Chapter 2: Stop Fighting, Your Home's About to Get Nuked!

The familiar push of acceleration propelled the Moebius out of the mothership into the dark void of space. The hourglass-shaped colony satellite loomed clearly ahead.

Following the prompts from his mobile suit's system, Reid maneuvered the Moebius into his squad's formation path. Soon after, a communication from their squad leader, Steve, came through.

"All units, prepare for engagement. We'll be using Tactic C once we make contact. Remember, we're just here to assist the Atlantic Federation—they didn't pay us enough to go all out. So stay sharp. Don't go head-to-head with ZAFT's GINNs."

"Copy that." ×5

Tactic C was all about hit-and-run support—striking from a distance and retreating before the enemy could retaliate. The Moebius' only advantage over the GINN was its straight-line acceleration. With the right maneuvers, they could quickly disengage and reposition for another attack.

Reid had no objections to this tactic. In fact, it suited him just fine—he wasn't one of those Blue Cosmos fanatics willing to throw their lives away just to break through enemy lines.

But there was no time for further thought. The [Roosevelt] had already launched its first wave of missiles. Even if the response from Junius Seven was slow, the first defensive units should be emerging by now.

Sure enough, not a single missile from the [Roosevelt] hit Junius Seven. Even an agricultural satellite had defensive cannons—after all, space was unpredictable, with meteoroids and debris posing constant threats. No colony in reality was completely defenseless. The missile barrage from a single Agamemnon-class ship wasn't enough to break through the combined firepower of multiple mobile suits and the colony's defensive artillery.

However, the Agamemnon-class's missiles were only meant to provide cover for the Moebius assault force. They succeeded in buying the Moebius units some time to advance.

As the missile explosions faded, Reid's cockpit erupted with lock-on alarms. His cameras clearly showed five GINNs charging through the dissipating smoke—the defensive force had arrived.

Still, with thirty Moebius units on their side, they held a slight numerical advantage.

Then, Squad Leader Steve's orders came through again.

"Fire the Linear Cannons, then ascend directly over them. After that, try to attack in groups of three."

Without hesitation, Reid fired his Moebius' Linear Cannon at a random target—no precise aiming needed. Past experience had taught him that frontal attacks against GINNs rarely hit, while their machine guns were deadly. He had to reposition immediately.

Just as expected, the moment Reid's Moebius ascended to higher space, a burst of 76mm assault rifle rounds tore through his previous position. A single hit from those would have sent him straight to the grave.

But Reid had successfully evaded. The five GINNs were now focused on the Moebius units from the Atlantic Federation charging head-on, leaving no time to deal with Reid, who had slipped to the periphery.

Though temporarily safe, Reid couldn't afford to slack off at the edge of the battlefield. The mothership was still intact, meaning his every move was being monitored.

So, mimicking an atmospheric fighter's dive, he picked a GINN positioned at the edge of the formation and descended at a sixty-degree angle. Simultaneously, he launched two of his four anti-ship missiles and adjusted the Linear Cannon's aim to where he predicted the GINN would dodge.

In space combat, the hit rate of long-range shots by non-ACE grunts is actually very low. That's why in animations, even though GINNs vastly outperform Moebius units, most Moebius takedowns are shown happening at close range.

During the period before Neutron Jammers were widely deployed, the Atlantic Federation's missiles had remarkably high accuracy due to radar guidance technology. Unlike later laser-guided missiles that had to fly dangerously close and were easily spotted and destroyed by GINNs during maneuvering.

Reid's ability to shoot down GINNs during the Artemis Fortress defense was entirely thanks to these high-quality missiles.

But today seemed different. The GINN Reid was targeting suddenly acted like it had eyes on its head—it abruptly ascended diagonally and used its machine gun to blast Reid's missile out of space before charging straight at his Moebius, clearly intending to close the distance for a point-blank kill.

Fortunately, Reid wasn't blindly diving either. The moment the GINN looked up, he sensed trouble. He immediately cut the main engine thrust and adjusted downward, reorienting his mobile suit vertically before reigniting the engines to evade.

