Chapter 23

CE 73, December 7th, Mannheim Base, Germany, Eurasian Federation

Evening 17 45

There was a distinct sound of steel bolts unlocking, the heavy blast doors to Mannheim's built-in prison complex opening – for an instant – for a squad of troopers, surrounding a lone officer, to enter the long corridor leading to the prison block.

Roan Moran, Colonel, strode with purpose down the dark hallway, the lights in the hallway casting harsh shadows each time they passed one. The heavy clicking sounds of combat boots echoed down the hallway as they entered the prison complex proper; all of its cells were empty, save one.

Only one prisoner had rated an extended stay. Roan had some bad news to deliver for that person.

Bolvar Kasavok, ex-Lieutenant Colonel of OMNI, looked up from his seat in the center of his darkened cell, as Roan stopped just short of his cell door. "Kasavok."

Roan's head blocked out most of the light coming through, and all Kasavok could see was the silhouette of his head. "Roan. Or maybe you'd like to be called the Hero of Eight-Eight? Perhaps you'd like the flag of NEFA showcased in your office, too."

Roan clenched his teeth. "Your tongue seems as sharp as ever. A pity your wits do not seem to match up. Spare me the banter. I want to know your connection with Ray Feric."

Kasavok snorted. "And you think this is a reasonable way to request for information, how?"

"You're not in any position to negotiate, Kasavok. I can't stay your fate, but I can at least try and alter your sentence. If I like what I hear."

Kasavok was silent for a moment. "You think it matters to me where I go after this?"

"Do you?" Roan said. For an instant, a harsh edge permeated his voice; then, as quickly as it had entered, it left, and what Kasavok heard next was the voice of an old man, burdened by too much knowledge and responsibility.

"Where did it go so wrong?"

Kasavok's reply was quiet and monotonous, stripped of much of its former venom. "You know as well as I do that JOSH-A marked a low point in our relationship with the Atlantic Federation that we've never fully recovered from."

"But to start an insurgency... over all this?"

"This would have been just the beginning. By allowing the Eurasian Federation to cast off its shackles and to ally with ZAFT, it would have cut the strength of OMNI by half. With only itself to rely on, it would have been far easier to force the Atlantic Federation to the negotiating table. My only regret was that Ray Feric knew nothing."

"You seem to be acquainted with him."

"Directly? No. But I knew him through our contact in the Atlantic Federation, Kelvin Genedan. He was also the mastermind of this whole initiative... and it was he who vouched for Ray Feric when he joined us."

"So you think Ray sold you and your whole group out to Blue Cosmos?"

Kasavok hesitated for a moment before answering. "I believed that the possibility in that was high. After all, he was the one closest to Kelvin Genedan. Even thought we knew what had happened, even though we identified the Blue Cosmos agent who did us in, it never hurt to keep our options open."

"The other stance of reasoning is that Kelvin Genedan may have left him with a legacy, a backup plan, or at least, information on the Atlantic Federation's inner workings." Kasavok smirked. "It was a blind hope, however."

Roan glanced at Kasavok, as the former OMNI soldier fell silent. "So you sought to win him over to your side, and if possible, use him against the Atlantic Federation."

"That would be the general gist of it."

"And you started an insurgency just for that?"

"Just for him? Hardly. This strike had been owed for a long time. But understand this, Roan," Kasavok gritted. "After the backlash of the Black Coup... after Kelvin Genedan was killed, I, who was in Eurasian territory at that time, could only lay low and hide. I had nothing to lose. We were abruptly cut off; any collaborator during those times were either hunted down or escaped by abandoning all that they held. Rank, post, families, histories, they had to throw them all away. Ray Feric is the first link I've come across that could have held a bit of hope for us. Surely you didn't think I enjoyed running around with simple-minded trash like the average terrorist."

Roan sighed, and turned his back on the cell door. "I'll do what I can, but there's no guarantee I can put any plans into place in the near future. You're bound for Heaven's Base in three day's time. Clean your neck and await your sentence."

