UC will eventually reach the stars

"..." But Matsui Izumi, who was dodging the artillery fire, did not hear any reply.

"Pera!" Because he was constantly under artillery fire, Matsui Izumi didn't have time to turn around and see what was happening. The narrow field of vision of the Zaku caused Matsui Izumi a lot of trouble at this moment, because if he turned his head even slightly, he could see that there was more than one Zaku that had fallen to the ground due to being hit in a key position.

Pera's Zaku 2J was suppressed by Karen and her teammates' firepower the instant she fired her missile. The last Dagger of Squad 08 took the opportunity to circle around and launch an attack from the side. Pera's Zaku 2J was not able to withstand the defense of the 90mm armor-piercing rounds and steel needle rounds. She was shot down before she could even get up.

"You bunch of bastards! I will kill you! I will definitely kill you!" Matsui Izumi roared in a ferocious voice. He was alone again, and all his comrades had died in battle! Matsui Izumi's face was completely distorted, and his eyes were bloodshot as if he was about to spit blood.

"Heh... this is nothing!" Hanging up his empty magazine, Amada Shirou's short sword sped off again, and with the boost from the thrusters, he swung his shield fiercely. "Zeon army murderers!"

Exhausted from dodging the barrage of three short swords, Matsui Izumi had no chance to react. He took a severe blow to the head, his fuel pipe was smashed off, and then the crimson electric sword pierced through his body.

“He deserves to die.” Amada Shirou coldly uttered these words, manipulating his short sword as he walked to the side of the two fallen short swords closest to him. “Enzo, be on guard!”

"Yes!" The pilot of Unit 4 of Squad 08 nodded. He was very impressed with his captain's outstanding performance and had no objections at all.

"Karen, bring the medical kit down here. I'll go down and check on him. If he can be saved, I might need your help. Elidoa, come closer!" Amada Shirou quickly gave the order, then wielded his short sword, knelt down, and landed.

"Screech..." With a difficult sound of the airlock breaking, the short sword had its chest armor plate cleaved off by an axe, revealing the various equipment underneath, which looked terrible. However, the exterior of the cockpit was relatively intact. Amada Shirou pulled the hidden handle and successfully opened the cockpit door.

However, the moment the door opened, Amada Shirou's pupils contracted sharply, and he decisively dodged to the other side.

"Bang!" The sound of a pistol being fired.

"Don't be impulsive! I am Captain Amada Shirou, the leader of the 08MS squad at the Earth Federation Forces Dhaka Base! I am not a Zeon soldier!" Amada Shirou loudly announced his identity. Clearly, the defeated pilot was a woman, and she was in a very tense state, which is why she opened fire the moment the hatch was opened from the outside, without waiting for the other party to identify herself!

After all, with the war dragged on for so long, all sorts of true and false reports of prisoner abuse are no longer news on the battlefield, especially for women, who are the hardest hit. Those who know, know. It can only be said that war is extremely cruel, and it is best for women not to appear on the battlefield.

Otherwise, death might be a blessing.

Therefore, the female MS pilot's action of firing her gun the moment the hatch opened was not strange at all, and it was only natural for Amada Shirou to dodge immediately.

"Daka base... Commander Gao Long, are you from Squad 01?" A woman's trembling voice came from the cockpit.

“Commander Gao Long is from Squad 09, and Instructor Norres is from Squad 01,” Amada said with a smile. It was indeed a simple way to identify them. After speaking, Amada walked to the cockpit and saw the other man pressing his abdomen. There were already quite a few bloodstains on his uniform. He frowned, pressed his earpiece, and began to call out, “Karen, there is a wounded soldier who needs first aid!”

"Understood, on my way."

Chapter 121 I will make Baikonur burn.

Ye Yun frowned deeply; to be honest, he was somewhat dissatisfied.

The Earth Federation Forces were almost ruthless in their pursuit of victory in this battle. The Dhaka base did not have many mobile suit units, but they were mostly veterans who had participated in the mining base battle. However, the mobile suit pilots sent to the Kawakita base were only at the beginning of their short sword training, and they performed poorly on the battlefield.

