Gundam: From Piece to Player

Several days later, Commander-in-Chief Char Aznable's feelings were complicated after learning the specific details.

On one hand, the Federation forces suffered heavy losses in this rebellion, and the elite core of the mobile suits were completely undermined, allowing the Republic of Zeon to win another victory.

On the other hand, after the "Corporate Rebellion," Newtypes (superpowered individuals) will no longer be a unique identity belonging to Zeon.

The Deacon faction, led by Kimba Ral, reacted strongly to this, even demanding that Char himself make a political statement to expel them from their Newtype status. After all, from another perspective, it was highly suspicious that a pharmaceutical company was associated with Newtypes.

Despite the fact that the opposing force was anti-Federation, Char did not do so, but he still imposed news censorship internally.

The federal government did the same thing, implementing the strictest news censorship in history in all federal-controlled areas except for the neutral SIDE6 and lunar cities where the story was reported.

The Space Alliance, located in the asteroid belt, has remained outwardly silent on the matter, but in reality, it has fully opened the spacecraft to Albion for repairs and resupply.

Barney finally met her former "superior" from the 101st Division, who is now a trending topic in the Earth Sphere. She brought members of the pharmaceutical company to this place that was also very familiar to her.

"Lady Anna, it's been a long time. Do you still recognize me? I'm Barney."

"I recognize it. The rice grain cart you suggested was quite useful."

“It’s wonderful to be remembered by the lord,” Barney continued. “He has missed you very much during this time, so please make sure to communicate with him remotely later.”

“I know that.” Anna smiled gently. “Thank you for your hard work. This support has been a great help.”

Chapter 223 Dating and Light Sail Transportation

Karma received a message from Barney from the Earth Sphere on the night of September 3rd, which reported the situation and also informed him that Anna had communicated with him at 11 PM that night.

He had no choice but to apologize to his senior, as it was originally his turn to sleep with her... and his senior was very understanding.

After showering, Kalmar waited for laser communication from the Earth Sphere. He started waiting at 10:35 AM and the communication finally went through around 10:45 AM.

"Long time no see, have you missed me, senior?"

"I missed you so much, Anna!"

"It's kind of embarrassing to say that."

Seeing Anna healthy and well in front of the screen, Karma breathed a sigh of relief, but then he saw Anna's white hair... which made him a little anxious again.

"Thank you for sending the big toy via asteroid; it's amazing."

"If you like, I can build one for you."

"No need, no need... We agreed not to rely on you, senior," Anna said. "Remember how we said we wanted to have some exciting fun? It's no fun if we always have to help each other."

So this is what stimulation means?

Karma sensed an unconscious arrogance in Anna's tone.

This feeling didn't arise out of thin air; it had been there since she was still by her side as Sally. To her, everyone was a pawn to be schemed against and manipulated.

This doesn't mean she's that bad.

Rather, it's because, from the perspective of superpowers, the world she sees is probably different from her own.

Imagine if you could hear the other person's thoughts and feelings at will, and predict all their actions. Would you be able to resist guiding the situation in your favor?

"You're my wife, isn't it normal for us to help each other?"

"Darling, you're referring to our personal relationship. But from a business perspective, our country and organization are different. Or do you still see yourself as the master of the country, like the Zabi family's dynastic rule, and consider the committee and the Space Alliance to be toys exclusively for you?"

"..." Karma fell silent, while Anna continued speaking.

"The organization I founded will be composed of New-Type humans in the future. I want to leave a home for New-Type humans. And the committee and space alliance you founded will also be another direction for the future development of humanity."

“I will still be your wife in the future, but please don’t use ‘national power’ to do this kind of thing again,” Anna said. “However, you have done our organization a great favor by using national power this time. If the Space Alliance encounters any problems in the future, our organization will also lend a great helping hand.”

"Okay, okay, I understand," Karma said. "So you're saying our relationship won't change? Then Anna, when are you going to come and fulfill your duties as a wife?"

"Oh dear, how did we suddenly switch to this topic?" Anna's face flushed red.

"This separation can't go on forever, can it?" Karma thought, savoring Anna's reaction with a sense of pleasure.

“Senior, you’ll have to wait until I’ve built the foundations of the new humans’ ‘home’. It might take a few years,” Anna said.

Karma was about to say that she couldn't accept it—but then she thought of her senior's ex-husband—the man who told her to give up her career and stay home to be a wife and mother.

He swallowed his words and changed his tune:

“It’s alright. If you’re really busy, I can go back to Earth every year to visit you for a month… Once the light sail technology is mature, hundreds of millions of kilometers will only be a matter of a day.”

Anna realized what was going on after hearing this, and wiped her eyes: "Senior is always so kind... Then when the technology is mature, I will also go to the asteroid belt for a month every year."

Two months had passed since then, and Karma thought to herself that she could spend one-sixth of the year directly with him.

This result was beyond expectations and represented a breakthrough compared to our previous long-distance relationship.

Technological development should benefit humanity in this way.

After finishing her business with Anna, the conversation quickly turned to something completely unserious, revolving around the amusing things that had happened during the period of no contact... The call lasted until 4 a.m. the next day before Karma reluctantly hung up.

