Why would I join the army if I can’t drive a Gundam!

Chapter 11 Colonial Satellite
After having a special meal paid for by the Space Army at the Orbital Defense Base, the Red Dragon Team took a brief rest and then boarded the Columbus-class transport ship that came to pick them up. This huge transport ship can transport an entire armored unit at a time, and its appearance is also very cute, like a wooden board with two rows of containers hanging under it in a vertical manner. At the rear of the spacecraft are eight thrusters arranged symmetrically on both sides. When fully loaded with supplies and fuel, this ship can carry out transportation missions in space for several months, and because of its huge carrying capacity, only a few transport ships are needed to replenish the necessary supplies for an entire fleet.

Of course, in the later period of the One Year War, these transport ships were also converted into mobile suit motherships, which could carry twenty MSs, making up for the tactical disadvantages of the Federation Army to a large extent.

As a legitimate space transport ship, the Columbus-class is much faster than a shuttle. When the people on the transport ship woke up, they found that they had circled the moon and arrived at the side3 satellite cluster on the back of the moon, which is the famous Principality of Zeon.

Looking out of the porthole, what comes into view is an extremely magnificent scene. In the dark space, dozens of huge steel cylinders with lead-gray surfaces are neatly arranged. Each cylinder is nearly thirty or forty kilometers long. Compared with its six-kilometer diameter, the fifty-five-meter height of the Columbus-class transport ship is like a tiny ant.

These metal cylinders are humanity's space home. With cold steel as shields, humans have their own place in space. These huge metal cylinders are hollow, and the inhabitants of the universe live on the inner walls. In order to ensure the normal life of the residents inside the satellite, these satellites will also use the center line of the cylinder as the central axis and rotate at a speed of about one circle every two minutes to provide artificial gravity for the colonial satellite.

Around the outside of the cylinder, dangling necklace-like objects were the colony's solar panels, providing a constant supply of energy. They also provided routes for satellite construction units like the colony's communes to quickly reach the colony from within for maintenance. Satellites were connected by shuttles, similar to intercity buses, which residents could board at spaceports located at either end of the satellite. Furthermore, flights to other locations, such as Earth or lunar cities, also departed from spaceports, though these were more expensive.

The destination of the Columbus transport ship is the Guardian Zone of the 34th Colonial Satellite on the left. This is the base of the Federation Army garrison and the Zeon Higher Military School. Apart from these two military facilities, there are almost no residents in the entire colonial satellite. The remaining large areas are all various complex terrains used for military training, including foothills, rivers, forests, etc. The various expenses incurred in constructing these terrains within the colonial satellite are even greater than those in constructing high-rise buildings in residential areas. However, in order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the army, the Principality of Zeon still spent more than ten years on construction.

In addition, Zeon also maintains long-term exchanges and learning with the Earth Federation Military Academy. During the reign of Deiken, the two sides had promoted an exchange student program, but after the Zabi family came to power, the relationship between the two sides further deteriorated and the program was subsequently cancelled. Speaking of which, Macharius felt that if the Zeon Military Academy maintained this habit, then when the two sides went to war, those Zeon officers would probably not be as blindly optimistic about the progress as in the original history. After all, at that time, many Zeons living in space even came to Earth for the first time, and they had no psychological preparation for the vastness of the Earth.

However, although the exchange student program failed, the exchanges between the two sides have not been completely cut off. The Principality of Zeon is still a nominal member state of the Earth Federation. Therefore, the two sides will continue to hold various joint exercises every year. The types of these exercises are also very diverse. There are anti-piracy hijackings organized by the National Defense Force and the Space Force, as well as search and rescue of ships in distress in space. Of course, the most common are offensive and defensive drills between each other.

“So it’s weird!”

After throwing all the bags onto the transport vehicle that came to pick them up, Macharius said as he felt the gravity that was no different from that in the space colony and the region.

"The Zeon Defense Forces' ground forces don't have any heavy vehicles, only light armored vehicles and light infantry. They don't have any fire support units, and at most a few 120mm self-propelled mortars. With that kind of equipment, why are they insisting on practicing attack and defense with us?" "Yes, why?"

"Then there's only one answer. Zeon has developed super soldiers who can tear apart steel with their bare hands! Their infantry can overturn our tanks with just a charge!"

Macharius' words immediately caused a burst of laughter. Obviously, everyone took it as a joke. Little did they know that some facts were actually told as jokes. Two years later, when the cadets who had graduated and become qualified armored soldiers sat in the tanks and looked at the huge steel warriors who were more than ten meters tall coming towards them, they could no longer laugh!
"It doesn't matter. They trained a super soldier, but I don't believe that guy can withstand a volley of fire!"

"Yes, as long as our Type 61 launches an attack, their infantry will surely collapse!"

The commander of Red Dragon No. 3 was full of confidence.

Of course, Macharius also agreed with this point. The huge armored cluster of the Federation Army is a sword hanging over the heart of the Principality of Zeon. The Zeon infantry is just a few cats, but when they drive mobile suits powered by small nuclear reactors, which are more than ten meters tall and can run at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour, everyone's status will be different!

But now that Macharius is standing here, it is hard to say whether these pillars of the Zeon Military Academy will be able to drive mobile suits in the future!
"This colony satellite is so troublesome to live in!"

After getting on the bus, everyone found that the structure of the spaceport was a bit complicated. Although pedestrians could use escalators to reach the spaceport located in the middle of the bulkhead from the ground, vehicles had to pass through a spiral lock-like device to reach the ground. However, looking from a distance in the central position, you can still see the clouds accumulated on the central axis of the satellite in the distance. Under the cover of fog, the distant scenery and the land above the head also became hazy, with a unique beauty.

(End of this chapter)