According to the battle report Ye Yun had just received, a squad led by an experienced pilot encountered an enemy squad that had already been ravaged by scouts and had two Zaku destroyed. Two Zaku were destroyed, and one was severely damaged. The entire squad was almost wiped out, with one pilot killed in action. He was the squad leader, yes, the only veteran in this MS squad was killed by the Zeon forces.

The other MS pilot who was destroyed survived, but will likely need amputation...

Such situations occurred in many places on the battlefield covered in rice grains. If it weren't for the small number of soldiers, the elite veterans of the Dhaka base would probably have already begun preparing to counterattack.

In Ye Yun's eyes, the problems in this battle were not only related to mobile suits, but also to many other details of the battle. For example, in the battlefield covered in rice grains, not only were the Zeon forces in disarray, but the Federation forces were also in chaos, and many times they got separated from their own troops in the middle of the battle...

"Looks like this batch of new recruits is a bit weak." Sima, who was also looking at the battle report, had a speechless expression. "If it weren't for the infantry's strength, these recruits would probably have been wiped out by the enemy."

Sima's words did make sense. After all, the Zeon Zaku squad had indeed been attacked by scouts before facing their attack. According to the scouts, their attack had confirmed the killing of two Zaku pilots and more than twenty accompanying infantrymen. Subsequently, a Zaku on duty was destroyed by a heavily damaged MS squad behind them...

Unfortunately, due to the urgent need to retreat, there was no time to verify the extent of the damage to the Zaku. In retrospect, it is possible that the explosives thrown were not powerful enough, which allowed one Zaku to still be barely usable. In any case, in the end, the last Zaku armed with the Magella main gun was no match for a Type 61 tank company.

What?! Artillery battle? Say it again!?

When this artillery-type Zaku was finally found, it had been blown to pieces by 155mm shells along with its 175mm heavy cannon. One arm was clutching the cannon barrel, lying a dozen meters away from the wreckage; its left leg was severed in three sections; and its chest had three large craters, suggesting it had been directly hit by armor-piercing rounds. It's unclear whether it was a direct hit or repeatedly pierced by follow-up fire after falling. The phrase "utterly destroyed" perfectly describes this artillery-type Zaku!

As expected, when it comes to artillery battles, you still have to look to the professionals! The Zeon forces are still lacking in experience. Even though they acquired a decent long-barreled 175mm gun, it still can't match the dominance of the Federation's 180mm gun. After all, they lack testing data; it's more of a field modification.

"It's frustrating to feel like we can't do anything." Sally leaned back in her chair, listening to the battle report, feeling somewhat dejected. Had another old comrade she trained with at the Chuanbei base fallen? These Zeon guys really had more and more blood on their hands!

After all, they were comrades-in-arms who had fought side by side. Hearing the news of their deaths in the war was truly frustrating and infuriating. Sally tugged at the gloves on her pilot's suit and clenched her fists in annoyance.

At this moment, Ye Yun and his group had just landed in Midia and were flying towards Baikonur. The Federation's ground offensive had been underway for three hours. Reinforcements from the Chuanbei and Dhaka bases were launching an attack on Baikonur. The situation was likely not good news for either side.

The Federation forces had an advantage in firepower and manpower, and the Zeon forces suffered considerable losses. However, the Zeon forces had been stationed here for a long time, and even without much experience, they could still learn something from the Federation forces' several amazing ambushes.

Therefore, in the early stages of the offensive, the Zeon forces launched several successful ambushes and counterattacks, inflicting heavy losses on the attacking forces at the North Sichuan base. In just a few hours of fighting, the number of Daggers lost had approached 30, and almost all of these losses came from the attacking forces at the North Sichuan base.

The MS units dispatched from the Dhaka base suffered almost no major losses. On the contrary, when the enemy tried to ambush them, they were killed several times. In particular, the Zeon army's jump attack was almost completely ineffective against these veterans.

