Chapter 124: The Changing World
Scirocco read the report handed over by his men and felt a bit of a headache. It wasn't so much about the war with Britannia. It was about the money.
Britannia is at war with the entire Federation, not just TITANS. In the face of such an all-out war, the internal conflicts of the Federation army obviously have to be put aside for the time being.
In the end, the war is about resources, and the Federation is not the least bit deficient in front of Britannia. Britannia has a dozen knights of the round table, so what? There are only a dozen ACEs. Scirocco didn't even bother to count how many ACEs were in the Federation army. Not only inside TITANS, but all the ACEs of the Federation army are under his jurisdiction.
The only problem is that TITANS's reserve funds are depleted too quickly. The war would have cost a lot of money, and Anaheim does not give any discount. In the end, he has to rely on himself.
"The Vist consortium refuses to give any support, so we have to rely on Rhineford." Scirocco looked up at the sky outside the window, "Loran Cehack …"
Putting down the report in his hands, he got up and headed to the hangar, where the black-colored Banshee Gundam was standing quietly inside. (UNICORN GUNDAM-02“BANSHEE)
"Colonel Scirocco." Emma Sheen, who was in the hangar, saluted him.
Scirocco gave her a slight nod and casually asked, "How is the recruitment of NT pilots going?"
"I'm sorry, no progress." Emma bowed her head in shame, "Not to mention NT pilots, we didn't even find ordinary NTs."
"Don't worry, Captain Emma, you've done a good job." Scirocco waved his hand indifferently, "NTs are rare, otherwise, we wouldn't have recruited Kamille Bidan in the first place."
"Kamille…" Mentioning this person, Emma's interest was a bit low.
Scirocco didn't feel surprised by knowing that they couldn't find NTs, and he did not blame Emma. In fact, Scirocco is a gentleman, and TITANS had many female officers who joined out of loyalty to him personally.
"NewType-Drive." Scirocco tilted his head to look at the Banshee Gundam, "Oh, whoever believes that is stupid."
Scirocco didn't trust this kind of technology, which he didn't know the principle at all. He would rather drive the RGM-79GM than sit in the cockpit of Banshee, which he feels is a choice that any leader with a normal IQ would make.
"I would not have made a deal with Charles back then if I know the current situation." He turned away from the hangar, muttering to himself with some regret, "Even a half-finished product is fine, it will work after adjusting and tweaking."
Scirocco has a Research Institute called Murasame Newtype Lab, artificial NT is the top priority of the lab's research. Stella and five others are the semi-finished products produced by this lab, and all of them had entered the MIA list. Scirocco didn't feel the pain to send them to die, but now he feels a little regret.
And the four official products from the lab were all acquired by Emperor Charles last year at a high price. At that time, TITANS was facing the danger of a broken capital chain, and Scirocco had to sell the four products as a package to get some extra income.
"It's a pity that I can't get Amuro Ray." Scirocco smacked his lips regretfully. Mentioning this, he remembered the report on Celestial Being submitted up by Londo Bell, and couldn't help but sneer, "Hmph, trying to pretend to be neutral? Other than Lingus, I don't think that anyone can make such a thing."
…
"Other than Dr. Lingus, who else could make something like that?" Kamille was sitting in the cockpit of The-O, making preparations before the first strike, "Is the Doctor stupid? Does he really think that Scirocco is a retard?"
"For the moon government, as long as there is no evidence, it will not pass in public opinion. How TITANS and Britannia speculate is their business, and it will not affect anything if they can't find evidence." Shinn patiently explained to him, "Even if they really found some evidence, we can just deny it. That's how the so-called politics works."
"Heh, adults." Kamille bristled.
"You're eighteen years old and have no business complaining about how adults are all the time anymore." Kira spoke out accusingly, "Nothing will change and nothing will end if you just talk here while doing nothing yourself."
"I will be 18 years old at the end of the year, and now I'm seventeen, I'm still a child!" Kamille corrected Kira stubbornly, "Is that what Kira-san means by doing something? Didn't you tell me yourself before that you like living in peace with your family the most?"
"Sometimes, you can only fight to protect something, and I believe in the path we choose." Kira's voice didn't have a trace of confusion, "I'm ready to fight, and I will always fight."
Kamille gave him a "tsk", not continuing to talk back and concentrating on tuning The-O. He looked left and right at the other three's MSs and felt a little irritated. Originally, he was not obsessed with Gundam, but compared to Wing Gundam Zero, Destiny, and Ex-S, The-O really didn't look cool at all.
He was going to protest to Chang Wufei, questioning him that isn't Altron Gundam unused as a spare? But he went back sensibly after only going to the door of the captain's room.
By now, Iserlohn had jumped over the Atlantic Ocean and Chang Wufei's voice rang out in everyone's MS, "Striking."
Three Gundams and one The-O launched from the battleship and plummeted toward the battlefield below. This was one of the sub-battlefields on the long front between Britannia and the Earth Federation, located in the southern part of the Mid-Atlantic, where both armies had invested a relatively modest amount of troops.
