Gundam: From Piece to Player

“Yes, Mr. Aronnax.”

Harman knew this was not the time to hesitate, so he quickly opened the cockpit, floated out of the aircraft, and drifted towards the MA.

After opening the cockpit, Barney drifted toward the captured RX-170.

“Wait, Commissioner Barney, where are you going?” Aronnax said upon seeing this. “Come with me on the Swordfish fighter.”

"There's only one fighter jet slot, which might affect your evasion and combat, sir. I'd like to study the enemy's new mech."

Although Barney said that, he didn't really think that way.

The RX-170 is being piloted by a woman, and leaving her here in this situation could easily expose her to stray bullets or other projectiles later on.

This isn't because Barney is repressed in any way; if the other party were a male driver who was incapacitated, he would have made the same choice.

If he were merely a lecher, he could easily continue lounging in the makeshift seat in Luvi Jerú's cockpit, observing Miss Haman Kahn's combat prowess up close, and the other party wouldn't be able to say anything—

During the communication just now, Barney also saw Miss Harman's appearance after she took off her helmet.

With her delicate features, cascading long hair, stunning figure, and aloof demeanor, she was absolutely the most breathtaking young woman Barney had ever seen.

Aronnax paused for a few seconds after hearing Barney's reply, then said, "Alright, then you'd better be careful."

"Yes."

Three minutes later, the massive machine slowly drove into the colony city cluster of SIDE2.

Jung's gaze never left the radar screen, rather than engaging in so-called visual enemy search.

Besides its mobility and powerful firepower, the GP03D has another remarkable feature: its detection range.

To enable the GP03S stamens to combine in a high concentration of Minovsky particles, this machine is equipped with advanced electromagnetic wave and laser sensing elements, which can detect up to 26 kilometers in a Minovsky particle environment.

The full-circle screen can also perform high-precision rendering, and can identify incoming high-precision missiles and the like.

[Beep, beep, beep]

Just as Jung was thinking this, the enemy detection alarm system suddenly went off.

Missiles... no, are they Newtype floating weapons?

Jung immediately activated the I-field of the machine, and GP03D began to accelerate in a straight line.

While Zeon's floating weapons are powerful, they actually have weaknesses in later research. Limited by their generators and fuel, they are not very good at chasing enemies, and the power of their generators is not enough to penetrate thick armor—let alone I-fields.

【beep beep beep】

The explosions continued, bang bang bang.

The machine body trembled slightly due to the explosion... but the GP03D maintained its speed.

Were you hit?

But for the massive GP03, isn't this "wound" too small?

But Jung was not complacent, because his opponent was a powerful Newtype... If the opponent wanted to break through his defenses, he absolutely could not use floating weapons; he would have to use a mega particle cannon or a beam saber.

The GP03D was still moving at high speed when, a second later, an alarm appeared on the radar.

The other party is rapidly approaching... Judging from the size of the detected signal source, it is undoubtedly a mainframe machine.

From the combat data, Jung knew that the powerful Newtype was piloting the Zeon, which was nearly 30 meters tall and was indeed a behemoth.

The battle begins when the opponent comes into view.

Jung's nerves immediately tightened... The shape of this machine was undoubtedly the same as the monster from before.

Judging from its flight posture, it doesn't look injured at all.

Surprisingly, the enemy was completely unharmed after being hit by the missile cabinet.

If I were to engage in close combat at this point, I would be completely finished.

GP03D immediately turned around, creating distance, and then suddenly fired its Mega Particle Cannon at the enemy from a distance.

He was confident of hitting the target—Jung had entered his most familiar territory and was sniping.

Ignore the GP03D's complex and dazzling control and weapon systems; he only needs to trust the 70-meter-long Mega Particle Sniper Rifle in his hand.

Mount the gun, aim, and pull the trigger.

Just as he had done throughout the One Year War, with his unparalleled mid-to-long-range sniping skills, he became the nightmare of Zeon MS pilots, the chief instructor of the Federation Training Battalion, and the Federation Army's top ace in aerial combat.

However, this has now thwarted his confident sniping attempt.

As if anticipating the attack, Luvi Jelu made a slight deflection maneuver.

At a distance of nearly 15 kilometers, a slight difference can lead to a huge discrepancy.

The opponent easily dodged, without even triggering the I-field.

Chapter 222 The Flowering of the Pistil

Jung couldn’t help but think that he was just not in the right frame of mind.

The GP03D continued to maneuver, continuing its "run-and-sniper" maneuver.

The second shot was again anticipated and evaded by the opponent, and the attack missed again, but this time it didn't go as far as before.

The third shot from the Mega Particle Cannon grazed the opponent's I-field and deflected.

