Gundam, Gravity Elegy

"Gao Yun sent them here; he definitely has ill intentions."

"But that guy is still too rigid. He's always short-sighted and likes to chase after small, immediate gains. So he gets alert and anxious as soon as we make any slight changes."

"So what should we do?"

"Of course we should make the best use of them. We can't let the 'heroes of the Federation' do nothing, can we?"

Chapter 45: The Federation that's all talk and no action

African Front – Sphinx, the Frontline Base.

As the largest military base in the Egyptian region, it naturally became the command center for the African front after the Earth Federation recaptured this military base surrounded by pyramids.

Although many warehouses and facilities were reduced to ruins due to a major battle that had recently taken place here, the constant flow of transport planes and supplies is allowing the area to be repaired at an incredible pace.

Looking around, the tanks, fighter jets, and mobile suits baking in the bright sunlight exuded a grim atmosphere.

"Look, the supplies from the Gabro headquarters have arrived, including not only a large number of tanks, but more importantly, these—mobile suits!"

As the reporter's impassioned voice rang out, the camera gradually panned to those wearing matching sunglasses. As the camera scanned their entire bodies, the deliberately concealed but still partially exposed power pipes could be vaguely seen.

"These mobile suits are called 'GM,' which stands for Gundam Massproduction. They are developed from our Federation's legendary mobile suit, the Gundam. Today, we are honored to have our legendary Federation hero, Lieutenant Gao Ren, introduce these cutting-edge mobile suits to us."

"Hello everyone, I am Gao Ren, a second lieutenant and a member of the Lion Dance Squad..."

July 30, UC.0079

About three days have passed since the Lion Dance Squad arrived at the African battlefield. During these three days, the Lion Dance Squad could not be described as free and undisciplined, but they could be described as having nothing to do.

The Supreme Commander in Africa, Jamitov Hyman, completely excluded this elite force from the strategic plan, and no officer issued them any operational orders.

During this period, the Lion Dance Team—or more accurately, Gao Ren—did most of their work receiving the so-called media.

"If you ask me, Djamitov is definitely an ambitious guy."

In the lounge, Shirley couldn't help but mutter to herself:

"They really won't even assign you the slightest task, yet they've brought in a whole bunch of media outlets, as if they want everyone to know that Ah Ren is 'working' here in Africa, under their command?"

"Isn't this great? We've been pretty busy lately anyway, and now we have a perfectly legitimate opportunity to be freeloaders here."

Compared to Miss Shirley, Kuvatro displayed his usual carefree attitude:

"Anyway, our 'Colonel' hasn't skimped on our supplies. If you ask me, it's fine to just rest on our laurels and live off our past achievements. We can find a way to resell some arms later and make a profit by trading them between our own hands."

"Ugh... isn't this a bad thing?"

Hearing his captain's irresponsible words, the only 'soldier' ​​present began to panic.

Ellen Roshfield didn't even know what to do when she saw Mr. Scarface spouting nonsense:

“There’s nothing wrong with it. You know, General Gop has done this before. It’s said that when he was serving in the Navy, he teamed up with others to resell a lot of things. It’s just that the Space Force wasn’t a big deal when he was young, otherwise he would have definitely been involved in some more things.”

"Wow, how much did that old guy sell?"

"We didn't investigate in detail, but the intelligence department has records of most of them. In any case, almost none of the generals, including him, are clean."

Eileen didn't want to talk anymore.

To be precise, she had no idea what to say; perhaps all she could do was pray sincerely.

"Lieutenant, come back soon! The things the lieutenant and captain are talking about are getting more and more outrageous..."

"Crack"

Perhaps because the sincere prayers had an effect, the door to the lounge suddenly opened.

Then, the figure she had been longing for appeared:

"I'm exhausted..."

"second lieutenant!"

Before Gao Ren could even find some water to drink, he saw Ai Lian rushing over like a swallow returning to its nest, her almost pleading look only making him more confused.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing much, it's just that the poor 'little girl' hasn't fully adapted to the atmosphere of our team yet."

"Well, after all... I haven't been here long."

"Yes, yes, so please make way, 'new lady'."

Under the boy's questioning gaze, the seemingly more mature Eastern European woman easily pushed the "punching bag" aside. With a smile, she handed him a cup of hot cocoa with sugar, while the boy looked on with a hint of despair.

"It's sweet, would you like some?"

As the sweltering heat hit him, Gao Ren squinted his eyes into slits.

After taking a sip, the sweetness that spread from my mouth rushed straight to my brain, finally relaxing my tense nerves completely.

"Ugh, I'm exhausted."

"But it's only morning now."

“I know, I’m referring to that interview.”

Lying on the sofa like a maggot, Gao Ren buried his face in the matching pillow:

"Being with those people from the production crew is simply mental torture."

"But memorizing a script shouldn't be difficult for you, right?"

"That's secondary, but you know what, these guys actually called Zani 'Jim,' and I almost couldn't stop myself from calling him that."

Upon hearing this, Sherry and Ellen exchanged a glance, their expressions gradually turning strange, while Kuvatro burst into laughter:

"After all, the Federation's official propaganda does not mention a modified Zaku like 'Zani'; they only admit to mass-producing GMs."

