A delegation from Mars was unexpected, but Reid had to receive them, no matter how reluctant he was. After all, they had come specifically for him. Who else in the Earth Sphere could make a round trip to Mars in a month? They had no other options, no other nations to turn to for help.
And so, the conference room where Reid usually received diplomats from various countries now welcomed guests from Mars.
Unfamiliar with the political situation on Earth, Agnis Brahe, the leader of the delegation, had submitted a meeting request to Her Majesty Queen Ange of the New Misurugi Kingdom. Therefore, Reid was attending this meeting as Ange's escort.
On the Martian delegation's side, Agnis Brahe and his deputy, Naeuh Herschel, were in attendance.
It was the first time the two sides had met, so they began with the usual pleasantries, probing each other's personalities through their words.
As it turned out, both sides were the same. The "leaders," Ange and Agnis Brahe, basically only spoke a few words when the topic concerned them directly. The rest of the time, it was Reid and Naeuh Herschel doing the talking.
From this, Naeuh Herschel understood that Reid was likely the one calling the shots for the New Misurugi Kingdom in this meeting, especially after learning that Reid was the inventor of the Lightwave Thruster.
The meeting then moved on to the main topic. After Naeuh Herschel gave Agnis Brahe a meaningful look, Agnis spoke very formally.
"Your Majesty Ange, Chairman Reid, we have come this time as representatives of the Martian Colonial Sphere, hoping to engage in a series of collaborations and trades with your nation."
Reid didn't even need to be told what the Martian Colonial Sphere wanted; he could already guess. It was nothing more than the most basic material supplies.
However, Reid felt that just selling them some food wasn't very interesting. With another world war looming, it really wasn't worth it for him to dispatch ships on the Mars route every month just for a bit of metal.
So, Reid feigned difficulty.
"Delegation Leader Agnis, trade with the Martian Sphere is no small matter. The distance between us is too great, and this route is not frequently traveled. Establishing stable trade would be tantamount to pioneering a new route. For our nation, which has just completed its Jupiter exploration, the cost is too high."
Agnis wasn't completely clueless. Seeing Reid trying to plead poverty, his impulsive nature was laid bare. He said directly, "That's a small problem. The need to pioneer a new route is reasonable. If there are financial issues, our Martian Sphere can bear the cost. Just allow us to pay with various precious metals."
Hearing this, Reid knew Agnis had taken the bait. He feigned confusion once more and asked, "Payment in precious metals? May I ask if this will be converted based on Earth's prices, or the prices in the Martian Sphere?"
Before Agnis could answer, Naeuh interjected, "Obviously, a simple conversion using either side's prices would be unreasonable. I believe we can discuss and establish a conversion standard later."
Reid heard this and thought, As expected, this Naeuh Herschel is the one who does the thinking. Just as he said, it was indeed inappropriate for the New Misurugi Kingdom and the Martian Sphere to use either side's prices for conversion.
After all, a bottle of water at Earth's price would be a bargain on Mars even if it were marked up a thousand times. According to the information brought back by the Jupiter exploration team, the Martian Colonial Sphere had yet to discover the groundwater resources deep beneath Mars's surface.
Meanwhile, in the Martian Sphere, the price of many rare element ores was comparable to that of iron ore in the Earth Sphere, because many of these things could be mined in large quantities with little effort on Mars. In contrast, many of these rare element ores were priceless and unavailable on Earth.
In fact, the most optimal choice for the New Misurugi Kingdom would be to open a trading company in the Martian Sphere, buy supplies from Earth to sell on Mars, and then buy rare element ores locally to bring back.
With the cargo capacity of the New Misurugi Kingdom's freighters and the widespread use of the Lightwave Thruster, this trading company would quickly balloon into a Martian version of the East India Company.
However, although the people of the Martian Colonial Sphere were few, they were not stupid, and they were very united. If Reid were to play this game openly, he probably wouldn't succeed without beating them into submission first.
And right now, Reid had no interest in starting a war on Mars.
So Reid nodded and replied directly, "Indeed, re-establishing a conversion standard is more reasonable. Let me ask first, assuming the route is established, what does Mars need? And what can you provide? Surely not just ores."
Agnis answered Reid's question in a flash.
"We need food, water, and some chemical products that cannot be produced on Mars. As for what we can provide, Earth probably doesn't recognize Mars's currency, so it seems we can only barter. But it seems Mars only has an abundance of various minerals."
