Chapter 174: The Meteor Seen by The Young Girl
The energy from the beam rifle seemed to have entered another dimension as Reborns Gundam fired, causing only a slight polygonal ripple in the air. The particle stream wrapped in I-field smashed into some kind of invisible barrier, and the rippling waves were faintly visible under the sunlight.
"It's similar to the system that appeared on the MS piloted by Suzaku Kururugi during the coup in the royal capital." Memories of defeat quickly flooded Setsuna's mind, "Is Britannia connected to this monster in some way?"
Just at this moment of his association, another whip of light lashed at Reborns Gundam. The high heat carried on the light whip was destroying a part of the MS's structure, and the huge impact from the swing sent Reborns Gundam flying backward.
As a legacy of Ribbons, Reborns Gundam perfectly embodies his design concept of "no need for any teammates". The MS itself has three transformations, which are Gundam mode for close range, Cannon mode for medium range, and Tank mode for long range.
For Lacus, who lacks resources, this design is right up her alley. For Setsuna, he can also switch between different forms depending on the situation, and has the ability to complete complex tasks on his own.
"Gundam mode's armament is invalid, switch to Cannon mode." Setsuna immediately made this judgment while flying backward. The MS did a 180° turn in mid-air, with the joints of the hands and feet moving along with it, "… Transformation failed."
Transformation to half, Reborns Gundam changed back.
As we all know, the more complex the structure of the machinery is, the more fragile it is. A large iron bar is the strongest. Dr. Lingus had been exhausted by the demand that "the Gundam must be able to turn into an airplane", and Reborns Gundam's three-stage transformations require too much to the fuselage's stability, so since Rborns Gundam is now broken by a part, it's very natural that it can't transform at present.
If it was Ribbons himself who was driving it, he must shout "Impossible! How can it be!" at present, but Setsuna's heart didn't move at all. With good military training, he had already foreseen that this situation might happen, but he didn't report it to Miss Lacus — they had only one Gundam, and he could not afford to change it.
"Cannon mode is not available, switch to tank mode."
Fortunately, the structure required for the Tank mode was not damaged, and the MS turned into the appearance of a tank in less than two seconds. Despite being a tank, the MS was still flying in the sky, and what looked like a tank track was actually loaded with vents. The maneuverability in this mode is greatly reduced, but it is also much better than a real tank.
From the battle started to now, only half a minute had passed, and the resident A-Laws had not yet arrived. The monster continued to close in on the only MS, which was blocked the way to the city. Setsuna in the MS silently aimed at the monster not far away. Although he was not long in shooting, the target was too big after all.
As Setsuna pulled the trigger, four thick beams of light whistled out from the four main cannons and ruthlessly impacted the invisible barrier. The polygonal pattern trembled violently for a moment before returning to calm, and the monster remained unharmed.
The main cannons' fire was already the most powerful weapon of Reborns Gundam, and at this moment, Setsuna clearly understood that he could not destroy the monster in front of him with the weapon in his hand.
"Miss Lacus said that a few fight for the sake of more people in peace, and a few die for the sake of more people living." Setsuna looked at the downtown area behind him and tightened the joystick in his hand, "Many people will die, this must not be allowed to happen, no matter what, this thing must be dragged here."
Setsuna not only gave up on the fire and reverted the MS to the Gundam form again, but also took the initiative to fly near the monster and meandered dangerously between the two light whips, trying to attract the monster's attention.
"This glowing whip has a limit length, and at this distance, it can be safely—" Setsuna drew backward, narrowly avoiding the sweep, "Oh no. "
Instantly, the light whip just swept suddenly turned outward, grazing the sideways of Reborns Gundam and giving a straight stab. The length of the whip also suddenly became much longer. The deflected tip of the whip deftly reeled back before Setsuna reacted and tied up Reborns Gundam.
The monster's strength was unknown, and it lifted the tens of tons of MS in the air and waved it around, and finally threw it down. Reborns Gundam hit the ground hard. Setsuna in the cockpit only felt that the internal organs were displaced, desperately trying to hold back to not cough up a mouthful of blood.
