UC will eventually reach the stars

Chapter 88 The Future of the Dhaka Base

"Major Sakhalin! May I take a picture with you?" A group of officers who were taking pictures called out to Aina as she walked by carrying documents.

“Okay.” Aina, who was carrying documents, smiled and walked over to them. Originally, she only planned to stand in the corner to take a picture, but she was quickly pulled to the center by several female drivers.

The reason is simple. Regardless of rank, at this moment, everyone is a comrade-in-arms in the same trench, dodging shells. Colonel Ye Yun was caught and sent to space to train some stragglers. He couldn't say goodbye to his old comrades who had fought alongside him from the Sichuan North Base to the mining fortress. So, he could only take a photo with his fiancée.

After fighting all the way, Aina Sakhalin's military rank was promoted to major, whether because of her brother Kinias Sakhalin, the president of Dawn Heavy Machinery Manufacturing Company, or because of Ye Yun. When Ye Yun was not around, she usually handled the affairs of the Southeast Asian base.

It can only be said that even with certain military achievements, it's not easy to be promoted to general, especially since Ye Yun has only been in the army for a few months...

After the battle at the mining base, the Earth Federation Forces did not promote Ye Yun, but most of the others were promoted on a large scale.

Many Federation officers who originally had the rank but were just beginning MS training (such as various junior officers transferred from the Air Force) were promoted to squadron and company commander positions. Of course, tank crew members who performed well in this battle also received promotions.

In short, the Federation Forces Headquarters was incredibly lenient towards the Federation Forces' 1st MS Training Battalion, which had effectively destroyed a Zeon base. There is no doubt that those who graduated from there will occupy a large number of various positions in the Federation Forces' MS units in the future.

Even the officers of the mechanized units who had been trained and later became the main force in combat were delighted this time, receiving promotions and rank increases.

"Thank you, Major Aina!" The female driver next to her happily hugged Aina. "When are you and Colonel Ye Yun going to get married?" Then came the whispered gossip.

"Anyway, you have no chance~" Aina didn't hold back and pinched the other person's waist. Seeing the other person's grimacing face, she laughed and let go.

In this base, no MS pilot can possibly accumulate too much fat. Not to mention that piloting an MS is really hard work, requiring the use of both hands and feet, and you have to enjoy a G-force massage from time to time. Even back in the hangar, there's no peace and quiet; you often have to wield a wrench to maintain your MS, just like the mechanics.

After all, the mechanics can take care of you at the base, but they can't take care of you in the wild! So you have to wield a wrench and do it yourself! Learn how to handle some possible emergencies so that you can at least get back to the base.

Under such circumstances, everyone gets a lot of exercise every day, and even if they are not strong, muscular women, they will definitely not have too much fat on their bodies.

"Major, you're ruthless!" the female driver gasped, whispering amidst the laughter of her colleagues beside her. "With you watching the Colonel so closely, who could possibly have a chance?"

Aina never doubted Ye Yun's attraction to other women; after all, wasn't she a prime example? By the time she came to her senses, Ye Yun had become Brother Yun, and as she grew older, he naturally became her boyfriend. If the war hadn't started, they might have been engaged next year…

Aina shook her head, trying to clear the jumbled thoughts from her mind. She had so much to do that she couldn't finish everything. It wasn't until she took over the Southeast Asia base that Aina realized how much Ye Yun had to handle every day, and this was even after the battle at the mining base had ended.

However, the overwhelming amount of paperwork still came crashing down on Aina, the acting base commander. It covered logistics, prisoners, loss assessment, MS deployment, personnel search, and so on! But Aina knew that all of this could directly affect Ye Yun's future promotion path, and she wanted to do everything as perfectly as possible, so she was really exhausted.

After the battle ended, the Earth Federation Forces did not intend to disband the Southeast Asia base. After all, no one knew if Zeon would suddenly decide to launch another large-scale drop operation. The entire Southeast Asia base could cover the Indian subcontinent, the Indochina Peninsula, and even parts of the Southeast Asian archipelago, all of which would be under the control of this base.

The Earth Federation Forces planned to maintain a garrison here, and when the Zeon forces had a change of heart, they simply boarded a plane and launched a landing ambush!

Federation staff officers: We want to see Zeon drop pods explode everywhere like fireworks!

Especially after Norres conducted performance tests, the entire Earth Federation knew that Dawn Heavy Machinery Manufacturing Company's new toy was about to be launched!

