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

Chapter 217 The Hammer of Punishment
As a loyal guardian of the Zabi family, Ajudilaz was also an outstanding general with exceptional abilities and keen insight. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to discover the truth about Gihren's death so quickly and decisively lead his fleet to escape.

Now, even though he is in the desolate, reef-filled space of the middle of nowhere, he can still analyze the vulnerabilities of the behemoth he is facing by using intercepted communications and other intelligence gathered through various means.

As for Diraz, he was well aware of the Federation's current strength and knew that it would be difficult to achieve anything with the limited number of people he had. Therefore, in order to achieve the greatest results with the least cost, taking an unconventional approach became Diraz's only choice.

If possible, Delaz would naturally prefer to give the fleet more breathing room to recuperate and at least build a complete base in the Reef space region, rather than launching operations in such a hasty manner.

However, time waits for no one. The Federation's de-Zabi de-investigation work after the war progressed very quickly. The One Year War Investigation Committee had already uncovered all of the Zabi family's secrets. In just two months, the war crimes of the Principality of Zeon published by the committee had accumulated to millions of words, including interrogation records of prisoners, orders from the Principality of Zeon's army, and testimonies of survivors.

Within the Republic of Zeon, the Zeon civilians, who had only been receiving federal relief food for a few months, were already showing signs of turning their backs on the government. The Zabi family statues that had stood throughout the principality were being torn down one by one. Some Zeon officials even publicly stated that the Zabi family had led Zeon down the wrong path, and that we should recognize this mistake, correct it, and find a new and correct way out.

All of this forced Delaz to organize a counterattack against the Federation as soon as possible; otherwise, in a few days, these remnants of Zeon would truly be reduced to space pirates.

At that time, the so-called glory of the Zeon and the righteousness of the Zabi family will be reduced to the level of being ignored by street tabloids.

To avoid such a worst-case scenario, Delaz could only rack his brains to plan his counterattack. At this moment, a young man who was evacuating with the fleet gave him great inspiration.

This man was Major Eric Blank, who was already in the lunar city of Grenada. He came from a prestigious family in Zeon. Although his military achievements were not particularly outstanding, he was one of the longest-surviving members of the heavily damaged Zeon mobile suit unit, which naturally caught the attention of his superiors.

In the latter half of the war, when the war was in decline, Major Eric was ordered to carry out a military operation called "Tears of the Sky," whose specific mission was to use the moon's mass launcher to launch massive kinetic energy projectiles to attack Earth Federation Forces ground bases.

However, because the Battle of Abaoa ended too quickly, Operation Tear of the Sky was forced to stop before it even began. Seeing his own troops collapsing like a house of cards, Eric had no choice but to retreat along with the fleeing soldiers.

This retreat took them from the bustling colony to the asteroid belt, where only large rocks remained. Although life was tough, it did not extinguish Eric's desire for revenge. The unsuccessful Operation Tear of the Sky had become a thorn in his side.

Fortunately, he was not the only one determined to seek revenge. After repeatedly submitting action plans, Diraz finally met with the young man who was full of anger.

However, Operation Tear of the Sky is no longer suitable for the current environment. The Federation Space Fleet has now regained control of the Earth Sphere, so the existence of Earth's military bases is no longer that important. Destroying one or two military bases with high-mass kinetic energy bombs would be futile.

To put it bluntly, those bases are just consumables that can be used up. If the Federation forces wanted, they could use these base facilities to deplete the Zeon's ammunition.

Therefore, Delaz decided to change the plan, and the target of the attack was no longer the Federation's military targets on Earth, but London, the location of the Federal Parliament!

The attack on the Federal Parliament was not a spur-of-the-moment decision by Delaz. He was well aware that the Federation was not harmonious after the war. The balance of power between the Federal military and the Parliament had become unbalanced after the victory. If it weren't for Rebil, the current commander-in-chief of the Federal Army, who used his unparalleled personal prestige to suppress the ambitious people in the Federal Army, the Parliament and the Federal Army would probably have been constantly embroiled in their conflicts.

