On the Moon, the newly-upgraded Permet monitoring facility detected weird interference around Jupiter. Although it lasted for less than a minute, it was enough to cause serious concerns among the staff of the secret base.
Following the Quiet Zero incident - and the fact that the massive, Permet-filled installation had somehow evaded detection until it was too late - everyone treated the possibility of another superweapon very seriously. It was in fact the main reason why this facility was recently upgraded and currently staffed 24/7 by Space Assembly technicians, ensuring that nothing escapes their attention this time.
This interference lasted relatively long—too long to be a secret test of some kind—and occurred very far away, which caused some confusion. After analyzing it thoroughly and coming to conclusion that they had no idea what it was, the report was written and submitted to SAL military command.
On the very next day, the CEO of Sky Unlimited was visited by a group of investigators, and taken to a remote facility with armed escort. He was completely terrified and confused, and proved to be of little use. In the end, military sent someone to check the Benerit archives for any mention of the secret Jupiter facility, and tried (and failed) to re-establish communication with the salvage ship.
Both proved fruitless. The ship wasn't connected to Permet network, possibly destroyed, and the archives revealed that the 'secret' facility was actually just used for exploring Jupiter's moons in search of Permet veins. All contact with it was lost shortly before the Benerit Group was dissolved.
The end result was a conclusion that while there is something unusual around Jupiter, it is probably not another superweapon. Even if someone did try to build another Quiet Zero there, there was simply no trace of extensive amounts of resources and equipment being sent there. Besides, why build it so far away? Even if it were somehow completed in utmost secrecy, it would take years (if not decades) for it to reach Mars, let alone Earth, given how slow it was in comparison to a proper ship.
In the end, after just a week, the investigation was finally finished. The report was placed on a shelf marked 'unexplained Permet interference,' making it the first to be stored there, and the monitoring station returned to its normal operations.
Just to be thorough, one more attempt was made to solve this mystery. The analysis of this incident was forwarded to the MM (Mercury Monitoring) Special Unit.
The bed was really warm, Suletta thought lazily to herself one morning, her unusual dream from almost a week ago already forgotten. She had no idea about important discussions currently taking place on the Moon, instead focusing on her day-to-day life.
She slowly got up from the bed, stretching carefully and smiling. It was going to be a good day; she could stretch without any pain or discomfort! She really liked days like these, it meant she wouldn't need to rest so much. She could go for a walk, and enjoy the fresh air outside.
For now, however, she enjoyed the pleasant air inside the house. It carried with it the aroma of freshly-cooked food, and the former Gundam pilot gradually rose from the bed, feeling a little hungry. She ignored the slight discomfort in her legs, walking slowly and quietly on the soft bedroom carpet, then on the warm kitchen floor.
It was already afternoon, she noticed with slight disappointment. It sadly wasn't surprising; her sleep cycle was frequently disrupted by her nervous system acting up and making it impossible for her to sleep through the night. And while today she felt quite alright, the previous two days were challenging, and she needed some sleep to recover.
She passed her mother and sister, gently placing her finger to her lips to signal for silence, avoiding any reaction to her presence. Elnora wordlessly shook her head and resumed scrolling through news on her phone, while Eri replied with a short Morse-code message. "Yes, I'm sure you need to silence me, sis. I am sooo loud."
Despite the message's sarcastic nature, Suletta just smiled and waved in return. Eri was sometimes acting like everything annoyed here, but it was the way she expressed herself. Considering she had spent the last few years unable to move (and most of her life in a Mobile Suit she couldn't even control herself), a little bit of sarcasm was understandable and far from the worst way to react.
Suletta's target was standing next to the stove, wearing a cook's apron and slowly stirring something in a pot. Smiling proudly, the former pilot quietly sneaked towards her wife, suddenly giving her a big, joyful hug from behind. "Hi!"
Miorine jumped in surprise, fortunately not losing her balance or spilling the meal she was stirring. "Suletta! I told you to stop surprising me like that in the kitchen!" the stern woman lectured her wife with annoyance. Nevertheless, she still leaned back into the hug, enjoying the feeling of Suletta behind her, her annoyance quickly forgotten.
"Sorry! You're just so… huggable," Suletta answered without an ounce of regret, smiling widely. Life was good. "And I'm hungry. This way, I am close to you and close to food!"
Miorine shook her head, still smiling.
To the surprise of both of them, Miorine found a significant interest in cooking. She was always fascinated by Earth and wanting to visit it, and it quickly evolved into trying a lot of regional Earth food. In her own words, 'At least vegetables aren't plotting behind your back all the time—unlike politicians and CEOs.' She found cooking to be surprisingly relaxing.
