Before leaving, Alex also asked Patrick to meet Kira with Lenore, as he could have also looked into the friend of Athrun who had caused him to be unable to fight at his best, all the time before Nicol's death fully. Patrick said he would go, but not for Kira, but to warn Siegel. After that, Patrick left the Iron Maiden with Yuri and Romina in the shuttle they arrived in. Alex sent them off along with Nicol and then waited for some more time, as other transport shuttles were collecting resources to make it look real.
Alex asked Nicol to stay with him in the hangar while he called for Tolle, who was still in the crew quarters. When Tolle arrived, Alex told Nicol about how Nicol would be given the Astray Gold as his personal MS from now on, and also told Tolle that he would be given the Astray Black, which was a transformable MS. Alex looked at the Astray Black, which looked very much like the future Murasame, and thought about how much it resembled Gundam Zeta of the UC Era. But thanks to it, MS-00V, which is the Stratos Gundam, can truly have the MA mode similar to Zeta's wave rider mode while also retaining the ability to re-enter the Earth alone without any support vehicles.
The current Astray Black is equipped with a twin beam Gatling gun on one hand and a new laminated alloy shield on the other hand, along with some missile pods in its leg armor on both sides, a 350mm Rail Gun on the Back which would be on the top when in MA form with the twin Gatling gun attached to the bottom. The difference between this twin Gatling and the Beam Gatling sent to the Orb is not much except for the fact that the twin Gatling has a higher rate of fire, and with the help of a special beam amplifier, the power of the twin Gatling is also increased to reach two-thirds of the beam rifle's power while the beam Gatling sent to Orb only has about half the power of a beam rifle.
At Clyne Villa
After an hour had passed, by which time Patrick Zala had left the Iron Maiden, He reached the Clyne's Villa along with his wife Lenore. As soon as he entered the Villa and went to the garden area, he saw the Clynes along with Reverend Malchio and a bedridden Kira. Lenore, who saw Kira and recognized him, was very surprised to meet Kira in this condition after not seeing him for a long time.
Lenore said, " Kira, what happened to you? Why are you injured so badly?"
Patrick, who was at the side, interjected before anyone else could respond to her.
Patrick said, " Isn't he the friend of Athrun who is said to be too kind and naive for his own good. I bet that he probably got himself involved in the war because he was too kind and deceived by those naturals, and ended up like this. I heard Athrun also got injured badly and is currently resting in the ZAFT base on earth and he will be coming here around May 8th or 9th after he is in good enough condition to move."
Lenore, who learned of Athrun's situation, was very worried, but she still told Patrick not to pick on Kira and then asked about Athrun's full condition and was relieved only when she confirmed that there really were no serious problems with him. After that, Lenore started to talk with Lacus, Kira, and Malchio. Patrick, who saw what he wanted to see, also confirmed the NT human ability that Alex spoke about. Though he will wait till Kira and Lacus make a move on the Freedom to truly believe it.
So while Lenore was talking to the kids and Malchio, Patrick had called Siegel out to talk separately.
Patrick said," Siegel, although we don't see eye to eye about our way forward, I came to tell you not to do anything stupid, such as giving important technology of the plants, thinking of helping the naturals of the neutral nations because you can't watch their suffering and feel your heart soften."
Siegel, who heard Patrick's warning, didn't take it to heart as his philosophy is different from Patrick's, and he had already tried to send the N jammer canceller to the neutral nations, although it got disrupted because of unexpected problems; he believes the people he hired can get the job done.
After this little meeting, Patrick went back to work on his operation spit break as he needed to arrange some extreme long range communication systems so that he could order the ZAFT forces to leave just at the right time, as he was worried about unknown problems if he told them to prepare for the cyclops system beforehand. As for Boyaz, he will plan after seeing the results of seeing if Lacus and Kira really take the Freedom, and also one of the reasons he didn't even inform the defense council about the reason for the long-range communication transmission, as he didn't want to tell them where the news of the cyclops system came from.
Once he confirms the NT human told to him by Alex is not a lie he will evacuate the ZAFT forces of the operation spit break while also explain that he got that information for an information broker who worked with Ashford family anyway from what the information department said EA seems to be preparing to seize the Ashford colony once it is complete they even disguised their fleet as pirates and plan to take it from pirates to avoid the backlash from Ashfords and other capitalists. So knowing James, once the EA attacks, he will probably shift everything of the group from Earth to the space colony and declare themselves a neutral entity, as they can't become a nation with a single colony.
Back on the Iron Maiden
In the hangar, Alex took Nicol and Tolle to the simulation cabin, which had the latest MS data of all the models improved and developed by the Ashford group to practice. Alex instructed Nicol and Tolle to use the simulators and become familiar with their MS, so that when they are deployed, they won't encounter problems with utilizing the MS to its full potential.
Alex then looked at the Stratos Gundams. His rapid-fire beam rifle was continuously improved to retain 90% of the standard beam rifle. Eric's Beam cannons are each more powerful than the Agni beam cannon of the Strike. Of course, the drain of energy is equally more even with its extra battery packs. And finally, Steve's Gundam has the standard high powered beam rifle and the new shield, along with the wire guided beam turrets. Although these wire guided beam are slimmer than the EA's Moebius zero, they are still wire guided. Alex felt he should find a chance to make a sword out of the new alloy to trade with Lowe for the dragoon system data he had obtained by now. Who, being obsessed with getting any new technology or material that he doesn't have, will surely agree to the trade. Finally, looking at the improved thrusters of the Stratos Gundam, he still felt that there was no need for the design team to work so hard to miniaturize the Archangel class ships newly improved thruster as they would be replaced faster with better thruster technology.
Just at this time, Alex received communication from James, which he took on the bridge when James told Alex to go directly to Earth space over Orb to receive his mother and sisters, and then come to the colony, as he is worried about them. At the same time, he told Alex that the companies under the group dealing with the manufacturing of battleships and MS are mostly emptied of production machinery and moved to the colony, along with arranging for the employees to be sent to the colony once it is ready in a few days. James also told Alex that he let some of the MS manufacturing production lines with a backdoor specifically installed by Alex intact to sell to the EA, which is being handled now.
Alex asked if James had shipped enough raw materials, such as metals and other electronic components needed to manufacture the MS for mass production, to the colony. James said he has transferred enough materials so that even if they use the resources mined in the future entirely for other purposes, they can still produce more than 300 Mass produced MS for their security. They are now just waiting for the battle data of the Stratos Gundam units so that they can finalize the adjustments and details for the mass production MS. Alex, who got the information, relaxed and said to James that he will quickly get to the Earth and receive his mother and sister before coming back to the colony.