Gundam UC Hunting Time

Suddenly—Mira pressed her earpiece, listened for a moment, her expression turned serious, and then shouted at Lin Xingyuan.

"Captain, new mission! Top priority!"

Author's message

……

……

Ask for support!

Chapter 125 Dzimitov's Crisis

The bridge leading to the base was blown up because the anti-aircraft fire from the other side was so fierce that even fighter jets dared not approach.

The armored units preparing to go to the rescue were all parked in an area far from the riverbank. Near the riverbank, the wreckage of more than a dozen hovercraft, pontoon bridge modules and tanks was still burning fiercely, and the smell of burnt rubber and molten metal could be smelled from a hundred meters away.

This is the scene that Lin Xingyuan and his team saw when they arrived.

"How many came?"

Upon seeing Lin Xingyuan and his group arrive, the command officer eagerly inquired, but his face immediately fell upon learning that there were only four mobile suits. Inside the tent were at least twelve people, some in driver's uniforms, some in tank gear, and others in ordinary camouflage. Even the commander was wearing a helmet, clearly a frontline officer, and he too showed disappointment upon hearing the news.

"Four MS? That's far too few!"

"Lieutenant Lin and his squad are experienced, so even if there are a few more enemies, they won't have any problems."

Mira quickly vouched for Lin Xingyuan and the others, but Lin Xingyuan glanced at the aerial photograph on the desktop screen and did not respond immediately.

Judging from the footage, the base across the river is built against the mountain, with several low-rise buildings and barracks, as well as a relatively short taxiway and helicopter parking area. There should also be storage caves inside the mountain, and a group of fortresses and air defense positions have been built on the outside. The defense deployment is quite tight, and it should be difficult to take it by force.

"I have indeed heard of the name of the Grim Reaper, but the other side has at least thirty Type 61 tanks and various other tanks, as well as a bunch of Zeon amphibious mobile suits."

The commander shrugged, and Sherry Page frowned.

"Type 61? What's going on?"

"Damn Zeon bastards, they used our equipment! Otherwise, they would never have been able to take this base!"

The commander angrily slammed down his pen, and Lin Xingyuan raised an eyebrow.

So that's how it is. Is this a modern version of the Trojan Horse?

Since the start of the war, the Federation ground forces, which had been lax in their preparations, had been suffering repeated defeats. The Zeon forces had a large amount of Federation equipment in their hands, and it was not a problem for them to assemble a complete combat team.

"...That's the intelligence. We've already attempted a forced crossing to retake it, but it failed because of the Zeon amphibious mobile suits. They control the base's air defenses, and the Navy's anti-submarine attack aircraft dare not approach. Long-range firepower isn't effective against fortified positions, and we also have to consider the safety of the prisoners. If we can't effectively break this stalemate, our armored forces won't be able to penetrate. This base's location is crucial; if it falls into Zeon's hands, the entire front will collapse, and it could even threaten the security of the Panama Canal."

The frontline commander pointed to the electronic screen on the desktop and explained the current situation.

"Our personnel in the base are still resisting by relying on strong fortifications and facilities inside the mountain, but the Zeon forces have controlled the location of the ventilation shafts, so we can't hold out for too long."

“There’s another reason,” an intelligence officer with a gloomy face, perfectly befitting his profession, said. “Brigadier General Djamitov Hyman is currently inspecting this base. We cannot allow him to fall into the hands of the Zeon forces under any circumstances.”

"What!?" Lin Xingyuan was taken aback upon hearing the name. "How could this be?"

This is quite unexpected.

"The brigadier general's work involves logistics and finance, and this base's underground vault stores a portion of the Federation's valuable assets."

The intelligence officer didn't elaborate, but Lin Xingyuan guessed that the so-called valuable assets were mostly gold.

Because of Zeon's unreasonable war tactics, the Federation's economy had already collapsed. Under these circumstances, gold was indeed very important, which explains why Djamitov came here.

Lin Xingyuan understood.

The officers were also learning this intelligence for the first time, and they discussed it amongst themselves with various expressions.

"No matter what, we don't have much time left. We must break the deadlock and retake the base as soon as possible." The commander looked at Lin Xingyuan: "Captain, can you do it?"

"Do you want us to deal with the MS in the water?"

Lin Xingyuan looked at the aerial view of the river. It was the rainy season, and it had just rained, so the current was rapid and the depth was much greater than usual.

"Excuse me." Sherry Page apologized first, then manipulated the map, looked at the situation in the river, and frowned, saying, "We don't have any underwater combat equipment, nor have we made any corresponding preparations. It is very disadvantageous for us to fight against the Zeon army's underwater mobile suits like this."

The upper reaches of this river are plains, and due to desertification, soil erosion is severe. Without a doubt, the bottom of the river is full of silt. Given the MS's ground contact area, anyone who goes in will definitely get stuck.

