April 2nd, 70 CE. 0430 Colonial Standard Time. Kudelia, Principality of Zeon. Kazuma Hara POV
While he had no criminal record to compare his current interment to any previous experiences, things were going pretty well for Kazuma Hara and the crew of the Raifuku Maru at the moment, or at least he hoped so.
After their initial encounter the Brunswick escorted the Raifuku Maru inside the port of a closed-type O'Neil, presumably this Kudelia colony that he spoke of. After some initial silence when they had landed, the ship was boarded by a company of soldiers. These men and woman of varying race and ethnicity all wore bulky green normal suits. When they had taken them off they revealed rather bizarre dark green and gold uniforms that reminded him too eerily of the Fascist states of the old 20th century. Whoever they were dealing with, they were definitely not one of the superstates.
When the company had boarded they had herded the entirety of the ship's crew to the mess hall where their commander stated that they were to be temporarily imprisoned until they were verified to not be spies of the Federation or the masterminds behind the bio attack on this Principality. When one of his Coordinator crew members expressed disgust at the accusation that they were a spy for the Atlantic Federation, their captor's expressed puzzlement with one of them clarifying that they were searching for spies of the Earth Federation.
This and numerous other oddities within their initial encounter kept on raising endless questions with seemingly no answers. Something Hara did not like at all.
For the past day they had been kept together within the mess hall. Fortunately their current location gave them available access to decent food that their captors allowed to be prepared by them, and while they were always under constant watch, they were never forced to stay silent or not interact, allowing the crew to stand together in solidarity and calming many of their worst fears.
Throughout the day they had been taken away from the mess hall one by one to be interrogated. At first Hara and many of the others feared that they were sent to be tortured or worse, but fortunately the first person that had been sent came back with no wounds on his body, stating that they simply engaged in a verbal interrogation, but that their captors were acting strange and refused to believe anything he said, instead spouting some nonsense about a Zeon and more tales of this Earth Federation.
Hara had been interrogated himself and had given similar information, with his captors only acting frustrated throughout the affair, but thankfully never punished physically.
He expected his entire crew to questioned, but when they went through a third of the ship they abruptly stopped and asked for their ship's Doctor, Muta Kawajiri, to be escorted with them for the purposes of "Helping to distribute a vaccine to respond to a viral outbreak within the colony". This drove up the fears of Hara and the rest of the crew greatly, though a short video call that was made through some weirdly bulky tablet had Kawajiri assure him that he was alright, though there were obvious signs that he was under watch for everything that he said.
With little ways to resist, Hara was resigned to his fate and waited for events to run its course, grateful that at the very least he was not captured by zealots of some kind.
In the morning the ship's captain was sleeping in the mess hall on the floor when he was abruptly awakened by two guards who at gunpoint told him to get up and have them escort him to meet an "important visitor". Whoever it was, Hara at least hoped that this person had enough authority to see their release.
Doing as they ordered, Hara traveled through the Raifuku Maru and exited into the interior of the space port. While he was walking Hara made not to observe every single path he took, both to formulate a potential plan to escape and to get a sense of who were keeping them.
After about seventeen minutes of travel Hara reached his destination which seemed to be a jail cell that they used for local criminals. Hara went inside and found himself faced to face with who he presumed to be the leader of his captors.
His first impressions of the young man before him was that he distinctly reminded him of Yuna Roma Seiran. While he had never had the pleasure to meet the heir, or anyone from the Five Great houses from that matter, the man's distinctive purple hair reminded him of Lord Yuna, along with the confidence that he displayed while sitting, similar to the air that Lord Yuna gave off in many of his appearances in the media.
Fortunately, the man before him also gave off a warm aura of a calm and gentle figure. While this may have been an act, Hara hoped that on some level this was genuine.
The guards pushed him to take a seat, removing his handcuffs with Hara rubbing his wrists to provide some comfort for the old bones. This action seemed to make the leader opposite him wince slightly in discomfort, another good sign if any.
When he sat down the purple-haired man got up and walked slightly towards him, offering his right hand to shake with Hara returning cautiously.
