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

The earth is crumbling, the sky is being torn apart, and the traces of human life here are being swept into the vacuum, turning into cosmic debris.

The so-called end of the world is probably nothing more than this.

"Is this what war is all about?"

The scene before Raven was infinitely more horrific than anything he had ever seen in documentaries; it was something he, who had always lived in an ivory tower, had never experienced.

This reminded Raven of where the war began.

A year ago, Plant's agricultural colony satellite Yunius 7 was destroyed by Blue Cosmosists using a nuclear weapon.

Today, having experienced the pain firsthand, the ZAFT forces have destroyed Heliopolis, a former space colony. They, who were once victims, have now become the perpetrators.

What will happen if this continues?

'No, no! Help me!'

"mother!"

Raven's breathing quickened, and he seemed to hear the final cries of the victims before their deaths.

[Raven!]

Al's voice brought Raven back to reality.

[Raven, what's wrong?]

El's electronic voice was filled with concern. In order not to worry her, Raven suppressed the discomfort he had just felt and forced a smile.

"It's nothing, I'm just a little tired."

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

A moment later, Raven, piloting the Dagger, landed on the ship and just breathed a sigh of relief when he turned his head and saw Kira's Strike returning to the Archangel. However, the machine's hands were holding a refuge pod that had been used to escape from Heliopolis, with flashing red lights indicating that it was a malfunctioning refuge pod.

Kira walked out of the cockpit with a gloomy face, and Raven could understand his feelings.

Even Raven, who had only lived in Heliopolis for a few months, was somewhat depressed upon witnessing its destruction; how much more so Kira, who had lived there for several years?

The refugee cabin door was quickly pried open by Kira and the maintenance crew, and the refugees poured out. Among them, a young red-haired girl caught Kira's eye.

Raven recognized the red-haired girl; she was Frey Alstar, Kira's classmate, just like Miriam and the others.

Raven looked at Kira's face, a few tears glistening in the helmet of his pilot's suit. For him at that moment, being able to confirm that the people he knew were still alive was perhaps the best way to relieve his stress.

"This is Captain Maru Lamias. Mr. Raven, please proceed to the operations conference room immediately."

Although Raven would rather rest for a while, he knew that something important must be happening when he heard the summons, so he had no choice but to pull himself together and head toward the combat conference room.

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

"What happened, Captain?"

Raven pushed open the door to the combat conference room.

Apart from Raven, who had just arrived, only Maru, Bakiruru, and Mu remained in the meeting room.

Seeing the decision-makers from the Archangel all together in one room, Raven roughly understood what Maru wanted to discuss with him.

After gesturing for Raven to sit down, Maru got straight to the point.

"Regarding the ship's next steps, I would like to take your opinions into consideration."

The collapse of Heliopolis filled the entire space with the wreckage of the colony satellites, temporarily rendering both sides' radars ineffective. The Archangel took this opportunity to break contact with the ZAFT forces. To avoid detection, the Archangel is now in a state of inertial navigation.

But Maru, who was hastily appointed as the captain, has not yet been able to decide where the Archangel should go next.

"Considering the current situation, I believe that going to the Artemis fortress where our allies are stationed is the most reasonable option."

Bakiruru proposed her own solution.

"This is the closest coalition outpost to our ship. At our speed, we can reach it before we run out of supplies."

Bakirulu's suggestion was undoubtedly reasonable, but Raven, who knew the original plot and was also familiar with the internal situation of the Alliance, frowned and raised his objection.

“Wait a minute, I remember the garrison at Artemis Fortress is part of the Eurasian Federation. They might not necessarily consider us friendly forces. Moreover, the Eurasian Federation is very envious of the results of Project G, and they might have some ulterior motives towards us.”

Raven's words are true. The Earth Alliance is a military force composed of the armies of multiple countries. The members of the Archangel are all members of the Atlantic Federation, and the Artemis Fortress is a military base belonging to the Eurasian Federation.

While Project G is ostensibly a mobile suit development program of the Earth Federation, it is actually driven internally by the Atlantic Federation. For the currently disadvantaged Eurasian Federation, the Archangel, carrying Project G data, is undoubtedly a highly desirable asset, whether directly utilizing the data or using it as leverage in negotiations with the Atlantic Federation.

