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

Chapter 167 Apsaras

"Sir, Lieutenant General Yuri is online!"

Tell him I'm busy!

Major General Kinyassakhalin, engrossed in his work on blueprints, answered without looking up.

He insists that you answer the phone!

"Make him wait!"

With his flowing blond hair and model-like gait, Major General Kinias impatiently pushed aside the documents in front of him. Although he was annoyed, his good manners allowed him to swallow his dissatisfaction and not lash out.

Although they were old acquaintances, Major General Kinias, who always considered himself to be from a prestigious family, looked down on Yuri, a country bumpkin. Moreover, the two had a deep gap in their clothing and appearance. Kinias came from a prestigious Zeon family, which had declined, but his good upbringing allowed him to always maintain the proper decorum.

But Yuri, with his spiky hair parted to the sides, the ever-unbuttoned collar of his uniform, and those muscular chest muscles, proved that they weren't on the same wavelength.

In fact, Kinias would never have joined the army if it weren't for the desire to revive the declining Sakhalin family!
"What is it, Your Excellency Commander of the Army Group?"

"Haha, Brother Kinias, you're being too distant. We met at the headquarters reception last month!"

Yuri wasn't annoyed by Kinias's cold demeanor. Instead, he let out a hearty laugh, as if he had met an old friend. If they weren't in different places, he would definitely have gone up and put his arm around Kinias's waist to say hello.

"Let's talk business, Commander. I don't have much time!"

"Okay, I need your help!"

"The Federation forces are currently crossing the Volga River. I need Apsaras to attack the pontoon bridges across the river and intercept their advance!"

"Impossible! Apsaras is not perfect yet; the weapon system hasn't even been tested!"

Kinias shook his head and then refused.

"Then we can use it for a test, can't we?"

"No, sending out experimental weapons is too risky!"

“I understand you want to make him a perfect weapon, but if we can’t disrupt the enemy’s rhythm on the banks of the Volga, how long do you think your experimental base can remain hidden at the speed of the Red Dragon!”

Seeing that Kinias was really considering it, Yuri immediately offered an even higher price.

"I'll cover all the supplies for the next batch, okay?"

Yuri's guarantee was what truly moved Kinias, because for a fanatical researcher like him, the outcome of the war was of no concern whatsoever. He only cared about whether his engineering project could be completed on time and a perfect work could be created. This was the wish of every craftsman, and only in this way could he realize the great revival of the Sakhalin family and restore it to the ranks of the Zeon nobility.

"I understand!"

Kinias nodded.

"But I need a day!"

"No problem. Before that, I will use the air force to delay the Federation forces' actions as much as possible!"

Receiving Kinias's affirmative reply relieved Yuri. As one of the few talents with a dual identity in the Zeon army, Kinias's research project was naturally not something simple.

Its research project is called Apsaras, a powerful mobile weapon, but it is not a so-called MS, that is, a mobile suit, but rather a MA called a mobile armor.

At the beginning of the war, the Zeon wanted to destroy the Federation's main base, Gabro. However, after the defeat in the Battle of Britain, the Zeon could no longer use colony satellites as mass bombs to attack Gabro, which was buried more than a thousand meters underground. Even ballistic missiles equipped with nuclear warheads could not pose a threat to it. Therefore, Apsaras was a heavy mobile armor specifically designed for attacking Gabro.

In the Zeon's vision, the completed version of Apsaras could launch an attack from space, rapidly descend to Earth, break through the Federation's warships' firepower, quickly approach the Gabro base, bombard the base with a super-powerful high-energy MEGA particle cannon, destroy the solid rock of the defensive fortifications, and thus destroy the Gabro base in one fell swoop.

Unfortunately, so far, Apsaras has only completed very basic performance tests, including flight within the atmosphere. The weapon system has not even been installed on the aircraft yet. According to the designer Kinias, Apsaras should ensure that there will be no problems with flight before testing the weapon system.

But now, under Yuri's urging, he had no choice but to scrap his previous plans and readjust them.

"Norris, where is Aina?"

"Miss should go and rest!"

The one who answered Kinias's question was a short, stocky, and burly man with a serious expression, who maintained a fighting stance even inside the Zeon base.

Should I wake her up?

"Let her get some rest first!"

Kinias's cold face immediately broke into a smile. If there was anyone in the world who could make him smile, it was only his sister, Aina Sakhalin. The two of them, along with Colonel Norris Baccard who was always by Kinias's side, were the only remaining members of the Sakhalin family. The brother and sister were direct descendants of the family, while Norris was the family's close attendant, which was why he was always armed in the base.

Kinias mentioned his sister because Apsaras's pilot was also an enemy pilot, so if he were to launch an attack, he would have to send his sister to the battlefield!
Although it was painful, Kinias ultimately decided to do it anyway, and afterwards drank three pots of coffee and started working through the night. Meanwhile, the Zeon engineers at the base were also working overtime. Apsaras's appearance was like a huge bread crab, with a thick, high-tensile steel armor on its upper body, and a small Zaku head that was relatively small compared to the huge machine. This was because Apsaras used mature MS06 Zaku parts in its design to reduce logistical pressure.

In the middle of the machine is its designed weapon position, where Kinias has prepared a super high-power, large-caliber mega particle cannon with several firing modes to deal with different enemy targets.

The cockpit of this mobile suit is large enough to accommodate two operators, although in extreme cases, one person can also operate it. After everyone stayed up all night, the bread crab, also known as Apsaras, in the base finally completed the installation of its beam weapon. However, because the weight distribution of the mobile suit is not yet fully balanced, some instability may still occur during flight.

"It was still too rushed!"

Kinias sighed. Yuri was pushing him too hard. Even working overtime, this was all he could manage. Considering that Aina, the pilot, still needed to test the mecha for the remaining half day, he had done his best.

