This GM II could not win against a formation of Jegan Type-Ds and Gustav Karls; Char had a very clear understanding of this.
Even to take down two unarmed Man Hunter-type Jegans, he had to increase the beam saber's output and expend a significant amount of energy.
Facing machines that looked even more advanced and heavily armored than the Man Hunter units, this "antique" GM II had zero chance of victory.
But Char didn't need to win. He never intended to defeat this Federation squad here.
Watching the Gustav Karls and Jegan Type-Ds detach from their sub-flight systems, a bead of sweat formed on Char's forehead.
"A GM II? Is it really such an old piece of junk?"
Seeing the Man Hunter-type Jegans destroyed by a GM, the newly arrived MS squad was momentarily stunned.
On second thought, it made sense; the Man Hunter models were merely Jegan Type-As without armaments. Facing a GM II equipped with a beam rifle and beam saber, their destruction was only a matter of time.
The GM II did not choose to advance recklessly. Instead, it retreated into the ruins of the dilapidated barn to pick up a GM II shield that had been set aside unused.
While this shield might be useless against the attacks of a Jegan Type-D or a Gustav Karl, it could at least deflect a shot or two.
"Mafty unit ahead, drop your weapons and exit the MS! You may still receive leniency!"
Looking at the GM II now hidden within the barn's wreckage, a Gustav Karl activated its external speakers and shouted.
After all, anyone who could achieve this much in a GM II must be an exceptional pilot; they could surely extract a lot of information from him.
However, aside from the crackling of the fires ignited by the destroyed Man Hunter Jegans, the white noise of MS machinery, and the clamoring of the Man Hunter troops, the voice of "Mafty" seemed to have vanished.
"Why bother talking to these terrorists?"
At that moment, a Jegan Type-D pilot lost his patience. Speaking over the squad comms, he leveled his beam rifle at the barn. "Die, Mafty!"
The Jegan Type-D pulled the trigger. A pinkish-purple beam—similar to the GM II's but noticeably thicker and higher in output—pierced through the ruined barn, melting the wooden planks instantly.
But there was still no movement from inside the barn, as if the GM II had simply vanished.
"Something's wrong..."
Seeing this, the Gustav Karl pilot serving as squad leader frowned and raised his shield. "Squad, spread out. Surround the barn."
The three Gustav Karls and three Jegan Type-Ds formed a circle, encircling the burning barn and advancing with an air of heavy pressure.
"Can the sub-flight systems see the situation over there?"
At the leader's command, the six sub-flight systems drifted closer to the burning structure, but even their rotors couldn't disperse the thick, heavy smoke.
They didn't dare drop any lower to clear the air, as a GM II of unknown status was still lurking within that haze.
"Negative. The smoke is too thick; we can't see the GM II."
One of the sub-flight pilots scanned the perimeter. "We haven't seen the GM II or the pilot escape eith—"
Before the pilot could finish, a pinkish-purple beam suddenly erupted from the barn, accurately striking the sub-flight system closest to the building.
Though the GM II's beam spray gun was an antique, a logistics platform like a sub-flight system wasn't equipped with anti-beam coating.
The beam melted through the outer armor and triggered an explosion, blowing the entire platform apart in mid-air.
Almost everyone's attention was snapped toward the sudden blast.
In the next heartbeat, the burning barn violently burst outward. The GM II surged out, wreathed in thick smoke, with the four nozzles of its backpack spitting blue flames.
Holding its red shield aloft like a battering ram, it slammed directly into the Jegan that had fired earlier.
Under the force of the impact, the Jegan Type-D was knocked backward, its frame momentarily losing balance.
"Ugh!"
Gritting his teeth against the sudden shock, the Jegan Type-D pilot deployed the beam saber from his left arm, intending to slice the GM II and its shield to pieces in one stroke.
But in the next second, the glowing "visor" of the GM II appeared right in front of him, giving him a start.
Char saw the beam saber deploy and couldn't help but chuckle.
"That's a big help."
As he spoke, the GM II released its shield with its left hand. Before the Jegan Type-D could even complete the motion to grasp the saber, Char intercepted it mid-air, snatching the weapon away from the Jegan's own arm.
He had to thank Anaheim Electronics for never changing their interface protocols.
It was likely because MS production was so high that changing the protocols would decrease the versatility of various frames and armaments, making them harder to sell to the Federation.
Watching the GM II begin to load the drivers for the Jegan's beam saber, Char manipulated the thrusters on his backpack to maneuver behind the Jegan Type-D, turning the machine that had just fired on the barn into his own personal "meat shield."
