Meanwhile, at the Moon, Halberton's face was full of complicated emotions as he watched Murrue return to his side.
"I'm sorry, Admiral!"
The moment she was exchanged back, the woman in military uniform bowed deeply in guilt.
"It wasn't your fault."
Halberton shook his head.
Even without asking, he knew Murrue's character—there was no way she would ever voluntarily reveal his information.
"It's just that the other side's intelligence is disturbingly well-informed."
"And so, those idiots in Blue Cosmos."
Even the good-tempered Halberton couldn't help cursing at this point.
If they hadn't tried to blow up the Moderate Faction, and if the Moderate Faction hadn't found out about it, how could their internal situation have become so riddled with holes?
He didn't think Blue Cosmos should have acted in the first place, but not only did they act, their attempt was actually thwarted.
Even if those people kept insisting it was a false flag operation by ZAFT, that could only fool outsiders.
The Moderate Faction members who were attacked were all their true insiders, including the Minister of War, who had been among them.
How could they possibly fail to distinguish whether it was ZAFT who wanted them dead or Blue Cosmos?
If Blue Cosmos had actually succeeded, perhaps the Atlantic Federation really could have seized the opportunity to firmly grasp the Atlantic, and perhaps even barely unite the Council Nations together.
But the problem was, they had failed.
And failed miserably—not only did they fail to unify their internal ranks, they ended up splintered apart.
At present, they weren't just fighting ZAFT; on Capitol Hill, and even in the Ministry of War, arguments broke out every single day.
As for Halberton, he had always been on the Moderate Faction's side, so naturally he was even more furious.
If the Minister of War hadn't been protecting him, he probably would have been removed from his post after the ORB attack.
"Blue Cosmos has completely spiraled out of control—or rather, someone has taken control of it."
Murrue nodded along, frowning as she spoke.
"Indeed."
"But are you sure it was them who leaked the information?"
"I don't know, but in any case, we certainly have plenty of spies within our ranks."
Halberton let out a deep sigh.
"But right now, the influence of that Enhanced Person facility is only growing. Will they really abandon Blue Cosmos?"
There was urgency and hope in Murrue's voice.
"I doubt it."
Halberton sighed again at her words.
Although the matter of the Enhanced Person facilities had recently caused an uproar and drawn resentment from the public across the entire Atlantic Federation, at this point, public opinion no longer mattered.
At least, it no longer mattered to those Atlantic Federation higher-ups who had long since been thoroughly infiltrated by Blue Cosmos.
Whether for their own interests or their own lives, they had no choice but to continue this war.
As for ordinary people? What did that have to do with them?
"I see..."
Hearing this, Murrue lowered her eyes in disappointment.
For a moment, she didn't know what to say.
But before Murrue could gather her words, Halberton continued, "It all depends on what other cards ZAFT has to play. If they don't harm innocent people, we won't need to do too much."
In truth, there wasn't much they could do anyway. Officers who could be directly controlled by the Moderate Faction made up less than 10% of the entire Atlantic Federation. Even if they staged a mutiny without regard for the consequences, that number would probably only rise to 30%.
But after the mutiny, the price would be enormous—it would be practically the same as surrendering directly to PLANT.
That was something they could not accept.
So, in the end, the only option was to respond to changing circumstances with constancy.
It all depended on what kind of terms ZAFT would offer.
At least in Halberton's view, the fact that the other side had voluntarily sent Murrue back was itself a gesture of goodwill.
Granted, they were the ones who had captured her in the first place, but the significance was still different.
At the very least, it was a goodwill signal sent proactively.
"Mm."
Hearing this, Murrue nodded. Looking at Halberton's steady tone and demeanor, the uncertainty in her heart gradually settled.
Still, with the Enhanced Person facility destroyed this time, that abandoned Cloned Coordinators project would probably be restarted as well.
Who knew what it would become then.
He did not want to defend that place.
After all, toying with other people's lives like that could never be considered honorable conduct by any stretch.
All's fair in war—he admitted he was no saint himself—but if one lost even the most basic bottom line and conscience, if one could disregard the lives of millions for personal gain, that was absolutely not what he wanted.
As he had said before, they could only take it one step at a time.
Halberton's room soon fell quiet.
Meanwhile, amid the open and covert struggles between the various factions, Fred officially obtained the intelligence on the Library.
Just as he had expected, it was in space—and its location was L4.
Most of the space colonies at L4 were joint colonies belonging to several Council Nations and other countries. Because of their small scale, and since most of the facilities on them were civilian, they had not become targets of the war.
Of course, in truth, there had been members of the Radical Faction calling for direct attacks on those colonies, but they had all been vetoed by the currently more level-headed Patrick and Siegel.
"To think it's in a place like that. Planning to use civilians as a shield again?"
Yzak said bitterly.
"Probably."
Dearka's expression was equally grim.
It wasn't just the two of them—everyone in the operations meeting room wore the same look.
Seeing this, Fred gave a light cough, drawing everyone's attention before continuing: "These colonies have a structure similar to Mendel's. We have the relevant data on file. Moreover, the facility inside the colony is only one of their research installations—their main base is on that asteroid."
"As for the base inside the colony, we won't tip them off for now. First, we take out the base outside. On that front, Hawk, you and Nicol will lead the second team to infiltrate their base."
"Orphee and I will hold off their reinforcements from the other nearby bases."
All in all, it wasn't much different from the previous operation in the Black Sea—except this time, they would be facing a much stronger force.
After all, according to the intelligence, the Atlantic Federation's MS codenamed Caladbolgus had officially entered service.
A Mobile Suit similar to the Xiphas, but with superior specs across the board, benchmarked against the Strike Suit.
Of course, it was harder to operate and its system had not been upgraded at all, meaning it could only be piloted by Enhanced Persons or Coordinators.
Still, it was not to be underestimated.
"If there are no objections, let's begin the drills now. Aim to complete at least ten runs before we arrive."
"Yes!"
As Fred's words fell, everyone eagerly agreed.
Watching this scene before him, the young man's lips curved upward.
These Ace subordinates were his current source of confidence.
As long as he kept working hard, success was within reach.