The Mobile Suit coordination meeting concluded after Reid finalized the last model.
Elvira Hill immediately returned to her lab to work in seclusion. While Tem Ray had already presented his results, her research was still undergoing revisions. She planned to make a final push, knowing her current research resources would eventually be lost otherwise.
After the meeting, Reid kept Tem Ray behind and summoned the Black Tri-Stars.
Once everyone else had left, Reid poured Tem Ray a cup of coffee and handed each member of the Black Tri-Stars a can of beer before speaking:
"Gentlemen, I've received a new cross-dimensional mission—U.C. 0088, the decisive battle of Gryps II. This means returning to your world, a parallel timeline set after your deaths. I need to know if you're willing to go back for a look."
At these words, Tem Ray—who had initially seemed listless about being kept behind—suddenly brightened. He looked up and asked:
"What?! We can return to the Universal Century? Of course I'll go! Commander, could I get some leave to visit my son? Wait—no, I don't even know if Amuro is still alive, or where he'd be if he is... This is complicated."
Tem Ray looked deeply troubled, while the three simple-minded members of the Black Tri-Stars took it more casually. They downed their beers in one go, then grabbed seven or eight more cans from the liquor cabinet. Gaia, noticing Tem Ray's distress, said:
"Hey, Dr. Ray, your son was the badass who took out the three of us. A guy like that doesn't die easily. We're definitely going back to see how Zeon ended up. Even if we can't meet him directly, gathering some intel should be easy. Didn't you say Amuro Ray became a Federation war hero?
Worst case, we'll check how many of our old comrades are still kicking. If any are alive, we'll pass along a message for you—consider it a small favor among fellow crewmates."
Hearing this, Tem Ray looked at these former Zeon soldiers—once his enemies—and sincerely thanked them:
"Thank you, thank you. I'd really appreciate that."
Seeing their reactions, Reid didn't need to ask further, but still confirmed:
"So all four of you are in, then?"
Ortega crushed his second empty beer can with one hand and answered decisively:
"Absolutely, boss. Hope we get to spar with the Earth Federation this time. Dying so early last time left us with some regrets."
After Ortega spoke, Tem Ray also confirmed:
"I'm definitely going back. But Commander Reid, could I share some technical data with my son? Don't worry—I won't use any of your proprietary tech, only what I've learned independently. You can review the materials first."
Reid sensed Tem Ray's nervousness—he'd guessed this request might displease Reid but asked anyway.
Recalling how this man had been designing Mobile Suit components for Amuro even at death's door, Reid could only sigh at the universal compassion of parents. He then said:
"You can't hand out any technical data—that door must remain shut. But I can provide the G-Series Backpack Exchange System specifications to your designated recipient. Consider this your reward for developing the Assault GM Dominion. How does that sound?"
Tim Ray's expression darkened at Reid's first statement, thinking his request was too much to begin with. But the latter half instantly lifted his spirits—the backpack exchange system was more than enough. He had originally only expected some structural data to improve mobile suit responsiveness.
Truthfully, Reid agreed to Tim Ray's request mainly because of prior experience. During their trip to the AC universe, Une's demands had been far more excessive—she outright gave spoilers.
However, since Tim Ray's request was approved, Reid couldn't play favorites. He turned to the Black Tri-Stars and asked,
"Gaia, Ortega, Mash—do you three want to send anything to people you care about in the parallel world? If you have requests, speak up now."
At this question, Gaia, Ortega, and Mash exchanged glances before Gaia answered directly,
"By the time we died, none of us had many immediate family left. Plus, we were all bachelors—no wives or kids. After our deaths, whatever relatives we had probably divided our assets. Unless we happen to run into them this time, there's nothing we need to send. Boss, if you really want to give us a perk, just treat us to some good booze instead."
Reid was speechless at these three carefree idiots. When had he ever skimped on their alcohol? As long as it was downtime, they could drink as much as they wanted. At most, the limited variety was due to transport constraints in the Colony Satellite.
Annoyed, Reid shooed them away, grumbling,
"Fine, buy your own damn drinks. I'll just give you a bigger bonus later. The stash at your places has more variety than mine anyway—where would I even get 'good booze' for you?
Departure's in three days. Tune up your mobile suits and switch as much weaponry to beam-based as possible. Our destination is nine years after your deaths—ballistic weapons are obsolete except for a few high-yield ones.
