Gundam, the Gundam journey of a certain glue guy and his mecha girl.

George's mind cleared instantly. He remembered that he had taken a group photo with the crew of the Archangel as a government representative on May 7th, and then Colonel Sazarrand had invited him for tea...

Damn it, that cup of black tea has been spiked!

George quickly realized that he had been tricked, but why?

Isn't that colonel one of our own? Besides, we don't have any conflict of interest.

George couldn't figure out the connection at first, but he had managed to climb to this position by betraying quite a few people, though he was certain that Shazaland wasn't among them.

George decided to try opening the door first. Since they had drugged and imprisoned him, they were definitely going to do something shady; the door probably wouldn't open easily…

It's open?

George looked at the doorknob that had been turned smoothly with some surprise, and then walked into the hallway.

The situation here was quite different from what he had expected. The corridors were filled with soldiers hurrying about, and above his head, tremors accompanied by the constant rumble of cannons.

'Has ZAFT attacked headquarters in Alaska?'

George's expression changed, and he strode towards the base command room. He pushed open the door and found the room empty, with a countdown playing on the central screen for some unknown reason.

He walked toward the only screen that was still lit up and saw a line of small print on it.

Cyclops System.

George instantly understood everything. He had been used as a pawn to deceive the enemy and even his own troops. But why?

'Am I not one of us?'

There was no time to figure out the problem. George, trembling, fiddled with the communication equipment next to him and turned on the full-channel broadcast.

"I am George Alstar, Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs. The countdown for the Cyclops System has been activated inside the base. Prepare a vehicle for me immediately..."

But before he could finish speaking, several bullets pierced his body from behind, and George fell into a pool of blood, watching as a man wearing a strange metal mask walked up to him and pressed a pistol against his forehead.

“Mr. Alstar, spoiling the plot in advance is not a good habit.”

-----------------

At the same moment, on a camouflaged cruise ship far from the JOSH-A base, Colonel Shazaland stood behind Murta Azrael and spoke with considerable regret to the leader of the Blue Cosmos Alliance.

"Isn't it a waste to leave that Archangel there as bait? There are quite a few excellent soldiers on board."

However, the young leader of the alliance let out a disdainful snort.

"Colonel, they are Halbarton men. When it comes to these cancerous cells, the key is to remove them as early as possible before they spread."

Shazaland was silent for two seconds, then remembered another unlucky guy.

"Where is Vice Minister George for Foreign Affairs? Isn't he one of our own?"

"One of our own?"

Azrael glanced at Shazaland.

"If he were one of us, he wouldn't have secretly sent his precious daughter to Orb. Loyalty is absolute disloyalty, isn't it, Colonel?"

-----------------

Meanwhile, at the very center of the outer defenses of JOSH-A base, the Archangel was deeply embroiled in a battle.

The Archangel's conspicuous appearance made her a prime target for ZAFT forces. Waves of ZAFT mobile suits swarmed towards the Archangel, while friendly forces around her also unconsciously moved closer to it.

Mu piloted his air-powered assault ship and stood on the central deck of the Archangel, wielding the Vulcan high-intensity pulse cannon connected by energy cables, and continuously fired at the charging ZAFT troops.

"Bariant, fire!"

At Baki Lulu's command, the railguns on both sides of the Archangel fired ultra-high-speed projectiles, forcing one of the Deans to take evasive action. Mu anticipated this and fired a high-energy beam from his Flame God, which struck the Dean that was dodging to the side.

This was his seventh kill of the day. Normally, he would have celebrated with shouts of joy, but the ZAFT offensive was coming like a tidal wave, and the loss of just one or two mobile suits was nothing.

Looking at the sheer number of enemies before him, even Mu, who was somewhat confident in his skills, couldn't help but feel a sense of exhaustion.

Archangel, bridge.

"Still no response from headquarters?"

Maru's voice came from the captain's seat.

"We can't get in touch with them. No matter which channel it is, they just repeat the same sentence."

