The Beginning of Battle

Meanwhile, deep in space tens of thousands of kilometers from the Archangel, the bridge of the ZAFT Forces warship Vesalius was likewise a scene of tense yet efficient battle preparations.

The white-clad commander, Rau Le Creuset, was walking toward the cockpit of his personal MS—the CGUE—with his distinctive gait, calm and unhurried yet carrying an invisible sense of oppression.

His golden hair reflected a cold sheen beneath the bridge lights. A mask covered most of his face, revealing only a pair of deep, unreadable eyes.

Through an encrypted communications channel, his clear and calm orders reached the two other pilots preparing to sortie—Athrun Zala, the elite Red Coat piloting the red Aegis Gundam, and Miguel Aiman, a young pilot eager to prove himself in a Mass-Production Ginn.

"Athrun, Miguel," Creuset's voice came through the communicator, calm and even. "After launching, rendezvous immediately with the friendly MS unit taking off from the Gamow. Your targets are the enemy fleet's two G-Series prototype units. At any cost, destroy them or suppress them completely. I will follow shortly to provide support and command from the flank."

"Understood!" Athrun's voice was as calm and professional as ever.

"Roger!" Miguel's voice carried a trace of eager excitement.

Their voices echoed inside their respective cockpits, filled with determination and a sense of duty.

Just as the Archangel detected the approach of the Vesalius and Gamow and scrambled into combat formation, Creuset's fleet completed all battle preparations with the orderly precision of a war machine and extended its claws toward its prey.

However, just as Athrun's Aegis Gundam and Miguel's Ginn were about to be sent onto the catapults, Miguel could not resist voicing the question in his heart over the comms.

"Um... Captain Creuset," Miguel said, his voice tinged with confusion and confidence in both his own and his comrades' abilities.

"With all due respect... is it really necessary for you to personally sortie in the CGUE for this operation? They only have two MS and one damaged MA, while we have at least five, perhaps even more MS once the Gamow's support is included! I think... Athrun and I alone should be enough to finish this battle."

His words were not meant to question the order. They were more a judgment based on the disparity in strength.

In his eyes, their side held an overwhelming advantage in both numbers and overall quality.

The Archangel's Zero Type MA had already been damaged in its previous battle against the captain's CGUE. Whether it had even been repaired was unknown.

As for those two Gs, while their performance was exceptional and their pilots had performed unexpectedly well, there were only two of them.

Under such circumstances, for Captain Creuset, the fleet commander, to personally risk piloting an MS into battle seemed a little... excessive.

He secretly glanced at Athrun's portrait on the communications screen and found that his normally composed colleague wore a similarly questioning expression.

Both of them hoped to hear a more convincing explanation from their captain.

Yet in response to their questions, Creuset merely gave a brief answer in his usual calm tone, one that carried a hint of mockery and seemed laden with deeper meaning.

"Heh heh... it is always best to be cautious. Or rather, 'better safe than sorry,' isn't it?"

Those casually spoken words were like a boulder pressing against Miguel and Athrun's chests, leaving them unable to argue.

Cautious? Careful?

Had anyone else said it, perhaps they would have argued back. But coming from Creuset, and considering their previous record...

Yes. Even with the advantage in numbers, they had failed to prevent the two Gs from activating, and they had failed to shoot them down in the chaotic battle at Heliopolis. Athrun might still have held back because of his old bond with Jiliang, but Miguel himself... in that battle, he had been completely suppressed by that mysterious, never-before-seen Blaze Gundam!

The humiliation of being toyed with, seen through, and finally forced into a miserable retreat remained vividly etched into his memory.

It had been a complete defeat, an undeniable fact he could not escape.

Thinking of it, Miguel clenched his teeth tightly, his face instantly filling with frustration and unwillingness.

His hands gripped the controls so hard that his knuckles turned white.

He looked as though he were roaring silently, swearing inwardly that this time, he would wash away his previous disgrace with the enemy's wreckage! He would prove his worth!

Seeing Miguel's fighting spirit—or rather, his thirst for revenge—Creuset's lips curved ever so slightly behind his mask.