Any maintenance crew witnessing these maneuvers would have screamed bloody murder, but Reid couldn't care less now. He had to get out of the GINN's camera range.

Thankfully, Reid was quite practiced at such rule-breaking maneuvers. When the GINN closed in after destroying the missile and raised its gun, it found Reid's Moebius had already vanished from its primary camera view.

Reid's Moebius was now positioned almost directly beneath the GINN, in the blind spot of its stereoscopic cameras.

Yet Reid dared not counterattack. That sudden upward glance from the GINN was abnormal—according to captured Earth Alliance intel, GINNs shouldn't have upward-facing cameras on their heads. There must be a Recon ZINN providing support nearby.

So Reid maxed out his thrusters and bolted.

Sure enough, when the GINN found no enemy in its forward view, it immediately reoriented face-down. Had Reid hesitated even a second longer, he'd have been caught in a hailstorm of bullets.

Having narrowly escaped death, Reid repositioned at the battlefield's edge. Scanning the area, he spotted a derelict supply transfer platform near Junius Seven—likely left over from colony construction. With no other viable hiding spots for mobile suits nearby, he opened squad comms:

"Captain, I suspect Recon ZINNs are feeding intel—these Standard ZINNs are reacting too fast. There's nowhere to hide here. Request permission to investigate that abandoned platform."

Captain Steve, still alive, responded promptly: "Approved. These GINNs are definitely moving too sharp. The Atlantic Federation rookies are getting slaughtered. Reid, Recon ZINNs may be lightly armed, but stay alert."

Reid was relieved. Hunting Recon ZINNs served dual purposes—it wouldn't count as desertion while keeping him away from the frontline. He immediately banked toward the platform.

The derelict structure wasn't far—less than a minute's flight for a Moebius at speed.

Yet not a single GINN intercepted Reid en route, further confirming his suspicions. Under normal circumstances, ZAFT's GINNs would have intercepted to prevent him bypassing the main battle to attack the colony behind them.

The closer Reid got to the abandoned platform, the stronger his sense of danger grew. At this point, even the hairs inside his pilot suit seemed to stand on end.

When this ominous feeling peaked, even without any lock-on warning from his onboard systems, Reid instinctively executed an evasive roll.

A split second later, a sniper rifle round from the Recon ZINN grazed past his thrusters, narrowly missing him.

Having brushed shoulders with death, Reid didn't hesitate. He immediately fired his remaining two anti-ship missiles at the abandoned platform. The complex terrain disadvantaged his Moebius's straightforward movement patterns—he needed to flush out that Recon ZINN.

The Recon ZINN's pilot wasn't reckless. Seeing two anti-ship missiles incoming, he abandoned his only cover without hesitation, avoiding being trapped by debris from the destroyed platform and becoming an easy target.

However, when the Recon ZINN tried to aim its sniper rifle at that pesky Moebius again, Reid had already closed the distance face-to-face. After all, the best counter to a sniper was to get in close.

Instead of firing his Linear Cannon directly at the cockpit, Reid targeted the Recon ZINN's right arm, disabling it instantly along with its only offensive weapon—the solid-round sniper rifle.

Then, breaking protocol again, Reid fired his landing hook directly at the GINN's waist, latching onto it. Cutting off all wireless communications, he switched to wired comms and addressed the enemy pilot:

"Recon ZINN pilot, listen carefully. I'll only say this once: Among this Atlantic Federation assault force, some Moebius units are carrying nuclear warheads. I'm not an Atlantic Federation soldier, nor am I one of Blue Cosmos's fanatics. I can't stand by and watch civilians get slaughtered. You'd better warn the residents of Junius Seven to evacuate immediately. Save as many as you can."

Without waiting for a response, Reid used the hook's tension to swing behind the Recon ZINN and blasted its legs off with his Linear Cannon. Retrieving the hook, he flew away without looking back.

(End of Chapter)