"Someone's here..."
As soon as Fred finished speaking, he suddenly noticed an additional friendly signal indicator appear on his radar.
Moreover, that indicator was rapidly approaching him.
"Not good!"
Alarm bells rang in his mind. Seeing this, Fred didn't turn around but instead pressed a red button on the control stick with his finger.
The moment Fred pressed the button, a tremendous acceleration slammed into his body.
From the outside, it appeared as if two engines—harmoniously integrated with the exterior yet clearly additional installations, slightly larger in volume than the Main Engine—mounted on the side of Fred's Work Pod simultaneously emitted a dazzling blue light.
For a moment, that light even overpowered the blue glow from the other twelve Propulsion Units.
Similar to his previous battle with Andrew.
He had reinstalled those two temporarily added engines.
And unlike before, these two engines were no longer single-use.
They could be used at least a hundred times or more.
Of course, there was a cost.
Energy Consumption increased much faster—200% higher than that of a standard Work Pod. Maneuvers like turns became more difficult to control, and the temperature inside the Cockpit soared close to 40 degrees Celsius. If Fred hadn't also implemented cooling modifications, it wouldn't have been just 40 degrees—it would have exploded outright.
Even when not activated, in space, it wouldn't affect mobility much, but due to its size, it would still increase the Energy Consumption required to maintain balance.
In short, it was a component that tormented both others and himself.
To put it in terms of robot battle parts, it was roughly like +20 Mobility but +10% EN Consumption.
And once activated, EN Consumption skyrocketed even further.
Though that's not entirely accurate, since Mobility affects many aspects, while this only provided extreme speed.
Of course, the benefits were also very clear: the extreme speed was 237% faster than that of a standard Work Pod.
If he hadn't reinforced his Work Pod, it would likely have fallen apart after a short time of use.
Even with reinforcement, it would require major repairs afterward.
For Fred, the reason he installed this Ejector was precisely to deal with potential life-or-death crises like the one he now faced.
So he didn't hesitate.
Soon, Fred's Work Pod accelerated to a speed unattainable by ordinary Work Pods.
In front of the other person, it transformed into a blue lightning bolt, slicing through the darkness of space.
This startled the person wearing a PLANT maintenance crew uniform who had intended to ambush him.
Was this a speed an ordinary Work Pod could achieve?
What about heat dissipation? Structural integrity?
This wasn't some novel where one could achieve a breakthrough in the face of crisis. Even if a person could break through, it would be strange for a Mobile Suit to do so.
"Who are you?"
While the other person was still stunned, Fred's voice immediately echoed inside their Cockpit.
To get this close...
If he had reacted just a moment slower, the other party might have succeeded.
As he spoke, Fred skillfully maneuvered his Work Pod in a half-turn, positioning himself right behind the other's tail.
From his perspective, he could see that this unknown assailant was piloting an ordinary Work Pod, and it wasn't equipped with any weapons.
Of course, that referred to weapons in the narrow sense—the other party was currently holding a space-use Laser Welding Torch.
Combined with the earlier acceleration and the fact that no alarm was triggered on the Radar due to the lack of weapons and Friendly Identification Signal, if he had been even a moment slower, he might have been caught off guard.
Although the miniaturization of Laser Weapons here hadn't progressed smoothly, low-power laser tools like this still existed. If it were thrust at full power, given the fragility of the Work Pod, he'd likely be roasted—no, vaporized.
The thought that he had almost fallen victim to the other party, coupled with the suddenly rising temperature inside the Work Pod, caused a cold sweat to break out on Fred's back.
"..."
The mysterious assailant didn't answer Fred's question, silently launching another attack instead.
"Something's off."
After Fred activated his Engine again to shake off the pursuer, he began to ponder deeply.
Any normal person would know they couldn't possibly match his speed, yet the other party still pressed the attack.
Aside from possibly doubting the stability of his modifications, there was also the possibility of stalling or seeking death.
And considering there had been someone else nearby earlier...
"Fred, what's going on!"
Just as Fred was deep in thought, Alec's anxious voice came through.
"Someone's attacking me."
Fred replied.
"It's a Friendly Identification Signal, so no alarm was triggered."
Fred explained briefly.
"What?!"
Hearing that Fred was under attack, Alec was startled.
He quickly followed up.
"I'll come help you!"
"No need, they can't kill me. Don't come out yet."
"First, notify Junius One District to investigate that MA outside. Don't activate any of the Central Hub's defensive facilities!"
Fred continued calmly, even as he struggled to grip the control stick, which was shaking violently as if it might fall apart at any moment from exceeding its limits.
"If I'm not mistaken..."
"They probably want to use this to trigger an International Investigation."
Siegel, watching the scene unfold before him, also stood up.
His already tired complexion from lack of rest grew even paler.
He hadn't expected something like this to happen.
According to Fred's words, those two Work Pods were clearly placed there intentionally.
They likely intended to sneak in during the next round of maintenance but hadn't anticipated Fred's arrival disrupting their plans.
As for why the Radar hadn't detected them, it was due to their small size and the Friendly Identification Signal.
Although PLANT still had High-Precision Radar for close-range detection, that didn't prevent the other party from avoiding its range and sneaking in during maintenance.
After all, even Fred's computer still displayed the other party as a friendly unit.
If someone were careless or if someone in the maintenance team had been bribed, this situation could easily occur.
And this might only be Plan A. Now that they were exposed due to Fred's appearance, they clearly knew they couldn't escape and were fighting desperately.
The fact that they were fighting to the death despite knowing their fate, aside from possibly being fanatics, could also be to allow the inactive Mobile Suit outside to record data.
What seemed like a sudden spy incident could, with the Atlantic Federation's ability to distort facts and speak blatant lies, quickly escalate into the establishment of an investigation team to thoroughly probe this 'malicious' event.
Moreover, if Fred hadn't noticed that strange unit in the distance beforehand, everything might have become irreparable.
As for why Fred could spot that MA near Sector One deliberately avoiding radar detection from such a distance, Siegel decided not to dwell on it for now.
After all, he could simply ask when they met later.
For now, the priority was to set aside his astonishment and focus on protecting PLANT.
--Enjoying the story? Want more chapters? Check out my Patreon and support me for 40+ advance chapters.
Just search for "TLGod" on Patreon!"
Thanks!