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

Chapter 316 The Northern Song Dynasty Treasure Pot Returning from Jupiter
Marcarius was right. Mark Bay's main fleet had actually been on its way from Mars and had arrived in Earth's sphere for several days. However, considering the fleet's safety, Mark Bay did not allow the fleet to show itself and instead kept it hidden in the darkness.

But now that he knows that the information about the Chimera team is encrypted in the database of the Public Security Investigation Agency of the Republic of Zeon, Mark Be knows that he can no longer remain in hiding.

The reason is simple: to obtain the Chimera's base ship, known as the Minaret, one must find out the whereabouts of the Chimera members, and to find out their whereabouts, one must enter Zeon's encrypted database.

But here's the problem: although the encrypted information database isn't in Zum, but in another closed satellite, that area is a military-controlled zone that ordinary civilians can't get close to. To get in, you need to be a member of the Zeon Republic Self-Defense Forces or the head of the relevant department.

Furthermore, the transport ship they were on also departed from the naval port and had its own independent number and IFF identification code. If they were on other ships, they would be driven away by the Self-Defense Force fighter jets stationed there before they even got close. If they tried to force their way in, the defensive firepower of the colony satellites was not to be underestimated. Those military satellites had undergone firepower enhancement and modification during the principality period, with large-caliber defensive turrets installed at both ends of the satellites. Their firepower was comparable to that of battleships. With the current small force of the remnants of the Earth Sphere, they couldn't do anything significant.

Alternatively, Mark Bay could have another option: to obtain intelligence about the Chimera Squad from the Federation Army. However, this path was much more difficult. The Chimera Squad's public combat records after the One Year War had been deliberately erased. The encrypted files, however, remained, but they were located in Gabro, or more precisely, on a server a thousand meters underground at the Gabro base.

As long as Mark Bay can break through the Earth Orbit Defense Fleet, the Pacific Fleet, the Atlantic Fleet, and the Gablo Base Defense Force, he can open that door. Of course, these forces are not many, only a few hundred thousand people. If Mark Bay has a million combat power, it won't be too difficult.

In short, if Mark Bay still cherishes Kycilia's last gift, then he must make the most difficult choice of his life: either fight the Federation or the Republic of Zeon.

In reality, the members of the Chimera Squad themselves were not very important, nor was their base ship, named the Minaret. The biological weapon Astaroth, which it carried, was the most important thing. This was not a secret to the Federation's high command at the time. While Rebil was commanding the battle on the main battlefield, Gop and King authorized the special forces to launch an offensive against the Chimera Squad.

But what they didn't expect was that the Chimera team also broke out in internal strife at the last moment. By a twist of fate, the Minaret started its operating system and disappeared from everyone's sight.

However, it is not impossible to find this ship. On the Chimera Squadron's Zanzibar-class battleship Blue Blood, there is a complex calculation system that can calculate the current location of the minaret. But this system requires a key, namely the Zeon ace pilot Johnny Raiden, who also went missing in the war.

Therefore, even after capturing the Blue Blood, the Federation had no way of knowing the location of the minaret. Gop could only hide the warship deep underground at the Gabro base and wait for the day Johnny Leiden would reappear.

Mark Bay was actually unaware of these details. Kycilia's Chimera team was personally commanded and deployed by her, so it was already quite remarkable that Mark Bay knew of the existence of biological weapons.

Therefore, his expectation that finding the hidden Chimera team would lead him to the minaret was unrealistic, but he was unaware of this at the moment.

Therefore, Mark Bay ultimately decided that he would obtain relevant intelligence information from the Republic of Zeon. After all, the Republic of Zeon's military strength was not strong at present, and although the Federation had a fleet stationed in Side 3, its size could not compare with the main fleet.

If handled properly, they still have a great chance!
Having decided on the objective, the hesitation and unease that had been lingering in Mark Bay's mind dissipated. Looking at the massive fleet under his command, the ambitious Zeon Vice Admiral finally issued his first order after arriving at the outer edge of the Earth Sphere.

"Fleet, set sail!"

