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

Chapter 178 Ah, the Space Force

"Peaceful days are so good!"

After waking up naturally from another nap at noon, Markarius climbed out of his soft dormitory bed, took a sip of the drinking water placed beside his bed, and then let out a comfortable and pleasant groan.

Now he has even gotten used to the comfortable and soft bed, completely unlike the first day he came back when he tossed and turned on the bed. Even though he was so sleepy, lying on it, the light and floating feeling made him more and more energetic.

Fortunately, the recovery period has allowed people to relax from their previous tense state. Pilots no longer have to do anything but listen attentively for the sortie alarm to sound at any time, and infantrymen can finally take their stiff fingers off the triggers.

However, once the battle group is ready to depart again, the soldiers will have to readjust from peacetime to wartime status. But this brief period of peace between battles makes people appreciate the hard-won peace even more.

Instead of wearing his own jacket, Makarius simply washed up in his stamina vest and shorts and then went to the mess hall. Although it wasn't mealtime, there were still quite a few Federation officers in the officers' mess hall. However, most of them looked listless, as if their bodies had been hollowed out. But that was probably true. Ever since the front-line troops started rotating, Federation officers or sergeants who returned to base to rest always went to bars to drink heavily.

These guys drink like they're in a war, recklessly. There are plenty of cases where they get so drunk that they fall asleep on the ground until the military police come and carry them away.

Once they sober up, they'll naturally have to come to the cafeteria for a bite to eat.

Several of them knew Markarius; they nodded to each other as a greeting.

Soon, Makarius's meal was served. In addition to the food he ordered, the canteen also gave him an extra dessert, which was one of the perks of the Federation Army's top ace.

As Makarius was enjoying his meal, his phone suddenly vibrated.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Lieutenant Colonel, headquarters just sent a notice that you need to report to General Reibell at 2:30 this afternoon!"

On the other end of the phone was Lieutenant Eileen, who was on duty at the command post. Her sentence was to last a full year, so everyone usually left these kinds of duty shifts to her.

Marcarius checked the time and realized he still had plenty of time to leisurely enjoy lunch, then go back to take a shower and change his clothes.

As for why the headquarters sent him to report, Makarius could probably guess. The universe is so vast that the headquarters couldn't just let him drive a mobile suit around in space; they would definitely need to provide the Red Dragon battle group with a fleet.

The troops have now completed most of their training. Next, they will begin shipboard drills. Once they are fully integrated, they will set off for space!
"Reporting, Makarius Skriny, reporting for duty!"

At exactly 2:30 p.m., Marcarius, dressed in a crisp uniform, wearing a peaked cap, and with only a gold mobile suit insignia on his chest, walked into Reibille's office on time.

Santa Claus was dressed casually, with his military jacket hanging on a rack. The old man, wearing only a vest and military pants, was even wearing cotton slippers, and he was holding a cup of hot black tea with milk and sugar in his hand.

"Sit down, young man!"

"Then I won't stand on ceremony!"

Makarius then obediently sat down on the small sofa next to him.

"What is the current status of the troops?"

"Report: Everything is perfectly fine now. We can be deployed and we can win. We are ready at any time!"

"Alright, you can use those polite words in parliament next time, but you don't need to use them here!"

"I also have a set of terms in Parliament, called 'Loyal Guardians of Parliament and the Federation,' what do you think?"

"Great! Those guys will definitely be moved to tears when they hear that!"

"I called you here today for nothing important. Here are a few lists of people; take a look!"

Then, a small projection lens appeared on the small tea table in front of Makarius, displaying a row of officers' resumes in front of him.

These officers were handpicked by Rebil, who considered them to be excellent space force commanders. Of course, given the enormous losses suffered by the Federation fleet, the fleet captains who had survived to this day were obviously no ordinary people. However, Rebil still intended to let Markarius choose the commanders he wanted, since cooperation was crucial for the two sides to conduct joint operations in space!
"May I ask what kind of ship I'll be assigned?"

"what do you want?"

"It couldn't possibly be Salamis, could it?"

"What, you don't like Salamis?"

"Sir, what are you saying? I'm a mobile suit commander. How many mobile suits can a Salamis carry? Even the Nelson-class is a bit too small for me!"

Marcarius hadn't considered the White Trojan-class at all. If he were just a squadron leader, he might have wanted that assault landing ship, but at this moment, he wouldn't consider it a flagship. Its carrying capacity was pitifully small, with only room for six mobile suits. However, he could approve one for Amuro alone, and then stuff two Guncannons and one Guntank into it.

"I've prepared a Trafalgar-class ship for you!"

Rebil pulled out another picture, taken at the spaceport. It was of a modified Magellan-class battleship, with the armaments on both sides of the hull removed and replaced with enclosed hangars. There was also a catapult deck at the front of the hangars.

Although the Federation had considered developing dedicated mobile suit carriers before the war, the outbreak of war caused many setbacks to the plan. Although there were assault landing ships like the White Trojan, their production was limited, and the Federation has only built a few so far.

The warships that were added after the start of the war were all older models, Salamis and Magellan. This was because the front lines were in dire need of warships, and the production of older warships was more convenient and faster. In order to replenish the fleet's losses in a timely manner, these newly manufactured older ships did not take into account the ability to carry mobile suits.

However, now that the fleet has been replenished, the Federation forces, which are not in such urgent need of ships, are finally able to free up resources to increase the production of the Nelson-class ships. However, the Nelson-class ships have limited carrying capacity, so the Federation forces later made the same modifications to the Magellan-class ships as to the Nelson-class ships.

And that is the origin of the Trafalgar-class aircraft carrier in front of Makarius.

After all, it was during a major war, so getting a brand new warship was obviously impossible. They could only make do with the existing equipment for now.