"Greetings Captain Hara, my name is Garma Zabi, I am a Major of the Zeon Army and the youngest son of our nation's Sovereign, Degwin Sodo Zabi." Garma greeted him. The words were nothing more than gibberish and titles, though Hara assumed they had some importance.
"Sovereign, is that some title for your head of state? Also you said nation, I presume this is the Principality of Zeon that your people have kept raving about?" Hara questioned.
Garma rubbed his head slightly, letting off a soft chuckle. "You would be correct, the Sovereign is the title that belong's to our nation's, the Principality of Zeon's, reigning monarch. My father is its first with his ascension last year being the birth of the Principality proper with Zeon before being a Republic. As his son I am Zeon's prince, though we don't hold to any sort of feudal structure so my father and siblings are the only nobles of Zeon." Garma explained.
"How should I address you then? Your majesty, your grace, your highness?"
"Protocol dictates that my father and brothers are referred to as Lord, so you may refer to me as Lord Garma. I know that you have several questions, but if I have to explain every single sentence that I utter then we're going to be here all day. For now I request that you stay silent until I explain why we interred your ship, though I reassure you it is just for convenience and should not be interpreted as ill will from us."
For the next twenty minutes Garma calmly explained the rather bizarre situation that they found themselves in. He spoke of how this colony and hundreds of others within L2 were transported here from another timeline called the Universal Century. It was a world where a third world war broke out in the 1990's and humanity soon thereafter united into an Earth Federation. When the Universal Century calendar began in the middle of the 21st century, the Federation began forcibly exporting most of humanity to space colonies in the various Lagrange points. Zeon was one of those nations founded by Spacenoids, the people who emigrated to space, with the Principality declaring independence shortly before they were mysteriously transported to the Universal Century.
While it was a rather impossible tale, to his own surprise Hara believed Garma. Not only due to the information that he had supplied him with a datapad that went into great detail over this Universal Century, but also the sheer physical existence of these colonies within L2. A month ago this Lagrnage point was empty, yet now hundreds of colonies were in their place. It was a feat that none of the superstates, or the PLANTs despite the propaganda that Blue Cosmos painted upon them, could possibly create.
However, when it came to the history of the Universal Century, Hara was quite skeptical of Garma's account, though he didn't dare question him upon it. When he went over the history of the Federation and Spacenoids, Garma spoke of Earth with a heavy venom and painted the Earth Federation as if it were the worst thing to ever happen in human history. He spoke of the harsh plight of the first Spacenoids, how they had to create new lives in poverty, torn away from their homelands, lost until this Zeon Zum Deikun came and provided them a guiding light into self-sufficiency.
While such a history was not in and of itself unbelievable as there were some resemblances to the creation of Orb and the PLANTs, and Hara had personally witnessed the brutality of East Asia that such a malignant government as the Federation existing was not unlikely, it was quite clear throughout the conversation that Garma held a strong bias towards Zeon and hardly dared to play devil's advocate for Earth's perspective. Without the Earth Federation to argue on its behalf, it was likely that the only account they could have of this Universal century would be one that was heavily influenced by Zeon's propaganda. History was written by the victors, and with Zeon being the last remnant of their timeline they could paint their history any way they wanted and no one in the Cosmic Era could deny the narrative.
Hara knew deep down that no nation, even the vile East Asia, was as black and white as Garma described. Humanity was simply far too diverse for such a clean story to exist.
Whatever the case, there was no Earth Federation to present it's case and with his current state of imprisonment there was no reason for him to deny Garma's version of the facts. Better to just visibly accept it at face value than to piss off the Nationalist in front of him and potentially bring about horrid conditions for his ship.
When Garma was done talking he gestured for Hara to speak, with the Orb Captain having many questions.
"Now that you are aware that we have no ties with this Earth Federation, nor are in any way responsible for the event, will we be free to return to our country?" Hara asked desperately.
Fortunately, his worst fears were assuaged when Garma spoke, "Have no fear Captain, just as you said your ship has committed no crime towards us and two days ago we did not even exist in reality. This unfortunate incident was all based on a misunderstanding and as such it would be wrong of us to detain you any longer."
