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

Chapter 319 Now I really can't sleep.

"Ugh!"

"Ugh!"

"Corporal Herbert, if you utter another 'hey,' I'll send you back to solitary confinement for another month!"

Looking at the little old man squatting among a pile of parts not far away, wearing a white vest covered in black oil stains on his upper body, shorts and slippers on his lower body, and a thirty-something adult wearing a similarly dirty Zeon military cap and a second-hand Federation military jacket, he couldn't help but let out a low, threatening voice.

The little old man called Herbert, without turning his head, raised his hand, which was covered by a white work glove that had turned black, and waved it around haphazardly a few times.

Seeing the other party's actions, the Zeon officer wearing a hat snorted in dissatisfaction and then left the scene.

Corporal Herbert sighed again after hearing the receding footsteps, then muttered under his breath as he continued to look at the jumbled parts in front of him with a worried expression.

"Solitary confinement, solitary confinement, it's all become solitary confinement now, even though they were shouting that they wanted to be shot!"

Despite saying that, Herbert knew that no matter how much he yelled, the lieutenant wouldn't actually do anything to him. After all, among the remnants, there were very few veteran technical personnel like him who could be counted on one hand!

Although he was old and ugly, ate a lot and defecated a lot, and was unhygienic, he was a senior ordnance officer. Even during the One Year War, as long as he didn't go crazy and try to assassinate Commander-in-Chief Killian, no matter how big a mistake he made, the military court couldn't execute him directly. At most, he would be sent to the Legion of the Dead, where he would just be changing his work environment.

After all, he was well-versed in the knowledge of all the mobile suits currently in service with the Zeon Army (except for the Axis mobile suits). During the One Year War, he was able to reassemble a pile of Zaku wreckage that had been destroyed by the Federation Army into a usable Zaku tank using only a pneumatic wrench and a simple crane.

Although that thing was blown to bits in less than five minutes on the battlefield, such a skill was enough to allow it to assemble usable military equipment from the most unlikely scrap materials in the worst of environments.

With such skills, Herbert would have had a secure job, but unfortunately, he was all alone in his fifties, and decades of military service made it impossible for him to adapt to society. Therefore, he could only continue to stay in the remnants of the party.

However, before Mark Bay arrived, Herbert's life was not easy, because the remnants of the party, which had dwindled to the point of exhaustion, did not even have the funds to deal in scrap metal. So, during that period, Herbert could only work part-time as an engineer on secondhand cargo ships.

After the advance team arrived, they managed to spend a lot of money to buy a large amount of wrecked debris. Due to the lack of helpers and equipment, Herbert's life of scavenging junk was particularly hard.

Even so, he still managed to piece together some usable machines.

Now, with the arrival of the Macbeth fleet, the remnants seem to no longer need to use those old junk, because the Macbeth fleet has brought new, modernized strongmen and warriors who are far more powerful than the old One Year War machines.

But Herbert didn't think so. While the fleet certainly had a bunch of new machines to use, without a stable supply guarantee, it wouldn't be long before they had to dig out these old things again.

So, while almost all the remaining combat troops available to the party were assembled into the Macbeth fleet, he was still in this dilapidated base in the asteroid belt, surrounded by a pile of junk.

As for the irritable officer, Herbert could understand. After all, the guy was unlucky. While others could join the fleet, change into new uniforms, and briefly immerse themselves in the illusion of the duchy's glorious past, he had to wear the same tattered clothes he hadn't changed in years and guard a group of old, weak, sick, and disabled people in a dilapidated base.

In five years, he went from a promising young officer in his prime to a bald, thin, and capable adult officer. After enduring such a terrible environment for so long, he still couldn't get any reward. When the fleet held banquets, he could only drink a few cans of bland beer with a bag of dried squid in his room and listen to boring jokes on the radio.

So even if that guy went berserk and ran naked around the base, then did crazy one-handed backflips, Herbert could totally understand. After all, for him, being able to live like that was lucky enough.

"The remaining Zeon remnants still in these bases are truly unlucky!"

"What else can you do? Go knock on their door and say, 'Sir, please run away quickly, or our mighty Lieutenant Giskark will come with his army and slaughter you without leaving a single one alive.'"

"Hahahahahaha!"

Hearing the veteran's teasing, Geese, who had already changed into his pilot's uniform, couldn't help but roll his eyes.

It's a long-standing tradition in the military to tease new recruits before they go into battle. This can help both newcomers and veterans ease the pre-battle tension. However, if the new recruit is yourself, it's not so pleasant.

Especially now, as Giss followed the veteran into the small conference room next to the warship's hangar, another veteran started teasing him.

Giss didn't take the teasing seriously, raising his right hand and giving the middle finger in response. Then, the small conference room erupted in laughter again.

"Alright, that's enough entertainment. This is the fleet's first operation, and also our first appearance. Although many of you are veterans who have experienced major battles, you must keep a clear head now. Don't forget the commander's requirements. You are not just anyone; you are elites from the Pei Zeng Combat Skills Center. The commander requires all of you to come back alive, but my requirements are even stricter. I require that your mechs not suffer any damage!"

The Federal Army officer standing at the front of the conference room had dropped his smile and was now looking at his subordinates with a cold expression.

"Do you understand everything?"

"understand!"

"Speak louder, are you women?"

"clear!!!"

"Very good, now restart the timer. Attack time: 2330. Let's go!"

Then, the closed door of the conference room was flung open, and a cacophony of sounds rushed into everyone's ears. Following the flow of people to the door, through the bright lights, he saw rows of fully prepared aircraft being moved off the maintenance platform and deployed to the rear of the catapult deck by the overhead booms.

