Gravity Front

After confirming that Ramba Ral had left White Base, Bright had no choice but to order the ship to stand down from its internal alert and return to the battle at hand.

Eli returned to the hangar as well and began preparing for battle.

Just then, Sayla, who had only just returned, came to find Eli.

"Did Ramba Ral... get away?"

Sayla was clearly nervous. Her fingers twisted together as she asked Eli, who was preparing to board his Mobile Suit.

Seeing her reaction, Eli already knew the answer to the question he'd asked earlier.

Clearly, she wasn't the one who had leaked the information. Otherwise, given Sayla's personality, she'd be calmly covering her tracks right now.

Instead, she was worried about Ramba Ral's safety.

"Yes, he got away. We couldn't catch him."

Eli sighed and told her the version of events he'd prepared.

After all, there was no way he could reveal that he knew her true identity at a time like this. So telling her about the agreement between him and Ramba Ral was out of the question.

"I see. That's good... Ah, no, I mean, I'm so glad you're okay."

Sayla had almost let the truth slip. She folded her arms over her chest again, partly to cover her blunder and partly because she genuinely wanted to say it.

"Besides, have you completely forgotten about me? If you only need someone to fly a Core Fighter out and make contact, I can do that too. Why risk going yourself?"

As if trying to hide how concerned she was about Eli, Sayla quickly scolded him.

"Are you sure you're okay with it? I thought that, aside from Amuro, you were the most opposed to White Base carrying out military missions."

Eli looked at Sayla, who had volunteered, and tried to gauge her feelings.

How could Eli not have considered that Sayla could take on the mission? He'd held back partly because he was considering what she wanted, and partly because the mission wasn't going to be easy.

The Dopp squadron hadn't suffered many losses. As soon as the Core Fighter took off, the Zeon forces would send Dopps to intercept it unless they were fools.

Eli explained the situation to Sayla.

"That's all right. I hated war before because that was what I wanted. Now I'm choosing to get into the Core Fighter because that's what I want. People can change. You should know that better than anyone, right?"

Sayla smoothed her hair, taming the strands that had become tousled beneath her flight helmet.

Then she noticed Eli staring at her.

Her face flushed. The words she wanted to say in reproach were almost on her lips.

"Be careful. Look after yourself."

Just as he had a little while ago, Eli said it to Sayla.

There was no mistaking the concern in his voice.

"I... You..."

Sayla blushed even more. She could only draw her hair slightly forward to hide her flustered expression.

Eli found the woman, with her hard exterior and soft heart, rather amusing. He turned, waved, and climbed onto the boarding cable.

"My life and Amuro's are in your hands, so don't you dare get yourself killed."

As the cable lifted him, Eli called to Sayla, who remained behind with her hands still pressed to her cheeks.

Once he was in the cockpit, Amuro, who had already climbed into the Gundam, contacted him.

"Then we're heading out together, Mr. Eli."

"You too. Make sure you stay alive, Amuro."

At this point, Eli stopped insisting that Amuro stay out of danger.

Now that Amuro had made up his mind, Eli's job was to fight with everything he had and bring both of them back.

"Eli Li, Gundam Ground Type, launching!"

The Ground Type climbed onto the catapult and shot out of White Base at top speed, hurtling toward the canyon exit!

The Gundam piloted by Amuro followed close behind.

This time, Eli hadn't taken the small shield issued to the Gundam Ground Type. Instead, he'd brought the Gundam's standard shield.

Thanks to that, it blocked several rocket rounds before he'd even landed, allowing him to touch down safely!

After Eli landed, several beams shot down from the air and picked off the Zaku units.

It was Amuro, landing beside Eli.

They exchanged no words, simply advancing while taking turns covering each other.

Eli used the 100mm Machine Gun to deal with armored units like Dopps and Magellas. They only brought out the Beam Rifle when they encountered Mobile Suits.

With the terrain as cover, the two of them managed to hold out despite being surrounded.

But even so, everywhere they looked, the battlefield glowed with artillery fire.

They'd already confirmed more than a dozen Mobile Suits positioned right in front of them.

Lunar Titanium Alloy armor was tough enough to shrug off most artillery attacks, but the shockwaves from the explosions didn't simply disappear.

If they took a barrage of fire at close range, the vibrations alone could shake them to death.

"Eli, can you hear me? I've made contact with the Big Tray-class. Send me the coordinates for the bombardment!"

Just as the two of them were being pinned down by the artillery, Sayla's voice finally came through the comms.

"Understood. The coordinates are..."

Eli had been waiting for this. He immediately transmitted the coordinates, which were then relayed through the Core Fighter to the Big Tray-class farther away.

Eli popped up, used the Beam Rifle to take out a Gouf that had come too close, then crouched back down behind the hillside.

"Whoosh!"

The distinctive whistle of incoming shells rang out, throwing the Zeon forces into disarray!

Honestly, Eli was surprised, too.

He hadn't expected Sayla to break through the Dopp interception so quickly and make contact with the main force.

"Anyway, great work, Sayla!"

Eli cheered and stood the Mobile Suit up, charging forward!

Now they had to tear open a breach in the enemy line to clear the way for White Base.

As soon as they broke through the whole front and linked up with the Federation forces, the Federation could advance along the route they'd opened and seize victory!

"Whoosh!"

But the whistle of another shell came from above.

This time, it struck the mountainside!

It was clearly an enemy attack.

"I see it, Mr. Eli. It's a Zeon Dabude-class!"

"What? It's that close...? Sayla, don't do anything rash. Leave it to me..."

The moment Eli heard Sayla, he panicked and prepared to drive the Ground Type through the enemy line.

He was afraid Sayla might impulsively attack the Dabude-class with her Core Fighter.

"No, don't. Just now, there was a... Guntank? It charged up at incredible speed and blew itself up with that Dabude-class..."

Sayla sounded heartbroken by what she'd witnessed.

To her, it was a brave sacrifice by an allied unit to protect White Base.

"What?"

The oddly familiar description left Eli stunned.

I've always liked the Assault Guntank concept. Its combat record was impressive, too. The three units charged all the way to the Dabude-class, and who knows how many Mobile Suits they took out along the way? It's a shame the Federation eventually abandoned the model. Otherwise, it might have become the mainstay of its ground forces, especially since the massive Type 61 Tank Unit would probably have taken to a big tank like that.