Rondo Mina Sahaku and Juri Wu Nien piloted the MBF-P04 Gundam Green Astray for a full five hours of testing. In the end, Reid had to call a halt by claiming he was hungry.
It must be said that this Astray Gundam was exactly what Orb desired. Even Juri, a Natural, could maneuver it flexibly to perform various technical movements, while Mina, a Coordinator, even attempted parkour through the complex testing grounds with the Green Astray.
Both women thoroughly enjoyed themselves, becoming so engrossed that they had to be practically dragged away by Reid when the time came.
Later, during a private dinner, Rondo Mina Sahak tried every possible means to persuade Reid into either selling the Green Astray back to them or at least the technology behind it.
Unfortunately, Orb's current Astray Gundam already represented the pinnacle of their existing technology. They simply didn't possess anything more advanced that could be practically implemented for trade.
If one had to name Orb's current technological reserves, the only thing that might interest Reid was the Yata Mirror Armor. However, the Dawn Gundam that utilized this armor might still be in the blueprint phase, and whether the Yata Mirror Armor had even been completed remained unknown.
Moreover, the Dawn Gundam was secretly developed by Uzumi Nara Athha, meaning Rondo Mina Sahak likely had no knowledge of this mobile suit or its related technologies. Consequently, she had no leverage to convince Reid to make a deal.
As for purchasing it outright with money, Reid made it clear that the New Misurugi Republic's treasury was flush with funds, and such cutting-edge technology would never be exchanged for mere currency.
Ultimately, Rondo Mina Sahak found herself at an impasse with Reid. If he absolutely refused to sell, there was little she could do. She also began to discern Reid's intentions—he was dangling the Green Astray technology as bait, expecting her to return with better offerings for exchange.
Realizing that prolonging her stay would only leave her at Reid's mercy, Rondo Mina Sahak departed the Star Palace Colony Satellite overnight with Juri Wu Nien. She planned to consult with her father, believing that Orb needed to reveal some of its trump cards, if not for trade then at least to demonstrate their capabilities to the world. Otherwise, they risked losing respect among nations and jeopardizing Orb's status as the premier neutral country.
With Rondo Mina Sahak's hasty departure, Reid simply shrugged it off—he had already obtained the data he needed. He immediately returned to the Factory Module to analyze the information recorded from the Green Astray tests.
The results largely matched Reid's expectations. Based on the collected data, neither Rondo Mina Sahak nor Juri Wu Nien had met the activation requirements for the Lambda Driver.
Admittedly, their emotional states had remained relatively stable during testing, but it couldn't be denied that Coordinators still held an advantage over ordinary Earthlings when it came to Lambda Driver compatibility.
Rondo Mina Sahak's mental activity metrics were significantly higher than Juri Wu Nien's. With some training, she would likely meet the Lambda Driver's activation threshold.
Still, the data served its purpose—Reid only needed confirmation that people in the Cosmic Era universe could activate the Lambda Driver. With this verified, he began designing his own custom mobile suit.
The X200 frame of the Blitz is definitely necessary. The Lambda Driver also generates massive heat, and even though Reid has better heat-resistant materials like Lunatitanium to construct the frame compared to the Atlantic Federation, the X100 frame simply can't handle both the Lambda Driver and the Mirage Colloid System—two major heat sources.
After simulations in the Factory Module, Reid found that using the Lambda Driver to create a physical interference layer while simultaneously activating the Mirage Colloid System and Phase Shift Armor would result in terrifying energy consumption. Not to mention, the heat generated by running all three systems at once could practically be used as a thermal attack.
Thus, the X200 frame's built-in thermal circulation system and high heat resistance are essential capabilities for Reid's custom machine.
Moreover, the mobile suit must have equipment capable of conducting and storing thermal energy for offensive use—or at the very least, a dedicated high-speed heat vent for instantaneous cooling when the Mirage Colloid System is deactivated. Otherwise, prolonged heat buildup would either cause the machine to explode or turn Reid in the cockpit into roast duck.
The choice of frame means the mobile suit will inevitably resemble the Blitz Gundam in appearance, except for the head, which can be customized. This time, Reid opted against using TPS Armor due to the need for the Lambda Driver's physical interference layer. Instead, he settled for standard Phase Shift Armor coated with an anti-beam coating.
The main reason is that the heat dissipation requirements when all systems are active are already extreme—adding another layer of armor would only worsen the burden on the propulsion system's cooling.
