Mayu's surgery was successful. Fortunately, the wound hadn't damaged any internal organs. After restitching and a blood transfusion, she would only need about a week of observation before she could tentatively take a few steps if all went well.
Shinn Asuka heaved a huge sigh of relief upon hearing the news, then promptly passed out. Witnessing his parents' deaths and his sister's severe injuries had left his nerves stretched to the breaking point. The moment he relaxed, he collapsed into unconsciousness.
Fortunately, the medical staff determined that Shinn just needed sleep. Athrun, who had been accompanying him the whole time, settled him into a regular medical room to rest before going to find Reid.
Why was Athrun the one watching over Shinn? Because ever since Reid returned, there had been no end to the chaos. He had to review the Xia sisters' Psycho-Link combat records, deal with officials trying to sneak away among the refugees, and arrange for those who collapsed from exhaustion or preexisting conditions to be moved to the roadside.
In short, the endless stream of miscellaneous tasks left Reid regretting not bringing any administrative staff along.
Seeing Reid overwhelmed, Athrun naturally didn't want to add to his troubles and took on the responsibility of looking after Shinn. He had a strange feeling—this kid was the type to be the most troublesome troublemaker.
If Reid knew what Athrun was thinking, he'd give him a thumbs-up and say, "You guessed right." Without his intervention, Shinn would have given Athrun endless headaches in the future—and yes, he was absolutely a troublemaker. But since that side of him hadn't fully emerged yet, Athrun didn't feel it too strongly.
By the time Athrun found Reid, it was already evening. The Atlantic Federation's offensive had retreated as the sun began to set.
On the first day of battle, Orb had lost most of its main island—though only the northern regions, which held no critical military facilities. The southern areas, where the Atlantic Federation had focused their assault, remained under Orb's control.
After Reid's visit to the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet flagship, Rear Admiral Dreiss, no longer hampered by incompetent leadership, fully leveraged the Federation's greatest advantage: an overwhelming supply of ammunition and Mobile Suits.
The afternoon's fighting had mostly consisted of Orb's southern defenders being bombarded relentlessly by the Federation. Kira had considered flanking the Federation's rear, but the sheer volume of beam fire forced him to retreat.
Perhaps anticipating endless nighttime guerrilla attacks if they left troops on the main island, the Federation abandoned even the territory they had seized. With all eastern defenses already destroyed, they could easily push forward again the next day.
Regardless, Orb had survived the first day of war with the Atlantic Federation. Just like in the original timeline, Kira and the surviving M1 Astray units disembarked from their Mobile Suits on the ravaged beach to rest and recover.
Kira was utterly exhausted. He had only eaten and drunk something during brief resupply breaks (his railgun needed reloading, and his Anti-Beam Shield required replacement). The rest of the time, he had been fighting nonstop.
Even with his Super Coordinator physique, the relentless combat had pushed him to the brink of collapse. The moment he stepped out of the Freedom Gundam, he slumped onto a rocky outcrop, gasping for breath, before finally lying down completely.
At this moment, Cagalli arrived with water and various energy drinks to offer her support. During the most critical point of today's battle, she had nearly commandeered the Strike Gundam to sortie. Fortunately, Ledonir Kisaka fulfilled his duty as her bodyguard (or babysitter) and forcibly pulled her out of the Mobile Suit, preventing her from meeting her end on Orb's beaches.
Yet this incident made Cagalli acutely aware of her own helplessness. For her, watching her homeland under attack while being confined to the rear was nothing short of torment.
However, the resting Mobile Suit pilots suddenly heard the roar of approaching MS engines again. Everyone tensed up, fearing the Atlantic Federation had turned back for another assault.
Luckily, the air raid sirens remained silent. When they looked up, they saw the New Misurugi Republic's Mystic Lightning and an unfamiliar red Mobile Suit, which eased their worries for the moment. After all, it was hardly surprising for the New Misurugi Republic to unveil new MS—such things were to be expected.
As for the New Misurugi Republic's Mobile Suits landing in Orb's MS rest area, no one paid it much mind. Most of Orb's middle and lower ranks now believed Reid was helping the government clean up its mess, using his international reputation to aid in civilian evacuations.
