The shining Shoko Toyokawa

"I understand," Maya said, ending her communication with the Agama and switching back to the team's internal communications. "Everyone, our mission is to defeat Caius's interception force as quickly as possible."

"Squad leaders, please keep in touch with me. If I lose my ability to act, command will be handed over to Captain George."

"Captain George has also lost his ability to move, so let's hand it over to other captains."

"The same goes for each team..."

"I'm sorry to bring you to such a cruel place. Everyone, please lend me your lives!"

Maya's shout echoed in the channel. Xiaozhi looked at the golden mobile suit at the front of the team.

Suddenly I understood. Just like what Nina said, maybe compared to Maya, their pressure is really nothing.

She couldn't even tell the pilots following her her true purpose...

…………

On the other side of the universe, on the Britannic, Hina sat in Marcella's cockpit, feeling distraught.

As soon as Major Isabella returned to the deck, she hurriedly asked, "Major, aren't we setting off yet? More than two battalions of troops have just set off. I think it might be the main force of the Thornless Army.

"Just relying on machines like the High Zaku and the GM-2 is no match for the thornless Hyaku-Shiki and the Mark Rabbit!"

"Our current mission is to escort the HMS Britannic," Major Isabella's voice was a little tired. "We've received a death order. The three warships sunk on No. 1, especially the Magellan-class ship that had been modified to enhance its air defense capabilities, have made the Vice Admiral very uneasy."

"What is he worried about?!" Hina bit her nails. "Even if we leave and someone attacks, there are still more than 10 battleships and dozens of mobile suits guarding him.

If you're so uneasy, why not just let Thornless go? Only send half of our MS. Even though they outnumber Thornless, their cutting-edge MS is no match for the High Zaku! No... we have to..."

Normally, Hina would never speak ill of her top boss in front of him, but fighting that idiot had made her head a mess.

"Lieutenant Amano," Major Isabella interrupted her sternly, "Calm down, we are all soldiers... follow orders."

"Sorry, Major!"

Yang Cai took a deep breath and apologized sincerely.

In fact, she is not the kind of person who has a strong sense of collective honor and can treat the "company" as home.

She just...

I just don't want to lose to that idiot!

...............

……

As Haruna expected, although they have an advantage in numbers, the performance of the High Zaku is far inferior to that of the Hyaku Shiki and Mark Rabbit Gundam.

If it's just one-on-one, Likdias is much stronger than it.

The Gundam and Hyaku-Shiki teamed up and were unstoppable. Under the cover of other teammates, the two sides officially exchanged fire for less than 20 minutes, and the two planes shot down nearly 20 units, including the Jim and the High Zaku.

George, the Tiger of Gaul, also shined. Under the cover of other teams and Xiaozhi, he shot down 6 enemy planes in succession.

Xiaozhi found that she was not that bad after all. She also found the right opportunity and shot down two enemy planes.

This is why people are desperately developing high-performance MS.

A high-specification and high-performance MS may not be able to defeat five MSs that cost only one twentieth of your own.

But in the chaotic battlefield, excellent pilots driving high-performance MS can completely crush ordinary MS and often achieve jaw-dropping results.

But no matter how good the MS and the pilot are, they cannot do without the support of their teammates. If there were no other teams to hold them back, just like in the previous battle,

Under the joint attack of multiple enemies, the Maya team can only split their forces and fight.

When the enemy lost most of their numbers and began to retreat, including the enemy planes shot down by other teams, Wu Ci had shot down nearly fifty enemy mobile suits.

Although the victory was brilliant, Maya couldn't be happy at all.

Of the ten teams that set out, only four are still able to fight.

The two GM-2s sustained heavy damage, beyond repair. A few lucky pilots managed to escape with their lives, but many more perished in space. Over half of the victims' remains could not even be recovered...

But even with such heavy losses, the Mayan team still has to move forward.

because…

This level of coercion is not enough!

Using the reconnaissance plane as a signal relay node, Maya learned that Caius's encirclement had indeed begun, but it was still a little short of her goal.

She... absolutely cannot let her comrades' sacrifice go in vain!

Chapter 56: Stars That Don’t Blink

"Pick the squadron with the most serious damage to send back the wounded and prisoners, and also take away the bodies of the soldiers. The others will continue to move forward with me."

It is hard to face the dead, but it is even harder to face the living.

The 10 or so teams that started out with such great energy and enthusiasm were reduced to less than half in the blink of an eye. Even if the victory was brilliant enough,

But a question echoed in everyone's mind -

Can we achieve such a brilliant victory again?

How many more such victories must be achieved before the battle can be considered a victory?

A faint flash of fire exploded in the direction of the Thornless Fleet.

Because the distance was too far, people could not judge what happened.

Judging from the scale, the explosion should be an anti-ship missile or a reconnaissance aircraft.

