Just then, Lacus’s open broadcast came through.

—"Descending into Earth’s atmosphere. All crew, please brace for impact."

Lacus’s gentle voice made the warning easy to listen to, but ironically, it didn’t sound like a warning at all.

Grrrrr...

A moment later, as the warning indicated, we entered the atmosphere and a slight vibration began to be felt on the ship.

—"For safety, we will descend at a point slightly away from the Alaska base and approach in stealth mode. Estimated time of arrival is about 15 minutes. All pilots, please prepare for launch."

At those words, 2B and A2 also prepared, and I began to get ready as well.

When we arrived at the Alaska base, the Earth Alliance and ZAFT were already engaged in fierce combat. The Earth Alliance seemed to be defending desperately, but they were severely outnumbered—the defensive line was nearly breached, and the Archangel was also struggling.

There was a reason for this. The Earth Alliance had judged that ZAFT was massing forces to attack the Panama base and had moved most of their forces to Panama. But ZAFT’s real target was not Panama but Alaska. They had changed direction and advanced straight to the Alaska base. As a result, the few forces remaining at Alaska had to hold off the ZAFT army.

However, this was only the surface situation. The Earth Alliance high command already knew in advance that ZAFT would attack Alaska. This was because Rau Le Creuset, seeking to make the war even more brutal, had intentionally leaked ZAFT’s operational plans to the Earth Alliance.

In response, the Earth Alliance had prepared a trap at the Alaska base: the ’Cyclops System,’ a wide-area annihilation energy release device.

When the Cyclops System is activated, it has enough power to wipe out an area with a 10km radius without a trace. Therefore, they needed to lure the ZAFT forces deep into the base’s center. That was why the moderate Eurasian forces and the Archangel, a ship that had already transferred its technology and was no longer needed, were left at the base as bait and sacrificial lambs.

The order given to the forces left as bait was simple: ’Maintain the defensive line and engage to the last ship.’ That way, the ZAFT forces would take the bait and advance even deeper.

Because I knew this from the original, I had already informed 2B and A2 in advance. Not to go too deep.

We launched in groups of two according to the order Lacus had designated. Of course, I was in the lead, and the last to launch were the Freedom and Justice. Aria (Nicol), piloting the Zabanya Gundam, immediately took a position on a nearby hill after launching, used ’Mirage Colloid’ to cloak herself, and entered sniper mode.

I again sent a warning to them over open broadcast.

"This is Celestial Being. Cease fighting immediately and return to your respective formations."

But they didn’t even hear our warning. They seemed to judge that this battle was that important. They were willing to accept some damage from us in order to break through. In effect, they ignored us and continued their attack. The reason they thought they could push through was simple: ZAFT’s forces were overwhelmingly larger.

"As expected, they don’t listen. I suppose it can’t be helped. Let’s begin."

At my words, we began quickly subduing the attacking ZAFT forces. Kira, worried about the Archangel, flew to protect them, while Athrun began helping us stop ZAFT.

The Archangel, having desperately held the collapsing defensive line, was heavily damaged in many places. Fortunately, thanks to the Freedom’s performance, they were no longer under concentrated attack from ZAFT and could catch their breath for a while.

Certainly, the Freedom and Justice performed admirably. The Freedom Gundam was developed assuming one-versus-many situations, characterized by high mobility and various beam weapons. It was also equipped with a multi-lock-on system, allowing it to subdue multiple enemies simultaneously.

In contrast, the Justice Gundam specialized in one-on-one combat rather than fighting multiple opponents. While its firepower didn’t match the Freedom’s, it was equipped with weapons advantageous for surprise attacks, such as its backpack (Fatum) and beam boomerangs. It was a machine strong against similarly high-performance enemies.

As a result, while the Freedom dominated the battlefield with overwhelming firepower, the Justice exploited the gaps, disrupting enemies and finishing them off. Moreover, with the Zabanya Gundam’s powerful sniper fire coming in periodically, the enemies couldn’t collect themselves and were quickly being wiped out.

Of course, we weren’t just standing around either. 2B and A2 also changed their Reborns Gundams to cannon mode, suppressing enemies with overwhelming firepower. I too was using my GN Sword V and GN Sword Bits to disable numerous Mobile Suits and battleships.

