After finalizing the design for the Ice Phoenix Gundam, Reid built the mobile suit in a single day, giving Ange a surprise the next.
Although Ange was a little disheartened to hear that the Immortal Aegis had been dismantled—after all, it had accompanied her through many great battles, and she felt as if a comrade-in-arms had sacrificed itself for her—she didn't blame Reid. She planned to properly supervise the military factories across the New Misurugi Kingdom to resurrect her old comrade as soon as possible.
As for now, it didn't take long for Ange to pilot the Ice Phoenix Gundam out for a joyride in an uninhabited asteroid belt.
Of course, after the live-fire tests came the internal mock battles.
With her new Gundam, Ange unsurprisingly reclaimed the top spot on Reid's internal ladder. (She was already number one in single combat to begin with.)
One could only say that the dual power source Reid had installed in the Ice Phoenix Gundam resulted in extremely low GN Particle consumption. Consequently, the Ice Phoenix Gundam's GN Field was much thicker than anticipated, capable of withstanding several direct hits from the 320mm "Flame God" Ultra-High Impulse Cannon. A shot from a Magnum yielded similar results.
Moreover, the Ice Phoenix Gundam's speed was terrifyingly fast. Protected by the ultra-thick GN Field, the effects of G-forces during high-mobility maneuvers were greatly reduced, which directly boosted Ange's high-G combat capabilities by more than just ten percent.
As for when it activated the Trans-Am System, that was a whole other story. The entire field would be filled with Particle Phantoms. The residual particles were so dense they could even fool lock-on systems, a phenomenon that could be described as the AD Universe's version of the heavy metal ion peeling effect.
Seeing this, Reid added two small storage containers to the Ice Phoenix Gundam's waist, filled with Decoy Balloons. When the time came, they could be inflated with the excess GN Particles, and in an enemy's lock-on system, these things would register as real Mobile Suits. (Onboard lock-on system: "Particle concentration, metallic signature (decoy), electronic signal (decoy), and energy readings are all at MS levels, and you're telling me this is a balloon? I don't believe it.")
However, a mere mock battle was certainly not enough to vent the frustration Ange felt from being shot down before.
Kira and Athrun were still in Europe, one in the open and one in the shadows, protecting Lacus and Miriallia, who were running around various war zones. Thus, Ange, filled with pent-up resentment, urged Reid to hurry up and start the next mission so she could redeem herself.
However, Reid hadn't yet decided how to arrange his forces for the United Nations Forces' campaign to annihilate Celestial Being. That guy Kowloon definitely couldn't be allowed to roam free in the AD Universe for four years. Otherwise, by the time of the next mission four years later, who knew what kind of mess he would have made of the world.
Therefore, if necessary, Reid was prepared to split his forces for this mission, bringing along a few Small Shuttlecraft. The personnel arrangements and contingency plans required a lot of thought.
Besides, Reid had originally planned to wait for Murrue to give birth after returning this time, intending to spend some time as a stay-at-home dad before undertaking another mission.
However, he was persuaded by a roll of Ange's eyes and her single sentence: "Given how you were when Murrue was pregnant, do you really think you'll have the heart to go on a mission once the baby is born?"
Searching his heart, Reid had to admit that if he were raising a child, he indeed wouldn't have the heart to go on missions for a very long time. So, it was better to get this rather crucial final chapter of Gundam 00's first season done before the baby was born.
In fact, upon self-reflection, Reid felt he would probably lose the mood for missions a month before the due date, so time was actually quite tight.
Thus, Reid turned his gaze to the last G Invasion mission of this stage: UC 0088, the AEUG and Neo Zeon Earth Drop Operation.
If he remembered correctly, this mission itself spanned four or five days, and the system usually added a few extra days for leeway, which would directly give him an extra week.
Moreover, for Reid's current forces, this mission was purely for farming points. If he really wanted to fight, he could take care of the Argama and the Neo Zeon fleet in a single day.
The biggest difficulty for Reid in this mission was Haman—not the Haman of the Neo Zeon fleet, but the Haman who would inevitably follow him and with whom he had shared an intimate past.
Ange and Haman had never gotten along. This meeting was bound to be like Mars crashing into Earth.
But this was something Reid had to face sooner or later. So, after some thought, Reid decided that whether he stuck his neck out or pulled it back, the blade would fall just the same. The two of them had to meet eventually.
Therefore, Reid decided to clear this low-difficulty G Invasion mission before undertaking the next evaluation mission. This would not only buy him time but also allow him to gauge just how big the hidden danger of his involvement with Haman truly was.
Since Ange and Haman were certain to start arguing on the spot, and the battle was genuinely not difficult, Reid decided not to bring any outsiders to witness the embarrassment this time.
