"Vice Minister Arsida, are you nervous?"
Having received a warning from the Archangel that members of the Atlantic Federation Army's advance team would likely face an attack from ZAFT Forces, the morale of the advance team in this timeline remained relatively high.
"Hahaha." In response to the advance team commander's inquiry, Arsida maintained his composure and let out a hearty laugh.
His eyes discreetly glanced through the porthole at the Drake-class Frigate from the East Asian Army within the fleet. The source of his confidence was self-evident, though the Vice Minister would never admit it openly. Nor would he commit such a basic political misstep, so Arsida spoke with impeccable correctness.
"With the protection of the Atlantic Federation Army soldiers, and the capable officers of the Eighth Fleet under Admiral Halberton, what do I have to worry about? Moreover, the Archangel is speeding toward us. Before the united Allied Forces, these mere Coordinators are nothing to fear."
"Such reassuring words." The advance team commander smiled, aware that the Vice Minister was merely being polite. Yet, he could hardly contradict him in front of so many soldiers—that would crush their morale!
Moreover, the commander's gaze drifted to the East Asian Army battleship outside the porthole, and he thought of Wang Hu aboard the approaching Archangel.
"Everyone, prepare for battle! The main force of the Eighth Fleet is moving toward us, and the Archangel, which we rescued, is also converging with us!"
The commander subtly hinted that their side held a significant advantage and there was no need to fear.
"Therefore—"
But before he could finish, alarms blared across all four battleships in the fleet.
"Enemy ZAFT Forces Mobile Suits detected! Seven enemy battleships! Fifteen Genes! Fifteen CGUEs! Three stolen Gundams!"
"Special note: There is also an unrecorded new model machine among the enemy forces!"
"Optical sensors have captured enemy images. Projecting them onto the main screen now!"
The radar officer's report cut short the commander's motivational speech. With the sudden, imminent threat of ZAFT Forces, who had time for long-winded encouragement?
"What?" The commander gripped the armrests of his chair tightly, leaning forward unconsciously due to tension. His eyes fixed on the screen, particularly on the black-painted Mobile Suit with a disc-like object on its back and shuttle-shaped weapons.
He blurted out, "Damn ZAFT Forces have new equipment too? What is that? A CGUE?"
No one on the bridge could answer him—after all, who said only the Allied Forces could have new equipment?
"Commander, can our forces handle the enemy's attack?"
Faced with a ZAFT Forces scale far beyond expectations, Vice Minister Arsida could no longer remain seated.
Though he was technically a civilian official with no responsibility for military affairs, he was undoubtedly a high-ranking official within the Atlantic Federation's power structure.
The Allied Forces publicly claimed an official casualty ratio of 5:1 between Moebius and Gene units, but that was merely propaganda! If the ratio were truly 5:1, how could the Allied Forces, given their scale, have suffered repeated defeats and continuous retreats against the ZAFT Forces' offensive?
Or was the 5:1 casualty ratio calculated based on the losses between the East Asian Army and the ZAFT Forces?
If that were the case!
Snapping his head around to look at the East Asian Army's Drake-class Frigate beside their ship, Arsida could only silently pray that the members of that battleship and that army were capable enough!
"All Moebius Squadrons, launch! Full fleet, adopt box formation! As long as we hold out until the Archangel arrives with reinforcements and the main force of the Eighth Fleet reaches us, victory will be ours!"
His mouth had gone numb from shouting. The vanguard commander had no time for diplomatic niceties with Vice Foreign Minister Arsida. He completely ignored the questions raised by Arsida, as the top priority now was saving their own lives!
"Hurry, contact the East Asian Army's Drake-class Frigate and ask them if they have any strategies! If necessary, I can even transfer command of the entire fleet to them!"
It must be said this commander had a clear mind - when forced to choose between pride and survival, he swiftly chose survival.
"Izak, Dearka." Creuset called two names while piloting his peculiarly modified CGUE at the forefront of the large Mobile Suit formation.
The CGUE he currently piloted, if one ignored the MS head, already bore considerable resemblance to the Destiny Gundam. At the very least, the disc mounted on its back was identical to the weapon pack on the Destiny Gundam's back.
The only things lacking were the numerous DRAGOON units - currently, the disc on the CGUE's back contained only six, and they were still wire-guided.
After naming two of his beloved subordinates, Creuset paused briefly.
"Commander, I can handle it." Nicol's gentle voice came from the significantly altered Blitz Gundam, volunteering proactively.
"I know." Even Creuset, who single-mindedly sought revenge against the entire world and wanted all humanity to perish with him - this world's current greatest mastermind - couldn't bear to look directly at Nicol's current condition.
The once quiet, delicate young man who had been more beautiful than most girls now had his helmet concealing the loss of his smooth green hair, replaced by wrinkled, uneven, burnt crimson scalp.
