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On the battlefield, Lightning Ginn's utterly unreasonable attacks left the ZAFT MS units caught in the melee suffering miserably. That rate of fire was downright nauseating. It was clearly just an MS weapon, yet it possessed the power of a battleship's secondary guns. No one could tell who the next beam would target, or when a red beam would streak past them before slowly fading away.
Compared to the frustration of ZAFT's MS units, the Earth Force's own MAs were both delighted and terrified. Lightning Ginn had destroyed an enemy with a single shot earlier, but it had also taken out one of their own MAs. The MA pilots became much more cautious, making sure not to place themselves in Lightning Ginn's line of fire. Dying at the hands of their own side would be far too unjust.
Lightning Ginn maintained its pattern of firing here and there, displaying its unparalleled firepower. It looked incomparably fierce, but Xiao Ran, who was operating Lightning Ginn, was actually just mechanically turning the targeting reticle left and right before pulling the trigger in his hand. No one could make sense of his casual, haphazard shooting.
Meanwhile, aboard the Menelaus, a battle in which a small group completely suppressed a larger force was advancing with unstoppable momentum. The cause of it all had to be traced back to not long ago.
The moment Harborton's surveillance order reached the Menelaus, the atmosphere in its hangar immediately became tense. Several squads of military police, weapons in hand, cautiously yet swiftly surrounded the small Transport Aircraft parked in the hangar.
After leading his team to encircle the small Transport Aircraft, a military policeman bearing the rank of First Sergeant hurried over to a man wearing a major's insignia. "Sir, the mission has been completed. Please give your orders."
"That will do, First Sergeant. Have some men take them to the brig. Remember to hold them separately. If they resist, you are authorized to shoot them on the spot." After saying that, the major left the hangar. Outside, a captain waited for him with a stack of what appeared to be freshly prepared documents in his hands.
After receiving the order, the First Sergeant called over a squad and rushed into the Transport Aircraft. Upon seeing the four people inside, he merely pressed his hand down slightly, signaling for the soldiers behind him not to aim their guns at the participants, who were still nominally allies for the moment.
The First Sergeant stopped two or three meters away from them and spoke with a degree of respect in his voice. "Gentlemen, your mission has been temporarily canceled. There are also some matters requiring your assistance in an investigation, so I hope you will come with us."
The moment the First Sergeant led his men aboard the Transport Aircraft, he had drawn the group's attention. Especially after he finished speaking, their expressions immediately turned bewildered, though anger rose even more strongly within them.
The blue-haired young man, Harvey, jumped to his feet. "What did you say? You're canceling our mission and making us cooperate with your investigation?"
"Yes." The First Sergeant discreetly took two steps back, watching the blue-haired Harvey warily. "I hope you will cooperate, gentlemen."
"What are you investigating?" Sman, the sleeveless young man and second-in-command among the four, stood up with a frown.
"I don't know that. It is outside the scope of my mission. Others will handle that task later," the First Sergeant replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"Damn it!" The blue-haired young man slammed his fist into the chair behind him. The blow produced a loud bang and immediately triggered a chain reaction. In an instant, the soldiers behind the First Sergeant raised their weapons and aimed them at the four. At a single order from the First Sergeant, they could attack immediately and shoot all four dead on the spot.
The soldiers' actions caused expressions of shock, fury, and disbelief to twist together on the four faces. At the same time, they began to stand on guard.
The First Sergeant remained fairly calm, but after seeing the blue-haired man's action and hearing that loud bang, he could not help but break into a cold sweat. However, to avoid any unforeseen developments, and seeing that Harvey had made no further move, he waved his hand again. "Lower your weapons."
"Damn it, you actually dare point toys like these at me!" Harvey's expression twisted slightly with rage.
But when a soft, seductive voice rang out, even though he was furious beyond measure, he still clenched his fists and turned away. "Harvey, what are you trying to do?"
Harvey glanced at the speaker, the only woman among the four. The moment he saw her, a trace of fear flashed through his eyes. Shaking his head, he forced a smile. "Eshe, I wasn't planning to do anything."
