It was difficult to distinguish the mood that pervaded the corridors of The Cathedral's main institutes. While on one hand, the damage caused to some enemy bases—and what was believed to be the main one for Project EX—was considerable, reports from re-established U.S.C. spies on Earth indicated that perhaps the impact had not been enough to inhibit an enemy counter-offensive.
While part of the leadership celebrated and promoted the intervention as a tremendous success, Mathias Granqvist, high up in his office in the organization's building to which he had dedicated decades of his life, questioned the decisions and actions already taken, with the Alpha metropolis as a backdrop.
And even those who celebrated the triumph betrayed their caution; the main leaders of the U.S.C. and The Cathedral had relocated to the group's largest colony. The military forces were also mostly concentrated there—a clear sign of fear of retaliation, which the war veteran knew was only a matter of time.
He watched, somewhat distractedly, the dance of delivery drones traveling coordinately between buildings, and the vehicles performing their furious dance on the city's high-speed lanes, which from that floor looked like ants. His mind, however, was elsewhere, on information he had received during the military interventions.
"You know who the true enemies are. When you decide to face them, I will show you the way."
The simple message was followed by coordinates, which he easily identified as a star zone near the orbit of the dwarf planet Ceres, between Mars and Jupiter. The U.S.C. had been interested in building a colony near the celestial body, but it had been abandoned almost a century ago.
It was not uncommon to find Mathias deliberating over the star map with the coordinate during the day between his tasks, although he hid it from the various colleagues he encountered in the course of his work. The true enemy, he thought. After years of conflict, and the gradual escalation in mutual destruction between the enemy forces, Granqvist began to question the legitimacy of the war he had dedicated his life to ending.
Why did the U.S.C. even still want conflict with Earth? Control over terrestrial means of production had long ceased to be necessary; the U.S.C., by its own merits, had tamed treacherous space and become self-sustaining. For Earth, the war still had a tone of revenge and revanchism that he understood, although he believed, or at least liked to believe, that part of the population and leadership was simply tired of it. There were clear signs coming from politicians, especially the new ones.
His unproductive and distressing thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of his office doorbell, followed by his guest's self-introduction.
"Captain Helena Kjestein, as requested."
It didn't take long for the Ice Queen, who months ago had returned to wearing The Cathedral's beautiful white uniform, to enter the room. The attire suited the 34-year-old woman well and had once again become her primary garment.
Her impassive gaze and unemotional figure awaited her superior's orders. Mathias hesitated, however. Perhaps placing that burden on the mother of two children, not the experienced pilot, would be too much. It was information that could easily brand them both as traitors simply for having knowledge of it.
"Director?"
In a rare display of impatience, largely due to Mathias's clear expression of doubt, Helena decided to ask again, seeking answers for why she had been summoned there. She knew the consequences of the attack she had helped lead; the U.S.C. forces' new positioning was a clear sign, but it was evident that this would not be the subject of that meeting. The man sighed and rose from his chair. With a simple gesture, he made a screen appear in front of his desk with the information he had secretly received.
"A few weeks ago, I received anonymous data with a simple message and coordinates. At first, I believed it was nothing to be taken seriously, but over time, more technical and historical information arrived. Obviously, it became evident I wasn't dealing with just anyone; bypassing The Cathedral's intelligence system and directly delivering such data to me would not be a simple task."
The captain approached the screen, virtually leafing through the data displayed there. Besides the coordinates, there was information about secret data from Alpha colony and Aegis's new lunar base. The plan was not yet clear, but the last page made Helena's eyes widen.
It would be impossible for her not to recognize those three images: the first, an imposing M.M.U., white with blue details. In the second, a large cannon camouflaged as a rifle. Besides them, one of the Avalons she had faced a few times in recent months, but which was different enough from the others.
There was a serious implication there; the doubts she raised were several: An offer of alliance? Why would the enemy give them information about their own base? Why hadn't Mathias Granqvist yet disclosed this information to the general command? For this last doubt, Helena quickly reached a conclusion: the man was thinking of accepting the offer, and if she had been called, it was because he wanted her support.
"Who do you think are the true enemies, Captain?"
She hesitated. The answer was quickly formulated in her mind, but her subconscious did not allow it to be given immediately. It would be a betrayal of her entire life and that of her late husband to simply mention such an idea, but with each new act of war, the true root of the problem became clear. In human history, the centralization of power had always been the answer to crises; the question was: when did this centralization begin to become an evil?
