The moment I cleared the Archangel's catapult, I engaged the Phase Shift armor. In a flicker of light, the Blitz shifted from a dull, deactivated grey to its signature striking scheme of black and crimson.
For a second, I considered deploying the Mirage Colloid to pick off the enemy through stealth and surprise. However, while that might rack up a higher kill count, it wouldn't change the fact that the enemy's primary targets remained the Archangel and its escorts. It was better to act as a Federation Mobile Suit and draw their fire. I needed to be the lightning rod.
"Here they come."
A Ginn mounted on a Guul sub-flight lifter spotted me landing on the Archangel's deck. It charged in, brandishing its heavy sword for a crushing blow.
I tracked the motion, shifting my machine just a few meters to the side. The heavy blade whistled past, leaving a shallow gouge in the Archangel's deck plating—unfortunate, but better than a direct hit. In the same breath, I ignited the beam saber built into my Trikeros shield and sheared the Ginn's torso clean in half.
The Ginn's lower half remained locked to the Guul, while the upper torso spun away into the distance before erupting in a fireball.
"Next!"
Ignoring the wreck, I aimed downward and snapped off three shots from my beam rifle. The beams pierced the sky, striking a formation of three Dins that were diving toward an Aegis-class cruiser trailing below us. They disintegrated before they could even begin their attack run.
"Whoops!"
My next target was a landing ship near the cruiser. It was on the verge of sinking under the relentless fire from two Ginns' assault rifles, but the crew was still hanging on.
"Take this."
I fired two Lancer Darts from the Trikeros. They buried themselves deep into the two Ginns and detonated from within, reduced the suits to scrap metal that rained down into the ocean.
As the chaos unfolded, the Archangel began to accelerate. Just as they'd signaled over the comms, they were attempting to punch through the enemy line and escape the sector before the Cyclops system was triggered.
It seemed Murrue's persuasion had worked; the ships I had just saved were now falling into formation behind the Archangel, desperate to follow our lead.
"Tch, they aren't going to make it easy, are they?!"
A Guul-mounted Sigu charged in. I launched the Gleipnir anchor. The sharpened claws struck the cockpit with surgical precision. The rest of the suit remained intact as it veered off course, the pilot silenced, drifting aimlessly on its lifter.
"Axel, sorry to keep you waiting!"
Mu's voice crackled over the radio as his Skygrasper soared from the Archangel's port catapult. Equipped with the Launcher Striker pack, he provided the heavy fire support we desperately needed.
"The retreat has begun, Mu! But the question is how many of these ships we can actually get out of here alive!"
I fired the Trikeros beam rifle at a Din pursuing the Archangel from the rear, vaporizing it. Simultaneously, Mu used the Agni hyper-impulse cannon to delete two Ginns trailing my target.
Suddenly, a thunderous explosion shook the battlefield from behind us.
Looking back, I saw the main gate—the one the Archangel had used to enter the Alaska base—had been breached. A swarm of Ginns, Dins, and Sigus were pouring into the facility.
"Mu, the main gate has fallen."
"Yeah. It's only a matter of time before they reach the command center. Which means..."
He didn't need to finish. The countdown to the Cyclops activation was reaching its limit.
"Damn it! Axel, let's herd them!"
Herd them? I tilted my head for a split second before catching his drift. Over ten Mobile Suits were launching from ZAFT submarines, forming a net to trap us. I began firing my beam rifle with deliberate "near-miss" shots, forcing the enemy to cluster together to avoid the beams. Mu did the same with the Agni, driving them into a tight formation... and then the Archangel unleashed its Gottfried Mk.71 cannons, wiping out the entire group in a single, devastating volley.
"Alright, that's the MS screen dealt with. We should be clear for a while. Now we just have to break the blockade and—Damn!"
Apparently, they were obsessed with keeping us here. The submarines launched a massive, coordinated missile volley. The Archangel and the Skygrasper managed to bank away, but several of our escort ships weren't so lucky. Missiles slammed into their hulls, and they vanished beneath the waves in plumes of fire.
"Bastards!"
I was about to pull the trigger on the nearest sub when Milly's voice, tight with tension, came through the bridge comms.
"Axel! Commander La Flaga! The Duel is approaching from the rear!"