The relentless 155mm shrapnel crits became the nightmare of the jumping Zaku!

"There's nothing we can do. There are just too many new recruits. In order to expand the army, very few of the Federation's MS pilots can successfully complete all the training." Ye Yun said helplessly. Among the MS pilots in the Federation, only a little over 30% can complete all the training. Basically, whenever there is a large-scale battle, the Federation headquarters will subconsciously draw new recruits from the North Sichuan Base.

While this approach can quickly address the gaps in MS combat power at various points, or, as is currently the case, provide an emergency boost to the offensive spearhead, the results have been quite good so far. After all, no matter how incompetent the recruits are, using them to increase the number of MS on the front lines and act as mobile fire support is still a decent option, especially since the Federation MS forces are currently engaged in mostly defensive battles.

Furthermore, after participating in several battles, these rookies' familiarity with the battlefield will allow them to quickly transform, ensuring they won't be flustered when they re-enter the battlefield.

However, it is somewhat unreasonable to directly assign the Sichuan North Base troops, which are mainly composed of new recruits, to the main attack mission in one direction, as is the case today. The lack of sufficient veterans led to a large number of mistakes in the battle, which affected the performance of combat effectiveness.

Then, for these rookies, the bad news didn't stop there! As if they were really going to oppose them, a special situation appeared on the battlefield. Just as the Federation Army organized Ye Yun and his veterans into the Thirteenth Independent Mobile Force, the Zeon Army also organized an elite hunting force.

"That white Zaku has appeared." Nores frowned as he looked at the intelligence report and put down the tablet in his hand. "Moreover, it seems that there is more than one of those new mobile suits. The Zeon army has already put them into mass production."

Ye Yun glanced at the photos in the battle report. The composition was excellent. A new type of Zeon mobile suit that Ye Yun had seen in photos before was being used by the enemy to stab a short sword in the chest with his heated saber. At his feet were the burning wreckage of several Type 61 tanks, and several Federation soldiers supporting each other were fleeing in panic.

"Phew...it seems they've gone into mass production!" Ye Yun sighed. The second photo didn't just show one white MS, but four in total. The other three new Zaku were painted blue.

It seems that it's not just the Federation forces that are starting to deploy new mobile suits; the Zeon forces aren't completely unresponsive either, and their response is certainly not slow.

After all, the actual time the short sword is used in combat is not very long. Almost the moment the short sword is used, the opponent has already begun to study countermeasures, and even their own countermeasures...

Ha... Look at that heated saber, look at that shield! And that 90mm machine gun in his hand, tsk tsk!

Ye Yun suddenly wondered if his sister Ye Ning would be furious if she found out that Zeon, if not a direct copy, was at least a reference or imitation.

However, it wouldn't be right to say that the other side completely copied it, since they did have some minor innovations. The wrist cannon on their wrist was something Ye Yun and his team had never considered. According to reports from the front lines, this thing was extremely effective against armored vehicles, and even the weakest parts of a tank's armor had a hard time against it.

Ye Yun felt it might be time to unleash his traditional skill: Kinias, I want this!

Of course, that's a matter for later. For Ye Yun and his team right now, the most pressing issue is that this unit is very likely to appear in the upcoming battles, which could threaten the completion of their mission. However, if it doesn't appear, the other short swordsmen on the front lines might suffer even greater losses.

A great trolley problem.

"Ye Yun, if they show up, leave them to me and Norres. You two focus on completing the mission," Gao Long suddenly spoke up. "Our mission is extremely important; it's almost about destroying the entire base's operational system, at least ensuring it can't be put into use for a short period of time. So we don't have time to get entangled with them," Gao Long said succinctly.

"Oh, only the two of you?" Ye Yun frowned. "You're being a bit too confident, Gao Long."

"Because we really can't spare any more troops to deal with them, please protect Miss Aina!" Nores said very calmly. "If they show up, I won't let them have any chance to get close to our team."

