Chapter 67: The Second Battle of Jachin Due (Part III)

Genesis's world-destroying blow wiped out nearly 40% of the Earth Alliance fleet, including the original flagship of the Earth Alliance fleet.

As the captain of a new-type main warship, Natarle Badgiruel temporarily took over command in the chaotic situation of the fleet and issued an order for the entire fleet to retreat temporarily.

Because the fleet had suddenly suffered such heavy damage, the entire fleet was in chaos and had to immediately undergo a period of rest, rebuild the command system, and obtain supplies before it could be put back into battle.

The Earth Alliance warships and MS that received the order began to retreat, and Li Boyong also led his surviving subordinates, mixing in with a pile of remnants and retreating toward the scheduled regrouping point.

But how could the ZAFT forces easily let go of the retreating Earth Alliance forces?

You want to leave after firing nuclear missiles?

There is no such good thing in the world!

Even before the pursuit order from the National Defense Headquarters was issued, the ZAFT pilots had already piloted their MS and chased after them.

Those Strike Daggers that were left behind during the retreat due to machine damage immediately became the targets for the ZAFT forces to vent their anger.

"How dare you use nuclear missiles again!"

"My younger brother is still in Boaz!"

"Despicable Naturals, experience the anger of our compatriots!"

The ZAFT MS units carried out a slaughter against the Strike Dagger group with damaged machines. Even if individual Strike Dagger pilots sent out surrender signals, they were not accepted by the ZAFT pilots at all, and they were all slaughtered.

Kira, who had just shot down all the nuclear missiles, could not bear to see such a scene of slaughter, and piloted Freedom to injure the ZAFT MS one by one, allowing some damaged Earth Alliance forces to have a chance to escape.

Although Athrun could understand the anger of his compatriots, he still joined Kira in taking action.

Under the influence of Freedom and Justice, some lagging Strike Daggers luckily gained a chance to escape.

But now the ZAFT forces had begun a full-line pursuit under the order of the National Defense Headquarters, and Freedom and Justice could not fight so many ZAFT MS, so they returned to the hiding place of the Three Ships Alliance.

Under the pursuit of the ZAFT forces, the Earth Alliance forces paid a not-so-small price in casualties before they broke free from the pursuit and rejoined at the scheduled regrouping point.

At the regrouping point, the surviving Earth Alliance fleet was in a state of mourning.

Due to the chaos in the command system, a large number of damaged warships and MS could not get help, and many machines that luckily returned to the mothership could not even get supplies, and the injured pilots could not get effective medical treatment.

It was in such a chaotic situation that Li Boyong piloted the Full Armor Dagger back to the Archangel's hangar, and the only one who returned behind him was one Strike Dagger.

Because his unit was originally fighting by breaking into the Jachin defense line, when retreating, they were only slightly faster than those friendly forces with damaged machines.

After Freedom and Justice retreated, the ZAFT pursuit surged up again. His squad was affected by the battle twice, and although he shot down some enemy machines, his subordinates still inevitably suffered casualties.

Of the nine subordinates who sortied, only one pitiful one remained alive to return.

The only surviving subordinate had a mental breakdown after getting out of the Strike Dagger, hid alone in the pilot's lounge, and refused to come out no matter what.

Li Boyong sighed, and was in no mood to provide psychological counseling to a passerby cannon fodder, just shouting for the maintenance crew to speed up resupplying the Full Armor Dagger.

"You guys, hurry up and resupply my machine..."

Before the words were finished, two more MS returned to the Archangel's hangar, which were Raider and Calamity.

Li Boyong waited and waited, but never saw the figure of the other machine. It seemed that Forbidden was really affected by Genesis's attack.

That's fine, it saves him from having to waste words on the matter of "accidentally injuring friendly forces."

The two survivors of the three "Niaoren" came out of their machines together, clearly having had their drugs wear off, looking in extreme pain.

But the two guys were enduring such pain, clearly already delirious, yet they kept muttering about the lost Shani.

"Damn it! That guy Shani actually died."

"Bastard, how dare you die before me!"

Li Boyong was silent. He didn't feel guilty about Shani's death, just a bit emotional.

So the three "Niaoren" also had a sense of companionship, and would also have emotional fluctuations due to the loss of a companion.

These experimental subjects controlled by drugs were ultimately not machines, but real people!

If these three young men, who were only eighteen or nineteen years old, had not been subjected to such inhumane experiments, what kind of life would they have had?

Going to school together, eating lunch together, then walking together after school, stopping by the arcade on the way home to play, and finally discussing their favorite female classmates before parting?

Perhaps...

After the two enhanced human pilots were taken away by the research team, Li Boyong shook his head and stopped thinking about these things.

Perhaps he had felt compassion, but ultimately he didn't have that ability, nor the determination to risk his life, so he could only sigh in his heart.

Now, there were only two people for whom he could truly risk his life.

One was on the bridge of this Archangel, and the other was still in the ZAFT forces.

