The Orville, which returned to Earth, quickly picked up an alien president named Alkuzan, a Planetary Alliance councilor named Balask, and Captain Halsey who was also a member of the Planetary Alliance Committee on the Earth Space Station.
Assemble a delegation of three people.
Then, after the three of them successfully arrived at the Orville's helipad, they met with the honor guard organized by Captain Ed, and reviewed and discussed the more than 20-meter-tall red Zeon body parked on the elevated helipad.
After a while, the Orville finally officially set off, carrying the three of them towards the Quel people's main star, Darakos.
On the first night of the delegation's arrival, Admiral Halsey held a meeting with Captain Ed and First Officer Kelly, and asked them to watch a segment of the current Quail society with him.
Public election speech video.
And the candidate who was giving a speech and instigating the Quail people to oppose the alliance with the Planetary Alliance in the video was not who it was. It was surprisingly the candidate who had two entanglements with Captain Ed, and even had a "passionate love" for a long time.
The Quill Woman of Time, Janelle!
Of course, Janelle was just a manifestation of the Quill woman. Her real name was Treya, and the battleship her brother was on was originally captured by Ed and Gordon in order to obtain that code.
That ship.
As for her brother...
Naturally, she was burned to death by strong light and ultraviolet light on the spot. Only Treya and a small number of Quill children survived. Therefore, even if she was released by Ed, she still seemed to have reason to continue as before.
Hates humanity and the Alliance of Planets.
This time, maybe it's for revenge, or maybe it's just to cause trouble?
Anyway, she joined a Quill opposition force and successfully became the next candidate for the "Supreme Commander" of the Quills of this faction. She is currently giving a lecture tour and working on the main star of the Quills, Darakos.
For fanning to destroy the friendly relationship that was finally established between Quill and the Planetary Alliance.
"Did you all see it?"
"Ed!"
"The thing is, after you put Treya back to Quill, she was discharged from the army."
"A few months later, she emerged and stood out in a small faction that opposed Quill's peace talks. When our Planetary Alliance and Quill began to negotiate the alliance, she emerged."
"It cannot be denied that her remarks are very popular among the Quail people. Many Quail people support her extreme ideas and are committed to opposing signing with our planetary alliance."
"She has now become a representative figure in the Quill society who opposes the Alliance of Planets. The Quall people regard her as a hero and allowed her to get a lot of votes in the election of the next Grand Commander of Quill."
"Although Colin, the current leader of the Quayle people, still maintains a large lead, his support for the alliance will make some Quayle people think that he is too weak. His relatively moderate political stance will be detrimental to those Quayle people who have always been radical.
It might seem a bit unrealistic to people?”
"so!"
"Although Commander Colin doesn't take his competitors too seriously, I'm still a little worried. If the radicals don't get what they want in the election, will they regain their advantage elsewhere?
"
Looking at Ed and Kelly who were silent, that bad old man, Admiral Halsey, began to summarize and analyze some of the risks that the main star of the Quills, Darakos, might face this time.
In order to allow Ed and Kelly, the two commanders of the Orville, to be mentally prepared in advance for certain worst-case scenarios.
"snort!"
"She should have been locked up in the first place!"
"And now there's not so much going on."
Although it was too late and meaningless to say that kind of thing now, first mate Kelly still couldn't help but cast a resentful look at Ed, who was sitting opposite her.
When she first captured Treya, Kelly strongly suggested that Ed hand her over to the Planetary Alliance, but the other party actually took the initiative and released the Quill woman, saying that she wanted her to report to Quill.
Society conveys the goodwill of the Planetary Alliance?
But now it's better, after the other party returned, he actually repaid kindness with hatred. Not only did he not convey goodwill, but he also fought with the Planetary Alliance everywhere, constantly spreading unfavorable information to the Planetary Alliance in Quill society, deliberately vilifying and demonizing the Planetary Alliance, and even
At such a critical moment when signing a covenant, he would jump out and constantly add obstacles and chaos?
"..."
Ed didn't speak.
Although he wanted to say something, he didn't know where to start.
"okay."
"It's meaningless to talk about this now. After all, this is something no one would have thought of."
"I also supported Ed when he let the woman go. There was nothing wrong with that."
"Even if you hand her over to us, we will let her go in the end."
Fortunately, the bad old admiral on the side did not mind or pursue the matter. Instead, he spoke up to help Ed explain these two sentences.
"That is to say..."
"Admiral!"
"Are you worried that those radical Quayle people will take desperate measures and attack your delegation after seeing that there is no hope of winning the election?"
First, he temporarily ignored the unpleasant incident just now. Then, Ed thought about it for a while, thinking about what the admiral just summarized and the content of the video, and then he asked hesitantly and anxiously.
"I am not sure."
"But we don't deny that there may be that risk."
First he shook his head, then nodded, and the bad old admiral just said those ambiguous words to Ed.