"Norris, you should come too!"

"understand!"

Kinias was still worried about his sister, so he could only let Norris accompany her. Norris was not only a close attendant of the family, but also a father figure to them. With him there, Aina would not encounter any accidents.

Aina Saharin only learned of her temporary mission after waking up. Having had a sweet dream of meeting Shirou Amada, she even thought she had misheard until Kinias repeated it to her. Only then did she nod and indicate that she would obey.

Although her brother had assigned her to such a dangerous mission, Aina had no complaints. For her, relieving her brother's stress was also her duty. So, after completing the tests, Aina quickly prepared for the mission.

Subsequently, the enormous bread crab slowly rose from the base's hidden entrance. Relying on the Minovsky method to generate plasma and thus propulsion, the Apsaras was extremely forward-thinking in terms of its concept alone, considering that the Federation's mature technology was only being used on warships at that time.

After Apsaras took off, a specially equipped Tiger B3 followed, riding the Dede flight pedal and carrying two squads of ordinary Zaku IIs.

This is also one of the reasons why Kinias was unwilling to deploy Apsaras. He originally planned to use two MS-07H-8 Flying Tigers as escort aircraft for Apsaras, but the modifications to the Flying Tigers were not yet complete. Ordinary mobile suits using the Dede flight pedals would slow down Apsaras's speed. But for now, he had no choice but to make do with what he had.

Subsequently, Apsaras and his allies rejoined the reinforcements sent by Yuri, and then changed course, heading towards the Volga River.

Leading the charge is still the diligent Dop fighter. Zeon doesn't have the energy to improve it at the moment. In Kazakhstan, Makbe is focused on mining local resources and minerals, and Zeon's military production capacity in Central Asia is all geared towards mobile suits. Therefore, Dop can only continue to fight on the front line.

Using an extremely low-altitude approach and releasing rice-like interference midway, the Zeon assault force was only discovered by patrolling Swordfish when it got close enough to be above the combat zone.

Despite the Federation pilots' best efforts to issue warnings, it was too late. The ground-based Federation air defense forces were also a step too slow to respond, so much so that after taking down the patrolling Swordfish, Dop was already in the face of the ground anti-aircraft guns.

Subsequently, machine guns, rockets, and other ground-attack munitions roared as they exploded on the Union Army's air defense positions deployed on both sides of the river.

This ancient tactic was not only simple, brutal, direct, and effective, but it also attracted the attention of most anti-aircraft fire. As a result, when the subsequent Ga'u-class bombers began dropping bombs, there was little anti-aircraft fire to target them. Instead, the Doppler bombers were shot down one by one by artillery fire and missiles amidst the barrage of fire.

But at that moment, Zeon bombs were about to rain down on the bridge over the river.

"Damn it, is this the strength of the Federation Army?"

On the Gau-class aircraft carrier, the Zeon crew looked at the floating bridges that appeared at intervals over the river and were filled with frustration. Their bombs were simply not enough. The industrial power of the Federation was terrifying!
After the Gau-class bombers dropped their bombs, several pontoon bridges were destroyed. The Federation's anti-aircraft fire then shifted its focus to these large aircraft. Although the Gau-class bombers were trying their best to withdraw from the battlefield, two of the three Gau-class bombers were badly damaged by the anti-aircraft fire, with their cabins riddled with holes. They barely managed to escape the attack range thanks to their design redundancy.

And it was at this time that Apsaras made his appearance!

Under the stunned gaze of the Federal Army on the ground, the bread crab swept in from the low sky like a whirlwind, felling trees and flying grass wherever it went, and even splitting rivers.

"I see the bridge!"

Ignoring the massive number of Federation troops on both sides of the river, Aina, sitting in the cabin of the Apsaras, simply flew along the center of the river. Then, the particle cannon in the middle of the aircraft began to charge, and after it was fully charged, Aina pressed the fire button.

A long, narrow but powerful ray shot out from the center of the machine. The beam hit the river and instantly evaporated a large amount of water, creating a thick fog. Due to the excessive evaporation, the riverbed was even cut open, and the soil below was heated into lava and then cooled by the river water into glassy crystals.

The pontoon bridge, constructed with sturdy materials and specifically designed for heavy troops, was cut in half in less than a second. The steel melted and evaporated, and the unsupported main body of the pontoon bridge shattered into pieces, flowing downstream with the river.

Federation mobile suits were firing on both sides, but they couldn't do much damage to the high-speed Apsaras. Zeon mobile suits guarding both sides of Apsaras were also launching suppressive attacks, which allowed Aina to advance without any worries.

Unfortunately, even though two-thirds of the work was complete, Apsaras's beam cannon malfunctioned, its output steadily decreasing, and even the machine itself began to vibrate. Clearly, Kinias's overtime efforts hadn't resolved all the issues; the machine, which had previously functioned reliably, immediately broke down after being subjected to high-intensity operation.

"Miss Aina, what's wrong?"

Norris, who was standing nearby, immediately asked.

"The machine has malfunctioned; the power furnace is overheating! We can't continue firing!"

"Retreat immediately!"

Upon learning of the malfunction in Apsaras, Norris issued orders without hesitation.

"Forget about the mission, your safety is the most important thing!"

"Retreat immediately!"

"Understood!"

Upon hearing Norris's tough stance, Aina immediately turned her mech around and began retreating towards the edge of the battlefield. Norris's mobile suit squad also followed suit, continuously scattering rice grains to disrupt the Federation forces' lock-on.

Before leaving, looking at the Federation troops firing into the air on both sides of the riverbank, Aina couldn't help but think.

"I wonder if Shirou is here!"

(End of this chapter)