With his head in such condition, naturally the rest of Nicol's body hadn't been spared either. Though he now wore a combat suit and opted for long sleeves, gloves, and hats when moving about the ship, desperately trying to cover all his skin, those who needed to know already knew. After all, the ship's interior space was limited, and with people constantly crossing paths, how could such things be completely concealed?
Beyond the skin burns, Creuset's gaze shifted to the specially modified sections of the combat suit covering Nicol's limbs.
There!
The original human limbs composed of flesh and blood had clearly disappeared, replaced by cold mechanical prosthetics made of steel.
Creuset couldn't see the foot sections, but he could clearly observe the hand areas. Should one praise the technological excellence of ZAFT Forces and PLANT?
Nicol no longer needed his palms and fingers to control the Gundam - both metallic arms were now directly plugged into the modified control console.
Presumably the same applied to his legs as well?
This was what true man-machine integration looked like!
"Captain?" Nicol called out again. Seeing that Creuset hadn't given him any orders yet, he wanted to prove he was still useful.
Not wanting others to treat him differently, the boy who had always been gentle - and remained gentle now - urged for the first time.
"Please give me your orders, Captain Creuset!"
"Izak, Dearka, Nicol." Creuset adjusted his emotions slightly. He wasn't someone who particularly cared about others to begin with.
His current demeanor was merely projecting his own feelings, seeing his own tragic fate reflected in Nicol.
Soon, responding to Nicol's request, he slowly issued his commands.
"Destroy the Allied Forces' vanguard fleet, then we'll return the favor for all the hospitality we've received from the Archangel."
Then he lowered his voice slightly, showing his gentleness exclusively to Nicol.
"Nicol, I used to have a semi-full coverage helmet. I should have given it to you earlier, but it's not too late now. Remember to come find me after the battle to get it."
"Thank you." Listening to his captain's words and watching his face on the private channel.
Nicol's severely disfigured face, which had become reluctant to smile, still couldn't help but twitch at the corner of his mouth.
Through the prosthetic limbs connected to the Mobile Suit, Nicol manipulated the Blitz Gundam to suddenly accelerate.
Instantly surpassing the CGUE Divine Providence piloted by Creuset, he activated the Mirage Colloid System and vanished into the darkness of space.
For Captain Creuset, and to ensure his own fate wouldn't befall more of his comrades, he would definitely win this battle!
In his calm, almost deathly still eyes, Nicol's pupils reflected the interception forces emerging from the Allied Forces' vanguard fleet not far ahead!
"This strong?" The moment the two forces clashed, Yzak in the Duel blinked and uttered an incredible whisper.
He wasn't referring to the combat prowess of the Allied Forces' vanguard - he was talking about his teammate Nicol.
While Nicol had performed better than others during their military academy days and ranked among the top 20 outstanding graduates, Yzak would have sworn he was definitely stronger than Nicol.
But now, watching their old classmate appearing alone among the Allied Forces' Moebius squadrons, Yzak had to admit he wasn't confident he could suppress him in his current state.
Having returned from the hellish self-destruction of Artemis Fortress, Nicol was fully utilizing the Blitz Gundam's Mirage Colloid capabilities.
Using this game-breaking ability of invisibility, he plunged into the Allied Forces' mobile suit formation. The Blitz Gundam was like the Grim Reaper under cover of darkness!
Suddenly revealing itself to harvest the surrounding Moebius units, then silently fading away again.
This left the enraged Allied Forces furious and helpless, completely unable to deal with the Blitz Gundam.
Even when the Moebius pilots, trying to survive, adopted a clustered formation and carefully scanned every inch of nearby space with wide eyes.
Yet all these defensive measures appeared utterly laughable before Nicol's eyes, like brandishing a spear before the legendary spear master Guan Yu—a futile display of incompetence!
Nicol always managed to pinpoint the enemy's weaknesses, launching unstoppable assaults that wiped out wave after wave of opponents.
Since the battle began, while the rest of them—including their squad leader—had yet to achieve significant results, Nicol alone had already eliminated nearly one-tenth of the enemy Moebius units!
"Yzak, what are you doing?" Beside the Duel Gundam, Dearka spoke with rare seriousness.
After briefly marveling at Nicol's achievements, the Buster Gundam combined the weapons in its hands.
A scorching, massive torrent of energy surged toward the Allied Forces' mobile suit squadrons, creating two or three dazzling bursts of light in the cosmos after the strike.
"I-I get it!" Gritting his teeth, Yzak snapped back to reality. "I can't let Nicol show me up!"
Driven by this thought, he raised his beam rifle, and the Duel Gundam charged into the Allied Forces' Moebius squadrons like a tiger among sheep, wreaking havoc.
Thanks to the performance of these Gundams, the slower Gene units watched as the Allied Forces' cannon fodder teetered on the brink of collapse.
Without hesitation, they turned their guns, veered in an arc, and headed straight for the main fleet of the enemy Allied Forces battleships.
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