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

Chapter 78: The gun went off
The sudden appearance of the Zeon fleet startled the Columbus-class in the rear, especially the several dazzling artillery shells, which were fired by the main guns of the Chibey-class. In terms of power, it was not much inferior to that of the Salamis. After all, both sides were cruiser-level.

But the Columbus class is not like that. It is just a transport ship. Although it looks big and powerful, its actual firepower is similar to that of the Zeon Papua class supply ship, which is also a transport ship.

Fortunately, the Zeon fleet did not cause trouble for the Columbus class, but instead confronted Salamis. Otherwise, the Columbus class would have had no choice but to run away.

After all, at this moment, the Columbus-class's armament is seriously insufficient. Half of the Swordfish fighters on board were lost in the previous battle. The remaining half need to be prepared and resupplied after returning to Columbus, and the pilots also need to rest for a while.

"The Zeon spaceships they designed are really weird!"

While the two sides were confronting each other, the Federation crew members on Columbus were still watching the fun, crowding by the observation windows and looking at the Zeon ships.

Macharius was naturally among them. He had rarely seen Zeon warships, especially large ships like the Chibe class. They were generally used as flagships of the Zeon fleet. Because the cost of the Gwakin class was too exaggerated and could not meet the needs of the fleet at all, they could only rely on heavy warships like the Chibe class with sufficient firepower to fill the gap.

"I wonder what the Zeon designers were thinking?"

"Perhaps this is the unique imagination of the inhabitants of the universe!"

"Without gravity to restrain the soul, it can naturally run wild!"

Macharius couldn't help but interrupt.

Then, the surrounding federal army crew members saluted him collectively.

"What's wrong? Is there something dirty on my face?"

"No, we're just curious. How did you come up with such a philosophical statement?"

"That must be the inspiration given to me by the Space Ghost Girl!"

Macharius pointed to the ceiling.

Then, several female crew members immediately came up to Macharius with great interest and asked him what the space ghost looked like.

"Well, she's probably the type with two buns on the back of her head, wearing a yellow dress, and dark skin. She's the type that the pale-skinned, yellow-haired young athlete who lost her mother at a young age would rely on as a mother. Oh, and she has a crystal on her forehead that can release cosmic rays as powerful as a battleship's main gun!"

His answer made several people laugh so hard that they couldn't stop, and the other crew members beside him couldn't help but sigh again at the young man's strange idea. After all, who would have thought that the female ghost in the universe would be dressed in black leather and a yellow skirt!
"Then why does that yellow-haired athlete like the space ghost girl and rely on her as if she were his mother?"

"That's because he's a loli..."

Before Macharius could finish his words, the indicator lights in the cabin began to flash.

"Level 1 combat readiness! All ships, prepare for battle!"

"Zeon people, are you done yet?"

All the crew members rushed to their posts with full of resentment. This was not surprising. Even auxiliary posts were not easy. After all, in space, everyone was working at the risk of their lives.

"what's the situation?"

Macharius was naturally the first to run back to the warehouse. After all, the new humans had to react faster.

"The enemy's battleship released mobile suits, but their target wasn't us, it was the colony satellite!"

"Probably to rescue the troops that are about to be annihilated by our army. How many are there?"

"Twelve, but that shouldn't be all. These are just the ones released from the battleships. Optical instruments also spotted a Papua-class destroyer operating behind the enemy fleet!"

"Then it's at least a large team!"

Macharius remembered that Papua could carry more than 20 mobile suits, including spares and those supplied to the previous Zeon Volunteer Force. That was at least a battalion of enemies!

"Where's the model number?"

“Same as before!”

Hearing that it was still Zaku 1, Macharius breathed a sigh of relief. He was actually quite afraid that he would make Zeon angry and the other party would suddenly bring out a tiger or something, and then wave an electric whip to charge him.

But since it's a Zaku 1, there's nothing to worry about!
"So you want me to go out?"

"Not for now, please stand by!"

Colonel Carter did not think that the twelve Zakus would have much impact on the Iron Cavalry, not to mention that at this moment on the colonial satellite, in addition to the Iron Cavalry, there were also a large number of Leah Security Force infantry and federal armored forces.

Although several Iron Cavalry units were damaged, none of them suffered serious damage. The most serious problem was that the unit lost its head, which could be replaced with a spare one.

"I understand. Then I'll continue to wait in the warehouse!"

"Rest well first, reinforcements are on the way!"