Tekkadan, Salya, Hilda, Belfgang—none of them were coming.
He wasn't even bringing Hoshino Ruri and the Gran Chaos.
This time, Reid planned to bring only the group that had participated in the final battle of Zeta Gundam, plus Nein. These people more or less knew about the complicated relationship between him and Haman and should be somewhat understanding.
As for Nein, Reid figured she complained about him daily even without Haman in the picture, so it didn't matter.
However, the warship Grodek Ainoa was currently commanding was an Argama-class Battleship, which could lead to an awkward case of showing up in the same outfit.
So, Reid directly called upon the Archangel, which had been dormant in the underground dock for nearly half a year.
Since the Archangel was a defector ship from the Atlantic Federation, Reid hadn't used it openly.
Bargiruel and the original Archangel crew were now training instructors at the New Misurugi Kingdom's warship academy.
The Atlantic Federation could probably guess that the ship was in the New Misurugi Kingdom, but since the kingdom wasn't using it, they turned a blind eye and pretended not to know.
However, there were no such scruples about using the Archangel in another world.
Reid used the new technology at his disposal to completely refit the Archangel.
The weapon systems and layout remained unchanged, but the internal wiring and onboard systems were significantly improved with Nein's help. With the addition of the New Misurugi Kingdom's warship smart AI, many internal controllers could be miniaturized, freeing up a large amount of space.
Reid used this space to expand the hangar, install the "Veil Umbrella" system, a large GN Condenser (solely for the GN Field), and the classic "Angel Soup" artificial hot spring.
Of course, Reid didn't need to dismantle a Positron Cannon to build a hot spring this time; he just built it near the engines at the ship's stern.
Grodek Ainoa was used to being transferred between different motherships by Reid. He and his team from the Aries adapted to the Archangel's operations in just two or three days.
Thus, Reid set off for this G Invasion mission with Ange, Noin, the Xia sisters, and the Black Tri-Stars as his MS combat personnel.
This time, Reid still chose a Factionless Invasion, with the goal of fighting both sides at once for a swift resolution.
As usual, the Archangel entered the mission world while cloaked.
The moment the transfer was complete, there was no need to confirm their position, because the Argama was right in front of them.
Reid checked the mission details. The protagonist mobile suits were the ZZ Gundam and the Qubeley. The ZZ was worth 70 Merit Points, and the Qubeley was still 60.
Uncertain of the timeline and the state of the Neo Zeon fleet, Reid did not have the Archangel immediately decloak and attack. Instead, he ordered, "Archangel, maintain stealth. Drop a few monitors at our entry point; we need to know immediately when our friends arrive later. After deploying the monitors, tail the Argama. Observe its movements and be ready to open fire at any time."
That's right, Reid had no intention of communicating much with the Argama this time. As soon as he confirmed the time and the location of the Neo Zeon fleet, he would attack directly, just like he did with the Zeta Gundam, forcing them to abandon ship. The only difference was that this time, he would shoot down this Argama.
After that was done, Reid would immediately sweep through the Neo Zeon fleet, get that world's Haman under his control, and then go back to face the Haman who gave him the biggest headache.
Otherwise, if two Hamans were present, playing a game of "guess which is which," Reid felt like he would just explode.
With Reid's orders given, the Archangel immediately followed the Argama ahead.
Reid's side was all too familiar with the Argama's parameters. Its speed was similar to the original Archangel's, but it was no match for this refitted version.
Although the Argama was clearly in a hurry, with its engines at maximum output, the Archangel easily kept up.
Protected by the "Veil Umbrella" system, the Archangel's heat signature was masked. The Argama had no idea that a Reaper was already stalking it from behind.
Soon, the Archangel, tailing the Argama, detected the Neo Zeon fleet.
And Reid also confirmed the current time.
The way Reid confirmed the time was simple: the ZZ Gundam had sortied, and it was covered in cargo containers.
This was the infamous brain-dead incident of the ZZ Gundam. The protagonist, Judau Ashta, had been tricked by his two scheming friends, Beecha Oleg and Mondo Agake, into sortieing with grenades strapped to his body and his mobile suit laden with explosive-filled containers to rescue his sister, who had been abducted by Neo Zeon.
This was an act of suicide to any normal person, yet Judau did it after being told it was "for his sister."
The reason Beecha and Mondo had set Judau up was simply because they felt Judau had been hogging the spotlight in previous battles. They wanted the ZZ Gundam to get damaged so they would have a chance to shine.
Anyway, Reid remembered the whole sequence of events vividly from when he first watched it, finding it utterly facepalm-worthy.
Thus, Reid immediately gave the order.
"Archangel, fire on the thrusters. Mobile Suits, launch. Disarm the Argama. Remember to hit the launch bays on both sides first to prevent MS from sortieing. We need to end this quickly."