After considering all these factors, Reid decided against equipping his new machine with a swappable backpack system. Instead, he designed a dedicated multi-purpose cooling backpack.
First, the backpack was shaped like adjustable, rotating wings that could provide atmospheric flight capability without requiring additional transformation (flight mode inspired by the Windam's flight pack).
Next, the wings doubled as heat sinks, using the same cooling material as the Apsalus III's high-energy mega particle cannon. This material is also widely used in Zaku's thermal axes, so Reid designed the heat sinks to be detachable.
Through a rotating mechanism, the heat sinks could extend forward from the shoulders and combine into a High-Thermal Greatsword or be wielded separately for dual-blade close combat. The hilts served as thermal storage units, allowing the wings to function as Thermal Blades for slashing enemy units even in flight mode.
In its complete form, the two storage units and the frame's thermal circulation system ensured that all three high-heat systems could operate simultaneously for a reasonable duration.
The downside? The close-combat configuration had a high wear rate, necessitating multiple spare units.
In emergencies—such as when the heat sinks were unavailable or the Lambda Driver was overloaded beyond the cooling capacity—the heat sinks could be ejected to rapidly vent superheated gas for emergency cooling.
In short, with all three systems active, the frame's thermal circulation and the backpack's heat storage would guarantee at least forty minutes of full operational capability. During this time, Reid wouldn't need to worry about overheating.
Given that Reid couldn't remain cloaked and inactive for the entire forty minutes—attacking would require deactivating the Mirage Colloid System anyway—the actual usable combat time far exceeded forty minutes.
Even if infiltration is required, there's no need to activate all three systems simultaneously. By solely engaging the Mirage Colloid System, the cooling system Reid designed can sustain operations for several hours without issue. The real concern at this point becomes the mobile suit's power supply.
However, due to Reid's insistence on incorporating special armaments while maintaining conventional weaponry, compromises had to be made regarding heat dissipation when all systems are active. He avoided equipping weapons with high cooling demands unless they featured independent cooling systems.
Regarding the shield, Lowe Guele had already completed his mission during his second retreat to Star Palace. While he didn't bring back the rare metal forging technology from the Graveyard Colony Satellite, he did deliver the finished product.
Noin, who issued the mission, received the Junk Guild team and delivered the promised reward. The money didn't stay with Lowe for more than half a day—after distributing shares to others, the remainder was spent on Chobham Armor for upgrading the Red Astray's defenses.
Upon learning this, Reid agreed to sell Chobham Armor to the Junk Guild at wholesale prices, even though Lowe's purchase quantity fell below the minimum wholesale requirement.
After obtaining the Rare Metal Forged Steel from the Graveyard Colony, Reid immediately fed it to the Factory Module, making it available for purchase through the G-Coins marketplace.
This material remains one of CE universe's unexplained black technologies. Simply put: blades forged from this can penetrate any armor except Phase Shift Armor—even the Black Knight armor from the SEED FREEDOM era would be vulnerable.
Since Reid's custom machine already featured backpack-mounted heat sinks forming greatswords and twin blades, no additional physical blade was needed. Instead, he repurposed the metal into a three-clawed, rotatable Jet Anchor protruding from the shield's base (modeled after Blitz's left-hand anchor). When fixed to the shield, it functions as a drill-like melee weapon. When launched, it can pierce non-PS armored units or anchor onto Mothership hulls.
This anchor also doubles as a miniature Wired Bit—its core houses a beam emitter that fires when the claws slightly separate. Specifically designed by Reid to penetrate warship Laminated Armor or future armor-piercing necessities, the beam attacks internal components after breaching defenses.
Beyond this, Reid added no further armaments to the shield.
Of course, ranged weapons remained essential despite cooling constraints. Heavy ion beam rifles were impractical here—for sniping needs, one could simply equip the Immortal Aegis' beam sniper rifle, which uses independent ammunition and cooling systems while the Lambda Driver negates most recoil.
However, firing this rifle while cloaked would disrupt the Mirage Colloid with thermal radiation, requiring reapplication of the colloid for renewed stealth.
Under normal operations, Reid equips only a slim, twin-barreled Beam Arm Shield Cannon on the right arm (resembling the Forbidden Gundam's shield cannon but half the thickness/width since shield functionality was unnecessary). The standard beam weapon's modest cooling demands fit comfortably within Reid's thermal management reserves.
