From his cockpit, Sai could clearly see Buster holding a cigar-shaped contraction like it was a weapon, aiming at something in the distance. It was a weapon, but not in the traditional sense. The equipment was a long-range sensor pod designed to be carried by shuttles or bigger aircraft. The original maker of the pod, Deep Space Survey and Development Organization, the DSSD, intended the pod to detect celestial objects by absorbing or distorting radiations from them. While having smaller resolutions than fixed installations, the pod was mobile. Thus, it can scan an object, such as a comet or an asteroid.
"Saber Fouer, kill Wyvern. I say again, kill Wyvern," Miriallia's voice echoed through the cockpit.
"Roger," Tolle said as Buster readjusted the sensor pod a bit. "Kill Wyvern,"
Five seconds later, the entire section lit up as all ships in the Task Force concentrated their beam shots on a spot in what Sai assumed was ZAFT's fleet. Their shots hit something as a fireball appeared, barely perceptible.
"Kill confirmed. I say again, kill confirmed. No launch detected," Tolle reported with a slight excitement creeping into his otherwise calm tone.
That meant the sole Nazca cruiser Tolle had aimed at was destroyed, along with its mobile suits.
It also meant that the sensor pod, which was supposed to be used for peaceful purposes, was successfully weaponized. The pod was upgraded to provide targeting data for long-range engagements, which was then shared with all ships in the task force for the gunners to aim their weapons. This circumvented the need to use other active systems, such as targeting radars or lasers that would have been picked up by the enemy. The task force remained undetected until the very moment it opened fire.
Having recently joined the military, Sai barely understood the fire for effect concept, but he could appreciate its implementation. Firing everything at the same target seemed deceptively easy, but in actuality, there were a lot of other activities that went on in the background. The two line-layers, McIntosh and Henry Bake, not only connected the ships and the mobile armors but also processed their vectors. All this information was then used to synchronize the beam cannons to fire at almost the same time at the Nazca cruiser, ensuring its armor couldn't withstand the assault.
Flay's face appeared on the screen. "Alcon, Alcon, Alcon," she said in an announcement to all concerned parties throughout the entire Task Force. "Saber Echo, constellation ready for deployments,"
Buster took aim again. "Saber Fouer, providing firing solutions," This time a barrage of missiles was fired in the general direction of the ZAFT's fleet. Simultaneously, both McIntosh and Henry Bake launched their Croix du Nord units.
After a minute has passed, multiple small dots appeared. Unlike before, there was no announcement of a kill from Tolle. The ZAFT fleet was reacting faster than expected and had shot down the missiles before they could hit their targets.
"Saber Echo. Deployment complete. Comm range one fifty klicks, lag point five,"
The aim of the barrage, which was to cover the deployment of Croix du Nord, had been achieved. All he needed to do was wait.
If Nicol was pressed to describe the equipment on his heavily customized dark gray GuAIZ, he would have said it resembled a giant backpack with two thrusters underneath and a big dish on the main body. The equipment was heavy, penalizing his GuAIZ's agility and mobility while forcing him to forsake the original model's MA-MV03 Composite Shield and EEQ7R Extensional Arrestors. It also used a lot of energy. While his unit also carried the experimental MA-M21G Beam Rifle other units also had, the number of shots he could fire was a measly one-third of theirs since it was for self defense. Even the GuAIZ's head was changed as well. Instead of a pointed cooling fin, it had a circular shape, earning the moniker 'That sombrero GuAIZ' from the maintenance personnel.
They said mechanics for military vehicles had a strange sense of humor, but Nicol was doubtful whether it was true when it came to the Earth Alliance. There's Loretta, but she was a mercenary and more of a demolition expert instead of a mechanic. Plus, with that body of hers, anything she did and said would become an exercise of sensual experience. What an exercise of sensuality it was, one that both consensually repeated multiple times during his stay there. Being close to her daughter seemed to do wonders to make him extremely attractive in Loretta's eyes.
