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

Chapter 206 Unconditional Surrender

"Our army is defeated, our army is defeated!"

In a safe house provided by the local autonomous government in the lunar city of von Braun, Darcia paced back and forth in the room. Suddenly, the door was violently kicked open. Before Darcia could reprimand him, the secretary, covered in sweat, collapsed to his knees and began to weep bitterly.

"What did you say?"

Darcia wasn't the only one in the room; there were other government officials as well. One of the stronger officials immediately lifted the prime minister's secretary off the ground as if he were a chick.

"Can you say that again!"

"Our army has been defeated. Prince Dejin has been killed in action, Commander-in-Chief Kilian has been killed in action, and Lady Kycilia has been killed in action. The Federation flag has now been raised at Abaoa Fortress!"

"You scoundrel, how dare you spread such lies and mislead the public!"

A large, fan-shaped hand slapped the secretary squarely across the face, knocking his glasses off. The secretary didn't even struggle; he simply collapsed to the ground, powerless.

"It's true, the news is already being broadcast!"

Darcia quickly turned on the radio in the room, and then everyone heard a woman's voice on the radio, filled with barely suppressed joy.

That was a broadcast signal sent to the entire Earth Sphere by the propaganda department of the Federation Forces under Gop's command, which had been in operation since the launch of the Zeon Descent Operation.

Although this department is not large, it plays a very prominent role. It does a very good job in both exposing the Zeon army's numerous crimes against the space colonies and publicizing the Federation army's glorious achievements.

Now, they have set up transit ships behind the Abaoa front, specifically responsible for transmitting the battle situation from the battlefield with extremely high rice grain concentration by designated personnel, and then transmitting it back to Earth by transit ships.

So Darcia's news wasn't delayed; it was only less than five hours late!

But this was enough to catch them off guard!

Darcia's team departed later than Dekin's. Dekin's original plan was to first call a halt to the fighting in Abaoa, and then Darcia's negotiation team would negotiate peace with the Federation forces. After all, as long as the fortress was in their hands, Zeon could always come up with something.

To Darcia's surprise, when they arrived in the lunar city of von Braun, the Federation's negotiating team did not appear. Instead, local officials from von Braun received them and housed them in a mansion in the upper part of the city.

Then, the Zion team waited anxiously. Although they were not restricted in their freedom, and the mansion had a buffet and various drinks, and transportation would be arranged if they wanted to go shopping, they were not there for tourism.

After waiting for so long, what they received was a bolt from the blue: the Zabi family was wiped out, the fortress was occupied, and Zeon was now like a corn cob stripped of its husk, powerless to resist being ground into cornmeal or steamed, boiled, fried, or roasted.

"How could this be?"

Several officials in the negotiation team immediately collapsed to the ground in anguish, while Darcia stood by the window with his eyes closed. As the Zeon team was immersed in grief, the door to the room was opened again, and a local official from von Braun came to inform them that the Federation forces had arrived and that negotiations could now begin!

"Negotiation? What's there to negotiate? They've called us over simply because they've already prepared an agreement for us to sign!"

Darcia laughed self-deprecatingly, but he still took the step. Now, they had no other choice!

Then, the Zeon delegation followed von Braun's officials into a large conference room next door. As soon as they entered, Darcia heard the rapid clicking of camera shutters. He looked up and saw a table set up in the center of the room, with a row of high-ranking federal officials and generals sitting upright behind it, watching them.

Behind the federal officials was a line of federal military police guarding a long cordon, behind which were dozens of rifles and cannons.

The photographers were a mix of federal soldiers and local media personnel from von Braun, all beaming with excitement. Upon seeing the Zeon delegation, they were even more eager to shove their cameras right in their faces to take pictures.

Then, at the direction of a federal military policeman, Darcia walked alone to the table. The Federation had not prepared a chair for him, so Darcia could only bend over, take the pen that had been prepared in advance, and sign his name on the unconditional surrender agreement stroke by stroke.

While processing official documents, he had written his signature countless times, but at this moment, those few words seemed like the most difficult puzzle in the world, making it impossible to start. The pen also seemed to weigh a ton and he couldn't lift it at all. But in the end, Darcia forced himself to control himself and completed the entire process.

As he bent down to hand over the document, the rapid clicking of camera shutters resumed.

Then came a thunderous roar of cheers and applause. Only Darcia stood there, bent over, in a daze. Outside the gate behind him, the members of the Zeon delegation sat or stood, their faces ashen. Some even bit their sleeves tightly to keep themselves from crying out loud.

Just as desperate and confused as the Zeon delegation were the Zeon homeland garrison. After Gihren left the homeland for Abaoakong Fortress, Cecilia Erin, Gihren's lover and secretary, became the de facto ruler of Zeon.

Despite her youth, she is not some pretty face with no brains, but rather Gihren's true and capable wife. While the fierce battle began at Abaoakong Fortress, she was carrying out an operation known as Valkyrie on her homeland. On the surface, this operation was a conspiracy against Gihren himself, because the ultimate goal of the plan was to assassinate Gihren Zabi.

In reality, this plan was a complete sting operation, a grand scheme by Gihren to eliminate Kycilia's threat and consolidate his power in Zeon. However, during the execution of the plan, some problems arose. Kycilia, the intended target, was completely unsuspecting. Instead, the anti-Gihren forces lurking within Zeon were brought to the fore. Cecilia, without hesitation, turned the tables and exposed these anti-Gihren forces as well.

Gihren himself probably never imagined that after his persistent years of purging Zeon, there would still be so many people in the country who wanted to kill him. One of them was Henry Schlesell, the commander of the Zeon capital's defense.

