In the ZAFT battleship, Yzak, Athrun, and others were discussing combat plans in the conference room.
According to the higher-ups' appointment, they temporarily held command over the currently assembled forces until ZAFT's full military buildup was complete.
With the modifications to the Blitz and Aegis finally finished... Yzak began considering the idea of launching a preemptive attack.
"Yzak, are you sure we shouldn't wait until the fleet is fully assembled before attacking?"
Nicol, sitting in the conference room, appeared hesitant. Although Yzak did have command authority over the assembled forces... it was likely intended only for emergency situations.
"We can't wait any longer. If we delay further—the Alliance might complete their assembly first."
Yzak shook his head, speaking with firm determination.
Previously, he had impulsively considered launching a revenge battle immediately after repairs were completed, but after calming down, he dismissed the idea himself.
After all, ORB possessed considerable military strength, and with their forces at the time, launching an attack by force would have been difficult.
But now, his renewed proposal was entirely based on strategic considerations of the battlefield situation.
Recent daily reports indicated that the Alliance was rapidly gathering forces... There was a real possibility they might launch an attack before ZAFT completed its assembly.
If the Alliance seized the initiative and captured the accelerator—retaking it would become troublesome.
"I don't really mind either way... Athrun, what's your opinion?"
Dearka leaned back casually in his chair, waving his hand nonchalantly. He trusted Yzak's strategic judgment completely.
His gaze turned to Athrun... watching quietly to see how the young master of the Zala family would respond.
Athrun lowered his head in contemplation, seeming somewhat indecisive, but eventually nodded in agreement.
"I support Yzak's opinion."
Seeing that even the most likely opponent had agreed to the operation, Yzak nodded with satisfaction before continuing with a serious expression:
"There are actually three risk factors in this operation."
"First is ORB's local resistance forces, second is the Alliance army waiting to ambush us, and third... is the Archangel, or more specifically, the Strike Suit."
While he listed three factors, only when mentioning the Strike Suit did genuine vigilance and wariness appear in his eyes.
"ORB currently hasn't deployed any MS. Their limited defensive forces consist only of traditional battleships and artillery, which can be handled with just a portion of our MS and battleships."
"The remaining forces can be held in reserve to deter the Alliance. Although they're gradually deploying MS too, both performance and pilot experience are far inferior to ours."
"Previous combat data from other battlefields shows the Alliance often needs three-unit squads or more to take down one of our MS."
"Combined with the coordinated air-sea operations of DINN, GuAIZ, and Zno, even with numerical differences, they wouldn't dare act recklessly against us."
Yzak snapped his fingers at the front of the conference room, calling up a holographic tactical display as he explained while demonstrating.
"As for the Strike Suit..."
At this point, Yzak paused briefly, then curled the corner of his mouth slightly, revealing a heavy expression.
"If that guy is still using the same equipment as last time, I have a plan to deal with it."
Dearka nodded and replied with a smile:
"It's definitely still the same. It's only been a few days... There's no way the Strike Suit could have undergone any changes."
——————————————————
Dearka was right—the Strike Suit hadn't changed... because this time, it was the Freedom's turn.
When the Freedom was transported into the Dawn Organization's factory, it happened to coincide with the Strike Suit's outer armor maintenance. Seizing this opportunity, Lu Tianming decided to proceed directly with the data transfer and began modifying the Freedom using the Strike Suit and its spare parts.
At this moment, the Strike Suit had been completely stripped of its armor. The selected and refurbished armor plates were being assembled onto the Freedom.
"Watching my former body stripped down to its frame gives me a strangely refreshing feeling..."
Xia Chuan had now taken on the form of a Haro, with two disc-like legs extending from his round body as he stood on the ground, staring oddly at the Strike Suit, which had been reduced to a dark skeletal frame.
"The Strike Suit is a thing of the past... Now that you're inside the Haro, how does it feel?"
Lu Tianming chuckled, crouching down to tap Xia Chuan's Haro body as if fiddling with a small toy.
"Not much of a feeling... If I had to say, it feels like my brain isn't working as well."
Xia Chuan replied somewhat helplessly. His mind had never been particularly sharp to begin with, and now, confined to the Haro's body without even a computer to rely on, he felt a sudden sense of emptiness.
His mind felt utterly blank.
"Don't worry, just bear with it for now. Once we get you into the Freedom, things will be better."
Lu Tianming patted the Haro's head with a smile, his gaze fixed on the Freedom before him. The armor assembly was now complete, and the main body of the Freedom was essentially finished.
In fact, due to some considerations on Lu Tianming's part, he had even modified the Freedom's backpack connector to match the Strike Suit's design.
However, the completion level of the weapons and flight wings was relatively low.
The waist-mounted Railgun had been removed for urgent separate work, and the flight wings on the back were only skeletal frames... prompting Lu Tianming to redesign the wings entirely.
In his redesign, Lu Tianming used the Glory Defender from the SEED movie as a prototype, adapting it to the current technological level and modifying the connector to match the Strike Suit's backpack interface.
Some weapon-related capabilities were also incorporated into the design, though they couldn't be fully realized in the short term or were unsuitable for the current combat environment, leading to simplified, downgraded versions—all while racing against the deadline.
Xia Chuan bobbed his head and body, an ambiguous gesture that could be interpreted as either a nod or a bow... Just as he was about to say something, a piercing whirring sound suddenly erupted, startling him so much that he stumbled and fell to the ground, nearly rolling away due to his round form.
Lu Tianming swiftly grabbed the Haro from the ground, then leaped onto a nearby construction scaffold in a single motion. He opened the Freedom's cockpit and climbed inside.
After skillfully starting up and establishing communication with the Archangel, he immediately began inquiring about the situation:
"What's happening? Why is the alarm sounding?"
"Huh? Mr. Lu?"
Miriallia, who was handling communications, seemed unfamiliar with the Freedom's channel and paused for a moment.
But then her expression turned serious again as she explained:
"It's the ZAFT Forces. They suddenly mobilized their troops and launched an attack on ORB!"
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