One of Orb's military shipyards.
The Archangel was docked in the harbor.
Its captain, Murrue Ramius, was already seated in the captain's chair, overseeing the final checks before the ship's launch.
By now, they had a general idea of Junius Seven's location.
The reason they still could not obtain a clear reading was that the colony was using the Mirage Colloid system from the stolen Blitz Gundam to remain invisible.
However, an object as enormous as Junius Seven could not approach Earth without disturbing its surroundings. Over the past several decades, countless satellites and other devices launched into orbit had become space debris. As the invisible colony drew closer, it would inevitably collide with some of that debris.
By analyzing those abnormalities, they could roughly determine Junius Seven's trajectory.
Based on its current movement, it was less than an hour away from the optimal position for its descent.
Junius Seven did not need to move directly above Orb. Doing so would shorten the distance to its target, but it would also make the colony easier to attack.
It merely needed to reach the proper angle before being driven diagonally toward the surface.
After all, a falling object did not necessarily descend in a perfectly straight line.
To interfere with Orb's observations as much as possible, the Earth Alliance had also intensified its powerful electromagnetic jamming.
Its official explanation was that it had detected some kind of special operation by PLANT and had deployed the jamming to expose the perpetrators.
Murrue glanced at a small monitor beside her.
Several figures stood on the shore not far from the Archangel. Among them was the man who had captured her heart.
That man was about to welcome a very special guest.
With that guest's assistance, Orb's defensive capabilities would advance by leaps and bounds.
"Blitz Gundam and Buster Gundam have been transferred aboard the Kusanagi, Captain Murrue!"
Miriallia Haw, the Archangel's mobile suit operator, delivered the report.
Both mobile suits had previously been stored aboard the Archangel, but they had now been transferred to Orb's space battleship, the Kusanagi, the second vessel of the Izumo class.
The Archangel itself had been developed as an upgraded version of the Izumo-class design. The Kusanagi was commanded by Ledonir Kisaka, a trusted confidant of Orb's leader, with Cagalli Yula Athha serving as its field commander.
In addition to the two transferred mobile suits, the Kusanagi was carrying three Gundams that Orb had produced over the past twenty-odd days: the IM-1 Astrays.
Strictly speaking, they had not been built entirely within those twenty days. Their foundations had already been completed, much like a house whose groundwork had already been laid.
The three mobile suits had also been developed using the Strike Gundam as their basis, so many of their components were interchangeable.
Once Orb obtained the Strike's complete technical data, the designs were refined further. Final assembly had been completed five days ago.
All three pilots were women, and all three were Naturals.
Of course, since these were intended to be mass-production mobile suits, their overall combat performance was somewhat inferior to the Strike and the other GAT-X machines. Even so, they remained considerably more advanced than ZAFT's standard mobile suits.
"The anti-Accord device has been shut down. We've received no reports of any abnormal personnel being discovered."
A communications officer delivered the report to Murrue.
The anti-Accord device had been completed and delivered late last night.
After it was activated and used to scan Orb, it had successfully located two Accords.
They had continued conducting intermittent scans ever since, but no additional targets had been detected.
Interrogations of the two captives had also suggested that there were no others.
Of course, Aura might have other operatives acting in secret without having informed those two.
There had also been new progress concerning Aura, the woman who claimed to have once been a close friend of Lacus's mother.
In C.E. 68, a research colony dedicated to Coordinator studies had suffered a biological disaster that ultimately forced its abandonment.
Some of the latest evidence suggested that Aura might have been one of the people responsible for the incident.
The other suspected culprit was Gilbert Durandal, who was currently in PLANT.
According to information revealed by the visiting Councilwoman Ezalia Joule, Gilbert was likely to inherit the council seat formerly held by Lacus's father during the next Supreme Council session.
It was obvious that Gilbert, another dangerous individual, had begun making his move and was attempting to seize the political influence of the Clyne Faction.
Councilwoman Ezalia was still in Orb. Her visit had originally been scheduled to last two days.
Judging by her behavior, she knew nothing about the plan to crash Junius Seven into Orb, most likely because she would have opposed it.
Having spoken with the woman herself, Murrue did not believe Ezalia harbored such intense hatred toward Naturals.
Yet whoever planned this operation had deliberately kept her ignorant and allowed her to visit Orb, even though she would be killed alongside everyone else when Junius Seven struck.
That was clearly intended to provide PLANT with plausible deniability afterward.
They could claim that one of PLANT's own prominent council members had died in Orb, so PLANT could not possibly have been responsible.
Even if personnel from PLANT were exposed as participants, the Supreme Council could deny having sanctioned the operation. They could dismiss it as an unauthorized act of revenge carried out by a small group acting on its own.
Murrue's thoughts were interrupted by a piercing alarm.
"This reading!"
"It's right beside the Archangel!"
"Damn it! Is that an enemy submarine? How did it get this close?!"
Chaos erupted across the Archangel's bridge.
Sonar had detected an enormous object less than fifty meters beneath the surface, directly beside the ship.
It was rapidly rising and would surface directly in front of the man standing on the shore.
Murrue did not join the others in panicking.
This was probably the guest Kain had told them to expect.
"What is that? Miss Lacus, get back!"
"Something's coming up from below!"
Lunamaria Haw and her younger sister, Meyrin Haw, stared in shock as the previously calm surface began to swell and churn like boiling water.
Lunamaria immediately stepped in front of Lacus to protect her.
For now, the sisters had been assigned to serve as Lacus's assistants. They would remain at her side and help whenever necessary.
Their expressions changed so dramatically because the entire military shipyard had begun blaring an emergency alarm, clearly in response to the sudden disturbance in the water.
"There's no need to be alarmed," Lacus said. "The guest Kain invited has arrived."
"A guest?"
Lunamaria stared at her in surprise before looking toward Kain.
He remained completely calm, silently watching the water swell before them.
Just what kind of guest had this man invited?
In the next instant, the bulging surface burst apart as a colossal object surged upward.
It rose far more violently than an ordinary submarine, hurling enormous quantities of seawater into the air. The water soon came crashing back down like rain, drenching the surrounding shoreline.
Through the curtain of falling water, Lunamaria and Meyrin stared blankly at the metal warship before them.
Unless Lunamaria's memory of naval history was completely wrong, that vessel looked remarkably similar to an antique battleship from the previous century.
Yet something about it felt unnatural.
Strange, glowing red patterns ran across its hull.
Her attention was soon drawn to a figure standing atop the warship's bridge.
A luminous ring surrounded the newcomer, but Lunamaria could still make out her appearance.
She was a blue-haired girl in a white dress, standing with her hands planted on her hips as she looked down at them.
"I am Takao, a heavy cruiser of the Fleet of Fog's First Oriental Fleet. Under orders from the fleet's flagship, the battleship Kongou, I have come to meet you, human!"
The girl's declaration echoed across the harbor.
(End of Chapter)
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