Chapter 76: SEED – Landing Operation V
The thrusters on the Duel Gundam (Assault Shroud) flared at full power as it lunged toward the Strike Gundam, bringing its beam saber down in a heavy slash.
Fortunately, Kira Yamato's reflexes were quick enough; with a swift turn, the Strike easily dodged the incoming strike.
Pulling away, he fired several shots from the beam rifle at the Duel, but once again, they failed to connect, achieving nothing.
Meanwhile, Mu La Flaga, piloting the Moebius Zero, kept entangling the sluggishly maneuvering Buster Gundam. His linear guns repeatedly struck the Buster, but against Gundam's PS armor, live rounds were nearly useless.
All he could do was keep the Buster occupied, preventing it from turning its fire on the Eighth Fleet's ships and the Moebius units.
Only the Aegis Gundam was still free, weaving between the Eighth Fleet's formation, continuously attacking the warships.
Tolle Koenig, seeing the Strike and the Moebius already busy, had no choice but to take on the Aegis himself.
After all, Nicol Amalfi's Blitz Gundam was half-heartedly targeting the fleet's weapons. Since they were practically in the same boat now, attacking Nicol outright was out of the question.
At the very least, he had to disrupt Athrun Zala's attack rhythm and try to reduce the fleet's casualties.
But the crown prince wasn't an easy opponent—after all, this was Athrun, who could even fight the Ultimate Coordinator, Kira, on nearly equal footing.
Tolle focused his mind once more, activating his SEED burst, and fired multiple shots from the Ginn's beam rifle at the Aegis.
Athrun, startled by the sudden beams, twisted his machine in a sharp roll and evaded effortlessly.
Seeing the orange-colored Ginn charging at him filled Athrun with rage—this was the custom unit of his respected Captain Miguel.
Though Miguel was already dead, his machine wasn't to be desecrated. Athrun immediately transformed the Aegis into its mobile armor form and flew straight at Tolle.
A positron blaster cannon beam lanced out. Tolle quickly spun his machine aside, dodging the searing red light by a hair's breadth.
He couldn't help but complain inwardly—Come on, Athrun, isn't this a bit much? Meeting me and immediately unleashing your ultimate weapon? I didn't even wrong you. Sure, I snatched one of your Ginns, but didn't you guys snatch Earth Alliance Gundams too? Doesn't that make us even?
The Aegis closed in, transformed back into mobile suit mode, and swung its arm-mounted beam saber down at him.
Tolle pulled the Ginn back, firing his beam rifle repeatedly in an attempt to widen the distance.
But Athrun, doggedly pursuing in the Aegis, left Tolle wanting to shout—I'm not Kira! Why are you chasing me like this? Don't follow me, I'm not into guys!
Their duel of chase and retreat gradually carried them away from the Eighth Fleet's defensive line.
Worried for his comrade, Nicol followed, occasionally firing beams between them to subtly ease Tolle's plight and help him shake off Athrun's pursuit.
At the same time, the Archangel, entering its landing corridor, opened fire on the four ZAFT Gundams with its beam cannons, disrupting their attacks.
Tolle spared a glance at the Archangel's descent countdown—four minutes left.
The minute he had already spent locked in battle with Athrun felt like an eternity.
His mental energy was nearing depletion. Once it hit zero, he would collapse from exhaustion, and if that happened, his fate was sealed. Hopefully Nami could carry him safely back to the Archangel if it came to that.
Thankfully, the three ZAFT battleships were still far away, unlike in the original timeline where they rammed the Eighth Fleet in a suicide run.
If he could force the Aegis to burn through enough energy, Athrun might be compelled to withdraw.
But before he could even make much of a dent in the Aegis's reserves, Athrun broke off.
The Blitz still lingered nearby, however, firing near Tolle in a half-hearted attempt at attack.
Tolle suspected Nicol had persuaded Athrun to disengage, leaving him behind to "handle" Tolle instead.
Still, one Aegis and two Ginns shouldn't be enough to wipe out the Eighth Fleet quickly.
And since the three ZAFT warships hadn't advanced, only lobbing the occasional missile from afar—their main cannons already disabled by him—the threat wasn't too dire.
What's more, Nicol was proving to be a real friend, stepping in when it mattered most and even helping him out of trouble. Maybe those earlier attempts at persuasion hadn't been wasted.
Tolle shut off his SEED burst to conserve energy, letting Nami handle the controls while he caught his breath.
Under his orders, Nami also seized control of the Blitz and the Ginn, cutting their external comms.
He spoke to Nicol:
"Nicol, thanks. Without you, I might have gone down against the Aegis."
"No need to thank me, Tolle. You showed me the truth… but what should we do next? Do you think Yzak will still destroy that civilian shuttle like before?"
"Honestly, I don't know. We'll just have to take it one step at a time. As long as we're this weak, saving our own lives comes first. If we can't even protect ourselves, everything else is just empty talk."
Nicol leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes without a word, leaving an awkward silence between them.
Worried Nicol might see through his bluffing, Tolle thought for a while before continuing:
"Nicol, why don't we move closer to the Minerva-class ship Menelaos in the Eighth Fleet? If the shuttle does launch, it'll be easier for us to help."
Nicol opened his eyes, nodded, and said:
"Alright. You go first, I'll follow."
"Okay. But let me cripple those two Ginns first—take out their weapons and thrusters. With the pull of gravity near the atmosphere, you can use that as an excuse to tow them and retreat.
After that, I'll tangle with the Aegis again to ease pressure on the fleet. Who knows, maybe the shuttle won't even be launched.
Shall we try it this way?"
Nicol, finding the plan workable, agreed without hesitation.
Nami then directed both units, changing course.
Tolle's Ginn darted toward the two enemy Ginns. He fired at their right arms with his beam rifle and launched missiles at their rear thrusters.
Within moments, both were disabled.
As agreed, the Blitz took hold of the two crippled Ginns and sped back toward friendly lines.
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