Gundam UC Hunting Time

[Iron ball?]

This is way too big!?

[Baby Magnum!?]

"That's a new type of mobile weapon designed by the technical department, a mobile fortress called the 'Super Special Iron Ball'. According to the designer, this weapon is the most suitable for space warfare, and its firepower, mobility, and defense are far superior to the mobile suits created by imitating Zeon."

The civilian staff officer's tone was filled with undisguised enthusiasm, clearly showing his high regard for the design—this was precisely the weakness of civilian staff, who tended to prioritize paper data. Lin Xingyuan recalled the previous technical meeting, where an engineering designer had indeed proposed this idea. He had initially thought it was just casual talk, but he never expected them to actually build it!

"Are you kidding me...?"

He stared at it speechlessly. This thing resembled an enlarged version of a specially designed iron ball, about fifty meters in diameter, with multiple nozzles distributed around its body. At the unfinished openings, he could see devices similar to kinetic gyroscopes, suggesting good mobility; it was clearly not intended to be a mobile artillery turret. The center of the machine, mimicking the Bigelow, featured a mega particle cannon, and multiple missile launchers were located around its body. There was also a rotating beam turret on the head and bottom, and the sides of the body copied the Bigelow's mechanical arm structure, clearly indicating some melee capability.

In theory, this thing should be quite powerful in combat, but in this world where mobile suits are the main characters, even the strongest mobile armor cannot escape a tragic end.

"..."

Lin Xingyuan finally understood why Moon God Jim's production was so low—all the resources were being wasted on this thing! For a moment, he couldn't keep his composure.

"Oh! Lin! You're back!?"

Beside the giant iron sphere, the designer was overseeing the construction progress. Seeing Lin Xingyuan approach, he excitedly greeted him, "Look at my masterpiece! Isn't it much more imposing than those grasshopper-like MS!? We've also solved the beam defense problem you mentioned by creating a magnetic field barrier; the beams can't do anything about it anymore—"

Magnetic field barrier? I-force field? Did they actually use this technology before Big Zam?

Although somewhat concerned, Lin Xingyuan didn't have time to argue with him about whether MS or MA was stronger, so he interrupted him directly and asked, "How's the completion progress of this thing?"

"It's 85% complete. Once the remaining outer armor and magnetic field barrier are adjusted, it can be put into combat. Then we can give Zeon a good taste..."

Eighty-five percent...

This is very unlucky.

The live chat was filled with teasing comments, but Lin Xingyuan paid no attention to them.

"Can it be put into use immediately?"

"Huh? Now!?"

"The Zeon army is coming, and we need all the mobile weapons we can."

"What!?"

The other party was taken aback. Seeing that Lin Xingyuan didn't seem to be joking, he scratched the bald patch on his head and said, "Alright, I'll think of a way. By the way, Lin, do you want to operate it yourself? This MA needs two pilots. Finding one more person will allow it to fully unleash its combat power."

Please allow me to refuse, thank you, goodbye!

Lin Xingyuan decisively turned and left, heading straight for the MS production line under the disappointed gaze of the designers. Fortunately, two MS had just finished assembly, but hadn't had time to be painted yet. After talking with the technicians, he learned that the low production volume of the Luna series GM wasn't actually the fault of the "Super Special Iron Ball"—that thing was a counterattack by the big ship and big gun faction, operating on the battleship manufacturing line and consuming ship resources. The real problem lay with Lin Xingyuan himself: because the RGM-79E, which he had helped design, used a swapping system, although it improved combat power and versatility, it also increased cost and production time. Coupled with the urgent need for mobile suits at the front lines, and the Special Iron Ball showing excellent cost-effectiveness, the higher-ups allocated more resources to the relatively cheaper Special Iron Ball.

"..."

Having been blamed for his own actions, Lin Xingyuan immediately changed the subject. He halted the painting work at the first opportunity and personally boarded the new mech for inspection. He discovered that despite resource constraints and cost-cutting measures, the advance production GM manufactured at the Luna 2 factory faithfully adhered to the design plan, with meticulous attention to the replacement system, only simplifying details such as armor material, thickness, and the angle of the spherical cockpit's display screen.

Regarding armor, the Luna 2 couldn't produce high-tensile steel and Luna titanium alloy, so it had to use ceramic titanium composite armor, which was also reduced in thickness. However, armor wasn't a core performance indicator for mobile suits—the Federation later produced the Light GM, which was highly praised by veterans for its superior mobility. As for the reduced display angle to 180°, it was still much better than the three-sided windows of the Core Fighter, at least catching up with the level of Zeon mobile suits—in this respect, Zeon had always been ahead of the Federation, with the Tiger and Dom being good examples. Other aspects, such as the simplified backpack and the direct welding of thrusters to the steel frame (similar to the EZ8 Space Type), were not considered by Lin Xingyuan as long as performance was not affected.