After hanging up the communication, Macharius fastened a safety rope on himself, then lay upright on the wall and looked at his own body. At this moment, the professional team led by Chief Maintenance Officer Seitaro Sakaki had completed its attack preparations, the ammunition and propellant had been fully deployed, and the lost rocket launcher had also been found.

What surprised Macharius was that they even painted the shootdown mark on the shoulder of the machine.

At this moment, eleven small Zeon mobile suit shadows appeared on the shoulder armor of the prototype Gundam, each covered with a black cross, indicating that he had shot down a total of eleven Zeon mobile suits. According to the regulations, shooting down five enemy planes would make one an ace. Now, Macharius could really proclaim himself the Federation Ace.

However, this number of kills was actually nothing during the war. The number of those guys who could be called war gods each started from three digits, such as the unlucky Griffin. The opponent's skills were not bad, and he was killed only because Macharius insidiously installed two armor-piercing grenades on the right hand of the Gundam that could only be used at close range. This thing had no accuracy at a distance, but it was accurate when hitting a target close to the face. After all, who could defend against such a killer move!

This is like two swordsmen drawing their swords and striking at each other, but one of them raises his sword to strike, and the other one suddenly twists the hilt, turning the longsword into a musket.

Perhaps the elite pilots who have been tempered in brutal battles can defend against this move, but at this moment, the pilots who are far from having formally grown up are still unable to do it!
Of course, Macharius also wrote this tactic into the book, and he would wait for the return of the Iron Cavalry to promote it internally first. There was no such thing as keeping it secret. The purpose of the tactic was to promote its use.

There is no point in hiding it, and it won't lay golden eggs. What's more, the enemy is not a fool, they will continue to study it. Sooner or later, this tactic will be mastered by the enemy. So it is natural to use it as soon as possible. It is the right way to take advantage of the Zeon people's unpreparedness and kill a few more aces!

Twelve Zakus, also piloted by veterans of the Zeon Training Brigade, had now passed through the previous battle zone. The wreckage of both sides along the way made these veterans feel pressured.

After all, this was actually their first time on the battlefield.

"So, even the Zaku can be destroyed?"

"Brace yourselves! We're not driving some invincible decisive weapon, and the enemy isn't some clueless fool. It's not surprising we were destroyed. This is a battlefield, and if we want to survive, we have no choice but to fight to the bitter end. Everyone, if we don't fight, we can't survive. Do you understand?"

Lieutenant Colonel Ogus, known as the number one mobile suit pilot in the Principality of Zeon, did not attack at this moment. Although he was only twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, the lieutenant colonel already possessed a very steady command style, which was one of the reasons why he was promoted so quickly. In recent years, the Zeon army has expanded rapidly like a balloon, and the army lacks enough middle and lower-level officers. Therefore, not long ago, Girenzabi specially promoted a large number of young talents like Ogus to fill the gap.

Eric was naturally one of them, but he was already dead. The armor-piercing jet penetrated his body, making his heart warm, and then the warmth lasted until his life was completely over.

Ogus and Eric were naturally very familiar with each other. As one of the first mobile suit pilots of Zeon, they even lived in the same dormitory. Hearing the news of his death in battle was somewhat of a blow to Ogus.

Therefore, Lieutenant Colonel Ogus, who usually led his subordinates to move out at the first opportunity, chose to observe the situation this time. He was not sure where any Federation pilot was, so he would not move out blindly. Moreover, before leaving, Brigadier General Markbay gave him an additional task, which was to find a way to obtain the wreckage of the Federation mobile suit or capture the entire machine.

"So, where are you now?"

Ogus couldn't help but mutter to himself as he looked at the entire universe.

At this moment, the twelve Zakus that had set off first had arrived at the entrance of the spaceport. They encountered no resistance along the way. Even the federal gunboats on standby near the entrance of the waterway looked at them and ran away, with no intention of fighting at all.

This inevitably disappointed the pilots who were eager to try.

"With such fighting spirit, how did they defeat the Griffin Brigade?"

"Because they've fought each other before and know that the gunboats are no match for us!"

The Zeon captain commanding the twelve Zakus shouted harshly over the communication channel.

"We're about to enter the satellite, be careful!"

A Zaku slowly landed headfirst on the edge of the satellite, then stuck out half of its head to look inside the channel. There was no sign of the Federation Army here either, but there were still a lot of supplies piled on the docking platform that had not been moved in time. It seemed that they were left behind by the Federation Army when they hurried to evacuate.

However, even so, the Zeon pilots did not let down their guard. Instead of rushing forward in large numbers, they began to move in small groups.

