Gundam UC Hunting Time

"What!? How is this possible!?"

Karma was horrified and immediately looked at the monitor screen. Sure enough, a black Federation mobile suit with red eyes had stormed into the cargo hold, smashing through various objects in its path before drifting to its feet and raising its massive weapon. The next second, he was thrown to the ground by the shockwave of the explosion.

Why did this happen...!?

Karma found it hard to believe, but in this life-or-death situation, he was quick-witted enough to immediately stand up, leaning on the control panel, and gave orders in a hoarse voice.

"Rise! Rise! Throw it out!"

"No! The machine is uncontrollable!"

The sergeant answered, his voice trembling with tears.

Suddenly, thunder and lightning flashed outside the porthole, and Karma's heart turned ice-cold!

Just then, Char's voice came through his earphones.

"Hmph, Karma, if you can hear me, then curse your unfortunate birth."

"Char!?"

Karma could hardly believe his ears. At a time like this, Char was actually gloating—no, he was mocking him!?

"What did you say...!? Misfortune!?"

Yes, unfortunately.

"Char!? You..."

He couldn't understand why his best friend would have this attitude.

"Although you are a very good friend, it's all your father's fault. Heh heh heh ha ha ha ha ha—!"

Explosions and tremors continued to resound as the Black Reaper wreaked havoc inside the Gau-class.

Hearing the hearty laughter coming through her headphones, even though she couldn't accept it, Karma understood what was going on.

"Char...you tricked me! Char..."

He angrily threw away his headphones, looked around, and saw the cabin door open, his men either dead or fleeing.

The Gau-class began to tilt, and a gun slid to Kalma's feet.

Overwhelmed by a mix of emotions—anger at being deceived, wounded pride, fear of death, and resentment—Kalma picked up the gun and, in a fit of despair, rushed off the bridge.

Inside the cockpit, Lin Xingyuan gleefully pulled the trigger, sending incredibly powerful high-explosive grenades into the left and right wings of the Gau-class aircraft, destroying the Doppler's launch channels. He then used the machine gun to fire at the remaining aircraft, completely cutting off the escape route for the crew.

The Gau-class was indeed an extremely robust machine; it didn't explode or disintegrate even after taking two 533mm high-explosive shells. Lin Xingyuan then piloted the Black Reaper slowly towards the passageway leading to the bridge, observing the internal movements through the machine's external cameras.

"Kalma Zabi, death has come to visit you~"

Through the contact circuit, he jokingly shouted out to the outside world—not to tease the prey, but just to make the prey more fearful—hopefully to force Karma to show herself.

He was determined to kill his opponent and would not allow a repeat of Dozru's mistake.

"Bang bang bang-"

Suddenly, a bullet hit the red viewfinder of the black Ground Gundam. The person who fired was Garma, who rushed out while firing, staggering and shouting at the Gundam, looking completely mentally deranged.

"Ah, I've found you!"

Lin Xingyuan didn't care what he was shouting; he just felt happy. He manipulated the machine to retreat and then shoved the rotary 533mm electromagnetic grenade launcher into the hatch passage.

I am the flashing light of a tracer bullet, the grave where you were buried!

Karma plunged headfirst into the cannon barrel, and in the electromagnetic acceleration and flash of light, he was blasted out along with the high-explosive shell containing 300 kilograms of explosives, instantly shattering into pieces.

The out-of-control Gau-class bombardment erupted in flames, and the shelling abruptly ceased.

Sherry and the others, who were dodging the attack, looked up at the Gau-class battleship that was gradually swelling up, their faces filled with worry, and they even ignored Char's red Zaku.

"team leader……"

"Run!"

Suddenly, Doris cried out.

"They're out!"

Immediately, everyone saw a black figure leap out of the cabin and be caught steadily by the Deda II! Then, Lin Xingyuan's calm and reliable voice finally rang out in the headset.

Mission successful!

Author's message

……

……

For dramatic effect, the grenade launcher caliber was modified.

Honestly, Karma's men are really useless; they don't have a single one who can fight.

Chapter 145 The Death of Karma

On August 15, UC 0079, the government of the Principality of Zeon held a ceremony at the Prince's Palace in Shim, SIDE 3, to commemorate the anniversary of the Principality's Declaration of Independence. During the ceremony, General Giren Zabi, Commander-in-Chief of the Principality's Army, delivered a speech to the entire Principality.

"...My compatriots, 150 million glorious Zeon citizens! The war has only just begun! Let us form ranks in an orderly fashion and advance bravely! Let us march together towards the day of victory! And then, we, the superior Zeon people, will—"

A deafening roar of "Long live Zeon!" erupted from the audience. Prince Dejin stared at Gihren expressionlessly, and no one could fathom his thoughts until Kycilia, standing beside him, suddenly leaned down and whispered some devastating news to him.

"What did you say? My Karma... your brother... is dead!?"

In front of everyone, Prince Dejin's scepter clattered to the ground. He turned sharply to look at Kycilia, his face filled with disbelief.

"Yes, Father."

Kycilia said somberly that she had just received the news and experienced the same shock and grief.

"You're lying!!"

Prince Dejin suddenly stood up and roared, his outburst immediately attracting the attention of everyone on and off the stage. Even Kilian Zabi turned around in confusion.

"That's true. Karma is dead. She was killed by that Black Reaper from the Federation."

Dozru, who was sitting to the right of Prince Dejin, had been like a soulless robot until he heard the words "Black Reaper." He finally reacted, turned his face, and looked at Kycilia with his good eye.

"Big sister? You mean the Black Reaper of the Federation? Who killed Karma?"

He had a loud voice, and now even Kilian could hear him.

"What!? Karma was killed by the Federation's Black Reaper!?"