KABOOM!! BAM BAM! CRASH!!! SWISH!

As we crushed the ZAFT forces with overwhelming firepower, they too could no longer ignore us. Eventually, ZAFT temporarily suspended the base capture operation and began concentrating all their firepower on us. They had no choice—whereas in the original there was only one Freedom, now there were five additional machines of equal or greater performance.

I actually thought this was a good thing. That way, we could save more people. Fortunately, ZAFT ships and Mobile Suits that had their weapons destroyed and could no longer continue fighting also ceased engagement and began rescuing personnel from damaged machines.

"Do not attack ships or machines that are rescuing people."

—"Got it."

—"Understood."

Just then, an urgent call came from Kira.

—"Jin, the Archangel just informed me that there’s a Cyclops underground at the Alaska headquarters! The entire base is going to self-destruct!"

"Those madmen, really!"

I immediately broadcast to everyone on open comm.

"This is Celestial Being. The Earth Alliance has installed a Cyclops System at the Alaska base. The Alaska base will soon self-destruct due to the Cyclops. If you don’t want to die, both forces immediately cease combat and withdraw more than 10km from the Alaska base! I repeat, it’s a trap. Withdraw immediately!"

Then I informed our own units.

"We’re withdrawing too."

—"But there are still people left behind..."

"We have to withdraw for ZAFT and the Earth Alliance to believe us."

Then Lacus added her voice to mine.

—"Jin is right! With our overwhelming power, they will only believe the warning if we withdraw."

Only then did Kira and Athrun begin to withdraw. Seeing this, ZAFT seemed to believe the warning as well and hurriedly put distance between themselves and the Alaska base. The Earth Alliance forces that had remained were too far away to tell what was happening.

—"Confirmed powerful energy emission inside the Alaska base!!! They’ve activated the Cyclops!!!"

As Lacus urgently reported that the Cyclops had been activated, we instinctively turned our eyes toward the Alaska base. At that moment, a massive electromagnetic pulse began to swell from the center of the base. A low-frequency vibration, as if crushing the air, spread outward, followed by a deafening roar that shook the earth.

Soon, a blinding flash consumed everything. White light exploded as if the sun had fallen to the ground, swallowing the entire Alaska base in an instant. Then, massive flames and shockwaves swept in all directions, the atmosphere twisting and distorting.

Afterward, a gigantic pillar of fire rose from the center of the explosion toward the sky. It then swelled into a round shape, forming a sinister mushroom cloud.

"Damn! I underestimated their madness. Aznable, assess the damage."

[The Cyclops explosion is still subsiding, so information is limited, but approximately 40% of the ZAFT forces and 80% of the remaining Earth Alliance forces appear to have been annihilated.]

At those words, Lacus, Kira, Athrun, and Aria were shocked and also greatly angered.

—"This is insane..."

—"What a mad thing to do!"

—"We tried so hard to stop them..."

—"Jin was right. We underestimated their madness."

—"Damn it!!!"

But they wouldn’t know. By our intervention, we had saved an enormous number of lives. In the original, almost everyone was annihilated by the Cyclops.

We decided to move with the Archangel to a nearby island for maintenance. We didn’t actually need maintenance, but we needed to accommodate Kira, and we also had to pick up Yzak, who was being held on the ship.

I dismounted first and exchanged greetings with them.

"Hey~ cute Captain, long time no see. Do you know how many times you’ve been helped by me now?"

"Putting it that way, I have no reply. Thank you for your help. I really thought I was going to die this time. More importantly, I never dreamed in my wildest imagination that Kira was alive and with Celestial Being. I’m truly relieved."

Just then, Kira and Athrun dismounted from their machines. However, 2B, A2, and Aria did not get out of their machines, and neither did Lacus. Probably to keep watch on the surroundings.

Then the Archangel’s crew all rushed to Kira.

"Kira!"

"Are you... are you sure you’re not a ghost?"

"Welcome back, Kira."

They too seemed unable to believe that Kira had returned alive. Looking at him with expressions mixing surprise, relief, and overwhelming joy, everyone sincerely welcomed his return.