After hearing this, Reid shook his head and said directly, "No, you have more than just minerals. You also have mines. I happen to know that all the mines in the Martian Sphere are under unified management."
Agnis was stunned. He felt that this Chairman Reid had a huge appetite. It was like buying fish from a fisherman, but wanting to buy his fishing nets and fishing grounds as well.
If it were any other country, Agnis would have been ready to flip the table, but it was clear he couldn't do that now.
On their way here, Naeuh Herschel had practically brainwashed Agnis with descriptions of the New Misurugi Kingdom's importance.
Only the New Misurugi Kingdom had ships capable of a round trip to Mars in a month. Moreover, after arriving on Earth, they could basically confirm that everything the people on the Jupiter Exploration Ship had said was true. Therefore, if the Martian Colonial Sphere wanted to develop, it could not afford to offend the New Misurugi Kingdom.
So, as Agnis forcefully suppressed and calmed his emotions, Naeuh Herschel asked tentatively, "May I ask how many of the Martian Colonial Sphere's mines your nation wants?"
Reid smiled and replied, "You two may have misunderstood. Our nation does not intend to take advantage of your situation and demand the mines you control.
Our request is simple. You mark out the locations of your mining areas. Once the route is established, our nation will send a trading company to establish a military base on Mars's surface in an area not controlled by you.
At that time, we will mine on Mars ourselves. In return, your side will need to guarantee the safety of the military base established by our trading company and provide industrial support during the initial construction phase."
Reid's words left both Agnis and Naeuh Herschel stunned.
Agnis asked in disbelief, "The New Misurugi Kingdom wants to establish a presence on Mars and open a Martian colony? Do you think we would agree?"
Reid knew that the Martian Colonial Sphere would instinctively reject his request.
It was like a no-man's-land with only one tribe. Although this tribe was too small to occupy or control the entire territory, it would still drive away any outsiders who wanted to move in.
However, from a legal standpoint, Reid was actually in the right. So, he said directly, "Delegation Leader Agnis, according to the Universal Colonization Ordinance, your side does not own Mars, neither in practice nor in law.
In principle, the Martian Sphere is still an ownerless, undeveloped area. Any nation or power has the right to establish a colony or military base there."
Agnis couldn't refute Reid's statement, nor did he dare to make any threats.
Based on the intelligence Agnis currently had, he couldn't have predicted that the Earth Sphere was about to experience a major war.
In his view, if the current Martian Colonial Sphere fought the New Misurugi Kingdom, it would be a pyrrhic victory at best. The two sides' transport capabilities were not on the same level.
Since Agnis could see this, Naeuh Herschel naturally could as well. Faced with the New Misurugi Kingdom, which would eventually establish a presence whether they agreed or not, Naeuh Herschel could only say, "Of course, whether to establish a presence on Mars is your nation's freedom. We in the Martian Colonial Sphere are always welcoming of friends."
Naeuh Herschel's words made it clear: the Martian Colonial Sphere welcomes friends.
So how does one become a friend of the Martian Colonial Sphere? Naturally, by being someone who can provide help and bring benefits.
The rest was relatively simple. The two sides began to discuss the goods and quantities for trade.
As for the Martian Colonial Sphere's final request to purchase a transport ship equipped with a Lightwave Thruster, so they could bring back more of Earth's specialty products this time, Reid rejected it, stating that the Lightwave Thruster was not for sale.
Reid made it clear that when the first batch of goods was sent to Mars, the route-pioneering force would escort the two of them back, and a transport ship's worth of space would be reserved for them.
That's right, to prevent the Martian Colonial Sphere from directly seizing one of his ships with a Lightwave Thruster for research, Reid planned to repurpose some of the Mobile Dolls that were originally slated for decommissioning and send an armed force over.
Given the current combat strength of the Martian Colonial Sphere, sending three Amazing Kampfers with a batch of Mobile Dolls would be more than enough to defend the base. In the worst-case scenario, they could at least hold out until the ship self-destructed.
Reid then handed off the subsequent details of the commercial communication with the Martian Colonial Sphere to Une. And so, two months before the start of the CE 73 October plot, a new round of protagonists began to step onto the stage.
First, on the New Misurugi Kingdom's side, Shinn Asuka successfully graduated from the military academy. However, the boy did not graduate at the top of his class, as his academic scores could be said to have just barely scraped by.
Shinn Asuka was then assigned a Delta Plus, stripped of its special armaments, and was placed on Bargiruel's ship. Reid planned to have Bargiruel properly educate him.
