Several days earlier, while the New Misurugi Kingdom and the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet were engaged in intense naval battles along the line from Orb to the Cook Islands...
The Archangel, stealthily navigating the Arctic Ocean, received supplies and new Mobile Suits airdropped from space by their homeland.
The former members of the Nameless unit, now officially part of the Archangel's Neil Team, were all gathered in the hangar observing the newly delivered Mobile Suits.
Shinn gazed at the GP-08 (Phantom Rose) reassigned to him, overwhelmed with emotion. As he caressed the Mobile Suit's hatch, his face was filled with the tenderness and caution of someone who had regained something precious.
The others found Shinn's demeanor quite amusing. Neil directly teased him:
"Shinn, you remind me of a friend who treats his Gundam like a lover. He'd often say 'I am Gundam' and acted like he was going to marry his Gundam someday.
But I remember you got in trouble because you tried to save a little girl, right? On your first day in the Nameless unit, your incident report and self-criticism were read aloud to the entire force."
As Neil said this, Xiaoqiang immediately chimed in:
"Haha, that reminds me of something hilarious. Captain, you wouldn't believe this kid's luck with girls. The first time he met a girl, he stripped naked to warm himself by the fire. And his incident report read like a love letter - it was absolutely killing me!"
At Xiaoqiang's words, Shinn's face turned bright red.
The punishment personally handed down by Reid wasn't going to be waived just because Shinn was transferred to the Nameless unit, so he naturally had to undergo the same unit-wide self-criticism there as well.
That's why everyone in the Nameless unit knew exactly why Shinn had been punished with assignment to their unit.
Faced with Xiaoqiang's teasing, Shinn had no rebuttal. He could only quickly open the cockpit and hide inside, pretending to calibrate the Mobile Suit like a turtle retreating into its shell.
Seeing Shinn flee in embarrassment, the others burst into laughter before quickly turning to calibrate and familiarize themselves with their own Mobile Suits.
Among this supply delivery, only Shinn received a Gundam. The others were all assigned specialized Mobile Suits designed specifically for this mission.
They were called High War Crabs, one of the famous aquatic Mobile Suits from Universal Century's Zeon.
These High War Crabs were designed by Nein in half an hour at Reid's request for the mission to destroy the undersea communication cable facilities at the bottom of the Bering Strait, then manufactured on the spot using the Factory Module.
Being temporarily manufactured and intended for use by non-Reid squad members, no black technology was incorporated. Instead, they were modernized adaptations based on the already drastically altered technology of the current CE Universe.
Of course, aside from the name and appearance, these High War Crabs had absolutely nothing in common with their UC counterparts.
These High War Crabs were powered by AC Universe's Miniature Nuclear Fusion Reactors. To prevent technology leakage, Reid secretly installed detonation devices in the reactors - if necessary, the engines could function as low-yield hydrogen bombs.
With AC Universe's Miniature Nuclear Fusion Reactors providing electricity and power, the Mobile Suit designs could freely incorporate high energy consumption equipment.
For the outer armor, considering that the CE Universe basically had no underwater beam weapons, and even if they were developed, without AC Universe's underwater beam binding technology, beam weapon damage would be reduced to negligible levels by seawater.
It's important to know that GN Particle Beams can lose half their power in high-humidity environments (as shown in Season 2, Episode 3), and beam weapons powered by Minovsky Particles aren't much better—water significantly impacts particle-based weapons.
Therefore, since naval combat still primarily relies on projectile weapons, Reid designed his mobile suit with Phase Shift Armor while ensuring sonar stealth capabilities, choosing the same blue color scheme as the Abyss Gundam.
For armament, the High War Crab is equipped with a specially designed underwater beam cannon mounted at its waist. This cannon fires elliptical beam orbs instead of traditional linear beams underwater, achieved through AC Universe's underwater beam binding technology. Its range is comparable to that of a standard ground-based beam rifle.
On land, the cannon can deactivate the additional particle binding to transform into a high-powered diffused beam cannon.
However, this weapon consumes three times more energy than a standard beam rifle and is bulkier, requiring direct mounting onto the mobile suit.
Fortunately, energy consumption isn't an issue for Reid's new High War Crab design—the AC Universe Miniature Nuclear Fusion Reactor can fully support it.
Additionally, the chest torpedo tubes have been replaced with four multi-purpose missile launchers (capable of firing torpedoes) to enhance amphibious combat capabilities.
