Gundam, Gravity Elegy

Gundam, Gravity Elegy Author: Red Sparrow Salty Fish

Work summary:

One day, Gao Ren is invited to a gathering of the main characters from the Universal Century, the theme of which is their respective mothers.

Since Char had been banned by the administrator Amuro, Little Tomato was the first to express his feelings: My life makes me feel restricted, and my mother has never understood me.

Amuro: My mother didn't understand why I went to the battlefield, and when we met again, she only blamed me.

Camus: My mother was only obsessed with work and never cared about me.

Judo: My parents went out to work and then disappeared. I raised my younger sister all by myself.

Upon hearing this, Little Tomato felt even more pressured, and she had no choice but to turn her attention to the boy who had just joined the group, so she asked him.

Gao Ren: I don't have a father, but my mother loves me very much. I live in a loving family.

Upon hearing this, Little Tomato immediately expressed her envy and wanted to meet that great mother.

Three days later, Little Tomato stood in Sydney Harbour holding a "Best Mother" banner, looking at the tourist sign pointing to the sunken city:

"Visiting now requires taking a submarine."

(Ultimate UC hodgepodge, watchable even if you haven't seen Gundam)

Prologue: Small Changes in History

The universe—it seems that ever since people began gazing at the sky, they have had an endless yearning for it.

Even if one is grounded in reality, one cannot help but cast that fantasy, along with one's thoughts, into the vast and dark universe, which is full of endless hope.

If we united the strength of all mankind to explore the outside world, humanity would have already migrated to the universe long ago—such voices have never been lacking, but what would happen when it actually becomes a reality?

Suddenly one day, nations decided to set aside their prejudices and form a unified government called the 'Earth Federation'. Starting with building colony satellites and taking the first step into space, the world officially entered the Universal Century.

A beautiful chapter has begun—that's how it should be if there hadn't been a war.

…………

"In the end, it still turned into war."

As the warship sailed on the ocean, a young woman leaning against the railing couldn't help but sigh.

Shirley Page – 18 years old, Lieutenant in the Earth Federation Army.

Logically speaking, achieving such success at this age should be a promising thing, but now, neither the gloomy sky, nor the polluted sea breeze, nor even the faintly visible ruined land in the distance could lift her spirits.

And all of this is for one reason—the radio program she's currently listening to:

"Today, representatives of the Principality of Zeon will meet with representatives of the Earth Federation government in Antarctica. According to various sources, this meeting will bring an end to the War of Independence that broke out at the beginning of the month..."

At the beginning of the month, the most remote side 3 on Earth—a satellite city cluster located in the L2 Munzo space region—launched an independence war against the Earth Federation government.

Although almost a month has passed since then, the actual fighting only lasted for about a week.

Zeon attacked the core by injecting poison gas and dropping colony satellites to Earth. Although it failed to reach the Federation Forces headquarters, it still had a significant impact, not to mention the great victory it won in the main battle in the Side 5 Loum space area.

Thus, the Principality of Zeon, which was originally at a clear disadvantage, unexpectedly gained a huge apparent advantage in the One Week War.

In other words...

"It looks like those Zeonians are going to win."

She wanted to laugh, but a mocking smile involuntarily crept onto her pretty face.

"After the Battle of Loum, the morale of the Federation Army was completely shattered, making them a complete joke."

"You can't say that, after all, who could have imagined that Zeon would really catch them off guard?"

The voice came from the side, and the girl who was resting her chin on her hand finally calmed down.

She took off her headphones:

"Sister Maggie."

The affectionate address brought a smile to the face of the woman who approached, but the smile carried a hint of comfort.

"You don't need to blame yourself; you actually did enough at the time."

"But there really was a chance to turn things around back then."

Shirley couldn't help but pout and wave her little fists.

It's hard to imagine that this 18-year-old girl has participated in the largest war since the beginning of the Universal Century.

"Actually, if everything had gone smoothly, we should have been able to intercept the assault team personally led by that woman Kycilia, but who knew that the intelligence itself was false, no... not to mention the intelligence, the entire operation plan was full of deception!"

"But at least you survived."

"Yes, I survived."

Perhaps Maggie Luda wanted to offer comfort.

However, these words inevitably took on a different meaning when they reached Shirley's ears:

"Not only did I survive, I was also promoted."

At this point, Shirley pointed to her collar, where the single bar and two stars looked lifeless in the sunlight:

"Lieutenant—they gave me the same rank as Sister Maggie, and maybe even a slightly higher position?"

Looking at Shirley's radiant, almost exaggerated expression, Maggie Luda couldn't help but feel a lump in her throat.

That's not what I meant...

"Hey, what are you doing over there?!"

