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

Chapter 91 Declaration of War
side2 Hardy Universe
UC0078.12.12.0800
As the sunshade moved, abundant sunlight once again poured down upon the vast space within the colony, awakening the sleeping residents. Then, they began their day as usual.

At the fountain on the street, wandering musicians holding musical instruments played melodious music, and students from the technical school lined up to visit the satellite construction facilities of the colonial commune.

Inside the satellite's dock, a large number of ships were busy setting sail or landing. Outside the port, groups of gunboats were on alert.

The Federation warships stationed on the various colonial satellites have also left port and set sail to begin combat readiness patrol missions in the outer orbits of the satellites.

At the same time, the Zeon State Palace suddenly opened a live broadcast signal to the entire globe.

On the tall viewing platform outside the President's Palace, the head of the Principality of Zeon, Gihren Zabi, dressed in military uniform, walked up to the podium step by step under the gaze of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians watching from the audience.

"Citizens of Zeon..."

In the outer space of the satellite cluster, the Zeon special forces ships that had arrived several days ago and lurked there for many days immediately began their final preparations before the battle.

As research on Minovsky particles continues to deepen, people have also discovered that excessive Minovsky particles, hereinafter referred to as rice particles, will interfere with electromagnetic waves. The higher the concentration, the more serious the interference. The most serious degree can even refract visible light and make the battlefield foggy, thereby achieving the goal of stealth approach or even launching a surprise attack.

This is Zeon's trump card to counterattack the Federation's powerful military force. A sufficient amount of rice grains can offset the Federation's powerful long-range firepower strike means to the greatest extent, interfere with the normal operation of its fleet, and thus narrow the gap in strength between the two armies.

On the Zeon ship, the serious-faced captain listened to the speech of Leader Gihren while giving various orders to his subordinates in an orderly manner.

"The corruption of the Earth Federation has caused our suffering..."

"Minovsky warhead, start loading!"

"But now, we can no longer tolerate them sucking our blood and sweat and depriving us of our property..."

"Fuel up!"

"Zeon will also not allow the Earth Federation to interfere in Zeon's internal affairs again. Today, we will seek justice for the space citizens persecuted by the Earth Federation..."

"Magazine open!"

"Today, I, Gihren Zabi, on behalf of the Principality of Zeon, the nation that defends the rights of the inhabitants of space, hereby declare that the Principality of Zeon and the Earth Federation are at war!"

"Fire all bombs!"

"Zeon's journey towards glory begins with this battle!"

As Kilian finished his last words, the entire square was filled with uniform and enthusiastic shouts.

"Long live Zeon!"

At the same time, outside the three space colonies of Side 1, Side 2, and Side 4, densely packed Minovsky warheads emerged from the darkness, like a large net, covering the Federation fleet.

"Missiles coming!"

Although the Federation fleet had received warnings that the Zeon army would launch a sneak attack, most Federation officers and soldiers were still immersed in the immortal glory brought by the powerful nation-destroying fleet. They had no idea that at the same time Gihren declared war, the Zeon army's artillery fire would hit them in the face.

However, the commanders did not panic, but quickly issued an order to fight back.

Dense artillery fire was fired from the Federation fleet, meeting the barrage of bullets, and then dense spots of light flashed in the dark space.

"The enemy's firepower failed to cause any effective damage to our troops!"

"That's good. What did they launch?"

"Sir, our detection equipment and communications are all severely interfered with!"

"High-intensity Minovsky particles detected!"

The exploding rice grains did not cause any damage to the Federation warships, but they completely paralyzed the communications of the Federation Army and even the various sides.

"Switch to laser communication and fire flares to contact friendly forces!"

"Laser communication is also unstable. We can only contact nearby friendly forces!"

While the Federation Army was in chaos due to poor communications, a dense group of Zeon mobile suits emerged from the darkness and launched a pincer attack on the Federation fleet like a pack of wolves.

"Long live Zeon!"

Charging at the front of the formation were hundreds of EMS-04 Zdas. It was not until the veteran Zeon mobile suit pilots boarded this mobile suit that they discovered that the Zmade company had never completely solved the problems in its design. There were even several disintegration accidents during training, leaving the pilots with no remains.

