At Eileen Canaver's teasing remark, the council members began discussing it among themselves.
What they were discussing, of course, was Eileen Canaver's comment: "I'm sure you've all conducted your own investigations."
After exchanging opinions amid the slightly noisy discussion, they all had to admit that none of them had found any reliable information about Celestial Being's origins.
Considering that Supreme Council members represented various Coordinator industries and had access to the strongest professional information networks in the entire Earth Sphere, this result could only support what Eileen Canaver had just said.
If you eliminate the impossible, then whatever remains, however unbelievable, must be the truth.
Celestial Being had most likely appeared in this world out of nowhere. The only question was whether there was evidence to support that possibility.
Once they had quickly reached that conclusion, everyone turned their attention to Eileen Canaver. Siegel Clyne, as chairman and the head of Eileen Canaver's faction, smiled and prompted her to continue.
"Councillor Canaver, please tell us what evidence you've uncovered."
Now that Siegel Clyne had spoken, Eileen Canaver naturally stopped teasing them.
"Celestial Being may have appeared out of nowhere, but its fleet's movements still had to obey the laws of physics. Otherwise, there would have been no need for Celestial Being to intervene in the situation by taking such a circuitous route.
Thinking along those lines, we focused our investigation on how Celestial Being's fleet reached Heliopolis.
During the investigation, one of our investigators happened to learn from a researcher involved in the 'D.S.S.D.' project that:
On January 18, CE71, in the L2 region on the far side of the Moon, D.S.S.D. briefly received an unknown signal. It was accompanied by gravitational-wave fluctuations of unknown cause.
Using this lead, along with reports from our personnel conducting regular reconnaissance in L4, we were able to piece together the general story of Celestial Being's origins."
While Eileen Canaver paused for breath after her lengthy explanation, Ezalia Joule, another Defense Committee member whose specialty was aerospace engineering—and Yzak's mother—had already begun working out the details on her own.
"It appeared in L2 on January 18, then reached L3 on January 25.
If we assume Celestial Being's technology is actually comparable to ours, the only way it could have moved that quickly was by traveling along the Moon's orbit.
Taking into account your mention of L4, Eileen, as well as the Celestial Being support fleet that appeared during the attack on Artemis Fortress, the reasonable conclusion is that Celestial Being suddenly appeared in L2 on January 18, then immediately headed for L4.
It would have arrived in L4 around January 21. The high-speed flagship then set out ahead of the others, reaching L3 on January 25.
The support fleet may have departed later, or simply been slower, and didn't reach L3 until January 27.
Could Celestial Being really have the ability to see the future? Otherwise, their actions were simply far too decisive."
Seeing that her "best friend" Ezalia Joule had said everything she had intended to, Eileen Canaver could only nod in agreement.
With Eileen Canaver confirming her deductions, Yuri Amalfi, another Defense Committee member whose specialty was manufacturing engineering—and Nicol's father—began drawing his own conclusions from a professional perspective.
"If that's the case, Celestial Being's red flagship must be a high-speed warship at least on par with the Nazca-class.
And judging by the design of its hull, it probably has excellent long-range capabilities. It might even be able to make round trips to the asteroid belt on its own. You could call it an armed, high-speed Tsiolkovsky-class.
As for the green escort ships that appeared later, they seem to fall somewhere between our Nazca-class and Laurasia-class in performance. They're also well-designed, proven light warships.
Fortunately, this suggests that Celestial Being's technological level really is roughly on par with ours. They've simply mastered a few unique technologies.
But that makes their sudden appearance even harder to explain..."
Seeing one of his faction members lost in "academic contemplation," Patrick Zala, the representative from December City and chairman of the Defense Committee, had hoped to fan the flames of the "Celestial Being threat" narrative. He had to speak up himself to steer the discussion back on course.
"However Celestial Being appeared, its existence now poses a real military threat to Plant, and we must take it seriously.
We now face threats from both the Earth Alliance and Celestial Being. There's no doubt that we should further strengthen our military!"
Siegel Clyne couldn't accept Patrick Zala's emphatic conclusion and immediately objected.
"Even fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds are already on the battlefield. How much further do you want to strengthen the military?
We can't afford to make any more enemies, and the war with the Earth Alliance must not escalate any further!
If this war continues, we Coordinators will have no future!"
Patrick Zala was just as unwilling to accept Siegel Clyne's "appeasement" stance.
"So we should just let others slaughter us?
If we're short on manpower, then besides producing more advanced mobile suits, we can change the conscription system!
For now, we still have a volunteer military. We have plenty of manpower in reserve!
As for compromising with the Earth Alliance, look at the new mobile suits they've developed. They're clearly determined to fight to the bitter end. How can we just sit back and surrender?
Before thinking about the future, you should give some serious thought to the present, Chairman Siegel Clyne.
If this war ends in victory, I'm sure our descendants will find a way to build an entirely new future for the Coordinators. After all, that's how we made it this far!"
Faced with Patrick's extreme rhetoric, Siegel Clyne had no choice but to slam his hand on the table and rise to his feet.
"That's utterly irresponsible!
Isn't it our responsibility as adults to create a peaceful, beautiful future for our children?
Sending children to the battlefield and leaving them to clean up our mess is absolutely unacceptable!
'Humanity will surely join hands and march toward a future in space!'
Celestial Being's ideals are far better than your proposal!
Since Celestial Being has already proved its strength, we should join hands with it and work together toward that beautiful vision!"
"Celestial Being can't be trusted at all!
Captain Creuset's contributions are there for all to see. Have you forgotten what he did in the Battle of World Tree?"
Seeing that the two leaders had lost their tempers, the other council members hurried to intervene.
Through the combined efforts of all the council members, the two men—who had risen and were now facing each other—eventually sat back down.
After regaining his composure, Siegel Clyne tried to resume the agenda in order.
Before you continue