But before she could offer any further words of comfort, the untimely rebuke rang out.

Then, a man who looked overweight but was wearing a military uniform walked over.

"Is this an important mission period, and you're slacking off here?!"

His reprimands sound dutiful, but upon closer inspection, one can easily detect the anger fueled by selfishness and prejudice.

"There are orders from above. If this search and rescue operation doesn't yield any results..."

"What if we don't achieve anything?"

She simply raised her head and her gaze swept over him.

Her gaze lingered for a moment on the slightly ill-fitting military uniform before she looked at the collar: two bars and one star.

"Major?"

With a higher military rank (two ranks higher), one's status should also be higher.

But on the contrary, cold sweat dripped down the man's face:

"You...you are Lieutenant Page of the Space Force?"

"Yes, I'm Shirley Page, the one who gets promoted even if all her teammates die and she loses a battle. And now I want to vacation on this ship, is that a problem?"

"……No."

Meeting the woman's mocking gaze, the man couldn't help but take out a handkerchief to wipe away his cold sweat.

After glancing at Maggie Luda to the side, he bowed.

"I'm so sorry to bother you."

Without any introduction, the man fled in disarray.

Watching that panicked figure retreat, Shirley couldn't help but sneer:

"A good-for-nothing."

"Major Dort is, after all, the captain of this warship. Let's show him some respect."

"That's on the premise that he at least learns to respect us. Didn't he try to take his anger out on us before?"

She gazed into the distance. Under a gloomy sky, the remnants of ruins could still be seen on the faintly visible coastline.

The ruins, including some surrounding areas, that were flooded by seawater once had a name—Sydney.

Since being bombarded by the Principality of Zeon with its colony satellite, the former prosperity has long since vanished, and even the nearby Torrington base exudes a desolate atmosphere of being in ruins.

As for the Himalayan-class aircraft carrier Jonah, where Sherry and the others were, it was carrying out a search and rescue mission that had been going on for a month near the satellite crash site.

Perhaps it's just a vanity project, or perhaps the higher-ups really do have family and friends living in that city.

Almost a month has passed, and the Federal Navy, having gained nothing, continues this operation.

But no matter what, this was not a good job for the lower-ranking soldiers or even the officers in charge of the search and rescue—after all, their colleagues were earning merits by actually saving people, but here they were getting nothing.

"So to be honest, that old guy was just taking his anger out on us."

Sherry put her headphones back on and couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"So-called power will only submit to stronger power, just like a low-ranking soldier who is full of anger, but can only put aside that insignificant hatred if his superiors want to negotiate."

"Zi La"

Suddenly, a cacophony of noise, as if it were an interference, stung my ears.

【Help……】

"What's wrong with this radio?"

Sherry instinctively pulled off her headphones and covered her ears.

But before she could check, she discovered that the sound hadn't disappeared:

If anyone can still hear this...

"Huh?"

There isn't enough oxygen...

"Could it be... there are survivors?"

"Survivors? What survivors?"

"Sister Maggie, didn't you hear that voice?"

She covered her ears and held her breath:

At least let this child...

"Sister Maggie, someone survived!"

Before the stunned Maggie could respond, Sherry started running across the deck:

"Is anyone there?! Help! There are survivors—there are survivors here in Sydney!!"

When Maggie Luda came to her senses, all she saw was the girl running around on the aircraft carrier deck.

The sudden movement caused the radio, which wasn't even properly seated, to fall to the ground.

When the wired headphones fell apart, the program inside let out a roar.

That was a magnificent roar:

"Zeon has run out of soldiers! We will surely win!"

"General Rebil...?"

…………

July 31, UC.0079

General John Ibrahim Rebil, who was supposed to be captured by the Principality of Zeon at the Battle of Loum, suddenly appeared and delivered a speech at the Antarctic Treaty site stating that "Zeon has no more troops to spare."

This speech greatly boosted the morale of the federal troops, and the Antarctic Treaty, which was supposed to end the war and be regarded as the federal surrender document, underwent significant changes.

The Earth Federation Forces were determined to continue the fight, and General Reibille became the first Commander-in-Chief of the Earth Federation Forces, overseeing the overall situation during the war.

On the same day—the Earth Federation Navy: the Himalayan-class aircraft carrier Jonah salvaged an aircraft shuttle damaged by the shockwave of a satellite crash in the deep ocean off southeastern Australia, rescuing a 14-year-old boy who was still conscious.

The report states that this was the result of a joint and meticulous search by the Jonah and its fleet.

But at the same time, another piece of news spread like wildfire—it was said that a federal sergeant heard a distress call that sounded like telepathy and thus located and retrieved the body.