The second day of the Federation's assault on Solomon began with a blaze of thrusters and the tremor of war drums echoing through space. Federation ships surged forward in tight formation, pushing directly into the first line of Zeon's outer defenses. The fog of Minovsky particles dimmed sensors to a haze, but the intensity of the battle cut through everything. Everywhere, explosions lit the void like dying suns.
Inside the launch bay of the flagship Tianem, relief crews ran between mobile suits, shouting. Engineers and pilots moved with practiced panic as the Gundam team prepared to deploy.
Sayla Mass sat inside the cockpit of the RX-78 Gundam, fingers trembling slightly above the controls. Despite the hours of simulator drills under Amuro's direction, actually flying the machine into a battlefield still knotted her stomach.
She took a deep breath, remembering Amuro's voice during training: "Don't fight the machine. Listen to it. Let the Gundam guide you."
The hatch sealed. The cockpit dimmed. Her heartbeat rang loud in her ears.
Just to her right, Hikigaya Hachiman's custom GM sharpened its sensors. His voice crackled in over comms, sounding bored as always, though Sayla knew it was mostly a shield.
"You good, Sayla?"
"No," she admitted. "But I can fight."
"Good enough," Hikigaya muttered. "Try not to die. That would mess with morale."
"Yours or the team's?"
"…Yes."
A second voice entered, colder, steadier.
Mikazuki Augus' Duel frame Gundam—sleek, skeletal, and menacing—rolled its shoulders as though impatient to kill. "Sayla, follow my lead. If something targets you, I'll break it."
"Mika, don't encourage her to rely on you," Hikigaya grumbled.
"I'm not encouraging. I'm stating a fact."
Sayla almost smiled, tension easing.
Then the signal came.
"All units—GO!"
The catapult screamed, inertia crushed her back, and Sayla was launched into war.
---
The battlefield was chaos. Zeon's first line—Komusai carriers, anchored defensive batteries, and a screen of Zakus—opened fire the moment the Gundam team came into range. Beams carved through the dark, particle trails scattering like rain.
Shirogane Miyuki's Vanguard squad broke forward first, their white-and-silver mobile suits cutting a spearhead through the enemy formation. Miyuki himself, calm and precise, moved with dancer-like efficiency, giving orders with no hesitation.
"Vanguard Two, break right! Three and Four, follow me! Don't let the Zakus regroup!"
His troops executed the maneuvers with near-perfect synchronicity.
Behind them, Hikigaya's blitz sniped down Zeon suits with sharp, fast shots.
"Seriously… why is every battle a group assignment?" he muttered.
Sayla focused on staying alive. Her hands shook every time a beam passed too close, and her reactions lagged just slightly behind the Gundam's full potential. The machine felt heavier than in the simulator—less forgiving, more demanding.
A Zaku burst out from below, swinging its heat axe.
Sayla froze—
—and then a metallic blur smashed straight through the Zaku's torso.
Duel.
"Pay attention," Mikazuki said calmly as the destroyed suit exploded behind him.
"I—I'm trying!"
"Try faster."
Hikigaya groaned over comms. "Mikazuki, that's not advice. That's psychological damage."
But Sayla grit her teeth, pushing the anxiety down. She moved the Gundam forward, beam rifle raised, firing into a cluster of Zeon units. One shot struck true, another grazed, a third missed entirely—but she was fighting. She was keeping up.
Not perfect. Not graceful.
But surviving.
And learning.
Her confidence grew, moment by moment, kill by kill.
---
Meanwhile, Shirogane Miyuki's vanguard made the decisive breakthrough. Using asteroid debris as cover, her squad flanked Zeon's gun batteries, landing precise demolition charges. The resulting explosions opened a gaping corridor in Zeon's defenses.
"Vanguard to Command," Miyuki reported. "First line is cracking. Push the fleet forward."
Admiral Tianem responded instantly. "All ships—advance! Gundam team, secure the corridor!"
The Federation formation surged ahead.
But Zeon wasn't done yet.
A new wave of Zakus and Rick Doms emerged from the far side of the defensive line, a counter-assault force led by veterans loyal to the Delaz fleet.
Sayla's warning alarms screamed.
"Mikazuki! Hikigaya! New enemies inbound!"
Hikigaya fired to suppress. "Sayla, stick close. Let Mikazuki take point."
"Don't tell her to hide behind me," Mikazuki said, cutting through a Dom with brutal precision. "She's improving."
Sayla felt heat rise to her cheeks. "I'm still learning to control this—"
A Rick Dom lunged toward her, beams blazing.
Sayla lifted her shield—too slow—
—but instead of panicking, she let herself listen.
The Gundam shifted almost instinctively as she felt its balance, its momentum, its silent intent.
She sidestepped the attack.
Then fired a perfect beam shot into the Dom's reactor.
The suit exploded violently.
Hikigaya whistled. "Okay… that's actually impressive."
Sayla exhaled shakily but smiled. "I had good teachers."
Mikazuki simply said, "Do it again."
And she did.
With each enemy destroyed, her control sharpened, her movements smoother, more confident. She was no Amuro Ray—but she was no longer a liability.
Together, the three carved a path through the remaining Zeon resistance.
---
When the dust settled and the first defensive line fell completely, Federation ships flooded through the breach, guns blazing toward Solomon's inner perimeter.
Sayla floated her Gundam beside Hikigaya and Mikazuki, chest heaving, sweat dripping down her neck. The battlefield around them glowed with debris and dying fire.
"We made it," she whispered.
"For now," Hikigaya said. "Solomon's not going to fall easily."
Mikazuki looked ahead at the looming fortress, its guns awakening.
"We go forward," he said simply.
