"What is that thing?"
A group of Coordinator Soldiers piloting Mobile Suits saw that long-range firepower seemed ineffective against the mysterious mobile weapon appearing before them.
Originally, they intended to engage in close combat to somewhat restrict the enemy's mobility.
This would create suitable conditions for their allies in the rear to attack the target.
Instead, they witnessed the enemy's large white mobile weapon open a side panel and launch one of its five Triangular Cargo Pods!
"Who cares what it is? It only launched one. Even if it's a missile, there are so many of us here."
"With just that one missile, who could it possibly hit? And who would actually get hit?"
"Besides, if we brave ZAFT Forces Coordinator warriors fear such an attack, what would that make us?"
Someone among the swarming Coordinator Mobile Suits spoke dismissively.
Hearing this, they watched the cargo-pod-shaped missile flying straight toward them with yellow flames blazing from its rear.
Looking left and right, its flight trajectory appeared utterly ordinary.
The other Coordinator Soldiers thought this reasoning made sense.
With conforming mocking smiles on their faces, the clustered Coordinator Mobile Suit group executed evasive maneuvers.
Initially, these Coordinator Soldiers remained vigilant during evasion, wondering if the enemy's cargo pod missile might suddenly pull some trick mid-course.
However, as one, two, three, and then many of their allied mobile suits easily dodged and overtook the enemy's attack one after another.
The enemy's cargo pod missile seemed completely blind, showing not the slightest unusual movement, only flying straight ahead.
Instantly, both the Coordinator Soldiers who had overtaken the cargo pod missile and those who hadn't breathed sighs of relief.
Their previously adopted conforming mocking smiles now became genuine, and nobody took the cargo pod missile seriously anymore.
Though initially startled by the enemy white mobile weapon's superior mobility, they had secretly worried that Naturals might have deployed some secret weapon.
But now, seeing the enemy's attack—the cargo pod missile's foolish performance.
"Hahahaha."
Unconsciously surrounding the cargo pod missile at their center, the Coordinator Soldiers stared at the distant enemy white mobile weapon.
They collectively burst into genuine mocking laughter, sweeping away their previously lingering caution.
"What's the use of speed! On the battlefield, speed alone isn't enough—you need to actually hit your target!"
"Attacks that can't hit anyone are meaningless no matter how many you launch!"
"Truly still uncivilized monkeys!"
One Coordinator Soldier who couldn't restrain himself opened the public communication channel.
Boldly expressing his contempt for the enemy right on the battlefield.
While speaking, perhaps planning for postwar tavern gatherings or other occasions.
He intended to boast about his excellent battlefield performance and bask in the admiring gazes people would give a hero.
This Coordinator Soldier operated his mobile suit to lower its head, wanting to capture an image of the Natural's foolish attack as evidence for his bragging.
"Wait, what is this?"
Staring at the triangular cargo container now positioned precisely at the center of the mobile suit formation, he suddenly noticed something abnormal.
Why did each face of that triangular cargo container resemble the tip of a missile?
Could it be?
In an instant, the term "cluster bomb" flashed through his mind, and the joyful smile on this Coordinator Soldier's face froze.
No way! Impossible!
Just as his expression turned to stone, the triangular cargo container launched from the mysterious white mobile suit revealed its true nature.
It turned out this thing was actually an 84-Tube Micro-Missile Pod!
Its previous clumsy appearance had merely been a disguise!
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
But by the time this Coordinator Soldier figured out its true identity, it was already too late.
Like the Monkey King jumping into the Bull Demon King's stomach, positioned right at the heart of the Coordinator formation,
when the 84-Tube Micro-Missile Pod demonstrated its power, these Coordinator Soldiers had no time to react.
At such close range, caught completely off guard and unprepared,
"Boom boom boom."
"Ah!"
"Damn these evil Naturals!"
They barely had time to utter these words, or attempt a few evasive maneuvers against the homing missiles.
This wave of Coordinator Mobile Suits was completely wiped out, effortlessly sent to the afterlife!
"Pete and the others?"
In the rear formation that hadn't advanced, numerous soldiers could hardly believe what they had witnessed.
In such a short time, about twenty friendly Mobile Suits had been eliminated!
Even twenty pigs running wild across the hills wouldn't have been taken down so easily!
"Bright, what are you doing?"
Before these soldiers, unwilling to accept reality and still recovering from shock, could collect themselves,
the mysterious white mobile suit had already begun its charge with incredible speed.
An Officer among the surviving Coordinator Soldiers shouted sternly.
"Pull yourselves together! No matter what, there's only one enemy. Watch out for its 84-Tube Micro-Missile Pod!"
"Right, got it."
The reprimanded soldiers steadied their nerves and quickly focused on the approaching enemy.
"Bart! We can't keep fighting like this - we're struggling too much!"
The Officers were desperately organizing soldiers to counter the white mobile suit's charge, but after several exchanges they couldn't even scratch the enemy.
Instead, they had lost several more soldiers.
From the results of these engagements, the squad leaders on the battlefield could see clearly:
if the enemy hadn't been solely focused on breaking through the defense line toward Genesis, paying them no mind,
had the enemy been serious, they would have been wiped out in minutes!
"I know, I know, Hou Mo!"
The man called Bart was also an experienced Red Uniform warrior in the formation.
