Chapter 129: That's My Home
Eli never expected that, because of his existence, Jamitov was still within the Revil faction, yet Titans had still been established—and much earlier than before.
However, one thing was certain: their actions still aligned with Eli's impression of them. While not as decisive as in the original timeline, they had already begun conducting town-wide searches based on mere speculation and flimsy evidence.
More than half of these searches were based on misunderstandings.
Even so, Titans remained committed to their philosophy: it was better to kill a thousand innocent people than to let a single suspect go free.
Of course, the Federation Council had also broken from tradition, taking the initiative to compensate for the damage and losses caused by Titans.
But that was not Eli's concern right now, as the critical moment had arrived—Dozle was about to land in Sydney Bay.
The White Chaser had already ascended to its highest possible altitude, dispatching two modified GMs equipped with information-gathering devices. These mobile suits, launched from a light escort ship, expanded the search perimeter on both sides of Dozle's incoming aircraft.
Additionally, old-era aircraft such as Saberfish had been granted landing permissions on the White Chaser, providing further surveillance coverage.
Unfortunately, despite all efforts, they had yet to detect any suspicious activity.
This meant one of two things: either the Night Battle Type Efreet had infiltrated alone, waiting for the critical moment to strike, or everything was just a coincidence, and there were no Zeon remnants in the area.
Eli made his decision—
"Can those Navy bastards give me a straight answer!?"
He wasn't piloting an MS at the moment but was instead on the White Chaser, cursing out the "Navy idiots."
Over the past year of sweeping operations, the force Eli had encountered the least was the Zeon Navy.
Ironically, it was also the branch that had managed to preserve its organizational structure the best.
Rumors even suggested that some Zeon submarines had remained submerged at sea, never once making landfall.
Zeon Supermen, huh.
But jokes aside, if there were no traces on land, then the most likely scenario was a Zeon remnant attack from the sea—or at the very least, naval support for the Night Battle Type Efreet.
Because of this, Eli had borrowed an early warning aircraft to conduct repeated scans over the ocean and had notified the Navy to patrol Sydney Bay's potential landing points.
Yet the response he received remained vague.
Eli yanked off his headset, his expression darkening.
When it came to Zeon remnants in the Universal Century, two things stood out: their incredible resilience—like wildfire that refused to be extinguished even after twenty years, still capable of gathering forces to threaten Federation bases—and the disgraceful Federation Navy, which deliberately kept remnants alive to maintain their own importance. Some officers even traded with them, going so far as to provide them with supplies.
Eli wasn't sure if this was happening right now, but given how the Navy had done little in the past year and how there had been almost no reports of Zeon naval attacks, he couldn't help but suspect it.
"Are the Torrington Base Aqua GMs in position?"
Eli turned to ask a subordinate.
"They're in position… but there are only six of them. There's no way they can cover the entire coastline."
Hearing this, Eli started shaking his leg in frustration.
Damn, he was starting to miss the old days when he only had to be a pilot, charging into battle in an MS.
Coordinating troops and strategizing—this just wasn't his thing.
"Spread the Aqua GMs out. Use the conference site as the center point and have three on each side, covering a 30-kilometer range. Send the modified GMs to the flanks to maintain communications."
Before Eli could decide on a course of action, the man sitting behind him—Colonel Paolo—calmly issued the orders to the bridge crew.
"…Apologies for overstepping."
Paolo turned to Major Eli and spoke with a respectful nod.
"No, it's fine…"
With Eli's approval, the orders were relayed. The Aqua GMs were repositioned, and the airborne modified GMs switched to patrol mode.
Paolo's plan effectively turned the Aqua GM pilots into a warning system—at the cost of their lives.
Eli had hesitated for so long because he had been trying to figure out a way to ensure the pilots survived a potential Zeon remnant attack.
Now, as he watched the Aqua GMs spread out according to orders, he fell silent.
It was a difference in perspective—deep down, Eli still saw himself as a pilot.
The conference was set to take place south of Torrington Base, in eastern Australia, north of Sydney Bay, six kilometers from the shore.
There stood the newly completed Sydney Memorial. The monument, composed of a partial replica of the historic city and a model of the falling colony, served as a reminder of the past.
Etched into it were the words:
"Earth and Space Will Remember This Day."
An open-air tribunal had been constructed in front of the monument.
For security, half of a Titans battalion, along with Undertaker and Torrington Base forces, formed the primary defense line.
Dozle and several Federation officials would land at Torrington Base and travel to the site by convoy.
Titans were responsible for securing the route and the event itself.
Of course, Eli had no intention of strictly adhering to those jurisdictional lines.
After all, General Revil himself was attending the conference. He had every reason—both personal and professional—to ensure the site's safety.
Soon, the aircraft landed at Torrington Base. Meanwhile, the White Chaser did not land but instead turned toward the conference site to conduct reconnaissance.
Eli had no illusions about the results.
This was Zeon's green-skinned black technology, after all—he had no idea how the Night Battle Type Efreet managed to evade all forms of detection.
Still, he chose to trust in Titans' security measures.
Incidentally, the Titans' current mobile suits were primarily modified GMs.
Not the Undertaker variants, which had received substantial performance upgrades, but the standard production models manufactured by Anaheim Electronics.
Yet, just like in the original timeline, they had all been repainted in Titans' signature dark color scheme.
Eli sat on the bridge, staring at the towering Sydney Memorial—over twenty meters tall, even larger than an MS. He remained silent.
Then, over the comms, someone cursed.
"Damn it, I see my house."
The speaker was Arcadia. His family had owned multiple properties in the city center, and this replica had faithfully reconstructed them.
Having known Arcadia since childhood, Eli's own family had also owned property in the area.
However, Eli's memories had faded—he could no longer recall exactly where it had been.