There was a centuries-old example and a recent one in the space age. The Cathedral, with its unification policies and leadership, brought rapid advancement to the U.S.C., but it wasn't new that the power of the cardinals and their policies were questioned, or attempts were made to question them. Censorship was an art the organization had mastered when necessary.
Similarly, Aegis was beginning to control a large part of the terrestrial military forces, and its congress increasingly replaced the authorities of the various countries that still managed to remain functional during the long war. It would be a matter of time before the scenario repeated itself.
Most important of all, however, was the unyielding attitude of both forces in continuing the conflict. At no time did peace seem an option, and it probably wouldn't be now. Helena shifted her attention from the file to her director. She hesitated for an instant, knowing everything that was at stake, but her answer was clear and concise.
"...In whatever way possible, Director Mathias Granqvist, I will help you."
<>
In the small church on the outskirts of Alpha metropolis, Fons D'Agostino received visits he hadn't had in a long time. In the modest yet well-equipped tea room of the classic building, the cardinal of The Cathedral's main colony found himself surrounded by men he hated. His remaining colleagues of similar rank seemed distressed, constantly arguing. Fons sipped his tea, masterfully prepared by his young assistant, one of the war's many orphans—someone who deserved much more than simply serving drinks to this group he despised, a disdain he also felt for himself.
The cardinal from Ita colony was clearly disturbed at being dragged from the safety of his isolated colony to what would probably be the next center of conflict against the terrestrial forces.
"Shouldn't we be focusing on protecting our own colonies!?"
Fons noted agreement from the other cardinals on the question, but he needed the group there if he wanted them to meet the same end.
"My companions, evidently there is no safer place in space than Alpha colony. For the protection of our system of government, I ask you to stay here until the end of the conflict, which is near."
The petulant Beta made his objection.
"How can you be so sure? Until the counter-offensive, we were at a clear disadvantage."
"Believe me, Beta, the damage to Aegis's forces was considerable. If they try an attack now, they will be easy targets. Let us trust our military forces; we chose them for a reason."
Fons stood up, proposing a toast to his colleagues, who reluctantly accepted. To the victory of The Cathedral, which for a century has known no defeat. Still holding his glass, he watched the men drink their wines. Then he did the same. Judgment was about to take place, and that group would pay for the crimes committed by their misadministrations.
<>
On March 29, 2239, around 7 p.m., information reached Aegis command, causing a shock that sent the organization's corridors and meeting rooms into chaos. The starship Avalon, which had been stationed at the destroyed Amaterasu base, had disappeared. There were no more traces of its location; its last detected position was during its voyage to Liverpool, England.
Aegis command's immediate action was the search and apprehension of all family members of the ship's crew for preventive custody. The disobedience of the direct order to protect the base by Pellegrini and his subordinates had raised some alarms in command.
However, report after report, the information that none of the crew's families had been found, with their residences mostly empty, raised even more suspicions of treason. Not that much could be done about it; the Avalon in question was special. The Royal Air Force no longer had any obligation to Aegis and refused to pass on any information. A more direct intervention was out of the question against the British after the U.S.C. attack. Similarly, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces seemed to have no information on the whereabouts of Izanagi and Kiyoko Ogata.
<>
In her room at the hotel she had chosen as her temporary residence in Pasadena, Selen Prichard received information about the raids on the homes of the Avalon crew members. She wouldn't sugarcoat it; they were raids, nothing less. They wanted to kidnap the families to use as bargaining chips. She was also alerted that she would be the target of the same operation. She thanked them for the information but decided not to flee; she would face Aegis's power head-on.
It didn't take long for her room door to be broken down. A group of men in black, with the logo of the organization they answered to, surrounded her, with the leader approaching.
"Congresswoman Prichard, in the name of Aegis, you are being arrested for high treason and creating public disorder. You will be immediately transferred to our prison on the moon, with the other traitors."
Selen just smiled, standing up. She imagined this might happen at some point, but Aegis's claws had shown themselves sooner than she expected.
March 30, 2239. With a simple signature, Oswald Goodwin decreed martial law. The Aegis congress was dissolved, just as the power of the countries allied with Aegis became centralized in the organization's hands. The intention was to prepare the terrestrial forces for the final offensive against the U.S.C. Hundreds of arrests were made around the world under the pretext of maintaining peace and order... The first seeds of Aegis's totalitarian government began to be sown.