"GuAIZ SIGINT, please proceed,"
Nicol double slapped his face to clear his thought, even though it only resulted in his hands hitting his helmet. It wouldn't do to let his raging hormones get him killed. As his GuAIZ moved toward the linear catapult, Nicol wondered how bad the situation was. The fleet knew that the Alliance was coming. Yet the enemy still caught them off guard. The attack from beyond the sensorial range had destroyed the ship next to Gamow. Thinking back, maybe Creuset had expected it to happen. That was why the man decided that it would be prudent to travel using the Laurasia-class Gamow. Otherwise, there was a fifty-fifty chance for the team to be destroyed without a chance to do anything.
"GuAIZ SIGINT, you're cleared for launch," the CIC operator said as the status on the start screen changed from 'Abort' to 'Launch'
"Nicol Amalfi, GuAIZ SIGINT, launching!"
He felt a brief rush of G-Force acting on him as the linear catapult propelled his mobile out of Gamow. Once he cleared the ship, he activated the sensor suite. The 'dish' deployed, repositioning itself above the head, and rotated as information flowed into the cockpit's display. During a conversation with Dearka, the man had wondered out loud why he didn't use the GINN Long-Range Reconnaissance Type, since he was just going to stay in the rear and remain safe. What unsaid was the suggestion that Nicol's father used his influence to have the unit customized at an expensive cost. Nicol didn't rise to Dearka's taunts and instead explained the GINN was more suited for search and recon. Instead, his GuAIZ was developed to perform signal intelligence processing, as suggested by its name. Nicol didn't feel the need to point out all GuAIZ units in the team were customized according to their users' needs and preferences, including Dearka's.
Dearka had nothing to say against that and the matter was laid to rest. There were no discernible traces of propulsion ions detected. The Alliance fleet wasn't intercepting his fleet. Instead, it used the knowledge that his fleet had an orbital picket around the Victoria Mass Driver's exit point. As the Earth rotated, his fleet also moved to keep the picket. All the Alliance fleet needed to do was wait in the correct sector and then ambush his fleet. From traces of the beam cannon emissions, Nicol had an approximate location of the opposing fleet. It was over 300 kilometers away from his fleet.
"Captain Zelman," Nicol said as he contacted Gamow.
The said captain appeared on the screen, "Yes, Nicol?"
"Can you relay the location of the enemy fleet that I've transferred?"
There was a static noise, and communication was cut off. Something didn't feel right to him, as the interruptive effect was supposed to be gradual, not as sudden as that. Nicol searched for the source of the interruption. They were mobile armors with unknown fittings affixed on them. While it was the first time Nicol saw them, he already knew what they were. His father had access to classified information from a source deeply embedded in the Earth Alliance's forces. They were TS-MAEW2 Prowlers, electronic-warfare mobile armors derived from the TS-MA2 Moebius mobile armor.
His father was right. ZAFT's foes were evolving, trying out new tactics and approaches.
Regardless, Nicol would not take it lying down. He quickly countered the jamming caused by the Prowlers and reestablished contact with Gamow. Meanwhile, the said ship launched its second GuAIZ, piloted by Commander Creuset
"What happened?" Creuset asked as his unit approached Nicol's and then moved to the front.
"They have jammers," Nicol replied as he finished breaking through the enemy jamming and began transmitting vital data to Gamow. It was a good thing that the Prowlers were far enough that the jamming was easier.
"That's impressive of you," Captain Zelman, who was back online, said.
"We're far enough," Nicol replied. "I think all ships should perform evasion,"
"That will be difficult," Creuset said. "As you can see, we're in the middle of…"
The masked man didn't finish his sentence as another beam cannon barrage hit a ship in that had just launched its first mobile suit, destroying it utterly. While the mobile suit was miraculously unhit by the beams, it was still caught in its carrier's explosion.
The Alliance was content to pick them apart one by one from a very far away.
"Those cowards!" Yzak scoffed as the rest of the team joined the formation.
"Any suggestion on what we should do?" Dearka asked calmly, despite the current chaos.
"We have to engage them," Athrun said.
