Chapter 139: A Fateful Encounter
"Ah-choo!"
Amuro suddenly let out a big sneeze.
He quickly grabbed a tissue to wipe his nose.
He was in the middle of an interview and didn't want to be too impolite.
However, calling it an "interview" might be an overstatement—it wasn't all that formal.
The request had come from a young girl within the colony satellite where Amuro's military academy was located.
Normally, such a request wouldn't have even reached Amuro before being rejected outright. But that day, he happened to be passing by the duty office and overheard the girl's voice over the phone—so loud and animated that it was impossible to ignore.
It reminded him of how young and inexperienced he had been when he first boarded the White Base. In a moment of impulse, he agreed to the interview.
Now, however, Amuro was massaging his temples, feeling a bit of a headache.
"So, Amuro-san, do you know what Eli's favorite food was back when he was on the ship?"
From the very beginning, this little girl had been asking questions like these. It hardly felt like "interviewing Amuro" at all—more like "interviewing Eli through Amuro."
"Ugh, I really don't know. I only agreed to this because you seemed so eager to interview me. But why are all your questions about someone else?"
"Because Eli-san is obviously stronger than you. What's wrong with liking someone stronger?"
After a year of military academy training, Amuro had grown much calmer, but right now, he was experiencing a genuine headache.
"Liking someone, huh? Bertochika, you're only fourteen, right? Are you sure you should be saying things like that?"
Looking at the bright, golden-haired girl in front of him, Amuro suddenly understood the kind of emotions Eli must have felt when looking at him back then.
"Hmph, it's just a seven-year age difference! Once I grow up, Eli-san will definitely see me properly!"
Bertochika's words left Amuro momentarily dazed.
His own age gap with Christina was only five years.
With that thought, his gaze toward Bertochika softened slightly—this girl was actually kind of likable.
"Well, you still have a long way to go before you become an adult."
"And you're just a guy pretending to be mature, imitating Eli-san!"
Yep, he really didn't like this brat.
A certain truth had been exposed, and while listening to Bertochika's next Eli-related question, Amuro fumed silently.
—
Meanwhile, out in space, their conversation about Eli continued, but Eli himself remained completely unaware of it.
He was too focused on one thing: writing a report.
Eli's expression was grim as he worked on a document that would go directly to General Revil—a report exposing Augusta Research Institute's unauthorized human experimentation.
For the first time, Eli found himself envying the investigative authority that Titans possessed.
Taking a deep breath, he attached the evidence that Christina had secretly handed him and sent the report through a secure channel to General Revil.
Augusta was indeed an official Federation research institute for Newtypes, but at least on paper, the Federation had strictly prohibited human experimentation. Only non-harmful testing was supposed to be allowed.
Yet Augusta had violated these regulations, already developed Cyber-Newtype technology, and even forced Newtypes into highly damaging experiments—coercing them into piloting experimental mobile suits designed specifically for Newtypes.
Eli recalled how, back at Jaburo, Augusta had specifically requested Yuu Kajima to pilot the Blue Destiny Unit 1 against him.
Those bastards…
Frustrated, Eli deleted the original report from his tablet. After copying the evidence to a secure portable device, he erased all traces of it.
Then, he composed himself and left the White Chaser, heading toward the interrogation room where Erich was being held.
—
Throughout the past night, the entire base had been on continuous air raid alert, coordinating with various Federation bases across North America to defend against falling meteors. Only when the sun rose and the moon moved out of direct sight did the bombardment temporarily cease.
But it was clear that Asia would soon face the same situation as North America—followed by Africa.
The Federation government had already sent an official notice to the lunar cities, declaring their intent to deploy a large force to reclaim the Mass Driver.
This brought up another important issue.
Although the Moon was technically in space, people generally didn't include lunar inhabitants when referring to "spacenoids." They had their own distinct identity: "lunarites."
This distinction stemmed from the Moon's politically neutral status. As the industrial and economic hub of space, even Zeon had refrained from inflicting significant damage upon it.
Thus, if the Federation wanted to launch a military operation there, they would first have to negotiate with the Mass Driver's owner—Von Braun.
And Von Braun had given its answer: they wouldn't stop the Federation from fighting, but if the Mass Driver was damaged, the Federation would be held responsible.
This left Captain Bright Noa, recently assigned to the suppression fleet from the Luna II fleet under Colonel Wakkein, deeply troubled.
In other words, the Federation's numerical advantage couldn't be fully utilized. Even large-scale mobile suit battles were off the table.
The best course of action was to send an ace pilot to take down the enemy's deadly ash-gray MS directly.
At that moment, Bright Noa found himself deeply missing Eli and Amuro.
Frowning, he turned on the monitor next to the captain's seat, switching to the hangar view.
There, a mobile suit lay covered by a tarp, silently waiting in place.
Who should pilot it?
—
"So, he still hasn't talked?"
By the time Eli entered the interrogation room, this was already the third round of questioning.
Yet aside from the most basic information, Erich had done nothing but repeatedly mention "Operation Tears of the Sky."
Everyone knew that plan had already been abandoned. Whatever "Tears of the Sky" meant now, it wasn't that simple.
"Hahaha! You Federation dogs are nothing but liars. Spacenoid independence was never going to be that easy!"
Eli frowned even more at Erich's words.
"There's no other choice. Use force."
Eli's voice was calm and emotionless.
At that moment, a Federation soldier who had been restraining himself for far too long finally let a twisted smile spread across his face—his family had died in the natural disasters caused by a fallen colony.
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