No matter how surprised the Union, Sachez and Kowloon's mercenary forces, or the Fereshte Organization were by the appearance of Gundam Virtue, the battle had to continue.
Since there were two Gundams on the opposing side this time, Graham didn't dare to take on both at once. He immediately gave the order.
"Daryl, Howard, we're ascending. Follow the path of that sniper beam to find the distant Gundam. This fat angel's shield is too thick; it's hard to break through its defense with our current equipment. Besides, if we get tied down and take a sniper shot, it's over.
"But remember to evade this fat Gundam's attacks. Getting grazed by its beam would be fatal."
With Graham's order given, Daryl and Howard immediately replied, "Yes, sir," and maneuvered their Mobile Suits to climb.
At first, Lockon and Hong Long didn't realize that the three ascending Union Flags were preparing to go after Dynames; they just thought they were trying to retreat.
By the time the three Mobile Suits reached high altitude and dove directly toward Dynames's position, the two realized it was too late to stop them.
After all, this was Hong Long's first time piloting Gundam Virtue in combat, and he hadn't even gone through a single simulation battle before.
It was too much to ask Hong Long to hit a target the size of a Union Flag at extreme range. This wasn't like the previous rockets, which had a clear trajectory and couldn't dodge.
In any case, Hong Long's tentative attempts to stop the three Union Flags' dive with the twin-barreled GN Cannons on his left and right shoulders all missed. In the end, he could only rush toward Dynames's position at full speed. Hong Long could sense that something was off about these three Union Flags, and he could only hope that Dynames could hold out for the less-than-a-minute time gap.
Hong Long's worries were not unfounded. This time, Lockon got to experience the pressure of facing the Union's strongest ace.
Facing the surprise dive attack from the three Union Flags, Lockon was initially unconcerned, quipping, "Hey, hey, isn't the Union supposed to be guarding the solar power receiving antenna facility? We're on your side."
But his hands moved quickly, taking aim at the lead Union Flag and firing a shot.
The result was a miss.
Moreover, this time Lockon had no excuse about the Mobile Suit's balance being off. The opponent, as if showing off, performed a sudden stop and transformation mid-dive, turning Lockon's predictive shot into an invalid one as the beam passed under the Mobile Suit's crotch.
One had to remember that the Union Flag didn't have GN Particle Anti-gravity, and their pilot suits weren't as advanced as those of Celestial Beings.
In Lockon's eyes, a maneuver like that could easily knock a person unconscious on the spot.
But the opposing pilot was clearly unaffected. After transforming into MS Mode, he opened fire from his superior altitude, and his two wingmen also launched Anti-ship Missiles.
Lockon didn't dare to stand still and fire like in the original story. He wasn't equipped with the GN Full Armor Shield this time. If he took a hit from an Anti-ship Missile, even if the Mobile Suit wasn't damaged, the resulting shock would be devastating.
So, while having Haro use the shield mounted on Dynames's left arm (the Dynames's shield always felt more like an armor plate) to block the Electromagnetic Rifle's shots and prevent the vibrations from affecting his aim, Lockon controlled the Mobile Suit to retreat rapidly while firing three consecutive shots at the Union Flag that had just toyed with him.
However, in the original story, Lockon couldn't hit Graham even when firing from a stationary position. Now, firing while moving, he had even less of a chance. He only managed to avoid the flying kick Dynames took in the original plot.
But while the flying kick was gone, his opponent had brought wingmen this time. Daryl and Howard were both Union elites, and they could also perform the "Graham Special."
After their Mobile Suits reached the limit of their dive, they also transformed into MS Mode. The three Mobile Suits circled around Dynames, firing.
Although the Union Flags' Electromagnetic Rifles still couldn't penetrate its armor, Lockon had to prevent them from directly hitting the Conical GN Drive Thruster on its back, which could impair Dynames's flight capabilities.
Lockon was well aware that these three Union Flags were just a patrol team (though for a patrol team, these three were seriously overpowered). The Union had dispatched at least a battalion of Union Flags to the Kingdom of Azadistan. If reinforcements arrived and his thrusters were damaged, it would be very difficult to escape.
So Lockon decided to draw his GN Handgun and fire defensively. As long as he could hold out for another twenty to thirty seconds, once Gundam Virtue arrived, these three Union Flags would have to stay here if they didn't run.
Graham also knew he didn't have much time to defeat the Gundam before him. The combat power of two Gundams wasn't a simple matter of 1+1=2.
So Graham spoke directly into the squad channel (their distance allowed for Laser Communication), "Daryl, Howard, fire two Anti-ship Missiles at the ground around the Gundam. Cover me!"