Watching Norres wreak havoc on the enemy's logistics and support fire teams on the "Endless Battlefield," the Earth Federation Forces headquarters didn't even bother to ask if development was complete. They slapped a 500-unit order right in Ye Ning's face: "Don't tell me there are still flaws! There's still something unfinished! Give it to me first!"

And another thing! Ye's Heavy Industry, you need to immediately stop all those messy things on your production line and get a batch out first! How dare you still maintain a civilian product production line?

what? !

citizen!

Are you loyal?

Especially after watching Norres's fighting style, the Earth Federation Headquarters felt that this prototype of the high-mobility backpack was simply the perfect choice for surprise attacks! Once it was delivered in large numbers, the image of squads or even companies of short swords leaping out of the transport hulls in Media and directly rushing towards the Zeon army's logistics lines and weak points on the battlefield was so exciting that the staff at headquarters were overjoyed. They wondered who would be unable to hold back then!

Hey, you little devil! I'll wipe out all your support staff!

If there's still a Zeon transport truck on the road, it's only because I don't have enough artillery shells today!

Under such circumstances, the somewhat rudimentary Southeast Asian base that Ye Yun quickly established was actually preserved. Later, the Federal Army even planned to rebuild several docks here to see if they could be used as a key hub when maritime transport resumed in the future.

However, that's a matter for later. Right now, the most important thing at the Dhaka base is to complete combat reports and safely transport troops to other war zones. Of course, this isn't up to Aina to decide; it depends on when the leaders of the Earth Federation Forces finish arguing. After all, the entire Earth Federation currently needs personnel skilled in both mobile suit warfare and counter-mobile suit warfare, and these personnel are currently only available at the Southeast Asian base.

"Dinner's ready!" Just as Aina opened the door, Michelle's energetic shout rang out. Young Michelle snatched the documents from Aina's hands. Rita pulled Aina to the dining table. Jonah brought over the kitchen's custom-made boxed lunch for officers of the rank of colonel, as well as extra desserts specially made for Aina by their three families' parents.

Before leaving the base, Ye Yun knew that given Aina's personality, she was unlikely to be a hands-off manager like him, generously rewarding those who worked hard for her. She was more likely to do everything herself, which would exhaust her! So he entrusted the three little ones to help take care of Aina!

Because they had a good relationship, and because the three little ones really liked Aina, a gentle older sister, they tried their best to help her every day and urged her to eat and sleep on time. Occasionally, when Aina worked overtime, she would turn around and see the three little ones sleeping haphazardly on the cot in Ye Yun's former office.

"Okay... let's eat!" Aina smiled helplessly. She knew that this was her boyfriend taking care of her even though he wasn't around, and it was also the sense of responsibility of the three little ones in front of her.

"Why is it still a battle report? Are those Zeon fools still not giving up?" Michelle glanced at the file on Aina's desk and saw that it was a battle record. She was a little puzzled, since Ye Yun had already breached the mining base almost ten days ago, yet there were still battles breaking out now.

Aina dipped a piece of fried cod fillet in ketchup and stuffed it into Rita's mouth. "What's there to be curious about? There are many Zeon troops that were scattered. The town in front of the mining base wasn't completely wiped out back then, and there are still people hiding there now, but they are all small-scale units. Even the Zeon troops themselves don't care about their lives or deaths, and they actually let them retreat to the Baikonur space base."

"Baikonur? It's so far from the mining base." Michelle ran to the edge of the map and looked up, finally finding Baikonur's location after a while.

“Yes, it’s a huge no-man’s-land. There are absolutely no supplies along the way. Once you’re discovered and attacked by the air force, there’s nowhere to hide. It’s practically a death trap.” Aina shrugged, mischievously picked up a piece of chili with her chopsticks and waved it at Jonah. Jonah picked up his lunchbox and ran away.

Having been teased by the unruly female soldiers at the base many times, Jonah had long since developed a whole set of ways to deal with it.

Ah! woman!

“But! But…” Michelle returned to the table, opened her lunchbox, popped a mouthful of tomato pasta into her mouth, blinked, and asked, “Why don’t they surrender?”

"..." Aina paused for a moment, "In Ye Yun's words, many times in war, it's not that you don't want to surrender, but that there are too many unavoidable circumstances that prevent you from surrendering. Perhaps for them, finding an abandoned city to live in, waiting ten years after the war, and then trying to reintegrate into human society might be the best outcome."

"Is that so?" Michelle frowned as she thought.

Of course, Aina wouldn't mention that there's another possibility: she knows very well that surrendering might not necessarily be accepted...

