Chapter 15: 0079 – Gundam RX-78 Series
Tolle Koenig muttered to himself, "Alright then… guess I came to this world a bit too early.
Right now, there's none of the good stuff—no high-spec mobile suits, no psyco-frame, no spherical panoramic cockpits, no funnels.
Funnels only start showing up later in the One Year War of 0079, and even then, not sure if there'll be enough time to get one.
The RX-78 Gundam's performance is too poor—its thrusters still run on fuel. As for the Guncannon and Guntank… even less worth mentioning.
At this point in time, I really don't know what I'm here for. Might as well spend these 120 days on training.
But I can't just come here empty-handed and leave with nothing. According to the novels and manga, there should be three RX-78 Gundams.
I'll snatch two of them—keep one as a collector's item and strip the other down for parts."
"Nami, check for me—have the RX-78 Gundams arrived yet? And see how many there are.
Leave the RX-78-2 untouched; assimilate the others first.
Also, plant some neo DG Cell nanobots outside the satellite. When someone comes to attack, notify me so I can retrieve the Gundam."
"Understood, Master."
"Nami, help me set up an identity. Filter the options—someone with simple and minimal social connections, preferably a wealthy shut-in. Find him, and I'll replace him.
Exclude Amuro Ray. He's a perfect match for the criteria, but unfortunately, he's the protagonist. With the limited time I have, replacing him would be way too troublesome."
"As you command, Master."
After running the search, Nami confirmed that there were indeed three RX-78 Gundams, all with identical performance. Aside from their armor, the machines had no real special features.
The Core Fighter was both a strength and a weakness—on the plus side, it made repairs easier and improved the pilot's chances of escape; on the minus side, it reduced armor thickness and fuel capacity.
For power, they used a miniature thermonuclear reactor that generated Minovsky particles—handy for disrupting communications. Fully developed models could even produce an "I-field."
But once in the SEED world, that would be almost useless—ZAFT had deployed neutron jammers all over Earth. Completely ruins the game.
If I want to use the RX-78 Gundam, I'll have to wait until the Freedom Gundam shows up, copy its anti–neutron jammer system, and then put the suit into action.
Unless I swap out the power source for a high-performance battery pack—but that would basically render it useless anyway.
Spending DG Cells to upgrade a Gundam before I'm strong enough to protect it is risky.
If I bring it out too early and get noticed, I might not have the power to keep it. That's how the Devil Gundam came to be.
Politics are dark, and human nature is even darker. Everyone has weaknesses—that's something you can't afford to ignore.
(Most masked men in the Gundam worlds are shady—especially Rau Le Creuset from SEED. He's on another level of shady.)
RX-78 Gundam
C-Rank Mobile Suit
HP: 2000
EN: 380
Mobility: 105
Armor: 800
Terrain Adaptability: Sea C / Land B / Air – / Space B
Armor Material: Luna Titanium Alloy
Armament: Beam Rifle (1200/5); Beam Sabers ×2 (1400/8); Hyper Bazooka (1800); Head-Mounted 60mm Vulcan Guns ×2 (500); Special Shield
— — —
Guncannon
D-Rank Mobile Suit
HP: 1400
EN: 240
Mobility: 70
Armor: 800
Terrain Adaptability: Sea – / Land B / Air – / Space B
Armor Material: Luna Titanium Alloy
Fixed Armament: Head-Mounted 60mm Vulcan Guns ×2 (500); Shoulder-Mounted 240mm Cannons ×2 (2000); Special Beam Rifle (1200/5)
— — —
Guntank
D-Rank Mobile Suit
HP: 1200
EN: 220
Mobility: 50
Armor: 700
Terrain Adaptability: Sea – / Land B / Air – / Space B
Armor Material: Luna Titanium Alloy
Fixed Armament: Shoulder-Mounted 120mm Low-Recoil Powder Cannons ×2 (1600); Wrist-Mounted 40mm Quad Grenade Launchers ×2 (900)
— — —
White Base
C-Rank Battleship
HP: 8800
EN: 620
Mobility: 80
Armor: 800
Terrain Adaptability: Sea – / Land – / Air B / Space B
Fixed Armament: 580mm Dual-Linked Charged Particle Main Cannon ×1 (3800/60); Dual-Linked Mega Particle Cannons ×2 (2600/40); Dual-Linked Anti-Air Machine Guns ×8 (600); Triple Large Anti-Ship Missile Launchers ×8 (1800)
Through Nami, Tolle located a Gundam weapons and equipment researcher—single, no parents, no relatives.
Height and build were about the same, even the blood type matched. His name was Stark Ning.
Following Nami's guidance, Tolle staked out Stark Ning's home while the man was away.
That night, when Stark returned, Tolle ambushed him with a stun gun and knocked him out.
He then had Nami assimilate and absorb Stark Ning's memories and knowledge, which turned out to be full of scientific expertise on mobile suits and beam weaponry.
The guy had even participated in the construction of the RX-78 Gundam. Tolle hadn't expected to hit the jackpot.
After making Stark Ning disappear completely—no one would miss him anyway—Tolle took over his identity.
Disguised as Stark, he mingled at the research institute, touring and studying the principles behind Gundams and beam weapons, and managed to get early access to the three Gundams.
He also met the RX-78's chief designer—Earth Federation construction engineer Tem Ray (Amuro Ray's father).
Tolle seized the chance to present Tem Ray with external equipment plans and partial design diagrams for the RX-78 Gundam.
Tem Ray approved the ideas, and Tolle went on to fully design the Gundam's existing optional external equipment:
Full Armor FA-78-1 Heavy Equipment Type (green heavy armor)
Full Weapon FA-78-2 "Thunderbolt" Style (the four-shield configuration from Gundam Thunderbolt)
And an original FA-78-3 High-Performance Type
(This last one had extra armor added to the chest and feet, additional thruster ports, and a rear-mounted booster setup similar to the Tallgeese from Wing Gundam.)
These three sets of external equipment designs received strong support from Tem Ray.
Within two months, the concepts were realized, and somehow they even built a fourth Gundam unit.
This one performed slightly better than the original three and abandoned the Core Fighter system, making its internal frame structure sturdier.
Unit 1 remained as the unmodified prototype; Unit 2 was fitted with the Full Armor FA-78 equipment.
Unit 3 carried the Full Weapon FA-78 Thunderbolt style; Unit 4 became the High-Performance Type.
Tolle couldn't understand these scientists' logic—he'd planned for all three suits to be armed, with Unit 2 made into a high-performance version for the designer's son to play with.
Instead, they insisted on keeping one as a prototype display model.
But that was fine by him—it meant he could get his hands on an extra Gundam to add to his collection.