Beyond the Song

"It was a key that could reshape PLANT's political landscape."

As Lin Yuan said this, Lacus was in Xuanwu Three's living quarters, writing her statement.

Chen Linhai had waited outside for forty minutes.

When the hatch opened, Lacus emerged holding a sheet of paper. Her handwriting was neat, the spacing even. Every line bore traces of revision, with some words crossed out and rewritten twice.

"It's finished."

Chen Linhai took the page and gave it a quick scan. He made no comment on its contents, only confirmed one thing.

"Miss Clyne, the recording environment is ready. The background is a standard neutral-colored wall. It won't reveal the ship's internal layout."

"Thank you."

When Lacus entered the recording room, she smoothed her hair. She wore no makeup, and she was still dressed in the pale gown she had been wearing when she was rescued.

Standing before the camera, she went over the statement in her mind, then set the paper outside the frame.

The red light came on.

"My name is Lacus Clyne."

Her voice held none of a songstress's softness, nor did she deliberately lend it force.

"I am currently under the protection of the East Asian Republic, safe and free. I am making this statement of my own free will. No one has coerced or instructed me."

"My departure from PLANT involved recent political events. I will not describe the circumstances in detail here, but I wish to make one point clear: my safety must not become a reason for any party to expand military operations."

Her gaze paused on the camera for a beat.

"I ask every political faction in PLANT not to take any action that may cause further civilian casualties in the name of searching for me or protecting me. Peace is not won by pointing guns at one another."

She paused there, lips drawing together slightly as though weighing whether she should add the final sentence.

"At the same time, I condemn any act of political persecution against one's own citizens in the name of peace and justice."

The red light went out.

Chen Linhai listened to the entire recording from outside the room, then pressed the communications key.

"Director, recording complete. One minute and twenty-four seconds in total. In the final sentence, she added an implicit criticism of the Zala Faction."

Lin Yuan's voice returned over the encrypted channel.

"Don't change a single word. Release it as she wrote it."

After being encrypted and packaged, the signal was routed through a relay node at the East Asian Space Reconnaissance Station and injected as an anonymous broadcast onto three separate frequencies: the public frequency of the PLANT Civilian News Network, the Earth Alliance's general monitoring band, and an encrypted frequency whose access method was known only to core members of PLANT's Moderate Faction.

Four hours later, feedback began pouring in.

On the terminal screens of the 811 Research Institute's communications hub, Zhao Wendi sorted the intercepted reactions into three columns.

The left column was marked PLANT Internal.

In the Moderate Faction councilors' encrypted private-channel communications, quotations of key phrases from Lacus's statement appeared. At least four independent sources confirmed that the faction's senior leadership was circulating the full text internally.

The Zala Faction Security Committee convened an emergency meeting within an hour of the statement's release. Fragments of intercepted communications included phrases such as "under East Asian influence" and "being exploited," but there was no public rebuttal.

The middle column was marked Atlantic Federation.

Jonathan Pierce's news program made a last-minute change to its topic in the episode broadcast after the statement's release. A piece prepared to keep pushing the East Asian threat theory was pulled and replaced with vaguely worded coverage acknowledging that Lacus herself had declared she was acting voluntarily and was safe.

The reason was simple: the full statement contained one sentence—"I condemn any act of political persecution against one's own citizens in the name of peace and justice." It pointed not only at the Zala Faction's raid on the Clyne Faction, but also applied to Blue Cosmos's systematic discrimination against Coordinator civilians. If Atlantic Federation media continued hyping the kidnapping theory, they would only push that sentence before more people.

The right column was marked Other Forces.

A brief internal memo appeared on the United Emirates of Orb's diplomatic channel, assessing the impact of Lacus's statement on the public opinion climate among neutral factions. Its wording was cautious and it took no position, but attention itself was a signal.

Zhao Wendi compiled the three columns of analysis into a one-page report and handed it to Sheng Lan.

After reading it, Sheng Lan folded the report and entered Lin Yuan's analysis room.

"Director, the initial public opinion feedback is in."

"Conclusion?"

"Lacus's statement achieved three effects. First, it blocked the Atlantic Federation from continuing to hype the kidnapping theory. Second, the Zala Faction has been forced out of its offensive posture and into a defensive one. They now have to devote effort to explaining why the Clyne Faction gathering was raided. Third, the Moderate Faction has gained a point around which it can mobilize internally."

Lin Yuan lifted his hand from the desk.

"The third point is the key. The Moderate Faction previously did not dare openly oppose the Zala Faction because no sufficiently influential figure had stepped forward to endorse its position. This statement from Lacus was equivalent to firing the first shot for them, and she fired it as a pacifist. No one can accuse her of being bellicose."