At this time, one of the monster's two whips tied the MS up so that it couldn't move, and the other, like a viper spitting letters, aimed at the location of the cockpit, as if it would pierce it the next moment. The end of the light whip was not protected by the invisible force field, and the MS's Gatling cannon was still firing in vain, which was Setsuna's meaningless last resistance.
"My power is not enough, it's over." Setsuna's mind was unexpectedly calm, not fearful or uneasy, just—"Like you said, a bit reluctant, Rockon …"
The tip of the whip stabbed down abruptly, and at the same moment, a particle beam from nowhere struck the whip with precision, and the light whip retracted quickly again. The monster twisted its head and aimed its two large eyes at the incoming.
Setsuna tilted his head and stared in a daze at the distant, gleaming-looking MS floating in mid-air in the reflection of the sunlight. A similar image flashed back frantically in his mind, and he murmured unconsciously, "Gun… dam."
"This is Major Amuro Ray, the leader of A-Laws' Special Operations Unit, Londo Bell." An inexplicably familiar voice came from the Gundam named F91, "The MS over there appeared in the Celestial Being Extermination Battle, are you Ribbons Almark?"
"This monster has an invisible barrier around it that can block main gun level attacks." Setsuna ignored the other's question and replied quickly, "Your VSBR is useless."
"This voice … no, you're not Ribbons Almark." F91 finally flew into view at this point, "Thanks for the information, but I still hope you'll accept A-Laws' detailed investigation and explain why you and this thing are here."
The whip of light that the monster bound Reborns Gundam tightened inward for a while, and several important parts, including the main thrusters and floating device, were instantly crushed and destroyed by the huge force. Then the whip of light was thrown outward with force, and Reborns Gundam, which had lost its main thrusters, was thrown into the sky like a lead ball, and soon disappeared from view.
"Captain Aker." Amuro ordered, "I'll take care of this strange thing and leave that suspicious MS to you."
"Just what I want, I still prefer Gundam to Alien." Aker immediately responded cheerfully, "The future of humanity is entrusted to you, Captain!"
"That's too much." Amuro laughed bitterly, "I'm glad that you have so much faith in me."
The monster stared at F91 with big eyes, two light whips waved intimidatingly, not rushing to attack, but made a look as if it was facing a very dangerous enemy. The distant teammates fired a few shots, all of which were blocked by something invisible.
"The barrier that can block the attack, was he talking about this?" Amuro could clearly see the monster in front of him, but in the consciousness, the monster was like a black hole, rejecting all his perception, "Although I don't know what it is, but I'm afraid NT and this thing has an origin."
If the monster has the power of rejection, what NT has is the power of communication. Even though it was completely incomparable in terms of quantity, NT's intuition told Amuro that qualitatively he and it were on par. Although the bullets can't go through, he feels he can go through by his intuition.
This is his intuition as a senior NT, with no scientific basis. Relying on analytical reasoning, it's absolutely unable to come to such a conclusion.
"Leave it to me, you do not get too close for the time being." Amuro instructed the rest of his subordinates who were still approaching, "Report the situation to Commander Bright, and find someone to contact Ade, no, Dr. Lingus."
On the shoulders of F91, a few small wings stretched out, and in the blink of an eye, it pulled out a series of streaks of shadow and rushed out. In an instant, countless F91s appeared in the monster's left and right. The whips danced fast, but couldn't touch any of the MSs.
The moment F91 hit the invisible force field, an indescribable feeling like an electric shock filled Amuro's whole body. He used all his strength to resist the urge to look back at the city, and a voice roared in his consciousness as if it were a great bell, "Dad! Dad!"
"Is that an understandable race?" The thought appeared in his mind for only a fraction of a second before a sense of crisis and trepidation from the depths of his soul immediately overwhelmed everything, "No, it's the enemy."
