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

In order to enable the Covenant to quickly become combat-ready, the ZAFT forces disassembled the weapons from a prototype Gates aircraft and installed them onto the Covenant.

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

The railgun at the 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 the back is the prototype of the Justice's Phantom 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 those two machines back to me, you thieves!"

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

Chapter 88 Aslan Rescue Plan (Part 2)

Raven pushed the joystick, and Justice stepped forward to intercept the Covenant, which was rushing forward at full speed.

"That voice...you were the pilot of the Duel before, weren't you?"

Yitzhak was taken aback; the voice in the communication seemed 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! Why are you sitting in Justice? What did you do to Athrun?!"

Raven successfully stirred up Yzak's emotions, thus keeping the most troublesome Covenant on his side.

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

"Hey, answer me! What did you do to Athrun?!"

The Covenant unfolds its prototype phantom backpack, bursting forth with speed comparable to Justice Gundam. The beam cannons on its shoulders and the railgun at its waist fire simultaneously, blocking Justice Gundam'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 Sara 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 blocked 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 offensive actions and quickly retreat to escape Mirage-00's firing range. However, Raven had anticipated Covenant's evasive trajectory, and Justice raised its beam rifle, firing emerald green beams continuously at Covenant's movement path.

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 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 opportunity.

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 see Freedom's movements before Kira took one of her weapons.

Just as Jules's team was struggling to hold on against the onslaught of freedom and justice, the long, pink silhouette of the Eternal arrived on the battlefield.

"Captain Butterfield, I'm counting on you."

Lux's gentle voice rang out from the bridge.

"Understood. Eternal, enter combat status. All missile launch tubes, load 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 warships of the ZAFT Force and the Alliance. Its 300-meter-long hull quickly swept past the mobile suits engaged in battle and sped toward the PLANT colony.

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

Under the command of the ZAFT headquarters, several Nazca-class and Lauracia-class ships that had just been urgently dispatched from the dry dock managed to hastily form a firing formation, aiming their guns at the rapidly approaching pink silhouette.

"Now! Launch the missile!"

"fire!"

The commanders of 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 fired its missiles in unison, and anti-beam mines exploded in the path of the ship, instantly forming a semi-transparent barrier. The ZAFT's shells 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 physical guns of the ZAFT fleet would also begin to fire. Although the Eternal could leave most of the shells behind thanks to its high speed, the ever-decreasing distance meant that the enemy's shelling accuracy was constantly improving. Once the Eternal stopped, it would be subjected to concentrated fire from the ZAFT fleet and suffer heavy damage.

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

"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 coordinates where it would rendezvous with the Eternity, as scheduled.

Forcibly landing on a high-speed warship is never a simple operation. Seeing Da Costa's struggling 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 Eternal was rapidly enlarging at an unprecedented speed.

"If we slow down, the Eternal 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 hatch, and have all standby personnel evacuate the recovery area to make room for them!"

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

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

While recovering the shuttle, the Eternal also completed its turn and disengaged from the battlefield at a speed that the ZAFT fleet could not match.

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

"I understand, teacher."

Freedom flipped over, its plasma beam cannon on its back firing, forcing Thunder to dodge rapidly to the side. Freedom closed in, severing Thunder's right arm in a cross-cutting motion. Then, it turned and threw its beam sword, which pierced Storm's right arm. With its free right hand, it pulled out a beam rifle and destroyed Duel's right arm and legs.

In a matter of moments, Kira disarmed all three machines: Duel, Storm, and Thunder.

"Nicole, Diego, Shiho!"

The ordeal of his teammate 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, pressed forward swiftly, unleashing 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 apart Covenant's legs.

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 come in front of Covenant. The cherry-red beam blade first sliced ​​off Covenant's head, and then, in the instant that Covenant's cockpit turned black, it severed Covenant's right arm.

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

When the screen in Yitzhak's cockpit lit up again, Freedom, Justice, and Eternity had all vanished into the boundless starry sky.

Chapter Eighty-Nine: Heart

PLANT, the Supreme Council building, the Speaker's office.

The atmosphere inside was extremely oppressive, almost suffocating. More than a dozen people were crammed into a small office, yet no 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 Legal Affairs 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 ones who were named, the rest of the people were relieved and filed out of the office door with the relief of surviving a disaster.

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

"A bunch of useless idiots! It's one thing that we couldn't catch Siegel Klein, but even Athrun, 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 a white-clad captain, and not one of you noticed. We only saw through him thanks to Siegel 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.

The two of them lowered their heads, not daring to utter a single word in their defense. But Patrick wasn't finished; 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 perimeter, picked up their people, and then leisurely turned around and drove off, completely uninhabited. What are you good for?! When did we, the glorious ZAFT soldiers, become clowns who can't even defend our own doorstep?"

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

Under pressure, the commander managed to speak out in his defense.

"But the combat capabilities 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 within just three minutes. The Covenant mobile suits sent to intercept them were also completely outmatched. Moreover, none of our warships are currently fast enough to catch up with the Eternal. If the enemy has no will to fight, we will not be able to catch up with them."

"So you're going to let the Eternal enter PLANT in full view of everyone, like it's a public toilet? This time it's to pick someone up, but if the Eternal is attacked by terrorists next time, are you going to just shrug and tell me you couldn't hold them back?"

"Your Excellency, I did not mean that, and I don't think Miss Lux would..."

"enough!"

Patrick interrupted him.

"Get out of here! Get out! I don't want to see the faces of you incompetent cowards anymore, get out!"

The three of them forgot to even bow 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 had just taken office as Speaker. At that time, the people gathered in this office were full of ambition and vowed to open up a bright future for the Coordinators.

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 away by his own hand.

His longtime friend parted ways with him, his 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.

'Siegel, 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've chosen is undoubtedly the right one. The blood debt of Junius 7 must be repaid in blood. Only by wiping out all Naturals can the Coordinators obtain a true future!'

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

The Eternity slowly sailed into the temporary dock of the colony satellite Mendel.

Under Andrew's command, the damage to the Eternal was extremely minor. It was only hit by a few solid shells from the ZAFT fleet and was able to be restored to its original condition after simple repairs.

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!"

As soon as everyone disembarked, they saw Cagalli running towards them from a distance.

"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 as he spoke.

"You, really, even if he were your father, there would be safer ways to persuade him..."

Cagalli reached out and shoved Athrun's shoulders, their bodies intertwining as they drifted further and further away in the weightless space.

"When did those two become so close?"

Raven stepped off the gangway, turned to look at the young boy and girl 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, also watching Athrun and Cagalli's figures, his eyes filled with a gentle smile.

Raven could only marvel at how well Athrun and Cagalli were compatible; they were even better than he had imagined. Even without triggering the FLAG of spending the night together on a deserted island, the two of them still ended up together.