Fortunately, the Führer's guard left two-thirds of its combat force on the mainland to assist Cecilia in Operation Valkyrie; otherwise, the suddenly launched Henry Schlesell attack would have truly wiped out the Gihlian faction on the mainland.

Just as the head of state's guard and the capital's defense forces were locked in a standoff, news of the fall of Abawaqon Fortress reached the mainland.

"how is this possible?"

Just as the head of state's guard had completed the encirclement of the capital's defense division, and even if she gave the order, the well-equipped head of state's guard could wipe out the defense division, which was full of old, weak and disabled people, the Abaoakong Fortress fell at this critical juncture.

"Where is the commander-in-chief? Where is he?"

Cecilia was met with only silence!

Soon, the Zeon forces that had retreated from the Abaoa Fortress brought more news and confirmed Gihren's death. Although it was unclear how Gihren, who was at headquarters, was killed in the battle with the Federation forces, it was likely that Gihren was really dead, and the order to hand over command was issued by Kycilia herself!
After that, everything became incredibly chaotic. After Kycilia left on the warship, command of the Abaoa Fortress was handed over to Lieutenant General Landrov, who was responsible for continuing to command the remaining Zeon forces to evacuate. However, less than thirty minutes after Kycilia gave the order, Lieutenant General Landrov was killed by Amuro.

After Landrov's death, Colonel Tovanin, who remained at the fortress, took over command in turn, and it was he who issued the order to surrender!

From that point on, Abaoakong Fortress fell completely, and no one was ever able to escape the burning city.

However, escaping safely back to Zeon did not mean the end of everything. In fact, due to Zeon's abstract organizational structure, the Zeon army that retreated safely back to its homeland was not a monolithic entity. Its composition was quite complex, including the remnants of Dozle's forces, Kycilia's assault mobile army, Gihren's Abaoa air garrison, and the Führer's guard on the homeland. There had been considerable infighting among the various units before, and now that they were no longer restrained by their respective leaders, conflicts naturally arose frequently. If they hadn't run out of weapons and ammunition, these guys would probably have started another battle before the Federation forces even arrived.

With Zeon's homeland now in dire straits and the Federation forces on their way, the officers and soldiers of the Zeon forces, as well as the high-ranking officials on Zeon's homeland, are becoming increasingly confused about what to do next.

At the same time, Zeon received a letter from the moon, informing them that Prime Minister Darcia had signed the unconditional surrender document, signifying Zeon's complete defeat.

Unable to accept this reality, the high-ranking officers of the Zeon army held emergency consultations and quickly reached a consensus to lie low and continue resisting.

After quickly looting all the remaining ships and supplies on the mainland, the Zeon troops who refused to surrender disappeared into the dark space.

Most of these forces, primarily Kycilia's Assault Mobile Force and Dozle's troops, chose to leave the Earth Sphere and flee to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, where Zeon also has an asteroid, Axis, built to compensate for its lack of resources on its home planet.

In addition to the combat troops, a large number of Zeon officials, fearing retribution, also boarded the warships fleeing to Axis. Although the journey was long and the environment harsh, they didn't care about that at the moment. Rather than staying on their homeland and being sent to the gallows one by one, they would rather take a gamble in distant Axis.

Gihren's men and the Zabi's personal guard were unwilling to go to Axis; they preferred to remain in the Earth Sphere and continue fighting the Federation Forces.
In fact, another reason why these people were unwilling to go to Axis was that they had great doubts about Gihren's death. Their fleet commander, Ejudilaz, even directly and confidently assured them that it was Kycilia's conspiracy and that this woman had killed their beloved commander-in-chief.

However, Kycilia is also suspected of being killed in action, so Ejudilaz doesn't know who to hold accountable for this, and can only stay in the Earth Sphere to continue fighting.

However, among these fleeing troops, there were also those who were neglected and unloved. The Zeon Marine Corps led by Simakarahou was not completely annihilated either. In fact, after the troops suffered heavy losses and two warships and a large number of mobile suit units were destroyed by the Federation Forces, Simakarahou commanded the remaining flagship and a group of subordinates to withdraw from the battlefield immediately without any burden.

They even outran the Zabi SS, who only withdrew after hearing of Gihren's death.

Even though they were the first to escape back to the mainland, the Marines didn't manage to board any ships. Both the Delaz and Kycilia factions loathed the Marines, and they were always last when it came to refueling the warships.

Another person abandoned was Gihren's beautiful lover, Cecilia Erin. While Gihren was alive, she was just his secretary, but after Gihren's death, her existence became somewhat awkward. Since Gihren had no offspring or heirs, Cecilia's status changed, and she became Gihren's widow. This posed a threat to Dozle's widow, who had also fled to Axis, so Cecilia's faction completely ignored her.

As for the Führer's guard and personal guard, most of them immediately came under the command of powerful generals like Delaz. Cecilia herself was taken into custody by the Capital Defense Force before she could even escape to the port.

They were a third party, a faction that neither intended to leave Zeon nor to continue resisting. After all members of the Zabi family died, Prime Minister Darcia became the supreme ruler of Zeon, so these remaining Zeon troops chose to obey his orders.

However, although they gave up resistance, these troops did not interfere with the other two factions in any way, and even watched as the other side divided up the remaining ships and equipment.

Shortly after the two factions fled Zeon, a fully armed advance team of the Federation forces arrived on Zeon's mainland.

Accompanying this advance team was Darcia, who had just signed the unconditional surrender agreement on the moon. Although he was a sinner who had signed the agreement, it did not affect Darcia's smooth career. At this moment, he even transformed from the prime minister of the Principality of Zeon into the prime minister of the caretaker government of the Principality of Zeon.

However, neither of these two prime ministerial positions is a good job; it's just a matter of changing the obedient master!

(End of this chapter)