"You… she…"
Gerard, pinned to the ground by Roz, looked at Christina with her mantis blades extended in terror.
A nameless fear rose in his chest.
"Done?"
Roz didn't pay attention to Gerard's struggles; he simply pressed down harder, holding him firmly.
"…Audio analysis complete."
Christina's mouth did not move, but Gerard's voice played over the cafeteria's broadcast.
"Good. Send them the order to resupply the Archangel, Christina."
After saying that, Roz turned to look at the desperately struggling Gerard.
"You're useless now."
Roz spoke Gerard's fate calmly, then brought the muzzle of the pistol to his chest and emptied the remaining 24 rounds in the magazine. Each bullet hole instantly gushed bright red blood like a sprinkler, staining Gerard's white uniform.
Clearing the magazine was to prevent Gerard from faking death by having his heart shift elsewhere and escaping; for the ship's safety and to avoid that possibility, Roz chose to shred Gerard's torso.
Originally Roz had intended to press the muzzle to Gerard's head — someone who could say "wipe out everyone on the Archangel" had already been sentenced in Roz's eyes. But considering there were many civilians present who had scarcely seen blood, Roz chose Gerard's body instead.
After all, simply having clothes stained red is less shocking than brains spilling everywhere — Roz still couldn't eat for two days after blowing up Blue Cosmos' lab.
"I remember… your name is Arnold? That's right, helmsman?"
Roz accepted several magazines Christina handed him and reloaded the emptied pistol. Then he turned to the man who had confronted Gerard.
"It's me. What is it?" Arnold swallowed; after all, these two had reversed a suppressed situation in an instant and even had leisure to monitor Gerard's communications.
Though it was unclear what Christina had done or what electronic means she'd used, her hands were probably some kind of custom prosthetics. After all, in an age of space colonization, prosthetic technology had advanced.
"I need you to take people to the bridge and prepare. Once I bring Captain Murrue and the others back, we depart immediately."
Roz checked his gear and put the remaining magazines into his pocket.
"Civilians stay in the mess hall. Everyone else, follow Christina and clear out the remaining marines."
"Kira, your role is important — you hear me?"
Roz walked to Kira and patted his shoulder.
"You'll go with the maintenance crew to the hangar, pilot the Strike with the cannon-equipped pack. After the Archangel departs, you'll sortie — we need your firepower to punch through."
"Can you do it?"
Kira took several deep breaths in response to Roz's question.
At this moment, for the first time he felt the thought "I want to pilot the Gundam." A desire to fight in order to protect his companions was kindling in Kira's heart.
Kira felt his sleeve being grabbed; he turned and saw a deep-red-haired woman watching him with concern.
"No problem, Flay. I can do it."
Kira nodded to the woman named Flay and stood up.
Roz patted Kira's shoulder, his tone serious.
"Whether we can break out now depends on you."
-----------------------------------
Roz moved quickly between several space assault crafts.
Currently, all communications from the Archangel had been cut off by Christina, and some fake orders had been inserted, making everyone believe the ship was under control. With surveillance relaxed, Roz had the opportunity to move freely.
Roz didn't have time or materials to make a silencer, so he had to fire as little as possible. Nearby, a few small transport ships flew past; Christina had just faked an order that the Archangel would return to the Eurasian Federation, so routine resupply was underway.
"B2 corridor, turn left after entering, there's an elevator. I've hacked it—the elevator goes to the twelfth floor."
Christina guided Roz through the earpiece, though he could occasionally hear the sounds of marines being pierced by mantis blades. More pressing, however, was Christina's rapid and heavy breathing.
"Your breathing is fast. Are you feeling unwell?"
"Ha… Roz… after the elevator reaches the twelfth floor, there's a place guarded by two soldiers. That's where Murrue and the others are."
Christina's condition was clearly unstable, and Roz narrowed his eyes.
"All enemies on the Archangel have been cleared… I'll wait for you in the quarters."
"…Understood. Don't run off. Wait for me, okay?"
Roz silently ascended the elevator and pressed the floor button.
His quarters were single occupancy, a special privilege granted by Murrue, considering Roz was one of the only two people aboard capable of piloting an MS.
Roz had anticipated Christina's state, but even so, he felt some urgency.
"Cyberpsychosis," a condition caused by overloading prosthetics, leading to neural and conscious control conflicts and resulting in various mental disorders.
Christina's condition might be even more extreme than the "Smasher" character in Roz's previous life's game; Smasher still retained part of its original body, whereas Christina had only her brain intact. Cyberpsychosis under such circumstances was unsurprising.
