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

Chapter 278 Federal Army's Floating Guns

"First assault group, you're in charge of the left flank; second group, you're coming with me for a frontal assault!"

"As ordered!"

"Listen up, brothers, the enemy we are facing has reached the end of their rope, so they will only fight even more fiercely. Unite and cooperate, rely on your comrades, and I hope everyone can return safely!"

After ejecting from the flagship of the Warken, Makarius did not rush to begin the triple-speed assault. His identity had changed, and behind him were hundreds of Federation mobile suits awaiting his orders.

Therefore, Markarius first commanded the mobile suit units to complete the combat formation, and then he led the second group to kick hard at the side of the Delaz fleet.

As Macarius led the charge towards the Delaz fleet, a large number of high-speed signals suddenly appeared in front of the previously displayed warship signals, clearly indicating that the Delaz fleet had sent mobile suits to intercept them.

"Maintain high-speed mobility, stay close to your unit, and don't rush into battle. First, divide them up, then annihilate them!"

Marcarius wasn't worried that the Federation forces behind him wouldn't be able to achieve this goal. With his own encouragement, the quality of the Federation's mobile suits was now vastly different from what it used to be. The up-and-coming special-equipped GMs and Gilai were the very blades of this saber, incredibly sharp. Facing the Zeon forces that were charging at them, these blades sliced ​​into the bodies of the Zeon remnants without any resistance.

As the remnant mobile suits were about to enter their maximum firing range, Makarius had already raised his 380mm rocket launcher and pulled the trigger.

A magazine of four rockets flew out without any pause. Then, NT1 took a new magazine from the weapon storage rack on its waist, loaded it, and continued firing.

"Rocket launcher, dodge!"

On the other side, in the Zeon mobile suits, a Zeon pilot also noticed the rockets hurtling towards him on the radar. He immediately warned his allies and began to evade. One, two, three rockets—the pilot dodged six rockets in one go, but then he saw the friendly forces behind him disappear. He subconsciously glanced at the rearview camera, and in that moment of distraction, the seventh rocket silently struck, instantly blasting his mobile suit to pieces.

"Damn it, fight back, fight back!"

"We can't hit them from this distance!"

"Forget about whether it hits or not, just don't let that guy open fire!"

The Zeon pilots, covered in dust and dirt from the rockets, disregarded the distance between them and began firing their rocket launchers, not aiming to hit their targets, but simply to disrupt the enemy.

But as wave after wave of dense rockets flew out of the Zeon ranks, beams of light suddenly appeared in the dark universe. These beams of light, appearing out of nowhere, swept cleanly across the barrage of rockets fired by the Zeon pilots, detonating them one by one.

"what?"

The Zeon pilots, finding no reaction on the radar, widened their eyes in surprise. Meanwhile, the particle beam that had suddenly appeared continued to sweep across the surroundings, quickly wiping out the rockets released by the Zeon fleet.

Before the Zeon pilots could figure out what was destroying their rockets, another beam of light shot out from the darkness, tearing half of a Zaku apart.

"Damn it, what is it?"

With half its body gone and even the cabin starting to leak air, the Zaku frantically fired its machine gun at the direction from which the beam was coming. But the next second, the beam struck from another direction, shattering its other half.

"asshole………"

Before the Zeon pilot could finish speaking, a third beam of light shot out from his front, directly into the cockpit, turning him into a fireball.

"They're drones!"

Finally, some Zeon pilots took advantage of the gaps in the explosions and firing to see what was attacking them. Funnels were relatively unfamiliar weapons to ordinary pilots like them, and not many people could recognize them, especially in the Delaz fleet.

"Isn't that our army's secret weapon?"

"Idiot, we've already lost our homeland, what's so strange about losing some floating cannons!"

"This thing is very fragile; a machine gun can destroy it. Everyone, be careful and take cover. Just concentrate your fire!"

"You bunch of idiots, forget about the funnels! Gundam, that red Gundam is coming for us!"

Just as a group of Zeon pilots were trying to concentrate their forces to eliminate the few flying funnels, their comrades in front of them were once again attacked by extremely accurate long-range fire. However, this time it was not funnels or rocket launchers, but real beam rifles.

