Decisive battle in the sandstorm

At the entrance to the Suez Canal, sand churned like ocher waves, whipped into a wild dance by North Africa's hot midday winds until the sky turned a murky yellow. In the distance, dull ripples shimmered across the canal, a giant serpent lying dormant at the boundary between desert and sea-the Archangel's only passage to survival. The battered warship pushed forward at full power, its engines tearing through the silence of the sandstorm. Shell marks covered its hull like hardened scars, and its Phase Shift Armor grew warm under the continuous impacts. Power supply and cooling systems worked at full capacity; though the armor's sheen had dimmed, it remained unbroken. The ship had to reach the Red Sea. Once it entered the water, the Desert Tiger would lose every advantage, and this hunt across North Africa would finally reach a turning point.

Inside the bridge, Murrue Ramius dug her fingertips into the leather armrests of her command chair, her knuckles turning pale. Her gaze remained fixed on the canal entrance ahead, her expression cold as iron, but her voice stayed steady as tempered steel. "Push engine output to the limit and lock our course on the Suez Canal! All close-in defense gun crews to stations! Prioritize Phase Shift Armor power to the engine compartment and bridge, and increase cooling output at the same time. We must preserve armor protection around our critical sections!" Cries for help flooded the communications channels, but she forced them beneath a stream of composed orders. They had their backs to the wall. One step back meant annihilation.

Above them, Kira Yamato sat upright in the Strike Gundam's cockpit. The Aile Strike pack's thrusters spat pale blue flames, blowing the sand into swirling rings. Beam burns scarred the machine's armor, and most of its left shoulder plate had shattered, exposing power lines that glimmered faintly blue in the sunlight. He raised a hand to rub his aching eyes. Fine webs of blood vessels spread across them, yet his grip on the controls remained steady. "Kira, leave the flanks to Desert Dawn's guerrillas. You only need to watch the LaGOWE-that's Andrew's personal mobile armor. Its large beam cannon is extremely powerful. Repeated hits on the same spot could overload our armor's local cooling, outstrip its power supply, and breach our defenses." Murrue's voice carried unquestioning trust as she precisely identified the Phase Shift Armor's sole defensive weakness.

"Understood," Kira answered softly. He guided the Strike into a gradual climb and peered through the swirling sand toward the boiling horizon behind them.

Beyond the sandstorm, the beasts of war slowly awakened. Every main gun barrel on the flagship Lesseps swung into position. Energy gathered at their muzzles, heating nearby grains of sand until they glowed faintly, while a low hum rumbled like an ancient beast's roar. More than twenty BuCUEs lay in a wedge formation, their desert camouflage blending into the dunes. Only their eye sensors shone with cold red light, like a lurking wolf pack. At the formation's heart, the TMF/A-803 LaGOWE-the ultimate weapon of the desert battlefield-slowly powered up. Its enormous body resembled a moving fortress. Beam claws on both wrists remained drawn in like hidden talons, missile pods on its back stood ready, and the large beam cannon at its prow reflected a chilling gleam. Destructive power was etched into every line.

Inside the LaGOWE's cockpit, Andrew Waltfeld's profile looked sharply defined beneath the console's cold light. He wore a red ZAFT uniform, the medal at his collar swaying with the jolts. His right hand gripped the control stick so tightly that his knuckles whitened. His left eye narrowed, a desperate fire burning within it. He knew all too well that this desert was his territory. Once the Archangel entered the canal, his desert legion would become a bird with broken wings, no longer capable of threatening the warship. "Aisha, are the weapon systems calibrated?" His low voice held an almost imperceptible tremor-the strain of his overwhelming hunger for victory.

Beside him, Aisha Cross looked down at the weapons control panel, her fingertips dancing across the keys with mechanical precision. Her expression remained calm, but whenever she looked at Andrew, her eyes held unwavering tenderness and resolve. "Andrew, all weapon systems are active. Beam cannon charge at one hundred percent. Missile pods fully stocked. Beam claws and physical cutting blades unlocked." She paused, then gently laid her hand over his. "Whatever happens, I'll be beside you."

Andrew turned his hand over and clasped hers. The warmth passing through her fingertips became his only anchor. "All forces, listen up!" His voice rose sharply, carrying across the battlefield through the communications system with the Desert Tiger's unmistakable authority and determination. "Lesseps, fire a full main battery salvo! All mobile suit units, advance! The LaGOWE will lead the charge-today, we sink the Archangel!"

The instant his orders fell, battle erupted across the sands like thunder.