A somber silence fell, and the same expression appeared on the officers' faces—"Not even MS?"

"How long will it take to prepare underwater combat equipment?" the commander asked.

“There’s no such equipment at all.” Doris crossed her arms, looking mischievous.

Lilith stared at the screen and gritted her teeth, saying, "Why go through all that trouble? Why not just skip ahead and fight the Zeon forces at the base?"

Doris rolled her eyes, always looking down on Lilith's intelligence: "And then get ambushed by an underwater MS? Idiot."

"What did you say?"

Lilith got a little agitated again, but Lin Xingyuan quickly pushed her back down.

"No, maybe this is a good idea."

“What do we need to do?” Shirley Page looked at Lin Xingyuan.

Lin Xingyuan stared at the map, seemingly analyzing the defensive deployment of the Zeon army on the other side of the river, but in reality, he was watching the barrage of comments that kept popping up.

This scene wasn't in the original storyline.

[Perhaps it's a butterfly effect of PL's previous forcibly seizing Zeon's fisheries?]

[Won't this old bastard die before he even gets started? Did the Titans die before he was even born?]

I think this is a good idea.

[Idiot, Djamitov rose to power by taking advantage of the situation. The Titans would have existed even without him, and perhaps even more capable people would have led them.]

[Lilith Hakimi's method is correct: charge straight in, let the tanks and armored vehicles block the river, and any fish that dare to jump out will die.]

[Where can the Type 61 fish tank compete with seafood?]

“We’ll jump over there, then have the Type 61 rifle keep an eye on the river, and suppress the aquatic creatures as soon as they jump out.”

"The Type 61 is no match for a mobile suit."

Sure enough, a tank unit commander said the same thing.

In truth, the Type 61 tank was rather pitiful. This tank possessed ample firepower, mobility, and defense—at least against conventional anti-tank weapons. Designed for information warfare, its armor was merely adequate. Due to the sheer volume of production, the use of space-smelted alloys for armor was never considered—perhaps for the benefit of Earth's military-industrial complexes. Yet, it found itself facing an adversary like the Zaku, a tank with insufficient elevation, rate of fire, turret traverse speed, and mobility. The only threat it posed to the Zaku was its two tank guns. However, despite the Zaku's armor being far less thick than the Type 61's, it used high-tensile steel smelted in zero gravity, making it both light and hard, with a rounded shape. This caused armor-piercing rounds fired by the Type 61 to frequently ricochet due to the angle of impact, resulting in the Type 61 being repeatedly hit. (This is just my personal attempt to explain the situation.)

The armor of the aquatic creatures is thicker and harder to hit than that of the Zaku.

"Can't we send more MS (Mobile Suit) units here?"

The commander asked, and the others looked at Mira. Mira lit a cigarette and gave a despairing answer.

"The other two teams, one in North America and the other in Gabro, cannot be mobilized in a short time."

Everyone looked at Lin Xingyuan again, who had already marked several points on the map and answered.

"You don't need to engage in direct confrontation. Just rely on the riverbank fortifications to suppress them with firepower, forcing the mobile suits in the water to be unable to easily land."

Then he looked at Doris.

"We're leaving our butts in your hands."

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of the captain's butt."

Doris glanced at Lin Xingyuan's buttocks, blinked, and chuckled.

“Great, let’s make a plan.”

Author's message

……

……

Alright.

I've decided to combine the old tofu and the North African officer into one. Although Bandai seems to want to separate them and blur the lines, considering that Jamitov will eventually control the Titans, he can't do without military support. Plus, I already wrote that he's a brigadier general; if he were the treasurer, he should be a colonel. So, let's leave it at that. Anyway, Hyman never appeared later. Besides, his stance is extremely opposed to the space inhabitants. If Jamitov is truly a cunning old fox, this current appearance is more in line with the original intention of the Titans' formation.

Chapter 126 Bravely Storming the Deadly Base

The rain stopped for a while, and the sky became very overcast.

After the operational meeting, Lin Xingyuan's squad returned to their base and spoke with the ground crew technical officer in charge of preparations.

Do you want to lose more weight?

"Yes, this time we are outnumbered and must strike with deadly precision. To avoid being surrounded, we must take our mobility to the next level."

"Understood, please leave it to us with confidence!"

The black Land Rover knelt on one knee, like a knight clad in heavy armor undergoing final armament adjustments before going into battle. Behind it, the other three mobile suits were also painted the same dark black—something Lilith and her team were only recently permitted to do after passing their tests. Previously, Lin Xingyuan had consistently disagreed, fearing their conspicuous paint scheme would make them easy targets for enemy fire. Now, however, the four black mobile suits standing side-by-side did indeed give them the imposing presence of a unified team.