"Ding…"
The elevator doors opened, and Roz pressed against the wall, moving forward.
The floor was calm. It seemed designed as a guest and conference area; the only active room was where Murrue and the others were detained, guarded by just two soldiers.
Roz quickly reached a corner, peeked, and saw two guards standing in front of a door.
Roz's position was risky; if he shot recklessly, the other guard could use the fallen soldier's body as cover to fire back. The hallway offered no other cover, and he was far from them.
As Roz debated whether to assault, the entire Artemis Fortress trembled.
Its communications channels became chaotic, leaving everyone disoriented.
This was clearly a rare opportunity.
-----------------------------------
Outside Artemis Fortress.
A previously quiet space now revealed a blurry figure, visible only at close range.
"Artemis Umbrella… where is it?"
Nicol, piloting the Blitz Gundam, scanned the surface of the Artemis Fortress.
The experimental Mirage system provided optical and radar stealth. Blitz, being a recon-specialized unit, naturally carried the system for testing.
"No visual… then I'll have to draw them out."
Nicol fired the Blitz Gundam at the asteroid shell enclosing Artemis Fortress.
Though the 50mm high-energy beam rifle on the right arm's shield system continued firing, the Mirage system remained active despite the attack.
Unrelenting, unknown attacks finally made Artemis Fortress react, preparing to deploy the "Artemis Umbrella."
The beam shield generators, previously hidden within the asteroid shell and resembling cannons, rose systematically.
"Got you!" The Blitz, nearly skimming the asteroid, detected the shield generator's activity instantly. Nicol accelerated briefly and approached the beam generator. The beam saber integrated into the offensive shield system effortlessly cleaved the weapon — notoriously unpopular in ZAFT — in two.
"Captain! Artemis Umbrella has been destroyed!"
From a Nazca-class high-speed warship, Rau Le Creuset received Nicol's signal.
"Good… Nicol, continue destroying Artemis Umbrella. Warships, advance. MS, deploy!"
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"Ah? What's happening…"
Outside the reception room where Murrue and the others were held, two guards instinctively stepped forward from the strong tremors, looking up at the ceiling.
"Bang…"
Suddenly, a sharp gunshot rang out, and a bullet precisely hit one guard's shoulder.
"Who's there?"
The other guard instinctively raised his weapon, preparing to fire at the source of the shot.
The next second, a bullet struck his chest.
Roz appeared from the corner, moving fluidly, firing calmly at the guards' torsos. When one was hit, he immediately shifted to the other.
Within just ten meters, Roz reached the reception room's door. Seeing the struggling guards on the floor, he systematically put one bullet in each of their heads.
"Murrue, are you in there?"
Roz knocked on the door and shouted.
"Roz! The door lock needs their ID cards!" Murrue's voice came from inside, and from the tone, their spirits seemed intact.
"Careful, Roz. Four guards heard the shots—they're coming your way, the same route you took."
Roz quickly retrieved an ID card from one of the guards and swiped it on the nearby keypad. Then he began aiming at the corner he had just come from.
"Beep." With the door unlock sound, the previously locked door opened.
"Roz!" Murrue breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Roz releasing them, though she didn't understand why he had his back turned.
"Grab your weapons! We're fighting our way out!" Roz didn't waste words, keeping a sharp eye on the route he had come from.
"I've got your back." Mu quickly picked up a rifle from the ground and patted Roz on the shoulder.
Murrue and Natarle also grabbed handguns and another rifle from the fallen guards.
"Follow me." Roz moved rapidly toward the corner.
As Roz reached the corner, the guards coincidentally appeared there too, leading to an awkward collision.
Roz's reflexes kicked in—he grabbed the nearest guard's rifle, pressing the muzzle to the ground to control it.
Roz's RE45 fired, quickly hitting the remaining three guards. As their pained shouts echoed, he fired two rounds into the rifle-wielding guard, disabling any attempt at retaliation.
He then pressed the gun to the controlled guard's forehead, firing a single fatal shot.
Roz didn't relax. He kicked the guard to his left into the wall, pinned him down, and fired two more rounds into the torsos of the last two guards. He then aimed at the wall-pinned guard's head and finished him.
Advancing and continuously suppressing the remaining guards' movements, Roz fired another fatal shot at one of them.
Just as he prepared to finish the last guard,
"Click-click… tsk…" Roz clicked his tongue, stepping on the struggling guard, quickly pulling a fresh magazine from his pocket and reloading.
"Bang…" Roz placed the gun to the last guard's head and pulled the trigger. The skirmish was over.
Though it seemed long, it had lasted less than ten seconds.