"Although the Orville is not stronger than any destroyer or cruiser in the Alliance, it has an impressive record, powerful force, and sufficient adaptability in the face of crises. It is undoubtedly the most dazzling and powerful in the Alliance of Planets.
A big star battleship.”
"What's more, you still have Annie and Annie's Gundam..."
"Now almost most of the Quail people know about the existence of the Orville. While they regard you as a strong competitor, they also deeply admire you!"
"In addition, you and Lieutenant General Christie went to the Quill Star Territory before and ran back alive from the Quill forbidden area..."
"above!"
"This is the main reason why we finally chose the Orville, a medium-sized scientific research and exploration ship, as the delegation ship."
Then, without waiting for Ed to ask any more questions, the bad old admiral simply and openly told the reason why they finally chose the Orville.
"Admiral!"
"Besides those, you should have other considerations, right?"
"Like that woman?"
First Mate Kelly pondered for a while, and after glancing at the Quill woman playing on the holographic screen, she suddenly chuckled strangely and asked meaningfully.
"That's right!"
"Here's the kicker: Ed knows her better than any of us!"
"If there is any commander in the Planetary Alliance who can guess what she is thinking, I think it is Ed!"
“Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you be victorious in every battle!”
"This operation is very important. After comprehensive consideration by the Planetary Alliance Committee, the Orville has outstanding advantages in all aspects, so of course it was selected without hesitation."
Regarding Kelly's sarcastic statement that did not hide her personal emotions at all, Halsey did not mean to deny it, and still openly admitted that they had the idea of ​​​​taking advantage of the relationship between Ed and the Quill woman.
"I probably understand."
"Admiral, don't worry!"
"I promise to do my best!"
Knowing that this mission was not as simple as imagined, and seeing the difficulties they faced, Ed took a deep breath, then stood up resolutely and promised in a deep voice.
"I know you will!"
"but……"
"You'd better take a look at this first!"
"Commander Colin opened up access to part of the Quill network to us on the Orville, and then we discovered these interesting videos."
Admiral Halsey didn't take Ed's statement seriously. He just waved Ed to sit down and opened several videos in succession.
And then, Ed and Kelly saw something that surprised them: they saw that in those videos, without exception, they showed the Quill people's Commander Colin's response to those Quills who were marching against them.
All kinds of atrocities such as suppression, abuse and killing of people, which showed from all aspects the unpopularity of the tyranny, cruelty and various evil deeds of Commander Colin who was just called a 'moderate' by Admiral Halsey?
"..."
"..."
Upon seeing this, Ed and Kelly immediately cast shocked and questioning glances at Admiral Halsey.
"don’t worry."
"These are all fake!"
"It's 100% completely fictitious, because those things never happened at the same time and place!"
"Look at this. At that time, President Colin was on Earth discussing certain details of the alliance with us, but these videos show that President Colin was on another planet. This makes no sense at all!"
"Also, thousands of similar videos are generated almost every second at the same time, and there are also various scandals that are unfavorable to the commander-in-chief. Even now, they are still appearing in a steady stream. They are constantly flooding
The Quill Network."
"at the same time!"
"Thousands of videos and files that are beneficial to Treya are generated every second. The information they roughly describe is consistent with the content of the woman's speech. They are nothing more than denounced the incompetence of Commander Colin and the evil of our planetary alliance and
Not worth dating, etc.”
"So, you should understand what that means, right?"
At this point, Halsey stopped talking and just looked at Ed and Kelly with a half-smile, waiting for their reactions.
"!
"
"I see!"
"Your Excellency, General!"
"Should it be like the Internet trolls recruited by some countries in the 21st century in order to blackmail and slander other countries?"
"They wantonly deliberately confuse and induce public opinion, distort facts, and create social conflicts on the Internet in order to achieve some of their ulterior motives?"
"for example……"
"Let Treya, who does not want to ally with the Planetary Alliance, win the election and completely intensify the conflict between Quill and the Planetary Alliance?!"
Looking at each other, Ed and Kelly both stood up in exclaim and realized once again the complexity and seriousness of the situation.
"please sit down."
"Actually, you don't need to be too nervous."
"The situation may not be that bad, because Commander Colin also said that this kind of momentum-building operation will happen every time Quill holds an election, and the role they can play is very limited?"
Halsey first comforted the two of them, and then suddenly changed his face and changed the subject after the two sat down:
"but!"
"After analyzing the data and comparing it, we found that the size of the trolls in the Quill network this time is very different from the scale of the previous Quill elections!"
"The amount of those videos and files is overwhelming."
"They don't look like they could be produced by a marginalized radical political faction, and Treya and her team probably don't have that much energy?"
"so……"
"What Commander Colin and we are more worried about is that other forces are involved?"
At this point, Halsey stopped and looked at Ed and Kelly who were thoughtful.
