Gundam: From Piece to Player

"How are you, Aronnax? Tired?"

“Far inferior to the Thunder of Gods… both the quality and quantity of the enemy are.” Aronnax said, “But Professor, your energy management is remarkably good.”

"The output of the Mega Particle Cannon on the Zeon can also be adjusted. In MS combat, its power is already excessive. I specifically adjusted the output before the battle, so that it could fire 6 shots instead of 1."

Listening to the message coming back through the communication channel, Anna simply leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes to rest. "Next, the federal government will probably find their strongest combat force."

"The good news is that Amuro probably won't show up. If he does, things will be quite tricky."

"..."

"What's wrong, Professor?"

"I just think you're being biased when you say that. Amuro's Newtype abilities are inferior to Haman's after her second awakening. Do you really think you can't beat a fully-developed Haman?"

"Professor, your statement is heavily influenced by Newtype bias. Combat strength isn't entirely determined by Newtype abilities... You've never fought Amakusa."

"Even disregarding the fact that Amakusa was developed half a century after the Type 78 MS, the bio-brain control unit's manipulation of the machine body is far beyond what flesh and blood can achieve..."

"I'm not going to argue with you about combat strength anymore. There's still a lot of fighting ahead. The Federation is going to send out new humans." Anna looked into the void with a sense of foreboding.

After suffering heavy casualties at the hands of the company's private armed forces, the Federation could only find a few of the strongest pilots they could muster... Calling them pilots is a bit inaccurate, as these three already held certain positions within the Federation military.

Chapter 216 The Gundam Protagonist's Fathers

In the airspace near SIDE2, a Federation fleet of more than 300 warships was cruising at low speed.

Inside a Columbus-class ship, Tim Ray watched as a group of Murasame Research Institute personnel extensively modified the two RX-170 mechs he had led the development of, adding a large number of terminal devices. He was about to complain when he remembered Gao Yun's instructions.

In the end, he held back and turned to leave the hangar.

"Hey, Brother Lei, we can't do anything right now, why don't we go grab a drink?"

Franklin Vidan patted him on the shoulder from behind; he himself was an MS development designer at the SIDE7 Gripsky site.

Although the middle-aged man looked younger and more handsome than him, he was actually six years older than him.

His work ability and attitude are impeccable, but he is already quite old (born in 24, 58 this year) and still likes to keep mistresses outside.

As for why Tim Ray would know—

That's because the other party used it as a bragging point, and bragged about it one night when they were rushing to finish the MS test for the project.

"it is good."

Tim Ray, who had initially wanted to refuse, agreed to go to the ship's bar—consider it a chance to gather intelligence; this guy was well-informed and could provide him with a lot of information.

Upon arriving at the bar, Franklin flirted with the young female bartender, and then, while drinking, they discussed a confidential topic: "The government plans to divide the second-generation MS into two categories."

What category?

"The common type of MS is basically a low-cost consumable used to maintain the front line. The other type is a high-performance machine designed for use by enhanced humans and new humans. From the development stage, it is necessary to consider the installation of bio-chemical auxiliary equipment. Some extreme plans even involve spinal cord nerves or brain-computer interfaces."

"So you're saying you're no longer pursuing versatility?" Tim Ray asked.

"You know that MS's versatility is meant to reduce costs, but the problem is that it can't even do its original tasks well now."

"You've heard the battle report, haven't you? One NT-1 and one Zeong, weapons developed three years ago, still managed to repel our 108 mass-produced MS after their upgrade. Brother Lei, think about it, is it the cost of 108 MS that's more expensive, or the cost of those two high-performance mobile suits? So, high-performance mobile suits + Newtypes will probably become the standard configuration from now on."

Where are all these new humans coming from?

To put it bluntly, isn't it just conducting human experiments, or treating people like Gundams and "modifying" them in various ways, replacing their organs with mechanical devices?

Tim Ray inevitably felt some resistance, perhaps because he was too traditional and therefore felt uneasy about the situation.

He felt that it was something Zeon did.

If the Federation is willing to sacrifice everything to win, then how is it any different from what Zeon did back then?

But can we say that what was done was wrong?

Zeon has successfully gained independence, a so-called new nation built by Kalma Zabi has sprung up in the asteroid belt, and now the federal government is embroiled in a corporate rebellion.

Military pressure is mounting, and the Federation's demonstrated ability to respond is worrying.

The weaker the Earth Sphere appears, the more separatist forces will attempt to carve out their own territories and gain independence... Once the Federation collapses, the Earth Sphere may be plunged into endless war, a terrible and hopeless future.

Amuro had told himself that the Federation's biggest problem right now is that everyone knows things can't go on like this...

But nobody knows why the federal government has become like this, or which direction it should take if reforms are to be implemented.

Just as they were chatting, three pilots—one man and two women—wearing yellow spacesuits and accompanied by maintenance crew members, passed by the ship's tavern in the dining area.

One of the female drivers walking in front stopped and saluted him.

"Dr. Lei, it's been a long time."

"Miss Shiko, is it you who's piloting the Gundam?" Tim Ray, being nearsighted, only then recognized who it was and quickly stood up.

He still deeply respects this woman who spared no effort to protect her son during the war three years ago.

"There's no other way. The Federation can only find two New Humans. The other ace is just there to make up the numbers. I'm the captain of this three-person team."

Tim Ray then noticed that Shiko's epaulettes had changed to Major of the Federation Space Force, which meant she had a very promising future at her age.

Shiko also noticed his gaze: "Oh, it's because he was promoted on the spot, after all, this operation was very risky."

Tim Ray gave the other party another military salute, and Shiko returned the salute before floating towards the hangar.

