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

"They can't get very far by relying on inertia alone. If they really want to escape, they'll definitely start their engines. The heat source of a warship's engine is much more noticeable than the heat source of the wreckage, and radar will be able to easily pinpoint their location. But just waiting like this isn't a good solution either."

After a moment's thought, Kruse reached out and began operating the holographic sand table.

"Long-legged has very limited escape routes. We can let the Gamow go ahead and make it look like it's going to go around to Long-legged's front. Long-legged will then jump out on its own."

But before Kruse's battle plan could be relayed, the radar operator loudly reported.

"Large heat source detected, suspected to be an enemy ship!"

"It seems the enemy is more impatient than I thought. Artis, send out the remaining MS, including those four Gs."

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

Following Mu's proposed battle plan, the Archangel proactively ended its inertial navigation mode and started its engines.

Mu took the lead, using the machine's grappling hook to move through the wreckage and slowly make his way to the location of the ZAFT warship.

Raven and Kira each piloted a mobile suit and lay in ambush among two large pieces of wreckage, awaiting the enemy's attack.

ZAFT's pursuing forces did not keep them waiting for long.

[Enemy forces approaching, number five.]

El showed Raven the enemy information he had detected.

"The two King Gundams and the three stolen Gundams, without Thunderclap, are they hiding using the Mirage System?"

Regardless of Thunder's condition, as the enemy drew near, Raven knew it was time to make his move.

"Kira, target King. We need to prioritize reducing the enemy's numbers."

"Ok."

Seconds later, a green beam of light ushered in the battle.

The Strike Gundam, equipped with an empty backpack, peeked out from behind the wreckage, catching the ZAFT forces off guard, and swiftly shot down a King Gundam with a single shot.

Meanwhile, Raven, who was lying in ambush in another direction, decisively emerged from behind the wreckage, threw out the beam boomerang from the shoulder of his sword-mounted backpack, and cut another King in half from behind.

"There's an ambush!"

Athrun, who was in the lead, reacted quickly. Yzak, who was piloting the Duel, and Diego, who was piloting the Storm, also showed qualities that matched their red outfits. They quickly began to maneuver and evade, while also quickly pinpointing the positions of Kira and Raven.

"caught you!"

Duel quickly turned around, aiming his beam rifle at the short sword and firing rapidly. However, the short sword drew several graceful arcs through the debris, easily dodging Duel's shots. At the same time, he fired the Iron Chariot Rocket Anchor from his hand, grabbed a piece of debris, and threw it towards Duel.

The debris instantly obscured Yzak's vision, forcing him to maneuver to the side and find a better position. But just as he dodged the flying debris, the boomerang beam from his short sword was already in front of him.

The duel had to abandon shooting and use his shield to deflect the beam boomerang, but in that short time, the short sword had already closed the distance, and the huge anti-ship blade swung down from above with heavy potential energy.

The instinct for survival made Yzak quickly maneuver the Duel to the side, but the short sword seemed to be prepared, with the right half of the thrusters at full power. The anti-ship blade fell halfway down and quickly turned into a horizontal slash, heading towards the Duel's left arm, which was covered by a shield.

Faced with the anti-ship sword's strikes, which could easily sever even the armor of a warship, Duel's shield was completely useless. In the face of the anti-ship sword's high-powered beam blade and heavy mass, the shield only held out for a moment before being brutally torn apart, and Duel's left arm was also severed by the anti-ship sword.

Yzak was now drenched in cold sweat. Before the attack, he had looked down on the mass-produced short swords, but now he had no intention of underestimating them at all.

The Dagger is undoubtedly a formidable opponent. Apart from lacking the PS armor, its performance is not much inferior to several Gundams, and its pilot is even more troublesome.

When Yzak watched the video of the battle between Dagger and Xigu, he only felt that the pilot of Dagger was relying on the performance of the machine to fight. The reason why he was able to take down Xigu's hand was simply because Kruze did not understand the performance of Dagger and Dagger adopted a reckless fighting style.

Short Sword's performance in the battle just now was like that of a completely different person. His control over the machine was more skillful, and the tactics he adopted were more effective.

Forced by the overwhelming power of the sword-wielding short sword at close range, Yzak had no choice but to retreat and distance himself from the short sword. However, the short sword, which had already gained the upper hand, was not about to give up. Raven pulled the control stick, just about to continue the pursuit, but at this moment, El suddenly took control of the machine and quickly fled in the opposite direction of the duel.

The next moment, a barrage of cannon fire enveloped the space where the short sword had just been, and even the duel was caught up in the barrage.

This is the 350mm anti-armor shotgun fired by the Storm Gundam in combination mode. Compared to the Duel Gundam, a precious prototype, the Dagger, designed for mass production, does not have the PS armor that can ignore live ammunition attacks, so it had to give up the opportunity to continue its attack.

"Diego, what are you trying to do, you little brat!"