The Lesseps's main guns roared first. Huge energy shells tore through the ocher sandstorm, trailing blazing tails as they hurtled toward the Archangel-the standard bombardment pattern of a ZAFT warship. The Archangel's bow-mounted Valiant 110 cm rapid-fire beam cannons immediately responded. Two pale blue beams crossed to intercept the shells. Though they failed to destroy them completely, they diverted their trajectories. The shells skimmed past the hull, their pressure waves carrying searing heat over its Phase Shift Armor. The surface flashed red, but the cooling system immediately drew the heat away, quickly restoring its steady sheen without damage. The shells struck the ground, shaking the desert as enormous craters opened and rubble and burning sand rained down. More than twenty BuCUEs launched their coordinated assault on schedule, strictly following the original story's tactics: half skimmed low, firing their optional electromagnetic cannons furiously, while some simultaneously unleashed triple rocket pods. They targeted the Archangel's underside, attempting to overload localized cooling and breach its defenses. The other half provided high-altitude interference, using double-ended Beam Sabers to help block its course. The Gottfried Mk-71 225 cm high-energy beam cannons on both sides of the Archangel returned fire together, accurately striking the two leading BuCUEs. Both machines burst into fireballs, but that failed to stop the others' suicidal charge. Just as in the original story, Andrew's African forces gambled everything on overwhelming the Archangel's armor power supply and cooling systems through concentrated attacks.

The LaGOWE broke through the outer screen like a tyrant. With its thrusters at full power, the deflectors along its sides perfectly kept the sand from interfering, giving its massive body mobility far beyond that of an ordinary mobile suit-the defining feature of the anime's "strongest desert combatant." Andrew focused on piloting, repeatedly circling behind his target under cover of the dunes. Aisha precisely managed the weapons. As her fingers flew, the dorsal missile pods fired in unison, sending dozens of missiles streaking toward the Strike like meteors. Both wrist-mounted beam claws extended, blazing blue as they lunged at Kira. "Kira Yamato, your show is over!" Andrew's roar rang through the communications channel. The LaGOWE's physical cutting blades slowly unfolded, gleaming coldly as it assumed the original story's classic close-range finishing stance. Its large beam cannon charged again and again, squeezing Kira's room to evade to an absolute minimum.

Kira was instantly cornered.

The LaGOWE's armor thickness and firepower far surpassed those of any mobile suit he had encountered. Even the Aile Strike pack's impressive mobility only let him barely avoid fatal blows. He sent the Strike sliding sideways and rolling at high speed, reproducing the anime's signature evasive maneuvers. His Beam Saber struck the LaGOWE's armor three times, leaving only shallow scratches; its plating could withstand ordinary beam attacks. Between counterattacks, the LaGOWE swept a physical cutting blade into the Strike's right leg. With a tearing shriek, the armor ripped apart. Sparks from a ruptured power conduit splashed across the cockpit glass. The impact numbed Kira's arms and nearly knocked the controls from his hands. His machine plunged several meters before he barely regained control. Aisha's weapons management was as precise as its anime counterpart. Missile pods fired continuous volleys, and beam claws pursued him like shadows. Kira had no opening to retaliate. Damage mounted, energy reserves drained rapidly, and the cockpit alarms sounded exactly as they had in the original story, piercing enough to tighten his chest.

"Phase Shift Armor power consumption increasing! Cooling system load rising! Defensive performance fluctuating! Remaining energy support at seventy percent!" The communications officer's report matched the armor's established mechanics, his voice panicked but still orderly. "Starboard deck three is taking concentrated solid-projectile hits from BuCUE electromagnetic cannons! Brief cooling overload has caused dents and cracks in the armor, but no penetration! Impact vibrations have shorted internal wiring and triggered chain explosions! Damage control is making emergency repairs! Three crew members critically injured!" The screen reproduced a scene from the anime: shallow marks covered scorched armor, with localized dents but no breaches. Flames spread through cracks along the wiring while damage control personnel in protective suits fought the fires through scorching heat and thick smoke, repeatedly hurled back by explosions.

"BuCUEs on the left have broken through the guerrilla line! Three are alongside the hull, repeatedly striking the same armor section with beam claws!" another alarm rang out. "Four Desert Dawn combat vehicles destroyed! More than half their personnel are casualties! They can't provide cover!" Murrue abruptly raised her head. On the monitor, three BuCUEs clung to the Archangel's port side, their beam claws locked onto one precise point and hammering it continuously. The struck armor glowed a blinding red. The cooling system ran at full capacity but still could not shed the concentrated heat fast enough, and cracks across the surface continued to widen.

