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

Chapter 330 The remnants of the infiltration
"Tsk tsk tsk, it seems the Federation has gone to great lengths to appease the Republic of Zeon!"

"A big spender? Humph!"

As they watched the enormous colony satellite drifting silently in space, several remnants of the Communist Party began to grumble in discontent aboard a transport ship carrying fresh fruits and vegetables.

The reason is simple: the huge, brand-new island colony in front of everyone, and the busy fleets on the shipping lanes, are sights that have never appeared during the Duchy period.

For these Zeonians who had fled and never returned, everything before them was utterly unfamiliar, especially since many had grown accustomed to the old-fashioned satellites with their thick bulkheads that obscured the interior of the colony.

As for those shipping lanes, after being blockaded by the Federation, Zeon's foreign trade almost withered away. Apart from military ships, there were very few civilian ships traveling on those lanes. Even if there were, they were all responsible for political missions, transporting rations of food.

How is it like now?

As they watched the ships laden with various goods fly past them, they felt nothing but anger. Judging from their numbers, these ships belonged to either other colonies or the moon. They had never seen these guys before, but now that Zeon had surrendered, they came to do business. They hadn't killed them hard enough!

As the spaceship flew past a colony, the satellite happened to rotate and landed on the light-transmitting panel. Thus, the remnants on the spaceship were able to see the interior of the satellite through the huge light-transmitting panel.

The rows of streets, the wide roads, the well-arranged green parks, and the rail transit speeding by—all of this is far better than during the Principality period. Back then, due to the Federation's blockade, there was no green space to be seen in any of the satellites except for Zum City. They were all cultivated into farmland to grow crops such as potatoes. The Zeon civilians, who were deeply mired in a food crisis, didn't even spare rats.

"Our ship is also carrying 600 tons of fresh fruit and other daily necessities..."

One of the remaining members muttered to himself.

"Damn it, these bastards, why, why do they get to live like this?"

One hot-tempered remnant slammed his fist into the spaceship's bulkhead, startling his colleagues. Fortunately, he wasn't like Dozle, capable of withstanding bomb explosions or smashing electronic devices with his bare hands. So, apart from a loud bang, the bulkhead remained unchanged.

But he did speak for most of the remaining party members; to put it bluntly, the remaining party members could not accept such a disparity.

From their perspective, the native inhabitants of Zeon should be suffering terribly from the exploitation of the Federation, living in dire straits. They are just waiting for their lightning-fast return, so that with a single call to arms, they can rally support from all directions and drive the Federation forces back to their homeland.

But now, you eat well, live well, and even live in brand new island colonies where you can see the universe when you look up, instead of the cramped interior of the colony satellites. It's better than during the principality period. So what are we?
"These are non-citizens!"

One of the remnants of the Führer's guard even felt his own DNA was being manipulated. If it were a few years ago, he would have already been expertly leading people to send high-quality personnel to the labor camps in the asteroid belt!

But now, seeing a Federation Salamis-class cruiser suddenly fly over the channel, even those remaining members of the ship couldn't help but lower their heads.

Of course, they were also very curious in their hearts about how the Republic of Zeon had managed to become what it was. Could it be that joining the Federation would really bring a good life?
Of course, if they raised this question in front of Ramball, it would naturally be met with disdain from the latter. Zeon's development to this point was naturally inseparable from the Federation, but the Federation's original intention was not good; it simply did good things.

Relying on the cheap food provided by Earth, the Republic of Zeon easily fed its hungry citizens. Then, industrial orders from other sides stimulated Zeon's industries. In addition, the return of industrial workers due to the demobilization wave made the Republic of Zeon's natural development slow down. However, magic and miracles are never free. Even if Zeon develops well, it still has to pay reparations and corresponding taxes to the Federation.

The Federation officials aren't fools. They know that a weak old hen can't lay many eggs. The Principality of Zeon's finances collapsed after the defeat. If the Federation keeps fixating on reparations, then Prime Minister Darcia will have to lead all his officials to sell their bodies to pay off the debt.

Therefore, investing in the Republic of Zeon is like raising a goose that lays golden eggs. As for the standard of living in the Republic of Zeon, we have to thank the great Commander-in-Chief Gihren. After the war, Zeon's total population dropped from 150 million before the war to 130 million. Of these, only a few million were killed or wounded in the war. The remaining ten million or so died in Zeon's own mobilization, and even the purge of the Führer's guard during the war killed several million.

If more people die, then the remaining people will naturally get a bigger slice of the pie.

However, these things were completely unimportant to these remnants; what mattered was their destination.

"We've arrived in New Zim!"

Soon, the transport ship carrying the remnants arrived at their destination, the new capital of the Republic of Zeon, which retained its old name but was actually a newly rebuilt colony.

Compared to the old Zum, Lanbaral secretly used some of his official power during the design process, allowing the designers to create more lakes, castles, and other scenic features. His original intention was to make it Sera's residence once she regained her status. However, in the end, these beautiful castles and lakes became the tourist attractions of Zum. After all, the Principality of Zeon had a strong aristocratic character in the past, and now, tourists from other sides naturally wanted to experience it as well.

"Listen carefully, we have now entered the enemy's core. Everyone must proceed with caution. The public security police of the Republic of Zeon are not to be trifled with. They are the backbone of the Deikun faction that we slaughtered in the past. I think none of you want to fall into their hands, right?"

Many people immediately turned to look at the man who came from the Führer's guard. He clenched his fist again, clearly regretting that he hadn't killed enough Deacon's followers, allowing them to rise to power. However, everyone had also heeded the commander's words; the latter had been fighting in the Earth Sphere for many years and had never been imprisoned by the Federation Forces, clearly possessing unique survival wisdom.

