Gundam UC Hunting Time

Swordfish are fast enough to strike and run, so there might still be opportunities!

[If you're a real man, drive a Swordfish!]

Are you able to survive?

Chapter Four: The White Wolf's Surprise Attack

The MS squadron launching the surprise attack swooped down from the sky, penetrating the Federation fleet and easily evading the fleet's close-in weaponry. Meanwhile, the fleet's ships, lacking radar guidance, relied entirely on manual aiming, rendering them ineffective and extremely inefficient—even less powerful than the anti-aircraft firepower of World War II navies. This created an opportunity for the MS, a next-generation weapon with omnidirectional capabilities and high maneuverability!

Rockets loaded with nuclear warheads struck the Federation Space Force warships one after another. Zeon pilots roared with excitement, rushing towards their targets as if hunting. Meanwhile, the Federation Space Forces were caught between a relentless bombardment from the Zeon Musai fleet and a surprise attack from Zaku, leaving them overwhelmed. Their massive spaceships, like a pod of whales being hunted, fled in panic, a chaotic mess, their communication channels filled with screams and cries of alarm.

"Don't back down! While bombarding, disperse and advance!"

"The Iwo Jima has been hit! It is still engaged in combat!"

"The Seer has also been hit!"

"No response from any of the gun ports; the starboard engine compartment has been hit!"

"..."

"What is that!? A person?"

"A humanoid fighter jet?"

As the swordfish rapidly approached the chaotic battlefield, the attacking enemies became clearly visible to the pilots for the first time.

The communication channels were in chaos. Many of the pilots were seeing the Zaku for the first time and were stunned. However, a few knew that the Zeon army had humanoid weapons.

"It's a mobile suit! A Zeon Zaku—"

Drop drop drop-

Warnings blared incessantly, and the battlefield rapidly expanded before our eyes. Flaming warships and speeding mobile suits quickly filled our field of vision. One Zaku was accidentally shot down by the warship's anti-aircraft fire and blown to pieces, but another one immediately pounced on it and fired a nuclear rocket!

The warship was destroyed in the flash of the nuclear explosion. The Zaku that had succeeded retreated and moved away, but the next second it was hit by a missile that flew in and was blown out of control and thrown backward.

[Wow! The Zaku has been shot down!]

[Could the driver be Disney Jung?]

[That's possible; he shot down two Zaku tanks during the Battle of Loum.]

[The Federation Army's Top Ace!]

[Wasn't it established that his battle record was deliberately inflated by the Federation to reduce the influence of the Newtypes?]

【…】

The barrage of comments scrolled across his field of vision, but Lin Xingyuan had no energy to pay attention to them. High speed was the Swordfish's only advantage over the Zaku, but its path was chaotic, and a moment's inattention could result in a fatal collision.

The Zaku assault team, which was firing indiscriminately, was caught off guard by the Swordfish formation and lost its rhythm. As they scattered to avoid the attack, some casualties were inevitable. However, the Zaku pilots at this time were Zeon's elite and quickly reacted and launched a counterattack.

Thanks to its humanoid form, the Zaku possesses a targeting ability unmatched by traditional aircraft. Without complex rolling maneuvers, simply turning its body or arm allows it to aim its cannons at a passing swordfish and shoot it down from behind. Some highly skilled and daring pilots even destroy the fragile swordfish with a mere ramming and kicking motion, without switching weapons!

The alarm continued to beep incessantly, sending chills down one's spine. Lin Xingyuan couldn't hear it at all; he was completely absorbed in staring straight ahead.

!! ?

By veering its wings to avoid the damaged Magellan-class destroyer in front of it, the enemy suddenly appeared in front of Lin Xingyuan!

It was a late-production MS-05B Zaku I, holding a rocket launcher in one hand and a 105mm Zaku machine gun in the other. It had just finished attacking the Magellan-class and was right behind it. Its pink monocular eye turned and spotted the approaching Swordfish. It immediately turned the muzzle of the rocket launcher in its hand and fired a rocket.

Without time to think, relying entirely on instinct, Lin Xingyuan maneuvered the Swordfish to dodge the rocket—in his haste, the Zaku's firing was also inaccurate. He seized the fleeting opportunity, decisively firing a missile at the Zaku in front of him, then deflecting to escape! At the same time, he continued to maneuver erratically to avoid missing his target and being hit from behind by the Zaku.

Almost the next second, four missiles roared toward the Zaku and crashed into the target at an astonishing speed—the Zaku's pilot had made the wrong choice, so this time Lady Luck smiled upon Lin Xingyuan.

It's done!

[Damn! They actually did it!]

[Congratulations on securing the first kill!]

[What a pity. We just sank a Magellan-class destroyer. If this guy had survived, he would definitely have become a Zeon ace pilot.]

[What a waste, he's just cannon fodder for Gihren!]

The chat was filled with messages of victory, and at the same time, the excited shouts of the wingman pilot could be heard over the communication channel.