Bad news poured into the bridge. Murrue grew paler, but she gritted her teeth and kept issuing orders. "Turn all secondary guns to port! Eliminate the approaching BuCUEs first and stop them concentrating their attacks on our Phase Shift Armor! Prioritize power to the port-side armor and increase cooling output! Kira, hold on for another five minutes! We'll reach the canal entrance! Once we're in the water, the cooling system's load will drop dramatically!"

Kira listened to the screams and alarms over the communications channel. On his screen, raging flames engulfed the Archangel's hull. He watched guerrillas struck by BuCUE fire vanish into ash and damage control personnel rush forward one after another. A scorching surge of emotion suddenly exploded inside his chest. It was anger, despair, and above all an obsession with protecting everything. In that instant, scarlet light flashed in his eyes, and a faint aura rose around him. Amid those extreme emotional fluctuations, his SEED Factor fully awakened. His mind held no distractions now, only the resolve to protect. Fatigue and pain fell away, and his reaction speed, predictive ability, and maneuvering precision rose to unprecedented heights.

It was as though the world had suddenly been set to slow motion.

After his SEED awakening, Kira's condition perfectly mirrored the anime. The world seemed to slow, and nothing escaped his perception-the glow at the LaGOWE's muzzle, the missile trajectories, the BuCUEs' turns. He maneuvered the Strike at high speed, its thruster flames tracing perfect arcs as he recreated the original story's famous "Aile Strike extreme evasion" scene. Anticipating Aisha's weapons-control rhythm, he rolled aside a second before the missiles launched. During a gap as the LaGOWE turned, he circled to its flank and slashed hard with his Beam Saber. It failed to pierce the armor but left a deeper gouge. After several exchanges, Kira seized on the LaGOWE's sluggish turning speed. Using the sandstorm as cover, he accelerated sharply and swept directly behind it, completely avoiding its frontal firepower and locking precisely onto its critical weakness-the junction between the dorsal reactor and cockpit.

He saw it-the LaGOWE's only weakness, the connection between its dorsal reactor and cockpit. The armor there was less than a third as thick as the frontal plating. It was the war beast's fatal vulnerability.

"Andrew, it's over." Kira's voice was calm but resolute. He slowly raised his Beam Saber, its pale blue light gathering into a lethal edge. Just as in the anime, this strike embodied his determination to protect his companions, and it was the only way to defeat the LaGOWE. He knew that the blow would tear it apart and leave nothing of Andrew, but he had no choice. Only destroying the LaGOWE could end the threat to the Archangel.

Inside the LaGOWE's cockpit, Andrew and Aisha instantly turned deathly pale.

They had no time to turn and no way to activate their defenses. Andrew instinctively shielded Aisha beneath him, his left hand clamped around the controls. Despair and resentment filled his eyes. He could not bear to see his obsession end in failure, to take Aisha to her death, or to watch his desert legion perish. Aisha gently clasped his arm, her calm expression tinged with acceptance. There were no unnecessary words, only the understanding and determination in their eyes. The relentless cockpit alarms enveloped them like the shadow of death.

At the instant the Beam Saber was about to pierce that weak point, Mei Hock came streaking through the sky in his GuAIZ. Its silver-blue finish shone brilliantly through the sandstorm, and its thrusters left trails of light as he punched precisely through the battlefield's web of fire.

"Stop, Kira!" Mei Hock's voice came over the public channel, steady with a trace of urgency, yet still carrying unquestionable authority. At the same time, he sent the GuAIZ Gundam surging between the Strike and the LaGOWE. The Anti-Beam Shield in its left hand unfolded instantly, placing a firm, precise barrier directly in front of the LaGOWE's weak point without the slightest deviation. The GuAIZ trembled from its full-speed dash. Akira gripped the controls tightly, his gaze sharp as a hawk's as he stared at the Strike Gundam ahead and braced to take the blow head-on. He had to block it, both to save Andrew and Aisha and to stop this meaningless slaughter from escalating.

Clang!

The Beam Saber struck the GuAIZ's beam shield. Sparks fell like scattered stars, and the piercing crash drowned out the gunfire and alarms. The impact sent the GuAIZ sliding back several meters. Pain shot through Mei Hock's arms, and his fingertips went numb. A deep gouge scored the beam shield's surface, but it held firm, deflecting the fatal strike to one side. The Beam Saber scraped across the LaGOWE's armor, leaving a deep scar without reaching its core. The LaGOWE survived. Andrew and Aisha stared in shock inside its cockpit, and everyone on the Archangel's bridge was stunned, while Akira's GuAIZ remained firmly between the Strike and the LaGOWE.

