the future from her position in Orb.
He tried desperately to convince himself otherwise, but he had to admit that if the world were to move toward a peaceful future, Durandal's plan was far more feasible than Lacus's proposals. He felt that his own knowledge was currently so impoverished that he could think of no better solution.
Shinn sighed and tucked the hard drive into the inner pocket of his clothes, intending to keep it on his person at all times. As for the documents on the desk, he fed them into the shredder; he planned to add some water to the shredded paper later, stir it into a pulp, and flush it down the toilet. After all, lighters weren't allowed in the dorms to burn the scraps; otherwise, disposing of them would have been even simpler.
Listening to the white noise of the running shredder, Shinn lay back on his bed and stared at the white ceiling, lost in thought.
"What a pain..." Shinn sighed, complaining with a sense of reckless resignation. "I only wanted to earn more money; why did things turn out like this?"
"But... there are some things we simply must do."
Rey's voice sounded from the dormitory doorway. He walked into the room, glancing at the operating shredder without much concern.
"Looking at you now, Chairman Durandal must have told you about his plan."
Rey spoke directly about the purpose of Durandal's meeting with Shinn. "So, what are your thoughts now?"
"Are you also a part of Chairman Durandal's plan?" Shinn asked, looking at the serious-faced Rey and thinking for a moment. "I want to find a better way... but I can't think of anything more feasible than the Chairman's."
"So... you intend to join Chairman Durandal's plan?"
"I suppose so, if there are no other better ideas."
Things had come to this point, and Shinn had nothing left to say. Although according to Chairman Durandal's plan, earning money might become a bit more difficult in the future, if he worked three to four part-time jobs a day, it should be fine... probably.
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After a brief conversation, Rey led Shinn away from the Minerva and into a warehouse. Several machines resembling cockpits were arranged there; beside them stood a few figures engaged in casual conversation.
Not far from the machines, three distinct mobile suits were docked. One of them featured a signature large circular pack, clearly marking it as a unit from the same lineage as the Legend.
"Captain Rau Le Creuset."
Seeing that familiar masked figure, Rey snapped a salute.
"Oh, you're back, Rey."
Rau, who had been busy with unknown tasks on the homeland, returned the salute casually upon seeing Shinn and Rey enter.
"And Shinn, you've racked up quite a few confirmed kills. Young and promising indeed..."
Even though Rau hadn't participated in any sorties recently, his well-informed intelligence channels ensured that every detail regarding the Minerva reached him.
"This machine..."
Rey's eyes widened slightly as he looked at the unit that resembled the Legend.
"The Providence, and a specialized model at that."
Following Rey's gaze, Rau introduced his new ride. "Quite unique, isn't it? Because it doesn't use standard Dragoons, but Wired Gunbarrels."
"Wired?"
Rey was stunned by Rau's explanation.
"You saw it too, didn't you? The battle where the Unicorn hijacked the Dragoons near the PLANT agricultural colony," Rau said, bluntly stating the reason for the Providence's modification. "To prevent the Providence's Dragoons from being taken over, we ultimately chose to use wired pods."
"But that's not the main point. Durandal designed something new for the Providence."
Recalling the entity currently being assembled, Rau rested his chin on his hand, a subtle smile playing across his lips. "How should I put it... its design aesthetic is very similar to that giant MA Blue Cosmos used during the attack on Orb."
"Well, you'll see that thing in due time. That's not why I had you come here today."
Looking at the two young men, Rau gestured to the two people beside him. "Yzak, Nicol—use these simulation pods to properly break in Shinn and Rey, since they've just received their new machines."
"As Red Coats, if you screw this up, you know exactly what will happen."
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"These machines... they look so much like ZAFT's..."
At the lunar base, an Earth Alliance officer adjusted the brim of his cap while observing the rows of black MS standing before him.
"These are independently developed units of the Kingdom of Foundation. Before joining the Earth Alliance, Foundation was heavily influenced by ZAFT, so there might be some leanings in their outward appearance."
A man wearing a military uniform that was far more ornate than the standard Earth Alliance attire spoke up. "But that's of no consequence. Are our warships ready?"
"We've just cleared out all the Daggers inside and finished loading supplies. You can move these... Black Knights? Anyway, you can move your machines in now."
Glancing at the registered names of the units, the officer scratched his head. "In any case, we've assigned you two Drake-class ships. They're a bit compact, but they're quite fast."
With the Archangel-class units entering the active order of battle, the Earth Alliance had several idle Drake-class ships, which happened to be perfect for the Foundation's task force.
"It's a stroke of luck that the Eighth Fleet is permanently stationed on the Moon... otherwise, maintaining these Drakes would have been a nightmare."