But returns were no longer realistic, as the rapidly expanding mobile suit force required a large amount of equipment. Therefore, these Zda were withdrawn from the elite frontline troops and distributed to the recruited young soldiers.

Because of its extreme properties, it is almost impossible to return safely from the battlefield. Therefore, the young soldier pilot who is most likely to become disposable cannon fodder is the best choice.

At this moment, these recruited young soldiers have taken inhibitory drugs, so that the discomfort caused by the body's rapid growth will be ignored by their dull senses.

Their aircraft did not carry any other weapons, only rocket launchers loaded with 280mm nuclear warheads.

And now, these troops became the vanguard of the Zeon army, charging forward with unstoppable momentum towards the chaotic but still dense Federation anti-aircraft fire.

In an instant, many young soldiers were evaporated by the artillery fire, but those who broke through the air defense network immediately began indiscriminate attacks on the fleet and colonies.

When the light and heat generated by the first nuclear bomb explosion appeared in the Federation fleet, both the Federation Army and the space residents watching the battle in the colonies fell into panic.

"Nuclear bomb!"

Then, more lights lit up, and even nuclear warheads flew over the fleet and landed on the colonial satellites below.

The explosion tore through the outer shell of the colony satellite, and the shock wave and radiation wiped out all life near the center of the explosion. Afterwards, the colony satellite's solar panels began to burst due to decompression. Cars, pedestrians, and even buildings on the ground floated into outer space due to the decompression. Very few people were able to escape into the shelters, and even if they did, the nuclear attacks that were falling everywhere killed the hope of escape for countless people.

Following behind the mobile suit unit were a large number of strange aircraft, each carrying two huge round tanks on its body. When destroying the resistance of the Federation's stationed fleet, these aircraft stayed at the satellite's external connection point. Then, the Zeon soldiers who were wearing them began to connect the tanks to the atmospheric circulation device inside the satellite.

"I don't know who gave the idea to the higher-ups to use hypnotic gas to suppress the colony satellite!"

"Yeah, it's obviously fine to just leave it to the mobile suits, but why do you still want us to do it?"

Although these Zeon soldiers operating the aircraft had no idea how only two standard capacities of hypnotic gas could suppress the millions or even tens of millions of residents in the colonial satellite, orders were orders and they had to carry them out.

As the pipelines were connected, a large amount of colorless and odorless gas entered the interior of the colony satellite and was evenly distributed to every corner of the colony satellite through the atmospheric circulation system.

Residents within the colony soon began to fall one after another, and even those hiding in the shelters inside the colony were not spared.

By the time the local Self-Defense Forces and the Federation Army stationed on the various satellites noticed the gas invasion, it was too late. The G2 gas released by Zeon was extremely lethal and would quickly kill people if it came into contact with the skin. Even if the soldiers wore gas masks, it was of no use. Only a small number of people who wore hard space suits and full-coverage chemical protective suits for work reasons survived the attack.

After a battle that lasted for more than forty hours, the entire Side 1, Side 2, and Side 4 colony satellites fell into silence. Under the indiscriminate nuclear bomb attacks and poison gas massacres of the Zeon army, 28 billion space residents lost their lives.

"I told you, the Zeon people are definitely going to launch a nuclear attack, a nuclear attack, and you didn't take it seriously, did you?"

In the Luna II base, Lieutenant General Jin's office had been smashed to pieces. The desk and coffee table were broken into several pieces, and the filing cabinets were lying on the ground. The culprit who started it all smashed the last chair to pieces as if to vent his anger.

"You know what I heard?"

Macharius, who had been promoted to captain, grabbed the collar of the silent old man and pointed towards the depths of space.

"Death, all damn death!"

Lieutenant General King did not say anything, but silently wiped the tears from Macharius's face.

"Fuck!" Macharius stopped his actions. After taking a few deep breaths, he felt his hands were still trembling, so he kicked open the door of Lieutenant General Jin's office and walked away under the gaze of a group of generals and officers outside the door.

"General, do you need us to clean up?"

The secretary outside the door glanced in the direction Macharius left, then asked carefully.

"Clean it up. Then, send a few people to follow him. Don't do anything. Wait until he calms down, then call him back!"

Lieutenant General Jin En sighed deeply.