Also graduating were Nami and, having skipped grades, Mayu Asuka.
Due to her talent in writing and debugging fire-control systems, Nami was also assigned to Bargiruel's ship, responsible for the system debugging of the Mobile Suits.
As for Mayu Asuka, worried about her brother, she gave up better job opportunities and voluntarily joined Bargiruel's ship as a CIC operator.
Of course, with so many people joining Bargiruel's ship, Reid felt that the original Archangel was no longer up to par. He simply assigned her a new ship, leaving the Archangel for Murrue to command if she ever wanted to return to her position as captain.
The design of the new ship was independently completed by Nein within the year. Using the Archangel as a blueprint and incorporating elements from the already limited-production Neo-Argama, she created a ship similar to the Diva's assault mode from AGE.
The ship's bridge could retract into the center of the hull during combat, much like the Minerva, which PLANT had not yet officially unveiled.
The original location of the bridge would then lower a glass panel and extend a twin-mounted 600mm main cannon, giving any MS trying to target the bridge a nasty surprise. This was because there was an ammunition depot right under the real bridge.
Similarly, because the actual bridge was inside the ship during combat, Nein moved the Archangel's 225cm Twin-Mounted High-Energy Beam Cannons to the sides of the bridge, and they could rotate 180 degrees horizontally (the left turret could turn 180 degrees to the left, and the right turret 180 degrees to the right).
Then, there were the 110cm Linear Cannons on the left and right sides, and four units of the 8-tube anti-air defense missile launcher "Hell Dart" were installed, with two launch ports on the top and bottom of the hull respectively.
The Positron Blaster was installed on the lower part of the hull. It could be extended separately when needed and could also rotate.
Of course, the Neo-Argama's iconic central super main cannon was also included.
However, Nein had replaced this cannon with a modified Shipboard Buster Beam Cannon.
This cannon had enhanced particle confinement capabilities. It could no longer fire a sixty or seventy-meter-wide beam, but its range and beam penetration were greatly increased, making it specifically designed to deal with the large Lightwave Shields that were a specialty of the CE Universe.
Of course, with so many miscellaneous armaments added, although this warship was 400 meters long, making it a large warship by normal standards, its MS capacity was only ten units. So, rather than being a ship for carrying MS, it was more of a super gunship.
In terms of power, it naturally had a dual power system of a Minovsky Particle Large Nuclear Fusion Reactor and an AC Universe large nuclear fusion reactor. The thrusters were, of course, Lightwave Thrusters.
System-wise, the ship was equipped with a Super Large I-Field Generator, which is usually only found on Large Mobile Armors, as well as a Minovsky Flight System. The Obscurant Umbrella System was also installed.
For armor, with the I-Field ensuring that the power of beam weapons was greatly reduced, and the dual power sources providing ample energy, the entire exterior of the ship used TPS Armor, a combination of an outer layer of Laminated Armor and an inner layer of Phase Shift Armor.
Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that Reid could synthesize both Laminated Armor and Phase Shift Armor at a low cost from the Factory Module, the cost of this ship's armor alone would be enough to build another Archangel.
If the militaries of other nations knew how extravagantly the New Misurugi Kingdom built its ships, they would probably be drooling.
This ship was ultimately named the Mystic Angel. In any case, Bargiruel herself wouldn't be taking it to the AD Universe, so there was no fear of the name being duplicated.
After Shinn Asuka's group graduated, time quickly passed to October of CE 73.
Due to the previous chaos in ZAFT, which had led to the loss of various mobile suits, Durandal, under the pretext of restoring ZAFT's image, pushed a proposal through the council to hold a "launch" ceremony for the new warship Minerva at the Armory One Colony Satellite. At the same time, three next-generation Gundams would be unveiled as a surprise.
Of course, the theft at Armory One was still a self-directed play by Durandal. He had leaked the data to the Atlantic Federation long ago, deliberately luring their special forces to steal the mobile suits.
His goal was simple: to create an alibi for himself during the subsequent colony drop incident, which would also leave PLANT without a chairman in charge, meaning no one would have the authority to order the mobilization of a large force to stop it. At the same time, it would deepen ZAFT's image as a victim. It was a plan to kill three birds with one stone.
Therefore, to ensure the plan went smoothly, Durandal specially invited Reid and the prime minister of the neighboring nation of Orb to the ceremony, citing the time Reid had shown him the Strike Gundam demonstration.
This was Durandal's way of tying Reid down, preventing him from being in his own country to command the response to the falling colony satellite debris.
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