Chapter 58: The Tacit Agreement of Wise Men
Ade contacted Loran through Harry as fast as possible, fortunately, Loran and his wife were not doing any "healthy activities" at this time, and ordered Harry to immediately bring Ade there. The five-member core group of the moon needed to have a meeting.
He changed clothes while waiting for Harry in the living room, thinking about the current situation. He had the most information, and he needed to consider countermeasures.
According to the contents of the e-mail, Haman does not want to see Genesis attack the moon but is unable to stop it, then either it was because Char's personality suddenly changed and went out of control, or something big had happened in PLANT. Considering Creuset as an unstable factor, the latter is more likely. But somehow, Haman is still able to move freely, and even trusted, otherwise, it would not be possible to send this e-mail to him.
On the moon side, they must destroy Genesis while not revealing Moonlight Butterfly's weakness, which means that they can not start a full-scale war. Once they were dragged into a full-scale war and let ZAFT find that they couldn't use TurnA, then everything will be screwed. They must find a logical reason to avoid Moonlight Butterfly.
The ideal situation should be to send a certain number - this has to be judged by Loran - of troops, demolishing Genesis as soon as possible, and then calmly issuing a statement, and perhaps taking some other measures. In short, they can't let others find the fact that they can't use TurnA at present. Frankly, since they have lost TurnA, every time the moon has been threatened, they have to do similar things.
ZAFT has recently strategically contracted back to the universe, relying on a few fortresses to resist the Federation army. If the moon side does not start a full-scale war, what can they do to destroy Genesis? Jegan or the Federation's RGM-79GM Ⅲ? There are only very few options from the beginning. He has to participate in it.
"Ade, are you going out at this late hour?" Lacus pushed out the door in her pajamas, "Is it something very serious? You have a horrible expression."
"You're still awake?" He looked at the clock. It was almost twelve o'clock, "Well, do not rush to sleep, wait for me to contact you later. It's hard to say right now, but we're going to start moving as early as tonight."
"What exactly is it?" Lacus's expression also became serious, "You can just say what you can reveal, I will not ask anything else."
"I received a credible tip that there is a Gamma Ray Burst Cannon called Genesis aiming at the moon and preparing for a direct ultra-long-range strike. The weapon's power can directly destroy the entire capital." He felt Lacus had the right to know this, "I'm going to go find His Highness Loran and discuss countermeasures with him, Just wait for my notice."
"… The moon's superweapon can't be used, right? It seems I guessed it from your face." Lacus lowered her head, and her pretty pink hair hung down from her sides, "Ade, you came back before with that look and said it was a problem that even you couldn't solve, and now you are having this look. There are too many clues."
"You're so smart." Ade sighed, "Too smart as a girl."
"Are you worried that girls who are too smart can't get married? I don't think so." Lacus grudgingly smiled, but couldn't joke in this situation, "Destroying a city remotely, that's what PLANT is doing now … Do we have a way to save ourselves? Runaway is not an option to me. Your side is the only place for me to stay."
"There must be a way, I will figure it out." He gave the young girl, and also himself a pep talk, "It was agreed long ago that I would protect you."
Lacus locked eyes with him for a few seconds, then came forward and hugged him gently. The young girl's white pajamas are thin in the light, but Ade at the moment doesn't pay any attention to it, and just silently hugs her back.
A short time later, he came to Loran's residence in Harry's transport, the Queen couple and Ghingham are waiting in formal dress. He briefly described the information he had received and the conclusions he had previously pondered.
"Diana and I trust your judgment completely, Doctor, and we will act on it as long as you think there is nothing wrong with this information." Loran's expression was grim, "We don't know when ZAFT will start firing, so it's best for us to move out immediately. It's okay for the moon to send troops, but according to the star map Miss Karn provided, there are also many troops guarding Genesis."
"So there has to be a veteran ACE like me to lead the way, kill the enemies, and blast that superweapon straight away." Ghingham looked unusually excited, "I haven't fought for decades, I'm hungry and thirsty!"
"Can your old bones still withstand the inertial force of MS?" Harry laughed disdainfully, "Your Majesty, Your Highness, please let me join the battle."
"Harry, you should stay and protect the Queen and the Prince. You haven't touched any MS for decades, don't give me any trouble." Ghingham refuted, "This task is tough, I can only select veterans with the highest combat strength and loyalty."
"… So I'll have to take the field myself." Ade looked at Loran, who had a dismayed expression on his face, "Your Highness, you should stop saying sorry, what's wrong with me having to protect my home? Besides, there's no reason to put Inle on the hangar at this life or death moment, right?"
"I underestimated you, Dr. Adrien." Loran had a complicated look, "Although I really do not want you to risk your life, I know I can't be capricious at this critical moment."
"Doctor, I will not stop you, I can feel your awareness." Ghingham went to Ade and patted him hard on the shoulder, "But your MS is too big, I'm afraid my battleship can't load it. Do you want to fly there yourself?"
"Just lend me some soldiers. I have my own ship." Ade thought of his own little freighter, "My employees have no reason to go into battle."
Next was Ghingham's home turf, and he made a battle plan on the spot and assigned Ade tasks. The group moved quickly after the meeting and was expected to strike this morning. Ade called Lacus to explain the outcome of the meeting, and by the time he got home, Lacus was dressed and waiting for him.
"I'll go with you." The young girl said firmly, "I won't accept any other option. I refuse to wait at home silly, and also refuse to escape alone. If the ship is destroyed, we'll die together, if we succeed, we'll go home together."
