Early the next morning, Mikazuki, who was sleeping inside the Barbatos, suddenly snapped his eyes open. The sirens were buzzing incessantly.
"Mika! The Earth Alliance's assault has begun again!"
"I know."
Mikazuki tossed his coat behind his seat and connected to the Alaya-Vijnana System. A retinal projection of an all-around spherical image appeared before him as he tapped a few nearby keys. A virtual screen manifested in his vision, displaying the situation outside.
"There sure are a lot of them."
Orga nodded in agreement with Mikazuki's assessment.
"There really are quite a few. After the beating they took yesterdaylosing all those MS and having four of their battleships sunk by youtheir combat strength doesn't seem to have decreased at all. They even brought in three replacement battleships. The resources behind Blue Cosmos are truly something else."
"Whatever. We'll just kill them all."
Mikazuki performed some simple stretches within the cockpit, working out the stiffness in his body from sleeping. Orga watched him with one eye.
"You really are something..." Orga started, but his smile quickly vanished. "To be honest, the leader of Blue Cosmos is dead set on seizing Orb's Mass Driver. Orb is in a tight spot this time."
Since Panama had fallen, the Earth Alliance was in desperate need of a Mass Driver capable of launching battleships through the atmosphere and into space. After all, the Lunar Base was the true headquarters of the Atlantic Federation... or more accurately, the headquarters of Blue Cosmos. All operations directed against the Coordinators living in space needed to be coordinated from the moon.
As mentioned before, the Earth Alliance's abandonment of Alaska had been premeditated. The fact that their main forces had been redirected to Panama was a clear sign. As for why they were willing to abandon even the Archangel... that would become clear once they reached the moon.
"All MS units, sortie and intercept!" Cagalli commanded from the command center, turning to look at the communications officer. "Are the Archangel and the Sassari ready to deploy?"
"The hangar doors for Onogoro Island's Ports 1 and 2 have been opened. The Archangel and the Sassari are departing the port now."
"Incoming communication from the Barbatos!" an officer reported immediately.
"Patch it through," Cagalli replied.
"Cagalli?" Mikazuki's voice came from the cockpit.
"Mika, what happened?"
"Oh, it's nothing big. I just wanted to ask... is there any breakfast?"
"..."
The entire operations room fell into a dead silence. Cagalli's mouth twitched as a vein throbbed on her forehead. Orga covered his face with his hand, feeling powerless.
"You idiot... do you have any idea what the situation is right now?"
"But I'm hungry."
Mikazuki's eyes happened to land on two pieces of bread and a few bottles of water sitting nearby. "Huh? I don't remember having any rations."
"Captain Murrue put those in while the Barbatos was being serviced," Orga explained.
"Is that so? She's very considerate." Mikazuki took a large bite of the bread.
"She just understands you well."
"..."
The conversation between Orga and Mikazuki was over Orb's public channel. Consequently, it wasn't just Cagalli's command center that heard it; the bridge of the Archangel heard every word as well.
The crew members all turned to look at Murrue with teasing eyes. Her face turned a deep shade of crimson, looking as if it might actually drip blood.
"Honestly... that idiot Mikazuki."
"Sorry, it's fine. Cagalli, go back to your work. I'll sortie as soon as I finish eating."
"...Fine."
The communication cut off. Ledonir Kisaka could see Cagalli's eye twitching and the frustration boiling on her face. He couldn't help but chuckle, though he quickly stifled it to focus on commanding the battle alongside her.
"First MS unit, head to the coastline! Coordinate with the anti-aircraft guns to intercept enemy missiles and fighters! Second and Seventh MS units..."
"Enemy's new models spotted! It's the three from yesterday!"
Cagalli looked up. Seeing the bird-like MA among them, her brow furrowed. "Wasn't that unit taken down by the black suit yesterday? It's still functional?"
"Mika, that guy who was taken down by the Graze Ein yesterday seems to still be alive," Orga noted.
Mikazuki, now satisfied after eating and drinking, also saw the three Gundams rampaging across Orb's territory. He secured his empty bottle to the side and opened the public channel.
"I'm launching."
"Understood! Sorted path confirmed clear. Sortie!"
The Barbatos lifted its head toward the battlefield outside the hangar doors. The thrusters on its back roared to life simultaneously, and with a sharp whistle, it blasted out of the underground factory.
Inside the Raider, Clotho Buer was irritably slaughtering one M1 Astray after another. Beneath his pilot suit, his body was almost entirely wrapped in gauze.
He had narrowly survived the battle axe of the Graze Ein. Now, he was piloting a backup unit brought by Muruta Azrael. Due to being an Extended and the influence of the drugs in his system, he couldn't feel the injuries on his body at all. Of course, this was only temporary. Once the drugs wore off, the pain would return tenfold.
"Where are they? Where? Where are that black bastard and the one called Wolf? Come out and face me!"
The Raider crushed the wreckage of an M1 under its foot as Clotho looked around frantically. Suddenly, the cockpit radar blared an alarm.
"Found you! Wolf!"
Mikazuki, just entering the battlefield, glanced at the radar display and raised an eyebrow, muttering to himself, "He really is still alive. What a lucky guy."
The Barbatos banked away from its original flight path, turning to meet the Raider charging up from below.
"Wolf!"
Clotho wanted nothing more than to tear the machine in front of him to pieces and drink its oil. He had almost died. He had come so close to death!
"Shut up. You're annoying."
Mikazuki drew the Tachi from the mount on his back. Just as the Raider closed in, the Barbatos performed a slight side-step, and a blade-light flashed
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