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

Chapter 83 New Boat and New Shoes

"Report! Cadet Macharius has been ordered to report!"

"Close the door!"

"Yes!"

After closing the door, Macharius, who had been standing solemnly in standard military posture, suddenly sat down on the spacious sofa as if all his energy had been drained away.

However, the owner of the room did not show any dissatisfaction and even took the initiative to pour him a cup of hot tea.

"Or two candies, no milk?"

"Three pieces, I think. I've been consuming a lot lately, so I need to replenish it!"

"A little bit, you've lost weight!"

Lieutenant General Jin En glanced at his grandson. Compared with the last time they met, the other party was much taller, but also thinner, and his spirit became more restrained.

"I was shocked when I heard you were going to attack. I thought you were impressive enough to fight a battle inside a colony without even completing your training. I never expected you to wipe out a whole bunch of Zeon veterans in space!"

"It's just good luck!"

"Lucky, kid, stop being so modest in front of me. Luck is just a concept. After so many battles, those who can survive can no longer be explained by luck!"

King also poured himself a cup of black tea, but he added brandy to it. The old man took a sip of the tea happily, and then sat down opposite Macharius.

"Then tell me how you feel!"

"Which aspect?"

"all!"

"Let's talk about Zeon first. Their pilot training started much earlier than ours, and their pilots are quite skilled. I estimate that by now, the number of skilled pilots in the Zeon military should be around a thousand!"

"Also, the Zeon mobile suits are organized into three-man squads. They prefer to suppress the enemy with long-range firepower in mobile warfare, and then use thermal axes to resolve the battle at close range. However, their weaponry is quite problematic. Their 105mm machine guns fire armor-piercing rounds and grenades, not armor-piercing rounds. However, considering the -round capacity, they pose a significant threat to our lightly armored units!"

"Anything else?"

"A lot, but I can't finish talking about it all at once. However, I am planning to make a booklet. I have already written a lot!"

Lieutenant General Jin En's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but praise.

"That's great! I didn't realize you had the potential to be a tactician. Where's your stuff? Let me see it!"

"At this!"

Macharius handed the draft of his "Attention, Mobile Suit!" to King, who glanced at it for a few seconds before closing it and placing it on his desk.

"Then let me stay here, so I can learn from you!"

"Then, you should have received the mission for this afternoon, right?"

"Yes, let me be the driver and open the eyes of the generals!"

"Yes, by then, those guys will ask you a lot of random questions, so!"

"Let me stop talking nonsense then?"

"No, just tell the truth when the time comes!"

Jin En waved his hand and said.

"Why, what have you agreed on?"

Macharius remembered that King and Rebill had never seen eye to eye before, but now they wanted to join forces. There must be some unspeakable secret behind this!
"Is it possible that Commander Rebir is planning to march to Luoyang, present his views to the Federal Parliament, and then become the Federal President while he appoints you as the commander of the Federal Army?"

"If he dares to do this, then I might as well support him!"

Jin En leaned back tactically, then crossed his legs and lit a cigarette for himself.

"But unfortunately, he has no such intention!"

"So you support him?"

"Of course, military reform is good for all of us. If we want to commission new warships and new mobile suits, then the existing organization will definitely have to be changed. And with organizational changes, personnel changes will naturally have to happen as well. Do you think we won't benefit?"

If it were any other sixteen-year-old boy, Lieutenant General King would definitely not say these things, but Macharius is no longer a sixteen-year-old boy. As a newly-promoted combat hero, he should also be exposed to these things with his halo.

That's why King specially called Macharius over early in order to give the young man some advice.

"I understand, General. What if someone doesn't believe that Zeon is so powerful?"

"Leave this to me!"

At noon, Lieutenant General King took Macharius to the officers' mess for a special meal. Although the taste of the food was no different from that in the soldiers' mess, the quality of the food was incomparable. The food prepared by the fifty-year-old was generous in portion and delicious, while the food prepared by the twenty-year-old was pleasing to the eye and delicious. Although the portion was small, if you were not full, you could have unlimited refills, and the food would be served in front of you. In the end, Macharius had to refill his dishes five or six times and asked for seven or eight drinks before he felt full.

"How corrupt the lives of generals are!"

After finishing, he did not forget to comment.