"Shut up, your PS armor isn't malfunctioning. I wouldn't have bothered helping you if you hadn't almost been shot down!"

Diego rebuked the enraged Yzak and continued searching for the short sword. He realized that the Storm's anti-armor shotgun had a strong suppressive effect on the short sword. The anti-armor shotgun fired in combination mode could even penetrate the armor of warships. The short sword's thin armor could not withstand the fire of the anti-armor shotgun at all. In addition, the extremely wide kill range could effectively suppress the short sword.

However, Kira on the other side did not give Diego a chance to continue leisurely bombarding the short sword. Strike raised his beam rifle and fired several beams at Storm's position, forcing Storm to maneuver and dodge Strike's fire.

Aslan, piloting the Aegis, kept his eyes fixed on the Assault that suddenly emerged from behind the wreckage.

"That's a Strike Gundam, and the person sitting inside that machine... could it be Kira...?"

The Holy Shield transformed into a crimson meteor, closely following the Assault.

Chapter 9 Fierce Battle in the Debris Zone (2)

Kira piloted the Strike to dodge several beams of light fired from behind.

"That's the Holy Shield, and the person sitting inside is... Aslan?"

Kira still remembers the moment his childhood friend jumped into the cockpit of the Aegis.

"Don't come any closer, Asura, I don't want to fight you."

Contrary to Kira's wishes, Aegis aggressively and proactively approached Strike Force.

Kira had no choice but to fire his beam rifle in an attempt to force Aegis back, but Athrun realized that Strike had no intention of shooting him down. Ignoring the beam that grazed Aegis's body, he went straight for Strike.

"Is that Kira sitting inside that machine?"

"Aslan, it really is you."

"Listen to me, Kira, we are not enemies. The Earth Alliance is just using you as a Coordinator. Come back to ZAFT with me!"

"It has nothing to do with the Earth Alliance or ZAFT. I'm fighting here because my friends are still on that ship!"

Kira put away his beam rifle, drew his beam saber, and slashed forward, forcing Aegis back.

"Friends? The despicable Earth military, using hostages!"

Athrun, who already loathed the Earth Alliance, was now truly enraged.

First, they used nuclear weapons to massacre hundreds of thousands of civilians on Junius 7, and now they've done something like using hostages to force a teenager onto the battlefield.

"Just how despicable must you become, you human beings!"

At this moment, Aegis also put away its beam rifle and unfolded the beam saber on its arm.

'Since you were forced to participate in the battle, I'll forcibly take you back!'

Two machines, one red and one white, intertwined and fought fiercely in a corner of the wreckage.

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

The moment Raven saw Storm forced to dodge Ingera's shot, the short sword swiftly emerged from behind the wreckage, seizing the opportunity when Storm was focused on dodging and unable to aim, and quickly closed the distance with Storm.

"Tch, what a troublesome guy."

Diego frowned. Although the two main weapons in Storm's hands provided more ferocious firepower than other G-series mobile suits, they were somewhat cumbersome in close to medium-range combat. However, the missile launchers on Storm's shoulders could still be used for interception.

Seeing the short sword getting closer and closer, Storm opened the missile launchers on his shoulders and fired a total of twelve missiles in one go, forming a dense barrage that shot towards the short sword.

Raven remained calm. El quickly calculated the missile's trajectory, fired the rocket anchor from his short sword, grabbed a piece of debris, and threw it away.

The debris prematurely detonated the missile, and the smoke from the explosion instantly obscured Storm's vision.

"There's that trick too?"

Diego never expected that the barrage of missiles would be intercepted in this way. Without the missiles, Storm, which was not even equipped with a Vulcan cannon, was essentially unarmed in close combat and was completely unable to deal with the short sword's next attack.

But Yzak's duel had already arrived.

To cover Storm, who was not good at close combat, Duel put away his beam rifle, drew his beam saber with his remaining right arm, and rushed into the smoke, taking the initiative to engage in close combat with the short sword.

Despite losing an arm, Yzak came prepared this time. He didn't rush to ignite his beam saber, but instead used the smoke to conceal his duel, only revealing his attack intentions the moment he emerged from the smoke.

The cherry-red light blade was lit just before it was swung out, and the short sword in front of the duel seemed not to have reacted yet, still moving straight towards the storm at full speed. But just before the duel's beam saber touched the short sword, the short sword in front of Yzak made a movement that looked somewhat familiar to him.

Like a matador teasing a bull with nimble movements, the short sword mobilized all its thrusters, made a beautiful turn in front of the duel's fuselage, dodged the duel's attack, and then kicked the duel's back, quickly closing the distance with the storm.

"That move, was it the captain's? How could someone else pull off that kind of move that's like dancing on the edge of a knife?"

Diego was shocked to witness Yzak being tricked, but the short sword gave him no time to reflect. The cold light on the ship's blade drew closer and closer to the storm, and given the storm's mobility, there was no chance of escape.

