Chapter 166 – Uraki: TATAKAE!
They could now see it—that massive silhouette of the mobile dock ship.
And beside it, the constant bursts of fire.
"MS teams may launch at their own discretion! All gunports, open fire!"
As Captain Sinapus handed over launch authority to the MS pilots, he also began directing the Albion to deploy its main cannons.
The same command was echoed aboard the neighboring White Chaser.
Thirteen Mobile Suits burst forth from the two warships, charging into the area of space surrounding the La Vie en Rose.
The Pegasus-class ships followed closely behind the MS units.
Leading the first wave, of course, were the two Gundams.
"Maintain the flight path!"
Eli called out to Kou Uraki, flying alongside him in formation.
Because the two Pegasus-class vessels had already launched a barrage of missiles ahead of them, racing toward the battlefield.
The booming explosions drew the attention of the Zeon remnants besieging the La Vie en Rose, shifting their focus to the sudden appearance of two more Pegasus-class warships.
Even though there were only two ships and just thirteen MS, the remnants dared not take them lightly.
The arrival of Pegasus-class ships nearly always signaled the presence of Gundams.
Sure enough, beams of light soon streaked from that direction, directly hitting a Zaku.
The explosion burst into a fireball, reflected in the eyes of the Zeon soldiers, stirring a wave of panic.
"Beam weapons?!"
"From that range?!"
"It's a Gundam!"
"No doubt about it—it's definitely a Gundam!"
The Zeon remnants began to stir in confusion, their previously coordinated offensive formation thrown into disarray, giving the Federation holdouts near the La Vie en Rose a brief window to breathe.
"Don't panic! I'll take care of the Gundam!"
Gato's voice suddenly rang through the comms.
"You lot just stick to the plan—leave the Gundam to me!"
At the front lines, the Zeon remnants turned their heads to see a grey-blue-painted Gyan, flanked by a red-painted Zaku, charging ahead with a squad of MS directly at the newly arrived Federation forces.
There was no doubt—that was the custom-modified Gyan designed for Gato's use.
And the red Zaku closely tailing him was none other than Daryl's Psycho-Sensing Zaku Mk-II, a machine specially tuned for this operation.
It too had been upgraded with the latest tech—according to the unnamed engineers who had worked on it, its specs could rival today's Gundams.
As for the Gyan—needless to say—it had been thoroughly revamped, and the X-shaped thruster pack on its back granted it excellent propulsion capabilities.
These two machines were unmistakably piloted by the Regeneration P-System users: Gato and Daryl.
And their target was clear: the Gundams!
VMMM!
The long-range beam rifle in Eli's hands let loose a sharp beam of light, locking onto the machine giving off such a strong psychic presence.
There was no doubt—the red Zaku's pilot was a Newtype as well.
Because the enemy had dodged even before he fired.
"Char...? No—no, not him."
The moment Eli saw red, the name popped into his mind.
But recalling that Char should still be at Axis right now, he shook the thought away.
"Tch, this is a pain!"
The GP04 wasn't a mass-produced unit, which meant Eli didn't have the Newtype compatibility enhancements that came with a production system.
Still, even without the boost, he considered himself a capable Newtype. But the enemy's Newtype ability clearly surpassed his.
"Doesn't matter!"
Eli brought his machine to a sudden stop, then fired three quick shots with his beam rifle.
But the last shot wasn't aimed at the Zaku—it was directed at the Gyan!
This wasn't a game. A 2v2 wasn't just two individual 1v1 fights.
Real teamwork meant covering each other's blind spots and capitalizing on every opportunity together.
Just like now—Gato, still exchanging fire with the GP01, was forced to break away and pull up sharply to dodge Eli's attack.
Seizing the moment, Kou Uraki went full throttle, his beam rifle firing rapidly as he closed in on the Gyan.
Eli had wanted to provide support, but a sudden flicker of warning at the edge of his vision made him yank the control stick—his unit swiveled sideways just in time to avoid a rocket.
In the same moment, he spotted the red Zaku bearing down on him, hoisting a massive bazooka in its hands.
RATATATATATA!
Simultaneously, the Zaku's left hand raised a Zaku machine gun, unleashing a barrage of bullets at Eli.
GP04 raised its shield to block the assault, its thrusters flaring once more to increase the distance between it and the Psycho-Sensing Zaku Mk-II.
At the same time, Eli noted an important detail—the beam rifle's long barrel restricted his shooting angle when using the shield.
As a workaround, he angled his machine sideways, raising the rifle over his shoulder, bracing the barrel atop the shield to fire.
BOOM!
An explosion erupted where he aimed.
But Eli knew—this wasn't a kill. He had only destroyed the enemy's bazooka.
Still, it was enough to slow the Zaku down and allow him to rejoin the reckless Kou Uraki—he couldn't let that guy get taken down in his first space battle piloting the GP01.
These two opponents were no ordinary pilots.
MS might be humanoid machines, but in the end, they were still machines.
Barring some simple hand gestures to convey tactics under heavy Minovsky particle interference, MS operations followed mechanical logic.
But the two machines in front of him were different—their movements and coordination felt almost human.
To reach this level… even with the Regeneration P-System, those pilots must've lost all four limbs to operate like this.
"Zeon really is terrifying..."
With a roar from the backpack and booster thrusters, the GP04 surged forward at high speed, closing in on the two enemies mid-duel.
"What reason do you have to be on this battlefield?!"
As they closed in, a familiar male voice rang through the cockpit via laser communication synced with the GP01.
On-screen, the beam bayonet beneath the GP01's rifle clashed with the Gyan's slash, deflecting the strike.
The voice, no doubt, belonged to the Gyan's pilot—Gato.
"Reason to fight? I'm a Federation soldier—isn't that enough? You're the one threatening the Federation's stability. That makes you my enemy!"
"You ignorant fool—blind to the suffering of spacenoids!"
To Eli's relief, Kou Uraki didn't freeze up or falter like in the original timeline. He even fired back a proper rebuttal instead of being overwhelmed by Gato's words.
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