April 1st 70 CE. 2300 Colonial Standard. Atlantic Federation Ptolemaeus Lunar Base. Mu La Flaga POV
Immediately after Mu had woken up he was beset by a group of doctors and nurses who wished to examine him and asked numerous questions on what exactly he had experienced before his collapse into a coma.
Not trusting his caretakers with information that his future self had given him, Mu had told a half truth that all that he had seen when he had a seizure were images of a beautiful women, something that had gotten a few light snickers from the examiners, most likely lightening the mood a bit.
Overall the examination was probably one of the fastest he ever had, only taking ten minutes. The reason for the rush was due to the fact that apparently on the base tens of thousands of personnel from all branches stationed there had collapsed with similar symptoms, not to mention much higher numbers within Ptolemaeus proper. Since Mu was now awake, his bed was free to use by one of thousands on a current waiting list. Thus Mu was quickly discharged with orders to rest for a minimum of 24 hours barring an emergency sortie and to immediately return if he felt any worsening in his condition.
After changing into his uniform Mu had bid his thanks and left the hospital. The blonde barely the hospital wing by a couple meters when he was suddenly tackled by a rather busty slavic blonde.
"Mu, you're awake!" Shouted his Ukrainian squadmate Kateryna "Kat"Boginskaya.
Kat was very much loved by the squad for her friendly and energetic nature, making her easy to approach to and a strong team player who had the most assists in combat. Right after Zero squadron had formed, Mu and her had briefly dated for about a month, with both ending amicably due to the beginning of the war as well as a lack of a deep connection to take things to the next level. They were still good friends though and Mu had always trusted her to have his back in battle and vice versa.
Up til now, Mu had always had a physical attraction for Kat. However when he separated himself from her, upon looking at her, he felt absolutely nothing. While he recognized that objectively she was still beautiful, there was no desire present as there was before. It was no fault of Kat's, rather now she went up against a brunette who to Mu was the most beautiful person in existence.
'Murrue Ramius. Will I ever get to meet her, just what is it about her that makes her so perfect?'
For now Mu pushed his thoughts of Murrue aside and focused on his good friend and squadmate who was here and now. "Hey Kat, how long was I out?"
"It's eleven at night so you were gone for an entire day. 2/3rd's of the squad collapsed, Kat was the first to wake up about three hours ago and I followed shortly after." Said Rick.
The Texan pilot had come up to Mu and offered a handshake for some reason. Mu had accepted it, only to be quickly drawn in a fierce bear hug, with Rick nearly coming to tears like how Kat was. It was strange to Mu why they were acting like this when he was only out for a day and they had just woken up before him.
"Hey, are you guys okay, you're acting like I almost died. Well, I was in a coma but the docs said my life was never in danger. More importantly what did you mean when you said 2/3rd's of the squad is out?" Mu asked, though with his recent experience he had a sneaking suspicion on what happened.
Both Rick and Kat looked at each other, a silent conversation being said between the two's eyes. They then looked at the immediate area, which had collected a small number of onlookers from their scene, and then back at Mu.
"Mu, if you collapsed just like us, then you probably went through what we did. I think we should head back to my room for some privacy, as it needs to stay between the three of us for now."
Mu was tempted to crack a joke about Kat inviting them for a threeway in her bed, but seeing the dark and gloomy looks on their faces told him the severity of the situation and had him wisely keep quiet.
"Lead the way." He conceded.
The three zero pilots made it to Kat's shared room. Mu and Kat sat on the edges of her bed while Rick faced them in the opposing bed.
"Mu, before we start this session, I just want one thing to be clear. Did you see yourself die?" Rick asked.
At first Mu felt shock at the question, not because of what Rick had asked, but of how he knew of what Mu had seen. Then he remembered what his future self had told him, about him being some sort of Newtype. Perhaps they had similar abilities as well.
"Yes." Mu stated.
"FUCK!" Rick shouted in response, slamming his fist on the hard steel wall. On the bed Mu felt Kat's weight shift, herself on the verge of collapse on hearing the exclamation.
"Looking back I can understand why I died in that hellhole, I was way too damn sloppy as time went on. But you Mu, you're the best of us, you should have made it back alive. I may not have seen everything but I saw you tear apart the enemy, you were unstoppable." Rick said.
"Mu's just a mortal Natural like the both of us. If ZAFT gained the upper hand and killed most of the squad then Mu would fall as well. It was probably that white ace who killed me." Kat said somberly.