With the beam saber sourced from the Jegan Type-D—even if the GM II's power output couldn't fully realize the weapon's potential—it still had more than enough power to take down this Jegan Type-D.
As the driver finished loading, the white beam saber flickered to life from the hilt, accurately striking the Jegan Type-D's right hand and slowly severing it.
"Power is 5% lower than the default setting, but it's still stronger than the GM II's beam saber..."
Controlling the GM II, Char caught the beam rifle that fell from the Jegan Type-D's severed arm. Watching the driver load for the captured rifle, Char narrowed his eyes.
"So it uses E-pacs for power... thank you for the gift."
Though he didn't know where the Jegan Type-D's spare magazines were kept, Char had no intention of lingering.
The beam saber that had just cut the right hand shifted back slightly, then, like a knife to the kidney, he thrust it into the Jegan Type-D's waist and abdomen.
The beam saber continuously eroded the Jegan Type-D's anti-beam coating; Char's lightning-fast movements finally slowed down. But just as the others reacted, raising their beam rifles toward the GM II's position—
The anti-beam coating, having been scorched for several seconds, finally gave way.
The blade controlled by the GM II burned through, the searing edge passing through a mass of mechanical components and melting the shell of the spherical cockpit.
The pilot inside didn't even have time for last words before being vaporized by the beam.
"Hm?"
Noticing a sudden warning on the GM II's monitors and seeing the Jegan Type-D reacting as if its reactor had been hit, Char unhesitatingly pulled the GM II back into a recline. With a sharp kick, he shoved the dying Jegan Type-D into the center of the closing MS squad.
The four propulsion nozzles on his backpack, coordinated with the attitude control verniers, kept the GM II in a low-profile, "lying down" state as it surged into the forest not far behind him.
"Perfect timing, the beam rifle driver is loaded..."
At that moment, Char spotted the several sub-flight systems circling in the sky. Without hesitation, he raised the rifle stolen from the Jegan Type-D and fired repeatedly at the air.
As the pinkish-purple beams struck the five remaining sub-flight systems, the reactor of the Jegan Type-D—punctured by the beam saber—triggered a massive explosion.
The violent flare and shockwave, carrying fragments of the Jegan Type-D's frame, slammed into the nearby Jegan Type-Ds and Gustav Karls.
In an instant, the shields and armor of the two remaining Jegan Type-Ds were shredded by debris; one Jegan even had its arm joint destroyed.
The Gustav Karls, benefiting from their heavy armor, were largely unaffected by the flying shrapnel, but the blinding light of the reactor explosion in the dead of night was overwhelming.
For a moment, the Gustav Karl pilots lost visual lock on the GM II, and even their sensor tracking boxes flickered and dimmed in the glare.
Finally, as the explosion subsided, the destroyed Jegan Type-D left nothing but a massive crater on the scene.
The remaining two Jegan Type-Ds, due to their lighter armor thickness, were left with various malfunctions after facing such an explosion at point-blank range.
"...Stop the pursuit."
After a moment of careful thought, the Gustav Karl captain gave up the chase. "The opponent is highly experienced; we won't catch them."
Even while piloting a GM II, the enemy had used tactics to seize a Jegan Type-D's armaments and used them to score a kill. Though a GM II's power output certainly couldn't defeat a Gustav Karl in a fair fight, the two Jegan Type-Ds were now heavily damaged, and the GM II had successfully upgraded its weaponry...
Moreover, the forested area was unfriendly to large-scale machines like the Gustav Karl.
If the enemy pilot knew he couldn't win a head-on clash, wouldn't he just run?
If they pushed too hard and he circled back to pick off the two crippled Jegan Type-Ds, the situation would turn into a disaster.
The safest course of action was to retreat, save the remaining men, and then establish a perimeter around the woods to catch the Mafty "rat in a jar."
-----------------------------------
The GM II lay prone within the dense forest, its head and torso concealed by a canopy of branches and leaves. Looking at the gauges, which were now bottoming out, Char let out a sigh.
The propellant was completely spent. From here on out, the GM II's mobility would be drastically reduced.
With Federation forces currently hunting them down, mobility was of the utmost importance. An MS with compromised movement was nothing more than a liability.
Char removed the hard drive containing the combat records from the cockpit, checked the handgun on his person, and exited the GM II.
"Damien! You're alive!"
At that moment, Pete's voice rang out.
