Chapter 245 – Arrival at Augusta
"Hmm?"
Following close behind Eli, Amuro suddenly furrowed his brows.
"What's wrong?"
Eli heard the sound and immediately turned to ask.
"Just remembered something from the past, that's all."
Amuro shook his head, indicating it was nothing serious.
Compared to the sudden stirring in his heart, Amuro felt the upcoming meeting was far more nerve-racking.
The moment they entered the room, Amuro's gaze was instantly drawn to a flash of red.
"Christina, it's been a while."
Eli raised his hand and waved to Christina, who was standing in the room.
However, looking around, Eli didn't see Rita, who was usually inseparable from Christina.
"She went to take shelter with the other kids from the institute."
"Right, makes sense."
Eli nodded.
After all, the White Chaser's arrival at this Augusta base almost certainly meant the Titans had turned their attention here.
Fortunately, since the Titans had just seized Jaburo Base, they would need time to fully consolidate control and engage in follow-up negotiations. That meant they didn't yet have the spare capacity to mobilize forces to attack Augusta.
Having piloted the GP04 alongside Amuro all the way here, picking off pursuers one by one, Eli had roughly assessed the enemy's troop distribution and concluded that this base was unlikely to be dragged into combat in the immediate future.
"Also, thank you for agreeing to let us land."
Eli quickly wrapped up his conversation with Christina and turned to speak with the base commander, Colonel Arthur Felsen.
"No need to be so formal. We're on the same side, and everyone inside this base welcomes the White Chaser."
Arthur spoke calmly, and Eli couldn't help but admire his leadership—being able to consolidate control over a base deep within North America was no small feat.
As Eli's gaze passed over Arthur, he noticed a familiar-looking figure among the guards behind him—one of them was smiling at Eli.
Thinking for a moment, Eli recognized him as the same sentry he had spoken to during the Tears of the Sky incident, back when he had first arrived at this Augusta base.
Four years had passed—he'd already been promoted to the guard company.
Eli smiled back and nodded at him, then returned to discussing the next steps with Arthur.
While the two of them continued their talk, Amuro and Christina finally began their own conversation.
"Chris, we captured a cyber-enhanced soldier from the Murakumo Institute this time, but her mental state is in terrible shape. Is there anything Augusta can do to help?"
As Amuro briefly explained the situation, he recalled the moment he had torn off the mask of that Psycommu Gundam—only to find the green-haired woman inside aiming a pistol at the NT-X and firing in rage.
Christina pursed her lips slightly, clearly troubled by the description.
"The research into cyber-newtypes at Augusta has mostly been shut down. The remaining projects are focused on inducing the birth of natural Newtypes and stabilizing the mental condition of existing cyber-newtypes. But without any background data, I can't make any promises."
"In that case, how about coming with me to the White Chaser and transferring Murakumo Kaede to the institute? You could also take a look at the NT-X's first combat data using the mobile frame."
To be honest, Amuro's voice really was magnetic—some voice actor could probably make a living doing things that can't be talked about publicly with that kind of voice.
Faced with this man, who had matured both in appearance and temperament, Christina had no reason—emotional or otherwise—to refuse. Naturally, she smiled and followed Amuro out of the room, along with the guard company.
As the door clicked shut behind them, the two still inside the room stopped their conversation at the same time.
What they had just been discussing included shared intel on Titan movements and Augusta's defense strategies based on that data.
These were indeed pressing matters, but not serious enough for Eli to personally leave the White Chaser and come all the way here.
And Arthur, who had invited Eli for this conversation, had no intention of playing coy. He got straight to the point and revealed his reason for doing so.
"General Jamitov is currently en route from the lunar surface to Earth. To avoid Titan orbital patrols, he is expected to arrive at this base early tomorrow morning."
Arthur delivered this bombshell of a message with a calm expression.
Previously, during the inquiry meeting at Jaburo, there had already been hints that General Jamitov was involved in the events behind the scenes.
Even so, Eli didn't react much. He simply nodded and asked if they needed to send troops to receive him.
General Green Wyatt had, during that very meeting, implied that Jamitov had sold Eli out—and to lend weight to the suggestion, he'd even gone so far as to offer Eli a tea that he knew he hated.
Yet Eli knew full well: if Jamitov really had betrayed him, there'd have been no need for any inquiry at all. They could've simply declared him guilty and detained him outright.
"I don't know what he's thinking, but either way, as his subordinate, I should at least listen to what he has to say."
Eli's comment made Arthur nod in agreement.
"Also, since you've got some free time now, you should really take a look at that letter."
Having delivered the most crucial piece of news, Arthur offered one final suggestion to Eli.
Ever since receiving the letter, Eli had been in constant combat and hadn't found time to properly read the final message left to him by General Revil.
"I will."
Eli nodded, placing his hand over his chest—where the letter was being carefully kept.
In the past, Eli had leveraged some of General Revil's deliberately vague orders to secure himself significant advantages. But now, he truly hoped the letter would be as detailed and clear as possible.
These days, Undertaker was gradually shifting from a counter-insurgency unit to a special defense force assigned to the Sides.
Though the nature of their tasks hadn't changed all that much, the essence of Undertaker's operations had undergone a fundamental transformation.
If given more time to grow, Eli was even confident in Undertaker's ability to begin influencing political affairs across the Sides.
Because the truth was, the Federation Parliament had never truly cared about the voices of space-dwelling citizens. Outside of Side 3, which had successfully become the Republic of Zeon, every other Side was treated as little more than a city-level administration—with no right to a seat in the Federation Parliament.
In that regard, the residents of the Moon were fundamentally different from the spacenoids.
Thanks to their unique geographic and economic positions, every lunar city had its own parliamentary seat.