Chapter 161: Stowaway
"This is a pardon order."
Jamitov spoke in a low voice to Eli as a folded document was placed in front of him.
"General Revil has already signed it. When everything settles down, hand it over to the other party."
Clearly, this was something General Revil had authorized Jamitov to handle—developing spies within the Zeon remnants to gather intelligence. This pardon order was their reward.
It seemed that the sudden disappearance of the "space pirates" was the signal that the other side had started moving.
"That said, the pardon order doesn't actually specify anything concrete. After all, this particular group of Zeon remnants has a rather... unique status. You'll decide how to handle them."
And indeed, their status was highly unusual.
Cima Garahau was a figure that no side wanted to touch.
That was because she had carried out the operation to flood a colony with poison gas.
Although, in truth, she hadn't known what she was doing—she thought the order was to release sleeping gas. The upper ranks scapegoated her to shirk their own responsibility.
In other words, Cima was the direct culprit behind the deaths of Eli's parents, his relatives, and all his friends.
With that on her back, all she could do was become a space pirate, preying on ships—Federation, civilian, even Zeon vessels.
Her current negotiations with the Federation were simply an attempt to secure a future for herself and her subordinates.
That was the polite way to put it.
"Why me?"
Eli asked.
Logically, he should have been excluded from this for the sake of impartiality. It would have made more sense for one of the other three squads to handle it.
"Who knows? Maybe General Revil wants to let you take your revenge yourself."
Jamitov shrugged, clearly indifferent to the matter.
He wasn't worried that Eli would let his emotions get the better of him and kill Cima outright.
Even if he did kill her, it'd be after the mission was done.
"Oh, right. There's no rush. When they get in touch again, someone will contact you. Just follow your original orders in the meantime."
"Yes, sir!"
But in truth, Eli didn't need Cima's intel.
Because he already knew the final goal of Operation Stardust.
Even so, after much hesitation, Eli carefully tucked the pardon order away as he returned to the White Chaser.
Even the events surrounding the Tears of the Sky hadn't played out as he remembered, so he couldn't completely trust the intel in his mind anymore.
"In any case, we keep heading toward the objective."
With that, Eli gave the order, and the two Pegasus-class ships detached from Jamitov's fleet and slowly altered course.
But during this process, a report from Dr. Lenore was delivered to Eli.
Dr. Lenore explicitly stated in the report that Eli needed to come immediately—the situation was urgent.
Uncertain of what was going on, Eli headed to the infirmary, confused as to why he was being summoned at this particular moment.
Standing outside the door, he immediately sensed a tense atmosphere.
As he blinked, he instantly understood why Dr. Lenore had specifically requested his presence.
His face twisted in fury, Eli burst into the infirmary.
"Rita! Explain why you're here!"
——
"The council never changes, does it?"
Earlier, the Federation had detected a fleet making its way toward Earth's sphere.
From the direction it was coming from, it was unmistakably a fleet dispatched by Axis.
Judging by the timing, it would soon reach the edge of Earth's sphere.
Because of this, Revil had proposed delaying the fleet review ceremony.
But not only did the council ignore his suggestion, they even said something along the lines of, "As long as they stay on the outskirts, let them. This is a good chance to test the Federation's current strength."
There was no doubt now—while Revil had been kept in the dark, the council had already made contact with the Axis fleet behind his back.
Their reasoning had some logic to it. Axis, after all, was just a space fortress, even if it had absorbed most of Zeon's remaining forces.
Even if they hollowed out the entire asteroid, they wouldn't be able to form a military strong enough to rival the Federation.
Plus, within the Federation, there was this naïve idea that "as long as they don't return to Earth's sphere, we can acknowledge their autonomy."
In other words, the Federation had, in practice, recognized Axis as a legitimate regime.
But those self-important fools seemed to have forgotten that the fleet they sent earlier didn't gain a single advantage.
Axis undoubtedly possessed some shocking trump card that would catch everyone off guard.
General Revil sat inside the Konpei Island fortress, fuming at the council's short-sightedness and impulsive decisions.
Looking at it now, the fact that Jamitov had taken the initiative to approach him back then was definitely the right move.
Over the past year, Revil had made certain concessions to Jamitov, allowing him to gain more influence in dealings with the council.
But clearly, that still wasn't enough. Judging by recent events, Jamitov hadn't been informed about the Axis fleet either.
General Revil turned his gaze to the screen before him.
Displayed there was a massive battleship, silently drifting near Konpei Island.
The Birmingham-class. Nearly 400 meters long, it had been designed as one of the Federation Space Force's flagships—a true beast of firepower.
It carried no less than ten MEGA particle cannons and was equipped from bow to stern with all sorts of missile launchers, as well as Albion-style laser defense turrets.
It was no exaggeration to say this ship was the culmination of the "big ship, big gun" doctrine—a crowning achievement of the Fort Wellington Shipyards.
But precisely because it stuck to the outdated style of the Federation Space Force, the ship had no mobile suit capabilities.
And why was such a powerful ship only one of the Federation's flagships?
Naturally, the answer was the age-old issue of factionalism.
Currently, the Federation Space Force was roughly divided into two major factions: Revil's faction and Jamitov's faction. Meanwhile, the Federation's army, navy, and air force remained independent of both.
This was a deliberate move by both Revil and Jamitov—to lower the council's suspicions and reduce the risk of large-scale armed conflict.
Still, the two of them trusted each other enough to believe things wouldn't spiral out of control.
At least, General Revil certainly had no desire to see it come to that.
The name of the Birmingham-class ship before him was the Birmingham itself—clearly assigned to Jamitov's faction.
Meanwhile, the second Birmingham-class ship under construction had been designated as Revil's faction's flagship.
Why would Revil agree to have a flagship built by a rival faction?
The reason was simple.
He wanted to send a message to the outside world—that the Federation military was still united.
With anti-Federation movements on the rise, it was more important than ever to present a united front.
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