The officer felt a headache coming on just thinking about the sheer number of Drake-class vessels.
"But staying stationed on the Moon all this time—isn't that a bit over-cautious? Can ZAFT really strike this far?"
Hearing the officer's words, the Foundation official thought of the projects his kingdom had invested in on the Moon and narrowed his eyes slightly.
'Could it be that the Kingdom made a deal with the Eighth Fleet to have them stay here and guard the 'Requiem'?' He figured he should ask the Prime Minister later, just in case.
Before long, the two Drake-class ships departed from the lunar base. Midway through their patrol route, they changed course and headed in a specific direction.
"Although we don't know where those civilians and the main force went during the Orb evacuation... if we attack their colony, Mendel, we should be able to flush them out!"
Clearly, having twelve nearly perfected Black Knight Squad units had made this commander a bit overconfident. Industrial 7 might not be on the star charts, but Orb's presence at Mendel was a known record.
This "don't fight the fire at the front; burn the fuel behind it." maneuver—whether it lured out the main force or directly collided with it—would achieve the goal of massively weakening Orb's military strength and cutting off their ability to interfere with the plan. It was a win either way; they were "winning until they were numb!"
At this moment, he couldn't help but feel proud of his own "Astonishing Wisdom."
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Orb, Colony Mendel.
Athrun sat on the sofa in the administrative center's office, scrolling through recent news on his communicator. From behind his sunglasses, his eyes occasionally drifted toward Cagalli, who was currently panicking over a mountain of documents at her desk.
Compared to her past one-track-minded self, the current Cagalli was a "mature woman" who could pilot an MS into battle and handle paperwork alone in an office. If only her somewhat overly blunt personality could be fixed, those quotation marks around "mature woman" could be removed.
Athrun thought this as he pulled his gaze back to his screen. Then again, it wasn't bad that Cagalli kept that personality; at least she hadn't been "assimilated"—she was still herself.
"Phew... finally finished."
Signing the last document on her desk, Cagalli smoothly tossed her capped pen into the holder. She slumped into her chair as if all the strength had left her body.
"Good work."
Athrun skillfully placed a glass of water on her desk.
Looking at the man before her—her brother Kira's best friend—and thinking about the tangled relationships between Kira, Lacus, and Athrun, Cagalli suddenly felt a strange sensation in her heart.
Perhaps because she had learned of her sibling bond with Kira, her original feelings had been forcibly redirected, causing her to care for Kira's best friend instead? Cagalli didn't quite know the specifics; regardless, during the time Roz was running around everywhere, she and Athrun had somehow ended up together.
Thinking about it, these two couples were somewhat "abstract." Kira's girlfriend, Lacus, was Athrun's former fiancée, and Athrun's girlfriend was Kira's sister.
What was this, a tactical "base swap"?
"What are you thinking about?"
Athrun's voice interrupted Cagalli's wandering thoughts just as she was about to compose an entire stomach-aching romance drama in her head. Despite her "tomboy" demeanor, she was still a girl at heart.
"I was thinking... if everything ends, what will happen in the future?"
Cagalli picked a random topic, not daring to voice the "brainstorming" she had just been doing. If she said that out loud, it would surely be social suicide.
"For Kira and Lacus... they'd probably find a small island to live in seclusion?" Athrun pondered the personalities of his nominal ex-fiancée and his best friend. "As for me... I'll probably be right here by your side."
"I see... fair enough." Cagalli took a sip of water. "By the way, that guy who used to follow you around... Dearka? That was his name, right? Where did he go?"
"Since arriving at Mendel, he's been wandering around the residential areas... I suppose the compact and high-efficiency living environment of Industrial 7 didn't suit him."
Thinking of Dearka, who had stayed with Orb since the Great Evacuation, Athrun couldn't help but sigh. "Maybe life on Mendel is a better fit for him. Besides, he never really liked fighting much..."
As Athrun was speaking, the phone on Cagalli's desk rang.
"This is Cagalli, Chief Representative of Orb. Speak."
Cagalli answered the phone with practiced ease, snapping from her relaxed state back into work mode. However, the news from the receiver made her brow furrow.
"Representative, two Earth Alliance warships are approaching Mendel, and... they've launched MS! Analysis is complete—they are Kingdom of Foundation units from the database!"
On the other end, the radar early-warning soldier sounded nervous. Mendel had just had a battle not long ago; were they really doing this again?
"The Kingdom of Foundation?"
Recalling how troublesome those black machines were, Cagalli looked at Athrun with a grim expression.
"Understood. Have the MS squads stand by. The battle will center around Athrun's Justice and Dearka's Buster. Also, notify Industrial 7. Request the Nahel Argama, and specifically, ask for Roz's support."