"Hear, that Nicol?" Yzak said. "We. All of us. Don't worry, I'll be right behind you,"
Nicol found it upsetting that Yzak still blamed him for losing Blitz and being captured. The decision to go ahead with the mission was made with the team leader's approval and Nicol risked his life to carry out the mission. It wasn't as if he flew through the front gate and surrendered. Yzak's rambling aside, the obvious thing to do is to counterattack. 38 mobile suits against what could easily be three times the number of mobile armors and the Gundams sounded a manageable challenge. But to achieve that, a strategy was needed. "Commander Creuset, is it possible for you to lead the other teams?" Nicol said as two long range missiles slammed into a GINN. There were 37 mobile suits left.
"You know that will be difficult," Creuset said as his white GuAIZ evaded an attack from a lone Moebius; either the pilot was eager to get the first kill, or he lost his nerve and performed a reckless banzai charge alone. Creuset then ensnared the mobile armor using its EEQ7R Extensional Arrestor and then slashed at its cockpit using the MA-MV03 Composite Shield's Beam Claw. "We're acting under our own initiatives, so it's up to the team leaders to determine the best course of action,"
"I'm afraid of that," Nicol said as Creuset threw away the Moebius' wreckage. "But will you at least try to convince them to remain around me? Otherwise, they will get jammed,"
"I can certainly try," the man said. "Alright, let us engage them,"
"This is the day I defeat the Strike!" Yzak proclaimed boldly.
"EVADE!" Nicol called out as the instruments on his consoled flashed in warning. His Guiaz SIGINT violently swerved to the left, evading the beam shot aimed at it. However, the shot continued to travel past him and hit Duel, which was behind him, at its right shoulder, and destroyed the entire arm.
"Yzak, return to Gamow and defend it," Creuset said. He then added, cutting off Yzak's protest, "That's an order,"
36 mobile suits left.
"Saber Fouer, Signal Wolf. What Luck? Over,"
"Signal Wolf, Saber Fouer. Sneaker not hit, still operational. I say again, Sneaker is operational, over. "
Kira looked at his radar. The so-called sensor mobile suit Mirriallia and Tolle were referring to wasn't there. That meant the Sneaker had yet to enter radar range.
"Copy, Saber Fouer. Repeat three times. I say again, repeat three times,"
"Roger. Repeat three times," Tolle acknowledged. Buster fired three more shots using its beam sniper rifle, and from his reports, none of them hit the target.
"Cease fire. Stand by for update,"
"It's as Marc… Lieutenant Badgriuel predicted," Sai said as a grayed-out Aegis in its mobile armor form floated nearby.
"Yeah," Kira said. Earlier, Tolle reported seeing a ZAFT flight comprising Duel and four mobile suits of unknown origins and configurations. Natarle predicted the unknown mobile suits to have higher performance compared to GINNs and being piloted by elite pilots. After examining the load outs, Natarle had ordered Tolle to engage the one with the dome, but to no avail.
"Saber Flight, Signal Wolf. Initiate delaying action against Sneaker flight. Over."
"Saber Flight Actual, copy," Mu said, acknowledging the order. "Okay, Saber Flight," he said, addressing Kira and the other two. "You heard the order. Delaying action."
"What's that again?" Sai asked.
"We go and shoot them. They will shoot at us back, and not at our allies. If we defeat them, very good. But if not, it's okay, as long as we get to go home. No heroics. Clear?" Mu said.
"Clear," Sai answered.
"Alright. Monarch, disengage the power cable. Coffee Pod and Assassin, activate your PS armor,"
Kira did as he was told, and the system showed Strike's Phase Shift armor was activated.
"Saber Flight, recommended initial weapon setting 3-Alpha. Adjust accordingly according to situation,"
The order was bizarre in Kira's opinion, but he assumed Mu had an excellent reason for telling the team to use the setting. Kira activated the setting and said, "Coffee Pod, 3-Alpha."
"Monarch, switched to 3-Alpha,"
"Assassin, 3-Alpha in use,"
"Remember, maintain bingo energy,"
"Roger," Kira, Sai and Tolle answered almost simultaneously. Mu was always concerned with Buster and Aegis running out of energy in the middle of an operation and would always remind them to maintain the minimum level to be able to retreat back to Archangel.
