Time flew by in a flash~
In the blink of an eye, it was CE 71.
January 15th. Fighting intensified along the Tropic of Cancer front in the Pacific, and Z.A.F.T attacked the Asian Republic's Kaohsiung Spaceport.
At the same time, Noer was living quite comfortably within Cruze's team—
January 20th. On Heliopolis, the GAT-X series and a new type of battleship were secretly rolled out.
January 21st.
Noer walked into Cruze's office...
"You wanted to see me?" Noer walked into Cruze's office and casually poured himself a cup of tea.
"You don't seem to have had anything particularly important to do lately?" Cruze was not annoyed by this, or rather, he had already grown accustomed to Noer's way of doing things.
"Who says? I'm also working part-time in mecha maintenance! I've got plenty to do!" Noer quickly defended himself.
"Is that so?" Cruze looked Noer up and down.
"Of course!" Noer replied without even blinking.
In truth, Noer had indeed been living rather comfortably lately.
Cruze's team held an exceptional status and generally only carried out special missions.
And special missions naturally called for elites—those in red uniforms! In other words, Athrun and the others.
With the red uniforms taking the lead, a little Green uniform like Noer naturally had no one keeping an eye on him. He could wander around as he pleased and leave fighting until later.
At other times, because he got along extremely well with Cruze, Athrun, and the others, no one else found it easy to order him around.
Yzak had wanted to put Noer to work, but Noer had very shrewdly chosen to take on part-time mecha maintenance work. After all, he had spent so... so much time in the Mecha Maintenance Class.
He even had records to prove it!
One thing led to another, and Noer somehow became one of Cruze's team's idle hands. His days could not have been more comfortable.
"Is that so? But a mecha mechanic's salary probably isn't enough to keep paying for your medication." As the team captain, Cruze had naturally seen everything Noer had been doing.
Moreover, other team members had more or less mentioned to him that Noer's presence was affecting the others' morale.
"Well... don't I also do MS Piloting?" Noer's expression changed slightly as he hurriedly defended himself.
"Is that so? But you haven't had any deployment records in your recent missions." Cruze continued.
"Well, isn't it because mecha maintenance has been keeping me too busy?" Noer replied.
"Then this month's pay will be calculated according to a mecha mechanic's salary." Cruze continued.
"No, no, no. Let's calculate it according to MS pay."
Noer panicked. It did not matter if others lost a month's wages, but if he lost his salary, he might very well be done for.
Because he had graduated from ZAFT Military Academy, PLANT considered him an adult capable of taking responsibility for himself. As such, he now had to repay the debts he had incurred earlier and cover the costs of future medication.
And the prices of those two things... were just a tiny bit high.
Because he was an MS pilot, his current salary could only barely cover them. It was essentially gone the moment he received it.
"Hehe, you must have experienced what it feels like to go without medication in private, right?" Though Cruze phrased it as a question, his words were filled with certainty.
Noer's expression stiffened slightly. As a curious boy, he had naturally experienced that agonizing feeling of wanting to live and die.
After all, when he could not earn money, he could only save it. Besides, Noer had always felt that Cruze had exaggerated the medication's side effects, and he did not entirely believe him.
So, while attending ZAFT Military Academy, he had once delayed taking his medicine by roughly half a day.
The result... was that Noer finally learned what hellish torment truly meant.
First came unbearable itching all over his body, even his scalp itched. Then came soreness and numbness throughout his body, as though every tendon had been pulled taut.
After the two sensations tormented him together for a while, intense pain and dizziness spread throughout his body. His thoughts froze, leaving only one impulse in his mind: find the medication.
But less than fifteen minutes after that thought arose, his entire body became paralyzed. He could no longer feel his limbs, as though someone had broken his spine, yet the pain, numbness, and itching remained.
He could only lie on the floor and wail soundlessly. Fortunately, after several minutes, he barely regained control of his limbs and managed to grit his teeth and put the medication within arm's reach into his mouth.
After that incident, Noer began carrying multiple doses of medication with him to ensure he would never be left without it again.
"I have a mission I want to assign you. If you can complete it, I will give you an extra month's worth of medication."
Cruze watched Noer's gradually stiffening expression and smiled silently. Sure enough, this guy had tried it himself in private.
That was good too. It saved him the trouble of wasting more breath.
If Noer did not go, this deal would truly be somewhat troublesome.
"An extra month's worth of medication?"
Noer's pupils shrank slightly. According to the experiential data from the PLANT research institute, he would only need to take the medication for around a year before reducing the dosage, and at most two years before returning to normal.
An extra month's worth of medication was already a great deal.
"Want to give it a try?" Cruze asked.
"Can you tell me what the mission is?"
When one was under another's roof, one had no choice but to bow one's head. Noer truly could not endure that kind of torment. Cruze's description of it as a peaceful death was not an exaggeration at all.
And it was an extra month's worth of medication. That meant... what was the difference between this and getting a month's worth of medication for free?
"We have received reliable intelligence that the Earth Alliance seems to be developing a rather nice little toy. I need you to go over and confirm it." Cruze explained.
"That's it?" Noer was stunned. I thought it was going to be something incredible.
"That is all. Isn't it simple?" Cruze smiled.
"Are you sure you aren't lying to me? I really just need to confirm the intelligence?" Noer found it hard to believe. It sounded far too simple.
It could even be said to be simple to the point of being suspicious.
"When have I ever lied to you?" Cruze asked with a shrug.
"Uh... fine! I'll take it!"
After thinking it over carefully, Noer realized that was true. Cruze's credibility was quite dependable. At the very least, after being around him for so long, the man had never lied to him.
"Then tomorrow, take a shuttle directly to Orb's Heliopolis colony satellite. Someone will meet you there." As Cruze spoke, he handed over a chip reader.
"Mm, mm!?"
"Going to Orb's colony satellite!?"
CE 71, January 22nd—
The vast universe often gave people a sense of mystery, its boundless darkness studded with diamond-like stars.
A shuttle dragged a long trail through the darkness.
"Mom, look at that. It's so pretty~~"
"Do you like it?"
"Yeah!"
"Hehe, as long as you like it."
"We finally escaped that terrifying place."
"I heard Kaohsiung is about to be taken by Z.A.F.T?"
"No way, is the Earth Alliance really that useless?"
"I don't think so either. The Earth Alliance isn't exactly helpless."
"But Z.A.F.T's forces really are strong. Kaohsiung probably won't hold out much longer."
"Surely not?"
"Forget it, forget it. Why are we talking about this? It has nothing to do with us anyway."
"That's true. We're a neutral nation. Z.A.F.T isn't going to come start a war with us, right?"
"Oh, right, did you guys watch that concert the other day?"
"What concert?"
"The songstress Lacus. That figure, that face, that voice... tsk, she's simply incredible!"
"Brother, if we're talking about this, I'm not sleepy anymore!"
"..."
Inside the shuttle, countless well-dressed men and women discussed all kinds of national affairs. Naturally, the conflict between Z.A.F.T and the Earth Alliance was foremost among them.
And if one looked closely, one would notice that when they discussed the war between the two sides, there was not the slightest trace of unease or worry on their faces. What they showed instead was mostly calm detachment.
Before long, amid everyone's chatter, the shuttle arrived at its destination—the Heliopolis colony satellite of the neutral nation Orb.
"Tap."
Ten minutes later, outside the airport on Heliopolis.
A young man carrying a shoulder bag and dressed in black civilian clothes stood by the roadside, gazing bitterly at the bustling city.
That man was none other than Noel Cassia.
Before you continue