Gundam UC Hunting Time

"At that time, how did you know that the Zeon army's Zaku would attack before the headquarters did?"

Everyone looked at Lin Xingyuan, and they all had the same question.

"intuition."

The more you say, the more mistakes you make, so Lin Xingyuan simply attributed the answer to metaphysics. But Kajima Yu was clearly not so easily fooled and pressed for answers.

"Based on what?"

"Knowing they couldn't win, they still launched a strong attack. The Zeon army was outnumbered, so it's impossible for them not to have a backup plan."

Lin Xingyuan reversed cause and effect, lying without changing his expression.

Now everyone was convinced, and they all gave him admiring and friendly looks before introducing themselves. Sure enough, the comments were right; the people matched up.

"If there's nothing else, let's go. Major Wakan is waiting for us."

Baning spoke up. At this moment, he was not yet a captain, but only a lieutenant officer. However, because of his seniority, he was vaguely seen as a leader.

The group immediately sprang into action, gripping the horizontal bar and moving along. Lin Xingyuan naturally followed, asking Tachibana Kamiina in a low voice.

“Tell me what happened.”

"It was that bastard Frank who did it!" Tachibana said indignantly. "Luckily, your mecha was also salvaged, and the combat logs inside prove that you were right."

"Yeah."

It seems that results speak for themselves, and Lin Xingyuan remembered this.

"But you really are impressive, severely damaging one Muse and shooting down one Zaku, only one less than Lieutenant Jung."

Jung, who overheard their conversation, glanced back, a hint of arrogance in his eyes. When he turned back, Tachibana Kaname winked at Hayashi Hoshino.

"It was just luck." Lin Xingyuan turned to look at the people around him, feeling ashamed.

These guys are all future Federation Ace Pilots, how could I possibly be ranked among them?

……

The Luna II pilot briefing room was located in the gravity zone. Upon entering, Lin Xingyuan, who had just come out of the detention cell, couldn't help but marvel at the comfortable environment. However, compared to the spacious area, there weren't as many pilots as he had imagined, and they were all either lounging around playing cards and drinking, or frowning and preoccupied, filling the entire briefing room with a gloomy atmosphere.

This is probably what is meant by the appearance of a defeated army.

No wonder Jung and the others came looking for him. It wasn't because he was so great, but because there were really only a few pilots left, and the few of them just happened to gather together.

The sound of the door opening attracted everyone's attention, and a lot of eyes were instantly focused on Lin Xingyuan and his group. One of them stared at Lin Xingyuan for a few seconds, met his gaze, and then turned his head away with an unhappy expression.

It seems he is Frank, who actually spread rumors that he is a supporter of the Zeon army, or even a spy. He's simply insane.

Lin Xingyuan pursed his lips. At this moment, Rong Ge and the others found places to sit down, and he also found a seat nearby. He looked up and searched, but did not find any officers of the rank of colonel.

"for you."

Tachibana Kamina handed him a can of sugary drink, which was very heartwarming.

Thanks.

Lin Xingyuan felt better after drinking the sugary beverage. At that moment, the door opened again, and a tall, thin major officer walked in with his adjutant. It was Hua Ken.

Here comes a typical example of the early bureaucratic style of the Earth Federation Forces.

That was an early setup; intercepting Trojans involves inter-military conflicts and is not as simple as it seems on the surface.

[The Trojan Horse and RX-78-2 originally belonged to the Space Force. He was the commander of the Space Force's last stronghold at the time, and he was constantly being attacked by Zeon, so it was only natural that he wanted to keep the Trojan Horse and the Gundam.]

The comments section became active again, with the pilots slowly standing up, giving a perfunctory salute, and then sitting down again, displaying a relaxed and undisciplined atmosphere.

Major Hua Ken showed no anger on his face, but simply turned to look at Lin Xingyuan and nodded to him—clearly he had done his homework. He then walked to the large screen, projected Liang Jun's situation map, and looked at everyone with a serious expression.

"Gentlemen, as you are all well aware of the current situation, our Federation forces have suffered unprecedented and devastating blows, while the Zeon forces have essentially suppressed all sides and gained control of space. Our communication with Earth has become extremely difficult—"

Using a laser pointer to illuminate the situation map, he briefly explained the current situation and then surveyed the pilots.

"Gentlemen, I would like to know your views on this war?"

The pilots either crossed their arms or lay on the table, some looking at the grim situation map, others simply lowering their heads and avoiding eye contact with Huaken.

"Does nobody want to say anything?"

Hua Ken frowned, his eyes gloomy—this kind of dejection didn't suit his needs, so he looked at Jung, remembered that the guy had a terrible temper and was difficult to get along with, and changed his target, choosing Lin Xingyuan next to him.

