Chapter 66 Interlude 1: Cooperation with the Retrieval Team
At the edge of an asteroid belt far from the colony satellite, along the route from Heliopolis to the Star Palace Colony Satellite, a black-painted Kampfer was observing Heliopolis through a high-magnification space telescope.
Deep within the asteroid belt behind it, the New Misurugi Republic's dedicated Super Large Transport Ship lay silently in wait.
The pilot of the Kampfer observing Heliopolis was none other than the leader of the Black Tri-Stars, Miguel Gaia.
He was currently communicating with Noin, who was on standby inside the transport ship.
"Second Boss, there's already clear gunfire over at Heliopolis. The boss's prediction about the war was spot-on. Shouldn't we start preparing to move out? We didn't bring all these troops just to watch the show."
These troops were actually Reid's Plan B. If they failed to board the Archangel, Reid and Ange would break through in a shuttle, with all the goods loaded into the same containers that originally held the NT-X Gundam and Union Flags.
Once out, Reid would fire a signal flare, and Noin would come to pick them up in the transport ship. Regardless of whether Creuset's team actually tried to stop them, Reid would later accuse them of attacking Ange, pinning the blame firmly on Creuset's squad.
As long as Creuset's team was tied up dealing with them, the Archangel would rendezvous with the Eighth Fleet without Reid's intervention, and the mission would still be accomplished.
However, if Plan B wasn't needed, Reid had assigned Noin another task. After all, the act had to be convincing—if the leader of the New Misurugi Republic was missing and possibly dead, it was only natural for the nation to immediately send troops to investigate. And a slightly aggressive response? Well, everyone would understand.
So Noin simply replied,
"Miguel, keep observing. We stay on standby unless we see the special signal flare. We don't move until one hour after the colony satellite collapses, just as Reid said."
Miguel obeyed Noin's orders, but he couldn't help but sigh at the fate Reid had predicted for Heliopolis.
"Seriously, nowhere's safe for a colony satellite these days. Such a fine colony, and just like that, war comes knocking and it's gone in an instant..."
Noin heard Miguel's lament and thought of the colony satellites from her own world—they too had been oppressed. A wave of melancholy washed over her, though she kept it to herself. After all, Reid had "analyzed" that ZAFT and the Atlantic Federation would inevitably clash inside the satellite. In that case, the satellite's destruction was practically a given.
Fortunately, Noin didn't have to wait long. After a shift change, with Ortega now manning the space telescope, Heliopolis collapsed exactly as Reid had predicted.
The moment Heliopolis was destroyed, Noin immediately gave the order:
"All hands, Condition Two combat readiness! Ortega, stow the space telescope. Return to the ship for resupply. We depart for Heliopolis in one hour for rescue operations."
Noin issued her orders, and the transport ship immediately sprang into action. Although Reid wasn't present, his prior instructions had ensured that besides the Black Tri-Stars and their three Kampfers, the vessel carried a full complement of 40 Iron Balls. Even if these native pilots lacked combat skills, the sheer number of Iron Balls deployed to stand their ground and fire 120mm Cannons would make anyone think twice—unless they encountered the main forces of the Earth Alliance or ZAFT.
An hour later, with all combat preparations complete, Noin gave the command, and the transport ship surged out of the asteroid belt, racing at full speed along the route from the Star Palace Colony Satellite to Heliopolis, as if urgently rushing to a rescue.
The first encounter on this route was naturally the two Laurasia-class ships dispatched by Creuset to search for the Archangel.
Feigning ignorance, Noin merely sent Miguel, Ortega, and Mash out as escorts before proceeding to request standard communication with the Laurasia-class vessels.
The captains of the Laurasia-class ships, unsure whether to engage this vessel from the New Misurugi Republic, decided to accept the communication request first.
Noin played her part well, adopting a tone of urgency as she spoke:
"Captain of ZAFT, this is Lucrezia Noin, Captain of the New Misurugi Republic Guard. You've come from the direction of Heliopolis—can you tell us what happened there? Our nation's leader has lost contact in that area."
Upon hearing this, the Laurasia-class captain immediately deduced that the Archangel likely hadn't taken this route. Still, wary of deception, he played dumb in response:
"Captain Noin, unfortunately, I'm unaware of what transpired in Heliopolis. The colony satellite appears to have collapsed, but we didn't intervene—we're merely on routine patrol."
