Judau stepped out of the cockpit. Reid was relieved to see that the ZZ's Forehead Cannon hadn't completely fried his brain.
Without another word, Reid used his Lambda Driver to pull the person into his hand, then used his Funnel Blades to sever the chains connecting Iino Abbav to the bomb container, allowing him to reunite with Judau.
Once that was done, Reid had the system retrieve the ZZ Gundam. It was one of the few Mobile Suits from this battle worth capturing.
Of course, the sight of someone being pulled through the air and a Mobile Suit vanishing into thin air was a bit much for Judau's worldview. He probably thought he had run into aliens. So, after the ZZ Gundam disappeared, Reid could feel that this potential top-tier Newtype of the future was now filled with nothing but fear.
However, Reid couldn't be bothered with what Judau was thinking. His path as a Gundam protagonist might very well end here. In the future, he would just have to return to Shangri-La and find another way to make a living.
After dealing with the ZZ Gundam, Reid and Ange piloted their Mobile Suits back toward the Argama. Reid hadn't destroyed the Argama's radar or cameras, so Bright already knew the ZZ Gundam was gone.
Although Bright didn't know what method the enemy had used to make the ZZ Gundam disappear, seeing Judau and Iino Abbav in the enemy Mobile Suit's hand made him guess that this time, the enemy didn't seem intent on killing them all.
So, as the Gundam Artemis, which looked like the leader (the Ice Phoenix Gundam was flying one Mobile Suit length behind its right), flew before the Argama's bridge, Bright took the initiative to ask via Laser Communication, "Who are you people? What is your objective?"
Reid answered directly, just as he had the last time he met Bright.
"Captain Bright, you don't need to know who we are or what our objective is. Right now, you just need to make a choice. Either you and your entire crew go down with the ship, or I give you ten minutes to take everyone and leave in the lifeboats. This is a courtesy I'm extending because you have civilians and children on board. Of course, I will return Judau Ashta and Iino Abbav first. In ten minutes, I will sink the Argama. You can escape from the cargo hatch. As long as there are no unauthorized Mobile Suit movements, you will be safe."
After speaking, Reid sent the two people in his hand toward the Argama's left MS launch port.
The launch port was already damaged. For an MS to exit, the warped door would have to be pried open. But while an MS couldn't pass, the gap was more than enough for two people. The Hangar was right inside, so there was no need to worry about Judau Ashta and Iino Abbav not being received.
Bright pondered this for half a minute before clenching his teeth and giving the order.
"All hands, abandon ship. Everyone get to the transport craft. Do not pilot any Mobile Suits. Everyone, keep an eye on the children. If there's any unauthorized movement this time, we might all die."
Bright's order was, in fact, inevitable. He was a relatively soft-hearted man; otherwise, he wouldn't have allowed several young children to live on a military vessel for so long.
Honestly, a normal soldier would have been considered to have done more than enough by just taking the time to send these children to an orphanage in a peaceful area, but Bright had always cared for them diligently.
Moreover, Bright had dealt with more than his fair share of problem children. He knew exactly how much trouble these underage pilots "recruited" from Shangri-La could cause, so this time, he nipped the risk in the bud.
Thus, Bright watched the Shangri-La group board the lifeboats as if he were escorting prisoners. It was better for them to curse him in their hearts now than for all of them to die here.
Subsequently, Bright evacuated the entire crew in three lifeboats, almost exactly on the ten-minute mark.
Reid wasn't so unreasonable as to sink the Argama the moment the ten minutes were up, before the lifeboats had even reached a safe distance.
Only after seeing the lifeboats were far away did Reid have the Black Tri-Stars blast the Argama into scrap metal, ensuring all the Mobile Suits inside were destroyed.
However, Reid's side had taken a bit too long. Haman had already arrived.
Unlike previous times, the camera left at the arrival point was instantly destroyed, failing to record any useful information.
But the camera's destruction was in itself an indication of Haman's arrival. However, looking from the ship's remote cameras, Reid saw nothing at the original arrival point.
Reid frowned slightly, wondering what kind of trick Haman had prepared for him this time. Was she playing the invisibility game too?
So, Reid spoke in the squad channel.
"Ange, you take Yulan and Yufang to rendezvous with Noin. The Archangel should go too. Destroy Neo Zeon's fleet directly. I'll take Gaia and his team to check out the situation over here."
Normally, Ange wouldn't object to a formal order from Reid, but this time was different. The moment Reid finished speaking, Ange said coldly, "What? Trying to send me, Yulan, and Yufang away so you can see your old flame? Are you planning to abandon our entire forest in this world and hang yourself on Haman's crooked tree?"
