Chapter 55: The Gears of Fate Begin to Turn 

On January 25, CE71, in the garden of Heliopolis Industrial College, a 16-year-old brown-haired boy multitasked between completing his professor's assigned coursework and playing the "latest" news from Earth, which had happened a week prior. Perched on his shoulder was an emerald-green mechanical bird that kept chirping, "Tori, Tori."

The news footage currently displayed the latest Heavenly Soldier Class Mobile Suits of the East Asian Republic firing in unison. However, this boy, who had always lived in a peaceful region, didn't feel particularly moved by the specter of war. He paid little attention to the fact that the Earth Alliance had independently developed Mobile Suits, treating it as just another news segment.

At that moment, his friends came looking for him. A curly-haired boy, accompanied by his orange-haired girlfriend, called out to him.

"Kira, so this is where you were! Professor Kato's been looking for you. Huh? Watching the East Asian Republic's news? The battle at Kaohsiung Port, huh? Now that the East Asian Republic has Mobile Suits too, the scale of the war's going to expand again. But with this, ZAFT probably won't be able to take Kaohsiung Port, right?"

The boy named Kira showed little interest in the topic of war. Instead, he focused on another piece of information from his friend's words and asked helplessly,

"Tolle, what did you say? Professor Kato's looking for me again?"

Hearing his friend's reluctant tone, the boy named Tolle could only shake his head in resignation. His girlfriend, Miriallia, chimed in to explain,

"Yeah, Professor Kato told us that if we saw you, we should let you know to go see him right away. He probably wants you to help him with something again."

Kira's face twisted in exasperation, but authority was authority—especially when it came to the relationship between a professor and his student. He could only grumble,

"Seriously, I haven't even finished what he gave me yesterday."

His two friends could only offer sympathetic looks, unable to help. However, Miriallia, still watching the news, voiced her concerns again.

"Even if Kaohsiung Port probably won't fall, that location's already pretty close to the mainland, isn't it?"

Tolle noticed his girlfriend's worry and bluntly reassured her,

"Don't worry. No matter how close it gets, our country's neutral. Orb won't become a battlefield. Look at the New Misurugi Republic—they're neutral too, and they even have Mobile Suits, which is a sensitive issue. And they're doing just fine."

Miriallia bringing up the topic of war again made Kira's thoughts drift. He recalled his old friend from the lunar city of Copernicus. Back when they had parted ways, they had naively believed that war between Earth and PLANT would never happen. Yet now, the flames of their conflict were close to setting Earth's oceans ablaze.

However, when Tolle saw his friend Kira spacing out, his first assumption wasn't that he was thinking about war. Instead, he slung an arm around Kira's neck and brought up the topic most beloved by boys their age.

"Kira, what're you spacing out for? Hey, are you thinking about Flay Allster? Let me tell you, if you're interested in her, you'd better act fast—Sai's already given her a love letter. Speaking of which, Flay Allster should be in the auditorium right now, listening to the speech by Princess Angelise of the New Misurugi Republic."

"The New Misurugi Republic is here to recruit mechanical engineering students from our school. This is a rare opportunity. Settling in the Star Palace Colony Satellite now is also a good path."

After Tolle finished speaking, Miriallia added,

"That's right. Flay is a huge fan of that Princess Angelise. I wasn't particularly interested in Princess Angelise before, but after seeing her today, she's really cool—no, more like heroic. No wonder she's recognized as the strongest woman and the most powerful head of state."

"And she and her knight Reid brought the latest MS developed by the New Misurugi Republic for everyone to see. Half the students in the academy are gathered around them now."

Tolle's words left Kira feeling a bit down. After all, he had secretly liked Flay Alster for a long time. As the school's top student, many boys admired her, but her prestigious family background made it hard for most to approach her casually.

However, his good friend Sai Argyle was different. His family had been close to Flay's for generations, and rumor had it they even had an arranged marriage set by their elders.

Though arranged marriages held little weight in this era, for those pursuing Flay, Sai had both legitimacy and a significant advantage. So Kira kept his feelings buried deep, not daring to reveal them openly. Of course, his close friend Tolle knew, and even Sai had some idea.

But Kira was too embarrassed to discuss such personal thoughts, so he "broke free" from Tolle's headlock and said,

"Stop guessing nonsense. Didn't Professor Kato urgently ask for me? Let's hurry over."

With that, Kira and Tolle roughhoused their way toward Heliopolis's industrial district. Professor Kato's private research project was being conducted in a mechanical lab there, which required passing through several security checkpoints. They needed to move quickly.

Meanwhile, at Heliopolis's port, a transport ship secretly carrying Atlantic Federation soldiers was docking. The Atlantic Federation's war hero, Captain Mu La Flaga, known as the "Eagle of Endymion," was escorting five newly trained MS pilots into Heliopolis.

Hidden within Heliopolis's secret factory, Rondo Gina Sahaku watched as technicians struggled to resolve the issue of the Heretical Gundam Gold Frame's right arm failing to connect with the Duel Gundam's specialized 350mm "Greed Lance" railgun, resulting in the entire arm being destroyed.

At the same time, just beyond Heliopolis's maximum detection range, a Nazca-class ship and three Laurasia-class vessels (originally only one Laurasia-class) hid in the shadow of a large asteroid.

The white-uniformed commander of this force, Rau Le Creuset, stood on the Nazca-class bridge, holding a photo as he briefed the captains of the three other motherships.

"You all understand the situation, right? Following the East Asian Republic, the Atlantic Federation has now developed its own MS. Though the performance of these MS remains unknown, we cannot repeat the mistakes we made with the East Asian Republic. These MS must be captured or destroyed!"

As a white-uniformed commander, Creuset's orders were met with little resistance from the four mothership captains. However, one captain still voiced his concern:

"Captain Creuset, although Heliopolis is a Colony Satellite of the neutral nation Orb, their assistance in developing Mobile Suits for the Atlantic Federation has compromised their neutrality. There should be no issue with our attack.

However, according to reliable intel, Princess Angelise of the New Misurugi Republic and Reid Isaac of the Crimson Wings are both currently within Heliopolis. They likely have no connection to the joint MS development project between the Atlantic Federation and Orb and are merely there for reconnaissance. If we launch an attack without caution, won't it be problematic? Shouldn't we wait for further instructions from our superiors?"

The captain's words drew a cold chuckle from Creuset, who replied,

"Hmph, 'no connection'—what a joke. The sudden ability of the East Asian Republic to develop Mobile Suits is far too suspicious. It's obvious what role the New Misurugi Republic played in this. They've just hidden their tracks well, leaving us with no evidence to act upon.

For this operation, we'll ignore them. If they remain passive observers, we won't engage them first. But if they attack us, we won't hold back either. I've heard the New Misurugi Republic openly brought their new Mobile Suit to Heliopolis—this is the perfect opportunity to test its capabilities."