Since the evacuation notice was broadcast—no, more accurately, before the Archangel even reached Orb, transfers via the mass accelerator had already begun.
Before the Earth Alliance approached Orb's waters, Morgenroete, Inc. had already completed most of the transfers.
Because Morgenroete's M1 Astray, along with the just-manufactured Jegan D-types, would also participate in combat, the MS division was the last to be transferred.
Now Orb was urgently evacuating civilians, with cargo ships constantly launching; the scene was chaotic, and Orb could only dispatch a small portion of its military to maintain order.
However, the Earth Alliance had no intention of shooting down these cargo ships. To Muruta, this was just Orb's final struggle. As long as they secured Morgenroete's production line and the mass accelerator "Kaguya" intact, he didn't care how many people escaped.
"It's almost nine o'clock…"
Looking at Orb's fleet, already fully prepared, Muruta seemed quite satisfied with Orb's performance.
"Then, commence the attack."
On an Earth Alliance battleship, dense vertical missile launch units opened. One by one, missiles shot skyward, tracing elegant arcs toward Orb's land.
Suddenly, a dense barrage appeared above Orb. Numerous missiles were destroyed, exploding in midair.
-----------------------------------
In a dim cockpit, Roz had donned his pilot suit, calmly checking his mobile suit's parameters and making slight adjustments.
Switching from the conventional high-energy battery pack to the nuclear battery pack required parameter adjustments on the Narrative Gundam to unleash its full performance. Normally, this would be done carefully on a computer, but Roz, anticipating immediate combat, adjusted the parameters directly in the cockpit.
At that moment, a piercing alarm sounded. Roz set the last parameters to approximate values and activated the Narrative Gundam.
The dim cockpit displayed the outside view, with the familiar UI appearing.
"The Orb forces have begun fighting. Archangel is setting sail!"
Hearing Murrue's voice over the comms, Roz habitually checked his mobile suit's weapon status. At his insistence, in addition to the Narrative Gundam's original armaments, its left hand held an electromagnetic rocket launcher previously given to Kira, with a spare rocket magazine installed.
Kira's Freedom and Mu's Strike Gundam had been transported to the launch deck, ready to sortie first.
"Time to fight, Roz."
The Haro beside him swayed leisurely on its seat.
"Yeah… right, ready for battle."
Roz swiped his tablet a few times, displaying Orb's map.
"Many civilians haven't completed evacuation through the mass accelerator, and the Earth Alliance's numbers are overwhelming… the farthest we can retreat is this location."
He casually drew a line on the map.
"Of course, there's another method—we can take them out directly at sea."
"The electromagnetic rocket launcher doesn't have many anti-ship ammo. With your current loadout, you can only carry one extra magazine."
"…That's enough."
Roz closed the map, removed his helmet visor, and at that moment, Freedom and Strike had completed their launches, the ejection system resetting.
The hangar transported the Narrative Gundam to the ejection system and secured it.
"Narrative, sortie."
Roz pushed the throttle and gripped the controls, taking a deep breath.
"Roz Links, Narrative Gundam B equipped with high-mobility pack, sortie!"
As the electromagnetic ejection system activated, the familiar push-back sensation returned, but no longer oppressive as before.
Once detached from the Archangel's launch deck and seeing the battlefield descend into chaos, Roz instinctively pressed the pedals.
Thanks to the performance boost from the nuclear battery installed on the high-mobility pack, flames shot from the thrusters, and the Narrative Gundam dashed into the battle at extreme speed.
Compared to the previous high-energy battery, the fully-powered Narrative Gundam could now fight for longer, with its wire-controlled floating cannons usable more frequently.
The combat comms were flooded with urgent reports: where missiles had destroyed terrain, where Earth Alliance mobile suits had landed…
Roz pressed the control stick a few times, adjusting the wire-controlled floating cannons like shoulder-mounted guns.
Seeing the Earth Alliance's missile swarm above, Roz pressed the trigger.
Powered by the nuclear battery, the floating cannons began continuously firing beam scatter rounds into the sky. The dense barrage covered the sky, shredding incoming missiles and Earth Alliance MAs, exploding midair.
Suddenly, his mind received a practiced electrical feedback. Roz pressed the pedals, and the Narrative Gundam rose in altitude. From its previous position, three particle beams suddenly appeared.
Seeing three red-and-blue units approaching using a "high jump" maneuver, Roz's expression turned peculiar.
"…Optimus Prime?"
Luckily, Roz habitually shut down comms when unnecessary, otherwise Murrue and Mu would definitely ask him afterward what the Optimus Prime thing was.
Then, Roz skillfully predicted the paths of these red-and-blue units, and the Narrative Gundam fired three consecutive shots from its beam rifle in the right hand.
The particle beams, accelerated in a spiral from the muzzle, rotated like drills and effortlessly tore through the cockpits of these Earth Alliance mass-production units, causing them to explode into fragments midair.
By now, the sky was filled with Earth Alliance mass-production units gliding through the air, "jumping into" Orb's homeland.
However, the Earth Alliance fleet continued its missile bombardment, and under the suppressive fire, Orb's forces struggled to mount an effective counterattack.
"Here they come again?"