Attacking the Federal Parliament and eliminating federal members would break this balance. At that time, the Federal Army would inevitably take advantage of the situation to grow stronger, and the Federal Parliament, which is known as the shadow cabinet, would certainly launch a stronger backlash as a result!
However, it is still difficult to directly dismantle Parliament with mass attacks alone. No matter how fast the mass projector is, it cannot deliver the mass bombs to the London Parliament in an instant.

Therefore, the new Operation Hammer of Punishment is divided into two phases. In the first phase, Eric led a secret team to contact the Zeon remnants in Grenada. They had four Prototype Warriors, three Zaku FZs, and six Rico Dom. Most of these mobile suits had various problems, lacking spare parts or even missing parts. Therefore, the local remnants needed to cooperate in repairing them before the next step of the operation could be carried out.

While repairing the mechs, the Delaz fleet will launch another attack, but the target is still undetermined. This attack will also involve the entire fleet, with the aim of mobilizing the Federation's orbital defense fleet and creating a loophole in their surveillance network.

Then, the Delaz Fleet will once again deploy the Zeon raiding force designated as the 1st Parachute Regiment. This force will use HLV vehicles to break through the atmosphere and crash-land on Earth. The Zeon fleet operating in the Earth's ocean areas will be responsible for receiving the 1st Parachute Regiment after it lands.

This so-called First Parachute Regiment was formed very early on. It was a special unit established by the Zeon military at the beginning of the war to launch a surprise attack on the federal government agencies on the British Isles. The mobile suits it was equipped with were still the MS-05 Zaku I from before the war. However, they were strengthened and modified to adapt to special missions, including replacing the head monitor, strengthening the armor, and the structure of the mobile suit was also reinforced to cope with the huge impact force during the air drop.

Of course, the so-called paratrooper regiment was just an ordinary designation, not a regular unit. Its actual personnel consisted of only a squadron, but now, the squadron couldn't even be assembled, because half of the pilots had been killed in action.

Therefore, only five units were ultimately available for combat!

This was destined to be a desperate attack from which there was no return, but for the Delaz fleet, which was already in a slump, it was better to die a heroic death as a brilliant firework than to turn into nameless dust in the dark corners of space.

Major Eric's operation went quite smoothly. He successfully obtained enough spare parts through local Zeon contacts, thanks in large part to Anaheim's generous sponsorship. In order to enter the mobile suit manufacturing industry, Anaheim spent a lot of money to purchase a large number of retired mobile suits and the wreckage of mobile suits that had been cleared out from the Federation and third-party cleanup agencies for research and development.

Among them were a massive amount of Zeon mobile suit wreckage, which could easily be assembled into the parts Major Eric needed. Anaheim's Abstract Security System didn't even realize that some parts were missing from its warehouse.

However, Zeon's covert operations also knew to keep a low profile. They did not touch the more important weapon systems, and even when they moved parts, they would try to select parts that were close to being scrapped and then pretend to destroy them in order to find a way to transport them out.

Finally, these parts will appear on Eric's squad's mechs.

As the machine gradually returned to normal function, Major Eric immediately began the next step of his operation. In order to contact the lurking Delaz fleet, the major boarded the same transport ship he had come from. However, this time, the transport ship had been transformed from a Zeon military transport ship into a transport ship for a civilian waste disposal company.

There are countless such ships throughout the lunar city. After all, it is a lunar city, which naturally has an economic advantage. Especially after the war, the scrap metal business is extremely booming. In the ruins of the war between the Federation Forces and the Zeon Forces, there are countless treasures waiting to be discovered.

After a brief inspection by the lunar city's security forces, the ship sailed out of space and joined the massive salvage operation.

Then, the transport ship broke away from the main force and entered the reef area without attracting anyone's attention.