"Lieutenant Lin, you are one of the few pilots who achieved combat results in the campaign. What are your thoughts?"

Lin Xingyuan didn't expect to be called out. Frank, who was not far away, cast a mixed look of jealousy and disgust at him, with an expression of waiting to see a good show. Of course, there were also admiring and envious glances. At this moment, the barrage also started to clamor, full of shouts of "Zeon has no more troops to use".

Since the audience unanimously demanded a standout performance, in order to accumulate good karma and receive tips, Lin Xingyuan decided to fulfill their wishes and incidentally improve Hua Ken's favorability.

"I believe that the Federation's apparent defeat in the Battle of Loum is only a temporary setback. While the Zeon forces have achieved a superficial victory, they have actually lost a large number of experienced personnel, especially mobile suit pilots. Furthermore, they need to control a large area, leaving them with virtually no troops available. Therefore, this war has only just begun, and Zeon will ultimately be defeated!"

Chapter Eight Suicide Squad

"I believe that although the Federation suffered a defeat on the surface in the Battle of Loum, it was only a temporary setback. While the Zeon army appeared to have won, it actually lost a large number of experienced personnel, especially mobile suit pilots. Moreover, it needed to control a large area, so it actually had no troops left to use! Therefore, this war has only just begun, and Zeon, whose production capacity is insufficient, will ultimately be defeated!"

He didn't speak loudly, but his words were firm and resolute, causing an uproar in the briefing room.

"What is this guy saying?" Everyone looked at Lin Xingyuan with such eyes, and the barrage of comments was quiet for two seconds before erupting.

[You said it!]

[Rebil: He was using all my lines!]

[Haha, is this really something I can say?!]

[This is indeed the case. Although the Zeon forces won the battle, they lost over 1600 mobile suits and other combat equipment, with too many skilled pilots dying.]

[IJN indicates "Do not Q"]

[Char's attack on Side 7 backfired, and he wanted to replenish his MS, but Dozle said the situation didn't allow it, indicating that Zeon was already struggling.]

Sorry, but our Federation is rich, so we can do whatever we want.

[Drown them with an ocean of GMs and iron balls!]

That's why Deakin planned to negotiate with the Federation, and deliberately let Rebil go for this purpose.

Then Rebil betrayed him.

【2333】

[Stop with the nonsense, when are you going to bring out the Gundam!?]

【Yes! This is so boring, we want to see rivers of blood!】

"As expected of a top student from the military academy, he really knows how to talk a good game~" Frank, who reported Lin Xingyuan, said sarcastically, "The question is, how do we win? With the Swordfish? Against MS?"

Some people showed lingering fear on their faces, clearly shaken by the terror of the Zaku.

“Swordfish won’t do.” Jung, who had his arms crossed, suddenly spoke up, saying in a resolute tone, “To deal with the Zeon Zaku, we need the same thing!”

"Feel the same."

"That's true."

Baninger and the others agreed – they were all pilots who had fought against mobile suits head-on on the front lines and survived, and they knew very well the advantages of humanoid weapons like the Zaku in battle, so they almost reflexively believed that the only opponent of a mobile suit was another mobile suit!

"Stop talking nonsense, we don't have anything like that!" Frank scoffed.

"If you don't have any, go to the Loum battlefield to pick them up, or rob Zeon's transport ships. There's always a way."

Lin Xingyuan responded to the prompts in the live chat, only to be rebuffed by Frank again.

"Easier said than done—"

Frank shrugged, but Lin Xingyuan was already extremely annoyed with him and retorted rudely before he could finish speaking.

"Coward, you might as well huddle in the closet and pray."

"Hahaha!"

Someone sneered, and Frank immediately turned red in the face and couldn't say a word.

"Do we have that time? The Zeon army will be here soon, won't they? The war is over...it's all over..."

A pilot who was clearly drunk mumbled something that immediately made the atmosphere in the conference room even heavier.

Hua Ken wasn't very confident either, so despite hearing such discouraging remarks, he didn't let the military police take the man away. However, Lin Xingyuan's words could boost morale and were beneficial to what he was going to do next, so he immediately straightened his military cap and spoke up to break the tension.

"Lieutenant Lin is right, absolutely right. The Space Force hasn't lost yet, and I have no intention of surrendering. However, Luna 2 does indeed pose a greater threat than other theaters, and command wants to acquire new weapons as soon as possible to deal with Zeon attacks. Therefore, I order—all units to do their utmost to recover any mobile suits lost or damaged by Zeon in past battles, or to capture any enemy transport ships that may be carrying mobile suits!"

