Two hours had slipped by aboard the Archangel.
Murrue Ramius focused her attention on the data received by the computer on her left armrest. She picked up the communication receiver and established a link with the Eternal, the Kusanagi, and the Kshatriya.
"Captain Ramius, please forgive me for being blunt, but I must askis this intelligence accurate?" Ledonir Kisaka asked, his expression grave.
"It is absolutely accurate."
"I understand. We will proceed immediately."
"The same goes for the Eternal," Andrew Waltfeld added with a light shrug and a smile. "Though, to be honest, the resupply for the Barbatos was the first to be completed."
After exchanging a few more words, Murrue hung up. She let out a long sigh of relief and turned her gaze toward the technical specifications of the Dominion displayed on her right armrest.
There wasn't much new to see. Both were Archangel-class battleships. She had overseen the entire development and research process of the Archangel itself; it was fair to say that, outside of Morgenroete, she was the person who understood Archangel-class ships best.
"Natarle... what are you really...?"
Meanwhile, in the captain's office of the Dominion, Natarle Badgiruel exhaled a breath of murky air. She spun her chair around and raised a hand to rub her temples. After a long moment, she opened her eyes and glanced at the computer behind her, speaking softly.
"Murrue, I won't hold back on the battlefield. If I did..."
Natarle leaned back, staring blankly at the ceiling. To be honest, she was lost. She felt a profound sense of confusion and doubt regarding the forces she now served.
Back on the Archangel, which had returned to the L4 colony cluster...
Mu, Kira, Athrun, and Dearka had all returned. However, Mu was injured, having sustained an arm abrasion and a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Fortunately, neither was fatal, and he was already out of danger.
To make matters worse, the Strike had returned in a state of severe damage. Its right arm had been lost somewhere on the colony, and its right leg was completely scrapped. Further combat was out of the question.
Then there was Kira. His condition after returning wasn't much better; he looked weighed down by a heavy heart. After delivering the Strike back to the Archangel, he had returned to the Eternal with Athrun.
Based on the descriptions provided by Athrun and Dearka, the crew now knew exactly which ZAFT unit was causing them trouble.
It was their former unit and the Archangel's long-standing rival: the Creuset Team.
The most shocking revelation, however, was what Athrun had shared regarding the relationship between Mu and Creuset, as well as the truth behind Kira and Cagalli's origins.
It turned out that Rau Le Creuset's true identity was that of a clone. He was a clone of Mu's father, the business tycoon Al Da Flaga.
As a highly successful man in the corporate world, Al Da Flaga had always been dissatisfied with his only son, Mu La Flaga. He believed that Mu's talents fell far short of his requirements and maintained that he was the only one capable of inheriting and expanding his empire.
Driven by the desire to succeed himself, he conceived the idea of cloning his own body. It was then that he sought out Dr. Ulen Hibiki, who was facing a dire funding crisis at the time.
This Dr. Ulen Hibiki was the biological father of Kira and Cagalli.
At that time, Ulen Hibiki was conducting genetic manipulation experiments aimed at creating the "strongest Coordinator."
He desperately needed capital, and Al Da Flaga's appearance solved his problems perfectly, providing a massive influx of research funds. In exchange, the doctor used his research to clone Al Da Flaga.
The result of that experiment was Rau Le Creuset. However, Rau was a failed clone.
Somehow, Rau had discovered the truth of his existence. Due to the shortening of his genetic telomeres and incomplete chromosomes, he suffered from abnormal aging and had very little time left to live. From that moment on, he harbored a violent rage toward the humans who had created him.
Because of this, Creuset hated the world. He wanted to see it destroyed, regardless of whether its inhabitants were Naturals or Coordinators.
From that point forward, he began planning the annihilation of humanity and the world itself. He intended to be the architect of its destruction and perish along with it. It was a truly mad ambition.
Yet, Ulen Hibiki's plan for the strongest Coordinator did not stop despite the failure with Creuset. Driven by the ambition to see his dream realized, Ulen even performed genetic manipulation experiments on his own unborn son.
He removed the fertilized egg from the mother's body and placed it in a fully digitized artificial womb to modify its genes. During this period, any "failures" were ordered to be destroyed by Ulen himself.
In this manner, at the cost of the lives of countless brothers and sisters, Kira became the sole success of the experiment. Born at the Mendel Research Institute, he was hailed by his biological father as the "Perfect Coordinator."
Later, as the damage from the S2 Influenza spread, riots broke out everywhere.
The Mendel Research Institute was attacked by armed militants from Blue Cosmos. Having received advance warning, Kira and Cagalli's biological mother entrusted Kira to her sister and brother-in-lawthe Yamato family, who adopted him as their own.
Meanwhile, Kira's twin sister, the Natural-born Cagalli, was entrusted to Uzumi Nara Athha, the supreme leader of Orb, who had been invited to the Mendel Research Institute to view the research results.
A few hours after Uzumi and the Yamatos left the satellite where the institute was located, Blue Cosmos troops stormed the facility. Kira and Cagalli's biological parents died under their gunfire.
And the very research institute where Kira and Cagalli were born was located right here, in this Mendel colony where they were currently stationed.
The colony where the four warships were anchored was the same one that had once housed the Mendel Research Institute. Amidst the wreckage, Kira had found the remains of instruments and a photographa picture of him together with Cagalli.
One could only wonder if it was a cruel trick of fate or a mere coincidence.
Aboard the Kusanagi, Cagalli sat in her room with a vacant expression, floating aimlessly after hearing Athrun's narrative.
Standing nearby, Ledonir Kisaka let out a heavy sigh.
Cagalli had finally found out the truth... Lord Uzumi.
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