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

In order to quickly bring the Covenant into combat capability, the ZAFT forces disassembled the weapons of a prototype Gatz and installed them on the Covenant.

Thus, the covenant now takes on a rather peculiar form.

The railgun on its waist and the hand equipment are the same "Swordfish" railgun and "Sirius" beam rifle as the Liberty. The beam sword and anti-beam shield are also the same as the Liberty. The backpack on its back is the prototype of the Justice's Mirage 00. However, this prototype does not have an independent capacitor inside, so it cannot separate the backpack to attack independently like the Justice.

Even so, after this modification, the Covenant now possesses firepower and mobility comparable to those of freedom and justice.

"Give me back those two machines, you thieves!"

Yzak's voice boomed through the communication, and with his roar, the Covenant left duels, storms, and lightning behind, heading straight for freedom and justice.

Chapter 88 Aslan's Rescue Plan (Part 2)

Raven pushed the joystick, and Justice took the initiative to intercept Covenant, who was rushing forward at full speed.

"That voice...you were the pilot in the duel before, weren't you?"

Yitzhak paused, the voice in the communication sounding familiar.

"Don't you recognize me? With such a bad memory, no wonder I've defeated you so many times."

"You bastard, you're the pilot of the short sword! What are you doing sitting in Justice? What did you do to Aslan?!"

Raven successfully stirred up Yzak's emotions, drawing the most troublesome covenant to his side.

Meanwhile, the Duel, Storm, and Thunder units on the other side couldn't defeat Kira when he used Strike, but now that Kira has switched to Freedom, it's only a matter of time before he defeats them.

"Hey, answer me, what exactly did you do to Aslan?!"

Covenant unfolds its prototype phantom backpack, bursting with speed comparable to Justice. The beam cannons on its shoulders and the railgun at its waist fire simultaneously, blocking Justice's path. Then it draws its beam saber and heads straight for Justice Gundam's cockpit.

"It wasn't me who did what to Aslan, it was you ZAFT yourselves. Your Speaker Salah personally ordered Aslan's arrest, and you didn't even know that?"

Clearly, news of Aslan's arrest had not yet spread.

"Nonsense! I'll drag you out of the cockpit of justice and make you explain yourself!"

Raven caught Coven's beam saber with his shield, while Justice's Phantom 00 had already launched itself and was now aiming its beam cannon at Coven's back.

"Damn it, this is so troublesome!"

Locked on, Covenant had to halt all its offensive actions and quickly retreat to escape Phantom-00's firing range. However, Raven anticipated its evasive trajectory, and Justice raised its beam rifle, firing emerald green beams continuously at Covenant's target.

It was as if the Covenant had deliberately run into the beams of justice, being hit by one beam after another. Yzak could only raise his shield to block the continuous stream of beams.

"Yzak!"

"Captain Yzak!"

Seeing the Covenant retreating under the offensive of Justice, Diego, Shiho, and Nicol on the other side involuntarily shifted their attention away from Liberty for a brief moment, but Kira seized this brief opening.

A beam of light instantly severed Storm's left arm, and then Freedom drew his beam saber and flashed past, severing the railgun on Duel's shoulder at the root.

Shiho didn't even get a clear look at Freedom's movements before Kira took away one of her weapons.

Just as Jules was struggling to hold on against the onslaught of Freedom and Justice, the long, pink silhouette of the Eternity arrived on the battlefield.

"Captain Butterfield, please."

Lux's gentle voice echoed through the bridge.

"Understood. Eternity, enter combat readiness. Fill all missile launch tubes with anti-beam detonators as planned."

With a total of 10 thrusters at the stern, the Eternal had a speed far exceeding that of all active space battleships of the ZAFT Force and the Federation Forces. Its 300-meter-long hull swiftly swept past the mobile suits engaged in battle and sped toward the PLANT colony satellite.

"Fire! Fire! We absolutely cannot let that ship get close to PLANT!"

Under the command of ZAFT, several Nazca-class and Lauracia-class ships that had just set sail from the shipyard hurriedly formed a firing formation and aimed their guns at the rapidly approaching pink ship.

"Now! Launch the missile!"

"Fire!"

The commanders on both sides issued the order to open fire almost simultaneously.

Since the two sides were still far apart, the first wave of bombardment from the ZAFT fleet consisted of the most accurate beam cannons, which was exactly what Andrew wanted.

