The "Open-Minded" Golden Astray

Watching Flay finally obey the soldiers' orders and arrangements, and head toward the Gwameir's living quarters, Luther continued his mischievous announcement of two more things.

"By the way, Miss Flay, your boyfriend, Sai, and your admirer, Kira, have both boarded the Archangel, one of the Atlantic Federation's latest warships and one of the culprits behind Heliopolis's destruction. They're probably on their way to Artemis, the Eurasian Federation's military fortress. Let's wish them a safe journey.

"As for your father, I expect you'll see him in about ten days. Though I'm afraid it'll be on the battlefield."

Watching Flay begin to cry as she left under the soldiers' "escort," Luther put an arm around Haman, who had floated over.

"Are you satisfied now, my lady Haman?"

"Hmph."

Haman didn't say it aloud, but judging by the feedback she gave him, Luther wouldn't have to worry about tonight—though either way, it was all part of the fun.

Now that he'd finally placated Haman, Luther remembered the "open-minded" Golden Astray he'd seen on his way back to the hangar and turned to look for Cima, who was in charge of recovering the Astray units.

As soon as he turned around, he spotted Cima, who had clearly watched the whole scene, and was met with her "proactive attack."

"Little sister Haman, don't fall for his tricks. If you ask me, Miss Flay will probably still end up falling prey to our dear Deikun. Sob, sob, sob."

Faced with Cima's "attempt to drive a wedge between them" and fake crying, Luther could only look helplessly at Haman, who had once again taken the opportunity to slip into her "sulking and needing to be coaxed" state.

Luther had no choice but to imagine her saying, No, you came at just the right time, put an arm around each of them, and try to change the subject.

"What's the deal with that Golden Astray?"

"Who knows? Just like that little girl Flay, some lunatic calling himself 'Sahaku' suddenly started ordering him around for no reason.

"He ignored the order to come over, but when he saw his men collecting parts, he attacked us of his own accord. So I shot him with the prototype high-output beam rifle Lord Ginias just provided.

"We'd given him a clear warning, and I even took my time aiming. Who knew he wouldn't dodge? And that's how it ended."

As she answered Luther's questions, Cima was clearly focusing most of her attention on using her body to get a reaction out of him. Haman wasn't about to be outdone, and responded in kind.

After giving them both a "knuckle tap" to put a stop to their untimely antics, Luther found himself forming a few theories about what had happened.

Perhaps beam weapons based on Minovsky particles from the Universal Century were currently an unusually effective weapon against Cosmic Era mobile suits that lacked the appropriate countermeasures.

The Golden Astray's pilot had probably been overconfident. On the one hand, he'd been sure Haman wouldn't "defy her superior." On the other, he'd expected his trump card to work, only for it to have no effect at all. That was probably why...

"Lord Luther, there's an intercom call from Captain Tessa on the bridge."

The maintenance chief's reminder interrupted Luther's thoughts.

After thanking the maintenance chief, Luther took the call from Tessa with Cima and Haman beside him.

Seeing only familiar faces on the other end, Tessa got straight to the point.

"We've received a light signal from an approaching unarmed ship. They claim to be Morgenroete from Orb. They want to buy back the Astray units and speak with 'Lord Sahaku.' How should we respond?"

"'Lord Sahaku' was killed for attacking us. We'll return the Astray units to Orb ourselves. Tell them to wait for the news!"

Faced with Luther's seemingly very forceful reply, Tessa merely nodded and ended the call.

Beside Luther, Cima teased him.

"Going with the deliberately misleading, technically true wording again?

"You did the same thing with that little girl Flay. You really do love this trick, don't you, my master Luther?"

"Weren't you the one I won over with that same trick, my dear Cima?

"Like they say, a man can't stand without his word. Every word I say is the truth. Not one of them is a lie.

"I love you, Cima."

Faced with Luther's "weak-point attack," Cima—who had just been boldly trying to seduce him, but was all offense and no defense—was clearly "killed in one hit."

While Luther soothed Cima and made sure to say the same to Haman, Tessa's intercom call from the bridge came through again. His interactions with Haman and Cima naturally ended up in Tessa's view.

"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you.

"Another unarmed ship has contacted us. This time they call themselves the Junk Guild. They're asking if they can salvage the wreckage of Heliopolis and assist with rescue efforts. How should we respond?"

Faced with Tessa's teasing and question, Luther first made sure not to leave anyone out.

"I love you too, Tessa."

After seeing Tessa blush slightly and reply in a quiet voice, Luther didn't press the matter. Instead, he naturally turned to discussing business with her.

"As I remember it, they don't get much attention in the main story, but these 'Junk Guild' people are said to have extensive connections despite dealing in gray-market business. Their own forces are relatively limited, so they might be useful to us, since we don't know our way around here yet.

"Besides allowing them to salvage the wreckage and help with rescue efforts, you can ask if they'd be interested in doing business with us. If the price is right, we could sell them some of our surplus mobile suits."

Tessa nodded and apparently began communicating with them, leaving the intercom open. Luther naturally waited nearby.

While they waited, perhaps recalling her days with Mahal, Cima asked Luther with unusual curiosity:

"My master Luther, from what you're saying, is this 'Junk Guild' some kind of paramilitary group with a fair amount of influence?

"I came from a Junk Guild myself. How come I never knew they could make it this big?"

Instead of the slightly punitive "knuckle tap" from earlier, Luther affectionately flicked Cima on the forehead.

"What you lot did was just picking through garbage. How dare you call yourselves a 'Junk Guild'?

"Enough joking around. Actually, I think you already understand.

"The Junk Guild in peacetime is a completely different thing from the one during wartime or for a while after the war.

"After all, a battlefield is short on just about everything, but there's always plenty of active military weapons and equipment that can be fixed up and put back to use.

"One of the men my Haman took a liking to in her original timeline also came from the Junk Guild."

As Cima put on a somewhat deliberate look of "enlightenment" and Haman sulked in displeasure, Tessa—who seemed to have finished negotiating with the Junk Guild—returned to the call.