At this moment, Mark Bay decided to no longer hold back. He was going to officially announce his arrival to the entire Earth Sphere. Of course, after the announcement, he would still have to run away!
Several days later, in a certain region of space in the asteroid belt, a Federation patrol fleet was carrying out its patrol mission as usual. Because this area was already on the edge of the Earth Sphere, where normal people would not normally set foot, the patrol fleet's main targets were cunning space pirates and a small number of remnant armed groups.

This Federation patrol fleet consists of one Magellan-class, three Salamis-class, and one Nelson-class. This combination is naturally intended to carry mobile suits. After all, due to the emergence of the new Clap-class, the Federation abandoned the idea of ​​adding hangars to most of the Salamis-class. However, for outer space patrols, relying solely on warships and aircraft has limitations. Although the Magellan-class can carry mobile suits in its hangar, it can only carry four. Therefore, the Nelson-class, which was used as an emergency measure during the One Year War, has found a place to serve its purpose.

Because it has the capability to launch and maintain mobile suits, the Federation Forces will deploy it in patrol fleets as a support ship for mobile suits.

Because the patrol fleet's mobile suit carrying capacity is two squadrons according to the organization, but the hangar cannot hold so many mobile suits, a rotation mode can only be adopted. One squadron adopts the ship external mooring mode and is responsible for combat duty at the same time, while the other squadron serves as the reserve force in the hangar. The two sides rotate according to the patrol mission duration.

As for why patrol fleets weren't assigned to the LaCellam-class, it's because patrol fleets aren't considered important units. Their mission is patrol and surveillance, primarily to issue warnings rather than carry out combat missions. Therefore, patrol fleets would have Magellan-class units with stronger firepower.

Of course, this organization is not so absolute, because large patrol teams are supported by Hive-class aircraft carriers, but smaller teams have to make do.

Meanwhile, aboard the Magellan, serving as the flagship, a Federation Navy captain in his forties was humming a tune in his command chair. His gaze occasionally swept over his subordinates on either side, and after confirming that no one was slacking off, the captain's mood became increasingly cheerful.

"Great, keep it up. As long as this mission goes smoothly, I'll treat everyone to eel rice at Gokuno-ya!"

Hearing the captain say this, the Federation officers and soldiers on the bridge cheered quietly. On the one hand, it was because of the captain's promise, and on the other hand, after they completed this short patrol mission, they would have completed the mission targets for this batch, and the entire fleet could go ashore for leave. Therefore, this patrol was the last one before the leave!

This region of space has always been relatively peaceful, with very few traces of pirates and remnants. So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, everyone can safely go ashore to play or go home to visit relatives.

After maintaining a high state of alert for several hours, it was lunchtime for the entire fleet. Although there is no day or night in space, the officers and soldiers still follow a 24-hour schedule. So, when the lunch bell rang, many people relaxed. Since there was nothing to do, the personnel on the bridge, except for those on duty, got up and floated to the bridge entrance to prepare to go to the mess hall for lunch.

As a capital ship, the Magellan-class ships consistently provide high-quality meals. After all, their large size means larger cold storage facilities, allowing them to carry more supplies. Even the mess hall has more beverage machines than the Salamis-class ships.

The officers and soldiers on duty could only wait until their comrades had eaten and drunk their fill before enjoying their meal.

A radar officer looked at the screen in front of him and rubbed his stomach. After a busy morning, his stomach was already rumbling.

Fortunately, the female soldier on duty next to him had a bag of chocolates in her pocket, and she took them out to share with him.

"Mmm, that's nice..."

While enjoying the delicious chocolate, the radar officer glanced at the screen again. The scanning page, which had been working normally just moments before, suddenly seemed to malfunction. The officer initially thought it was a problem with the radar itself after prolonged scanning, but when he switched to the backup radar, he found it was experiencing the same issue. "Sir, the radar is being interfered with!"

"Ok?"

The captain felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing this, but he still took control of the latter with a glimmer of hope. However, the result made him instantly feel disheartened.

"Scan the concentration of Minovsky particles and determine their distribution area!"

"Minovsky particle concentration is increasing!"

