Noer's Helplessness

"Beep beep—"

Just as Noer stared at Heliopolis and began questioning his life, his communicator suddenly rang.

Noer glanced around, silently pressed the answer button on his earpiece, and said, "Who is this?"

"Hello, is this Mr. Noel Cassia?" An unfamiliar man's voice came through the earpiece.

"This is he," Noer replied.

"Please wait—"

The man hung up immediately after speaking. Before Noer could wonder what was going on, a car horn sounded from the roadside ahead.

Seeing Noer look over, a middle-aged man in sunglasses opened the car door and stepped out.

He then raised his right hand, held up two fingers, and waved at Noer.

Noer checked the man's license plate. After confirming the number was correct, he adjusted his shoulder bag and walked toward the sedan.

If he had not gotten it wrong, this was the person assigned to receive him—the so-called intelligence provider.

Soon, Noer reached the sedan with his bag in hand, opened the door, and got in.

"Hello, Mr. Noer. This is my identity verification chip."

The middle-aged man took the driver's seat, pulled out a small box containing a chip from his jacket, and handed it over.

Without wasting words, Noer took out the identity verifier Cruze had given him and inserted the chip.

At the same time, the middle-aged man pressed a finger against the identification device.

[Identity verification successful!]

About three seconds later, a synthesized mechanical prompt sounded in Noer's earpiece.

Noer silently removed the chip and handed it back.

"This is some of the intelligence we have gathered. You may take a look." The middle-aged man put away the chip, took a stack of paper documents from a storage compartment beside him, and passed them over.

"Paper?" Noer accepted the documents, momentarily stunned.

This was already the space age, and people still recorded intelligence on paper? Still, he had to admit, the feel of these paper documents was strangely comforting.

The middle-aged man said nothing. He merely started the car and drove Noer in circles around Heliopolis.

Seeing that the man was unwilling to say more, Noer tactfully lowered his head and began reading.

Most of the intelligence consisted of dates and place names, as well as information on various people, technical terms, and factions.

The names that appeared most often were—Orb, Akatsuki Industries, and Project G.

"Damn—"

Noer had still held onto a sliver of hope, but when he reached the third-to-last page, reality finally crushed it.

The title on the page read clearly: Orb Akatsuki Industries and the Earth Alliance jointly develop a new MS model (codename G), with considerable progress already achieved.

The second-to-last document contained no text at all, only a red-and-white photograph. Though it was blurry and showed only half the subject, it was more than enough for Noer.

Because he knew the thing in that photo all too well.

"Is there something wrong?"

Seeing the change in Noer's expression, the middle-aged man could not help asking.

"Nothing. Thank you for the intelligence."

Noer reined in his emotions and silently placed the documents into his shoulder bag.

What was wrong? It was not a matter of one thing being wrong—everything was wrong!

The photo showed only half of it, and the lighting was blurry, leaving only a rough outline visible.

But those long red-and-white legs alone were enough to reveal its identity.

Looking across the entire world of SEED, aside from the Archangel, what other space battleship had legs like that?

Noer did not remember the plot of SEED, but there was no way he could forget this warship that had been so active in both seasons.

Seeing Noer put the intelligence into his bag, the middle-aged man silently turned the car around.

Two minutes later, he stopped outside an Aohua Hotel.

He got out, walked around to the front passenger side, opened the door for Noer, and handed him a room key. "This is the room prepared for you in advance. I wish you a pleasant journey!"

"A pleasant journey? Heh, I'll take your good wishes."

Noer accepted the key card and got out with a bitter smile. A pleasant journey?

If Cruze had not lured me here with a month's worth of medicine, you could beat me to death and I still would not have come to this damned place!

No, if I had known the Archangel was here, then even if you gave me a year's worth of medicine, I... actually, I might consider it.

Led by a hotel attendant, Noer arrived at his own luxurious room.

