"What do you mean?"
Lance Garfield frowned deeply. The identities of El-Elf and the others as members of the Astray MS Battalion made him wary. As the Federal Army unit that had wiped out countless Zeon MS forces, the Astray MS Battalion was far more feared and taken seriously by Zeon soldiers than the Earth Federation itself. But beyond that, they were hated.
And what El-Elf had just said seemed to imply that the Astray MS Battalion and Char were in the same camp. Lance Garfield wondered whether Char had joined up with the Astray MS Battalion, or whether the Astray MS Battalion had joined Char. They sounded similar, but the difference was immense.
After all, the Federation was Zeon's mortal enemy. If it was the former, then Char had betrayed all of Zeon, helping the Federation fight Zeon, helping outsiders fight his own people. Then the so-called Resistance Organization against the Zabi family, the comrades who had joined New Zeon, even New Zeon itself—everything would be nothing but a joke. All they had done would have been idiotic, and without realizing it, they would have embarked on the path of betraying their people.
But if it was the latter, then it could be called Char's far-sighted planning. Long ago, he had made a move with enormous consequences in order to restore the Daiken family's status, placing a powerful force loyal to his side within the Earth Federation and using the Federation's influence to grow. And given the fame of the Astray MS Battalion and Astray Fleet, they held tremendous influence throughout the Earth Federation.
More importantly, just as El-Elf had said, although the Astray MS Battalion was regarded by many Zeon Army pilots as their greatest enemy, they were also the enemy they felt safest facing. The Astray MS