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

Chapter 219 The Moment of Activation!

"Sir, breaking news! The Delaz fleet has engaged our fleet in the Moore space region!"

The Federation's intelligence was somewhat delayed. By the time Makarius was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet headquarters, the Zeon forces had already completed the first phase of the Hammer of Retribution mission.

And now, while he was still pondering what the Delaz fleet was planning to do, a battle report from the Moore Space was delivered to him.

"Two M'Sai-class destroyers, one Papua-class destroyer, and six Zaku FZ destroyers have been destroyed. Our forces have lost nine GM destroyers. The Jinmi Island fleet has set sail."

After reviewing the battle report, Marcarius had a better understanding of Delaz's intentions. Although it seemed that Delaz's fleet was attacking the Moorish Compatriots for the second time because they had a deep-seated hatred for the Moors, in reality, their attack on Side 4 was simply because attacking it would have a significant impact on the Federation.

After all, no matter how close they are, Moore is not a territory directly under the Federation. If this place is attacked, Moore will inevitably seek help from the Federation in order to survive. In order to win over the colony, the Federation will definitely take it seriously and send troops to rescue it in a big way. At this moment, the main force of the Federation fleet stationed on Jinmi Island has already been dispatched and, together with the Federation fleet stationed on the moon, has launched a pursuit from two directions toward the course of the Delaz fleet.

"No, the Delaz fleet is luring us in!"

"Is the enemy's target Kimmi Island?"

Seeing that Markarius had suddenly realized what was happening, the group of federal staff officers standing nearby immediately started asking him a barrage of questions.

"It's not Jinmi Island. Even if the main fleet leaves, the garrison fleet is not something the Delaz fleet can handle. Their target is the moon!"

Makarius also recalled the attack plan of Water and Sky Tears. In the original timeline, the plan was not initiated so early, and the remnants of Zeon did not cooperate so closely with the Delaz fleet. Now it seems that the Zeon forces responsible for executing the plan joined forces with the Delaz fleet, or Delaz found the plan somewhere and decided to carry it out.

"You bunch of bastards, why don't you put your mother on a rocket and send her crashing to Earth?"

Marcarius quickly grabbed the secure line beside him, preparing to report the situation.

"Get me to Gabro, Line 1, find Commander Huaken!"

Then, a resolute and rugged square face, yet with a hint of bitterness and resentment, appeared on the screen in front of Makarius.

"Sir, I'm sorry to bother you, but the situation is quite urgent!"

Macarius, without bothering with pleasantries, quickly explained the general situation to Warken. Warken frowned upon hearing this, not because he didn't believe Macarius, but because he was truly shocked by the Zeon's relentless dumping of things onto Earth.

"What do these guys think Earth is?!"

"I immediately order the lunar fleet to return, and at the same time, send additional troops to guard the mass launcher!"

Wakken is also a decisive person. Now that the other military leaders are busy holding meetings on Earth, he is the only one left on duty at the base. So naturally, he has to quell all the troubles as quickly as possible and crush any signs of resistance from the Zeon forces with lightning speed.

At the same time, the Delaz fleet reappeared in the sight of the Federation forces, but this time, they appeared in the empty space between the Earth and Moon star systems.

"Are they crazy?"

Although the Federation lost almost all of its orbital monitoring and defense facilities in the early stages of the war, it was able to replenish a considerable amount of equipment, such as satellites, to monitor Earth's orbit in the later stages of the war. In addition, during the fleet reorganization phase, the orbital defense fleet was the first to receive replacement warships.

Therefore, while other Federation forces might have issues with insufficient combat power or poor equipment, the Orbital Defense Force would never experience such problems. Thus, when the satellite detected the signal of the Delaz fleet's appearance, everyone in the Federation command thought that the Zeon had gone mad!

The entire Delaz fleet consisted of fewer than ten ships, while the Federation forces opposite them had nearly a hundred. There was no other explanation for Delaz's brazen appearance in front of the Federation forces than for Delaz having lost his mind.

"Full fleet, maximum combat speed!"

"Order the Jinmi Island fleet to accelerate immediately and join forces with our troops to encircle the enemy! This time, we absolutely cannot let them escape!"

Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit, let alone when facing the largest remnant of Zeon in the Earth Sphere. The Federation Forces' orbital defense fleet readily adopted the posture it would have used against the main Zeon force, with the entire fleet forming a tight formation, and battleships, cruisers, escort ships, and their mobile suits and fighters supporting each other.

However, at this moment, the Delaz fleet seemed to have finally woken up from its dream. After approaching Earth's orbit, the Delaz fleet did not continue to go deeper. Instead, it began to turn and accelerate, trying to escape before the Federation forces could encircle it.

At this moment, the two sides were about 100,000 kilometers apart. Although this was within the maximum range of the particle cannon, it was not within the effective range. Therefore, the Federation forces did not rush to open fire, but instead increased their speed and launched a pursuit.

During the chase, a Papua-class ship in the Delaz fleet suddenly malfunctioned, experiencing a small explosion, after which the ship's speed dropped sharply.

Then, under the watchful eyes of the federal troops, the Papua ship exploded several more times, billowing black smoke from its hull, and its height gradually decreased.

"Did an accident happen because there's been no insurance for too long?"

"Order the fourth squad to completely destroy the wreckage!"

Since the Papua-class ship was already badly damaged and looked like it was about to be burned up completely in the atmosphere, the main force of the Federation forces naturally stopped paying attention to the ship and instead detached a small part of the fleet to finish off the wreckage.

Just as the Federation forces were preparing to open fire, the Papua-class aircraft seemed to be overwhelmed and exploded one after another. In the end, it simply and cleanly exploded into large pieces of wreckage. Then, a massive amount of wreckage fragments, emitting flames and trailing thick black smoke, continued to fall towards Earth's orbit.

Under the cover of the debris, an HLV was also falling in freefall. Inside the HLV, several Zakuri were firmly secured, and the Zeon pilots were gritting their teeth and enduring the pain caused by the intense vibrations and pressure. They could not close their eyes and silently wait for the painful time to pass on its own; they had to keep a close eye on the instruments in front of them to ensure that the HLV was in a normal attitude and had not been damaged by the wreckage.

Soon, the HLV broke through the Kármán line, the boundary between outer space and the atmosphere. The HLV was unharmed, which made the Zeon pilots in the cabin breathe a sigh of relief, because they had successfully bypassed the Federation's defenses. Next, they just needed to land at the designated location and rendezvous with their allies.

But then, the pilots began to worry about the Delaz fleet in space, after all, they were facing an unprecedentedly large Federation force.

But at this moment, due to the existence of the blackout zone, they were unable to contact their allies, so all they could do was wait anxiously.

The Delaz fleet was clearly adept at escaping. By using the Earth's curvature to accelerate, the Delaz fleet quickly broke away from Earth's orbit and returned to the Reef Space Zone. This inexplicable action left the Federation's orbital defense fleet completely baffled. The defense fleet then attempted to enter the Reef Space Zone to pursue them, but quickly lost track of the Delaz fleet in the complex asteroid belt.

"What exactly are they here for?"

There was no exchange of fire or communication between the two sides; it was as if they were just going around in circles. This left the Federation fleet increasingly baffled, and even the staff officers busy in the flagship's combat intelligence center were racking their brains but still couldn't figure out the enemy's intentions.

It wasn't until a staff officer, who was completely baffled, accidentally watched the footage of the Papua-class submarine disintegrating more than a dozen times that he finally noticed something was wrong.

"That Papua was deliberately crashed; the Zeon forces deployed an HLV!"

"Expected landing site? Contact the Air Force immediately to intercept!" "The expected landing site is in an area of ​​approximately 200,000 square kilometers around Ivory Coast!"

"Didn't the ground radar detect anything?"

"There are many blind spots in Africa!"

"Damn it, we've been tricked again! Let's get the news to Gabro first and see what they say!"

Soon, news that the Zeon forces had deployed an HLV towards Earth reached Wakum.

"First it was Side 4, then Earth. Was Earth the initial target of the Delaz fleet?"

The staff officer standing nearby asked in confusion.

"Could it be that Colonel Kline's judgment was wrong?"

"No, there shouldn't be any problems with Kliny; this is a joint operation!"