Three Zakus, each armed with a 280mm rocket launcher, quickly advanced to the dock in a triangle formation. They then began searching the surrounding area. Once they were sure it was safe, the Zaku group at the entrance to the channel sent out three more Zakus to reunite with their comrades. After landing safely, these three Zakus immediately joined the search, but at one point they even reached the middle of the dock without finding any enemy. Only then did the six Zakus that followed them confidently enter the dock.

"The Federals abandoned the docks?"

"It might be waiting for us at the exit!"

Captain Zeon looked at the supply box in front of him and suddenly had an idea.

"Zeon's mobile suits are moving!"

"One hundred meters to the exit!"

Outside the previously devastated dock exit, nine Guncannons were lying in a prone position behind the rubble, waiting for the Zeon to appear. Beside them were several Type 74 air-cushion trucks equipped with listening devices, and more than a dozen missile teams.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the exit, and then a shadow suddenly flew out from the darkness.

Before he could react, the Guncannons stationed outside opened fire first. The 100mm machine gun fire instantly shattered the shadow into pieces, and smoke and dust flew everywhere.

"Ceasefire!"

The commander of the Guncannon reacted and realized that it was not the enemy. He quickly ordered a ceasefire and reloading of ammunition, and then the gunfire stopped.

At this moment, a Zaku carrying a rocket launcher rushed out of the passage.

"Missile launch!"

Several missile teams fired Queen wire-controlled missiles at the Zaku. The latter did not dodge at all, but just tried to fire four rockets before the missiles hit it, targeting the support structures around the hall.

The missile accurately hit the Zaku's torso, blowing it into pieces, and his rocket also exploded in the hall.

The hall ceiling, which had already been severely damaged, soon began to twist violently and visibly under the remaining supporting structure. As the collapse became more and more severe, the remaining supporting structure also began to deform until it could no longer hold on.

The huge ceiling, which weighed who knows how many tons, came crashing down, even affecting the federal troops defending outside. An armored vehicle was overturned, and several missile teams, who were too close, could only watch their weapons collapse along with it.

The huge movement even caused the colonial satellite to shake violently again, and the tremors were extremely strong on the other end.

"Back off, back off!"

It was at this time that the Zaku of the Zeon army lifted up hundreds of tons of steel plates, and then launched an attack with a bazooka.

"The enemy is above!"

The Guncannons looked at the Zakus that appeared and could only respond hastily, firing wildly at the Zakus with their 100mm machine guns. Two Zakus were pierced before they could fire, and became unresponsive with smoke coming out. However, one of the Zakus also jumped up and pulled the trigger of the rocket launcher at the Guncannon on the ground.

The power of the 280mm anti-ship rocket launcher was so strong that even the shield made of Luna Titanium could not withstand it, let alone the Guncannon. More than a dozen rockets dropped from the sky swallowed up the Guncannon troops in an instant, and three machines were directly hit, leaving only some parts.

There were also four Guncannons that were blown to pieces, with even their heads missing.

The remaining two Guncannons retreated and fought back, and used machine guns to kill another Zaku that had used up its rockets.

But their ammunition was also used up at this moment.

Then, Zaku, wielding a thermal axe, rushed up like a wolf or a tiger.

"Is this the Federation's mobile suit? It's so weak!"

Amid the pilot's arrogant laughter, the heat axe penetrated the armor, cut open the cockpit of a Guncannon, and killed the Federation pilot inside.

"asshole!"

The last intact Guncannon pilot looked at the approaching Zeon Zaku and, without caring about being inside the colony satellite, directly activated the missile nest on his shoulder and fired missiles at the Zaku.

The Zaku that was attacked by him immediately pulled up its thrusters to the maximum, and set the house under its feet on fire with heat flames. Then it dodged the missiles and rushed to the close of the Guncannon. Its heat axe slammed into the opponent's shield, causing the Guncannon to stagger. Then, the Zaku swung its heat axe more fiercely, chopping the Guncannon backwards. Afterwards, it cut off half of the Guncannon's body in one breath directly from the position of the missile nest.

At this time, the thermal axe also activated the unexploded ammunition in the missile nest, and then a missile flew upwards with a tail flame.

As Captain Zeon stared in amazement, the missile accurately hit the colony satellite's skylight panel, blasting a hole in it.

The colonial satellite is a closed space with outer space outside. The damaged gap caused the satellite to lose pressure instantly, and some small debris and dust on the ground were sucked up, rushed towards the gap, and then were ejected from the satellite.

