Even after fighting alongside White Base for so long, Eli's military registration still remained with his original unit.
That was the Kojima Battalion of the Far East Front Independent Mechanized Regiment.
It fell under the Federation Army's establishment.
What General Revil meant was that Eli would be transferred from the Federation Army to the Federation Space Forces and assigned to Lieutenant General Tiam's 13th Autonomous Corps—Revil's own direct unit.
It might have sounded like a lateral transfer, with no change in rank.
But in effect, it was like being transferred from a remote military district to a direct unit of the central command. No matter how one looked at it, it was a promotion.
Eli had long since made his decision.
Under the gazes of Amuro and Bright, Eli took a deep breath.
"It would be an honor!"
Eli rose to his feet and saluted General Revil.
"Hahahaha, good. But that means your Mobile Suit will need to be refitted... Let me think. White Base's damage isn't too severe, right? In that case, head directly for Jaburo Base. Lieutenant Eli, I'll have the personnel there modify your machine."
Why not just give me a new Mobile Suit?
"Yes, sir!"
Eli saluted as he grumbled inwardly.
In truth, he understood. Every unit was short on Mobile Suits right now, and high-performance mass-production models were even scarcer. Every Gundam-type machine already had an owner.
After looking over the available mass-production models, the Ground Type really was the most suitable machine for Eli.
If possible, Eli would have preferred to pilot the Pale Rider.
That was a true high-performance machine, even surpassing the current RX-78-2 in certain respects.
It was also equipped with the AI system "HADES," which could temporarily boost its performance.
Even if it was rather careless with the pilot's life,