The chair squeaked as Murrue Ramius leaned back to mentally go over what had transpired earlier. But with the recent revelation, she decided that in order to properly refresh her memory, she should play back the log entry she recorded earlier before the unexpected visit. Her fingers tapped the console on her desk a few times before the audio started playing back.
"Captain's Log. November 20, CE 71. The Kusanagi is expected to meet up with us by around 0930 hours this morning. At 1230 hours, there is to be a meeting for senior staff from all the ships that are a part of our organization, which has been renamed as Terminal for formal political purposes. Other than filling in the last member of our group on what has happened to us and hearing their reports on Orb, we will be attempting to devise defensive strategies to properly fend off future Abyss skirmishes. Speaking of Abyss skirmishes, we've also agreed to thoroughly review the attacks that occurred recently and see if we can find some sort of connection between all of them and perhaps their purposes as well. End log."
Pausing to take a small breath, Murrue tapped in a few commands to make another entry. "Captain's Log. Supplemental. The Kusanagi made it back on schedule but before the meeting began, Martin DaCosta, the right hand man of Captain Andrew Waltfeld, informed us of a message that he had received from the Junk Guild. They requested to meet with us to discuss the battle between the Alliance and the Abyss at GENESIS Alpha and show us sensor footage that had been recovered from Red Frame regarding some new Abyss units and the prize that they had taken..."
Flashback
"So you're the representative for the Junk Guild?" asked DaCosta as a figure dressed in black carrying Eight walked into the conference room in the Eternal. At a certain angle, the stranger bore a resemblance to Kira. He had introduced himself as Canard Pars during his official request to board the ship earlier. When Gai heard this, he was somewhat startled by the revelation that Canard was with the Junk Guild but realized that the only reason why Canard hooked up with them is that he had nowhere else he could really go.
The first time he met the Coordinator was on the battlefield when Blue Frame fought against Hyperion. It had been a close match but Gai and Elijah had been able to stall Canard while his comrades escaped out of harm's way. He then saw him again on the Eurasian Federation ship, the Ortigiya while delivering a message to Prayer. Although he possessed a twisted personality, Gai realized that Canard had his own sense of honour as well by the way he went on about wanting to have a fair fight with Prayer in their mobile suits. Later, Kazahana reported that the kid had died and ever since then, Canard had tried to live a life of compassion. It was the least he could do to honour the will he inherited from Prayer.
"Lowe has been confined to bed for a while due to his close brush with death at GENESIS Alpha. Liam, Kisato and the Professor all have their own respective duties that could not be put off so I was the one who got elected to bring forth this matter," replied Canard smoothly. He briefly glanced over at the people attending the meeting. Andrew Waltfeld and Martin DaCosta occupied two seats on the left. Murrue Ramius was seated on the other end of the table. Last but not least, Ledonir Kisaka and Gai Murakumo occupied the seats on his right. 'So that guy's a part of this too? How interesting...' He hooked Eight up to the projector module that rested on the rectangular table. After moving a little so that the others would be able to see the screen, he gave the computer his instructions. "Eight, upload Red Frame's video footage at Time Index 11:21."
"Affirmative." A picture of the two unknown mobile suits dragging Testament popped up on the monitor.
Canard began to speak again. "The two standing mobile suits are unknown but since they're both the same, they're probably a new mass production suit created by the Obsidian Abyss. I wouldn't be surprised if you guys see these in future battles. The third mobile suit is a bit of a mystery but I do have a theory. Since it is visually alike to the mobile suit my colleague discovered earlier in the same location, I'm guessing that it has a similar function... to adapt to different situations on the battlefield using various mission packs. I'll bring up a comparison. Eight, bring up some footage of the Out Frame."
"You mean... it's like the X-105 Strike?" asked Murrue as she examined the mobile suits on the screen.
"More or less. Lowe believes that this is ZAFT's attempt to build a mobile suit like the Strike," chirped Eight.
"Considering how much it accomplished in the last war, I'm not too surprised," chuckled Andy as he recalled his own battle against the X-105 Strike.
"Since this last unit is most likely a ZAFT unit, I was hoping that you guys had some more solid information on it," said Canard.
DaCosta gave a frown. "That could be a problem. As you're plainly aware, we're not exactly a part of ZAFT anymore. Your best shot is to go see Yzak, Dearka and Athrun. Athrun may be able to get access to his late father's files while Dearka and Yzak both have parents who worked with military information in the PLANT Supreme Council."
Canard nodded. "Alright. I'll send copies of the files Eight showed you for your own references before heading back."
End Flashback
"Pilots Elsman and Joule have both been shown the footage and will look into getting more technical data for that machine. What I am worried about is the potential for that machine to do to us what the Strike did to ZAFT. Even though we theoretically have stronger mobile suits and firepower, the iron will of a pilot in a mobile suit with more flexibility than the Strike itself could bring many troubled times ahead. End log."
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(Posted Sat, 10 Jun 2006 00:02)
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