Hearing the report of the enemy attack, I hurried from my room toward the mobile suit hangar. On the way, I felt a tremor run through the ship—likely the impact of intercepting enemy fire. Judging by the sensation, the interception was successful.
Given the urgency, I reached the hangar without bothering to change into a pilot suit.
Normally, a pilot suit offers some protection against G-forces and impacts, but considering my physical abilities, wearing one is practically redundant for me. I only wore it during space combat because the environment demanded it for survival.
"Brother, prep is done, but they want you on standby in the cockpit. What about the loadout?"
"Let's see... The OS hasn't been tuned for gravity, specifically not for desert terrain. Beam weapons won't be very effective due to thermal convection scattering the energy. We have that captured GINN Assault Machine Gun, right? Load that up. Keep the rest standard."
"You got it."
While Mu was snapping at the mechanics to hurry up with his adjustments, I quickly finished my own launch preparations.
"Where is the enemy?! Strike, launching!"
"Kira? Wait, not yet!"
"Open the hatch, hurry!"
"We don't know the enemy's position or numbers yet! No launch order has been issued!"
"Stop talking nonsense! Just open the hatch! I'll go out there and destroy them!"
"Kira..."
I could hear the exchange between Kira, Natarle, and Miriallia over the comms.
...Why? The question flashed through my mind. In the original story, Kira acted this way because he blamed himself for failing to protect the refugee shuttle, and after being "comforted" by Flay, he adopted this arrogant, aggressive persona. But in this timeline, the shuttle wasn't shot down; it descended safely to Earth. So why is Kira acting like this?
I was lost in thought until my name was called, snapping me back to reality.
"Axel?"
Murrue's face appeared on the Blitz's monitor, looking worried.
"What's wrong?"
"The Archangel can't maneuver well enough to handle combat helicopters. Can you sortie?"
"I'm ready whenever you are."
"Also... about Kira-kun."
"Yeah, I heard the comms. He's definitely acting strange."
"Could you look out for him?"
"I don't mind, but... the Blitz's OS is still set for zero-gravity combat. I can't move properly on the sand. I'll likely have to fight using the Archangel as a foothold, so I don't know how much support I can provide."
"Yes. That's fine. Please... Axel."
"Hm?"
"Come back safe."
"Yeah."
The Strike, equipped with the Launcher Striker, launched from the linear catapult. Following it, the Blitz launched as well, wielding the GINN Assault Machine Gun in its left hand.
"Tch, just as I thought."
Below me, the Strike had already lost its footing in the shifting sand and was down on one knee. Seeing this, I blasted my thrusters and touched down on the Archangel's deck instead of the ground.
"Kira, get down!"
Three ZAFT combat helicopters fired missiles simultaneously at the immobilized Strike. I sprayed bullets with the machine gun in my left hand, shooting down the incoming missiles and blowing one of the helicopters out of the sky.
I tried to follow up, but seeing their wingman destroyed, the remaining two helicopters dipped behind the sand dunes. Ignoring me, they circled around to attack the Strike again, toying with the mobile suit as it struggled in the sand.
Then, as if to mock the flailing Strike, the four-legged mobile suits—BuCUEs—leapt into view.
Five BuCUEs utilized their specialized mobility to glide across the sand, unleashing a barrage of missiles and railgun rounds from their back-mounted turrets. They seemed to have focused their target solely on the sluggish Strike, ignoring the Archangel and the Blitz entirely.
"Tch, sharp customers."
The BuCUEs circled the Strike, but the moment I aimed the Blitz's machine gun at one, it would immediately dart to the opposite side of the Strike. This put the Strike directly in my line of fire, preventing me from shooting.
I guess I should expect nothing less from the Desert Tiger's squad. But!
"Accelerate!"
I triggered the Spirit Command Accelerate, maxed out the thrusters, and launched into the air. I vaulted directly over the Strike's head, moving through the air to the other side... Right there!
"Eat this!"
I fired the Gleipnir anchor from my left arm. The claw successfully clamped onto the "neck" of a BuCUE just as it was about to fire its missiles. Not letting it escape, I slammed the Blitz's feet onto the beast's back, crushing the missile pod with the impact. I felt the shockwave of the warheads detonating inside the pod, but for the Blitz's Phase Shift armor, it was nothing to worry about.
I pressed the muzzle of the Tri-keros's beam rifle against its back and pulled the trigger. Thermal convection might scatter a beam at range, but at point-blank contact range, physics didn't stand a chance.
I kicked off the exploding BuCUE, fired the thrusters again, and landed back on the Archangel's deck. Almost simultaneously, several "Sledgehammer" anti-ship missiles were fired from the Archangel's stern launchers.
"Kira, dodge!"
"Kira, move!"
My warning and Miriallia's scream over the comms overlapped. However, the BuCUE, specialized for ground combat, sensed the approaching warheads and scattered. The Strike, still stuck in the sand, couldn't move and was caught in the blast radius of the Sledgehammers.
...Just because he has Phase Shift armor, that was reckless.
But perhaps it was necessary. At this point, we had only destroyed one helicopter and one BuCUE. They likely wanted to thin the enemy numbers as quickly as possible. ...This ruthless decision had Natarle written all over it, not Murrue.
After losing one of their own, the remaining BuCUEs became more cautious. The moment the Blitz made a move, they would pull back to a safe distance. All I could do was fire suppressing bursts with the machine gun whenever they tried to close in on Kira, buying him seconds at the cost of ammo.