"You idiot, why are you blowing it up now? Our people haven't evacuated yet!"

"I didn't want to do that either. This is an emergency!"

The captain was speechless and could only send a message to the friendly forces inside the satellite, asking them to arrive at the dock as soon as possible. The damage to the satellite was not serious at the moment, but it would be hard to say in a while!
After the satellite was hit with a hole, the most anxious ones were actually the colonial communes that had been playing a small and transparent role on the edge. As a neutral third-party organization, they did not favor any side in the war. Of course, this depends on the specific situation. After all, the federal government is also an important source of funds for the colonial communes.

The most core task of the colonial commune is naturally to build and maintain space colonies. This was determined at the beginning of its establishment. It can even be said that colonial satellites are a necessary prerequisite for the existence of the colonial commune.

Therefore, after confirming that the colony satellite was damaged and that damage had been caused to the satellite's internal airtight structure, the colonial commune immediately issued a ceasefire request to both Zeon and the Federation, hoping to stop the fighting and allow them to repair the colony satellite.

The federal fleet naturally responded immediately and promised to protect the colonial commune's operating ships.

Zeon, however, did not respond. In fact, the Principality of Zeon treated the Colonial Communes very badly, as they possessed a large number of skilled space mechanics and ship operators. Consequently, the Zeon government kidnapped many of the Colonial Commune members and their families in Side 3, using them as hostages to force them into military service, in order to fill the fleet's shortage of skilled personnel.

Coupled with the various legacy issues caused by the construction of Zeon's domestic colonial satellites, the colonial communes are seen by Zeon as being like the Federation's running dogs.

But time is running out, and the damage to the satellite is getting worse and worse. The colonial commune quickly dispatched two space operation ships with unique shapes, which look like pipes spliced ​​together, to enter the fleet's front line to repair the colonial satellite.

In order to protect the safety of the space operation ship, a Salamis cruiser immediately began to turn to support, preparing to insert into the firing line of the Zeon fleet from the left side of the space operation ship, so that the hull could provide cover for the operation ship.

"Just work without worry. Even if a nuclear bomb comes, we'll protect you!"

The captain of Salamis patted his chest and assured the colonial communes on the work ship.

When Salamis began to maneuver, the Zeon people quickly dispersed their fleet and used a Musai-class warship to maneuver parallel to Salamis. This was done to prevent the Federation Army from outflanking them, because at this moment the two sides were positioned in a triangle, with the Federation warships at the two lower corners and the Zeon fleet at the top corner. Once the other side showed their strength, Salamis could comfortably use the four mega particle cannons on the ship in any direction to fire at the Zeon people.

As for the Zeon fleet, except for the Musai, the Chibe-class must face the enemy with its broadside to exert its full firepower. However, doing so will result in a very large projection of the ship's hull, especially the Chibe-class. This heavy, high-speed cruiser is even comparable to the Magellan-class in terms of broadside projection.

For the federal gunners who have practiced artillery for decades and practiced high-intensity artillery every month, there is no possibility of missing the target.

Therefore, the Zeon fleet also divided its forces, using a Musai-class ship to contain the Federation Salamis on the left. In this way, if the two sides fought, the Zeon army on the right would be two against one, and the advantage would be in their hands.

"Everyone, keep your eyes open! If the Federation Fleet makes any moves, you are authorized to open fire!"

The captain of the Musai-class ship felt that the task was arduous, so when his ship was turning, he repeatedly emphasized the countermeasures on the bridge.

Therefore, the gunners of the Musai class widened their eyes and stared at the screen in front of them, fearing that they would miss anything.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly until the colonial commune's space operation ship kindly offered to help temporarily repair Salamis, which was protecting them.

This Salamis had been hit by Zaku's anti-ship rockets before. Although it did not suffer serious damage, several compartments were penetrated and many personnel were injured. At this moment, black smoke was still coming out of the hit position under the battleship.

The space operation ship carried a lot of gel and equipment for filling the gap, so it decided to do a favor and help the federal army repair it.

The captain of the Federation warship naturally followed suit, and when several small work boats flew out from the side of Salamis, the highly nervous Zeon warships mistook those boats for anti-ship missiles that had just been launched!
"Salamis launches missiles!"

"Fight back immediately!"

"Wait, that's not a missile!"

But it was too late. The two large anti-ship missile devices of the Musai class had already been ignited and launched. At the same time, the three twin-mounted mega particle cannons also began to charge, and the muzzles gradually lit up with green light.

"Missiles incoming from the port side, activate the matrix!"

(End of this chapter)