Chapter 796: Shinn and Athrun
After that battle, the Earth Force seemed to have forgotten about Orb. However, the military-industrial and technology development companies controlled by LOGOS began devoting themselves fully to developing new equipment. More powerful MS, more powerful weapons, and more powerful Living CPUs all fell within their research scope. Since they could not act against Orb for now yet could not ignore it either, the Earth Force could only strengthen its own combat capabilities as much as possible, then seize Orb—the most unpredictable factor on Earth—in one decisive stroke once it possessed superior military power.
Though they temporarily ignored Orb, the Earth Force also knew that Orb currently lacked the power to attack them beyond defending itself. Thus, they could focus more easily on their greater enemy at present: ZAFT. They even planned an attack against ZAFT's Gibraltar base and the Minerva.
The day after the battle ended, Athrun bid Xiao Ran farewell before Orb's situation had truly stabilized. After exchanging for the black Savior Gundam X11, he piloted his red Savior Gundam toward Gibraltar. Athrun encountered no obstacles along the way, and after easily arriving at Gibraltar, he joined the Minerva.
Just as in the original story, when Athrun stepped down from the Savior Gundam, the Minerva's crew were shocked to see that the newly assigned MS pilot was Athrun—and that he was a FAITH with independent authority. Shinn Asuka, however, merely stared at this man who had once belonged to Orb but had now joined ZAFT in utter astonishment.
Shinn Asuka had also rushed back after seeing the Savior Gundam enter the Minerva while he was out buying things. Though he did not know why Athrun had appeared here, he felt a strange sense of shared fate. Whatever Athrun had been before, in Shinn's eyes,