We disembarked from the Eternal and exchanged greetings with them. Cagalli came out dressed neatly in a white uniform, but it didn’t suit her very well. Jeans were more her style.

"Thank you for coming to help. My father couldn’t come because he’s busy with war preparations."

Cagalli grabbed my hand and said that. It seemed she was very glad we had come to help.

"I’m just here to check on the machines. The representative from our side this time is this person."

I pointed to Lacus as I spoke. Lacus then politely greeted Cagalli.

"My name is Lacus Clyne. Nice to meet you. I am the captain of the Eternal."

"Nice to meet you. I am Cagalli Yula Athha. Um... Ah! I am the daughter of Uzumi Nara Athha, the representative chief of Orb, so... I came to express my gratitude for Celestial Being’s support."

Confronted with Lacus’s polite demeanor, Cagalli seemed flustered and gave a rather clumsy introduction. Kira covered his mouth to hold back laughter, and Athrun sighed with an ’I knew it’ expression.

As greetings finished, Miriallia ran over and hugged Yzak.

"You kept your promise."

"Of course!"

The two were becoming an overly affectionate couple. What was amusing was Dearka watching them from the side, looking as if he had seen something he shouldn’t. Even though she was his girlfriend in the original.

Then Cagalli said,

"I understand you two haven’t seen each other in a while, but we’ve prepared a place inside Morgenröte, Inc. Let’s move there to continue talking."

She then guided us inside the building, so we went in together. Not everyone came out; Andrew stayed with the ship.

On the way, not seeing Aria (Nicol), I asked Athrun.

"Where’s Aria?"

"Ah, she’s inside the company. The company side is very interested in the machines Celestial Being built. So she said she couldn’t relax. And it’s not Aria, it’s Nicol. I heard about how she was found near Orb, her lower body gone, barely rescued."

While with Nicol, Athrun seemed to have talked about what had happened.

"I see. A little later and she would have died. It was a stroke of luck. So, has her memory returned?"

"No, not yet. So I’m trying to help her recover her memories through conversation."

Just then, Yzak, who had been listening, asked in surprise,

"Wh-what? Nicol is alive??!!!"

"Yes, she’s alive. Fortunately, when the machine exploded, she lost her lower body and was thrown clear, it seems."

At that, Dearka also asked in surprise,

"Athrun, is that true???"

"Yes. And there’s something you should know. Because Nicol lost her lower body, she chose to become a woman. She said it was an unavoidable decision. That being a eunuch was worse, so this was better..."

"Th-that’s..."

They were clearly shocked by the news that Nicol had become a woman; their faces showed undisguised bewilderment.

While talking, we arrived at the conference room prepared in the Morgenröte, Inc. building. There, Cagalli showed us satellite photos of the gathered Earth Alliance fleet and explained the current situation.

"Then, at the latest, they’ll arrive in Orb’s territorial waters tomorrow."

"Yes, that’s right. No matter how much we protest how unreasonable this is, it’s useless. Since they lost Panama, they’re probably targeting the mass driver and Morgenröte’s Mobile Suit technology to protect their moon base."

Hearing that, Lacus said to us,

"We should prepare. The Eternal only has one catapult, so launching all at once is difficult. We’ll need to move the Mobile Suits out beforehand."

"Then we’ll prepare a place for you."

After the meeting ended, our side began moving the Mobile Suits out of the Eternal. Then Morgenröte employees came out to look at the machines. One person in particular was very interested: Erica Simmons, the technical director of Morgenröte, whose butt I had secretly slapped last time I was here.

"These seem to be the same class as the Zabanya Gundam we saw last time. How does Celestial Being make such machines... That’s a mass-production unit! How about giving us just one?"

"Hey, are you saying that while I’m standing right here?"

This woman was openly saying such things right next to me. Putting aside her interest in the technology, she was utterly brazen.

"Ah! So you heard. Nice to meet you. I’m Erica Simmons, technical director of Morgenröte."

"Yeah, I don’t need an introduction."

"Of course not. You’re too famous not to know. By the way, have you considered a technical alliance with Morgenröte?"

"Sorry, but Orb doesn’t have any technology I’m interested in. Technical alliances are only possible when both sides have something to exchange. As technical director, you must know that, right?"

"That’s true. But it’s a shame. That engine, with output beyond nuclear power, would dramatically improve Morgenröte’s Mobile Suit performance..."

Through her, I could see that even Morgenröte coveted Celestial Being’s technology.

"I understand your ambition, but I hope you won’t make the mistake of making us your enemy."

"Tch, so cold. Then it’s okay to just look from close up, right?"

"As long as you keep a reasonable distance, I suppose."

When I gave permission, Erica Simmons’s eyes sparkled as she asked again,

"What is that ’reasonable distance’? How many meters? For how long?"

Hearing her, I finally understood why Nicol had been so tense.

And there was another problem: Kira and Cagalli. While moving the machines, the two were talking, and judging by their expressions, there was something unusual in the air. Just from Cagalli’s blushing face, you could read the pink atmosphere.

’Well, front-door recombination isn’t happening... Why doesn’t Uzumi (Cagalli’s adoptive father) quickly tell them they’re siblings?’

Originally, Kira and Cagalli were fraternal twins from Via Hibiki’s pregnancy, but her husband Uren Hibiki had arbitrarily extracted the fertilized egg corresponding to Kira and made him a Coordinator. Unfortunately, the Hibikis were assassinated by Blue Cosmos terrorists, so the two were adopted separately and are still completely unaware that they are siblings.