They ate together in comfortable silence. Miorine made something called 'tomtato kurma', and Suletta found it quite tasty. On the other hand, she usually loved her wife's cooking.
As usual, Elnora was withdrawn and focused on whatever she was reading. With her drive for revenge gone, and her body slowly failing her, she rarely spoke much. She fully supported her daughter's marriage, and never shown any sign of disapproval; she was content to just live her life for now. However, it was rare for anything to evoke much reaction from her.
Despite losing most of her Permet-controlling capabilities, Eri had recently managed not only to connect but also to fully control a single computer in the house. As a result, she started to live a much more varied life, including copious amount of video games. In fact, Suletta had suspicions that her sister was right now in the middle of some game, instead of paying attention to the table.
Being unable to move and looking at food you couldn't even taste sounded boring and sad, but it was Eri's idea to be here.
The meal was, sadly, interrupted by the doorbell. Miorine got up first. 'Expecting anyone, Suletta?' she asked as she moved towards the door.
"No?" Suletta tried to remember if she ordered anything online recently. "Don't think so."
"Me neither. Let's see… you!" Miorine opened the doors violently, stepping outside with barely-hidden fury. "What are you doing here?!"
Whoever was outside was clearly unprepared to face Miorine's anger. "We just want to ask her some questions!"
"Questions? Alright then, I have a question for you. Wasn't it enough that you idiots almost killed her last time?!" Suletta winced. It wasn't hard to guess at this point who was standing there, and she slowly got up, joining her fuming wife outside. Indeed, two visibly surprised Space Assembly League agents stood outside, receiving a loud lecture.
"Miorine…" Suletta quietly pleaded, stopping her wife's tirade. Then she looked at the agents. "I'm sorry for all she said. She's just worried."
"I have a very good reason to be worried." Miorine commented angrily. She would never forgive SAL for what they did to Suletta after Quiet Zero, and she was not shy about expressing it. "And you shouldn't apologize to them, if anything, they should apologize to you!"
For all the cold, calm persona Miorine was displaying to the outside world, inside she was burning bright and hot like a star. "It was this inner passion that drove her to attempt an escape from Asticassia, enabled her to break free from her gilded cage, rise to power in the Benerit Group, and create GUND-ARM. And occasionally, she would explode with unbridled fury, usually catching everyone around her by surprise.
Suletta was used to this. She loved her wife's inner strength, passion, and the incredible determination. But she also knew that even Miorine herself occasionally thought that her outbursts might go too far.
Occasionally.
"You said you have a question for me?" Suletta asked, inviting the agents inside. There was no point in standing and arguing in front of the door.
"Um, yes." One of the agents answered, looking confused and slightly worried while glancing at Miorine. He continued only after they had entered the house and the other agent had closed the doors behind them, while also covering the windows. "We detected an unusual Permet interference, and we hoped you may have some idea what could cause it.
That sentence immediately got the full attention of everyone in the house.
Every page of the analysis of the mysterious Permet disturbance was stamped with 'Top Secret'. In fact, most documents were stamped twice or thrice on the same page, the effect looking a little silly.
Or it would, were it not for the seriousness of the issue.
Eri silently observed everything. No one knew that she was alive, and they were going to make sure it stays that way for as long as possible. However, her silence didn't prevent her from observing the documents and copying each of them into her memory..
Elnora sat there quietly, listening to the conversation without uttering a word.
"Why are you telling me this?" Suletta asked, putting down the last page of the analysis. "I'm not a scientist. I don't really know how Permet works."
"You are the only person to ever reach high Permet scores." One of the agents explained, slowly packing up the documents, sealing them up and stowing them back into his bag. "You have unique insight into Permet network, something no one else has."
"I really hope that you are not trying her get into a Gundam so she can solve your own problems again." Miorine said coldly.
"No, of course not." The agent got up after double-checking that all top-secret documents were back in the bag. "We just wanted to ask if you have any idea what might have caused this."
"Not really." Suletta shook her head slowly, still thinking about what she saw. "I can ask some of GUND-ARM scientists, maybe they will have some idea."
"If you find out anything, please let us know." The agent put two calling cards on the table. One with contact to him, and the other with contact to Cathedral commander. "Do make sure no one without appropriate security clearance learns of this."
The agents excused themselves, and left.
