Not long ago, Roz was piloting the Unicorn, flying through the sky.
The distance to the marked target point was closing, and Roz began to focus, preparing for the upcoming battle.
"Roz, I've located them."
Big Haro flapped the wings on her head, marking a triangle twice the size of other targets across the panoramic cockpit display.
"Understood, starting the mission!"
Roz pressed a pedal; the flames from the Unicorn's thrusters grew thicker, increasing its speed in the air.
As the Unicorn broke through the clouds, the massive silhouette of the Garuda-class transport appeared in the cockpit projection.
"So big…"
Roz muttered, but his hands did not stop moving, steering the Unicorn toward the top of the Garuda-class transport.
"Roz, they've spotted us."
Big Haro's voice sounded, highlighting several turrets on the Garuda's wings.
"I know, they're just anti-air turrets."
Roz pressed the trigger key on the left-hand control stick.
The Unicorn's head-mounted Gatling gun quickly aimed and precisely detonated the turrets.
Roz could have destroyed the Garuda-class transport with a single Beam Magnum shot, saving time and effort.
But knowing Blue Cosmos' operational mindset, Roz understood that for "important item transport," Blue Cosmos would have reinforced the cargo bay armor for later recovery.
Because Roz knew how Blue Cosmos could recover items in his controlled area, he needed to see the documents and samples destroyed with his own eyes.
"That's strange… I sense a very familiar brainwave inside…"
The closer Roz got to the Garuda, the more he sensed an unusual, familiar brainwave.
If other brainwaves gave Roz a feeling of fanaticism mixed with madness, this one revealed a balance of strength and gentleness.
Roz felt he had seen this brainwave somewhere, but couldn't recall it immediately, pondering for a moment.
At this point, the Unicorn reached the top of the Garuda-class transport.
Its feet extended rigid grappling claws, easily piercing the Garuda's outer armor and embedding into the wing structure. The Unicorn stood steadily on top of the Garuda.
"Roz, the Garuda-class has opened its cargo bay doors. The MS will arrive soon."
Through the claws embedded in the Garuda's outer armor, Big Haro accessed the transport's communications.
It was clear the Garuda's interior was in chaos due to Roz's sudden assault, providing Big Haro with plenty of amusement.
"Eh, Roz, they're calling you the White Devil."
"Is that so… how ironic."
Hearing the somewhat familiar title, Roz paused, then sighed.
Although his hair color differed from Amuro's, his reputation had completely flipped; even the Earth Alliance was calling him the "White Devil."
Roz's left hand tossed a storage box toward the target point. Its propulsion system quickly activated, sending it precisely to the designated location.
The grappling claws fired, easily piercing the Garuda's outer armor, and twelve hexagonal pillars extended from the bottom, contacting the armor.
As the thermal components at the base of the pillars activated, bright light radiated, melting the Garuda's outer armor and allowing the twelve hexagonal pillars to smoothly advance toward the hangar.
Roz piloted the Unicorn, taking down a beam rifle identical to the M1 Astray from a mounting point on the jetpack.
He wasn't without the Beam Magnum, but he feared that even a grazing shot would tear the Garuda apart.
To be safe, he would wait until Big Haro finished the task before using the Beam Magnum.
Besides… he still hadn't remembered whose brainwave that was.
At this moment, a Dagger-like unit, distinct from a normal Dagger but bearing its silhouette, appeared from the Garuda's tail, flying toward the Unicorn.
Its approach was slow, indicating its thrusters were already at maximum.
The Dagger raised its beam rifle and fired; a green beam shot toward the Unicorn.
Roz did not dodge; he raised the shield on his left hand.
The shield split into two parts, revealing a circular component. When it activated, a lightwave barrier identical to Artemis appeared in front of it, blocking the incoming beam.
Upon hitting the lightwave barrier, the beam dispersed into fine particle streams, easily burning through the Garuda's outer armor, creating holes.
"What?!"
The pilot in the new Dagger was clearly shocked, not expecting the Unicorn to have such armament.
With the particle beams fully blocked, the shield retracted its components, and Roz raised the beam rifle.
A yellow particle beam precisely hit the Dagger's leg, destabilizing it, followed by a shot to the head, and a final shot to its exposed thruster pack.
The Dagger flipped, hitting the Garuda's tail briefly, causing an explosion near the cargo bay door.
"Phew…"
Roz frowned, sensing the familiar brainwave had been affected, but it was still alive.
