Chapter 215 – On His Mind
Eli was well aware of the Federation's decay.
Whether it was from the various materials he had read in his past life, the knowledge he'd acquired, or the firsthand experiences he'd had since arriving in this world, all of it pointed to the same conclusion.
But even so, Eli had to admit one thing: after he successfully saved General Revil, he began harboring a naive fantasy—that maybe, just maybe, they could make the Federation better.
Clinging to that hope, Eli seemed to have reined in some of his former ideas and instead remained on the front lines, fighting as an MS pilot.
No matter how his status changed, what Eli did wasn't all that different from what he had done during the One Year War.
In that regard, he and Char were alike—they both willingly chose to conceal certain possibilities.
"You've worked hard. How was the piloting experience?"
At the port, Istha opened the cockpit of the MS Rem and called out to the person inside.
"No issues. At the very least, it's far better than the GM II. But since this unit is going to be used as the core machine of the Greenfinch squad, let's reinforce the armor and head protection again."
While brushing aside a faint trace of heaviness in his chest, Eli responded to Istha's question.
Wearing a silver-gray pilot suit, Eli raised his hand, gazing at the glove on it.
"Also design a G-force suit for that guy Kou. His physical condition is good, but for the sake of his post-retirement life, we should still protect him properly."
With a strong push of his feet inside the cockpit, he propelled himself outward.
Since this was his first real combat in the Rem, Eli still had a lot to discuss with Istha.
But just then, a voice called out from nearby.
"Colonel, we've received a reply from the Jupitris!"
Hearing this, Eli pushed off the maintenance scaffold with force, altering his trajectory and heading that way.
"Istha, run diagnostics on the machine using the data yourself."
With a slightly apologetic tone, Eli didn't look back as he floated off with the adjutant toward his office.
The telegram from the Jupitris had already been securely sealed and placed on Eli's desk.
It was a thin message, because it wasn't a report to Federation Military Headquarters—rather, it was a personal reply to Eli's communication.
He picked up a paper knife and opened the envelope. Inside was just a single sheet of paper.
On it, there were only four words:
"All is well." (問題ない.)
Seeing those four words, Eli wanted to ease the faint unease in his heart.
But something still weighed heavy inside him, like a stone.
He held the paper up, scrutinizing it again and again, but no matter how many times he looked, there were still only those four words.
This was a translated telegram. Even if someone wanted to secretly send a message, there was nothing that could be gleaned from the paper alone.
And yet—
"Bring me past replies from the Jupitris."
There were plenty of previous replies, all archived in the database. The adjutant quickly loaded them into Eli's terminal.
With that, Eli really did notice something off.
Due to certain well-known reasons, the main language in this world was Japanese, so naturally, the Jupitris' replies were also written in Japanese format.
Eli hurriedly picked up the latest reply from the Jupitris, focusing on the end of the four characters—there was a period: "."
That's something not used in Japanese writing.
But it is commonly used in English and German.
To put it plainly, when you mention English or German in the Jupiter Sphere, the first thing Eli thought of was the Axis Zeon remnants.
Still, Eli couldn't definitively say something had gone wrong with the Jupitris just because of this.
What if the communications officer had just accidentally typed it in?
In another military organization, Eli could have launched an operation just based on this small discrepancy—after all, communications like this should follow strict protocols.
But this was the Federation Forces—an organization plagued with chaos and lax discipline outside of wartime.
Not to mention that most of the crew on the Jupitris weren't even career soldiers.
Even so, it was still better to take precautions…
"Have Garahau come see me."
After much deliberation, Eli finally gave the order.
——
The machine's performance still wasn't enough after all.
Quattro, disembarking from the damaged Gundam, couldn't help thinking that.
The recent battle hadn't exactly put him at a disadvantage, but Quattro knew the only reason things hadn't gone worse was because the enemy hadn't gone all out.
The opponent had been piloting a GM-series machine and clearly treated him as a test subject.
By now, Quattro had figured it out: the enemy had deliberately allowed Apolly and the others to escape.
"Colonel!"
A shout rang out, drawing everyone in the hangar's attention.
Where on this ship would you find a colonel?
"Apolly!"
Quattro raised his eyebrow, rebuking Apolly in a low voice.
"Sorry, Lieutenant! I got too worked up and misspoke."
Apolly immediately corrected himself in the same loud tone, then leaned closer to whisper in Quattro's ear.
"There's something important I need to tell you."
Quattro caught on instantly and brought him to a deserted corridor.
Once they'd confirmed no one else was around, Apolly spoke up immediately.
"Miss Lalah… she's in Eli's hands!"
"What?"
Char gripped Apolly's shoulders with both hands.
His gaze sharpened.
"Where did you hear that?"
"That damn Eli told me directly. He probably wants to use it to threaten you, Colonel."
Apolly didn't exaggerate. He relayed Eli's exact words.
The pressure on his shoulders eased. When Apolly looked up, he saw Char's expression had returned to that familiar, unreadable calm.
"I see. Thanks for telling me, Apolly."
"Colonel, what are you doing?! We should be trying to rescue Lalah right now!"
Seeing the disbelief in Apolly's eyes, Char gave a small smile.
"Don't worry. I've already made my decision. Don't tell anyone else about this."
Apolly was still visibly upset, convinced that Lalah would be in danger in Eli's hands.
"Lalah will be safe."
So Char added another line.
He now understood why Eli had chosen to pass this message through Apolly instead of shouting it across the battlefield.
Though he was still reluctant to fully accept it, Char had to admit there was a subtle connection between himself and Eli—one that could even be called familial.
Naturally, the other man wouldn't harm Lalah.
And more than that, this move by Eli wasn't about baiting him into action or anything like that. Rather, it was—
"Never thought there'd come a day when someone else would worry that I might get played."
Putting on his sunglasses, Char walked out of the corridor.
From today forward, Quattro would be a man free to act entirely by his own will.
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