Near an uninhabited island, the battle-worn Archangel was anchored for emergency repairs.
By coincidence, the nearby N-jamming was extremely strong, completely masking Archangel's signals and giving the crew precious time to carry out the repairs.
Even so, despite the available time, the atmosphere on the bridge remained heavy.
"…Sorry, this was my mistake."
Murrue looked at the battle report on the tablet, feeling her heart skip a beat. "I didn't expect Blue Cosmos to deploy wired detectors so far away."
After all, laying out wired detectors was very costly. When Murrue was in the Earth Forces, she only knew that a small portion had been installed at the Alaska headquarters.
"Regarding this… I also bear some responsibility."
Roz rubbed his forehead, frustration welling up as he reviewed the summarized battle report. "Unicorn's performance was too strong. I lost focus on my comrades… When I was fighting those large MS and the Black MS just now, I completely ignored the Archangel's situation… I should have gone out alone from the start."
If Unicorn had gone out alone… considering the output power and endurance of its laser nuclear reactor, the result would not have turned out this way.
"Someone always ends up taking the blame at a post-battle meeting…"
Mu scratched his head, watching the two in front of him scramble to shoulder the blame, feeling a little at a loss despite having previously called himself the "team lubricant."
"But for now, we should think of how to deal with our current situation."
"Though there's some good news. Archangel's damage isn't as severe as when we fled Alaska Base, and the crew hasn't decreased. As long as we find a dock capable of repairs…"
"…There's no other Orb right now."
Murrue's expression grew complicated. That feeling of being completely out of resources after leaving Artemis Fortress surged again. "Civilian shipyards don't have the ability to repair the Archangel, and forget the Earth Forces' detection capabilities… Earth is their home turf."
Archangel's situation seemed at a deadlock. To retreat with a heavily damaged Archangel, repairs were necessary. But aside from Orb, they couldn't think of any place on Earth capable of repairing the ship. Orb had recently undergone a self-destruction, leaving only a deserted wasteland.
"I think we should abandon the ship."
At that moment, Badgiruel's voice rang from the bridge doorway.
During the earlier battle, the wound on her right shoulder had torn open from the impact. After Archangel entered repair mode, Badgiruel immediately went to the medical bay, finished treating her wound, and hurried back to the bridge.
"Abandon the ship?"
Murrue was surprised at Badgiruel's proposed solution, her tone full of disbelief. "Are you sure?"
"Relying on a crippled Archangel to break through is no longer realistic."
Badgiruel's tone was firm. While changing her bandages, she had already been thinking of possible solutions.
"Moreover, given Blue Cosmos' close ties with the Earth Forces of the Atlantic Federation, next we'll face the Earth Forces' surface fleets, and possibly even Archangel-class ships surrounding us."
"What about Strike and Unicorn? What do we do with those units?"
Murrue asked, secretly hoping Badgiruel would have a final answer. Roughly speaking, it seemed this deadlock had only one solution.
"I might have a plan…"
Roz, hearing Badgiruel's suggestion, also started thinking.
"I might be able to rent a freighter from Lowe, put Unicorn and Strike on it… and have him take us out."
Yes, transporting Strike and Unicorn via freighter would work. With proper camouflage, they could survive the time it took Lowe's ship to return to Earth.
Back when Roz transported the Jegan A-Type into space, he had relied on Lowe's super freighter to reach the mass Driver. That was also how Lowe and Roz had first met.
"Make your choice, Captain."
Badgiruel looked at Murrue, seemingly waiting for her friend to decide.
"Preserve the crew and lose the ship, both are preserved; preserve the ship but lose the crew, both are lost."
Even if Murrue still didn't intend to abandon the ship, Badgiruel would do her utmost to save Archangel.
After a long silence, Murrue sighed.
"Though it pains me to abandon Archangel… Badgiruel, you're right."
After much thought, Murrue finally accepted Badgiruel's proposal. "If everyone dies, what good is the Archangel left alone?"
"I'll contact Lowe."
Roz nodded and pulled out his communicator. "I remember his super freighter still has operators on Earth… it should arrive soon."
Murrue looked around Archangel's bridge, as if trying to memorize everything familiar before leaving.
After all, they had survived countless life-and-death situations relying on Archangel. To say there were no feelings attached would be impossible.
"What about the Archangel? We can't just abandon her."
"For that… you know the remote-controlled mobile weapons I used on the Garuda-class, right?"
Roz, contacting Lowe, raised his right index finger with an "I have a plan" expression.
"You mean…"
Hearing the term "remote-controlled mobile weapons," both Murrue and Badgiruel, who had witnessed them in battle, widened their eyes.
