Gundam, the Gundam journey of a certain glue guy and his mecha girl.

The three Gundams, relying on their PS armor, were able to penetrate the atmosphere alone, abandoning their battle with the Strike Gundam and rushing towards the Archangel.

Kira, who was struggling to dodge and maneuver amidst the attack of three enemy aircraft just a moment ago, was caught off guard by this sudden turn of events. By the time he came to his senses, the enemy aircraft had already broken away from contact and were continuously using the surrounding Earth Force ships as obstacles, restricting the Assault's movements and preventing it from firing at will to intercept them. Kira had no choice but to push the thrust to its maximum, attempting to forcefully intercept them at high speed with his empty backpack.

However, Yzak and Nicol anticipated Kira's actions. After overcoming the last coalition ship's obstruction, Duel and Lightning suddenly turned around and unleashed a barrage of fire at Assault, forcing Kira to swerve to avoid them. It was this brief delay that allowed Storm Gundam to successfully break through the defenses.

At this point, the Archangel could not move freely in order to ensure that its landing point did not deviate, which became an excellent opportunity for Storm Gundam.

"Great! Let me sink you, Long Legs!"

The Storm Gundam combined its two weapons into a super-high-pulse long-range sniper rifle, pointing the cannon directly at the bridge of the Archangel. Destructive energy gathered at the muzzle; if this shot hit accurately, the Archangel would be added to Diego's list of destroyed ships.

Halbarton witnessed this from the bridge of the Menelaus, but even the closest the Menelaus was to the Archangel could not change the Archangel's fate of being sunk.

As Diego pulled the trigger, a thick, bright yellow beam of light shot out, heading straight for the Archangel's bridge. But the next moment, a badly damaged Nelson-class cruiser blocked the Archangel's path.

"Back then... the Montgomery..."

The massive hull of the USS Montgomery was pierced through by the storm's cannon fire. Just before the Montgomery plunged into the atmosphere and fell into complete silence, Maru saw Captain Coppman saluting Earth from the empty bridge.

Diego, annoyed that his good deed had been interrupted, clicked his tongue and immediately drove the Storm Gundam forward.

This time, he won't let the Archangel escape.

As the Archangel was about to land on Earth, it was at a very low altitude. In order to ensure the accuracy of his shot, Diego risked being captured by Earth's gravity and approached the Archangel to a position very close to it.

But at this moment, Diego was preoccupied with sinking the Archangel and didn't pay any attention to the height of the ship.

The Storm Gundam once again raised its weapon against the Archangel, but the sacrifice of the Montgomery had bought enough time.

Just a second before Diego was about to pull the trigger, from the void, one railgun shell after another struck the Storm's fuselage.

This was the barrage fired from the IWSP backpack equipped with the short sword. Although the live ammunition could not penetrate the PS armor's defense, the impact from the constant hits pushed the storm into Earth's gravity.

Diego frantically pulled the control stick repeatedly, but no matter how hard he struggled, the Storm's fuselage continued to plummet towards Earth.

"Diago!"

Yzak was distracted by his companion's situation, which created an opportunity for the short sword and the attack.

The short sword used up all the remaining ammunition in the IWSP backpack, pinning both the Thunder and Duel to the spot. Kira seized the opportunity and launched a powerful attack, sending Duel flying into Earth's gravity with a spinning kick.

"Oh no, the energy is running out..."

Yzak, already caught up in the action, realized that Duel Gundam's energy had reached a dangerous level. If this continued, the PS armor would fail before it even broke through the atmosphere, and Duel Gundam would burn to ashes in the atmosphere.

"It's alright, Xunlei's energy reserves are still sufficient."

Nicol realized Ytzhak's predicament and deliberately plunged into Earth's gravity, slowly approaching the direction of the duel.

“Nicholm? Sorry, I was too impulsive.”

Yzak realized that his decision had put his companion in danger. At that moment, Nicol had no time to respond to Yzak's guilt. He struggled to move the Thunderclap under Duel and used his own machine to protect Duel's cockpit.

"Teacher...should we continue the pursuit?"

Looking at the enemy who had lost the ability to resist, Kira hesitated and asked, ultimately unable to bring himself to kill such an opponent.

"That's enough. The Archangel is about to land. If we keep dragging it, we'll be pulled down by gravity too."

The increasingly heavy feeling of the machine made Raven lose his will to fight. Hearing Raven say this, Kira felt relieved and quickly followed the short sword onto the deck of the Archangel, following the Archangel as it slowly descended.

Chapter 33 Undercurrents

PLANT home country, Clyne residence.

Sieger Clyne, looking exhausted, pushed open the door and entered. Lux, awakened from her sleep by the sound, rubbed her eyes and mumbled in a groggy voice:

"Welcome home, Father."

Sigur hung his coat on the coat rack, turned around, and looked at his daughter with an apologetic gaze.

Lux threw herself into her work immediately after returning to PLANT.