"Roz, the Blue Cosmos target has been neutralized. I'm now cutting into the target."
Big Haro flapped her wings. "Once cutting is complete, I'll detonate it."
"Understood."
Roz squinted at two new Dagger-type units appearing from the Garuda's rear, heading toward the Unicorn, and pulled the trigger on both.
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Gunfire echoed repeatedly in the cargo bay, but quickly ceased.
The descending remote-controlled combat machines had very clear objectives. After breaking through the guards' defenses, eight of them directly rushed to the Blue Cosmos containers loaded onto the Garuda-class, intending to melt the armor with their thermal components.
The other machines charged into the cabin and directly found the Blue Cosmos scientist, shooting him to death.
"What… is this?"
Looking at the chaos in the hangar and the bodies scattered everywhere, Natarle Badgiruel gritted her teeth instinctively.
Her feelings were conflicted. Though she despised Blue Cosmos, seeing the lives of these people vanish under the guns of the combat robots made her feel a twinge of sadness.
"Apparently, they're some kind of combat robots, but their target is Blue Cosmos' data… seems like the bait has taken the hook."
The officer stood by the railing. Clearly, those remote-controlled units had no interest in him, concentrating solely on melting the special armor on the containers.
"Looks like we caught a big one. Bridge, did you see what the attackers look like?"
"Zzzz… it's a white unicorn unit!"
The voice over the comms was clearly panicked.
"White unicorn? Are you sure it's not the White Devil…"
The officer subconsciously frowned at that, about to ask something, when the next moment an explosion sent both of them crashing to the ground.
Metal structures cracked from the damage, and feeling herself sliding toward the hangar floor, Natarle, dazed from the blast, instinctively grabbed a steel structure torn from the wall.
The catwalk eventually fell, and her hands had to bear her full weight, nearly slipping. Fortunately, her left foot stepped on a piece of the blasted steel, stabilizing her balance.
"Damn… someone help me, pull me up—"
Shaking her head, Natarle looked toward the officer who had been following her, intending to call for help.
The muzzle of a pistol, glowing coldly, was aimed directly at her. The officer behind her looked at her with cold eyes.
"…What do you mean?"
Seeing this, Natarle's voice grew cold.
"This attack has confirmed my suspicions."
The officer placed a finger on the trigger.
"You know the truth about the Intelligent Combat Components and refuse to join us… now the Garuda-class' Blue Cosmos-related cargo has been attacked."
"In summary, the Moon Base, those coming from the Moon Base, and your former affiliation with the Eighth Fleet are all untrustworthy."
"…Such reckless assumptions."
Natarle's expression darkened. "Are you denying all my past contributions?"
"In any case, now is the perfect opportunity to eliminate you while the Garuda-class is under attack."
The officer aimed at Natarle's hand gripping the steel structure.
"For a pure blue world, traitors must die!"
He was about to pull the trigger.
At the same time, the remote-controlled machines working on the containers melted a large hole and entered inside.
After a brief countdown, the machines detonated inside the container, turning its contents into a heap of debris.
The intense explosion affected the officer's aim. His hand twitched unconsciously, the trigger was pulled, and the bullet struck Natarle's right shoulder, piercing her spacesuit along with her body.
Blood and oxygen burst from the hole, the cold mixing with the weakness in her right hand, making her lose her grip on the steel structure and fall.
"Phew… mission complete."
The officer exhaled, preparing to find an escape pod.
Undoubtedly, given the terrain advantage of that white Unicorn unit, the Garuda-class would sink.
But at least the intelligence would be recovered.
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"Roz, mission complete. Detonation successful."
The voice of Haro sounded in Roz's ear, and he couldn't help but exhale in relief.
But then Haro's next words made Roz freeze.
"By the way, earlier I think I saw someone you know in the hangar… Natarle Badgiruel, right?"
Haro flapped the wings on his head. "I saw her get shot and flung away."
"Why didn't you say so earlier?!"
Roz instantly understood why the brainwave had felt so familiar—it was Natarle's.
Roz pressed the pedal, and the Unicorn released its claws, avoiding the new-model Dagger that had just flown out of the Garuda-class hangar. It rolled in midair to face the Garuda-class.
Putting away the M1 Astray beam rifle, the Unicorn drew a thicker beam rifle from its back.
Roz pressed the trigger on the right control stick. Red-and-purple particles condensed at the muzzle into a spherical orb.