"Yes. You'll command the ship from freighter remotely, and I'll pilot Unicorn to remotely control Archangel to draw off the Earth Forces' pursuit."
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Muruta, having finished a day's work, was about to return to rest when a communication pulled him back to the Earth Forces' headquarters at the Kaohsiung Mass Driver.
"I hope this meeting, which has stolen my rest time, is worth it." Sitting at his seat, Muruta's tone was less than pleasant.
The further enhancement of the second-generation Enhanced Humans had hit a bottleneck. Increasing the enhancement would reduce controllability, similar to the first generation, but maintaining the status quo meant their strength could not match the first generation. This situation was giving Muruta quite a headache.
Not to mention, the person in charge of the "Wetware" project demanded massive brain resources to develop version 2.0 of the wetware. With so many problems piling up, Muruta had been under a heavy workload recently.
"I think you'll find this interesting."
An officer of the Atlantic Federation turned on the wall-mounted screen, displaying a photo of a pure white mobile suit.
"White… Unicorn? Where did this new unit come from?"
Looking at the photo, Muruta frowned.
After witnessing the "White Devil" cut through the Enhanced Human units like a hot knife through butter, Muruta had developed an instinctive dislike for white mobile suits and red optics.
"Perhaps you'll recognize this one in the next photo."
The officer pressed a button on the remote.
The once-pure white Unicorn transformed, revealing the familiar red glow inside that made Muruta grind his teeth.
"White Devil…"
Seeing the familiar glow, Muruta clenched his fists.
"The one who has always been in my way…"
"Back to the main point. The reason for this meeting is that both the White Devil and the Archangel have landed on Earth, and the Archangel has been heavily damaged by the Kingdom of Foundation. It likely can't get far."
The officer pressed the remote repeatedly, showing the devastated Trington Port to everyone present.
Seeing the screen, several severely injured soldiers still wearing Blue Cosmos uniforms, Muruta's expression darkened.
"This is the White Devil destroying the Trington Integrated R&D Port, a joint development project of Blue Cosmos and the Kingdom of Foundation."
The officer continued, "According to intelligence from the Kingdom of Foundation, it easily destroyed our prototype Destroy Gundam and completely annihilated Trington Port."
"In the end, it even reduced the Kingdom's MS forces to a fraction of their original strength."
At this point, the officer drew in a sharp breath. "The damage caused by this unit is even greater than the previous White Devil."
The Earth Forces had carefully studied the Narrative Gundam, noting that its firepower intensity was not particularly high. Its combat endurance was maintained by layering multiple weapons, and there were even instances of running out of power or fuel. Therefore, the Earth Forces had devised several countermeasures.
However, according to intelligence from the Kingdom of Foundation, the Unicorn's weapon output and firepower were extremely high. High weapon output meant one thing…
"It won't last long."
Muruta squinted and gave this assessment.
One inherent drawback of mounting high-output, high-power weapons on a high-energy battery unit is rapid energy consumption—the unit would be drained in a few shots.
"This is our opportunity."
The officer nodded. "As long as we destroy the Archangel, the White Devil loses its support and will be at our mercy."
"All we need to watch out for is its high-power weaponry."
The room fell silent for a long moment, as if everyone was analyzing the valuable points in this intelligence.
"…I'll assemble the fleet."
Muruta sighed and spoke, "Judging by the damage reported in the intelligence, the Archangel won't get far."
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Now, the heavily damaged Archangel certainly couldn't get far.
But Lowe's super freighter could travel a long distance.
Fortunately, Lowe's super freighter was currently making a delivery for the Eurasian Federation. After receiving Roz's request, the Earth branch had dispatched someone to pilot the ship over.
On a deserted island at night, under strong N-jamming interference, Roz still didn't know how this captain had managed to locate the Archangel.
At this moment, the Archangel's crew was rapidly transferring the ship's most important mobile suit components and the Strike Gundam onto the super freighter.
Roz, meanwhile, donned his pilot suit and calmly sat in the cockpit of the Unicorn Gundam, beginning to link the Unicorn with the Archangel.
"Test, test. Murrue, Natarle, can you hear me?"
Roz adjusted the options on the touchscreen. Despite the intense N-jamming, the Unicorn's communication channel was successfully connecting with Murrue and Natarle's communicators.
"We can hear you, very clearly."
Hearing the voice through the comm, Murrue gritted her teeth. "We're counting on you now, Roz."
"Good. Keep the communication open and be ready at any moment to direct me in controlling the Archangel."
Roz smiled and leaned back in the cockpit seat.
It seemed he was destined to spend the night sleeping in the cockpit.
"Whether we can fool them or not depends on your command."
...............