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Archangel's bridge.
The crew anxiously awaited their captain. Finally, the bridge's alloy door opened, and a somewhat pale Murrue, Natarle, and Mu swiftly floated in.
Due to the urgency of the situation, they completely failed to notice Gerard, half-dead and leaning against the wall.
The crew, seeing their captain return, looked overjoyed.
"Captain!"
Murrue swallowed, shaking off the images she'd seen in the corridor, and said, trying to steady herself,
"What's the situation now?"
The helmsman, Arnold, shook his head.
"Not good. Artemis Fortress's protective umbrella cannot open; it seems to have been destroyed. Not only that, the source of the attack has been identified: it's the GAT-X207 Blitz."
Murrue's expression darkened.
"As expected. It must have activated its Mirage Colloid system and slipped in during the moment the Lightwave Defense Barrier was shut down."
Sai, the student soldier at the CIC, said,
"Kira has already sortied in the Strike, but two more mobile suits have appeared."
Natarle asked urgently,
"What are they?"
"Their identification models are X102 Duel and X103 Buster. They are currently engaging Artemis's Mobius units at the port in front of the fortress."
Murrue slammed her fist down on the captain's seat armrest.
"All three remaining Gundams have been deployed in combat? Too fast!"
Just then, the communication rang, and Mikazuki's voice reached Murrue's ear.
"Do you want me to sortie?"
Upon hearing Mikazuki's voice, Murrue's mind conjured the image of that small, blood-soaked body. She decisively shook her head.
"No, no need. It would be very disadvantageous for us to engage. The Archangel will use this confusion to disengage from Artemis Fortress."
Mikazuki, already seated in Barbatos in the hangar, blinked as he heard the reply through his comms.
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
Explosions continuously rocked the port outside the Archangel. Besides the Blitz entangled with the Strike, the Duel and Buster were also rapidly approaching, heading towards them while simultaneously destroying the fortress.
Murrue took a deep breath, and with a wave of her right hand,
"CIC! Recall the Strike! Archangel, turn around and disengage from Artemis Fortress from the rear port. As soon as the Strike lands, proceed at maximum speed!"
Upon receiving the return-to-ship order, Kira decisively threw his left shoulder boomerang to restrain the Blitz, then engaged his thrusters to maximum and landed on the Archangel's outer deck.
As the Strike landed, the Archangel's thrust increased dramatically, its speed multiplying as it successfully sailed away from Artemis Fortress's port.
No matter how fast a Gundam was, how could it catch up to the full-throttle speed of a warship?
The three young, red-clad pilots could only watch their rapidly receding prey with reluctance from their cockpits.
Yzak, seated in the Duel, slammed his hand furiously on the screen in front of him.
"Damn it, it got away!"
Dearka was the first to calm down and said,
"Calm down, Yzak. We aren't without gains. The order has come down: prioritize the destruction of Artemis Fortress. Let the 'long legs' wait for now."
Nicol also gave a wry smile in agreement.
"That's right, that's right, Dearka is correct. We'll meet the 'long legs' again. For now, let's cooperate with the Gamow and destroy this fortress."
Yzak snorted coldly, piloting the Duel towards the other end of the fortress. The other two quickly followed.
All high-ranking officials of Artemis Fortress, with the exception of Gerard on the Archangel, including Major Vidar, were all killed. At least half of the Mobius units were also destroyed.
After more than half an hour, the Earth Alliance's Eurasian Federation's most prized space fortress, Artemis Fortress, exploded in a massive blast. Nearly fifteen hundred Earth Alliance soldiers within the fortress all perished.
Archangel.
Natarle breathed a sigh of relief.
"Confirmed no Laurasia-class warship detected within safe range. Area is safe."
Murrue nodded, her tension also relaxing.
"Good, cease high-speed maneuvering."
The Archangel, after three hours of high-speed maneuvering, only slowed down after confirming no enemy pursuit. Gerard, who had been leaning by the door, also woke up and urgently called out,
"Murrue Ramius, Natarle Badgiruel... Quick, quick, save me, save me!"
Murrue and Natarle, having been highly concentrated on the ship's navigation, upon relaxing, heard this desperate plea like a lost dog. They looked sideways.
They saw Gerard tied hand and foot, leaning against the wall, his right shoulder, left arm, and thigh roughly bandaged, three crimson spots clearly visible.
"Gerard Garcia? Why is he here?"
Arnold, seated at the helmsman's station, said with a wry smile,
"He's been unconscious there the whole time. Didn't you three see him when you came in?"
Murrue, Natarle, and Mu, who had just come up from the CIC, all shook their heads in unison. They truly hadn't seen him.
No, rather, Mu had seen him, but the situation was urgent at the time, and he hadn't looked closely. He thought it was just another corpse like those in the corridor.
Miriallia in the CIC spoke up,
"It was Mikazuki. That child seemed to have single-handedly killed all the Artemis Fortress soldiers. He rescued us first, then went to find you."
"Single-handedly?"
Murrue then remembered Mikazuki's blood-covered figure (except for his eyes) and the corpses strewn throughout the corridor. She couldn't help but shiver.
But she still found it hard to believe. So she tapped the computer on the nearby armrest. Multiple screens appeared before her, showing the ship's surveillance footage.
The footage was from several hours ago at Artemis Fortress, showing scenes after they were taken away: a boy emerging from the officer's lounge, wandering every corner of the warship, pulling the trigger every time he saw a soldier in a spacesuit.
There were also many instances where he turned a corner and ran into enemies, firing at close range.
The splattered hot blood stained Mikazuki's military green coat, but the boy showed no reaction, continuing forward.
Miriallia even vomited directly upon seeing the next scene...
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