January 28, CE71, around 10:00 standard time.
After yesterday's smooth initial contact and a welcome banquet enjoyed by hosts and guests alike, newly promoted Major Murrue Ramius and newly promoted Major Mu La Flaga sat in a reception room at Artemis Fortress headquarters. In a relaxed atmosphere, they discussed supplies and replacement personnel for the Archangel with the fortress commander, Colonel Gerard Garcia.
"Could the selection of replacement personnel be completed any sooner?"
Colonel Gerard Garcia answered Major Murrue Ramius's request sincerely.
"I'm afraid not. The fortress still has its regular maintenance needs. Cutting the selection period to three days is already pushing it to the limit."
Major Murrue Ramius had no grounds to dispute his answer.
Compared with personnel selection and transfers in the Earth Alliance, or even the Atlantic Federation, which usually took weeks or months, three days was undeniably fast.
Moreover, although the final candidates had yet to be chosen, Artemis Fortress had already sent personnel to help with bridge watches, logistics, mobile suit repairs, and other work aboard the Archangel. They had even accepted orders without complaint from the Archangel's original crew, despite those crew members' much lower ranks. Everyone currently stationed aboard the Archangel, including Major Bidaluf, was under the unified command of newly promoted Lieutenant Natarle Badgiruel.
Of course, Major Murrue Ramius knew Artemis had other motives for sending those people.
But after speaking with Admiral Halberton, she considered how the brigadier general had been willing to cooperate temporarily with Logos so the Earth Alliance could obtain its own mobile suits as soon as possible.
Compared with Logos, wasn't it more acceptable for the Eurasian Federation, which also fought on the front lines, to gain access to some of the technology?
As Major Murrue Ramius fell silent, Major Mu La Flaga, who had learned yesterday about Celestial Being and the upheaval it had caused among the higher-ups, voiced his concern.
"But Colonel, Celestial Being specifically pointed to the possibility that the Archangel is at Artemis Fortress. The fortress is no more than a day's normal travel from Heliopolis. What if Celestial Being attacks?"
Colonel Gerard Garcia responded to Major Mu La Flaga's warning with a hearty laugh.
"Hahaha! There's no need to worry too much about that.
"As long as we have the Umbrella of Artemis, no one can take this fortress before they run out of energy and supplies.
"And if Celestial Being dares to linger here, they'll be marching to their deaths when the Earth Alliance's forces arrive."
Major Mu La Flaga had a bad feeling about it, but the facts so far did support what Colonel Gerard Garcia had said. That left only an ultra-long-range attack from beyond detection range, or a close-range surprise attack under cover of stealth, as ways to bypass the Umbrella of Artemis.
With electromagnetic jamming already in widespread, routine use at Artemis Fortress, a precise strike from far beyond detection range was theoretically impossible. After all, that was the fundamental reason mobile suits could dominate the battlefield.
So that left only a stealthy, close-range surprise attack, didn't it?
Major Murrue Ramius had reached the same conclusion. As someone involved in developing the G series, she knew of a machine capable of just that.
"Colonel, there's something I'd like to bring to your attention.
"One of the G units seized by ZAFT's Creuset Team, the Blitz Gundam, is equipped with a system called Mirage Colloid. It can render a mobile suit 'unobservable.'
"If Celestial Being has a similar capability, they could slip inside the fortress while the Umbrella of Artemis is down..."
Major Murrue Ramius's warning reminded Colonel Gerard Garcia of something he had seen in Celestial Being's battle footage.
Mirage Colloid seemed to have failed when the Blitz Gundam faced Celestial Being's purple machine. Even so, Artemis Fortress relied on the Umbrella of Artemis, and he could not afford to dismiss the possibility.
Colonel Gerard Garcia was considering how best to respond and what orders to give his subordinates when a knock came at the reception-room door.
"Come in."
"Sir, the radar controller reports that the electromagnetic radar is experiencing unknown interference unrelated to neutron jamming.
"Also, one of our disguised spy ships on the front line reported earlier that Celestial Being's fleet left the Heliopolis wreckage several hours ago."
His subordinate's concern was clear. Coupled with Major Murrue Ramius's earlier warning, it gave Colonel Gerard Garcia no reason to take a stubborn risk.
"Deploy the Umbrella of Artemis! Quickly!"
"Yes, sir!"
After his subordinate left to carry out the order, Colonel Gerard Garcia smiled and thanked Major Murrue Ramius.
"Thank you for the warning, Major Ramius.
"But don't worry. We've seen through their little trick.
"How about coming outside with me to see what's happening?"
Major Murrue Ramius and Major Mu La Flaga had no reason to refuse Colonel Gerard Garcia's invitation.
"We would be glad to accompany you."
After Major Murrue Ramius answered for them both, she and Major Mu La Flaga followed Colonel Gerard Garcia out of the reception room and into the headquarters command center.
On the hall's large screen, Artemis Fortress's pride and joy, the Umbrella of Artemis, had already deployed. An active search by the experienced staff had also located Celestial Being's four warships—one red and three green—beyond the maximum range of the fortress's weapons.
"Unidentified enemy ships are decelerating!"
"They realized we spotted them and gave up on sneaking around?"
Colonel Gerard Garcia's assessment was rather subjective, but under the circumstances, it seemed to be the only reasonable explanation.
"You see? As long as we have the Umbrella of Artemis, this fortress is as solid as a rock.
"You can rest easy. Once you're fully prepared and Celestial Being has slunk away, you can take the lunar orbital route straight back to the lunar base in safety."
Neither Major Murrue Ramius nor Major Mu La Flaga could find grounds to argue with Colonel Gerard Garcia's somewhat pointed suggestion.
But just as their silence signaled agreement, a tactical controller shouted a warning.
"High-energy reaction from the main gun of Celestial Being's red warship! It's holding position relative to us!"
"Is that all they've got?!
"Ignore it! No attack can penetrate the invincible Umbrella of Artemis!"
That was Colonel Gerard Garcia's assessment of Celestial Being.
In truth, once the Umbrella of Artemis was deployed, Artemis Fortress had, in a sense, run out of options too.
So all they could do was watch as the Gwameir's main gun built up energy over a long charge, its energy reading climbing ever higher—only to fire two exceedingly thin beams.
The beams struck precisely at the seams of the Umbrella of Artemis. Like steel needles piercing an eggshell, they passed through it and triggered violent explosions across Artemis Fortress.
"How is that possible?!"
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