"What!?" The pilots were all shocked: "Under these circumstances?"

"Don't joke around, what's the difference between this and suicide?!"

“I know it’s difficult, but a mission is a mission.” Hua Ken looked around: “This concerns the immediate safety of Luna 2, as well as the victory in the future war. There is no room for refusal.”

"A suicide squad? Interesting."

After a brief silence, Jung was the first to stand up, his eyes brimming with the eagerness of a warrior—this man was an introverted personality, usually gloomy and silent, not very likable, only revealing his fanatical side at times like this. Then Baninger and Kajima Isamu also stood up to express their stance—as pilots, they were not lacking in courage and adventurousness, and their strong sense of pride would not allow them to surrender to Zeon.

Count me in.

Lin Xingyuan also stood up. Although this was not his war, and he was not afraid of death, as a man with blood in his veins, he could not turn his back on the atrocities committed by the Zeon army after witnessing such a tragedy.

It is everyone's responsibility to eliminate Nazis!

Moreover, this is the UC universe, and the war has affected the entire Earth sphere. The more you try to escape, the more the war will find you. Besides, this is what the comments expect, and it's also the reason for its existence.

Are you okay?

Beside him, Tachibana Kanna looked at him in surprise—Lin Xingyuan had just come out of the prison cell and hadn't even had a proper rest before immediately throwing himself into such a battle, which was extremely dangerous.

"Don't worry, it's no problem."

Lin Xingyuan activated his power potion and immediately felt his body brimming with energy. Seeing this, Tachibana Kamina gritted her teeth and stood up as well.

"I'll join you too."

"Very good, the Space Force will not forget your contributions. That's all."

Hua Ken saluted the men who had stood up, and then his adjutant stepped forward and loudly announced the time of the operation.

SIDE5——

Two days had passed, but the battlefield was still shrouded in smoke and littered with wrecked remains. Flashes of light could still be seen—the surviving power plants releasing energy like lightning in the clouds, a sight that inspired awe.

"No... Zeon forces... target... safe—"

The sound coming through the headset was intermittent; it was the Swordfish tasked with scouting ahead—for this operation, Luna 2 had deployed two warships. One Columbus-class was deployed at the rear, carrying four Swordfish to provide reconnaissance and cover for the salvage operation, while the Samiras-class was responsible for the forward salvage, operating as stealthily as possible to avoid detection by the Zeon forces. However, the concentration of Minovsky particles on the battlefield remained stubbornly high, and communication was extremely poor, making surveillance difficult.

"Received, the salvage team can proceed."

"clear."

Hidden in the smoke, the Samiras-class opened its bottom hatch, releasing two modified SP-W03 Space Pods—with added armor and thrusters, and robotic arms that differed from the standard model.

The thrusters emitted blue light, and the two spheres with mechanical arms plunged into the battlefield filled with the aura of death as if diving.

"...The Space Force actually has something like this..."

Tachibana Kanna's voice sounded somewhat distorted and intermittent—because they had lost their personal aircraft, the two of them could only act as the pilots of the space capsule, responsible for the search and salvage.

“There was a plan to arm this thing before. These two were probably prototypes used for demonstration, but the plan was later terminated.”

Lin Xingyuan replied that he never expected to have the opportunity to drive the predecessor of the Iron Ball—needless to say, this was another expert's 'science popularization' in the barrage comments.

"The right decision. Deploying this thing to the battlefield is just using people as cannon fodder!"

Tachibana Kanna looked at the rudimentary equipment in the space capsule, then looked up at the low-recoil cannon overhead, and said with a sigh.

Lin Xingyuan: "No, you'll see this sooner or later."

"Don't joke around, I'd rather drive a Swordfish than this."

Just imagining what it would be like to drive such a thing into battle, Tachibana Kanna couldn't help but shudder.

As they spoke, two spacecraft emerged from the smoke, and ahead appeared a battle-damaged Magellan-class ship, lying on its side with its engine room empty, looking like a dead fish that had been gutted.

"I really hope everyone inside escaped safely..."

Tachibana Kannai said, but Lin Xingyuan saw the officers' bodies floating in the bridge through Eagle Vision, realizing that the warship probably hadn't received an order to retreat, and the number of casualties was likely not small. So he said nothing, confirmed that there were no Zeon surveillance personnel around, and manipulated the iron ball to bypass the silent wreckage and continue forward. The scene ahead was even more horrific—they had actually seen this once before, but witnessing it again still weighed heavily on their hearts.

Author's message

We've signed the contract ahead of schedule, thank you everyone for your support!