Raven remembered that in the original work, the garrison of Artemis Fortress did exactly that.

“I think it would be better to head directly towards lunar orbit. Commodore Halbarton’s fleet is operating there, and he won’t abandon us.”

Brigadier General Halbarton was the most important driving force behind Project G, and Raven joined the Project G team because of Brigadier General Halbarton's invitation.

Raven's analysis made Maru fall into deep thought.

Although Raven was not a military personnel, Maru knew that the internal strife within the coalition forces that Raven mentioned was indeed true, and his analysis forced Maru to consider the possible actions that Artemis Fortress might take.

Ultimately, Maru decided to follow Raven's suggestion and head towards the lunar orbit.

Maru was also somewhat surprised. She had only wanted to find out about MS from Raven, but she didn't expect that Raven, who had previously only focused on his own project, would make such a suggestion.

"However, in that case, the ship's supplies won't support us on such a long voyage."

Bucky Lulu, who had a general understanding of the Archangel's situation, frowned. Indeed, due to the hasty departure, the Archangel's supplies were quite limited, and now that Heliopolis was destroyed, there was nowhere to replenish them even if they wanted to.

"Things will work themselves out; there's always a way. But before that, we need to figure out how to shake off Cruze's pursuit."

Raven crossed his arms and frowned as he spoke.

"I do have some thoughts on this issue."

Mu raised his hand.

"I propose that we take advantage of the current chaos and launch a surprise attack on the ZAFT forces!"

Chapter 7 Pre-Battle Preparations

The Archangel is currently facing the enemy, the Cruze fleet, which consists of one Nazca-class battleship and one Lauracia-class battleship.

As an older type of warship, the Lauracia-class had ample firepower, but its speed was slow and could not keep up with the Archangel at full speed.

The Nazca-class ships are different. These warships, designed specifically for high speeds, have even higher speeds than the Archangel. Even if the Archangel chooses to start its engines and run at full speed, the Nazca-class ships can easily catch up with it.

Therefore, Mu proposed taking advantage of the current radar malfunction to launch a preemptive strike, using the Archangel and two mobile suits as bait to draw the ZAFT mobile suit forces forward, while Mu, piloting the inconspicuous Möbius Zero in the wreckage, approached the poorly defended ZAFT ship. Even if they couldn't sink the enemy ship directly, damaging the Nazca-class's engines would buy the Archangel valuable time.

Although this plan is indeed very risky, even if the Archangel does not launch an attack, the ZAFT forces on the other side will not give up easily.

The ZAFT forces are not attacking now because the Archangel has shut down its engines and hidden itself in the wreckage of Heliopolis, thus avoiding detection by ZAFT radar.

But given Kruze's abilities, it's only a matter of time before he finds the Archangel in the wreckage.

In that case, it would be better to use the wreckage as cover and seize the opportunity to speed up the Nazca-class ships, thus creating a chance for the Archangel to escape.

Mu's proposal was quickly approved by Maru, and after understanding Mu's intentions, Raven had new ideas for preparing the Mobius Zero.

"Using the Möbius Zero to deal with warships might not be enough in terms of firepower. I do have a temporary modification plan. Give me a little time, and I can equip the Möbius Zero with sufficient anti-ship firepower."

"But is there enough time to start the renovations now? The enemy won't wait for us to finish our preparations before they act."

The most important aspect of Mu's proposed battle plan was to catch the ZAFT forces off guard before they could grasp the current chaotic situation. With Kruze's abilities, he could quickly assess the situation and actively pursue them.

Therefore, the Archangel doesn't have much time left.

"Don't worry, Captain Vlada. It's just a simple temporary modification, it won't take much longer than repairing the Mobius Zero. Captain, may I get permission?"

"Then I'll leave it to you, Mr. Raven."

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

Two hours later, Ghanaku.

Mu twitched his eye as he looked at the new parts that had appeared on the Mobius Zero's fuselage.

The original location for the wired gun barrel on the Möbius Zero has been replaced by four simple T-shaped pylons, at the ends of which are mounted three anti-ship missiles.

As a result, the Möbius Zero gained the ferocious firepower to fire twelve anti-ship missiles in one go.

"How is it, Captain?"

Raven, covered in engine oil, crawled out of the ground from the Mobius Zero and couldn't help but laugh when he saw Mu's speechless expression.