“What a wonderful woman,” Franklin remarked. “I wish my son’s wife were like her.”

Although he got the point wrong, Tim Ray actually did, unusually, agree with Franklin's views.

Inside the low-gravity hangar, Shiko began to drift toward her mobile suit.

To be fair, as the next-generation Gundam RX-170, which was produced entirely independently by a research institution under the federal government after the 78-2, its face is exactly the same as the 78-2.

However, the front heat dissipation vents are no longer designed to be as large as those of the Type 78, but instead are designed to slope downwards. The cockpit in the torso area is completely covered by the protruding chest armor. The entire body extensively uses the [movable frame] used in the arms of the riot control GM, with a coverage rate of over 65%.

It is said that while the armor of the mecha uses Luna titanium alloy, a new type of alloy is also used in some areas.

The interior features a state-of-the-art all-around cockpit and linear seats.

However, there are some inconsistencies: a device has been added to the rear of the driver's seat, and there is a large hole that was just made with a welding torch in the full-circle cockpit.

This is the Psycommu device—its interface wasn't considered during its initial development, but it's crucial for countering the Newtypes; without it, the RX-170 wouldn't have lasted much longer either.

After three years of research and development, and with the use of countless resources to overcome technical challenges, Murasame finally managed to build this thing... mainly because they didn't have access to Zeon's technology for reverse engineering.

Shiko powered on the machine, turned on the communication system, and connected the radio line: "Lieutenant Christina, is the machine difficult to use?"

“No problem, Major. I’ve piloted the NT-1 before, so it’s not particularly difficult for me.”

This young pilot was born in California, North America, and moved to Side 6 when he was old enough to be a test pilot there. He was also quite skilled in mechanics.

The development site for the NT-1 was the Federation's Augusta Base.

To be honest, even if the Murasame Research Institute confirmed that she was a Newtype, her abilities were only average. In Shiko's opinion, she was at most only about a quarter of 'Rai-kun's' talent level.

Why were they sent to such a seemingly desperate situation?

"Major Shiko, could you please show some concern for me? I'm not a new human, but I was dragged here to make up the numbers."

"Yazan, as a federal soldier, can you stop thinking about your own gains and losses?"

Shiko wasn't so kind to this guy: "To defeat those two new humans, we need to coordinate perfectly."

Chapter 217 Mantis Catches Ship

At Lagrange point 4, outside Side 6, the warship Zanzibar was moored. This warship came from the Pezen base.

Pezen Base is also an important stronghold of the Space Alliance in the Earth Sphere—independent of the Republic of Zeon.

The current head of this location is Barnard Watzman—Barney, who is also a member of the technical committee.

He took out his quartz watch and looked at it, meaning he would arrive in a few tens of seconds.

But now there's not even a trace of it left.

The moment the thought crossed Barney’s mind, he saw a blue star light up in the night sky, but he quickly realized that it was not a star, but the exhaust plume of a light sail cargo ship slowing down.

At this moment, the cargo spacecraft had already retracted the giant sail with a diameter of over 500 meters shown on the design drawings, and was using a nuclear thruster driven by a rice furnace to reverse and slow down.

It's incredibly fast. What would normally be a six-month journey... can be projected over in less than 24 hours. It's said that the top speed in the middle section is close to 4% of the speed of light, and that's after taking acceleration and deceleration into account.

As the final braking was completed, the Zanzibar synchronized its speed with the huge light sail container ship, and with the connection pipes established, Barney also entered the ship.

As soon as the lights were turned on, he was captivated by the cargo inside the spaceship.

To put it simply, it looks like a giant alien insect, yet it possesses a kind of "powerful" and strange beauty.

AMA-002 Super Luvi Jeru.

The experiment used two modified rice furnaces based on two warships, along with a composite energy unit consisting of 12 MS rice furnaces.

Equipped with an I-field generator, its mobility has been greatly enhanced to minimize the chance of being targeted by concentrated fire. Its upper armor is made entirely of Luna titanium alloy, which reduces the overall weight by about 30% compared to the ultra-high tensile steel used in the original design, but increases propulsion and output by 30%.

The combination of increasing and decreasing power resulted in a terrifying thrust-to-weight ratio for this machine.

This behemoth's high-speed maneuverability is stronger than imagined, and its range has also been greatly enhanced.

Of course, this provides a formidable G-force, posing a severe challenge to the pilot. Originally, it was intended to be piloted by the drone, but for data collection and weapons research purposes, it was set to be manned...

Lord Karma has also developed a liquid anti-G suit that cancels out G-forces in sync with MA movements. It seems we still need to find out where it is.

According to the intelligence Barney has gathered, time is running out. Based on the advice he received, he must drive this MA to the battlefield as soon as possible to support Miss Sally, who is currently trapped in Side 2.

In addition, another objective was to collect experimental data to demonstrate the effectiveness of high-performance, high-speed MAs in anti-ship attacks.

Such a dense assembly of the Federation fleet is a rare occurrence since the One Year War.

Barney himself doesn't need to go directly to Side 2 to provide support; he just needs to drive this MA to gather the Federation fleet near Side 2—there's no need to look for it, it's too conspicuous.

Let's see how much "stock" we can help the Federation forces clear.

In the SIDE2 airspace, Anna sat in the captain's command seat, fiddling with a hexagonal compass about the size of a five-pointed chess piece, surrounded by a ring of glass crystals—clearly an old object.

Then he looked up and suddenly said to Aronnax:

"I just used the instrument to do a divination, and you might be shot down in the next battle."

"Fortune telling?" Aronnax said skeptically. "There's no one in the Federation who can defeat me right now."