KnightOfZaku: I'd be delighted to answer your questions...if the answers weren't spoilers.
SCV-70 White Base
Despite their intense escape from Side 7, their trip to Luna II had been…surprisingly peaceful. They hadn't seen any trace of Char and the 300th.
Admittedly, Rose liked the change of pace from the constant sorties she'd been engaged in at Side 4 or Earth, but it still worried her immensely.
'I wonder how the others are doing…?' She questioned, ever since she'd left the 01st MS Team behind on Earth. Many of them had been injured in their last battle.
'Or killed.' Rose thought to herself bitterly, as she made her way aimlessly through the White Base, she noticed Amuro practicing in the simulator bay, but he wasn't alone. Apparently, two of his friends decided to tag along as well.
"Getting some practice gentlemen?" Rose called down from the railing.
"Is there something more for us to do?" Kai questioned, "Ever since we left Side 7 it's been an absolute snoozefest."
"You'll miss this peace when you're getting shot at." Rose chuckled, "By the way, Amuro - you're 15 right?"
"Yes…why?"
"You know, Nijmegen takes recruits at that age." Rose casually mentioned, "I could put in a word for you considering how well you handled yourself out at Side 7."
"And the truth comes to light. Playing Miss Military Recruiter - are we?" Kai snarked,
"Here's an idea, take the simulator and shove it up your ass, smart-mouth." Rose called back annoyedly, before turning back to Amuro.
"I'm…not really interested in becoming a soldier Ms. Rose…" Amuro said awkwardly, "I think it's best if I just head to Earth after going to Luna II…"
"Well I mean - I'm probably taking this ship to Jaburo if that counts." Rose said lightly, but sighed and relented.
"Alright, I won't draft you or anything, probably don't even have the proper badge for that. But we could genuinely use pilots like you." Rose shrugged, finally glancing over at the simulator screen.
And almost dropping to the floor in shock.
The statistics page was - to put it simply - outright impressive. If the simulator was to be believed, he'd wiped out five Zaku IIs in just under a minute.
"How the hell…is this thing broken…?" Rose questioned,
"I don't see anything wrong with it…" Amuro stated,
"Amuro, these simulators were based on my combat data. The Golden Gundam is a completely different machine from your Gundam, yet you've already made records…" She was half-monologuing at this point.
"It wasn't that hard…and it's just a simulator, after all, hardly the real thing," Amuro said, but Rose only nodded unconvincingly,
"Mhm…sure." Rose nodded, but she couldn't help but glance at his comrades before she left for the bridge, none of them seemed to perform as well as Amuro.
Musai-Class Falmel
"Currently, we believe they have about four mobile suits onboard. Their exact specifications are all unknown, but they most likely are all equipped with beam weapons." Char explained,
"So then what do you expect us to do?" Angelica asked curiously, "We all saw how effective such weapons are…if the Federation has them, we should at least get Ryan and the others here…"
"We don't have the time." Char stated quickly, "Ryan is across the Earth Sphere. It might take days for him to get here. We don't have days. He sent you three because you were in the area."
Angelica fell silent, and Char continued speaking. "Regardless, we can't launch a full-on attack on Luna II, so we have two points of opportunity."
As he said that, he tapped two areas on a holo-screen, highlighting them for view. One was an asteroid debris zone a distance outside of the base, and the other was right outside the atmosphere of Earth itself.
"We'll take up a position here. Right inside this debris zone but far enough from Luna II to not be outflanked by reinforcements from Luna II."
"Right." The pilots nodded,
"With that being said-" He'd turn to Dren, "How far from the debris zone?"
"We're coming up on it now." Dren nodded,
"Good, head to your mobile suits." Char smirked slightly,
'I'll have you show it to me…what the new mobile suit is capable of!'
SCV-70 White Base
Rose shuddered as everything around her suddenly got colder, 'A pressure?!' Rose thought to herself, it was just like Side 7.
