Teletha had only verbally promised to carefully consider Reid's suggestion, but in reality, Kowloon, who had surrendered, was swiftly disard by the helicopter crew, bundled up like a zongzi, and escorted onto the helicopter.
Watching this scene, Reid couldn't be bothered to argue further and attempted to have the system reclaim the Venom. However, the system showed no response—apparently, he still needed to either eliminate Kowloon or make him surrender directly.
Unfortunately, a quick victory in this battle seed impossible now. The only option was to return to the Tir Na Nog honestly, treating it as fulfilling his past life's wish of never having seen a real silver-haired loli in person.
Reid naturally didn't concern himself with the subsequent transport of the Venom. Putting on the act of an inspector, he finished observing the Tir Na Nog's battlefield cleanup operations before piloting the Kapool back to the submarine.
The process of boarding the Tir Na Nog went smoothly. The submarine's hangar was spacious enough that even when the Kapool transford into MA Mode, it was only slightly taller than a standard Arm Slave (AS typically stood 8–9 ters tall), so it fit inside without issue. Even in MS Mode, as long as it didn't jump around, there'd be no problem.
That said, the Kapool's round, bulky design still took up a lot of space—occupying at least the equivalent of three M9Es.
However, the Tir Na Nog's ground crew and SRT Force didn't seem to mind the Kapool at all. The mont Reid parked it, everyone in the hangar was sneaking glances at the machine, clearly intrigued by this uniquely designed amphibious "AS."
Of course, Reid had no intention of letting anyone on the Tir Na Nog touch the Kapool. He locked the system before leaving the cockpit. After all, the coding of the CE Century had undergone countless iterations compared to that of the Common Era Century. Unless they sent a Whispered with mastery over information technology, no ordinary programr could crack the machine's protection protocols even if given a year to try.
At this point, Reid noticed Teletha and Colonel Mardukas waiting for him below the machine, so he didn't linger in the cockpit. Opening the rear hatch (Reid had modified this Kapool's entry point to the back of the unit), he climbed out and, using a nearby M9E's arm as support, executed the secret technique [Side-to-Side Leap] to descend the nearly 8-ter drop, landing steadily on the ground.
Then, Reid removed his helt and stepped forward to greet them.
What he didn't expect, however, was that as he took a few extra glances at Teletha—who was also studying him curiously—his Newtype abilities suddenly activated.
His mind buzzed as if electrified, and Reid distinctly sensed the thoughts beneath Teletha's calm expression:
"What should I do? I'm so nervous. The SRT Force didn't perform too well in the last battle. How can I explain things for Sousuke? If he gets punished and reassigned, it'll be so hard to see him again..."
At the sa ti, Teletha clearly picked up on Reid's thoughts as well—though his were far simpler and didn't reveal any major secrets:
"So this is Teletha? Seeing her in person really is different from videos. She's so cute—I just want to pat her head. If only a moe creature like this could be my little sister..."
Honestly, it all happened too suddenly. Teletha's face instantly flushed red, and she exclaid in embarrassnt:
"Captain Reid! That's so rude! I am not so moe creature!"
Teletha's sudden outburst made Reid realize sothing—he hadn't expected Newtypes and Whispered to resonate like this. He quickly reined in his still-unmastered Newtype abilities to prevent further ntal leakage.
Beside Teletha, Colonel Mardukas wore an awkward expression. From his perspective, Reid had simply walked over normally when suddenly his captain (and adoptive daughter) erupted. Though the colonel knew Teletha wouldn't explode without reason, he could only awkwardly remind her:
"Captain, Lieutenant Reid hasn't said anything yet."
The colonel's words snapped Teletha back to awareness. Regaining her composure, she said in disbelief:
"Lieutenant Reid... are you also a Whispered?"
Her question made the surrounding crew mbers regard Reid with strange looks. In their understanding, Whispered were typically young girls—not grown n like Reid.
Reid himself felt exasperated. Truthfully, with the Gundam data the system provided, he could easily pass as a Whispered. The telepathic exchange with Teletha only reinforced that impression.