"So, is there any point in doing this?"

"At least from the federal government's own perspective, they do have it. After all, they have always been proud of their size, and they like these kinds of vanity projects."

Gently swirling the chilled whiskey in his glass, Cuvatro tilted his head back and downed it in one gulp.

"Gundam has achieved outstanding results, so we must announce that mass-production models will be put into operation immediately. If production capacity cannot keep up, we will buy parts from Zeonic, change the monocle into sunglasses to muddy the waters, and try to mark everything with the Federation's mark."

"But Zani is all show and no substance, because the drive structure is completely different, and there are all sorts of problems when it comes to maintenance, such as parts not being interchangeable..."

"So that's the reason."

Kuvatro shrugged:

"Because 'Zani' is no good, the Federation will not admit in its propaganda that it supplies the front line with such 'temporary products'. The ones supplied to the front line must be 'superior Federation bloodline machines' produced by the Gabro factory or other places."

"...Seriously, this is terrible."

Listening to those serious-sounding but absurd words, Gao Ren felt so embarrassed he was about to have a stroke, but it was the truth nonetheless.

"Honestly, I don't want to get involved in this kind of thing anymore."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it. After all, you're the Federation's 'big star' now."

After glancing casually at his communication terminal and reading the contents, Cuvatro couldn't help but grin.

"Now that you've vented, let's prepare for the next task."

"What do you mean?"

Upon hearing this, Gao Ren suddenly had a bad feeling.

When he looked up, he was met with Kuvatro's strange gaze:

"Just received news that the production team will be filming a simulated training segment this afternoon, so please get ready."

There was no room for negotiation; that expression was like a pronouncement of some crime.

"So, Lieutenant Gao, shall we get ready?"

"Really, have mercy on me—"

Author's message

…………

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I should be able to write about a character that everyone will enjoy today.

Chapter 46: The Red Raider

afternoon.

The scorching sun beat down on the earth, and the temperature, clearly above 45 degrees Celsius, was testing every human being who dared to stand in the sunlight with its sweltering winds.

Despite being in a high-tech era, the vast deserts seem like nature's indictment and punishment of its offspring.

Beneath the swirling yellow sand, the black giant stood silently.

Behind the sunglasses, the scarlet main monitor and the wide-view camera above his head worked together, like a god of war looking down on the world.

The overwhelming shock even made the onlookers' breath catch in their throats, like prey fleeing from a wild beast, trying to hide completely.

Yet, I also want to gaze upon it, to imprint that grandeur and terror completely into my eyes:

"Quick, record it completely!"

After recovering from the shock, the host couldn't help but let out a loud voice.

This idea might seem confusing, but the moment the giant lowered his head and brought their vehicle into view, she felt like she was playing a passionate sports game.

The intense excitement surging within her heart even made it difficult for her to keep her legs together, and a faint moisture seemed to well up in her eyes, creating a misty atmosphere.

"No... don't overlook any detail, this is... this is the smell of the battlefield!"

The sound echoed in the cockpit through some makeshift communicator, making the young pilot chuckle.

"What battlefield? It's just a simple simulated battle."

Of course, in the military sphere, this is by no means an unfamiliar term.

However, with the development of technology, the word 'simulation' has become increasingly important. The development of electronic devices has made simulation training a very common thing. Military-grade system software, combined with some peripherals, can easily achieve so-called full simulation.

That's why Gao Ren complained:

"Theoretically speaking, even if we need so-called battle scenes, we can simply input the simulation data into the computer and generate them instantly. Wouldn't it be great if everyone could sit in the simulator and have a battle?"

"However, the simulated perspective and camera position are fixed after all. The perspective that is used for analysis will reduce the 'giant feeling' and is different from the perspective required for the promotional video."

Kuvatro's voice echoed slowly in the Lion Dance team's internal channel:

"The public naturally doesn't understand those details; all they need is visual effects and a sense of realism in the images to use as topics of conversation during their leisure time... at least that's what the bigwigs in the Joint Chiefs of Staff think."

"And then we're going to waste ammunition here on live-fire exercises? Bases like McCarran in North America would practically break a gear in half to use it as two pieces."

"Anyway, we don't need to worry about these things now, so we should just do our job."

Is this sentence used correctly?

"Alright, it's time to go."

Before Gao Ren could continue grumbling in the cockpit, the director's voice came through the communicator that had been temporarily stuck to the cockpit:

"The film crew has arrived at the designated location. We look forward to your guidance, everyone in the Lion Dance Team."

Then, he had to swallow back the even more intense rant that was almost on his lips.

It wasn't that he was afraid of anything happening, but the almost ingratiating, polite voice on the channel couldn't make him really vent his anger on these workers who were just following orders.

"Then just let me know when you need to start."

After gently clicking the reply button, Gao Ren could only sigh in the end:

"We are ready at any time."

"Thank you very much for your cooperation. Now,..."

'boom'

Suddenly, a booming sound echoed in the distance, and the explosion made Gao Ren subconsciously squint his eyes.

"It's already started? I remember that simulated battles shouldn't require the use of artillery of this caliber..."

"No, no!"

Suppressing the tremor surging from the depths of his heart, Gao Ren simply looked up at the sky:

"They are...the enemy!"