Crossing Orb: Newtype Commander

Heliopolis, May 20.

Char Aznable arrived in Heliopolis, Orb's satellite colony, as a "visiting scholar of the Dawn Society." Ostensibly, he was there to inspect the computer lab at the Industrial Academy and explore collaboration opportunities for Orb's AI research. In reality, he had three purposes—to meet Murrue and Natalie, to confirm the development progress of the GAT series and the Archangel, and to see Kira Yamato in person—the boy known as the "strongest Coordinator" in the original timeline.

The Industrial Institute of Heliopolis is the largest educational institution in the colony, boasting world-class programs in computer science and robotics engineering. Its laboratories collaborate with the Dawn Society year-round, serving as a cradle of Orb's technological talent.

Char, dressed casually—a white shirt and a dark blue jacket—walked along the tree-lined paths of the campus. The May weather in Heliopolis was pleasant; artificial sunlight streamed onto the lawns, and students sat chatting in small groups. If it weren't for the war, this would have been a perfect learning environment. But the atmosphere of war had already seeped in—ZAFT reconnaissance planes could be seen flying overhead around the colony's perimeter in the distance, and the colony's defense forces were patrolling more frequently.

"VEDA, positioned as Kira Yamato."

"Kira Yamato, a first-year student in the Department of Computer Engineering at the Institute of Technology. Currently working in the third computer lab."

Char walked toward the laboratory.

In the computer lab, students were busy at their own pace. The sounds of keyboards clicking, mice clicking, and occasional whispers mingled together. Char easily spotted his target—a brown-haired boy sitting at a corner workstation, his screen displaying dense lines of code. His fingers flew across the keyboard with astonishing speed, his eyes focused so intently they seemed to see right through the screen.

Char moved closer, his gaze landing on the screen. It wasn't ordinary code—it was a prototype of an MS controlling an OS. The architecture was clear, the design modular, and the comments detailed. Although still in its early stages, it already revealed a unique way of thinking.

Kira Yamato—not yet the Kira Yamato who awakened on the battlefield; he was simply a young man quietly coding in a laboratory. He wore headphones, his expression focused, completely immersed in his own world. His slightly curly brown hair fell across his forehead, and his amber eyes gleamed in the blue light of the screen. He was a Coordinator, but his appearance and demeanor were indistinguishable from a Natural—even quieter and more reserved than most Naturals.

"Hello, are you Kira Yamato?" Char asked, standing behind him.

Kira took off his headphones, looked up, and saw a young man a few years older than himself standing behind him. His deep red eyes and composed demeanor somehow reminded Kira of some large feline.

"Yes, you are—"

"I'm a technical advisor from Dawn Corporation, here to visit the lab today." Xia pulled up a chair and sat down. "Is what you wrote the operating system for MS?"

Kira was slightly surprised—there weren't many people in Orb who could immediately discern the purpose of this code. "Yes. It's just... a personal interest project."

"Go on," Xia interrupted him. "Your line of thinking is very interesting."

Kira blinked, a hint of surprise and shyness appearing on his face. "You...you understood?"

"I understand part of it." Xia pointed to a piece of code on the screen. "This part—your neural network interface algorithm. You're using dynamic weight allocation instead of static mapping. I appreciate this approach, but there's still room for optimization in the implementation."

He took the keyboard from Kira, quickly typed a few lines of code, refactored that part of the algorithm, reduced the computational complexity by 15 percent, and improved the response speed by about 10 percent.

Kira stared at the screen, dumbfounded.

"How...how did you do that?"

"Experience," Xia smiled slightly. "Your talent far surpasses your experience. Keep writing, and one day you'll write better code than me."

A brown-haired teenager peeked out from the next workstation. He had a sunny smile on his face and was holding a can of soda. "Kira, who's this? Your friend?"

"Ah, no... that..." Kira was a little flustered.

Char extended his hand: "The technical advisor from Dawn Corporation is here to visit the laboratory today."

"Wow, Dawn Society!" The brown-haired boy's eyes lit up. "I'm Thor Kenneth, Kira's classmate! Isn't Dawn Society building that amazing thing—you know, that one—?"

"Thor!" Another boy wearing glasses walked over and nudged Thor in the ribs with his elbow. "Don't ask questions."

"It's alright," Xia smiled. "Most of the work done by the Dawn Society doesn't involve classified information. However, it's really inconvenient to talk about the specifics."

"My name is Sai Agers." The bespectacled boy nodded politely, his demeanor much more composed than Thor's. "A second-year student in Computer Engineering. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I am Miria Hau." A short-haired girl peeked out from behind, holding a notebook. "You are the technical consultant for Dawn Corporation, so you must know a lot about AI, right? We've been working on an artificial intelligence project recently, and we've encountered some bottlenecks..."

"You can take a look." Xia Ya took her notebook and flipped through a few pages.

For the next hour, Char and the students discussed the technological roadmap for artificial intelligence, robot control, and even rail elevators. Kira rarely spoke, mostly listening silently to the teacher and students' discussions, occasionally jotting down a few quick notes in his notebook.

He noticed a detail—when Char mentioned the application prospects of Minovsky particles in the field of communication, Kira's eyes lit up noticeably, and his hand speed on the notebook suddenly increased.

"Kira," Char said to him as they parted, "would you be interested in an internship at Dawn Corporation?"

Kira was stunned. "I...I'm only a first-year student..."

Age isn't the issue. Ability is. Let me think about it some more.

Xia stood up and said goodbye to each of his students. As he walked out of the lab, he stopped and looked back.