But Reid had no intention of claiming that identity—being a Whispered carried too much sensitivity in the Full tal Panic universe. Attempting to lighten the mood, he explained with humor:
"No, I just have naturally strong ntal energy. Think of it as a benign mutation—I don't gain access to advanced technology like Whispered do. We're completely different."
He added playfully: "And calling you 'adorable' was a complint. I ant no disrespect. Given our ntal resonance, you should've sensed that."
Teletha carefully reviewed Reid's earlier thoughts and indeed found no condescension—just genuine reaction to her appearance. Flustered, she admitted:
"My apologies, I overreacted... But please don't pat my head. It stunts growth."
Seeing her childish side, Reid chuckled:
"Understood, Captain Testarossa. Rest assured, while the thought may cross my mind, I'd never actually do that to a superior officer. Court-martials aren't my style."
With formal precision, he saluted:
"Reid Isaac, confirming boarding. Pleasure to et you all—let's make this 24-hour visit pleasant."
His tone turned serious: "The Kapool behind
is classified. No personnel may approach it, and I'm prohibited from discussing its specs. Consider this official notice—any unauthorized inspection attempts authorize
to shoot first and report later."
The crew stiffened, suddenly rembering Reid's role as an inspector. Offending him risked consequences—a negative report could wipe out their bonuses. They snapped to attention.
Teletha returned the salute professionally, extending her hand with a smile:
"Welco aboard the Tir Na Nog, Lieutenant Reid Isaac. I'm certain we'll cooperate well."
She nodded at his request: "Understood regarding the Kapool. I'll designate its vicinity as restricted."
Reid shook her hand firmly in acknowledgnt.
"Thanks for your cooperation, but I won't show favoritism in work matters. Could you provide
with the records of that soldier who spaced out on the battlefield earlier? Also, personally, I don't mind office romances."
Reid's words served as a reminder to Teletha—he'd noticed her earlier thoughts. He knew she had feelings for a man nad Sousuke.
Teletha imdiately blushed and hastily instructed her assistant to fetch the docunts for Reid before saying:
"Captain Reid, the docunts will be delivered shortly. Colonel Mardukas will give you a tour of the ship and grant you the necessary access permissions. I also don't mind office romances—ah, no... um, I have work to attend to, so I must excuse myself."
With that, Teletha fled in embarrassnt.
Reid could only smile wryly in response, thinking to himself how adorable Teletha was—lucky Sagara Sousuke. It was just a sha their relationship was dood from the start.
Still, he had no objections to Colonel Mardukas giving him the tour. After all, this was his first ti eting Teletha, and he didn't insist on her personally showing him around.
However, Colonel Mardukas seed to have misunderstood sothing from their conversation.
Once Teletha was out of earshot, Mardukas approached Reid, firmly gripping his shoulder and whispering into his ear:
"Captain Reid, while you are a distinguished guest, there's sothing I must make clear. If you dare lay a finger on Teletha, I will personally stuff you into a torpedo tube and fire you out with 300 kilograms of explosives. I an every word—try
if you doubt it. Also, I am firmly against all office romances. Heh heh heh."
Reid swore that Colonel Mardukas' words carried genuine killing intent—pure, unfiltered malice, the kind reserved for soone stealing a treasured possession. Even on the battlefield, facing ZAFT soldiers in firefights, he had never encountered such raw hostility.
Now he understood why Sagara Sousuke was so afraid of this man—he must have sensed that sa directed lethality.
And Reid couldn't even argue. The colonel's murderous aura was just a fatherly instinct to protect his "daughter." So he simply smiled and followed Mardukas on the ship tour. If not for the cold sweat on his back, he might have appeared perfectly composed.
Fortunately, the agonizing tour soon ended. Reid was granted access to most areas of the Tir Na Nog, and Sousuke's basic personnel file was delivered—a military data tablet containing records of the entire SRT Force from the recent battle, likely for evaluation purposes.