"Hehe, that's for the best, don't you think?" Eshe slowly stood up. The solemn white women's military uniform she wore somehow looked like a fashionable outfit on her, not only accentuating her graceful figure but especially highlighting her long, alluring legs. Her beauty was even more impossible to ignore. Her eyes carried a seductive liveliness, and every movement of her red lips stirred endless fantasies. Even the First Sergeant, who had maintained a stern attitude toward them, unconsciously showed a dazed expression upon seeing her flawless face and figure.
Eshe slowly walked up to the First Sergeant, every step carrying an inexplicable beauty. In a gentle, captivating voice, she said, "First Sergeant, we will certainly do our best to assist wherever needed. What happened earlier was merely a small misunderstanding. I hope you won't take it to heart. Can you lead the way now?"
"Of course." At the mention of the mission, the trace of infatuation on the First Sergeant's face quickly vanished. He led the somewhat resistant Harvey and the fully cooperative Eshe and the others out of the Transport Aircraft, occasionally sneaking glances at Eshe along the way.
Before long, the four were separately taken to different brig cells. Along the way, Harvey and Sman kept questioning the First Sergeant and his soldiers, but failed to learn anything. They found the situation utterly baffling, and no one would answer when they asked for the reason. One could imagine the anger in the hearts of the four participants, especially Harvey. If not for Eshe keeping him in check, he might have already lashed out to vent his fury.
As for Eshe, with the two mecha aboard the Archangel practically within reach, she too was baffled and even angry. But for the sake of the bigger picture, she had to suppress not only her own anger but that of the other three as well. Thus, from beginning to end, she appeared smiling and pleasant, as though she had no temper at all.
No matter what, the four still restrained their anger and cooperated with the military police throughout. Before long, someone came to question them in detail about their identities. Naturally, this round of questioning was conducted separately, and it made them realize that their identities had aroused suspicion. They answered one by one according to the memories provided by Prometheus's control system.
However, the more questions they were asked, the greater the investigators' doubts and confusion became. Although the four's answers contained no major errors in broad terms, the more detailed the questions became, the more flaws appeared in their responses. The investigators also produced a pile of photographs for each of the four participants to identify, including people they knew and people they did not. During this process, all four revealed serious problems. Either they did not recognize colleagues they had supposedly worked with for years, or they had never seen neighbors who had supposedly lived next door for a long time.
That simple measure exposed some information about the four. At the very least, it allowed Harborton to confirm that their identity records had been completely fabricated, largely matching Xiao Ran's "guess."
But if Harborton had not questioned the four directly and had instead found the refugees from Heliopolis, locating their "colleagues" and "neighbors" among them for questioning, the answers would have been completely different. It would have been exactly the same as Xiao Ran's situation. Unfortunately, at that moment, no one could prove their identities. The only proof available was their own behavior and words.
Later, the appearance of ZAFT's forces placed the entire battleship on combat alert, and no one had time to pay attention to them. What they had not expected was for Harborton to announce his decision over an open-frequency transmission: he would serve as bait and a shield to help the Archangel descend. It was like planting a bomb in their hearts, causing the emotions they had been suppressing to surge violently.
The thoughts of these four participants were somewhat similar. They had originally been going to the Archangel, happily preparing to receive two mecha. But they could not reach the Archangel now. Instead, they had to sit here and watch it leave, while accompanying this unimpressive-looking battleship as a shield.
Everything that had happened in such a short time had already driven the blue-haired Harvey's anger to its limit. If not for the fear of Eshe deep in his heart, he might have rushed out long ago. But even if he did not rush out now, he would sooner or later. Barnes, the silver-haired man ranked third among the four, had already learned the scale of the enemy forces through some device on his person. He knew full well that the Eighth Fleet's MAs were no match for ZAFT's MS units, and that they might even be buried here with the Menelaus if it was sunk.
Before he could make a move, a voice erupting within their minds caused all four to change expression at once: "Faction Side Mission triggered. Protect the Eighth Fleet until the battle ends. The more surviving units remain in the Eighth Fleet after the battle, the greater the reward. Mission rewards will be issued according to completion rating. Accept? Yes/No."
"Faction Side Mission triggered. Protect the brilliant strategist Harborton. Ensure Harborton's safety until the battle ends. Mission completion reward: C-class mecha construction data. Accept? Yes/No."
After those two voices rang out in their minds, the four made their decisions simultaneously. They kicked open the doors confining them, gathered together, subdued the military police who came running over, seized weapons, and began advancing toward the bridge.