"Hold firm and there's a way. All units should maintain their lines and act as needed."

'Could it really be as Captain Ray said, that headquarters is using JOSH-A base as bait, and we're being used as pawns to lure ZAFT forces in?'

Maru gripped the armrest of the captain's seat tightly, cold sweat streaming down her forehead.

At that moment, a communication came from a public channel.

“I am Jo...Aar...Ta, inside the base...One-Eyed...Countdown...Hurry…”

Due to the complex electromagnetic environment of the battlefield, the communication was intermittent. Maru seemed to hear a few gunshots at the end, but she was able to piece together the answer from the few fragmented words in the communication.

The base contains a Cyclops system. Once ZAFT forces have completely breached the interior of JOSH-A, the Cyclops will be activated, and everyone on the battlefield will perish.

There's no time to hesitate any longer!

"Archangel, begin evacuation from the battlefield now! Communications personnel, use public channels to notify all surrounding units that there is a Cyclops system inside the base. If you want to survive, retreat immediately!"

"Captain, headquarters has not given us permission to retreat!"

Baki Lulu objected.

"Don't you understand yet, Lieutenant Bakirulu? We've been abandoned by those generals! In their eyes, we're not even considered friendly forces!"

"But soldiers obey orders..."

"So you're just going to stand by and watch our entire ship of men die because of their factional infighting? Did they even consider that we're also soldiers of the coalition forces when they made those decisions?"

Maru turned her head away, ignoring the silent Bakiruru.

"Archangel, from now on, full speed ahead to disengage from the battlefield and concentrate all firepower on the front!"

Despite Maru's order, the reality was that the firepower of the Archangel alone, combined with Mu's assault, was far from sufficient to break through ZAFT's lines.

'Is it possible that the broadcasts on this channel will have some effect?'

However, the next moment, Thor's tense voice rang out.

"An unidentified mobile suit is rapidly approaching from high orbit above the ship!"

Coming from above, could it be a ZAFT airdrop of MS?

This was the only answer Maru could come up with. By this time, the Strike Force had already begun engaging the ZAFT mobile suits ahead and was unable to intercept the mobile suit.

Is this really the end?

The next second, a communication from the unidentified MS gave Maru renewed hope.

"This is Kira Yamato. From now on, provide cover for the Archangel's operation."

The Freedom Gundam unleashed its full firepower, slicing through the weapons of all the mobile suits blocking the Archangel amidst a barrage of bullets.

Taking advantage of the situation, the Archangel broke through at full speed, using the gap torn open by the Freedom Gundam to leave the JOSH-A base, which was gradually being engulfed by flames, far behind.

Chapter 70 Justice in Pursuit

After sending off the Freedom Gundams that were heading to Alaska to provide support, the Eternal, which departed from PLANT, turned towards the L4 space zone.

The crew of the Eternity included not only soldiers, but also a considerable number of technical personnel who agreed with the Kleinist ideology.

The purpose of going to the L4 space region is to utilize the abandoned colony satellites there as a base for future operations.

During the voyage, Raven also made contact with Halbarton.

Halbarton needs the Kleinists' influence in PLANT, as well as the anti-neutron jammer technology that can solve the Earth's energy crisis, while the Kleinists need Halbarton's faction to restrain the Blue Cosmos forces that hate the Adjusters, and LOGOS standing behind Blue Cosmos.

With Raven's help, Halbarton and Lux ​​quickly hit it off and successfully established a cooperative relationship.

Meanwhile, Halbarton informed Raven that the S Gundam was complete and dispatched a shuttle to send the S Gundam and El to the L4 space zone.

"Take your time, take your time..."

Under the direction of a controller in a spacesuit, a shuttle slowly entered the open cabin door of the Eternity. Then the shuttle's hatch opened, revealing the fuselage inside.

A superb MS emerged from within, and after the shuttle came to a stop, a figure leaped into Raven's arms from afar.

