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Chapter 75 - Chapter 75: Interlude Two - The Increasingly Divergent Ideologies of Siegel and Patrick 

Inside the Star Palace Colony Satellite of the New Misurugi Republic, Lady Une, the Minister of Internal Affairs, was reviewing and approving various documents in her private office as usual.

For someone who would grow to become the Governor of Mars in the future, the current affairs of the New Misurugi Republic were merely a warm-up, far from Une's full capabilities. It wasn't even as busy as when she was a deputy officer in OZ.

So Une usually had plenty of personal time to go shopping, enjoy some good food, and think about how to persuade Ange to share her man a little.

Yes, Une had her eyes on Reid, though it had nothing to do with whether Une liked Reid or not.

Une was well aware that power naturally brought obligations and constraints. The more Reid let her know now, the less true freedom he would give her. Marriage freedom was inevitably one of the things to be sacrificed.

Compared to the three fools Miguel Gaia, Ortega, and Mash, Reid would definitely not interfere much with their marriages. As long as the women were carefully vetted politically to ensure they weren't foreign spies, Reid might even help them strategize on how to pursue girls.

Also, Une indicated that the god who restricted her mind made it impossible for her to have any thoughts of betraying Reid, even just to test him.

Of course, given Reid's current trust and attitude towards her, Une said that even without the restriction, she wouldn't betray him. Even if she had no marriage freedom, she wouldn't let someone she disliked touch her.

So Une, who had no ill feelings towards Reid, said that if she didn't want to end up alone, she could only try to get a little of Reid from Ange, at least to have a child. To have someone to rely on in her old age in this world.

Of course, this had to be done gradually. Une hid her thoughts very well, even Ange couldn't see through it, let alone Reid. As far as Une was concerned, it was just right that her fellow countrywoman Noin had also become aware. Une planned to let her charge forward first to see how Ange would react before making a judgment.

Just as Une was thinking about these random things, a series of urgent knocks came at the door, causing Une to frown slightly.

Accustomed to the natives' unflappable work style, the government clerks now included many immigrants who often got flustered easily. Une immediately felt these people still needed tempering.

However, talent cultivation was a process. Anyway, truly important information would only be conveyed through native clerks. The information immigrant clerks could access was all judged by Une to be harmless even if leaked externally. So Une wasn't angry, just calmly said:

"Come in."

After getting permission, one of Une's current assistants, a Coordinator immigrant named Arianna Pope, walked in. This good-looking assistant handed a printed report to Une's desk and said anxiously:

"Minister, Captain Noin sent back an encrypted message. Heliopolis has collapsed, and Princess Angelise and Mr. Reid are missing. According to the descriptions of rescued Heliopolis residents, the collapse of Heliopolis was caused by a ZAFT attack."

Une nodded calmly after hearing this. These were all things Reid had mentioned before leaving, so there was nothing surprising. As for missing? Heh, this man had somehow anticipated this event in advance, so how could he be at a disadvantage? He was probably up to no good right now, just using this as an excuse.

So Une glanced at the document and replied:

"Go contact the ambassadors at the Atlantic Federation, Eurasian Federation, and East Asian Republic offices. Tell them I have urgent matters to discuss and would like to invite them for an emergency meeting in five hours.

Also, you need to stay calm when facing incidents. The bigger the incident, the calmer you need to be. Go call Tiffany, I have something to arrange."

Arianna nodded and turned to leave. Soon, Tiffany received the message and came to Une's office.

Tiffany Marquez, a Natural immigrant, was also Une's assistant. Une did this on purpose, letting the Coordinator contact the Earth Alliance people. As for this Tiffany, Une would have her contact PLANT.

This was a test. Une hadn't been working with these two for long and had only done simple background checks. Since the New Misurugi Republic didn't actually have intelligence organizations on either side, it was unknown if they had forces from other countries behind them.

But it was absolutely fine to have them do these two tasks. Even if they were really people inserted by the Earth Alliance or PLANT, the information leaking out just now would only increase her bargaining chips in negotiations with both sides.

So Une directly asked Tiffany to find people from the PLANT office in Star Palace and request an immediate meeting with the ambassador.

After Tiffany left, Une took out the protest letter she had prepared long ago, planning to first protest in an unofficial manner. Let the PLANT ambassador transmit it back to PLANT to see their reaction.

However, looking at the letter and thinking of Reid's so-called analysis before departure, Une muttered to herself:

"Reid, this ability comparable to reading a script, is it your own outstanding analytical ability, or some special treatment given by a god? Do you know my own destiny? Thinking carefully, I may just be a puppet of fate, it really feels a bit scary..."

After a brief soliloquy, Une immediately regained her composure. After all, even if Reid could really foresee the future, so what? She had experienced death, meeting gods, and being reborn into another world. A little ability to predict the future was completely within the acceptable range.

However, compared to Une's orderliness here, things were really in a mess on PLANT's side.

Eileen Canaver, the Diplomatic Committee member, was stunned after receiving the unofficial protest letter from Star Palace. As a moderate, she had always seen pulling in the New Misurugi Republic, a technologically strong country with small territory, as a political task. She believed this would be all beneficial and no harm to PLANT.

