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

Thanks to Raven's modifications, the Mobius Zero, after successfully approaching the ZAFT fleet, fired all 12 anti-ship missiles at the Vesalius in one go. Although some missiles were intercepted by anti-aircraft fire, it still successfully destroyed the Vesalius's engines. After confirming the results, the Mobius Zero sailed away.

Although it was a bit of a pity that they couldn't kill Kruze directly, completely rendering the Vesalius immobile was the best possible outcome.

If nothing unexpected happened, the operation had been a great success so far. Unfortunately, the message Mu received next plunged his good mood back into despair.

"What? Strike has been captured by Divine Shield?"

Although only the main body of Mobius Zero remained at this point, Mu, who knew the importance of Strike, did not stand idly by and watch Strike be taken away.

Mobius Zero immediately changed direction and headed to intercept Aegis. Mu soon spotted Aegis's silhouette.

"If the cannon barrel is still there... whatever, fire!"

The Mobius Zero fired its remaining linear cannon at the high-speed Aegis. Although the linear cannon could not penetrate the Aegis's PS armor, the shockwave from the hit still managed to slow the Aegis down.

"Damn it, that machine."

At this point, Aegis was not in good condition. After the battle with Strike Force, most of its energy had been consumed. If it were to take the attack from Mobius Zero, Aegis's remaining energy would soon be insufficient to support the consumption of the PS armor, and it would not be able to support Athrun's return. However, if it chose to counterattack, it would have to choose to unleash Strike Force.

However, Aslan will soon no longer have to struggle with this dilemma.

Taking advantage of the opportunity created by Mu, the short sword quickly caught up.

"Shield of Aegis, give Kira back to me!"

The short sword launched its rocket anchor, which, under El's control, precisely clamped onto one of the Aegis's mechanical arms. Then, the short sword's thrusters fired at full power, forcefully holding the Aegis in place.

"Stop the assault!"

Aslan hurled a beam boomerang at the Aegis with his short sword. This thing couldn't be withstood by the PS armor. He had no choice but to abandon Assault, revert to MS form, use the beam saber on his toes to cut the rocket anchor's cable, and then swing his shield to knock away the beam boomerang that came in front of him.

Freed from the constraints of the Holy Shield, the Assault now looks miserable, as its originally blue-white PS armor has turned back to iron gray due to insufficient energy.

"Strike and return to base immediately. The Archangel is ready with its gun battle packs."

"I understand, I'll come to help as soon as possible."

"Mu, you too."

"Are you sure you can handle three Gs by yourself?"

"I will try my best to survive. Besides, even if only the original form of Mobius Zero remains, it won't be of much help."

Knowing he wouldn't be of any help if he stayed any longer, Kira immediately obeyed orders to return to base, while Mu, after taking a reluctant sip, followed Strike back to the Archangel. But there, Kira and Mu ran right into Duel and Thunder, who had just escaped the Archangel's fire.

"Aslan failed? Perfect. Even if we can't capture him, a direct assault will do the same. Nicol!"

"I know."

Although the two machines had little energy left, they still had enough to fire two or three beam rifle shots given the easy victory before them.

Raven noticed the movements of Duel and Thunder, and in order to cover Kira and Mu's retreat, he threw out the boomerang he had just retrieved.

The next moment, the beam boomerang sliced ​​the beam rifle that Duel had raised in two, while Blitz changed its target and destroyed the beam boomerang with a single shot. Meanwhile, Kira and Mu took advantage of the opportunity created by Raven to quickly pass through both Duel and Blitz and approach the Archangel.

But Raven's act of covering for Kira and Mu did come at a price.

"If it weren't for you!"

Athrun, who was almost able to take Kira away, now poured all his anger into Dagger. He abandoned his shield and unleashed all the beam sabers on his hands and feet, aiming them straight at Dagger's back.

Due to Raven's actions, Duel and Thunder, who had almost gotten their hands on the duck, also set their sights on the short sword.

"You bastard, you keep getting in my way!"

Duel used his remaining arm to draw his beam saber, and together with Aegis, he attacked the short sword from both sides, while Swift Strike circled around to the side and aimed at the short sword, firing the wolf claw-like anchor attached to his left arm.

The three-way attack by the ZAFT Red Team almost completely blocked Raven's escape routes. Raven's Wolf Claws restrained Dagger's left arm, preventing him from making free evasive maneuvers, while Aegis took the opportunity to get in front of Dagger and unleash a fatal strike.

[Emergency situation, activate overload mode.]

In order to survive this seemingly hopeless situation, El actively pushed himself beyond his limits, attempting to gain more precise control over the orbital drive system.

However, this comes at a price; this state can only be maintained for a few minutes, otherwise it will leave irreparable damage to the mind.