Sheng Lan opened her memo and wrote down two lines.

"Director, Zhao Wendi made an additional discovery."

"Go on."

"Lacus's statement is beginning to be reposted spontaneously across PLANT's civilian networks. Within four hours, the repost count exceeded that of the Zala Faction Security Committee's official notice."

Lin Yuan lightly tapped a finger against the edge of the desk.

"She didn't say a single good word about East Asia in her statement."

"No. She only thanked the rescue itself. She did not even use the words East Asia in a context of trustworthiness."

"That is ten times more useful than speaking well of us. For a PLANT citizen to take a neutral attitude toward East Asia in her statement is more acceptable to Coordinator civilians than if she expressed gratitude toward East Asia."

Sheng Lan drew a horizontal line in the corner of her memo.

"Director, did Lacus write it that way deliberately?"

"What do you think?"

Sheng Lan closed the memo.

"She's sixteen."

"At sixteen, Siegel Clyne's daughter had already attended three official PLANT diplomatic banquets and delivered private negotiation messages for her father at two of them. Age does not equal immaturity."

The communications terminal rang.

Chen Linhai's voice came from Xuanwu Three.

"Director, Lacus Clyne is requesting a call."

"Put her through."

Lacus's voice came through the terminal. Her tone was slightly more relaxed than it had been during the recording, but only slightly.

"Mr. Lin Yuan, has the statement been released?"

"Four hours ago. Feedback is already coming in."

"What did the Zala Faction say?"

"They have not publicly refuted it. But their internal meetings have included negative assessments of you, with their characterization focused on you being influenced by outside forces."

Lacus was silent for two seconds.

"As expected."

"Are you afraid?"

"No. But I have a new question."

"Ask it."

Lacus lowered her voice by half a note. It no longer carried the rhythm she had used before the camera; it became the cadence of a conversation between two people.

"Mr. Lin Yuan, after East Asia establishes the order you speak of, if one day someone from PLANT disagrees with your methods and openly opposes you by peaceful means, how would you handle it?"

The sound of fingers tapping a desk came through the communications terminal.

Lin Yuan's answer came a beat more slowly than usual.

"You are asking whether East Asia's order will permit dissenting voices to exist?"

"Yes."

"It will. But there are conditions."

"What conditions?"

"The means of opposition cannot be taking up weapons to massacre civilians. They cannot be activating world-ending weapons to threaten all humanity. They cannot be using genetic superiority theories to define half of humanity as inferior beings. Above that line, you may oppose me. Below it, there is no room for negotiation."

Lacus's breathing paused for an instant on the channel.

"What if I oppose you above that line?"

Lin Yuan did not answer immediately.

Three seconds later, his voice came through. Its warmth was half a degree higher than his usual tone of command, but only half a degree.

"Then I will spend time trying to convince you. If I cannot, I will have your opposition entered into the record and publicly archived."

Lacus did not press further.

Before the communication ended, she spoke one final sentence.

"Mr. Lin Yuan, in the materials I read, my father's peace proposal was rejected eleven times. The reasons for rejecting every proposal were in the archives, but not one person had seriously debated him before rejecting them."

The equipment's background static filled two seconds of silence on the channel.

"You are willing to seriously debate with me. That matters more than the statement itself."

Before Lin Yuan shut down the terminal, Sheng Lan stood at the door of the analysis room, clutching her memo.

"Director."

"Go on."

"She was testing your bottom line, while also leaving herself room to oppose you in the future."

Lin Yuan withdrew his hand from the terminal.

"I know."

Sheng Lan looked at him.

"You aren't worried?"

Lin Yuan turned his chair toward the tactical screen. The density of intercepted communications from the direction of PLANT was still climbing.

"A sixteen-year-old girl, three days after being rescued by an unfamiliar power, disrupted the rhythm of both the Zala Faction and the Atlantic Federation with a single statement. At the same time, she did not offer East Asia one word of praise, and she even left herself room to oppose me in advance."

Sheng Lan's pen stopped over the memo.

"So, Director, are you worried or not?"

"I'm not worried."

Lin Yuan brought Ye Qingluan's next intelligence summary onto the screen.

"This person may become my greatest counterbalance in the future. But an ally I need to subdue with force is far less useful than one who chooses of her own will to stand on my side. Let her keep watching, keep thinking, keep asking."

Sheng Lan pulled the door shut behind her, her boot heels striking out an even rhythm in the corridor.

In the corner of the latest page of her memo, she wrote a name: Lacus.

There was no question mark beneath the name. She drew an equals sign instead, leaving the space on its right blank.