On the other side, not long after the Vesalius set sail, Aslan, who was tossing and turning in bed, came to Cruze's office to report that in the previous battle, he disobeyed orders and attacked without authorization.
If you produce any results, you will naturally be questioned and even punished.
"Aslan Sara comes to report!"
"Well, come in."
Aslan entered the office, and Kruse, who was writing a combat report, said without looking back: "The collapse of [Heliopolis] kept me very busy and delayed the conversation between you and me."
After finishing the combat report, Cruze turned around, folded his hands on the table, and his tone was very calm, not rebuking Aslan at all.
"Yes! I'm really sorry about the battle just now!"
"I'm not going to punish you, but I want to hear your explanation, because this action is so uncharacteristic of you, Aslan."
Cruze did not punish Aslan because he was the son of Speaker Sarah. Aslan has always been a model soldier after joining the army, with outstanding abilities, maturity and stability, and loyalty to orders. He has never asked for his identity.
Higher pay or arrogance.
But this time, he disobeyed military orders uncharacteristically. There must be a reason why he had to do so.
"..." Aslan was silent, not knowing how to answer for a while.
"You were right next to that machine when it started up, right?"
"I'm very sorry...Some unexpected things made me shaken, which made me unable to report to you." Aslan replied. After thinking for a while, Aslan was still prepared to report truthfully, but Aslan was prepared to conceal it.
Yang Hui's existence is only to report Kira's situation.
First, Yang Hui's identity is too sensitive, and international disputes may arise if he is not careful. Although Orb participated in the MS development plan of the United Earth this time, Orb also has a cooperative relationship with PLANT and ZAFT, but there are not many people.
I just know it, so this incident cannot completely push Orb to the enemy's position.
Secondly, he is not sure where Yang Hui is now. What if he is not on the Archangel? Then wouldn't his report be self-defeating?
Third, Kira and Yang Hui are both good friends of Aslan, but compared to Kira, who is just a pure friendship, Yang Hui is very kind to him and the Sara family.
"Then tell me, what can make you shaken?"
"Yes, the last machine, the person driving it is called Kira Yamato. He is my friend from elementary school on the moon, and he is an adjuster."
"Huh?"
"I never imagined that I would meet him again on that occasion, so I wanted to confirm it no matter what..."
"That's right. War is such an ironic thing. It's reasonable for you to be shaken. You two had a close relationship, right?"
"……yes."
"I understand. In this case, you don't have to go into battle next time."
"Eh?"
"It's impossible for you to point a gun at him, and I don't want you to do such a thing."
"No, Captain, I..."
"Even if he was your former friend, since he is now an enemy, we must destroy him. I think you should be able to understand this, right?"
"Kira...Kira must have been manipulated by natural people! Although he is very good, he is always confused and a good old man, so he must not have realized that he was being used by others..." Aslan's words were not
I don’t know whether he is persuading Cruze or himself. It should be him more. After all, he cannot accept the fact that he is Kira’s enemy. “So, I want to persuade him. After all, he is also an adjuster! Trust him.
You must be able to understand us.”
"I understand how you feel, but what if he doesn't listen?"
"Uh..." Hearing this, Aslan lowered his head and replied in a low voice, "If that's the case... then... I'll kill him..."
"In that case, I'll give you a chance."
"Yes! Thank you very much!"
"Go ahead."
Aslan left gratefully, but Cruze fell into deep thought.
Because... the name Kira Yamato felt inexplicably familiar to him, as if he had heard it somewhere.
Don't underestimate this vague sense of familiarity. Cruze is a very purposeful person. People who can be remembered by him will never ignore ordinary people among all living beings. The fact that he can be remembered already shows that this name is special.
ordinary.
But Cruze thought hard and couldn't remember the specific circumstances of the name Kira Yamato for a while.
"Write it down first. Aslan might really be able to bring him back. You should know by then, but..."
Putting Kira's affairs aside, Cruze returned his energy to combat. It stands to reason that even if he can't catch up with the Archangel now, he should still find its traces. However, no news came from the bridge at this time.
It shouldn't be.
"Addis, have you found any trace of the enemy ship?"
"not yet."
"Where are the friendly forces we contacted before?"
"No communication received either."
"It's strange..."
Kruse was very confident that his judgment would not be wrong, and just in case, he also contacted friendly forces to set up an ambush circle on the route from Heliopolis directly to the lunar base, regardless of the other party.
Whichever path you choose, you should make some discoveries.
"Where did it go..." While thinking, Kruse opened the space map again and rethought the Archangel's traces.
This time, he abandoned all previous judgments and started thinking from scratch.
