Gundam: From Piece to Player

The aircraft was also equipped with a longer unicorn antenna and an experimental laser communication platform.

However, in terms of its strength, it is just a mass-produced device with long battery life, but it has quite good information transmission and reception capabilities.

Because they were equipped with two rocket launchers for the next operation.

As for why he didn't modify a better machine for her, it was actually out of consideration for future development. He wanted Haiwen to get used to the role of battlefield commander and to be cautious in dealing with combat.

When we go to the asteroid belt to build cities after the war, other forces may send people to cause trouble.

Armaments will be essential. Deep Space Industries' second-generation MS development plan will see high-cost manned MS serving as the brains in battle, while inexpensive unmanned MS and unmanned combat aircraft will play the role of "chess pieces".

Battle alarms echoed through the hangar, and red warning lights flashed.

Haiwen closed the hatch, and Karma floated toward his greyish-white Gundam.

It's time to clear your mind and prepare for the worst.

After observing the general enemy situation, the observation post on the Valkyrie compiled a reconnaissance report for Dozru.

"General, we have observed approximately 170 enemy ships in blackout. It is estimated that Tiam has reorganized its three main fleets, which have suffered losses, into three squadrons."

"Each fleet proceeds in a three-tiered cubic formation, with approximately 55-60 ships per fleet. The top and bottom of each fleet consist of Salamis-class and Magellan-class ships, inverted with their bottoms facing each other. The core area can detect Columbus-class aircraft carriers."

The Zeon forces A and B did not suffer many losses in the previous battles, with each fleet consisting of 60 ships.

"The number is larger than expected; it seems that this is not the full force of the lunar fleet."

Chapter 68 Divine Wind

"What kind of formation is this?"

Dozru stroked his chin. "A variant of the wheel formation?"

"Yes, judging from the appearance, it's designed to maximize the anti-aircraft firepower on the upper deck and protect the flank area. The entire fleet looks like a porcupine with quills. It's to prevent surprise attacks from below and above... I've never seen the Federation deploy in this formation before," the military staff said from the side. "It's probably a temporary arrangement. This way, the visual distance is close enough that our forces have no room to attack."

"Let's call it the spherical formation. Since the enemy is going to use spikes, our army should take advantage of the line of fire."

"Pass on my order: A/B fleets, arrange yourselves in columns, release Minovsky particles, and then, in column formation, attack Federation formations numbered 1 and 2 respectively."

"General, this will subject the front line to fire pressure from the enemy fleet."

"The front end is bound to take damage so that the back end can have the strength to smash into the enemy fleet. We need to smash the enemy's spherical formation, tear apart the enemy's formation as much as possible, and crush the aircraft carriers inside. Only then will we have an opportunity to create output space for the MS forces to attack."

"What about the remaining fleet, General?"

"Those who survive breaking through the enemy fleet will reorganize into a new column, merge into one group, and then charge towards the remaining fleet." Dozru sighed. "The rest is up to Kycilia."

"Yes."

After the military staff conveyed Dozru's supreme operational principles, Zeon's A/B fleets began to execute plans around this objective.

The success of the assault depends on the wisdom of each captain and squadron leader. They need to plan how much smoke to create, how to change speed, how to inflict damage after entering the enemy lines, and when to regroup the fleet.

However, before they even reached the point of engagement, it was the Federation that launched the attack first.

"Report, the enemy has begun launching fighter jets."

"They actually dared to send a swarm of aircraft to launch an anti-ship attack?"

Dozru looked unwell. He wanted to immediately order the MS unit that sent the signal to return to its position, but after hesitating for a moment, he did not give the order.

After spotting Dozru's fleet, the flight decks of the three Columbus fleets were quickly opened, and they began launching Swordfish in full-deck configuration.

"Each fleet observed 30 sorties, totaling more than 90 target sorties."

Each naval group had 30 fighter sorties, divided into 5 attack teams, with two naval groups heading towards the AB fleet respectively.