F91 drew an elegant arc around the last light whip, while the drawn beam saber sliced off the monster's swinging knuckles in front of its chest by hand, and a large red orb was thus exposed to the main camera. Amuro rushed up without hesitation, the muzzles of the two VSBRs pressed firmly against the surface of the red orb.
"This thing is your weak point, right?" Without needing any knowledge or experience, he made the right judgment based on NT's intuition alone, "Let me show you the human's power."
The next moment, the trigger was pulled and the VSBR chimed. The blazing high-energy particles easily shredded the fragile red orb, bright red plasma burst out from it, and the behemoth stood still for a moment before finally falling down with a shuddering thud.
"It's really a creature…" Amuro looked at the blood in front of him, silent for a moment before suddenly remembering that he was the captain, hurriedly ordered to the subordinates gathered around, "By the way, you guys split up to count the damage, clean up the scene, prohibit the media to approach, clean up the corpse of this thing, contact Bright commander and Dr. Lingus. Uh no, I have said the last two before, and … what else?"
The only thing that answered him on the friendly channel was silence — he was the captain, the major, and the idol of all the soldiers, so naturally, no one interjected, otherwise, wouldn't it look like he was incompetent?
"Let's start with this, it seems that I'm not very suitable to be a captain." Amuro smiled mockingly, "Scirocco actually died in battle rather than from exhaustion, what a miracle."
…
Queen Marina Ismail stood at the edge of the three rings in Dakar, and it was as if the world in front of her and behind her were divided into two worlds. In front of her was an endless desert, and in the distance, she could vaguely see the dilapidated houses and ragged people walking through it on the sand. Not far away, the majestic Federation headquarters administration building and the prime minister's residence were clearly visible.
"I remember that the original purpose of setting the Federation headquarters here was to make people not forget that there are still sandy cities like Dakar in the world, so there is a need to eliminate differences and share prosperity." Marina muttered to herself, "As a result, the only thing that got rich was the headquarters building and the vicinity of the Prime Minister's residence, were the ancestors right in deciding not to join the Federation or not?"
The Kingdom of Azadistan firmly refused to join the Federation at its inception, and lived very well by playing balance among several large countries with its rich oil resources. The kingdom experienced a crisis of faith after the exposure of the fossils from Jupiter, but it still survived with its solid economic foundation.
However, with the invention of the Minovsky nuclear reactor, the oil resource gradually only is used as industrial raw material. The economy began to continue to decline, and the reformists gradually rose. The conservatives had not waited for P.L.A.N.T. to come up with the Neutron Jammer, but the oil in the country was almost exhausted, and even the king's family had become seriously factionalized.
During the One Year War, the Kingdom of Azadistan seized the surrounding small countries and got a large amount of wealth, but the war dividends are also on the verge of depletion now. To put it simply, people's lives are going to be unbearable.
As the first daughter of the Kingdom of Azadistan, Marina Ismail came to visit Quattro Bajeena, the most trusted right hand of the Prime Minister today, to apply for the Kingdom of Azadistan to rejoin the Earth Federation, and then to apply for economic or technological assistance.
A few years ago, a high official of the Federation had threatened her, imploring her to trade her body for aid. At that time, the situation in the country was not so serious, she refused it firmly. In the past two years, she had visited the country in private and tasted the hardships of the people at the bottom, and if someone made the same offer again at this time —
"I will definitely agree to it, right?" Queen Marina lifted her head and looked at the clear sky. Her heart was calm. "There is nothing to hesitate about sacrificing only my freedom alone to enable the people of the whole country to live a happy life."
She arrived last night and had been waiting all day today. The meeting scheduled for the afternoon was told that it had been cancelled due to an unexpected situation and had to be postponed until tomorrow. But no matter how long she had to wait, no matter what the cost, she would persevere. It was the only thing she could do for the nation.
Suddenly, a black shadow cut through the sky, and then fell heavily on the desert, even the earth seemed to tremble with it. Marina looked at the distance with a bewildered look and frowned in confusion, "The sun obviously hasn't set yet, where did the meteor come from?"