"You two have already said all the nice things! I thought I could get a chance to take down Zeon's ace. Hey, you two, how about we trade one squad for both of you?"

"Focus on your mission. The ammunition carried by the two of us in the Dagger 105 is insufficient to destroy the mission target," Gao Long said simply.

"Um... we'll leave you resupply packs," the Media pilot timidly joined the conversation. "While we can't offer much help, we'll drop resupply packs at high altitude after you've completed the basic air defense suppression of the airport. The landing point might be slightly off, but we won't let you run out of ammunition!"

"Thank you very much!" Ye Yun smiled. The Media is a transport aircraft with almost no defensive firepower, so the pilot's actions were extremely dangerous. "May I ask why?"

"I...I'm divorced." The pilot gave Ye Yun a startling answer. In fact, not only Ye Yun was startled, but everyone felt it was a bit absurd. It couldn't be that he didn't want to live after the divorce, so he took on such a dangerous mission. However, the pilot quickly gave the answer, "It happened a year ago, and my ex-wife moved to SIDE2 with my daughter to live with her parents."

Sima's face instantly darkened. A bad feeling made her very uncomfortable. All the MS pilots in Squadron 666 had ashen faces, just like the black and gray paint on their mobile suits.

"They live on Iphishu Island..." The fatal hammer fell. Well, there's no need to say anything more.

"I'm sorry..." Xima lowered her head, her eyes feeling sore and bloodshot. Ye Yun could feel an intense mix of guilt and anger erupting within the 666th Squadron.

"I can't say things like 'it's okay' or 'I forgive you.' So, please include my share, okay, you grey demon hunters?"

"Fine! To commemorate your wife and daughters, we will set the entire Baikonur City ablaze."

"Thank you."

Chapter 122 There’s a fuss

"The 4MS Company of the new recruits in northern Sichuan retreated and reorganized."

"The 2MS Company, which is newly recruited in northern Sichuan, is progressing smoothly and is waiting for the mechanized units to follow up."

"The 9th MS Recruiting Company in Northern Sichuan is retreating."

"The 1st MS Squadron of Dhaka has completed its suppression mission, wiping out the enemy MS forces, but they are requesting resupply!"

General Merk stood in the Africa Command headquarters, listening to his subordinates constantly reporting intelligence. His expression wasn't good, but it wasn't terrible either. Looking at the changes on the electronic tactical command instrument, at least the Federal Army was still maintaining its offensive! That was good.

After all, the battle situation was there. Although the organization of the battle was somewhat hasty, the objective of the campaign was very clear: everything was to cover Ye Yun and his team's surprise attack on Baikonur as a comprehensive base. The more Zeon troops they could attract to the battle line in the early stages, the better the campaign would be!

It was this ever-increasing loss, especially the loss of trained MS pilots, that made Merck feel heartbroken. After all, the theoretical configuration of the Kawakita base was practically luxurious, especially this time, with nearly three battalions of MS deployed at once. This gave the Zeon forces a feeling of unease, as a vast number of Earth Federation Forces Daggers were pouring water on them! No matter how skilled they were, if they were hit by 90mm shells, they had to be sent!

Because the offensives from the Dhaka and Kawakita bases were indeed very fierce, and the mechanized infantry accompanying the ground attacks were also quite effective, the Zeon forces had no choice but to use their precious troops to confront the Federation forces head-on, otherwise they would be crushed by the heavy forces deployed by the enemy.

"Ye Yun's location?" General Merck asked.

"Commander Ye Yun has shut down all signals and is now entering silent flight," the adjutant said softly. Simply put, no one knows Ye Yun's current status. If Ye Yun is shot down at this moment, it may become an unsolved mystery.

"This guy... but he's always been lucky, and this time shouldn't be an exception." Merck rubbed his face. This battle, in a sense, broke through a certain concept of the Earth Federation Forces.