Kasavok was silent as Roan left, the sound of boots from his security entourage fading down the corridor as they followed him.

Heaven's Base. The rumoured stronghold of Blue Cosmos.

For the first time in his life, Kasavok realized what it was like to have a taste of true despair.

CE 72, August 5th, El Guadual Outskirts, United States of South America

Afternoon 15 23

Ray Feric leaned out of the open cockpit of his Strike Dagger, breathing in air that was not part of the semi-recycled concoction in the cramped and sweltering cockpit of his mobile suit. Unlike newer pilot suits, the older Mark-1 models were notorious for their lack of internal cooling functions; Ray himself, well-known amongst his peers as a decent follower of rules, had abandoned the specialized wear for a set of standard fatigues. His helmet was left discarded on the floor of the cockpit while he let the wind blow in; the only reason he kept the headgear was because of its HUD functions.

Below him were several platoons of infantry, milling about, separating the dead, both ally and enemy, from the wounded, and their armoured support vehicles, parked neatly into quick-attack formations in case the enemy returned. Having rejoined OMNI, Ray had been quickly posted to a combined fighting unit headed for the USSA; they had just fought a heated battle against a mix of local militia and the forces of the USSA that were present; smoking columns in the distance indicated where the enemy mobile suits had been brought down by precise fire.

As a pair of battle tanks drove past, their tracks digging visible scars into the soft ground, Ray turned to look at his partner in this mad endeavour. Captain Kelvin Genedan, his old bunkmate from their officer cadet days, now his immediate superior, was likewise leaning out of the cockpit of his Dagger L, taking the chance to savour some fresh air before they needed to seal their cockpits again.

"Calling it 'placating the local populace' reeks of something bad," Ray said, his comms set pressed against his ear.

"Well, we can't exactly choose where we are assigned to each time," Kelvin replied. "We were lucky enough to have met each other again in the same place like this."

"True," Ray said. "Better to die together than alone, eh?"

Kelvin laughed, then sighed. "There's not much I can do about that. We all have to start somewhere. Frankly, I'm surprised that you even got that Strike Dagger to move."

"People make the tools," Ray replied. "I'll make it move even if they gave me a busted battle tank."

After the end of the Bloody Valentine War, Ray had almost withdrawn from military service, when Kelvin had convinced him to come back in the hopes of a better, newer Atlantic Federation. It was also when the USSA War of Independence had started up, and OMNI, or more specifically, the Atlantic Federation, had scrambled to put boots on the ground. On the day Ray had arrived at Panama Base, or what had been made operational of it after ZAFT's assault from the previous war, he had a moment to glance at a parade line of Dagger Ls before he was shuttled off to his own unit. It was only after asking Kelvin that he realized that those machines belonged to a unit of the 81st Autonomous Corps operating in the area.

He had not seen those units in action since then. They were either in reserve, or their purposes did not include helping friendly forces carve a path through the USSA.

Kelvin chuckled. "Still the same old Ray, I see."

Ray smiled, and sat back into his cockpit. Pinned to the side was a picture of him and Lin Tennan-Khole, a mechanic whom he had struck up a rapport with throughout OMNI's space campaign in the closing days of the Bloody Valentine War, and his previous squadron mates. The background was the interior of the ship that they were stationed on during the final assault on Jachin Due. A Marseilles III-class resupply ship, one of many stationed within the assault fleet as replenishment vessels, and as impromptu carriers of mobile suits.

Like many of the ships that were eventually lost when GENESIS fired.

"Almost. Almost the same old person."

CE 73, December 7th, Main Medical Complex Alpha Wing, Mannheim Base, Germany, Eurasian Federation

Night 19 11

A soft whirring gradually filled Ray's hearing as his consciousness resurfaced from the peaceful darkness of unconsciousness. He stirred, Kelvin's words and visage fading away to the back of his mind, as he awoke to the sight of yellowed ceiling and an overhead ceiling fan, in a hospital bed.