Hara let go a great sigh of relief, glad that he and his crew were safe and they could return home as soon as possible. "So what exactly happens now?"
"While I would like to send your ship on your way with an apology from us as soon as possible, there are two factors that prevent it from occurring."
"And those are?"
"Firstly, the current state of war that exists between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT. Our satellites have observed that a great escalation has occurred within the past 24 hours. First there was a great battle in orbit between thousands of ships on both sides with a sizable debris field forming in the aftermath. During and after the battle our satellites observed large portions of Earth losing power completely. Based on what little knowledge we have about the current state of affairs, it appears that ZAFT is responsible for unleashing some supereweapon on the planet, though what it's nature is I have no idea." Garma said.
Hearing that ZAFT was responsible for such a calamity caused a large pit to form in Hara's stomach. Already Coordinators were being persecuted across the Earth sphere for a number of asinine and false reasons. If they openly committed such an atrocity as to wipe out Earth's power, then they would justify all of Blue Cosmos' propaganda and cause billions of Naturals to rise in hatred to wipe out the Coordinators.
His thoughts drifted towards his two grandchildren, Shinn and Mayu. They had been incredibly lucky to be raised in such a tolerant nation such as Orb. After what befell on the Earth, would they for the first time in their lives suffer from hatred due to their existence as Coordinators?
"Captain Hara? Are you alright?" Garma asked, bringing Hara out of his stupor.
"I apologize Lord Garma, it's just that the revelation you gave of ZAFT's actions is quite troubling of myself to hear. I have two grandchildren who are Coordinators, I can't imagine the pain they'll face due to the actions of those in the PLANTs."
Garma nodded his head to show sympathy, "I understand Captain. While my words are not a final promise of my father's, if this war does escalate then I will try my best to steer Zeon to do everything it can to prevent unnecessary atrocities from occurring. It's our Earth sphere now, it wouldn't do for it to be destroyed just as we arrived.
"Thank you Lord Garma." Hara said, showing a smile of gratitude. "Were you saying anything while I was spacing out? I didn't hear much after the attacks."
"What I was saying is that due to the unpredictable nature of the war, we would like to keep you within Zeon's borders as guests for now until ships from Orb's Space Force arrive to escort you back to Heliopolis. While I do not understand much of the Cosmic Era's strange politics, the superstates seem to respect your neutrality so your ship is likely to arrive safely with them rather than being escorted by our warships which are complete unknowns to all but East Asia."
"That makes sense. And what is the second reason for keeping us here?"
"The reason why we have kept your ship's doctor in our custody for the past several hours, to vaccinate you and prevent any diseases from our side infecting your crew."
Garma's statement caused Hara to shake slightly in horror from the obvious implications that he had missed til now. "Vaccinate us, what diseases did your Universal Century produce, shouldn't it be the same as ours?! Did your people even suffer the S-1 and S-2 influenza?!"
Hara only calmed down when he saw Garma raising his hand in the air, his expression serene and unchanged. "Calm down Captain, I would not have had this meeting if I thought I could contract a deadly virus, or at the very least I would have done so in a normal suit. Our medical histories have been compared and it seems that up til the 21st century they are fairly compatible with the Universal Century only producing minor mutations of common viruses, though we lacked anything comparable to the S1 and S2 flu.
From what Doctor Fujiwara has shared of your medical histories, no one within your crew has been infected and current bio-scans of your ship show no diseases that are exclusive to the Cosmic Era. However, I cannot guarantee that nothing from our colony has spread to your people, which is why I would like to vaccinate you. Our release of the Raifuku Maru would be rather malignant if we let one of our viruses go back to Earth and the greater Earth sphere." Garma said, his logic making great sense to Hara.
"So this is it, we are free?"
"Like I said, you shall remain here at Kudelia until representatives from Orb come to escort you, though you shall stay as guests and not criminals. When you return your people shall be free to go anywhere they want on the Raifuku Maru, but for now you must stay inside of the ship unless you receive permission from myself. I shall be making contact with your political leaders shortly, so provided another space-time anomaly occurs or the Alliance and ZAFT doesn't complicate matters, then you should head back to Orb within days."