"The Republic's environment is now completely different from what it used to be, so you must put away your old ways of thinking, be extremely careful, and don't forget our mission. If anyone sabotages the mission, don't blame me for being impolite!"

The commander then emphasized some relevant common sense issues, such as not paying for meals at restaurants. Even the most arrogant and domineering federal soldiers wouldn't dare to do that, because the military police would actually send them to a military court, although the purpose was not to protect the public but to uphold the federal army's laws.

Then everyone looked at the guy from the Führer's guard.

"What are you looking at? What kind of restaurants could Zeon have back then?"

The Führer's guards instantly became famous. At that time, most of the small restaurants in Zeon had closed down, and the chefs and waiters had been recruited into the army to serve Commander-in-Chief Giren. Only the exquisite restaurants that served the elites were still open, and even the opera house was as bustling as ever. But what did the enjoyment of the top elites have to do with them?
"You can't just call someone a non-citizen!"

Before anyone could turn around, the guy from the Führer's guard simply pulled out a strip of tape and stuck it over his mouth.

The commander wasn't targeting these guys, but rather that they were completely unaware of the current situation. If they acted recklessly and something went wrong, it wouldn't just endanger themselves, but also their lunar friends who provided them with false identities, and their Zeon friends who still had sympathy for the remnants.

These two are the most important. Without them, Mark Bay’s plan cannot be carried out. Therefore, all the remnants’ actions are currently focused on one theme: safety and stability!

Markelle has abandoned his so-called long-term development plan because it would be too costly, and most importantly, the necessary resources would simply not be delivered to him. Although Markarius could not catch him hiding in the Reef Space, he could easily catch the hand that was outstretched.

So, the most urgent task at hand is to execute the joint attack plan. But the execution of this plan can be fast or slow. It can be fast because the operation must be swift and cannot give the Federal Army any chance to react.

The slowness stems from the need for caution during deployment. Although the new Zeon Republic is not off-limits to any remnants, their activities here are still more risky than on the moon. After all, the Moon Merchant Guild might turn a blind eye, but the Zeon Republic's police will not. The Deikun faction, with no possibility of reconciliation, will only stab them in the back to console their fallen comrades.

And now, this ship carrying fresh fruit is just like that. Relying on the false identities obtained from the moon, they have transformed into employees of a food import and export company in Side 2. Their main business is to transport fresh fruits from Earth to the Republic of Zeon for sale via cold chain transportation.

This company was established very early, basically one of the first trading companies established by Side 2 after the war. Of course, given the deep hatred between Side 2 and Zeon, this company was not established by the people of Side 2, but rather funded by Anaheim. At that time, the colonies were in dire need of reconstruction, and Anaheim naturally invested a lot. Now, these companies, which are involved in multiple industries, have become an important part of the economy of the colonies.

There's a reason why Sindeman would have the remnants disguise themselves as people from Side 2. After all, even if the war ended, the relationship between the other Sides and Zeon wasn't very harmonious. So, according to normal thinking, the remnants wouldn't disguise themselves as people from other Sides and deal with Zeon.

This can be considered reverse thinking. In addition, the accents of these selected remnants are quite normal, unlike many guys in the fleet who can't shake off their authentic Zeon accents no matter what they do. Therefore, they are not involved in this important infiltration work.

The selected individuals are considered elites within the fleet. However, this number is still far too small to cause trouble in Zum City. According to Mark Bay's plan, to succeed, at least a battalion would need to infiltrate the area, and it would be even better if they had heavy equipment.

These heavy weapons are not infantry heavy equipment such as missile launchers, but tanks and armored vehicles. Of course, it would be best if there were mobile suits, but given the situation in Zeon, even that friend from Zeon could not do it.

The Zeon even contacted the intelligence agency agent who was posing as an arms dealer again, asking if there was any way to send the mobile suits to Zum City.

The response was naturally negative; in fact, the latter even extended a warm greeting to the family of the remnant party liaison, almost to the point of resorting to violence.

The remnant liaisons who were being insulted dared not utter a word, because they knew the conditions were utterly absurd. Even their friends within the Republic of Zeon couldn't do it, let alone an arms dealer. And most importantly, even if the latter could, they wouldn't dare accept it. After all, if he had the capability, they might as well just pay him to take care of Rambalar as well!

In fact, the intelligence agency had considered helping the other side by sending in a few mobile suits. However, they were severely reprimanded by the Basques. If they were in charge of this operation, the Basques wouldn't care and might even be happy to send in more mobile suits. But now the commander is Makarius. If the intelligence agency wanted to do something underhanded behind the other side's back, they would be asking for trouble. Although Makarius is a good person and doesn't usually send people to military courts easily, he likes to use the quotas for the Jupiter Fleet to incentivize those who don't do their jobs.

Therefore, after consulting with Makarius and receiving a warning, the Basque Colonel immediately became very obedient and acted only on orders.

The fact that the remnants were allowed to use rifles and grenades in Zum City was already the limit. The mobile suits were too unpredictable. If the remnants wanted to use the mobile suits' nuclear reactors to carry out a terrorist attack, Zum City would be ruined. Zeon is now the Federation's purse strings, and Makarius doesn't want anything to happen.

On the contrary, Rambalar had already secretly deployed the mobile soldiers of the capital's defense brigade. As long as the remnants launched their attack and the enemy managed to access the database, those mobile soldiers could be deployed.

To be honest, Ramball had considered finding a way to release the fake models from the database, but Makarius stopped him. He knew that this wouldn't fool Markbe. Makarius knew the old man's temperament well. He wouldn't easily believe secret information that wasn't obtained at a great cost and with great sacrifice. Otherwise, why would they cooperate with him like this?

(End of this chapter)