"Lin! You killed him!"

Lin Xingyuan completely forgot that he had a wingman. He subconsciously looked back and happened to witness a shocking moment - an extremely bright beam of light shot from a great distance, pierced through the entire battlefield, and swallowed a warship!

What is that?! A satellite laser cannon?!

In an instant, he felt an electric shock on his forehead, a chill ran down his back, and his hair stood on end. At that moment, the wingman pilot couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"What is that!?"

[It must be the land of giants, right?]

[Isn't that the Giant Snake Cannon? It's from the 603rd Test Unit.]

The Zeon forces really do have a soft spot for these superweapons.

It seems like they only sank one warship in the entire battle; it was pretty useless.

The comments section provided the answer. After reading the relevant information, Lin Xingyuan, who was caught up in the moment of passion, calmed down and felt extremely tired.

"Let's retreat, back to the mothership..."

He didn't want to continue any longer, so he immediately turned around and flew towards the Columbus-class transport ship behind the front line according to the combat plan, issuing a landing request. His wingman quickly followed. The air traffic controller of the Columbus-class responded quickly; the young and pleasant female voice was like a refreshing drink to the two men whose nerves were on the verge of breaking.

"She sounds like a good woman, I've decided to pursue her!"

The wingman made this announcement, completely unaware of how dangerous this flag-planting maneuver was—and just as the two Swordfish were preparing to slow down for landing, an MS-06C ZAKU II suddenly appeared from the side, its cannon muzzle pointing directly at them, its white-painted shoulders standing out conspicuously in the darkness!

"Be careful--!"

Lin Xingyuan's pupils contracted instantly, and he almost reflexively issued a warning while pressing the fire button. The four 25mm machine guns in the nose of the aircraft opened fire!

A barrage of 25mm shells swept towards the white-shouldered Zaku, which simultaneously opened fire! The next second, a shell pierced the tail of the wingman's aircraft, and the Zaku's machine gun exploded almost at the same time!

"Ugh—!?"

The wingman's astonished voice was cut short by the explosion of his aircraft.

Without even a moment to grieve for his comrade, Lin Xingyuan manipulated the machine at a speed of six times per second, firing the last two missiles while simultaneously using the rudder to roll and avoid the impending collision!

[White-shouldered Zaku! Could it be Matsunaga Makoto!?]

【It's a white wolf!】

Holy crap! What incredible luck! Is it because of +3 luck?

The barrage of comments suddenly became lively. Lin Xingyuan secretly groaned, but he pushed the throttle valve all the way down. The two machines passed each other in the blink of an eye. The pilot of the white-shouldered Zaku seemed to have sensed something was wrong before being hit and discarded the machine gun in advance, so he was not affected by the secondary explosion. It accelerated immediately and raised the nuclear rocket launcher to aim. But at this moment, the Columbus-class ship unfortunately slipped into the firing line of the nuclear rocket launcher, and the close-in weapon system on the hull sprayed fire at the Zaku like crazy.

Without the slightest hesitation, the White-Shouldered Zaku launched a nuclear rocket.

"Abort landing, escape!"

The air traffic controller with the pleasant voice was still shouting over the channel. And almost the next second, the nuclear rocket fired from the white-shouldered Zaku hit the poor Columbus-class ship!

A burst of intense light erupted from behind him. Just as guilt crept into Lin Xingyuan's heart, his landline suddenly shuddered as if it had been kicked, and then began to roll violently!

Chapter Five: Regardless of the circumstances, the troop strength in the battle was three to one, giving them an advantage...

When Lin Xingyuan opened his eyes again, he saw the broken wreckage of the warship and the floating corpses outside the cockpit.

The cockpit instruments were completely black, with only the SOS light indicating an emergency still on.

[Awake? Congratulations, you've been transported to another world! This time it's the world of Warhammer 40.]

No, it should be that you've become a girl now, right?

[Luck +3 is really amazing!]

"What am I doing..."

As the comments scrolled by, Lin Xingyuan fumbled to open his helmet visor, shook his head, and tried to clear his head.

[You have been hit by shrapnel from a warship; your mech is severely damaged and inoperable.]

[Shot down on its first mission, how embarrassing.]

[That's good, you've got two results.]

[Devastating a Muse and shooting down a Zaku, that's really impressive! Give me a tip!]

What? His victory was all a fluke.

[If you can do it, then you do it; if you can't, then shut up.]

"..."

The comments had already said everything Lin Xing wanted to say, leaving him speechless. He temporarily put these people having fun aside, unbuckled his seatbelt, stood up, and peered out. The flickering flashes of light immediately caught his eye, and chaotic sounds kept coming through his headphones.

"Advance to the front of the Valkyrie!"

"Levitt is severely injured!"

"Commander Dozru, this ship can't hold on any longer! Good luck!"

"The Iwo Jima is silent!"

"The bridge was hit directly, and the engine compartment was also hit!"

"The power reactor was severely damaged..."