The two's statements brought confusion to Mu. "What are you guys saying? I know I died but it's not like I experienced my death...wait. You two are talking about like you saw your deaths, and in battle. What happened?"
The two pilots looked at Mu, completely bewildered at what he had said. However, Mu saw some small glimpses of relief and hope on their faces at the same time.
"So Mu, you didn't die at Endymion? If you didn't die there was it sometime later, or after the war hopefully ended?" Kat asked.
"At Endymion?! No, why would I-"Mu was about to continue until he saw several intense flashes before his eyes. The experience wasn't as intense as what he had felt after he collapsed, rather it was like several clips of a movie being jammed into his head. There was a titanic clash over the lunar surface. Mu had taken down several GINNs. He watched his squadmates die one by one. Throughout the battle he had maintained a prolonged duel against a white mobile suit that radiated evil. At the end there was a bright flash of light, consuming the entire battlefield in death.
"No, I...I didn't die at Endymion. I was the only one of the squad who made it out alive. They called me the Hawk of Endymion." Mu said slowly in horror. Somehow in those precious seconds he had regained memories and an understanding of what had taken place, of the battle that they were most likely referring to. Was this some sort of gift that his future self had given him, to help him move forward with knowledge despite the lack of a long conversation between them?
Silence reigned for several long moments after that. Mu could feel a flurry of emotions go through both Rick and Kat, not that he could blame them as he was also feeling several stages of grief consume him, the loss of the squadron which most definitely would have occurred in the future.
"I think I understand what you guys are trying to say, but I'm pretty sure that what I experienced was completely different than what you two went through. Let's start off with how we came into this mess, what's going on with the squad, what you two guys witnessed, and then we'll talk about myself." Mu said, providing some much clear direction to the conversation before it became cluttered in a vague guessing game.
Kat began first, "About midnight right after we began the meeting, eight of the squad including us experienced seizures that soon caused us to collapse. From what I've heard after waking up, this was something that was not only repeated across the entire lunar base, the city of Ptolemaeus, the entire moon, but the Earth sphere as well as the news around that time showed footage all across the world of tens of millions of people collapsing into seizures."
"Christ, that's a lot of people." Mu uttered. "Sounds like some sort of doomsday bio weapon from a video game."
"If it weren't for the fact that we along with a good portion of those collapsed on the base have awaken right now then I would agree with you. People say it's a Coordinator bioweapon, but it did a pretty shitty job if we're still here, not to mention they obviously had something better unleashed on Earth." Rick said.
"Considering what we went through, I call absolute bullshit on this being a ZAFT concoction." Kat said.
"Wait, what were you talking about when you said ZAFT unleashed a superweapon, did they nuke the planet?" Mu asked with grave concern.
Rick shook his head, disgust heavy on his face. "No, they did something both worse and not as awful. Good news is the planet is still in one piece and ZAFT didn't drop any nukes on it so there's not going to be any long-term environmental effects. The bad news is that they dropped thousands of some kind of superweapon that completely knocked out the energy grids of all of the Alliance members. The Orbital Fleet was sent to stop them, but apparently they got massacred despite a 6 to 1 numerical advantage. From what little we've gathered, it seems they were able to knock out the fleet's power and murder most of them. Every ship is equipped with a fission reactor to power them, which means somehow, someway, ZAFT just flicked the bird to physics and can prevent the atom from splitting."
"The N-Jammers." Mu said in horror, the word once again rolling off of the tongue naturally. Both Rick and Kat looked at him with curiosity, this being the second time that he displayed an awareness of information that they hadn't told him.
"Yeah Mu, that's the name that some people are calling them. Did any of the doctors tell you when you woke up?" Kat asked.
"I...I think it has to do with what I went through. I'll explain later, for now I want to hear what you guys went through." Mu replied. He noticed that after telling him of the N-Jammers, both Rick and Kat had become even more gloomy and downtrodden. Mu remembered how in their conversations both pilots had frequently talked about the large families they came from with lots of extended relatives who they were both close to.
Since his parents death, Mu never had any strong permanent bonds or relationships throughout his life. When he joined the military, the Space Force in a way became his new family with Mu developing a fondness and dedication to the branch that he never held before. He had developed several good friendships, though few were so close to Mu that he considered them best friends.