'He's hiding somewhere…!' Rose realized,
Immediately, Rose sped up her pace. Her mind whirling with possibilities, she wasn't doubting her instincts for a second. After all, it made too much sense. This debris zone provided the perfect opportunity for an ambush.
And they were on the verge of entering it right now.
"I've revved my reactor in order to bring Minovsky density up to the necessary levels." Angelica announced,
"Good. Marion, you'll be supporting us from the rear. Angelica and Zero focus down the Gundam and the legged ship, the pilot is inexperienced but the mobile suit is high performing. Ricardo, Andy, you'll be with me and we'll force the Golden Gundam away from the others." Char explained, "Take positions behind these rocks."
"Are you sure they're going to pass through here…?" Zero asked,
"No." Char admitted, "But this area provides a direct field of vision over most of the shoal zone. We can quickly reposition them if they pass through here."
"And if they go around?" Zero asked,
"They won't." Char affirmed, "They want to get through to Luna II as quickly as possible."
'I have no doubt that the Valkyrie has seen this coming. But she won't skirt around us, she isn't that type of commander. The longer she's away from large Federation fleets the less of an advantage she has. She'll risk an ambush to shave some time.' Char analyzed.
SCV-70 White Base
Indeed, that was exactly what Rose was thinking.
"I see…It does make sense strategically." Bright agreed on screen, "Tell Amuro to stand by on the Gundam."
"Wait - if we know it's a trap, then why are we just heading straight into it…?" Mirai asked,
"Because we don't have the time to go around." Rose fastened her helmet, "Colonel Sahalin, Golden Gundam, launching!"
"Amuro Ray, Gundam, Launching!"
With that, both Gundam's took positions in front of the White Base, and Rose began dishing out orders. "Bright, tell Amuro's friends…Kai and Hayato(?) to stand by in the Guncannon and Guntank."
"Why the GunTank?" Bright asked,
"Worst comes to worst - we can use it as a turret from the Hangar." Rose explained, "Desperate times, desperate-" Without warning, electricity sparked from her forehead.
"Watch out! Amuro!"
"Why are we being made to go out…?! We aren't military!" Kai complained,
"I don't think it matters to the Colonel…" Hayato sighed, "As long as we can fly a mobile suit…"
"Well - what has she done for us? If it wasn't for her and her Gundams, Zeon would've never come to Side 7!"
"We don't actually know that…" Hayato said unconvincingly,
"Yeah, Zeon just decided to gear up and attack a random colony - what else could it be?" Kai scoffed,
Without warning, the room shook violently, causing Kai to loose his grip on his helmet and bump into the wall.
"W-what was that!? Are we being attacked!?" Hayato said in panic,
"No kidding…! Oh man - why the hell did we board this crazy ship!"
Amuro barely managed to redirect a sniper round with his shield, but it left a massive glowing hole in the shield.
From behind an asteroid, a high-mobility Zaku drew a heat hawk and rushed at Amuro, with him barely managing to draw his beam saber and block it.
'I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'mgoingtodie!' Amuro thought in panic, throwing a punch forward, the Zaku easily ducked under it and clocked the Gundam with it's elbow in the chin, distorting the sensors briefly and leaving static on Amuro's screen.
'I can do this!' Angelica thought to herself as she proceeded to kick the Gundam in the side.
"Die! Gundam!" Angelica raised a heat hawk and it began to vibrate ominously.
"Kai! Hayato! Get out there immediately! Amuro is being overwhelmed!" Bright shouted,
"Heh, 'making records my ass', see - this is why you don't send civilians to fight!" Kai said sarcastically,
"Need I remind you that we're currently dependent on Amuro and Rose to protect this ship?" Sayla added,
"Right, right." Kai mumbled, "Kai Shiden, Guncannon!" With that said, Kai stepped out tentatively, his inexperience clearly showing in his slow and hesitant movements. Regardless, the visor-type sensor flashed green as it looked for targets.
