Chapter 43: What? Orb Union Is Conquered Again?
It had been almost a week since Ade and Lacus had been under house arrest at the Torrington base. Although they are not prisoned, they are deprived of all means of communication, and they are accompanied by two soldiers whenever they leave their rooms. So in comparison, Ade prefers to be alone in his room every day - sometimes two.
According to Aker, the moon somehow received the news first after he was lost and notified the Earth Federation to assist in the rescue. After capturing images of the Eternal via spy satellites, the Earth Federation deduced the landing site and ordered the Torrington base to send a rescue force, and Aker was the first to find Ade in the search and rescue mission.
Because of his identity as the father of Gundam, Aker has had very high goodwill before meeting him.
Ade still vividly remembers Aker's line at the beginning, "As one of the two people I respect most, it is fate that you and I should meet like this in the vast Pacific Ocean!" And Lacus's slightly subtle expression after hearing this line.
By the way, the other person that Aker respects is Amuro Ray.
In Ade's opinion, Aker is quite cute, saying whatever comes to mind, dealing with him very easily, and occasionally uttering some pleasant lines.
And he is currently Ade's main source of information. For example, The moon government was very upset that the Federation was not willing to hand him over directly, and he showed Ade the video that Loran had released publicly. This is the first time Ade saw Loran so angry. A little warm in the heart? Indeed, but absolutely not in the gay means. After all, Loran is also male.
For example, he told Ade that Orb Union was conquered again. Huh, why say "again"?
But Aker is again a very principled person, strictly adhered to the discipline, and did not help Ade contact the outside world.
At the moment Ade is knocking on the laptop something only he can read, calculating the possibility of humans defeat ELS. Of course, the laptop's network card was removed. Lacus was sitting next to him, and although she couldn't understand what he was doing, she watched him silently.
The moment he saw Aker, he remembered who the father of the Coordinator was, and then he started to worry about ELS. As for expecting Setsuna to understand each other with ELS… first of all, does Setsuna really exist in this world? Secondly, who can make Gundam 00 in this world? Finally, what if ELS does not want to understand each other with human beings? Instead of counting on these completely nebulous things, you should count on yourself.
But the result of the deduction is not good. With the existing technology, it is almost impossible to defeat the ELS he remembered. Even Moonlight Butterfly is not 100% safe. He doesn't know whether the nanites of Moonlight Butterfly will disintegrate ELS first, or if ELS can erode the nanites first.
On the contrary, Ade is no longer astonished by the appearance of ELS. Whether there are one or two aliens, makes little difference. And he had probably figure out the structure of this world.
"Lacus, suppose there's a story like this." He closed his notebook and looked at the young girl beside him, "Every once in a while, a new and stronger enemy will pop up around the main character, and these enemies all have different background settings. What do you think of this story?"
"Hmm?" Lacus didn't understand the analogy and stretched out her fingers on her cheeks and tilted her head cutely, "Badly made-up story, right? Just simply to keep the plot going indefinitely. In the main character's opinion, this world should be discontinuous."
"Then let's add another setting, whenever a new enemy appears, the main character can always find proofs, indicating that the enemies were always there, and are not made up. What do you think in this case?"
"… the author's malice, right?" Lacus thought for a while to give an answer, "It's like the author is saying to the protagonist: it's not my fault, it's just that you didn't find it yourself."
Sure enough, Lacus also thought so. Ade nodded approvingly. According to this line of reasoning, there must be something else that will pop up after ELS.
At this point, there was a knock on the door, and after Ade gave permission, Aker walked in.
"Dr. Adrien, you are indeed in the room. Your daughter is also in excellent condition today!" Then he looked surprised as if he had just noticed Lacus beside Ade, "Miss Clyne is also with the Doctor today? I'm sorry, Dr. Adrien's presence has taken up all my sight, I can't believe I didn't notice you."
"Captain Aker, please don't mind." Lacus gave a polite smile, "It's also fun to watch Ade-san and yours interact."
The "your daughter" that Aker refers to here is V2, from another line after their meeting, "Is this the daughter of Dr. Adrien? What a beauty, I really want to have a kiss!" If other people hear this kind of word, they may have called the police.
After Ade was "protected" by the Federation, V2 was "taken care of" by the Federation army, but Aker promised him, "As a soldier, I can't judge what the Federation army does, but I will protect you and your daughter. This is my promise as a man!" These words were somehow particularly reassuring from Aker's mouth.
"Doctor, the Orb Union government-in-exile will be arriving at the base soon, want to come with me?" Aker extended an invitation to him at this point, "Of course, Miss Clyne can also come along."
Aker occasionally came to invite Ade to go out together, and the soldiers who were responsible for watching Ade would not follow at such times.
"That's great, let's leave immediately." Ade readily agreed, "I remember you saying only one ship ran out from Orb Union, and the administration building was destroyed by missiles, and Prime Minister Athha died on the spot?"