Jung finally understood that it wasn't that his accuracy had decreased, but rather that the opponent possessed Newtype abilities, allowing all their attacks to be predicted.

So, was the great battle in the fleet just now actually a show of mercy?

It's laughable to think that he actually wanted to trade with Yazan. Before coming here, the researchers at the Murasame Institute told them that it was impossible to defeat a new human in a shooting battle 6 kilometers away—Jung only now truly understood this sense of despair.

"Is there a way to defeat the new humans?" someone asked at the time.

"We can only fight at close range; there's still a chance if we fight at close range."

It's actually easy to understand. In close combat, the time for prediction and reaction is extremely short, so even if the opponent "sees" it, they can't catch up with the reaction.

Jung thought he was a little better off; he was good at close-range shooting—it's just gunfighting, isn't it?

In the blink of an eye, the distance between the two sides had been reduced to 10 kilometers, 8 kilometers, and 6 kilometers.

This is the mid-range firing range that Jung used in his previous MS sniping missions.

The GP03D Mega Particle Cannon unleashed a powerful blast at Luvi Jelu, and this time it finally struck. The three layers of deflection fields were pierced through in an instant, finally hitting the main body and causing damage.

The opponent's movements faltered.

good chance!

Jung pulled the trigger... only to find that the beam hadn't fired—the Mega Particle Cannon was cooling down due to excessive heat, and there were still 1.3 seconds left before it could fire again.

1.3-1.1-0.9-0.8S

Jung had never felt that a second could be so long. Is it not done yet? Next shot?

Finally, Jung pulled the trigger.

However, the Mega Particle Cannon did not fire its fatal shot. The left half of GP03D's body bulged in an instant and then exploded. The remaining body was blown away by the blast, and the 70-meter cannon barrel "bloomed" like flower petals.

Harman, in Luvi Jeru's body, stared intently at the exploding MA and slowly opened her eyes.

Even for her, the micro-management she just performed was not easy.

Just as the enemy opened fire, she manipulated a small floating weapon to plug the barrel of the Mega Particle Cannon, and fired directly at the bottom of the cannon 0.1 seconds before the enemy fired, completing the "barrel explosion".

(Comparison image: The GP03D's cannon barrel is very thick, enough for the floating cannons to block it.)

The massive impact nearly knocked Jung unconscious, but at the last moment, the anti-stress medication took effect, and he slowly regained consciousness. He saw on the computer in the control panel that the GP03D was completely paralyzed due to the explosion.

The Ace Pilot no longer had the energy to think about why he had ended up like this; he only knew that he had to keep fighting.

The GP03S slowly detached from the weapons container at the rear, and took out two folding rocket launchers from the container...

This is also the only weapon that could potentially damage the MA after losing its heavy armament.

When he turned around, he saw 12 floating weapons appear like "tentacles" or ghosts, surrounding his machine.

"It's over." As an old human, Jung didn't have time to make any micromanagement and could only sigh as a dense beam of light completely enveloped him.

Two seconds later, the GP03S had been reduced to just its torso.

Jung was bewildered, wondering why he was still alive.

--

Harman lowered his hands from under the joystick, took a deep breath, and the battle was finally over.

"Harman, well done."

"Lady Anna?" Haman then realized that Anna's Zeon had approached him without his noticing.

While marveling at the strength of the other party, Harman also felt a great sense of security.

That means even if I failed just now, Lady Anna would still intervene...

She even praised herself, which made Harman very happy.

"Why didn't you kill him?" Anna asked.

"Because the situation is already under our control, I read his thoughts. He is the Federation's top ace pilot. Killing him would only boost the Federation's morale, while capturing him would have a strong political effect."

"What is its function?"

"Disrupt the Federation's will to fight. After the Federation lost nearly 100 mobile suits, we captured their top ace, which will make the entire Earth Sphere realize that we are not a lone wolf... The Federation has tried its best but still failed to eliminate us, and they may then consider non-military options (recruitment). Our goal is not to fight the Federation to the death, but to take this opportunity to become a 'legitimate' force."

"That's right, this is the kind of thinking that the new generation should have."

Anna was very satisfied with Harman's answer.

However, this is not the optimal solution. If we are to negotiate with the federal government, we must make them see the harm of not talking.

Using the New Humans' sensory abilities, the New Humans captured all the Federation's aces on the scene and began to break through the Federation's encirclement aboard the Albion.

Breaking through is not difficult at all.

After refueling and charging with Helium-3 on Albion, Luvi Jelu cleared away all obstacles in her path as a trailblazer—in short, without GP03D and the aces.

The remaining Federation MS forces pose no real threat whatsoever...