Under El's micro-management, the short sword instantly became as agile as a human, flipping over and actively sending its restrained left arm toward the beam blade coming from the Aegis. The Aegis' beam saber instantly severed the short sword's left arm. Freed from its restraints, the short sword turned around again, sacrificing its right leg to allow its torso to avoid the beam saber thrusting from behind.

"You managed to dodge that?"

The short sword's movements startled the three attackers. Even within ZAFT, an army composed of Coordinators, few could control a mobile suit with such precision. To be precise, aside from Kruze, they had never seen anyone else possess such control over their mobile suit.

Even though the Dagger had escaped the encirclement, the situation hadn't improved at all. The three Gundams were still watching intently, and Raven's Dagger had become a thorn in their side. The Dagger's condition was now tattered; missing its left arm, right leg, and most of its armament, it was at its last gasp. El couldn't maintain overload mode indefinitely either. If the three Gundams could coordinate another coordinated attack, even El wouldn't be able to save the Dagger.

Raven had no choice but to step on the pedal, trying to get closer to the Archangel for support, but the Aegis and the other two ships couldn't just stand by and watch Raven escape.

We must crush this guy who keeps ruining their plans right here!

At this moment, the three of them reached the same conclusion.

The three units, Shield, Duel, and Thunder, surrounded the short sword from three directions, preparing to unleash another combo to completely destroy it.

However, at least for today, they no longer have that opportunity.

Under Raven's cover, the Strike Force, which approached the Archangel, did not return to the hangar for repairs. Instead, it directly merged with the cannon pack ejected from the Archangel on the battlefield. The batteries in the new pack restored the Strike Force's power supply. Upon seeing Raven's predicament, Kira immediately set up the Flame God Ultra High-Power Pulse Cannon on the cannon pack. The high-power beam, in red and white, instantly ripped through the dark universe, forcing back the three units that wanted to surround Dagger.

Knowing they had lost their chance, the three had no choice but to retreat with resentment. After confirming that they were temporarily safe, Raven finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The standard uniform, soaked with sweat, made Raven extremely uncomfortable. He had no choice but to take off the helmet, wipe the sweat from his face, and lean back against the not-so-soft back of the driver's seat.

"El, thank you so much for today."

It is my duty to assist you, Raven, but I'm sorry, my mind needs a break.

"I can handle the rest by myself, so Al can get some rest."

Although Al, as an artificial intelligence, doesn't need sleep to recover its strength, the intense battle that had overloaded its mind and hardware forced it to hibernate for a period of time to restore its mental stability.

Having just gone through a fierce battle, Raven was exhausted, but he still had things to do before returning home.

Dagger first returned to the space where the battle had just taken place, and then carried the two weapons left behind by Storm in his arms before returning to the Archangel.

Chapter 11 Close Friends

ZAFT Army, Gamov, Kruze's personal cabin.

Aslan stood outside the door and nervously pressed the cabin doorbell.

"Come in."

At Kruze's command, the cabin door opened automatically, and Kruze's iconic figure appeared before Aslan.

Even after suffering a defeat, this elegant blond man still wore the mask that covered half of his face, and a faint smile always lingered on the corner of his mouth.

"Captain, I'm so sorry."

Even though he had prepared a lot of arguments in his mind before coming here, when he stood in front of Kruze, Aslan couldn't utter a single word of explanation.

ZAFT deployed four Gundams and two Kings in one go, while the Earth Alliance only had one Assault Mobile Suit and one mass-produced Dagger on their side. As a result, they failed to shoot down even a single mobile suit, let alone the Archangel. Instead, they lost two of their own mobile suits and damaged two others. Their Vesalius had its engines destroyed and is now being towed back to PLANT home by the Gamow.

Not to mention the hot-tempered Yzak, even Aslan himself knew how humiliating this defeat was.

"Alright, Aslan, the biggest responsibility for the failure of this operation lies with me as the commander. I completely misjudged the enemy's intentions. Don't take it too hard."

Kruze comforted Aslan like a caring elder.

"I've reviewed your combat logs, and you did a great job. But regarding the assault, is there something you want to say to me?"

Before the sortie, Kruze had clearly given the order to shoot down any enemy mobile suits that attempted to intercept them. In the battle between Athrun and the Strike, it was obvious to everyone that Athrun was holding back; otherwise, he would have easily defeated the somewhat inexperienced pilot of the Strike. Afterwards, whether Athrun went directly to attack the Archangel or returned to participate in the siege of the Dagger, he could have changed the outcome of the battle. However, Athrun wasted a lot of time depleting the Strike's energy, all in the hopes of capturing it.

