The New Pilot

Xia Ya was somewhat surprised that Nicol and Michel had accepted this "assignment" order.

More precisely, he had already been surprised enough when he learned that they had actually sortieed in Orb's Astray Gundams during the Battle for Orb.

Those two ZAFT teenage soldiers, who should have been deployed in the rear, had chosen to board unfamiliar machines at a critical moment and fight to protect Orb.

After the battle ended, Orb's military could not simply overlook their unauthorized sortie and had briefly arrested and detained them.

But afterward, Orb's representative head, Uzumi Nara Athha, agreed to the request Muruta had made to the Earth Alliance. Taking Xia Ya's wishes and the usefulness of the two pilots into account, he ultimately released them from custody and assigned them to the Dominion under the name of "technical cooperation."

It was an excuse everyone understood. They were not technical personnel. They were pilots.

Keeping them here, at Xia Ya's side, served both as surveillance and as putting them to proper use.

It was called an assignment, but in truth, neither Xia Ya and Natarle nor Nicol and Michel—not even the entire Dominion crew, Liam included—had formally joined the Orb Army. The same went for Jiliang and the others aboard the Archangel.

"Mercenaries" was perhaps the most fitting way to describe their status.

They were warriors gathered for their own reasons—or rather, for a shared but vague goal: "to obtain a future."

Their nationalities, positions, and former identities had all been shattered by the war.

Now they stood here only because they all felt that things could not go on like this.

To end this chaotic war, they would continue fighting alongside those who shared their aspirations.

The Dominion itself was the finest example of such a complicated alliance.

Within the ship, a