After all, the Zeon army now bears the blood debt of half of humanity's lives!

Chapter Eighty-Nine Old Friends

"Colonel Ye Yun! Io Fleming reporting for duty!" A blond young man knocked on the door and greeted him very respectfully.

“Claudia Perl reporting to you,” a young woman with slicked-back hair said softly, standing beside Io Fleming.

"Come in." Ye Yun's reply came through the access control.

"Hey... Hey!" An aluminum pipe hit Io right on the head the moment he entered the room.

"I brought these from Earth. Find a place to smoke them yourself later," Ye Yun said with a smile, looking at the two of them. "It's been a while. How are you?"

As the eldest son of Ye's Heavy Industry, Ye Yun had communicated with the bigwigs of every colony in the early days of his shipbuilding career. The free-spirited Io in front of him, as the daughter of a senior executive of SIDE4, Io and Claudia had a good relationship with Ye Yun in the past and had even secretly taken Ye Yun's ship to travel to other places.

“Hahaha…” Io Fleming laughed, casually put the aluminum tube into his breast pocket, floated over and gave Ye Yun a high five, then sat down beside him, or rather, lay down sprawled out. “You can’t compare, you’re a federal hero now, Colonel Ye.”

"Hmph... You were willing to work on the ship with me back then, are you satisfied now?" Ye Yun said irritably. "How could you not be selected in the first batch of MS pilots? Your information wasn't even submitted to me."

"Ah... there's nothing I can do, there are just too many good people, I can't possibly be selected." Io scratched his head hard and sighed helplessly again.

Just imagine how many fighter pilots the Federal Space Force has! Without going into too much detail, including reserves and qualified personnel, it's roughly 6 to 8000.

Okay, let's select a squadron of MS pilots, less than 60 people.

60 out of 8000 people...tsk tsk!

Io's level is quite good, but it's really not enough to rank him in the top 60 out of 8000 people.

“You seem to be from the third batch of prospective MS pilots, you should have already been accepted… Claudia? Did you two have a falling out? You used to be inseparable, why are you so distant now? Sit down.” Ye Yun was talking to Io, who was sitting slouching, when he suddenly noticed that Claudia was still standing with her hands behind her back, looking serious.

“I’m sorry, Colonel Ye Yun, there’s no other chair here.” Claudia answered Ye Yun’s question with a serious expression, but deliberately avoided the first part of the question.

"Hey! Looks like the conflict's gotten pretty serious." Ye Yun stood up, gesturing for Claudia to sit in his chair, then tossed her a bag of Ye's Orange Soda. "Try it. It's the best Ye's Heavy Industry product rated by short sword pilots on the ground. I don't have much stock left, so I can only give you a box of powder later. Go dilute it with water yourself."

"Hey, where's mine?" Io glared at Ye Yun, then Ye Yun kicked him, knocking his leg off his sofa.

"So...you cheated on me?" Ye Yun looked at Io and gave the only answer he could guess. The two of them used to be inseparable, and neither he nor Aina could stand it.

“No…it’s just…” Io sighed, “so many things have happened.”

"As long as you didn't cheat, what's there to be upset about?" Ye Yun looked at the two of them suspiciously, giving Io a look that seemed to say, "So it wasn't you who cheated, it was her? You got cuckolded." Io Fleming rolled his eyes at Ye Yun, annoyed, and didn't say anything.

“Because… I have to send them to their deaths, which may now include…” Claudia wasn’t sitting in her seat, but leaned against the wall to relax. “That’s why Io and I aren’t a good match, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to make this decision.”

"...Hmm, I think I understand." Ye Yun glanced at the two of them. "It's easy to solve. One of you just needs to retire."

“…” Ian Fleming frowned, clearly not very happy.

"As it stands, Ian is in better shape. He's on the third batch of MS trainees for the Earth Federation Space Force. As for Claudia, you..." Ye Yun shook his head with a wry smile. "In war, no one is spared. If you can't bear to see death, perhaps you shouldn't have joined the military."

“…” Claudia looked up, her gaze fixed on Ye Yun with a hint of stubbornness.

"Stop, stop, stop. I'm not that guy over there. Looking at me like that won't help. I'm telling the truth." Ye Yun kicked Io again, signaling him to say something.

"I've said all I can say!" Io said irritably. "Don't glare at me. You should know that Claudia is very stubborn."

“You’re not much better,” Claudia muttered under her breath.