No matter who it is, it is not good news for the front-line troops who have suffered heavy losses.

"Captain Maya, retreat first!"

A captain in the team finally said what many people wanted to say.

"Yes, Captain Maya,"

Once someone starts talking, others will chime in, "Everyone is tired now, let's take a break first and then make plans..."

The so-called further planning means giving up the attack on Caius's flagship.

The impact of this battle was huge for everyone. Many of the comrades who were just chatting with me and imagining the future were now nowhere to be found.

Some people asked in the channel, but before they could get a response from their friends, they realized that their friends were no longer around.

But they had no time to grieve, no time to cry, they had to face a problem that they had to face -

What should I do next?

Will I be the next one to die?

Death on the battlefield is often silent, although no one wants their death to be so absurd.

But after this battle, even the newcomers who had never been on the battlefield understood that most people, whether enemies or comrades, died without even realizing it.

As long as you are prepared, death will not come. This is the truth of the battlefield.

But reality often does not allow people to make any preparations, especially on a battlefield where the situation is turbulent and unpredictable.

"Everyone, let me tell you what will happen if we retreat now..."

Maya's voice was tired,

"Now, Caius has determined the location of the Thornless Fleet,"

"If we retreat, we will have to face Caius's endless attacks!"

"Their forces outnumber Wu Ci by more than seven times. We can only passively defend. Once they tighten their encirclement, they can attack us from any direction at any time."

"It's precisely because Caius's scouts have appeared behind us that we have to speed up our attack on the enemy flagship!"

"That's all I want to say..."

"Alan, Misoyah, you will cover the wounded and damaged aircraft as they retreat," Maya called out the names of the two young newcomers and assigned them tasks.

"As for the others, those who are willing to continue with me may come, and those who are not willing, please take good care of them."

After saying that, the golden MS activated the flight pedals.

"Wait for me, Maya-san!"

Mark Rabbit followed without hesitation.

"Everyone, we can't let the kids look down on us!"

George said, and followed the two planes.

The full-circle screen faithfully reflects the scenes at both ends of the universe.

There are countless powerful enemies ahead, and warships as huge as mountains.

And going backwards, you can get a brief chance to breathe.

This is a difficult decision. Even though we know hope lies ahead, human courage has its limits.

Just like almost all students know, only by studying hard can we have a better chance of getting a better future.

But the road to a better future is too long and too difficult!

Xiaozhi's brain was buzzing and blank.

Seeing the three people getting farther and farther away, her body answered for her—

Towards hope,

Towards the stardust!

go ahead!

Others were no slower than her.

Under the watchful eyes of the two young pilots, Allen and Misoyah, and the wounded,

The stars that never blink set off again,

...............

……

"The Thornless Army is attacking us from three directions?!"

The roar of Vice Admiral Kate Douglas echoed in the bridge of the Britannic.

Compared to the Thornless flagship, the Agama, the Britannic's bridge is much larger, not only can it accommodate various technical personnel,

There is also a special fleet command and dispatch staff group. Even if the flagship can coordinate and dispatch the ships to fight,

Kate Douglas is the current commander of the fleet.

"Those good-for-nothings, calling themselves elite troops, only to let the enemy shoot down 60 mobile suits in just two small warm-up battles..."

He let out a long breath as if to release the anger in his chest, and slowly stood up with his slender body that was nearly two meters tall.

"Pass on my order. From now on, except for the necessary reconnaissance aircraft and cover forces, all other mobile suits are prohibited from attacking and are responsible for covering the fleet."

"Don't play with these rats. We have an absolute advantage in warships. We just need to rush over and crush them!"

After saying this, he looked at the sparse mobile suits outside the bridge and added, "Mobilize another 50 mobile suits from various fleets, as well as two Magellans and four Salamis-class ships. Hurry!"

"Lieutenant General, this will..."

"Excuting an order!"

A young staff officer wanted to say something, but was immediately interrupted by Lieutenant General Douglas.

Like a giant, he got angry and no one dared to oppose him.

After seeing that no one dared to challenge his authority, the lieutenant general explained with satisfaction: "It doesn't matter even if they escape the encirclement. Whether they go to the Aurora Colony or the Earth, they are just rats in a dead end.

We just need to chase them and trample them to death!"

"But if we suffer too great a loss in a battle with them," the lieutenant general added, "those old bastards in the Federation will start to think of evil again."

"Why not drive Thornless to the Aurora Colony and find a reason to kill all those old immortals in one fell swoop!"

"The current garrison troops in the Aurora Colony are just a bunch of useless people..."

The more Lieutenant General Douglas thought about it, the more he felt that this was feasible. However, before that, Caius needed to "clean up" inside.

The lieutenant general had a long list of people to be shot in his head, but his long face was full of smiles.

…………