The girl was smiling brightly at the moment, as if she had some good news.
That said, although the girl was always smiling.
But as the two spent more time together, he could barely distinguish the subtle meanings behind those smiles.
A scheming smile, a happy smile, a speechless smile, and a sad smile.
"With this weapon, our MS's survivability and logistics burden have both improved."
"Yeah, but we still need concrete testing to determine how much of an effect it will have, and the mass production of the CGUE is also about to begin."
"I'll also be speeding up my research in May City recently."
Once the factory research is done, it needs to be made public in May City.
Lacus's secret factory was prepared for future research on high-end Mobile Suits.
Not for developing something like the CGUE.
Ensuring the tech tree stays one level ahead of ZAFT is enough.
"Don't push yourself too hard."
Lacus said softly, though she knew the person in front of her wasn't someone she could persuade, she couldn't help but say a few more words.
"Your family is worried about you too."
"Okay."
Seeing his somewhat perfunctory reply, Lacus gave him a displeased glare before continuing.
"What do you think about the intel Ken sent back?"
"It's basically confirmed already."
Fred's expression turned serious as well.
"Yeah."
Lacus sighed a little.
Ken, whom they had sent to ORB three months ago, had been having a very smooth career path.
Of course, part of that was due to their help, but the most important factor was Ken's own ability.
Combined with his status from a major family, even as an illegitimate child, that identity still added considerable luster to Ken.
After all, what they valued there was family—even an illegitimate child was still part of the family.
He was currently at the Dawn Organization's research center. Although he hadn't touched the core yet, he could see quite a bit of indirect evidence.
Such as the transport trucks, and the changes in the expert team.
In short, ORB helping the Atlantic Federation research MS was basically ninety percent certain.
"But are you really going to ORB?"
"Yes."
Fred nodded firmly.
Generally speaking, if it were just a matter of needing research data, he wouldn't have to work this hard—he could just stay behind the scenes as the mastermind.
But Kira was still up there, and he couldn't rest easy with him staying in ORB.
If it came down to fighting for ORB in the future and clashing with him, that would be troublesome.
The best option was to use this opportunity to bring him back.
For something like this, he definitely needed to go in person; otherwise, Kira wouldn't easily trust anyone else.
Lacus furrowed her brow, but still said.
"We'll help you make arrangements slowly."
"Also, do you know about the Earth MS adaptability research?"
"I know."
The MS for Earth use—the future BuCUE—but for now it was still just research on adding treads to the GINN.
"An external company is preparing to bid on it. If you want to research it, you'd better hurry."
"Thanks, but I have no plans for that for now."
But speaking of the BuCUE, Fred was reminded of something.
If he remembered correctly, that company really did win the bid with the BuCUE, and later, the boss of that company, who had moved to ORB, was killed by the Atlantic Federation, who also kidnapped his daughter in an attempt to seize the company.
And that girl was one of the future princesses of the skies—the heiress to Sahaku's Ame-no-Mihashira.
If possible, it would be good to bring people over from ORB to PLANT.
At the very least, it would be safe, and he could also gain some benefits from it.
As for ORB, aside from providing emotional value, it had absolutely no defensive power at all.
Well, that wasn't quite right either—there was defensive power, but it had all been diverted elsewhere.
After all, there was only so much strength to go around.
"By the way, are you familiar with that bidding company?" Fred asked.
"They're very distant relatives—not really that close?"
Lacus blinked, wondering how Fred seemed to know that they were even distantly related at all.
"We're both of Scandinavian descent, but it's only a nominal connection."
Their relationship was like that of the European royal families.
You might think that being royalty of different countries meant they had little interaction, but in reality, they had been intermarrying since ancient times—one princess marrying into this house, another into that one—so everyone was connected by blood.
Although they were relatives, how close were they really? It was just a title.
Of course, since they were all high-ranking figures, that status could serve as an entry ticket when necessary.
This BuCUE bidding was no exception.
"If there's a chance, have them move to PLANT. Neither ORB nor Earth is safe."
"Hmm?"
Lacus grew even more puzzled.
But seeing that Fred didn't seem inclined to explain, she gave a slight pout of her pretty lips and didn't press further.
Instead, she changed the subject.
"That Cyclops—do you think they'll really use it for self-destruction?"
"Absolutely, they will."
"Alright, I suppose Uncle Patrick does seem to be planning to fight defensively."
Lacus nodded.
Given the ruthlessness of the Atlantic Federation and Blue Cosmos, what Fred said did carry some weight.
Originally, Cyclops was a facility built for mining—like a microwave oven—but if the frequency was exceeded, it would explode.
According to the simulations Fred had submitted, such an explosion would wipe out their main lunar forces.
So they couldn't act rashly.
"The Moon—there's no harm in setting it aside for now."
The distance from the Moon to Earth was the same as from PLANT to Earth.
Over such a long distance without cover, an ambush would be extremely difficult.
They'd be spotted before they even got close.
Sending people to hold the line on the Moon was enough; there was no need to actually push an attack down.
Now that ZAFT no longer suffered the losses of Yggdrasil and the lunar surface, they still maintained a high level of combat capability.
Only by doing so could they have the opportunity to strike deep into the Atlantic Federation's heartland and eliminate Blue Cosmos.
At the same time, they could prevent them from gambling everything on using GENESIS.
"There's nothing much on the Moon."
"After all, our target is just Blue Cosmos."
Lacus chimed in with that remark.
"I think Uncle Patrick and the others intend to have Athrun and his team join your unit after they graduate."
On Fred's side, although he was a Natural, his abilities were by no means inferior.
The past year or more had long since proven that.
His safety record was also quite reassuring—throughout that year-plus, under Fred's infallible planning, their team had managed to achieve a zero mortality rate.
Despite the severe injuries and the need for reinforcements, there were indeed no deaths.
Moreover, he himself had no need for fame, which meant he could give Athrun and the others more credit.
Fred understood all of this, yet he didn't mind it in the least. Instead, he held the attitude that this was for the best.
After all, he himself also needed Athrun's standing to rise.
Though they fought for PLANT and their families, not for themselves.
But their goals were the same.
So, naturally, he certainly wouldn't mind it.