The moment Samus Aran's Full Armor Gundam vaporized the Black Tri-Stars, something shifted across the entire front. The panic and despair suffocating the Federation line loosened—only slightly, but enough to breathe.
Revil seized it instantly.
"All ships," he commanded, voice firm and resonant, "prepare for counteroffensive operations. The enemy's left flank has collapsed." He turned to an officer. "Signal all units: Advance behind the Luna reinforcement."
Oreki Houtarou was already mapping the new formation, fingers gliding across the tactical table. "If we pivot now," he said, "we can exploit the gap Samus created. We push in a wedge formation—she'll be the tip."
Revil nodded. "Samus Aran will spear the assault."
The image of her Full Armor Gundam flared on every Federation screen. Thrusters ignited. Targeting systems synced across the fleet.
"Federation units," Samus transmitted coolly, "follow my vector. Drive straight at Solomon's outer defenses."
Her cannons roared to life.
The Federation roared with her.
The counterattack began.
Cruisers and battleships surged forward, desperate to reclaim momentum. Salvo after salvo of mega-particle fire hammered Zeon's outer line. With the Black Tri-Stars destroyed, Zeon's left flank faltered immediately, defensive turrets scrambling to switch targets.
But Zeon still had commanders—and one of them was Norris Packard.
He burst from the smoke, slicing through a squadron of GM units with surgical precision. His machine danced with terrifying grace, slipping between debris and counterfire, cutting down every Federation unit trying to push forward.
"Your new ace changes nothing," Norris murmured, locking sights on Samus. "I'll stop her myself."
He accelerated.
Samus turned her head slightly—just enough to acknowledge the incoming enemy. "Target confirmed. Lone ace. High precision."
Her Gundam snapped around and fired a shoulder cannon shot.
Norris dodged, his custom suit sliding behind shattered armor plating. He returned fire, forcing Samus to shift position, then lunged straight into her blind angle with a heat blade.
Samus caught the blade mid-swing.
She didn't block it.
She caught it, her armor holding against the slicing heat.
Norris blinked. "Impossible—"
Her other arm raised a point-blank mini-missile pod.
The explosion swallowed the space between them. Norris tumbled through the burning debris, alarms shrieking across his cockpit. His suit was half-destroyed, but he forced it upright, panting.
"Not yet… not—"
Samus was already there.
She descended through the fire like a hunter closing on injured prey.
Norris raised his weapon again, but the Full Armor's knee drove into his cockpit section, slamming him back into a chunk of ruined Solomon plating.
His screen cracked.
Samus's voice remained utterly calm.
"You fought well."
Her beam cannon fired.
Norris Packard's machine evaporated, his final transmission lost in the heat bloom.
With their ace gone, the Zeon outer defense line cracked instantly.
Revil struck his fist into his hand. "Press the advance! Drive them back to the fortress interior!"
Federation ships surged forward, beam fire pouring into Solomon's walls.
Inside the fortress, Dozle Zabi felt the shift. His Big Zam tore apart another cruiser with a single blast—but something irritated him, something wrong.
Through his sensors, he saw the attack pattern change. The Federation was no longer retreating. They were pushing—hard. All while Strike Gundam, Duel, and Alex continued to drag him farther and farther from Solomon's core guns.
"They're baiting me again…!" Dozle growled. "Damn these pests!"
He pivoted the Big Zam, firing a wide mega-particle sweep. Gary Lin barely dodged the blast, alarms screaming.
"Mikazuki! Amuro!" Gary shouted. "Keep him busy—he's trying to break free!"
Mikazuki grunted, blocking a glancing blow with Duel's shield. "Focusing on it."
Amuro swung in from the right, peppering the I-Field with high-velocity rounds. "Don't let him rejoin the fortress! If he gets back to Solomon, those defense guns will slaughter our fleet!"
Dozle snarled, forcing the Big Zam forward again.
But it was too late.
Behind him, the Federation—led by Samus Aran—smashed into Zeon's defensive perimeter. Solomon's walls lit up with explosions, defense guns collapsing one by one under the unyielding assault.
Revil watched the monitors flare with victory markers. "We're breaking them. Keep the pressure!"
Oreki studied the battlefield quietly. "Solomon is beginning to fall. But Dozle… he still refuses to die."