Rick and Kat were the complete opposites, having many strong familial and friendship ties on Earth that they still maintained. For their loved ones to be suffering through the loss of power while they were on the moon and unable to do nothing must have been hell. For the first time Mu considered himself lucky that he never drew others close to him.
"When we all collapsed into seizures, I'm pretty sure we all experienced some sort of...shared vision. I know it sounds pretty crazy but it's the truth. From what Rick and I saw, we were fighting an intense battle at Endymion. ZAFT was assaulting the base with all they got and we were sending wave after wave of ships and mobile armor to stop them. For some reason, despite our overwhelming numbers, this hardly phased ZAFT and they went through us like a hot knife on butter. Now that I think about it, it's probably thanks to their new weapon.
The fighting was absolute hell Mu. It made Yggdrasil look like some sort of Academy sim for beginners. I don't remember everything that happened, it all came to me at waves with what was happening shifting either minutes or seconds. It's like I was watching a movie, yet experiencing it at the same time. All I know is we went in hoping for a victory, but as time went on we were struggling to just stay alive.
I don't remember how long it was after the battle started, but I remember two of our squadmates dying before then. You were surrounded by six mobile suits, a white one was leading them against you. You did your best and got a couple of them destroyed, but they were wearing you down. I tried to help you and I got one shot down. But right after I came, the white one was on me. It couldn't have been more than a minute, but he tore apart all of my gunbarrels with his sword, then pointed his gun straight at my cockpit, and then..." Kat trailed off, tears starting to form on her face. It didn't take much to figure out that this was probably how she died.
'Rau Le Creuscet.' Mu thought venomously, hatred swelling throughout his body. Whatever abilities he had now, it alerted him that this was the man his future self had told him about, one whose very existence could somehow drive humanity to extinction. Before Mu had just been told that he was evil and Rau didn't mean anything. Now, hearing that he was responsible for Kat's death, things got personal.
"I'm pretty sure I survived longer than Kat, I remember hearing about her death. There was also a small conversation I had with you between battles Mu, you were pretty devastated about it." Rick said.
"Nice to know that you'll remember me Mu." Kat said, a small smile forming.
"Kat, you're a hell of a squadmate but more importantly a great friend, the same goes for you Rick. I'm sorry that there's a future where both of you died, but now that we know about it I'm not going to let anything happen to either of you. Kat, I swear I'll kill that white ace before this war is over, you have my word." Mu declared.
Kat leaned on Mu, gripping on his arm. "Thanks." She whispered, while Mu gently brushed her hair in return. Mu's heart may now be for Murrue, but Kat was still his friend and he would make sure she lived until the end of the war.
Mu saw Rick watch the both of them quietly for a number of seconds, feeling a sense of longing from the Texan in his silence before he continued, "After Kat, Norman was the next one to go. I saw his death myself. The poor guy had his Zero torn to shreds slowly by some maniac in blue. After that was done Blue ripped Norm from the cockpit and crushed him in its hands. I arrived right after and managed to send the bastard to hell.
Afterwords I kind of lost it. I may not have experienced everything, but from what I saw, I jumped over the edge and went Berserk. Every single sortie after that I tried to kill as many Coordinators as I could. I strayed from the squad and didn't work with anyone, I just darted across the battlefield and pulled the trigger on any suits I saw. It was too stupid and reckless. Eventually I was isolated and surrounded. I tried my best to fight back, but by the end I was running on half a machine and a round went through the cockpit and-"Rick stopped, placing his hand on his head and wincing from pain. "It probably lasted a second, but I felt it, and it was pure hell." Rick's eyes trailed off and he collapsed on the bed, leaning against the wall and sporting a look of heavy defeat.
After hearing his friend's stories, Mu felt awful about not only what they went through, but what he went through in comparison. Oh sure he would die in the future, but it's not like he experienced his own death, hell he didn't even know what it was from. Really all that he experienced was landing on a tropical beach, watching a proposal between a clone of himself and a woman he loved yet never met, and meeting his ghost. Sure it may have been emotionally draining, but it was nothing compared to these two.
Silence reigned after Rick finished, with nothing being heard in the room besides their collective breathing, cries from both Rick and Kat, and the air conditioner. Eventually the two composed themselves and looked at Mu, expecting him to share his side of the story.
For a couple of moments, Mu was hesitant and thought of some lie to tell. It was absolutely shameful of him when they poured their worst moments right in front of him, but to Mu, not only was the information he could share too extraordinary too believe, but it was also incredibly personal. Not only that, but it was so huge in scope that he didn't know if he could trust them with it, especially with Kat being Eurasian.