"Run! Board the plane now!"

At the squadron leader's command, the pilots jumped and leaped towards their mechs. Geese was no exception; his Riot GM, number 03, was already fully prepared and waiting for him to board and start it up.

At that moment, Giss's heart suddenly began to pound violently. He was excited and trembling, and his emotions were so overwhelming that he wanted to shout. But when he entered the cockpit and placed his hands on the control stick, he suddenly calmed down.

"Beam rifle intact, spare energy magazine intact, beam saber normal, secondary arm normal..."

After checking all the systems, Geese put on his helmet and waited quietly. Not long after, the hangar sounded a depressurization warning. Then, Geese could feel some vibrations coming from the front, which were caused by the electromagnetic catapult launching the mobile suit!
Soon, the machine in front of Geese began to move, and then it was Geese himself.

His riot control GM was hoisted onto the catapult deck, where a massive electromagnetic catapult had already been reset. Geese controlled his machine to step onto it, and after giving a confirmation gesture to the maintenance crew beside him, the signal light above the catapult deck turned green the next second. Then, Geese watched as the scene on his machine's monitor began to move rapidly, and then, the universe, dotted with countless stars in the darkness, appeared before him.

However, at this moment, he had no time to appreciate the scenery, because the friendly forces ahead had already received laser communication signals and begun to assemble. While controlling his mech to approach the friendly forces, Geese looked to his right. Not too far to their right, there was a LaCellam-class mobile suit launching mobile suits. The warship had turned off most of its external light sources, leaving only a few signal lights flashing.

Through the faint light, Giss could also see the Crap-class cruisers further out.

As he and his allies regrouped, a squadron of Metas Kai flew overhead. These transformable mobile suits had already transformed into fighter jets, which would be responsible for external patrols and vigilance when Geese and his forces launched their attack.

To the left of Geese, there was a brand-new Pegasus-class assault landing ship, from which a rather bulky-looking Gundam mobile suit was taking off.

This scene wasn't limited to this location. Outside the other two Zeon remnant space bases, Federation forces, divided into three groups, were rapidly deploying into battle formations. However, the pilot of one of the Z Gundams wasn't Macarius. He was currently sitting on the bridge of the Enterprise, quietly observing the holographic electronic map beneath his feet. Piloting his Z Gundam was Nagase Hotaru. Besides being Macarius's lover and first mate, she was also one of the Federation's few female ace pilots. Piloting the Z Gundam was not a difficult task for her.

Marcarius glanced at the watch on his left wrist; the time displayed was approaching the scheduled attack time.

"Ready, move out!"

As the clock struck 2330, outside a detached building in Zum City, a specially modified heavy truck slammed violently through the building's exterior wall in an unreasonable manner. Then, accompanied by a crisp cannon shot, the camouflage tarpaulin on the truck's roof was torn open by the shell, revealing the lifting weapon station underneath. Subsequently, tear gas and riot control grenades were precisely blasted through the building's reinforced glass by the weapon station and then delivered into the building.

As for the truck bed, ramps were lowered from the rear and sides, and fully armed Zeon Public Security Special Police (SAT) troops poured out and launched an attack on the building.

"Don't move, Federal Special Forces!"

As the gate was shattered by the breaching explosives, special forces from the Federal Military Intelligence Agency rushed into the Zeon base in Side 6, shouting warnings. However, they were met with various shouts and rapid gunfire from the remaining Zeon members.

"Fire!"

A bright beam of particles was then fired from the Metas Kai's main cannon, and several space monitors deployed inside the asteroid belt were torn apart by the powerful destructive force. Immediately afterwards, the high-speed Metas Kai swept past the debris, and behind them was the GP02A carrying a beam rocket launcher based on the Anaheim Bigelow main cannon.

Powered by the acid berry machine's thrusters, Captain Cuvatoro once again made a triple-speed advance on the battlefield, leaving a group of friendly forces far behind.

"Haha, kids, if you're late, you'll miss out on all the spoils!"

Captain Kuvataro in the cockpit let out a satisfied sigh. Although this was not his first time piloting a Gundam, it was his first time actually operating a Gundam on the battlefield. At this moment, his face was flushed as if he were drunk.

"This is what Gundam feels like!"

Just as Char was still savoring this intoxicating moment, GP02A's radar detected several moving targets flying out of the remnant's base.

Seconds later, as the computer more clearly identified the enemy's model, rows of markings lit up on the radar screen.

"Hmm, three Zaku and one Dom!"

Char completely disregarded the mere four mobile suits. The next second, he pulled the trigger, and the MLRS launcher on the back of the GP02A fired four small anti-mobile soldier missiles. At the same time, the GP02A also fired a targeting laser, which was firmly aimed at the Zeon mobile suits that were rapidly approaching.

Because of the GP02A's bulky design, the remnant pilots didn't recognize what it was, only mistaking it for a rather special Federation special-purpose mobile suit. But before they could get close, four missiles emerged from the darkness, turning the four unfortunate Zeon remnant mobile suits into bright fireballs.

Char continued his advance until he was close to the remnant's space base, at which point he suddenly slowed down and raised the beam rocket launcher that he had never used before.

"Hello there!"

The bright particle beam once again illuminated half of the starry sky, and the violent energy torrent easily pierced through the outer armor protection. Even the asteroid that was blasted trembled for a moment, causing the remaining Zeon forces inside to stagger.

A moment later, a series of high-speed riot control Jims and riot control Gatzaku roared into the channel opened by the energy blast.

"The Federal Army is checking the water meter!"

(End of this chapter)