Upon hearing this, Daryl and Howard immediately executed the order.
They were very clever, not aiming directly at Dynames's feet. Instead, they deliberately fired the missiles wide, allowing Dynames to naturally dodge the direct hits, which kicked up a large cloud of smoke and dust from the ground.
At this point, Lockon hadn't realized that the two Anti-ship Missiles were a ploy. Seeing that the dust from the surrounding wasteland completely concealed him, he thought it was an opportunity. He immediately maneuvered Dynames to take off and retreat, as his mission wasn't to fight the Union here.
However, just as Dynames lifted off less than half a meter, Haro immediately warned, "Danger above, danger above."
Although Lockon didn't know what was above, raising his shield was never a bad idea.
Then he saw a glowing blue Plasma High Vibration Dagger combined with a Sword-Type Plasma Saber slash down onto the shield.
The intense heat of the plasma rapidly melted Dynames's shield, and as the body of the high-vibration dagger struck, it directly split the shield in two.
Fortunately, the shield had bought enough time. Lockon had Dynames draw the GN Beam Saber with its left hand to parry the follow-up slash.
But by now, the dust had settled. The other two Union Flags saw their chance and drew their Plasma High Vibration Daggers, thrusting at Dynames's waist and chest from the left and right.
This time, Lockon was truly in a life-or-death crisis. He used his right hand to draw his beam pistol and force back the enemy on the left, but he had no free hand to deal with the one on the right.
The Union Flag on Dynames's right was piloted by Howard. He was now shouting excitedly on the squad channel, "First blood on a Gundam for the Union! It's mine!!"
However, a few tenths of a second later, Howard experienced what it meant for joy to turn to sorrow.
A purple beam shot from even farther away toward Howard's Union Flag, successfully hitting its shoulder and blowing away the entire section of the Mobile Suit above the shoulder.
The only good news for Howard was that the Union Flag's cockpit was in its waist. Through the emergency escape system, the cockpit transferred to the crotch area and detached from the about-to-explode upper torso wreckage.
This sudden turn of events startled Graham and Daryl, whose Mobile Suits were still intact. They quickly maneuvered their units away from Dynames, breaking the stalemate, afraid that the next sniper shot would hit them directly.
As they retreated, before they could even locate the sniper, Gundam Virtue arrived on the battlefield. The sweeping fire from its twin-barreled GN Cannons forced Graham and Daryl further and further back.
Graham saw that it was impossible to win against the Gundams today. Moreover, the team's communication channel had already broadcasted several times that there were abnormal movements from the Mobile Suits at the Azadistan army's Zeilki base.
So Graham could only give the order, "Looks like this is as far as we go today. Daryl, Howard, we're pulling out."
With Graham's order to retreat, the two Union Flags escorted Howard's barely flying lower half and flew directly away from the battlefield.
Hong Long and Lockon didn't pursue, nor did they snipe them from behind. After all, they had no mission to fight the Union.
However, Hong Long asked with confusion, "Who do you think fired that shot just now?"
Lockon actually had an idea. In this area, the only ones who might help him were the SDP.
But he still said aloud, "Who knows? But they really saved my life. That was too dangerous. If I get the chance, I'll have to thank this person properly."
Seeing Lockon say this, Hong Long didn't ask any more questions and said directly, "In any case, the mission here is complete. The solar power receiving antenna facility is safe for now. Let's pull back."
Hearing this, Lockon naturally nodded and replied, "Yeah, safe for now. We can't be their babysitters, after all. Let's go. When we get back to the Ptolemy, it looks like Dynames will need repairs too."
Meanwhile, in the wilderness even farther from Dynames's position, Orga and Nolba were hiding behind a large boulder. The sniper shot just now had been fired by Nolba, piloting a Ghost Jegan.
Orga was currently praising him, "Nolba, that was a great shot. Hitting the target dead-on from such a distance. I'll have to apply to the higher-ups later and see if we can build you a Mobile Suit specializing in sniping."
Nolba wore an expression that said, "Just basic operations, nothing to see here," and replied, "This was much easier to hit than those drones zipping all over the place during training. Plus, it was a sneak attack. I'd hate to miss a target like this and get punished by the instructor to go steal ostrich eggs bare-handed."
The moment Nolba mentioned stealing ostrich eggs bare-handed, Orga's expression turned pained—physically. He remembered a time when his clothes were always missing pieces, and getting kicked by an ostrich was not pleasant at all. (He had once seen a video of a person being "hunted" by an ostrich; the unlucky guy's clothes were pecked to shreds in the end.)