Looking at the both of them however, Mu felt something within himself that told him to trust them. It wasn't just a gut feeling, but some sort of whisper in his mind that gave him an okay. Out of the entirety of the squad, Rick and Kat were probably the closest to him, the two who he could maybe call his best friends. They weren't blabbermouths and they could keep a secret. Mu also had a feeling that whatever grand crusade his future self sent him on, he couldn't do it alone. Might as well share his information with others like him, especially when they revealed their darkest moments.
Mu took a couple breaths to steady himself, "Listen, what I'm about to tell you is something crazy, but all of it is completely true." Mu then revealed his experience to both of them.
Rick and Kat were completely silent for the duration of the story, taking it all in with mild amounts of shock on their faces. After Mu finished they remained silent for about ten seconds, with Rick then breaking it with a heavy amount of laughter.
"What's so funny?" Mu demanded.
"I'm sorry, but you have to see it from our perspective. We literally experienced our own deaths but you got sent to Haiwaii, spoke with the ghost of future past, and fell in love with some mystery lady. I thought you were lucky in cards and battle but it seems like you have the greatest luck out of all of us." Rick said.
Rick's explanation got Kat to laugh weakly at the ridiculousness of it all.
"You guys do believe me right?"
"Yeah, all of that other stuff was too heavy when combined with the rest and you were pretty damn serious throughout. Sorry about your loss though Kat, looks like Mu's out of the market." Rick said.
Kat separated herself from Mu, then leaned back with a sigh. "It's alright. No offense Mu, but I'm not ready to get back with you anytime soon and if you truly did find the love of your life after my death, then good for you. I'm quite curious to see who this Baltic beauty is in comparison to me."
"Baltic?" Mu questioned.
"Her last name Ramius is a somewhat common Lithuanian name. I went to Vilnius for a study abroad and met a handful of them over there." Kat explained.
The explanation made Mu wonder if she was Scandinavian, but from what he remembered she spoke with an American accent, though from which part of the former U.S he couldn't say. Perhaps she had, or more correctly is serving in the Atlantic Forces right now.
"Okay, first lets take some time to go over the info Mu gave us. Firstly in some good news is that heaven exists. If an atheist like Mu was able to go high then I don't think we'll have a problem Kat. It's nice to know that at least if we die this time, then there will be an afterlife." Rick said. Rick was Catholic while Kat was Eastern Orthodox, so Mu's confirmation that at least their teachings on the afterlife were true must have been a sign of relief, their moods had certainly improved after he revealed that little fact.
"Actually I'm agnostic, but with all that's going on believing in God is hardly a challenge." Mu said.
"So you'll accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior?" Rick said in a mostly light hearted and joking manner.
"Give me some time after the war ends and I'll think about it."
"Still, I feel bad about what your future self must have went through. You died for some reason and the woman you loved married your clone who somehow has your soul?" Kat asked in confusion.
"Yeah about that part, what the hell was your dad into that he decided to make a clone of you? Not even Coordinators go that far in genetics and if I remember your dad was an important Senator right? If that was made public then he'd be run out of Washington and Blue Cosmos would hang him from a tree. Also I'm worried about this Neo guy. You said that he admitted he was a monster to Murrue, what the hell could he have done to make himself say that, yet your future love still accepted him?" Rick asked.
Mu sighed, the revelation leaving him filled with disgust and confusion. "I don't know why he did it. My dad and I were never close and after he died I never bothered to look into what his life. He never had any official support for Coordinators nor did he condemn Blue Cosmos, so I don't think anyone could imagine him being a cloner. As for Neo, I'll have to meet him and judge him for myself. I was told he's not an enemy, so he can't be that bad of a guy. If he's a threat though I'll take him down." Mu said.
'God, my life has turned into the plot of an anime overnight.' Mu lamented.
"More importantly, your father didn't stop at you as he apparently made multiple clones of himself, including this Rau guy. Could he really be that dangerous to wipe out humanity at his own hands?" Kat questioned.
"I don't think it's an exaggeration. The hate and loathing my counterpart had for that guy when he talked about him was pretty hard. All I know is that he's the guy who killed Kat." Mu said, shocking the Ukrainian pilot greatly with her feelings morphing into anger. "He's dangerous enough as a skilled ZAFT pilot. We'll take him down on the battlefield for that alone, and whatever he's planning will end with his life."