"Let's go," Mu said as his Moebius Zero moved toward their targets, with Strike, Aegis, and Buster falling into formation behind him. Once they were 50 kilometers from the ZAFT flight, Mu said. "Saber Flight. Covering fire,"
"Roger!"
The mobile armor and mobile suits of the Saber Flight opened fire and, as it was intended, the ZAFT mobile suits pursued them.
"I say again, no heroics. I'm going to say hello to Darth Vader over there," Mu said as his Moebius Zero broke off to pursue a white mobile suit. As if hearing what he had said, the white mobile suit also moved away from its own formation to engage him.
Kira looked at the remaining mobile suits. The so-called Sneaker had retreated and probably wouldn't get involved in the fight. That left three individually colored mobile suits: red, orange and green. Before he could decide, 'Green' went after Buster while 'Orange' approached Aegis, leaving him facing 'Red'. 'Red' placed its beam rifle on a holder at its right hip. It then reached at something at its left hand mounted shield and brought out a small cylinder and then activated the item, revealing that it was a beam saber.
There was a communication chirp, showing an attempt to contact him. Kira ignored it. Instead, he copied what his opponent did, putting away Strike's own rifle to use its beam saber.
"Earth Alliance Mobile Suit Strike, come in. Kira is that you?" a familiar voice invaded his cockpit.
"Athrun?" Kira asked in confusion. Meanwhile, the Identifation Friend or Foe screen updated itself as it received an update from the Archangel. The unit in front of him was a derivative version of a ZAFT mobile suit model named 'GuAIZ'.
"Just as I thought! Why are you here?"
It was a repeat of their earlier confrontation back when Kira was repatriating Athrun and the Silverwind's crew to Gamow. "Why are you here?" Kira asked back.
"Because I have to,"
"Same thing with me,"
"You should have walked away!" Athrun said as his mobile suit tried to stab Strike's right shoulder.
Kira blocked the attack with Strike's shield. Athrun tried to overwhelm him by engaging his GuAIZ's boosters, succeeding as Strike was slowly being pushed back. From Kira's perspective, letting Athrun continue to push him back seemed like a good move. After all, Kira's order was to delay Athrun, not defeat him. However, staying in the position would allow Athrun's beam saber would melt away the anti-beam coating on the shield. Kira engaged the reverse boosters, causing Strike to retreat away from the GuAIZ at once, shifted to its right. Caught by surprise, the GuAIZ continued to move on its vector. Strike closed in and used its shield to bash the GuAIZ's right arm, knocking away the beam saber it was holding.
The red GuAIZ quickly moved away before Strike could attack again. It reached for its rifle and let loose a few beam shots. Strike shifted its body to minimize its body's exposure to being targeted while simultaneously bringing its shield to the front. Taking advantage of how the shield partially hides what it was doing, Strike stored its beam saber and deployed its own beam rifle. "You could have done the same, Athrun!" Kira said as Strike took aim. "You could have asked to become Lacus' bodyguard, but here you are, on the frontline!" Kira said as Strike fired again.
Athrun evaded. "You're making a mistake, Kira," he said as GuAIZ returned fire.
"And you're not?" Kira said. "If I retreat, would you do the same?" he asked. Since his mission was to distract Athrun, not defeat him, getting his friend to back off would have counted as a win.
"No, I can't do that!"
Even as Athrun was trying to get him to retreat, the man wouldn't entertain the thought of doing the same itself. "I suppose it's a fight,"
A GINN equipped with a M68 Cattus 500mm Recoilless Rifle slowly advanced through the Alliance fleet, deftly avoiding a flight of mobile armors that tried to intercept it. While the pilot could have engaged a Drake-class destroyer earlier, she decided not. Instead, she was determined to find the ship that served as the flagship for the Alliance force. It would be a fitting revenge for destroying his carrier.
A Nelson-class battleship came up on his sensor. With a bigger displacement, it was a good fit for a flagship. But not big enough, he decided, as his mobile suit avoided it. Besides, the ship was not in the middle of the formation.
