Jonathan already knew how the battle was supposed to unfold.
Unlike Kira, he had no intention of waiting until the enemy was right in his face before fighting back.
From the moment he spotted Creuset, Jonathan had already begun lining up his shot.
Now that Creuset was charging straight toward him, there was no way he would let such an opportunity pass.
However, Creuset was a veteran who had fought his way through countless battles.
Faced with Jonathan’s sudden attack, he reacted immediately and began evasive maneuvers.
The GINN rolled nimbly through the air, narrowly escaping the barrage.
Yet that very attack caused Creuset to take an interest in the Strike Gundam’s pilot.
While he was still maneuvering to avoid the incoming fire, an even larger explosion erupted in the distance.
A mountainside elsewhere in Heliopolis suddenly burst apart, leaving an enormous opening.
Thick clouds of dust billowed outward.
Amid the smoke and flying debris, the Archangel slowly rose into view.
Its massive hull parted the dust like a steel behemoth finally emerging from its lair.
When Murrue saw that the Archangel was truly unharmed, joy immediately appeared in her eyes.
Only now did she completely believe what Jonathan had told her.
Unfortunately, she had barely begun to celebrate when Creuset circled back for another attack.
This time, he clearly intended to destroy the Strike Gundam with enhanced armor-piercing rounds.
Of the five G-series mobile suits, four had already fallen into ZAFT’s hands.
If the final unit could not be captured, destroying it would be just as acceptable.
That was precisely what Creuset intended to do.
Unfortunately for him, the Strike’s pilot was not the inexperienced Kira from the original storyline.
The moment Creuset approached for the second time, Jonathan pressed the launch control without hesitation.
Missiles instantly burst from the shoulder-mounted weapon pod.
Trailing blazing exhaust, the homing projectiles raced directly toward Creuset.
“Tch.”
Although the maneuver allowed him to escape the missiles, it also cost him the ideal firing angle.
Immediately afterward, the Archangel joined the attack.
Cannon fire, dense barrages, blaring alarms, and explosions threw the entire airspace into chaos.
Creuset glanced at the increasingly dense wall of fire surrounding him and immediately understood the situation.
There was no chance of shooting down the Strike Gundam this time.
Although unwilling to admit defeat, he ultimately had no choice but to retreat.
Compared with the original storyline, where Kira’s reckless fighting had breached the colony itself, Jonathan’s response had kept the destruction to a minimum.
The people living in this Orb colony had no direct connection to him.
Nevertheless, Jonathan had his own principles.
If he could save someone without placing himself in excessive danger, he would lend a hand.
If saving them proved impossible, however, he would not risk everything trying.
Once the danger had passed, the Archangel slowly descended to the ground, much as it had in the original storyline.
Jonathan piloted the Strike Gundam aboard.
Murrue, Kira, and his four friends boarded the ship as well.
Because Jonathan had taken control of the Strike before Kira could reach it, Kira remained completely unaware that he possessed an extraordinary talent for piloting mobile suits.
As a result, he naturally remained with Sai and the others.
The moment Jonathan climbed down from the Strike Gundam on the hangar deck, he noticed a short-haired woman waiting nearby.
She wore an Earth Alliance uniform, and her neatly cut black hair complemented her crisp, professional appearance.
The sharp, commanding air between her brows gave her a distinctive edge that immediately set her apart.
She was Natarle Badgiruel.
The moment she realized that the pilot emerging from the Strike Gundam was not wearing an Earth Alliance uniform, her expression changed.
She turned toward Murrue, her eyes filled with questions.
“Captain Ramius, who is this man?”
Born into a military family, Badgiruel was clearly alarmed that the pilot of one of the Earth Alliance’s most highly classified mobile suits was not one of their own soldiers.
Faced with the question, Murrue could only reveal a complicated expression.
She glanced at Jonathan and opened her mouth, yet she had no idea how to explain his presence.
“Well, this is certainly unexpected.”
At that moment, a curly-haired blond man wearing a purple flight suit emerged from deeper inside the hangar.
It was Mu La Flaga.
He stopped before Murrue and gave her a proper military salute.
“Captain Mu La Flaga, Seventh Orbital Fleet, Earth Alliance Forces.
I look forward to working with you.”
The others instinctively returned his salute.
Murrue and Badgiruel then briefly introduced their own affiliations and ranks.
Mu looked around before asking directly, “I’d like permission to board.
Who is currently in command of this ship?”
The light in Badgiruel’s eyes immediately dimmed.
“The captain and most of the senior officers have been killed in action.”
“Captain Ramius is now serving as acting commander.”
“Only a handful of junior noncommissioned officers and a dozen or so other crew members survived.”
“I was stationed in the central shaft compartment at the time.
I only survived by chance.”
Because Jonathan had already warned her about the situation, Murrue was not overwhelmed by the news.
Mu, however, could only sigh as a headache began to set in.
Reader Question 2:
Which Mobile Suit did Rau Le Creuset pilot during his battle against Jonathan?
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