The nine units of the leading squadron of the Big Demon II were wiped out in about a minute, which scared the friendly forces behind them so much that they almost peed their pants.

"Sigh, taking down nine mobile suits in one minute and seventeen seconds, I guess I've really regressed!"

Makarius sighed helplessly in the cabin.

Then, he suddenly twisted his body to the side by less than twenty degrees and pulled the trigger again into the dark universe.

Immediately afterwards, a Zaku FZ that was sneaking around on the side was hit by a beam of light and had its lower half blown off, leaving only half of its body struggling haphazardly.

It was at this moment that the pilot of the Zaku FZ saw who was attacking him—that red Gundam, he would never forget it!
As the other side's beam of light flashed again, the pilot used his last strength to shout into the communication channel.

But it was too late. Macarius's mobile suit, leading a group of special-equipped mobile suits behind him, directly pierced through the ranks of the Zeon mobile suits. With beam lances sweeping across and floating units firing in unison, dozens of Zeon mobile suits were destroyed in a single exchange. Meanwhile, the damage they inflicted on the Federation was negligible. Only a few damaged mobile suits withdrew from the battlefield and, under the cover of their comrades, prepared to return to the fleet for repairs.

After breaking through the enemy lines, Macarius handed over the task of mopping up the remaining enemy to his subordinate commander, while he led a group of special-equipped mobile suits at full speed toward the fleeing Delaz fleet.

"Go, floating cannons!"

The floating cannons that had charged through the enemy lines alongside Macarius now flew towards the fleeing enemy warships under Macarius's control, and then, blinding beams of light shone again.

The beams of the floating cannons have limited power and are not very effective at damaging warships. Therefore, Markarius chose to target the vulnerable parts of the warships, including exposed turrets and engine fuel tanks, which are particularly easy to detect.

Soon, a Pazok-class transport ship was attacked by the funnels. The few defensive turrets on the ship were destroyed by the funnel cluster in the first instance. Then, under the horrified gaze of the Zeon crew, the flying spheres began to attack the engines and bridge. After just a few salvos, the transport ship was filled with thick smoke and was in ruins. Although the transport ship was still able to move, its speed had obviously slowed down. Subsequently, the Pazok was destroyed by concentrated fire from the Federation warships behind it.

While the floating cannons were harassing the Zeon fleet piecemeal, Makarius was also pursuing the Zeon warships further ahead.

He didn't rush to Delaz's flagship immediately because the latter was at the forefront of the fleet. Rushing over would expose him to the firepower of the entire fleet. The main force of Delaz's fleet was still intact, and it would be risky for him to charge alone. It would be better to peel back the layers first and wait for the blocking force to arrive before attacking the flagship!

Then, NT1 lunged towards a Musai-class destroyer positioned on the edge of the hull. "Damn it, they've got their eyes on us!"

The captain of the Musai-class was grinding his teeth in frustration. His ship had deployed all its mobile suits, and now their only means of self-defense were a few machine guns that were spitting live ammunition. However, the barrage of bullets fired by the close-in weapon system posed no threat whatsoever to that Gundam.

As for getting support from friendly forces, that's wishful thinking. Right now, the entire fleet is turning around and speeding away without any regard for the consequences. Who has time to provide support?

While the captain was feeling down, Makarius had already deployed funnels. While the Gundam was maneuvering at high speed to attract the attention of the close-in weapon system, the funnels launched an attack from above.

A blinding particle beam reappeared, shooting vertically into the firing turret. The armor on top of the turret melted under the attack of the particle beam as if a hot knife were cutting through butter. The particle beam then penetrated the interior, detonating the ammunition and other equipment.

"Damn it, cut off the main gun's power supply..."

The captain's heart sank as he looked at the port side, which was almost completely shrouded in thick smoke. Looking at the close-in weapon system that had been destroyed, he remembered the safety of the main gun. But the order had just been given when another bright beam of particles shot vertically into the ship, and this time it was the central main gun of the Musai-class that was hit.

The energy pipeline was detonated, causing the entire area to explode. The next second, the Zeon soldiers on the bridge were thrown out by the violent tremors, crashing into the ceiling or walls.

The bridge armor creaked from the vibrations, and the deformation was visible to the naked eye, even without equipment testing.