"Kira! Adjust the OS for desert terrain while you have the chance! I can't buy you time forever!"
"If the ground pressure is escaping, I just have to match it. Anticipating the pressure loss... setting friction coefficient for sand granularity to minus twenty..."
Kira didn't answer me directly; he was already rewriting the OS. The words leaking out were just him muttering the values he was inputting.
The results were instantaneous. The Strike jumped and landed on the sand, planting its feet firmly without sinking or slipping.
As a BuCUE leaped at him, the Strike braced with its left leg and drove a knee into the enemy. When another attacked from behind, Kira didn't even turn around; he swung the stock of the Agni heavy beam cannon backward, smashing the enemy unit. He stomped on the overturned machine to pin it, then fired the Agni at point-blank range.
True to its classification as a 350mm High-Impulse Cannon, the beam unleashed at close range vaporized the BuCUE instantly. This was a weapon capable of damaging a space colony; imagining what it did to a mobile suit at zero range was unnecessary.
With the OS now tuned for the desert, the BuCUEs were no longer a threat to the Strike. Missiles fired from their pods were all shot down by the "Igelstellung" vulcans in the Strike's head.
I was watching the turnaround, but suddenly, my telekinesis flared, screaming danger. This is... they're targeting the Archangel?! The Lesseps' main cannons!
My sensing the attack and the shells arriving happened almost simultaneously. The Archangel lurched upward, trying to evade.
Thanks to the desperate maneuver, most of the shells from the Lesseps missed, but a few found their mark, slamming into the hull. The impact shook the deck where the Blitz was perched.
"Damn it! Using this against shells is a waste, but... Love!"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Skygrasper launching from the catapult. I triggered the Spirit Command Love.
The BuCUE that had been knocked away by the Strike absorbed several of the incoming shells. The Strike fired the Agni, the beam intercepting and vaporizing most of the remaining barrage...
"Take that!"
Using the enhanced accuracy and damage from Love, I fired the assault machine gun in my left hand, shooting down the last of the incoming shells.
Since changing the OS settings, the Strike was fighting like a demon. But that performance couldn't last forever.
"Strike's power is entering critical levels!"
Miriallia's frantic voice came over the comms. It was inevitable. The Agni consumes a massive amount of power, and Kira had wasted shot after shot during the first half of the battle.
However, the Blitz, still running on space-use settings, couldn't intervene. If I went down there to help, I'd just get stuck in the sand and become target practice for the BuCUEs.
But if I ordered the Strike back to the ship, the immobilized Archangel would become a sitting duck for the BuCUEs. And the Lesseps would resume its bombardment if given a moment to reload.
To break this deadlock, we had to wait for the resistance group, "Desert Dawn," to make contact, just like in the original story. But...
"Tch, we just have to buy time! Love!"
I still had the effects of Love active. I fired the machine gun at the combat helicopters. They saw me move and tried to evade, but guided by the Spirit Command, my bullets found their mark, piercing the fuselage of another chopper and blowing it apart.
Ideally, I wanted to target the BuCUEs, but seeing me active, they kept their distance, attacking the Strike from the very edge of their effective range. Even with Love, I couldn't hit targets that were physically out of my gun's range.
Damn it, not yet?!
At that moment, a missile fired from the flank slammed into the last helicopter. They're here!
Several jeeps and self-propelled artillery trucks sped into the combat zone, firing missiles and vulcans.
"...What is that?"
I heard Natarle's bewildered voice but kept watching the unfolding events. One of the jeeps stopped at the Strike's feet and fired a wire-gun to establish a contact circuit. The transmission was patched through to us as well.
『Hey, mobile suit pilot! If you don't want to die, follow my instructions. There's a trap at this point. Lure the BuCUEs there.』
"The resistance...?"
Hearing Murrue's voice, I opened a line to the bridge.
"Murrue! We have to trust them. We're going to get whittled down to nothing at this rate. The resistance has no reason to set a trap for us in this situation."
"...You're right. Kira-kun, follow their instructions."
"Yes!"
Kira answered briefly and began to follow the Desert Dawn's vehicle. The BuCUEs gave chase.
They ignored the Archangel and the Blitz to pursue the Strike because Waltfeld had likely informed them that its Phase Shift armor was on the verge of failing due to power loss. Fortunately or unfortunately, the Blitz had done most of its fighting with the captured machine gun and hadn't taken hits, so my battery was still practically full.
The Strike fled, the BuCUEs pursued... and the squad of quad-legged beasts charged straight into the minefield laid by the Desert Dawn. In a series of massive explosions, they were erased from the desert sands.
Name: Axel Almar
LV: 35
PP: 525
Stats:
Melee: 246
Shooting: 264
Skill: 256
Defense: 253
Evasion: 281
Accuracy: 303
SP: 422
Ace Bonus: SP Boost (Consuming SP increases unit performance)
Growth Type: Versatile / Special
Terrain Ratings:
Air: S
Land: S
Sea: B
Space: S
Spirit Commands:
Accelerate (SP 4)
Gain (SP 8)
Focus (SP 16)
Direct Attack (SP 30)
Zeal (SP 32)
Love (SP 48)
Skills:
EXP Up
SP Boost (SP Up L9 + SP Recover + Focus)
Telekinesis L10
Attacker
Gunfight L9
In-fight L9
Limit Break (Morale)
Geass (Gray)
???
???
???
???
???
Shot Down Count: 262
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