At an Atlantic Federation airport, a massive "Big Bird" stretched out its wings.
At that moment, mobile suits with appearances slightly different from ordinary Daggers were steadily entering the cargo hold of this "Big Bird."
"This is… the Garuda-class."
Looking at the transport in front of her, Badgiruel froze, having just gotten off the jeep and carrying her luggage.
"Only two have been built so far. The other one has already departed."
At that moment, an officer explained, picking up his own luggage from the jeep. "Let's go quickly. Next, we're flying to Kaohsiung."
Following the officer, Badgiruel entered the Garuda-class cargo hold, where the internal structure of the Garuda-class was fully revealed.
Even with two MS standing side by side, the interior space felt very spacious. To transport as many MS as possible, the ones closest to the side walls entered the hangar sideways, while the MS in the center faced the nose of the Garuda-class and were fixed in place, three MS per row.
Inside the Garuda-class, just like a warship's hangar, mechanical arms for maintenance were installed. The maintenance crew was orderly securing the MS.
However, Badgiruel's attention was drawn to something that didn't belong.
An elderly bald man in a white lab coat was directing a group of people, moving containers labeled "S.B: 1.2" into the cargo hold.
"That is…"
"The Phase 2 research results of Blue Cosmos' intelligent combat systems, to be tested at the lunar base."
The officer following Badgiruel glanced at the scene and explained, "There's also a batch of second-generation enhanced humans waiting in the standby room."
Badgiruel followed the officer's gesture and looked toward a room above.
Through the glass, she saw several boys and girls in modified Earth Alliance pilot suits sitting in the standby room.
A feeling of nausea rose from within Badgiruel, and she instinctively gripped the handle of her luggage bag.
When did the Earth Alliance become like this…? Has this world gone mad?
For Badgiruel, whose heart was full of military honor, she could not accept either the truth about the "intelligent combat system" or the current enhanced human program using young boys and girls.
"Stop staring. Time to go."
The officer's prompt snapped Badgiruel back from her chaotic thoughts.
But the next sentence left her stunned.
"That old man from Blue Cosmos isn't anything worth seeing. He's just the second-in-command. The real first-in-command is already being protected by the main force of enhanced humans, having departed with another Garuda-class."
"Spread false information and catch the Earth Alliance traitors."
The officer stood behind Badgiruel, squinting as he watched her movements. "By observing which Garuda-class the White Devil attacks, we can deduce where the traitors are."
"You're using everyone as bait?!"
Badgiruel couldn't contain herself and demanded, "What is command thinking?!"
"Even if you open the interference channel with a positron cannon, the Archangel-class's thrust alone cannot break through the atmosphere. You know that, Major Badgiruel."
The officer remained calm despite her questioning and asked, "Obtaining a technology that can ignore the laws of physics is a huge temptation, isn't it?"
"Command believes that if they can predict where the traitors are, they can locate them, capture the White Devil, and analyze its technology to gain the power to completely defeat ZAFT."
"To achieve this goal, sacrificing one Garuda-class is a fully acceptable cost."
-----------------------------------
At this moment, near the outer atmosphere of Earth, the Archangel was maintaining a slow cruising speed.
"Thirty minutes until the scheduled time!"
Sai looked at the CIC control panel and spoke.
"The Unicorn has already entered the launch deck and is waiting."
"Good… start the landing procedure!"
Murrue skillfully commanded the crew, guiding the Archangel to land on Earth.
Compared to the last time, when landing under the cover of the 8th Fleet had caused confusion due to unfamiliarity with the Archangel's performance, the crew now fully understood all of the Archangel's functions.
"This flight path… I've never tried this before."
Arnold took a deep breath and pushed the throttle.
"There's always a first time for everything, right?"
Mu sat in the passenger seat beside him. Though his words sounded casual, his attention was fully on the instruments ahead.
"That's true…"
Arnold controlled the rudder, changing the Archangel's direction. "Everyone, brace yourselves! It's going to get a little bumpy!"
As the Archangel descended toward Earth, the thin atmosphere began to rub against its external armor.
Heat-resistant liquid sprayed from the Archangel's hull, forming a protective film for landing, enduring the flames generated by atmospheric friction.
Compared to the stability in the hangar, Roz, in the launch deck, felt violent shaking and vibrations.
His right hand continuously adjusted parameters on the touch screen, the sensation of gravity once again pressing down.
Roz had already begun to adapt to the feeling of gravity. Considering the difficulty of flying in Earth's environment, he instinctively increased the thruster output.
"Reminder again, Roz, for cost reasons, the Magnum's magazine can not be ejected."
Amid the vibrations, Big Haro's voice sounded in Roz's ear. "When changing magazines, don't just push it up; remember to remove the entire magazine."
In the original, tossing a magazine after a single shot was a bold move, but with Roz's tight budget, it had been changed to an integrated magazine for easier recycling and recharging.