She had to give interviews to various reporters, plan upcoming performances, and also find time to catch up on her missed classes.

Lux's excellence made many people forget that she was only a 16-year-old girl. Although Adjusters are generally precocious, it is not the case that they would complete all their studies at the age of 16.

"I'm sorry, Lux, I'm sorry to bother you. You wouldn't have had to work so hard if it weren't for me."

Sieger knew very well that Lux's recent busy schedule and lack of interruption were partly a way of campaigning for his upcoming election.

"I just want to do something for peace, just like my father."

Lux smiled, comforting Sigur. However, when she saw her father's Supreme Council uniform, she suddenly remembered the intelligence Raven had given her.

"Father, what results have been achieved with the information I gave you before?"

“Those things…” Sigel sank into the soft sofa. “I’ve had the agents investigate with all their might, but neither LOGOS nor Kruze can be investigated in a day or two. However, whether it’s a conglomerate that secretly controls the lifeline of Earth’s economy, or Kruze who infiltrated ZAFT with ulterior motives, how exactly did Mr. Raven obtain this information?”

"I can't understand it," Sigel asked, puzzled.

“I don’t know either, but…” Lux shook her head, “Mr. Raven isn’t the type to joke about something like this.”

Lux's assurance piqued Sigur's interest in Raven. He knew that while Lux was always kind to people, she rarely opened her heart to anyone.

Lux only stayed on the Archangel for a few days, yet she trusted Raven so much.

"Now that you've said that, I'm also interested in getting to know him."

“Then you will definitely like Mr. Raven, Father. He is surprisingly a simple person.”

Lux recalled the way Raven had told her about his dreams, and a smile unconsciously crept onto her lips.

"A simple person? He's a core member of the Joint Forces' MS development program."

Sigel was surprised by Lux's assessment.

In recent days, Sieger has seen a lot of propaganda about Raven from the Earth Federation side, such as "Natural Man scientists enthusiastically joined the army after witnessing the Coordinators' brutality" and "Young scientists piloted mobile suits they created to resist the Coordinators." The Earth Federation side's recent media propaganda is full of this kind of stuff.

Putting aside these reports that are obviously political propaganda, the fact that Raven participated in the Allied MS development program, no matter how Sieger thought about it, could not be associated with the word "pure" at all.

Seeing Sigur's reaction, Lux chuckled twice.

"While I can't be sure, if it's the Mr. Raven I know, his involvement in MS development is probably just about wanting to personally build large humanoid machines. After all, there probably isn't another project on Earth that would involve this field."

"Is...that's how it is?"

Sigel nodded with some skepticism.

He knew that although Lux was young, she had a unique sensitivity in understanding others.

'If you have the chance, you must talk to that young man face to face.'

Sigur made this decision in his heart.

-----------------

Meanwhile, Kruse, dressed in a ZAFT white uniform and wearing his signature metal mask, followed Patrick into the Defense Committee Chairman's car.

"Cruze, thanks to the battle records you brought back, the people have realized the threat posed by natural persons to us."

Kruze was repeatedly defeated by the Archangel. Although Patrick greatly admired his abilities, he was forced by various pressures to sideline his trusted general and keep him away from the front lines under the guise of recuperation.

"It's all what I should do, Your Excellency Chairman. If it weren't for you, someone like me who has repeatedly failed would probably have been forced to retire from active duty long ago."

"No matter what others say, I know your abilities. Don't worry, you can go back to the front lines after the election."

Patrick had barely finished speaking when his portable device beeped to indicate that a message had been received.

"It's a battle report from the Low Earth Rail Campaign."

Patrick picked up the terminal and frowned after flipping through only a few pages.

"The MS unit suffered more than half its casualties and was forced to retreat. Duel, Storm, and Thunder were recovered by Gibraltar after landing on Earth, while Longlegs landed in North Africa. What on earth is that Desel guy doing?"

Patrick recalled that Diesel had assembled a force of four Nazca-class and two Lawrence-class ships to launch an attack on the Eighth Fleet.

That was a large force of 36 mobile suits, including three Gundams whose combat power far exceeded that of King and Sigurd. Facing the weak Eighth Fleet, not only did they fail to annihilate them, but they were also repelled even with more than half of their mobile suits killed or wounded.

Based on Patrick's past experience, Desel's forces were more than capable of defeating the Eighth Fleet. Even if the two mobile suits on the Archangel joined the battle, they wouldn't be able to turn the tide of the war against such a disparity in troop strength.

"Your Excellency?"

Kruze watched Patrick's expression change repeatedly and couldn't help but ask.

Patrick handed the portable terminal directly to Cruze.

"This is really... It seems that Captain Diesel underestimated the enemy's mobile suits."

Patrick was surprised that Cruz had given the Earth Force's mobile suits such a high evaluation.

