Gundam, Gravity Elegy

"The turn is..."

"retreat."

Yuri spoke with absolute certainty:

"We only have one Gaeu left. If we don't form a formation, this kind of aircraft with little flexibility probably won't be able to compete with the Federation's air formation. Anyway, today's gains are enough."

At this point, he looked up at the screen:

"The Federation's mobile suit, that thing in his hand is a beam weapon used by individual soldiers!"

'Drip drip'

'Drip drip'

Just as the particles inside the rifle's long barrel gradually converged, various alarms continued to ring in Gao Ren's cockpit.

"Compression and convergence are complete, but there's still a little bit missing."

"ZizzZZZZ"

The Mega particles were restrained by the force field inside the gun barrel, and Gao Ren even felt as if he heard a sound like an electrical circuit overload.

but……

"Wait a little longer, at least make sure that the residual particles don't hit the troops on the ground."

The nozzles on his back kept adjusting their position, and Gao Ren just stared at the 'white garlic' that was also compressed to the extreme.

Then, he involuntarily closed his eyes.

The particles were surging, and he felt he could clearly feel the tremor.

"3, 2, 1."

"6000 - High level remains unchanged."

Pushing forward to the end, the Gundam instantly changed its stance.

When the back nozzles are fully open, the rifle that the Gundam is holding up is already at an upward angle.

"And from this angle..."

High G overload caused a mouthful of blood to gush from his throat, making Gao Ren dizzy.

but……

"Give me the chance to fall!"

Pull the trigger!

'Boom'

Amidst the immense pressure and roar of the cockpit, the long-accumulated particle flow surged upwards, and the deafening barrage directly shattered the Luna Tank.

The I-force field of the compressed particles went out of control, and the particle cannon that had never been fired exploded internally, along with the nuclear fusion reactor, creating a spectacular firework in the air that left no trace.

then……

'boom'

In a somewhat hazy state of mind, Gao Ren was simply adjusting the nozzles based on instinct.

Then, the cabin jolted.

'boom'

It looked like it had landed on the ground, but it was clearly not the ground.

"Good marksmanship, just a little too much."

It was still that free and unrestrained voice, but at this moment it actually relaxed his tense nerves.

Gao Ren smiled:

"So you're still here?"

"Ha, a qualified adult would not push all the responsibility onto a child, nor would they abandon a child and run away."

Kuvatro whistled:

"But then again, with one shot like that, the nuclear reaction will stop immediately, and the tiny bit of radioactivity will be blocked by particles, which is quite environmentally friendly."

"It's not that simple."

Facing the smoky cloud of Mie particles, Gao Ren simply gazed at the faintly visible sky:

"If we're lucky, this shot could really get that guy in trouble."

…………

"A high-energy heat source reaction has been detected directly below!"

"What?! Get out of the way!!!"

Chapter 73: The Retreat of Zeon

Gau-class aircraft carriers.

Although the thermonuclear jet engine, with its powerful and robust design, allows it to achieve a speed close to Mach 1 even when 30% of its total thrust is used for lift, it still manages to fly at a speed close to Mach 1.

However, it is very poor in terms of flexibility. In level flight, it can only rely on the steering wheel to control the vertical tail through mechanical transmission to change the direction of flight.

But if you really encounter an emergency and need to make any maneuvers...

"Power transmission, steering... Ugh!!!"

If someone could observe from that altitude of over 10,000 meters, they would see the massive fuselage tilting and flipping slightly at an odd angle.

Those on the bridge who couldn't grab onto any handrails, including the commander, all fell directly to one side of the bridge.

However, this sacrifice was worthwhile!

'Boom'

The stream of particles barely grazed the heavy central fuselage and passed by one of the wings.

'boom'

"The left-wing nuclear engine is damaged!"

After finally getting up from the ground, Yuri couldn't help but move his sore and stiff shoulders.

"Well done, Runeyi."

"But Commander, the engines on the wings..."

"It's alright. In terms of design, the Gau can withstand the destruction of one of its engines. The only thing to worry about is that thing on the ground... Can it detect particle reactions?"

