Gundam Assault

"Amuro, another one's heading your way!"

Eli roared over the comms. He worked his Mobile Suit hard, knocking aside the mass-produced Gouf's Heat Saber in front of him before thrusting his Beam Saber forward and melting straight through the Gouf's cockpit.

The Gouf he'd let past him was taken out by Amuro with two shots.

"Mr. Eli, the canyon's just ahead. Bright says we're to charge through!"

"He doesn't need to tell me twice!"

After confirming that most of the enemies in front of him had been dealt with, Eli drove the Gundam Ground Type toward Amuro to join up with him.

The route from White Base to the canyon had been cleared of enemies.

Before long, White Base, moving at the highest speed possible on Earth, came barreling toward them like a mobile fortress of steel!

A squadron of Dopp Fighters circled nearby, trying to attack, but for the moment, the ship's anti-aircraft fire was holding them off.

Gundam immediately raised his Beam Rifle, intending to help White Fortress.

But the Ground Type pushed it back down.

"Trust your friends. If we stop now, we're all finished."

Eli's voice came over the comms, calming Amuro's anxious thoughts.

"Bang!"

Just as expected, the Mobile Suits on either side of White Base opened fire, each unleashing its own firepower. Several Dopps were taken out at once.

Eli also noticed that the G-Fighter had been activated. Its B component had connected to a Core Fighter, forming a G-Sky Easy Type (henceforth G-Sky—anyway, I can't be bothered to have Gundam connect to this thing too), which was soaring through the sky as well.

Was it Sayla?

Eli shook his head, refusing to let useless thoughts distract him at such a critical moment.

"Let's move, Amuro!"

With that, Eli pressed down on the pedal first. The thrusters on the Gundam Ground Type's back blazed to life, sending the entire Mobile Suit surging forward!

There they were: a mixed defensive force of Zaku and Gouf at the canyon's entrance, five machines in all.

They could do this!

"I'll take the left!"

As Eli called out to Amuro, the Gundam Ground Type was still airborne, both hands gripping its Beam Rifle as it took aim. It fired once in midair, blowing up a Zaku on the spot.

By the time the Ground Type landed, two Zaku were glaring at him from right in front.

No, glaring wasn't quite the word. Eli could sense that they were all bluster, and that one of them was even beginning to consider retreating.

The reason was obvious: the Ground Type's head.

Eli didn't care what they were thinking. They hadn't surrendered, and they were still armed, which made them the enemy!

He stowed the empty Beam Rifle at his waist. The 100mm Machine Gun that had been there was now in the Ground Type's left hand.

"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!"

A stream of bullets tore out, and the Zaku in front of him could do nothing but collapse helplessly, smoke billowing from its body.

But just as Eli finished off one Zaku, two nearly simultaneous explosions rang out from the other side!

"Amuro? Impressive."

Eli didn't even need to look to know that Amuro's Gundam had taken out the enemies assigned to him.

Eli was used to it by now, but the Zaku in front of him clearly wasn't.

Fear began to seep out of the cold steel giant.

The next moment, the machine lost its will to fight and turned to flee!

Since it had turned its back on the enemy in the middle of a battlefield, Eli wasn't about to show mercy and let it return to hurt his allies. He immediately raked the Zaku's leg power cables with his 100mm Machine Gun, snapping them.

Even after that, the enemy still showed no sign of surrender. Eli didn't hesitate any longer. He closed in and smashed through the Zaku's cockpit with the claw on the tip of his shield.

By now, White Fortress had begun entering the valley, forcing the circling Dopp Fighters to climb.

There was little room for them to maneuver in the valley, and their already limited payload meant they couldn't carry bombs.

"Nice touch. You've got a few tricks up your sleeve, Bright."

Seeing the Dopps' movements, Eli realized that White Fortress's greatest threat had now been neutralized.

The two Mobile Suits, Guncannon and Guntank, were heading toward the ship's stern to intercept the Zeon forces pursuing them from outside the canyon.

"Amuro, use this chance to recharge your Beam Rifle!"

Beam Rifles hadn't yet been developed with E-packs, and their limited capacity meant they had to be recharged aboard a ship.

Even though the Beam Rifle used by Gundam held more energy than the Ground Type's, it probably had only three or four shots left.

As he spoke, Eli noticed G-Sky heading out ahead on its own to scout for targets and buy them time to recharge.

"Miss Sayla, take good care of yourself."

As he walked his Mobile Suit into the hangar, Eli thought it over, then sent a message to G-Sky.

"I will."

Sayla's reply was so brief and composed that it was clear she was focused entirely on piloting and didn't dare let herself get distracted.

Seeing that, Eli didn't press her. He opened his cockpit, leaned out, and took an energy supplement from the maintenance crew on the catwalk, putting it in his mouth.

The paste-like substance had no flavor. It had been designed solely to replenish the energy pilots expended during combat.

"How long will it take to recharge the Beam Rifle?"

"At least six more minutes."

After getting a firm answer from the maintenance crew, Eli gestured to Amuro, who'd come in behind him. He saw Amuro jogging over in his flight suit.

Come to think of it, did Amuro's pilot suit have air conditioning? Otherwise, how could he keep wearing it all the time?

For some reason, Eli thought of Shiro Amada, who'd been unable to stand the heat in his pilot suit when he'd first arrived on Earth.

"What is it, Mr. Eli?"

"It'll take about ten minutes to get through the canyon, which gives us just enough time to recharge the Beam Rifle. Now that we've entered this canyon, and since it leads straight to M'Quve's base, the Zeon Forces are bound to have a large force waiting to intercept us when we come out. It'll be difficult for us to break through and keep the bigger picture in mind on our own."

Eli took a tablet from a nearby member of the maintenance crew and indicated where the enemy forces might be positioned at the far end of the canyon.

A typical commander would probably deploy their forces in a fan-shaped defensive formation, positioning Mobile Suits at key points.

"The problem is, if we can't break through their defenses right away, we'll be caught in the guns of the Zeon ground battleships. Then White Base will be in danger."

If Mobile Suits had taken over the battlefield role once held by tanks, then the new "tanks" in this larger-scale war were ground battleships.

According to intelligence received before the battle, Zeon had deployed five Dabude-class ground battleships in Odessa. Their main guns posed a huge threat to White Fortress.

"On the other hand, we can request fire support from the Federation."

Eli added that point right away.

If Zeon could deploy ground battleships, the Federation certainly wouldn't be left behind.

The Federation's battleships were Big Tray-class, and one of them would serve as General Revil's personal ship and command vessel.

The Federation had committed thirty percent of its ground forces to this operation. They were determined to win their first counteroffensive.