In the airspace ahead, the Calamity Gundam blocked the interception route like a mad beast, every gun port wide open as it tried to cut off the Three-Ship Alliance's reinforcements with a storm of firepower.
With its extreme mobility, the Justice Gundam weaved through the barrage. Athrun's gaze was icy as the Beam Rifle in his hand fired repeatedly from maximum range, every precise shot detonating a nuclear warhead in flight.
It was not just the Justice Gundam. Cagalli Yula Athha, piloting the Strike Rouge, and Mu La Flaga, piloting the Strike Gundam, charged side by side into the forefront of the battlefield.
"How could we let something this dangerous land in someone else's home?!"
Mu's flippant voice carried firm resolve. The Strike Gundam's high-energy beam rifle punched through a nuclear missile with one shot. The violent sympathetic explosion instantly swallowed four more missiles trailing behind it.
Seeing this, the Calamity Gundam tried to turn its guns on the Strike Gundam, which was building the interception net. But Canard, piloting the Experimental Zaku, bore down on the Calamity Gundam with savage force, pinning it down and leaving Orga no choice but to defend himself desperately.
At the same time, the ghostlike Forbidden Gundam broke away from Yzak and silently swooped toward Nicol's unit, which was fully focused on intercepting the nuclear missiles, like a circling hawk diving on its prey.
The instant Yzak saw it, his body reacted on instinct before his mind could even process it. The Duel Gundam's right-shoulder "Shiva" Railgun and left-shoulder five-tube missile pod rose together, its fire-control system instantly locking onto the Forbidden Gundam.
Just as his index finger pressed the firing button, a faint thought flashed through his mind: Was helping deserters who had left ZAFT and joined the Three-Ship Alliance a betrayal of