The mobile suit's hand-mounted claws remain High Vibration Claws, though their primary function isn't close-quarters combat but rapid excavation and destroying fortifications.
Actual close-quarters combat is handled by the large beam saber mounted on the wrist.
This beam saber is identical to the Tallgeese's model, making it usable underwater as well.
The mobile suit also features shoulder-mounted small electromagnetic cannons for pre-detonating torpedoes and missiles, while providing supplementary ground and anti-air firepower when operating on land.
This mobile suit is specifically designed for naval warfare, and Reid is having it tested by the current Archangel crew.
If it performs well, Reid plans to mass-produce this model as a piloted mobile suit to complement the automated Mobile Doll Kapool in high-low capability pairing.
After receiving the new mobile suit, Matilda Ajan commanded the Archangel to head toward the Bering Strait.
In modern warfare, cutting communications at the onset of hostilities is common knowledge for anyone familiar with combat.
With Neutron Jammers having rendered most of Earth's wireless communication equipment useless—leaving only a few military-grade large signal transceivers capable of short-range wireless communication—the submarine cable buried at the bottom of the Bering Strait connecting to the Asian mainland has become the Atlantic Federation's only guarantee for real-time communication with its two allies.
Destroying this line would delay communications between the Atlantic Federation and its allies by at least hours—a potentially fatal delay during emergencies.
This is precisely why Reid aims to sever this line at the war's outset.
Naturally, the Earth Alliance recognizes this line's importance.
Due to the Eurasian Federation's inadequate combat capabilities, the East Asian Republic and Atlantic Federation reached a consensus on defending this communication line.
Though the western side of the Bering Strait originally belonged to the Eurasian Federation, defense forces there consist of East Asian Republic troops, who have even established bases on Eurasian Federation territory.
Meanwhile, the Atlantic Federation has also deployed heavy forces to guard the eastern part of the Bering Strait, establishing a base there as well.
Of course, besides garrisoned troops, these two military bases also house deeply buried servers underground for data processing and recompilation.
This is necessary because the East Asian Republic and the Atlantic Federation have not unified their communication protocols, and neither side trusts the other to control the compiler for their own military systems. Thus, two additional servers are required for independent compilation and retransmission.
Frankly speaking, if the Alaska Base hadn't been destroyed by the Atlantic Federation itself in the previous war, things wouldn't be so complicated now—they could have simply used the equipment there, which was originally jointly garrisoned by three nations.
Although the East Asian Republic and the Atlantic Federation maintain a superficial alliance while separately defending both sides, they actually coordinate their actions during combat operations.
As a result, despite ZAFT's persistent efforts since the war began to attack this area and sever communications between the two sides, they have so far failed. The distance from South America to here spans nearly the entire Pacific Ocean, making supply lines extremely long, and the Atlantic Federation's Pacific Fleet is far from incompetent. Thus, this vital communication lifeline remains intact to this day.
Only a few lucky small fry manage to slip through the defenses and launch attacks here.
However, today this area is about to face a new challenger.
Since coming under the jurisdiction of the New Misurugi Kingdom, the Archangel has primarily been used as a submarine on Earth.
Consequently, the New Misurugi Kingdom later equipped the Archangel with a full underwater stealth system (designed to counter sonar).
Moreover, as ZAFT's offensive direction has consistently been from south to north—and now that they are at war with the New Misurugi Kingdom, which is also located to the south—both nations have concentrated their main patrol forces in the southern regions.
After departing from the Faroe Islands, the Archangel took the Arctic Ocean route and approached Kotzebue Sound undetected.
However, the Archangel can proceed no further from here. Given its substantial size, advancing any farther would be too risky.
Thus, Matilda Ajan convened a tactical meeting to synchronize the combat mission provided by the staff team assembled by Une.
During the meeting, a map of the Bering Strait was fully displayed, and Matilda Ajan began, "Everyone, look at the map. According to the plan from headquarters, our operation will consist of a four-phase assault: three feints and one main attack. The feints will primarily target the servers at the Atlantic Federation's eastern Bering Strait base, while the actual objective is to attack the submarine cables on the East Asian Republic's side.
First, Neil, you will pilot the Jet Black Hunter Gundam and use the Obscurant Umbrella System to bypass the Atlantic Federation base, then launch an attack from the south.
The goal of this assault is to draw out enemy mobile suits. Engage while retreating, and try to lure the enemy MS out of the base as much as possible.
Then, for the second feint, Shinn, you will pilot the GP-08 (Phantom Rose) and detour through the northern mountains to the east, launching a surprise attack after Neil has drawn the base's MS away.