Reid broke out in a cold sweat. Even a fool could tell Ange's anger was about to boil over. So, bracing himself for an even bigger storm, Reid immediately changed his tune.
"Damn it, Ange, do you think I failed elementary school math? Forget it. Ange, the two of us will go check out the situation over there. Everyone else, go deal with the Neo Zeon forces. Try to make it quick."
Ange was somewhat satisfied with that.
As for the others, Gaia's Trio didn't dare to interject right now. They figured this was no place to linger and that they should scram.
The Xia sisters, on the other hand, were fine as long as Reid wasn't abandoning them. They would just follow orders.
Thus, the five of them and the Archangel immediately headed toward the Neo Zeon fleet at full speed, without a moment's delay.
As for Reid, he turned to Ange, who had stayed behind, and said, "Ange, I've put a few simulated asteroid balloons inside the Ice Phoenix Gundam's Decoy Balloons. Release them, and then we'll push the balloons, turn off our thrusters, and slowly approach the arrival point using minimal GN Particle propulsion. My large Funnels have cameras, so we can observe from the edge of the balloons. I have a feeling Haman has a big surprise in store for me this time."
Seeing how cautious Reid was being, Ange understood that he hadn't, at least, been completely bewitched by beauty. However, as she deployed the Decoy Balloons, she still remarked, "It's just a meeting with an old flame. You two even have to prepare surprises for each other. How romantic."
Seeing that Ange had already released the Decoy Balloons, Reid said no more. Anything he said now would only make things worse. It was better to drift over and see what Haman was up to first.
In fact, Reid's caution was entirely justified.
After Haman obtained Code Amelias's world-crossing authority and briefly unsealed a part of Code Amelias, allowing her to move around in a loli form, she immediately began internal construction.
With Code Amelias unsealed, her abilities had greatly increased. Not only did she help Haman unlock team teleportation, but she could also summon more equipment and Mobile Suits.
On the planet sealed within a spatial rift, she had summoned Mobile Dolls from the W world, had Teletha modify their code, and had Chang Wufei modify their equipment to turn them into engineering machinery. Combined with continuously summoning Mobile Suits from various worlds to obtain advanced chips and high-strength materials.
Under Teletha's leadership, they eventually built a massive factory with a complete industrial chain.
With the factory in place, Haman immediately began arranging for the construction of a warship.
This was because Code Amelias's summoning could only precisely control the summoning of people or MS. For something like a warship, she could only rely on a world impact to blindly summon a military force from a single world.
Moreover, Code Amelias herself couldn't control this force; summoning them might result in them attacking her as well.
Therefore, Haman's team had to build the warship themselves.
Fortunately, Teletha's Whispered ability was submarine construction. So, as long as she had engineering machinery and sufficient materials, she could build the Tir Na Nog. And with the help of an Artificial Intelligence, Teletha could command it all by herself. If she ever needed to sortie in the Fallen Angel, it could even operate automatically.
Then, they modified the Tir Na Nog for space use, sacrificing residential areas to expand and heighten the Hangar, and just like that, they had a Mothership.
In any case, time didn't seem to pass in the interdimensional gap (it was actually synchronized with Reid's time in the CE Universe), people didn't age, and later, Code Amelias tricked a new companion into joining the team. The ship was finally completed before Reid entered the UC timeline again.
Since Reid was allowed to bring one warship this time, the restriction on Haman's side was the same; she could bring all her people and the warship.
Since there was no shortage of materials, this new Tir Na Nog was naturally built to the highest possible specifications, which of course included an Electronic Camouflage System.
With Haman and Teletha's tactical prowess, they naturally thought of stealth teleportation. So, the camera Reid thought was still set up by an MS was instantly smashed by the massive warship, and he saw nothing.
Moreover, Teletha, who was in command, was very careful. She knew the Electronic Camouflage System couldn't hide the warship's engine exhaust, so she didn't immediately start the engines after arriving.
Especially when the ship's hull registered a collision, Teletha had the new Tir Na Nog move slowly using its attitude control thrusters, because she was certain that if Reid discovered this warship, he wouldn't approach rashly. At the same time, she gave an order.
"Mr. Wufei, Mr. McGillis, please pilot your Mobile Suits and stick close to the Tir Na Nog's outer hull. We need to be wary of possible ambushes."
That's right, the new guy Code Amelias had tricked into joining was naturally McGillis from the Iron-Blooded Orphans universe.
After all, McGillis was dedicated to changing the corrupt Gjallarhorn of the IBO universe. An opportunity to directly save the world like this was even more satisfying to his chuunibyou mentality.
One could only say that both sides were full of cunning schemes.
