Coincidentally, because they had lost Kira—the boy who had protected this ship and fought to his last drop of blood—the Archangel crew felt deeply guilty.
They did not follow Wang Hu's arrangement. After arriving at the Allied Forces headquarters in Alaska, they went to find the East Asian Army delegation stationed there.
Thus, following the inertia of the world's trajectory, the Archangel was left docked at a port entrance, quietly forgotten as if abandoned.
Waiting to rot.
However, not everything remained unchanged. The Atlantic Federation likely sensed that this state-of-the-art battleship of theirs had become too deeply entangled with the East Asian Alliance. While it might not be physically apparent, spiritually it was no longer pure.
Moreover, Halberton was still present and currently at the Allied Forces headquarters.
Therefore, Mu, Natarle Badgiruel, and Flay had not been reassigned.
"What?"
Just as General Charle was rushing toward the Archangel, those aboard the ship also saw the fiery meteors in the sky, signaling the Coordinators' arrival.
Incredulous exclamations erupted immediately.
Natarle Badgiruel, in particular, could not comprehend why the Coordinators would attack this location.
"Why here?"
Even now, Natarle still firmly believed the Coordinators' target was the Panama Spaceport—one of the Allied Forces' only two space launch ports, as propaganda had claimed.
"How should I know!" Mu, who happened to be on the bridge, said with a grimace. "Instead of attacking the Panama Spaceport, they come to Alaska, which holds no strategic significance. What are the Coordinators thinking?"
After uttering these words irritably, Mu sprinted toward the hangar on his long legs.
"Natarle, now is not the time to discuss this," Murrue interjected calmly. Having served on the disaster-prone Archangel, she had witnessed all sorts of crises. Especially after Wang Hu and the others departed, Murrue's growth had been remarkably rapid.
While Natarle, trapped in her cognitive bias, struggled to sort out her thoughts, Murrue observed the anti-aircraft fire streaking across the sky outside.
Already composed, she began directing the Archangel's combat operations methodically.
"Contact headquarters command and inquire about our next specific orders."
Moreover, with their superior right behind them and well aware that he had already connected with the East Asian Alliance, Murrue remained eerily calm. If not for the clarity in her eyes, one might have thought she had activated her Seed abilities.
"Yes!" Miriallia, who had hurried to the bridge, responded loudly.
"Prepare anti-aircraft firepower. Assess what the surrounding friendly forces are doing and coordinate with them."
"Yes!" the ship's weapons officer and helmsman replied in unison.
"You should calm down now too."
After issuing the basic commands, Murrue turned to Natarle, who had returned to her command seat.
"Ah, my apologies," Natarle said, a rare blush tinging the cheeks of the typically ice-cold beauty. "Open the stern missile bay. Charge the Gottfried Main Cannon."
Repeating what Murrue had already commanded, Natarle Badgiruel found herself trapped in a spiral of circular logic.
Frankly, she still struggled to comprehend the Coordinators' strategic deployment.
Fortunately, her name was Natarle Badgiruel. After quickly regaining her composure,
she remained as reliable as ever when immersed in combat.
The Coordinators' assault was sudden, compounded by the Atlantic Federation's deliberate negligence toward Allied Forces Headquarters.
Their intention was clearly to use the stationed troops as cannon fodder.
Thus, upon first contact, the defense forces at Allied Forces Headquarters found themselves at a disadvantage due to various objective factors.
With betrayal from within and perimeter commanders retreating prematurely,
their combat effectiveness was already inferior to the aggressive Coordinators. Unsurprisingly, defensive lines across the Alaska Allied Forces Headquarters began crumbling.
The only silver lining was the vast expanse of the Allied Forces Headquarters. In reality, this battle
wouldn't unfold like Wang Hu's previous life memories of watching it on television,
where Coordinators seemed to breach Alaska Headquarters instantly after launching their assault.
First, it must be clarified that the Allied Forces Alaska Headquarters indeed bordered the coastline.
However, the extensive terrain between the coastline and the headquarters featured mountains, plains, and rivers.
Human history is as long as the history of warfare itself.
With such accumulated wartime experience, the Allied Forces' operational planners were far from foolish.
During the design and construction of the Alaska Headquarters, they had contingency plans for potential surprise attacks.
From the coastline to the headquarters, interconnected permanent defensive fortifications leveraged advantageous terrain.
Where natural barriers were absent, artificial chokepoints were created.
Though the troops stationed here were less combat-effective than frontline field armies, their reliance on multi-layered fortifications
meant that while they were at a disadvantage, it was undeniable.
In the mountains, Allied Forces resisted stubbornly; along the coast, battleships fought desperately.
Across the vast plains, loyal and courageous Allied Forces heavy armored tank clusters could be seen everywhere, defending the honor of their former dominance on the ground with sheer bravery.
In the skies, continuously launched Pioneer Strikers attempted with their limited strength
to secure a peaceful blue sky for their comrades on the ground.
Thus, the stubborn Coordinators, despite assembling an overwhelming force, found themselves momentarily troubled
by these Naturals who resisted fiercely even in the face of certain death.
After all, each Coordinator casualty was irreplaceable, and ZAFT had concentrated most of its mobile forces here
to achieve victory, not to engage in a Stalingrad-style meat grinder with the Naturals.
Consequently, the Coordinators promptly adjusted their tactics.
Since the widespread airborne assault hadn't achieved the expected results—their thought processes were unconventional but not unintelligent—
they began consolidating their forces, gathering scattered paratroopers into a concentrated fist.
After merging dispersed units, they advanced toward strategic key points, fully leveraging the mobility and firepower advantages of Mobile Suits.
Expanding control zones from points to areas, they initiated counter-encirclements against the resisting Natural Allied Forces.
The cutting-edge Qilin mobile suits spearheaded the assault, piercing straight through the Allied Forces' defensive nodes.
After breaching the defenses, the vanguard units automatically expanded toward both flanks to secure their foothold.
The MS units originally forming the main body then successively took over as the spearhead.
This cycle repeated continuously.
Soon, Admiral Halberton at the Allied Forces headquarters grew grim-faced as he observed the real-time tactical display and realized the enemy's strategy.
"Admiral, the enemy ZAFT assault force has broken through our coastal supply fleet."
"Our outer positions—including Stronghold 3 and Hill 404—have fallen one after another."
"Scattered small enemy raiding units have been detected on the plains near the headquarters command center."
One piece of bad news after another tightened the furrows on Admiral Halberton's brow.
"What about the Archangel?"
Amid the relentless setbacks, Halberton sought a glimmer of consolation.
"Still holding position," the communications officer replied after checking.
"Is that so?" Halberton's brow knitted deeply. Before he could devise adjustments to the dire situation, another crisis erupted—gunfire echoed from the perimeter of the core headquarters zone.
"How could this be? Have the Coordinators reached us here?" Admiral Halberton was stunned. This was the central command area; if he could hear gunfire, the situation must be critical.
The shock was universal among officers in the command center. After urgent inquiries revealed the truth, few could maintain composure.
As misfortunes never come singly, it turned out to be troops from the Eurasian Federation—dispatched by General Charle of their outer defense forces to investigate the headquarters' intentions.
Naturally, the headquarters garrison refused them entry, and the two allied forces inexplicably opened fire on each other.
"Cyclops System?" The Eurasian Federation's disruption inadvertently alerted Halberton. Regardless of whether their concerns were valid, his instincts screamed danger.
While fratricidal clashes continued outside, Halberton hastily diverted personnel toward the energy core—despite the strained frontline and chaotic rear.
He feared being betrayed by his own allies.
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