After evading the pursuing ships from the dock, the Eternal continued flying toward the prearranged rendezvous point.
"Fifteen minutes to the designated location… are the support forces ready?"
Andrew glanced at his pocket watch with his remaining right eye, estimating the time needed for the next leg of the journey.
"What a pity… there are no MS on board. If the Jachin Due garrison spots us, we'll probably have to run."
"No MS?"
At this moment, Athrun, who had just been tossed around the corridors by Aisha's maneuvers, arrived at the bridge and heard this shocking news.
"The Eternal doesn't have an MS unit?!"
"The Eternal is a support ship built specifically for Freedom and Justice. So the hangar only has two units."
Andrew calmly explained the Eternal's design intent, raising his head to continue observing the route chart.
"That is, the Justice you didn't bring back and Freedom are the MS units originally assigned to this warship."
After hearing Andrew's explanation, Athrun fell silent.
Although Athrun was a ZAFT Red, facing a space battlefield without MS pilots, there was nothing he could do.
But this silence did not last long. Suddenly, the radar displayed a large number of GINN signals, converging on the Eternal.
"The Jachin Due garrison reacts this fast…"
Seeing this scene, Andrew did not feel any panic.
"Boy, go to that gunner's seat and fasten your seatbelt. Don't get thrown out!"
Andrew's words reminded Athrun of the few minutes ago when he had been slammed against the walls in the Eternal's corridor. Quickly, Athrun floated to the seat Andrew mentioned and fastened his seatbelt.
Watching Athrun sit at the gunner position and start reviewing the Eternal's armaments, Andrew turned to Lacus.
"So… Miss Lacus, what's the order?"
"…Do not fire at the cockpit."
Lacus paused for a moment before speaking.
"Does that include the Copy units?"
Andrew narrowed his eyes. Though he wasn't surprised by Lacus' response, he asked just to be sure.
Regarding the Copy units, the Clyne faction and the Zala faction held differing views.
The Zala faction considered that the Copy units, from the project initiation to leaving the incubation pods and entering combat, were designed solely as "combat machines" and "reinforcements," essentially no different from the Earth Forces' intelligent combat systems.
The Clyne faction, however, believed that even if the Copy units' genes came from the same individual, once born and released from the pods, standing on the colony surface, breathing the same air, eating the same food, they would experience human sensations. Their thoughts were merely suppressed by the implanted chips, and they should be considered human just like Coordinators.
This view from the Clyne faction was proposed by Lacus herself.
"Captain Andrew."
While discussing this, Lacus' tone lost its earlier gentleness, becoming serious.
"The existence of the Copy units is not a reason for us to disregard life. To put it bluntly, their bodies are identical to ours as Coordinators. If we ignore their lives, what kind of monsters will we ultimately become?"
"Moreover… just because this has been our view all along, does that make it right?"
"…I understand."
Andrew smiled, turned around, and said, "What a tough job… Aisha, take us out of here."
"Understood… everyone remember to fasten your seatbelts."
Aisha pushed the throttle, increasing the Eternal's thruster output and gaining more speed.
As the Eternal and the Jachin Due garrison drew near, various missiles were launched from the GINN clusters, flying toward the Eternal.
Clearly, with permission from Chairman Zala, the Jachin Due garrison intended to destroy the Eternal directly.
"No hesitation at all… anti-air array, activate!"
Andrew waved his hand, issuing the command.
The Eternal's anti-aircraft guns wove a dense web of fire, intercepting the concentrated missiles under continuous radar tracking. Some GINNs even had their head sensors destroyed, losing combat capability.
But despite the seemingly one-sided battle in favor of the Eternal, its crew did not relax.
They knew very well that as the Jachin Due reinforcements increased, if the anti-air fire was breached or the anti-air array ran out of ammunition, the Eternal would inevitably be destroyed by the attacks.
Aisha adjusted the rudder, her eyes continuously scanning the Jachin Due defensive line, trying to find weaknesses.
Seeing a relatively large asteroid not far away, Aisha came up with a plan.
"Andy, ten o'clock direction, depression angle 20. I need to make a gap!"
"Ten o'clock direction, depression angle 20, missile launch!"
Andrew naturally trusted Aisha's decision.
After all, this was the tacit understanding they had forged back in the North African war zone on Earth.
The missile launch tubes on the Eternal, which had long been prepared, activated one by one. Each missile swiftly destroyed the limbs of the GINNs on their flight path, leaving them unable to resist.
Aisha pushed down the rudder. The Eternal quickly completed the turn and flew toward the gap just blasted open.
Passing through the immobilized GINNs, a massive asteroid appeared ahead.
"Everyone, hold on!"
Aisha extended her right hand and pressed a button beside her.
A thick steel cable, driven by a "steel peg" at the rear thruster constantly adjusting direction, accurately anchored into the asteroid.
As the Eternal continued forward, the steel cable snapped taut. The Eternal jolted violently, like a giant meteor hammer, curving along the asteroid.
The intense centrifugal force pressed everyone into their seats. Even Athrun couldn't help but frown at the pressure.
Aisha observed the scene ahead, her right hand on a button.
Finally, upon reaching the optimal position, Aisha pressed the button. The steel cable released, and the Eternal was flung outward. Slightly adjusting its direction, it continued toward the target point.
"This should buy us quite a bit of time…"
Aisha pushed the throttle and glanced at the radar.
"I don't think it will be that easy…"
Andrew shook his head, pointing at the radar image. "See? They're catching up again."
Several GINNs followed the Eternal's path, flying past the asteroid and appearing behind the Eternal, raising their anti-ship missiles.
"Looks like the rough ride isn't over yet…"
Aisha said, preparing to tilt the rudder back and adjust the ship's direction.
