Chapter 182

"That's right, it's Captain Frada."

"If it's him, it's possible. He's our Coordinator driver."

No, it wasn't him.

Mwu listened to the surrounding soldiers' discussions and spoke up in denial.

"Captain Mwu, do you know who's piloting the vehicle?"

"I don't know, but it definitely wasn't Frada."

They haven't even developed an OS for Coordinator. No Coordinator could possibly pilot a mobile suit to this extent. And most importantly, this machine wasn't developed by them.

Mwu's gaze was deep. As a semi-researcher, she also knew the situation here. It was a joint research project between Orb's Morgoth and the Federal Army. Although it was called a joint research project, in reality, the Federal Army was using the research capabilities of the Coordinator in the Morgoth.

Therefore, Mwu thought that the pilot might be a Coordinator, or that the Gundam might have been developed by Orb's Morgoth behind the Federal Army's back. After all, the Federation uses Morgoth, and Morgoth can also use the Federation's technology to create their own mobile suits, right?

Because we had thought of this long ago, but the Federation was always on guard against the Morgoth during the research and development process. But now it seems that the Morgoth still managed to develop something extraordinary by using the Federation's power.

"So the Coordinator really are unreliable after all."

Mwu instinctively believed that all of this was related to the Morgoth. After all, she herself was Federal Army, so how could she not know what the Federation had done?

Therefore, it must have been the Morgoth that did it!

"Now you can send the signal to bring that machine down!"

Orb developed such a powerful machine using Federation technology. If it weren't for the ZAFT attack, they wouldn't have known that Morgoth actually had such a machine hidden away!

It must be that Morgoth was worried that ZAFT's attack would damage the satellite, which is why they deployed this machine.

"And where are our machines? Why aren't there any machines in our warehouse?"

This is the most important thing: the Federation developed five units, so why are there none left now?!

Mwu looked at the empty warehouse with some annoyance. The marks on the ground indicated that there was a fixed arm for storing mechs not long ago, but now there was nothing left.

"They were here this morning, even an hour ago. Only our own people could move such a large item away in just one hour, but that's impossible!"

Mwu was very confused. She couldn't understand the situation and didn't know what was going on.

"Captain, that machine isn't responding!"

Just as Mwu was wondering where all the Federation's mechs had gone, the soldiers outside came to report again.

"What's the meaning?"

Mwu asked, puzzled.

"We tried to hit him, but he showed no intention of landing and continued to fly in the sky."

What does this mean?

Mwu walked out of the warehouse, looked up at the pure white Gundam floating in the sky with its wings spread, and couldn't help but frown.

What does he mean?

"Can we still find the people from Morgoth? Tell them to bring their mechs down!"

Ma Li didn't think the Morgoth would dare to disobey them. Now, Orb had already offended ZAFT because of its cooperation with the Federation. If it offended the Federation as well, they would have to face both the Federation and ZAFT at the same time. Could a small Orb really be a third party in this war?

Under Mwu's orders, the Federal Army began searching for Morgoth personnel.

As the Federal Army soldiers began their operation, aboard the Vesalius outside the satellite, Cruze was also conducting analysis with his squad members.

"Damn it, we've been tricked!"

Yzak's volatile temper caused him to smash a locker as soon as he entered the locker room, followed by a string of curses.

"Indeed, we made a complete wasted trip this time. Two GINN were almost shot down, and even Captain Cruze's GOUF was almost totaled."

Athrun didn't participate in their discussion. Because of Li Yue, Kira hadn't gone to the base, so Athrun hadn't encountered Kira and hadn't yet entered a state of confusion. He was very calm at the moment, and while Yzak was furious, he looked at Cruze.

"Captain Cruze, what should we do now?"

"To be honest, the situation of the Federal Army is far beyond my expectations. That machine seems to be made of special materials. Judging from the color of the wings and torso, it should be made of that material all over. The only information we have so far is that the other side has a great defensive capability against physical weapons."