————

After the surviving Earth Alliance fleet regrouped, the fleet reorganized the command system under Natarle Badgiruel's command.

The Archangel became the new flagship of the Earth Alliance fleet, and at the same time, the second wave of the fleet gathered at the Ptolemaeus lunar base also set off for the Jachin Due defense line with supplies.

Faced with the huge threat of Genesis, the Earth Alliance also put in its full effort. Some internal factional discord was cast aside, and they began to cooperate.

It must be destroyed before Genesis fires on Earth; this was the consensus of all the Earth Alliance high-level officials.

And the original first wave of the fleet, after several hours of reorganization, attacked Jachin again under Niaoren's hard-line order.

The Jachin Due defense line erupted into a tragic battle again. This time, both sides of the engagement put in their full effort.

The ZAFT side didn't want to eat the Earth Alliance's nuclear missiles again, and the Earth Alliance was desperate to destroy Genesis.

The MS squads on both sides, under the cover of their respective fleet firepower, crossed on the battlefield and began a tragic decisive battle.

At such a time, neither side had a way out, and could only put in their full effort.

And this world, divided into two, seemed to have reached a turning point of survival.

And the Three Ships Alliance also threw itself into this battle at this time, trying to seek a glimmer of survival for peace in this dead end.

After the battle started, Li Boyong piloted the Full Armor Dagger and led his newly joined subordinates into this decisive battle.

His unit received some replenishment during the fleet reorganization, and five unlucky guys who had lost their motherships were assigned under the command of Li Boyong, the "Friendly Fire Reaper."

The battle was exceptionally tragic. The Full Armor Dagger had entered the battle with five Strike Daggers for less than ten minutes, and after shooting down two GuAIZ, three Strike Daggers were shot down again.

Five minutes later, when Li Boyong broke through and sank a Nazca-class ship in the chaotic battle, the remaining two Strike Daggers were also finished off.

These five subordinates, whose names he didn't even know, became status tools, allowing Li Boyong to gain considerable ability bonuses under the influence of the "Survivor" skill and the "Friendly Fire Reaper" title, letting this cannon-fodder captain survive in the tragic battle and achieve some results.

Just as the frontal battlefield was tragic beyond compare, Genesis's second shot was fired.

The world-destroying beam shone in space again, and after heavily damaging the Earth Alliance's second wave of support fleet, it blasted onto the moon.

The Earth Alliance's lunar base, Ptolemaeus, turned into a piece of wreckage on the moon under the power of Genesis.

Bridge of the new flagship of the Earth Alliance fleet, Archangel.

"What?"

Learning the news that the support fleet had been heavily damaged and the lunar base Ptolemaeus had been destroyed, Niaoren was shocked, and at the same time, like a gambler who had lost his mind, he issued a sortie order to the Peace Maker team, and ordered Raider and Calamity on the front line to return for escort.

And the target of the Peace Maker team was still selected as the PLANT homeland satellite cluster.

Regarding this, Natarle Badgiruel raised an objection, "Councilor! Our primary target now should be to destroy the enemy's fortress cannon."

As a soldier, she simply couldn't understand what the point was of using nuclear missiles to blow up the satellite cluster at such a time.

If Genesis couldn't be destroyed, and Earth took such a shot, the consequences were unimaginable.

But Natarle Badgiruel didn't expect that her reasonable objection would provoke an extreme reaction from Niaoren.

I saw this leader of Blue Cosmos, who usually acted with self-importance, pull out a pistol with a twisted face and aim it at Natarle Badgiruel, "Why do you always defy my orders?"

Niaoren shouted frantically, "As long as those ugly hourglasses are blown away, it will be our victory!"

Seeing Natarle Badgiruel stop speaking, Niaoren sat back in his seat and said to Natarle Badgiruel, "If you understand, execute my order immediately. The Archangel will also move forward to provide cover for the Peace Maker team."

Natarle Badgiruel was helpless. She knew that if this continued, it would only lead to the worst situation, but she found that she was powerless to change anything. As a soldier, she chose to submit to the order.

The sortie of the Peace Maker team also attracted the attention of the Three Ships Alliance. Freedom and Justice, equipped with Meteor equipment, hurriedly put down the enemies at hand and flew toward the space where the Peace Maker was located.

Due to the tragic battle, the Jachin defense line was already riddled with holes. The Peace Maker team, under the cover of Raider and Calamity, broke through the Jachin defense line and fired nuclear missiles toward the PLANT homeland satellite cluster again.

But these nuclear missiles were shot down by Freedom and Justice again, and the remaining MS belonging to the Three Ships Alliance began to attack the Peace Maker team.

And the Archangel of the Three Ships Alliance began to shell the Peace Maker team's mothership cluster, because Murrue believed that those motherships still carried extra missiles and must be sunk as soon as possible.

And the Archangel was right on the Archangel's path forward.

Just at this time, Li Boyong piloted the Full Armor Dagger and retreated from the front line. ===== CHAPTER 68 =====