Gundam: From Piece to Player

“Yes.” Yuri’s smile also faded. “But I also need to ask, what if the general fails?”

"You retreat to the British and Japanese islands, focusing on disrupting the Federation's shipbuilding capabilities, while I will keep causing trouble for the Federation in space."

Karma said calmly.

He wasn't afraid of federal retaliation at all; if the Federation could nuke a few Side 3 colonies, he wouldn't have to feel guilty.

He felt absolutely no sense of belonging to the people of Zeon; he was simply throwing caution to the wind.

Kalmar believed that if Hathaway could do something with just one ship, he could do something a little more destructive.

Yuri stopped smiling, buttoned up his shirt, and gave Karma a military salute.

"Yes," Karma replied.

"Commander, you're actually quite scary."

"Really? I'm very gentle, aren't I?"

“It’s different,” Yuri said. “If the big shots are still in the rear, letting the soldiers carry out their will, while you’re leading your elite troops to take down the enemy’s elite forces, and yet you always manage to win, always proving that what you’re saying is right.”

“I’m not a genius, and I rely on my team.” Karma waved his hand. “The reason I’m better than you is because of the Zabi family name.”

“After the war ends, if you have any thoughts of ascending the throne, I will support you.” Yuri did not believe Karma’s words and shook his head again. “I believe that the millions of troops of the Earth Attack Force will support you.”

"Even if you draped me in a royal robe, I would only keep it as a gift."

"What?" Yuri didn't understand what he meant.

Karma glanced at the clock; there were still 5 minutes until the next day. "It's getting late. I'm leaving the Earth Attack Force to you. I'm going to test the mettle of the Federation Space Force."

Wishing you good health and continued success.

"Okay, I don't want the plane to crash, please don't curse me."

Yuri watched as Karma ascended to the kneeling position behind ZUDA and saluted again, while the attacking generals behind him also saluted him.

This is a battle that cannot be repeated.

Although others wanted to replace him, Karma rejected them all.

He only had one sentence.

"This is a crucial juncture in the War of Independence, a battle for life and death. You can all surrender or launch a suicide attack on the enemy when you are exhausted. I can only hold on until the very end."

"If I die, Zeon will completely collapse. But as long as I live, even if it takes ten, twenty, thirty years, or even fifty years, we will eventually be able to completely drain the blood from this behemoth that is the Federation."

The other attackers felt that Karma's words were somewhat tragic and couldn't help but shed tears.

However, Garma did know some of the history of the UC era, even though he hadn't seen Gundam V, he knew about fifty years later.

—UC129 is the Space Warring States period.

Therefore, he felt that the difficulty of this IF scenario was not too high. As long as he lived, he would definitely see this day. It was just a bit torturous.

ZUDA slowly boarded an HLV, fully armed, while all the mobile suits that boarded the HLV had been converted to space combat mode and their OS adjusted.

The mass accelerator had already collected all the Zanzibar and civilian cargo spacecraft on Earth that it could, and was waiting for launch.

Meanwhile, hundreds of temporary launch pads are being prepared, using nuclear fusion rockets from last century's Mars exploration missions. Compared to those products manufactured as standard parts in factories, these rockets are relatively crudely made.

Kalmar's requirements for them were simple: just complete the orbital insertion and don't fall apart; this was the second wave of launches.

The real challenge lies in the first wave of launches. We need to use HLV to ascend into space and seize the airspace above. If the previous missions were about landing, now we are about to launch an "ascent mission."

This requires HLVs to be equipped with MS units to complete the task. The MS units will eliminate Federation forces patrolling in orbit, clearing space for subsequent logistics forces.

At 12:0 on December 18, 0079,

Two hundred HLVs, propelled by their exhaust plumes, took off from Gibraltar, creating a spectacular display of 200 blue trails of flame as they hurtled toward space.

Each unit carries more than 3 mobile suits, and the first wave of deployment consists of 600 mobile suits. There are no reserves, and Karma deployed all the elite mobile suits she could send out in one go.

Such a large-scale launch operation was detected by reconnaissance satellites after entering orbit... Although the reconnaissance satellites were destroyed a few seconds later, they still transmitted the early warning signal back to the Luna 2 base.

Wasken, who was prepared for this, immediately ordered the Earth's 13th Fleet (30 warships) to launch a long-range attack with the Mega Particle Cannon, and dispatched 90 MS and 500 Iron Balls, which was half of the Luna II's remaining force, to intercept Kalma.

And a death order was given:

"As long as we can stop Karma Zabi from going into space, it doesn't matter if we wipe out the Iron Ball and the entire MS force."

Chapter 147: Two Minutes, Two Type 78 Tanks Destroyed

The Federation warships' mega particle cannons began hitting some HLVs, but they did not explode as expected.

—This was all within Karma's expectations. He didn't take any chances and had his staff conduct simulations with him, where he would play the role of the Federation forces to see what losses and troubles they could bring to the Zeon forces.

This includes the possibility of the Federation fleet attacking the HLV during its ascent.

To avoid the tragic outcome of the HLV's destruction resulting in the deaths of three mobile suits and three pilots, the second layer of armor beneath the HLV's heat insulation layer was coated with a beam disruptor coating agent.

This greatly enhances the survivability of HLV.

After the HLV entered orbit first, Federation mobile suits rushed forward, and Zeon's mobile suit forces immediately deployed beam smoke screens as planned.

They used armor-piercing rounds fired from a 120mm machine gun to deal with the iron balls and the charging GM troops—the power was just right, enough to penetrate the GM's titanium/ceramic composite armor... In comparison, the power of the GM's beam pistol was practically negligible.