After exiting the aircraft, he immediately ordered: "Move these two aircraft to the hangar immediately and hand them over to Lieutenant Ray Zabarel and Lieutenant Shirley Page to pilot."

"Huh? But these two machines have already been reserved by other pilots."

"Let them come find me after the battle is over."

Lin Xingyuan directly used his privileges—protests and dissatisfaction could wait until they got through this hurdle. It was clearly more effective to let Lei and his team pilot the mechs than to entrust them to rookies of unknown skill.

"Move quickly! The enemy could attack at any moment; don't delay pre-battle preparations!"

"Ok."

After arranging the mechs, Lin Xingyuan summoned all the pilots who could be deployed. However, he found that most of them were unfamiliar faces, and there were also many obviously underage "rookies". Experts such as Baninger's immortal squad and Pumpkin Jack were nowhere to be seen, which made his heart sink again.

It's a disaster.

Where have all the veterans gone?

He asked Io, who shrugged helplessly:

"They've all been sent to various places to serve as instructors."

After months of fierce fighting, the Federation forces have recovered many of their bases in space, and some neutral colonies have secretly sided with the Federation. In preparation for the upcoming major counter-offensive, the Federation has dispatched numerous instructors to various locations to train personnel (this is the case with Shiro Amada, and the same applies to Thunderbolts; they all send out instructors to train their troops). The Zeon forces have also noticed this, which is why they want to completely eliminate the source of the conflict at Luna 2 base; destroying the Shima forces is merely a side effect.

"..."

It seems we have no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.

Lin Xingyuan immediately convened a combat meeting to conduct pre-battle mobilization and tactical deployment. Only after completing these preliminary tasks did he go to the cockpit to wait for the battle alarm to sound!

……

……

I don't need a picture of the Super Iron Ball, right?

You might find the pre-battle content a bit wordy, but the protagonist is about to develop into a commander, so we have to write about it. Let's get started in the next chapter!

Chapter 164 Death is Silent

"Attention all units! Enemy fleet is moving! Battle is about to begin! Attention all units! Enemy fleet is moving! Battle is about to begin!"

The warning broadcast echoed throughout Luna II Base, causing everyone's expressions to change drastically. The maintenance crews quickened their pace, and the pilots rushed to their respective aircraft.

"This design is based entirely on theory; it hasn't even been tested in practice. Is it really safe?"

Mei swiped the PAD, looking at the introduction of the line barrel cannon, her tone revealing her worry.

"No problem, because I am the designer."

Lin Xingyuan smiled, and under Mei's surprised gaze, leaned out of the cockpit to look at Lei and Shirley beside him.

"How are you two doing!?"

"It works!"

Lei was making the final settings, his hands flying across the keyboard, his skill astonishing everyone present, and his answers were concise and to the point.

"Barely acceptable."

Once Shirley Page entered combat mode, she lost her previous casual demeanor and simply gave Lin Xingyuan an OK sign.

Lin Xingyuan then looked at the other drivers, mainly those with the special iron balls.

"They're all too young... Damn Zeon..."

Mei, standing beside him, couldn't help but sigh. During this time, she had witnessed far too many prematurely young lives being devoured by the flesh-grinding mill of war, never to return. However, Lin Xingyuan didn't see much wavering on the faces of these young people. A few were a little nervous, but most of them only had a deep-seated hatred for Zeon in their eyes. He had seen this expression on many faces before—Republic-class pilots, sentry gun operators, gunners of various assault boats... They all had a blood feud with Zeon, to the point that even the spots in the suicide squad were fiercely contested.

Zeon created such a terrifying enemy for himself.

Lin Xingyuan suddenly thought of Hillary, the former captain of the 101st Flight Squadron, the female pilot who defected from Side 2. She had died in action during a reconnaissance mission to the Solomon Fortress and was later found to be a Zeon spy, confirming his suspicions. However, her heroic death had puzzled the intelligence department. Now it seemed that spending every day with subordinates like that had probably pushed her mental limits.

"I will bring them back."

After offering Mei a word of comfort, Lin Xingyuan returned to the cockpit and turned on the command communication system.

"Listen up, everyone! Don't be reckless later. We're outnumbered, so our priority in battle is to preserve ourselves before eliminating the enemy! Commander, please pay special attention!"

"Understood," the team leaders assured each other.

Lin Xingyuan contacted the factory again and connected to the super-special iron ball. As a result, one of the drivers who appeared on the communication screen was actually the designer himself.

"No one knows my work better than me. We can storm the fleet and give them a central burst of energy!"