So Orga quickly changed the subject, "Don't mention ostrich eggs. Didn't you have enough of them during our desert training? The Celestial Beings' side has retreated. Let's go meet up with Mikazuki. They have to face more Mobile Suits over there, I wonder how things are going."
Earlier, Tekkadan had spotted an aircraft suspected to be from Celestial Beings (Gundam Artemie F in MA Mode) flying towards the rocket launch site soon after Gundam Virtue intercepted the rockets.
Orga was very clear about the performance of the Union Flag; he had faced them as opponents countless times during simulation training. With two Ghost Jegans, the element of surprise, and two Celestial Beings Gundams drawing aggro, if they still messed up, they might as well go back to the training camp for remedial courses. (Orga and the others were unaware of the caliber of the three Union Flag pilots.)
On the other hand, at the rocket launch site, the enemy was unknown, their numbers were unknown, and they possessed heavy weaponry (rockets), so Orga had sent everyone else over there.
To be honest, Orga's judgment was correct.
After seeing Gundam Virtue appear, Fon Spaak had cursed for a while. However, the explosive collar around his neck (he was originally a terrorist and wore an explosive collar to prevent him from acting recklessly) kept Fon Spaak from just attacking Celestial Beings.
After all, Fon Spaak didn't want to die over such a small matter. He knew that if the collar exploded and he died, the GN Drive wouldn't be directly transferred to his current Mobile Suit.
So Fon Spaak still went to carry out the mission of eliminating the rocket launch site troops.
The result was that he was greeted by two boss-level characters, Sachez and Kowloon, piloting an AEU Custom and a completed AEU Enact.
On the ground, there were also six Ground-Type AEU Enacts (piloted by Sachez's mercenaries) and four cobbled-together-looking Ground-Type Iron Men (piloted by Kowloon's subordinates).
Honestly, if it were like the original story, with only Sachez's AEU Custom and six Ground-Type Enacts, Fon Spaak piloting the Gundam Artemie F could have put up a fight.
After all, the Ground-Type Enacts had little anti-air firepower; they were used for launching rockets.
But now, the presence of four Ground-Type Iron Men changed everything.
The Iron Man had been in service with the Human Reform League for ten years, during which time damaged units were inevitably salvaged by various people, so it wasn't too strange for a few to be pieced together on the outside.
But these four Iron Men below were equipped with anti-air backpacks featuring 155mm x 50 caliber Rapid-Fire Anti-Aircraft Cannons, which Kowloon had obtained by raiding a Human Reform League base (in fact, the four Iron Men were also from this base, but they were severely damaged, hence their cobbled-together appearance).
Although the Mobile Suits' sensor systems were clearly older models, the anti-air capability of these backpacks had been proven against countless Union Real Combat Types and completed AEU Enacts.
If Fon Spaak wanted to destroy the six Ground-Type AEU Enacts firing rockets below, he would have to pass through the anti-air fire net formed by these four anti-air backpacks.
One had to remember that the current Gundam Artemie F did not have a GN Drive. If it took too many hits and its GN Particles were depleted, it would be over.
So Fon Spaak, without a second thought, first pulled his Mobile Suit to a higher altitude, preparing to call for backup. With that anti-air firepower below, going down would be suicide. (In G Generation Cross Rays, the Gundam Artemie F's only armaments in this stage are the GN Vulcan Gun and GN Missiles.)
However, how could Sachez and Kowloon let their prey escape? Although they were a bit disappointed that a Gundam hadn't come, this fighter jet was emitting particles similar to a Gundam's, so it should still be valuable.
Facing the Mobile Suits controlled by these two, Fon Spaak was truly down on his luck.
The Gundam Artemie F was forced into the firing net of the Ground-Type Iron Men's anti-air backpacks.
Moreover, the enemy was clearly prepared. Fon Spaak also got to experience the Shock Net that had been used to capture Gundam Virtue earlier.
Fortunately, just as the Gundam Artemie F was caught in the net, because Reid had ordered that the Celestial Beings Gundams must not be captured, Mikazuki saw the situation and led his troops onto the scene. (Here, Mikazuki also didn't know that the Gundam Artemie F didn't belong to Celestial Beings; he just saw it using GN Particles and assumed it was a Celestial Beings unit.)
What happened next goes without saying. With Gundam Barbatos Lupus and Garibaldi Rebake leading the charge, and three Ghost Jegans providing fire support from behind, the six Ground-Type AEU Enacts and four Iron Men were naturally steamrolled.
Seeing this, Sachez and Kowloon in the sky didn't stubbornly press on. They didn't even come down to try and engage, retreating directly. They understood the principle of picking on the weak.
(End of Chapter)