RNP Chapter 17: We don't wage war, we only do business.
Chapter 17: We don't wage war, we only do business.
[Archangel, Bridge]
"When...do we start?"
Frey Alsta's voice was hoarse, yet clear and resolute, like a steel nail striking ice.
A somber silence hung in the air as CIC operators, suppressing their grief, processed postwar data. The air was thick with the rusty smell of defeat and death.
Ling Yu did not answer immediately.
He turned around, his eyes, which always held a hint of mockery, now calm and still. He glanced at the signal on the screen indicating the annihilation of the Eighth Fleet's advance team, then his gaze returned to Frey's face, her tear-streaked cheeks still burning with two will-o'-the-wisps.
He held up two fingers.
"First of all, it's not 'we,' it's 'you.' This is your company, your revenge, and I'm just an employee."
"Secondly," he smiled slightly, revealing a set of white teeth that stood out starkly in the solemn atmosphere, "any great business project needs a quiet office, not in this...place for paying respects to the deceased. Come with me, Ms. Chairman."
After saying that, he ignored the astonished looks of those around him and walked straight toward the passageway leading to the living quarters inside the ship.
Frey paused for a moment, then followed without hesitation.
The electronic document she clutched tightly in her arms was her guidepost.
---
[Archangel, Temporary Meeting Room]
This place was originally used by officers to conduct tactical reviews, but now it has been "requisitioned" by Ling Yu.
He sat down in the main seat with an air of authority and pushed a cup of hot coffee in front of Frey.
Frey didn't touch him. She just stood there, staring at him with her swollen, red eyes, like a young animal scrutinizing its tamer, having just lost everything.
Before we discuss 'project launch', we need to take stock of 'startup capital'.
Ling Yu didn't keep them in suspense. He brought up his personal terminal and projected a complex structural diagram onto the conference room table.
It was a blueprint filled with all sorts of unbelievable energy circuits and rune-like formulas. Although large areas were marked with red warnings of "data missing" or "unresolved," even just the tip of the iceberg was enough to make any expert feel breathless.
"This is..." Frey's voice trembled slightly.
"The true 'legacy' left to you by your father."
Ling Yu's expression became extremely solemn, as if he were introducing a rare treasure.
"I spent the whole night and barely managed to decipher the encrypted data attached to the protocol."
I named it... [Genesis Nuclear Battery Technology].
Although it's only a third of the incomplete data, "he tapped the table, emphasizing his words, "their energy conversion efficiency is theoretically more than a hundred times that of ZAFT's current MS power reactors."
One hundred times!
Frey's pupils suddenly contracted.
Although she didn't understand technology, she understood what that number meant.
"Your father's vision surpasses everyone else's." Ling Yu's voice was full of seduction as he began his "role-playing."
He was no longer the witty joker, but a "chief strategic advisor" with profound insight who had long been acquainted with deceased business tycoons.
"He knew that going head-to-head with the massive ZAFT with just a few mobile suits and warships was reckless and the least efficient form of revenge. So, he paved another path for you."
"A path... to crush them with capital, technology, and rules!"
Ling Yu stood up, walked over to Frey, and lowered his voice, as if a devil were whispering in her ear.
"Think about it, Chairman. This thing is our 'core patent'."
We can use it to trade with those greedy arms dealers in the coalition for their most advanced warships and production lines.
We can 'authorize' it to Orb in exchange for their political asylum and industrial base. We can even... 'leak' it to the moderates within ZAFT who are dissatisfied with the Sara faction, inciting infighting among them!
"While they were still debating whether to use beam rifles or beam cannons, we had already mastered the core technology that would define the energy standards of the next era!"
"By then, we won't need to lift a finger. We'll just sit at the poker table and watch them kill each other for our technology. We'll buy up their military factories, take control of their economic lifelines, and force every ZAFT adjuster to work for our 'company'!"
"This isn't revenge." Ling Yu spread his arms wide, his expression fanatical and exaggerated. "This is the highest level of 'commercial takeover'! We're going to turn this distressed asset, ZAFT, into the most dazzling 'trophy' on the future map of our 'Alstar Group'!"
His words struck Frey's heart like a heavy hammer.
The father's face, vanished in the explosion,
At this moment, it strangely overlapped with the image of the business tycoon Ling Yu had described, a strategist who used the entire world as his chessboard.
So... that's how it is?
What my father left me was never the reckless courage to send me to my death on the battlefield.
Rather, it's... enough chips to overturn the entire poker table.
"I see."
Frey slowly sat down, picked up the cup of coffee that had already cooled slightly, and took a small sip.
The bitter taste spread in her mouth, but it made her more awake than ever before.
She raised her eyes, and in those icy blue eyes, the last trace of girlish confusion and vulnerability was completely burned away, leaving only a calmness comparable to the cold of the Arctic.
"Mr. Ling Yu." She put down her coffee cup and issued the first command of the "Chairman," "So, what should our first step be?"
"very good."
Ling Yu snapped his fingers, and the "charlatan" expression on his face instantly switched back to that familiar, smug smile.
"A successful startup needs a perfect 'angel round' of funding and a successful 'public relations campaign' to make a name for itself."
He pulled up another document, which contained a photo of Lux Klein.
"This is our potential 'angel investor'."
The Kleinists wield enormous influence in PLANT, and they share a common enemy with us—the Sara faction.
Getting her safely back was our first "business plan," a letter of intent for investment.
Frey immediately understood and nodded coldly.
Just then—
"Waaaaah—waaaah—!"
The battle alarm, sharp enough to tear eardrums, blared without warning throughout the entire warship!
Natal Bakirul's angry and anxious roar came over the ship's loudspeaker.
"All personnel, Level 1 combat readiness! Repeat, all personnel, Level 1 combat readiness! Multiple heat source signals detected approaching at high speed! They are ZAFT mobile suits! Four units!"
The conference room door was flung open, and a soldier rushed in, his face deathly pale.
"Mr. Ling Yu! Captain Maru orders you to proceed to the bridge immediately!"
Before the words were even finished, Natal's voice boomed from the broadcast again, this time carrying a hint of... dependence.
"Strike Gundam, sortie immediately! Kira Yamato! And Ling Yu! You two, whichever one of you is nearby, get into the Strike's cockpit right now!"
The red alarm light flashed wildly in the conference room, reflecting off Frey's cold face.
Ling Yu looked at her, not at all nervous, but instead grinned.
He stood up and walked towards the door, slowly straightening his collar as if he were not going to a life-or-death battle, but to a business cocktail party.
He walked to the door, stopped, turned back and winked at Frey, then chuckled softly in a voice only the two of them could hear.
"See, Chairman?"
"Our first venture capital investment came to us on its own."