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

“I understand, Lux. I won’t say it if you don’t want to. But I think it’s a very beautiful dream.”

Just as Lux affirmed his dream, Raven also gave his own...

“This gives me another reason to fight. Lux, the future you desire will surely come, and we will create it with our own hands.”

Chapter 86 Standoff

Joint lunar base.

Just as Azrael was defeated in Orb, another piece of bad news came from Victoria.

In this timeline, the Republic of East Asia did not participate in the Third Victorian War. Although the Eurasian Federation's army managed to enter Victoria Spaceport, it failed to prevent the ZAFT garrison from blowing up the Victoria Mass Launcher.

In this way, apart from the Kaguya Mass Launcher, which is controlled by the Republic of East Asia and Orb, there is no other facility on Earth capable of sending large amounts of supplies and warships into space.

However, although the situation with Orb had turned out quite ugly, the East Asian Republic was, after all, an important member of the Earth Federation. On the surface, it was necessary to maintain the alliance. In the end, it opened the Kaguya Space Port to the Atlantic Federation and the Eurasian Federation. However, as a condition for the exchange, the East Asian Republic and Orb received a hefty toll.

Of course, these tolls were paid to the Obu government, which was quite sensible and used the huge sum for postwar reconstruction, entrusting the reconstruction project to a construction team from the Republic of East Asia.

The East Asian Republic and Aub were both winners, while the Atlantic Federation suffered a double loss, wasting a lot of military resources and having to pay an exorbitant toll.

For Murta Azrael, there were probably only two things that he could be somewhat thankful for during the entire Battle of Orb.

First, the officers and soldiers of the 4th Naval Fleet kept their mouths shut and did not reveal that he had lost his mind and ordered the destruction of the mass accelerator.

Otherwise, even if he were a member of the Azrael family, he wouldn't be able to retain his position as the leader of the Blue Cosmos Alliance.

Secondly, those four damned enemy planes were indeed formidable; they actually managed to intercept all of the hundreds of cruise missiles.

But in that case, wouldn't he have to thank those enemy planes that ruined his plans?

Azrael sat in the back seat of the car, his face turning pale and then red, making his secretary sitting next to him tremble with fear, not daring to breathe.

However, the secretary was soon freed from this hellish atmosphere.

The car slowly came to a stop in front of a hangar. Azrael got out and saw an extremely imposing mobile suit. At the foot of the mobile suit stood a man whose face was covered by a strange metal mask.

"These are the new mobile suits created by those cosmic monsters?"

"That's right, Your Excellency."

Kruze bowed slightly, his voice beneath the mask calm and respectful.

"This mobile suit is named Divine Will, equipped with ZAFT's latest Dragoon system, boasting astonishing firepower. To power this system's enormous energy consumption, it is also equipped with a nuclear engine, and..."

Kruze deliberately paused, and after thoroughly piquing Azrael's interest, he uttered the words Azrael had been most eagerly anticipating.

"Anti-neutron interference device".

Azrael's breathing quickened, and a hint of fervor appeared in her eyes as she looked at the divine will.

Anti-neutron jammer—what a wonderful term! With it, he could unleash the nuclear arsenal once again, reminding those cosmic monsters what fear truly is.

Azrael shouted "Good!" three times in a row, then abruptly turned his face toward Kruze beside him.

"Rau Rukruze, right? I remember you were the one who provided the intelligence about ZAFT's invasion of Alaska, weren't you?"

Kruze nodded slightly, his posture very respectful.

“Very good! I remember the lunar factory is about to launch a new Archangel-class ship. That ship will be in your command. I will personally lead an elite force aboard. Then, together, we will bring divine punishment upon those cosmic monsters and create a blue and clean world with our own hands!”

"As you wish, Your Excellency."

Kruze quickly bowed, trying to hide his barely suppressed smile.

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

"Father, what is your view on this war? How far do we have to fight before we can stop?"

Having left justice on the Eternity and returned to PLANT alone, Athrun asked Patrick.

However, Patrick was already overwhelmed by Sigur's relentless propaganda offensive and had no patience to discuss war with Aslan.

"What nonsense are you spouting! Instead of all that, tell me how well you've completed the task I gave you, now!"

“Father, please tell me what you really think? This is very important.”

