Halberton's Encouragement

"Hello, Admiral, Second Lieutenant Ramias."

Xu De kept his eyes forward and saluted.

Cook had brought him here and was waiting outside. The others were technical officers he didn't know; the only two people whose names he knew were these.

"Oh, you two have met?"

Halberton looked at Maliu with interest.

He had been focused on watching Xu De's battle and hadn't noticed Maliu's reaction.

Only now did he realize that his apprentice's face was flushed. As an old man, he quickly understood that Maliu seemed to have taken a bit of a liking to Xu De.

"Yes. I was in charge of Xu's previous batch of Moebius units."

Maliu answered a little nervously under Halberton's gaze.

She looked like a mature beauty, but was unexpectedly adorable and innocent.

"Then you two are fated to meet."

Halberton smiled meaningfully, then continued.

"The Ginn you piloted is already capable of putting up a fight. How did you manage that?"

"I operated the hands and feet in turns. But if I try to use them together, I can't make many movements."

Xu De answered honestly.

That was exactly how he had piloted the Ginn just now: first focusing on his hands, then on his feet. On closer inspection, it was clear he hadn't made a single coordinated movement.

That might be barely adequate against Coordinators at a distance, but in close-quarters combat...

Without being able to use his hands and feet together, he would definitely be at a disadvantage.

"Even so, it's not bad."

Hearing that Xu De's explanation was much as he'd suspected, Halberton stood and patted Shun on the shoulder.

"If the system is simplified further, are you confident you could pilot it smoothly?"

"Yes. At the very least, the hands and feet need to work together and coordinate automatically."

Xu De thought about how it had felt to pilot the unit just now.

"Mm, I understand."

Looking at the boy's confident expression, Halberton had already made up his mind.

He smiled, then turned to the young woman, who still seemed a little nervous and strangely bashful.

"Maliu, is there anything else you'd like to ask?"

Halberton's tone held an unusual hint of teasing.

"Ah, g-good luck?"

Meeting the admiral's gaze and the boy's spirited eyes, Maliu lowered her head in flustered embarrassment.

Her heart began beating even faster.

The boy had shown both tactical skill and real ability in his performance just now. For Maliu, who devoted herself to studying Mobile Suits and armor, that only made him more appealing.

In Maliu's eyes, Xu De was the person here most likely to pilot the new Mobile Suit.

His future was sure to be bright, and their projects were similar.

Perhaps they'd have plenty of chances to meet again.

As she thought about it, Maliu found herself looking forward to that possibility.

Seeing her reaction, Halberton smiled and said to Xu De,

"Your rank and rewards will be given to you together after this is over."

"Go back for now. I have high hopes for you, but don't get careless. The contest isn't over yet."

As he spoke, Halberton saluted Xu De and sent him on his way.

"How was it?"

Halberton turned to Maliu, who had been quiet and seemed unusually absent-minded.

"Not bad?"

"I'm asking about the system."

Halberton shook his head with a laugh.

"Ah..."

Maliu's face flushed with embarrassment, and she stammered on.

"I don't know much about the system, but like he said, if we're going to roll out Mobile Suits in the future, we'll have to simplify the system—or make it intelligent."

"But we don't have many specialists in systems within our ranks right now."

As she spoke about her own field, Maliu gradually grew more serious.

"Do we still have to work with them?"

"But I doubt those freeloading bigwigs will agree."

Halberton gave a bitter smile.

Those people still hoped to gather the Fifth and Sixth Fleets and launch a direct counterattack against PLANT itself.

The latest war-game simulations suggested it was feasible.

But could it really be that simple?

The Coordinators were all shrewd.

Even the most meticulous plan could have a flaw.

Using sheer numbers without machines capable of matching the enemy was no different from a balloon meeting a needle.

The balloon might be big, but a needle could easily puncture it with a single prick.

"Admiral..."

Maliu looked at her teacher with concern.

"It's all right. We'll just keep pushing ahead with the plan."

The admiral shook his head.

Xu De knew nothing about their discussion, and he had no way to take part in it. By then, he had returned to the training area.

The others greeted him with eager looks, tinged with the wariness people felt toward a formidable opponent.

Their wariness was easy to understand. They had all seen Xu De's strength just now.

Their eagerness, meanwhile, came from wanting to form an alliance.

The assessment was a free-for-all. In other words, they would most likely put all ten of them—now nine—together and make them fight until half of them, or even all but one, were left.

That meant teaming up with Xu De would give them a strong fighter on their side.

Their eagerness to form a team with him now was so similar to the eagerness with which they had tried to recruit him as an easy target at first, and yet so different.

At least now, no one dared underestimate Xu De.

"Xu, what did the admiral want with you?"

Before anyone else could come over and invite him to team up, Moody stepped forward and asked.

"He just asked about piloting."

Xu De replied.

"Well, that makes sense."

Moody nodded, then tugged Draco over and brought the three of them together.

"Let's team up!"

"And we'll take this sneaky guy along too. The three of us."

Draco, whom Moody had called sneaky, glanced at him.

He neither denied it nor agreed.

"Second Lieutenant Draco."

Xu De nodded to him.

"Mm."

Draco gave a brief nod.

He didn't seem troubled by the earlier provocation.

Xu De wasn't surprised. He had looked into Draco as well.

Draco was a strategist, skilled at coordinating operations behind the scenes. His piloting skills in the Moebius weren't bad either.

His record included using a six-unit Moebius squad to destroy four Ginns.

They could all be said to have come to prominence through that battle.

Though battlefields like this were dangerous, they were also a chance for them to make a name for themselves.

That was true whether or not they wanted it.

Of course, they hadn't appeared in the original story.

Xu De didn't even know whether they were the reserve pilots who had died when Heliopolis was destroyed.

If they really were, it would be an unbearably frustrating end.

It went without saying that only the best would be chosen to pilot Mobile Suits in the end.

They could have had the chance to distinguish themselves and build a career.

They weren't chosen ones like Kira.

They could only keep moving forward, step by step, through their own efforts.

Yet they had died just as they were about to reach the next milestone in their lives.

Kira being forced to turn against his best friend was tragic too.

But that was the tragedy of a stage play. Xu De found the deaths of these people far more moving.