"Mission accomplished, Yzak. I've immobilized the Strike Gundam, preparing to return."
Looking at the Strike Gundam before him with its dimmed armor, Nicol let out a deep breath... Fortunately, he had cautiously anticipated each of the Strike's moves in advance and formulated action plans accordingly. Otherwise, it would have been him who was taken down just now.
"Well done! Bring the Strike and retreat quickly!"
Hearing this good news, Yzak's voice trembled slightly... The Strike Gundam, which they had failed to capture before, was actually secured so easily this time?!
He urgently called for Nicol to quickly retreat with the Strike Gundam—this opportunity had to be seized!
Nicol nodded and was about to take action—when suddenly an alarm sounded, and his Mobile Suit shook violently. Mu's Moebius Zero, as if disregarding its own safety, charged at full speed toward Nicol, ignoring the Blitz's sniper fire from behind. The Wire-guided Cannons and Beam Rifle fired indiscriminately, suppressing the area with a barrage of fire.
At this moment, Mu had only one thought in mind—the Strike Gundam must not be taken away!
On the Bridge of the Archangel, Murrue tightly gripped the armrest of her seat, her eyes fixed on the screen showing the Strike Gundam's location after it suddenly stopped moving and lost contact:
"What was the extent of the damage to the Strike Gundam just now? Can communications be restored?"
"The Strike Gundam itself isn't heavily damaged... It should just be the operating system affected by an electrical surge!"
"As for communications, we can use the emergency line to connect... but there's no response no matter how much we try to contact Mr. Lu..."
Miriallia, who was in charge of communications, reported truthfully, her tone filled with concern.
Upon hearing this, Murrue clicked her tongue softly. To be honest, she had already anticipated this outcome. But when she actually heard that Lu Tianming had lost consciousness, her heart couldn't help but tremble.
She bit her lower lip lightly, thought for a moment, and then spoke again:
"What about the Eighth Fleet? Has the reinforcement not arrived yet?"
"They're still on their way! It'll take another five minutes to get here!"
Five minutes... Murrue calculated in her heart. Under normal circumstances, this time would be incredibly short, but now... it was anything but.
In five minutes, if the three Mobile Suits—Duel, Blitz, and the captured Strike—retreated at full speed, it would be enough to bring the Strike Gundam back to their mothership.
Mu, fighting one against three, probably wouldn't last much longer...
Murrue's mind raced, trying to find a way to turn the situation around within the limited conditions.
Badgiruel, watching Murrue deep in thought, couldn't help but conceive a bold plan—a plan that posed significant danger to the Archangel.
But... compared to the Archangel, the Strike Gundam, or rather Lu Tianming... was even more indispensable.
With her mind clear, Badgiruel immediately spoke up:
"Captain Ramius, I suggest the Archangel charge into the battlefield at full speed, coordinate with the Moebius Zero, and use a barrage net to protect the Strike Gundam, buying as much time as possible!"
Hearing Badgiruel's proposal, Murrue's expression first showed sudden realization, then darkened. Clearly, she too had considered the risks this action would bring to the Archangel.
But... at this moment, there really was no better choice.
Murrue took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and immediately gave the order:
"Full armament automatic fire permissions released, AI thinking pattern switched to cover barrage type, all personnel prepare for impact... Archangel charging into battle at full speed!"
"Understood!"
With the command given, all of Archangel's weapon ports immediately deployed. As the ship surged into the battlefield, countless barrages sprayed outward like they were free.
Seeing Archangel charging forward from behind, Mu finally breathed a sigh of relief amid the three-machine siege... But even so, one or two Gundams still managed to pursue him while evading the barrage.
Mu could only sigh helplessly... but this was the best they could do.
He slightly raised his eyebrows, glancing at the still unresponsive, unconnected voice communication channel, and sighed inwardly.
"Tianming, we're only minutes away from the Eighth Fleet's arrival. Please don't get captured like this..."
————————————————-
When Lu Tianming regained consciousness, everything before him was pitch black.
He shook his head to clear the dizziness, gradually remembering - he had been electrocuted unconscious by the Blitz Gundam's Rocket Anchor that had been modified into an Electric Wire.
Judging by his physical perception, he couldn't have been unconscious for more than a moment... meaning the battle was still ongoing.
"Xia Chuan, wake up! Stop spacing out!"
While operating the Strike Suit system attempting to restart self-checks, Lu Tianming called out to Xia Chuan, urging him to move. But his words were met with no response. It was only then that Lu Tianming realized something was wrong.
His connection with Xia Chuan... had been severed!
This was a feeling he had never experienced before. Previously, whenever he approached or entered the Strike Suit, that connection would establish itself, whether strong or weak.
But now, here he was inside the Strike Suit's cockpit... not only was the familiar connection absent, he even vaguely felt like the connection had been forcibly broken?
Just as he was puzzling over this, several lines of text appeared on the screen that had gone dark due to system issues?
The font... looked similar to the one that previously displayed Resonance Level.
[Danger! Danger! Physical medium required for connection has been damaged. Please repair promptly.]
[If connection cannot be reestablished in time, the Mobile Suit Consciousness will dissipate due to loss of external connection medium. Repair countdown: 120s]
Mobile Suit Consciousness... did that mean Xia Chuan? If the connection couldn't be reestablished in time... Xia Chuan's consciousness would dissipate?
But he couldn't just perform a miracle of repairing the machine with bare hands... how exactly was he supposed to reestablish the connection when the so-called 'physical medium' was damaged?
As if detecting Lu Tianming's mental fluctuations, the text quickly changed, providing a solution:
[Human party may temporarily use their own biological body as substitute for the physical medium required for connection, forcing a connection.]
[After forced connection, the human party's consciousness will completely obtain main control of the Mobile Suit. The physical medium will also self-repair during the connection period using energy generated by the connection.]
[However, this solution carries potential data overflow risks, which may cause biological body overload, thereby endangering the human party's safety.]
[After estimation, probability of safely establishing connection is "0.000000...01%". Not recommended to attempt.]
Even though it wasn't recommended... a red light still blinked on the control panel, with the screen displaying: "If you confirm forced access, please press this button."
"Look at all these zeros in the probability field... it's even showing ellipses. Why not just say the probability is infinitely close to zero?"
Lu Tianming stared at the data and sighed helplessly—yet his tone carried no real disappointment. It seemed he wouldn't abandon this path just because the odds were slim.
Rather, when Xia Chuan's life was at stake, how could he possibly give up!
"In the end, probability is just for reference. Where it falls short—we'll make up for it with courage!"
His eyes instantly hardened with determination, and his right hand clenched into a fist before smashing down toward the red button.
"Final Fusion, Program Drive!"