Then, a piercing damage control alarm rang throughout the ship, and thick smoke and flames spread inside the warship. Captain Zeon, his face covered in blood, struggled to his feet, but before he could even stand up, he saw another huge round mass appear outside the bridge.

The sharp tube in the center of the round object was now emitting a bright light.

After destroying the Musai-class's firepower and bridge, Makarius quickly turned to his next target. This ship was now a toothless tiger and could be handed over to friendly forces. As he flew over the bow, he didn't forget to fire a shot at the Musai cockpit, since it could also be used as an escape pod.

Faced with the incoming NT1, the Zeon fleet was now helpless. The few mobile suits they had left were engaged in a bloody battle with the enemy, and even the reserves had been sent out. Meanwhile, Macarius and the special mobile suits he brought were like Sun Wukong inside Princess Iron Fan's belly, with nothing to worry about and just needing to fire as much as they wanted.

One by one, the slower Zeon warships perished under the onslaught of the Federation's special mobile suits. Some Zeon captains, facing imminent death, finally had a change of heart and decisively surrendered. After all, if they had been any slower, they would have become targets for the Federation forces, just like the other friendly forces!

On the Gwadian, watching yet another friendly warship lose its signal, Delaz felt a pang of heartache. These were the seeds of strength he had preserved from the war, but now they had all become victims of the Federation army's guns.

For a moment, he wanted to order the fleet to turn around and fight the enemy to the death, but he could not give that order. If the entire fleet were destroyed, it would mean that there would be no organized Zeon resistance force left in the Earth Sphere!
As for sending a few ships from the fleet to cover the rear, that's wishful thinking. The powerful gunnery of the three Birmingham-class ships is simply beyond the capabilities of the Zeon warships. The rearguard ships wouldn't even be able to enter their effective firing range before being destroyed by the enemy!

"Do we have no mobile suits available?"

"The reserve teams have already been dispatched..."

The adjutant shook his head. They had misjudged the strength of the Federation forces, which had put the mobile suit units in a desperate situation. Now, those mobile suits were sacrificing their lives to buy the fleet a chance to escape. Not to mention reserves, even mobile suits with missing limbs had to be sent out. This meant that the fleeing fleet was now completely powerless to fight against those annoying flies.

"Sir, the maintenance team requests deployment!"

"Where did they get these mobile suits?"

"They're preparing to launch an attack in their repair units!"

Upon hearing this, Delaz looked at the ship's internal communication screen and saw that in the hangar of the Gevaden, rows of simple mobile engineers used for space operations had been lined up.

"You're crazy!"

"Commander, this is the only way to save the fleet, so please allow us to proceed!"

The maintenance captain, whose hair was already gray, spoke calmly. He already knew the fate of the friendly mobile suits; those young men would never return. And now, it was time for them, the maintenance crew who had lost their purpose, to step forward.

Delaz remained silent for a moment, and then another Musei-class ship burst into a bright flame before leaving the fleet amidst billowing smoke.

"Commander!"

"Five minutes, just hold those guys off for five minutes!"

Diraz closed his eyes in heartache and then said.

"understand!"

Then, a dozen or so mobile engineers, completely unarmed and with only 90mm machine guns welded to their bodies by robotic arms and equipped with simple mechanical sights, swarmed off the Gwadian and flew toward the rear of the fleet.

The prepared soldiers, who were determined to fight to the death, even sang Zeon military songs at first. But suddenly, without even seeing the enemy, one of their mobile suits exploded, instantly extinguishing the fervent atmosphere.

"What's going on? Where are the enemies?"

"I don't know, I didn't..."

"Joey is dead, the enemy is above us..."

"No, he's on our right..."

Amidst the terrified screams of the maintenance troops, the friendly mobile engineers burst apart one by one like bubbles in the sunlight, and they died without ever finding the enemy's location.

"puff!"

On the flagship, Delaz looked at the timer beside him and spat out a mouthful of blood. He had hoped that the mobile engineers could hold out for five minutes, but they were wiped out in less than forty seconds after they attacked!
"Commander!"

Seeing the unsteady Diraz, the adjutant beside him rushed over nervously.

Just as he was about to help the other person up, the farewell voice of a warship captain came through the communication channel once again.

This became the last straw that broke the camel's back, causing Diraz to collapse.

(End of this chapter)