Seeing through his act, Noin happily played along and replied directly:
"Understood. In that case, could you yield the route? Time is of the essence—allow us to pass first."
The Laurasia-class captain pondered this. Creuset had deliberately dragged the New Misurugi Republic into his conflict with the Atlantic Federation—a fact all the captains knew. However, the New Misurugi Republic was a friendly neutral state. Not every captain agreed with Creuset's methods, but most remained silent, knowing objections would be futile after the deed was done.
Moreover, after the battle at Heliopolis, these two Laurasia-class ships were stretched thin. Only six Mobile Suits were currently deployable (Miguel Aiman's unit remained unrepaired). Facing the New Misurugi Republic's three latest high-speed assault Kampfers—piloted by former elite ZAFT Coordinators who had been discharged for severe disciplinary violations before defecting—they stood little chance.
The captain's assessment was correct. These three Kampfers weren't the fragile units of the original design; Reid had long since upgraded them with Full Lunar Titanium Armor. Even if the two Laurasia-class ships had a full complement of twelve GINNs armed with their standard beam rifles, they'd struggle against the Black Tri-Stars' seamless coordination.
After weighing the pros and cons, the captain of the Laurasia-class ship decided to continue playing dumb—he had no intention of cleaning up the mess Creuset had created. Since the battle at Heliopolis was already over and neither side had any forces left there, he simply said,
"We understand. Your nation may proceed first."
With that, the two Laurasia-class ships deliberately altered their course, clearing the direct path to Heliopolis.
Noin didn't stand on ceremony. She ordered the Black Tri-Stars to continue escorting as they accelerated toward Heliopolis at high speed.
The rest of the journey went smoothly, unimpeded, and the large transport ship soon arrived near the wreckage of Heliopolis.
Noin then issued the first task Reid had assigned:
"Deploy the Iron Balls to inspect each escape pod one by one. Retrieve any pods containing large numbers of students or individuals on the talent list, using the pretext of checking whether Princess Angelise is inside."
Following Noin's orders, all forty Iron Balls were deployed within ten minutes. The floating debris of the Colony Satellite was the perfect environment for these small Mobile Armors to maneuver.
However, this was a time-consuming task. First, they had to locate escape pods amid the vast wreckage, then communicate with the occupants inside to confirm identities, cross-reference the data, and finally decide whether to retrieve them.
Moreover, a single Iron Ball wasn't enough to tow an escape pod—it took at least three working together to manage the task.
Even with all forty Iron Balls operating simultaneously, the process would take several hours to complete.
Fortunately, none of the retrieved escape pods caused trouble. Stranded in the desolate void of space, their occupants were desperate. The New Misurugi Republic's transport ship offering them refuge was a cause for celebration. Even after boarding, when they were explicitly told that the ship couldn't drop them off mid-journey and they'd have to return to the New Misurugi Republic before arrangements could be made to reunite them with their families, no one protested.
However, about two hours later, Mash suddenly reported:
"Second Boss, a transport ship flying the Junk Guild's flag is approaching. Records show it belongs to a scrap dealer team called the 'Salvage Crew.' Should we drive them away?"
Noin immediately knew this was the second task Reid had prepared for. She replied without hesitation:
"Leave them be. I'll send Miguel and Ortega over. Just ensure the Iron Balls and our forces aren't attacked. Don't interfere with whatever happens on the Junk Guild's side—unless a large number of Moebius units swarm in."
Mash naturally acknowledged the order and settled in as a spectator, watching as the junk dealers precisely located a large piece of wreckage.
But before long, the "large number of Moebius" Noin had mentioned suddenly flooded the area. Without even spotting the mothership, over twenty Moebius units appeared out of nowhere. Team leader Miguel promptly contacted the mothership again:
"Second Boss, the 'large number of Moebius' you mentioned has arrived. They've surrounded the junk dealers' ship—no, they're already attacking. What should we do?"
Upon receiving the transmission, Noin didn't immediately order Miguel to intervene. Instead, she asked further:
"Are these Moebius units attacking you? Are they showing any signs of approaching our forces?"
Miguel observed the distant battle and answered truthfully...
"Not really. Those Moebius units definitely spotted us since we didn't even try to hide. But they ignored us, and the battlefield didn't shift toward our position. They were just ganging up on the junk dealers' ship.
