Gundam: From Piece to Player

If a big tree has problems right from the roots, how can it possibly grow well?

If that's the case, why not get rid of these useless bureaucrats and do it yourself?

How about establishing a "second federation" that treats all Earth inhabitants and universe inhabitants equally, treats every citizen kindly, and is without prejudice?

Shiko seemed to understand Brad's expression and said, "As expected of the captain, you figured it out so quickly."

"And you, Captain Yazan, why did you join the colonial army?"

Brad looked at the strongman beside him.

In his mind, the other party was not a new human, but a highly skilled ace.

"Because I felt this place was more interesting, and also, it felt really great to become 'Superman'," Yazan said.

Another person who couldn't understand him. Brad looked at Shiko, hoping she could translate.

“Captain Yazan was too naughty when he was a child. He jumped from a height and hit his head, which caused him to lose his abilities. After a month of medication, he recovered.” Shiko revealed the mystery. “Now he has also awakened into a new human, just like me.”

The reason is quite unique; it means that Yazan, who was already very strong, has become even stronger.

In the future, in terms of high-end MS pilot combat capabilities, we can achieve complete suppression of the Old Federation and even Zeon.

Brad pondered this in his mind, even though that's what he thought.

But now is not the time to clearly declare our intentions to the world.

Now we must continue to build up our strength under the banner of the old Federation... and wait for the day when the time is right.

Chapter 226 The Arms Race

Compared to the original timeline, 0083 was a year in which almost nothing major happened.

There was no nuclear bomb that Kado dropped on the Solomon Islands, nor any nuclear missile that crashed into the North American colony.

But beneath the surface of calm, both the Federation and Zeon... began to strengthen their military forces, initiating the next round of arms race.

After Christmas 83, New Year's Day 84 arrived as scheduled, and the intelligence meeting of the Space Alliance Military Committee had just ended before the start of New Year's Day.

After the founding of the nation, the Military Commission under the Engineering and Technology Committee of the Alliance also established an intelligence bureau.

The intelligence agency allocates 80% of its resources to the Earth sphere, while the remaining 20% ​​is used to gather intelligence on the Jupiter sphere—primarily through the deployment of various unmanned reconnaissance ships or satellites.

Barney, the head of the Peizeng asteroid base, reports strategic intelligence about the Earth Sphere to his superiors every month. Tactical intelligence, which involves human modification and military engineering technology, is sent to committee members' email addresses.

Kalmar would also use these emails to conduct laser communications with Barney... to determine Barney's specific direction in subsequent work.

"The Mobile Fortress project, is that the name?" Karma flipped through the illustrated books and dozens of pages of reports. "Where did you get these?"

“Some intelligence is bought with money, while some is infiltrated through spider-like intelligent robots,” Barney said. “Some is obtained by researching relevant machine systems or key technologies based on your tips… We can then piece together the whole picture of the Federation’s MS development technology step by step, like piecing together ancient fossils.”

"well done."

Karma nodded; this was the true essence of intelligence work.

He always felt that assassinations and similar acts were despicable, something his deceased older brother and sister, as well as the federal government, liked to do.

The intelligence Barney has now obtained is the Federation's next phase of the MA project—the Mental Gundam Development Project.

This was developed under the direction of Finance Minister Jamitov Hyman... At the time, Kalmar Paravi Jeru returned to the Earth Sphere to conduct weapons experiments, and her battle with GP03D made the Federation government realize the value of high-performance MAs.

Especially in the vast outer space, mobile armor (MA) with stronger firepower and equipped with I-field can crush any mobile suit (MS) that dares to block its way. The only threat is live ammunition.

However, just like anti-tank weapons can also threaten tanks, it still ultimately requires the MS to operate. When facing a MA, you cannot assume that the MS is invincible when using live ammunition.

Do you think this plan poses a threat to Luvi Jeru?

"No... This machine's power is less than half that of Luvi Jelu. Even if we assume that the performance of the prototype is very limited in space, I think its use might be for suppressing strongholds in colonies or on the moon."

This wasn't exactly new intelligence for Kalmar, but if they encountered each other in the city, even disregarding the Space Alliance's atmospheric armored forces,

The MS forces that fight in cities can threaten the survivability of this machine by attacking with only live ammunition; it's just scary to look at.

"Another potentially important point is that the pilots of this machine will all be Newtypes or enhanced humans, and it will be equipped with the Psycommu system and brainwave conduction field developed by the Murasame Research Institute."

Putting aside the machines themselves, the enhanced humans are indeed the problem that Karma must deal with next. The Federation's mentality has now become somewhat ruthless in its pursuit of victory.

The idea that enhanced humans are anti-human or immoral is debatable, but in reality, after they have become "inhuman" on both a moral and physical level, the Federation's combat power can be significantly enhanced.

In contrast to the new federation that Anna and her group wanted to establish—the Space Alliance—there weren't many new humans, so what kind of morally sound and comparable power could they possibly have?

It seems there really isn't one, at least not human. For some time to come, we'll probably have to rely on advanced unmanned mobile suits to deal with this.

Although the final research that can solve the problem has begun theoretical demonstration, it is still a long way from application, which is really frustrating.

"Committee Member Barney, how's your downline development going?"

"What offline?"

"I heard from Anna that you saved a female federal test pilot during the corporate rebellion, and that you also got close to her and had an affair with someone else?"

Barney was a little embarrassed, wondering why his boss had suddenly become so gossipy.

“I’m just gathering intelligence, sir,” Barney said. “Approaching them is only necessary for the mission.”

“A man should be responsible,” Karma said seriously. “As the saying goes, playing around without the intention of marriage is just being a scoundrel. I don’t recall the organization training you to be a man who plays with women like this.”

"Yes, Your Excellency, I was wrong... but it would be difficult for me to be with that Federation woman, and it could also put her parents in danger."