Kruze couldn't possibly be unaware of the problem here.

Finally, under Kruze's gaze, Athrun revealed his affair with Kira.

"To reunite with a childhood friend on the battlefield, this is truly..."

Kruze used all his strength to suppress his joy. Fighting his childhood friend on the battlefield would be a tragedy anywhere, but for Kruze, it was more intoxicating than fine wine.

“In that case, Aslan, you don’t need to participate in the next operation against the long-legged ones. As the commander, I don’t want to force my soldiers to fire on their friends.”

"Captain?"

"Even if you were friends in the past, you're enemies now. You should know what that means, right?"

"Kira is an Adjuster too, he must have been coerced by the Earth Alliance! I will definitely find a way to bring him back!"

"What if he refuses?"

Kruze's words plunged Aslan into an ice cave.

“If that’s the case, I will kill him with my own hands.”

Hearing Aslan utter those words in an incredibly somber tone, Kruze sighed deeply, then turned away, hiding his barely suppressed smile.

Haha, as expected of humans...

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

Archangel, machine hangar.

After sleeping in bed all day, Raven struggled to get out of bed and returned to the hangar.

After all, he was exhausted the day before. He had to pilot a mobile suit in combat, help maintain the mobile suit, and collect combat data on the short sword and the assault rifle in his spare time. He was busy all day long before he had time to rest.

Even though he had been busy all day, Raven's workload hadn't decreased at all.

The short sword is severely damaged, requiring the replacement of its entire left arm and right leg. Data collected during the battle still needs to be analyzed to develop a new version of the Natural Human OS. In addition, Raven plans to use available resources to make a minor modification to the short sword, enhancing its combat capabilities.

This requires Raven to finalize the modification plan. Fortunately, El can help calculate various data, and Raven estimates that the modification plan will be finalized in a short time.

"Professor Raven, may I borrow a little of your time?"

While Raven was busy in the cockpit of the Dagger, Kira floated to the door of the Dagger and poked his head out with a somewhat gloomy expression, asking a question.

Raven glanced at Kira and roughly understood why he had come.

"Is it because of the Shield's pilot?"

Kira looked up at Raven in surprise.

"How did you know, teacher?"

"I only overheard your conversation with the Aegis pilot while I was retrieving assault combat data. But don't worry, I didn't tell anyone."

Raven reached out and pulled Kira closer to the cockpit, closing the door behind him. Raven knew that what the boy was about to say was something that clashed with the atmosphere of the military.

"The pilot of the Aegis is named Aslan. He's a friend I met in Copernicus..."

Kira slowly recounted his past with Athrun, and Raven didn't interrupt, simply acting as a listener.

"I'm sorry, teacher, for listening to me say so much."

Raven could tell that Kira had been holding these words in for a long time, and now that he had said them all at once, it relieved a lot of his pressure.

"It's nothing. Listening to students' troubles is a teacher's responsibility. Besides, besides me, there's probably no one else on this ship who can listen to you talk about these things, right?"

Being friends with the enemy pilot, whether told to the captain of the Maru or his friends, would only create unnecessary trouble.

"Kira, are you going to give up piloting Assault? If you encounter Aegis again, can you even shoot them?"

"I have no idea."

Kira answered with a confused expression.

He wanted to say yes, but as the words reached his lips, memories of his time with his friend flashed through his mind, and he couldn't bring himself to say them.

Kira doesn't want to fight his friend, but if he doesn't fight, he can't protect the Archangel and his classmates who are still on board.

This dilemma tore at the boy's heart, and Kira's serious nature prevented him from easily making up some excuse.

It wasn't hard to guess what the boy was thinking. Seeing Kira's predicament, Raven didn't intend to make things difficult for him.

"Although I really want to say something cool like 'Leave it all to me!', I'm not good enough to take on four Gs single-handedly. But next time we face Team Kruze, I'll take on Team Shield. I can do that. I'll try my best not to go all out against Team Shield."

"teacher?"

Kira stared wide-eyed at Raven in surprise.

"Why are you so surprised? It's a teacher's job to solve students' problems. Or do you think I'm going to say something like, 'If someone becomes an enemy, you should shoot them down!' like a military officer?"

"So, teacher, what exactly do you want to do?"

"Uh, like destroying the opponent's limbs, or dismantling the weapons in the opponent's MS's hands?"

"But, but..."

It wasn't that Kira didn't believe in Raven's piloting ability, but Kira had already experienced the battlefield firsthand and knew just how dangerous battles between mobile suits were. Surviving was already difficult enough, let alone having to hold back and only take away the opponent's combat power without destroying them.

Kira knew that this was causing Raven unnecessary trouble, and that he was making Raven risk his life to satisfy his own willfulness.