The moderates had even discussed internally that if the New Misurugi Republic was willing to join PLANT, they could give this country of mostly Naturals an external city seat. They could even let the Natural Angelise and Reid become council members to prove that PLANT could actually accept Naturals, in order to reduce some hostility from Earth's Natural civilians towards PLANT.

Of course, when this proposal was discussed in the Supreme Council, Patrick Zala of the radical faction was firmly opposed. To be precise, he would get angry just hearing the name Reid Isaac, as if Reid Isaac was the murderer of his father.

In fact, the Supreme Council members of PLANT were clear in their hearts whether Reid was involved in the Junius Seven incident or not. They all knew that Reid was just a small soldier at that time and had no choice. Plus, his current abilities were enough for everyone to acknowledge that the benefits of him joining would outweigh his stains. Even many people in the radical faction thought so.

So, after Eileen Canaver confirmed the information was correct, her first reaction was that Patrick Zala was up to no good. For his personal grudge, not wanting the New Misurugi Republic to join PLANT, he decided to simply force the New Misurugi Republic into the Earth Alliance camp. So he had ZAFT actively attack them.

So Eileen Canaver rushed to Chairman Siegel Clyne's office with the protest letter. Now they must discuss how to counter the radical faction, and how to deal with the New Misurugi Republic afterwards.

However, when Eileen Canaver rushed to Siegel Clyne's office, she was informed that Siegel was receiving Chairman Zala and needed to wait in line.

Fortunately, after having Siegel's assistant send in an urgent request, Eileen Canaver was soon granted entry. Then she found that Siegel was not only receiving Patrick Zala, but also Ezalia Joule, who was on the National Defense Committee.

Actually, Ezalia Joule's presence in Siegel's office was understandable. Even for Coordinators, women are generally more emotional than men.

Among Athrun's four-person second-generation team, only Yzak's mother held a high position on the National Defense Committee. Even though Ezalia Joule wouldn't give Yzak big backdoor opportunities for promotion in the military, it was human nature to constantly pay attention to her son's movements.

So no one competed with her for this job, and Crueset's team's regular briefings would be sent to Ezalia Joule first. After all, as a member of the National Defense Committee, she had this much authority.

So Ezalia Joule received the intelligence from Heliopolis earlier than Eileen Canaver (Crueset sent the report to PLANT during the time he was chasing the Archangel after Heliopolis collapsed).

In Crueset's briefing, he described:

The Atlantic Federation was indeed manufacturing the latest Mobile Suits in Heliopolis, and the performance of these MS was far superior to the mainstream MS currently in use.

At the same time, Crueset also said that clues of possible collusion between the New Misurugi Republic and the Atlantic Federation were found in Heliopolis. And conflicts occurred between the two sides. Princess Angelise and Reid Isaac both boarded the Atlantic Federation's new warship, piloting new Mobile Suits from the New Misurugi Republic to fight against his team. This caused heavy losses to the troops participating in this operation.

Ezalia Joule didn't dare to neglect this intelligence. Even Patrick Zala, who hated Reid Isaac the most, admitted in the radical faction's internal meetings that if this man joined the Earth Alliance alive, it would be a disaster for PLANT.

So Ezalia Joule didn't hesitate to report this intelligence. Because this matter was already beyond her ability to make judgments alone.

When Patrick received this intelligence, he didn't show an expression of wild joy.

The current Patrick hadn't gone completely insane yet. Seeing this intelligence, he first questioned it, because Patrick believed that if Reid had really joined the Atlantic Federation, he definitely wouldn't expose himself so easily. This man was a cunning fox who wouldn't do anything without certainty. Unless there were very big benefits.

However, Patrick felt that a few new model MS weren't considered very big benefits for Reid, because given some time he might be able to develop even stronger ones himself.

Moreover, Princess Angelise and Reid's itinerary to Heliopolis wasn't particularly concealed. The reason they used was something PLANT couldn't pick fault with, because they were going to Heliopolis Industrial College for campus recruitment.

At the same time, Patrick hadn't received any intelligence from spies planted in the Star Palace Colony Satellite about Reid colluding with the Atlantic Federation. There wasn't even a hint of war atmosphere there. They were still very selective in recruiting new soldiers, and supplies weren't tightened. The most common topic of discussion among government building employees was still gossip about the princess and Reid, clearly showing no intention of preparing for war.

In conclusion, Patrick judged that there were problems with the briefing Crueset sent back. He must have concealed something. So Patrick didn't make a judgment directly, but prepared to talk to Siegel first. Although the two had increasingly divergent political views recently, they were old friends who had fought together after all. It wouldn't hurt to hear his analysis.

As a result, just as Siegel had learned about the situation from Crueset's perspective and hadn't had time to say anything, Eileen Canaver arrived with the protest letter from the New Misurugi Republic.

So Siegel decided to see what the New Misurugi Republic wanted to say first.

This protest letter compiled by Reid in advance was naturally read by all three people in the office. Crueset's report was also shown to Eileen Canaver.

