As ships large and small drew closer, everyone held their breath.
"Are we… saved?"
Kuzzey stared out at the view and could not help murmuring.
"Who knows?" Tolle turned his head and saw the other crew members maintaining order here.
As though dawn really were about to arrive, it seemed this journey might truly be coming to an end.
Looking out from the observation platform, the ships seemed to do nothing but monotonously reflect the sunlight, lacking any sense of reality, almost like toy boats.
But as they drew closer, the imposing scale of the formation became obvious.
One giant ship after another approached, surrounding the Archangel.
"Have all the data been destroyed?!"
"It's being overwritten! Damn it, why did this have to happen now?!"
"Done over here!"
On the bridge, with only three people present, Murrue, Mu, and Natarle were rushing around frantically.
"Damn it, why did we have to run into the Doolittle here?!"
The Agamemnon-class Doolittle was one of the main vessels of the Earth Alliance Space Forces. It was Colonel William Sutherland's flagship.
But this was wrong!
Murrue knew this was wrong!
The force that was supposed to receive the Archangel was the Eighth Fleet. This should have been the territory of her direct superior, Admiral Halberton!
Admiral Halberton was a very open-minded man. He would not make an issue even of Coordinators.
But William Sutherland was different.
On the surface, the man was a senior figure of the Atlantic Federation, but in reality he was a member of Blue Cosmos and deeply hostile toward Coordinators.
In the "original work," it was this very man who participated in the review of the Archangel and later took part in the nuclear attack on PLANT.
Murrue did not know about the man's "glorious deeds," but she did know the situation was bad.
"What in the world happened?!"
They wiped all records from the Archangel, then overwrote the storage and filled it with garbage data.
Especially anything related to the Strike and Kira.
If it had been Admiral Halberton, Kira would definitely have been fine.
But with Sutherland instead, there was no guarantee Kira would come through unharmed.
And it was not only Kira. There was also Lacus.
Lacus's situation was even more difficult to handle.
"What do we do about that girl from PLANT?"
Mu asked.
"She may be a civilian from PLANT, but her status is highly sensitive." Murrue's expression was heavy. "But… she wasn't captured by us. Kira brought her back."
Lacus was not a prisoner.
She was only a rather unusual "guest."
But if she fell into Sutherland's hands, there was no telling what would happen.
"How are the enlistment records coming?!" Natarle asked again.
"Okay, okay! I'm working on it! Seriously, forging documents isn't my specialty."
Allowing civilians to operate combat weapons was illegal.
They could delete the records, but there were so many people aboard the Archangel that there was no way to keep every single person quiet.
So if they wanted Kira to be safe, the best option was to make it look as though she had "enlisted" before the fighting ever began.
That would also protect Kira.
"What about Cagalli-san?" Murrue asked again.
"Don't dump everything on me!" Mu did not know whether to laugh or cry.
"Well, you're the one who looks good at this sort of thing." Murrue was working tensely as well.
"Anyway, she, Kira, and Songstress-san will be here any minute."
Strictly speaking, all three of them were from Orb.
And aboard the Archangel there were still two Gundam Astrays, along with Astray parts.
"Murrue-san, we're here… Whoa, what happened here?"
The Archangel's bridge was a complete mess.
When Cagalli and the other two arrived, they immediately saw how bad things were.
"Got that, Cagalli-san?" Mu said first. "Whatever your status in Orb is, you absolutely cannot reveal it later. Absolutely, okay?"
"Huh?"
Cagalli pointed at herself.
She looked toward Kira beside her. "Was I really that obvious?"
Kira nodded. "Cagalli always acts like she owns Orb. I think everyone more or less noticed something was off."
"I thought I hid it pretty well…"
Cagalli covered her face.
"Anyway, lock down every Gundam, including the Strike," Mu warned. "Things may get very ugly in a moment."
"Ugly? But aren't those friendly forces?" Kira was confused.
"Friendly forces, huh… I hope they are." Mu looked out the window.
The Doolittle was drawing closer and closer.
"Is it really that bad?" Cagalli asked.
"Very bad," Murrue said.
"…Hmm…" Mu suddenly stopped.
"What is it?"
Murrue looked at Mu.
"Earlier there were two Nazca-class destroyers, two Laurasia-class frigates, and four G-series units. I think that would be enough to wipe out the Eighth Fleet, wouldn't it?" Mu suddenly said.
"How could that happen! But… it would be normal for the Eighth Fleet to be put at a severe disadvantage." Murrue was from the Eighth Fleet herself, so naturally she knew its situation.
With PS armor active, the G-series were almost impossible to penetrate with projectile weapons. But apart from new warships like the Archangel, other vessels were rarely equipped with beam weapons and relied mostly on projectile weapons.
So even with dozens of warships, it was perfectly normal for the Eighth Fleet to be pinned down.
But Murrue absolutely refused to believe the Eighth Fleet could be completely wiped out.
Mu rubbed his chin. "Hmm… Songstress-san blew up two Laurasia-class frigates by herself, and that girl alone can suppress three G units. I'm saying, why don't we just ignore the Doolittle?"
Come to think of it.
It was actually feasible.
Although there were dozens of ships on their side, Earth forces usually relied on sheer numbers when fighting ZAFT.
The fleet looked enormous, but Le Creuset's team really could annihilate it.
That was also one of the reasons Mu had complained earlier that ZAFT had gone all in.
Mu's absurd suggestion nearly made Murrue choke with exasperation. "Stop joking around! Don't you know what would happen afterward if we did that?! Right now I'm the only one who has to face a court-martial. If we do that, all of you will be court-martialed!"
Murrue was beside herself.
She could not tell whether Mu was serious or teasing. Either way, they absolutely could not do something like that.
It was one thing if she alone took the blame. If they really did this, the Archangel's crew could form an Archangel football team in prison.
"So what exactly is going on?" Cagalli was utterly baffled.
"The Doolittle. Flagship of Colonel William Sutherland of the Atlantic Federation," Inori's voice came over.
"What's wrong with him?" Cagalli looked completely lost.
"William Sutherland. Blue Cosmos member. A close confidant of Blue Cosmos leader Azrael." Inori continued doxxing him.