With that said, Reid left the bridge, preparing to launch.
At Reid's command, the Archangel instantly accelerated and decloaked. While launching its Mobile Suits, it raised its Gottfried cannons and fired two shots directly at the Argama's thrusters.
The Argama was completely unaware of the Archangel behind it. Its bridge was still discussing Judau's unauthorized sortie.
Then, a massive impact nearly shook the souls out of everyone aboard the Argama.
Only then did the radar operator report, "Unknown warship detected aft of the Argama! It's launching Mobile Suits."
At the same time, the CIC officer also reported, "The vibration was caused by an attack on our thrusters! The Argama's main thrusters are completely destroyed! We've lost all propulsion!"
Just as the CIC officer finished speaking, Bright Noa was about to order Judau, who had sortied ahead, to be recalled to defend the ship and for the remaining MS to launch for escort duty. But the first wave of attackers, the Black Tri-Stars, had already reached the bridge.
As Gaia aimed the dark muzzle of his Kyubey EX at the bridge, everyone inside the Argama's bridge felt the threat of death.
At this moment, no one paid any mind to the vibrations from the other two mobile suits destroying the Argama's armaments. Many on the bridge had already dropped to the floor, covering their heads, preparing to meet their end.
However, they waited and waited, only to find that they hadn't died.
Opening their eyes, they saw the enemy's gun still aimed at the bridge, but it hadn't fired, seemingly waiting for something.
Realizing he probably wasn't going to die just yet, Bright Noa forced himself to calm down and ordered, "CIC, report on the ship's status."
The CIC officer hadn't fully recovered his wits, but Bright's voice brought him back to his senses for a moment. He looked at the console, which was covered in red warnings from all over the ship, and stammered, "The ship's... the ship's armaments are all damaged. The catapult decks and launch ports have been destroyed... We... we don't even have anti-air machine guns left. And several unknown MS are blocking the ship's exits. There's even a mobile suit waiting at the cargo hatch on the underside of the ship."
As the CIC officer reported this, sweat beaded on Bright's forehead. He could no longer count on the MS inside the ship to launch.
The only good news was that, due to the ZZ Gundam's unauthorized sortie, it was now their only hope for a counterattack. If the ZZ Gundam could drive off these MS, they still had a chance.
So, all Bright could do now was pray silently.
Unfortunately, Bright's prayers were destined to be in vain.
The Black Tri-Stars had destroyed all of the Argama's defensive equipment. One machine pointed at the bridge, while the other two blocked the left and right MS launch bays.
Meanwhile, the Xia sisters were blocking the cargo hatch on the Argama's underside.
The only ones left with nothing to do were Reid, Ange, and Noin.
Noin, as the vanguard, had already flown ahead to scout the Neo Zeon fleet.
The ZZ Gundam, which had turned back in a hurry after seeing the explosions on the Argama behind it, was intercepted by the Gundam Artemis and the Ice Phoenix Gundam.
To be honest, looking at the ZZ Gundam now, Reid felt like he was bullying someone with a developmental disability.
In its haste to return, all the explosive containers had gotten tangled around the ZZ Gundam. A person was even tied up in the container's connecting ropes—if he remembered correctly, it was Judau's friend, Iino Abbav.
At this point, Reid didn't even need to use any major weapons. He could cripple the ZZ Gundam just by shooting these explosive containers with his Vulcan Guns. So, Reid used a laser communication link to speak to Judau.
"Judau Ashta, the Argama has been captured by us. Surrender now, and I guarantee the safety of you and everyone on board."
Judau had not yet matured at this point; he was a rebellious teenager who was easily provoked. Faced with Reid's well-intentioned offer, he roared back, "Who are you? Neo Zeon? You say surrender, so I should surrender? Why should I believe you'll keep your promise!"
Hearing this, Reid figured that reasoning with a rebellious youth was useless. They needed to be shown reality. He immediately used his Vulcan Guns to detonate an explosive container next to Iino Abbav, on the other side of the ZZ Gundam. The violent explosion made Judau cry out in pain.
Then Reid spoke again.
"In your current state, I just need to detonate the containers on you, and you're dead. So you have no right to question me. Just tell me, life or death. If you don't answer in five seconds, or give an irrelevant answer, you die."
Reid's words were no threat. As a fellow Newtype, Judau could sense that the pilot of the opposing MS was serious.
When truly faced with a life-or-death choice, the current Judau naturally did not want to die. He opened the ZZ's cockpit, raised his hands in surrender, and floated out.
--Enjoying the story? Want more chapters? Check out my Patreon and support me for 40+ advance chapters.
Just search for "LegendaryTL" on Patreon!"
Thanks!