Sayla tightened her grip on the controls.
She was scared.
But she was ready.
The first ring of Solomon had barely finished exploding before the Federation surged forward again. Fire curled around drifting metal, beams still glowing in the void, but Admiral Tianem didn't allow a single breath of rest.
"Push the fleet. We cannot let Zeon re-form their second line," Tianem ordered, voice cutting through the smoke-filled tension of the bridge.
The command spread instantly. Engines roared. Damaged cruisers stabilized. Fresh batteries powered up. Shirogane Miyuki, already at the vanguard, adjusted his formation without hesitation. His fleet slid forward like a blade following through after the first cut.
"Maintain formation," Miyuki said, eyes sharp. "All ships, accelerate. Federation momentum must not break."
His ships obeyed as though wired directly to him will. The vanguard shot ahead, dodging debris and incoming scattered fire. Behind them, the Gundams reignited thrusters, pushing through the flaming graveyard left behind.
Hikigaya drifted Blitz into stealth, muttering, "Not even thirty seconds to breathe. Figures."
"Move," Mikazuki said, not slowing his Duel at all. "They're already aiming at us."
Sayla Mass, still rattled from the GM that died saving her minutes earlier, swallowed hard. Her fingers trembled on the controls of the RX-78. "This is Sayla… moving to assigned forward position."
"You sound like you're about to pass out," Hikigaya muttered.
"I'm fine," she insisted, voice too tight to convince anyone.
"No, you're not," Mikazuki added bluntly. "Just stay close."
Lockon and Athrun soared overhead, Buster and Aegis cutting apart debris and interceptors trying to reorganize around the second line.
"They regrouped fast," Lockon noted. "Delaz isn't wasting a second."
Athrun's voice hardened. "He's going to force a stand. This won't be easy."
Inside command ship, General Delaz barked orders over the chaos of alarms and screaming officers. The command room was drowning in red warnings.
"Reform the second grid! Shift heavy turrets to sector four! Concentrate fire before the Federation gets close!"
"General Delaz—their vanguard is accelerating!"
"I know that!" Delaz thundered. "Draw them into the crossfire! Buy me time!"
But even as he roared, the Federation vanguard broke through the opening between Zeon's scrambling units. Miyuki saw the gap instantly.
"There. Lower-right vector. Their line is unstable."
"Exploit it," Tianem ordered without hesitation.
Miyuki lifted hos hand. "All vanguard ships, rotate to gamma-two-lower! We punch through that gap now!"
His fleet pivoted in perfect harmony, slicing into Zeon's weak point like a surgical strike. Beams tore through unprepared Dom formations. Turrets exploded before they could finish deploying. The entire right cluster of the second line buckled under the sudden pressure.
Lockon fired a precision blast that blew apart a power relay. "That's their grid collapsing!"
Athrun charged forward, forcing enemy mobile suits into disarray. "Don't give them time to pivot!"
In the middle of this chaos, Sayla found herself suddenly targeted by a full Rick Dom squad. They came out of the drifting smoke without warning, all beams firing at her position. Sayla froze, instincts screaming too slow.
"Move!" Hikigaya snapped.
"I—I—!"
A beam shot straight at her cockpit. Mikazuki intercepted, his Duel smashing into the Dom firing the shot. "Shoot back."
Sayla jolted her rifle up, fired— and the Dom's cockpit burst into flames.
Her breath quivered. "I… I hit them."
"Do it again or you'll die," Hikigaya said flatly. "Simple choice."
She forced herself to focus on her breathing, lining up another target.
Meanwhile Blitz and Duel tore through the Dom squad to relieve pressure. Athrun, seeing Sayla's flank open, swooped down and took out another suit before it could ambush her.
"Stay in formation, Sayla! You're not alone!" Athrun called out.
Lockon shifted positions above them, raining suppression fire into Zeon's second line. "They're panicking! Their formation is cracking!"
The rippling collapse spread like a shockwave. Zeon's second line, already shaken from the loss of the first, began to tear at the seams. Pilots called out confused orders. Squadrons lost cohesion. Crossfire weakened.
Miyuki saw it immediately. "Their center is faltering. All ships—push now!"
Tianem echoed her. "Break through before they recover!"
The Federation surged forward with overwhelming pressure. Mobile suits accelerated, ships focused fire, and the corridor widened with each passing second. One beam volley after another smashed into Solomon's defensive clusters. Crews inside Zeon turrets scrambled desperately, but they were too slow.
General Delaz watched the failure unfold on the tactical screen, jaw clenched so hard the muscles trembled.
"So… they truly intend to storm Solomon," he murmured. "Damn you, Tianem."
Explosions rocked the command room. Reports screamed through the speakers. And the realization hit Delaz like a physical blow: the second line would not hold.
Not today.
On the outer perimeter, the GED squad under Tanya von Zehrtfeld watched the second line collapse as they prepared their own counterattack. Smoke curled around the edges of her damaged Gelgoog, still not fully repaired from the previous onslaught.
She stared at the battlefield in silence. "So the Federation broke through again…"
Her squad waited for her reaction. Tanya's expression was unreadable—cold, sharp, calculating. Not fear. Not panic. Just the gears of her mind turning.
"What's the next step, Commander?" Machu asked.
Tanya tightened her gloves on the controls.
"We adapt," she said quietly, eyes narrowing on the advancing Federation fleet. "And we survive what comes next."
Inside Solomon, Delaz roared more orders. On the battlefield, Miyuki's vanguard pushed deeper. The Gundams burned forward like falling stars. And far above it all, the second defensive wall of Solomon finally buckled under the unstoppable weight of the Federation advance.
The battle had not ended—
it had only shifted into its next, bloodier stage.