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

Chapter 189 The Final Battle, Big Zam is the Enemy

"The First Lightning Strike Team is in disarray!"

"The defense brigade has lost 45 percent of its combat strength!"

"The second line of defense has been breached, and our lines are retreating!"

A barrage of bad news poured into Dozru's command tower after Makarius broke through the Zeon front.

Given the enormous disparity in combat strength between the two sides, it was already quite remarkable that Dozle's Solomon Fortress garrison could hold out for an hour, even though they suffered extremely heavy losses during that hour. Under the Federation's relentless and fierce attack, the Zeon forces lost nearly thirty ships of various types, as well as more than a thousand mobile suits.

Especially those Richard Dom units with limited equipment were assigned to elite units and placed on the front lines to withstand the Federation's attacks. Despite the pilots' valiant fighting, even managing to exchange blows with the enemy at a near 1:1 ratio, they were still overwhelmed by the endless GMs and nothing was left.

Previously, Zeon could rely on its first-mover advantage to maintain the quality of its pilots and ensure the stability of its combat power. However, with the deaths of large numbers of veterans, Zeon's pilot force has experienced a significant gap in skill levels. Many new pilots have gone to the battlefield without even knowing how to operate their mobile suits, while the opponents they face have consistently maintained the pilots' skill levels.

This means that, even without considering the performance of the mobile suits in the overall balance of power, the Federation forces have completely outmatched the Zeon forces based solely on the pilots' skill level.

So far, the greatest threat to the Federation forces has come from the missile units at Fort Solomon. The missile launchers mounted on the fortress itself continue to fire various types of missiles in a barrage, inflicting considerable losses on the attacking Federation forces with their endless barrage tactics.

However, localized brilliant performances could not salvage the overall defeat, especially since the Zeon fleet stationed in the space above the fortress had been thrown into chaos by Macarius's infiltration, and even a precious Gvakin-class ship had been severely damaged.

"Lacock, start the final procedure!"

Putting all the bad news reports to the back of his mind, Dozru stood up from the command post, straightened his uniform, and then walked out of the headquarters with a very calm demeanor.

"Sir!"

Watching Dozru's departing figure, the fortress chief of staff was still filled with tears. The so-called final procedure was to abandon Solomon, gather all troops, and retreat back to the Zeon homeland.

In contrast, Dozle and the fortress garrison would act as the rearguard to buy time for the entire fortress's evacuation, until all troops had retreated or all of them had perished in battle.

As Dozru strode toward the port of the Solomon Fortress, he saw his wife, holding their daughter, anxiously gazing at the pier where he was standing amidst the evacuating crowd.

The two remained silent, shedding tears, until Serena's guards urged her repeatedly. Only then did she mouth a heartfelt goodbye to Dozru and turn to leave.

After watching his wife's figure disappear into the spaceport, Dozle turned around and took another elevator. When he arrived at the exit, a strange machine surrounded by countless scaffolding and cables appeared in front of him at the end of the road.

"General, Great Zam is ready to launch an attack!"

Two Zeon officers in military uniforms were already waiting beneath the machine. Upon seeing Dozle arrive, they raised their right hands with a fanatical, martyr-like expression.

"It is our honor to fight to the last moment with Your Excellency, General. Please give the order, Your Excellency!"

"Long live Zeon!"

Looking at the two officers, Dozru could only pat them on the shoulder.

"I don't actually have the right to ask you to die with me, but now, in order for more children to return to their hometowns, I have no choice but to ask you to join me in this attack!"

Then, Dozru looked at the big machine behind the two of them.

"It's a pity that the Great Zam was never able to be mass-produced. If it could have been mass-produced and equipped for our army, even just ten units, no, five would have been fine, and the war situation would not have been like this!"

Touching the cold, solid armor of the massive metal behemoth before him, Dozru couldn't help but sigh.

"Even if there's only one, it's fine. Today is the day to settle things with those guys!"

This mobile fortress, codenamed Great Zam, was the culmination of Dozru's hard work. Since the Battle of Loom, he had been holed up in Fort Solomon, devoting all his time and energy, apart from his daily work, to this behemoth.

Even next to a photo of his daughter on his phone was a technical blueprint for the Great Zam. It can be said that, under the meticulous refinement of a combat-oriented officer like Dozru, the Great Zam had surpassed the design level of the Apsaras and become a powerful machine with epoch-making significance.

Like Apsaras, the Great Zam also made preparations for the attack on the Jabro base, installing a high-powered particle cannon whose power far surpasses that of the Macarius G3 Gundam in its full armor mode. The latter cannot even kill a battleship like the Musai-class in one shot and requires multiple attacks, but the Great Zam's beam cannon has no such problem. Its power is even enough to damage the Magellan-class.