"With your pathetic state..." Ye Yun then stood up, pulled out a piece of paper, quickly wrote down a series of words, and threw it to Claudia. "Go to Rum to save people. You can't handle the mental strain of commanding troops to their deaths. Unless you take necessary deaths for granted, don't set foot in the army again, otherwise... you'll only ruin yourself."

"Huh? How did you get this!" Claudia stared blankly at the mission order, appointment letter, military transfer certificate, and other documents in front of her, as well as Ye Yun's flamboyant signature at the end of these documents.

"Do you know what mission I just went on?" Ye Yun didn't give the two time to guess. "The Federation headquarters received a distress call from Sera Mas, yes, the saintess of Loom. I was then ordered to lead a team to rescue her. However, it seems to be a conspiracy by the Zeon army against me. Ha, a bunch of cowardly bastards." Ye Yun complained irritably.

"So the Federation plans to give this lady, who will inevitably have great political value in the future, some support. You are the adjutant I've chosen to send to her." Ye Yun finished explaining the information simply, giving Io a look that said, "You owe me a big favor."

"I refuse this chaotic fate!" Claudia trembled with anger! She felt humiliated by Ye Yun.

"The current phase of Sierra's operation involves rescue, collection, and clearing of the waterway on Side 4." Ye Yun looked at Claudia. "Aren't you going? To your hometown."

"..." Claudia was petrified.

"What did you say? The Federation Forces are going to retake the Side 4 space region?" Io looked at Ye Yun with a surprised expression, clearly shocked by what Ye Yun said. After all, from any perspective, the Earth Federation Space Forces had not recovered to the scale to fight another decisive battle with the Zeon forces.

“It’s hard to say. Currently, Miss Sera Maas in Side 5 is working hard to feed the refugees gathered there. Although the Earth Federation is relocating some refugees to Side 7, the influx exceeds the outflow, so there are currently hundreds of millions of refugees in Side 5.” Ye Yun’s expression was very bitter. Sera Maas’s actions, if she makes a wrong move, could have unimaginable consequences. “But before the potatoes and other crops in the fields she’s painstakingly cultivating in Side 5 mature, she needs some food, and this food…”

“They were all present in the original colonies…” Claudia looked at Ye Yun, her tone not particularly pleasant, but she had to admit that Seramas’s actions could be described as great. However, such greatness would definitely arouse resentment when it touched on someone’s sore spot. Even if you understand that it is right, you cannot stop this resentment.

"Yes, so the Earth Federation Military Command has decided to send some Moors home to repair the damaged space colony satellites on Side 4 and restore their routes. If there are enough people, they can even find suitable colony satellites to begin repairs in advance. However, under the current circumstances, you can only operate under the banner of Sera's rescue team to ensure that your operations are not disturbed." Ye Yun briefly explained the situation.

"So..." After entering Ye Yun's room, Io and Claudia finally looked at each other for the first time. Io hesitated for a moment, "You're in charge now?"

"Not really, but since I just saved Sera, I have some right to speak on this. That's about it." Ye Yun gestured to the several signatures on the document; his name was only for recommending. "So now, you understand why you have to go, right?"

"Isn't it just for Side 4?" Claudia hadn't quite grasped the situation yet, but Io seemed to have understood a little. Perhaps it was because his father had been the Prime Minister of Moore, making him quite sensitive to these political matters. "The advantage of going first?"

"More or less, but not entirely." Ye Yun took a deep breath. "Although the war is not even halfway through, if there are no major problems, the Zeon army will most likely exhaust all its advantages and eventually be directly pushed back to the mainland by the Federation." Ye Yun paused for a moment. "The question is: how long, and how much?"

"..." The two understood. "So?"

"So I want to protect as many civilians as possible, after all, the casualties are too severe, which is a huge loss for us. But in the current situation, is it hard to guess what the outcome would be if the Earth Federation intervened directly?" Ye Yun shrugged and said helplessly.

In fact, according to Ye's own investigation, after the war ended, what awaited the Earth Federation was the destruction caused by the war, the terrible loss of population, the sharp deterioration of the business environment, the troublesome garbage generated by the war floating everywhere in orbit, the terrible refugee resettlement problem, and the huge expenses incurred during the war, which were so much debt that even if everyone in SIDE3 were sold into slavery, they would not be able to pay it back.

"So, you want the two of us to go to Sierra Mas's place? What would I be there for?"

"No, you unlucky bastard, you'll have to do MS piloting training first. You'll fly around in my short sword for a couple of times to get a feel for it, and then you'll go get your training. If you want Moore to recover as soon as possible, then you'll need a flag. After all... a war hero of revenge would be good enough."