Kira's pupils contracted. He pulled the Strike sharply back, aimed its beam rifle at the GuAIZ, and demanded urgently, "Hawke? Why are you helping him? He's our enemy! He launched an all-out attack to sink the Archangel! He killed so many guerrillas and crew members! Why are you stopping me?" His gaze stayed locked on the GuAIZ's cockpit.

Mei Hock's tone was firm as stone. "Kira, a battlefield is not an execution ground where everyone must be wiped out." He pointed out that Andrew "had not indiscriminately slaughtered innocents and remained devoted to protecting the desert," then explained that "Andrew was already at the end of his rope." There was no need to add to the killing.

Andrew's voice rasped like sandpaper, though he held his back straight. He had already broken their wager, and now Akira had saved both him and the woman he loved. As Akira requested, he gave the order to retreat.

The battlefield at that moment: smoke and the smell of blood filled the air, and wrecked machines and shell casings littered the sand. The Strike had less than fifteen percent energy remaining, its right leg armor was ruined, and Kira was bearing the strain of SEED mode. Half the LaGOWE's weapons had malfunctioned, its reactor output had plummeted, and it had no ammunition reserves. The BuCUE formation had scattered, the Lesseps's main guns were exhausted, and its deck was burning.

Mu arrived in the Skygrasper to retrieve him. "Kira, the Archangel's Phase Shift Armor is almost out of power, and its cooling system is close to overloading! If we delay any longer, the armor will eventually fail when its power runs out. We have to enter the canal as soon as possible! Kira, stop pushing yourself! Your machine can't take it anymore. You'll be in danger if its energy runs dry. I'm here to take you home." He brought the Skygrasper close to the Strike, ready to provide assistance or return fire in an emergency.

Kira lowered his beam rifle, and the SEED aura faded. "Can you guarantee that Mr. Andrew's forces won't attack the Archangel again?"

"I'll keep him in check." Mei Hock nodded slightly, his tone firm. Over the channel to Murrue, he also promised, "Captain Murrue, rest assured. I give you my word that Andrew's forces will not launch any further attacks on the Archangel. I'll personally oversee their withdrawal and ensure that you enter the Red Sea safely. I know your Phase Shift Armor is nearing its power and cooling limits. Another attack could have disastrous consequences." Then he turned toward the LaGOWE, his voice softening somewhat. "Andrew, it's time to give the order."

Andrew ordered a retreat, also instructing his forces to "count the casualties and regroup." As the orders went out, the battle gradually subsided. The BuCUEs turned and withdrew toward the Lesseps. The LaGOWE's thrusters slowly powered up, and Andrew and Aisha also left the damaged LaGOWE. Looking at the silver-blue figure before them, they said softly, "Major Hawke, thank you."

"No thanks necessary," Mei Hock replied evenly. "Remember today's promise. Hold to your principles, and don't let war grind away your conscience. Also, gather your forces as soon as possible. This battle has badly weakened you. Watch out for the Earth Forces and the resistance, and take time to recover. Arrange for Aisha to protect Lacus as soon as possible, too. After a defeat like this, PLANT's military headquarters will probably send someone to replace you soon. Then you can return to PLANT and protect Lacus together with Aisha."

Once Andrew and his forces gradually disappeared into the sandstorm, Mei Hock hovered over the canal in his GuAIZ. He watched the Archangel slowly enter the Red Sea. Cold seawater enveloped its hull, and the burning red glow across its Phase Shift Armor gradually faded as the load on its cooling system fell dramatically. Amid the rolling blue waves, the desert's blood and fire washed away into distant echoes.

The sand finally settled, covering the wrecked machines and spent casings like a silent shroud over this brutal showdown. The Suez Canal's murky currents carried the Archangel slowly toward the Mediterranean Sea. Mei Hock turned his GuAIZ toward the ZAFT-controlled Spaceport. He needed to return to space as soon as possible and prepare to welcome Lacus. He also had to prepare for the final showdown. Once Kira arrived at PLANT, Lacus becoming a wanted fugitive would not be far off. Having once served as her guard and recently taken part in her rescue, his own days within the Zala Faction would certainly become difficult. He had to make an appropriate show of loyalty to the Zala Faction so that he could secure as many benefits as possible before the final battle arrived.