Right now, Reid still didn't know that Haman's side had brought a warship, and that she hadn't come alone.
On Haman's side, the flames from the Argama's explosion had already died down by the time they arrived.
So they only discovered a warship that seemed to belong to Reid's side on the move. However, from their position, they didn't know who the warship's target was, since Haman didn't know what her canon self was doing at this time after her own timeline had been altered. (The history she saw in the F91 world couldn't possibly record such detailed events.)
Of course, with their attention drawn to the warship, they also failed to notice the Gundam Artemis and Ice Phoenix Gundam approaching under the cover of decoy asteroids.
So both sides were crawling along, and for a time, neither discovered the other.
However, as the Archangel moved further away, and after moving for so long without running into one of Reid's traps as they had in previous encounters, Haman believed that Reid knew she was coming. Coupled with their previous physical intimacy, she thought he hadn't prepared to make the atmosphere tense right from the start.
Although Haman didn't really want to do anything to Reid right now—because defeating Reid at this point would only benefit Code Amelias—she still had to put on a show. After all, she was still thinking about getting all of Code Amelias's authority, so she couldn't ruin their relationship just yet.
So, Haman discussed it with Teletha. They were far enough away now that the enemy probably wouldn't notice if they started their engines. It was about time to follow, have a fight with Reid, and then talk.
However, the moment the new Tir Na Nog's engines fired up, Reid, observing through his Funnel's camera, immediately discovered that Haman had actually brought a warship this time.
But Reid didn't rush to act. Instead, he said to Ange, "Ange, push the decoy balloons to the coordinates I give you. When I say go, we'll accelerate at full speed, push the asteroids forward, and then circle around them to engage the enemy. Haman has somehow gotten her hands on a stealth warship. No matter what, we need to disable the warship before we talk to her."
Ange naturally had no objection to fighting Haman. In fact, she silently thought to herself that Haman still didn't understand Reid. She had stepped on a landmine.
Reid was actually very cautious in his interpersonal relationships. Unless someone was recruited and bound by the rule of not being able to betray him, he would never truly open his heart.
A classic example was Lacus. From Ange's perspective, Lacus had long since adopted a "follow the man she marries" attitude in her interactions with Reid. She was just short of openly offering herself to him, constantly dropping hints.
But Reid acted as if he didn't see it, and even thought Lacus was too scheming.
In terms of scheming, Une was in no way inferior to Lacus, but did Reid show any disdain? When he used punishment as a pretext for them to get together, Reid had looked like he had been coveting her for a long time.
Another example was Murrue. On the Archangel's escape to Earth, before he successfully recruited her, Ange was certain Reid had a "look but don't touch" attitude toward her.
But after successfully recruiting her, Reid seemed to have slept with her the very next day.
Therefore, for Haman to come flaunting a warship without being recruited by Reid was to instantly max out his wariness.
If she really thought Reid was the type who wouldn't dare to act just because they had been intimate, she was severely underestimating him.
At this moment, Reid had the advantage of a premeditated plan against an unsuspecting Haman.
The decoy asteroids were never discovered by the new Tir Na Nog. Although they later found the wreckage of the destroyed Argama and the lifeboats, they took no further action.
As for the unknown particle residue in this universe, Teletha dismissed it as remnants from the previous battle.
So, when the two asteroids suddenly accelerated toward the new Tir Na Nog, Haman belatedly shouted a warning.
"Teletha, those two asteroids are fake! We've been ambushed!"
However, the warning came too late. The Ice Phoenix Gundam burst forward at full speed, rushing directly to the warship's engine exhaust and firing a Magnum Beam.
Fortunately, Teletha had already ordered Chang Wufei and McGillis to sortie. With Haman's warning, the two of them engaged Reid and Ange respectively.
This time, Chang Wufei was piloting the Meteor Shenlong Gundam. After being defeated by the Xia sisters last time, he realized the importance of mobility, so he chose this Gundam with extremely enhanced maneuverability.
As for McGillis, he was naturally piloting his beloved Gundam Bael, with only minor armament modifications.
Facing the Magnum Beam, McGillis naturally had the Gundam Bael take the hit head-on. Thanks to its Nano-Laminate Armor's insane beam resistance, it blocked the shot without a scratch.
At the same time, the Meteor Shenlong Gundam charged toward the Gundam Artemis, which was aiming a beam at the warship's predicted position.
However, just as the two sides were about to clash, Haman suddenly broadcast on all channels.
"Reid Isaac, you stop right there! Your daughter is on this ship! Be good, sweetheart. Call for Daddy, or else your daddy is going to attack our ship."
(End of Chapter)