Since I am involved with Lacus, an important character in the original, their love lives were becoming tangled in various ways.

Anyway, that evening, we had a sumptuous meal prepared by Orb. The food was quite good; Orb seemed to have put care into it. After eating, Lacus met with Captain Ramias to discuss several matters, including how the Archangel and the Eternal would coordinate. Since Lacus was taking the lead, I also stayed and offered my opinions.

"Then, we look forward to working with you tomorrow, Captain Lacus."

"Likewise, Captain Ramias."

After the meeting, Lacus and I moved to the ship. Fortunately, the meeting wasn’t long, so we had plenty of time to rest.

"You worked hard today."

"All I did was listen, so it wasn’t hard. You probably had a harder time, Lacus."

"But you offered many opinions. I was surprised; they were quite important."

"Things you could have thought of even without me, right?"

"I’m not so sure..."

"Then let’s just say both of us worked hard."

Lacus smiled and agreed.

"That’s right! Let’s do that."

As we laughed and talked, the faces of the Eternal’s crew watching us weren’t happy. The reason, I heard, was that couples were everywhere, making it hard for the single people. It was the same at the base, since the only women were 2B and A2, who were like ice queens, and Nana.

’Well, the guys under Andrew are almost all young, hot-blooded men... If they had some women, this wouldn’t be a problem.’

I thought that after the Orb battle, if nothing serious happened to Orb, I would give them a vacation so they could rest and recover there.

After a full day’s rest, we were busy from the morning. Lacus was meticulously checking for any oversights, and Andrew, along with Nicol (who had rejoined), Kira, and Athrun, were discussing preparations for the Earth Alliance forces. Orb and the Archangel were the same. Morgenröte’s ’M1 Astrays’ were also moving busily, taking their positions.

Yzak and Dearka were excited, looking forward to deploying their new machines in real combat.

"No problems with the machines?"

"None. I just want to launch already."

Just then, a call came from Cagalli.

—"The Earth Alliance fleet has arrived near Orb’s waters. The time they gave us is only two hours away, so finish your preparations."

"Understood."

I relayed this to everyone. At Andrew’s order, the Mobile Suit pilots quickly boarded their machines.

The difference from the original was that the Archangel wasn’t hiding, waiting to appear, but was already out and prepared. This was a decision made for coordination with the Eternal. The Archangel would take the front, with the Eternal supporting from behind.

With preparations complete, we waited briefly, then the Earth Alliance’s attack began.

—"It’s started. Let’s launch!"

—"Yes, sir!"

—"We’ve been waiting for that!"

The Mobile Suits launched first, followed by the ships. As before, we notified the Earth Alliance.

"This is Celestial Being. Earth Alliance, cease your attack on Orb and withdraw."

As expected, they ignored our words and launched their attack. Probably, with their overwhelming numbers and new machines, they thought our interference wouldn’t matter.

"It can’t be helped."

As I shook my head, Lacus gave the order.

"They chose to ignore the warning. Subdue them."

—"Thank goodness. I was worried they might actually listen and run away!"

—"Right. If we’d come all this way with new machines and had to go back without any real combat experience, that would’ve been pretty depressing."

As expected, Yzak and Dearka were the most excited. Lacus calmed them down.

"Please minimize casualties."

—"Got it."

—"A moderate penalty."

As the battle began, the Freedom Gundam, as expected, escorted our ships and engaged the Earth Alliance. The Justice Gundam and Harute Gundam disrupted the enemy’s formations. The Seravee Gundam, Kämpfer, and the GN-X units went to support Orb’s M1 Astrays on the ground.

Swish—! KABOOM!! Swish, swish! Bang!

As expected, it was overwhelming. The enemy’s numbers were no problem.

—"Hey, hey. Take it easy. We can’t even get near the ground."

—"Just provide support fire from there!"

—"Tsk..."

The Harute Gundam moved at tremendous speed, wiping out enemies with its GN Sword Rifle. Its speed was even greater than the Kämpfer’s. One might ask, ’Doesn’t that put a strain on the body like the Kämpfer?’ However, the Kämpfer had a wider turning radius than the Harute, allowing it to change direction quickly at various angles, which placed a greater physical burden. In straight-line speed, the Harute was superior.

Swish, swish! Zing—! Bang!

—"That guy’s having fun."

—"Hey, don’t go too deep."

—"I know what I’m doing, so don’t worry!"

Then, judging that the situation was turning against them, the Earth Alliance deployed the drug-induced trio: the Forbidden Gundam, Calamity Gundam, and Raider Gundam.

The Earth Alliance’s ’Blue Cosmos’ was well aware that Naturals could never match Coordinators’ Mobile Suit piloting abilities. So they began doing something they should not have done: the ’Boosted Man Project.’

The Boosted Man Project involved selecting capable individuals from death row inmates who had committed serious crimes and subjecting them to physical modification, drug administration, and other enhancement procedures to enable Naturals to achieve abilities equal to Coordinators. In short, they were enhanced humans created through various human experiments.

But these experiments had severe side effects. Boosted Men required continuous administration of special drugs to maintain their enhanced physical abilities. If not supplied with the drugs for a certain period, they would suffer extreme withdrawal symptoms, making normal combat impossible. As a result, their combat deployment time was limited, and they were unsuitable for long-term operations.

Given how Muruta Azrael, the leader of Blue Cosmos, treated them like disposable tools, it seemed not only were replacements prepared, but human experiments to reduce side effects were also ongoing. Of course, there was no consideration of human rights in Blue Cosmos’s experiments, so countless people must have lost their lives or been sacrificed in the process.