"Shut up!"

Patrick slammed his hand on the table, stopping Aslan.

"Children shouldn't pretend to know what they don't and try to learn those Kleinist theories!"

But Aslan did not back down in the face of Patrick's momentum.

“Father, I’m serious. Please answer me, when will this war finally end?”

Patrick's bloodshot eyes were fixed on Aslan.

"If we kill all the natural people, this war will naturally end!"

"Father..."

Aslan stared wide-eyed, unable to believe those words were coming from Patrick's mouth.

"Our fight shouldn't be for this purpose."

“What’s wrong with that? We ZAFT fight for this very purpose. Have you forgotten how your mother died?”

Patrick's voice suddenly rose as he straightened up, gripped the table with both hands, and spoke through gritted teeth, enunciating each word clearly.

"Father, our battle is not for killing, but for protecting!"

But in front of Aslan stood Patrick, whose face was icy cold.

“I really misjudged you, Aslan.”

Patrick pressed the alarm bell in the office, and soldiers rushed in and surrounded Aslan.

"I'll ask you one last time, where have you hidden freedom and justice?"

Looking at the gun pointed at him by Patrick, Aslan spoke with difficulty.

“I have entrusted them to the right people.”

Patrick waved his hand, and the soldiers swarmed forward, subdued Aslan, and dragged him out the door.

As he left, Aslan turned back to look at Patrick.

He stood alone in the dimly lit office, his face expressionless, like a statue, motionless with his back to the door.

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

At the same moment, L5 universe.

The silhouette of the Eternal was rapidly approaching PLANT.

"Mr. Da Costa has sent word that Aslan has been arrested by the army and is being rescued according to plan."

"So it really has turned out like this."

Raven touched his forehead with one hand, his tone full of helplessness.

"Um, Miss Lux, Athrun is alright, right?"

Kira asked worriedly, his face full of anxiety.

"Leave Athrun to Mr. Da Costa. The Eternity will coordinate with their operation and break into the perimeter at full speed to bring Athrun back. However, the escort duties will be handled by Mr. Kira and Mr. Raven."

"Okay, please leave it to me."

Kira answered without hesitation.

"I will handle it."

Raven gave Lacus a thumbs up and led Kira toward the hangar.

However, halfway there, Raven paused, looked up, and muttered something under his breath.

"Speaking of which, Aslan, he shouldn't mind if I borrow his justice for a bit, right?"

Chapter 87 Aslan's Rescue Plan (Part 1)

Since the newly assembled S Gundam was not yet fully tested, Raven had to leave El at L4, hand over the testing work to her, and switch to Justice to join Kira in the sortie.

"Five minutes from now, the Eternal will break into the PLANT homeland alert zone from its current position at top speed, take in the shuttle that Athrun is riding in, and then turn around immediately and return to the L4 temporary base at full speed without stopping."

During the communication, Andrew explained the battle plan to Raven and Kira.

"Your mission is to advance into the outer perimeter of PLANT and draw the attention of the ZAFT homeland defense forces as much as possible, creating a sufficient window for the Eternity's entry and withdrawal. Although I have absolute confidence in your abilities, you must be careful."

"Mission understood, Raven, Justice, strike."

The ejector sent justice into space, and Kira's freedom followed closely behind.

"This is Kira Yamato. Freedom, strike!"

As Justice and Freedom approached PLANT's outer perimeter, ZAFT's security forces swarmed out, and the thrusters of the mobile suits drew dense lines across the universe, simultaneously flanking from several directions.

"The response was really fast, as expected of ZAFT."

A large number of mobile suits quickly surrounded Freedom and Justice. However, Raven and Kira were already seasoned veterans, piloting top-tier mobile suits like Freedom and Justice. They were already accustomed to this kind of enemy-formed night training. In fact, this kind of enemy-formed night training was the norm for them.

“ZAFT forces, we have no intention of engaging in combat, please…”

Before Kira could finish his call, ZAFT forces launched an attack on freedom and justice.

Among the ZAFT mobile suits surrounding the Freedom and Justice mobile suits, in addition to the familiar King and Sieg, a new type of mobile suit capable of using beam weapons has also appeared.