The following day, Kalmar personally went to the Light Sail Transport project team to oversee the progress and proposed a new target of 10 times the current weight (5000 tons) for passenger safety. (The Luvi Jelu fully equipped weighs 400 tons, plus 100 tons for the cargo ship, for a total of 500 tons.)

Oliver was a little confused, wondering what had gotten into his boss all of a sudden.

--

One week after the outbreak of SIDE2, at the Federation Fleet Headquarters, Solomon Fortress.

High-ranking generals such as Gao Pu, Tianm, Corini, and Gao Yun watched a videotape in the room. The videotape ended with the three English letters "END".

This videotape was handed over through the Federal Embassy in SIDE6—it came from Alphard Pharmaceuticals.

"This is undoubtedly forcing us to swallow this insult."

"Such a small company has such ambitions."

“If we agree to their demands, they will make even more demands.”

The generals spoke vehemently, but as vehement as they were, it was more like an outburst of anger; not one of them said anything like, "Let's stop talking and fight them to the death."

Finally, Gap stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray and concluded, "We still have to agree, otherwise, if this video is released, the entire Earth Sphere will be shaken. Isn't this also an opportunity for us to understand this new group of humans? We know too little about them right now."

The content of the video was humiliating.

One by one, the new humans and ace pilots sat in front of the camera, confessing their sins.

Considering the methods used by the new humans, they may have already been brainwashed.

These individuals are war heroes heavily promoted by the federal government. If the world were to learn that they were captured alive by the Newtypes during the Corporate Rebellion, along with the video evidence of the deaths of hundreds of key Federation MS pilots, it would be a stark contrast.

It's not just Deacon's son; separatist forces everywhere will have ideas... They'll test whether the Federation is really a dilapidated house that collapses with a single kick, and the Earth Sphere might immediately enter a Warring States period of fragmentation.

The situation could develop unpredictably, like a domino effect.

And Alder Pharmaceuticals' demands (extortion) were quite simple.

It's also fine not to release this video to the world—

The federal government will unfreeze Alphard's federal accounts, make Shangri-La a free city, withdraw all high-threat armed forces such as mobile suits and warships from Side 1, and ensure the personal freedom and safety of Alphard employees within federal territory.

Pharmaceutical companies are allowed unrestricted access to markets in various regions for their products.

Alphard Pharmaceuticals will continue to supply SWSM drugs, but the federal government must purchase the corresponding goods at the price proposed by the pharmaceutical company—or choose not to buy them… The federal military staff unanimously agree that this is a “soft approach” to suppress research on enhanced humans.

This is a shameful and unequal treaty.

However, the actual cost to the federal government under the treaty is not high, and it is certainly a more economical solution compared to the unpredictability and high cost of continuing military suppression.

Saving face is actually quite important for the federal government.

Chapter 224 Lin Youde Undergoes a Test

“Brad Noah, Mr. Son-in-Law of the Eight States Group, hello there.”

Brad, now a prisoner, sat in a chair with his hands in shackles, looking at the new humans before him.

He couldn't help but feel disheartened.

He had previously said he wanted to reform the Federation, but now it seems he was not only captured in a major military operation, but his flagship was also taken away.

Even if he returns to the Federation, he will probably never have a chance to make a name for himself for the rest of his life.

“Brad Noah, you are a capable man, including in rebuilding the Federation’s confidence and in your long-term plans for Zeon, but you did not anticipate one thing… The Federation is already on a downward spiral, and it cannot be reversed by producing a few heroes.”

"you are?"

Brad looked at the somewhat delicate-looking new human male in front of him.

“I am Miss Anna’s second-in-command,” Aronnax said. “You’re only 22 years old, there’s no need to be so downcast.”

"..."

Seeing that the other party was pretending to be deep and engaging in negative conversation, Aronnax knew there was a way to make the other party cheer up immediately.

"I heard you recently became a father. Is the child's name Hathaway Noah?"

What are you going to do to my family?

Brad Noah, who had been looking dejected, glared at the young man, his cold eyes hiding a lion-like ferocity.

These new humans may be so powerful that even the Federation fears them, but if they try to harm his family, Brad will stop them even if it costs him his life.

"It's nothing. During our investigation, we went around and did some research, and we found that your son is actually a new type of human."

"Hathaway is a new human?" Brad asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes, just like my mother, I am a new kind of human."

The information contained in those words shocked Brad's mind: Millai was also a new human?

Brad suddenly thought of Millais's superhuman precognitive abilities during the war... even though the other party might be deceiving him.

But this does explain Millais's keen intuition during the war.

"Let me analyze this for you, Brigadier General. Now that you have two New Humans in your family and the support of the Eight States Group, do you still think it's necessary to stick to promotions within the Federation's internal system?"

You mean?

“Napoleon became a major general at the age of 24, and you, Brigadier General, are two years younger than him.”

Although Brad was British, he knew something about Napoleon of France, not to mention the "big things" he did later.

Two years ago, the Napoleon of the Universal Century was Karma Zabi… but after the corporate rebellion.