"There's also the fact that apparently all that's happened is because we're Newtypes, whatever the hell that means. And our visions occurred because some nation called Zeon has entered our plane of existence? I've accepted everything til now, but a dimension hopping country? If it occurred we certainly didn't hear anything before now." Rick said.
His confusion was very understandable to Mu, who thought for a few seconds on how to come up with an answer.
"I don't know what exactly a Newtype is, but from the visions we've experienced, the closest thing I can think of is psychics. There's also something I just remembered. You see throughout my life I've had this sort of sixth sense that happens at times, I never told anyone about it because I thought it was just luck and good senses. Sometimes, and usually in the thick of battle, I'll feel a flash go through my body, a small shock like a lightning bolt. When that happens there's some sort of danger that leaps at me, and from that warning I'm able to adapt and react quickly. I first started noticing it when I played sports, but it's been increasing in frequency whenever I go fly" Mu explained. He felt goosebumps on his body when he saw the two grow incredibly still at his words.
"You two?"
"Yeah, I went through the same thing you did. I just thought it was my body reacting naturally, but it seems like we've all got some sort of spider-sense as a power." Rick said.
"Same with me. When you think about it, the reason Zero Squad formed was because we all have enough spatial awareness to pilot the Zeros. Eight of us had seizures and visions, so maybe we've always been Newtypes." Kat said.
"Psychics, huh? Does this mean that we're actually superior to Coordinators despite being Naturals? They may have better bodies and brains, but they can't see into the future. Not only that, but what the hell is Blue Cosmos going to think of us? They'll kill anyone with altered genes, imagine how livid they'll be when they found out their living with psychics. We may be Naturals but that won't mean a damn to them, this kind of crap happens all the time in superhero comics." Rick said.
It was a strong point and one Mu was starting to fear greatly. While he loved his country, he was well aware that within the Atlantic Federation there was an unhealthily large amount of people who sympathized with the idea of a blue and pure world. Surely they would hate Mu just the same if not more than Coordinators for this?
'It's not like I'm a goddamn mind reader or I can move objects at will. I can just see a couple seconds into the future, it's a pretty crappy superpower if you ask me!'
"Considering that there were tens of millions of people on Earth who collapsed like us, they were probably all Naturals who were born as Newtypes and never realized it. There's going to be tons of explanations of what happened from mass hysteria to divine intervention, so psychics won't be the first thing to pop to mind. If a good number of Blue Cosmos are also Newtypes then that should prevent any hard hatred from forming, at least for now." Kat hoped.
"I received a mission from my future self, he told me to embrace my identity as a Newtype, find others like me, protect them, and help them fulfill their potential. We may not have asked for this, but this is who we are now. We need to stick together, find out what the hell Newtypes are and can do, and defend ourselves. If Blue Cosmos wants to make an enemy out of us, then I'll bring as many of them down with me as I can." Mu said, bringing comfort and smiles to Rick and Kat.
"And this mysterious Zeon, the nation that caused this mess in the first place?" Rick asked.
"I don't know what they are, but I have a feeling that we'll be meeting them soon. Unless they're incredibly more advanced then us, then they have to be somewhere within the Earth sphere and it'll only be a matter of time before first contact is made. None of the brass will believe my story so for now we'll have to wait and be on the look out for any news. After we find out about them, it'll depend on what the hell kind of people they are. Let's just hope they're not too alien from us and will be good neighbors instead of Nazis from another dimension."
April 3rd, 70 CE. 0845 Orb Standard. Orb National Defense Command Center. Olofat. Orb Union. Koto Sahaku POV
In the center of the Orb command center, Koto Sahaku was hard at work mobilizing the Orb Self-Defense Force to prepare for the ongoing crisis, with a special focus on the miniscule space force to be able to deal with the aftermath of whatever was going on in space.
Hours ago after their first productive conversation, Garma had returned with his father and brother, Degwin and Gihren Zabi. The respective Sovereign and Prime Minister of Zeon had further explained the state of affairs within their nation and what their immediate goals were, mostly to settle within the Earth sphere, make contact with the Cosmic Era's established nations, and to deal with the liberation of the far side of the moon from the remnants of the Earth Federation that had in their point of view oppressed them for decades.