Ray inhaled deeply once, then exhaled long and slowly, letting the breath fill, then leave his body. Sensations gradually spread from his torso, which was aching and felt as though it was swathed in bandages, through his limbs, then his fingers and toes. He mentally gave a sigh of relief; the last he remembered, he had been pinned in the cockpit of his mobile suit. He had heard all too many stories of pilots who had survived crushing injury, only to be confined to a wheelchair quite some time, or even worse; if the impact was strong enough, it would have broken his spine through his body.

Ray then became aware that Sheryl Camelot was currently asleep beside his bed, head over her folded arms, with his right hand solidly pinned under all that. She sniffed once, her curly fringe swaying to the wind from the ceiling fan.

Ray turned his upper body and reached over with his left arm, well aware that this simple movement made him feel as though his entire torso was being set on fire. His left hand managed to find firm purchase on her left shoulder; looking at her, Ray was aware that he seldom saw this side of his comrade who had served alongside him the longest.

"Sheryl. Sheryl."

Despite the shaking, Sheryl merely shifted her head and mumbled something in response. "Mmmhmmm... can't... eat anymore pie..."

Torn between an aching torso, amusement, and annoyance at the numbness beginning to spread from his right hand, Ray willed himself to lean in even closer to his squadron second.

"Mendez won the shootout."

That simple whisper had an instantaneous effect on Sheryl. Her head immediately came up, a dazed, half-awake look on her face. "But it was a draw!" She exclaimed.

"Shh," Ray said, gesturing to the other beds around them; two were occupied. There were one or two stares from patients and visitors alike, but most of them gave little care to the two of them apart from the customary stare.

"Good e... evening, Ray," Sheryl said, sheepishness slipping into her tone. "You're finally awake, eh?"

"How long was I out for?" Ray asked, painfully aware of his own hoarse voice. "What happened?"

"You were out for two days," Sheryl replied, grabbing a glass from the bedside table and a water jug. "NEFA has been toppled. Operation complete, one hundred percent success." She handed a full glass to him.

"I see," Ray said, after drinking his fill. "How are the rest? Guy? Kaguya?"

"They made it through, too. Kim's unit suffered three casualties, but other than that, the Manhunters are still here."

"What happened to Aaqil and Navana?"

"They just boarded their transports this afternoon. I think they were going to head towards the North African front... probably back to hunting insurgents."

Ray sighed. "I guess I missed the chance for a proper farewell."

"There'll always be a second chance," Sheryl replied. "I don't think they'll be that easily done in by insurgents."

"I suppose you're right. Well," Ray asked. "What about you?"

Sheryl shifted her gaze elsewhere and fidgeted. "What... do you mean?"

Ray managed a smile. "As my squadron second, I know you're terrible with paperwork."

CE 73, December 8th, Mannheim Base, Germany, Eurasian Federation

Afternoon 13 22

"Captain! I heard you've been busy recently."

Esther turned away from Rolan, stowing away her stinging reply for now, as a voice called out to her. "Lieutenant Feric. I wasn't aware that your discharge was this early."

"Looking none the worse for wear, Ray," Rolan said.

"Thanks, Rolan, beats lying around and doing nothing," Ray said. Most of his external injuries were skin scrapes; his chest still hurt, but it was nothing major. "Besides, it's better to get started on paperwork while one's in the mood for it."

For a brief moment, Esther cracked a smile at the last statement. "You're very well aware of your squadron second's apocalyptic capabilities when it comes to paperwork, it seems." A moment of pause, where Esther's gaze wandered for a moment, then, "Paperwork aside, I've got... well... an interesting project for you, Lieutenant."

Ray arched an eyebrow. "Interesting project, ma'am?"

"Mannheim's going to get a few new units rotated through for the next few months. After... after seeing you fight in Terchova, I was wondering if you could form a close-combat course for those pilots to come?"

Ray's countenance was one of mild disbelief. "A close-combat course? Well, I could... but wouldn't Lieutenant Sakamoto be better for this kind of thing?"