"--"
"The ship is safer than here. In case the battle fails, the chance of survival on the moon surface is zero, but the ship still has a slim chance of survival." Lacus interrupted him before he could speak, "There's no point in me escaping anywhere but beside you, and your ship could not be left in the care of an outsider, and I learned to pilot a warship. You can find excuses to stop me, and I will refute them all."
"… You're quite intimidating now, not as cute as before." He was defeated, "Let's go together."
"Was I cute before? Like this?" The young girl immediately put on a playful smile, "Right, I have left a message for Mr. Uraki, telling him to go to Earth tomorrow on business. Ade, you must think he is not a moon person but just an employee, so you don't want him to be rolled in, right? I have informed Shinn, and he will go to the ship right away. I have helped you make up a good reason to explain why we can't use Moonlight Butterfly this time. Mayu will leave with Mr. Uraki, so don't worry."
"… I haven't said anything yet."
"Is there anything that was done incorrectly?" Lacus tilted her head adorably, "It's all my judgment based on what I know about Ade, there shouldn't be any mistakes."
"That's the problem. Why is it all right?" He let out a long breath, "Am I so easy to be understood?"
"Some time it is, and sometimes, I don't understand you at all." The young girl gently holds his hands, "for example, you are now very nervous. No matter how brave you are, you still feel the fear of death. This is a common feeling, and what I can do is to give you comfort and courage. It's a special situation today. You have a chance, and you can ask for anything from me. What do you want?"
"… I want to hear you sing." He said his truest thoughts, "There is still a while before the gathering time, I can listen to several songs."
"Much like Ade's style. I guessed this request too, but I'm not happy at all." Lacus laughed helplessly, cleared her throat, and began to sing.
As the artificial sky just lit up, Ade and the others had set off in his ship. Its unique shape makes it very conspicuous among the crowd of ships, especially the huge components hanging asymmetrically on either side of the hull.
"Ade, we are going to exchange communications. Are you really going to tell General Ghingham that this ship is called 'Blue-eyes White Dragon'?" Lacus sat in the captain's seat, looking at him awkwardly, "I have no problem with it, rather I have long been used to it. But General Ghingham will tell Prince Loran and the others when he gets back, right? Are you sure you want to let His Highness know about it too?"
Shinn pretended to look around at the scenery, and although he would have liked to give his opinion, he chose to stay out of the Doctor's family affairs.
"Why do you all have such a strong opinion about this name? It's obviously quite appropriate. Shinn, do not play dumb. Your expression betrayed you." Lacus's tease relieved everyone's nervousness, "All the names I can think of are actually the same. Call it Magic Conch? Teletubbies? Iserlohn? --"
"Wouldn't the last one be normal?" Lacus asked in disbelief, "I don't know what the allusion is, but it sounds like a good name. Wouldn't it be good to just use that?" (PS: Iserlohn Fortress. Japanese: イゼルローン要塞, a fortress in Legend of the Galactic Heroes)
"Yeah, yeah, that's a good name." Shinn seemed to want to complain for a long time, "I also think it's a good name. Let's change the name to that, Mr. Adrien?"
"…It's a very unlucky name." sighed Ade, "Forget about this for now, I'll think about it after we are back. Shinn, I'll talk to you now about the battle plan."
"Yes!" Shinn looked serious.
"The exterior of Genesis is equipped with thick, fully-covered PS armor that is expected to resist the battleship's main cannon, so we must penetrate deep into the launch channel and place high explosives directly inside. And each launch of Genesis will severely damage its reflective mirror assembly, which will take several hours to replace. Our goal is to break into Genesis and destroy it after the first shot."
"After the first shot?" Shinn stared at him incredulously, "Wasn't the first shot aimed at the moon? I thought we wouldn't be able to make it in time."
"From now on, Genesis will indeed launch at any time. If the first shot is aiming at the moon, we won't have time to react. But then it does not match the purpose of Haman's warning." Ade said with great certainty, "She is smart and will not do something meaningless. Since she provided this information, she would never let the first shot hit the moon. She would be responsible for buying us time."
…
"I don't think it's a good idea to shoot directly at the moon on its first test firing." Haman looked at Zala with a grim expression, "Experiments at short to medium range don't tell the story, any slight error in sniping at this distance will be put into infinity. In case we miss the capital, we'll be instantly wiped out by a counterattack."
"It sounds reasonable." Zala nodded, "So, what's your advice?"
"The first shot should be aiming at the Earth Federation's fleet. It's our rightful right." Haman said nonchalantly, "It will take a long time for the message to reach the moon side from the Earth Federation survivors, and by the time they react, we will have calibrated the second shot."
"Your Excellency, there is some truth in what Miss Karn says, but there are risks." Creuset couldn't help but suggest, "In case the moon gets the message soon…"
"Speaker Zala will judge for himself." Haman glanced at Creuset with an expressionless look, "Whether to trust a superweapon that has never been test-fired, or the inefficiency of the Earth Federation's army."
Zala was silent for a while and finally made a decision, "As suggested by Miss Karn, adjust Genesis' first shot target to the Earth Federation army's main fleet."
"Then, Mr. Zala, I will take my leave." Haman nodded her head to Zala in greeting and calmly walked out of the command room. As no one else was around, she muttered to herself in a low, inaudible voice, "I have done my best, Adrien Lingus, let me see your determination."