"These four hardpoints are jettisonable. When the time comes, the captain only needs to approach the enemy ship, launch the missiles like an old-fashioned torpedo bomber, and then jettison the hardpoints and return. This hit-and-run tactic should be very simple for the captain, right?"

"Ah... um, a hit-and-run tactic? No problem."

Mu Gang recovered from the shock of his car's transformation and looked at Raven in front of him with a somewhat strange expression.

Mu never expected that Raven, as a developer of Project G, would come up with such a rudimentary and crude modification plan.

However, Mu had to admit that Raven's modification plan did indeed solve the problem of insufficient firepower for the Möbius Zero anti-ship missile. If all twelve anti-ship missiles could hit their targets, even if they couldn't sink the enemy ship, they would be enough to severely damage it, buying the Archangel time to escape.

This is the modified form of the Möbius Zero...

Mu couldn't help but take a second look at Raven to confirm that the other's skin wasn't green.

"The missile is laser-guided, but if the captain can successfully infiltrate near the enemy warship, launching it like a rocket shouldn't be a problem. Oh, by the way, the linear cannon in the nose, the maintenance crew and I have fixed it for you. If you have any other questions, just tell the maintenance crew. It's almost time, I need to prepare for sortie."

Raven patted Mu on the shoulder and then drifted towards the locker room.

Mu scratched his head at the drastically changed Mobius Zero before he realized what had happened.

Huh? Launch an attack? That guy still wants to pilot a mobile suit into battle?

Mu remembered that Raven hadn't rested since returning to the ship. First, he piloted a mobile suit in combat, then he went to a meeting after returning to the ship, then he spent two hours repairing the Mebius Zero in the hangar, and now he was preparing to continue fighting.

Is this even human? Even if he's a mediator, he should be exhausted after doing so much work, right?

"You'll get used to it, Captain."

"That's what the maintenance chief, Maddock, said from the side."

“When we were on the G project team, Mr. Raven’s energy was also frightening. Many technical difficulties were overcome on schedule thanks to Mr. Raven’s tireless overtime work. Without him, the project progress might have been much slower.”

Mu watched Raven's retreating figure disappear into the locker room, and a new impression of Raven formed in his mind.

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

"Teacher Raven."

Kira stared in surprise as Raven pushed open the locker room door and walked in.

"Teacher, are you sure you're okay not to take a break? I remember you've been busy all day."

"Don't worry, I've been through countless chaotic situations like this."

Raven forced a slightly stiff smile, telling Kira not to worry.

However, Raven no longer felt the excitement he had when he first boarded the MS. The battlefield was not a legend of heroes' bravery, but a slaughterhouse that took lives. Raven understood this from his own experience.

His body instinctively resisted the cramped cockpit of the MS, but Raven ultimately did not choose to quit.

Currently, there are only two people on the Archangel who can pilot mobile suits. If I don't do it, am I supposed to watch a 16-year-old child step onto the battlefield alone?

Raven isn't that shameless.

"But you, are you really sure you want to continue driving and assaulting?"

Raven, not wanting Kira to notice his fatigue, quickly changed the subject.

“I can’t let you face the ZAFT army alone, can I? Besides, Thor and the others are still on the ship, and I have to protect them.”

Kira's straightforward gaze invigorated Raven. He took a deep breath, suppressing the fatigue surging through his body, and threw a punch at Kira.

“Then we’re no longer teacher and student, but comrades-in-arms. I’m entrusting my back to you, Kira.”

Chapter 8 Fierce Battle Within the Debris Zone

ZAFT forces, Nazca-class battleship, Vesalius bridge.

"Has the radar not been restored yet?"

Captain Artis asked the question for the fifth time today, but Radar's answer still disappointed him.

The colony satellite debris that filled the entire space rendered the radar's detection function virtually useless, and Artis tapped the armrest of the captain's seat with some frustration.

At this very moment, the "Long-Legged" ship that stores Earth Force MS program data may have already escaped during the current chaos.

"Don't be impatient, Artis."

Standing beside the holographic sand table displaying the map of the universe, Kruze spoke slowly and deliberately.

"However, if the radar remains in this state, Longlegs might really escape."

After hearing Artis's speculation, Kruze shook his head.