Escapee?

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Noer stubbornly refused to admit anything and simply plopped back down.

"You don't agree?"

Flaga had expected Noer's reaction, so he sat there and continued, "Now, let me guess why you came here."

"Heh." Noer gave a cold laugh. Guess? It'd be a miracle if you could guess it!

I'm confused myself, and you...

"You wandered in by accident, didn't you?" Flaga made another startling guess.

Noer froze after hearing that. Was this guy really that uncanny?

"Want me to guess why you came here too?" Flaga had been watching Noer's expression the entire time.

In truth, it was hardly strange that he had figured it out. Noer was simply too close to the matter to see it clearly. After all, for someone with such an obvious military bearing, what other reason could there be besides wandering in by mistake?

After Flaga's consecutive shocking guesses, Noer no longer knew what to say.

"You didn't think I could read minds, did you?" Flaga continued.

Noer's expression stiffened.

"Why aren't you denying it?" Flaga asked again.

Noer simply rolled his eyes at him, turned over, and lay down with his back facing the outside of the bed, leaving Flaga with a cool-looking silhouette.

What else is there for me to say in this situation?

Still, this guy actually guessed that I... No, wait!

A flash of insight suddenly struck Noer, and he realized something was off.

Since Flaga had already guessed his identity, why had he come here at all?

Had he spent all this time talking to him just to confirm who he was?

There was no need for that. At any other time, perhaps.

But under these special circumstances, there was no need for them to verify his identity at all. Anything that could potentially threaten them had to be eliminated.

So either they would leave him here and ignore him until everything was over, then decide what to do.

Or they could be more direct and shoot him dead. Even if they killed the wrong person, it wouldn't matter. Was there any issue with the Earth Alliance killing a Coordinator?

No problem! In a world like this, killing him was just killing him. No one would say anything.

So why had Flaga said so much to him?

"So you're tacitly admitting that you're a ZAFT soldier?" Flaga had no choice but to continue asking.

Noer did not answer. He merely kept his back to Flaga and thought.

First of all, judging from Flaga's current attitude, even if his identity had been exposed, his safety still did not seem to be an issue.

So the question was, why would Flaga protect a soldier affiliated with ZAFT?

And in a situation like this, why had he not simply shot a ZAFT soldier like him, instead coming here privately to chat nonsense with him?

What was his purpose...

Beep, beep~

Whoosh~

Just then, the door opened again, and Captain Marlu and Lieutenant Junior Grade Baggage entered together.

"Why are you two here?" Flaga stared at the pair in surprise.

"Captain Mu La Flaga, I demand an explanation!"

Remembering the information she had just obtained through surveillance, Lieutenant Junior Grade Baggage suppressed her anger and questioned Flaga.

This man had actually concealed the facts instead of reporting them!

"Well, you..." Flaga was stunned, his eyes involuntarily darting toward Marlu. Didn't we agree that I would handle this?

Marlu silently turned her head away and refused to look at him.

"Heh, looks like your observation skills aren't much either."

Noer, who had been lying nearby, suddenly sneered and sat up. "Can't you even see the surveillance cameras?"

Smack!

Flaga slapped his forehead. He had been so focused on figuring out how to bluff Noer that he had overlooked the cameras.

"You damn Coordinator, take him..."

Lieutenant Junior Grade Baggage was about to order the soldiers to take Noer away when Marlu suddenly raised a hand to stop her and asked Noer, "So, you admit that you're a ZAFT soldier?"

"At this point, what is there left for me to hide? There's no point hiding it anymore."

Noer stood up from the bed, straightened his clothes, and held out his hands. "Go on. Kill me or carve me up, do whatever you want."

However, anyone looking closely would notice that Noer's expression was much calmer than before.

Special circumstances. Precisely because these were special circumstances, Flaga had come to talk nonsense with him. That was why he had said Noer had wandered in by accident... That had scared the life out of him!

"You damn ZAFT— I..."

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Baggage!"

Marlu's tone grew slightly firmer as she frankly told Lieutenant Junior Grade Baggage, "Actually, I was aware of this matter."

"Captain? You..." Lieutenant Junior Grade Baggage looked at Marlu and Flaga in disbelief. They knew?

The two of them had known that Noer was a ZAFT soldier?!

"Lieutenant Junior Grade, please wait a moment. This is not as simple as you think," Flaga said as he rose to his feet.

In fact, when he had come over, he had already spoken with Captain Marlu and told her his guesses and plans.

After all, although his rank was equal to Marlu's, Marlu was currently the captain of the Archangel, while he was merely a captain and soldier. Many matters required the captain's approval.

"Do you know what you're doing? He's a ZAFT soldier! He's the enemy!"

Lieutenant Junior Grade Baggage felt as though her worldview had shattered. She stood there and shouted in disbelief.

They were allowing a ZAFT soldier to remain aboard the warship under these circumstances. This...

"He's a former enemy."

As Flaga spoke, he turned to Noer and asked with burning eyes, "Am I right, deserter Noer?"

Flaga was no longer in the mood for idle chatter.

"Heh." Noer turned his head and smiled. That single laugh conveyed the bitterness and helplessness in his heart, mixed with a trace of sorrow.

It had to be said that when people faced the threat of death, there were two possibilities.

First: their minds went blank, and they waited to die.

Second: their brains overclocked, their thoughts accelerated, and even things they normally could not do became easy.

Noer was in the latter state.

After Flaga had given him this new persona, and after considering the Archangel's current predicament and the timing of their arrival,

Flaga's purpose was obvious. He wanted Noer to help them shake off Cruze's pursuit—or rather, he needed Noer's help.

It sounded ridiculous, but on second thought, it was not impossible to accept.

The Archangel currently had only one Strike Gundam and one Mobius in terms of combat strength, and its supplies were insufficient.

And what did Cruze have? Aside from those four new mobile suits, he had more than a dozen GINNs and two space warships.

One of them was even a high-speed warship no weaker than the Archangel.

Facing that kind of situation, if not for the Protagonist Halo, the Archangel would normally have been beaten until not even scraps remained, let alone returned to Earth.

But Flaga did not know that. So, in order to survive, he would surely do everything possible to increase the Archangel's combat strength. After all, only the living had the right to talk about anything else.

And Noer's identity happened to fit that need. Although it was only a guess, Flaga had no other choice in the current situation.

Still, while Noer could accept it, he could not understand one thing. Why did Flaga think he would help him? Wasn't he afraid Noer would turn on him halfway through and shoot him?

Was it just because Flaga believed he was a deserter?

That reason... was far too flimsy!

"A deserter?" Lieutenant Junior Grade Baggage was stunned, and the disgust in her gaze toward Noer deepened.

Being a Coordinator was bad enough, but he was even a deserter. As for whether it was true, did that really matter?

"So, after talking to me for so long, what exactly are you trying to say?" After hearing the identity Flaga had assigned him, Noer had roughly confirmed Flaga's intentions.

But he was curious about how Flaga intended to make him help.

And how Flaga could be certain that he would not choose to defect halfway through under these circumstances.

"So you acknowledge that you're a deserter?" Flaga continued to ask.

"Enough nonsense. Tell me, what exactly are you planning to do?"

Naturally, Noer would not cast aside the "protective charm" Flaga had arranged for him. As long as he could stay alive, forget being called a deserter—Flaga could call him anything.

I'll weigh it carefully. I'll do my best to write as much as I can!