Aside from these, the only remaining armaments on this mobile suit were two beam daggers mounted on either side of the waist—intended for emergency melee combat or throwing when there was no time to draw the thermal greatsword from its back—and the standard finger disguise balloons.
After completing the design, Reid felt that having three standard beam cannons on this unit was sufficient. At most, the beam range of the anchor Bits would be slightly shorter.
Moreover, with the Lambda Driver assisting the phantasm particles, not only could the beams curve, but they could also distort beams in specified directions. What more could one ask for?
Besides, if all else failed, he could always resort to close-quarters combat. Those techniques were nearly impossible to defend against in melee. Even if they didn't penetrate the enemy's defenses, they could still knock them off balance and disrupt their control over their mobile suit.
With the design finalized, the rough specifications of the completed mobile suit were as follows, named [Mystic Lightning] (Please imagine the armaments on both hands—I really can't draw a fully detailed mobile suit here).
Once the design was complete, the Factory Module confirmed it was ready for production. Naturally, Reid immediately proceeded with manufacturing the unit, equipping it with a Minovsky Ultracompact Fusion Reactor. After all, Gundams in the A.C. era of Gundam Wing commonly used more powerful ultracompact fusion reactors. Using a Minovsky reactor was hardly an issue.
This ultracompact fusion reactor was also one of Reid's objectives for this mission—it represented mature, small-scale controlled nuclear fusion. It could even bypass the Neutron Jammer, since the Neutron Jammer only interfered with nuclear fission, not fusion.
Furthermore, the ultracompact fusion reactor was far easier to conceal than the Minovsky reactor, as it didn't emit any strange particles that could be detected. Once mobile suits equipped with Anti-Neutron Jammers, like the Freedom, began appearing, Reid could simply pass his unit off as one of them. By then, Kira would already be piloting the Freedom all over the place—might as well let him take the blame for this small detail.
However, after production and testing, Reid realized that this mobile suit was classified as a close-combat-oriented unit, and it was particularly suited for stealth infiltration in the style of a one-man army.
Indeed, the most "basic" technique for an ultimate assassin was going on a rampage—stealth was just preparation for a more efficient massacre.
Coincidentally, Reid's combat stats had improved significantly through numerous battles and were nearing the 400 mark. At least he wouldn't be unable to utilize the unit's full potential due to low combat proficiency.
With the mobile suit completed and tested, it was time to prepare for the upcoming operation. But Reid hadn't yet decided who would participate in this mission.
The A.C. universe was Noin and Une's homeland. Even if it was a parallel universe, out of both sentiment and logic, Reid had to ask if they wanted to return and see it for themselves.
So, with a solemn expression, Reid called Ange, Noin, and Une over.
After the four of them gathered in a room above the Factory Module, Une, noticing Reid's serious demeanor and the fact that she had been summoned, half-jokingly asked:
"Reid, what's going on? Did the Earth Alliance or PLANT attack? Do we need to prepare to evacuate? You look so grim."
Seeing that Une was still in the mood for jokes, Reid could only force a bitter smile and reply:
"Nothing that extreme. It's just that the mysterious entity has given us a new mission. Une, Noin—you two should be very familiar with this battle. A.C. 195, the surprise attack on the New Edwards Base by the Earth Sphere Unified Forces."
The moment Reid mentioned this, Noin and Une's expressions immediately changed.
Noin had only been with Reid for a short while when she received news that she could return home for a visit—though that world was a parallel one. The timeline of the battle when she was brought to this universe had long since passed.
Une was in a similar situation. She had personally experienced that battle, and if it was a parallel universe, her counterpart would be present there.
After a long silence, Noin was the first to make a decision.
"Reid, I'm sorry, but I won't be joining this mission. The opponents you'll be facing were once my comrades. Even if they didn't consider me a comrade back then, from my perspective, I don't want to fight against them."
Noin's reasoning was appropriate, but in truth, she simply didn't want to dwell on someone she shouldn't—even if that person wasn't present in this battle. Noin was a rather traditional woman; now that she had given both her heart and body to Reid, she felt she shouldn't linger on past emotions.
Naturally, Reid didn't object. Noin's original partner was in that world, and even if they wouldn't meet this time, Reid didn't want to risk any possibility of betrayal. So he nodded in agreement and decided to spend the night with Noin to strengthen their bond.
Seeing Noin make her decision so quickly, Une sighed inwardly before steeling her resolve and speaking up.
