Archangel: Where is the Road?

January 28, CE 71, approximately 12:00 Standard Time.

After the main thrusters pushed them a great distance away at full power, and having confirmed that there were no pursuers within the Archangel's sensor range, the crew—who had become somewhat skittish—finally breathed a sigh of relief along with the engines.

After ordering the Archangel into a relatively safe inertial silent-running mode, Murrue, as captain, began to organize the next steps.

"Chief Petty Officer Neumann, I'll leave the bridge to you for the time being. Major La Flaga, Lieutenant Badgiruel, shall we go discuss how to proceed?"

Upon hearing the order from Captain Ramius, who had already been promoted to major, Chief Petty Officer Arnold Neumann was the first to acknowledge.

Compared to the former captains Murrue and La Flaga, and former lieutenant Badgiruel, who were already mid-level officers, the process for promoting Chief Petty Officer Arnold Neumann to ensign was far more complex and required bureaucratic hurdles that could not be cleared during the short time the Archangel spent at Artemis Fortress, even though Commodore Halberton had intended to promote him.

Conversely, the promotion of Petty Officer Murdoch to Chief Petty Officer had been completed as swiftly as those of Mu, Murrue, and Badgiruel.

As for Kira and his friends "volunteering" for service and receiving their ranks, the situation was different from Neumann's, but the overall process was similarly complicated and remained unfinished, just like the Chief Petty Officer's.

In short, because the bridge required officers on duty and Neumann had not yet completed his officer promotion, the "forward path discussion" could only be held between Mu, Murrue, and Badgiruel; the only difference was that all three had been promoted by one rank since they left Heliopolis, though that did nothing to help their current situation.

"I happen to be hungry, so if you don't mind, let's eat while we talk."

Mu attempted to liven the mood as usual; while Badgiruel felt it was somewhat inappropriate, she acknowledged that given the current circumstances, it was not the right time to discuss these matters openly on the bridge—after all, there was no need to further dampen the crew's morale, and more importantly...

"Gurgle."

After Badgiruel's stomach expressed its agreement with Mu's proposal before she could, the usually stoic lieutenant blushed in rare embarrassment.

"I understand. Let's do that."

Amidst Mu's slightly awkward laughter, Murrue made the final decision as captain; she then placed an internal call, and the three left the bridge together for the captain's quarters.

Soon, after the logistics crew delivered the high-ranking officer meal sets recently restocked at Artemis Fortress, the three sat around the dining table to discuss the Archangel's future.

After taking a long gulp of an energy drink, Mu made a sound as if he had just downed a fermented fruit beverage and spoke first.

"First, we need to determine our destination. The lunar headquarters, the 8th Fleet base in geosynchronous orbit, or surrendering to Celestial Being on the spot—overall, those are the only three options, right?"

Hearing Mu's words, Badgiruel hurriedly swallowed her food, rinsed her mouth with a drink, and voiced her objection.

"I object. Surrendering to an armed group of unknown origin like 'Celestial Being' should not even be a consideration!"

Mu quickly pressed his hands down, signaling Badgiruel not to get too excited.

"Don't be so hasty. It's just a possible option I'm putting on the table. Besides, after seeing their fleet and mobile weapon units with my own eyes, anyone can tell by those clearly mass-produced standard weapons that they are undoubtedly a regular military force, right? Furthermore, judging by the actions Celestial Being has actually taken, this ship might have been used as a pretext for their armed intervention. From that perspective, perhaps surrendering to them is the very option they would least want us to choose."

Faced with Mu's "joke," Badgiruel opened her mouth to retort, but no words came out.

After all, as Mu said, compared to when they left Heliopolis—where only the Gwameir and the single "Time Observer" unit were the most prominent elements of Celestial Being—during the battle for Artemis Fortress, they had deployed clearly standardized, mass-produced weapons for both their fleet and mobile units. Considering that Celestial Being's mobile suits were on par with ZAFT's and their large mobile armors were clearly superior to the Earth Alliance's, one had to define them as a regular military backed by a powerful force. Moreover, given that Celestial Being had only sent that white large mobile armor to pursue the Archangel in a probing manner, and that even the purple mobile suit capable of defeating the entire Creuset Team had not been deployed, Mu's speculation that Celestial Being was intentionally letting the Archangel escape was likely true.

Fortunately, at this moment, Murrue, having filled her stomach slightly, stopped eating and expressed her resolve quite calmly.

"Perhaps the situation is exactly as Major La Flaga says, and surrender is the option that would give Celestial Being the most trouble. However, in order not to betray Commodore Halberton's trust, even if I have to risk my life, I want to deliver this ship and the last remaining Strike Gundam from the G Project to the Commodore at the 8th Fleet."

Faced with Murrue's firm conviction, Mu, like Badgiruel a moment ago, wanted to say something but ultimately couldn't, so he turned his attention to the steak on his plate; only after cutting the steak as if it were an enemy and grinding his teeth while swallowing the meat did he respond under the gaze of Murrue and Badgiruel.

"I understand. Then our goal is set: the 8th Fleet base in geosynchronous orbit."

After receiving firm nods from Murrue and Badgiruel, Mu threw out the second difficult problem.

"Then, what about the specific route? The 8th Fleet base—located in geosynchronous orbit between the Earth and the Moon—is in the Second Space Domain, while we are currently in the Fifth Space Domain, directly opposite. On the bright side, the only advantage is that we can reach it by passing through the First, Third, or Fourth Space Domains, right?"

Having heard Mu's "cold joke," Murrue, as the person responsible for the Archangel's decision to head to the 8th Fleet, put down her salad fork and began to explain while gesturing on the table.

Murrue first placed a drink lid in the center of the square dining table.

"The center of this lid is the Earth, the edge of the lid is the Debris Belt, and the entire lid is the First Space Domain."

Although there were certainly many issues with the scale, both Mu and Badgiruel acknowledged it as a visual aid.

Badgiruel, sitting between Mu and Murrue, took the initiative to stack two round candy tins back-to-back, creating a shape resembling an Hourglass, and placed it on her left side, slightly closer to Mu's position, before adding an explanation.

"This side is Plant, located at L5."

Following Badgiruel's lead, Mu also cooperated by placing his own markers:

Mu first used a fork to pick out a bean, placing it a short distance directly in front of him, right next to where Murrue had set down her cup lid;

He then placed a square butter dish close to him on his side of the table.

"Then, this bean represents our destination: the 8th Fleet station in Geosynchronous Orbit, just outside the Debris Belt.

And although it isn't our destination, let's use this butter dish to represent the Moon, which both sides are currently fighting over."

Through the cooperation of the three, the main theater of war between the Earth Alliance and Plant had largely appeared on the dining table.

Next, Murrue nodded to both Mu and Badgiruel, then reached out to place a square butter dish close to her own position;

Finally, Mu took the butter dish handed to him by Badgiruel and placed it in front of the empty seat to his left, in a position symmetrical to the 'Hourglass' Badgiruel had stacked;

Thus, through the tacit cooperation of the three, the 'Tabletop Earth-Moon War Zone Map' was completed into the 'Tabletop Earth-Moon Full Map'.