Of course, the difference between the two is not a technical one, but a design consideration. The Great Zam is a mobile fortress, which is a MA, while the G3 Gundam, even with the addition of full armor attachments, is still a mobile suit.

而除了那门威力惊天动地的mega粒子主炮外，MA-08大扎姆还内藏有能做全周围攻击的28门MEGA粒子炮、两只脚上还各装有3枚爪型对空防御用导弹、6枚头部对空导弹、2门胸部105mm火神炮和2只脚部格斗用机械爪。

The above are just the spears of the Great Zam. The Great Zam also has its proud shield. In addition to its battleship-class armor, the most unique feature is that it is the first to be equipped with an I-field generator. This generator can form a layer of electromagnetic wave membrane around the machine to effectively neutralize the beams emitted by the main gun-class beam weapons of the battleship.

Such equipment made its attack and defense impeccable, but it also brought a major problem. Due to the use of four 45000KW high-power generators, the cooling capacity was insufficient, limiting the Great Zam's combat time to less than 20 minutes.

Therefore, after entering the cockpit of the Great Zam, Dozru immediately started the countdown timer in the cockpit. Once the time was up, they would have to be prepared.

Then, as the port's hidden hatch slowly opened, the Great Zam, which had been transported to orbit, activated its thrusters and flew out of the port.

"what is that?"

"It's a new type of Zeon mobile suit! Everyone, spread out and attack!"

At this moment, the Federation forces had even attacked the surface of the Solomon Fortress and had begun a strong assault on the fortress's external passages. The departing Big Zam was immediately spotted by two squads of Iron Ball and Jim. Then, while Captain Jim urgently reported to his superiors and requested support, he directed his pilots to launch an attack on Big Zam.

Despite being unfamiliar with Big Zam's data, Captain Jim's command was flawless. Under his orders, six Jims and twelve Iron Balls spread out, surrounding Big Zam from all sides, and began firing.

If it were an ordinary Zeon mobile suit, such as Biglo, it would have a lot of trouble facing such an attack, but at this moment, they were facing the Great Zam.

When the particle beams fired by GM's beam gun and the beam weapons equipped on the Iron Ball were about to hit the Big Zam's body, they seemed to be blocked by an invisible wall, or like water hitting a riverbank. The beams were refracted and dispersed in a way that was visible to the naked eye. After a salvo, the Big Zam's armor was still as clean as new.

"Damn it, what is that?"

"The beam has been blocked!"

"Don't panic, the enemy can't hold out indefinitely. Keep attacking and maintain a spread-out formation!"

Captain Jim knew this was a tough situation, but he didn't back down at all. Instead, he worked even harder to lead his squad in attacking the Great Zam. Seeing that several rounds of fire had failed to break through its defenses, he shouted "Cover me!" and prepared to draw his beam saber and charge in for close combat. Then, the firing port in the center of the Great Zam's body lit up, followed by an incredibly terrifying torrent of particles that shot out from it. Captain Jim only saw a flash of light before his body and a Federation Salamis warship that happened to be passing by behind him were vaporized by the Great Zam's main cannon.

After the main cannon finished firing, the diffusion beam cannons around Big Zam opened fire again, and the terrifying particle torrent instantly vaporized both squads' Jim and Iron Ball.

"Damn Zeon bastards, how did these guys come up with these monstrous things?!"

After witnessing the demise of their allies, a Federation fleet immediately abandoned the nearly destroyed Chebe-class destroyer they had been beating up and instead began firing on Big Zam.

Even a Magellan-class particle cannon, when it bombards the armor of the Great Zam, will have most of its projectiles deflected by the invisible force field. In the end, only a small portion of the shell will leave a shallow dent in the armor plate.

The missiles fired by the fleet were completely destroyed by other close-in weapon systems. The attack of a squadron could not even shake the Great Zam in the slightest. Instead, the Great Zam destroyed the entire squadron after another salvo.

"Alright, let's do it, sir. Let's go and wipe out that reckless guy!"

Inside the cockpit of Great Zam, an officer pointed to the glowing spot that was brutally beating Gwalan. Great Zam's impressive performance gave them the courage to take on the red dragon one-on-one, but Dozru shook his head.

"No, let's press on and attack the Federation fleet's main force in one fell swoop, target the Titan!"