"Yes, the particle beam was spreading out on a massive scale at an altitude of about 7 kilometers above us."

"But we are now about 15,000 meters above the ground."

"Yes, this means that the Federation Army has developed a beam weapon with an ultra-long range, with a maximum range conservatively estimated to be over 15 kilometers."

"Does that mean they can snipe us from the ground?"

"No, the concentration of Minovsky particles is still very high, and the accuracy of the Federal MS's optical viewfinder should not be that high."

But the moment the words left his mouth, Yuri couldn't help but add:

"It shouldn't be too much better than the Zaku..."

Otherwise, they simply wouldn't be able to bear the consequences!

'Crack'

On the other side, at an altitude of about two thousand meters above the ground, the long-barreled rifle that Gundam was gripping tightly was radiating heat energy created by compressed positive and negative particles.

"Is the energy depleted?"

"Well, the coolant has run out too."

"……so."

After the heat that had almost reached the front of the Dede bomber dissipated, Cuvatro couldn't help but cast his gaze into the distance.

Above the sky, nothing unusual occurred in the distant clouds, and there was no feedback from the other side of the seemingly 'pierced' cloud layer.

"However, it seems your final strike missed; you failed to kill two opponents at once."

"I see... but it was already beyond the effective range to begin with."

After taking a deep breath, Gao Ren gently pressed the recycle button.

Based on the pre-stored motion data of the learning computer, the Gundam can easily switch weapons—that's how it should be.

"No action?"

Seeing that Gundam gave no response, his heart skipped a beat.

But soon, the machine's control panel displayed a precise message:

"Were the weapon racks damaged in the previous impact...?"

He switched the empty long-barreled rifle to the 100m machine gun mounted on his back.

So, should we chase after them?

“Chase...but it’s probably unlikely to catch up with Gau, which has turned and is sailing at full speed.”

So what should we do?

"Let's change our targets to those fighter jets!"

…………

"Drip drip drip"

"Enemy MS spotted directly below."

"This guy is still here..."

Upon hearing the news, Yuri's nerves, which had finally relaxed, tensed up again.

At the same time, the heavy feeling spreading in his chest made him, in the prime of his life, feel pain in his internal organs:

"Can the Federation's mobile suits even fly?!"

"No, it's the Dede bomber. The bomber that the Federation seized is still at his feet."

"But that's impossible. How could MS and Dede communicate in a high-concentration environment using only their communication capabilities?!"

Gradually, a disturbance began to spread across the bridge, but Yuri stopped it before it could:

"Calm down, everyone. We will withdraw according to the original plan. Don't forget that our fighter squadron is still here. Send out escort signals!"

Of course, in reality, before the Gau-class fighter jet fired its simple signal flare, the surrounding alien-like fighter jets had already reacted.

As it stands, Zeon has yet to experience a true defeat.

Since the start of the operation to land on Earth, successive victories and media hypnosis have inflated the confidence of these people to unprecedented levels. Therefore, when they saw the mobile suit still pursuing them, only one emotion came to mind:

humiliation!

"Shoot that black guy down!"

The fierce howling and surging sound seemed to be unleashing a ferocious momentum.

Unfortunately, the undulating Minovsky particles completely blocked any further tactical advances, and their so-called maneuverability was negligible if judged solely by optical and visual observation.

"too slow!"

Machine guns and Vulcan cannons fired continuously in two directions, and bullets of different calibers formed a perfect interlaced barrage at that moment.

Before even a second explosion could occur, the toe-shaped cannons had already smashed the planes to pieces, causing bursts of brilliant fire.

"First squadron, all signals have disappeared. And the escort squadron of the Buffalo and Vincent is also losing signals!"

It wasn't just the constantly disappearing signals on the panel; even a glance at the screen directly above would make it perfectly clear.

The sensors deployed throughout Gawu, designed for detection in rice-grain environments, have precisely captured the continuous bursts of light from the explosions.

"This distance is too close, but that beam weapon seems to need to accumulate particles beforehand... Tsk, Runeyi, isn't it over yet?"

"Just a little bit more..."

At this point, the aircraft carrier helmsman named Runeyi had already turned the rudder to its full extent.