This is the Black Tri-Stars' grand return. Don't embarrass yourselves by getting shot down and killed again—dying twice would be pathetic."
The reminder made Gaia, Ortega, and Mash nod seriously. Having been given a second chance at life, none of them wanted to die again.
Life in the Star Palace Colony Satellite was fulfilling, and with its abundance of single women, all three had found lovers. Their will to survive was stronger than ever.
So they promptly dragged Tim Ray out of the room, insisting he help them plan the armament layout for their Custom Kampfers.
The very next day, Reid received the modification proposals Gaia, Ortega, and Mash had drafted under Tim Ray's guidance.
Reid was generous with his frontline fighters, outfitting their mobile suits with top-tier configurations. Thanks to the Gundarium Alloy from the AC universe, the overall weight was reduced again. Even a high-speed assault unit like the Kampfer could now support heavy armor.
Tim Ray's modifications were straightforward: while the mobile suit was upgraded to heavy armor, its hardpoints remained unchanged, allowing it to still equip multiple weapon types.
Tim Ray simply replaced the weapon interfaces with beam weapons. Depending on the situation, they could be configured with a long-range beam rifle, a beam gatling gun, or the trio's favorite man-portable rocket launcher. The left arm could also be equipped with an anti-beam shield.
Additionally, ramming horns were installed on both shoulders, and these horns could be externally charged with beam energy—even launched as beam javelins to ambush enemies.
Finally, the iconic twin 360mm giant bazookas on the back were replaced with heavy particle beam cannons (which, when powered by a Minovsky ultracompact fusion reactor, became high mega particle cannons).
In short, this Mobile Suit retained its full mobility while maximizing firepower. It was renamed the Amazing Kampfer, serving as a successor to the Kampfer (though aside from appearance and name, the technology was almost entirely unrelated).
Reid supported these modifications. The Gryps II Conflict was a three-way battle between the Titans, AEUG, and Neo Zeon.
In this battle, the number of people who awakened as Newtypes (including those who awakened in their final moments) reached double digits. Non-Newtypes like Gaia, Ortega, and Mash would struggle in close combat against these Newtypes. Moreover, their Mobile Suit piloting skills remained at elite level—better suited for long-range support than trying to charge headfirst into Newtype opponents.
Thus, Reid used the Factory Module to complete the modifications on all three Kampfers in a single day. A craftsman must first sharpen his tools. For this battle, he needed to harvest a large amount of G-Coins, and as long as Gaia, Ortega, and Mash didn't run into any major protagonists or antagonists, they could easily handle other opponents.
And these three were particularly skilled at taking down motherships.
After all, whether by luck or by hitching a ride with Char, the Black Tri-Stars had broken through the Earth Federation fleet and even captured its supreme commander, General John Ibrahim Revil.
When the time came, soldiers would fight soldiers, and kings would fight kings—these three would be Reid's main force for harvesting G-Coins.
With the Black Tri-Stars' Mobile Suits ready and a day's rest, Reid prepared to set off for U.C. 0088 and the decisive battle at Gryps II.
For this battle, he could bring one mothership. As long as it could fit, he could bring anyone—whether summoned by the system or recruited by Reid.
Naturally, the mothership of choice was the Aries, which had been dismantled and rebuilt by the system. The ship was now equipped with the first version of Nami's modified cosmic battleship AI. Tests showed that even with native crew operating the fire control systems, its performance was on par with that of trained veterans.
The ship's crew remained unchanged: Captain Grodek Ainoa, helmsman Ivan Paserov, and mechanic Kid Salsamille.
However, since Tem Ray would also be joining, he would mostly stay aboard the ship—effectively a guest seat with almost no charisma.
As for Mobile Suits, they naturally went all out: the Black Tri-Stars' three Amazing Kampfers and Reid's Mystic Lightning were must-brings.
The main force members include Ange's Immortal Aegis (equipped with a Beam Machine Gun instead of the Beam Sniper Rifle per Tem Ray's suggestion, with newly added Quad Missile Launchers under both wings) and Noin's Custom Wing Gundam (the Buster Beam Rifle is kept as an optional weapon, with the main armament replaced by the original Immortal Aegis' Beam Sniper Rifle, while two additional Quad Missile Launchers are mounted on the thighs).
The last two pilots naturally remain Une and Xia Yulan.
