At the PLANT council chamber.
Rau Le Creuset and every member of the Red Coat team who had attended were present, giving a more detailed report on what they had encountered.
"The Earth Alliance absolutely could not possess technology like that."
"Could it be Mars?"
"So those people finally decided to interfere in Earth's affairs."
"We observed no movement from them at all."
The greatest suspect could only be Mars. Otherwise, they truly could not imagine what other faction might be involved.
"We have to stop them. We cannot let them bring that technology to the Earth Alliance as well!"
It seemed the Archangel's betrayal was real. Even so, they still had to take measures against the Archangel.
Once it descended to Earth, it would be in Earth Alliance territory. ZAFT had forces on Earth too, but at present, the Earth Alliance still controlled more territory overall.
Orb, in particular, bordered the Earth Alliance's sphere of influence. If the Earth Alliance accidentally obtained that technology, PLANT's advantage would vanish.
"Siegel, you saw it too. Do you still intend to interfere with my plan?"
Patrick Zala, one of the twelve members of the PLANT Supreme Council and Chairman of the ZAFT National Defense Committee, asked his former close friend in a low voice.
His words made everyone present fall silent.
Some of the people who had originally stood on Siegel Clyne's side, the ones who did not support Zala's development of more dangerous weapons, had now been shaken.
This was especially true of one military councilman who had originally sided with Siegel. He too was wavering, because his son's current fate was unknown.
"Siegel, put away those childish fantasies of peace. If Earth surpasses us technologically, PLANT will only be destroyed."
"We must notify ZAFT's forces on Earth and have them take action!"
"Action? You mean declaring war on Orb? Declaring war on them?"
Someone frowned as he said this.
"That is the same as pushing Orb onto the opposing side. Right now, they are not necessarily our enemy!"
"That is ostrich thinking!"
Several people began arguing.
Siegel Clyne remained silent. Then his gaze fell on one person: Gilbert Durandal.
He did not look directly at him. He did not let Durandal notice that he was watching him.
In the past, Siegel had considered Durandal someone on the same path as himself. Now, however, he believed Durandal was even more dangerous than Patrick.
Durandal was present because, as a technical specialist, he had been asked to examine the data Le Creuset had brought back and see whether anything could be determined from it.
Although Durandal was an expert in genetics and did not understand much about what technology that fighter had used, what about the pilot?
Through certain pieces of information, he might be able to understand the physical condition of the opposing pilot.
Siegel had once valued this man. Now, he had more or less noticed some of Durandal's movements. On the surface, Durandal still seemed to stand with Siegel, but in private, Siegel had already discovered that he was gradually moving over to Patrick's side.
His daughter Lacus had been seemingly attacked at Heliopolis, and Siegel did not believe it had been Patrick's own idea. He suspected Durandal more.
Because a substitute for his daughter had suddenly appeared, and Durandal was the one who had found her.
Durandal had made what seemed like a kind proposal: if Lacus truly had an accident, the substitute could take her place, preventing the public from learning that Lacus had died. That would avoid further inflaming PLANT's people and giving the pro-war faction even more support.
On the surface, it looked like he was helping Siegel. In truth, his intentions were sinister. He was slowly gnawing away at the Clyne faction until he could ultimately seize control of it.
Suddenly, the doors of the council chamber were pushed open in a hurry. A staff member rushed in, and everyone fell silent.
Because the newcomer had surely come to report on that warship's situation.
At this time, it should have been passing through the Earth Alliance's Eighth Fleet. Judging by the look of things, something had happened there as well.
"This is the latest situation we just observed!"
Information began playing in the center of the council table.
That warship had originally seemed as if it would quietly pass through the Earth Alliance's Eighth Fleet. Then, one of the fleet's ships suddenly launched missiles at it.
And then...
"A nuclear missile?"
"As expected, this is exactly the sort of thing Naturals would do!"
"A pack of madmen!"
Le Creuset, who was also watching the scene, narrowed his eyes.
Judging from the intelligence officer's reaction, the Long-Legs should be fine. In fact, it might have done something absurd again.
After the light faded, the Long-Legs was indeed unharmed. That machine must have defended it.
It had even blocked an attack like that.
Afterward, the other side immediately struck back at the warship that had launched the attack.
As always, it ignored incoming fire and simply approached the enemy vessel. Then it spread its five fingers and began to close them into a fist.
"This..."
"You have to be joking. What kind of ability is that?"
"Can technology really do something like this? It is practically a psychic power!"
Their expressions shifted wildly as they watched the warship get compressed into a sphere by an invisible force under that empty-handed clenching motion.
Le Creuset, meanwhile, was judging the limitations of that ability.
For example, how close did the target have to be before it could be compressed?
Athrun and the others had also closed in during their previous attack, so why had it not used this ability then?
That meant the ability was difficult to use if the target was too close. The target's mobility also could not be too high, or it would be difficult to lock on to.
It was also possible that if the target was too small, the ability would have no effect. Perhaps it could only compress something down to a sphere with a diameter of about twenty meters.
At that size, mobile suits would not be crushed, because ordinary machines were generally around eighteen meters tall, smaller than that spherical space.
There was another possibility: when the machine opened that kind of space to trap a target, its own defenses might be unavailable. That might be why it had not used the ability then.
"To do something on this scale, it cannot possibly avoid consuming an enormous amount of energy," Le Creuset said suddenly.
His words made everyone realize that point.
"Right."
"Then what kind of energy source is it using?"
"Nuclear power, perhaps."
"Nuclear power? Is that possible? Does the other side have Neutron Jammer Cancellers?"
An excellent reaction.
With his reminder, it seemed the ban on nuclear power would be further lifted.
One major purpose behind Patrick Zala's convening of this meeting was to accelerate the manufacture and upgrading of Neutron Jammer Cancellers, then apply nuclear power to new weapons.
So Le Creuset "inadvertently" met Gilbert's eyes. Both men smiled faintly.
Both of them were secretly manipulating and guiding the Clyne faction and the Zala faction.
...
Here, the Archangel had already begun entering the atmosphere, descending toward Earth.
The friction of the atmosphere caused abnormalities aboard the Archangel, and the interior could clearly feel the temperature beginning to change.
At present, it had not yet reached the point where people felt hot. However, if the temperature continued rising, it could become lethal.
Still, the problem was not too severe. By the time the heat rose to an unbearable level, the Archangel would have already passed through the atmosphere.
While everyone's mind and body remained tense, the alarm suddenly sounded again.
"Damn it!"
Murrue lightly struck the armrest of the captain's chair.
They had detected an attack coming from the ground.
And in its current state, the Archangel, still in the middle of atmospheric descent, could not properly deploy its weapons for defense. Doing so would damage the ablative coating wrapped around the ship, causing the intense heat from atmospheric friction to penetrate inside even more severely.
Then, for now, they could only alter course.
And the purpose of those missiles was precisely to force the Archangel to change its course and fall into someone's sphere of influence.
Either that, or they would have to rely on that man to create another miracle.
(End of Chapter)
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