Reid had no intention of actually grading them. Instead, he took the tablet to the hangar to introduce himself to the main trio.
Sousuke wasn't hard to find. A quick inquiry revealed he was being scolded by Mao in the hangar.
Upon arrival, Reid saw Sousuke bowing apologetically like a chastised child while Kurtz, the third mber of the trio, watched with amusent.
Reid strode directly toward them. The three halted their conversation upon noticing the unfamiliar officer.
However, spotting Reid's rank insignia, they imdiately saluted. (Both Sousuke and Kurtz were sergeants, while Mao was still a staff sergeant.)
Reid didn't waste ti with pleasantries. Pulling up Sousuke's file, he returned the salute and got straight to the point.
"Hello, I'm Captain Reid Isaac from headquarters inspection. You must be Sergeant Sagara Sousuke, the pilot of ARX-7."
Sagara Sousuke wasn't suited for academy life, but as a soldier, he was competent. When Reid addressed him, he imdiately snapped to attention again and answered loudly.
"Yes, sir!"
Reid nodded upon hearing this and said,
"Sergeant Sagara Sousuke, please co with
to the conference room. There are so things I'd like to ask you."
With that, Reid turned and walked straight toward the hangar's conference room.
Sousuke was about to follow directly, but the quicker-witted Kurtz grabbed him and whispered,
"Sousuke, be careful. This guy's an inspector sent from above. If you say the wrong thing, he might make you retire on the spot. And that big, round Arm Slave from earlier? That was him. From what I heard on the battlefield, he's probably not too happy with you."
anwhile, Mao quickly played along, rushing to Reid's side to intercept him. She batted her eyelashes and said,
"Hey there, Reid. No need to rush into work. I'm the M9E pilot who took down ARX-7. You saved
back there on the battlefield, didn't you? If you hadn't stepped in, I would've been hit by Kowloon's Lambda Driver attack. Who knows if I'd be alive now. How about we grab a drink first? I can explain Sousuke's situation over a glass."
Reid looked at Mao, picked up his recording tablet, and started typing while speaking aloud,
"mbers of Tir Na Nog have a habit of drinking alcohol during missions."
Hearing this, Mao broke out in a cold sweat. If this got reported to higher-ups, they could forget about finding even a single drop of alcohol on Tir Na Nog ever again. She quickly grabbed Reid's arm to backtrack.
"No, no, Reid—I an, Captain Reid! We don't drink. I ant juice, yeah, fernted juice."
Reid hadn't actually intended to give them too hard a ti; he was just teasing them. He stopped typing and said,
"Is that so? I'll take your word for it for now. I've heard Sergeant lissa is quite skilled at training troops. That's sothing I'd genuinely like to learn about.
Also, don't worry. Personnel who can use the Lambda Driver without pharmaceutical enhancent are extrely rare. Sergeant Sagara Sousuke won't be discharged. But given his performance earlier, a pay cut is inevitable, and he might even face a formal reprimand. Right now, though, I just want to ask him—as an elite soldier—what exactly he was thinking when he froze up on the battlefield."
At this, Mao and Kurtz imdiately backed off, figuring as long as he wasn't getting discharged, a pay cut was fair punishnt. Given his performance earlier, a week of brutal training would've been justified anyway.
However, just as Reid was about to take Sousuke away, another unexpected interruption occurred. A girl with long blue hair, a sowhat developed figure, but a distinctly youthful face approached.
She seed accustod to moving around Tir Na Nog and rely smiled politely at Reid, a stranger, before walking up to Sousuke with a cheerful smile.
"Sousuke, I've been looking everywhere for you. Everyone said the mission was over, but sothing felt off. Are you worried about sothing? Let's find a place to talk."
Reid knew this was Kana Chidori, the female lead from Full tal Panic. She probably assud Reid was just another crew mber aboard the Tir Na Nog. Having not been here long, she naturally couldn't know everyone yet, but since the crew had been friendly toward her, she'd casually approached without hesitation.