The four remaining survivors scrambled out from some nearby brush, looking up at Char as he climbed down from the machine.
"There was a massive explosion back at the farm; I thought for sure you were dead."
Pete walked over and patted Char on the shoulder. "We heard the MS engines and figured we were dead either way, so we might as well take a gamble and look for you."
"But what do we do now, Damien?"
Turning to look at the GM II, which bore the scars of the recent battle, Pete let out a heavy sigh.
Having lost their leader, Bryan, Pete had no idea what the next step should be in the face of the Federation's pursuit.
Even though Char was just a newcomer, his actions—telling them to retreat while he held the line against several MS—had earned Pete's complete trust.
As for the fact that his personality seemed slightly different from his initial persona, Pete didn't care. If you really looked at them, did anyone think this "nominally existing" Mafty Florida Guerrilla unit was made up of "good people"? They were all scoundrels at heart.
"...Are there any vehicles left?" Char asked after a moment of thought. "And how much money do we have?"
"There are two pickup trucks at the backup camp in this forest," Pete replied after thinking it over. "The camp also has 200,000 in emergency cash, three rifles, and 500 rounds of ammunition."
Compared to his "American vagrant" start not long ago, Char felt like he had never fought such a "wealthy" battle.
"Very well..."
After a brief calculation, Char made his decision.
"Abandon the GM II. We switch to the trucks and head for the Mafty gathering point in Australia."
"But we went through so much trouble to get this MS," Pete argued, still wanting to take the GM II with them. After all, it was their only Mobile Suit. "Shouldn't we at least try to bring it..."
"The propellant is gone. Trying to move it under the nose of the Federation without a sub-flight system is a death sentence."
Char shook his head, flatly rejecting Pete's suggestion.
"Time is our lifeblood right now; we can't afford a single moment's delay."
"First, we change into fresh clothes, then hit a nearby town for supplies and head straight for Australia."
As he spoke, Char held up the hard drive containing the combat data.
"In the meantime, we'll upload this to the network. This is our 'knocker' to open the door."
-----------------------------------
Sulawesi, Minahasa Peninsula.
A young man with dark brown hair, dressed in a suit, sat outside a beverage shop. A cup of coffee and a laptop sat on the table before him, making him look like he was putting in some overtime.
At that moment, a woman wearing casual clothes and light green glasses, her hair tied in a high ponytail and her face lightly dusted with freckles, calmly sat down in the seat behind him, their backs to each other.
"Mihessia, what happened that you had to contact me this time?"
The young man's fingers tapped away at the keyboard, where images and data regarding various plants flickered across the screen from time to time.
"Because we've discovered something, and we felt it was necessary for you to know, Hathaway."
The woman called Mihessia did not turn around. Instead, acting as if the weather were too hot, she fanned herself with her right hand while her left hand discreetly passed a mobile phone to the young man named Hathaway Noa.
Hathaway took the phone and held it up in front of him.
It was a combat record of a suppression battle in the dead of night. It ended with the pilot in the video destroying two Man Hunter Jegans, one Jegan Type-D, and six sub-flight systems before escaping into the woods.
"This is..."
Hathaway frowned. "Is the video authentic?"
"Yes. This battle took place in Florida, America. You'll never guess the results of the final investigation."
Mihessia shook her head. "The Federation turned that forest upside down and only found an abandoned camp and a single GM II."
"Are you saying this pilot achieved all of this while operating a GM II?"
Hathaway's eyes widened slightly. "Where did the video come from?"
"A forum called the Mafty Underground Resistance Network. This video has already gone viral."
Mihessia took back her phone, deleted the video, and placed it on the table. "We've investigated it. It's a website set up by a group of people who are dissatisfied with the Federation government and firmly believe that the Mafty base is located in Oenbelli, Australia."
"Furthermore, thirty thousand people have already joined them, forming a force known as the Mafty Army."
Mihessia turned her head to look at the busy street. "We suspect the pilot from that perspective will also head to Australia. This video is his 'knocker' to open the door."
"Mafty Army... thirty thousand people."
Hathaway lowered his head slightly. "I didn't expect so many people to respond to us. It seems what we are doing is right."
"But I heard Kimberly's forces are also in Oenbelli?"
"Exactly. That is also what we are concerned about."
Mihessia nodded, voicing the doubts of the true Mafty organization. "To recruit this powerful pilot, we would have to operate right under the nose of the Kimberly unit."
"Shall we recruit him? Hathaway."
....................