Chapter 389: Breaking Through the Encirclement 1
"Eternal, activate the gravity system in the bridge and living areas," Lacus said. After speaking, she looked at Tolle with a blank, innocent expression and asked, "Like this?"
Before Tolle could answer, the artificial intelligence Eternal replied first in an electronically synthesized female voice, "Acknowledged, Miss Lacus."
Eternal then controlled the Ahab reactors and slowly activated the gravity systems in the bridge and living areas. The gravity increased little by little, but it did not cause any discomfort.
Lacus looked at the Eternal spinning rapidly outside the window, then stood up and jumped a few times. With an excited expression, she exclaimed, "This is really amazing. There's no feeling of acceleration at all inside the bridge."
"The even more amazing part is coming next." Tolle then said to Eternal, "Lacus, tell Eternal to test the defensive effect of the Klein Field."
"Okay." Lacus nodded with a smile and said to Eternal, "Eternal, please test the Klein Field."
"Acknowledged, Miss Lacus."
At that moment, Eternal controlled the three-dimensional space surrounding the battleship, instantly manifesting a defensive field that resembled a round-bottom flask with a curved neck.
The Eternal stopped evading and instead charged straight toward the direction of the enemy attacks, using the Klein Field to withstand all the GINN units' firepower.
As the beam rifle shots, machine-gun fire, and missiles exploded on the surface of the Klein Field, all that energy was instantly transferred to the rear of the Eternal, even increasing its flight speed.
Meanwhile, the durability value of the Klein Field's defensive collapse limit barely decreased at all. It seemed it could hold for a very long time.
Tolle felt there was still room for improvement—ideally, the length of the energy channel formed by the Klein Field could be extended to temporarily store the incoming attack energy, then release it later in a high-power counterattack.
Of course, that would only be something Nami could handle. Other artificial intelligences might not have the computational power required.
Watching the enemy attacks vanish not far from the Eternal's hull, while the ship itself remained completely unscathed—not even experiencing the slightest vibration—Lacus glanced at the slightly reduced durability value on the main display and couldn't help but marvel, "Tolle, this Klein Field really deserves to be called a defensive field meant for dialogue. Its defensive power is incredible."
Tolle shamelessly grinned and replied proudly, "Haha, of course. Otherwise, how could it be worthy of the name Clyne?"
With starry eyes, Lacus looked at Tolle and asked, "By the way, what were those metallic substances that sprayed out of your hand earlier? They were able to upgrade the Eternal so quickly and so dramatically."
To avoid exposing the neo DG cells, Tolle immediately started making things up again. "Ah, those are microscopic nano-engineering robots stored in my storage space. They can quickly integrate into a battleship and carry out rapid modification work…"
Athrun listened to all this with a stunned expression, staring at the two of them.
Nicol thought Athrun was feeling jealous, so he patted him on the shoulder and whispered to comfort him, "Athrun, don't be too upset. There are plenty of fish in the sea. You'll find someone even better."
Only then did Athrun react—Lacus had already moved on. Thinking about how his father Patrick was still pursuing Lacus, and how there was even the matter of killing one another's parents between them, he felt that the two of them were completely impossible now.
Looking at Lacus chatting and laughing with Tolle, and at the affectionate light in her eyes, Athrun said softly with a sense of loss, "Thanks, Nicol. I'm fine. As long as Lacus can be happy, that's enough."
At the same time, the Test Type GINN Modified and the Judgment Gundam had already flown out of the Jachin Due Fortress and arrived behind the GINN units.
With Kira's piloting parameters loaded, the Test Type GINN Modified abruptly halted and immediately activated its multi-lock system. It deployed the beam cannons on its flight backpack, the rotary turret machine guns, and the waist-mounted railgun, then raised its beam rifle.
Just like the Freedom Gundam, it unleashed a full salvo, targeting the weapons and heads of the GINN units positioned in the rear, who were providing long-range fire support.
Meanwhile, with Athrun's piloting parameters loaded, the Judgment Gundam swung its beam anti-ship sword and charged into the enemy formation, likewise attacking the weapons and heads of the GINN units.
"What?! What's going on?!" The hit pilots were completely dumbfounded. They never expected a sudden attack from behind.
Watching the Test Type GINN Modified and the Judgment Gundam suddenly turn against the GINN units, Andrew laughed and said, "Looks like someone's been moved after all. And their piloting skills aren't bad either."
"Aha…" Tolle laughed awkwardly and explained, "Well, I infiltrated those two units with nanomachines when I passed by the Jachin Due Fortress earlier. I'm remotely controlling them to attack."
"Oh? They're remotely controlled? That's impressive. And you even showed restraint during the attacks—not a single pilot was killed. That's really not simple," Andrew said, giving Tolle a meaningful look.
Being put on the spot like that, Tolle explained somewhat awkwardly, "Haha, yeah. But I had to set up quite a few hidden signal relay stations to make this kind of remote control possible.
If the distance were any farther, they'd just be moving targets, nowhere near this smart.
Actually… there are three more units on the way. I gave them a final order to follow the Eternal right after it launched, but their speed just can't keep up. I still haven't been able to contact them."
With her usual innocent expression, Lacus said, "Thank you, Tolle. You deliberately avoided the ZAFT MS cockpits while controlling the attacks."
Aisha shot Andrew a glare, then chimed in, "Yes, deliberately avoiding cockpit hits like that isn't easy at all."
At that moment, the helmsman, who had already switched back to manual control, glanced at the radar display and reported, "The GINN units are moving to surround the Eternal from all directions. Requesting instructions."
"Tolle, what should we do next?" Lacus asked, widening her watery eyes as she looked at him adorably, clearly seeking help.
"Cough, cough." Tolle felt his old heart take another critical hit. Blushing slightly, he immediately said, "Since they can't break through the Klein Field anyway, let's slow down a bit and just ram straight through them.
That'll force them to evade, breaking the encirclement.
As long as the collision speed isn't too high, the kinetic impact won't cause severe damage to the GINN units.
Plus, the Test Type GINN Modified and the Judgment Gundam are already attacking them, and the Regenerate, Testament, and Providence Gundams should also be on their way.
As long as we stall for a bit and wait until the Jachin Due forces lose their combat capability, we'll be able to leave safely."