"Amalfi, do you hear me?" the pilot said as she contacted the pilot of the GuAIZ that served as an early warning and control unit for all ZAFT mobile suits in the area. Only static greeted his attempt, causing her to let out an exasperated sigh. In her zeal to destroy the flagship, she had ended up so far ahead that the communication was affected by N-Jammer. Alone, amid the enemy formation, she had two choices. First, she waited for the rest to catch up. Amalfi could then find the flagship by searching for the one emitting the most radio signals. The second choice would be to continue searching for it herself.
She chose the latter.
It was an obvious choice, since she was already deep inside the enemy formation. All she needed to do was to fly around some more until she found something that looked like a flagship.
Like the Agamemnon-class carrier she was approaching, for instance.
That's it, she decided. That was the flagship she needed to destroy. She took aim at the ship's bridge.
The GINN shuddered as multiple rounds of 75mm depleted uranium rounds penetrated it from multiple directions. In her rage-influenced state of mind, the pilot had forgotten that both ZAFT and Alliance ships have close-in weapons systems, CIWS, designed to shoot down mobile suits, mobile armors and missiles that got to close. When she slowed down to aim, the carrier and other nearby ships synchronized their CIWS system to fire at her simultaneously.
Dead, she had no way of knowing she was right. The carrier she tried to attack was Menelaos, the flagship of the Alliance's task force. Inside the CIC room onboard the ship, there was a brief announcement of her mobile suit's demise. The announcement was greeted with a burst of cheer from everyone. However, the jovial mood was quickly swept away by another announcement.
"We lost Golf Flight!" an operator said calmly.
"Thatcher destroyed!" another said.
"The task force's operational status is down to 77.2 percent!"
Since the battle started, the situation had been an utter pandemonium. There were incessant announcements of mobile armors being destroyed, ships being damaged, or, even worse, destroyed. It was not a totally gloomy situation as there were reports of ZAFT mobile suits successfully damaged or destroyed. As the leader of the task force, Duane Halberton had to play the part of its admiral to the best of his ability. He had to show the exemplary calmness while under fire, even though god knew how anxious he was by the whole situation. The other role that he had to play was to see the flow of the battle and then issue orders accordingly. From where Duane stood, it was clear the bulk of the ZAFT mobile suits forces have been successfully lured away from their carriers. With that, the enveloping tactic was well underway.
The tactic was conceived from lessons learned from Archangel's battle with its pursuers en route to Artemis, and the Eurasian's operation that resulted in Blitz capture. In both cases, ZAFT had been goaded to send out its mobile suits to attack. This allowed counterattacks to be mounted that caught it off guard. The same approach was used in the current operation as well, focusing on the fact ZAFT depended on its mobile suits to carry it to victory.
A mobile suit offered tremendous advantages by being extremely versatile. But ZAFT's planners treat it just like a tactical hammer and considered every military objective as a strategic nail. It was an ironic twist, since the Alliance had the same misconception about mobile armors and ZAFT showed how wrong it was. Also, even though others saw a mobile suit as the apex of military engineering, it was not without weaknesses. The biggest one, of course, the human pilot inside its cockpit.
"Fire the signal flares!"
"What was that?" Dearka wondered out loud at the sight of signal flares. However, he had no chance to dwell on it as his GuAIZ traded beam shots with Buster. "Hey, are you kidding me?" he asked, frustrated with his opponent. While Dearka wouldn't admit he knew his former mobile suit that well, he was at least familiar with its specs. And from what he knew, Buster shouldn't have enough energy to fight after sniping at his group from far away. The way the pilot shot at him, he wouldn't be surprised if it looses its Phase Shift soon.
At least, that was his thoughts ten minutes ago.
"I'm okay with you turning gray any time now,"
Buster fired its gun launcher, forcing Dearka to veer to the right.
"Any minute now,"
His opponent fired the energy rifle next.