"Are enemy mobile suits really that difficult to deal with? 36 mobile suits against 2 mobile suits, even with the Earth Force's mobile suits and anti-aircraft fire from warships, it shouldn't have caused our forces to suffer such heavy losses, right?"

Kruze returned the terminal, recalling the performance of the short sword and the Strike on the battlefield, and replied.

"The Earth Force's mobile suits are indeed excellent. That mass-produced machine called Dagger completely surpasses all of our army's mobile suits in performance, including the most advanced one currently in service, the Shig. Moreover, the pilot of Dagger is also excellent. Unlike the Strike, which is piloted by a Coordinator, the pilot of Dagger seems to be a Natural. Even I think the combination of him and Dagger is quite troublesome."

"I never expected that you, the recipient of the Nebula Badge, would be rated as 'tricky'..."

Patrick's brow furrowed even deeper.

"However, I think Your Excellency doesn't need to be too anxious. Pilots as skilled as the Shortsword pilot are definitely rare in the Earth Forces. He alone isn't enough to turn the tide of the war. Since Longlegs is in North Africa, let the local Andruffet team handle him. Your most important task now is to win the election. Only by controlling both the Supreme Council and the National Defense Committee can you truly control the fate of our Coordinators. Whether it's deploying new mobile suits or launching large-scale military operations, it will all be up to you."

"You're right, you're absolutely right."

The smell of tobacco filled the car, and in a corner unseen by Patrick, a strange smile hung beneath Cruze's mask, which reflected a cold glint in its light.

Chapter 34 Firepower Investigation (Part 1)

North Africa, in the Libyan desert.

The Archangel, having landed on the ground, hid its pristine white hull in a hollow surrounded by several sand dunes.

This place is sparsely populated. The pitch-black night sky that can be seen from the city is actually full of stars from here. The Archangel's clean hull reflects the starlight, creating a unique beauty in this desolate desert.

But at this moment, Xing Shuai, who was on the bridge of the Archangel, had no intention of appreciating this beauty.

"Is the radar still not working?"

Pakistani Ruru, who was on duty on the bridge, asked with a frown.

"Yes, the environment on Earth is not like that in space; there are too many interfering factors. In addition, the radio waves emitted by the neutron jammer reduce the radar's detection range to less than half of what it used to be."

'This is bad.'

Baki Lulu tried her best not to show her worried expression.

The Archangel is currently in enemy-occupied territory, with no relevant intelligence and unfamiliarity with the surrounding terrain. Even its radar is almost paralyzed, leaving it in complete darkness. In addition, the local guerrillas who were supposed to come to pick it up have yet to appear, making Bakirulu's mood even worse.

At that moment, the bridge door opened, and Raven walked in, yawning and wearing his newly issued captain's uniform.

"Good evening, Lieutenant Bakirulu, how's the situation?"

Seeing Raven's nonchalant attitude, Baki Lulu was about to reprimand him, but then she remembered that he was now her superior. She swallowed back what she was about to say and changed her tone.

“I’m very sorry, the ship’s radar is not working, we have no idea what’s going on, and the guerrillas we were supposed to meet up with haven’t shown up either…” Bakirulu stared at the uniform draped over her shoulders, and finally couldn’t help but say, “Also, please, Captain, observe military discipline and wear your uniform properly. As your superior, you should set a good example for your soldiers.”

Raven was taken aback at first, then remembered that he was already a captain in the Allied Forces, and the "commander" that Bakirulu had mentioned was him. Although the experience of being treated as a superior by her was novel, it still made Raven feel very uncomfortable.

Raven quickly put on his military uniform and said.

"Just call me Raven, Lieutenant. My rank of captain is just a political show put on by some people and doesn't really count."

“That won’t do. No matter what, Captain Lei’s rank was directly appointed by the Joint Forces Headquarters. I cannot be disrespectful to you as his superior.”

Faced with Baki Lulu, who was the very embodiment of a professional soldier, Raven couldn't say anything more and had to end the conversation. He moved to the seat of the Raider soldiers and looked at the display panel.

There was nothing to see there except for noise, but Raven quickly gave his advice.

“We can have Mu fly the Sky King equipped with the Lightning Backpack for a spin. The Lightning Backpack has high-performance sensors, and its reconnaissance efficiency is no less than that of a reconnaissance aircraft. It can clearly see the surrounding situation at a glance.”

Baki Lulu remembered the performance data of the Lightning Backpack and realized that it was indeed a good idea.

"Okay, I'll have the maintenance team get ready right away."

-----------------

Behind a sand dune, Andrew Barthelter was crouching atop the dune, holding binoculars and observing the Archangel in the distance.

"That's the legendary Archangel. I see, it really does have two long legs."

"Captain, Baku is ready to attack."

Lieutenant Da Costa came up from behind the dunes with a cup of coffee and handed it to Andrew.

"That's pretty fast, that's really good."

Andrew took a sip of the scalding liquid in his cup, it was unclear whether he was praising his subordinate's competence or complimenting the taste of the coffee.