Esther pondered the possibilities for a moment. "If it's possible at all, I'd like both of you to be involved. You... have a very different fight style from her. It'd be interesting to see what develops from this. After all, you're well aware that the current generation of new OMNI pilots are somewhat lacking when it comes to infight skills. The Indian Ocean skirmish, the Saragossa Defence Line..." she grimaced before continuing. "The battle of the Gulnahan Gate, although that turned out to be a blessing, depending on whom you'd ask about it."

"I understand," Ray said. "I'll get started on it. When do you need a draft plan?"

"Two weeks, if you'd please." Esther said. "Once you help Lieutenant Camelot clear out the "In" tray on her desk... although I'm sure she'd be happy to hand it all off to you."

As Ray acknowledged and left, Esther turned to Rolan only to find a smirking look on his face.

"We'll be seeing some 'Instructor' Feric soon, eh? That's quite a far cry from your tone with him the past two weeks... I'm surprised you didn't ask him for one one-on-one sparring coaching."

"Rolan... shut it."

CE 73, December 8th, Mannheim Base, Germany, Eurasian Federation

Afternoon 15 22

Stancha Melshim, Corporal, gulped as Kim Rassare, Master Sergeant, and the commander of the Manhunters' infantry contingent, pushed a bore brush down the barrel of his currently-disassembled rifle. With practiced ease, she turned the handle once, and pulled the brush out again.

On the cleaning cloth wrapped around its end, was a smudge of carbon buildup.

Kim arched an eyebrow at Stancha. "I don't want to say this, but the ones checking your rifle this time is the chief technician of Mannheim Base's infantry armory and his entourage. If they find anything to rail your ass about, it'll be on both our heads."

Stancha nodded in resignation. "Yes, ma'am."

Kim watched for a while as Stancha tromped back to join his squadmates in cleaning their rifles. She turned to her own weapon, sighed, and drew the bore brush through its barrel.

It came out greyish. She had, after all, fired her fair share of bullets in the storming of the base.

It was a struggle, but she had managed to keep casualties to a minimum. While she was resolved to hold position outside the entrance, OMNI had managed to sneak in two additional platoons as forward elements, with promises of more to come. With the mobile suits watching the entrance, she had been instructed to join them in cleaning out the interior of NEFA's extensive underground base, even as the battle over the last command centre raged above their heads on the surface.

Given their numerical and location disadvantage, Kim was surprised that her sergeants and her had managed to keep casualties to a minimum. Some of the other squads with them had fared worse. Unfortunately, it was a fact that all the enemy had to do was to simply fire in their direction; they had been that outnumbered, under the earth. She had yet to write the condolence letters for the three members that had not followed the platoon back to Mannheim; stowing away their gear and getting all their stuff back into the proper places had taken them the better part of two days.

"Woah. What's with this gathering?"

Kim looked up from where she was sitting to see Ray Feric watching over the entire platoon. Some of the soldiers called out to their acting commanding officer; Ray answered back with a good-natured greeting.

"Mannheim techs say they want to get a good look at our guns. We're cleaning them up."

Ray grimaced. "Oh. Those kind of checks again, eh?"

Kim shrugged. "I wish I had techs attached to my unit too, but well, I suppose OMNI is chronically understaffed."

Ray had the good sense to look sheepish; while he helped out whenever he could with the maintenance of his own mobile suit, Thomas Randall, the squadron's chief technician, and his team of mechanics often carried the lion's share of the work. In recent times, the processes to get the squadron settled down in Mannheim, then the hectic battle in Slovakia, had completely negated any free time Ray had to look over his own unit.

"I could dust off your rifle casings, if you'd like, Sergeant."

Kim knew Ray well enough that it sounded far less like a veiled threat than it was worded as, not to mention that according to her own experience, he just might do it if she made it affirmative. Mendez's past yellings on officer-sergeant etiquette echoed in her memories, and she struggled not to laugh at them in hindsight; he had just arrived at Sinai Base back then, and she was simply pushing the new arrival as far as she could. Back then, she hadn't realized that he was a veteran, but the hectic days of the Bloody Valentine War often made hardened adults out of youngish-looking people more often than she had expected to meet.