The Eternal's missile launchers fired in unison, and anti-beam mines exploded in the path of the ship, instantly forming a semi-transparent barrier. The ZAFT's shelling quickly dissipated on the barrier formed by the anti-beam mines.

However, Andrew knew that as the distance between the two sides rapidly closed, the solid guns of the ZAFT fleet would also begin to fire. Although the Eternity could leave most of the shells behind due to its high speed, the ever-reducing distance meant that the accuracy of the enemy's shelling was constantly improving. Once the Eternity stopped, it would be subjected to concentrated fire from the ZAFT fleet and suffer heavy damage.

Therefore, the time window for retrieving the shuttle may only be a few seconds.

"Captain Butterfield, where is the shuttle?"

"The exact location has been confirmed, Miss Lux."

Just as Andrew finished speaking, Da Costa's shuttle appeared precisely at the designated point of convergence with the Eternity, as scheduled.

Forcibly landing on a high-speed warship is never a simple operation. Seeing Da Costa's strained appearance, Aslan decisively took over control of the shuttle.

"Mr. Aslan, aren't you going to slow down?"

Da Costa's voice suddenly rose, and the silhouette of the Eternity was rapidly magnifying at an unprecedented speed.

"If we slow down, the Eternity might be sunk. Let's just charge in!"

"Wait, wait a minute..."

Before Da Costa could even fasten his seatbelt, the shuttle, piloted by Aslan, headed straight for the Eternity.

"Good lad, you've got guts."

Seeing the shuttle's movement, Andrew understood Aslan's meaning.

"Open the rear recovery compartment door, all standby personnel evacuate the recovery area, make room for them!"

At the very moment the stern hatch of the Eternal opened, the shuttle, under Aslan's control, fired the anchor cable from under its belly, which accurately struck the hook inside the hatch.

Pulled by anchor cables, the shuttle made an emergency landing inside the Eternity in a near-falling manner.

While recovering the shuttle, the Eternal also changed course and left the battlefield at a speed that the ZAFT fleet could not match.

"We've finished dealing with things on the Eternity, Kira. It's time for us to retreat."

"I understand, teacher."

With a swift roll, Freedom fired its plasma beam cannon from its back, forcing Thunder to dodge rapidly to the side. Freedom closed in, severing Thunder's right arm in a single crossfire. Then, it turned and threw its beam sword, which pierced Storm's right arm. With its free right hand, Freedom drew its beam rifle and destroyed Duel's right arm and legs.

In a short time, Kira disarmed all three machines: Duel, Storm, and Thunder.

"Nichol, Diego, Shiho!"

The teammate's ordeal drew Yzak's attention, but this momentary lapse did not escape Raven's notice.

"Do you even have time to care about other people's situations?"

Justice, under Raven's control, quickly pressed forward and unleashed a beam boomerang. Yzak hastily deflected the boomerang with his shield, but the instant Covenant raised his shield, Phantom 00, who had already circled behind Covenant, fired a beam cannon, and the high-energy particles instantly tore Covenant's legs apart.

The violent impact caused Covenant to lose control of its posture for a moment, and Justice took advantage of this gap to draw its beam saber and approach Covenant. The cherry-red beam first sliced ​​off Covenant's head, and then, in the instant that Covenant's cockpit turned black, severed Covenant's right arm.

Having lost his sight, Yzak could only fire haphazardly with his beam cannon and railgun, but he didn't even get close to justice. Raven ignored the Covenant, who had lost his fighting ability, and retreated with Kira.

When the screen in the cockpit of the Ytzhak crew lit up again, Freedom, Justice, and Eternity had all vanished into the boundless starry sky.

Chapter Eighty-Nine: Heart

PLANT, the Supreme Council Building, Speaker's Office.

The atmosphere inside was extremely oppressive, almost suffocating. A dozen people were crammed into a small office, but not a single one dared to utter a sound.

Patrick sat behind the large desk, his hands crossed on the surface, listening to the battle report with a dark expression.

"Except for the Commander of the Homeland Defense Force, the Director of the Justice Bureau, and the Chief of the Military Police, everyone else, get out."

Patrick's voice was so calm it sent chills down your spine. Apart from the three unlucky guys who were called out, the rest of the people were relieved and filed out of the office with the relief of surviving a disaster.

The moment the office door closed, Patrick's patience ran out.