At this mont, Reid slipped back into character. Tapping his tablet with mild exasperation, he slowly remarked:
"Oh? A civilian. A freely moving civilian."
This ti, Sousuke was genuinely sweating. He could remain composed when Reid was just questioning him, but with Chidori involved—and the uncertainty about whether her Whispered status should be disclosed—he found himself at a complete loss for explanations.
However, Reid saw this unexpected encounter as another opportunity to test whether a Newtype's abilities could resonate with a Whispered. Deliberately, he projected the thought:
"Sergeant Sagara Sousuke's quite the ladies' man. First Captain Teletha's affections, and now such a beautiful girlfriend. Impressive—his dating skills are truly top-tier."
Then, he focused his psychic energy on Kana Chidori, attempting to read her emotions.
The next instant, that electric sensation surged through him again.
Chidori's current thoughts were:
"Sousuke seems really stressed. I should comfort him carefully—I need to watch my words so I don't add more pressure."
But the mont their minds connected, Chidori froze. She then glared daggers at Sousuke, snorted coldly, and turned to Reid to demand:
"Sir, what was that just now? I think I... sensed your thoughts."
Reid didn't bother hiding it. "You could call it telepathy. I'm Captain Reid Isaac. My psychic sensitivity is unusually strong, so when encountering soone with unique ntal attributes like a Whispered, this kind of phenonon occurs easily."
Chidori nodded vaguely, then suddenly realized sothing and exclaid:
"Wait—does that an you can read whatever I'm thinking? That's a privacy violation! No, wait—I could hear your thoughts too... What kind of situation is this?!"
Seeing her reaction, Reid decided to stir the pot further—throwing Sousuke under the bus to divert attention. Casually, he said:
"No need for such concerns. I don't want others knowing my thoughts either. This ability is controllable; it only activated because I was observing you without realizing you're a Whispered. By the way, weren't you looking for Sergeant Sagara Sousuke?"
At this, Chidori imdiately recalled Reid's earlier ntal remark. Fury surged—such thoughts had to be genuine, aning this Captain Reid definitely knew sothing.
So she spun on her heel and stord off without another word, even forgetting to introduce herself.
Sousuke knew Chidori was angry but couldn't comprehend why, leaving him rooted in place.
As for the instigator, Reid was quite satisfied with this experint. It seed those with latent psychic potential could briefly achieve conscious communication. Though admittedly, this was basic Newtype capability—even in the UC universe, many non-Newtype pilots could receive telepathic ssages from Newtype protagonists during mobile suit maneuvers.
Rubbing his temples in exasperation, Reid muttered:
"The Whispered... Never mind. Sergeant Sagara Sousuke, you should go after your girlfriend first. She cares about you deeply—just don't make her cry."
"Sergeant lissa, as you wish, let's grab a drink. Don't worry, after sharing your liquor, I won't report it."
Seeing Reid being so agreeable, Mao's favorability toward him soared. She grinned and said,
"Haha, sure! Treating my savior to a drink is only fair. But we can't do it openly—co to my room instead. Hope you don't mind if I smoke a bit. Oh, and just call
Mao. That's what my friends do."
Mao invited Reid to her room, but neither Sousuke nor Kurtz reacted.
Both of them knew that while Mao was attractive and had a great figure, most n who weren't familiar with her would lose interest the mont they saw her drinking and smoking. Those with any self-respect wouldn't even entertain such thoughts about her.
As for the possibility of Reid being a hidden playboy—well, Mao's combat skills ensured she wouldn't be taken advantage of. Frankly, Sousuke and Kurtz couldn't even imagine anyone daring to ss with her.
Even if Sousuke and Kurtz weren't overthinking it, Reid couldn't just follow her like that. Though he knew Mao's habits and had no ulterior motives, going straight to a woman's room didn't fit his current persona. So he declined:
"Let's skip Sergeant Mao's room. I rember seeing a bar during the tour—though it's closed during missions. How about it, Sergeant Kurtz? As Mithril's top sniper, I'd love to hear your stories."
(End of Chapter)
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