On Onogoro Island, along a road—
Roz sat in the back seat of a jeep, watching the Strike Gundam walking beside the road.
"You've always been piloting MSs from inside the cockpit. You probably don't often get to see one move from this angle, right?"
Sitting in the front passenger seat, Erica seemed to notice Roz's gaze and casually made a remark.
At that moment, she was holding a tablet computer. On the screen was a battle recording of Roz piloting the Jegan D-type, taken from the Archangel's perspective.
The reason Roz hadn't given her the Jesta's combat footage was simple—Erica only wanted to buy the Jegan's blueprints. After copying that footage, Roz deleted all recordings related to the Jegan and Jesta, overwrote the storage drives several times with useless data, and made sure nothing remained.
It could be said that the battle footage in Erica's hands was the only copy that existed besides the one Roz kept for himself.
"I was just thinking… these machines truly embody the wisdom and sweat of so many people."
Roz pushed up his sunglasses and shifted his attention toward the jeep, which had now driven off the paved road.
The vehicle overtook the Strike Gundam and sped across the still-flat dirt terrain, kicking up dust. Yet thanks to its fine suspension system, Roz didn't feel any bumps while sitting inside.
"...That sudden green light, and the way the head monitor's visor turned red—what was that?"
Erica seemed to have noticed something. She swiped back and forth on the tablet, narrowing her eyes as she carefully examined the footage.
"And, even though it only lasted for a moment, the shield that was thrown out suddenly stopped in midair. Is that some kind of weapon system?"
"...Sorry, those questions are outside the scope of our transaction."
Roz didn't hesitate at all in refusing to answer her.
"I will not sell any technology related to those systems."
"Humanity hasn't earned the right to hold that key yet."
Roz's tone was firm. Though Erica was quite curious, she wasn't foolish—she knew this was clearly something tied to the other party's deepest secrets, so she didn't press further.
"All right then, let's skip that topic."
Erica smiled, closing the tablet in her hands.
"After all, we're almost there."
At that moment, the jeep carrying Roz and the Strike Gundam arrived before a massive gate disguised as part of a mountain.
"Up ahead is Morgenroete, Inc.'s MS development division."
-----------------------------------
Orb seemed to have a fondness for hollowing out mountains to build such research bases.
Even though the port where the Archangel was docked was already huge, this MS research center looked even larger than the dock housing the Archangel.
Or perhaps, the two facilities were on different levels of the mountain, which explained why the elevator ride had been so long earlier.
Roz followed behind Erica and Kira, occasionally glancing around at the MS development center. Unfortunately, aside from the sight of engineers walking back and forth, there wasn't anything particularly remarkable.
"We're here. This is what I wanted to show you."
Erica opened a door, revealing a massive Hangar. Inside, a number of red-and-white mobile suits stood quietly at rest.
"...Gundam?"
Kira's eyes widened as he looked at the machines before him, which resembled the Strike Gundam.
"Gundam... I see, so that's how you refer to the G Project units—by taking the initial letter from the system's name."
After thinking for a moment, Erica understood why Kira used that name for these units.
While Kira was still in shock, Roz had already walked up to one of the red-and-white suits and knocked on its leg armor.
The sound that echoed was noticeably different from when he'd tapped the Strike Gundam's armor.
"The armor's hardness is completely different from the Strike's. And considering they've produced this many units, these are clearly intended for mass production—they couldn't possibly all be equipped with PS armor."
Roz pushed up his sunglasses slightly and analyzed the machine. "However, the design does seem to borrow some features from the G series."
"These are M1 Astray Gundams. In terms of appearance, they do borrow quite a bit from the G series."
Erica walked forward to introduce the machines to Kira and Roz.
"The M1 Astray Gundam is a mobile suit developed and manufactured by Morgenroete, Inc. for the Orb military..."
"These machines represent the power of Orb's ideals!"
Before Erica could finish her introduction, a familiar, brash-sounding voice interrupted. Suddenly, Cagalli appeared out of nowhere, puffing up like an angry pufferfish as she approached them.
Roz removed his sunglasses slightly, giving Erica a look that seemed to say, 'Why is this idiot deer here?'
"Well, she is the prime minister's daughter—there's no way I could stop her from going wherever she wants."
Erica smiled politely at Roz, unintentionally revealing Cagalli's identity.
Roz, however, only sighed in response.
"Hey! What are you sighing about, you money-grubbing bastard?!"
Hearing his sigh, Cagalli immediately looked like she wanted to kick him.