The attack on Baikonur was ostensibly to open up supply lines for the African theater, allowing it to receive supplies directly via the old Western calendar railways. However, whether it was clearing out the African theater or opening up supply lines, the ultimate goal was the same: to remove one of the Zeon forces' biggest obstacles on the ground!

If the Zeon forces can't see it, then it proves that this is all they're capable of in terms of strategic judgment. The Federation forces' passivity at the beginning of the One Year War was partly due to their inability to adapt to the war conditions in the Zeon environment, and partly because they genuinely hadn't expected the Zeon forces to be so fanatical.

"General, someone tried to force their way into the 13th Mobile Unit's base, but they were stopped by the MS squadron next door," an adjutant whispered. He had rushed over after receiving a call.

"Why?" Merck frowned. What the hell? Who? Who dared to mess with Ye Yun? Who's worthy of it?

"It seems the MS pilots reacted strongly because they were trying to take away the three children Ye Yun brought to the base. They actually used live ammunition." The adjutant was sweating profusely. He didn't dare say that what he was pointing at when the other side mobilized armored vehicles wasn't some Type 59 90mm machine gun, but 380mm rocket launchers. And it wasn't just a few; all the mobile MS vehicles that could move in the base were deployed. Almost a whole squadron of MS completely blocked the 13th Mobile Force's position.

He didn't dare say anything more. The Air Force TM next to him had already started warming up the engines. The Swordfish and Flying Scarf had been pushed onto the runway. The ground crew pulled out the ammunition and put it on the side, saying they were cleaning the ammunition, but he didn't know what that meant.

As a junior staff officer, he really couldn't understand why these people in the base, who were clearly from the African Army, would react so strongly to Ye Yun's subordinates and the child he brought.

"Rita and the others?" Major General Merck frowned. "Who are they?!" The junior staff officer looked on in bewilderment as Major General Merck, the highest-ranking commander of the Earth Federation Forces' Africa Region, turned and went to get his clothes.

"It's been verified, they are military police from headquarters," the adjutant said quickly.

"Where are the military police?! Are they idiots? Since when did the headquarters military police, as the command of the Africa Military District in the theater of operations, have law enforcement authority?! They've been detained! The 13th Mobile Force is in combat! How dare they storm their position? If they resist, treat them as Zeon infiltration troops!" Merck immediately seized on the procedural loopholes in the other side's actions, first defining their actions, "Contact the headquarters military police command immediately and demand that they hand over their operational authorization documents! Verify their operational documents, check every single byte, and if there's a single mistake, send an inquiry to them. At the same time, send the information to General Gap and ask what's going on. I'll go to the scene and see for myself. These idiots don't know how big a hornet's nest they've stirred up."

The adjutant didn't know, but Merck knew perfectly well why the pilots and MS pilots reacted so strongly to the actions taken against Rita and the other two girls! Because touching Rita's hand and taking her advice before takeoff was their basic procedure! Only they themselves knew how many people had survived because of this.

So the MS pilots' unanimous reaction was: Don't say these are Colonel Ye Yun's three little ones, these are Colonel Ye Yun's lucky goddess! You dare to forcibly take them, just wait and see if my 380 rocket launcher will accidentally go off.

Moreover, Merck had personally witnessed that Michelle and her team had a lot of very expensive snacks in their room, which were gifts from some unlucky guys who returned pale-faced after their missions.

Even many of the reconnaissance soldiers from the Dhaka base have similar habits! These military police from who-knows-where should be thankful that these murderers are only on the front lines right now, otherwise there would be gunfire in the base by now!

An attack by a skilled Zeon sniper from 2 kilometers away—the kind of attack the military police at the base wouldn't even bother to investigate…

Don't ask, the answer is simple: during wartime, if you suspect there's a lucky goddess or a goddess of destiny residing in your home, what are you planning to do if you don't worship her?!

Stealing Rita? What's the difference between that and taking the lives of a bunch of pilots and mobile suit pilots?

