Chapter 290: Winds of Change (Part 5)

What to do?

Athrun felt like his whole world was falling apart. Although Lacus was still his fiancée in name, it seemed normal enough for someone to be found sleeping in his room.

But his lover was Cagalli, and regardless of whether others might misunderstand, he could not tolerate such a thing getting out.

After pulling on his pants, Athrun looked around for a place to hide Meer.

His gaze wandered and landed on Meer, who was sitting dejectedly on the bed.

So big... Lacus's definitely weren't this big...

That's not right!

What am I thinking!

He pulled Meer up and pointed to the wardrobe, signaling for her to hide inside.

Meer nodded blankly and, after Athrun opened the wardrobe, obediently climbed inside.

Athrun closed the wardrobe, quickly changed into his military uniform, tidied his hair, took a deep breath to compose himself, and opened the door.

"Everyone's here..."

Seeing Nicol, Cagalli, and Lunamaria, Athrun quickly closed the door and greeted them with a smile. "Sorry to keep you waiting, let's go."

The three of them didn't notice anything strange and headed to the restaurant harmoniously with Athrun.

"Speaking of which, Nicol, what new weapon did you bring this time?"

"It's definitely nothing good. Attacking Suez in the Abyss Impulse last time exhausted me."

"That's harsh. Even for land combat, that's an excellent artillery unit..."

"............"

Hearing the sound of Athrun and the others chatting as they walked down the corridor, Meer, hiding in the wardrobe, breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly climbed out and tidied her clothes.

After confirming that there was truly no one in the corridor, she quickly contacted her agent and left the hotel in the team's vehicle.

Sneaking into the car, Meer finally relaxed after confirming that her movements hadn't been discovered by Athrun and the others.

Although she felt a bit uneasy about failing the Chairman's mission, she felt even more relieved that Nicol hadn't discovered her.

By a stroke of luck, the hotel incident didn't turn into a melodramatic plot. But as the Chairman's puppet, Meer couldn't guarantee that such situations could be avoided in the future.

And so, without realizing it, the mindset of this Lacus body double underwent a change she herself hadn't noticed.

————

On the other side, Athrun and the others, having finished breakfast at the hotel, returned to the Minerva's hangar by car.

Under Nicol's introduction, the Minerva's pilots and maintenance crew saw the new equipment.

"As everyone knows, in the last war, the Alliance's Strike Gundam displayed extremely powerful performance, and its three interchangeable equipment systems gave the unit immense versatility."

"This even influenced our own equipment development; the Impulse Gundam was developed under a similar combat philosophy."

"But in fact, toward the end of the last war, during the defense of Orb, the Strike Gundam participated in battle with another type of equipment."

"According to records from the Kruse Team outside territorial waters at the time, this equipment, known as the Perfect Strike, seemed to embody a different weapon development philosophy."

"And this new equipment is a preliminary test model developed based on similar ideas."

Amidst Nicol's introduction, everyone saw the somewhat bulky new backpack for the Impulse.

It appeared to be equipped with both high-firepower cannons and a ship-slicing blade, and it also seemed to have flight capabilities.

"Ah, this troublesome equipment... it's giving me a stomachache."

Shihe looked at Nicol, who was enthusiastically introducing the new gear, with a subtle expression, clearly resistant to such difficult-to-operate equipment.

Conversely, Shinn, standing to the side, showed great interest. He raised his hand and asked, "Can it be mounted on my Impulse?"

"Theoretically, yes. However, for safety reasons, this new equipment is intended for Shihe's unit," Nicol replied.

Upon hearing this answer, Shinn looked dissatisfied. "She gets all the good stuff every time. Director Nicol, are you showing favoritism just because she used to be your subordinate?"

Hearing Shinn's complaint, which sounded like a child who hadn't received his favorite toy, those familiar with his dog-like temper showed amused smiles.

Shihe also shook her head with a wry smile. If she could, she would really like to dump this chore on Shinn; after all, testing new equipment was quite troublesome, and she had more pressing matters on her mind.

But clearly, Nicol wouldn't agree to that. He looked at Shinn and explained, "The reason for this decision is entirely based on safety. After all, Shihe has been serving as a test pilot since the last war and has sufficient experience to handle various emergencies."

Hearing Nicol's words, Shihe blushed slightly.

She was clearly thinking of the emergency she hadn't been able to handle on that isolated island during the last war.

And at this moment, the emergency Shihe hadn't been able to handle was beginning to take action after that world-shaking speech.

While the Minerva's crew was immersed in the joyful daily routine of wartime rest, Li Boyong's fleet at Suez and the Orb expeditionary fleet sailed out of the port of Suez.

To avoid provoking the ZAFT military, the fleet avoided ZAFT's traditional sphere of influence and approached Sicily, the pearl in the center of the Mediterranean.

The reason Li Boyong set the first combat objective here, besides its advantageous geographical location for radiating across the Mediterranean, was also related to the intense resistance movement against the Atlantic Federation here.

Sigonella Alliance Base, an Alliance base located on Sicily. Upon detecting Li Boyong's fleet approaching and receiving their surrender ultimatum, the command layer experienced a brief moment of chaos before deciding to fight this "rebel army."

The warships and MS at the base began emergency sorties under the base commander's orders, while the fleet deployed near the port to form a defensive fire net with shore-based artillery, hoping to assist the MS in air combat.

"Although I was mentally prepared for the enemy's stubbornness, it's still chilling that they'd take such a stance without even a reply. By the way, is my reputation not working?"

Facing the base's resistance, Li Boyong, who was piloting his own machine in preparation for the sortie, couldn't help but complain on the command channel.

"Colonel, please focus on the operation."

Natarle Badgiruel, the newly appointed captain of the Archangel, scolded Li Boyong mercilessly on the same channel.

"What a nostalgic feeling," Li Boyong remarked with emotion, then set aside his casual attitude. "Then, I'll leave the fleet command to you. I'll be back shortly."

"This is Li Boyong, Full Armor Raider, sortie!" ===== CHAPTER 291 =====

"This is Li Boyong, Full Armor Raider, sortie!"