All personnel outside the Minovsky particle scattering zone received a broadcast on the public channel at the same time, exactly like last time, apparently, a recording was played. Just like last time, this time there was no instruction from the commander to make a truce.
"We still have to go on, ah, really, no one will be stupid enough to stop." Looking at the difference in battle power between the enemy and his own side, Uraki sighed a little, but immediately shot up, "I believe in the Doctor, we are right."
As the fastest MS among these four, Ex-S took on aircraft form to be the first to bring the enemy MSs below into range. The four beam cannons on the back of the machine fired, and the MSs in the middle of the battle were unable to avoid the cannons, turning into cannon fodders.
As the MSs below scattered in panic, Ex-S flipped to avoid the fire from below, transformed into MS form after a period of displacement, and took out the Elf Beam Cannon hanging directly from its back. The beam cannon's energy is directly supplied by the core power reactor, and the powerful I-field protects Ex-S from stray bullets. The inhuman acceleration of the Gundam allowed Uraki to quickly approach the Britannia side's battleships.
At the same time, Wing Gundam Zero Gundam also approached the direction of the TITANS command center at high speed. The white steel feathers were protecting both sides of its body, and the beam weapons from the enemies could not cause any substantial damage to it. Upon reaching the target location, the huge beam rifle that had wreaked havoc on the Japanese battlefield only a short while ago reappeared in Wing Gundam Zero's hands, aiming at the group of battleships below.
The commanders below were keenly aware of Wing Gundam Zero's combat intentions, and very few of the elite MSs broke towards the top in an attempt to block the sniping of both Ex-S and Wing Gundam Zero, which were all stopped by the Destiny Gundam.
A pair of wings spread out behind Destiny's back, and it darted in and out of several MSs with ease. At times, it cut the enemy in two with its beam saber; at other times, it shot down the approaching MSs with its high-powered beam rifle, and when no one was around, it sniped at the distant MS group with its long-range beam cannon.
"So, what the hell am I doing here?" Kamille wandered around in the sky with nothing to do, looking east and west, muttering unhappily to himself, "I don't even have a beam rifle, what can I do in this situation? It's too much."
"Kamille, there's one heading your way!" Shinn's voice suddenly rang out, "I'm a bit crowded on my side, sorry for missing one."
"I'll take care of it, Brother Shin!" Kamille shouted excitedly, "Watch me take care of it right away!"
A black Gundam Mk-II with a jetpack on board appeared in Kamille's field of vision. Gundam Mk-IIs were mass-produced by TITANS, not constrained by Anaheim's production capacity. Scirocco assigned them to the elites of his men, and they were their most exclusive MSs.
"Is it you who stole Colonel Scirocco's MS?" A young voice rang out on the public channel.
"Jerid Messa?!" Kamille covered his mouth and hastily turned off the public channel. If someone he knew recognized him, it would be all over.
The Gundam Mk-II closed in while firing, and with Kamille at the controls, The-O deftly avoided all shots with a speed that didn't match its bulky appearance.
"Are you kidding me? Do you think I'll be the same as before after being trained to death by the old man?" Kamille seemed to have some kind of problem with Jerid, "You TITANS scum!"
The-O attached itself to the Gundam Mk-II with terrifying speed and wielded a beam saber in each hand, swinging them rapidly. In the midst of the chaos, two mechanical hands suddenly extended from under The-O's skirt armor, and two beam sabers unfolded in the mechanical hands.
The four swords had Jerid immediately on the back foot, and soon during a side dodge, it was knocked out of the jetpack on its back, falling towards the sea.
At this time, Ex-S and Wing Gundam Zero finally got ready. On both sides of the sky, two thick beams of light rose from the sky straight to the sea. The roaring stream of particles brought up a wave of heat, and the air was brightly colored by the high-energy dissociation, striking straight into the group of battleships below. The two beam cannons slowly moved their muzzles, and countless battleships were reduced to metal dust under the sweep of the barrage.
"It's terrible, the power…" Kamille looked at what was happening in shock.
Eventually, the chain of command of both Britannia and TITANS armies were completely destroyed and the battlefield was paralyzed. Some MSs froze in place, some turned and ran, and some continued to engage the enemy MSs around them by inertia.
"Mission accomplished." Chang Wufei's voice rang out on the friendly channel, "Return immediately."
Kamille's mind had not returned to reality until returning to Iserlohn. Upon disembarking from the The-O, an eager shout interrupted his musings.
"Shinn! Shinn!"
Stella shouted Shinn's name as she flew into his arms. Shinn caught her in his arms, picked her up, and spun her around, and Stella followed with a joyful giggle.
Kamille looked at the warm and sweet scene in front of him and his heart twitched. He had a secret that he couldn't tell anyone—he had another crush. This time, it was his big brother's girlfriend—Stella.