As the commander of the African Army, Merk's vehicle quickly arrived at Ye Yun's base. From afar, he could see a group of mobile suits wielding weapons, some even drawing their electro-swords and igniting them. The crimson blades emitted terrifyingly high temperatures, their tips pointing at a group of unfortunate victims. One armored vehicle had been completely pierced through, a sorry sight. Clearly, the enemy's aggressive stance had thoroughly enraged these mobile suit pilots; this was no longer a warning shot, but a direct attack.

"The general is here..." A group of mechanics who had gathered nearby noticed the situation and shouted loudly.

"General, someone attacked the 13th Mobile Unit's base! They claimed to be military police from headquarters, but they can't produce a search warrant! They're trying to forcibly take Rita and the others away!" An air force major with his arms crossed gave a brief, displeased report, completely omitting the fact that his own MS pilots had brought out their MS, since things weren't much better on their side.

This is just a squadron-level unit. Guess what the size of the air force is over there? The air force stationed here in the Africa Command is, in a way, a wing-level unit. Right now, they're all sunbathing.

If the Army embarrasses themselves today and loses Rita and the others, well, the Air Force will just rebuild the fence and enclose the 13th Mobile Force's base. What a disgrace! Come on, kids, the Air Force brothers and sisters will take you flying. Don't pay any attention to these Army losers.

"Hmm." Major General Merck walked up to the group of people who had been surrounded. Leading them was a man in a suit who didn't appear to be a soldier. He was clearly terrified by the sight. There were people and equipment inside that armored vehicle! And it had been pierced to pieces with a single blow from this short sword! Now, even if they wanted to leave, they couldn't. "Identity? Mission?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm Augu..." The man in the suit seemed to be intimidated by Merck's aura, and seemed to want to say something.

“We are the military police force of the Federal Army Headquarters. We are here to contact Colonel Ye Yun and prepare to take these three children away.” But before he could finish speaking, a military police lieutenant behind him quickly spoke up and handed a document to Merck.

"..." Merck slowly flipped through the documents, then the group in front of him watched with grim faces as seven or eight armored vehicles stopped in front of them, and a large group of military police jumped down. Of course, this group was the military police from the Africa Theater Command. "Are you treating me like a fool?" Merck threw the documents on the ground. "Your documents do contain information about finding Colonel Ye Yun, but they don't say a single word about you being able to take anyone away from here!"

"They...they are not soldiers and are not under the control of the African Military District." The man in the suit who was in the lead seemed to be getting anxious and shouted loudly. However, as soon as he spoke, the lieutenant of the military police behind him turned pale and ashen-faced.

“Oh? Yes, the Federation Army does not want child soldiers, so naturally they are not Federation soldiers.” Merck’s lips curled into a smile. He had seen stupid people before, but never anyone this stupid. “Then should I call you kidnappers? You dare to kidnap people here? You have a lot of nerve.”

"I...we have authorization from headquarters, we Augusta are a legitimate federal research facility..." The man in the suit seemed completely panicked as he watched the soldiers around him begin loading their weapons, and he argued loudly.

"General!" But his words were interrupted again by the military police lieutenant behind him, "We belong to the Federal Army. There's no need for such a tense standoff. If you don't agree, we'll leave now."

"Leave?" Merck stared into the lieutenant's eyes. "You come and go as you please? While the 13th Mobile Force was fighting desperately on the front lines, you attacked their base? And you think you can just leave? You bastard, are you even a military policeman? Don't you understand wartime discipline?" After saying that, Merck waved his hand. "Take them away. I need to know who they are."

"Yes, sir!" A group of military police from the African theater rushed forward, disarmed all of them, handcuffed them, and slapped them with electric batons if they dared to struggle.

“General.” The military police captain walked up to Major General Merck.

“We’ve stationed people here with the 13th Mobile Unit. Our guy has too many good things on him, and too many people are eyeing him. Now that he’s gone out, we have an obligation to keep an eye on him.”

"Yes!"

Chapter 123 Powerful Assault