However, it seems the junk dealers were prepared. They hired mercenaries—Serpent's Tail, to be exact. Right now, a GINN is doing its best to hold off the Moebius swarm, but I doubt it'll last much longer."
Miguel's description was accurate, though his understanding of the situation was completely wrong. Serpent's Tail hadn't been hired by the scavengers—they were originally contracted to eliminate the scavengers who had stumbled upon a secret.
The only problem was, their employer must have had a screw loose, sending a cleanup squad to backstab Serpent's Tail before the mission was even completed. That forced Serpent's Tail to team up with the scavengers just to survive.
Noin didn't know the full details either, because Reid had only mentioned that if the satellite collapsed, it would inevitably attract scavengers. And if Orb still wanted to erase all evidence of their secret Mobile Suit development, they'd definitely send a covert unit to eliminate those scavengers.
So, Reid hadn't even given Noin a mission to search for the Astray Gundams. In fact, he'd explicitly told her not to interfere if they encountered any MS developed by Orb. Instead, they were to find a way to help the scavengers, making them owe the New Misurugi Republic a favor so they could be leveraged for future missions.
With that in mind, Noin continued giving orders.
"Miguel, issue a dispersal warning to this Moebius unit. Tell them the New Misurugi Republic is conducting a critical search-and-rescue operation in this area, and any military units approaching without authorization will be immediately sunk.
If they ignore you, take them all down. And make sure it's clean and decisive—we need to intimidate those scavengers."
The moment Miguel and his two wingmen heard they were cleared to engage, they immediately responded, "Just sit back and watch, Second Boss!" before broadcasting the warning across all channels, demanding the Moebius unit clear out immediately.
This Moebius squad was an assassination team sent by Orb, so of course they ignored Miguel's warning—they didn't even bother responding.
What followed was predictable. The Kampfers, armored in Luna Titanium Alloy, put on a dazzling airshow of precision takedowns.
Against Moebius units, shotguns were far more effective than beam rifles, so all three machines abandoned the beam rifles Reid had equipped them with and instead used their speed to herd the Moebius like rats.
The Linear Cannons on the Moebius couldn't land a single hit on these three seasoned veterans, and the 40mm Vulcan Guns might as well have been tickling them.
Most crucially, the Moebius' only advantage—straight-line acceleration—meant nothing against high-speed machines like the Kampfers. With complete superiority in every aspect, the twenty-plus Moebius units were wiped out in less than ten minutes.
While the Kampfers were busy fighting, a blue Mobile Suit emerged from the wreckage, followed shortly by a red one.
But this time, the two Astray Gundams could only watch from the sidelines. No one dared to intervene in the Kampfers' massacre of the Moebius, afraid that the three machines—already in a blood frenzy—might turn on them next.
Once the battle was over, Miguel spotted the two MS units emerging from the debris and couldn't resist a bit of mischief. He deliberately opened a full-channel broadcast again and asked—
"The red and blue guys. Which side are you on? The New Misurugi Republic is conducting a search and rescue operation for important personnel here. If you don't identify yourselves, we'd rather kill by mistake than let you go."
Hearing Miguel say this, Lowe Guele, the pilot of the red Astray Gundam, immediately panicked and hurriedly replied,
"Don't be rash! I'm the pilot of the red machine. I'm Lowe Guele, head of the salvage team under the Junk Guild. Both this unit and the blue one are salvaged Mobile Suits we recovered."
Upon hearing this, Miguel realized he wouldn't be able to test the capabilities of these two Orb-developed MS today. In this universe, the Junk Guild held unique authority—any Mobile Suits they salvaged on the battlefield were automatically considered their property (the author also found this quite absurd, but that's how it was set). Of course, the Junk Guild could only enter the battlefield after both warring parties had withdrawn. Any units left behind were considered abandoned by both sides.
At that moment, Noin's communication came through Miguel's Kampfer, and she directly said,
"Lowe Guele of the salvage team? I've heard of you. Perfect timing—I have a job for you. The Graveyard Colony Satellite has a special metal smelting technique. The New Misurugi Republic would like to commission your team to retrieve a sample of this specially smelted metal. If you're interested, come to our mothership to discuss."
Lowe Guele really wanted to complain—why
was the opposing Kampfer drawing its Beam Rifle? Was he even allowed to refuse? So, with unusual caution, he replied,
"We'll take it! The salvage team accepts this mission. Anyone who tries to stop me will have to deal with me first!!"
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