"What a troublesome bastard!"
Flaga cursed from the MA cockpit, filled with the blare of alarms.
He forcibly steadied the MA's flight posture and dragged the smoke-belching machine toward an emergency landing.
"It's over, Flaga..."
Boom—
Just as Cruze prepared to deliver the MA its final blow, a pillar of energy burst through the rocky strata not far from him.
With a thunderous crash as the mine's rocky bed collapsed, a warship streaked out through the swirling dust, snow-white with dazzling red light interspersed across its hull.
"A warship... inside a colony...?"
Kira sat inside the Strike Gundam, staring blankly at the screen.
There was actually a three-hundred-meter flagship hidden in the city where he lived.
Its sheer size, coupled with its unprecedented appearance, left Kira dumbfounded.
"What a tenacious bunch!"
The sudden appearance of the warship disrupted Cruze's rhythm, forcing him to halt his attack on the MA.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The warship seemed to have noticed Z.A.F.T's MS. Gunports unfolded at its stern, and several missiles flew toward Cruze's GINN.
Cruze frowned slightly at the tracking missiles. He fired at them with his rifle while piloting his MS backward.
A single MS could never bring down a space warship.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
After shooting down some of the incoming missiles, Cruze turned and ducked behind the main shaft supporting the entire satellite.
The missiles failed to adjust in time and struck the main shaft, exploding. The ground shook with a grinding roar.
While the GINN evaded the warship's attacks, Kira piloted the Strike Gundam toward Akatsuki Industries and spotted the transport vehicle that had been forced to stop due to the attack.
"The weapons... are these?"
Kira wanted to ask the female soldier, but she was simply lying motionless on the cockpit floor.
Feeling the satellite's violent tremors, Kira bit his lip and began assembling the weapons according to the data on the screen. He then equipped the backpack labeled "Heavy Attack Equipment."
Meanwhile, the large, long cannon barrel and Vulcan Cannon had already been assembled earlier, so Kira mounted them directly onto the Gundam's back.
As the energy conduits connected, the Strike Gundam carried the 320mm Hyper Impulse Cannon "Agni" over its left shoulder.
Its right shoulder was fitted with both a 120mm Anti-ship Vulcan Cannon and a 350mm Artillery Cannon.
Both were Heavy Attack Equipment, with overwhelming firepower.
"I can't let you show off! Die right here!"
On the other side, Cruze had just escaped the tracking missiles when he turned and discovered that the Strike Gundam had equipped its weapons. Seeing those vicious cannon muzzles, he immediately raised his weapon and fired at the Strike Gundam.
Rumble—
However, due to gravity, Cruze's first two shots were slightly off and merely struck the truck behind the Strike Gundam.
Intense flames instantly engulfed the Strike Gundam, causing Cruze to lose track of its exact location.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Suddenly, just as Cruze was preparing to launch an indiscriminate attack, a piercing alarm sounded inside the cockpit.
Without hesitation, Cruze rolled aside to evade it.
However, when he was only halfway through the maneuver, a massive, shrieking energy beam erupted from the sea of flames.
Though Cruze had detected it and dodged in advance, his left arm was still sliced off by the enormous beam.
The beam's power remained undiminished as it shot straight toward the colony satellite's opposite inner wall.
Under the tremendous attack, the satellite's surface began to glow white-hot. Its outer shell peeled outward, opening up an empty, gaping hole through which even drifting asteroids in space could be seen.
"This... how could this...?"
Seeing the consequences of his attack, Kira's face immediately turned pale, and he froze in the pilot's seat.
This was only an MS. How could it possess such terrifying firepower...?
Seeing that the weapon in his hands was far too powerful, Kira lost his will to fight. He could only watch helplessly as the damaged enemy unit turned and escaped through the hole it had just blasted open.
Noer had no idea what was happening outside. Though the violent shaking continued, he was not panicking in the slightest.
After all, no matter how much fighting broke out, the ship he was aboard probably would not explode.
What he should have been worried about was another question: Question: How could a Z.A.F.T soldier survive aboard an Earth Alliance warship?
Rumble—
[Alert level raised to 10!] [This shelter may be launched as an escape pod. All residents, please remain seated and do not move around...]
As the tremors intensified, Heliopolis's shelter alert level rose to its highest level as well.
"Is there another war...?"
"Aren't we a neutral nation? Why is Z.A.F.T attacking us?"
"Damn Coordinators!"
"They're actually attacking a neutral nation! Damn Coordinators! Damn Z.A.F.T! Damn PLANT!"
"This is utterly absurd! They're even attacking neutral nations!"
"..."
Inside the escape pod, the people who heard the news began cursing one after another. For a time, it was filled with all kinds of resentment toward Z.A.F.T and PLANT.
Noer silently closed his mouth. If these people found out I was the one who led Cruze and the others here...
"Dad..."
Across from him, Flay, dressed in pink, clasped her hands tightly and murmured uneasily.
She looked utterly heartbroken.
About ten minutes later.
Boom!
[Emergency separation! Commencing execution!]
The escape pod suddenly began to shake violently.
It was accompanied by a powerful sensation of being pressed back into the seat and weightlessness.
Like a sowing machine, Heliopolis fired white escape pods outward in every direction.
"C-Captain..."
Inside the space warship, Addis looked at the scene of Heliopolis's fall. Unable to stop himself, he stood up and looked uneasily toward Captain Cruze.
A colony satellite had vanished just like that.
Cruze stood by the warship's window, silently watching the scattered escape pods. No one knew what he was thinking at that moment.
I... didn't pad the word count, did I?
Before you continue