The short sword was swung upwards to strike the anti-ship blade, the beam aimed directly at Storm's waist. If this strike hit, Storm would undoubtedly be cut in two.

However, at the critical moment, Diego successfully demonstrated his strength as a red-clad warrior, maneuvering the Storm backward to align its fuselage with the anti-ship blade, thus dodging the fatal slash. But as a price, the Storm's hands were severed, along with the weapons it was holding.

However, this did not mean that Diego's nightmare was over. The head of the short sword almost filled the entire screen in front of the cockpit. Diego's palms were full of cold sweat. He knew that in the next moment, the short sword would swing down the heavy anti-ship knife in his hand.

"Yzak, if you don't remember to avenge me, I'll haunt you even as a ghost."

"Why are you only thinking about Yzak at a time like this? Even I would be sad."

In the empty expanse of space, a pitch-black mobile suit suddenly appeared, kicking away the short sword that was about to strike the anti-ship blade. Then, its beam rifle fired repeatedly, forcing the short sword back.

"Nicholson! Weren't you going to attack Longlegs?"

"I only rushed back because you and Yzak were locked in a fierce battle. Anyway, Diego, you should retreat now. Storm is no longer capable of fighting, is it?"

Piloting a powerful machine only to be beaten to such a sorry state, Diego, who was proud of his red-clad identity, was speechless for a moment. He could only spit in resentment and then pilot the Storm away from the battlefield.

"Yzak, we must cover Diego."

"I know what to do, don't tell me what to do!"

To cover the retreating Storm, Thunder and Duel deliberately distanced themselves from Dagger and used beam rifles to fire continuously at Dagger, suppressing him to a distance.

The enemy's tactics have effectively suppressed us, Raven, this is not good.

"It's alright, we've achieved our goal."

With El's help, Raven focused on maneuvering his short sword at high speed through the wreckage, dodging shots from Thunder and Duel.

"Kira has held off Aegis, Storm has retreated, and Thunder and Duel have focused their attention on us. We have successfully stalled the enemy and are just waiting for Mu to make his move so we can escape."

But things didn't go as Raven had expected. A communication came in from the Archangel, and Mirialia's tearful face appeared on the screen.

"Mr. Raven, please save Kira! Strike has been captured by Aegis!"

Meanwhile, Nicol and Yzak also received orders from the mothership.

The Vesalius is severely damaged and must return to port immediately!

Chapter 10 Fierce Battle Within the Debris Zone (The End)

"The Vesalius was severely damaged? Why at this particular time?"

Yzak looked unwillingly at the short sword that was constantly fleeing in the distance.

"How can we retreat without achieving anything? We must at least shoot him down..."

"Retreat, Yzak. The enemy doesn't have many energy-consuming weapons. If we continue this stalemate, our energy will run out first."

As usual, the steady Nicol tried to dissuade the hot-headed Yzak.

"Shut up, coward! If you want to run away, then run! I'm going to shoot that guy down today."

Having clashed head-on with the short sword twice in duels, both ending in defeat for Yzak, the hot-tempered man, could not easily tolerate such humiliation. However, a communication from the Divine Shield calmed Yzak down slightly.

“Nichol, Yzak, cover me, I have captured the Striker.”

In the distance, Aegis, using its four mechanical claws in its MA form, grabbed the nearly depleted Strike Force and was rapidly retreating. However, this also meant that if Aegis were attacked at this moment, it would be completely defenseless.

Although Yzak was reluctant to retreat, he wasn't about to ignore his teammates' pleas for help. He could only pilot the Duel toward the Aegis, preparing to retreat together.

But to his surprise, the short sword that had been fleeing back and forth between the duel and the swift shooting suddenly charged towards them.

"That bastard, he came just in time!"

Having just calmed down, Yzak saw Dagger's actions and instantly lost his temper again. He put away his beam gun, drew his beam saber, and charged at Dagger, determined to fight him to the death.

However, Thunder caught up with Duel and slammed him to the other side.

"Nicole, what are you going to do..."

Before Yzak could finish speaking, two thick beams of red and white light streaked across the spot where the duel had just taken place.

"Archangel, hold your position. All gun emplacements, continue firing. We must keep Thunder and Duel occupied to create an opportunity for Dagger! Also, have the maintenance crew prepare the artillery emplacements!"

Maru gave the order loudly, gripping the armrests of the captain's seat tightly with both hands, her eyes fixed intently on the distant battlefield.

As always, Bakiruru, with her characteristic calmness and efficiency, effectively allocated the Archangel's firepower and carried out Maru's orders.

In an instant, beams of light, shells, and missiles flew out all at once. The fierce firepower unleashed by the Archangel pinned Thunder and Duel firmly in place, while Dagger took advantage of this opportunity to quickly head towards Aegis.

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

Mu is piloting the Mobius Zero, which is now just its original form, and is rapidly returning to base.