That smile contained both appreciation for his subordinate's simple, direct desire to fight—because it made him easier to use—and deeper calculations known only to Creuset himself.

Good. This was exactly how it should be.

Anger and vengeance were the best fuel.

"No matter what," Creuset said in a tone filled with expectation, like an elder encouraging younger men, "make sure to shoot down those two G-Series units and their mothership—the Archangel. Miguel, Athrun, I am looking forward to your performance."

After saying that, Creuset temporarily cut off his private communications with Athrun and Miguel, briefly focusing all his attention on a name and a vague silhouette.

—Char La Flaga.

The detailed combat record Miguel had submitted after his defeat concerning the "Blaze Gundam" contained information valuable enough to leave even Creuset somewhat astonished.

A civilian youth judged before battle to have "absolutely no experience" had managed, during his first time piloting an MS, to unexpectedly take down the careless Auel Unit and Matthew Unit. Then, in the ensuing encounter, he had fought Miguel—who should have become more cautious and gone all out after his previous defeat—to a standstill before ultimately escaping unscathed?

That could not possibly be explained merely by "good luck" or "superior machine performance."

The record displayed instantaneous judgment, bizarre maneuvers, and some kind of... intuition that seemed capable of predicting an opponent's movements. All of it made Creuset sense something unusual.

How detestable... Creuset murmured inwardly, his gaze cold behind his mask. But then again... should I say it is only natural for the 'heir' acknowledged by 'that man'?

That man he referred to—Al Da Flaga—was someone Creuset both hated and had to acknowledge as influential. He seemed to hold immense expectations for his son, Char La Flaga, expectations even Creuset could not fully understand.

He believed that although Char still lacked much in ability and had flaws in his character, something within him possessed the potential and qualities to become the Flaga Family's... no, the legitimate heir to something that transcended all convention.

Because he had vaguely sensed this, Creuset knew he had to accelerate his plans.

He understood clearly that he absolutely, absolutely could not allow Char La Flaga to continue growing!

Before his latent talent could fully bloom, before he could truly become a threat to Creuset's long-cherished ambition, he had to be eliminated completely!

Otherwise, this youth bearing the name "Flaga," who also seemed favored by some kind of "Destiny," would surely become the greatest and most unpredictable obstacle on the path toward Creuset's grand and dark ambitions!

Having realized this, Creuset knew that personally piloting an MS as a commander might not be the best tactical choice and might even be risky.

But to ensure he could personally strangle this potential threat, to bury "Char La Flaga" along with the Archangel in this region of space without fail, he resolutely chose to enter the battle himself.

"Athrun Zala, Aegis Gundam, launching!"

"Miguel Aiman, ZGMF-1017 Ginn, launching!"

With the controller's declaration, the red transforming MS and the Mass-Production MS howled off the Vesalius's catapult deck first, shooting into the blackness of space like two sharp arrows.

Then came Creuset's turn.

The silver-gray CGUE was slowly transported onto the catapult. Inside the cockpit, Creuset's mask reflected the cold glow of the indicator lights.

"Rau Le Creuset, ZGMF-515 CGUE, launching!"

Boom—!

A powerful electromagnetic thrust erupted in an instant, hurling the CGUE outward like a shell!

The silver-gray machine tore through the silent void with cold killing intent, tightly following the Aegis Gundam and Ginn ahead like a silver beast that had locked onto its prey, pouncing toward the isolated and helpless Archangel in the distance!

A battle of pursuit and counterattack, a battle that would decide life and death, was about to officially begin across the vast, star-filled yet cold and merciless battlefield of space!

"Char La Flaga! Blaze Gundam, launching!"

"Jiliang Yamato! Strike Gundam, launching!"

Almost simultaneously, two equally firm and powerful voices rang through the Archangel's communications channel.

With the launch orders confirmed, the massive steel bodies were given tremendous initial velocity by the catapults and shot violently from the slowly opening MS launch port at the bow.

The Blaze Gundam and Strike Gundam, like two dazzling meteors, instantly merged into the deep backdrop of space and raced toward the unknown battle ahead.

A short while before them, Mu La Flaga had already departed in his orange-and-yellow Moebius Zero Type MA.

