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

Aslan was piloting Justice at high speed toward the Eternity when an unidentified mobile suit launched from the Eternity and blocked his way.

Then, a communication came from the MS that shocked him.

"Long time no see, Athrun Zala. I am the Skyfire Raven you shot down off the coast of Orb. How about it, do you remember me?"

Chapter 71 OPEN, GANDAM!

"Skyfire Raven?"

Wasn't this guy dead? Right off the coast of Orb, when he was caught by the Aegis, he self-destructed and died...

Humans could not possibly survive in that situation. Wasn't he the one sitting in the dagger at the time?

The moment this thought crossed Aslan's mind, a series of doubts began to form in his head.

Why did Dagger's fighting style change during that battle? Why would the revered Klein family hijack the Eternity and the Freedom? Why did the Allied Forces' ace launch an attack from the Eternity?

Most importantly, what role did this coalition's ace play in this series of events?

There's only one answer left.

"It's good that you remember, Aslan Zala, we are not enemies..."

Raven had the S Gundam spread its arms out, assuming a non-aggressive posture, in an attempt to communicate with Athrun.

However, the next moment, the two beam cannons on the Justice Gundam's backpack suddenly lit up without any warning and fired a salvo at the S Gundam.

El reacted the instant the beam cannon lit up, unleashing a series of jets from the attitude control nozzles, causing the beam to glide past the S Gundam's body.

"You faked your death by self-destructing off the coast of Orb, all for this day! You created your own death, then led the Combine special forces to infiltrate PLANT, kidnapped Mr. Siegel and Lux, created the illusion that the Klein family had betrayed PLANT, and finally stole the Eternity and escaped freely!"

"Wait, why did it turn out like this?"

"Hand over Lux and Freedom!"

Athrun wasn't listening at all. Under his control, the Justice Gundam transformed into a red lightning bolt, instantly closing the distance between the two machines. At the same time, its twin beam sabers slashed down at the S Gundam.

However, the S Gundam's speed was no less than Justice's. The large propulsion backpack on its back started operating at full power, and with the flickering of the thrusters, it dodged Justice's attack and quickly created distance.

"Wait, it seems you have some misunderstanding about me."

"If you don't hand it over, I'll shoot you down!"

Justice, relentless, pursued the S Gundam relentlessly.

"That stone head!"

Faced with Aslan's refusal to listen to anything, Raven was at a loss.

"Although I think it's Raven who has a problem with how he talks, are we going to fight now?"

El's steady voice rang out.

"Of course, we should take away his fighting power to bring him to his senses!"

The S Gundam drew its beam saber from the knee armor, and the four beam cannons on its shoulders and waist were aimed at justice.

"Turn the power down a bit, don't actually shoot him down."

"learn."

With all four beam cannons firing simultaneously, Raven halted the momentum of Justice's charge while also attempting to regain the initiative.

However, Aslan would not easily relinquish his advantage and immediately devised a tactical plan.

Justice drew the beam boomerang from his shoulder, and the cherry-red light blade sliced ​​towards the side of the S Gundam in a crescent-shaped arc.

At the same time, the Phantom 00 backpack on its back flew out, taking the form of an independent flying turret, and attacked the S Gundam from another direction.

It was thrown towards the S Gundam, attempting to attack the S Gundam from another direction, while the Justice Gundam itself actively met the S Gundam.

Meanwhile, the true form of justice is facing directly towards the S Gundam, charging straight at it.

Faced with the multi-directional attacks from justice, Raven showed no sign of backing down, wielding two beam sabers to confront justice head-on.

Raven first made a small movement to let the beam boomerang pass by, and then stood in front of Justice and swung his beam saber at him.

However, the most troublesome part of the beam boomerang is never the attack that comes from the front, but the attack that comes from behind after it has spun around once.

But Raven had already used this weapon many times when he was using a sword-equipped backpack.

Justice caught S Gundam's beam saber with his shield. At the same time, the beam boomerang had already returned from behind S Gundam, and Mirage 00 had already pointed its cannon at S Gundam's back.

"El, now! Gundam, separate!"

Just before the beam boomerang and Mirage 00 were about to hit the S Gundam, the S Gundam suddenly split into two parts. The lower body transformed into the form of a G-Bomber and headed towards Mirage 00, while the upper body maintained its human form and, with the help of the jetpack on its back, flew over Justice's head, just in time to dodge the fatal blow.

Although the beam boomerang was programmed to correct its trajectory and avoid harming Justice itself, the projectiles and beams that had already been fired would not.