Yet, faced with a lavish hotel room unlike anything he had seen in either life, Noer felt not the slightest joy. There was only deep exhaustion and confusion.

He tossed aside his shoulder bag and fell stiffly onto the bed.

The thing he had feared most had happened. He had truly become entangled in the fighting on the front lines.

According to the intelligence they had provided, the object in the photograph was indeed the Archangel. Judging from its condition and the intelligence Cruze had given him, the Archangel had already been completed.

And if the Archangel was complete, that meant the five MS units had been completed as well.

Add to that its current location—an Orb colonial satellite.

Without a doubt, this was where the animated plot of SEED began, and the border between the two factions.

"Beep beep—"

The communicator rang, interrupting Noer's thoughts.

"How are things?" Cruze's voice came through the communicator.

"I have already made contact with the terminal personnel," Noer replied.

"Then your next mission is to verify whether the intelligence is true. It would be best if you can provide photographic or documentary evidence. Once you obtain sufficient proof, you must report it immediately!" Cruze's tone was unusually serious.

"Yes!"

Noer might be lazy, but that did not mean he was stupid. He could still tell when he could slack off and when he needed to be serious.

But verify the intelligence... was there really any need to verify it?

And photographic evidence—where the hell was he supposed to find that?

"The gift has already been delivered to you. Whether you can get your hands on it depends on your Atlantic Federation."

January 23. On the Atlantic front, Kaohsiung fell. At the same time, Noer slung a camera and a button-sized hidden camera over himself, left the hotel, and headed toward the Institute of Engineering.

After thinking deeply through the night, Noer ultimately decided to give it a try. After all, it was a month's worth of medicine, and that stuff was expensive.

January 24.

In the depths of space, a thousand miles from Heliopolis, the Nazca-class battleship Vesalius, under Cruze's command, was slowly heading toward PLANT.

"What the hell is this? How did even false intelligence turn up!"

Inside the changing room, Yzak, who had just returned to the battleship after piloting an MS, angrily threw his clothes onto the sofa.

The others were long used to Yzak's tendency to make a scene, so they simply pretended not to see it.

"By the way, where did that kid Noer go?" Latis, who had just changed clothes, suddenly realized he had not seen Noer for quite some time.

"That kid definitely ran off somewhere to fool around again!"

Yzak cursed, "That guy does not look like a soldier at all!"

"Like a soldier?" Diakka, who was preparing to put away his clothes nearby, looked as though he had heard something unbelievable. "Yzak, you actually know what a soldier is?"

"What the hell do you mean by that, Diakka!" Yzak was not an idiot. He could tell there was something off about those words.

"Isn't it the truth? In every operation, you're the one who causes the most trouble! We always have to come clean up after your ass!" Diakka shot back.

Yzak was too hot-tempered and easily acted on impulse, which made coordination within the squad prone to problems.

Things had been fine when Noer joined them on missions. Although Noer only wore a Green uniform, that was because his fundamentals and theoretical knowledge were abysmal.

But when it came purely to MS combat ability, Diakka did not believe he could beat Noer.

The only ones here who could reliably defeat him were Athrun and Nicol. Even Yzak might not be able to do it.

So back then, it did not matter if Yzak refused to cooperate. The team was strong enough that it made little difference.

But now that Noer had gone off slacking somewhere, the problem had immediately surfaced.

"When have I ever caused trouble? Didn't we complete all the missions in the end?" Yzak perfectly demonstrated what it meant to be stubborn to the bitter end.

"That was because the enemies we encountered were too weak." Diakka showed Yzak absolutely no mercy.

"So you're saying I'm not good enough?"

"Obviously. Don't you know what kind of person you are?"

"Diakka! I've put up with you for a long time!"

"You think I'm afraid of you?"

"I—"

[All five of you, get to the bridge when you're ready!]

Just as Diakka and Yzak were about to come to blows, Cruze's voice suddenly sounded from the loudspeaker nearby.