Miorine made sure to wait until the agents were already in their car and driving away, before she turned to Elnora. "Please tell me you didn't forget to tell us about another Quiet Zero."
"I was going to ask you the same." The older woman answered, deep in thought. "Delling never told you about anything like that?"
"No, but considering he is currently under investigation he may have been trying to protect me. If he did have some kind of secret project around Jupiter, telling me about it could implicate me in it." Miorine considered it for a moment longer. "Besides, I doubt he could hide something like this while under investigation."
"Besides, it wasn't anything like the Quiet Zero," Eri added, still mentally reviewing the documents. "It wasn't an attempt to control Permet in any way, it's more like the network was overwhelmed for a moment."
"That's impossible. We never found any way to overfill a Permet connection." Elnora responded. "And we tried. Even Quiet Zero wasn't actually capable of it."
"What if someone found a way to do that? Wouldn't that make it a perfect weapon?" Miorine looked around the house. "Almost everything we use today relies on Permet connections to function. What if someone found the way to block the connections?"
"On Jupiter? How? No ship has been sent there for years, how would they even survive? And this salvage crew reported that the station was destroyed." Miorine shook her head. "I don't think it's anything human-made. It might be some natural phenomenon, perhap. Whatever it is, it's not our problem, and I hope they will finally leave us alone."
Suletta winced but had to agree. She didn't want to ever fly a Gundam again, and besides, it's not like she could.
When she recovered (as much as she could) after Calibarn almost killed her, the SAL was understandably worried. Someone capable of just taking over military ships, mechs, and even their newly-built superweapon just like that was not a prospect any government wanted to face.
To make sure she wasn't' an immediate threat to them (and to humanity as a whole), SAL proposed a simple test. During her recovery, they built a simple, stripped-down version of Calibarn's cockpit, and she was asked to activate it.
Miorine was so furious Suletta was worried she may actually start her own personal war against SAL here and there. And the worst part was, she probably could. Earthians learned pretty quickly that the negotiations incident was not Miorine's fault at all (and it wasn't hard to believe; after all, greedy Spacians initated proxy wars on Earth for decades by now). Moreover, with her decision to relinquish Benerit assets to planetary corporations, she became the only Spacian to gain widespread adoration on the planet's surface.
Of course, SAL wasn't backing down, despite the fact that Cathedra seemed willing to defend Miorine if need be. There was a risk of fighting starting again, something they had barely managed to avoid.
Ultimately, Suletta agreed to attempt to activate the test machine in hopes of calming down the situation and avoiding bloodshed. Miorine slowly relented and finally agreed, but only after a full team of doctors was stationed in the room just in case.
Her concerns were proven correct.
Suletta fortunately did not remember much from the moment she sat in the cockpit onwards. The instant she attempted to raise her Permet score, the excruciating pain of controlling Calibarn resurfaced and intensified within moments. She was immediately taken out of the cockpit and put on a high dose of painkillers. The doctors were pretty clear – she would not survive the next time she tried to pilot a Gundam, or use any of the GUND-based devices. Even a simple prosthetic would kill her.
omehow, the video of Suletta screaming in agonizing pain, Miorine crying, and doctors attempting to assist (and armed guards stationed in the room) was leaked to the public. Some anonymous (and very, very angry) user published this video on a popular video sharing site, with a title "SAL torturing Miorine Rembran's girlfriend as revenge for selling Benerit assets to Earthians."
It is possible that a certain keychain could have something to do with that.
This video inflamed public opinion to such an extent that it prompted an astonishingly furious reaction towards the SAL officials involved in the 'experiment,' causing the impending investigation into the League to escalate significantly.
The individuals accountable resigned quickly, only to be apprehended shortly afterwards on allegations of inflicting inhumane and brutal extrajudicial penalties. Subsequently, the charges were downgraded to 'only' illegal torture, which still resulted in long imprisonment for all of them.
Suletta was fortunately not forced to sit in court rooms, as her health plummeted drastically; instead, she tried to live her life as best she could, despite occasional bouts of pain and other, much worse symptoms of nerve system damage caused by Calibarn.
"Suletta?" Miorine asked with concern, and Suletta recognized that she had become lost in her thoughts. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, sorry, just… I really hope it's nothing bad again," the former Gundam pilot answered with worry. "I don't want to see war ever again."
"You won't." Miorine promised.
And at the same time, far, far away around Jupiter, a ship stirred to life. Uncaring for promises uttered on a remote speck of dirt, the former scavenging vessel - now devoted to a much higher purpose — accelerated swiftly toward Earth.