Dearka was getting worried. While he had been frugal with his GuAIZ's energy consumption, he also had to contend with the problem of managing its propellant. As he changed the direction of his mobile suit in the fight against Buster, he started using more and more of it. Unless he defeats Buster in the next ten minutes, he wouldn't have enough to return. He was beginning to regret eschewing the beam claws on his unit's shield in favor of a M68 "Pardus" Short-range Guided 3-barrel Missile Launchers mounted on each leg.
Nicol's image appeared on his console. "Dearka, come in,"
"Yup?" he asked. Meanwhile, the door of the 6-tube missile bay on each of Buster's shoulder popped open. "Couldn't you at least wait for a better time?" he complained as Buster fired all of its missiles at him.
"Sorry, but it's an emergency,"
"Ah, I wasn't talking to you," Dearka said as he quickly shot down the missiles. "I'm talking to this persistent bastard I'm facing. Anyway, what's up?"
"I detected the sudden appearance of several mobile armors moving toward our ships,"
"Ambush?"
"Most probably,"
Nicol's GuAIZ had the most powerful sensor capabilities, exceeding even some sensors onboard Laurasia-class and Nazca-class ships. It also served as a mobile communication relay station, allowing better communication between ZAFT units, despite heavy jamming. So, despite Dearka's standoffish behavior of questioning and doubting Nicol, it was only off battle. In a battle, Dearka was willing to trust Nicol with his back. Even if he wasn't willing to admit it out loud, Nicol's gentle disposition hid his bravery. "Commander Creuset?"
"He's quite busy right now, so he left it at our discretion,"
Dearka wanted to make a snide comment that he was very free for the moment, having just avoided critical damage on his GuAIZ's back right thruster. He was sure Buster had landed a shot on it, but he was glad to be proven wrong. "So, what's the plan?"
"Some of our forces have retreated to defend the ships. I've talked to Miguel, and he's already decided to do the same, saying we should split up,"
"That's one way to solve the problem," Dearka said. Despite that, he couldn't help feeling getting them to retreat was what the Alliance aimed to do. They had already used up a lot of energy and propellant to get there, and when they returned, they would have barely enough to defeat or chase away the attackers before having to land. Once they landed, they can't sortie for quite some time. That much was predictable, since he and Miguel used the same tactic to ambush Archangel. To prevent such an attack, the next step would be to have the ships retreat. As Yzak would put it, it didn't matter whether it was a strategic withdrawal or running away with tail between legs. A defeat still meant defeat, no matter how it was called, according to him.
The other option that was available to them was to continue to attack the Alliance forces and defeat it in order to force it to recall the mobile armors. Even if the Alliance didn't recall the mobile armors, a pyrrhic victory could still be achieved since both forces' ships could end up being destroyed. Without the ships, the mobile suits and mobile armors wouldn't survive as a result. But it was moot, since his own force had already made the mistake of splitting itself. That meant, the Alliance could repel the attack on them. Dearka cursed silently. It would have been better if his force's strategy could be coordinated, just like the Alliance. But, it was as Creuset mentioned. "How about you?"
"I would like to remain here for support, and search for the Antevorta. I believe a carrier has it,"
Dearka felt his blood curdled. How could he had forgotten about the Alliance's new nuclear weapon? What if that was what it wanted to do? If it attacked using the nuclear weapon first, the weapon could be detected easily. Therefore, it would be better to draw out all of ZAFT's mobile suits first, leaving the ships vulnerable. "Nicol, you have a visual on those mobile armors ambushing our ship?"
"No. Miguel also asked the same just now before he left,"
"Shit!" That mean, no one knew whether the weapon was with the mobile armors or the carriers. It seemed Miguel had arrived at the same conclusion and decided to defend the ships with Yzak. Meanwhile, he, Nicol, Athrun and Commander Creuset would continue their search among the Alliance's fleet. Being occupied with his own fight, Dearka had forgotten all about their actual mission. He checked the energy level and saw that he had barely enough to destroy the weapon. The task would be challenging since he had to be content with the Alliance ships without being able to attack them back. He fired a few well-placed shots to stop Buster from attacking and then launch all six M68 "Pardus" Short-range missiles at the latter. The radar-guided missiles chased after Buster which quickly retreated, which fit Dearka's plan to break away from the fight. "I'll look for it as well. Send me any info you find,"
"Okay,"
While he scanned the radar for the possible ship armed with the weapon, Dearka couldn't help feeling that he and the rest of his team were being manipulated, like string puppets being moved on a big puppet theatre show for the amusement of the audience.
