With Norris Packard's self-destruction on Reid's side, the battle in this mining town was effectively over. All that remained was dealing with the other Ground Combat GMs closing in from the rear.
However, Reid never actually encountered the subsequent reinforcements of Ground Combat GMs—because five minutes earlier, the Earth Federation's rear command base vehicle had already been completely destroyed.
Rewind twenty minutes earlier, after Reid left the jungle where the system had teleported him. Angie watched as Reid kicked up several meters of dust in his reckless charge and couldn't help but mutter in exasperation,
"Noin, did Reid just charge out like that? Isn't he afraid the Earth Federation forces here will attack him outright?"
Since Noin wasn't aware that Reid had prior knowledge of this world's general situation, she could only speculate,
"Maybe he's trying to draw the Earth Federation's attention away from us. His Mobile Suit is far more durable than our Union Flags. If the Earth Federation's long-range suppression is mostly projectile-based like he said, he should be relatively safe. And once he breaks through into the city at high speed, it'll be his showtime."
Hearing this, Angie relaxed slightly. Her relationship with Reid had just started to show promise—she wasn't about to lose her potential boyfriend before they could even properly date.
But when the Earth Federation didn't fire a single shot, allowing Reid to storm straight into the city, both women were stunned. For a moment, they questioned just how professional this world's Earth Federation forces really were.
They didn't have time to dwell on it, though, because Reid had already thrown the city into chaos, diverting the attention of all nearby alert units toward the urban area.
Seizing the opportunity, Noin and Angie immediately took off in their Union Flags. Incredibly, the Earth Federation forces failed to notice two Mobile Suits launching right from their own territory.
Once airborne, Angie and Noin followed their prearranged tactics, climbing to maximum cruising altitude to scan for Earth Federation fighter squadrons below.
The Federation's fighter groups, knowing full well that Zeon had no air power to counter them and could only cower in their base under bombardment, flew with reckless confidence. It didn't take long for Angie and Noin to locate a small squadron.
Since the fighters were of little use in urban combat—most were only equipped with a handful of Beam-capable Jet Core Boosters, while the bulk consisted of Ting Cod Fighters—many had already been wiped out by Zeon's anti-air defenses before Reid's team even arrived. The remaining fighters in the vicinity were all Ting Cod models.
These fighters had notoriously poor sensor range, so the squadron remained oblivious to the two grim reapers shadowing them from above as they followed orders to return to the rear airfield for resupply.
Angie and Noin tailed the squadron straight to the temporary airfield—and there, parked not far away, was the massive Big Tray-class Artillery Battleship. They didn't even need to guess which structure housed the command center.
Inside the Big Tray-class Artillery Battleship, the furious roars of Commander Ethan Riel echoed as he berated his subordinates.
"Damn it! Haven't you identified where that RX-78 series unit came from? It's attacking us!"
Compared to Ethan Riel's fury, his adjutant Kojima remained relatively calm, responding directly:
"Could this Gundam really be a Zeon replica?"
Ethan Riel was adamant about this question. He grabbed Kojima by the collar and snapped,
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Do you have any idea what the Gundam means to us in the Earth Federation? Even if Zeon had the capability to replicate it, they could never make it identical to the RX-78 series. The only explanation for this situation is that our experimental unit was stolen by Zeon!!
So we need to quickly gather intel on that machine. If they're deploying stolen units here, how important must the MA being produced in Zeon's mining base be?
Commander Kojima, I don't want to hear another word about this Gundam being Zeon-made. And don't even think about suggesting a retreat."
Kojima could only submit to the order, seeing the twisted expression on Ethan Riel's face. After all, Ethan had deliberately modified the Minovsky Ultracompact Fusion Reactors of some GMs to breach the base—blowing up the reactors to force open doors that couldn't be quickly breached otherwise.
This was a severe violation of military discipline. If this operation yielded significant results, the incident could easily be swept under the rug. Losing a few units while storming an enemy base was normal, after all.
But if the mission failed, higher command would surely investigate the reasons for the defeat, and if word got out that Zeon had a Gundam, the consequences would be the same.
If Ethan Riel's underhanded tactics were discovered, he'd be finished.
However, Kojima wouldn't have to endure Ethan's tyranny much longer.
The radar operator of the Big Tray-class Artillery Battleship suddenly announced:
"Unknown large aircraft detected above the airbase! Count: two. Descending rapidly toward the base!!"
This report snapped Ethan Riel out of his rage. Though not a complete fool as a commander, he forced himself to stay calm in the face of an enemy assault on his headquarters.
"Only two enemy craft—no need to panic. Have any fighters at the temporary airfield scramble immediately. Deploy the mothership's anti-air fire net. Watch for Anti-ship Missiles—if we shoot those down, those two aircraft won't be able to do much to our battleship."
Honestly, Ethan's orders would have been perfectly sound against conventional fighters.
But the Union Flags were machines far beyond his comprehension.
Just like the captain of the Gray Phantom in Side 6 when he witnessed the Union Flag's transformation, Ethan Riel's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull as he watched the two aircraft on the bridge screen shift into MS form mid-descent.
And Angie and Noin had no intention of holding back. At this altitude, the Big Tray-class's anti-air fire couldn't even reach the two Union Flags.
Though still outside the effective range of the 120mm Electromagnetic Rifle, Earth's gravity worked in their favor—firing downward at such a massive stationary target. For someone of Angie's marksmanship, missing was out of the question. Even if Noin wasn't quite as precise, she could still land two out of three shots.
Of course, Angie and Noin couldn't precisely control where the electromagnetic rounds would hit. But given the electromagnetic rifle's inherent high armor-piercing capability, it was enough to penetrate the armor of the Big Tray-class and trigger internal explosions.
For a moment, the bridge of the Big Tray-class was bathed in flashing red warning lights, with the shrill alarms and the sounds of explosions reverberating through the hull. The crew inside were thrown into chaos, many of the more timid ones crouching behind control panels with their hands over their heads.
By the time Angie and Noin descended to an altitude within the Big Tray-class's anti-air range, the warship's surface was already in tatters. Forget the main cannons—even most of the anti-air machine guns had been disabled.
Angie effortlessly fired an Anti-ship Missile at the bridge—which had miraculously survived the earlier attacks—the moment she entered firing range, completely obliterating the mothership.
It had to be said that Ethan Riel probably never even realized what had happened before he died. Moreover, upon seeing the two attacking fighters transform into Mobile Suits midair and realizing his life was in danger, he issued an extremely irrational order: recalling all the GMs surrounding the Zeon base on the frontlines to fall back and protect the warship.
The Big Tray-class's broadcaster managed to transmit the order just before the mothership was destroyed, which was why the 08th MS Team received no reinforcements during the urban combat in the town. Reid didn't even get to fight many Ground Combat GMs.
(End of Chapter)