Chapter 121: SEED – Battle Encounter
When the Archangel sailed close to Orb's coastal waters, the radar operator on the bridge suddenly reported.
"Captain, radar response! Four MS units detected—it's the Aegis, Buster, Duel, and Blitz Gundams, closing in at high speed."
With the alarm blaring, unease filled the bridge.
Murrue immediately gave tense orders. "Archangel, leave the surface and ascend! Full speed ahead, try to shake them off!"
But the four Gundams—Aegis, Buster, Duel, and Blitz—were all standing on ZAFT's small unmanned MS transport machines, the GuAIZ, flying in rapidly.
At the Archangel's current speed, there was no way to shake them off; the Gundams were closing in fast.
The radar operator reported again. "Too late, Aegis, Buster, Duel, and Blitz are still approaching! They'll be in firing range any moment. All four Gundams are riding GuAIZ transport flyers, we can't shake them."
The approaching Buster Gundam struck first, firing its ultra-high-energy long-range sniper rifle at the Archangel.
Murrue quickly ordered evasive maneuvers, narrowly dodging the Buster's shot.
But the evasive action slowed their advance, letting the four Gundams catch up.
Natarle gave orders, tense and uneasy. "CIWS defense system, intercept!
Missile tubes 7 through 10, 11 through 14, load and fire on target immediately!
Linear cannons, lock on and fire!"
Unfortunately, the four Gundams moved with great agility on the GuAIZ, scattering easily and intercepting the incoming missiles with their beam rifles.
The Buster Gundam combined its twin weapons and fired its anti-armor scatter cannon in a wide-spread attack against the Archangel.
This time, the Archangel wasn't so lucky—unable to dodge, part of the barrage struck the battleship's side.
Despite the shaking, Murrue continued to command. "Lieutenant Mu, Ensign Yamato, Ensign Tolle, launch at once!"
At her order, the Strike Gundam and Skygrasper launched from the Archangel's hangar, with the high-performance Ginn close behind.
Mu piloted the Skygrasper into the sky, then dove down, firing his high-energy pulse cannon at the Buster Gundam.
But the GuAIZ transport was too nimble; taking advantage of its mobility, Dearka dodged Mu's attack with ease and counterfired with his beam rifle and scatter cannon.
Mu was forced into tight spirals, looking for another opening.
That was the weakness of fighter craft and mobile armors: attack vectors were limited, their firing arcs dictated by flight path. Their own maneuvers exposed their trajectory completely—one misstep meant certain destruction.
Kira, too, fell into a bitter struggle. Even with the Strike's high-mobility pack granting short bursts of flight, it couldn't keep up with the GuAIZ flyers.
The Strike's attacks against the four Gundams missed again and again.
The Duel Gundam charged in aggressively, taunting as it attacked, firing its beam rifle, micro-missiles, and armor-piercing rounds at both the Archangel and Kira.
Kira launched several charges at Duel, but each attempt failed. He was forced back onto the deck, joining Tolle in defensive fire with their beam rifles.
The Aegis Gundam's attack frequency was lower, limited by the GuAIZ—it couldn't transform into MA mode, and thus its Scylla cannon was unusable.
Meanwhile, Nicol in the Blitz Gundam came in last, attacking the Archangel's CIWS batteries.
But unlike the original events, his strikes were half-hearted, targeting only unimportant areas.
When he noticed Tolle's Ginn carried a beam shield system, Nicol shifted to attacking him instead.
But Nicol timed his shots carefully, almost always hitting the beam shield.
Tolle was helpless—the lack of flight capability created a huge disadvantage. Unable to reveal too much, he could only take the blows defensively.
On the Archangel's bridge, damage reports kept coming.
"CIWS defense turrets 3, 4, 5, and 8 hit—50% loss. Port linear cannon damaged, inoperable. One main thruster nozzle destroyed, speed reduced."
The Archangel's damage worsened; the battle outlook grew grim, the bridge filled with tension and unease.
Natarle, however, noticed the Gundams' weakness: the GuAIZ transports had no Phase Shift Armor—one good hit would destroy them.
She immediately ordered the gunners. "Reload all missile tubes, target the transport flyers, and fire! Linear cannons, target the flyers as well, fire!"
She turned to Miriallia. "Relay this to the Strike and Ginn as well."
"Target the flyers?" Miriallia asked.
The radar operator clarified, "The things carrying the MS around."
With that explanation, Miriallia understood instantly, relaying the order to Kira and Tolle to switch their targets to the GuAIZ.
The two nodded, each focusing on the nearest—Kira on the Blitz, Tolle on the Duel.
Tolle powered up his beam shield to maximum and charged straight at the Duel Gundam.
Its weapons fire splashed against the shield harmlessly.
Just as Yzak prepared to switch to his beam saber, he was struck head-on by the Ginn's ultra-high-speed armor-piercing round, the impact force knocking the Duel violently off its transport.
Tolle pressed the advantage, delivering a Char-style flying kick that sent the Duel Gundam crashing into the sea, while he secured his own footing on the GuAIZ.
Fortunately, the GuAIZ's leg connectors were standard ZAFT fittings—the high-performance Ginn could use them perfectly. Finally, Tolle no longer had to worry about not being able to fly.
He quickly had Nami assimilate and copy the GuAIZ's data so he could produce one himself in the future.
Meanwhile, Kira chased Nicol relentlessly, firing his beam rifle in rapid succession.
But since Nicol had no intention of sinking the Archangel, he simply dodged, circling around the Strike to drag things out.
The two reached a stalemate.
But Kira's skill proved superior—switching to his beam saber, he feinted an opening, luring Blitz into a false move.