While Uzumi had been alarmed at the last point, wanting to act as a mediator to convince the Federal remnants to enter into diplomacy with Zeon, for now Orb and Zeon had established strong informal relations with Zeon promising to get their affairs settled first before any grand forays while Uzumi pledged to use Orb to introduce Zeon to the rest of the Earth sphere. It was one of the best cases he could ask for, with a good foundation laid for a potential partnership with what would soon be the dominant nation in the solar system due to Zeon's grand presence in L2.
With the immediate affair of Zeon settled, the big five had disbanded to settle other affairs. Uzumi until recently had been partnering with Shigeru to try to alert the Earth of Zeon's existence, until about an hour ago when he had been alerted of Cagali regaining consciousness. Keiko was taking stock of the nation's medical supplies to prepare for what was going to be the worst humanitarian crisis in history. And Unato...actually Koto had no idea what Unato was currently doing. All the bald noble (who much like his son's resemblance to Garma bared an uncanny resemblence to Degwin) said he had to take care of important personal affairs, whatever that meant.
That left Koto, the most martially inclined of the five, to watch over the self-defense forces and be on standby in case Zeon resumed contact, something that was just about to take place.
A lieutenant had walked up to him and bowed in greeting, "Lord Koto, Zeon has contacted us and requested for a discussion on a critical development regarding East Asia."
The information was eye catching to Koto. While Zeon revealed they had an asteroid base in L4, by all accounts they had established a decent first contact with the East Asians. Orbital satellites had indicated a general withdrawal to the moon after the orbital battle, so what could have possibly taken place?
"Thank you Lieutenant, I assumed you transferred the communication to the situation room?" He asked, receiving a nod in return. Thanking the officer, Koto made his way to the situation room, sitting alone as the screen lit up to reveal Gihren Zabi.
'Ah, so the predator comes alone.' Koto thought with intrigue.
While Degwin seemed to posses the same overt cordiality that Garma presented himself with, Gihren was a different creature altogether. Throughout the meeting he had observed the heads of Orb with the critical eyes of a hawk. Every time he spoke, while being diplomatic, involved some sort of probe or test to Orb to try to ascertain a weakness or reveal some important aspect of their nation.
While Uzumi may have been insulted at the behavior if he noted, Koto was impressed. He had met many politicians during his rule, and most didn't contain such high skill in intrigue nor leave such a strong first impression as Gihren had. The man would either make an interesting partner or a worthy adversary.
"Lord Gihren." Koto said respectfully, then proceeding to wheez upon taking a breath after his greeting.
"Lord Koto." Gihren said in reply, waiting for the noble to finish his coughing tirade.
"To what does Zeon wish of Orb at this time? Have you called for the progress on our diplomatic efforts? We currently have Scandinavia and the Equatorial Union listening, but with ZAFT's superweapon they have more pressing domestic concerns and are unable to give us their full attention." Koto said, covering his mouth with a handkerchief as he spoke to recover.
"I have not called to ask of your diplomacy, though I am grateful for your current endeavors. No, what I wish to speak of is a recent altercation with East Asia, well East Asia and ZAFT though I believe that help from Orb would be more beneficial in regards to the L4 colonies."
"East Asia and ZAFT? Have they established formal relations? Did their war get dragged into your territory?" Koto asked with slight concern.
"It is not that they dragged their war into our territory, rather the two parties declared war on us." Gihren began, then going into an explanation on how their two asteroid bases outside of L2, Solomon and Pezun, were attacked without provocation by ZAFT and East Asia hours earlier.
'Heh, idiots. They are waging total war against each other and now both sides decide to poke at a nation that excells their combined resources and technology. The textbook definition of ironic if there ever was one.'
While Koto was indifferent to the fate of the PLANTs (despite both of his children being Coordinators), he was inwardly exhilarated on the news of the East Asian attack. If Zeon's population not only outnumbered East Asia's Spacenoids by ten to one, but they had nuclear fusion and mobile suits, then this would be a bloody and brutal defeat for the nation that drove Koto's father from their ancestral homeland.
"May I ask what caused the two to attack Zeon without a casus belli? I cannot possibly see either side group together for a first strike against Zeon, especially when your nation has committed no crime."
Gihren raised his shoulders slightly, "I haven't the slightest idea. But I swear that all bled shed by Spacenoids today shall be avenged tenfold."
Koto's lips tugged slightly upward. 'Oh, is he about to do what I think he will? Please make it so.'
