Chapter 366 - 367: The Desert Tiger

Chapter 366: Chapter 367: The Desert Tiger

[Grass (a type of exclamation), shameless AI—here to scam us, here to ambush us.]

[So this is permission-farming with extra steps, huh?]

[Inori: I’m a newbie AI. I’m scared the enemy won’t be ruthless enough.]

[LMAO, now I just want to see how the enemy gets itself killed.]

[Feels like they might subvert the usual trope.]

[Wait, why does ZAFT even have territory on Earth?]

[Wouldn’t ZAFT get drowned in sheer numbers in minutes on Earth?]

[Not everyone on Earth belongs to the Earth Alliance. Look at episode one—the TV showed an icon. The Earth Alliance is probably about half the population, and the other half is neutral.]

The audience was discussing ZAFT.

And the scene followed their topic over to ZAFT’s side.

It was already night in North Africa.

The screen showed the view through an infrared night-vision scope.

The battered figure of the Archangel was quickly picked up in the lens.

"So? What condition is the legendary ’Archangel’ in now?"

Hearing his commander’s voice, Martin DaCosta, who had been concentrating on his observation, immediately raised his head and turned toward the man who had just spoken.

"Reporting, sir! There’s still no movement!"

Standing before DaCosta as he looked up was a tall, lean man.

He wore a desert-camouflage uniform over his sturdy frame. His long, narrow face was darkened by the sun, giving him a distinctive, feral air.

Andrew Waldfeld—the man known as the Desert Tiger.

"Well, they were affected by the Neutron Jammers. The ground-level electromagnetic environment is a complete mess because of them. I imagine this young lady is sleeping quite soundly right now..."

As Andrew spoke, he brought the cup in one hand to his lips. Then he suddenly went, "Hm?" and his expression changed dramatically.

DaCosta immediately went on alert and raised the infrared scope. "What is it?!"

DaCosta tensely watched for any sign that something unusual had happened.

But behind him, his commander suddenly put on an extremely satisfied expression.

"No, I reduced the proportion of mocha beans by five percent this time, and it actually tastes pretty good!"

"Uh..."

Apparently that had merely been his verdict on the coffee in his hand.

DaCosta wore an indescribably speechless expression.

Still, DaCosta knew that this commander had a private hobby: inventing his own coffee blends.

This was North Africa, and their base was not far from coffee-producing regions.

But DaCosta simply could not bring himself to like this black, bitter drink.

His commander, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy it immensely.

"Maybe next time I should try Sheba Mocha... Hm?!"

Andrew’s eyes widened again.

"Commander, no matter how much coffee trivia you give me, I still—"

"No, no, no! It’s that young lady!"

Hearing Andrew, DaCosta raised the scope again.

Sure enough, the Archangel was moving.

[The boy who cried wolf, huh?]

[LMAO, and this time the wolf really came.]

[He seems like a pretty fun guy.]

[For them, the Archangel dropping here was an accident in the first place.]

[ZAFT probably never expected Murrue to come straight down to Earth either.]

[But our own side did.]

[That’s why the Archangel almost got shot down.]

[What kind of hell joke is this? The enemy has done more for our side than we have ourselves, lol.]

"An MS? Gold?"

"Ahem. This is an MS belonging to a neutral nation. There are currently refugees from the neutral nation of Orb aboard the Archangel who require aid. We request that ZAFT provide assistance and transportation for the refugees."

The other side had simply turned on a loudspeaker and started broadcasting.

The people on ZAFT’s side were dumbfounded when they heard that.

Andrew, however, burst out laughing.

"Looks like this Archangel-san is pretty interesting too!"

"Wait, Commander?! Commander Waldfeld?!"

DaCosta was completely stunned.

"Since they’re refugees from a neutral nation, and that’s an MS from a neutral nation, that means the other side isn’t the enemy. If they’re not the enemy... then of course we can talk."

Andrew narrowed his eyes. "Or were you expecting us to take on the Archangel? The same Archangel even Le Creuset’s team couldn’t handle—the one they couldn’t bring down even after losing two Laurasia-class ships and a Nazca-class?"

Andrew looked behind him.

The camera shifted with his gaze.

Behind him were ZAFT’s desert forces.

A huge number of troops stood ready, but every one of them looked extremely tense.

[You can really see how severe ZAFT’s psychological trauma is.]

[An entire unit faces one half-dead Archangel and doesn’t dare attack. They can only stand there on full alert, lol.]

[I feel like the Archangel is almost ready for the scrapyard.]

[Definitely. Think about real ships—once the keel gets damaged, they’re basically done for.]

[Nooo, my headless angel, sob sob...]

[Grass (a type of exclamation), I almost forgot the Archangel is literally headless right now.]

[Seriously, the Archangel should hurry up and defect.]

[Wouldn’t that mean Halberton is definitely dead?]

[If you just go back normally, then yeah, he’s probably doomed. But if you really have the guts to defect, I bet Halberton might actually survive.]

[Why are you all so sure their superior is going to die?]

The Stage remained as excellent as ever at cutting away at the perfect moment.

After showing the Archangel’s situation, the scene cut—and shifted into space.

"Nani, Long Legs landed on Earth?!"

Le Creuset’s team had been preparing to ambush the Archangel from another direction, only for the North African forces to suddenly report that the Archangel had already descended into their sphere of influence.

"This time really is interesting." Le Creuset was in a very good mood. "According to the report from down there, Long Legs has suffered extremely heavy damage. And yet we have no record whatsoever of attacking Long Legs from the ground."

In other words, the Archangel had not been damaged by ZAFT.

"Could the bridge damage have caused them to lose control during descent?" Yzak wondered.

"And the fact that the Archangel didn’t descend toward Alaska is strange to begin with. Something really may have gone wrong during landing," Nicol added.

"Athrun, what do you think?" Le Creuset looked at Athrun.

"The Archangel couldn’t have lost control like that."

Athrun knew Inori. He had personally experienced what she could do.

It was only missing its head. Something like that probably would not affect much.

"...So the Archangel must have come under attack, and its structure was damaged while it was evading."

The Archangel had been attacked.

But the attacker was not ZAFT.

"Could it have been a third-party force?" Dearka guessed.

Athrun fell silent.

Because Athrun had thought of another organization with a motive: Blue Cosmos.

And as far as Athrun knew, Blue Cosmos and the Atlantic Federation were practically birds of a feather.

But the Archangel was also an Atlantic Federation ship.

In other words: the Archangel had been shot down by its own side!