"You're not in a position to say that even though you're using my meal card to eat and drink as much as you want!"

Lieutenant General Jin En raised his hand and slapped his grandson on the head.

"Okay, go take a good rest at noon, and don't embarrass me in the afternoon!"

"As you command, General!"

In the afternoon, Macharius was brought to the internal shooting range of Luna II by the military police directly under the headquarters, wearing a helmet and looking sleepy. Only then did he realize that there were quite a lot of guys as the old man mentioned!

No one knew who had leaked the news of the mobile suit drill, but naturally a number of officers such as the Federation Navy captain were also interested in this kind of thing. For this reason, someone even asked Rebil for instructions. So, when Macharius followed the military police officer into the scene, he found that the place was full of dazzling stars.

He took a quick glance and saw quite a few familiar faces, such as the Space Force Commander Ray Bill, Lieutenant General Green Wyatt, as well as Major General Tianm, the commander of the squadron, Brigadier General Heiman Jamitov, who was currently the chief of staff of the Space Force Command, John Gaoyun, the commander of the orbital fleet, and Major General Huaken, the commander of the Luna II base.

At this moment, a strange idea suddenly came to Macharius. If someone killed these high-ranking federal army officers at this moment, how would Dekin Zabi reward the other party?

Not to mention, in addition to these generals who are well-known, there are also a large number of powerful captains. It can be said that at this moment, lieutenants and the like are not worthy of sitting in the queue and can only stand in the corner obediently.

"Commander, the prototype Gundam is ready. Please give your instructions!"

"No instructions, just show everyone your strength!"

"understand!"

Then Macharius jumped onto the halyard and shot into the air like a rocket.

The prototype Gundam has repaired all the previous damages and added the emblems of three battleships on its shoulders. Although the Musai was captured, it will naturally face the fate of being dismantled once it falls into the hands of the Federation Army, so there is no problem in counting it as sunk.

In fact, quite a number of captains came here just for this purpose. They all wanted to see how a young man could accomplish what they themselves could not do.

After starting the prototype Gundam, Macharius followed Timre's instructions and demonstrated the performance of the prototype Gundam to everyone, including fire control, armor, and the body's strength and speed. In addition, the flexibility of the prototype Gundam. In order to surprise the inexperienced country bumpkins on Luna II, Macharius even performed several more difficult fighting moves.

"This bastard!"

The chief engineer saw what the other party was going to kick and immediately felt a toothache, but fortunately he just kicked in the air a few times with great force, which made the chief engineer breathe a sigh of relief.

"It's very flexible, and its armor and firepower are top-notch. I think we should replace all our Swordfish with this thing!"

"But I heard the cost is very high. It's not cost-effective to replace all of them with Swordfish. If we can carry one or two squadrons on each warship, that would be great!"

"But how does this thing fight? Do you know how to command it?"

"It certainly can't be used as a fighter jet!"

Looking at the other side's display, the officers and generals talked about it a lot, and some even stretched out their hands to gesture, as if they were also driving mobile suits.

After the prototype Gundam was displayed, it was the turn of the captured Zeon Zaku. The 130th Training Regiment seized more than a dozen Zakus with varying degrees of damage. Finally, they selected parts, repaired them, and pieced together seven intact ones. Four of them and a large number of parts were sent to side7 for research, and the remaining three were taken to Luna II.

"Is this the Zeon Forces' mobile suit?"

"It has a round head, and it's quite funny!"

"What are their weapons?"

Seeing the Zaku being brought over on a flatbed cart, the officers and generals watching were naturally quite curious. After all, in terms of design style, the difference between Zaku and Gundam is huge.

The pilot of the Zaku was naturally Macharius. After all, this thing didn't have a learning computer and there was no way to learn it quickly. But Macharius was an exception. After reading the Zaku's operating manual on the spaceship, he had already learned how to fly it. Now, after going up for the second time, he could even be used for actual combat!

The Zaku's cockpit is much more cramped than that of the Gundam. In addition, due to design issues, the equipment inside the cabin is like a watch shop. When the pilot enters, he will be surrounded by instruments and various buttons on three sides.

However, Macharius was already familiar with this thing, so he quickly activated it and then displayed various data of Zaku.

"It looks like it's almost as agile as a Gundam?"

"Has the Zeon people's technology advanced to this level?"

