A star map with various beacons was placed in the center of the conference room.

In this conference room, which can accommodate hundreds of people for meetings, only four people sat quietly on the side, silently looking at the star map in front of them.

"A week ago Earth time, the new president of Unification, who was on a visit, suddenly lost contact when he left the planet to visit. At the same time, in the subsequent exploration, an unidentified backbone fleet was discovered. ”

Mark, who was sitting next to He Inexplicable, opened the communication with the distant MACROSS7 as he spoke.

"Axis Officer, what's going on over there?"

"Alas~ The commander ran away without saying a word. Leave the rest of the work to me. Whether it is in the original backbone fleet or the current MACROSS fleet, I am really destined to die! ”

Unexpectedly, as soon as the familiar face on the communication screen opened its mouth, it was not the shrewd and capable staff posture of D decades ago, but more like a human being who had entered old age.

"Uh...... Ahem!! ”

Mark's face stiffened, and he quickly coughed a few times, forcing himself to act more serious.

"Staff! Exido Staff Officer! How's the situation on your end? ”

"Alas~ The commander is urging people again. Is...... Can't this long life have a good ending? ”

In the face of Mark's urging, Staff Officer Exido, who has now become a "cute thing", continues to feel sorry for himself.

"Poof......

Miria couldn't help laughing, but she stopped immediately, and even reached out to her husband's gaze.

"Staff Officer Exido. Now we are discussing the matter of the president with General Ho Moming. What's going on over there? ”

"General?!" After blinking in surprise, Staff Officer Exido moved his gaze to look around, and finally landed on He Moming.

"Ahh It's rude! I'm MACROSS7's Records Staff Officer, Exido. Hail to you! What an inexplicable general. ”

Finally, Exido, who caught Mark as soon as he appeared on the stage, was reminded by Miria to see He Moming who was sitting on the side silently watching the show.

"Hello! Axis Staff Officer. We meet again. He nodded inexplicably, and then smiled: "Looking at your condition, it seems to be very good." I believe that in the future, I can still see your active body. ”

"Where, where! I've come a long way. In this last stage of my life, at least I can see and experience culture! ”

Staff Officer Exido seemed to remember something, and a hint of intoxication gradually appeared on his face.

"Ahem...... Staff officer! According to the latest medical report, you have at least 3,000 years to live. Mark, who was deliberately ignored by Axido's staff officer, finally couldn't help it anymore and quickly stood up to interrupt the conversation between the two.

"Oh oh ~ Commander. Why are you here? It's rude! It's rude! Excidor exclaimed as he looked at Mark in "surprise".

Mark's eyebrows jumped wildly, but he finally held back. He waved his hand helplessly, and said a little weakly:

"Alright. Tell me about what you got there! ”

"Yes." Exido was simply this time, and in the blink of an eye, he returned to his original shrewd and capable staff appearance.

Before He Moming received the information, the MACROSS7 ship group, which was closer to the galaxy where the president had an accident, learned the news of Le for the first time through some special channels.

The speed is not much different from that of the new unification headquarters of the earth.

Subsequently, under Mark's arrangement, and with the tacit consent of some relevant people, a special team personally assigned by Mark quietly set off from the temporary residence of MACROSS7 and rushed to the area where the president had an accident to check.

outcome

But it was a big surprise.

Not only did they find traces of the unidentified backbone fleet in this cosmic haunt, but they also unexpectedly discovered that this backbone fleet was the one that had been on the route of the MACROSS7 ship group before, forcing the ship group to turn around and come to the current temporary station.

Upon learning of this fact, Mark immediately ordered the special agent team to obtain as much relevant information as possible, and even arranged for Staff Officer Exido to take over the task. After that, Mark and Miria united to the planet Ragnar to meet their comrades in person, and they are the uncrowned lord of this galaxy - He Mo.

However, after Axido staff officer took over, he encountered some difficulties.

but

Eventually, the identity of the unidentified Groundsman Fleet and the purpose of their operations were found in the vast memories stored by Staff Officer Exido over the years.

"203 fleet?" He frowned inexplicably. He seems to have some familiarity with this backbone fleet.

"Yes. 203 fleet. If my memory and guess are correct, the backbone fleet that appears before us may be reconciled in some amicable way. ”

Exido nodded and continued:

"Yes. In addition to the members of the original backbone fleet that we have allied with the new unity, and the backbone fleet that is in a hostile state, there is another alternative backbone fleet that is not among them. ”

"They are the backbone of the fleet that can breed their own culture, and they can even break the hatred between men and women Zenith, and live together in a mixed way. It seems to us that these alternative compatriots have long been indistinguishable from humans. ”

"Culture? 203？ ”

After He inexplicably groaned for a while, he suddenly shouted with a sense of enlightenment: "I remembered! 203，203！ Right! 203rd Backbone Fleet! I see! I see! Mark, it looks like we scared ourselves out before. ”

"What do you remember?" Mark was a little confused.

