Rau Le Creuset's Delight

Athrun Zala stood quietly in the center of the command room, his pale face reflected in the metal floor.

He had long understood why Captain Rau Le Creuset had summoned him. The reason was as clear as though it had been branded into his soul.

Just as he had expected, the outcome was both cruel and inevitable.

Not long ago, the order had been unmistakable—destroy the enemy's new mobile suit, the MS codenamed "Strike."

Yet in that lightning-fast clash, a familiar figure had shaken his resolve. Defying orders, he had instead tried to forcibly capture the machine.

In the end, Strike Gundam had vanished like a phantom into the sea of stars under the cover of another red machine—the high-speed assault MS known as Blaze—taking his target with it.

Captain Rau Le Creuset's words were like an icy probe piercing the corners Athrun had deliberately avoided.

Athrun himself knew all too well that when he had faced that white machine... when he had faced the person in its cockpit, someone he had never imagined he would meet again here, he had wavered.

Memories buried deep in those peaceful years had become fatal hesitation on the battlefield.

He slowly raised his head. Those jade-green eyes that had once reflected the tranquil skies of the lunar city now burned with complex emotions—pain, resolve, and a sliver of hope that refused to die.

He looked directly at the white mask on Captain Rau Le Creuset's face, the mask that shut out all genuine emotion. "Captain," he said, his voice trembling slightly but exceptionally clear, "the pilot of Strike Gundam is Kira Yamato. She was my... friend at Copernicus Children's School."

Behind the mask, something intangible seemed to freeze for an instant.

Rau Le Creuset gave a low, drawn-out response. "...Oh?"

His voice was distorted by the mask, but what it contained was far more than simple curiosity. It was a trace of surprise, precisely concealed and bottomless in its depth.

Perhaps the corners of his mouth beneath the mask had curled into an unseen smile, one mixed with mockery and amusement.

"She is a Coordinator, Captain! She is one of our people!" Athrun's voice suddenly rose, carrying the urgency of a plea. "She would never willingly serve Naturals! That's why I... that's why I wanted to capture Strike Gundam, bring her back, and make her see the truth!"

He stubbornly believed that the kind, somewhat absentminded, even overly good-natured Kira of his memories could never have voluntarily chosen to pilot an MS and throw herself into such a bloody, brutal war.

She had to have been deceived and exploited by the Earth Alliance, those cunning Naturals!

Rau Le Creuset nodded lightly, as if listening attentively, or perhaps savoring the dramatic turn of events.

"I see..." he said in a near-singing tone. "War truly is full of irony. Who could have imagined that former close friends would reunite on such a stage, facing one another with weapons in hand?"

He raised a gloved hand, his fingertips thoughtfully tapping at the jawline of his mask.

After a brief silence, he spoke again. His tone was calm, yet carried unquestionable authority. "You will not take part in the next pursuit operation against the Archangel for the time being. You cannot truly pull the trigger against such an opponent, and I do not wish to see one of my subordinates break down because of it."

"No, Captain!" Athrun abruptly raised his head as if he had been stung, the words nearly bursting from him.

His previously lowered gaze instantly sharpened with pleading as he stepped forward. "I'll be fine! Please, you have to let me go! Kira was only deceived by those Naturals!"

"Athrun." Rau Le Creuset's voice remained calm, yet it was like an invisible wall that halted Athrun's agitation.

"She may be highly skilled, but she's a little slow-witted, and her heart is too soft!" Athrun argued almost incoherently, trying to persuade his captain—and himself.

"She must have been forced! As long as I go speak to her properly and make her understand our position, understand everything Coordinators are facing... she'll understand! There is no reason for us to fight each other!"

He painted that ideal reunion with such fervor, as though everything would return to normal as long as he went.

Rau Le Creuset watched him silently, his gaze behind the mask deep and unfathomable.

"I understand how you feel, Athrun," he said slowly, every word seeming carefully considered. "But... what if she does not listen to you? What if she refuses to understand, and even chooses to remain your enemy?"

The question struck Athrun's heart like an invisible sledgehammer.

His body stiffened slightly despite himself, and a bone-chilling cold silently crawled up his spine.

Yes... what if?

What if he laid bare his heart and exhausted every argument, yet Kira still chose to stand against them and point her gun at a former friend?

The possibility he had tried so desperately to avoid was now mercilessly laid bare by Rau Le Creuset.

Athrun drew a deep breath, his chest rising and falling with violent emotion.

He clenched his teeth, as though he had to gather all his pain and determination before he could force the words through them. "When that time comes... I'll shoot." His voice was hoarse, carrying a despair he had not even noticed himself.

Rau Le Creuset silently watched Athrun leave.

The young soldier's footsteps sounded especially heavy and dragging in the silent metal corridor. Every step seemed to tread upon shattered heartstrings, echoing with wordless struggle and pain.