With the good news a great amount of pressure was lifted from Hara and he felt a great bliss at their current fortune.
Tears welled up in his eyes, happy to return home. "Thank you Lord Garma. Orb will not forget this gesture of benevolence. Welcome to the Cosmic Era."
April 2nd, 70 CE. 2015 Orb Standard. Orb National Defense Command Center. Olofat. Orb Union. Uzumi Nara Athha POV
Inside of the situation room sat the heads of all five of the Orb's Great Houses. While the "Big Five" as they were referred to by international media, met on a near daily basis for the running of their nation, this meeting was an affair unlike any other. Today not only would they be dealing with the aftermath of ZAFT's attack on Orb, but they were in the middle of first contact with a nation that was born in another reality.
Uzumi sat at the forefront of the table facing the monitor, with Hayato Fuzan on his right and Unato Ema Seiran on his left.
Next to Unato sat the tall and pale figure of Koto Sahaku. The sickly head of House Sahaku looked highly unwell, though it was a sign of Uzumi's familiarity with the stoic noble that he knew this was the best and most alert he had seen him in weeks. With his terrible immune system it was no wonder that he choose to make his twin children Coordinators, to give them a life free of the ailments that he had been cursed with since a young child.
Next to Hayato sat a strikingly beautiful green-haired woman who was the only Coordinator among those present, Keiko Keitamura. The Keitamura family was the noble House who were primarily in charge of Orb's medical industry with Keitamura Pharmaceuticals being one of the top 10 pharma corporations in the world. As a Coordinator, Keiko was extremely vocal in her support of the PLANTs with her constantly urging Uzumi to officially recognize them as an independent nation, something that Unato had been largely opposed against for fear of bringing down the wrath of the Alliance.
When Uzumi had told Keiko about ZAFT's obliteration of the majority of Earth's energy grid, while she did not outright condone the attack, she never spoke against it and Uzumi could've sworn that he saw a soft smile on her lips at the mentions of the Alliance casualties in orbit. Of his peers Uzumi would need to watch Keiko the most in the coming days for fear that she would recklessly drag Orb into the war in support of ZAFT now that they were dominating the conflict.
Right now, he had to place the war and the suffering that Earth was undergoing in the back of his mind. The first order of business was to establish peaceful relations with this Zeon, which if the past hour was any indication was sure to be a success.
Two hours ago their satellites had picked up a communication from L2 that stated that they were the ones who had captured the Raifuku Maru and wished to establish communications with Orb's leaders in order to discuss their current state. Uzumi had ordered an emergency meeting of the Great Houses in the situation room where they managed to set up a stable link with the source of the transmission from Orb.
When the video conference started, the five great nobles were greeted with the image of a purple-haired man in a dark green and gold military uniform that reminded them all of Unato's son Yuna. Fortunately for Uzumi, the man in the transmission, Garma Zabi, seemed to be far more diplomatic and pilot than Unato's brash son.
When they established contact, Garma greeted the leaders of Orb and explained the rather bizarre nature of the current state of affairs, how he was the prince of a nation called the Principality of Zeon, one that was ripped across space and time from a timeline called the Universal Century where mankind was united in a one world government and most of humanity lived in space, to the current Cosmic Era. While there was heavy skepticism among Uzumi's peers at the first mention, Garma transmitted to them data packets that showed the exact history of the Universal Century and visual proof of the existence of Zeon's colonies within L2, a feat which no other nation on Earth could replicate.
To Uzumi's great relief, Garma explained how the appropriation of the Raifuku Maru was a misunderstanding due to his father closing down Zeon's borders in the belief that they had been attacked in biological warfare by the Federation, the Raifuku Maru was only taken into custody for violating a no-fly zone that they had no knowledge of.
Uzumi was even more elated when Garma said that Zeon would be releasing the ship back to Orb with no desire for a ransom. The lack of monetary payment was a development of great joy to the nobles, especially Hayato as his ship would be returned without damage or cost to his company.