Thus, Reid's heavily self-interested humanitarian efforts had won over the majority of Orb's military and civilians.
So, the Mystic Lightning and Justice Gundam descended among the M1 Astrays as if they were on home soil, with Reid and Athrun stepping out of their cockpits immediately.
Only then did the Orb personnel notice something amiss—why was the person emerging from the red Mobile Suit wearing a ZAFT uniform?
With this question in mind, all eyes turned to Reid, since he was the one who had brought this person here.
Unfazed by the surrounding puzzled gazes, Reid walked straight to Kira and said,
"Kira, get up. Stop lying there like a corpse. Athrun wants to talk to you."
Kira had been too exhausted to pay attention to who had disembarked from the Mobile Suit Reid brought. But at Reid's words, he jolted upright as if electrocuted, exclaiming in shock,
"What?! Athrun?! Mr. Reid, why would he come here...?"
Reid could sense that Kira was clearly startled, almost as if he was afraid to see Athrun.
But by then, Athrun had already removed his helmet and approached Kira. Unable to ignore his presence, Kira turned to look, and the two locked eyes.
Truth be told, both Kira and Athrun were overwhelmed with complex emotions at that moment. The sight of each other brought back memories of their fallen friend and their life-or-death battles. Then, their childhood memories flashed before their eyes like a reel.
There was no hatred left between them—just like former lovers reuniting after years apart, old feelings reignited instantly. Yet unresolved grievances lingered, making their emotions as tangled as could be.
Reid couldn't find the right words either, as their "love-hate saga" was far too convoluted to summarize.
For now, the two stood frozen like players in a game of statue, neither willing to make the first move. Reid had no idea how long their staring contest would last before someone broke the silence.
But of course, there was Cagalli—completely oblivious to the mood and always acting faster than she could think.
Her feelings towards Athrun and Kira were quite complex, and knowing they had once been close friends who were now forced to fight each other always filled her with sorrow.
Seeing how obviously awkward Kira and Athrun had become, she rushed forward, hooked her arms around their shoulders, and pulled them close in an exaggerated embrace. Then she said:
"You two! This is great, just great."
Only those familiar with Kira and Athrun's situation could understand this abrupt statement, but it instantly broke the awkward tension between them.
Kira seemed to have realized something too and smiled, saying:
"Long time no see, Athrun."
Athrun naturally responded with a smile:
"Yeah, long time no see, Kira."
With the atmosphere now thawed, Reid felt Cagalli had served her purpose perfectly—it was time to stop being a third wheel.
So he grabbed the arm Cagalli had around Kira's neck and pulled it away, signaling that twins (since Coordinators could modify genes, twins could easily have different hair colors or even skin tones) shouldn't be so intimate. Otherwise, both Uzumi and Kira's parents might intervene to "separate the lovebirds."
After pulling Cagalli's arm away, Reid dragged her off from Kira and Athrun, saying as he went:
"Cagalli, don't interrupt their long-overdue conversation. I helped evacuate over 40,000 people to Orb today—come help me verify the list and check if they're all registered Orb civilians."
Reid was deliberately making up an excuse to pull Cagalli away, but it was a legitimate task. Besides, everyone around could tell there was something between Kira and Athrun—from the moment they met, neither had let the other out of their sight.
Thus, Cagalli, a princess of Orb, was dragged aside by Reid, an outsider, handed a tablet with thousands of pages of spreadsheet data, and left to verify it alone with no one to help her.
Of course, Reid didn't actually expect Cagalli to finish the task. With Orb's government practically nonfunctional, there was no one to assist her. Even if she worked alone for a week, she might not get through it all.
In truth, both Reid and Cagalli were eavesdropping on Kira and Athrun's conversation.
But with so many people around, the pair soon relocated, taking Freedom and Justice to talk privately aboard the Archangel.
At this point, Reid couldn't openly follow them onto the Archangel. After all, he had come to Orb's base under the pretense of official business—boarding the Archangel would be tantamount to declaring that the ship was now aligned with him.
This was something he needed to avoid for now, as he still wanted the Archangel to remain part of the Three Ships Alliance. Otherwise, if Lacus decided to interfere with Reid's "war efforts" after hostilities with PLANT broke out, things could get complicated.
