Chapter 261: The *Dominion* and the Actaeon Project

Atlantic Federation, San Antonio Naval Port.

A warship that had survived the last great war, of the same model as the "unsinkable" *Archangel*, slowly entered the port and then docked next to the *Jones* aircraft carrier belonging to the Phantom Pain unit.

The *Dominion*. This warship, which had been abandoned in the final decisive battle of the last war due to Li Boyong, had escaped the fate of being sunk by the *Archangel* and survived.

As if destined, Li Boyong and this warship had met again.

Or perhaps, it was just the whim of some big shot who thought he controlled everything.

And now, Li Boyong was in his temporary office, receiving a lecture from this big shot.

Lord Djibril, this greasy-haired and somewhat effeminate leader of LOGOS, was lecturing Li Boyong through a video call.

"The results you achieved at Armory One and Junius Seven were indeed good, so I allowed military headquarters to promote you; this is a reward for your hard work. However, do not get carried away and forget who your true master is."

Li Boyong endured the nausea while listening to the other party's lecture, lowering his head: "I would never dare."

"Don't be in such a hurry to deny it; I have never doubted your loyalty."

Lord Djibril waved his hand magnanimously and continued to stroke the Persian cat in his arms: "Otherwise, I wouldn't have promoted you to your current position, nor would I have handed such important combat power into your hands as I have now."

After a pause, Lord Djibril continued: "However, that little fox girl has indeed been somewhat restless lately. The reason she is so actively trying to win you over must be because she is plotting something. You can continue to interact with her and then report to me."

"Understood." Li Boyong continued to nod, enduring the nausea under the cover of his mask.

"Of course, those are just minor matters. The most important thing for you now is to find a way to achieve results sufficient to convince the public." Lord Djibril continued while stroking the cat: "The failure of the raid made me lose quite a bit of face; you must find a way to redeem it for me."

"Please rest assured, I will do my utmost." Li Boyong nodded.

"Then I'll wait for your good news."

The communication cut off. Li Boyong took off his helmet and complained to the empty room: "Damn it, I really want to turn this guy into a beehive just like that 'Birdman'."

But anger aside, judging from the reaction of this cat-stroking leader.

The other party was somewhat disgusted by Wang Liumei's contact with him, an important commander of the Phantom Pain unit, but still didn't take it very seriously.

After all, in the eyes of that cat-stroking leader, he was just a high-level tool man who had been brainwashed and instilled with a bunch of false memories.

He was a chess piece that could be manipulated at will, and there was no need to worry about loyalty issues at all.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so bold as to hand over the command of such combat power to him.

After all, the *Archangel* was now equipped with all the mobile suits from the Actaeon Project. Plus the three mobile suits snatched from Armory One, he now had eight Gundams under his command.

It was truly excellent combat power, but how to truly control this combat power remained a significant challenge.

In his and Wang Liumei's plan, a break with the cat-stroking leader was inevitable.

When the time came, he had to bring as much of the Phantom Pain unit belonging to LOGOS under his command as possible, and then give the cat-stroking leader a righteous backstab.

As for the timing of the launch, Li Boyong was still hesitant.

The main point of hesitation was whether it should be before or after that fox-man Durandal announced the crusade against LOGOS.

If it were after that, there would be quite a few Earth military forces joining him in the rebellion, and the difficulty of the backstab would be greatly reduced.

But in that case, the "righteous cause" would be in the hands of that old fox. If so, he would still need to endure for a period of time before the fox-man announced the Destiny Plan, which felt quite stifling and had certain uncontrollable factors.

But what if it were before that?

Launching a crusade against LOGOS in advance?

Announcing the crimes of LOGOS—would that make the Phantom Pain unit under his command obediently follow him?

These subordinates were all private armed forces carefully selected by LOGOS.

Moreover, even if he successfully mastered this Phantom Pain unit, it would likely become an isolated force viewed as rebels by the Earth military.

At the same time, due to his wariness of the fox-man, in order to maintain his independence, he naturally couldn't accept aid from the ZAFT military, and might even be viewed as a thorn in the side by the fox-man Chairman for preemptively snatching the banner of righteousness, suffering attacks from the ZAFT military.

It could be said that the difficulty was quite high, and the risk was quite high.

But if successful, it could turn the passive into the active.

If he held the banner of righteousness to crusade against LOGOS, the Earth military forces that originally sided with the Chairman in the original work would very likely follow him instead of assisting their former enemy—the ZAFT military.

Secondly, regardless of whether the "backstab operation" was successful or not, he wouldn't have to be manipulated by the fox-man Chairman, allowing him relative independence.

By then, whether it was the Battle of Orb or the Battle of Requiem, he could act freely.

He could even prevent Requiem from falling into the hands of the fox-man Chairman.

When the Destiny Plan was proposed, he could unite the Clyne faction and Orb, integrate the Earth military combat power in his hands, and deal with the fox-man Chairman.

It was a method that was quite difficult in the early stages but had greater benefits in the later stages.

To be honest, if Li Boyong were to choose according to his own personality, the second method was definitely more to his liking.

However, the specific situation still needed to be analyzed when the time came.

And the standard for analysis and judgment was whether Wang Liumei could successfully reach a consensus of interests with the moderates in the Earth military by then.

And whether he could contact the Three Ships Alliance from the last great war and reach a certain degree of consensus before then.

"Speaking of which..."

Thinking of this, Li Boyong suddenly remembered that at this time, the *Archangel* had already snatched the Chief Representative and left Orb, so Flay, whom he sent to Orb, probably wouldn't be able to contact Natarle.

"A miscalculation..."

Li Boyong patted his forehead in distress.

Because *SEED-D* was to some extent a bad work, Li Boyong hadn't been particularly invested while watching it, and his memory of some specific plot points had long since blurred, which led to this mistake.

Just then, there was a knock on the electric door of his office.

"Report, five pilots under the Actaeon Project have arrived to report as ordered."

Sven's cold, self-contained voice came through the intercom.

"Come in."

Li Boyong put his helmet back on and pressed the button on the desk, unlocking and opening the electric door.

Watching the five pilots of the Actaeon Project enter the room in an orderly fashion, Li Boyong smiled: "Long time no see, everyone." ===== CHAPTER 262 =====