Une isn't just highly capable in administration—her tactical command skills in OZ were also maxed out. Thus, she rarely needs to sortie. The Blitz Gundam, equipped with a compact nuclear fusion reactor, is reserved for emergencies when the ship is on the verge of sinking, using the Mirage Colloid System for escape.
There's no helping it—though Reid claims to treat everyone equally, deep down, he still considers Une, who single-handedly built the New Misurugi Republic's government, more important than the rest of the crew.
Xia Yulan, of course, will still pilot the NT-X Gundam. This Mobile Suit's configuration remains unchanged from their previous mission to the AC universe. Since Xia Yufang has Awakening Value, the two Bits can now fully serve their intended purpose.
Naturally, Xia Yufang and Reid will also be brought along. In a battle like this, remaining unaffiliated isn't an option—the conflict itself will last three days. What if all three factions decide to treat them as space pirates?
Leaving aside the issue of ammunition and supplies for just one ship, with so many Mobile Suits across the three factions, even if they don't immediately deploy their main forces to gang up on them, things could escalate to the point where they'd have to face a full-on boss brawl against Kamille, Char, Sirocco, and Haman. If these four decide to eliminate them first, achieving zero casualties would be impossible, even if their entire crew fought.
Most likely, only Reid and Ange would survive unscathed—the others' fates would be left to chance.
Reid isn't willing to risk his life for double the G-Coin reward, so joining a faction is a must.
During the conflict, there will be numerous instances of negotiations, alliances, and betrayals among the three factions. This is where Xia Yufang, specialized in interpersonal manipulation, becomes invaluable. Besides, squeezing one more person onto the ship is hardly an issue.
However, since many of those departing this time are unaware of the Factory Module's existence, Reid has arranged their departure point to be a secret port in the Star Palace Colony Satellite.
After all, the system has never stipulated that G-Invasion requires a specific location for the transition. Reid always used the Factory Module because it offered the highest secrecy and the fewest people knew about it.
In truth, Reid suspects the system would allow him to transition even outside the Star Palace Colony Satellite. Since no time passes in reality during his trips to other worlds, as long as he doesn't transition in front of others, it should be fine. (He isn't sure if others can see the red code.)
Once the Aries ship systems completed their self-checks without issue, and all pilots—including Reid—finished their Mobile Suit diagnostics and pre-launch preparations,
Reid selected the G-Invasion Module for the Gryps Conflict of U.C. 0088.
For faction choice, with the Black Tri-Stars and Tem Ray on their side, both Neo Zeon and AEUG were viable options.
However, considering that AEUG primarily consisted of former Earth Federation personnel, the Black Tri-Stars—former Zeon soldiers—might feel uncomfortable. Tem Ray, on the other hand, didn't have such strong factional biases.
Thus, Reid directly chose the Neo Zeon faction—absolutely not because he wanted to meet Haman Karn, nor was he eyeing the mature Psycommu System mounted on the Qubeley.
Reid's official justification was that Neo Zeon had the fewest Mobile Suits worth capturing. The Gaza-C was truly of little research value, and the remaining Mobile Suits Neo Zeon had at this point were outdated models like the Pre-Production Gelgoog and Rick Dom, leftovers from the One Year War brought to Axis.
As the red light of dimensional crossing engulfed the Aries, the next moment—linked to the bridge—Reid saw in the feed that the Aries had been hurled into space. From the bridge, they could directly observe a red battleship docked among the asteroid field ahead.
That red vessel was unmistakably the Gwadan, the first ship of the Gwadan-class, which Haman boarded in the storyline.
Further ahead and more distant from the Gwadan, two other battleships—one white and one green—could barely be observed. The green one was clearly the Irish-class Cosmic Battleship, Radish; the white one was naturally the famed Argama-class battleship, Argama.
At this moment, one of Gundam's iconic scenes could be captured in the feed: the Zeta Gundam holding a white flag, slowly flying toward the Gwadan.
From this scene, Reid confirmed the timeline. This should be the point when the AEUG decided to ally with Axis's Neo Zeon. Soon after, another famous scene would unfold—Haman angrily confronting her "ex-boyfriend" (though the two had never actually dated).
Thanks to Burning Wings for the 500 Qidian coin tip.
Thanks to reader 20240229214542969 for the 100 Qidian coin tip.
The author once encountered a translation issue where the Argama was mistakenly translated as "Neo Argama," while the actual Neo Argama was referred to as "Neo Argama Kai."
However, officially, there is no such battleship as the "Neo Argama Kai."