After greeting them, Kira approached Captain Ramias and said,

"I have so much to tell you."

"Yes."

"I have much I want to hear too."

"I suppose so..."

Then Mwu La Flaga, who was nearby, asked Kira,

"So, you’re going to operate with Celestial Being from now on?"

"Yes. I’m no longer with the Earth Forces. I want to eradicate war—the war that makes friends, family, and brothers fight each other. So I plan to operate with Celestial Being from now on."

"As expected... Then, this is goodbye..."

Just then, I spoke.

"That may not necessarily be the case. Think about it. Even if you go back to the Earth Forces, you’ll probably be executed."

Captain Ramias sighed deeply and acknowledged my words.

"You’re right... We disobeyed the order from headquarters to ’defend the base to the end.’ As the Shinigami of the battlefield said, if we go back like this, for insubordination, everyone would be executed..."

At those words, people began murmuring.

"That can’t be!?"

"We fought so hard..."

"As expected... we were abandoned."

Even as they said this, knowing what the Earth Alliance had done, they had no choice but to accept it. That they had been thoroughly abandoned.

"And something is strange. ZAFT kept the plan to attack the Alaska base top secret. Yet the Earth Forces already knew about it and had prepared the Cyclops, a massive system, for a long time. Someone intentionally leaked information to the Earth Alliance."

I decided to give them some hints by laying out this reasoning.

Then Athrun asked, surprised,

"Who would..."

"Well... perhaps among the ZAFT hardliners, there’s a spy for the Earth Alliance, or someone with another agenda. Oh, and you have a guy named Yzak on the Archangel, don’t you? I’d like you to hand him over. His mother is currently active with us. You don’t need a ZAFT prisoner anymore, right?"

At those words, Athrun was again surprised and asked,

"What? Yzak was here? I thought the prisoners had just been handed over to the Earth Alliance."

Then Captain Ramias said,

"Even if there were prisoners on the Archangel, they weren’t transported. They probably just intended to dispose of them along with us."

"Should I consider that fortunate... Anyway, please."

When Athrun asked, Miriallia Haw went back to the Archangel and brought Yzak out. The atmosphere between Miriallia and Yzak was somehow strange. Not surprising, since Miriallia had her arm linked with Yzak’s as if they were lovers.

"Yzak!"

When Athrun called out to Yzak coming off the Archangel, he hugged Miriallia once and said,

"I’ll come back for you, for sure, after I see my mother."

"Okay."

How this came to be was anyone’s guess. Even funnier was Yzak’s teeth. One of his front teeth was missing. Seeing that, my curiosity only grew.

’What on earth... should I read his memories later?’

In the original, after SEED ended, she dated Dearka and then broke up, but here SEED hadn’t even ended yet, and these two were already like this. Yzak was moving faster than Dearka.

"Captain, take good care of my machine. I’ll be back for it soon."

"Ha... you’re still the same even in a situation like this. And the Duel Gundam was originally ours anyway."

Seeing Yzak speaking casually with the others, it seemed he had gotten along quite well on the Archangel.

Then Kira looked around as if searching for someone. Sai asked Kira,

"Who are you looking for?"

"Well... Frey is..."

"Frey received a transfer order at Alaska. Along with Lieutenant Badgiruel and Lieutenant Commander Flaga. Lieutenant Commander Flaga came back, but the Lieutenant and Frey left."

"I see..."

Kira replied with a regretful expression. But Sai, who answered, also had a poor expression. I knew from the original. What a poor bastard Sai was. Still, in a way, breaking up early with Frey, who was consumed by revenge, might have been a stroke of luck.

"So, what will the Archangel do now? If you want to join Celestial Being, we might be able to take you. This isn’t a joke this time."

When I asked, the Archangel’s crew began murmuring.

"Hmm... I am the captain, but I can’t decide this easily. I think I need to hear the crew’s opinions."

"Really? Alright. But I can’t wait too long."

"Understood."

Captain Ramias gathered the crew and asked for their opinions.

"Everyone heard, right? This isn’t something I can force. So I want to hear your thoughts."

"Since we’d be executed if we go back to the Earth Forces anyway, isn’t the answer already decided?"