At this moment, the experienced veteran was surely like a silent assassin, shutting down most of his thrusters and relying solely on inertia as he carefully evaded enemy detection and quietly infiltrated toward the likely location of the ZAFT motherships.

Inside their own cramped cockpits, crowded with sophisticated instruments and displays, Char and Jiliang could still hear Mu's steady, forceful voice explaining the battle plan in the hangar moments earlier.

"Listen up, kid, and you too, young lady," Mu had told them seriously before launch. "I'll sortie ahead of you alone in the Moebius. But pay attention—I won't engage the MS they send out right away. That would expose my intentions too early."

"Like the Archangel's Silent Running just now, I'll use inertial flight to approach their mothership as covertly as possible and look for a chance to launch a surprise attack. Your job is to hold back every enemy MS heading for the Archangel at all costs until my ambush succeeds—or rather, until I can return safely!"

Simply put, the tactical core was this: the Blaze Gundam and Strike Gundam, as the backbone of the frontal battlefield, had to draw in and restrain the enemy MS force with everything they had, defending the Archangel to the death and never allowing the enemy near the mothership.

At the same time, Mu's Moebius Zero Type would serve as the surprise element, using the concealment advantages of its MA form to silently infiltrate behind the ZAFT fleet. He would seek an opportunity to strike a fatal blow against an enemy command ship or supply vessel, disrupting their formation and perhaps even forcing them to retreat.

"Inertial flight is stealthy, but it is slow, and it offers almost no maneuverability. Once discovered, it will be hard to shake them off," Mu emphasized at the end. "So until I succeed, all the pressure will be on you. You need to use your Gundams and your own ability to win that time, to make up for that tactical gap!"

"Your mission is simple, and it is difficult—protect the Archangel and protect yourselves. Listen carefully. Until I get back, the two of you, and this ship, had better not sink on me!"

After leaving them with those words, filled with trust, instruction, and immense pressure, Mu was the first to pilot the Moebius Zero Type out of sight beyond the launch port.

At that moment, he was surely doing exactly as he had said. Like a ghost, he carefully made sure not to alert ZAFT's radar and sensors while steadily, slowly flying toward his intended target through that perilous yet utterly silent vacuum of space.

Not long after launching, Char adjusted his machine's posture and prepared to head for the designated defensive position according to the radar guidance when he suddenly felt an incredibly faint yet exceptionally clear tremor arise from deep within his heart.

Some indescribable perception, as though it came from a higher dimension, made every hair on his body stand on end.

"...!" Char murmured instinctively, "This is... a bad feeling..."

Jiliang, who had remained connected through the communications channel, immediately heard Char's abrupt words.

"Char? What is it? Did you find something?" Jiliang asked hurriedly, concern in her voice. The radar scan on her main screen remained normal, showing no abnormally approaching targets.

At this point, only a few short minutes had passed since they launched from the Archangel.

Yet in that brief moment, almost too short to count, Char's intuition—made extraordinarily sharp by repeatedly brushing against death and merging with some unknown factor—had already sounded the alarm.

Just as Jiliang, full of confusion, was about to press Char on what exactly he had sensed—

"Beep! Beep! Beep! Warning! High-energy signatures approaching rapidly! Bearing... multiple!"

The shrill alarms sounded in the cockpits of the Blaze Gundam and Strike Gundam almost simultaneously!

The onboard high-performance sensor arrays had finally detected the deadly threat that had seemingly been concealed within the background noise!

At the same time, an emergency transmission from the Archangel clearly reached both of them. It was Captain Murrue, her voice sharp and distorted with anxiety. "Char! Jiliang! Watch out! According to the latest scan, three enemy MS are rapidly approaching from both your front and rear! I repeat! You are being attacked from both sides! Six units in total!"

Six!?

That number instantly made Jiliang's heart sink to the bottom.

In truth, even before the piercing alarms and Murrue's urgent warning sounded, Char had already vaguely "seen" the red points of light representing deadly danger rushing in from two directions like savage schools of sharks, relying on that nearly supernatural intuition!

The battle had begun without warning, in the worst possible way!