Part 159: Mission 45 (Moon Route) - Prologue

I’ll just skip the intermission and jump straight into the prologue, to better keep track of which route provides the most



We find ourselves on the Security Council’s base on the moon, where Natarle, now captain of the Dominion, is introducing herself to Muruta Azrael, chairman of the UN’s security council.
Azrael quips that he didn’t expect such a young and beautiful woman to be the Captain, which only marks Natarle uncomfortable.
Either way, his official reason for being aboard the Dominion is to be an "observer" of the three new MS's it carries, designed for pilots called "biological CPUs; he's even got a mission lined up: picking up a present from a certain knowledgeable Santa and, also, a shot at taking down the Archangel.
Azrael is quite eager to see Natarle prove her mettle (and her ship) by wiping out her former commander...



It's a day after Christmas and Kazuma's isn’t feeling very jolly considering all the bad things that happened.
Our people are en route from the moon to the L4 point to rendezvous with the Archangel; Kazuma doesn't have details, but he's heard that Athrun found a new ally back at Plant.
Speaking of Plant, Siegel Klein's been executed, ostensibly for opposing the hawkish Patrick Zara's regime; Galent informed that it was actually an assassination, but our people can't militarily intervene in the conflict between Earth and Plant, since we’re trying to remain neutral in the conflict.
He wonders if we can really stop the Martian Successors' final plan under such confusing circumstances…
Kazuma closes the log entry by saying he wants to believe his feelings of gloom are solely due to that lonely Christmas...



The L4 rendezvous will take place at the Mendel colony, abandoned since before the Jovian War due to some kind of biohazard incident.
Although it's been sterilized since, it's never been put back into service; that, and the fact that many lives were lost there, would keep anyone in their right mind away - fortunately our people aren't in their right minds.
Yumi is a bit scared to go to such a place but Hayato promises to keep her safe and this makes Dead and David comment on how the kid is manning up for his girl (which makes Hayato start bumbling with words).



Cagalli tries to get them to stop but that merely changes the focus on the teasing towards her, who’s clearly stressed and worried ever since her “beloved” Athrun left for Plant.
It makes sense, though, anyone would be worried if their boy/girlfriend went into enemy territory with little backup; Cagalli, of course, goes full-on tsundere and insists that she has no such feelings for the guy (still, Yumi and the Morgenleite girls are rooting for her).



Kira would be lying if he said he wasn't a little worried about Athrun too, but he believes in his best friend.
Tomoru then comes over with some questions.



He's wondering if Kira is a "typical" Coordinator, considering that his combat prowess seems to be quite higher than the others.
Kira maintains that he's entirely typical, and that he's nowhere near as cool as many people on our team; Tomoru is far from convinced, remembering Michi's mentioning that Ruri and Kira were different somehow.
Just what is his secret, anyway?