A small number of those who drew their beam sabers and attempted to charge were met with barrages from the Cyclops and were quickly destroyed.

Since Karma destroyed several GMs on the ground and also trained Zeon pilots on which parts of the tanks to hit with armor-piercing rounds in close to medium-range combat, what would be the most lethal targets?

Research has shown that aiming at the heat dissipation vents under the chest armor plates of the Jim is the most effective method, especially with the classic paint job—the yellow heat dissipation vents look like two yellow dots in a red and white background.

The addition of heat dissipation vents to the frontal armor is a "genius" design. The Type 78 didn't feel the heat because the pilot was too strong and the Luna titanium alloy was too hard.

But for an average driver to drive a mass-produced Jimny, this design would be like a target.

After a large-scale battle broke out between the two MS.

Karma patrolled the battlefield in his ZUDA, both to observe and record the battle situation, to snipe the commanding GMs on the battlefield, and to rescue some of his own pilots.

Of course, another task is to identify the Gundam type among the enemy mobile suits.

It can only be said that his luck was both good and bad. He was good because he saw two RX-78-2s, but he was unlucky because the moment he spotted them, they had caused him further losses, with one of them pointing its huge gun at space.

Even though it was weakened by the beam disruption screen, it still destroyed three Zaku Late Models with a single shot. Its rifle should have used some kind of mega particle launcher.

(Unit 4)

The other Type 78 was equipped with a Gatling gun, which fired indiscriminately amidst the beam disruption, destroying two Zaku in one fell swoop.

(Unit 5)

Type 78... If it were me a year ago, I might have been wary, but Karma no longer felt that the other side was no longer scary.

Since it has already been captured, its performance and weak points are well understood. In terms of performance (materials), it is not as good as ZUDA, which has completed its own beam weaponization upgrade.

At first glance, the design of the blue one is quite problematic... If he's not mistaken, it's probably a transplanted reaction device from a battleship's MEGA, and it's impossible for it to be equipped with Luna Titanium alloy... What's the point? Are they just giving it away for free?

Without a second thought, Karma charged straight toward Unit 4.

Meanwhile, Unit 5, which was providing cover nearby, spotted the charging ZUDA, immediately raised its Gatling gun, aimed at Karma, and began unleashing a hail of bullets.

However, he discovered that the speed of the aircraft in front of him far exceeded his target range.

He didn't know that the prototype of ZUDA was ZD, and that ZUDA's top speed could reach 1.7 times that of ZD. ZUDA was the fastest linearly accelerating machine of this era—without exception.

In the blink of an eye, ZUDA had already swooped down in front of Unit 4. Upon seeing this, Unit 4 slung its high-energy rifle to its back and drew its beam saber, preparing for a defensive counterattack.

Unexpectedly, ZUDA performed an AMBAC maneuver and rolled behind Unit 4, then opened fire at close range on the large Mega Particle Rifle hanging on Unit 4's waist with the same 35mm twin wrist cannon as the B3 Tiger.

The next moment, the large rifle immediately lit up with a blazing light, and then a series of explosions ignited the thrusters on its back, which in turn ignited the nuclear fusion reactor.

Unit 4 was reduced to cosmic fireworks in the next instant.

While Unit 5 was stunned by the rapid defeat of its teammates, Karma switched weapons and, piloting the ZUDA, swung its beam axe to launch a heavy slash from above. The opponent, unable to dodge in time, actually drew its beam saber to block.

It seems the other party isn't a Newtype... Newtypes wouldn't take this attack head-on.

The more powerful beam tomahawk directly crushed the opposing beam saber with its superior output, and then severed one of the 78's arms and legs.

Having suffered such a heavy blow, the Type 78 pilot immediately chose to retreat.

The opponent wanted to exit the range of the beam disruption screen and then use the beam rifle.

...This used to be a good strategy.

ZUDA then pulled out a relatively small beam rifle from his back with his left hand. More than a month after capturing the Type 78, Kalmar completed the reverse engineering of E-CAP technology and began to put it into use.

...In fact, compared to the beam weapon technology used by the MS-14 Warriors team in the United States, the E-CAP technology used by Kalmar is more Federation-based.

She fired continuously at the back of Unit 4. Although the first shot missed, the second, third, and fourth shots all hit their targets. Karma's attack directly turned the enemy into a blue nuclear explosion.

"Big brother, congratulations on completing the achievement! You destroyed two Type 78 tanks within 2 minutes," Alice said from the side.

“Hmm.” Karma smiled smugly.

This record will indeed remain unbroken, because there were only a handful of 78 units available.

ZUDA was able to take down two 78s so easily. Recalling the bitter battles that had taken place on Earth, Karma deeply understood one thing: the performance of a mobile suit can only guarantee a minimum level... but the maximum performance depends on the pilot.

This scene was likely spotted by a nearby Zeon MS combat team, who immediately began to publicize it extensively via laser communications, further boosting the morale of the soldiers still in combat.

"General, you have destroyed two Gundam models! Long live the General!"

"Long live."

With its advantages in both quantity and quality, Zeon gained an absolute upper hand.

Karma didn't linger in the MS battle; ZUDA swiftly pounced on the retreating Federation combat fleet.

Alice then manipulated her beam rifle and began blind firing at the bridge of the Federation fleet from a distance, regardless of whether she hit it or not.

It emptied all the magazines in just 2 minutes, but the effect didn't seem very good.

At that very moment, several dazzling signal flares ignited in the sky, and laser identification signals projected by friendly forces appeared in the distance.