1
TERMINOLOGY
Alcon: All concerned parties / people / units.
Bingo: the level of fuel / energy enough to return safely.
Covering fire: shooting to prevent / distract hostiles from engaging friendlies.
Delaying action: fighting with the aim of delaying something, instead of achieving something else.
Cease fire: stop shooting, but don't prevent or stop any weapon, for example, a missile, from hitting the target. Compare to Hold fire, which is a command to stop shooting and destroy all weapons already fired, as much as possible.
Kill / engage: attack the designated target. Compare declaring a target as a hostile which is to be engaged at once.
Klick: kilometer. Calculations used to measure distance in space use metric systems.
Repeat: fire again at the same target / enemy / area. Normally used by artillery.
SIGINT: Signal Intelligence. Combination of Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) and Communication Intelligence (COMINT).
Sneaker: An intelligence-gathering vessel/aircraft.
What Luck: what's the result of the mission / task?
GuAIZ's Guide
Creuset: White GuAIZ with standard equipment. White color.
Athrun: Red GuAIZ. Carries MA-MV03 Composite Shield with a beam saber installed instead of the integrated beam claw. No EEQ7R Extensional Arrestors.
Miguel: Orange GuAIZ with a MMI-M8A3 76mm Heavy Assault Machine Gun. Carries MA-MV03 Composite Shield without the integrated beam claw. No EEQ7R Extensional Arrestors.
Dearka: Green GuAIZ with M68 "Pardus" Short-range Guided 3-barrel Missile Launchers. Carries MA-MV03 Composite Shield without the integrated beam claw. No EEQ7R Extensional Arrestors.
Nicol: Dark gray GuAIZ with a SIGINT equipment. No MA-MV03 Composite Shield and EEQ7R Extensional Arrestors. Beam rifle for self defense only.
Yzak: n/a. Uses Duel.
A/N
1. I try to make the context as clear as possible whenever a brevity code is used. But in case I fail, I've included the terminology section above.
2. "Kill Wyvern" is a reference to a scene in Patlabor 2 The Movie where the CIC Trebor relay the order to Priest 1 and 2 to open fire on a presumedly hostile flight codenamed "Wyvern". There are Japanese and English dub clips of the scene on YouTube. I recommend watching the English first before the Japanese because the latter is more epic, in my opinion.
3. The reference to Sega's Ecco the Dolphin is not intended. Flay's designation as 'Echo', not '5', is due to her currently not piloting any mobile suit or mobile armor. I only found out the unintended reference when rechecking the chapter. Echo the Dolfin (letter E, the fifth in the alphabet + Dolce Boffin).
4. The GuAIZ SIGINT is an homage to the VE-1 ELINT Seeker from the Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?
5. TS-MAEW2 Prowler is an homage to the EA-6B Prowler, an electronic-warfare version of the A-6 Intruder, a twinjet all-weather attack plane.
6. While writing this chapter, I referenced the Cosmic Era calendar. One event always attracts my attention for being strange and out of place, even when I was writing Fallen Angel and Soaring Above. The event, Cosmic Era 74: Second Alliance-PLANT War ends with a peace treaty between PLANT and Orb. A and B go to war, but in the end, B and C negotiated for peace. There wasn't a particular event where PLANT and Alliance had a peace treaty, only Alliance breakaways joined PLANT to fight Logos. To my embarrassment, I finally understood. Those weird scenes in the Gundam Seed Destiny Extended Ending made sense. It's brilliant, with how both Lacus and Cagalli were shown going their separate ways after some tumultuous times, Kira giving Shinn marital advice, Kira joining ZAFT to prevent Lacus suspecting him of wanting to remain in Orb, why the peace treaty is between ZAFT and Orb, and why there's no Third Alliance-PLANT War (so far).