Because of limited frontline maintenance facilities, much of the work had to be done manually. To save time, the maintenance department even called in nearby tank crews to help move shells and refuel. Meanwhile, the professional maintenance workers were busy adjusting the various parameters of the aircraft and replacing the weapons with appropriate ones.

Lin Xingyuan inspected each machine one by one: his own Land-based High-Altitude Gundam was fully equipped with rocket launchers, beam weapons, and ballistic machine guns, and its output was more than enough to support it. He focused on checking the equipment of the other three.

First up is Lilith Aiden's Ground Combat Gundam, whose performance is identical to Lin Xingyuan's Black Ground Gundam. Considering Lilith's preference for close combat, Lin Xingyuan didn't equip her with machine guns and rockets to maximize mobility—after all, the two 37mm machine guns on the head, the 60mm Vulcan cannon on the chest, plus the machine guns mounted on the forearms, are more than enough to deal with lightly armored targets like tanks. For MS combat needs, the shoulder-mounted beam rifle and the beam torch in her hands are used. In terms of protection, besides relying on the mobile suit's own Gundanium alloy armor and shield, Lin Xingyuan specifically requested that she be equipped with an additional shoulder shield—cut and welded from a Zaku shield, which effectively enhances its defense against anti-tank missiles.

Next is Sherry Page's Ground GM. Since the GM's nuclear fusion reactor output is slightly weaker and it doesn't have the same load capacity as the Ground Gundam, Lin Xingyuan didn't insist on adding a shield. Instead, he had her leverage her strong body coordination to focus on increasing short-term firepower output: the Gatling gun used for anti-air and control was removed and replaced with a beam rifle. Combined with the shoulder-mounted rocket pod, the handheld 100mm cannon, and the additional rocket launcher, it was enough to quickly defeat the opponent in a head-on battle.

Finally, there's Doris Brandt's mobile suit. She's primarily responsible for artillery support, so her core equipment is still the 180mm cannon. However, to deal with targets behind cover, the rocket pods were removed and replaced with missile launchers. Due to Lin Xingyuan's intervention, the Ground GM didn't adopt the backpack design, but the specifications are the same, retaining a similar tandem nozzle design to the Sniper GM. The backpack interface size is just right to secure the missile launcher, giving it a resemblance to the later GP02MLRS, only the missiles aren't as exaggerated, making it more maneuverable.

Incidentally, all units also carry two additional fiber optic cables, so there's no need to worry about insufficient length even during the most convoluted tactical maneuvers.

In this way, in less than half an hour, just as the rain started to drizzle again, all the preparations were completed.

When the four giant black mobile suits stood up again, everyone present was filled with the expectation of their victory.

"It's up to you, giants! Kick Zeon's ass hard!"

"Ladies, if we succeed, we'll treat you to drinks, hahaha!"

The tank crews who were helping waved enthusiastically to Lin Xingyuan and his group, but Lilith, with a tense face and eyes full of pre-battle seriousness, didn't respond at all. Shirley Page, on the other hand, had participated in four global-level sporting events and was completely at ease with such scenes. Doris was even more mature, blowing a kiss to the armored soldiers.

"Sure thing, sure thing! Just remember to keep an eye on the Zeon 'fish' in the river for us!"

"No problem! We've got your back!"

The armored soldiers roared and howled excitedly, their morale soaring.

Lin Xingyuan didn't mind this kind of interaction; he was the type who was happy to maintain good relations with allies. However, it seems that the relationship between the MS forces and the tank units was not harmonious later on—the tank units felt that tough battles like Odessa were all won by their armored forces, and by the time the MS forces arrived, the war would have already entered garbage time; while the MS forces felt that the tank units were just cannon fodder, and that they were the ones who would truly decide the outcome.

Without further ado, as the fiber optic connector was plugged into the communication station of the hovercraft truck, the four mobile suits with their little tails began to move separately. According to the established plan, three of the mobile suits would launch a simultaneous attack from three directions, while the other would be responsible for precision firing and fire suppression from the high ground.

"Communication test, all machines, can you hear me?"

Anita's vibrant voice clearly reached the cockpits of the four machines; such stable communication was a rare find on a battlefield filled with Minovsky particle interference.

"Scorpio 01, I heard it very clearly."

"Antares 1 is in good condition."

"Antares 2 is fine."

"This is Antares, haha, let's go kick Zeon's ass~"

Doris's reply was unique, which inexplicably displeased Lilith, who felt that Doris wasn't taking it seriously at all.

"Sergeant Major, why are you imitating those armored soldiers' way of speaking?"

"What does it matter? This is how a mature adult handles things, you idiot~"

"Don't call me an idiot! My rank is higher than yours!"

"Oh? Putting on such high and mighty airs, looking down on people, huh? You think I'll keep an eye on your ass like that?"

"I don't need you to watch over me! I can protect myself and won't be stupid enough to get ambushed. If there's any danger, I can dodge it!"