The next moment, the shield of justice was hit by the artillery fire from Phantom 00.

The S Gundam, which had already arrived behind Justice, immediately locked onto Justice's right arm, where he was using his weapon, and swung down his beam saber.

However, Athrun reacted faster than Raven had anticipated. After catching two beam cannon shots from Mirage 00, Justice allowed the remaining machine gun shells to hit the body protected by PS armor, and then immediately turned around to catch the slash from S Gundam.

However, the S Gundam's attack did not stop. It kept swinging its beam sabers and launching continuous slashes at the Justice Gundam. Athrun seized the opportunity and, the moment the shield blocked the S Gundam's slashes, suddenly thrust the beam saber out from under the shield, aiming straight for the S Gundam's chest. Raven was forced to retreat by Athrun's shield thrust.

But his series of attacks had achieved their purpose. While Athrun focused all his attention on dealing with the S Gundam's attacks, the G Bomber, remotely controlled by El, quickly caught up with Mirage 00, transformed back into bipedal form, and stepped onto Mirage 00. Through the contact circuit, El used all the computing power he could muster to break through Mirage 00's firewall in an instant.

As Athrun, who was chasing the S Gundam while holding a shield, was surprised to find that the Mirage 00, which had separated, suddenly went offline. The next moment, the beam cannons and machine guns equipped on the Mirage 00 fired in a salvo in the direction of justice. And standing on the Mirage 00 was the lower half of the S Gundam that had separated.

"That new type of machine actually has this kind of capability?"

The fact that Mirage 00 was hacked by the enemy was beyond Athrun's expectations. Under the cover of the distraction fire launched by Mirage 00, S Gundam reunited.

El piloted the Mirage 00 as it hurtled past Justice, its continuous fire forcing Athrun to raise his shield in defense. Meanwhile, the S Gundam seized the opportunity to step forward, using its shoulder to block Justice's shield. The large propulsion pack on its back then sped up at full power. Without the Mirage 00, Justice was unable to withstand the thrust of the S Gundam and was propelled backward by it, flying towards the outer wall of the abandoned colony.

However, Athrun wanted to make one last desperate attempt, thrusting his beam saber at the S Gundam in front of him, trying to force Raven back. But the instant he raised his hand, the beam cannon on the left side of the S Gundam flipped upward under El's control, accurately piercing the Justice Gundam's raised right arm.

The next second, the Justice Gundam's back slammed into the outer wall of the colony. The impact was transmitted through the frame to the cockpit, and the strong shock almost made Athrun faint.

Then he saw a beam saber pressed against Justice's cockpit.

"Just as Kira said, you're a stubborn blockhead, prone to getting stuck on trivial details and being inflexible. So, Athrun Zala, have you calmed down yet?"

…………

Chapter 72 Revealed

Disarmed, Athrun slowly descended into the hangar of the Eternal under Raven's instructions.

"It's been a long time, Aslan. You weren't injured in the battle just now, were you?"

A familiar voice came from ahead, and Lux ​​walked slowly towards the hangar surrounded by people.

Aslan stared at her, frozen in place.

Although Aslan didn't recognize many of the people, he was familiar with Andrew, who was wearing a ZAFT uniform and standing behind Lux.

Although he was forced to retire from active service due to his previous defeat, his reputation as the "Desert Tiger" and his ground tactics, which were written into textbooks, made him a well-known figure in the ZAFT army.

With him around, Lux couldn't possibly have been kidnapped.

But wouldn't that mean the Klein family really did steal ZAFT's newest warships and mobile suits and then defect to the country?

However, Athrun was certain that both Siegel and Lux ​​deeply loved PLANT and would never commit treason. But the surveillance footage Patrick showed him was not likely to be faked.

"Lux Klein, why would you do such a thing? Have you really betrayed us?"

Aslan looked at Lux in front of him and asked the question in a trembling voice.

Lacus did not answer immediately, but turned around to look at the S Gundam and Justice standing opposite each other.

“I never intended to betray you, but peace cannot be obtained by simply calling for it. To pursue peace, one must possess the corresponding power. Don’t you think so, Aslan?”

"Peace will naturally come if we win the war; there's no need for such methods!"

"So, how long does Aslan think this war will last? Will it end with the occupation of some territory? Defeat the Earth Alliance? Or wipe out all Naturals?"

Lux turned around again, her deep blue eyes looking directly at him.

"This……"

Aslan couldn't give an answer right away. He joined ZAFT to prevent the tragedy of Junius VII from repeating itself, but his father, Patrick, who was in charge of the war, seemed to want more than that.