Hearing his comrade's cry, sharing the same thought, Bart glanced back at the distant Genesis,
and at the friendly forces gathered around it, standing ready to prevent other enemy units from breaking through.
"Fall back slightly, gather around the Battleship! We'll retreat gradually and use our combined firepower to suppress the enemy!"
For the sake of his own life, and considering that Genesis's charging time was said to be quite fast, Bart began to scheme about the main forces. After all, Chairman Patrick had stated that the key to this battle was Genesis.
So wouldn't it be enough to hold out until Genesis was ready?
To be honest, the pay in the ZAFT Forces wasn't great anyway, so why risk his life?
"Boom!"
But before Bart could polish his opinion and convey it to his comrades on this defensive line, a battleship he had planned to use as cover sank right before his eyes, caught in his peripheral vision.
"What happened? How did it explode?"
Bart blinked; he had been negligent and hadn't paid any attention to that area.
"It was from below that white mysterious mobile suit! Those two claw-like appendages extended beam sabers a hundred meters long!"
His good friend, who had witnessed the entire scene, quickly explained.
"It flew straight past, just like ancient cavalry charging with their sabers resting across their saddles."
"Relying on the impact, it cleanly sliced off the enemy's head. That machine did the same, shearing off the bridge of our battleship and sinking it!"
Perhaps feeling his explanation wasn't vivid enough, Hou Mo began gesticulating wildly as he spoke, adding dramatic flair.
"Thanks, Hou Mo."
Bart replied irritably to his friend, a cascade of metaphorical black lines appearing above his head.
How Bart wished Hou Mo hadn't seen everything just now.
That way, he wouldn't have to know the truth. A hundred-meter-long beam saber?
The mere thought sent a chill down Bart's spine.
"Wait, what's that?"
Finally interrupting his friend's enthusiastic explanation, Bart's eyes caught the enemy's white mysterious mobile suit turning back and charging toward them again.
In reality, after sinking that battleship earlier, it could have charged straight toward Genesis.
So why turn back?
Could it be! Bart's eyes widened as he saw on the display that the left-side panel of the enemy machine had opened again.
"No way, is the enemy getting serious with us now?"
"Watch out for the enemy attack! Be careful of their micro-missile pods!"
Not wanting to risk his life was one thing, but Bart still had some affection for the subordinates under his command and his friends.
Once he realized the enemy seemed genuinely intent on taking them out before breaking through to Genesis, Bart's voice sharpened, piercing everyone's eardrums through the comms as if it would tear through them.
In truth, his warning was unnecessary. They had already fully grasped that the foe before them was a harbinger of doom.
The other soldiers had long noticed the enemy turning back, each now maneuvering their mobile suits into elaborate, evasive dances in space.
Even the sole remaining Laurasia-class battleship, unwilling to test the mettle of that hundred-meter beam saber, was rapidly descending straight downward to avoid confrontation and avert sharing the fate of the sunken vessel.
"Thud!"
Under the watchful eyes of all, a missile launched from the left rack of the white mysterious mobile suit.
"Whew."
The tension in everyone's hearts eased slightly, with many feeling they might have overreacted to a false alarm.
Unless they were deploying that East Asian Alliance's weapon of mass destruction, the Goddess of Love.
Otherwise, with everyone so spread out, this single missile would at most hit one unlucky soul.
But using the Goddess of Love against them would be like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut—clearly unrealistic!
"Bart, what are you doing?"
As an officer, Hou Mo was human too. When others relaxed, he followed suit.
But suddenly, Hou Mo felt his mobile suit being tugged by something, rapidly pulling him away from the battlefield toward another direction.
He turned his head and saw that the one dragging him was none other than Bart.
"If we keep running, we'll leave the battlefield! We'll be labeled deserters!"
Hou Mo shouted at his friend, who was dragging him along in a frantic escape.
"We'll worry about desertion later!His friend's persuasion lingered in his ears, but Bart showed no signs of slowing his escape.
Others might not have noticed, but he had: trailing behind the enemy's missile was a faint, barely noticeable wire. Why would a missile have a tail like that?
Bart refused to believe the enemy had resurrected wire-guided missiles just to improve accuracy.
And if it truly was a wire-guided missile, then this was no ordinary weapon.
But if it wasn't wire-guided, then it was even less likely to be ordinary!
Dragging his friend Hou Mo along at breakneck speed, Bart glanced back. In his eyes, the missile trailed a long wire, weaving around the chaotically scattering allied units across the battlefield—almost as if it were tangling up every comrade in its path.
Finally, the missile plunged straight toward the last remaining Laurasia-class Battleship!
"May the gods protect you..."
A hypothesis forming in his mind, Bart watched his struggling comrades entangled in the wires and silently traced a cross over his chest.
Just as he completed the gesture, the enemy's missile struck the Laurasia-class Battleship. Simultaneously, the wires coiled around his comrades' mobile suits erupted in a chain of explosions.
One could say that this single missile, with its accompanying wires, had single-handedly wiped out all ZAFT Forces combat capability in the area.
"Bart, thank you. I think we'd be better off going back for donuts."
"I think so too."
Having narrowly escaped with their lives by fleeing quickly, Bart looked back at the enemy aircraft piercing through other allied lines like a shooting star.
He sighed deeply, feeling a profound worry about whether the Coordinators' grand cause could ever truly be realized.
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