Eliard tried to pivot for a counterattack, firing off his main thrusters while blasts spewed out from his beam rifle, the acceleration pressing his body into his seat.

“I hope the rifle’s energy holds up…”

Eliard muttered as he finally managed to lock on to the Gelgoog. But, the enemy repeatedly moved as though they were trying to catch him off guard. He felt like he was being toyed with.

“Dammit! I’m gonna catch you no matter what…”

He was staring intently at the targeting reticle floating on his monitor when he heard Murphy’s voice.

“Ah, shit! It’s a trap!”

Eliard looked around at his monitor and saw that the Hazel had completely stopped moving.

A trap? What did he mean?

Around the Hazel, he could see something glinting that reflected the sunlight, a thin strand of light.

“A wire?”

The Hazel was pushed into a wire trap the enemy had been running around. As it was, the Hazel was a sitting duck, a prime target. This wouldn’t be the case if he pursued the Gelgoog, who was now firing its main thrusters towards the unmoving Hazel.

“Please, wait for me!”

Eliard called out to Murphy, “I’ll burn through the wire with my saber.”

He was one step away from doing so when the Hazel was suddenly enveloped in bluish-white light.

“Don’t touch it!” Murphy’s voice could be heard telling him, “He’s feeding a current through the wire. They’re trying to take down my systems.”

Of course, a mobile suit’s computer system was heavily shielded, but if a strong enough current is applied to the systems, there’s no telling how long shields would hold up. Mobile suits are a mass of precision machinery and computer systems.

“The connectors in the joints to the arms and legs have been had,” Murphy said, his voice frighteningly calm.

Who was supplying the current? Eliard looked around for the enemy, shielding the Hazel.

There. A third enemy. It was a Zaku. A Zaku was hiding behind a rock and deploying a wire. Eliard fired his beam rifle towards it.

The rock turned into an obstacle.

A Gelgoog cut into his monitor on the right side, the arm with the bazooka shot off, but it still had the missile launcher attached.

“Like hell, you will!”

Eliard fired off his rifle. It wasn’t a hit, but it did keep the enemy in check. A Rick Dom appeared in the opposite direction, this one raining fire from its machine gun. His shield was hit.

“Pull back,” Murphy said, “At this rate, both of us are done for.”

His voice was still calm.

“You’re kidding, right?” Eliard said, “I can’t just let the commander die.”

Eliard looked around at his monitors. He had to keep firing his beam rifle to keep the enemy in check, but the energy remaining on the monitor showed that it was rapidly depleting.

Beams from the Rick Dom burned up his shield again, so much so that they already became useless. The Gelgoog launched a salvo of missiles, each striking one after another, exposing Elard to the shock of their impacts. He didn’t know how long his armor would last.

His monitor displayed the damage from the impacts. His right leg was hit and was gone from the knee down. The missiles had also impacted Murphy’s Hazel.

A round from the Rick Dom had torn through the Hazel’s shoulder, and now, a second missile attack was incoming. Alarms blared in the cockpit. Air appeared to begin leaking. Eliard lowered the visor on his helmet. Even if the air in the cockpit were to run out, a normal suit’s life support system would keep him going for a while.

“Shit, they hit me.”

He had no choice left but to continue firing his beam rifle as long as he had the energy to do so. Yet, the enemy never waivered in their assault; they seemed keen on targeting the Hazel. Their eyes were set on the Gundam. Defeating the Gundam held immense meaning for Zeon remnants.

The Hazel was suffering from an onslaught of missiles and beams, and Eliard did everything in his power to protect it since it was unable to move. But, his efforts were in vain.

The Hazel’s armor was in tatters, relatively fragile parts like the manipulators, ankles, elbows, and knee joints having already been sheered off by missile attacks. Eliard’s GM Kai was in a similar state, the energy in his beam rifle running perilously low.

“Bastards think they’ll do as they please?”

Came Carl’s sudden voice as a beam grazed the Gelgoog. Carl’s Hi-Zack was sticking its rifle out from behind a rock. He had managed to reactivate his Hizack, which had been struck by a round, despite disregarding the dangers of detonation. He must’ve been listening in over the wireless and couldn’t bear to sit idly by.

“Carl,” Murphy called out, “I thought I told you to get out of the line of fire?”

“I don’t think this is the time to talk about that,” he replied as his Hi-Zack continued firing off its beam rifle. Backup from Carl was reassuring, but it didn’t change their situation much. Their crisis dragged on.

For now, the only way to shield the Hazel was with the tattered GM Kai. Soon his beam rifle would be out of energy. As the impact of round after round pummeled him, Eliard gritted his teeth.