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

Chapter 98: Battle of Loum (Part )

"Order the Mobile Suit Unit to attack!"

"Move the third squadron over here and position it above the fleet!"

When Char's assault force appeared on the Federation Army radar, whose detection range had been drastically reduced due to interference, Rebil slowly adjusted his wide-brimmed hat and then issued his orders.

The third team was equipped with the new Lepanto-class missile frigates. There were only two particle cannons on the entire ship, but there were densely packed missile launchers. Although the accuracy of the missiles would decrease in a grain-of-grain environment, if the accuracy was not enough, it could be made up for by quantity!

While the Third Squadron was launching its interception fire net, the mobile suit unit and a small number of reserve Swordfish squadrons on the Columbus-class ship at the rear of the fleet also slid out of the hangar.

Macharius, driving the new Gundam, maneuvered the machine onto the catapult, and the red indicator light above the catapult runway lit up.

Then, after the final status confirmation, the red indicator light turned green, and then the two catapults under the Gundam's feet quickly pushed the body forward.

This time, Macharius did not shout out his classic line, but floated quietly in the universe until all the other teammates behind him had ejected and formed a cluster, and then he shouted leisurely.

"Macarius Crinius, Rx-78-2 Gundam, attack!"

"Nagase Ying, rgm79 Jim, attack!"

"Yudin, rgm79 Jim, attack!"

"Oh, so passionate? Then I'll come too!"

The commander of the Swordfish Squadron, who was also waiting to assemble in the space domain nearby, felt full of strength when he heard the enthusiastic announcement on the radio.

"McCluskey Best, Swordfish fighter, attack, Blade No. 2, No. 3, what are you doing, follow me and shout!"

The wingman pilot following behind the commander sighed helplessly. They were all middle-aged people over 30 years old. Why were they so passionate at this moment?

"This is a sense of mission, young man!"

The commander called Best looked through the cabin window at the accelerating formation of mobile suits. The white body of Macharius was particularly conspicuous in the group. Perhaps it noticed someone was looking at it, the body of Macharius turned its head and gave a non-standard military salute to the Swordfish.

"Wish ya'll good luck!"

Best also loosened his grip on the joystick and returned a military salute.

Then, the mobile suit passed the Swordfish and headed straight for the battlefield.

"Listen up, stick together, but don't crowd in. We're faster than the Zeons, so avoid tangles and use our mobility. Hit and run. When we get back, I'll treat everyone to Side7's new theme park!"

"understand!"

After receiving an accurate reply, Macharius took off the beam rifle from his waist and pulled the trigger at the Zaku that was wreaking havoc in the fleet.

"Die, bastard!"

A team of Zakus are now besieging a severely damaged Salamis. The cruiser has been hit by three nuclear warheads. Only the last turret can still fire, and it is making a dying struggle with the enemies around it.

Captain Zaku was too lazy to use his 120mm machine gun to attack the cabin inside the battleship, so he pulled out the thermal axe and destroyed the hull of Salamis like cutting a cake.

Then, when the team leader raised the thermal axe again, a purple beam of light pierced through the Zaku's cockpit from the side.

"Enemy attack!"

The remaining two Zakus hurried to warn their allies, but before they could find the direction of the attacker, two beams of light flew out from the darkness, killing the pilots in the cockpit one after the other.

"Quickly retreat, leave this to us!"

The remaining crew members of Salamis finally breathed a sigh of relief and took the few wounded into the escape pod.

At this moment, the Zeon army's attention was all on the Federation fleet, and Macharius and his men's attack did not attract much attention. Even many Zeon mobile suits were busy dismantling ships, completely ignoring the Federation mobile suits approaching from the rear.

So much so that Macharius put his beam rifle back into the rack behind his waist and replaced it with a beam saber.

"Help……"

As the Zaku pilot cried for help in panic, a Gundam suddenly appeared from behind him, grabbed his arm, and then pierced the cockpit with its beam saber.

The Zaku opposite him saw Macharius and just as he raised his weapon, another beam saber emerged from Zaku's chest.

“This feels so good!”

Yudin released the operating lever, pushed the unresponsive Zaku out of his arms, and said with a smile.

"But the fun won't last long!"

Macharius glanced at the radar. At this moment, they were gradually leaving the edge of the battlefield, and the enemies they encountered would not be as scattered as before. It was only a matter of time before the Zeon army realized that something was wrong!
"It's okay, as long as we can kill one!"

As he spoke, Yudin turned around and left in his machine. When he passed the wreckage of a sunken Federation warship, he saw five or six Zakus in front of him chasing the Federation's escape ships.

"Nani, a Federation mobile suit?"

"How did they get here?"

"Open fire, kill him!"

Seeing a wild GM show up, several Zaku pilots were like hungry wolves seeing their prey. They simply abandoned their lifeboats that had no ability to fight back and pounced on Yudin's machine.

When they passed the wreckage of the battleship, they saw that on the other side, more than fifty Federation mobile suits were watching them.