"The equipment on our ship, apart from the main guns of the warship, is basically all physical weapons. You can imagine how difficult it is to use the main guns of a warship to attack mobile suits."

Attacking mobile suits from a distance using a battleship's main gun in space is essentially like using a cannon to kill a mosquito—it's just too difficult to hit them.

"What should we do then? Are we just going to let the Federal Army leave like this? If that machine returns to the Federal Army's lunar units and is mass-produced, it will be a devastating blow to ZAFT."

Athrun couldn't help but frown.

"That's right. Our frontline weapons are mainly physical ammunition, and beam weapons are also mostly huge. Once those machines are mass-produced, our frontline GINN and GOUF, will have no way to deal with them unless we can miniaturize the beam weapons."

However, beam weapons require too much energy, and ZAFT is currently unable to miniaturize them.

"Since that's the case, there's no other way. We must end that machine here, either by capturing it or by destroying it!"

Cruze made the final decision.

315. A Gundam made entirely of ice

"Can't find it? Why can't I find it?"

"They've probably all gone to the shelters. Because of the ZAFT army invasion, all the residents on the satellite have entered the shelters."

"Have the Morgoth members also entered the shelter?"

"Yes, because today is our handover day, we asked all the people from the Morgoth to stay away."

"..."

Mwu was in a real bind. Why was this happening? She had been thinking of having the Morgoth contact the driver, but suddenly they couldn't reach him.

"The shelter is sealed off and cannot be opened for the time being. ZAFT's warships are still outside the satellite, and the alarms have not yet stopped. The shelter cannot be opened until the alarms stop."

"What's the situation outside like now? Do you know the situation outside?"

"Captain, we have no information about the situation outside. The port has been completely destroyed, and we have no equipment to get out. There is also bad news."

"What bad news?"

Mwu listened to the soldier's words, she felt a sense of unease.

"You are now the highest-ranking officer here."

Mwu's eyes widened upon hearing this. She should have been the second tallest, but now she was the tallest, which meant that her superior had died in the previous attack.

"Okay, I understand."

"Someone please come and help!"

Helpless, Mwu rubbed her forehead, praying that someone would appear to help.

As if the Archangel had heard her prayer, after an explosion, the artificial hill behind the Morgoth factory was suddenly blown open, revealing a huge gap from which the white warship slowly flew out.

"That's... the Archangel!"

Upon seeing the Archangel, Mwu finally smiled.

"That's good, with the Archangel here, things are a bit better."

At least we have a warship now. Although the attack capabilities of warships in space are far inferior to those of mobile suits, it's better to have one than nothing.

But before Mwu could rejoice for long, the Archangel suddenly launched an attack, targeting the pure white Gundam floating in the sky.

The CIWS on the Archangel unleashed a barrage of bullets, shooting towards the pure white Gundam.

The pure white Gundam immediately raised its wings to defend itself.

"Wait, why are they attacking!"

Mwu was stunned when the Archangel suddenly attacked, but she quickly realized that the Archangel had mistaken the pure white Gundam for an enemy. This was because the Gundam was not a registered unit, meaning it was not one of their own. The Archangel's maintenance crew had been working inside and were unfamiliar with the outside environment. Upon suddenly seeing an unfamiliar unit, they immediately assumed it was an enemy and launched an attack. Considering that they were inside the satellite, they chose to use the CIWS instead of the main gun.

"Quickly, signal the Archangel to stop attacking!"

Mwu immediately ordered the soldiers to signal to stop the Archangel from continuing its attack, because if a fight broke out, something really bad could happen.

However, before the signal could be sent, the wings of the pure white Gundam were suddenly shattered while it was blocking the CIWS.

"What!?"

Not only were the wings shattered, but the torso itself was also destroyed after the wings were shattered. The complete Gundam was instantly reduced to fragments by several large-caliber CIWS.

"It was shattered!? Why? It was fine when facing the ZAFT army before, but now it's been shattered?"