Although yours is a feint, you need to carry one of the special bombs previously used in the Faroe Islands. Just drop it directly into the center of the Atlantic Federation base.
Even though the Atlantic Federation's large servers are buried deep underground, if the surface base is hit by a bomb equivalent to a tactical nuclear weapon, the East Asian Republic will certainly not stand by idly.
At that point, they will undoubtedly dispatch forces to provide support.
At this moment, the Archangel will surface to intercept the East Asian Republic forces. Shinn and Neil, after completing your mission, you must either shake off or eliminate the pursuing forces and rendezvous with the Archangel. Then, engage in a fierce battle with the East Asian Republic's defensive troops.
The objective is simple: draw as many East Asian Republic forces as possible toward our position.
Finally, Barry Huo (Boxer), John MacTavish (Soap), Gary Sanderson (Xiao Qiang), and Simon Riley (Ghost)—the four of you will pilot the High War Crabs to launch a surprise attack on the East Asian Republic's underwater cable zone. Once you excavate the cables, directly inject the prepared virus using the Mirage Colloid, then withdraw immediately.
After your mission is accomplished, the Archangel will submerge and escape. Neither the Jet Black Hunter Gundam nor the GP-08 (Phantom Rose) are specialized underwater Mobile Suits, so you must quickly regroup with us."
After Matilda Ajan finished speaking, everyone had one thought: this plan was insane. All three diversionary attacks were life-risking, while the main assault team had the safest role.
The overall flow of the plan was logically sound. Since the East Asian Republic forces would inevitably reinforce the Atlantic Federation, a full-frontal assault was inadvisable. With only one ship on their side, being caught in a pincer attack would be extremely dangerous.
Cutting off the Atlantic Federation's lines would yield the same outcome—without luring away the East Asian Republic's underwater forces, the four High War Crabs could never complete their mission.
However, the four responsible for the main assault felt that Neil, piloting the Jet Black Hunter Gundam, would have to face an entire Atlantic Federation base alone and was expected to draw away all enemy forces. Wasn't this essentially sending him on a suicide mission?
Moreover, who came up with the idea of having Shinn later assault the base solo in the GP-08 (Phantom Rose)? How could the Atlantic Federation base pursue a single Mobile Suit without leaving any reserves behind? And the base's fixed defensive weapons couldn't exactly grow legs to chase the Jet Black Hunter Gundam.
During the assault, Shinn would at minimum face the full firepower of the base's defensive arsenal. Even with a Gundam at his disposal, this was pushing it.
Nevertheless, Neil and Shinn raised no objections to the plan's arrangements.
Neil had full confidence in his skills and the capabilities of the Jet Black Hunter Gundam. With the Obscurant Umbrella System, given enough time, he could dismantle a medium-sized Atlantic Federation base single-handedly.
Shinn, meanwhile, had immense faith in the GP-08 (Phantom Rose). The base lacked heavy defensive weapons like a Positron Cannon, relying only on anti-aircraft machine guns and missiles—which wouldn't even scratch the electromagnetic armor of the Phantom Rose.
Additionally, the close-combat pack of the GP-08 (Phantom Rose) offered high mobility. His task was merely to bomb the base, something he could accomplish with ease.
In truth, from Neil and Shinn's perspective, the truly dangerous part was the subsequent mission where the Archangel and their two Mobile Suits would lure the East Asian Republic forces.
Although the combat capabilities of the East Asian Republic and the Atlantic Federation were comparable, to fully attract the cautious East Asian Republic troops, they couldn't simply hit-and-run. They had to persistently threaten the underground servers at the Atlantic Federation base.
That said, neither Neil nor Shinn feared a challenging mission.
The first was accustomed to fighting multiple opponents alone, while the latter was a reckless novice brimming with self-confidence.
As for Matilda Ajan, there was no need to discuss—being recruited by Reid, she would never defy orders coming from his side.
Moreover, in the original work, this fierce individual famously piloted a Medea transport craft to ram directly into the Black Tri-Stars' Dom to cover White Base—how could she possibly fear danger?
Since the three undertaking the most perilous mission had no objections, Barry Howe and the other four could only silently pray for them and resolve to execute their own tasks flawlessly, ensuring their comrades' efforts would not be in vain.
Afterward, the team refined the operation details based on the local terrain before dispersing to rest.
Matilda Ajan set the mission time for 3:00 AM, with the operation codenamed "Sweet Dreams."
(End of Chapter)