Chapter 11: The Colonial Satellite

After enjoying a signature meal at the orbital defense base, courtesy of the Space Force, the Red Dragon team took a brief rest before boarding the Columbus-class transport ship sent to collect them. These massive vessels, capable of ferrying an entire armored unit at once, possessed a rather clunky yet endearing aesthetic—resembling a wooden plank with two rows of containers suspended in tandem beneath it. At the rear, eight thrusters were arranged symmetrically on either side. Fully stocked with supplies and fuel, the ship could sustain transport missions for months in space, and thanks to their immense capacity, just a few such vessels could replenish the needs of an entire fleet.

During the later stages of the One Year War, these transports were often converted into mobile suit carriers, capable of housing twenty units, which significantly mitigated the tactical disadvantages faced by the Federation.

As legitimate space transports, Columbus-class ships were far faster than shuttles. When the team woke up after boarding, they discovered they had already bypassed the moon and arrived at the Side 3 cluster, located on the far side of the moon—the domain of the notorious Principality of Zeon.

Standing by the porthole and looking out, they were met with a magnificent and breathtaking sight. In the pitch-black void of space, dozens of massive, lead-gray steel cylinders were arranged in neat rows. Each cylinder stretched nearly thirty to forty kilometers in length. Compared to their six-kilometer diameter, the fifty-five-meter height of the Columbus-class transport seemed as insignificant as a tiny ant.

These metal cylinders were humanity’s homes in space. Using cold steel as a shield, mankind had finally carved out a niche for itself among the stars. The cylinders were hollow, with the colonists living on the interior walls. To ensure normal living conditions, these satellites rotated around their central axes at a speed of roughly one revolution every two minutes, providing artificial gravity.

Around the exterior of each cylinder floated necklace-like rings of solar panels, providing the satellite with a constant supply of energy. Certain pathways also allowed construction units, such as the Colony Commune, to move quickly from the interior to the exterior for safety and maintenance. Connection between satellites was facilitated by shuttles similar to intercity buses; residents could board these at the spaceports located at either end of the cylinders. Furthermore, spaceflights to other destinations, such as Earth or the lunar cities, also departed from these ports, though tickets were quite expensive.

The destination of the Columbus transport was the "Guardian" sector, Colony 34, located on the left. This was the base of the Federation garrison, and also where the Zeon Higher Military Academy was situated. Aside from these two military installations, the colony was virtually uninhabited. The vast remaining area was dedicated to complex terrains for military training, including foothills, rivers, and forests. The cost of constructing these landscapes inside a colony was even higher than building residential skyscrapers, but the Principality of Zeon had spent over a decade developing them to ensure the combat effectiveness of their military.

Zeon had also maintained long-term educational exchanges with Earth Federation military academies. During Deikun’s administration, the two sides had even promoted a student exchange program. However, after the Zabi family took power, relations deteriorated and the program was scrapped. Makarius couldn't help but think that if the Zeon military academy had maintained that habit, the Zeon officers might not have been so blindly optimistic about their progress when the war actually broke out. After all, many Zeon citizens living in space had never visited Earth and were completely unprepared for its vastness.

Although the exchange program had collapsed, communication had not been entirely severed. The Principality of Zeon remained a nominal member state of the Earth Federation, and the two sides continued to hold various joint exercises annually. These exercises were diverse, ranging from anti-piracy operations organized by the National Defense Force and the Space Force to search-and-rescue missions for distressed ships. Naturally, the most frequent drills were offensive and defensive maneuvers against one another.

"So, it’s quite strange!"

After tossing their bags onto the transport vehicle sent to pick them up, Makarius spoke while adjusting to the gravity inside the space colony, which felt no different from Earth's.

"The Zeon National Defense Force’s army doesn't have any heavy vehicles—only light armored cars and light infantry. They have no fire support units to speak of, maybe a few 120mm self-propelled mortars at best. With a configuration like that, why on earth do they insist on drilling offensive and defensive tactics with us?"

"Yeah, why?"

"There can only be one answer: Zeon has cultivated super-soldiers capable of tearing steel apart with their bare hands! Their infantry can flip our tanks just by charging!"

Makarius’s remark immediately drew a burst of laughter. Clearly, everyone took it as a joke, not realizing that some truths are spoken in jest. Two years later, those very cadets, now graduated and qualified tankers, would no longer be laughing when they sat in their tanks and faced the towering, ten-plus-meter-tall steel warriors coming toward them.

"It doesn't matter. So what if they’ve trained super-soldiers? I don't believe those guys can withstand a full volley!"

"That's right! As long as our Type 61s launch an attack, their infantry will surely collapse at the first touch!"

The commander of Red Dragon Three was full of confidence.

Makarius agreed with this point as well. The Federation Army’s massive armored集群 was a sword hanging over the heart of the Principality of Zeon. Zeon’s infantry were few and far between. But once they climbed into those mobile suits—powered by small nuclear reactors, standing over ten meters tall, and capable of sprinting at 120 kilometers per hour—the balance of power would shift entirely.

However, now that Makarius was here, it remained to be seen whether those pillars of the Zeon Military Academy would ever get the chance to pilot a mobile suit at all.

"Living in these colonies is really a hassle!"

Once on board the vehicle, the team realized the spaceport’s structure was somewhat complex. While pedestrians could use escalators to move from the ground to the spaceport located in the middle of the bulkhead, vehicles had to pass through a spiral, lock-like mechanism to reach the surface. Looking into the distance from the center, one could see mist gathering along the central axis of the colony. Enveloped in this haze, the scenery in the distance and the land overhead appeared hazy, possessing a unique, ethereal beauty.