Murrue Ramius's brow furrowed. "Retreat? But we haven't received any orders yet..."
"There won't be any orders. The high command has already discarded the Archangel. You're nothing but bait."
Murrue asked urgently, "Discarded? Bait? What do you mean by that?"
Mu La Flaga spoke while remaining locked in a dogfight with the Duel Gundam. "The whole thing has been a setup from the very beginning. I'll give you the short version: there's a Cyclops System buried beneath the base.
"Those bastards at the top planned to abandon Alaska from the start. Their goal is to lure the ZAFT forces deep into the base, then trigger the Cyclops System. When that happens, everything within a ten-kilometer radius will be turned into a literal furnace.
"The Archangel is the ultimate lure. It was meant to give ZAFT the illusion that because the Earth Alliance's newest warship was here, the high command must be here as well. The forces left behind are all from the Eurasian Federation; not a single person from the Atlantic Federation remains.
"In reality, those coward high-ranking officers escaped long ago. Headquarters is completely empty. Not a soul left. Everything every single bit of this is a script written by the high command to wipe out over half of ZAFT's total military strength in one stroke."
Murrue's pupils contracted violently. She finally realized what had been so off about that "monkey-faced" commander earlier. No wonder the Archangel had been assigned to the defensive garrison; they had intended to use the ship as a sacrificial lure all along.
Inside the CIC, Miriallia Haw couldn't stop the tears from welling up. Her voice broke as she cried out, "How could this happen? What is this? Why... why are we being abandoned?"
Her boyfriend, Tolle Koenig, rushed to her side. "Miriallia... Captain!"
Aboard a Skygrasper, Kira Yamato who was currently holding off several Mobile Suits overheard Mu's words. His expression turned grim.
The crew on the bridge all turned their eyes toward Murrue. Her face was set in a solemn mask of determination.
"If luring the ZAFT forces here was the objective, then this ship has already fulfilled its mission. Under my personal authority, I am ordering the Archangel to withdraw from the battlefield. I will take full and sole responsibility for any consequences arising from this decision.
"Simultaneously, notify the other vessels to follow us and evacuate the combat zone immediately."
Mu's lips quirked into a faint smirk. "Good. That's the way. Ready the Skygrasper; Kira and I will cover the Archangel's retreat."
"Understood..."
Just as Murrue was about to contact the maintenance team, Kira's voice crackled over the comms. "Sorry! A GINN broke through!"
"What?"
Everyone on the bridge looked up. Outside the reinforced glass, a GINN standing on a flight sub-unit hovered right before them. It raised its beam rifle, aiming it directly at the bridge.
It's over...
Facing imminent death, the reactions of those on the Archangel's bridge varied, but... not a single one of them noticed the new signal appearing on the radar.
BOOM!
The GINN suddenly exploded, its debris raining down into the sea.
"Wh... what happened?" Murrue stuttered, not yet having recovered from the shock.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Miriallia instinctively looked at the screen in front of her. She gasped, covering her mouth in shock. "This... this is... Barbatos!"
Murrue stood up instinctively, shouting, "Barbatos? Where?"
"Above us! Look up!"
The screen displayed the view above the Archangel. A shuttle was plummeting through the atmosphere. It appeared to be carrying something, and just as it broke through the atmospheric layer, something jumped off the craft.
Inside the Duel Gundam, Yzak Joule looked up at the crimson streak in the sky. "What the hell is that?"
The object that had leaped from the shuttle fell straight toward the heart of the battlefield.
Inside a cockpit, a youth pressed down on the pedals and reached out to tap a sequence on the screen. "Inertial Control System confirmed. Thrusters at full power..."
The pilot of a nearby GINN saw clearly what was falling toward him. "A wolf...?"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As the object descended, several shells slammed into the GINNs closest to the Archangel. The ZAFT pilots died before they even realized what was happening.
BOOM!
A ZAFT submarine aircraft carrier took a direct hit from the falling object. The vessel buckled instantly from the center to the bridge. The massive impact sent a towering wall of water surging outward in all directions from the wrecked carrier.
As the spray settled, everyone finally saw what had fallen. A Mobile Suit, carrying a pitch-black and incredibly utilitarian Sword Mace, stood atop the ruined carrier.
The unit's green eyes flickered to life, and an indescribable, domineering pressure swept across the entire battlefield.
On the Archangel's bridge, the image of a shirtless Mikazuki Augus appeared on the main screen.
"Hey, can you hear me? Archangel."
Murrue stared at Mikazuki's image, lost for words. She whispered softly, "Mika... is it really you, Mika?"
Mikazuki flexed his right wrist with his left hand. Seeing the image of the Archangel's bridge in the corner of his retinal projection, he smiled. "Yeah. Murrue, I'm back."
"Mika..." Murrue's mouth worked silently for a moment before she finally said with a tearful smile, "Welcome back."
"We can catch up later. What's the situation here?"
As he spoke, the Barbatos Lupus swung the Sword Mace off its shoulder. The moment the seawater touched its feet, the machine lunged forward. With unimaginable speed, it tore through several GINNs in seconds.
Murrue wiped the tears from her eyes and spoke hurriedly. "The Cyclops System's self-destruct has been planted here. The Archangel was used as bait. We were completely left in the dark about this plan the high command intends to blow us up along with the ZAFT forces.
"We have to evacuate the Alaska base as fast as possible!"
"I see. That's simple enough then. We just have to clear all the obstacles out of the way... right, Orga?"
After finishing off another GINN, Mikazuki looked up at the sky.
"Yeah, Mika..."
The sky, which had only just quieted down, was pierced by another streak of crimson.
"We have a warship heat signature! It's breaking through the atmosphere!"
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