Kira had put his headphones back on, and his fingers were flying across the keyboard again. But this time, he was coding even faster.

Char muttered to himself, "The strongest Coordinator—in this world, which path will you choose? I'm looking forward to it. But I will give you the opportunity to choose—more and freer choices than in the original work."

That evening, Char arrived at the secret shipyard in Heliopolis.

The Archangel sat silently in the dock, its silver-gray hull gleaming coldly under the lights. This colossal ship, over three hundred meters long, was nearing completion. The main gun at the bow—the Lohengrin positron-powered siege cannon—was already installed, its muzzle pointing towards the dock's exit. The lights on the bridge indicated that someone was working overtime.

Marlene Lamias was waiting for him on the bridge.

This was their third meeting since the military exchange in Alaska—the last time was three months ago, when she briefly stopped in Orb during her transfer from the Atlantic Federation to Heliopolis. She looked tired then, her eyes bloodshot, but she didn't complain. She simply said, "I'll do my best," before boarding the ship bound for the colony.

"Commander-in-Chief Askha." She gave a military salute. Discipline, standards, maintaining distance.

"Captain Maru, you can call me Char in private."

Maru hesitated for a moment. "Char." The name came out of her mouth with a hint of awkwardness, but also with a hint of warmth.

"How's the Archangel's progress?"

"The hull is complete, and the weapon systems are undergoing final adjustments. Captain Bakiruru is in charge."

"Take me to see it."

The two walked side by side across the bridge. Murrue introduced him to the various systems of the warship—the command layout of the bridge, the MS installation plan in the hangar, and the living facilities in the residential area. Char listened attentively, asking questions from time to time, each one hitting the nail on the head, making Murrue realize that his understanding of this warship was no less than hers.

"You've done your homework," she said.

"It's not just about homework." Char stood on the catapult deck of the hangar, stroking the surface of the launch track. "I have some of my own thoughts on the design philosophy of the 'Archangel-class'."

Tell me about it.

"The bridge is too high and easily hit. We recommend adding more armor. The hangar only has two catapult tracks, which can get stuck during emergency sorties. We recommend adding a backup track. Also—there aren't enough escape pods. Three hundred crew members, only two hundred escape pod seats. This could be fatal in combat."

Maru noted down all the comments. "I will pass these suggestions on to the design team."

As Natal Bakiruru walked into the weapons testing area, she stood up from the control panel. Her military uniform was impeccable, her golden hair was neatly styled in a bun, and her blue eyes were as calm as a deep pool. Upon seeing Char, a flicker of emotion flashed in her eyes—very quick, almost imperceptible—and then she spoke.

"Commander-in-Chief Ashar, welcome to the Archangel."

The voice was steady, professional, and aloof. But that "welcome" carried more weight than any polite greeting.

"Captain Bugiluru, thank you for your hard work." Char extended his hand.

Natal took his hand, with a moderate pressure, neither intimate nor distant.

"Is the main gun fully tuned?"

"The calibration of the positron-equipped city-destroying cannon is complete, and its accuracy is within the expected range. The Gottfried high-energy beam cannon mounted on the second armor plate is currently being tested. Testing of all weapon systems is expected to be completed in about a week."

"Did you encounter any problems?"

"Power supply system. The Archangel was originally planned to use a standard nuclear fusion reactor from the Combine, but after the neutron jammer was deployed, the ship's nuclear reactor could not be activated on the battlefield. This means that the main guns and high-energy beam cannons can only be powered by backup batteries—each main gun can only fire three rounds."

Char thought for a moment. "Orb has a stockpile of Minovsky particle reactors that can be modified and installed on the Archangel. We don't need to replace the entire reactor; we only need to add a Minovsky particle converter. This way, even if the nuclear reactor is interfered with, the Archangel can still extract energy from Minovsky particles."

A flicker of surprise crossed Natal's eyes. "Ob is willing to provide it?"

"Orb is willing to provide it," Char said. "The Archangel is not only a warship for the Allied Forces, but also a hope for the future. If the war spreads here, you will need a ship that can fight and run."

Natal was silent for a moment. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Char looked at her. "Captain Buggyuru, your professionalism is the best I've ever seen. I'm at ease entrusting the Archangel to you and Murrue."

"I will try my best," Natal said, standing at attention. "I will not let you down."

Late at night, on the bridge of the Archangel.

Maru and Char stood by the porthole, gazing at the starry sky outside the dock. Natal had already gone back to her cabin to rest, leaving only the two of them on the bridge.

"Char," Murrue said softly, "why did you do all this? Quantum communication, MS technology, orbital elevators—you could have chosen an easier path."

"Because someone needs me." Char looked out at the stars. "On the day of Junius VII, I felt tens of thousands of people die at the same moment. That feeling... if you've experienced it once, you won't ask 'why' anymore."

Maru lowered her head. "I can't help you. In the Atlantic Federation, I'm just a captain."

"You've helped me a lot." Char turned to look at her. "Last time, without your warning, Orb wouldn't have had those forty-eight hours to prepare. Do you know how many additional defenses we were able to deploy in those forty-eight hours?"

Maru did not answer.

Char's voice was calm but firm, "Perhaps one day, when the divisions within the Atlantic Federation caused by the war reach their peak, people like you and Captain Bakiru will become the key to changing the situation."

"Can we?"

"Yes," Xia said, extending his hand. "I believe in you."

Maru looked at his hand, remained silent for a few seconds, and then grasped it.

"I will do my best."