The System XN transfer was instantaneous. One moment we were in the silence of L4; the next, the jagged, fortress-like silhouette of Jachin Due loomed large in my primary monitors.
"The jump is a success. All units, initiate the operation as planned!"
I broadcast the order from the Trinity Gain, then immediately triggered the emergency exit. As I drifted into the vacuum, I watched the Archangel and its sister ships break formation toward the ZAFT stronghold. Reaching out, I touched the hull of the massive Trinity Gain, letting it vanish into my Spatial Storage. In its place, I summoned the Glowsaver and slid into the cockpit, bringing the machine to life in one fluid motion.
"ASRS—Active."
I engaged the Active Stealth Recon System, cloaking the Glowsaver's signature from the infrared and radar sweeps of the ZAFT defense net. I banked away from the main engagement, a ghost in the machine.
Good. So far, according to plan.
A quick glance at the tactical display showed a defense force in disarray. Our sudden appearance had thrown their command into a panic; only a few interceptor squads had managed to scramble. Honestly, I had to give them credit—most forces would have been paralyzed after a jump-raid like that. When the Inspectors used these tactics against the Federation back home, entire bases fell without firing a shot.
The initial wave of GINNs was no match for us. They were swarmed by the Megillots launched from the Kusanagi, torn apart by the AI-driven drones before they could even find their bearings.
"The front line is holding. Time for my part."
I closed my eyes, focusing my mind to bridge the gap with the machine.
"T-LINK System... Full Contact."
The void was no longer empty. It became a sea of psychic signatures. I could feel the massive, concentrated "light" of thousands of souls inside the Jachin Due fortress. And right beside it...
"Found you."
I sensed a cluster of consciousness in what appeared to be empty space. I steered the ghosted Glowsaver toward it. ZAFT's Mirage Colloid technology was impressive—arguably better than the version the Alliance used on the Blitz—but it was still just an optical trick. It could bend light, but it couldn't hide the "will" of the people inside.
I detected the Primary Reflection Mirror station drifting a short distance from the main GENESIS structure. Two minds. Only two technicians were currently manning the mirror.
Guided by the T-LINK, I drifted closer. Despite being "blind" to radar, I used my Slime as a tactile sensor. I deployed the silver mass from my storage, letting its filaments branch out like a spider's web through the vacuum. Every piece of drifting debris or rogue bolt that hit the web gave me a clearer picture of the Mirror's physical layout.
Five minutes passed. In the distance, the battle was reaching a fever pitch. Cornelia's Rapiesage was leading the Shadow Mirror units—supported by the Kusanagi and Eternal—in a lethal ballet against the ZAFT defense fleet. Among the defenders, I saw the new GuAIZ mass-production units. They were the pinnacle of ZAFT engineering, but they lacked the raw quality of our PTs and the sheer combat experience of our pilots.
In the original history, ZAFT couldn't even field a full complement of GuAIZs this early. The fact that they were here now proved that Jachin Due was truly their final line of defense.
I saw Yzak's Duel on the monitors. He was fighting with a surgical, non-lethal precision—shearing off limbs and cameras, pointedly sparing the cockpits of his former comrades. It was a difficult way to wage war, but it spoke to his new-found resolve.
"Got it."
My Slime finally brushed against the Mirror's hull. It took less than thirty seconds to find the maintenance hatch. Recalling the Glowsaver to storage, I used the Slime to slip through the seals. Likely overconfident in their stealth and proximity to the fortress, the technicians hadn't even bothered with a security lock.
I slipped inside, moving through the cramped, sterile corridors.
"Hurry up! High Command says we might have to fire GENESIS at any moment!"
"What? It's only at seventy percent completion! We're really going to pull the trigger on a half-baked weapon?"
"The 'Miracle Fleet' is literally at our doorstep! They must have jumped past Boaz using Mirage Colloid. The brass wants to erase the entire threat in one sweep. Stealth or no stealth, if they're in the path of the laser, they're history."
"Yeah, but it's seventy percent! If we fire now, the back-blast alone could take out the fortress, or worse. There's no telling where the beam will drift!"