Once they had settled the Raifuku Maru controversy, the two sides began to converse on their respective histories and the current state of affairs in the Cosmic Era. Garma had said that at the moment Zeon was focused on regaining stability and order within their colonies and merely wished for the other superstates of the Earth sphere to be aware of Zeon so that they could begin the process of diplomatic relations and integration into the Earth sphere. However, such a task was near impossible due to the calamity that ZAFT had inflicted upon Earth in the past 24 hours.
"So you have not been able to make contact with the leadership of any members of the Earth Alliance?" Garma asked with worry.
Uzumi shook his head, "No Lord Garma, we have tried multiple times but all we are getting is scattered panic on the civilian channels and affirmations on all military lines that martial law is now in effect for each of the members. Each of their presidents were in their respective capitols at the time of the attack, and all should have had ample time to evacuate to a secure location. It is most likely they are in too much of a panic to worry about conversing with us, though perhaps if we were to inform them of Zeon's existence then they would notice."
Garma responded with a grim look, "Still, Admiral Lutjens made contact with the East Asians in L4 hours after the event, so the Alliance should be more than aware of our existence, yet we have not received any communications besides the fleet L4 fleet. My father does not see this as a good sign for the near future."
"Lord Garma, have you used all methods of communication to contact the PLANTs. On Earth we have found that we can no longer reach large portions of the planet with radio transmissions, so perhaps their new weapon is responsible for the lack of communication between the PLANTs and Solomon." Keiko piped in.
"We had attempted every form of communication Lady Keitamura, and while my brother Dozle has confirmed that radio transmissions have not reached the PLANTs, all other forms should have gone through. You would think that the appearance of an asteroid and a fleet almost equal their entire space force would cause them to send a transmission or some ships to investigate, but we have received complete silence from the PLANTs similar to the Alliance. I am afraid that if new developments are not made soon then we will have to engage in some gunboat diplomacy to force them to recognize our existence." Garma said.
The casual usage of such a phrase greatly worried Uzumi. He had just managed to establish peace between Orb and Zeon, though all of it would be meaningless if war were to occur between Zeon and either Zaft, the Alliance, or both. Millions of lives would be lost over a stupid misunderstanding. What would this say about humanity of the Cosmic Era, that they were so irrational and bloodthirsty that they would attack a nation that did not exist days ago? Madness!
"Lord Garma, there is no need to resort to such brute methods of force to establish contact with ZAFT and the Alliance. The Earth sphere has been on edge for the past six weeks due to the war. People are treating it as if it is some race conflict to determine who shall dominate humanity with moderation and avocation for peace being dead since Bloody Valentine. ZAFT's attack on Earth has severely escalated the conflict to harsh extremes with Blue Cosmos likely using it to paint Coordinators as inhuman monsters while radicals in the PLANTs are vindicated over their stances of racial superiority.
Such actions by Zeon, even if they are benign in nature and completely understandable due to the state of your nation, could be interpreted as acts of war by taken by either side if they still believe Zeon to be the other party. I would ask that for now Zeon focuses on protecting its territories and re-establishing domestic tranquility while we act on your behalf as mediators and introduce the Principality to the Cosmic Era. Your sheer existence is one that defies conventional science and will be dismissed at first glance by most, but if Orb were to show the world that Zeon does exist, then cooler heads may calm down and all participants in the current war shall greet Zeon with an olive branch instead of bloodshed. War is already a terrible plague, but to have one break out due to stupid misunderstandings would be the worst tragedy in both of our histories." Uzumi said.
Garma contemplated his words for a few moments before showing his agreement with a soft smile. "You are right Lord Uzumi. It is unfortunate that Zeon has entered the Cosmic Era in its most volatile time in decades, though we cannot control whatever space-time anomaly brought us here and must make the best of it. We of Zeon also wish for peace, however we have just now torn off the shackles of Earth's tyranny and with our independence now secured for countless generations, my people shall protect it at all costs. If either the Alliance or ZAFT treat us with hostility, then I'm afraid that many of our citizens would call for extreme measures in order to protect the freedom that they have desired for generations.
You have given me much to thank about and I am grateful to Orb for greeting us with cordiality and respect. I would like to ask for a small recess in our conversation to report what we have discussed to my father. If there are no pressing concerns, then I might be able to convince him to join us in a direct conversation. I would also like for you to meet my eldest brother Gihren, since as Prime Minister he represents the will of the people and would be in just as equal of a position to discuss Zeon's policy as my father."
