Gundam: A Gundam Enthusiast's Journey with a Mecha Girl

George's mind cleared instantly. He remembered that he had taken a photo with the crew of the Archangel as a government representative on May 7th, and then a colonel named Shazaland 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 shouldn't have any conflict of interest with him.

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 be easy to open…

Is it open?

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

The situation here was quite different from what he had expected. The corridor was full of soldiers rushing about, and above his head, tremors and the rumble of cannons could be heard continuously.

'Has Alaska headquarters been attacked by ZAFT?'

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.

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 fiddled with the communication equipment next to him, trembling, and turned on the full-channel broadcast.

"This is Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, George Alsta. The countdown for the Cyclops System has started inside the base. Prepare a vehicle 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 disguised 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 abandon the 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's 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 unfortunate soul.

"Where is Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs George? Isn't he one of us?"

"One of our own?"

Azrael glanced at Shazaland.

"If he were one of our own, he wouldn't have secretly sent his precious daughter to Orb. Loyalty that isn't absolute is absolute disloyalty, wouldn't you say, Colonel?"

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

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

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

Mu piloted the air-mounted assault ship and stood on the central deck of the Archangel, wielding the Vulcan hyperpulse cannon connected by power cables, and continuously fired at the charging ZAFT forces.

"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 great fanfare, 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 number of enemies in front of 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 we're on, they just keep repeating the same sentence."

"Hold firm and there's a way. All units should maintain their defensive lines and act as the situation warrants."

'Could it really be as Captain Ray said, that headquarters used JOSH-A as bait, and we were sacrificed to lure ZAFT forces into it?'

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

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

"I am Joe...Aar...Ta, inside the base...One-Eyed...Countdown...Quick..."

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 the Cyclops system. Once ZAFT forces have completely breached the JOSH-A base, the Cyclops will be activated, and everyone on this battlefield will perish.

There's no time to hesitate any longer!

"Archangel, begin evacuation from the battlefield now! Communications officer, use the public channel 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 watch our entire ship of people die because of their factional infighting? Did they even consider that we're also soldiers in the coalition forces when they made those decisions?"

Maru turned her head away, ignoring the silent Bakiruru.

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

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

Is the only hope that the public address system broadcast will have some effect?

But 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 Murrue could come up with. At this point, the Strike Force had already begun engaging the ZAFT mobile suits ahead and was unable to intercept the mobile suit.

Is this the end?

The next second, a communication coming from that unidentified mobile suit gave Maru renewed hope.

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

The Freedom Gundam unleashed all its firepower, slicing through the overwhelming barrage of bullets and destroying the weapons of all the mobile suits blocking the Archangel's path.

Taking advantage of the momentum, 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 Gundam, which was heading to Alaska for support, the Eternal, which departed from PLANT, turned towards the L4 space zone.

The crew of the Eternal included not only military personnel, but also a significant number of technical personnel who shared Kleinist ideals.

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. In turn, the Kleinists need Halbarton's faction to restrain the Blue Cosmos forces that are hostile to the Coordinators, and LOGOS, which stands 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 hatch of the Eternity, and then the shuttle's hatch opened, revealing the hull inside.

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

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

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

She felt her mind was working faster than ever before.

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 stroked El's head, and El smiled with satisfaction.

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

"Little El!"

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

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

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

El maintained a cold expression most of the time, which unconsciously made those around her become serious as well, while Raven was not the type to show intense 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 always wore a gentle smile that rescued El from Elsa's overly enthusiastic embrace.

"Miss El, do you still recognize me?"

“I am an AI, and I will not forget like humans, Miss Lux Klein.”

El's answer made Lux's smile even 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? Actually, I should have quite a few dresses that would suit Miss El in my wardrobe!"

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

El, being used as a costume 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 wrong, someone's approaching..."

The next moment, Andrew's deep voice, who was on the bridge, rang out through the ship's intercom.

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

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

"Lux Klein 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 these words that Aslan could not understand for a long time.

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

However, the surveillance camera footage clearly recorded her boarding the Eternal, surrounded by a group of rebels.

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

There must be some misunderstanding here, and we must get to the bottom of it.

ZAFT's intelligence only provided Athrun with a vague clue—Freedom had headed towards Earth. Athrun could only pilot Justice, following in Freedom's footsteps. However, along the way, a shuttle caught his attention.

This is a shuttle heading towards L4, where only the wreckage of a few abandoned colonies remains.

Could the Eternal be 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.

We must ask clearly.