"Tch, not now... Mu, I'll handle the Duel. The Skygrasper won't stand a chance against him in a dogfight. You take care of those subs!"
"Got it! We don't have time to play around here. Let's finish this quick!"
Nodding, I boosted from the starboard catapult deck toward the rear of the ship. I raised the Trikeros to block a beam rifle shot from the Duel, while using the Archangel's Igelstellung CIWS and my own rifle to intercept his incoming missiles and grenades.
The Duel swept past on its Guul, swinging a beam saber downward. I parried with the shield and fired a retaliatory shot as Yzak pulled away. In my peripheral vision, I saw nearly ten Ginns closing in on their lifters.
"We gave you the Alaska base, you idiots! Why aren't you focused on that?!"
The Archangel put up a curtain of fire, shredded Ginn after Ginn, but they were relentless, focusing all their aggression on the ship.
I blasted a Ginn that had just dodged a Sledgehammer missile, then whipped the Trikeros around toward the Duel as it attempted to loop back over the Archangel.
Damn it, where is the Freedom?!
Then, a stroke of pure, terrifying luck occurred. A Ginn managed to slip through the Archangel's defensive screen. It brought its Guul level with the bridge at point-blank range, its assault rifle leveling at the glass—
"Not on my watch! LOVE!"
I triggered the Spirit Command: Love. A surge of absolute clarity and power flooded my senses. Under the effect of Accelerate, the Blitz moved with impossible speed, closing the distance in a blur. I fired the Gleipnir from the left arm. Bolstered by Hot Blood and Strike, the clawed anchor pierced the Ginn's cockpit with unerring lethality. I slammed the Blitz's body into the wreck, knocking it off the Guul, then used the empty lifter as a stepping stone to leap higher.
With thrusters at full bore, I dived straight down at the Duel as it lunged for the ship, my beam saber flashing in a lethal arc.
"Damn you! The Blitz again?!"
I sheared the Duel's legs clean off along with its Guul. I expected it to plummet into the sea, but it was caught mid-air by a passing Din and hauled back toward their mothership.
"Are you guys okay?!" I landed back on the deck and opened a line to the bridge.
"Y-Yes! Thank you!" Milly's voice was shaky with relief.
I turned to level my rifle at another Ginn brave enough to approach the screen when suddenly—multiple beams of light rained down from the heavens.
The beams were precise, surgical strikes that severed the limbs and thrusters of every Ginn and Guul in the vicinity. Within seconds, there wasn't a single ZAFT Mobile Suit left in fighting condition.
Finally.
I let out a breath of relief, looking up as a machine descended from the clouds. Spreading ten brilliant blue wings, it looked like an angel of war. The Freedom. The pinnacle of ZAFT's mobile suit technology.
After a brief exchange with the bridge, Kira opened an unencrypted channel to the entire battlefield.
"This is a message to all ZAFT and Federation forces. The Alaska base is about to activate the Cyclops... it is a self-destruct sequence. All units, cease combat immediately and retreat! I repeat: the Alaska base is self-destructing. Retreat at once!"
Well, he's certainly grown a spine... though his refusal to finish off enemies is naive at best. Still, he saved our hides, so I'll keep my mouth shut for now. I'll have to "correct" that attitude later, though.
"Murrue, let's go."
"What? Oh—yes! Signal the escorts! We're leaving this sector immediately!"
As if her words were the trigger, the Alaska base began to groan. The Cyclops had been engaged.
The ZAFT forces clustered around the base were obliterated instantly as a ring of pure destruction expanded outward. Even from the Archangel's deck, far from the epicenter, the wall of white light was terrifying.
The Archangel pushed its engines to the redline, fleeing the blast zone. The Aegis-class cruiser and the landing craft followed suit, trailing in our wake.
In the original history, only the Archangel was supposed to survive. But in this world, thanks to the "irregular" known as Axel Almar, the enemy's attention had been fixed on the Blitz. Because I'd thinned their ranks and bought us time, we had gained enough distance before the Freedom arrived to save five additional ships.
After escaping the "Ring of Death," we regrouped at a nearby island. The Archangel sat anchored alongside the five other vessels we'd pulled out of the fire.
Once the initial shock wore off and the atmosphere on the ship settled, I disembarked. I walked out to meet Kira, who was making his way toward us from the Freedom.