First of all, excluding the original target Artemis, their current position can already see the existence of [Umbrella] with the naked eye. If the Archangel is really what he expected, there is no way there will be no trace at this time.
The next thing to exclude is the direct route to the lunar surface base. The reason is that there is no trace and the time is no longer consistent with the ship.
Then, Kruse began to eliminate all Earth military bases and military fortresses far away from the lunar base. Finally... Kruse looked at the empty space map and frowned deeply.
"No, after all the possibilities have been eliminated, there is no other choice. Is it because I neglected something... hmm?" Suddenly, Cruze's eyes focused on a blank area in the space map.
"This space, I remember..." While thinking, Kruse overlapped the civilian space map with the military space map, and there was an additional logo in the blank space, "Scrap Recyclers Union? Could it be... not quite
Maybe?"
Kruse believes that most of the Earth Army's natural members are people who are not very capable but are self-righteous. It is impossible to leave the military fortress of friendly forces and seek help from civilian forces such as the Scrap Recyclers Union, but...
…
There is a saying that goes well: eliminate all impossibilities, and the result that remains, no matter how incredible, is the truth.
"Is there anyone else? Kira Yamato? This name... shouldn't be that. Aslan said that he is just an ordinary student, so... who else is there?"
Thinking of this, Kruse was basically sure that there were other experts on board the Archangel who were not from the Earth Army, leading him into a misunderstanding.
"Addis."
"team leader."
"Change the course immediately and correct the target to the S32 space area."
"S32 Space Domain? There is nothing there, Captain..."
"I misjudged the enemy ship's target. Just modify the route. I won't make the mistake again this time."
"This...I know."
Captain Addis was very confused about Cruze's decision, but he still followed Cruze's order. Otherwise, he respected Cruze very much and did not look down on him because he was not an adjuster. On the contrary, Cruze
Since he became the captain, he has led them to complete countless tasks and made many meritorious deeds, and he is very recognized for his abilities.
"Well, telegraph the friendly forces and ask them to move their positions."
"learn."
After ending the communication, Kruse looked at the map of the universe and smiled faintly, the curve of the corner of his mouth was gloomy and dangerous.
"Haha, it's interesting. An unknown opponent can fool me. I really want to know your identity... [Heliopolis], Orb, wait! Could it be!"
Cruze once again thought of an impossible possibility, and the curve of his mouth became increasingly weird and dangerous.
"It should be you, right? I can't think of anyone else except you. It's interesting. It's so interesting. If it is really you... then this ship must be destroyed. I really hope in which direction will the world move?
Haha, haha, hahaha..."
…
Several hours of silent sailing passed by quietly.
Along the way, Ma Liu and others were so nervous that they hardly dared to relax for a moment. Even if they slept in shifts, they always slept with their clothes on, while facing the ZAFT army's attack immediately.
When the Scrap Recyclers Guild entered the Archangel's detection range, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. No matter when ZAFT's attack returned, at least they had reached their first target.
However, at this moment, everyone became slightly nervous because an unknown ship was approaching rapidly on the same route.
"A large heat source was detected, presumably a battleship engine, distance 500 yellow zone 33,17, marked 02 C, approach 0 to 0."
"On the side? Heading in the same direction as us!"
"Has it been discovered?"
"But it's still a long way off."
"The target is about to overtake our ship, and the target information cannot be confirmed."
"Can't confirm? Is it a ZAFT ship?"
"This... there is no record in the database. It is judged to be a civilian ship in size, but it is a battleship engine, and its speed... exceeds that of this ship!"
"How can it be!?"
Everyone was shocked. The Archangel is the most cutting-edge high-speed battleship of the Atlantic Federation. ZAFT's Nazca class is originally designed as a high-speed warship. It is not surprising that it can catch up with the Archangel, but how can a civilian ship have more than the Archangel?
speed?
"Is it a scrap dealer's ship?"
"Unable to confirm."
Ma Liu and others did not dare to be careless and immediately sounded the alarm for the first-level combat configuration.
"Huh? We should be arriving at the Scrap Recyclers Guild now, right? How could we be caught up here?"
"Yang Hui..." Kira looked uneasy. Although he decided to help Yang Hui, he was still very nervous that a battle was really going to happen.
"We're not sure it's the enemy yet. I'll go to the bridge to take a look first." Yang Hui reassured, "But we'd better be prepared."
"Well, I understand."
"By the way, remember to wear driving clothes."
"good."
Yang Hui came to the bridge and asked what happened, and the result...
"Thor Mirialia Sai Kaz? Why are you here? And... you are still wearing military uniforms?"