He asked instinctively, but the microphone on the stage broadcast his question directly to the entire audience. By the time he realized something was wrong and tried to mute the microphone, it was too late.

The entire audience was in an uproar, and the entire Principality of Zeon learned of this at that moment.

It's an absolute irony—while they're still celebrating their victory, the Federation has killed Karma Zabi, the youngest son of the Zabi family and commander of the Earth Attack Force!

The residents of the principality were abuzz with discussion, and the generals exchanged bewildered glances; a sense of unease settled in. Kilian, a politically astute man, was furious at his mistake and immediately waved to his subordinates to signal the end of the speech and the event. Only after the Zabi family returned to the prince's palace and dismissed the servants did they officially confirm the matter.

Just hours earlier, Karma Zabi was killed by the Federation's "Black Reaper" aboard the Gau-class aircraft carrier, leaving no trace of her body.

Prince Dejin was completely stunned, seemingly unable to accept the sudden death of his youngest son; Kycilia remained silent; Dozru's gaze was vacant, and he had reverted to his robotic demeanor; as for Gihren, he had already begun to shirk responsibility.

"Kycilia! You shouldn't have announced this news in that kind of setting! It will severely damage public confidence!"

"As expected of the Commander-in-Chief, you truly understand the bigger picture. I couldn't do that, after all, I'm just an older sister who lost her composure because of her brother's death."

Kycilia retorted, accusing Gihren of being inhuman.

"That's a different matter!"

Kilian cursed angrily, and seeing that the two were about to start arguing again, Prince Dejin finally spoke up.

"Enough! Shut up, all of you!"

He suddenly felt very sad. His son and their brother were dead, and they were still attacking each other. In the end, would he and Dozru be the only ones who would be saddened by Karma's death?

Prince Dejin looked at his other son, Dozru, only to find him sitting numbly, his lips barely moving, as if he had lost his soul. This caused a sharp pain in his heart.

Dozru… my bravest son, perhaps he died long ago. What sits here now is just an empty shell pieced together from machinery and remains.

What a karmic retribution...

He clutched his chest, his face contorted in pain, and Kycilia quickly fetched medicine for him. Once the room was quiet again, Kirian spoke once more.

"In any case, given the current situation, we cannot let Karma's sacrifice go to waste, as it concerns the power and prestige of the Zabi family."

He paced back and forth in the room, already considering how to use this incident to salvage the situation and consolidate his power.

"Kihren, let's not talk about this now..."

Prince Dejin weakly rebuked him, but was forcefully interrupted by Kilian.

"Father, dwelling on this matter won't change anything!"

Prince Dejin closed his eyes and sighed, "Now I only wish to quietly and solemnly pray for Kalma's peace..."

……

After killing Karma Zabi, the Scorpio Tactical Test Unit was swiftly escorted back to the Gabro base. This was done for two reasons: first, to protect them from being surrounded and annihilated by the enraged Zeon forces; and second, to reward their service—General 369 of the Federation personally presided over a grand medal-awarding ceremony for them.

"We were originally going to send you to a military academy, but in times of war, we have to act swiftly and make do with what we have now. We'll make up for it later. Anyway, you did a good job."

After pinning the rank of major on Lin Xingyuan, General 369 patted him on the shoulder, his eyes crinkling with laughter. He then pinned new ranks on Shirley Page and Lilith as well.

"Captain Alice Mira!"

"Lieutenant Shirley Page!"

"Lieutenant Lilith Aiden!"

"Lieutenant Doris Brandt! (She was originally a sergeant major, pursuing the technical officer route, but was promoted to officer due to her merits in this battle.)"

"Warrant Lieutenant Anita Julian!"

"Captain Shreka Rowe..."

"Your combat has greatly boosted the morale of our army. You have worked hard and we look forward to your future performance! But for now, take a good rest for a while, and we will arrange new appointments for you later."

General 369 finished his summary with a smile, then said a few polite words. Several other generals also spoke, and the meeting lasted a full two hours. Only when a few people remained in the room did Anita pat her chest and let out a long sigh of relief.

"I was so nervous!"

"What's there to be nervous about?"

Lin Xingyuan looked at her with amusement. Anita said shyly:

"There were so many people, and it was a general personally awarding the medal. I'm just an ordinary sergeant, of course I'm nervous."

When asked about the scale of the ceremony and the scene just now, Doris couldn't help but speak up.

"Indeed, isn't that Karma Zabi just a mascot? Why make such a big fuss about it?"

"Because this is also part of the publicity."

Mira smiled and closed the camera in her hand. Only then did Lin Xingyuan speak.

"Karma is not just a mascot. His death will shatter the hopes of some pacifists. Didn't you notice that some people weren't looking at us with such displeasure? As for Zeon, as the most beloved member of the Zabi family, his death will definitely cause chaos in the command of the Earth Attack Force, and the power struggles within the Zabi family will also intensify... In short, the impact will be very significant."

He was actually reading the comments aloud, but to others it sounded like he had profound insight and wisdom, which earned him a lot of admiring glances.

"That's right, as expected of the captain. Alright, I have work to do, I'll be going now, I'll contact you later."

Mira agreed and then left in a good mood. After his initial surprise, Shreka Rowe quickly regained his carefree demeanor, hooking his arm around Doris's shoulder and laughing nonchalantly—he himself hadn't expected that just a test mission would lead to a promotion opportunity, and he was genuinely overjoyed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's a rare holiday, shouldn't we celebrate? How about we go out for a big meal and a few drinks?"

"Hehe, although I'd love to go with you, I have something to do, so I can't join you."

Doris slapped Sleika's hand away without making a sound, blew a kiss to Lin Xingyuan and the others, and swayed away—she was Grave's woman, and even if she got a leave of absence, she had to go there to report first.

"Oh? That's a shame. What about you guys?"