Although the Unicorn could now recharge magazines, the efficiency was too slow. After battle, a replaced magazine might not be fully charged, so it was better to connect the beam Magnum directly to the mobile suit's reactor for continuous combat.
"I understand… next, You'll control these remote mobile suits in the cabin. No problem."
Roz turned off the right-hand touch screen options, extended his right hand in front of him, seemingly lost in thought.
"Don't underestimate me. Even with roughly 150–200 milliseconds of network delay, controlling these remote mobile suits is totally fine!"
Big Haro on the mount shook the wings on his head, confident about the upcoming operation.
"Good… the responsibility to find and completely destroy those things is yours, Big Haro." Roz glanced at the large storage box held by the Unicorn's left hand and fell silent for a moment.
At this point, the Archangel had already reached the planned altitude.
"Let's fly… Archangel!"
Arnold, keeping his right hand on the throttle, pushed forward. The Archangel's thrusters emitted fierce flames.
The Archangel, initially descending, slowed its landing speed. The flames scorching the external armor dissipated, and the ship finally flew smoothly through the clouds.
"Success… on the planned course!"
Seeing clouds streak past the Archangel's side, Arnold instinctively wiped the sweat on his forehead from tension.
"Launch deck open, commence operation!"
Murrue, seeing the Archangel reach the target point as planned, began giving orders.
"The launch deck is open. Unicorn can sortie!"
Miriallia opened the launch deck and spoke into her headset.
Inside the cockpit, Roz reached out his right hand to touch the red Unicorn emblem on his left chest and raised his hand to lift the helmet's visor.
Looking at the end of the launch deck, where blue sky appeared again, Roz gripped the control stick, pushed the throttle, and took a deep breath out of habit.
"Roz Links, Unicron GUNDAM, sortie!"
He pressed the pedal, activating the launch system. The pure white mobile suit was ejected from the deck at extreme speed into the clouds.
Powered by the Archangel-class's laser nuclear fusion reactor, the thrusters began operating at high intensity, shooting thick flames. Without wings to maintain hover, the pure white dream machine began soaring through the sky.
-----------------------------------
On the Garuda-class transport, Badgiruel, wearing a slightly bulky spacesuit, stood on a catwalk in the hangar, her expression complex as she observed everything before her.
At this point, the Garuda had reached the set optimal altitude. The air was thin here; without a spacesuit, humans could barely operate at this height.
"Under normal circumstances, you should be in the officer's area."
"Why are you here?"
A somewhat familiar voice sounded in Badgiruel's ear, causing her to sigh.
"That's a question I should be asking you. Why are you following me?"
Badgiruel looked at the officer who had appeared not far from her like a shadow. "Ever since I boarded the Garuda, you've been following me."
"Because in your assessment, you are a dangerous target that needs monitoring."
The officer said calmly, while subtly placing his right hand near the holstered pistol.
"Dangerous target?!"
Badgiruel almost laughed with disbelief.
"You mean that I, who trained so many Archangel-class crew for the Earth Alliance, am a traitor, right?"
"I don't think you need to be so nervous."
The officer shrugged, unbothered by Badgiruel's accusation. "It's just speculation. If it's a misjudgment, naturally nothing happens."
This was a lie.
The officer knew very well that, after extensive analysis, Badgiruel clearly knew what these "intelligent components" were. Although she had been training Archangel-class ship crews for the Earth Alliance, she had consistently rejected using the "intelligent components."
To the Blue Cosmos high command, Badgiruel was a ticking time bomb in the Atlantic Federation. They couldn't predict when she might explode; better to "safely detonate" her in advance than wait.
After all, her ship command strategies and crew training methods had already been fully recorded by the "intelligent components," so she had little practical value left. Eliminating her would not be regrettable.
But now was not the right moment; the officer could only try to calm Badgiruel.
Suddenly, a piercing alarm sounded in the hangar.
"Unknown MS detected. Quantity: one. Location… location above us!!!"
A terrified voice announced over the broadcast.
Accompanied by two dull thuds from the ceiling, it was clear that the unknown mobile suit had already descended above the Garuda.
The Garuda's wide wingspan could easily accommodate several MS standing side by side.
"MS units, sortie!"
The rear hangar doors opened, and fierce wind blew in, forcing everyone present to instinctively crouch.
The pilots quickly boarded MS that differed slightly from a normal Dagger, powered them up, and flew out of the Garuda-class transport hangar.
"No… something's wrong!"
Amid the chaos, Badgiruel seemed to sense something, raising her eyes to the top of the hangar.
Twelve traces of melted steel appeared on the hangar's roof. The next moment, twelve black silhouettes broke through the molten metal panels and dropped into the hangar.
These falling shadows fired brief bursts in the air, extending wheeled limbs like spiders, and landed steadily on the ground.
"What is this…"
Badgiruel froze, staring at the hexagonal spider-like machines before her.
The next second, the machines activated the wheels on their limbs and rapidly moved toward the Blue Cosmos containers.
At the same time, they deployed internal machine guns and began sweeping fire across the area.
The scene descended into chaos.
...................