The Archangel's bridge.
Everyone returned after Ino Kamal had been taken away and confined as a prisoner of war.
Though he had asked to speak with them alone, the situation left them with little time to spare.
"What do you plan to do next?"
On the bridge, Mu floated in midair and asked Captain Murrue.
At his question, Murrue instinctively looked around at everyone on the bridge.
She had suddenly been called captain and pushed into this position, with ZAFT pursuers still outside. For someone with little combat experience, the pressure and confusion made her want to find somewhere to let loose and go crazy.
But she couldn't do that, because most of the crew were in the same position as her.
And that only made the future seem even more uncertain.
What made matters worse was that the crew members didn't know one another well.
Captain Mu La Flaga aside, even Natarle Badgiruel was a stranger to her. Though they knew each other, they had never served in the same unit.
She had serious doubts about whether she could keep them under control, especially this man, who didn't look particularly serious.
"Should we surrender?"
Mr. Mu asked with a grin. "I think ZAFT would be happy to take us in. And with that prisoner, Ino Kamal, we might even get preferential treatment."
Murrue rolled her eyes at Mu and spoke as if to vent her frustration. "That does sound like a good idea. Why don't you get in touch with them for me?"
"Uh..."
Mu hadn't expected her to say that and was momentarily taken aback.
Seeing his stunned expression gave Murrue a small sense of satisfaction, but she had only been saying it in jest.
After a brief moment of thought, Murrue faced reality, took a deep breath, and said firmly, "This ship will never surrender. We can't let ZAFT get this warship or the last Strike. No matter what, we have to deliver them to the Atlantic Federation's command."
"But we can't even contact the lunar headquarters right now..."
Hearing Murrue's firm answer, Mu stopped teasing her and said with a bitter expression, "I admire your resolve, but that alone..."
"Given our current position, the easiest option is to head for an allied base."
While the two struggled with their headache-inducing dilemma, Ensign Badgiruel made a suggestion. "The Umbrella of Artemis is very close to us. If we can reach it, we should be able to contact the Atlantic Federation."
The two were surprised by Badgiruel's proposal, but soon began considering whether it was feasible.
The Umbrella of Artemis was a military satellite belonging to the Eurasian Federation, located to the Archangel's left.
The Eurasian Federation was a military ally of the North Atlantic Federation, to which the Archangel belonged.
"But the G-Series and this ship haven't been publicly announced, and we don't even have the identification codes of an allied force. If we go there..."
Captain Murrue was uneasy. After all, though the Eurasian Federation was allied with the Atlantic Federation, they were still only allies.
"But if we keep heading for the moon, can we really make it there without getting into a single fight?"
Ensign Natarle Badgiruel pointed out the Archangel's most pressing problem. "Besides, this ship left port before all our supplies were loaded. We don't have enough supplies to make it to the moon."
The moon was currently on the opposite side of Earth's orbit, making it far too distant to reach by simply heading there.
And even if they didn't encounter a fight along the way, their supplies would run low before they got there.
Ensign Natarle Badgiruel added, "We don't really have a choice."
Hearing Natarle Badgiruel's words, Captain Murrue pressed her lips together.
"But what about Artemis..."
Mu murmured doubtfully, "Will they cooperate with us...?"
"But this really is the only option we have left."
Though Murrue felt uneasy and hesitant, she still made her decision. "Prepare the decoys! While launching them, fire the main engines and adjust our heading to correct our course toward Artemis. Then switch to inertial flight. Everyone, take battle station two! And complete the course correction as soon as possible."
The Archangel's bridge accepted the proposal and quickly sprang into action.
"Silent running to Artemis... It'll take about two hours."
Inside the detention room.
"Is this... a course correction?"
Watching the debris outside the window gradually shift direction, Ino guessed what was happening. "So the next destination is the Umbrella of Artemis?"
Ino didn't know that much about the original story. He only knew the general outline.
But given the situation, that much was enough.
From the memories of his predecessor, he knew that the Umbrella of Artemis was a military satellite belonging to the Eurasian Federation.
The Archangel had run into some unpleasant trouble after reaching Artemis.
But then the Blitz Gundam had helped them deal with it—
"Forget it. None of that has anything to do with me. My top priority now is figuring out how to get off this battlefield."
Ino sat on the edge of the bed and began to think.
He did have an internal identification code, but could Artemis recognize it?
And with his handler completely out of contact, how could he prove he hadn't been turned by ZAFT?
How could he earn their trust—
The answer was—there was no way to prove it.
In normal circumstances, no one would believe someone else's word without question, let alone with the two sides at war.
After all, according to the setting, he had entered ZAFT's inner circle by achieving the top score in the command track—
"Come to think of it, why would the Earth Alliance be willing to send a 'genius' like me to work as a spy? What means did they have to keep me in check?"
Ino suddenly wondered how the Earth Alliance had made sure he wouldn't defect.
If he could figure that out, couldn't he work backward and determine whether he was loyal?
But what exactly were their countermeasures?
Why couldn't he remember a thing about them?
"No, something's wrong..."
Ino suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
Why had it taken him until now to think of this?
He'd never given it much thought before, but now that he did, the Earth Alliance's actions seemed strange.
What made them so sure that he—or rather, his predecessor—wouldn't defect?
In his previous life, he'd seen a joke.
It was about a police officer who sent an undercover agent to infiltrate a gang.
But the police never moved in, and the agent was tormented day after day. So he called his superior and asked, "Boss, when are we going to make the arrest? I've already gathered their information."
The boss said, "Wait a little longer."
A year later, the agent couldn't take it anymore and called again. "Boss, when are we going to make the arrest? I've made it into the gang's inner circle."
The boss said, "Wait a little longer."
Another year passed, and the agent called again. "Boss, I've become the gang's second-in-command. When are we going to make the arrest?"
The boss said, "Keep waiting."
Another year later, the boss decided it was time to move in. By then, the agent had risen through the gang's ranks and become its leader.
The boss called and told him they were ready to make the arrest.
The agent replied, "Boss, what are you talking about? This is a legitimate company."
This wasn't just a joke. It was based on a real case.
The people in the Earth Alliance weren't idiots. They couldn't have failed to consider this possibility.
So what were their countermeasures?
Weren't they afraid he'd become a double agent, using false information passed to the Earth Alliance to boost his standing in ZAFT?
Looking at his predecessor's record, he'd been first in the command track.
With that score, getting into a core department had been a sure thing. Under normal circumstances, he could have even become a Purple Uniform.
And with the added advantage of being a double agent, if he played his cards right, he might even have made it onto the Council.
Don't tell him they'd threatened his parents, or that it was all about sentiment.
The training his predecessor had undergone had been deadly. Nearly a thousand trainees had trained together from the age of just a few, yet only a handful had survived in the end.
It had been a process of elimination where one person died with every elimination.
That was... wait.
"Why can't I remember what the training actually involved?"
Before you continue