Named Gates, it is equipped with a beam rifle and a composite shield that can extend a pair of beam claws. It also has a pair of rocket anchors on its waist. The full beam weapon configuration can effectively deal with PS armor and has combat power comparable to the first generation of GTX series Gundams.

Beams and physical projectiles rained down, almost filling the entire space, but the Freedom and Justice units were able to dodge and maneuver through the barrage, seizing every opportunity to counterattack during the gaps in their evasion.

Kira's pupils constricted, and he instantly entered SEED mode. Freedom, under his control, changed direction continuously, precisely adjusting the machine's posture, allowing enemy bullets to constantly sweep over its armor. In the gaps between dodges, Kira deployed Freedom's full armament. The multi-locking system simultaneously acquired the positions of several enemy machines. He pulled the trigger, and beams and magnetic railgun projectiles fired alternately, destroying the enemy machines' armor one by one.

Meanwhile, Raven took the lead, relying on Justice's impressive high mobility to transform into a crimson lightning bolt, constantly weaving through the gaps in the barrage of bullets. Whenever a ZAFT mobile suit attempted to approach Freedom, Justice would rush forward at an astonishing speed to deliver a devastating blow, destroying all the enemy's weapons in a barrage of beam sabers and beam cannons.

After the war, the moderates will return to PLANT's political scene. If Raven goes on a killing spree there, the moderates' reputation will be severely damaged, which is not what Raven wants.

Most importantly, Raven's ability as a driver and his sense of justice also allow him to do so.

"What's going on with these two mobile suits?"

The ZAFT commander, who had been observing the battle, collapsed into his chair, sweating profusely. Just three minutes later, 24 mobile suits had been rendered combat ineffective by Freedom and Justice, and one-third of them were the new Gates.

Although this commander did not personally go to the front line, he had climbed up the ranks from MS pilot to the position of white-coated captain. He knew very well that destroying the enemy aircraft's armor without taking the pilot's life was much more difficult than directly shooting down the enemy aircraft.

The fact that the enemy could still leisurely spare the lives of his pilots despite being surrounded by 24 mobile suits can only mean that the enemy's combat power far exceeded his expectations.

"Get everyone who's still able to get back to the ship immediately. Also, call headquarters right away; we need reinforcements!"

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

The dense barrage of bullets that had just filled almost the entire cosmos vanished like phantoms. Before freedom and justice, only rows of mobile suits, missing limbs and varying postures, remained, floating in the universe.

Those in slightly better condition only lost their right arm, while the worst-case scenario left only the torso where the cockpit was located.

After receiving orders from their superiors, these ZAFT MS cautiously began to stray from freedom and justice, although neither Raven nor Kira intended to pursue them at this time.

"It feels so quiet. There isn't a single enemy plane left in the space. This is completely different from what I expected."

Kira surveyed his surroundings and spoke softly into the communication channel.

"They probably realize that a small force is not enough to stop us, so they are making the most of their time to deploy more troops."

Raven answered Kira with words that would make the ZAFT commander cough up blood.

However, ZAFT's decision to stall for time was actually a good thing for Raven.

The Eternal's visit to PLANT was not intended to confront the main ZAFT forces head-on. After recovering Athrun, the Eternal would leave the battlefield at full speed.

However, just as the Eternity was about to arrive at the battle zone, new enemy aircraft appeared on the battlefield.

The database of Justice quickly completed the model matching.

Duels, storms, lightning, and covenants.

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

After Cruze's defection, the original Cruze team members were not purged. With the support of three councilors, Jule, Yasman, and Amafi, they were cleared of suspicion of treason.

The original Kruze team's structure was retained, with the former deputy Artis taking over as captain, while Yzak took over command of the MS unit.

The first mission the newly formed Artis team received was to pursue the three stolen nuclear-powered mobile suits.

In order to give the Artis team enough combat power to confront nuclear-powered mobile suits head-on, the ZAFT army urgently carried out combat-oriented modifications to the Covenant and assigned it to Yzak. Yzak's original Duel was handed over to Shiho, who was added to the Artis team, to pilot.

The Covenant was a mobile suit created by the ZAFT military to test the assault backpack technology. Like the Freedom and Justice, it was equipped with a nuclear engine and an anti-neutron jammer, but it was not equipped with any weapons for actual combat. It was a mobile suit with more experimental significance than practical combat significance.