The First Mission

Time flies by~

In the blink of an eye, it's CE--71.

January 15th, fighting intensified on the Pacific Tropic of Cancer front, and Z.A.F.T attacked the Kaohsiung Spaceport in the Asian Republic.

At the same time, Noer was quite comfortable staying within Cruze's team--

January 20th, in Heliopolis, the GAT-X series and new warships were secretly rolled out.

January 21st.

Noer walked into Cruze's office······

"You looking for me?" Noer entered Cruze's office and, without ceremony, poured himself a cup of tea.

"You haven't had anything particularly noteworthy happening lately?" Cruze wasn't annoyed by this, or rather, he was already accustomed to Noer's way of doing things.

"Who says? I'm also a part-time mecha mechanic! I'm swamped with work!" Noer quickly defended himself upon hearing this.

"Is that so?" Cruze looked Noer up and down.

"Of course!" Noer replied without blinking.

Actually, Noer had been quite comfortable during this period.

Cruze's team held an exceptional position, basically only undertaking special missions.

And special missions would naturally require the deployment of elites—the Red Uniforms! That is, Athrun and the others.

With the Red Uniforms out front, no one paid any attention to Noer, the little Green Uniform. He could just wander around as he pleased, and fighting could wait.

During other times, because he had excellent relationships with Cruze, Athrun, and the others, it made it difficult for others to order him around.

Yzak really wanted to boss Noer around, but Noer cunningly chose to be a part-time mecha mechanic. After all, he had been in the Mecha Maintenance Class for... for quite some time.

He was someone with a record!

Through this process, Noer inexplicably became a leisurely member of Cruze's team, and his life couldn't have been more comfortable.

"Is that so? But the salary of a mecha mechanic probably isn't enough to continue paying for your medication fees." As captain, Cruze naturally saw everything Noer was up to.

Moreover, other members had also mentioned to him, more or less, that Noer's presence was affecting the mindset of the other team members.

"That... I still have MS Piloting, don't I." Noer's expression changed slightly, and he quickly defended himself.

"Is that so? But you haven't had any combat records in the last few times." Cruze continued to ask.

"Well, it's just that mecha maintenance has been too busy." Noer replied.

"Then your salary this month will be calculated based on mecha maintenance wages." Cruze continued.

"No, no, no, let's still calculate it based on MS Piloting."

Noer panicked. It didn't matter to others if they lost a month's salary, but if he lost his salary, he might just be done for.

Because he had graduated from the ZAFT Military Academy, PLANT automatically considered him an adult with the ability to bear responsibility. Therefore, he not only had to repay the debts he had incurred earlier but also cover the costs of future medication purchases.

And the prices of these two things... were a little bit high.

Because he was an MS pilot, his current salary was just barely enough to cover them; it was basically gone by the time he received it.

"Heh heh, you must have privately experienced what it's like to run out of medication, haven't you." Although Cruze asked a question, his words were full of certainty.

Noer's expression turned serious upon hearing this. As a boy full of curiosity, he had certainly experienced that feeling of wanting to live but not being able to.

After all, when money couldn't be earned, it had to be saved. Moreover, Noer always felt that Cruze was exaggerating the side effects of the medication and didn't quite believe him.

So, when he was studying at the ZAFT Military Academy, he once delayed taking his medication by about half a day.

The result... Noer finally understood what hellish torment was.

First, he felt an unbearable itch all over his body, even his scalp was itchy. Then came the numbness and soreness all over, as if every muscle was tensed.

After these two conditions interacted for a while, he experienced severe pain and dizziness all over, his thoughts frozen. His mind had only one thought: to find the medication.

But this thought had barely formed for fifteen minutes before he quickly became paralyzed all over, unable to feel his limbs, as if his spine had been broken. However, the pain and all sorts of soreness, numbness, and itching still persisted.

He could only lie on the ground and wail silently. Fortunately, after about a few minutes, he could barely regain control of his limbs, allowing him to grit his teeth and put the medication, which was within reach, into his mouth.

After that incident, Noer began to carry multiple doses of medication with him to ensure that he wouldn't run out.

"I have a mission I want to assign to you. If you can complete this mission, I will give you an extra month's worth of medication."

Cruze looked at Noer's gradually stiffening expression and smiled silently. As expected, this guy had experienced it himself.

But this was good; it saved him the trouble of having to explain further.

If Noer didn't go, this deal would have been quite troublesome.

"An extra month's worth of medication?"

Noer's pupils contracted slightly. According to the experiential intelligence from the PLANT research institute, he could reduce his medication dosage after about a year of taking it, and recover to normal in at most two years.

An extra month's worth of medication was a lot.

"Want to give it a try?" Cruze continued to ask.

"Can you tell me what the mission is?"

When you're under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head. Noer really couldn't take that kind of torment anymore; Cruze's talk of euthanasia wasn't an exaggeration at all.

And an extra month of medicine... meaning this... what's the difference between this and getting a month's worth of medicine?

"We've received confirmed intelligence that the Earth Alliance is developing a rather interesting new toy, and we need you to go confirm it," Cruze explained.

"That's it?" Noer was stunned. He thought it was going to be something earth-shattering.

"That's right, isn't it simple?" Cruze chuckled.

"Are you sure you're not tricking me? Is it really just to confirm some intel?" Noer was a bit skeptical; it sounded too simple.

It was almost too simple.

"When have I ever lied to you?" Cruze asked, spreading his hands.

"Uh... Alright! I accept!"

Noer thought about it carefully. It was true; Cruze's credibility was quite commendable. At least, in all the time they'd known each other, the guy hadn't lied to him.

"Then tomorrow, you'll take a shuttle directly to the Heliopolis colony in Orb's territory. Someone will meet you there when you arrive," Cruze said, handing him a chip reader.

"Huh? Huh!?"

"To a colony in Orb!?"

C.E. 71, January 22nd--

The vastness of space often imbued people with a sense of mystery. The boundless darkness was adorned with diamond-like stars.

A shuttle, leaving a long trail behind it, streaked across the darkness.

"Mom, look at that! It's so pretty~"

"Do you like it?"

"Yeah!"

"Heh, I'm glad you do."

"Finally, we've escaped that terrifying place."

"I heard Kaohsiung is about to be captured by Z.A.F.T.?"

"No way, is the Earth Alliance that incompetent?"

"I don't think so either. After all, the Earth Alliance isn't a pushover."

"But Z.A.F.T.'s strength is undeniable. Kaohsiung probably won't hold out for long."

"It probably won't come to that."

"Ah, forget it, why talk about this? It has nothing to do with us anyway."

"You're right. We're a neutral country. Z.A.F.T. can't just come and start a war with us."

"Oh, speaking of which, did you guys watch that concert the other day?"

"What concert?"

"The diva, Lacus! Her figure, her looks, her voice... sigh... simply divine!"

"Brother, if you're going to talk about that, I'm not sleepy anymore!"

"..."

Inside the shuttle, countless well-dressed men and women were discussing various national affairs. The conflict between Z.A.F.T. and the Earth Alliance was, naturally, the primary topic.

Moreover, if one observed closely, one would notice that when they discussed the war between the two sides, there was no hint of unease or worry on their faces; instead, there was a sense of calm detachment.

Soon, amidst the chatter and discussions, the shuttle quickly arrived at its destination—the Heliopolis colony in the neutral country of Orb.

"Thump."

Ten minutes later, outside the airport in Heliopolis.

A young man in plain black clothes, carrying a messenger bag, stood on the roadside, looking at the bustling city with a bitter expression.

The person who had arrived was none other than Noel Cassia.