"If I am to presume Lord Gihren, then Zeon shall make an immediate counterattack?"
"Indeed. And this is I would require of Orb's assistance."
"How so? As you may have learned, Orb is a nation whose founding ideals are those of neutrality, and as such we cannot possibly provide any military assistance, even though what has been inflicted upon your nation was a heinous crime." Koto said, hiding feelings of glee as one of his dreams was coming true.
"So I have been told by your Chief Representative. I do not seek the involvement of your armed forces, we are fully capable of independent operations and it is not your fight. What I am seeking for is information on East Asia, more specifically their cluster of colonies within L4 in regards to the physical condition of the colonies themselves and the people who live there."
'Yes. YES! He is doing it.'
"So you would ask for intelligence on East Asia?" Koto asked, wanting absolutely no ambiguity.
"What I wish for is unbiased public information on the conditions of the L4 cluster that would not have been included in the information Eurasia sent us. Though any intelligence that Orb would willingly provide would be a welcomed gift to Zeon, one which would would impart on us a debt of gratitude on Orb that we would be willing to repay in...favorable trade negotiations." Gihren said.
'Oh he is dastardly. Mina would love him.'
"And what if said information was not provided by the Orb Union, but through House Sahaku as an interested private party who wishes to aid a victim of East Asia's imperialism?"
'Uzumi, you better stay by your daughter's side and don't you dare step through that door you damn hippie!'
Gihren smirked, most likely being completely aware of Koto's hidden meanings. "Then the debt would be transferred from Zeon and Orb to House Zabi and House Sahaku. When we achieve victory over East Asia, the shared information shall be exchanged for House Sahaku having first and favorable rights to conduct business within the Principality. We are always open to foreign investment, especially with potential partners who bring aid to the downfall of shared enemies." Gihren said, the last two words making it clear that he recognized the crimes of East Asia towards Orb.
To Koto Sahaku, this small moment was one of the greatest victories he had ever achieved within his life. Not only would his house and their assets have the first pick to a rich and untapped market that was soon set to monopolize the solar system, at the same time East Asia would suffer and burn, bringing ruin to the cursed nation which had occupied the homeland for the past sixty years and forced his family into exile in these puny islands. Oh it was a glorious day for Orb and House Sahaku.
"Well my Lord, I think we have a deal. Give me a few minutes and I shall have all the information I have transferred to you. As the champion of the rights of Spacenoids, I eagerly look forward to the hour when Zeon liberates the L4 ghettos from East Asia's tyranny."
A/N: For the majority of the chapter we return to Mu who is dealing with the aftermath of his vision and trying to decide where to go from here, alongside gaining two new valuable allies. Rick was introduced in Chapter 3 but I called him Ricky then (I'll edit it in a bit), and then we have Katryna Boginskaya who is an OC of mine who will offer an insight into Eurasian affairs and further flesh out Zero Squadron.
One important ability of Mu that was introduced here was his Recognition where he receives information from his past life, though this doesn't make him omniscient and it has several drawbacks. Firstly, Mu can only be aware of information that he learned when he was alive the first time, since this ability was given to him by his future self. This means that Mu doesn't have any idea of LOGOS' existence, has no comprehension of ZAFT or the greater Alliance's strategy, is at a complete loss as to where most of the Archangel crew is right now, etc. In addition, there will be some information that is omitted to Mu in order to keep him from being biased or making rash choices. As his future self said in Chapter 7, Zeon has caused almost everything from canon to be erased so there's a good chance Mu will walk a completely different path. Overall this will bite him in the ass just as much as it will help him.
In the conclusion of the chapter we look at Koto Sahaku who secretly violated Orb's neutrality and gave Zeon info on East Asia. Both Gina and Mina in the beginning of Astray state their plans for Orb to dominate the Earth sphere, in the process aiding the Alliance. Therefore it's safe to assume that this realpolitik was inherited from their father, with Koto dispalying it in this chapter. Koto really hates East Asia with a passion and will be glad to see Zeon strike at them while advancing the interests of their own house. Uzumi would be absolutely pissed if he finds out but it wouldn't be the first time the Sahaku's or any of the other houses went behind his back.
The reason Gihren called is going to be shown in the next chapter where we'll see the Zabi's immediate reaction to Solomon and Pezun and their next steps to both secure their place in the Cosmic Era and make the rest of the Earth sphere aware of them. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!