Murrue and the others watched in stunned silence. Even seasoned Mu was slightly shocked.
According to Earth Forces training, in close-corner engagements without explosives, someone would likely be injured; Mu had even considered acting as a human shield himself.
"Move quickly… it's ZAFT! Artemis Umbrella has been destroyed!"
After hearing Christina's voice in his earpiece, Roz led Murrue and the others swiftly toward the spaceport dock.
"No alarms triggered, Artemis hasn't detected the target, ZAFT is approaching."
Roz ran, updating them on the situation.
"It's the Blitz Gundam! That Gundam has the Mirage camouflage system!"
As Archangel's captain, Murrue was naturally familiar with the Gundams that should have been aboard, even able to recite their characteristics and weaponry.
"Mu, take them to the bridge. I'm heading to the hangar to sortie!"
Roz gritted his teeth. After thinking that destroying Creuset's two warships would allow them to simply break out of Artemis Fortress, he hadn't expected Creuset to catch up.
A correction of world awareness, perhaps?
Roz didn't know, but clearly, they had to break out of Artemis Fortress first.
-----------------------------------
After sprinting all the way, they finally returned to the Archangel.
"Bridge, this is Roz. Captain Murrue and the others have been retrieved. Launch the ship immediately!"
Roz separated from Murrue and the others aboard the Archangel and dashed toward the changing room.
Meanwhile, Murrue and the others, already familiar with the Archangel's route, had reached the bridge by the time Roz arrived at the changing room.
The once-quiet spaceport was now filled with Earth Forces aircraft, and several warships that had just completed their startup overtook the Archangel, heading toward the open dock.
From the open port, two Nazca-class high-speed warships could already be seen flying toward Artemis Fortress.
"Captain!"
The Archangel's crew on the bridge, seeing Murrue and the others return, felt as if they had regained their backbone. The previously chaotic scene became orderly.
"Archangel, turn toward the opened gate!"
Murrue took the captain's seat and began issuing commands methodically.
"Yes, Archangel is turning." Helm operator Arnold skillfully maneuvered the Archangel. Though his reputation aboard the Archangel was modest, in his original fleet, he was a top warship pilot.
"Captain, Kira has launched as per Roz's instructions!" one of Kira's companions, also serving as a communicator, reported.
Under Murrue and Natarle's gaze, the Strike Gundam, equipped with its artillery backpack, flew from the sortie bay onto the Archangel's deck.
"Kira, blast open that closed gate!" Roz, dressed in his pilot suit, sprinted and boarded the Jegan prepared by the maintenance crew, stepping onto the launch catapult.
"Understood… I can do it… of course I can do it…" Kira took a deep breath, piloting the Strike Gundam and aiming the High-energy Beam Rifle at the closed spaceport gate.
"Fire!" Kira pulled the trigger on the control stick. The Beam Rifle emitted a thick beam, effortlessly melting the gate's armor.
Kira began using the Beam Rifle to cut through the gate, a process that would take some time, while the sounds of Earth Forces warships exploding grew louder behind them.
Suddenly, above the Archangel, a black mobile suit appeared.
Nicol, piloting the Blitz Gundam with its Mirage camouflage system, finally spotted the Archangel preparing to retreat and the Strike Gundam cutting the gate. He intended to destroy these targets.
"Ah… it's Blitz?" Hearing the cockpit's lock-on warning, Kira instinctively wanted to counterattack.
"Keep cutting the gate, I've got him!" Roz's voice came through the comms. The Jegan, just ejected from the Archangel, suddenly turned less than ten meters from the catapult, aimed its beam rifle at the Blitz Gundam, and fired.
"What?! This is a blind spot!" Nicol desperately maneuvered the Blitz to dodge the incoming beam, shocked at the Jegan joining the battle.
Before he could adjust his target, several more beams struck the Blitz. Despite dodging, two beams grazed the armor, slightly melting it.
Roz circled near the Archangel with the Jegan, using its beam rifle to push the Blitz Gundam back.
Under normal circumstances, Roz might have considered taking out the Blitz, but now the priority was escape; fighting could wait for later.
"The gate is destroyed!" As the tension between Roz and Nicol escalated, Kira finally reported good news.
Roz tossed a few grenades between the Jegan and the Blitz Gundam, detonating them to obscure vision on both sides.
"Archangel, full speed ahead!" Seeing the Jegan reach the deck near the Strike Gundam, Murrue made a swift decision.
The Archangel's thrusters roared at full power, smashing through the recently cut, still-hot gate and escaping.
Behind them, Artemis Fortress continued to explode, while ZAFT forces kept attacking the fortress.
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