Dozle rejected his subordinate's request. The Great Zam's operational time was limited, and the goal was to weaken the Federation fleet as much as possible. If they could eliminate a few important figures within this limited time, that would be even better. If they couldn't, they should at least destroy a few more warships. As for a special unit, it was pointless to fight it.

"understand!"

Although they didn't understand, Dozle's subordinates resolutely carried out his orders. The Great Zam activated all its thrusters and launched a counterattack directly towards the Federation fleet's main force. Under Dozle's leadership, even several scattered Zeon ships and some mobile suits regrouped, wanting to follow Dozle.

And it was at this time that Makarius arrived!

"High-energy reaction at the rear!"

"Ignore it, this attack is useless against us!"

"No, it was fired at friendly forces!"

"Nani!"

Dozru looked at the display screen and was shocked to see a bright Möbius strip symbol flying over Big Zam's head.

That was the deadly attack drawn by Markarius using the mega particle cannon. Under the precise cutting of the particle beam, the two Musai-class ships burst into bright flames. After the flash of the explosion disappeared, the two Musai-class ships were already unable to move due to the severe damage caused by the attack.

Several mobile suits around the Musai-class have also disappeared.

"Sir?"

"Don't panic, Big Zam has a field generator, he can't do anything about it for the time being..."

Before Dozru could finish speaking, the second attack arrived in an instant. However, this time, what he saw was not the bright flash of the particle cannon, but a leaping arc of electricity.

After firing the particle cannon, Makarius did not hesitate to release the safety, discarding the particle cannon along with its independent power generator. It wouldn't be of much use against the Mega Zam beam weapon, so it was better to reduce its weight and increase its maneuverability.

After the particle cannon was deactivated, the railgun on the right side of the G3 Gundam, which was in a folded state, unfolded. Macarius then took out a magazine full of alloy bullets from the magazine pouch attached to the inside of the shield and loaded it into the railgun. Finally, as the magnetic field was energized, the weapon was ready to fire.

Then, Makarius simply turned the weapon's firing power to the maximum, pulled the trigger, and with a burst of blue flash, the railgun, having completed its charge, began to roar.

Then, the alloy bullet, carrying immense kinetic energy, shot out like an arrow, crackling with electricity, and slammed into the upper armor of the Great Zam.

Dozru and his two men, sitting in the Great Zam, felt a violent tremor in the machine, and then the Great Zam's security system started to alarm.

"We've lost two secondary guns, and the left auxiliary monitor has been destroyed. Why, why isn't the I-position working?"

"Because that guy is using an electromagnetic cannon!"

Dozru stared intently at the screen in front of him, which was now flashing red.

"That guy even thought of this?"

Dozru almost ground his own teeth to powder. The other party had been carrying an electromagnetic cannon but hadn't used it, instead using a particle cannon. But as soon as he appeared, the other party immediately switched to it. He didn't believe that the other party had just switched randomly!
"Keep moving, that guy's coming from above... He's coming!"

Dozle roared and then quickly maneuvered the Great Zam. The G3 Gundam, which had just fired and disappeared from the Great Zam's detection range, suddenly reappeared above the Great Zam and fired another round with its electromagnetic cannon.

Despite Dozle's efforts to evade the attack based on his knowledge of Makarius, the second electromagnetic cannon shot still tore through the armor of the Great Zam, leaving a horrific gash on its surface, with shattered armor fragments scattered everywhere.

"Aren't you going to just kill me outright, Kliny? Being soft-hearted isn't a good habit!"

Seeing the terrible state of Great Zam, Dozru immediately shouted loudly into the communication channel.

“Kill him? Sorry, I have no intention of killing gorillas, nor do I like killing wild animals. I would much rather capture him alive and put him in a zoo for children to visit, especially a certain child named Minerva!”

"You're really arrogant, kid. Let's see if you can pull it off!"

As Dozru spoke, his hands moved so fast they seemed to fly. He had a premonition that the enemy would definitely attack from below this time!
And soon, his premonition came true. As the G3 Gundam shot out from under the Big Zam like lightning, the Big Zam's secondary guns fired almost simultaneously.

The dazzling beam of light was about to hit the opponent, but the guy managed a nimble spin as he climbed, dodging the attack. Only the star and moon emblem on the shield on his left arm was scorched by the aftershocks of the particles.

Meanwhile, Zam, whose attack had missed, began to climb rapidly under Dozru's control, attempting to distance himself from Makarius.

The two machines chased each other in an S-shaped maneuver, one moving up and down, until the electromagnetic cannon was activated again.

This time, the armor on Great Zam's abdomen was precisely torn open.

"Sir, that guy's target is the main gun's power supply line!"

　The person is still on the train heading home.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)