The chilling idea of ​​annihilating all natural people was probably more than just a slogan to his father.

Lux's smile, which seemed to last forever, vanished, replaced by an extremely serious and earnest expression.

"Aslan, PLANT is gradually becoming unable to sustain this war. Almost all able-bodied men who can be mobilized have gone to the battlefield, and the effects within PLANT are already becoming apparent. Traffic accidents are frequent, and accidents are constantly occurring in factories. Although supplies are not yet scarce, they are becoming increasingly monotonous every day. PLANT is gradually losing its vitality. Moreover..."

Lux paused slightly, recalling the intelligence she had obtained through eavesdropping on communications the day before.

"The campaign to invade Alaska has failed. ZAFT has lost many soldiers in this battle. How much more will we have to pay in this war?"

Aslan opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He recalled the scene he saw when he returned to PLANT the day before, its lifeless state, just as Lux had said, PLANT was losing its vitality.

"If you're so troubled, why don't you come with me to Earth and hear what Kira has to say?"

Raven could sense Aslan's wavering, so he came up behind Aslan and put his arm around his shoulder.

"So Mr. Raven is indeed returning to the front lines?"

Lux's tone was somewhat reluctant.

"Equip the S Gundam with the anti-neutron jammer and nuclear engine, then set off. Earth needs my strength. Besides, I can't just leave my students on the battlefield while I live a peaceful life in the rear, can I?"

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

At the same moment, PLANT.

Since the results of the Alaskan campaign reached PLANT, Patrick has been in a state of utter chaos.

“Led by Erin Kanaba, several members of parliament have jointly requested that we provide details, as they may be looking to convene an extraordinary session of parliament.”

"Tsk, those cowards! Have the Justice Bureau arrest them all!"

Patrick's eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was extremely low.

He hadn't had a break in a long time because of the outcome of the Alaskan campaign.

"but……"

"The Klein family colluded with enemy spies to seize our army's newest and most advanced warships and mobile suits, and then fled, their whereabouts unknown. At the same time, the objective of the breakthrough operation was leaked. The connection between these two events is something even a child can understand."

Patrick slammed his hand on the table and shouted.

"The Klein family are traitors, and Erin Kanaba and her gang actually want to hold me responsible? What a joke! It must be these people who are harboring the Klein family, otherwise how could they have evaded the search!"

"I understand. I will go and notify the Bureau of Justice immediately!"

Several subordinates hurriedly took their leave, and the office fell silent again. Patrick leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and pressed his throbbing temples with his fingers.

His secretary then pushed open the door and hurriedly handed Patrick a tablet.

"Your Excellency Chairman, look! This is Siegel Klein's live stream! All of PLANT's channels are playing it right now!"

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

"Fellow citizens of PLANT. I am Siegel Klein. I am taking up your valuable time to inform you of something extremely important that concerns our future."

"Our ZAFT forces suffered heavy losses in the offensive against Alaska the day before yesterday. Seventy percent of the troops involved in the offensive were lost there, which is a truly tragic event. But the culprit behind this tragedy is none other than Captain Rau Le Creuset, who is deeply trusted by Chairman Patrick."

"At first, I also found it hard to believe, but the evidence I had led me to this conclusion."

Then, Siegel's figure disappeared from the screen, and then a photo of Kruse in casual clothes meeting with a strange man appeared on the screen, along with a recording that was blurry but barely audible.

"Next stop is Alaska. It's definitely the highest mountain that's worth climbing."

"Well, you have a good eye, buddy. Looks like I need to prepare my warm clothes in advance."

The live stream abruptly ended. Patrick crossed his arms, rested his face on his desk, and stared at the black screen in front of him in silence for a long time.

Finally, he managed to squeeze out a sentence in a low, hoarse voice.

"Don't stop the manhunt for Siegel Klein. Also, bring Kruze back and give him a good talking to about what's going on."

Chapter 73 Uzumi's Choice

Nearly a month and a half has passed since ZAFT launched its disruptive operation. However, the several changes in the world situation during this period have made the situation of Orb, a small country located in a corner of the Pacific Ocean, increasingly difficult.

The changing global situation has put Ob's Uzmi representative in a dilemma.

Operation Breakthrough ended in a disastrous defeat, with the attacking ZAFT forces losing 70% of their strength. The Allied Forces used Eurasian Federation troops as bait and burned the entire base, along with both sides, to ashes using the Cyclops System.

ZAFT lost its elite forces assembled to capture the Coalition headquarters, while the Coalition lost only an old-fashioned force equipped with conventional weapons.