"??"
"Other forces?"
"!
"
"Chiron!"
"That's right!"
"Thousands of videos and content are generated every second. Except for the robots of Kailon, no other force has that ability!"
"I'm afraid even our Planetary Alliance can't handle that kind of targeted public opinion attack, right?"
"really!"
"The person who least wants the Alliance of Planets to form an alliance with Quill at the moment is probably not Treya, but the robots from Chiron!"
As he spoke with his eyes widened, Captain Ed and first mate Kelly once again exclaimed and stood up.
At this moment, the two of them finally understood why Admiral Halsey had called them in and held a meeting without even bothering to rest on the first night of boarding the ship.
At present, it seems that the complexity and severity of the situation may far exceed some of the previous imaginations of the two!
because……
Along the way, what they will face may not only be the black hands and sabotage that may be launched by the opposition forces within the Quill people, but they will also face certain attacks or conspiracies that the robots of Chiron will almost certainly make.
, that is the most terrifying and deadly!
After all, in the context of Quill's alliance with the Planetary Alliance, the Quill radical forces only dare to act secretly at best, but those Chiron robots dare to act blatantly!
even……
They may also use some worse means to sow discord, destroy and obstruct the alliance that the two sides will soon reach. Is the current momentum just a first move?
"Maybe!"
"But those are just speculations, and we don't have any conclusive evidence at the moment."
"Anyway!"
"I have made it clear to you all the unfavorable situations. Next, the three of us on the delegation will make full preparations for signing the contract. As for the rest, we can only rely on the two of us."
"Are you okay?"
After seeing that both what should be said and what should not be said had been said, finally, that bad old man Halsey stopped talking, and slowly stood up and looked at the two of them with a solemn expression and eyes.
"clear!"
"Guaranteed to complete the mission!"
Ed and Kelly did not dare to neglect, and quickly stood at attention and responded loudly.
"..."
Seeing that the two of them had nothing to say, the bad old man suddenly pressed a button.
"Your Excellency Anne!"
"Is there anything else you'd like to add?"
Immediately afterwards, the hatch of the conference room was suddenly opened, and then a small figure in a red skirt staggered and almost fell to the deck floor.
"that……"
(*ˉ?ˉ*;)
"They were just passing by, really! They didn't deliberately come to eavesdrop on your meeting!"
く(＾_?)ゝ
Anne scratched her head in embarrassment first, and then quickly defended herself in a low voice.
"wrong!"
!(;?o?)o
"How did you know?"
(o?~?)o
Soon, Annie, who realized that she had just been discovered, looked at the bad old man strangely and asked in a crisp voice, expressing that she wanted to know how the other party discovered her just now and hid outside to eavesdrop.
"nothing."
"A crew member reported to me."
With his shoulders slumped, the bad old man simply said that the crew had just sent him a reminder message, but he never responded.
"!
"
(?╭╮?)
"Is it that bad guy Uncle Gordon?"
(lll￢▽￢)
"It must be him!"
o(*｀ー′)o
Anne quickly identified the informer without much guessing.
Because, that Gordon had been pranked by her several times, and he had been lying on the hospital bed for a whole day because he drank her sweet water two days ago. Moreover, the other party did pass by her just now, although the other party did not expose her face to face.
, but what Anne knows is that the other party has enough reasons to secretly report on her and prepare to make her look embarrassed!
"..."
It's a pity that the bad old man slumped his shoulders but stopped talking. He had no intention of explaining or betraying the informer.
"Annie!"
"You never like meetings!"
"Why did you come to eavesdrop?"
Finally, first mate Kelly spoke, and asked angrily at Annie with some dissatisfaction.
"I really don't like it!"
(ˉ▽￣~)Cut~~
"but!"
(?ω?)
"You specifically said you wouldn't let people come to participate, so they definitely want to come and listen!"
(?￣?￣?) Hehe!
Yes, if these guys specially invited her to come, there is no doubt that Anne, who never likes meetings, would not come.
but!
They had specifically warned her not to cause trouble before, and they still looked nervous. Wouldn't it be very shameful for her not to eavesdrop or cause trouble?
(…)
(●￣?￣●)
"Who knew those things you were discussing were not fun at all!"
(′～`●)
"never mind!"
ε=(′ο｀*)))Alas
"I won't tell you anymore. I'm going to play with myself. Goodbye!"
?(?)?
After confidently explaining her reasons for eavesdropping, Anne ignored the angry expressions of the idiot Uncle Ed and Aunt Kelly, and did not say hello to the bad old man. She turned around and walked out.
"Uh huh huh~?"
???(?)????
Anyway, Annie, who walked away humming a little tune, already knew what the three people just discussed and its general content. Next, something super fun and exciting would probably happen, so she could just wait and watch the excitement.
.
—————————
Chapter completed!