Since they were entering Earth, the possibility of encountering an Earth Alliance fleet was extremely high.
Especially now that the Alliance knew the Archangel had defected and was headed for Orb. It would not be impossible for them to wait near Orb in advance, or even in the space above it.
And right now, as the Archangel approached Earth, they had indeed detected an Earth Alliance fleet: the 8th Fleet.
The captain aboard that fleet's command ship, the Menelaos, was also the commander of the 8th Fleet, Admiral Halberton. In a sense, he was Murrue Ramius's mentor.
The construction of the Archangel and the Gundams had been proposed by him, and he had provided the greatest support for it. Without the admiral's backing, their construction would never have succeeded.
Now that they were about to meet, Murrue felt somewhat at a loss. She did not know how she should face the admiral.
If Admiral Halberton had been one of the traitors on the list Lacus had given her, then Murrue would not have felt so guilty.
But Halberton was not. More than that, he was truly an upright man.
If possible, she really did not want to meet him in battle.
"Captain, we have a transmission from the Menelaos. It's Admiral Halberton. He intends to personally come aboard the Archangel?"
"Personally?"
Murrue immediately grew tense.
She did not know what attitude he held in choosing to come personally.
After Communications Officer 730 explained further, she froze slightly. Admiral Halberton would not have the fleet approach. Instead, he would come directly by landing craft.
In the blink of an eye, their conversation was nearly over, and Murrue's suspended heart finally relaxed quite a bit.
Admiral Halberton had not blamed her at all. On the contrary, from his few words, she could hear an implied meaning.
Halberton knew that the Earth Alliance was badly "ill," and that there were far too many parasites inside it. So he would let the Archangel pass and would not make things difficult for her.
In addition, Halberton seemed to have established contact with the Clyne faction at some point. He was also in contact with Cagalli's father.
It seemed they had already been secretly plotting something, preparing to remove those tumors and prevent tragedy.
Finally, before leaving, Admiral Halberton privately said something to her.
Having lived through all manner of life-and-death situations, countless battles, and all kinds of brutal battlefields, Admiral Halberton said that Mr. Kain was the most terrifying person he had ever seen.
He did not think that because he had been frightened by the power of the machine Kain had displayed earlier. Rather, it was Halberton's own intuition. He said Kain was like a vicious demon that had clawed its way up from hell after slaughtering its way through it.
Halberton had even felt an illusion from him. The brutal wars and battles he himself had experienced seemed far, far beneath what Kain had gone through.
It was the kind of illusion that made his own experiences feel like children playing at war, while Mr. Kain's experiences were the true slaughter of adults.
That was what Halberton had privately told her about his impression of Mr. Kain.
Toward such a person, Halberton had both expectations and worries.
He expected him to become a powerful ally, one who could prevent this world from heading toward tragedy.
But he also worried that one misstep could turn him into a fatal threat to this world.
To put it simply, Halberton believed he was a double-edged sword.
Used well, he would be a boon. Used poorly, he would become a disaster.
So he hoped that when Murrue assisted Lacus, she would pay attention not only to the sword itself, but also to the sword's wielder, that young girl Lacus. She had to make sure Lacus did not go astray either.
In the end, she was still only a child, while Murrue was a mature adult. She had to properly help share the pressure and guide her toward the correct path.
Finally, Murrue gave the admiral a solemn salute and saw him off.
The admiral's departure also took some people with him.
In the end, some members still chose to leave the Archangel. In particular, those who had been swayed under Natarle's "encouragement" followed Natarle and left with Admiral Halberton.
After the landing craft disappeared from view, Murrue immediately prepared to return to the bridge and command the Archangel's descent to Earth.
"Ah? What's this?"
As she passed near Mr. Kain, he tossed something to her.
"A protective suit and lifesaving medicine."
The reason he was only giving her the protective suit now was that Kain had asked A2's side to custom-order another one.
Lacus and Cagalli had roughly similar builds, so the spare protective suit previously made for Lacus could be used directly by Cagalli.
But Captain Murrue needed a new one custom-made, because her figure was not the kind of budding-girl build Lacus and Cagalli had.
Correction. She could wear one, because the protective suit was elastic, but if it did not fit properly, it could not provide its maximum protective effect.
As for the medicine, it was naturally Earth Elixir.
"Lifesaving medicine?"
Murrue looked at the small finger-sized vials inside the box in her hands, and immediately thought of what she had misunderstood half a day ago and given him, only for him to drink it. Her face could not help flushing again.
So a thought suddenly surfaced in her mind.
This could not be his, could it?
No. What was she thinking? There was no way he would joke with her about something like that.
But giving her this many meant he wanted everyone on the bridge to have one vial each, right?
"Ahem. Captain Ramius, stop spacing out and hurry to the bridge."
Cagalli "kindly" reminded her.
In truth, for some reason, she felt a sense of displeasure inside. Especially after noticing the captain blushing at him, that irritated feeling grew even stronger.
So she glared at him in annoyance.
Lacus, who noticed this scene from Cagalli, felt that she looked a little childish and cute, and smiled.
In the blink of an eye...
"Archangel, launch!"
On the bridge, Murrue gave the order. The engines ignited, pushing the warship onto a course along the side of the 8th Fleet.
At the same time, the five fighters led by Mr. Kain escorted them from the surrounding area.
According to him, the fighters themselves were also capable of entering the atmosphere independently.
The escort was also because he was worried something unexpected might happen at a time like this.
...
Earth Alliance 8th Fleet, bridge of the command ship Menelaos.
"Admiral Halberton, you're just going to let them pass?"
"Otherwise, do you think we can win against machines like those?"
Halberton calmly answered the discordant voice within the fleet.
He had already shown the fleet personnel the combat footage obtained from the Archangel's side. No one should be stupid enough to still launch an attack against them.
No, that was wrong. There was still someone stupid enough to think that way. It was the person currently questioning him in that accusing tone, one of the fleet's two deputy commanders. A man connected to Blue Cosmos. Most likely, he was a member himself.
"Besides, we've already obtained the data Badgiruel secretly brought out. It includes the data for manufacturing the Archangel and the G-Weapons, as well as partial combat performance data on those fighters. That is already a very good gain."
After those words, the deputy commander fell silent.
As the Archangel drew closer and began passing through the airspace near the fleet, unusual movement from one of the fleet's ships made Halberton's brow furrow.
The next second, every launcher on that ship opened, and all of its missiles were fired in one breath without hesitation. Halberton's expression changed.
Had that deputy commander truly gone insane?
"No ship is to move without my order!"
After issuing that command first, Halberton was just about to give a second order when...
"Admiral Halberton, the Neutron Jammers covering the fleet and the surrounding airspace are being shut down!"
A crew member on the bridge suddenly spoke in alarm, and Halberton's face instantly turned iron-gray.
Everyone realized what that meant. They stared in shock at the vast number of missiles that had been fired.
After most of the missiles were intercepted, an intense light suddenly erupted, turning their entire field of vision white.
This was...
A nuclear explosion.
(End of Chapter)
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