"Damn it, where the hell is Athrun?!"
In the time since Athrun had gone missing, Yzak and the others had never stopped searching.
They only had GINNs available, but the group searched around the clock without rest.
Yet there was still no trace of Athrun, dead or alive, nor had they found the Aegis.
At this point, there was only one possibility: the Aegis had drifted far away from the battlefield.
Athrun had not officially been declared MIA, but aside from Yzak and the others, everyone had already given up the search.
The only reason it had not been abandoned outright was that Athrun was the privileged son of a high-ranking official.
And now, even that search was coming to an end.
Le Creuset returned, bringing the three G-weapons with him after emergency repairs and upgrades.
Now that the Supreme Council understood the threat posed by the Archangel, it had made its decision—the Archangel was to be destroyed.
They had yet to locate the Archangel itself, but Le Creuset had found another trail.
The Eighth Fleet's advance force.
The Archangel had originally been scheduled to depart Heliopolis for the lunar base. Although the Archangel could be completed in a neutral nation, fully replenishing its supplies there would be difficult.
From that alone, it followed that an advance force would have been sent to make contact.
The combat strength of three Red Coats like Yzak could hardly be wasted on a search mission.
So with Le Creuset back, their only task now was to fight.
"The search teams will keep looking. Athrun isn't the sort to die that easily." Miguel, who had escaped his unlucky fate, came over to comfort Yzak and the others.
[I wonder what they'd think if they knew what Athrun was doing right now]
[Athrun: This place is so delightful I've forgotten all about home]
[Athrun A-Dou, huh?]
[Honestly, going more than ten days without a shower sounds pretty miserable]
[Maybe Coordinators stay perfectly clean even if they go a month or two without bathing]
[It really feels like Coordinators were made for space]
The online discussion kept coming in wave after wave.
The scene then returned to Athrun's side.
The two of them were still in the middle of their "fantastical space odyssey."
Only, unlike the relatively relaxed pace before, the entire atmosphere today was tense.
Cagalli and Athrun were hiding behind a mass of wreckage.
Athrun was ready to sever his connection to Cagalli at any moment.
Doing so would be an enormous risk.
Athrun's oxygen was already gone, so he was currently breathing from Cagalli's supply. If the oxygen line was disconnected again, he would have only a little over ten minutes of air.
"They're here!" A vessel resembling a transport ship approached from nearby.
Two GINNs flew alongside it.
The ship was small and specially modified, clearly built to operate in a debris belt packed with wreckage like this one.
The two GINNs were in poor condition as well—obviously refurbished mobile suits cobbled together from salvage and advertised as "one careful lady owner, practically brand-new."
The GINNs looked around as though searching for something. Finding nothing, they turned toward the Astray and Aegis.
"Mercenaries."
Athrun understood the situation.
They were mercenaries, and most likely intended to kill the owners and steal their machines.
"Then do we proceed with the original plan?" Cagalli asked.
"Yes."
Athrun and Cagalli did not choose to flee.
Nor did they intend to surrender.
Instead, the two had a bold idea: turn the tables and seize the initiative.
Moving with the thruster was unsafe—extremely dangerous, in fact.
So at a time like this, they needed a third option.
They would seize the other side's ship, mobile suit, or mobile armor and escape in that instead.
Only then could they be sure of surviving.
The Aegis's self-destruct sequence had already been set. Code: 2887.
Detonating it remotely would be enough to disable both GINNs.
Pirates or mercenaries capable of operating in a region like this never came in large groups. Taking the ship single-handedly would not actually be that difficult.
"Get ready… huh?!"
Just as Athrun was about to use the debris as cover and sneak aboard the ship, a shot came from the distance and blew the vessel apart.
The other two GINNs reacted immediately and charged toward the attacker.
"That's—!"
Cagalli's eyes widened.
That was—
"An Astray!"
A one-armed Astray.
Cagalli recognized the machine's origin at a glance.
Because a golden arm was sitting in the Archangel's hangar.
(Gold Frame)
The loose Astray parts had been enough to assemble two machines, with one arm left over—and that arm was clearly part of the same set as the Astray before them.
But Inori had once told Cagalli that when the attack began, someone had piloted a mobile suit out of Heliopolis and escaped.
Without question, the machine that had fled was the one before them now.
And its pilot… was probably someone from Orb!
The Gold Frame held a rifle in its sole left arm.
Despite having only one arm, its performance utterly outclassed the two GINNs. It toyed effortlessly with them before blowing one apart.
The other appeared to surrender and opened its cockpit hatch.
But the Gold Frame showed no mercy and destroyed the cockpit with a single shot.
"That bastard!"
Cagalli stared wide-eyed at the scene.
Even knowing the pilot was likely from Orb, Cagalli could not feel the slightest joy.
Who knew what a brute vicious enough to kill someone after they surrendered might do?
"A golden machine?! Earth Alliance?!"
Athrun was just as shocked.
He looked toward Cagalli.
"No. I don't think it belongs to the Earth Alliance." Cagalli's expression was grave.
The golden machine seemed to have come looking for the Red Frame.
It also appeared interested in the Aegis.
Whatever else could be said about the Astray, its compatibility was exceptional.
Swapping in limbs from other Gundams could hardly have been easier.
The Gold Frame aimed its rifle directly at the cockpits of the Red Frame and Aegis. Only after confirming that both were empty did it leave.
"This is bad. We have to go." Athrun looked around at the surrounding debris and knew they could not stay any longer.
The pilot had probably gone somewhere with better reception to contact the rest of their group.
The thruster was risky, but this was their last chance.
The two emerged from behind cover and headed back toward the Aegis, preparing to activate the thruster.
But the instant they came out, the Gold Frame suddenly emerged from behind another piece of cover.
Its rifle was aimed at Cagalli and Athrun.
It was a trap!
The Gold Frame had never left!
Cagalli hurriedly opened a public channel. "Stop! I'm Cagalli Yula of Orb—"
"Ah, it's you." The other pilot cut Cagalli off.
The pilot had clearly recognized Cagalli's identity.
The Gold Frame pilot's voice came over the channel. "Then die here!"
Recognizing Cagalli did not make the pilot stop. On the contrary, they intended to silence her permanently!