"Yes! Just hearing you say it makes me so excited!"

Chapter Ninety: You escape... they chase!

"This thing is awesome! Much more powerful than the simulator!" Io Fleming yelled into the communicator, pulling the control lever at the same time. Ye Yun's modified fully armored short sword changed its posture, suddenly increased its thrust, rapidly reduced its speed, and then pulled back up!

"These stats aren't bad..." Ye Yun rolled his eyes as he watched Io Fleming recklessly weaving through the area not far ahead of the fleet. If he hadn't given permission, he probably would have been thrown into a dark room by the military police for flying around like that. "But playing random music while flying isn't a good habit; it disrupts communications."

"Without jazz, where would happiness come from! When I hear jazz, I'm there!" Io said with a somewhat enthusiastic tone. "Hey buddy, can I try out that big thing on your back?" He was full of longing for the heavy 180mm cannon that Ye Yun had taken down four enemies in one go when rescuing Sera.

“It’s not possible…” Standing on the bridge, Ye Yun looked helplessly at the group of MS pilots shaking their heads beside him. This group clearly didn’t approve of Io’s reckless actions, even though his piloting seemed fine on the surface, and his tolerance for G-forces was astonishing. But obviously, this wasn’t how proper MS combat was conducted…

Based on the MS simulation battle, although it is not a dense formation, the distance between each MS is actually very limited. Everyone's maneuvering cannot be too big, otherwise it will interfere with or even collide with nearby friendly forces, which is a very big safety hazard.

War is not a one-man show. Even when performing maneuvers, one must take into account the movement of wingmen and even teammates on a larger scale. Such reckless maneuvers have a huge impact on the entire squadron.

"His taste in music is alright, though." Bianca, who had somehow gotten close, nodded and swayed to the jazz music playing on the communicator, then revealed her true intentions. "Colonel Ye Yun! You actually lent out your short sword without even telling us! I'd like to try out your short sword too! So... is that alright?"

"..." Ye Yun turned around, looked at Bianca, glanced at the group of drivers gathered nearby, and finally fixed his gaze on Baning.

The old man coughed a little sheepishly. He was right to encourage Bianca to ask Ye Yun questions last time, but this time it really wasn't him! However, he couldn't contradict him, because he was also quite curious about how different the vehicle of one of the major shareholders of Ye's Heavy Industry and Shuguang Heavy Machinery Manufacturing Company, the manufacturers of short swords, would be from an ordinary short sword!

Ye Yun then saw dozens of drivers in the room looking at him, their eyes revealing undisguised anticipation.

After all, the performance of the short sword jointly launched by Shuguang Heavy Machinery Manufacturing Company and Ye's Heavy Industry amazed many people. This impact was no less than that of the iPhone 1 with its iOS system when the mainstream system was still Symbian and other less intelligent smartphones.

Amidst this upheaval, rumors about the Short Sword 2.0 never ceased, especially since Dawn Society had been gradually modifying it based on its battlefield performance and data. When Norres's private jet was equipped with the long-rumored "backpack system," the rumors of the Short Sword 2.0 were practically confirmed.

The current short swords are already putting Zeon under considerable pressure. If it weren't for the advantage in pilot training, it's hard to say how the Zeon forces would fare against the Earth Federation's mobile suits. Especially since the Federation's mobile suit pilots have recently begun to improve their skills, the Zeon forces on the ground are truly facing a tough time.

Therefore, everyone believes that once the more powerful Dagger 2.0 version enters mass production and is deployed to the battlefield, and the Earth Federation Forces' pilots have also improved their skills, that point in time will undoubtedly be the moment when the balance of power in the war is completely reversed! Then the Zeon forces will likely be completely overwhelmed, and the Zeon mobile suit units will be chased around by the Earth Federation Forces.

Therefore, it's only natural for an MS pilot to have expectations for the Dagger 2.0! So far, the entire Earth Federation Forces only has one Dagger, which seems to be the most like the Dagger 2.0 version that everyone imagines. Especially after Ye Yun's combat log was read, it was as if he had cheated and killed at least 4 Zeon Zaku in the wreckage area!

This astonishing record speaks for itself!

You still say you're not version 2.0?!

Ye Yun was somewhat helpless about this. The fully equipped short sword he was driving was indeed his own vehicle, and Kinias had made careful adaptation modifications and enhanced some of its performance. Combined with artillery battles, it was extremely comfortable when he was engaged in long-range bombardment with Daryl and the others!