El didn't say anything, but buried her head in Raven's chest. Only after she confirmed Raven's heartbeat through her body did she release him.

She wasn't wearing a spacesuit; she was still wearing her favorite black gothic Lolita dress. Her white hair was flying everywhere due to the zero-gravity environment, and her ruby-like eyes were staring straight at Raven's face.

She felt her mind reeling.

Raven couldn't help but smile as he looked at El.

"Long time no see, El. You've had a tough time these past few days."

Raven placed his hand on the top of El's head, and El smiled with satisfaction.

"Raven, you don't need to thank me. Helping you is my responsibility."

"Little El!"

A high-pitched and passionate female voice came from afar. Aisha rushed towards El from a distance, embraced her petite body, and buried El's face in her chest.

"Although I heard from Raven that you've changed, I didn't expect you to become so cute! Listen, El, although this voyage was rushed, I brought a lot of clothes from home, and there are definitely styles that El will like. How about we try them on one by one in Elsa's room later?"

Elle was clearly not used to Elsa's enthusiasm. She tried to keep her facial expression steady and looked over Elsa's shoulder, casting a pleading look at Raine.

El maintained a cold expression most of the time, which unconsciously made those around her become serious, while Raven was the type who didn't show strong emotions.

However, in the end, Raven ignored El's gaze.

El never expected that the person who taught her what betrayal was would be Raven.

Ultimately, it was the pink-haired girl who rescued El from Elsa's overly enthusiastic embrace. She always had a gentle smile on her face.

"Miss El, do you still recognize me?"

“I am an AI, and I don’t forget like humans, Miss Lux Klein.”

El's answer made Lux's smile brighter, and a dangerous glint flashed in her azure eyes.

“That’s wonderful! Miss El, so we can be considered friends now, right? We had a very pleasant chat on the Archangel. We should have been friends since then, right?”

El's unease grew stronger.

“Well, by human standards, we could indeed be considered friends, but Miss Lux…”

Before El could finish speaking, Lux took her hand and brought her face close to El's.

"In that case, if Miss El has some free time now, would you like to come and sit in my room for a while? Actually, I should have quite a few dresses that would suit Miss El in my wardrobe!"

"Wait a minute, that's too cunning, Miss Lux, I was here first!"

El, being used as a dress-up doll by the two women, kept sending out distress signals to Raven with his dying eyes, but Raven frowned and looked in the direction from which the shuttle had just flown.

"Something's not right, someone's approaching..."

The next moment, Andrew's deep voice, which was left on the bridge, rang out through the ship's internal loudspeaker.

"Attention everyone, this is the bridge. Justice is approaching the Eternity at high speed. Raven, if the machine you just received is still functional, I'd like you to go and intercept it."

-----------------

"Lacus Clyne is no longer your fiancée. She is now a traitor who stole our army's latest mobile suit equipped with a nuclear engine and the Eternal."

Just a few days ago, Aslan, who had just returned to PLANT, was summoned to the Supreme Council building, where his father told him a sentence that Aslan could not understand for a long time.

Lacus betrayed the country. Aslan swore it was the most absurd thing he had ever heard. How could that girl, who always smiled so gently, do something like betrayal?

However, the surveillance footage clearly recorded her figure on the No. 1 Xinyanmu Fudonglu Qiaoxianping.

Aslan had forgotten how he walked out of the Supreme Council building that day. When he received the evidence and left PLANT, only one thought remained in his mind.

There must be some misunderstanding here, and we must clarify it.

ZAFT's intelligence department only provided Athrun with a vague clue—freedom was heading towards Earth. Athrun could only pilot Justice, following in the direction of freedom. However, along the way, a shuttle caught his attention.

This is a shuttle heading towards L4, where there are only the wreckage of a few abandoned colony satellites.

Could it be that the Eternal is hidden there?

Aslan followed the suspicious shuttle all the way to the L4 space zone, where, just as he had predicted, a pink warship was docked in an abandoned colony satellite.

You must ask clearly before proceeding.