"Battle alert! All personnel to battle stations!"

Despite his sorrow, the captain reacted immediately. Soon after, a piercing alarm sounded throughout the ship, and the Magellan Kai fired a laser signal at the friendly ships that had also noticed something was wrong.

"Battle alarm! Battle alarm! This is not a drill! All personnel to their battle stations! Battle alarm! Battle alarm!"

After the alarm sounded, the federal soldiers who were still eating and resting were stunned for a moment, and then they started running back to their posts as if their buttocks were on springs. Some of them even had their mouths full and were chewing as they ran.

Meanwhile, the cooks who were serving food in the canteen rushed back to the kitchen and began preparing combat meals as usual. After all, once they entered a state of combat readiness, everyone had to take care of their eating, drinking, and relieving themselves on the job.

Meanwhile, the Federation soldiers on the bridge had already changed into spacesuits. Because the radar was being jammed, the optical equipment on both sides of the ship had become an important means of observing the enemy situation. At least as long as the minovsky concentration did not exceed the level that could refract light, the optical equipment could still see some things.

However, there's no need for the Federation army to go to great lengths to find it, because after the rice grains were scattered, the culprit voluntarily emerged from the darkness.

"Unidentified vessels spotted on the starboard side, number confirmed as three... four... the number of unidentified vessels continues to increase, final number confirmed as eight!"

Can you confirm the model number?

"Suspected to be Musai-class, six in number, and two unidentified ships, suspected to be Chibe-class!"

"Damn it! These bastards, are they looking for death?!"

Upon hearing this, the captain slammed his fist hard on the armrest. The Federation had previously briefed the entire fleet on the enemy situation, explaining the possible presence of an enemy fleet, but that was months ago. The captain thought that was the end of it, but he never expected to run into it himself.

Although the enemy's numbers were nearly one to two, the Federation ship captain had no intention of turning back. "Msai and Chebe, what kind of trash are they? I, Magellan, am not afraid of you!"

"IF signal confirmed, not one of our warships!"

"Load missiles, charge artillery, release mobile infantry units, fire once they are within range, and try to take down one of the Musai in the first round!"

Under the captain's command, the Magellan's automatic loading system began to operate, sending heavy anti-ship missiles into the launchers, while the turrets located throughout the ship rotated their barrels, pointing them at the distant enemy.

Just as they were about to enter the main gun range of the Magellan-class battleship, suddenly, the combat information center received another report of enemy activity.

"Sir, a letter from the Woody reports the presence of Zeon ships behind the fleet, confirmed to be six Musai-class and two Chibe-class!"

The Woody is the Nelson-class ship at the rear of the fleet.

"The order remains unchanged!"

The captain's mind was racing. This was clearly a trap. He wasn't even sure if the Zeon ships appearing behind them were all of them. Turning the fleet to engage the rear was also unlikely, as that would put the fleet in a pincer movement. Therefore, they didn't have many tactical options. Charging forward with all their might and using Magellan's powerful firepower to break through the encirclement was the best choice at the moment.

At this time, both sides had entered the effective firing range of the Magellan-class main guns, and the Federation gunners, trained by Yueyue, Shuihuomujinjin, also pulled the gun buttons according to the unified plan of the artillery chief.

Subsequently, the five turrets and missile launchers on the front of the Magellan-class battleship simultaneously unleashed conspicuous particle beams and heavy anti-ship missiles, hurtling towards the Zeon warship blocking its path.

The blinding beams of light and the dense barrage of missiles were enough to instill fear in any opponent, even the Zeon's Gwagin-class destroyers. Therefore, the Zeon fleet blocking the way quickly broke formation and took evasive action when Magellan opened fire.

"Alright, that's it. Keep firing and get the mobile suit units ready to attack. The enemy won't let us leave so easily!"

Seeing that his tactics had worked, the captain breathed a slight sigh of relief. But what he didn't expect was that after he forced the Zeon fleet ahead to break its formation, even more Zeon warships kept appearing from the darkness. Finally, a ship even larger than the Gewakin-class appeared in his field of vision.

(End of this chapter)