Meanwhile, the simulated sunlight in Copernicus gradually shifted from daytime to dusk.
Unaware of ZAFT's emergency situation, Fred, having finished his work, was as usual piloting the Mistral outside Copernicus.
However, there was an additional person in the co-pilot seat beside him.
Athrun, who would later be known as the world's strongest warrior, was now sitting in his co-pilot seat.
He was seriously reading the manual.
As for Kira, since each Mobile Suit only had one co-pilot seat, he had gone to Miha's vehicle on the other side.
"Is Athrun interested in piloting a Mobile Armor?"
Fred asked while precisely controlling the mechanical arm to clear lunar dust from the maintenance point's surface.
"I suppose I'm somewhat interested...?"
"Of course, who doesn't like flying planes?"
Fred nodded with an air of importance.
"..."
Athrun, who had expected Fred to share some profound thoughts, was left with a question mark in his mind.
What was this guy talking about?
"Is that why Fred voluntarily took on this job?"
Athrun couldn't help but ask.
"Flying planes is just too cool!"
After saying this, Fred couldn't help but laugh at Athrun's speechless expression.
He was, of course, teasing Athrun.
But it wasn't entirely a lie either.
Piloting a Mobile Suit in space was something he never dared to dream of in his previous life.
Of course, the best would be piloting cool Mobile Suits like the Covenant or Strike Suit, even if not the Freedom.
But piloting the Mistral was quite fun too, like driving a tractor in space.
Naturally, besides enjoyment, his main reason for practicing to pilot the Mobile Armor was to protect his family.
Just as they were chatting, an alarm suddenly interrupted them.
Fred had only heard this sound during drills before.
It was the alarm indicating they were locked by fire control radar.
But this area was adjacent to Ptolemy, the Atlantic Federation base - who would attack here...
"Watch out!"
This thought flashed through his mind in an instant. The moment Athrun spoke, Fred glimpsed the radar position and instinctively yanked the control stick.
Though this was his first real combat experience, his accumulated training had sharpened his reflexes, and the youth moved almost instinctively.
The small oval-shaped Mobile Suit executed a nimble barrel roll, towing the rear cargo trailer in an S-shaped trajectory as it rapidly retreated, the movement remarkably smooth.
Where their Mistral had been moments before, a series of orange-yellow beams now appeared.
These weren't beam weapons, but the elongated trajectories of Vulcan cannon rounds in the vacuum of space.
Fred and Miha on the other side barely dodged with their skilled maneuvering, but other Mistrals locked during maintenance weren't so fortunate.
In an instant, the previously dim lunar space was illuminated by fireballs erupting everywhere.
The public communication channel had already descended into chaos.
"I..."
In the cockpit, Athrun, who had been about to take control, paused in surprise at the other's proficient movements.
Although Fred had avoided the initial attack, Athrun's expression remained grim.
After all, the source of the attack against them turned out to be a Drake-class vessel.
These space escort ships had relatively weak firepower, armed only with Vulcan cannons and missile launchers.
But that was only by comparison.
For their unarmed work mobile suit, it was undoubtedly a deadly behemoth.
"Why is a escort ship here!? And attacking us!?"
Miha's voice in the public comms sounded like a screaming chicken, mixed with constantly protesting messages, completely devoid of its usual calm.
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Drake-class vessel, a gaunt-faced man with a ferocious expression stared intently at Copernicus through the reinforced glass.
He turned a deaf ear to the repeated warnings coming from Copernicus.
"Richard! Our last attack destroyed three Mistrals undergoing external maintenance, but two others evaded."
The young man in charge of weapons control reported loudly.
"Ignore them!"
The man called Richard rasped hoarsely.
"Target Copernicus's agricultural research center and ram it! Even if we crash, we must breach Copernicus's outer wall!"
As he spoke, he suddenly stood up from his seat, his eyes burning with near-maddened light:
"For a Blue and Pure World!"
"For a Blue and Pure World!"
"For a Blue and Pure World!"
Before his words faded, everyone on the bridge rose in unison, their roars rising like tides.
Fanatic will permeated the cramped space like poisonous gas.
Any ordinary person present would have been chilled to the bone.
Simultaneously, aboard the PLANT vessel nominally designated as a merchant ship nearby, everyone watched the sudden scene unfold, equally thrown into chaos.
"Captain Andrew! Based on trajectory prediction, they appear to be planning to directly impact Copernicus's agricultural research center!"
The Coordinator crew members disguised as civilians couldn't conceal their panic, their eyes filled with fear as they turned to Andrew.
They didn't know about Lenore's identity there, but the number of Coordinators in the entire research center was incalculable. Moreover, if Copernicus's outer wall was breached, it wouldn't just affect the research center alone.
All residents of Copernicus would be in danger, with unimaginable consequences.
Furthermore, this impact could very well push the current tense situation into the abyss of full-scale war.
And they were far from prepared for war.
No one had anticipated that the entire process - from intelligence transmission to Blue Cosmos launching their attack - would be so rapid.
So rapid that they didn't even have a chance to intervene.
At their current speed, even if they rushed at full throttle, they would likely be powerless to rescue anyone, merely arriving to collect corpses.
Moreover, their vessel was just a transport ship. Although it had undergone some modifications, conspicuous equipment like weapon systems only consisted of a few barely installed Vulcan Cannons.
"What about our people over there?"
Andrew shed his usual casual demeanor and shouted.
"They're still inside..."
They were Coordinators, not superhumans. Without mobile suits, even elites would be useless.
"What about the remaining two Mistrals outside?"
If there happened to be elite personnel inside, perhaps there was still hope for rescue.
"Just regular maintenance personnel, completely unarmed."
"Damn it!"
Andrew's large hand slammed hard against the steel railing, producing a dull, heavy thud.
They were just ordinary people. If the Mistrals had been equipped with Vulcan Cannons, they might have been able to put up a desperate fight.
But facing an unarmed engineering machine, the probability of stopping that Drake was almost zero.
The last shred of hope was extinguished. Andrew waved his large hand, red from his own slapping, and commanded in his deep voice:
"Deploy all our Work Pods!"
"Notify Copernicus immediately!"
However, something like their own base nearly being rammed by a cosmic frigate was something Copernicus had already detected without needing their reminder.
Yet aside from a few Vulcan Cannons used for defense against space pirates, they had almost no weaponry here.
All they could do was desperately, repeatedly reaffirm Copernicus' neutral stance.