She was dimly aware of the fact that she was, technically, also one of those "youngish people".

To top it all off, Ray was actually older than her. "I'm just ribbing you, sir," Kim replied, a grin spreading across her face. "Good to see you didn't get crushed beyond repair. I know Sheryl's no good with the paperwork, so you probably have a mountain of documents to sift through even now. If you don't get to them, they'd probably freeze work on our replacement gear, and you'd get carted back to sickbay after being buried in a paper-slide."

Ray laughed. "Spoken like a true noncom. You know us inside-out."

CE 73, December 8th, Mannheim Base, Germany, Eurasian Federation

Night 19 11

Ray leaned back into his chair, letting his body ease into the frame of the high-backed office furniture. His body still ached, but it no longer hurt too much to move about. He had completed most of the paperwork that Sheryl had missed; at least, those those were pending immediately.

Most of the office was empty, the personnel of Mannheim Base being on other duties. There was still much to be done in the physical, and after an operation on the scale of Terchova's, this much was expected.

The cold touch of metal on his chest brought his mind to another item he had put on the backburner; the data unit he had been given by OMNI intelligence officer Major Nain bint Amir, which contained a backup copy of all of the data that the Lohengrin Gate had.

Including a possible wealth of information about the Impulse GUNDAM, and its assigned ZAFT ship, the Minerva.

He took this dogtag out from underneath his uniform, and unhooked the data unit from his tags. He turned the device around in his fingers. He had stored the thing in a small emergency compartment in the back of his unit; he had managed to retrieve it earlier, pulling the twisted lock free with a bit of help with tools he borrowed from Thomas.

The metallic casing of the device glinted in the office light, as Ray regarded it with weary eyes. Nain had left it with him, but he had little idea as to what to do with it. As he had filled out the paperwork, he had noticed certain documents; a copy of the post-battle report he had received from Esther had also confirmed his suspicions that OMNI HQ had stuck its hands into the battle at the last moment. He had not been sure before that he could leave this in Mannheim; he was now even unsure of who should receive the data unit, if he should even be giving it away at all.

The sound of an opening door had Ray slotting the data unit into his pocket. He looked over the walls of his cubicle, his gaze meeting with Sheryl's.

"Are you still at it?"

"Done and dusted, Sheryl," Ray replied, picking up paper from his desk and arranging them into a neat pile. "I was just about to close the office for the day. How's everything going with unit maintenance?"

"Most of the work will be on your unit. Thomas and his crew are already done with mine and Guy's and Kaguya's mobile suits just needs some more parts replacements." Sheryl scratched her head. "Sorry for all that paper."

Ray grinned for a moment. "I should give you more paperwork to get you acclimatized to this."

"I respectfully refuse," Sheryl said, with a smile of her own. "Well... if you're free after this, the officer's mess is having a drinks night. Everyone else is there too, so..."

Ray, eager to get away from all the politicking that was well above his sight to adequately judge, was about to jump at the offer when something took hold of his thoughts.

"I'll be there in a short while. Help me get a seat."

"It's not the paperwork, is it?"

"Just some touchups." Ray replied. "Really, I'll be there."

"If you say so, Ray," Sheryl said, leaving him as the sole occupant in the office, again.

He withdrew the data unit from his pocket. Reaching behind his computer, he groped around until he found the network cables, and tugged them out. Opening the data unit's cover, he inserted it into the reader port of the computer. He was taking a significant risk by hoping that there was no tracking software inserted into any of the computers here; but something nagged at his mind. If the drive contained only the data on the Minerva and the Impulse, Nain had multiple ways to hide it; Ray knew the skills of the intelligence officer. Why pass it to him?

As expected, while the computer could detect that something existed in the memory of the data unit, it could not be seen on the computer interface itself - and if Ray remembered Nain's skills right, any attempt to copy out the data would just result in its irreversible scrambling. Without the right software, Nain had ensured that anyone looking to crack the encrypted data of the Gulnahan Gate would be in for a severe headache.