"Reid, I want to participate in this battle. At the same time, I need to act alone for a while. I plan to relay the future I know to Treize Khushrenada in that world."
"Please grant me your permission. After this, I will entrust my heart and body to you, pledging my eternal loyalty."
Reid remarked that it seemed like she'd have to stay loyal to him regardless of whether he agreed. But he was also hypocritical—he didn't find it strange that Une couldn't completely let go of her past. After all, she wasn't a risk of betraying him in that way.
So he simply smiled and replied,
"No problem. It's just a parallel world. Even if Treize Khushrenada learns everything about the future and creates a new worldline, it won't affect us."
"However, infiltrating a base alone to meet someone is too dangerous. I'll arrange for Xia Yufang to accompany you inside. Also, you must wear the protective suit I made."
Pleased that Reid agreed, Une's loyalty instantly soared past 80.
She had no objections to bringing Xia Yufang along—Reid was just assigning her a bodyguard.
Moreover, Une understood perfectly well that Reid wasn't the least bit worried about her betraying him—not because he trusted human nature, but because he trusted the power of that mysterious existence.
But since Une was going, the roster for this mission was finalized: Reid himself, Ange, Une, Xia Yufang, and Xia Yulan—five in total.
Considering Une didn't have a dedicated Mobile Suit and needed to carry out a covert operation, Reid decided to hastily construct a Blitz Gundam for her. After all, Une's MS piloting skills were rated elite—more than capable of handling a B-class machine.
Xia Yulan inherited the NT-X Gundam that Reid had phased out. During the recent Lambda Driver tests, she had already piloted this unit. In atmospheric conditions, the NT-X's large Bits couldn't be used anyway—they could only function as shoulder cannons—so her lack of spatial recognition ability didn't affect combat effectiveness. Moreover, she possessed considerable Awakening Value and could technically use Bits in space, though not with the same proficiency as Reid or Mu.
Finally, there was Xia Yufang. Her Mobile Suit piloting skills were merely competent, and handling a B-class unit would be cumbersome for her. So, Reid decided to procure one of Kowloon's Hell Kings for her.
This machine was classified as a small unit, barely scraping into the C-rank. Without a Lambda Driver, even a GINN could overpower it—its weapon caliber and defensive capabilities were simply too inferior. After all, while GINN armor was subpar compared to later MS models, it was still far better than Arm Slaves, whose 20mm machine guns could penetrate their plating.
However, this unit was well-suited for Xia Yufang to coordinate with Une.
The Hell King still retained its Electronic Camouflage System—essentially a budget version of the Mirage Colloid System. It provided anti-radar and infrared stealth through optical-physical effects, though it couldn't be used in rain, and the invisibility wasn't flawless. Once activated, it emitted a strong ozone odor that professionals could easily detect.
But during the New Edwards Base raid, these drawbacks didn't matter. First, it wasn't raining that day. Second, with the battlefield engulfed in explosions, who would notice the smell of ozone?
Additionally, Xia Yufang could activate the Lambda Driver, though her piloting wasn't as refined as her sister's. This made her a perfect partner for Une in infiltrating the base.
Once Une fulfilled her objective, Xia Yufang and Une could simply act as reconnaissance, feeding intel to the others.
Reid had full confidence in his two newly designed Gundams—the Immortal Aegis and Mystic Lightning. With a nuclear reactor swap, these B-class units could be upgraded to A-class. This time, he had access to a Minovsky Ultracompact Fusion Reactor. All three main combat units were equipped with Lambda Drivers (once the technical hurdles were cleared, refitting the Immortal Aegis would take no time). Five Gundams that couldn't even resist Beam Weapons? How could they possibly stand against him?
And to ensure he could capture their units, Reid had a special surprise prepared.
Thanks to Great Wall War Dragon for the 100 Qidian Coin tip!
Thanks to Lucky Reader for the 666 Qidian Coin tip!
Friendly reminder: Many settings in Gundam Wing are so poorly thought-out that even random numbers wouldn't justify them. The author will nerf them as needed—only nerfs, no buffs!
For example, Gundarium Alloy's defensive capabilities—I can tolerate it being stronger than Lunatitanium, but not by an absurd margin. But the Wing Gundam (16.7 meters tall) weighing only 7 tons? Seriously?
Doesn't matter how tough it is—if my 50+ ton unit grazes it, that thing's getting launched into orbit.
In this story, Wing units weigh at least 30 tons, with Gundarium Alloy serving as a direct upgrade to Lunatitanium.