So Reid didn't follow them onto the Archangel. After keeping Cagalli occupied a while longer and seeing the sun had fully set, he returned to the Aries.
That night, Athrun didn't come back—apparently, he and Kira had reconciled, and he stayed overnight on the Archangel.
Early the next morning, Reid received an urgent call from Murrue. When he answered, she looked worried and said:
"Orb has notified us to assemble directly at Hirai Island, where Dawn Company is located, today. They are preparing to abandon the entire First Island, with the remaining forces concentrating near Dawn Company and the Mass Driver. Moreover, I received word that Orb intends to launch the Archangel directly into space. Representative Uzumi asked me to confirm this with you, Reid."
Upon hearing this, Reid realized that Uzumi had clearly taken his warning to heart and was preparing for a scorched-earth strategy much earlier than expected. That's why he had moved the bulk of the forces to Dawn Company's vicinity over half a day ahead of schedule.
Still, Reid felt it necessary to guard against Uzumi's potential schemes and replied seriously,
"Understood, Murrue. Just follow Orb's plan. Remember, if they don't equip the Archangel with booster rockets and claim they'll use the Mass Driver to send you into space, it means they intend to abandon you. Contact me immediately and rendezvous with my forces here.
"If the Archangel is successfully launched into space, you and Orb's forces should detour through the Fourth Cosmic Era Zone and return to the Star Palace Colony Satellite. Once there, hide within the asteroid belt and fire the encrypted signal flare I gave you.
"I can't accompany you—I need to draw attention openly and return via the official route. So I'll likely arrive before you and will come to pick you up."
Murrue nodded. As long as Reid had a plan, she was reassured. She had been worried that Orb might suddenly withdraw, leaving Reid unaware and vulnerable to encirclement by the Atlantic Federation.
Just as Murrue was about to end the call, Reid added,
"Oh, Murrue, I'm sorry I couldn't see you yesterday. But I have good news—I've already spoken to Ange and Noin about you and successfully persuaded them."
Murrue, of course, didn't catch the implication behind Reid's choice of words ("persuaded" in a rather intimate sense). Overjoyed, she nearly cried—after all, even if she was willing to be the "fourth," she didn't want to remain a secret lover. Now that Reid had settled things at home, they could at least be open about their relationship.
If Reid had been in front of her right then, Murrue would have been tempted to reward him properly. But with dozens of kilometers between them, she steadied herself and replied with a smile,
"Alright, then come pick me up so we can go home together."
With that, Murrue ended the call—she needed to calm her racing heart before the imminent battle.
Meanwhile, Reid looked down at the still-crowded port, where evacuation efforts had barely made a dent in the sea of people, and sighed.
"Uzumi, you've got the guts to go down in a blaze of glory, but you're leaving Orb's unlucky civilians to their fate. I always thought I was a hypocrite, but it seems you're even worse—and far better suited to be a politician.
"Still, I'm a soldier at heart. When it comes to the cold-heartedness of watching the suffering without lifting a finger, I might just be more skilled than you."
With that, he issued an order:
"Security teams, close the port gates and stack empty cargo containers to block the entrance.
"Inform the civilians outside the port that Orb has already abandoned First Island. The Atlantic Federation will soon occupy the entire island, and once they do, this will be their territory. Under the agreement, we must withdraw.
"Therefore, we can only assist those already inside the port. For those outside, we can do nothing."
Reid knew that his order would inevitably incite a riot among the civilians outside the port. They would absolutely storm the gates, desperate to board the last departing ships before his retreat. A stampede was unavoidable.
But Reid couldn't possibly wait until the Atlantic Federation fully controlled Orb to withdraw. By then, he might truly be surrounded by direct orders from the Atlantic Federation's homeland, and the three slow-moving Antietam-class freighters would certainly be unable to escape.
Thus, immediately after issuing the previous command, Reid continued:
"Notify the ground crew inside the port—no need to verify identities for the remaining people. We'll take them all back to the Star Palace Colony Satellite. After all, we barely screened any qualified personnel yesterday. That old fox Uzumi really tried to fob me off with nothing but mid- and lower-level engineers."
"So just load the remaining people directly onto the transport ships. Personnel registration can be handled onboard."
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