Gundam: The Wind That Blows Through Space

Chapter 647 The Fleet is a Money Devouring Beast

"Team Elsman begins returning to the ship, and Team Amalfi prepares to enter the catapult orbit."

Inside the bridge of Neo Argama, Arthur stood straight at the side of the captain's seat. After returning to his old job, he was obviously more calm than before, so when resting on the side of the ship, Kuratis was relieved to hand over some matters to her deputy to handle.

"Abby, send a message of thanks to the Seraph using message 24."

After finding out that the additional CIC didn't understand his intention, Arthur felt to some extent why Kuratis always looked at him with a feeling of disappointment. However, considering that all the newcomers had gone through this, he still patiently explained his intention to the other party.

"We are now at the innermost part of the defense circle. It takes less than 20 minutes to get from here to Aprilius. Isn't it obvious enough that Commander Omi arranged us here?"

"Is it because of our former ZAFT identities?"

Rubbing his head in pain, Arthur seemed to see the clear-headed and foolish self he once was. "They are obviously giving us a reasonable excuse to resume communication with PLANT. Whether it's a secondment or a transfer, as long as PLANT recognizes our identity, you can go back to visit your parents openly, so they don't have to go through Orb to see you."

"Is that so? Then will the telegram on the 24th be a bit polite?"

"You're welcome. That's perfect. Send it over."

Arthur saw his brand new military uniform in the reflection of the porthole. Three years ago, he just lacked front-line combat experience but was not an incompetent waste. Now, three years later, he was also very clear about the position of his group of people, which was to stand firmly in the team of the Orb faction at a time when the division situation was becoming more and more serious.

Battleships, MS, and even more than half of the crew were provided by Orb. Strictly speaking, Orb didn't even have to have them. With such a large Human Revolutionary League, they could still select a few captains with outstanding abilities, so he cherished this opportunity very much.

In line with the principle of trusting people when employing them and not employing people who are not trusted, Mina did not hold back on these former ZAFT people. Instead, he had a frank conversation with the captain and first officer. The content of the conversation not only included the motivations for establishing Londo Bell, but also analyzed the current state of division in the People's Revolutionary League for them.

There were only four people on the entire Neo Agama who knew the inside story. Besides Arthur, the other three were Kuratis and the two young masters. So he knew very well that the powerful fleet beside him did not choose the same side as them. Telegram No. 24 was the most formulaic and universal reply. Replying with this template would neither cross the line nor be unfamiliar.

"Shh!"

At the same time as the CIC replied, Kuratis ended her rest early and returned to the bridge. After tidying up her military appearance, she signaled to Arthur with her eyes that he could change shifts and rest for a while.

"Captain, the Seraph called back. Commander Omi said that a Nelson-class ship had a power system failure and asked if we could go to the C5 defense zone to provide support."

"Tell Commander Omi that our ship immediately head to area C5 and notify the hangar to abort the Amalfi team's ejection procedure. We will release the MS team once we reach the defense zone. Also, don't keep acting as the commander. He is the sole commander at this moment. Do you understand?"

As the engine started, Neo Agama slowly accelerated forward. A huge fleet gradually appeared on the radar of the bridge. Among them, only a few Nelson-class ships were left. The remaining few main battleships were replaced by a new model with a sharper shape and a stronger sense of technology. The rest were also new models that Arthur had never seen before. "Oh, this is the Volga class. It is said that it took three years to barely complete 20% of the replacement. They should all be powered by solar furnaces, right?"

Arthur, who has not yet left the bridge, has turned back into the same person he was three years ago. In fact, before the split occurred, the main pressure on the civil service system to cut military spending came from this pile of Volga-class battleships.

Unlike Ptolemy's pure solar furnace power system, the Volga-class is the second warship in the CE world to use a hybrid of solar furnace and hydrogen-helium laser nuclear fusion. The military hawks spent five years' budget in three years to barely complete a small upgrade of the First Fleet.

On the one hand, this expensive expenditure has put great pressure on the economic recovery of the earth, and on the other hand, it has made PLANT live in panic.

After all, the only forces left in the universe that can be called enemies are the Adjusters. The People's Revolutionary League is under pressure to unify the earth, but it is still obsessed with completing the battleship upgrade. It is easy to guess who they are guarding against.

Seeing Arthur making a fuss, Kuratis's mood was inevitably complicated. Due to her personal relationship with Durandal, the pride she had in ZAFT had not completely faded. Now, watching with her own eyes the gradual replacement of the First Space Fleet, she knew that with the passage of time, PLANT's hope of escaping the control of the People's Revolutionary League would become smaller and smaller. The feeling of disappointment still made it impossible for her to treat this result with a normal heart.

On the other hand, Kuratis also knew that the First Fleet was still the outer barrier of PLANT. The stronger the enemy, the smaller the possibility of PLANT's homeland being attacked. Although it was a bit shameful to leave the safety of the homeland to the "heavenly soldiers", PLANT could no longer afford the consequences of being hit directly by a nuclear bomb for the third time.

"Captain, the Seraph is on the port side!"

"My eyesight is fine, Arthur. Besides, you must be familiar with archangels and main angels, right? Don't act like an inexperienced person."

If Siegfried were here, he would definitely point at the Archangel-class ship No. 3 and shout, "Hilde, what kind of flag-raising behavior are you doing?", because surrounded by a group of Volga-class ships, the Seraph's "Albian" appearance really stood out a little bit.

In the entire "74 Year Refit" plan, Hilde proposed three ship types as contingency plans at once. The first one was the Volga class, which was mainly equipped with solar furnaces.

Considering that the production capacity of the solar furnace has not yet been rolled out and the Doom-type output is not high, the Volga-class configuration is extremely scarce, but this new type of battleship with a GN shield is capable of carrying a positron cannon for a forced assault, so it has successfully become the core combat force of the First Fleet.

The second one is the downgraded configuration of La Kelum, the Clapp-class. Hilde successfully bridged the technological gap between the original Agamemnon-class and the Clapp-class, allowing the People's Revolutionary League to modify the Agamemnon-class into the Clapp-class at a very low cost. This "naturally mass-produced holy body" that is cheap but far superior to old battleships in MS operation quickly passed the budget review and completed a large-scale replacement in the First Fleet.

As for the Archangel-class ship No. 3 with the appearance of Alubion, the Seraph, it is essentially more of a precursor to the mass production of the Volga-class. It is an experiment in which Hilde attempts to connect the solar furnace and hydrogen-helium laser nuclear fusion in parallel based on existing technology. The reason why it copied the shape of Alubion is that it is more convenient to use the name of "Archangel No. 3" to defraud funds.

After the Volga class was officially finalized, the Seraph, which was a fake, was originally planned to be dismantled. However, it happened to be seen by Bakilulu who was returning to the port for supplies. Out of some kind of "nostalgia for the past", she took the experimental ship away as the fleet commander and handed it over to her deputy Alexi Omi.

Relying on her calm command style and excellent personal abilities, Bakirolu was very relieved to let Omi take over the command of the First Fleet temporarily with the Seraph during her absence. As for the existence of Neo Agama, it would be better for her to believe that the world will be at peace immediately than to believe in a group of former ZAFT people.

(End of this chapter)