Uzumi bowed his head slightly in appreciation, "I would love nothing more than to meet Zeon's head of state. I shall ask the Foreign ministry in the meantime to double its efforts in making contact with the Alliance. If we're fortunate then we might be able to make contact with the Equatorial Union, Scandinavia, Africa, and Oceania and direct them towards Zeon. If all of the neutral states advocate for your existence, then the Alliance will have no choice but to initiate dialogue."
Garma smiled, "We would appreciate that greatly. Orb has made an outstanding impression and the sons and daughters of Zeon shall remember the kindness and generosity of the Great Houses for years to come."
"No Lord Garma, we thank you for taking the initiative to greet us in peace and for returning the Raifuku Maru without compensation. Orb shall look forward to engaging in relations with Zeon for many generations to come." Uzumi said.
The transmission then ended, and Uzumi sank back into his chair with a loud sigh of relief. A heavy air was lifted from the situation room with tremendous stress released from the five house heads.
Koto was the first to break the silence, "I have to say that this was the best possible outcome for a first contact." He said rather frankly, nods of agreement flooding the table.
"I must say that you have truly earned your moniker of the lion, Lord Uzumi. History shall remember you as the man that integrated Zeon into the solar system." Unato said, though whether his praise was genuine or empty flattery as he usually gave, Uzumi did not know.
"Still, this shall all be for nothing if either ZAFT or the Alliance attack Zeon as confusion for the other. If only they were inserted at the start of the year, then maybe their presence could force both sides to calm down and this cursed war would have never taken place." Uzumi said, internally cursing at Zeon's appearance being the worst possible moment. They could have entered the Cosmic Era at any point in their history, but they had to appear on the eve of a tragedy that shall most likely eclipse Bloody Valentine.
"You are correct Uzumi, I don't believe that the Alliance shall attack due to East Asia engaging openly with them and Pezun being the only Zeon presence in Alliance territory, but Solomon is within PLANT space and for now we must act on the assumption that PLANT sees Zeon as an Alliance creation." Hayato said.
"What I find really disturbing about their timeline is that their Third World War ended in a nuclear exchange that far exceeded the Kashmir exchange, not to mention their existence of a nuclear Indo-Pakistani war and usage of tactical nukes and dirty bombs during the Unification Wars. This has likely given them a culture of casual nuclear exchange that could see Zeon launch nuclear strikes on the PLANTs if they are attacked." Keiko said, greatly fearful of a second Bloody Valentine.
Uzumi frowned at the hysteria, "I don't think that we should be jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst of Zeon. They choose to engage in diplomacy and treat us as an equal despite our obvious difference in power, something that is rare in exchanges with the other nations on the best of days. Not only that, but they are freely returning the Raifuku Maru without any demands on our part. If Garma is any indication then the rest of his family must be as benign in their character and rule." Uzumi argued.
"Yet Garma himself admitted that with the Principality being free from the Earth Federation that his people may act rashly in order to protect their newfound independence. An accidental strike on their ships could in return guarantee severe escalation from Zeon as they would view it as an attack on their existence." Kato said as devil's advocate.
"Speaking of, what do you think about his explanation of the Universal Century. It's quite obvious that the boy is heavily biased in his viewpoints. Is this Earth Federation really as evil and oppressive as he claims or is Zeon inflicting a martyr's complex on themselves without justification?" Asked Unato.
"For now we must act on the assumption that what Zeon says is the truth of their history. Unless more of their colonies are going to pop into existence, there is no Earth Federation to defend themselves and we may never get the whole picture of what went on in that timeline. Let us focus on establishing peaceful relations with Zeon, afterwords we'll have all the time we want to investigate their history and judge who's right and wrong." Uzumi said.
"Besides, is it really that implausible? Every other nation in this world has the blood and suffering of millions as the foundation for their creation. We only exist as a nation because we were driven from our homeland by China's disgusting imperialism. If East Asia and Eurasia play race wars so casually with their subjects, whose to say that in another path of history that humanity would unite into a one world government in servitude of an oligarchical elite?" Hayato argued, drawing heavy agreement around the table while Uzumi stayed silent.