"But it’s Celestial Being. If we join a group like that, we’ll become targets for the whole world... Then, even if the war ends, wouldn’t we have nowhere to go?"

"We’ve already been abandoned and have nowhere to go."

"I suppose..."

"Wouldn’t it be better to just go to Orb?"

"That might be better? Our families are in Orb."

Somehow, opinions seemed to be leaning toward going to Orb. But they were overlooking one thing.

"Orb will soon be busy with war preparations too. After what’s happened, the war will now escalate uncontrollably. If that happens, the pressure on neutral nations will become much stronger."

"What do you mean by that...?"

"It means Orb will also have to choose. Either maintain neutrality to the end and end up fighting against ZAFT or the Earth Alliance... or bow to force and side with one faction, providing support."

At those words, people began murmuring again.

"Then, no matter where we go, we’ll be caught up in war..."

"Ha... this is driving me crazy..."

"If that’s the case, I’d rather protect my family."

In the end, it seemed they had decided to go to Orb. I had tried to encourage them to join Celestial Being, but it seemed the fact that many of them had families in Orb weighed heavily.

’It’s a shame, but I suppose it can’t be helped. After the Orb incident is over, I’ll have them join later.’

Apparently finishing their discussion, Captain Ramias came to me and said,

"We’ve decided to go to Orb. I don’t know what will happen later, but many of the crew have families there."

"Really? Alright."

I called Kira and Athrun, who were behind me.

"You two, help the Archangel reach Orb safely. And as I said, neither ZAFT nor the Earth Alliance will leave a neutral nation alone. So stay in Orb for a while, watch the situation, and if a conflict seems likely, respond accordingly. Don’t forget to contact us."

At those words, Kira’s expression brightened. He must have been very worried about the damaged Archangel.

Then Athrun, who had heard this, made a request.

"I’d like one more person as support."

"Who?"

"Aria. I need to find out if she’s... no, if she’s someone I know."

I could understand his obsession to some extent, but I didn’t know if Aria (Nicol) would agree.

"Aria, will you support them?"

When I sent a transmission to Aria, surprisingly, she agreed immediately. Perhaps because of the seriousness of the situation, she was willing to compromise.

"Yes, I’ll try. But only if you promise that guy named Athrun won’t do anything strange to me."

I looked at Athrun and said,

"You heard her?"

"Of course! It’s not about doing strange things. I just want to ask her some things."

"Then it’s decided. And let me tell you in advance: they will try to extract information about your machines. So put a lock on them or something."

"Understood."

With that decided, the Freedom, Justice, and Zabanya were transferred to the Archangel.

"See you next time, cute Captain."

"Yeah, thanks for your concern. See you."

The Archangel finished preparations and departed. We also prepared, broke through the atmosphere again, and returned to the base. There, Yzak Joule’s mother, Ezaria Joule, having heard that her son had been rescued, came out to greet him warmly.

"Mother!"

"You were alive. I’m so relieved. But, what... your tooth..."

"This is... I was fooling around a bit... and a feisty girl punched me..."

The ’feisty girl’ Yzak mentioned was probably Miriallia.

"Is that so? Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"No."

"Thank goodness."

Then Dearka, who was nearby, also greeted him warmly.

"I thought you were dead. I’m glad you’re safe."

"I’m not that easy to kill."

It felt a bit strange, like their roles had reversed, but I called Yzak over first.

"Hey, friend with anger management issues. Yzak, was it?"

"What?! Who has anger management issues!?"

Again, Yzak proved it himself. Even Dearka and his mother, Ezaria, started giggling beside him.

"You, that’s who! Anyway, follow me. You’re missing a tooth, and it looks bad, so I’ll treat it right away."

"Tch!"

Even though he was a tsundere, he did follow me. And Ezaria, worried, followed as well, making various requests.

"Excuse me, could you also remove his scar?"

"I’ll remove it. It’s not that difficult."

"About how long will it take? Will it hurt much? Any aftereffects?"

As Ezaria kept asking questions, Yzak, embarrassed, said,

"Mother... please calm down..."

Ezaria was clearly a doting mother. It was hard to believe she was the same woman who had made hardline statements on the PLANT Council.