Moreover, the shattering was far too extreme, like a piece of wood being smashed to pieces. This makes it seem as if the Gundam is extremely fragile. Shouldn't a Gundam be a massive metal block weighing tens of tons? Even if it were hit, it would at most be pierced or dented. Why was it shattered so easily?

If it were shattered by a large-caliber armor-piercing shell, that would be understandable, but it was just CIWS. Although the caliber was also large, it shouldn't have shattered the Gundam like that, right?

"A piece of debris fell down!"

Amid the soldiers' gasps, fragments of the Gundam plummeted to the ground, crashing onto the ground not far from Mwu's location. The impact of the impact caused the Mwu Federation to drop to the ground to avoid being hit by the fragments.

The impact brought a blast of cold air, making Mwu shiver.

What's going on? Why is there air conditioning?

Confused, Mwu got up from the ground. The Gundam fragments that had fallen to the ground did not explode; they simply landed on the ground normally.

"Captain Mwu, this..."

The soldiers nearby stared at the debris lying on the ground, speechless for a moment. They all looked at Mwu, the pure white machine that had just helped them repel GINN and GOUF, only to be taken down by their own Archangel with a single burst of CIWS. This was simply too cruel to them.

Although the other party was likely created by Morgoth using its own technology, it still saved them at least.

"Go and collect the fragments quickly. At least gather all the fragments of this machine and see if there's anything we can use."

At Mwu's command, all the soldiers went up to collect the fallen debris. Mwu herself went up and picked up a small piece that had rolled down in front of her.

But when she picked up the pieces, she was shocked.

"This is ice!?"

"Captain! These are all ice blocks!"

"Captain, mine is ice too!"

"All the fragments are ice!"

Mwu stared in shock, her eyes wide.

What's going on? Why is it ice? This pure white thing, she initially thought it was some kind of special metal or painted white, but she never expected it to be ice.

"Impossible. If it were ice, how could it withstand the attacks of GINN and GOUF? And how could such a flying attack be launched?"

"Captain, this is its weapon!"

Soldiers in the distance spotted two intact longswords. The CIWS missed the two swords, so they remained undamaged.

"This is also ice?"

Mwu ran over and looked at the huge longsword in front of her. Even before she got close, she could feel the cold air emanating from it, which meant that the thing was also made of ice.

"Why? Why can ice be made into mobile suits? And why can it launch such attacks?"

Mwu was completely stunned, and not only her, but all the other soldiers were also completely bewildered.

But amidst the group's bewilderment, the satellite suddenly vibrated.

The ZAFT army outside have launched their second offensive.

316. Kira, who failed to board the Archangel

"Destroy the entire satellite?"

"That's right, destroy the entire satellite!"

"But if that happens, will Orb have to leave the field?"

"Athrun, do you think Orb can escape the elimination zone now?"

Cruze's question made Athrun nod helplessly. Although he had become a soldier, and an elite member of the Red Army at that, he was still relatively kind. But now that Cruze had said so, he could only obey orders.

"That mobile suit is too powerful. Putting aside its weapons, as long as the material information that it can withstand physical weapons is transmitted, the Federal Army will be equipped with MS or MA made of this material, which will be a huge threat to our ZAFT army. Therefore, we must shoot it down here and bring it back to PLAN."

"Currently, our weapons can't do anything to it, but it will eventually stay on the satellite. Once we destroy the satellite, it will lose its mothership. Even if it's strong, its energy will eventually run out, and that will be the time for us to capture it."

In order to eliminate one of the mechs, Cruze chose to destroy the entire satellite, which would fundamentally solve the problem. After all, there was no concept of nuclear-powered mechs at the moment; all mechs relied on battery packs to operate, and battery packs were limited.

"I see."

Since they didn't have Athrun's and the others' mobile suits, Cruze had the remaining GINN on the warship carry large equipment to prepare to make several large holes in the satellite and blow up the central axis of the satellite. Such a huge satellite needs to rotate constantly to maintain gravity, and rotation requires a central axis for support.

If this supporting main axis is blown off, the entire satellite will lose its central support and disintegrate.