The battle isn't over yet!

MS spread chaos and death throughout the Federation Space Force fleet. Taking advantage of the chaos, Musai stormed in, opening fire indiscriminately. Battleships exploded repeatedly, scattering debris everywhere. The survivors fought back fiercely, with explosions erupting one after another. Using Hawkeye+2, Lin Xingyuan repeatedly captured the sight of a red comet leaping across the battlefield—at this moment, it seemed he was the only Zeon soldier with his mobile suit painted a striking red. The barrage of comments naturally erupted in cheers, but Lin Xingyuan felt no interest in appreciating it.

He suddenly recalled Reibir's pre-war declaration—this would be the largest space battle in human history. Indeed, he thought that no matter what, with three to one force, the advantage was his. He had predicted the beginning, but not the end.

At 1:1 AM on January 16th, the Federation fleet had lost more than half its strength. At 3:10 AM, Rebil's flagship, the Ananki, was sunk. Although Rebil escaped the warship, he was discovered and captured by the Black Triad (this squad was ordered by Kycilia Zabi to assist Dozru in this battle).

With the Federation Space Forces suffering heavy losses of warships, the battle was nearing its end. The vast expanse of space was shrouded in thick smoke and flames, resembling a scene of carnage. Further away, the Side 5 colony, similarly damaged and affected by the fighting, disintegrated amidst smoke and fire, its outer shell shattered. Tens of millions, even hundreds of millions, of lives had perished—these were the fruits of human ingenuity and engineering, the 'ecosystems' upon which humanity depended for survival in space, proving remarkably fragile in the face of malice and various weapons of war.

A vacuum is silent, but a silent hell is more terrifying and chilling than a dramatic one.

At this moment, Lin Xingyuan truly wished he hadn't drawn the +2 Insight card—if he couldn't see or imagine, he wouldn't be able to empathize with others' fear and trembling, to the point that he felt so distressed he just wanted to shut himself off. It also made him deeply realize—this wasn't a game; this was reality.

At 4:10 AM, Cunningham, the newly appointed Chief of Staff of the Federation Space Forces fleet, ordered a retreat. However, under the fierce attack of Zeon mobile suits, the fleet was unable to escape safely. Taking advantage of the Zeon fleet's numerical disadvantage, Cunningham divided his fleet into three groups, ordering each group to retreat towards Earth, L4, and L5 respectively. If the Zeon fleet pursued one group, the other two groups could take the opportunity to escape.

Zeon commander Dozle quickly saw through Cunningham's strategy and decided to pursue the Second and Fifth Fleets, which were retreating towards Earth. Cunningham's flagship, the Magellan-class battleship Nereids, was located among these two fleets. At 4:55 AM, Cunningham ordered the Nereids to change course and intercept the pursuing Zeon fleet. It is recorded that Cunningham told his adjutant that if Reibille were still alive (he believed Reibille to be dead), he would have made the same choice. The Nereids pushed its shipborne beam cannons to their limits, firing continuously until the heat generated by the MEGA particles melted the cannon barrels. At 5:14 AM, after enduring eight beam cannon shots and four large missiles, the Nereids finally sank.

Beams, shells, and missiles swept past dozens of times, and Zaku also passed by many times, but none of them showed any interest in a damaged Swordfish. Lin Xingyuan floated in the center of the battlefield and witnessed the beginning and end of the war.

Suddenly, one Zeon M'sai after another fired out dazzling signal flares, and mobile suits withdrew one after another. At the same time, all communication channels and all communication methods were shouting chilling slogans.

"ZICK ZEON! ZICK ZEON! ZICK ZEON! ZICK ZEON..."

They were like demons who were satisfied with killing, letting out triumphant laughter.

【ZICK ZEON!】

【ZICK ZEON!】

The Zeon faction in the comments section had the upper hand, joining in the celebration and shouting, recounting every Zeon ace that emerged in this battle.

[Breniv Oggs, a one-hit kill!]

[Nordit Bauer!]

[Johnny Redding, the Crimson Lightning!]

【Eric Mansfield the Griffin!】

【Makoto Matsunaga, the White Wolf!】

[Jaby Hassad, the Black Dog Beast!]

Anger surged within Lin Xingyuan like rolling thunder. If before he had always held a detached attitude of "Zeon is a bastard, but the Federation is no good either" and did not particularly favor either side, at this moment, being in the midst of it all, his thoughts had changed.

In the Battle of Loum, Zeon once again slaughtered nearly two billion people. It can be said that the aces born from this war were all among the most heinous and brutal executioners and accomplices in history!

And they actually cheered for these people!

Lin Xingyuan hardened his fist, squeezing the control lever so hard it made a cracking sound.

People cannot, or at least should not, do such things...

Since I like them so much, I'll go straight against them from now on!

Of course, there were also rational voices in the comments section.

[What's there to be proud of?! The Zeon army are genuine Nazis, militaristic pigs, and inhumane butchers; they should all be annihilated!]