"Father."
Lacus had already grasped most of what Siegel had thought of, her expression turning equally grave.
At the same time, she felt a surge of astonishment at Fred's keen insight.
"I'll contact Sector One."
Siegel gave his daughter a reassuring look before standing up.
"Lacus, stay here for now and don't move around."
This matter was undeniably significant.
The research they were conducting at Julius was far from ready to be made public.
Having just developed their first Battleship, now was not the time to openly clash with the other side.
This incident still needed to be handled carefully.
With that thought, Siegel swiftly left the room with several others.
As Siegel took action, Lacus's worried gaze turned toward the Work Pod on the screen, skillfully piloted by the evasive young man.
Although it sounded perilous, in reality, neither side possessed long-range lethal weapons. Moreover, Fred's Mobile Suit was specialized for speed, equipped with twelve Propulsion Units plus two large additional ones, allowing the young man to move at an astonishing pace.
The Laser Welder in the opponent's hands certainly had destructive power at close range, but under these circumstances, it couldn't effectively harm Fred.
However, Lacus didn't know how long Fred's power could last.
She wasn't an expert in research, but generally speaking, with Fred's power enhanced so much, his energy would likely deplete much faster.
It was uncertain whether their reinforcements would arrive sooner or Fred's energy would run out completely.
Still, Fred probably wouldn't die so easily.
And how could he see so far ahead? It was almost unbelievable.
Lost in thought, Lacus tapped on the keyboard before the screen, and soon Fred's cockpit view appeared before her.
The young man's face beneath the visor was unclear, but the calm, unwavering line of his mouth suggested he remained composed.
Moreover, his hands weren't idle either. While maneuvering at high speed on autopilot, his fingers danced across the keyboard, inputting something unknown.
Did he have a plan?
As Lacus pondered, on the other side, the attacker inside the unknown Work Pod was nearly driven to madness.
He had been surprised by this sudden, uninvited guest.
After their plan to infiltrate Sectors One and Seven failed, they quickly switched to Plan B.
As they had anticipated, if their companion in Sector One remained undetected, they could lure the other side into revealing some hidden cards.
At the very least, they could capture footage of the two in combat, giving their superiors grounds to take action.
As for how to justify it, fabricating a story about a righteous Coordinator trying to deliver world-saving intelligence to the Atlantic Federation, the so-called "army of justice," already sounded plausible enough.
Whether it was believed or not, and what the intelligence entailed—once the person was dead, a thorough search would naturally reveal the truth.
After all, he would be dead and unable to testify.
But what he never expected was that this person's Mobile Suit was freakishly fast.
His reactions were even quicker—the Ambush he had just attempted had failed.
And now, despite deliberately revealing countless openings, the other party still hadn't closed in on him.
Had they seen through the trap?
What should he do then?
They had Plan A and Plan B, but there was no Plan C.
After all, both plans seemed perfectly reliable—who could have known that this suddenly appearing Work Pod would be so fast?
If things continued like this, and the enemy's Mobile Suit didn't disintegrate on its own while he got caught by reinforcements, the plan would be a complete failure.
For the sake of a blue and pure universe, he was already prepared to die, but dying without any value was something he simply couldn't accept.
But what if his companion failed to capture the footage or was discovered prematurely...
Meanwhile, the pilot's accomplice was struggling to aim a high-precision camera module at the two figures moving rapidly in the distance.
"Damn it..."
Sweat beaded on the pilot's temples. The tension, intense focus, and the blistering speed of their movements had left him physically and mentally exhausted.
Yet, they still couldn't capture that suddenly appearing Work Pod.
If this continued...
Just as fear and dread grew stronger in the pilot's heart, a series of alarms signaling Fire Control Radar lock-ons blared like death knells from the cockpit speakers.
"Work Pod ahead, cease all movement immediately and shut down all power."
"I repeat."
Listening to the authoritative voice echoing in his ears, the twelve Work Pod radar signals suddenly appearing on the Radar, and the incessant alarms ringing in his ears, the pilot wore a smile uglier than tears.
"So soon...?"
To surrender or not to surrender.
This wasn't actually a difficult question.
After all, those who had come here had no other choice left.
"For the sake of a blue and pure universe."
The young-looking pilot took a deep breath and whispered the words as if to steel himself. Tears of fear welled in his eyes but hadn't yet fallen as he mustered all his courage and pressed the self-destruct button.
...
"Your companion is dead. Surrender."
Fred said calmly as he watched the faint, barely visible firework in the distance.
Of course, even as he said this, he already knew the other's answer.
"..."
As expected, the response was silence.
From the moment they met until now, the other person hadn't spoken a single word.
This was normal—they couldn't say anything that might reveal their identity, as providing evidence for the Atlantic Federation or Eurasian Federation to act upon would only cause more trouble.
These were standard suicide agents, not the type of villains who die from talking too much.
They were agents who would die without implicating their superiors.
Fred wasn't bothered by the lack of response and continued.
"Did you know I have a Computer Virus that can lock a Work Pod's Self-Destruct Device?"
The pilot still didn't answer, but he had already steeled himself. Resolutely, he opened the transparent protective cover over the self-destruct button and pressed it firmly.
However, just as Fred had said, no explosion occurred.
"My communication with you can also transmit viruses. I know your Work Pod quite well. Although the data flow isn't much, it should be just enough to lock down the Self-Destruct Device."
Fred's voice remained calm as ever, yet it now carried the merciless tone of death itself.