"Hungry..."

Before the Zeon pilot could finish his battle cry, a beam pierced his cockpit.

Then, dense rain of bullets enveloped these Zakus.

In an instant, these Zakus, riddled with bullet holes, flew backwards.

"I guess that guy must be shocked!"

Major Jung looked at one of the Zakus that was riddled with holes and even the monitor was destroyed, and couldn't help but curl his lips.

"In his next life, he should remember not to chase lone enemies!"

The friendly soldiers nearby also joked.

"Okay, keep moving forward and don't forget our mission!"

At this moment, the Zeon army, which was attacking the Federation warships, finally felt that something was wrong. Several of their mobile suits on the periphery, which were responsible for clearing out the retreating Federation warships, quietly lost contact.

At first, the Zeon officers in charge of dispatching and commanding thought this was normal, because Mi Li's interference also had a great impact on them. Even the huge number of mobile suit troops made the officers in charge of dispatching the battle feel overwhelmed.

But later, due to the interference of Mi Li, the communication was intermittent. They could hear what the other party wanted to say in the communication, but the strong interference could only make out a few words.

"We... fight... the enemy... and destroy them!"

"The enemy... destroy... our army..."

Such communication quality made the commander complain to the friendly forces responsible for dropping rice grains, until finally, they finally heard clear communication.

"The Federation's mobile suits are approaching. They're using the wreckage to attack us. My squadron is completely wiped out. Requesting support!"

"Federation mobile suits, number of enemies, direction?"

"The number of enemies...ah!"

The last sound coming from the communication was a shrill scream.

"Send reinforcements immediately and stop them. Don't let them get close to the assault force!"

The commander took a look at the battle map and knew that these Federation mobile suits were coming to support the Magellan cluster, which posed the greatest threat to the Zeon army. This was also the focus of the Zeon army's attack. These behemoths had thick skin and could even withstand multiple nuclear bazooka attacks.

The Zeon fleet was no match for these guys in the exchange of fire. The only Gwakin and Chibe-class ships that could effectively fight back were too few in number, and they even had to rely on the Musai-class to share the damage in order to ensure their firepower output.

Therefore, the Zeon commander immediately issued orders to the assault group that was attacking the Federation fleet.

"Federation Army mobile suit?" Upon hearing the enemy situation report in the communication, Char's hand that was about to fire trembled immediately, and then he silently slapped himself in the face.

After all, just now, he had made bold statements after destroying three federal warships in a row, and now, the other party had come to his door.

As a result of his shudder, the rocket, which was well aimed, deviated from its trajectory and missed the target, and almost hit his own people.

"Hey, Char, did you do this on purpose?"

A Zaku 2 painted in black and purple turned around, and the pilot asked in a dissatisfied tone on the channel.

"How is that possible? It's just that there were too many rockets fired, and there was a problem with the aiming system!"

Char looked at the machine in front of him, his face in the helmet revealing an expression of disgust.

"Really? Then why isn't there anything wrong with my system?"

"Because I have already sunk three enemy ships. What about you, Gaia?"

The one who questioned Char was none other than Gaia, who had been at odds with him before. After graduating from the military training camp, the latter went to Kycilia's Mobile Assault Force. Char originally thought that this arrogant guy should have died under the Federation Army's artillery fire long ago.

Unexpectedly, not only did the opponent not die, but he also made meritorious service during the assault on the lunar city. Not only was his rank promoted, but his machine even received an additional paint job. This was a special grant from Zeon to the elite pilots in the army in order to boost morale.

Gaia then formed the Black Tri-Stars with two other like-minded Zeon pilots. Their Zaku IIs all adopted a unique black and purple paint scheme.

After arriving at the battlefield, Gaia met Char Aznable and was like a dog-skin plaster. He followed Char all over the battlefield, wanting to compete with the other party to see who was more powerful.

At this moment, looking at the aggressive Black Tri-Stars, Char suddenly came up with a good idea.

"Gaia, have you heard the announcement of the Federation's mobile suit assault?"

"What, are you scared?"

"Yes, after all, the enemy has the famous Red Dragon. Do you know how many of our units he has destroyed?"

"How many?"

"Including the British campaign, that guy's record has already broken through triple digits!"

"Even I was defeated by him!"

As Xia spoke, he thought of the opponent's shot again. If it weren't for his flexible mind and strong body, he would never have been able to escape!

"So, what do you want to say?"

Gaia in Black Zaku 2 also laughed when he heard this. He was happy when Char was defeated.

"I'm just curious, is there no pilot in our army that can do anything to the enemy?"

"Brother, shall we go meet him?"

Among the Black Tri-Stars, the third-ranked pilot is a pilot named Ortiga. When he heard what Char said, he immediately became eager to fight.

"Let our invincible team of three go and meet the other side!"

"Shut up!"

Gaia cursed angrily.

Although he was arrogant, he was not brainless. Although he was very angry about Char's provocation and wanted to compete with the Red Dragon, before the war, Kycilia Zabi, the commander of the Grenada fleet, had made a promise to these elite pilots.

