Chapter 287: Changing Winds (Part 2)

After the governments of the three main leading countries of the Alliance expressed their statements one after another, people thought the next one would probably be PLANT expressing its stance.

But in fact, the next one to express its stance was the moderate faction within the Atlantic Federation.

The mouthpiece of the moderate faction, Flay's aunt, expressed support for Li Boyong in a statement, and criticized the current government of the President's radical faction and the condemnation of Logos.

This statement was powerful, letting people see the huge differences in views within the Atlantic Federation on this matter.

For a time, it seemed that the voice of crusading against Logos within the Alliance occupied the upper hand.

Under such circumstances, Cagalli, in the Orb expeditionary fleet, announced joining the crusade against Logos as the Prime Minister of Orb, and the Orb expeditionary fleet would advance and retreat together with Colonel Li Boyong from now on.

Regarding Cagalli's statement, the Atlantic Federation government expressed severe questioning to the Orb government, and also sent questioning to Cagalli's expeditionary fleet, asking whether Orb wanted to tear up the previously signed treaty.

To this, Cagalli stated that the treaty was still valid, and she had no intention of cooperating with the ZAFT army, nor did she have any intention of confronting the Alliance army, just wanting to follow the great righteousness to crusade against Logos.

This clear-cut declaration of taking sides ignited the situation in Europe. The various resistance organizations in Europe under the suppression of the Alliance army expressed their position of advancing and retreating together with Colonel Li Boyong one after another.

This made the ZAFT army, which was in contact with these organizations, suffer a big loss. After all, if they must choose an ally, they would rather cooperate with Li Boyong, who was also a Natural, than with Coordinators.

For a time, the eyes of the world were focused on Suez, and people were waiting for Li Boyong's first action after issuing that kind of declaration.

These eyes included Shihe on the Minerva.

She was dining when she saw the replay of Li Boyong's speech on the screen in the hall.

"So, he really didn't die... so..."

Excited, Shihe ignored the pilot colleagues dining together and muttered to herself.

"Shihe!"

Observing the gazes of Lunamaria, Shinn, Rey, and others, Athrun hurriedly grabbed Cagalli's shoulder and reminded her softly.

Although he knew about the experience of Li Boyong and Shihe, this was the ZAFT army after all, and it might not be a good thing to be known to have a relationship with the Alliance army.

"What's wrong? Do you know this person?"

Rey, who was sensitive, asked directly to his face.

"Nothing, it's just that that guy had some connection with the former Kruse team."

Athrun explained.

Shihe, who was reminded by Athrun, also reacted to her situation and tried her best to restrain her emotional fluctuations, covering up: "I have had a few encounters, I thought I had already shot him down, but I didn't expect him to still be alive."

"So that's how it is. To be able to make you of the former Kruse team so impressed, it seems to be a quite powerful enemy."

Rey nodded slightly, seeming to have solved his doubts.

Just when the atmosphere was a bit subtle, Shinn's two maintenance crew bad friends ran over and dragged Shinn, wanting to drag him away. "Shinn, what are you doing here, hurry up and go with us."

"Panic, what happened?" Shinn bit his fork and asked suspiciously.

"You're stupid, of course it's Lacus Clyne's touring comfort concert!"

"Finally arrived at our Dioquia, hurry up and watch it together, this is a rare opportunity."

Two bad friends shouted, attracting the gazes in the hall.

There were also people who reacted late and took out their communicators to check: "Really, the military's propaganda department only notified us now, what kind of surprise is this, what if I missed it?"

"You're still complaining there, hurry up and go."

Suddenly, the crowd began to surge toward the outside of the hall, everyone was preparing to watch Lacus Clyne's concert, and the pilots belonging to the Minerva also followed the crowd.

A group of people came to the concert stage and just saw the pink ZAKU holding "Lacus" fall from the sky and land steadily on the concert stage.

The cool appearance, bold clothing, and explosive music style different from the past simply pushed the atmosphere of the concert to a climax.

It wasn't just because of the singer's strength, but more because of people's love and respect for this national song diva from the bottom of their hearts.

Even Shinn, who didn't care much at first, was gradually infected by the atmosphere of the concert and joined the crowd calling for her.

And Athrun and Rey, who knew the true identity of this "Lacus," paid attention to the unit that fell from the sky with the pink ZAKU first.

Looking at the unit that was a bit like a ZAKU, but looking at the flight backpack on its back, it should be a new type of unit capable of atmospheric combat.

Just when Athrun was observing the new unit seriously, a familiar voice sounded behind Athrun. "We meet again, Athrun."

Athrun turned his head and said happily: "Nicol, why are you here?"

Nicol smiled slightly, stretched out his prosthetic limb and gave a thumbs up. "Of course, I'm here to bring you good things again."

Looking at Nicol and Athrun with full smiles, Shihe, who had a stomachache, successfully suppressed her emotional fluctuations after learning the news of Li Boyong.

————

The concert ended, Nicol was directing maintenance personnel to transport the new equipment into the Minerva, and the captain of the Minerva and a group of pilots were honored to have dinner with Chairman Durandal.

On the large balcony of the Dioquia City Hall, Chairman Durandal hosted a banquet to invite the main crew of the Minerva to reward their outstanding performance since fighting from Armory One.

After the ritual opening remarks, the Chairman invited everyone to take their seats. After encouraging the achievements of the Minerva crew, the topic unknowingly shifted to the event that had recently shocked the world and was called the "Li Boyong Declaration."

"Gil, what is your view on this matter?"

As the Chairman's old lover, Minerva captain Gladys asked directly without any scruples.

"To be honest, PLANT itself also has huge differences in the judgment of the current situation..." The old fox habitually used political jargon, but after feeling the dissatisfaction of his old lover, he changed the subject. "Personally, if those pieces of evidence are true, I would very much like to participate in the crusade against Logos, but I don't know if that Colonel Li Boyong is credible, and whether he is willing."

After a pause, seeing the confused expressions of the Minerva crew, Chairman Durandal continued: "What I'm going to say next might be intelligence that the public and the grassroots of the army are hard to obtain. The unit that Colonel Li Boyong belongs to was originally directly under Logos, a combat unit independent of the Alliance military command system. This unit named Phantom Pain was originally Logos's direct armed force. The commander of such a unit suddenly said he wanted to crusade against Logos or something. Although many voices echoing it have appeared within the Alliance, it is inevitable that we Coordinators will feel worried."

After a pause, he continued: "Moreover, according to intelligence, he himself can be considered your old acquaintance. The unit that attacked Armory One was commanded by him, and when Junius Seven fell, he happened to be at the scene, and was later promoted by the Alliance as a hero who saved the world. Afterward, he led his unit to defeat our army's units several times in battle, causing huge damage to our army."

Speaking of this, Durandal didn't continue, but the implication was somewhat obvious.

PLANT seemed to have no intention of getting involved in this storm while the war was going on. ===== CHAPTER 288 =====