If anyone had the most experience dealing with those Black Knights, Roz was second to none. After all, no one had destroyed more Foundation units than he had.
"Athrun... be careful."
Recalling the armor specs of the Black Knights from combat records, Cagalli didn't impulsively sortie in the Akatsuki as she would have in the past. Instead, she left it to Athrun, whose machine was biased toward physical attacks and whose melee skills were formidable.
'Perhaps this is a form of growth' Cagalli thought.
"Yeah. I'm heading out."
Athrun didn't waste words. He turned and sprinted out of the office door.
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The two Drake-class ships were closing in on the borders of the Mendel airspace at a leisurely pace, completely ignoring the warnings issued by the Orb side.
"Everyone, as pilots of the latest version of the Black Knight, you represent the elite of the Kingdom of Foundation."
Standing on the bridge, the Foundation officer spoke into the microphone; his voice echoed through the PA systems of both warships and the communication channels of the mobile suits.
"Our operation today is not only to carry out Prime Minister Orphee's orders but also to wash away the humiliation previously cast upon our Kingdom."
The Foundation pilots, clad in black flight suits, settled into their Black Knights and donned helmets designed to mimic the unit's head monitors.
"You have all undergone the latest enhancement surgeries. The specialized brainwave augmenters allow you to engage in mental dialogue with one another and even read the enemy's thoughts, allowing you to anticipate their every move."
The Foundation pilots toggled a switch on their consoles. A surge of static and noise flashed through their minds, causing them to wince instinctively. However, the chaos soon settled. They could feel the words, emotions, and thoughts of their comrades—they could even sense the curiosity of the maintenance crew aboard the Drake-class ships.
"The specialized FT Armor ensures we remain invincible."
Staring at the distant colony of Mendel, the officer's lips curled into a peculiar smile. "Black Knights, wipe away the dust from the Kingdom's glory. Honor awaits you!"
It must be said that the officer's speech was quite effective in rallying the Black Knights; at the very least, their battle intent was soaring.
On Orb's side, several Murasame units had already been launched. They were approaching at high speeds in MA mode, attempting to intercept and drive the Black Knights away. The Foundation pilots sneered, raising their beam rifles.
"We're locked on! Evasive maneuvers! Evade!"
Seeing the lock-on warnings flash in their cockpits, the Murasame squad quickly banked away. However, their fear only served to stimulate the over-excited Black Knights. The beam rifles began laying down a barrage of fire. Fortunately, the Murasame pilots were Orb veterans; through extreme maneuvering, only two units had their wings clipped, significantly reducing their mobility.
"Hmph... your lives belong to me..."
One Black Knight pilot aimed at the two Murasames that were struggling to turn. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, a sub-flight lifter—its thrusters erupting with blue flames—slammed into his machine, knocking his aim wide.
The pilot suddenly sensed a powerful brainwave in his mind. He instinctively raised his left arm; a searing beam saber struck the limb, but it failed to penetrate the armor even an inch.
The lifter that had initiated the ramming attack returned to the back of the Justice, which was currently swinging its beam saber. Athrun sat in the cockpit, his expression grim. In the next instant, as if their minds were linked, both machines raised their right legs simultaneously. Their feet collided, and the force of the kick sent both units reeling back a significant distance from each other.
"...Something's not right."
Watching the Black Knight accurately block his attacks twice in a row, Athrun frowned.
It looked like this was going to be a brutal fight.
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Inside the Industrial 7 colony, supplies were being rapidly loaded onto the Nahel Argama.
"Cagalli sent a distress signal from Mendel. A formation of the Kingdom of Foundation's black MS is attacking the Orb forces there," Murrue quickly explained the situation over the comms on the bridge. "Since the Nahel Argama is faster and has superior transport capacity, we will depart first. The rest of the fleet will converge later."
As the communication cut off, Murrue let out a sigh. A familiar, warm hand was placed on her shoulder, and she instinctively looked up at the person who had reached out. He was still wearing that same flight jacket he always wore, but at this moment, it gave Murrue a profound sense of security.
"Twelve Black Knights... based on the combat data Cagalli synchronized from the Orb forces... will it be alright?"
"Yeah... it'll be fine," Roz nodded to Murrue. "The Armed Armor VN won't have any trouble tearing through their armor."
"Besides... Unicorn is also quite displeased with these machines from the Kingdom of Foundation."
Down in the hangar, as if reflecting the Machine Spirit's foul mood, a chilling atmosphere of slaughter pervaded the air. It felt as though a ferocious beast was waiting to be unleashed from its cage to join the fray.
After all, these were the very machines that had forcibly severed the link between the Machine Spirit and Roz during the Great Evacuation of Orb. Even if she were to be dismantled, the Machine Spirit would never forget these wretches.
...................