"That's not our problem. Just finish the alignment! They're screaming for the green light. Move it!"
I listened to the frantic exchange through the Slime's acoustic sensors as I approached the power distribution room. Seventy percent. Patrick Zala was getting desperate. Firing an uncalibrated gamma-ray laser this close to the Plants was madness. A malfunction could easily result in the beam striking a colony or the weapon itself exploding and raining radioactive debris across the entire sector.
Well, it doesn't matter, I thought. Shadow Mirror will be the ones to finish this weapon properly later.
I peered into the room. It was tiny—cluttered with monitors and relay racks. One tech was near the door; the other was buried in a console at the back.
I moved.
A swift strike to the first man's neck. Before he could hit the floor, the Slime caught him, lowering him silently. I turned to the second.
"Alright, alignment complete! The mirror is—"
The tech turned around just as I was bringing my hand down.
"Who—?! Who are you?!"
He lunged for a sidearm in his holster. I kicked his wrist, sending the gun clattering across the deck. He stared at his hand for a fraction of a second—all the time I needed to deliver a precise chop to his carotid. He slumped into my arms.
"Sorry to ruin your hard work," I muttered to the unconscious men. "But I'm taking the mirror. Consider your lives the payment for the inconvenience."
I had the Slime drag them to a small maintenance launch parked in the bay. I checked the console; the autopilot was functional and keyed to the Plants. ZAFT took care of their limited Coordinator population; the life-support and recovery systems were top-tier.
I bundled them into the launch and hit the "Return to Colony" sequence. As the small ship drifted away, I touched the hull of the Primary Reflection Mirror.
Store.
The massive, multi-billion-dollar structure vanished into my Spatial Storage. One down.
"Next: the GENESIS main body."
I redeployed the Glowsaver, engaged ASRS, and sent the Slime out again. While the Slime searched, I looked back at the main battlefield.
It was a beautiful, terrifying sight. The Archangel held the center, with the Kusanagi to the left and the Eternal to the right, trading broadsides with nearly twenty Nazca and Laurasia-class ships. Cornelia was a whirlwind, leading our MS and PT forces against a numerically superior foe.
It was a strange irony. Usually, ZAFT relied on quality to beat the Alliance's quantity. Now, ZAFT had the numbers, but we had the overwhelming quality.
I saw Kira's Freedom and Athrun's Justice—both in Meteor units—tearing through the ZAFT lines. The Freedom's multi-lock systems were erasing squads of GINNs, while the Justice used its oversized beam sabers to cleave through anything that got too close.
Lemon and Cornelia were hounding the enemy flagships. Lemon's Weiss-saver was a blur, its Solid Sword Breakers picking off the main batteries of a Nazca-class before she finished it with the O.O. Rifle. Cornelia's Rapiesage was even more aggressive, closing to point-blank range to crush a Laurasia-class bridge with its Magnum Beak.
However, we weren't unscathed. The Megillots, being the primary targets for the GINNs, were being thinned out. They were superior to a GINN, but they weren't invincible—five-to-one odds were enough to bring one down.
Time for a refill.
I checked my manifest. Eighteen Megillots left. These were the very last ones I had in storage. I pulled them all out, one by one.
"Go."
The fresh drones burned toward the Kusanagi. Kisaka would know how to use them to plug the holes in our line.
I watched them go, but then...
"Finally."
The Slime had found the GENESIS main body. I wanted to rush back and help my friends—my "loved ones"—but I had a job to do first. They trusted me to handle the superweapon, just as I trusted them to hold the line.
I'm coming for you, Zala.
I steered the ghosted Glowsaver toward the heart of the enemy's final hope.
Pilot Status: Axel Almar
Level: 37
Kill Count: 361
Spirit Commands: Accel, Effort, Focus, Direct Hit, Awaken, Love.
Tactical Update: Primary Reflection Mirror captured/stored. GENESIS main body located. Megillot reserves exhausted.
Objective: Neutralize/Store GENESIS main body. Join the main fleet for final suppression.
-------------------------------
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