As the alarm sounded, the two immediately went on high alert.
Lu Tianming wasted no time in quickly boarding the Freedom with Xia Chuan, opening a channel to the Archangel to inquire about the situation:
"Who attacked first? The Alliance or ZAFT?"
"...They both launched their attacks simultaneously."
The one responding to Lu Tianming wasn't Miriallia, who was responsible for communications, but Badgiruel... most likely she was just on ship duty rather than being formally prepared for combat.
Badgiruel's response took Lu Tianming by surprise for a moment... a simultaneous attack? Could it be that these two groups had reached some kind of agreement?
Lu Tianming then shook his head in self-denial. While the Alliance and ZAFT both seemed to share the common goal of attacking ORB, their fundamental needs were conflicting—they were both after the Mass Driver.
The probability of them allying to take down ORB was extremely slim.
So the current situation... only had two possibilities. Either these two forces really did coincidentally launch their attacks at the same time, or one saw the other starting the fight and rushed to join in.
...But either possibility made no difference to ORB.
"Proceed according to the contingency plan. Remember to have the Archangel begin preparing the Positron Cannon. And notify the Hangar to prepare the perfect Aile Pack configuration—someone might pilot the Rouge Strike when the time comes."
After a moment of thought, Lu Tianming instinctively began giving commands.
Mu's Dawn Strike had been developed with its own specialized backpack from the start. Currently, if you didn't count the Beam reflection capability, the only differences from the true Dawn were the Blaze Pack and the Yata Mirror Armor—the latter, researched based on the PS Armor, could even achieve targeted area reflection similar to the Forbidden.
So the previous backpack sets for the Strike were actually reserved for the Rouge Strike—Cagalli had secured piloting rights for this Mobile Suit through overcoming opposition and demonstrating superb piloting skills. It was decided that, during wartime, it would operate under the Archangel's command, just like the Dawn Strike.
"Hey, that guy with the surname Lu, what should we do?"
After assigning tasks for the two Strike derivatives, another voice came through the communications.
Lu Tianming turned his head to see Dearka's image from the Emerald Blitz appearing on the screen.
"Facing your former comrades, can you bring yourselves to fight them?"
Instead of answering directly, Lu Tianming thought for a moment and asked this question.
"If we can't fight our comrades... aren't there still the Alliance forces?"
Dearka snorted lightly. Although it would be difficult to turn their weapons against former comrades after such a short time, weren't the enemy forces composed of more than just their old allies?
"Besides, in your first phase plan, it doesn't seem to require much active attacking, right?"
"Correct."
Lu Tianming nodded. In his plan, if the Alliance and ZAFT attacked simultaneously... the first thing the Archangel and even ORB needed to do wasn't to resist with full force, but to lure the enemy in as deeply as possible.
Or rather—to try to gather the enemy forces together as much as possible.
The subsequent approach certainly wasn't as straightforward as the Archangel's Positron Cannon—this weapon's charge time and firing range were too conspicuous, making it unsuitable and unnecessary as a decisive weapon.
Lu Tianming had prepared this... for another purpose.
"Dearka, your role is solely to act as the Archangel's escort unit. Use artillery support to ensure the Archangel's safety during the Positron Cannon's charging period."
"As for Nicol, the Archangel will assess the overall battlefield situation and mark high-threat targets... As long as they aren't G Series units, use the Mirage Colloid to eliminate them directly. Can you handle that?"
"Just artillery support? That's my specialty!"
Seeing that his task merely involved switching Mobile Suits to perform familiar combat patterns, Dearka immediately responded with a confident smile.
"For peace... I... I'll do my best!"
Nicol nodded nervously on his end. Eliminating high-threat units... sounded like crucial work.
But... with the upgraded Blitz, he believed they could definitely manage!
Lu Tianming nodded, watching as ORB's numerous Mobile Suits—including the Verdant Blitz and Jet Black Blitz—gradually surged into the battlefield. His heart settled slightly.
All arrangements were now in place... everything would depend on how the situation unfolded.
——————————————————————
"...ORB's resistance seems somewhat weak."
On the ORB battlefield, Yzak piloted the atmosphere-equipped Duel Gundam, frowning slightly as he sped across the front lines.
In his estimation, this battle concerned ORB's survival—the nation should have deployed its full strength in response.
But so far, only two derivative models of the Strike Suit had been seen weaving through the front lines. The Freedom, which he expected to be the main obstacle, hadn't appeared at all.
Could it be... that the previous battle damaged that unit?
An absurd thought crossed Yzak's mind, but he quickly dismissed it—the original Strike had never suffered such a fate, so why would the improved Freedom encounter such issues?
Just as he scanned the battlefield in confusion, two distinctive figures suddenly caught his eye.
They were the Verdant Blitz and the Jet Black Blitz.
"Are those... units modified from the Blitz and the Blitz?!"
At the sight of these two Mobile Suits, he first felt shock, followed by a surge of joy—were Dearka and Nicol still alive?
He remembered that when the Blitz and Blitz were shot down, their cockpits hadn't been hit... If ORB had recovered the units, did that mean the pilots had been safely retrieved as well?
In fact... observing the Verdant Blitz's somewhat familiar firing stance, Yzak couldn't help but suspect—was that guy piloted by Dearka?
However, joy soon gave way to confusion. Even if the Freedom didn't sortie, with four G Series derivative units participating, how could ORB's combat situation be so passive?
He acknowledged that the simultaneous attacks by the Alliance and ZAFT put ORB at a numerical disadvantage, but they shouldn't be collapsing this quickly.
They were almost at the point of a landing battle.
...Wait, such smooth progress felt somewhat familiar?
Yzak's mind suddenly flashed back to the reports of the Alaska Battle—it was said that when the Alliance hadn't activated that large-scale destructive weapon, the scene had been exactly like this.
But ORB might not self-destruct like Alaska did... So what exactly were they preparing?
Yzak shook his head, feeling somewhat puzzled... but this confusion lasted only a moment before he found the answer himself.
Almost instinctively, the image from the Earth descent operation surfaced in his mind—the Strike Suit, seemingly cornered, had spread its twin wings and wielded a massive beam saber hundreds of meters long, cleanly slicing in half the battleship falling toward the Archangel.
Right now... was he about to witness a repeat of that spectacular scene?
--Enjoying the story? Want more chapters? Check out my Patreon and support me for 40+ advance chapters.
Just search for "QueenTL" on Patreon!"
Thanks!