Only after that figure had completely vanished around the corner did Rau Le Creuset slowly turn and sit back down in the command chair. His eyes beneath the mask were dark and inscrutable, like the bottomless universe.

"Kira Yamato..." He silently savored the name in the quiet bridge, a cold smile spreading beneath his mask. "Just because Athrun mentioned that name, I had a vague suspicion... I never imagined she was truly still alive."

In the report on the earlier battle, Rau Le Creuset had already felt alarm bells ringing when it mentioned that Strike Gundam's pilot might know Athrun.

Now, even after confirming it with Athrun, he still found it absurdly difficult to believe.

No, simply being alive could perhaps be attributed to a twist of Destiny.

But Kira was not only alive—she was also inseparable from Char La Flaga... What kind of twisted script was this?

The girl who should have vanished with her parents in the Mendel Satellite tragedy, the girl hailed as the most perfect Coordinator, was now piloting the Atlantic Federation's secret weapon. At her side stood Char La Flaga, who had displayed monstrous talent from infancy.

That combination filled Rau Le Creuset with a sick sort of pleasure, as well as a deep, barely perceptible wariness.

Especially that Blaze Gundam, developed alongside Strike Gundam. The astonishing speed and assault capabilities it had displayed undoubtedly added another variable.

"...Honestly," he muttered, a trace of amused irritation in his voice, "trouble always likes to come in pairs."

The irony of the situation made the twisted corner of his mouth curl into an almost delighted smile.

However, when his gaze swept over the electronic document that had appeared on the command table—a compulsory order from the PLANT Supreme Council—that brief pleasure instantly vanished, leaving behind only pure, undisguised annoyance.

The PLANT Council demanded that he submit a detailed report on the destruction of the Heliopolis colony satellite and undergo questioning.

During the time he was forced to temporarily leave the front lines, the task of tracking the Archangel had been handed over to the Gamow, where Yzak and the others were stationed.

But whenever he thought of Char La Flaga, Kira Yamato's special identity as Strike Gundam's pilot, and Blaze Gundam as well, an unease like a dark cloud rose irrepressibly in Rau Le Creuset's heart.

Even so, the PLANT Council's orders were not something he could openly defy at present.

"I only hope this tedious hearing ends quickly." He thought darkly.

As long as the moderates within PLANT, whose resolve had begun to waver because of the Heliopolis incident, fully recognized the enormous threat posed by the Earth Alliance's G-Series machines—especially Strike and Blaze—they might keep quiet for the time being.

An indescribable desire surged within Rau Le Creuset. He longed to break free from these constraints in the rear and return to the front lines of the hunt, where he could personally pursue the Archangel carrying Char and Kira.

But for now, all he could do was suppress his inner impatience and pray that things would unfold according to his plans.

Against the backdrop of the endless sea of stars, Artemis Fortress floated silently within the curtain of darkness like a lonely, irregularly shaped star gleaming with metallic coldness.

Though this military stronghold, carefully rebuilt around the natural structure of an asteroid, could not compare in scale to those colossal space fortresses, the unique defensive technology at its core had made it famous on the battlefields between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT—the omnidirectional lightwave defense belt, a system reverently known as Artemis's Umbrella.

This lightwave barrier, composed of special energy particles, could tightly envelop the entire fortress like a massive, nearly transparent energy dome.

In theory, neither dense barrages of solid ammunition nor powerful Beam Cannon bombardments could penetrate this impregnable line of defense.

It was precisely because of this nearly absolute defensive power that Artemis's Umbrella had repeatedly repelled ZAFT's fierce offensives, making this Eurasian Federation-controlled fortress a relatively stable bastion along the turbulent space routes.

Thus, among the crews of many vessels traveling through the sea of stars, there was a common belief: obtaining permission to enter Artemis Fortress was like finding a safe harbor during a perilous journey, somewhere they could at least breathe a temporary sigh of relief.

Resupplying and resting here was undoubtedly a crucial step in preserving their hope of reaching lunar headquarters.

Perhaps carrying that faint hope and the relaxation that followed exhaustion, the crew of the Archangel slowly guided their warship into the designated port.

Yet Destiny played a cold and cruel joke on them at that moment. What greeted them was not the warm reception and supplies they should have received from allies, but rows of gun barrels gleaming with cold light and expressionless faces filled with hostility.

Almost the moment the warship was fully docked, large numbers of fully armed soldiers in Eurasian Federation uniforms flooded into the vessel like a tide, swiftly taking control of every key passage.

Captain Murrue Ramius, Lieutenant Natarle Badgiruel, and Mu La Flaga, the three core commanders, were forcibly "invited" to the base's imposing and unknown command room.

Meanwhile, the other young crew members, including Char, Kira, Flay, and Sai, along with most of the ordinary crew, were gathered and escorted to a spacious yet oppressively tense dining area.