Chapter 25: Capture of Kati Manekin

On the surface, there was only one command center for the joint military exercise between Moralia and AEU, which was the general command center of PMC Tolasto, but in fact, AEU secretly set up a second command center, which could only command a secret force, and this secret force was a MS force formed by secretly drawing all the elite pilots of AEU.

And their only mission was to capture a Gundam. As for the other AEU forces, they were actually a cover for this force.

The existence of this force was not only unknown to Moralia and PMC Tolasto, but also unknown to the brother forces of AEU, so the temporary CIC of [Tianren] did not discover them at the beginning.

"Colonel, Lieutenant Patrick's signal disappeared, and the support formation was completely destroyed."

"Got it, the special forces maintained the original plan unchanged, and the MS was activated in five minutes to capture the "Sword Machine". Kati Manekin did not have any fluctuations in the death of Patrick, and still commanded the operation in an orderly manner.

This is no wonder. She has not met Padrick yet. She has only heard of his name. She heard that he was a test pilot who had conducted 2,000 simulated battles. If it were not for the strong recommendation of the research department, Kati Manekin would not have planned to transfer him to the special forces.

After accepting his transfer order, he was not directly assigned to the special forces, but was first placed in the support formation to observe his ability. In Kati Manekin's mind, a pilot who perfectly conducted 2,000 simulated battles was far inferior to a veteran who survived one battle.

As expected, he died as soon as he appeared on the battlefield. Sure enough, simulated battles are simply incomparable to battlefields. People who rely on luck to get to this point are not taken care of by the goddess of luck on the battlefield.

"Is it really just this extent?"

"Colonel, time is up!"

"Begin the battle!"

"Yes!"

"Then let's start, Jiujo, our first head-on confrontation, I will not show mercy." Kati Manekin thought as he looked at the real-time battlefield map.

…

The Exia arrived at the designated location and drove the Musou in the encirclement of the [Thugs]. Perhaps because the Exia's weapons were mostly melee weapons, and the shooting skills they showed at the beginning were completely the performance of a novice, the PMC pilots also became much bolder. Under the fire cover of their teammates, they rushed straight towards the Exia, hoping to capture the Exia with the advantage of numbers.

The price the company offered for the Gundam was not low. Even if they only took back a part, it would be enough for them to live a life of wealth and glory for the rest of their lives.

But to their horror, the other party realized that their shooting ability was very poor, and they directly put away their guns and pulled out the six GN short knives at their waists, throwing them at the [Thugs] who were standing in the distance and firing.

The [Thugs] who didn't care were directly hit in the cockpit. Under the energy of the GN beam particles, the [Thugs]'s armor was useless, and it was directly penetrated like tofu.

The steel cable at the end was quickly retracted, and the sudden change also attracted the attention of other [Thugs], and even stopped charging.

This kind of absent-mindedness, even if it lasts only a second on the battlefield, is enough to be fatal.

Holding two swords, the Archangel used all his strength to shuttle back and forth between the [Thug Style]. Every time he passed an enemy plane, he would be cut in half. The smooth cut could even be used as a mirror.

After defeating the enemy in a few moves, Setsuna was about to start the second phase of the mission, but the detector immediately sounded an alarm.

Setsuna subconsciously pulled the joystick, and the Archangel took a few steps back. Several bullets shot through the area where he had just stood, and as the alarm continued to sound, more and more enemy troops were detected.

"Reinforcements? Miss Huang's prediction was wrong?" Setsuna frowned as he watched more and more reinforcements surround him.

"Setsuna, can you hear me?" Huang connected the communication of the Archangel.

"Miss Huang."

"Go to mission plan G1, skip all plans up to the fifth phase, and from the sixth phase, the next mission will be taken over by Mein."

"Understood."

Setsuna would not question Huang's orders, and directly charged in the direction of the meeting point, ready to tear open an exit.

But the moment Exiah turned around, the troops behind her opened fire, forcing Exiah to turn around and defend.

Exiah was not a heavy MS, and even if it had more armor, the solar furnace behind it was not covered by any armor. Once it was hit directly, it would be the end.

But after turning around, the enemy in front stopped firing, and the [Formula] behind opened fire again, repeating the cycle, always focusing on the weakness of Exiah and attacking.

And Setsuna also found that the enemy's encirclement was constantly shrinking.

"I can't be entangled, otherwise... otherwise... I am... Gundam!"

Having been in an absolute disadvantage, Setsuna finally broke out, shouting, and the Angel of Exia drew an elegant S on the ground, quickly approached two [Formulas], turned around and drew his sword, splitting it in two, and quickly retracted his sword, throwing six GN short knives, hitting two [Formulas] again. After retracting the GN short knives, the Angel of Exia wanted to continue to expand the breakthrough and continue to perform the mission, but Setsuna was surprised to find that the small hole he had just torn was immediately repaired, and the enemy aircraft close to him quickly distanced themselves from the Angel of Exia and re-formed the encirclement.

Angel of Exia was like a prey, surrounded by patient hunters, constantly consuming his physical strength, waiting for the moment when he was exhausted, and then launching a fatal attack.

"Damn..." Setsuna could only worry in the cockpit but had no way to deal with it.

At this moment, dozens of beams of light fell from the sky. Each beam of light falling represented the destruction of an enemy plane, and the encirclement was immediately torn open.

"Setsuna, continue to perform the mission, leave the rest to me."

"... Yeah."

Looking at the Secret Angel falling from the sky, Setsuna pulled the joystick and rushed to the junction.

...

"Colonel! It's the "Feather Machine"! The "Sword Machine" successfully broke through!"

"Tsk, is it there?" Kati Manekin gritted his teeth and muttered to himself.

It's not that she didn't consider the Secret Angel's appearance, but unless a large force was deployed in advance to suppress long-range firepower, there was no way to fight against the Secret Angel.

And... She read the Secret Angel's battle record in Talibia countless times, and finally confirmed a fact that the Secret Angel's pilot was Yang Hui.

So she looked at the Secret Angel on the screen with a complicated look. On the one hand, she didn't want to attack Yang Hui. On the other hand, although she was the new supervisor of [Celestial Being], she had to do her best to determine whether [Celestial Being] had the ability and determination to implement the reform.

"Colonel, what should we do?"

The absent-minded thinking was interrupted, and Kati Manekin immediately gave up the capture plan and ordered all troops to retreat.

"Yes!"

The AEU pilots who received the order were also relieved. If they encountered other Gundams, they still had confidence under the command of Kati Manekin, but facing the Secret Angel, they really didn't have the courage to attack.

"Retreat? It's you, Kati, who fought calmly, accurately grasped every change, and made the most accurate judgment." Yang Hui looked at the retreating enemy and did not pursue them, but looked in another direction.

"Okay, now it's time to clean up their asses, and the group of rats should be dealt with in advance. I won't touch Sasses, but it's better to clean up his men first."