Macharius's loss of control was not something he had expected, not even Macharius himself. In fact, before that, he had welcomed his promotion ceremony normally, removed his cadet rank, and replaced it with a brand new captain rank. Then, he and the last batch of graduating pilots of the 130th Training Regiment boarded the transport ship, ready to go to the Luna II base to accept new appointments.

But when the Zeon army launched an attack on the three colony satellites, Macharius on the spacecraft suddenly felt the inexplicable sadness, pain, and the pain of death.

Just that momentary outburst brought him back to the attack he experienced in his childhood.

The Federation pilots on the spacecraft had not expected that Macharius, who usually looked cheerful, innocent, and without any worries, would suddenly become so hysterical.

After being punched, kicked, and even bitten by the other party, making him scream, the crowd finally calmed him down without using any extreme means or even injections.

After arriving at the Luna II base, the captain of the transport ship immediately reported the situation to Commander Huaken. Then, Macharius was escorted to Jinn's office until he woke up again.

Then came a violent overreaction, and even now, he still has palpitations.

At this moment, Macharius was walking around the huge base in a daze until he heard the rumbling sound of footsteps and stopped.

At this time, Macharius realized that he had unknowingly come to a mobile suit hangar on the Luna II.

Several Jims that appeared to have just come off the production line were undergoing final adjustments and tests, while the pilots who had received their own machines were happily lying on the right shoulder of the machine, carefully spraying their own personal patterns.

"Drink?"

When Macharius was watching intently, suddenly, a bottle of iced cola with mist still on it was handed to him.

"Captain Jung?"

Macharius turned his head and found that Captain Jung, one of the first people to leave Luna II, had appeared next to him at some point.

"Don't call me Captain. You're already a Captain now. Just call me by my first name. If that doesn't work, add 'Big Brother'. After all, I'm older than you!"

Jung, dressed in a pilot's uniform, sat next to Macharius, opened the Coke in his hand and handed it to him.

"I heard you smashed up Jin En's office? How did you do it? I want to smash up our leader's office too!"

"I, I was a little out of control!"

"I know, they said you have PTSD!"

"Actually, it's not PTSD. It doesn't affect me much. It's just that I feel something!"

Macharius shuddered, then spoke slowly.

"I feel death!"

"That must have felt terrible!"

“Very bad!”

Macharius raised his hand and found that it was still trembling slightly.

"Before I came to space, I was serving at the Joint Air Tactical Center in Europe. During one of my missions, my Swordfish had an accident!"

Jung took a sip of his drink and continued.

"Luckily, I landed, but I developed a great fear of flying and even refused to carry out any flight missions after that!"

"and after?"

"Later, my partner forced me into the plane, and then he controlled the plane to fly into the sky. Then, he handed the control to me and told me that either we would die together, or I would take over the flight and land the plane back!"

"Then I discovered that, actually, I still love flying!"

Jung stood up and patted his butt.

"So, your illness is caused by not touching a mobile suit for several days. I don't have a Gundam, but I have a GM. Come on, try it!"

"My hands are still shaking!"

Without saying anything, Jung pulled Macharius up and strode towards the hangar.

"John, get off your machine!"

"Red Dragon?"

The pilot who was asked to give up the plane did not feel unhappy when he saw Macharius. Instead, he was extremely happy and even hoped that Macharius could give him some driving advice.

"Dispatch center, this is Jung. I want to drive two Jims out for some fun!"

"Captain, we are on combat readiness..."

Before the dispatcher could finish her words, another voice interrupted her.

"I'll give you five minutes. Captain Creeney still has a mission!"

"understand!"

Then, Macharius followed Jung out of the hangar.

"Captain, we..."

Just as Macharius was about to say something, Jung, who was flying in front, suddenly turned around, drew his beam saber, and pounced on Macharius.

Then, the light came on, and Jung's saber was easily intercepted by Macharius with one hand, while Jung had a YF100 machine gun in his other hand outside the cockpit.

The two mobile suits were so close to each other, but the two intertwined sabers did not move at all.

"See it!"

"Your hands aren't shaking out of fear, but out of a desire to fight!"

Jung turned off the switch of the saber and then knocked on Macharius's armor.

"So, there's no time to think about these messed up things, Captain, it's time to fight!"

After turning off the communication, Jung stroked his forehead in the cockpit and sighed helplessly.

"Damn it, how come this guy reacts so quickly even when he's not in shape?"

(End of this chapter)