Hua Ken shook his head, then looked at the large screen in the command room, where a group of people were reviewing the movements of the Delaz fleet.

"If their initial target was Earth, then why mobilize the Jinmi Island and lunar fleet? Therefore, this was a joint air-ground operation!"

"But how many troops can an HLV carry? At most, it can only carry a few mobile suits or a few dozen soldiers. What kind of trouble can it cause on Earth?"

"That means they're not ordinary troops. Immediately raise the NBC attack level of all bases to the highest level!"

Wasakan was about to curse again; he was certain that the Zeon forces inside that HLV were carrying some special ammunition!
Meanwhile, on the African coast, the Zeon 1st Parachute Regiment, which had landed safely, quickly rendezvoused with the submarine force that had come to pick them up. At this moment, the Federation Air Force was still searching for possible landing sites for the Zeon troops, but due to the vast airspace and the limited local air force capabilities, the Federation Air Force found nothing.

At the same time, in Grenada on the moon, a second-hand Pizarro-class transport ship sold to civilians slowly left the starport and flew away from Grenada.

After leaving the airspace over Grenada, the transport ship quickly descended, escaping the busy lunar flight path and landing at an altitude of less than a few dozen meters above the Earth's surface.

"Major Eric, we have just received an encrypted signal from our forces!"

On the transport ship, Lieutenant Varis, who had previously harbored deep resentment towards the Federation, was sitting idly in front of the communications console when an encrypted message arrived. He jumped up from his seat as if his butt had caught fire.

Then, Major Eric, who had already changed into his pilot's uniform, carrying his helmet, rushed past the mobile suits lined up on both sides of the transport ship and stood beside Varys.

"Sir, what's the situation?"

Seeing Eric silently deciphering the information, Varys was so anxious that he scratched his head and jumped up and down. Then, he saw a smile suddenly appear on Eric's face.

"Commander Delaz wrote that everything is going well for them!"

"Wuhu!"

"Long live Zeon!"

Upon hearing Eric utter the word "successfully," cheers erupted throughout the small transport ship.

"Well done! I knew they were capable!"

"Alright, everyone, quiet down!"

Eric tapped on the metal frame holding the mobile suit, and then spoke.

"Everything is going smoothly on the fleet's side, so we can't let them down here either. We've lost two more cruisers in this operation, so we can't let our brothers' sacrifices go to waste!"

"Sir, there are no cowards here who fear death!"

"Yes, sir, please give the order!"

"Alright, helmsman, change course immediately. Target mass launcher. Everyone else, final preparations. I need to make sure all the machines are ready to engage in battle at the first opportunity!"

Following Eric's orders, the secondhand Pizarro-class transport ship adjusted its course at low altitude and then headed toward von Braun.

Inside the spaceship, Zeon pilots, now dressed in their uniforms, began boarding the mobile suits anchored to the sides of the transport ship. These mobile suits had raised hatches beneath their feet, and among the various pipelines, a group of maintenance personnel in spacesuits were conducting final checks on the pilots.

Then, a green light above the maintenance rack for the mobile suits lit up, indicating that everything was ready and all the mobile suits on the ship were ready to launch.

Meanwhile, the Pizarro-class ships, which were speeding toward the mass launcher area, were spotted by the lunar city security forces patrolling the area. Two Hog-class gunboats, equipped only with small-caliber machine guns, then approached the transport ship while issuing warnings.

"This is a restricted area. Please turn around immediately, or we will take coercive measures against your ship!"

"Ignore it and keep moving!"

Seeing that their warnings were ignored, the security forces pilots sitting in the gunboat immediately pulled the trigger and fired a short burst of full tracer ammunition at Pizarro's flank as a warning shot.

"Sir, the enemy has opened fire!"

"Give us a good beating!"

Meanwhile, on the gunboats still waiting for a response from the Pizarro-class ships, the security forces pilots immediately saw something suddenly rise from above the deck of the transport ship in front of them, followed by a flash of fire.

"Close-in weapon system, they've opened fire! Quick response..."

Amidst the pilot's abrupt shouts of cessation, a gunboat suddenly exploded.

(End of this chapter)