Right then, a hail of 120mm fire barely avoided the Guncannon.
"What!?" Kai yelped as a Zaku appeared in front of the open hangar bay.
'This is it…?!' Kai thought to himself as the Zaku raised its 120mm.
"This is it…! Goodbye Federation Mobile Suit!" Zero said confidently
Right then, eight 40mm missiles screamed from behind the Guncannon, lightly damaging the enemy Zaku as they exploded against his shoulder shield.
"There's another one?! Tch!" Zero quickly pulled back as the Guntank continued firing, only to enter the range of the White Base's Anti-Aircraft guns.
Zero managed to block the anti-aircraft fire, firing down at the ship but not scoring major damage.
"Zero! Watch out! There's too much Anti-Aircraft fire!" Char shouted,
"I can do this! We need to take them down here!" Zero said indignantly, but two mega-particle beams sailed passed his MS-06R-1, barely avoiding being eviscerated.
"Zero! It isn't worth it!" Marion shouted,
Zero tch'ed but pulled out of Anti-Aircraft range, moving to instead focus on helping Angelica.
Meanwhile, Rose and Amuro were beginning to struggle themselves. There was only so much that the element of preparedness would get them. And with Rose occupied by Char, Amuro was completely on the defensive. "Amuro!" Rose called out, the brief distraction allowing Char to get another hit in on the Gundam.
"Ricardo! Andy!" Char called out, launching a side kick only for the Gundam to dodge it. However, Ricardo and Andy flanked the Golden Gundam from the sides with Heat Hawks, forcing her to rapidly transform and slip through their slashes.
'I don't want to die!' Amuro closed his eyes as pure instinct took over, gripping the controls, he just barely managed to draw his beam saber and blocked the hawk.
"What?!" Angelica stated, kicking the Gundam back, she gripped the heat hawk with both hands as the Gundam gripped it's beam saber.
"Haaah!" Amuro rushed forward, firing its beam rifle, he forced Angelica to dodge the beams and temporarily drop her guard.
"Right there!" Without warning, Amuro proceeded to barrel roll mid-flight.
"Angelica! Get out of there!" Char yelled, rushing towards her.
"I-it's too fast!" Angelica said in panic, barely managing to parry the Gundam's beam saber, but left Angelica vulnerable.
"Fall down!" Amuro shouted, with his free hand pressed the beam rifle to the Zaku's cockpit and squeezed the trigger.
"H-help me! Char! Ryan-!" Angelica shrieked as the particle beam ripped through her cockpit.
And across the Earth Sphere, Ryan Sahalin raised his head as a familiar voice called out to him:
'H-help me! Char! Ryan-!'
"...Angelica?" Ryan said questioningly as a tear rolled down his cheek.
"Angelica…?" Zero stated in disbelief,
"Angelica!" Marion screamed,
"Damn Gundams!" Ricardo gritted his teeth,
Char remained in inexpressive silence, until a spark of electricity struck his forehead.
"Everyone! We took too long! Enemy forces are approaching!" Char shouted, right then, blips marking a Magellan-Class battleship, 2 Trafalgar-Class Carriers, and three Salamis-Class cruisers, together with several dozen fighters
"Wait - we're just letting them go Commander!?" Zero asked,
"I know you're angry, but we can't fight off a Federation Battle Group right now. I'm not willing to fight such a battle outnumbered." Char said calmly,
"Tch…!" Zero gritted his teeth angrily, but complied.
Amuro was still breathing heavily, still floating near the defeated Zaku.
"Amuro! Are you alright?!" Rose asked,
"Y-yeah…" Amuro asked, watching as a fighter streaked by them.
"We're finally out." Rose breathed in relief,
Luna II, they had made it.
A/N: Finally managed to get another chapter out, it really doesn't seem like there is that much left in this season really.
Fandom link: official-solar-century .fandom. com