There was, however, a lone folder that he could interact with. Ray's attempt to access the folder prompted a password entry field. He reclined in the chair, pondering the folder name; "SNBL2".

Any data, even something as simple as a name, in the right mind, would be a clue to its eventual access, no matter how it was protected with. For Nain, an intelligence officer, leaving such a folder out like this was a far cry from the standards she worked with.

Almost like she wanted the folder to be opened.

Ray keyed in the numbers. The OMNI base code for Sinai Base, followed by the longitude and latitude coordinates of the base itself. Codes created for use in a single local operation were not uncommon, and they had used something similar during past counter-insurgency action before. If anyone were to know of this, it would be the officers of the now-defunct Sinai Base.

Within the folder was a simple text file and four lines of text, within which contained the words "Kaguya Sakamoto", and what seemed to be two different text renderings of the Manhunters pilot's name in her native language of Japanese. The last line was occupied by a single circle.

It took a while for Ray to gather his thoughts, delete the folder, retrieve the data unit, and leave the office. What did Nain want with one of his pilots? When did she find out about whatever it was she wanted to convey? Before, during, or after the Gulnahan Gate?

In all their time working together, Ray knew that Nain was not one to beat around the bush. Had there been any standing issues with Kaguya, she would have made sure he knew at the earliest possible moment. It was this knowledge, stacked against what he had seen, that formed the basis for the question that pulled at Ray's mind well into the night, and would continue to the next day; what was it that Nain wanted him to do?

CE 73, December 9th, ?, ?, Atlantic Federation

Time unknown

The only indication that there were people in the dimly-lit room was the light from the wide-screen display currently showing the statistical aftermath of the battle at Terchova. The flickering light cast harsh shadows all over the gathered people, as they murmured amongst each other, along the wall stood a row of personnel, humble aides to these men and women of shadow.

At length, as the display powered down and the dimmed lights returned, a voice spoke up, from a well-dressed man in a business suit. "How many prisoners did we secure?"

"Not many. Less than a dozen." A second voice replied. "OMNI Eurocom got their hands on them faster than we could move. We did manage to secure a few key personnel by using hierarchical pressure, though."

"This is hardly worth our concern," a third voice cut in. "We should be thinking of ways to push ZAFT out of the European region and back into the Middle East where they can bake for all we care."

"You should be well aware that we cannot move that overtly right now," the first voice replied. "Our position may be better than it was since the end of the Bloody Valentine War, but without this World Security Treaty, we'd be having a lot more trouble holding the Earth Alliance together."

"Surely you don't think the South African Union and the USSA are much of a threat to our iron grip."

"Hardly," the first voice replied. "But you would do well to remember that ZAFT has carefully avoided engaging our forces in these areas. Their current locations of interest are all targets in the Asian and Eurasian continents; they belong to the Eurasian Federation and the Republic of East Asia."

"The Eurasian Federation is a mess right now and the Republic of East Asia is hardly a –"

"You are speaking out of line," the first voice interrupted. "The Eurasian Federation is splitting off its territories to better consolidate its core holdings; their center nations have never been more well-guarded and stronger. They're backed into a corner, cautious about approaching us for help after our botched initial attempt to take over their standing in the region, and with ZAFT threatening their major cities, where most of their technology is gathered, they have all the reason they need to effect a swift reprisal on anyone that looks at them funny. As for The Republic of East Asia, they've engaged in a delaying action against ZAFT skirmish forces approaching from West China; both sides are bogged down in a low-intensity probing war, and by all accounts, they seem to be content to stay that way. They are still strong enough to resist our demands for swift retribution, and any attempt to force our units through will set us back more than it will advance our course."

The third voice swore. "What is that man doing with the Orb Expeditionary Force?! For a fleet of that size, all they've done is irritate the Minerva!"

"Who?" asked the second voice. "You mean Lord Djbril's personal attack dog?"

"Yes, him. Last I heard, he was awaiting new orders."

"Not true. Though he still remains with the Orb fleet, there are already new orders being prepared for him. The first Destroy unit is being pieced together even as we speak."