"Nothing. Just thinking how painful it is to remember losing my private savings to Mu."
Roz still couldn't believe that the casual bet he'd made with Mu aboard the Archangel had actually turned out the way he'd predicted.
Though it was satisfying to be right, since Mu had taken Roz's chosen option, Roz ended up losing the wager.
"Private savings? I didn't expect you to be married, Mr. Roz."
Erica was surprised to hear that phrase from Roz. After all, intelligence reports clearly indicated that this man was still single.
Then again, it had been a while since she herself had checked where her husband hid his private stash of money...
Erica made a mental note to "raid" her husband's hiding place sometime soon.
"None of your business."
Roz shook his head, ending that topic.
"So, Cagalli, what are you doing here?"
"She's helping us with mobile suit OS development," Erica said as she turned and walked toward another area.
"Before you two arrived, she was the only one who had seen an MS battle up close."
"And that's exactly why I sought out you, Mr. Roz, and you, Mr. Kira."
As she finished speaking, an automatic door slid open, revealing a room that looked like a ship's bridge.
Beyond the glass, three M1 Astrays stood neatly lined up before them.
"Let's begin."
Erica walked confidently to the glass and gave the command.
The three Astrays' eyes lit up as they began moving slowly, executing various maneuvers.
Their movements looked stable—but the sluggish speed made both Kira and Roz exchange strange looks.
"Don't be fooled by the slowness. Their current motion speed is already twice as fast as when we started."
"That's still no good. At this pace, they'd just be sitting ducks on a real battlefield."
At some point, Cagalli had put on a headset and walked up beside Kira.
"Forget Roz and Kira—even an average ZAFT pilot could easily destroy one of these suits."
"How mean!"
Suddenly, a female test pilot's voice came through the Astray's loudspeaker—it was clear that all three test pilots were women.
As the three test pilots bantered with Cagalli, Erica turned toward Roz and Kira.
"What do you two think of these units?"
"...The preset calibrations are off. From what I can tell, the pilots are struggling to maintain balance, which is limiting their movements."
After comparing the scene to his own first training session in the Jegan A-type cockpit, Roz offered a fair assessment.
"Also, your OS seems to have problems."
"It's because the OS isn't fully written yet."
Kira's words were more blunt. The way the Astrays moved reminded him of how Murrue had struggled when piloting the Strike Gundam for the first time.
Hearing such sharp criticism, Erica didn't get upset—instead, she smiled with satisfaction.
"That's exactly why we called the two of you here."
-----------------------------------
Not long after, inside a conference room.
Erica and Roz sat at opposite ends of the table. The atmosphere should have been serious, yet it felt as relaxed as a casual chat.
"Well then, we've received your offer, Mr. Roz."
Erica flipped through the tablet in her hand, somewhat surprised at how bold Roz's quoted price was.
"I must say, your offer… is quite bold."
"It's fine. If you're not satisfied, you can counter."
Roz took a sip of water from a bottle and occasionally glanced toward the door. "Your business department isn't here yet?"
He was certain Erica would bargain. After all, since ancient times, every business deal involved some haggling. So, in his final quote, Roz had added an extra 10 percent to the number Haro had suggested.
Otherwise, if he had really quoted the value Haro mentioned and she successfully bargained it down, he'd probably have to scramble to find a way to make up the difference.
"No need. The MS development project is under my supervision, including the budget."
Without even thinking about it, Erica set down the tablet.
"We accept your offer."
"Pfft—!"
Roz spat out a mouthful of water in shock.
"W–Wait, you're breaking the unspoken rules of the trade!"
He wiped his mouth awkwardly with his sleeve, clearly not expecting the other side to accept without bargaining at all.
"Normally, in this kind of deal, aren't you supposed to haggle a little?"
"Oh? It seems Mr. Roz left some room for negotiation?"
Erica smiled with interest.
"But in fact, your offer only exceeded our expected price by five percent."
"I'm sure after your earlier demonstration of the M1 Astray, Mr. Roz, you've come to understand the financial strength of Morgenroete, Inc."
"For the design data, technology, and weapon schematics of this Jegan, to reach our final bottom line, your offer would need to be raised by forty-five percent. We're willing to purchase it all for 150."
"So, would you like to revise your offer, Mr. Roz?"
"…No need. Let's go with the agreed price and sign the contract."
Although Roz wanted to make money and build more mobile suits, he still knew which profits were worth taking—and which weren't.
"Well then, shall we say, a pleasant cooperation?"
"A pleasant cooperation."
....................