This kid actually considered marriage and such.

It was worth it for Karma to ship them.

“There’s always a way. If there are problems with the project, we can just solve them. You can try to get the other party to resign. As for their family… that’s a bit difficult to deal with. We really need to keep our identities hidden until we come up with a proper solution.” Karma remembered what Anna had told her about how to deal with Brad.

But dealing with family members is indeed a bit difficult. You can't just tie them to the asteroid belt, can you? What would happen if the Federation smeared them?

The Federation's hawks, Collini and Djamitov, while not currently targeting the Titans, are becoming increasingly domineering in their actions.

Although Side 6 is a neutral country, the Federation can still forcibly arrest someone if it wants to.

Barney, as a member of the Space Alliance, is definitely a high-value target for them.

He'd wait until he got back to Earth before deciding, but he was still willing to help his little brother sort things out.

Once the research on light sail technology is nearly complete, I will be able to travel freely between the Earth's sphere and the asteroid belt.

Once the research and development is successful, the first item to be launched will be a "large-scale laser irradiation device" for continuous umbrella operation, which will be launched to the Peizeng Base.

This is the Anywhere Door.

Otherwise, it would take 24 hours to get there, and half a year to slowly make it back to the asteroid belt.

The Light Sail has a maximum payload of 5000 tons—enough to launch a complete package including a Laffey-class destroyer and a mobile suit.

Hearing Kalmar mention that they would be spending a month in the Earth Sphere every year, Barney was still somewhat excited. However, he reminded him, "Sir, if the light sail has a limited carrying capacity, ZUDA's performance may not be sufficient. Although its performance is not outdated, it will be difficult to reproduce the strength it had during the One Year War."

"My current landline number is no longer ZUDA."

Chapter 227 New Cupid Machine

Although Kalmar's new aircraft is still incomplete.

But that didn't stop him from bragging to Barney.

After the remote communication ended, he immediately went to the hangar to see his new toys.

In order to maintain the technological advantage of the landline between UC0085 and UC0092, the R&D targets were set a bit too high.

Karma named it Cupid. Although the design of the machine was based on some of the Qubeley's designs, it incorporated a large number of new technologies.

It's like the difference between the Hornet fighter jet and the Super Hornet fighter jet.

In other words, the outer shell is somewhat similar, but the actual height has increased from the original 18 meters to 28 meters, making it even taller than Shazabi.

(Large-sized Qubeley; the picture shows the mass-produced Qubeley G)

The operational design philosophy has also been completely changed.

The new machine will have three power reactors, making it a true three-reactor machine, with the reactors located in the adsorption wings on the shoulders and the tail.

By drawing on the power technology of the Shilock MA, the power unit of the "new heart" is being developed using helium-3 fuel to confine plasma in an I-field—a fusion technology.

Although the power unit technology of this part of the engine had completed its first flight test on the MA in Bigelow at the end of 0082, it encountered considerable difficulties in miniaturizing it and moving it into the power bay of the MS.

In order not to affect the development of the machine and other technology verification, Cupid's three furnaces are currently using the old models from ZUDA. Although they are still powerful, they obviously have not yet achieved the exaggerated space mobility of the design. The current maximum flight speed can barely reach Mach 50, while the final design version can reach Mach 95.

The two doors on the back and the two nano-furnaces on the shoulders are connected to the nano-particle cannons, which have a wide range of movement and a wide range of firepower—this is close-combat firepower to prevent rear-end collisions.

In addition to this, the aircraft is equipped with an airborne electromagnetic radar with a detection range of 200 kilometers, ordered from AE Corporation, as well as a beyond-visual-range missile with a range of 100 kilometers and a maximum speed of Mach 40, which is paired with the radar.

This allows for a surprise attack before the opponent enters combat mode (Minovsky particle dispersion state), or for luring the opponent out of the Minovsky particle dispersion range before killing them.

Because Kalma prioritizes safety, Cupid is also equipped with an I-field. Considering the power consumption of the I-field, the thermal radar will sense the surrounding reaction and adjust the power supply intensity of the I-field accordingly—this has already been applied to Luvi Jelu.

Without a doubt, in order to win in the ACE and survive, this is a hunter machine that focuses extremely on guerrilla warfare.

Its situational awareness is also much stronger than those crude machines on the Jupiter MA.

The beam saber/beam cannon on the wrist may just be a ceremonial combat weapon; a long-range beam rifle could also be used depending on the actual needs.

Perhaps due to her age, Karma doesn't enjoy engaging in close combat with others as often as she does when piloting the ZUDA.

"Honey, what project are we testing today?"

Iselina asked, explaining that she was piloting a Zaku III, a mobile suit designed and developed by the original Delaz Fleet technical team, and one of the proposed solutions for mass-produced mobile suits for the Space Alliance in the next era... but it hadn't been finalized yet.

As for why she's here... it's because she's the most free among her beloved ones. As a historical novelist and literary editor, her job is the least busy. Her current magazine is updated monthly, so there's not much pressure to update.

In her spare time, she spent over a year learning MS piloting and combat, starting from scratch to become a B-class pilot, which was no easy feat for her...

Having seen so many new humans and geniuses, Karma finally witnessed the learning progress of ordinary people.

From Karma's perspective, the Zaku III's design was too mediocre, even though it adopted a new backpack module design on a large scale for ease of production, maintenance, and missions.

"Aishie, let's go check out the outer perimeter. Maybe we'll run into some space pirates and test our firepower."

"Ok."

Unfortunately, this place doesn't have monsters spawning like in the game, because the Space Alliance had previously cleared the asteroid belt, and now it's somewhat too remote and uninhabited.

"Should I ask Miss Nex to play the role of the imaginary enemy? She's a very skilled driver."