Watching Roz push the throttle to maximum and seeing the beam rifle mounted on the waist missile launcher, Haro seemed to understand what Roz intended to do.
"This is the first time doing this on Earth."
"There's a first time for everything."
Roz controlled the Narrative Gundam, switching the electromagnetic rocket launcher to the right hand, and suddenly pressed the pedal.
"But now, it's just about turning the tide when you're at a disadvantage; I'm already very skilled at that!"
The high-mobility backpack ejected thick flames, auxiliary stabilizers deployed, and the wing tips traced lines through the air.
"Kira, Mu, continue to hold back the Earth Alliance's advance."
Roz connected to comms while feeling the strong gravitational push-back sensation, something impossible to experience in space. "I'll be back soon!"
"One enemy unit has broken through our lines and is approaching at high speed!"
On Muruta's battleship, the radar observer reported his discovery in panic.
"Open anti-air fire! Let the Strike Dagger units intercept it along its flight path!"
Although this was his first time coordinating with the mass-production Strike Dagger MS, the captain's combat instincts prompted him to give the command.
The previously dormant anti-air cannons and missiles activated, targeting the fast-approaching Narrative Gundam.
Roz frowned at the dense anti-air fire, rapidly approaching the sea and got close to a battleship, placing the Gundam in the dead zone of most of the ship's anti-air coverage.
Then, Roz expertly fired an anti-ship rocket at a nearby battleship. The massive explosion instantly split the vessel in two, partially destroying some of the Strike Dagger units not yet deployed, sending them into the sea.
These anti-ship rockets were designed for space warships, whose outer armor must resist small meteoroids during high-speed flight. Earth Alliance's sea vessels, though sturdy, weren't as reinforced as space warships.
Thanks to the sinking of one ship, a temporary vacuum appeared in the Earth Alliance's dense missile coverage, allowing Orb to organize M1 Astray units to counterattack the landed Strike Dagger units.
"The Ireland has sunk, Collins and Rostone hit and exploded…"
Watching the warships destroyed by precise anti-ship rocket strikes, the radar observer swallowed hard.
"Sir, it seems he's using anti-ship rockets intended for space."
"Tch… those three guys, are they ready?!"
Seeing the Narrative Gundam rampaging through the Earth Alliance fleet, sinking warships silently, Muruta's face darkened.
"Five minutes until sortie. The pilot is using stimulants!"
A CIC officer reported the current status.
At this point, Roz had fired two magazines of anti-ship rockets, casually discarded the launcher, and picked up the beam rifle mounted on his waist.
Although the anti-ship rockets were depleted, the incoming Earth Alliance anti-air missiles could still be used.
Roz seized the opportunity, sharply ascending in front of a battleship. The intense flames even scorched parts of the deck.
The ship's captain was puzzled, wondering why this unknown G-type was suddenly climbing.
But the missiles following the Narrative Gundam answered him. A volley of anti-air missiles crashed into the battleship, detonating repeatedly. The ship began taking on water and slowly sank.
Though it was a favorable turn of events, Roz frowned.
Through the combat channels, reports of M1 Astray units being destroyed kept coming in. Their performance was clearly excellent, so why were they collapsing so miserably before these Strike Daggers?
"Roz! Get back here! There are too many of them!"
In the ruins of a city that had been bombed, Mu controlled the Strike Gundam, swinging the Anti-Ship Sword and cleaving several Strike Daggers cleanly in half.
"I'm still just a rookie, I can't block this many MS!"
Hearing Mu's call for support, Roz finally understood the key point.
So that's how it is. He should have realized it earlier—M1 Astray had only been recently developed. These pilots probably only understood the basic operations before being sent to the battlefield. This was fundamentally a battle where the piloting skills were completely mismatched. Merely weakening or even destroying enemy firepower couldn't stop the Strike Dagger advance.
Frowning, Roz fired the beam rifle in his hand repeatedly at the warships beside him. The drill-like particle beams precisely struck the missile launch ports of several nearby ships, completely destroying the missiles and launchers inside. The chain explosions tore openings in the ships, causing them to rapidly take on water.
Afterward, Roz piloted the Narrative Gundam, slipping past the remaining anti-air fire sweeping toward him, turning around and flying back toward Orb's defensive line.
"Report… the enemy has withdrawn. Our fleet has been severely damaged…"
Perhaps because this particular ship served as a special transport vessel, it had no missile launch ports, so Roz had not noticed it.
Bang…
Muruta slammed the armrest of his chair, gritting his teeth as he stared at the situation before him.
"Are those three guys ready?!"
"Reporting, preparations are complete."
"Then launch them! Tell them to tear that half‑finished unit from earlier to pieces for me!"
Muruta took several deep breaths to calm himself, then reached out to adjust his slightly wrinkled tie.
Just now, that machine—while Orb was being surrounded and its forces beaten back step by step—dared to pilot a half‑finished unit with its frame exposed and charge straight into the Earth Alliance fleet?
That wasn't just some ordinary ZAFT sympathizer! He had to strike back hard!
The hangar doors on both ends of Muruta's warship opened, and three uniquely‑designed machines swept out at low altitude, kicking up huge sprays of seawater as they passed.
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