"General, should we deploy anti-aircraft fire to intercept them?"

"Order all fleets to shut down their anti-aircraft guns, take cover freely, and regroup after the attack has passed, then let them bomb us."

"I want to see how accurate they can be when they bomb without the aid of a detection system."

Enemy aircraft attacked their own warships, but Dozru forbade the anti-aircraft guns from firing.

This was a counterintuitive order, but trusting their commander, the captains of the other Zeon warships did not question it in the slightest.

Swordfish fighters can reach Mach 3 in space, and in less than two minutes they were right in front of Dozle's space attack fleet.

"When the battle begins, each squadron will approach the enemy bridge and launch missile attacks. Even if you miss, it doesn't matter. You just need to lure them into firing, and your mission will be accomplished."

Before the launch, the anti-ship attack squadron had already received instructions from Tiam.

One of the sergeant trainees, named Dragon Jose, was going into battle for the first time. He gripped the control stick tightly with both hands, scalding himself with sweat as he stepped on the deceleration pedal and began a dive attack on the Musai-class from top to bottom.

At this distance, above the enemy's deck, an action absolutely forbidden in the crash course on bombing a few weeks ago, even if one were to manage a successful dive attack, the momentary deceleration upon pulling up would be torn to shreds by the enemy's anti-aircraft guns.

However, a strange scene unfolded: the dragon successfully swooped down, dropped its bombs, and then pulled back up. Despite the M'sai's best efforts to dodge, it didn't retaliate at all.

Looking back at the bombs that destroyed the enemy's gun emplacements and left gaping holes on their decks, the enemy's M'sai continued to advance in silence.

This scenario repeated itself, with many Federation Swordfish fighters chasing after Musai, while Musai would perform S-shaped maneuvers, not aiming to completely evade them, but at least avoiding being hit in vital areas.

In the 3rd Main Fleet, Tiam himself was at the command post, listening to the attack results reported from the watchtower.

"Not a single warship activated its anti-aircraft fire?"

"Yes, the enemy is cunning. They have probably guessed our intentions. Any light will break their concealment and become the focus of our fire."

The military staff officer had intended to say that the sudden appearance of an anti-aircraft gun from an enemy fleet was like a bonfire, breaking the darkness of the battle zone.

In an instant, all three Federation fleets concentrated their fire on the campfire area.

A fireball hundreds of meters high appeared in the air... Mse, who had just activated his anti-aircraft guns, was instantly sunk by the beam attack.

"Damn it, which idiot opened the anti-aircraft gun?" Dozru was furious as he looked at the fireball that exploded not far away.

The warships, built at the cost of countless resources, began to suffer damage even before the battle officially began.

It was only a few dozen seconds later that he learned the whole story.

"It's Colonel Teren's warship. The ships next to it saw it. After dropping all its missiles, a Federation Swordfish fighter jet chose to crash into the bridge. There was no way to avoid it."

Despite the air conditioning on board, Dozru wiped the sweat of anxiety from his forehead with his sleeve.

Because he had already connected it to a possibility...

"Fire signal flares, all fleets, advance at maximum speed, our fleet's stealth advantage is completely gone."

As three green signal flares lit up in the sky, plunging everyone on the battlefield into darkness, all of Zeon's warships began their full-speed advance.

The fact that the fighter jet had collided with the IFF and lost its signal was also learned by the squadron leader, who had already dropped all his missiles and was on his way back to base. As the pilot in the nose of the aircraft, he shook his wing.

Then they chose to turn back and fly towards the Zeon fleet.

At this point, no further words were needed; the entire squadron understood their captain's meaning.

Under Minovsky particles, unguided bombing is indeed difficult, but visual emergency landing in the event of electronic equipment failure is a training item that federal fighter pilots need to master.

This time it's just different, only the position is different. All you need to do is point the nose of the aircraft at the enemy's bridge and switch from brakes to throttle.