While Uzumi abhorred the actions of the Reconstruction War that saw his family flee from Japan to Orb, and he was certainly no fan of East Asia, the Chief Representative felt that it was pointless to continue to dwell in hatred over events of half a century ago . Such hatred would only lead to more conflict and suffering with China's conquest of Japan and Korea being caused by generations of bad blood between the three countries. If Orb were to coexist in peace with East Asia, then both nations would have their hatred be extinguished and they could live together in prosperity instead of laying down the sins of their ancestors on the next generation and continuing a cycle of hatred.
Unfortunately it seemed that his peers did not share his sentiments with the other house heads living with a toxic "Us vs them" mentality. Whatever the case, it would be best for Uzumi to let his feelings rest for now and focus on the issue of Zeon. As they say, you had to pick your battles and Uzumi had years of experience in such a manner.
"There is one last thing that bothers me, though." Kato said with a cough.
"What are you referring to?" Keiko asked.
"While it's good that we are moving forward to bring Zeon into the Earth sphere, the supernatural nature of this event should not be possible in the first place. Not only did tens of millions of people on Earth collapse at the same time, but according to Garma, Zeon experienced millions of their own citizens traveling across the Earth sphere instantaneously and being dropped into their homes as they left the Universal Century. Millions of people within Zeon seem to be experiencing bizarre symptoms similar to those who collapsed on Earth. Not to mention the whole nature of their transportation.
If it was simply a space-time anomaly, then presumably it would affect Lagrange 2. Yet Zeon's asteroids and escorting fleets in L4 and L5 were transported along with an asteroid colony in the Belt. I don't know if this is the work of some divine force, but something or someone has chosen to transport Zeon and all of its people to the Cosmic Era. Whose to say that we shall not be receiving more unexpected guests from the Universal Century or other timelines, or that parts of our timeline may be transported to other realities?"
Kato's words brought about a deathly silence to the situation room, a full minute passed as each noble considered the ramification of Zeon's existence. Uzumi's thoughts drifted to Cagali, and how she may be involved in all of this.
Uzumi was by no means a religious man, only paying lip service to the Shinto faith. However, the sheer impossibility of what was occurring convinced him that it had to be the work of some divine power. The fact that such power existed scared Uzumi to the core.
Not wanting those present to descent into unnecessary debates of existentialism, Uzumi intervened. "As it has been said about the Earth Federation, I believe it's best if we leave the investigation of what caused Zeon's existence until after they have settled into the Earth sphere. Whatever the cause is, it is beyond our control. All we can hope is that such an event doesn't occur in the near future. Instead of worrying of what's to come, let us focus on the present."
A/N: There we go everyone, Zeon and Orb have engaged in peaceful first contact and are now aware of each other's existence, a small blessing for Zeon considering at this time they are about to be in a war with both the Alliance and ZAFT. Considering the fact that it's Garma leading the negotiation and he's dealing with a neutral pacifistic nation, the conclusion was rather obvious from the start. Orb is rather fortunate that they are dealing with the youngest Zabi rather than the rest of the family. Lastly Garma's success in negotiations should be rather natural not only due to his lack of aggressive intentions, but the fact that this is the same man who convinced Australia to support Zeon in its majority AFTER BRITISH. Garma is about to gain a rather positive reputation inside of the Cosmic Era and upcoming events shall keep him as a big player on behalf of Zeon.
By the way, in order to prevent any confusion, Keiko Keitamura is an OC of mine and the fifth Great House head of Orb. She's a Coordinator who is the most pro-ZAFT of Orb's leaders, and will be shown more prominently along with Hayato Fuzan, my other Orb noble OC, in the future as we explore Orb's politics and society.
Next chapter shall be released after Gihren's Glory chapter 45 and shall cover the entirety of the Battle of Pezun. We are now in the middle of the First Contact arc and soon we shall reach the end of the First Contact War and begin covering the immediate ramifications of Zeon's existence on the war and greater Cosmic Era. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!