Since Reid could foresee the future, the three naturally couldn't see any flaws in this protest letter. The New Misurugi Republic really seemed like they hadn't figured anything out yet, and only came to protest after learning the news from other Heliopolis residents rescued by their rescue ships.

Because the protest letter was even suspecting that ZAFT deliberately attacked Princess Angelise and Reid, and detained or even killed them. It demanded PLANT to give an explanation immediately, otherwise Une would directly package all the technology of the Star Palace Colony Satellite to benefit the Earth Alliance.

This letter was more of a threat than a protest letter, with an attitude of "if you don't give a satisfactory reply, I'll just blow everything up". After all, the head of state was gone, so whoever could best avenge them would benefit.

Everyone present was speechless. Heaven knows how much technology Reid Isaac had left in the Star Palace Colony Satellite. If it all benefited the Earth Alliance, PLANT's subsequent battles would definitely be more difficult.

So, not to mention that the people present felt like they were in a difficult position, ZAFT didn't actually detain the two and even suffered considerable troop losses.

But no matter how bitter it was now, they couldn't stimulate Une, the third most powerful person in the New Misurugi Republic, any further. Not to mention that from her perspective, everything really was ZAFT's fault. Moreover, it's been confirmed since the last century that women can be unreasonable when they get vicious. She might really package Star Palace to the Earth Alliance.

However, on how to reply to the New Misurugi Republic, Siegel and Patrick had a dispute again.

Siegel wanted to tell the truth to the New Misurugi Republic, saying that Princess Angelise and Reid were on the Atlantic Federation's ship. Even if they wanted the people back, they had to ask the Atlantic Federation. In any case, stall first, tell Une that the two were still alive and well, don't be impulsive.

But Patrick didn't think so. He agreed to tell the New Misurugi Republic the location of Princess Angelise and Reid. But he wanted to create an information gap, saying that the Atlantic Federation had detained the two. Let Une go make trouble for the Atlantic Federation. Anyway, she couldn't contact the two for a while.

If it was exposed later when contact was made, it wouldn't affect PLANT either. Anyway, even if the New Misurugi Republic wanted to offend someone, it would be the Atlantic Federation.

Of course, Patrick didn't say the second half of his thoughts - if Reid wanted to retaliate against PLANT, it would be just what he wanted. He would have a legitimate reason to dispatch troops to counterattack.

As for Reid joining the Earth Alliance in anger, Patrick said that based on his research on Reid, he wouldn't do such a self-destructive thing.

Reid Isaac was a person with certain ambitions, and these ambitions were still growing. Patrick firmly believed in this judgment of his.

So Siegel and Patrick started arguing again. Because it was private and only confidants were listening, Siegel directly accused Patrick's operation of making trouble out of nothing. This matter was very likely provoked by their side first, and now they wanted to add fuel to the fire. If Reid really joined the Earth Alliance, ZAFT would be the one to suffer.

But Patrick only thought that Siegel had grown old now and liked to be overcautious in everything, not daring to act in PLANT's best interests. And he insisted that Reid Isaac wouldn't join the Earth Alliance. It made him sound like he was the worm in Reid's belly.

Eileen Canaver and Ezalia Joule could only be considered sidekicks in this argument, so they didn't say much. Instead, they looked at each other helplessly. There was sympathy in their eyes.

In the end, neither Siegel nor Patrick convinced the other, and they could only part on bad terms.

However, Eileen Canaver was the Diplomatic Committee member, and Siegel was the chairman. They clearly had more say in how to reply to the New Misurugi Republic.

So, in the end, PLANT's unofficial reply to Une was:

"Regarding your protest, the PLANT Supreme Council has received it.

We have confirmed with the Military Committee that ZAFT has never issued any orders or plans to attack political figures of the New Misurugi Republic.

ZAFT's attack on Heliopolis was an act of war against the Earth Alliance. It was because the Earth Alliance had a secret military factory in Heliopolis. So the residents of Heliopolis may have misunderstood ZAFT's attack target because of this.

According to the information ZAFT currently has, Princess Angelise and Mr. Reid Isaac are currently taking refuge on the Atlantic Federation's newest warship, the Archangel.

Your country can first bring back the two political figures to understand the details of the facts before taking measures.

PLANT and the New Misurugi Republic are friendly countries. We must not become enemies because of the instigation of other forces."

After replying, PLANT immediately held an emergency meeting. Everyone unanimously agreed to recall Crueset immediately. He must explain in person what happened in Heliopolis and retrieve detailed mission records.

If the New Misurugi Republic was really dragged into this, then ZAFT would have to bear the losses themselves. PLANT would not declare war on the New Misurugi Republic because of this.

Patrick couldn't quite accept this result. He felt that at least Reid should spit out something to offset his attack on ZAFT and killing many soldiers.

But the Supreme Council had preliminarily passed the resolution, because the neutral council members all felt that forcing the New Misurugi Republic to the opponent's side at this time was a bad mo

ve. Even many radical faction council members agreed on this point.

So Patrick could only curse in his heart "How can PLANT be revitalized with these insects?" while compromising on the surface, waiting to deal with them one by one after he took power.

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