"That's right, the head of the government-in-exile is his daughter, Cagalli Yula Athha, who supposedly escaped at the time because she was in a private meeting with Commodore Kira Yamato. Also because of this, Commodore Yamato failed to organize an effective counterattack in the first place."
Ade can only let out a sigh, "It is always the destiny of every ACE to be involved in emotional entanglements …"
"That's too profound." Aker gave a thumbs up, "As a Virgo, I empathize."
After a while, the three arrived at the port, where a battleship finished docking just a short while ago. There is a row of officers on the shore, no wonder Captain Aker has time to accompany himself to hang out.
The gangway was lowered, and the ones walking in the front were indeed Cagalli and Kira. Cagalli actually has a good face, wearing a long dress with a sad look. Kira held her hand and also walked down the gangway to the Federation officers and started talking.
Looking at such Cagalli, Ade suddenly thought Lacus is actually in a similar situation, right? The loss of father, the loss of country, will she be touched by the scene? He worriedly looked at the young girl beside him, the girl noticed his line of sight, seemed to understand his meaning, sideways face to give him a sweet smile.
After watching for a while, everyone felt bored, because they can't hear anything at this distance. Graham sent Ade and Lacus back to their rooms and then left.
"What about the daughter of a politician …" Lacus looked thoughtful, "Ade-san, what do you think Miss Athha will do?"
"I guess she still wants to restore her country, but what can she do with only one ship?" He looked at Lacus and thought that she had really associated it with herself after all, "Do you think she has hope?"
"Hardly." Lacus shook her head and smiled as if she were laughing to herself, "Right now, the core of the government in exile is only two people: Miss Athha and Commodore Yamato, and the Federation will definitely do whatever to recruit Commodore Yamato and divide the people on that ship. I'm afraid that not everyone on the ship wants to restore the country. She may be able to sell herself to the Federation and form a puppet government, after all, there are still a lot of senior officials in the Federation like 'princess'."
"What would you do if you were Cagalli?" Ade was quite curious about this.
"Cagalli?" Lacus gave Ade a surprised look, "Does Ade-san like her type? But Miss Athha does look pretty good."
"…Sorry, I should say Miss Athha, not Cagalli." Women are so sensitive to name-calling, he vaguely remembered having a similar conversation with C.C., "She's not my type."
Lacus looked at him for a moment with a smile and returned to the original topic, "I would settle for marriage with Commodore Yamato as soon as possible if I were her, at least I have to settle down and have a backbone within the government in exile first."
But they are brother and sister, they can't be together… wait, the old Athha died directly this time, I wonder if he had told Cagalli the truth beforehand? If he hadn't, that would be interesting.
"But it would be inevitable to sign an insulted treaty with the Federation afterward. And if she doesn't want to see something happen, she can only pray that no one in the Federation is interested in her body." Lacus looked at Ade with a hand on her cheek and a smile on her face, "Instead of that, it would be better to sell her body to the moon. What do you say, Mr. Ade?"
After that day, Lacus became what she is now. What happened on the island was a little embarrassing, and at the time Lacus seemed a little out of control, and everyone was sensible enough not to mention it again. After that, Lacus continues to play cute, but also never cares to show her politician character, and occasionally will deliberately say something like this, which made him not know how to answer.
In general, it's like what she said before, she has become more "aggressive". For example, should he answer this question or not?
"Orb Union made their own death, they have to fend for themselves." The correct answer is to change the subject, "Let's think about our own affairs, His Highness Loran has said that, it is estimated that in a few days the Federation will hand over me to the moon."
After all, the moon government has Moonlight Butterfly.
He remembered again the news that Aker told him before he left. Tomorrow, the Federation army headquarters will send someone to the Torrington base to discuss with the Orb Union remnants. The so-called remnants actually mainly refer to Kira himself. In any case, the Federation wants to recruit such a strong combat force.
"Ade-san, the man who will come here tomorrow is Paptimus Scirocco, do you know him?" Lacus looked worried, "He's just a major, but in charge of such an important matter. He must be a very important person."
"I know him. He is Hymem's beloved, is ruthlessly ambitious, an ACE, a scientific researcher, and a New Type. In short, he is difficult to deal with. He is also the one who took Justice Gundam away."
Ade could not explain how he knew Scirocco was involved in the forcible seizure mission of Justice, but Lacus never asked him about the source and credibility of his information, and would not even examine him with a playful expression like C.C., but would only make analysis directly on the information given.
"After such an important mission failed, he can still perform this mission, he should be trusted by Brigadier Hymem." Lacus looked straight into Ade's eyes, and her pupils flowing with a moving gaze of pity, "He is probably here not only to take charge of Orb Union's disposal, but also mine. This should be a good opportunity to dispose of me."
"Lacus …"
"We're not related, after all, and the Federation might want to take me away in a very tough manner." Lacus gently took his hand, a soft touch came from his palm, "Mr. Ade will protect me, right?"
This look and this action are not unnecessary, because he had promised her long ago, and she would have known Ade's answer. She was deliberately done to him, deliberately to make him say it himself.
"… I will protect you."
