If one were to observe the duel between the two Astray mobile suits and the prototype ZAKU, it would be difficult to tell who would come out as a clear victor.
On one hand, the ZAKU is a powerful machine with Phase Shift armour to protect it from conventional weaponry and it had an N-Jammer Canceller powering it up. The energy output of the railguns is pretty high (perhaps as strong as the Freedom's own 'Xiphias' rail cannons) and getting hit with a blade tomahawk is not a pleasant experience.
But the main edges that the Astray pilots had were actual combat experience and tight teamwork. To explain a little further, under normal circumstances, test pilots who were under the jurisdiction of a technical evaluation team would not be assigned to the front lines as there are many other pilots who could enter the battlefield. Test pilots brought their own value into ZAFT since they were able to detect any design flaws while evaluating a mobile suit's performance.
Courtney was well aware of this as he tangled with Barry in melee combat and used his railguns to try and pin Jean. He felt a small bit of admiration towards the two. Jean's records spoke for themselves and Barry's unit moved gracefully while in battle, like a genuine martial artist. In straight out combat, he wouldn't really be able to do well against experienced pilots. His only chance of victory lay with continuous engagements of the enemy so that they would wear out their battery while fighting him.
Jean himself slowly deduced Courtney's strategy as he noticed the enemy's strange attack patterns. He had to give credit to the other pilot. Hieronymus was already aware that his piloting skills weren't as sharp as the enemies but as long as he didn't sustain too much damage and ran around like an annoying flea, he would wear out the targets. Then he would go in for the capture or simply wait for some colleagues to arrive.
'There has to be something we can use!' He maximized the range of his mobile suit's sensors and discovered the faint blip of a ship. "Barry, follow me!!"
The other Astray skillfully took advantage of an opening made by the ZAKU overextending itself and landed a quick but solid hit to disorient the enemy. Then he quickly blasted off after Jean.
"You're not getting away so easily!" Courtney fired up his own thrusters and resumed his pursuit of the two Astrays. 'Just where are they going? They know they can't outrun me!'
As the units flew through space, Jean started getting better readings on the ship ahead. The good news is that it wasn't a ZAFT ship. The bad news... the ship's registered class is Agamemnon class, which acted as a fleet's flagship under the Earth Alliance. 'This is just swell. Now what?'
That's when things turned a bit bizarre for him. The ship hailed him and when he opened a channel, this is what was spoken. "Need a hand, Jean?"
'What the hell?'
**********
'What the hell?' The same thought that Jean had a few moments ago was now being repeated in Courtney's mind. Why would two Astray mobile suits suddenly land on an Earth Alliance vessel? It just didn't make sense until he heard this transmission.
"This is Captain Meriol Pristis of the Junk Guild vessel Ortigiya. I would like to know why you are giving chase to two valuable members of my crew?"
He wasn't sure how to properly respond. The last thing he wanted was an international incident where ZAFT would look bad for going after members of a neutral faction. For the moment, he should withdraw. Besides, he has plenty of performance data on the ZAKU. As he made an about face and blasted back to the PLANTs, he made a note not to get caught in the heat of the moment as he did before.
In the cockpits of the two Astrays, Jean and Barry gave small sighs of relief. But a new question troubled both pilot's minds.
What are the intentions of Captain Pristis?
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Yasanagi
(Posted Tue, 13 Feb 2007 22:37)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.