"A bunch of useless idiots! It's one thing that we couldn't catch Sigur Klein, but even Aslan, whom we just arrested, was snatched away by Klein's rats as soon as he left the building! That traitor Kruze rose from a mere MS pilot to the White Coat Captain, and not one of you noticed. We only saw through his true colors thanks to Sigur Klein! Is the Legal Affairs Bureau and the Military Police Headquarters supposed to be learning how to eat with a knife and fork every day?!"

Enraged, Patrick roared, slamming his fist on the table with one hand and grabbing the documents on the table with the other, which he then threw hard at the faces of the Director of Justice and the Chief of the Military Police.

Both of them kept their heads down, not daring to utter a single word in their defense. But Patrick wasn't finished yet; he turned his attention to the commander of the Homeland Defense Forces.

"And you! I entrusted you with the crucial task of defending PLANT's homeland, and this is how you repay my trust? Those traitors from the Klein faction sailed the Eternal, swaggering all the way into the core area of ​​the security perimeter, picked up their people, and then leisurely turned around and drove off, acting as if no one was there. What are you good for?! When did we, the glorious ZAFT soldiers, degenerate into clowns who can't even defend our own doorstep?"

"But Your Excellency, the soldiers have done their best."

The commander struggled to explain himself under pressure.

"But the combat power of the Freedom and Justice mobile suits far exceeded our expectations. The first wave of 24 mobile suits sent to intercept them were all disarmed by the enemy in just three minutes. The Covenant mobile suits sent to intercept them later were also no match for the enemy. Moreover, none of our warships are currently fast enough to catch up with the Eternity. If the enemy has no intention of fighting, we will not be able to catch up with them."

"So you're going to let the Eternity just wander into PLANT like it's a public restroom? This time it's here to pick someone up, but if the Eternity launches a terrorist attack next time, you'll just throw your hands up and tell me you can't hold them back, right?"

“Your Excellency, that was not my intention, and I don’t think Miss Lux would…”

That's enough!

Patrick interrupted him.

"Get out of here! Get out! I don't want to see your cowardly faces anymore, get out of here!"

The three of them forgot to even show their respect and staggered out of the office.

The office became empty. After venting his anger, Patrick slumped back into his office chair and leaned back against the chair.

The expression gradually faded from Patrick's face. He stared blankly at the ceiling for a while, his mind replaying the scene when he first took office as speaker. Back then, the people gathered in this office were full of ambition, vowing to pave a bright future for the Adjusters.

But when Patrick snapped out of his reverie, he found the office eerily silent.

After a long while, Patrick turned his gaze to the picture frame placed on the corner of the table.

In the photo, he still has a genuine smile on his face, but the two people who were by his side then can never return to him.

One person disappeared into the nuclear flames, while the other was pushed aside by his own hand.

Longtime friends parted ways with him, trusted subordinates defected to the enemy camp, and even his own son began to oppose his wishes.

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

Aslan's voice echoed in his ears.

'Sigel, am I really wrong?'

Such a thought briefly crossed Patrick's mind, but he quickly suppressed it.

'No, no matter how many people oppose me, the path I'm taking is undoubtedly the right one. The blood debt of Junius 7 must be repaid with blood. Only by wiping out all Naturals can the Coordinators obtain their true future!'

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

The Eternity slowly entered the temporary dock of the colony satellite Mendel.

Under Andrew's command, the Eternity suffered very minor damage, only being hit by a few solid shells from the ZAFT fleet. After simple repairs, it was back to normal.

Although the shuttle that Aslan and Da Costa were traveling in landed in a rather horrific manner, fortunately neither of them was seriously injured.

"Everyone, Aslan!"

The fishy, ​​pungent smell wafted from the ground, and the fish rushed towards them.

"Is everyone alright? Where's Aslan? I heard he was arrested. Did you bring him back?"

Cagalli asked a series of questions eagerly. Raven smiled knowingly at her anxious look, stepped aside, and pointed behind him with his thumb.

"Uh, Cagalli, um, I'm sorry to have worried you."

Aslan stammered.

"You, really, even your father would have a more sensible way of persuading him..."

Cagalli reached out and shoved Aslan's shoulders, their bodies intertwining as they drifted further and further away in zero gravity.

"When did those two become so close?"

Raven stepped off the gangway, turned to look at the young couple drifting further and further away, and raised an eyebrow slightly.

"It looked about like this when it went up to Earth's orbit."

Kira stood beside Raven, watching Athrun and Cagalli's figures with a gentle smile in his eyes.

Raven could only sigh that Athrun and Cagalli were more compatible than he had imagined. Even without triggering the flag of spending the night together on a desert island, the two of them still ended up together.