Currently, only the Makarius class can enjoy such luxurious treatment. After all, there are only eight Trafalgar-class ships in service at present, and Reibill specially set aside one for the Makarius, which shows how much importance it attaches to it.

"Then give me another Trojan-class?"

"That works too. Which one do you want?" "This one!"

Makarius pointed to a middle-aged veteran with a resolute expression.

"Colonel Paul Cassius?"

Rebil nodded. Perfect. The other party was the commander of the White Base, SCV70, the second ship of the White Trojan-class. He was calm and composed, and quite suitable to be a partner with Macarius!
Of course, giving Makarius a fleet wouldn't just mean those two ships. Rebil also gave Makarius two squadrons of Salamis, which is eight cruisers plus one Magellan. In addition, there were four modified Columbus-class ships. These six transport ships were more than enough to carry the entire battle group of mobile suits and other equipment and personnel, and could even fit an extra battalion of Iron Balls inside.

As for the Nelson-class, forget about it.

"You already have the Trafalgar, so give the Nelson-class to the other fleets!"

Rebil couldn't be too biased towards the Red Dragon. The Federation fleet was now so large that its need for a dedicated mobile suit carrier like the Nelson-class was naturally considerable. Both were equally important, so naturally, everyone had to make a choice.

Marcarius wasn't being unreasonable. A Trafalgar could carry sixty Swordfish fighters, and since the mobile suits were a bit larger than the Swordfish, they could carry forty mobile suits!

Of course, this space cannot be used entirely to house mobile suits; some fighter jets are also needed, as well as long-range reconnaissance aircraft, which are essential equipment.

Speaking of reconnaissance equipment, the Red Dragon battle group also has a special mobile suit that is hard to find even in the entire Federation. It is the MS-06E, which is an improved version of the Zaku II by Zeonic Corporation. It is a reconnaissance Zaku. This thing is one of the few enemy mobile suits that Macarius has not been able to destroy. It was captured by Major Jung of Luna II during an ambush of the Zeon transport fleet. Major Jung probably never thought that the mobile suit he captured would eventually be delivered to Macarius. However, even if he knew, he would probably be very happy.

In this way, Makarius would be indebted to him!
After discussing the fleet, Rebil and Macarius talked about their views on the battle situation. In fact, Rebil wanted to hear what Macarius thought.

"Zeon is not at its last gasp yet. In fact, its fleet still has considerable combat power. Our forces have annihilated about 5,000 enemy mobile suits on the ground. In space, the enemy may still be able to field another 5,000 or even more mobile suits to continue fighting our forces. In addition, Zeon has many unique trump cards, including the Newtype forces secretly formed by Kycilia and the special mobile suits developed for Newtypes. Therefore, our forces still have many tough nuts to crack!"

"So, do you think the enemy will negotiate with us?"

"Of course, that's on the premise that the enemy wants to negotiate with us. As it stands, if it weren't for Kihren, Deakin would probably already be preparing to negotiate with the council. However, since Commander-in-Chief Kihren is currently riding high and even Deakin has to back down, then negotiations are just wishful thinking on our part!"

"So, you don't think Kirian will submit to us?"

"There's no way that guy would submit to us, and even if he did, do you think the Federation would dare let him stay in that position?"

"That's true!"

The Zabi family is on the war criminals list. The Federal Parliament has even prepared the gallows. How could they possibly let these guys live unscathed!
"However, in my opinion, even if the Zabi family falls, if the Federation cannot learn from its mistakes, the next war will not be far off!"

"Yes, the reason Zeon has ended up where it is today is all because of the mistakes we made in the past. The price we paid was far too high!"

Reibir sighed. He had worked with Dejinzabi in the past when Dejinzabi was the commander of Earth's Side 3. Now, Dejinzabi had transformed from an outsider in the eyes of the Zeon people into a representative of Zeon.

"But it's alright, at least we still have a chance to correct it, right?"

Rebil looked at Makarius and was glad that a young man had realized these things so early on, because that meant there was still hope for the Federation!
After leaving Reibil's headquarters, Markarius planned to visit other areas of the base first. The Gabro base was so large that it was comparable to the Third Tokyo City. Although he had been there many times, he still hadn't been to most of the areas.

As he walked, he heard a surprised female voice coming from the roadside.

"Lieutenant Colonel Klinney?"

"Lieutenant Matilda?"

Markarius turned his head and saw his old acquaintance, the captain of the Midia squadron, waving at him from a jeep.

Where are you going?

"We're going to the pier. Do you want to come? We can give you a ride!"

"Sure, sure, I was just thinking of going to see the White Base anyway. Are you going to see your fiancé?"

"Yes!"

Matilda nodded, her face beaming with happiness.

Then, Makarius took out his phone and sent Amuro a photo of himself, Matilda, and the driver. After Amuro slowly replied with a question mark, Makarius promptly turned off his phone.

After arriving at the dock in Matilda's jeep, Macarius immediately saw the huge white warship parked in the dry dock. At that moment, a large number of Federation ground crew were busy around the spaceship, obviously carrying out maintenance.

"As expected, the Trojan horse-style one is still too ugly!"

As Makarius spoke, he took out his phone, ready to turn it on and take a few photos.

Then, an angry voice came from the side.

"Who are you calling ugly?"

As Makarius turned his head, he saw a tall, thin young lieutenant carrying a package and walking angrily toward him.

"Please say it again, who's ugly!"

Looking at the distinctive small eyes of the person in front of him, Makarius suddenly felt a little itchy to touch them.

If I slap the other person here, will they spin around?

Thinking this, Makarius replied with a faint smile.

"Of course it's ugly, Lieutenant Bradnoa. What, do you have a different opinion?"

(End of this chapter)