Even if the ramming attempt fails, luring the enemy to use anti-aircraft guns can break their concealment, allowing our forces to concentrate fire and destroy the M'sai that we intend to ram.

From a strategic perspective, exchanging one or even ten fighters for one of Zeon's Musai-class cruisers would be a huge win, giving them an advantage in the upcoming fleet battle.

This type of attack was documented during the Pacific War in World War II and was known as "Kamikaze".

Chapter 69 Fleet Showdown

Of the 90 sorties, 15 took off and turned back.

Long almost wanted to pull up the control stick to follow suit, but at that moment, his attachment to life, his desire to survive, and the faces of his family prevented him from doing so.

"15 federal fighter jets turned back."

"15 aircraft... emitted laser signals, ordering one squadron of MS to turn back." Dozru could not tolerate such losses, and just then, the staff officer reminded him, "General, there is contact communication."

"What communication? I'll report back later."

"It's a communication from Lord Kalmar."

“…Take it,” Dozru said immediately.

In the video communication, Garma is wearing a pilot suit, and Gundam is touching the Valkyrie's bridge with its hand to activate contact communication.

"Vice Admiral Dozle, I'm late. The 101st Fleet MS Group will provide you with air defense."

"Thank you so much, Major General Karma." Dozru finally smiled and leaned back in his seat. "Be careful."

The Gundam turned and left the bridge. A device was installed near the nozzles to suppress the brightness, so that the flames during its movement could only be seen within a 50-meter range.

With a death wish, the Federation's Swordfish fleet was intercepted by a mobile suit force led by Garma when it turned back to the location of the Zeon fleet. At this moment, the Swordfish, armed only with close-in weapon Vulcan cannons, were powerless against the overwhelming number and armor of the mobile suit force.

To prevent fires, the 101st Squadron used melee weapons such as thermal axes to drive them away.

After a period of circling and fighting, the swordfish squadron, seeing no possibility of further combat, chose to return to base.

Kalmar also quickly withdrew after completing the air defense.

Just two minutes later, the two fleets had closed to within range of the optical sights. At this point, the concealment was gone, and the gunners on both sides could see the enemy ships in their sights.

Pink and yellow beams of light began to fill the night sky.

The brutal artillery battle began.

The Musai-class destroyers, which were leading the Zeon attack fleet, were destroyed by concentrated fire.

However, the Mse ship that followed continued to advance at full speed, striving to provide more survivability for the fleet behind it. Even if its bridge was hit, its enormous mass would act as a "shield" for the latter due to inertia.

The Federation fleet's spherical formation did not last long before it was overwhelmed by the small number of Zeon fleets.

At this moment, the dense fog of Minovsky particles on the battlefield also rendered laser communication ineffective.

They were caught in a hail of missiles and close-quarters firefights reminiscent of Western cowboys, with warships sinking almost every minute. The Federation fleet did not gain the upper hand in the artillery battle, which was supposed to be its "advantageous area," as expected.

Because the armor itself is so strong that beam cannons can penetrate each other at this distance, and the M'Sai, as a fast cruiser, has an advantage in maneuverability when dodging artillery fire.

As for the Minovsky particle's optical aiming equipment, although the Federation had made emergency modifications, Zeon still had a greater advantage in terms of equipment. The gunners responsible for operating the Mega Particle Cannon had also been specially trained in visual target acquisition and shelling under the dim starry sky.

Tiam stared intently at the close-quarters melee combat being waged by the 1st Fleet, the 2nd Fleet, and the Space Attack Forces A and B Fleets. His 3rd Fleet was the smallest of the three fleets.

He deliberately chose this smaller fleet because he anticipated that Dozle would use all his elite forces to attack the largest fleet.

So at this moment, he can gain a certain initiative, and the 3rd Fleet can choose to join the battlefield at this moment, or wait for and deal with the enemy's counterattack - the MS force launching an anti-ship attack.