If they could kill or capture a high-ranking official of the Federation Space Force, or even someone like Rebil, the rewards and wealth they would receive would be unimaginable.

Compared to a big fish like Reybil, a red dragon is insignificant!

"Don't forget our business!"

"Char, so you're just like that!"

After Gaia scolded his younger brother, he began to mock Char.

Then, without waiting for the other party to reply, he left first to seek his own glory and wealth.

Char's expression immediately turned gloomy, but he was also sensible and did not move in the direction of the attacking Federation Mobile Suit, unless, the Red Dragon was not there!
"Damn, there are more and more enemies!"

"Don't panic, continue to maintain your formation and provide mutual cover with friendly ships!"

Macharius's first beam rifle had run out of ammunition. The number of Zeon mobile suits rushing towards them was too large. From the beginning of their battle to the arrival of subsequent reinforcements, the Zeon people took less than ten minutes to gather several times the number of troops.

Fortunately, at this moment, they have entered the fleet's defensive firepower network. Although the number of artillery fire is not large, the extremely deterrent naval guns are enough to dispel the Zeon army's plan to rush in.

"This reminds me of the Spartacus Uprising I learned about in history books!"

Nagase Ying had followed Macharius behind at some point. She skillfully blocked the Zaku's thermal axe with her beam saber, then used her head cannon to shatter the opponent's surveillance camera. Then, she used her backhand to slash the Zaku through the heart.

"You mean the part where Crassus sent messengers to ask them to surrender?"

Macharius held up his shield in front to protect the artillery fire fired at the enemy, and then used his front gun to easily block two rockets fired at the battleship. Finally, he finally had his hands free to change the bullets for the YF100, and he turned the two Zaku 1s firing in the distance into space fireworks.

"Yeah, then we can fight in the shade. We're no different from the rebels now, right?"

"There are some. Zaku's barrage can't give us shade. After all, the universe is cool enough, isn't it?"

Macharius's joke was obviously too advanced, or maybe everyone was busy dealing with attacks from all sides. In short, no one could laugh.

At this moment, the federal assault group was completely blocked on the way to join the third detachment.

"Krini, this won't work. We have to try to force our way out!"

"I know, let me do it!"

Just as Macharius was about to rely on the performance of his machine to forcibly open an impact hole, another cheerful voice sounded over the radio.

"Don't worry, boys, Uncle Best is here!"

The reserve Swordfish, which also performed a tactical detour to avoid interception by the Zeon army's Zaku unit, finally arrived at the battlefield.

Then, dozens of fighter planes swooped down from above the battlefield, unleashing a barrage of bullets.

The dense missiles instantly plunged the surrounding Zeon into chaos, and Zakus were constantly hit while trying to evade. The missiles of the Swordfish fighter were so powerful that even the Musai class could not withstand it, let alone these Zakus.

Lieutenant Colonel Best was obviously very experienced. After launching the missiles, the group of aircraft he led took advantage of the situation and launched a high-speed penetration attack. They fired missiles and machine guns at any enemy that stood in their way as if they were free, until the group of aircraft passed through the Zaku.

Then, the Swordfish fighter continued to move forward in one breath until it was out of the Zaku's fire range, and then continued to climb.

This is a very common energy tactic in air combat on Earth. Although there are not as many restrictions in space as on Earth, the high speed of the Swordfish is still quite tricky for the Zaku.

After the second wave of penetration, the originally dense Zaku cluster became riddled with holes. Then, a Samiras cruiser that was using all its firepower to cover the mobile suit unit went forward at full speed and broke through the blockade with its huge body.

A Zaku tried to attack the bow turret of Salamis with rockets. Suddenly, Best's Swordfish rushed over and hit the opponent's back with its machine gun.

Although the 25mm machine gun was not enough to penetrate the Zaku's back armor, it destroyed the opponent's jet pack and pulse pipeline, directly rendering the Zaku unable to move.

The helmsman of Salamis reacted even more quickly, adjusting the course directly and rushing towards the Zaku with the bow of the ship.

Then, both sides saw the miserable appearance of the Zaku being pinned to the bow by the Salamis.

The Zaku's pilots could even hear the painful wails. The impact of the huge battleship was no joke. The Zaku's armor was directly deformed. The pilots could only watch themselves being squeezed to death bit by bit in the gradually deformed cockpit.

The blocked Federation mobile suit unit was able to use this as cover to break through the enemy's blockade and rush above the main force of the fleet that was being badly attacked by the Zaku cluster.

"Sir Rebil, Red Dragon reporting in!"

On the Anankai, which was firing at full power, the serious-looking Rebil finally smiled.

With the reinforcement of these mobile suits, the air defense pressure of the Third Squadron will be reduced, so that Rebil's main artillery force can seize the time to severely damage the Zeon fleet.

Once the Zeon fleet is severely damaged, the enemy Zaku will have to consider retreating!
(End of this chapter)