The crews of the other ships had demanded an explanation regarding the mysterious new suit, but Murrue had asked them to wait. For now, the only people on the beach were the Archangel's crew.
Kira approached in silence. Clad in the crimson flight suit of a ZAFT Red, his presence drew looks of pure confusion from Murrue and Mu.
"I'm glad I made it in time," Kira said, a faint, tired smile touching his lips.
Hearing his voice seemed to be the final proof Murrue needed. "Is it... is it really you, Kira?"
"Yes."
As Kira nodded, Tolle, Milly, and the rest of the bridge and maintenance crews rushed forward, drowning him in questions. Eventually, he noticed Sai and Kazuay approaching. Their exchange was awkward, brief, and heavy with unspoken history, but it ended quickly as Kira turned back to Murrue.
"There's a lot we need to talk about," he said.
"Yes," Murrue agreed. "I have many questions as well."
Mu stepped in, his eyes narrowing slightly at the uniform. "Were you with ZAFT?"
"I was. But I'm not ZAFT. And I'm not part of the Earth Alliance anymore, either."
A murmur went through the crowd. Murrue simply nodded. "I understand. Let's talk. But what about that machine?"
"If you're asking about maintenance or resupply, it shouldn't be necessary for now. It's equipped with an N-Jammer Canceler."
"Which means... it's nuclear-powered," Mu noted grimly.
"Yes. If you want it for data, I'll have to decline and leave. If you try to take it by force, I will fight to protect it. That machine—the Freedom—is my responsibility now."
"I understand," Murrue said firmly. "I promise we won't touch it. Let's head to the bridge and exchange what information we have."
"I see... so that's why they used the Cyclops..."
"Yeah," Mu muttered in response to Kira's report. "The Alliance high command probably knew Alaska was the target all along, not Panama. You don't just 'have' a Cyclops system of that scale ready to go unless you planned to use it as a trap."
Having seen the destruction with his own eyes, Mu's words carried a heavy weight.
"So," Kira asked, "what will the Archangel... what will you do now, Murrue?"
"I... I don't know..."
"We go to Orb," I interjected.
Every eye in the bridge snapped to me.
"Orb?" Murrue repeated.
"Think about it. We're the living witnesses to the fact that the Alliance blew up its own base and soldiers. We can't go to Panama. If we do, we'll either be court-martialed and shot for 'desertion,' or they'll 'silence' us by throwing us into another suicide mission. Orb is our only viable option."
"But will Orb take us in? It's not just one ship this time—we have five others with us."
"It'll be fine," I said with a smirk. "When we stopped there last time, I made a deal with Representative Uzumi for just such an occasion."
"Axel... when on earth did you...?" Murrue looked at me as if I were a stranger.
"Remember when I asked for that night pass back in Orb? You thought I was going out to flirt with Erika Simmons. I actually went to meet Uzumi to secure a safety net for when the sh*t hit the fan."
"Wait, you mean... Urgh!" Murrue went red. "Did you have to bring that up here?!"
The dark, oppressive atmosphere of the bridge broke for a moment as the crew shared a rare laugh at Murrue's expense.
Ultimately, we decided that Orb was a far safer bet than certain death at Panama. The crews of the five escort ships, realizing their own lives were forfeit if they stayed with the Alliance, agreed to follow the Archangel into the unknown.
[Status Screen]
Name: Axel Almar
Level: 36 | PP: 165
Stats:
Melee: 254 | Ranged: 274 | Skill: 264 | Defense: 264 | Evade: 294 | Hit: 314
SP: 446
Ace Bonus: SP Boost (Consumes SP to enhance unit performance)
Spirit Commands:
Accelerate (4 SP)
Effort (8 SP)
Focus (16 SP)
Direct Hit (30 SP)
Awaken (32 SP)
Love (48 SP)
Skills: EXP Up, SP Boost (SP Up Lv.9 / SP Regen / Concentration), Telekinesis Lv.10, Attacker, Gunfight Lv.9, Infight Lv.9, Morale Limit Break, Geass (Grey), [Locked...], [Locked...]
Total Kills: 288
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 40 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
Here's the link:
[patreon.com/Greyhounds]
Thank you so much for your support!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"