"Hmm. If it's really the 203 backbone fleet, maybe the reason why it stood in front of MACROSS7 before, it's very likely that it wants to exchange culture with you. He nodded inexplicably and said with a sudden realization.

"Culture, Chemistry?" Miria frowned and thought for a while, then showed a wry smile. "I remembered, too. I think that the fleet I used to be in also encountered the 203 Basic Fleet, but the scale of the engagement at that time was limited to the size of the sub-fleet, and there was no greater conflict. The only suspicious thing is that all the seriously wounded who lost contact with them in the battlefield disappeared after sending a distress message. ”

Speaking of this, after Miria glanced at He Mo, she said with a smile: "Presumably, the small-scale war back then should have been the result of the deliberate control of the 203 fleet, and even the seriously wounded were rescued by them." ”

"There is such a thing?!" Mark was stunned for a moment, looked at his wife and asked.

"yes, yes! If it weren't for me and my sisters being strong enough. Maybe I'm one of the people who was snatched up. Miria smiled playfully.

"......" The corners of Mark's mouth moved, but he didn't say anything, as if he was worried about the existence of some people.

"Staff officer. Have you made contact with the 203 fleet? He asked inexplicably looking at Exido's avatar.

"If you want to be connected, you can say that there is or you can't." Exido nodded, then shook his head again.

"A few hours ago, I received an encrypted message. Its encryption format turned out to be an encryption program that has long since ceased to be used by most of the backbone fleets. ”

"What about the content?" Mark asked.

Axis was silent for a moment, and said with some hesitation:

"It's a song."

"Song?" He inexplicably and the others responded in unison.

"Yes. It's a song. It's "Have You Ever Remembered Love". ”

Xido nodded slowly, telling the truth about the encrypted information.

"Have you ever remembered love?!" Miria stared slightly, looked at He inexplicably and said, "Isn't that Akemi's song?" ”

He was also very puzzled, and after nodding, he pondered.

Why does this message that uses the Zenith's encryption program contain a song, and it's still a memory?

There may be some hidden information in this that wants to be told to anyone who can crack this encryption program and guess the truth.

but

All of a sudden,

He couldn't figure out the relationship in this for some reason.

Even the staff officer of Exido, who is known as a mobile dictionary. Not to mention Mark and Miria.

however

Just when everyone was puzzled, a voice sounded.

It's Ernest Johnson.

After entering the conference room, the 2.2-meter-tall man honestly sat on the side and acted as an audience. Unexpectedly, he boldly spoke up at this moment when everyone was in doubt.

"Perhaps, I guessed the truth of this encrypted message."

"Oh?"

He replied inexplicably, then glanced at Mark, nodded, and motioned for Ernest to continue.

"Have you ever remembered that love was sung in the interstellar wars? The meaning of this song is undoubtedly a light of redemption for both humans and the Zenith people who participated in the war at that time. In its beautiful singing, the uncultured Zenith felt the existence of culture for the first time. ”

Ernest paused, raised his hand and put his hat on his hand, and said:

"Perhaps, the 203rd Fleet is now in a situation where it needs to call for help from the outside world, but it can't expose itself."

"That's why this encrypted message was sent?" He inexplicably wanted to be happy for a while and looked at Mark.

"Staff officer, what is the possibility of this guess?" Mark looked at the staff officer with understanding.

"Conservative estimates, sixty percent." After silently calculating for a while, Exido came up with a probability.

"Sixty percent? Maybe we can give it a try. Miria's eyes lit up with a leap of trying. Perhaps because of the old experience, Miria, who is now a grandmother-level figure, is full of enthusiasm for a long time.

"If that's the case, then it means that the 203rd Backbone Fleet is controlled by some underground force."

"If that's true, what about your opinions?" He inexplicably turned his inquiring gaze to everyone.

"MATACROSS SWEARS TO FOLLOW THE GENERAL." Ernest was the first to answer.

"Hit. Although the current temporary station is good, the trip was interrupted, and I always breathed a sigh of relief. Otherwise, I don't feel well. Mark smiled, stood up, raised his hand and patted He Mo's shoulder and said, "It's been decades." It's been a long time since we've really played side by side again. ”

"Yes! So, hit? ”

"Hit!"