I did a quick change of the layout for the second installment, and I’ll also change the logo at some point in the future. While I was working on this month’s draft, there was a lot of news about environmental issues like chlorofluorocarbons and protecting forests, which really got me thinking. I’m not that well-versed, so I can’t speak with much authority on it all, but I think we should all stop and think about it from time to time. And yet here I am, spraying a fixative on the finished illustration, despite it having CFCs in it. Talk about a contradiction! Next month is the Zaku!

Borneo
December 2nd

With a counteroffensive operation in Asia linked to Operation Odessa, Federation Forces retook Hong Kong and Davao. The 7th Fleet then moved its operations headquarters to a frontline base in Davao and targeted their subsequent objectives at the Kinabalu mine and Brunei base in northern Borneo. On December 2nd, the 17th Armored Marine Division, a diversion against main forces along the northern coast, began making landfall from Tarakan Bay along the eastern coast.

“Special Ops 2nd Team, you’re to head north to recon the area around the supply route from Kinabalu to Brunei, and if possible, sever the supply route at will.”

Upon receiving their orders, three mobile suits headed north through the wetlands and into the jungles.

“Damn Zeon, they failed their attempt at capturing Jaburo, so now they’re starting to flee home, eh?” came Lieutenant Burrow from the RGC-80, taking up the rear.

“Best not to fawn over the local girls,” cautioned Lieutenant Gray from the GM Spartan taking point. Before the war broke out, Borneo was an uninhabited nature preserve, but once hostilities erupted, Asian nationalist guerrillas opposed to forced emigration sided with the Zeon.

“2 o’clock, heavy motion detected. Three mobile suit-class units.”

The GM Scout, to their rear, transmitted its data via comm cable.

“Disperse Minovsky particles. Once contact is made, release the cable and scatter. Burrow, load the net rounds.”

One Gouf and two Zaku. The right Zaku got caught in the net while the Gouf on the left was held in check by grenades; all the while, the right shoulder WAMM fired at the remaining Zaku. Either way, the team couldn’t move until a direct hit landed because of the wire operation.

“Burrow, don’t let the Gouf get too close.”

Landing a round on the Zaku, he turns to his left and sees a GM Cannon sprawled out on the ground, a leg shot off and eyes crushed. The Gouf was nowhere to be seen.

Laying down smoke and yelling to the GM Scout, Gray fired off everything he had in his mini guns in a half-cocked attempt. Utter silence descended for a few moments. Just then, the Gouf, missing its left arm, lunged at him heat sword raised. He caught the blade with the minigun and pumped every round from the mounted handgun into its gut.

He let out an exasperated sigh of relief, “Hey, you two still alive?”

Confirming that the other two were indeed safe, Gray’s eyes reflected the flames from their own napalm consuming the jungle.

“Sure, why not shoot the enemy down that’s right in front of us instead of taking care of the forests and orangutans that have grown so much?”

Shifting his gaze, he caught sight of wreckage from what appeared to be a prop plane from the old century: a Zero Fighter. It all left him wondering whether the Zeon was the true enemy.

A large number of Gouf were deployed along the Asia-African fronts, and several variants have been identified. This particular unit is for guerrilla warfare in the jungle. The handgun mainly fires gel rounds and birdlime.

A hastily constructed craft converted from a tank that can be controlled from the cockpit of a mobile suit via a direct connection. There was a proposal to equip them on Medea, but as typical of the Federation Forces, they elected not to develop a series of weapons systems centered on mobile suits, like the Dodai.