Archangel's Course

"If it writes anything else on its own, report it to me immediately."

That same night, another document on Lin Yuan's desk was opened.

It was not the Machine Soul AI's log.

It was a projected course for a warship.

April 9, C.E. 71, 12:40 a.m.

Lin Yuan sat in the director's office of the 811 Institute. The desk lamp divided the tabletop into cold white light and shadow. On the screen was a three-dimensional route map from Earth orbit to the L4 sector, with a dotted line extending from Heliopolis toward Earth along a neutral-buoyancy corridor.

More than a dozen possible resupply points were marked along the dotted line, most of them already crossed out in red.

The Archangel.

The Earth military's newly built assault mobile special-purpose ship was supposed to return to the lunar base after receiving the G Weapons at Heliopolis. ZAFT's raid had shattered everything.

Lin Yuan closed his eyes briefly. His memory of the original plot was fading with time. Specific lines and scene details had begun to blur, but the chain of core events remained intact.

The Archangel would be pursued by ZAFT through space, stumbling all the way toward Earth. Along the way, it would encounter Lacus's escape pod and clash repeatedly with Athrun's unit. In the end, it would crash into the African theater, cross the desert, and reach Alaska.

He opened the intelligence compilation beside him.

Fragmentary information intercepted by Ye Qingluan's people through internal Atlantic Federation channels had already formed a rough outline. The Archangel had gone missing after the Heliopolis incident. A brief distress signal had appeared on United Army rescue frequencies before switching to encrypted communications. ZAFT's movements indicated that the Rau Le Creuset Team was searching the corridor between L3 and L4.

The door opened softly.

Sheng Lan entered carrying two cups of coffee. She set one at the corner of Lin Yuan's desk and held the other in her hands.

"Director, it's two in the morning."

"Sit."

Sheng Lan sat across from him and glanced at the route map on the screen.

"The Archangel?"

"Yes. Has Ye Qingluan's latest report been updated?"

Sheng Lan set down her coffee and pulled a thin classified document from the inner pocket of her uniform.

"It arrived twenty minutes ago. Qingluan's people intercepted a fragment of ZAFT encrypted communications at an L4 civilian relay station. After decryption, it was confirmed to be internal communications from the Rau Le Creuset Team."

"The contents?"

"The pursuit target has been confirmed as a new Earth military vessel, designation pending verification. Rau Le Creuset requested reinforcements from headquarters but was denied. For now, his ZAFT redcoat squad continues the pursuit. One name was mentioned in the transmission."

Sheng Lan pushed the classified document over and pointed at a word in the third section.

Athrun Zala.

Lin Yuan looked at the name, his coffee paused at his lips.

"Patrick Zala's son. An elite redcoat and one of the operatives who seized the G Weapons at Heliopolis." He set down the document. "Can Ye Qingluan's people confirm that he's in the pursuing formation now?"

"Confirmed. His call sign appeared twice in the communication fragment. Once to report the target's position, and once to receive Rau Le Creuset's tactical orders."

Lin Yuan enlarged the local area of the L3 corridor on the route map and traced a line between two red points with his finger.

"The Archangel has a Strike Gundam being piloted by a teenager who was drafted on the spot. The pursuers have Patrick Zala's son."

Sheng Lan took a sip of coffee and waited for him to continue.

"This ship's fate will repeatedly alter the course of the war over the next few months. The Alaska Defense Line, the desert theater, Orb's coastal waters. It will be present at every turning point."

"Does the director intend to intervene?"

"No." Lin Yuan zoomed the map back out to its overall view. "Intervening too early will alter its course, and altering its course will shift the events that follow. I'll only watch. I won't touch it."

"Then what do we do now?"

"Lay the groundwork."

Lin Yuan took another file from the drawer. The emblem of the East Asia Strategic Intelligence Bureau was printed on its cover.

"Have Ye Qingluan deploy passive listening buoys under the guise of search and rescue in the three resupply zones the Archangel may pass through. No transmissions, reception only. Use civilian-grade models without East Asian military markings."

"How long can the search-and-rescue cover hold?"

"The debris cloud from the Heliopolis explosion has spread far enough that at least six civilian rescue organizations have mobilized. East Asia placing a few buoys in nearby space sectors won't draw suspicion."

Sheng Lan made a note in her memorandum.

"Director, should we create personnel files for the Archangel's crew?"

"Was preliminary information attached to Ye Qingluan's report?"

Sheng Lan pulled three pages of attachments from the bottom of the classified document.

"Captain Murrue Ramius, United Army lieutenant, no combat experience. Before the Heliopolis incident, she was only a technical officer. Executive officer Natarle Badgiruel, a strict disciplinarian who spoke by regulations and fought by regulations. The ace pilot aboard is Mu La Flaga, formerly of the Eagle MA unit, a United Army major with the longest combat record."

"The fourth person."

Sheng Lan turned to the final page.

"Kira Yamato. Registered as an Orb immigrant and a student at Heliopolis Industrial Academy. During the Heliopolis incident, he was drafted to pilot the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam. He is currently the Archangel's only MS pilot."

Her voice paused for a beat.

"Director, there are contradictions in this man's identity profile. Orb civilian registration, student status, yet he survived fighting ZAFT redcoats in a G Weapons prototype with no preparation at all."

"He's an Ultimate Coordinator."

Sheng Lan's fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the page.

"Confirmed?"

"Confirmed. His genetic modification level far exceeds the standards of existing Coordinators. Reaction speed, spatial perception, learning ability, system compatibility—all of them are top-tier."

Lin Yuan shut down the route map. The screen went dark, and the desk lamp carved a hard edge across his face.

"Kira Yamato, Athrun Zala, Mu La Flaga, Murrue Ramius. Those four people and one ship will appear at no fewer than five key battlefields that reshape the Earth Sphere over the next ten months."

Sheng Lan closed the attachments.

"What does the director want?"

"A channel of contact. We don't need to use it now, but when I need it, it must exist."

"Who will be the contact point?"

"Mu La Flaga. He's the only one of the four with long-term combat experience. He has a relationship of trust with the United Army's upper ranks, but after the Heliopolis incident, that trust will gradually be worn away. When it reaches its breaking point, he'll need a backup channel that doesn't go through United Army high command."

Sheng Lan closed her memorandum and stood.

"Can Qingluan handle it?"

"Tell her to focus on surveillance. Don't alert either the Archangel or ZAFT. The buoy data is to be transmitted back in real time, but all analysis will remain within the 811 Institute."

Sheng Lan walked to the door, but Lin Yuan called after her.

"Sheng Lan."

"Director."

"There's a teenager aboard the Archangel. War dragged him into the cockpit, and he's using a power he doesn't even understand to shield an entire shipful of people from bullets."

His fingers rested against the edge of the dark screen, his fingertips lightly brushing across the glass.

"One day, someone will ask me why I didn't save him when I first made contact with the Archangel."

Sheng Lan stood by the door, her hand on the handle.

"How will the director answer?"

"I'll say that he's more useful alive on that ship than under protection at the 811 Institute."

Sheng Lan pulled open the door.

The corridor lights were a glaring white. After taking three steps out, she turned back.

"Director, once the listening buoys are deployed, the first batch of data should arrive within forty-eight hours."

"One more thing."

"Go on."

"Athrun Zala's call sign appearing in the pursuit communications means the Rau Le Creuset Team's attacks on the Archangel will continue escalating. Before this ship reaches Earth's atmosphere, it will go through at least three or four more engagements."

Lin Yuan rose and switched off the desk lamp.

"I want to see the communications data from every one of them."