The third voice groaned. "Lord Djbril's trust is misplaced."

A fourth voice entered the conversation. "Lord Djbril thinks that the Eurasian Federation is getting too soft. They need a harsher reminder that they owe much of their current forces to us."

A fifth voice was heard. "What's that masked freak going to do, drive the Destroy to a city border and park it there, and hope that ZAFT will go home after seeing it?"

"No need to wait that long. Lord Djbril was hoping that we would be able to provide an impetus for his pet commander to do so." The fourth voice answered. "We merely need a reason to unleash the Destroy… and he has decided that the target need not be ZAFT only."

In the silence that followed, the first voice was the one to answer. "... My agents tell me that there is much consideration for a truce between the Eurasian Federation and the PLANTs. They both tire of sitting on opposite sides of the battle lines. If we can go one step further... if we can force them to," the first voice took on a mocking tone, "'trigger' their alliance so as to provide us a means of allied intervention..."

The second voice's tone was low, but suggesting. "You mean to plant false data that they are planning to renege on our treaty."

"In essence, yes. Then, once the Destroy has made an example of a capital locale, we should be able to step in with full Atlantic military control."

"... that is worth a try." The fourth voice said. "But I will play devil's advocate here, and warn you that ZAFT's Minerva unit also operates in the Eurasian region. If they see us moving that behemoth around, they will move to take it down, either by the doings of FAITH, or by the Deep Strike Corps."

The first voice was quick to answer. "I suggest to move it from the western regions. According to our information, we have one that has already been assembled in our bases in Britain, for use in emergency situations."

The fourth voice still held a bit of cynicism. "Will it be able to avoid the Minerva?"

"ZAFT will not move that easily, given their recent involvement in the Terchova incident. I am confident that they will keep their hands around central Eurasia for now." The first voice answered. "Our issue now is intel on the enemy. If we can know how the Minvera fights..."

The second voice cut in. "Has she still denied any knowledge of data from the Lohengrin Gate?"

"Yes," The fourth voice replied. "Rahabinod, Asanogawa... all the filthy moderates... a Major Nain, was it? She says she has submitted all she had obtained on the Minerva unit from the Lohengrin Gate's underground servers."

The third voice sighed, as much frustration as there was arrogance in its tone. "What a chore. What about the rest of the Sinai Base members?"

"Scattered. We let OMNI deal with the rest of their assignments. Some of them should have... expired... in the line of their duty."

The second voice entered the conversation once more. "Perhaps some, but definitely not the ones that matter. My agents tell me that we have a few suspicious ones."

The third voice snorted. "We should have executed them when we had the chance. Now it will take too much trouble to get to them from amongst the crowd of the Eurasian Federation."

The fourth voice was steady. "We can bend the Eurasians to our will."

"Not as effectively as you think," the second voice replied. "Two of them are currently stationed at Mannheim, under the command of Colonel Roan Moran. That man is well-known as an ally of General Kylius Vardan, and that impertinent fool is also well-known for his staunch anti-Atlantic interference stance. It took us much manoeuvring to get them to surrender the Terchova prisoners to us. It will take time, time we do not have, to extend our reach to nab the remaining targets. I doubt they will allow us to do so without a struggle we are better off not having."

The first voice answered without missing a beat. "Be that as may be, it is possible that we have let those whom we had presumed as defanged and beaten slip us by. That will cost us some." To an aide, he gave orders. "Ready a unit from the 81st. Tell them that they await my orders."

The second voice was curious. "You have a plan to get to him?"

"The data on the Minerva is secondary, at best. What is important is that, if they carry even a fragment of it, that it is not given up to the Eurasian Federation."

Afterword:

And with that, we conclude the NEFA arc. While the main series would at this point deal with the repeated clashes with Orb's Expeditionary Force, Heine's death, the Lodonia laboratory, and Stella's meeting with Shinn, I hope that I can use this part to showcase the ongoings and buildup of the neighbouring Eurasian Federation towards the infamous Destroy attack on Berlin as seen in the series.