Chapter 166: Tallgeese 1
The Earth Unified Allied Government was originally established to resolve disputes between nations. Previously, it expanded its military power at an extremely fast rate, to the point of using militarism to oppress the internal affairs of sovereign states.
Because the former rule of the Earth Unified Allied Forces had been achieved entirely through the suppression of force, the supposedly stable unity immediately began to show cracks.
Those nations with the will and strength to resist promptly declared independence one after another, and the countries on Earth once again fractured into pieces.
At the same time, the repair work on that Tallgeese had been completed, and the injured maintenance mechanic Otto personally delivered it into Zechs Merquise's hands.
This mobile suit produced three times the output of a Leo's entire body power; its thrusters generated rotational thrust in normal operation that was three times faster than an Aries — and that was still far from its top speed.
Yet the machine was extraordinarily difficult to handle. During testing, Otto lost consciousness due to the impact of the gravitational acceleration and suffered multiple internal injuries and fractured ribs.
When Zechs piloted the Tallgeese for the first time to strike against the Sanc Kingdom, he achieved astonishing results. However, he also sustained serious injuries from the impact of the gravitational acceleration and ultimately had to abandon the fight and flee the battlefield.
It was then he realized how truly powerful this Tallgeese was: its armor and speed were excellent — it might even be the prototype of the Gundams.
And as long as one possessed a robot with performance like this, no enemy would be too formidable. But it had a fatal weakness: the pilot was a flesh-and-blood ordinary person.
On the shuttle bound for the Sanc Kingdom, Treize Khushrenada swirled his cup of wine and turned to Lady Une.
"Lady Une, want a drink?"
Lady Une shook her head, poured some wine for Treize, then asked,
"Lord Treize, what do you plan to do for the next target of attack?"
"Keep fighting. As long as we win."
"So you mean you'll be satisfied once you conquer the Earth Sphere?"
"Mm. That will be enough. If OZ becomes hated, it will turn into a target of attack from the whole world.
A hated entity naturally must become stronger. For OZ, that's a perfect incentive.
It'll also make it easier to preserve the hard-won results after I leave, won't it?"
"Understood, Lord Treize."
…
In the desert, Quatre Raberba Winner's subordinates saw him return from battle and all scolded him at once.
They said he had gone into battle alone — what if something happened to him? How would they report to their masters on the colony satellite then? It was a show of distrust toward them…
Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy had mixed into a school located relatively close to an OZ military base and resumed hiding as students.
But not long after, Relena Peacecraft, who had been relentlessly searching for their whereabouts, finally tracked them down. She began talking with Heero and the others, and hoped she could become stronger by staying at Heero's side.
In the circus, Chang Wufei and Trowa Barton sat quietly by the fire without saying a word.
Catherine Bloom, who couldn't stand it, brought over some food and said to the two of them,
"You two really… do you find keeping silent so much fun? It's already been over two hours."
Trowa answered expressionlessly, "What exactly are you doing here?"
"You're no fun at all. Of course I'm worried you're going hungry — I brought food specially for you.
Here, eat — hurry up and drink it while the soup's still hot."
Seeing Wufei and Trowa remain motionless with their poker faces, Catherine sighed helplessly and said,
"Fine. I'll leave the food here. Eat it yourselves later. But I'm not cleaning your plates — good habits start young. I'm off."
Before leaving, Catherine looked back and commented,
"So quiet people tend to make quiet friends, huh."
After Catherine left, Trowa poured a cup of freshly brewed coffee for Wufei, then said to him,
"Drink. It might not taste great."
Wufei, face full of melancholy, replied distractedly,
"I don't have the right to pilot Nataku at all." (Wufei liked to call Shenlong Gundam by the name of his deceased fiancée.)
"Is that so?"
"Thanks."
…
That night Zechs lay on a sickbed in a temporary tent, listening with Lucrezia Noin as the doctor described his condition.
"The arrhythmia is gone, but the entire circulatory organ system shows abnormal function."
Zechs gave a painful, self-mocking smile. "So you mean it's a miracle I came back alive?"
Noin nervously asked, "Zechs, what happened to you, exactly?"
"I underestimated that Tallgeese earlier. The designer didn't consider the pilot's condition at all.
That thing was made by a madman who threw orthodox modern weapon theory completely out the window."
"You mean they didn't account for the pilot's condition?"
"Tallgeese is equipped with every combat mode you can think of. Its performance is perfect enough to win a battle all on its own.
That's my view — and that's why I became afraid.
The more I try to bring Tallgeese's performance to its fullest, the more I push myself to the limit."
Zechs paused, then answered his own question.
"Zechs, have you already used up your talent?" he wondered aloud, doubting himself.
"Tallgeese is not a combat robot, but a dueling robot. Only when the pilot treats life and death as nothing does it stand a chance to reveal its full strength."
"Treat life and death as nothing?"
"Mm. The determination to win even if it kills you. I didn't expect fear to hurt my own body.
When I've recovered, we'll head for the Sanc Kingdom again."
Noin, anxious, protested loudly,
"You cannot go! An ordinary person would have died already."
Zechs tried to sit up to say something, but Noin pushed him back down, not letting him get up to speak.
"I'll go in your stead! You just lie here and rest, and wait for good news."
Zechs replied with difficulty while lying down, "Impossible. I have a reason I must go to this battle."
Seeing Zechs's stubborn insistence, Noin could only compromise.
"Then please, don't pilot the Tallgeese. That at least should be acceptable, right?"
"Noin, Tallgeese is an indispensable part of our combat strength. Its design philosophy should be the same as the Gundams.
Gundams — I've told you before — all robot prototypes come from the Tallgeese.
And now the Tallgeese's design concept must be passed on to the Gundams, so I must conquer this difficulty if I want to defeat the Gundam robots."
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[TN: Hello everyone. I apologize for the hiatus. I had some health issues and scheduling difficulties, which is why I was inactive.
I was on hiatus from February 10 to May 28, 2026 — a total of 107 days.
To make up for the delay, I will be releasing +150 chapters later for everyone, and daily updates on WN will resume afterward. Thank you.]