He said proudly, without a trace of fear on his face, his confidence soaring.

You even charged into the fleet and caused a fire in the center? Do you think your thing is a GP03D?!

Lin Xingyuan was speechless, and sternly warned, "This machine's I-field hasn't been adjusted yet, has it? You don't have the physical qualities necessary to pilot an MA. If you don't want to be riddled with beams, stay inside the anti-aircraft zone! I'll send two squads of special-equipped iron balls to protect you!"

"All right……"

The designer reluctantly agreed, and Lin Xingyuan switched back to the command channel. After making the final arrangements, he issued the order to attack.

"Very good, prepare to move out and let's catch the Zeon devils off guard!"

At his command, the mobile suits rose from their maintenance stands, and the surrounding robotic arms immediately equipped them with shields, weapons, and backpacks. Since it was an assault operation, most of them opted for mid-range and long-range backpacks that prioritized offensive power. The special-equipped iron balls didn't receive the same treatment, but they were equipped with their own robotic arms and were also very quick to equip themselves.

..............................

Generally speaking, in fortress sieges, the attacking side takes the initiative to strike, while the fortress side retreats to defend, fighting back head-on.

However, Lin Xingyuan had too few mobile troops available. Rather than deploying them as fixed firing points within Luna 2 base, it would be better to use them as surprise troops to catch the enemy off guard.

Of course, the enemy would definitely be prepared when they attacked, so Lin Xing originally planned to go a step further and launch a surprise attack before the enemy launched their attack. This would not only catch them off guard and disrupt their plans, but also catch them off guard.

As for failure, he had considered it—in the original timeline, without him, Luna 2 withstood the Zeon attack—although the losses seemed exceptionally heavy, the Zeon forces had indeed failed to capture Luna 2. Of course, because of his instigation, the Zeon forces likely increased their troop deployment this time, but Luna 2's forces were also stronger than in the original timeline. Therefore, he didn't need to worry about the worst-case scenario; as long as he did his best to minimize casualties, that would be enough.

"This is Lin Xingyuan, Scorpio 01, RX-79E—" The black RX-79E stood at the ejection position. Lin Xingyuan had just announced his name when he suddenly felt that pronouncing the letters lacked impact. He spent a second thinking and decided that calling it Death Gundam would be too common, Divine Will Gundam wouldn't be appropriate, Judgment Gundam would seem too arrogant, and Announcing Death would be too villainous. After rejecting several names in a row, he suddenly lost his enthusiasm and simply gave up: "Gundam, deploy!"

Anyway, calling it Gundam is already impressive enough.

As the RX-79E leaped out of the gate, the vast universe stretched out before it. Zeon's fleet was gathering on the other side of the fortress, while only three mobile suits were deployed here for surveillance and sentry duty.

"After I take over the observation post, the first attack squadron will follow, and the second attack squadron will wait here! We'll lure the enemy over!"

He gave instructions to fine-tune the aircraft's attitude, change its trajectory, and silently rush towards the three Zeon aircraft.

Because they were not the main combat force, the three Zeong machines were all somewhat outdated Zaku I models, but they were equipped with high-powered communicators that could ensure communication even under high concentrations of Minovsky particle interference. If they could not be shot down at the same time, they would definitely report to the fleet.

Other mobile suits may not be able to do it, but the RX-79E's cannon can.

Go forth, you ordinary deer!

In the cockpit, Lin Xingyuan selected multiple target attack modes, locked on, and immediately pressed the attack button. The four cable-operated cannon pods on the back of the aircraft immediately detached from the base and flew in different directions, trailing their cables.

The comments section immediately started buzzing with complaints:

【What ordinary deer? And this isn't a drone, is it?】

That's so cringeworthy!

Almost instantly, the three Zaku I helicopters were simultaneously destroyed by beams of light coming from all sides. The pilots had no idea what had happened, as the beams seemed to have been fired from empty space. They died without ever understanding what was going on.

Lin Xingyuan smiled as he successfully shot down the enemy aircraft.

In the rear passage, their own drivers were also stunned to see three Zaku tanks destroyed at the same time, unaware of what had happened.

What was that just now?

"What's going on!?"

Io was also curious, but this was clearly not the right time to investigate, so he immediately shouted, "Enough talk! Let's go!"

MS (Mobile Suit Gundams) advanced one after another from the tunnel, catching up with the RX-79E ahead. After completing their trajectory corrections, they simultaneously shut down their engines. The rubble surrounding Luna II provided excellent concealment, allowing the first attack squadron to stealthily approach the Zeon fleet preparing to attack!

……

……

I booked the wrong time, oh my god...

terribly sorry!

Volume 2 GAT VS GP