"Wait, am I seeing things right? This thing can run at a speed of 61 kilometers on the ground and can also glide for a short time relying on the propulsion equipment?" After the demonstration of various data, another Type 61 tank drove out from the passage on the side. The officers looked at each other in bewilderment until the Type raised its gun muzzle, and then they reacted.

"Are you going to show us the armor?"

The target of the Type 61's attack was the second stationary Zaku. The gunner locked onto it with great skill, and then fired two shots at the Zaku's chest armor. Then, to the astonishment of all the officers, the two shells failed to penetrate the Zaku's chest armor!
"So strong defense?"

The Type 61 then demonstrated its attack capabilities from various angles, until it finally penetrated the Zaku's armor by firing from close range behind it.

"At this distance, our tanks have died many times!"

"It seems the Zeon people are also busy!"

The demonstration was temporarily paused here because there was still a close contact session. Rebil planned to let his officers get familiar with this thing. What's more, they also had to hold a simple report meeting with Macharius.

In a small side hall on one side of the shooting range, a group of generals sat obediently in their chairs like elementary school students, watching the actual combat video of the prototype Gundam.

At this time, Macharius discovered a big problem!

This video even has the sound from inside the cabin!
Then, the words "God, kneel down before me" that he said in an extremely childish tone floated out clearly from the speakers.

A group of old men in their fifties and sixties burst into laughter after hearing this. Hua Ken, who was considered the youngest, felt that it was not lively enough and imitated the old man's tone and repeated it.

Macharius could only pull up the visor of his helmet in silence.

He didn't take off his helmet until the holographic image ended.

"Krini, why are you blushing? Are you feeling unwell?"

When it came to the questioning session, Rebir did not forget to tease him deliberately.

"Reporting, after seeing my battle footage, my blood is boiling again!"

"Okay, very spirited. Now, as a pilot of the original Gundam and a witness to the Side 6 battle, I'd like to ask, what are your thoughts on the Zeon Forces' mobile suits?"

"What a formidable opponent! With equal piloting skills, a Zaku can easily take out our Guncannon. Even a Gundam can be shot down if there's a mistake in operation!"

"What about the performance of the machine?"

"The Zaku is stronger than the Guncannon, but weaker than the Gundam. However, I think Zeon will soon be able to produce a mobile suit that can rival the Gundam's performance!"

"In other words, our military's technological advantage will soon cease to exist?"

"Yes!"

"Furthermore, Zeon has an advantage over ours. They have established a mature mobile suit tactical system, including organizational structure and training system. Zeon's warships can carry a certain number of mobile suits and are equipped with dedicated catapults, while ours can only rely on walking out of the cabin, and only the Columbus-class can carry mobile suits!"

"So, do you think that mobile suits pose a threat to battleships?"

"With powerful anti-ship weapons, mobile suits can cause significant damage to our warships!"

"What are you talking about, kid? Our battleships don't have fuel tanks hanging in such conspicuous places like the Zeon ones. You were lucky to destroy a few Zeon battleships!"

A thin and sharp-faced federal general suddenly retorted.

"Major General Ireland, if you say so, then you must have a brilliant idea?"

"Of course, Mr. Revil, our active warships surpass the Zeon fleet in design and materials. Their warships are crudely made and cannot be compared with ours!"

"In fact, in my opinion, mobile suits are just a trick used by the Zeon people to narrow the gap in combat power with our army. There is no need for our army to copy them. Our battleships are more than enough to crush any enemy!"

As he spoke, the Irish major general shifted the topic to Zeon mobile suits.

"Zeon's power is far inferior to ours. How could their mobile suits be better than ours? Our Gundams are far beyond the Zeon's reach. Otherwise, how could a trainee destroy so many enemy forces on his first battlefield? This must be all thanks to the Gundams!"

"According to you, the pilot's ability is not worth mentioning?"

"That's natural!"

"Then let's have a competition!"

Lieutenant General Jin En, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke.

"I think we'll know how powerful the Gundam is after a comparison. Let this guy drive the Zaku. Then, who should we find to drive the Gundam?"

Soon, Captain Conte, who was chatting with several female soldiers in the bar in the living area of ​​the base, was caught by the military police who rushed in and taken into the car.