"Major Eric, you're finally back!" The Zeon sentries stationed on the outer edge of the Reef Space Zone were overjoyed to see the transport ship, disguised as a civilian company, return. Their mission was extremely important, but also incredibly tedious. They lived alone for days in the closed cockpit of their mobile suits, carrying only special rations, until the next batch of sentries arrived, at which point they would have a chance to exchange a few simple words. If they weren't strong-willed, they would probably become depressed before long.

"Thank you all for your hard work. I brought you some gifts!"

Eric was aware of the fleet's current situation, so the returning transport ships were loaded with supplies they had purchased, and these sentries were among the first to receive the gifts.

Although what they received were just some ordinary soft pastries and soft-packaged drinks, it was enough to relieve the soldiers' numb nerves. In particular, the pastries with a lot of sugar were a delicious delicacy for the Zeon soldiers whose mouths were so bland.

"We also brought beer. Remember to collect it from the canteen according to the number of people when the shift changes!"

"Thank you, sir!"

Eric's return undoubtedly injected a shot in the arm into the demoralized Delaz fleet. The various supplies he brought, including food, medicine, and entertainment products, greatly solved the fleet's needs and accelerated the construction progress of the Reef Space Base.

Eric, on the other hand, immediately went to meet with Diraz to report on the completion of the mission.

Despite his unique obsession with carrying out Operation Tears of the Sky, Eric truthfully reported the intelligence information from relevant parties, including their communication with Zeon's undercover agents and Anaheim personnel.

"Well, don't rush to urge our compatriots to flee Anaheim. This place isn't exactly a good place either. They might be able to help us better from Anaheim!"

Delaz took a sip of the fragrant tea and looked quite satisfied. As a commander who was to set an example, he had lowered the living standards of all officers, including himself, from the beginning. Now that he could drink tea, he was naturally very excited.

"But, sir, there are also people who are unwilling to help us. With these guys around, should we..."

"No, the fact that they didn't report us is already a help to us. We should remain kind to them. After all, if we are to continue the hammer of punishment, we need everyone's efforts. At this time, we must not create any unnecessary complications!"

"understand!"

"So, Major, tell me, are you still insisting on carrying out the operational plan?"

"Sir, of course I insist!"

Eric spent his days leaving early and returning late in the lunar city, and even kept in touch with Lieutenant Varys to Von Braun in order to confirm the relevant intelligence of the Federation garrison. After repeated investigations, Eric was very confident that as long as he strictly followed his plan, the operation would definitely not go wrong!
"Since you're so certain!"

Lieutenant General Delaz took another sip of tea, then took a deep breath and spoke slowly.

"Then, I will authorize the commencement of the second phase of the mission!"

"You won't be disappointed, sir!"

"Then let's begin calibrating the time!"

Once the timing was adjusted to match, Diraz spoke slowly again.

"Then, in the next thirty-six hours, I will order the fleet to set sail, first feigning an attack on side 4 to mobilize the Federation forces in Solomon and on the Moon, and then advance to Earth to cover the First Parachute Regiment's breakthrough of the Carmen Line!"

"Sir, isn't this putting a bit too much pressure on the fleet?"

Eric frowned. In the plan, the mission of the Delaz fleet was also very important. It required a round trip within just twelve hours to mobilize the Federation forces on both sides of the Earth and the Moon. This was no easy task!

In particular, the propellant consumed during the emergency advance is a vital, non-renewable resource for the Delaz fleet. Even though they took most of the already limited reserves from the Principality of Zeon with them during the retreat, they still couldn't sustain such consumption.

"Now, there's no time to think about these things. The Federation Army is planning to hold a trial for Lord Dozru in a month. If you include the time it takes for the First Parachute Regiment and our fleet to join forces and head to the Atlantic, it will be even more tight. It's no longer the time to cherish our supplies!"

"Understood. Then I will return to Grenada immediately!"

"For Zeon!"

"For Zeon!"

Eric responded in this way.

　Although I requested leave, I feel it wouldn't be good to actually skip it, so I'm withdrawing my leave request.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)