The next moment, several green particle beams flew from a distance, striking the GINNs' arms and head sensors with precision.
"Freedom… is that Kira?"
Seeing the blue-and-white mobile suit rapidly approaching the Eternal, Athrun couldn't help but be surprised. "He didn't leave?!"
"Having an MS join is good, but right now, a single MS won't make much difference…"
Andrew glanced at Freedom, which had flown close to the Eternal, standing on top and unleashing full firepower against the pursuing GINNs, and squinted.
"Kira…"
Seeing the familiar MS before her, Lacus murmured.
"We've spotted the rendezvous fleet!"
Following Andrew's words, two Nazca-class ships appeared in everyone's view.
-----------------------------------
"…The Eternal has been spotted."
"Good. Launch missiles to cover them, Hilda! Move out!"
As the two Nazca-class ships fired a large number of missiles, their hangar doors opened, and a black-painted GINN appeared on the ejection track.
"Then, Black Tri-Stars squad, Hilda Harken, Special Type GINN, moving out."
The woman with a black eyepatch removed the visor from her helmet, pushed the throttle, pressed the pedal, and the black GINN was ejected into space along the electromagnetic launch track.
"So many… the Special Type GINN alone can't handle all of them, right?"
Watching the Nazca-class missiles explode behind the Eternal in sparks, Hilda raised an eyebrow.
Although she said it couldn't be handled, Hilda operated the GINN, pulling out a beam sniper rifle, and stood on the Nazca-class's armored deck to start aiming.
"We don't need to annihilate all of them; just make sure the Eternal and we complete the evacuation."
The Nazca-class captain spoke over the comms.
"Also, remember not to hit the cockpit; that's Lacus's order."
"Understood. Of course we know her personality," Hilda said, raising her crosshair slightly over a GINN cockpit instinctively.
A thick beam shot from the sniper rifle's muzzle, precisely melting the head sensor of one GINN and the right leg of a white GINN.
As the other two black GINNs left the hangar and reached the Nazca-class deck, the Nazca-class had effectively become a long-range support fire point.
"The Eternal has broken through the Jachin Due defense line and reached the rendezvous point…"
The Nazca-class radar observer reported.
"Ships, move out. Don't get left behind."
The Nazca-class captain adjusted his cap and said.
The Nazca-class thrusters ignited, ejecting thick flames and accelerating continuously.
When the Eternal reached the Nazca-class according to schedule, the two Nazca-class ships had reached their maximum speed. Although Aisha, addicted to high-speed maneuvers, initially left them behind, escaping the Jachin Due defense line's pursuit was straightforward.
As the bulk of the GINNs crossed the asteroid, only three ships speeding away at extreme velocity could be seen in view.
-----------------------------------
In Orb Industrial 7's hangar.
"The Archangel has completed docking… Closing the gates."
As the Archangel returned to Industrial 7 and finished mooring, the heavy doors closed.
"Everyone, good work…"
Murrue finally exhaled a sigh of relief after the entire support operation, up to the return to Industrial 7.
"Captain, you go ahead first."
Arnold waved his hand. "I need to check the engine status. After all, we've been running at full speed the whole way back."
Although speeding the ship with maximum throttle was exhilarating, skipping a check could be problematic if a malfunction occurred in the next battle.
"…Alright."
Hearing Arnold, Murrue left the bridge and headed toward the hangar. Meanwhile, Roz was sitting in the Narrative Gundam cockpit, chatting casually with Mu.
"To be honest, I really didn't expect you to act so recklessly…"
Mu shrugged in the comms.
"Now, all the cool stuff is done by you, and I'm here in the cockpit suit, making me look so silly."
Mu's tone carried a joking note; he knew that if it came to him piloting the Strike Gundam in action, it would mean the situation had reached its worst point.
"If I could, I'd rather not be so cool."
Roz, having removed his helmet, took two sips from a pouch of purified water.
"Or rather, I've thought more than once how great it would be if I hadn't created the Jegan A Type back then, just living as a normal citizen, quietly spending my life."
"But you still got in and fired."
Mu laughed, secretly activating the comms' recording function.
Whenever the atmosphere reached a certain point, Roz tended to say all sorts of strange things; surely this time would provide some good material.
"Because my heart kept questioning me… whether I should become one of those anti-human guys."
Roz sighed. "At the time, I was already a life-worn office worker at the Blue Cosmos lab, yet inside me, a spark still burned… and it's been burning ever since."
"Anyway, since I fired, I've also been prepared to be shot and die anywhere."
While Roz was reflecting, he didn't notice that Mu had recorded every word verbatim.
"Beep… beep… beep…"
Suddenly, a comm signal rang, startling the two chatting.
"…Looks like you're quite popular, huh?"
Mu closed his notebook, looking a bit helpless. "Murrue will probably come find you soon, so I'll take off first."
"Also, don't forget to send your combat log later."
"Why do you want that? Our methods are different anyway."
Roz had a feeling Mu wanted to do something with his combat log but couldn't figure out what.
"…You're not planning to continue writing in that notebook of yours, are you?"
"For reference! Reference! Do you even know what reference means?!"
After saying that, Mu turned off the comms.
"…Weird."
Roz scratched his head and answered the incoming comm.
"Roz… are you okay?"
Christina's voice came through.
Along with it, the background carried the sounds of mechanical operations and the nearby moving robotic arms. It seemed Christina was not in the lab but had come to the shipyard.
"I'm fine. The operation went smoothly."
Roz tightened his water pouch and stowed it in the cockpit's compartment. "What's up? Funding issue in R&D?"
"No, I came to notify you to come to the shipyard."
Christina's tone sounded like she was saying, "Come home early."
Her next words made Roz pause.
"The first version of the new mobile suit is ready."
................