Then, Captain Conte, who hurriedly washed his face with ice water and changed into his military uniform, was taken to the shooting range?
"What, I drive a Gundam?"

The captain just felt dizzy. Was he cut out to drive a Gundam? And when he learned that he was going to fight against Macharius who was driving a Zaku, the captain showed an expression of despair.

"Go ahead, Captain Conte. Major General Ireland thinks anyone can do it!"

"Then I will try it!"

The captain then jumped into the cockpit of the Gundam. Although he had never touched it before, most of the layout settings were the same as those of the Guncannon, so Captain Conte didn't have to worry about basic operations.

As for the competition between the two, it was not a real battle in a mobile suit, but a virtual battle with the cockpit linked to the simulator.

"Well, now that I'm driving this, I should be able to fight that guy on equal terms!"

Thinking of this, Captain Conte chose his own body armament, and then waited for the map to load.

After the map was loaded, the two people's bodies were placed in the ruins of a city.

"As expected of a Gundam, this feels great!"

Captain Conte tentatively tested the performance of the machine, and then his confidence in his chances of winning increased again.

Then he began to look for Macharius on the other side.

In fact, there was no need to look for him, because the other party was making a lot of noise and the captain quickly discovered his whereabouts.

At this moment, the Zaku operated by Macharius was moving at high speed between the buildings towards the captain's position. The Zaku's big feet stepped over the top of the building, leaving a large amount of rubble behind.

"It's definitely because of the machine. He didn't even know to find cover when he got a Zeon machine!"

Ireland, who was watching the game, did not forget to say a few more words. Then, he heard Rebil's cough. Knowing that the other party was warning him, the Irish major general could only shut his mouth in disappointment.

When Captain Conte saw Macharius approaching, he immediately raised his machine gun, locked onto the opponent, and pulled the trigger.

But the barrage of bullets he fired didn't even touch the opponent's shadow. The latter had already activated the spray and quickly avoided the incoming rain of bullets.

Captain Conte broke out in a cold sweat instantly because he had used up all his ammunition, but the other party did not fire a single shot and did not even remove the weapon from the rack.

"Want close combat?"

The captain gritted his teeth and raised his shield and meteor hammer. With the Gundam armor, he was still very confident!

When Macharius' Zaku got close to the Gundam, Captain Conte immediately activated the head cannon, and while firing, he actively rushed towards Macharius' Zaku.

The latter then removed his shoulder shield and used it in front of him to block the barrage of bullets until he was about to collide with the Gundam. Then, Macharius threw the shoulder shield at the Gundam's face, and the Zaku's leg jet was activated, causing the mobile suit to leap up.

The Gundam could only raise its shield to smash the flying shield, but at the same time it also blocked the captain's vision.

He didn't see the Zaku's movement at first, but when the radar issued a warning, he realized that the other party had jumped over his head and landed behind him.

The captain tried to turn around to meet the attack, but as soon as he turned around, the thermal axe came down.

Thirty seconds. From the start of the battle to the moment the Gundam's cockpit was split open, it only took Macharius thirty seconds.

After the battle, Ireland's face was ashen. He didn't expect that his face would be hit so hard.

"What's wrong? Major General Ireland seems unconvinced. How about you do it yourself? Macharius, don't use the Zaku, just use the Guncannon. How about that? Come on?"

"No, no need!"

The Irish major general, who was already embarrassed, could only leave first on the pretext of having something to do, and as soon as he left, warm applause broke out.

"See, in front of a skilled pilot, our Gundam isn't actually that invincible!"

"Indeed, I didn't expect that. I thought the Zaku would be very weak, but I didn't expect it to be so powerful in his hands. It seems that the young man is right. Our technological advantage no longer exists!"

No one doubted that Captain Conte was letting the opponent win. The opponent was also a veteran who had destroyed two Zeon mobile suits and had a detailed report on his performance on the battlefield.

But Macharius is too strong, even if the captain drives a Gundam, he is no match for him!
"Then I think we really need to promote a new round of military reforms!"

"Yes, but will the Federal Parliament approve it?"

"If the gap isn't too big, it should be fine!"

"Then the other branches of the military will probably make a fuss about the allocation of funds!"

"Then let's all change together. We'll get new ships, and the other branches of the military will get new shoes. We're all changing anyway!"

(End of this chapter)