“What a mess…”
Mu rubbed his temple, then turned to Murrue.
“Anyway, give me permission to come aboard, Captain Ramius.
The ship that brought me here has already been sunk.”
Murrue had only just been thrust into the position of acting captain and clearly hadn’t adjusted yet.
Caught off guard by Mu’s formal request, she froze for several seconds before finally reacting.
“Oh…
right.
Permission granted.”
Once he had clearance, Mu visibly relaxed.
Then he turned his attention to Jonathan.
“By the way, who’s that guy over there?”
Once again, Murrue found herself at a loss.
She genuinely had no idea who Jonathan really was.
All she could do was answer honestly.
“I don’t know much about his identity either, but he was definitely the one piloting the Strike Gundam just now.”
She then explained how Jonathan had driven off a GINN.
Natarle and the others were visibly surprised.
Mu also studied Jonathan more closely, his gaze sharpening as though he were reevaluating him.
“I was assigned to bring those recruits here so they could pilot this thing.
What happened to them…?”
He deliberately trailed off.
Natarle supplied the answer.
“They were reporting to the command center when the explosion occurred, so…”
“I see.”
Even though he had only known the pilots for a short time, hearing that they had all been killed still weighed on him.
Murrue, meanwhile, was in turmoil.
The information Jonathan had given her earlier had been completely accurate.
Every last detail.
Mu glanced at Jonathan again.
Creuset might have shot him down almost as soon as the battle began, but he had still seen every one of the Strike Gundam’s impossibly fluid maneuvers.
There was no way an ordinary person could have pulled them off.
With that conclusion in mind, Mu slowly walked toward Jonathan.
He stopped in front of him and remained silent, seemingly considering how to phrase his question.
“No need to probe me,” Jonathan said before he could speak.
“I’m a Coordinator.”
The words hit the room like a bomb.
Mu froze.
He hadn’t even asked the question yet, and Jonathan had already thrown the answer straight at him.
An absurd thought even flashed through his mind.
Could Coordinators read minds now, too?
Compared to his surprise, however, the Earth Alliance soldiers reacted far more directly.
The instant they heard the word “Coordinator,” the atmosphere changed.
Several soldiers instinctively tightened their grips on their weapons, their nerves instantly on edge.
Under the influence of Blue Cosmos, most Earth Alliance soldiers already harbored intense hostility toward Coordinators.
Had events followed the original plot, Tolle probably would have stepped forward to defend Kira by now.
But Jonathan was a different matter.
Sai and the others barely knew him.
Although they disliked the Earth Alliance soldiers as well, they weren’t about to stick their necks out for a stranger.
Jonathan himself couldn’t have cared less about the soldiers’ attitudes.
He had piloted a Gundam.
He had also obtained a Coordinator genetics.
He already planned to find an opportunity to leave the Gundam SEED universe, so he didn’t care what these people thought of him.
As the tension continued to rise, Murrue stepped forward.
“Lower your weapons.”
Her command brought the situation under control.
The soldiers exchanged glances before slowly loosening their grips.
They couldn’t ignore an order from the acting captain.
Natarle’s frown only deepened.
Raised in a military family, she couldn’t exactly be described as someone who hated Coordinators, but she instinctively regarded all of them as enemies.
“Captain Ramius, what exactly is going on?”
She stared at Murrue, clearly unable to understand her decision.
From Natarle’s perspective, Murrue was practically shielding an enemy.
Murrue took a deep breath and did her best to keep her voice steady.
“There’s no reason to overreact.”
“Heliopolis is a neutral space colony.”
“It wouldn’t be unusual for a Coordinator to move here to escape the war.”
Her explanation temporarily defused the tension.
Jonathan glanced at her.
Throughout the entire series, Murrue had always been a kindhearted person.
Compared to the Earth Alliance soldiers who reacted to Coordinators with open hostility, she was remarkably moderate.
She turned back to Jonathan.
“Isn’t that right, Mr.
Hale?”
She was offering him a way out.
Since she had already gone this far for him, Jonathan wasn’t about to reject the gesture.
He nodded, silently allowing her explanation to stand.
Only then did everyone finally relax a little.