Once the orb's energy had fully charged, it was released directionally toward the target. A thick red beam, mixed with purple lightning-like high-energy light, shot from the muzzle, hitting the Garuda-class with terrifying precision before everyone's eyes.
In an instant, the Garuda-class looked as if it had been struck by the main cannon of a super battleship. Its armor tore apart, the reactor exploded, and a massive fireball erupted in the sky.
Large debris, engulfed in flames, fell like meteors.
Roz maneuvered the Unicorn again, urgently searching for Natarle's location.
"Natarle…"
Amid the chaotic brainwaves, Roz found that familiar one again and widened his eyes. "Found it!"
Roz slammed down on the pedal, and the Unicorn shot off at extreme speed in that direction.
A triangular marker appeared in the cockpit. Seeing the rapidly descending altitude numbers, Roz gritted his teeth.
"Not enough, not enough… must go faster…"
With Roz's focus at its peak, the NTD system appeared on the screen.
Starting from the feet, moving up through the pelvis, chest, shoulders, arms, and backpack, the psycho-frame skeletal structure hidden beneath the armor was revealed, glowing red.
The head's visor flipped up, revealing the Gundam's iconic face beneath. Side armor rotated 180 degrees, and the top horns extended, forming the signature V-fin antenna.
The entire transformation took less than a second. With the armor cracking, the Unicorn grew larger than before.
Roz's reason for activating the NTD was simple: more thrusters meant faster acceleration.
With the thrusters blasting thick flames, the Unicorn raced at extreme speed toward Natarle's location.
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Am I going to die? Probably.
Natarle covered her injured right shoulder, unable to stop the bleeding and the loss of oxygen.
In free fall from tens of thousands of meters above, she instinctively thought of her past.
Childhood, youth, adulthood… the Eighth Fleet, Archangel, Heliopolis, Artemis… one memory after another flashed in her mind.
Satisfied? Probably, because she had become what she had hoped for—a dutiful soldier.
Dissatisfied? Probably too. Thinking carefully, it seemed her life had never been lived for herself. And the people on Archangel were all troublesome, especially Murrue, too soft-hearted.
"A space battleship crew dies from high-altitude fall…"
Natarle sighed and closed her eyes. "How ironic."
In her imagination, the sound of the raging wind did not come; instead, it was drowned out by some massive noise.
And that huge sound, like some kind of machine running, was approaching continuously.
Natarle instinctively opened her eyes and saw the scene before her.
A red-and-white "G-series" mobile suit was reaching out its hands toward her.
Against the blue sky and white clouds, the suit somehow radiated a sense of "holiness."
It adjusted its speed to match Natarle's falling velocity.
Its hard hands lifted Natarle, bringing her closer to the cockpit. At the same time, its formerly bright red armor turned gray.
"Pfft…"
As the cockpit opened, Natarle saw who had come to save her.
That familiar pilot suit, that familiar emblem, made Natarle instinctively widen her eyes and speak the name aloud.
"Roz?!"
"I've got you! Give me your hand!"
Roz's urgent voice made Natarle instinctively extend her still-intact left hand.
With a tremendous force from Roz's hand, Natarle was pulled into the Unicorn's cockpit.
It was also Natarle's first time seeing the full-surround cockpit of the Unicorn. Compared to the G-series and Dagger, it was distinctly different—probably… more advanced?
"You're bleeding… we need to get back to Archangel fast."
Seeing the wound on Natarle's right shoulder, Roz frowned as he closed the cockpit door, pushing the throttle and pressing the pedals.
"I'll figure something out…"
"Ugh…"
The intense G-forces hit her. Even the experienced Natarle could barely endure it and instinctively gritted her teeth.
Seeing Roz remain calm under acceleration that would make even elite MS pilots faint, Natarle began to question whether the difference between people was really that vast.
Seemingly hearing Natarle's groan and knowing she couldn't handle the G-forces, Roz slightly reduced the throttle.
"Archangel, this is Roz. Mission complete!"
Roz quickly contacted Archangel. "Just picked up Natarle. Her spacesuit is damaged, and she's been shot! She needs medical attention immediately!"
"…Understood. This is Archangel. We are ascending. Return to the ship!"
Mirilia's voice sounded over the comms.
Below the Unicorn, a massive shape broke through the clouds. The familiar ship appeared above the sea of clouds.
"Archangel…"
Seeing the familiar warship, Natarle murmured instinctively.
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