Outside, Dozle's Big Zam roared as he fought alone—separated from his fortress, surrounded, wounded, and furious.
And for the first time that day, Zeon felt the battlefield turning against them.
Tanya von Zehrtfeld felt the tremor of the battlefield through her cockpit long before the sensor alarms blared. A shockwave—massive, surgical—erupted across Solomon's external perimeter. Moments later, the data came in.
Three signatures erased at once.
The Black Tri-Stars.
Tanya's eyes narrowed.
"…That wasn't a battleship. That was a mobile suit."
Her Musai-class command ship shook from another Federation barrage. Her squad was already waiting—tense, restless, listening to the chaos unfolding around them.
Beside her on the tactical display, Mila's voice crackled in.
"Commander… something's cutting through the left flank. Fast."
"That's an understatement," Ritcher muttered from his Gelgoog. "Tri-Stars are gone. Norris too. Something new entered play."
Zhou Wei zoomed in on the sensor feed. "I've got visual… That's—what the hell is that armor loadout?"
A Federation suit stood at the head of a fleet—massive chest cannons glowing, reinforced armor plates gleaming through the smoke. It fired again, and a Zeon cruiser split in half.
Nyaan's G-FRED trembled slightly as he hissed, "Is that even a Gundam anymore? Federation cheating again…"
Well considered your two Mobile Suit and Char with Griveous we probably the one cheating first and federation just follow along, Tanya complain in her mind.
Machu, perched inside his bulky G-QUAXXXX support unit, clicked his tongue. "Something that overbuilt shouldn't move that fast."
But it did.
Tanya leaned back, eyebrows knitting, analyzing every motion of the mysterious suit. Its fire patterns were impossibly precise. Its pilot—calm, clinical, ruthless—was cutting into Zeon's heart without hesitation.
A new ace.
A new threat.
She exhaled slowly, almost tiredly.
"Well. Looks like we don't get a quiet day."
Then she stood, commanding voice sharp.
"All units of the Vanguard Scarabs—sortie. We intercept that Federation monster before it reaches the inner defense line."
Her cockpit sealed around her as her custom Gelgoog fired from its clamps into the smoking void.
Mila's Gelgoog launched right behind her.
"Commander, are we engaging alone? That thing killed the Tri-Stars in seconds."
"If we don't stop it," Tanya replied coldly, "it will kill Solomon in minutes."
Ritcher's engines roared to full burn. "Then we hit it together. We mess up its formation and isolate it!"
Zhou Wei chuckled, nerves thin but steady. "Zeon's elite versus Federation's new toy. Fair trade."
Nyaan's G-FRED transformed mid-flight into its compact assault mode, cannons unfolding like wings. "Nyaan ready to support long-range!"
Machu's G-QUAXXXX trailed behind, its heavy boosters belching heat. "I'll keep their flanking suits off you."
Their formation locked perfectly.
Tanya's visor glowed as she marked her primary target:
FA-01 Gundam: Samus Aran.
She whispered to herself—half amused, half hungry for battle.
"Let's see what you are, Federation ace."
Down below, Samus Aran turned her helmet slightly—instinctively sensing the incoming Zeon squad.
Her targeting system chimed.
Multiple rapid-approach signatures.
"Enemy elite team detected."
Her voice remained calm.
"I'll eliminate them."
Tanya ignited every thruster she had, forcing her Gelgoog into a high-speed arc that cracked the soundless void of space.
"Scarabs—ATTACK!"
Beams crossed.
Thrusters screamed.
Two elite forces collided like thunder.
Tanya's blade scraped against Samus's armored shoulder, sparks exploding across space.
Samus countered with a wrist cannon burst that Mila blocked with her shield, metal melting from the heat.
Ritcher and Zhou Wei flanked aggressively from both sides, forcing Samus to pivot, adjusting her guns with supernatural precision.
Nyaan fired a barrage from long range, trying to break Samus's stance.
Machu held the flank, intercepting a wave of Federation reinforcements.
For a moment—just a moment—Zeon held.
Tanya grinned sharply, eyes fixed on the hulking Full Armor Gundam before her.
"You're strong," she said over the open channel. "But this is Solomon. And we don't break easily."
Samus replied with a voice as calm as still water.
"Strength is irrelevant. Your fortress will fall."
And then the real battle began.