Chapter 162: Missile Self-Destruct 1
But when Chang Wufei, piloting the Shenlong Gundam, opened the shuttle bay doors, he discovered that it was full of self-destruct devices equipped with infrared sensors — Lady Une had given them no chance to pursue.
Still, Chang Wufei was a hard man; ignoring those infrared-triggered explosives, he drove the Shenlong Gundam straight in.
He managed to rescue several shuttles from the explosions, and then he and Trowa each selected one. They prepared to take off and leave New Edward Base, heading out to pursue Treize's shuttle.
Duo, who was still defending and counterattacking on-site, said to everyone,
"Are we really just going to let Treize toy with us in the palm of his hand like this?"
Quatre repeated dejectedly, "We actually got tricked by Treize."
Duo, looking indignant, said, "I don't care — I'm going after that bastard Treize myself."
Quatre asked, "Is it still in time to pursue now? That's too reckless."
"Stop talking nonsense. You want to get punched or what?"
Heero remained silent. Tolle looked at these problem children, utterly exasperated, and tried to reason with them.
"All right, enough arguing. If we keep this up, we'll end up killing each other before we even get to Treize — what's the point of that?"
Quatre nodded in agreement. "Yeah, our mission is to find a weakness and strike the enemy. The way things are now just plays right into their hands."
While Duo spoke, he fired the head-mounted gatling cannons at distant enemy suits, trying to fight back. But no matter how long he held the trigger on the control stick, nothing came out — the ammunition was completely spent.
Facing the enemy's fierce barrage, Duo said helplessly,
"You're right. We're out of ammo — what the hell am I supposed to chase him with now?"
Tolle immediately piloted the Savior Vanguard Gundam and launched a counterattack against the distant mobile suits, though he didn't make a big show of it. He just fired controlled bursts with his beam rifle, imitating Kira's style, deliberately avoiding the cockpits.
Out of ammunition, Duo and Quatre dodged enemy fire and scattered, preparing to escape the military base for now.
But the Wing Gundam remained motionless under the heavy bombardment. Watching it get pummeled, Duo said helplessly,
"Heero, move! You'll get killed if you don't!" Seeing Heero unmoved, he shouted again, "What are you doing? Hurry up and dodge already!"
Chang Wufei and Trowa had already loaded their mobile suits into the shuttles and successfully taken off, flying toward the direction Treize had retreated.
Meanwhile, Treize's shuttle had reached its destination. As soon as he stepped out, Lady Une said to him,
"I've ordered Lieutenant Ochs to continue suppressing the Luxembourg Base Headquarters — they're still putting up stubborn resistance."
"Mm. Leaving it to him should be fine."
"What about those Gundams still at New Edward Base? How should we deal with them?"
"Leave that to the master to handle. Since he's there, there's no need for us to interfere.
With his personality, he'll definitely want to have some fun. As long as he doesn't ruin our plans, let him do as he likes.
Just make sure to secretly notify him when the crucial moment comes."
Listening to Treize, Lady Une felt he had fully integrated into the Sword of Damocles organization. Clearly, he would no longer do anything foolish like dying a hero's death.
Smiling with satisfaction, she saluted him. "Understood, Lord Treize."
Lady Une immediately used the communicator built into her nano-armor to contact Tolle, informing him that New Edward Base was about to self-destruct.
Then she transmitted over OZ's internal channel, vetoing the proposal to send reinforcements to the base. She told them simply to activate the missile self-destruct systems — no need for anything else.
When the OZ soldiers heard they were to trigger the missile self-destruct sequence, they all became excited. After all, wiping out the Gundams without losing a single soldier was the best possible outcome for them.
On the Earth Unified Forces side, Major Sally, who was en route to New Edward Base, was receiving many evacuees from the facility.
She and her team also intercepted OZ's communications — the OZ army was planning to detonate all the missiles inside New Edward Base.
They intended to use the combined explosive power to annihilate the Gundams in one blow.
Major Sally immediately led her subordinates into the base that was about to be detonated, hoping to stop the soldiers preparing for the self-destruct.
Unfortunately, they were one step too late. The OZ soldiers pressed the detonation button, and all the missiles entered their self-destruct countdown.
Meanwhile, Tolle, Duo, and Quatre were still covering the motionless Wing Gundam, continuously taking out enemy mobile suits trying to approach.
In the distance, the Tragos units kept firing their twin-mounted cannons. Shells struck the Wing Gundam again and again, and the resulting shockwaves sent it flying far away.
At that moment, Heero heard a familiar voice through the base broadcast — it was Major Sally, the same officer who had once detained him in the hospital.
"Heero, you should be able to hear me! Listen to me — the large missile self-destruct system inside the base has been completely activated by OZ.
They're willing to sacrifice the entire New Edward Base just to kill you. They plan to blow you and the base to pieces together!"
Quatre checked the data and said to everyone,
"Let's see… New Edward Base stores a total of forty-seven large missiles.
If all forty-seven go off, everything within a three-hundred-kilometer radius will be instantly vaporized — completely wiped out. What should we do?"
Duo exclaimed in shock, "You've got to be kidding me! Then what are we waiting for — let's get out of here!"
"There are less than ten minutes until detonation. In that short a time, there's no way we can move three hundred kilometers."
Tolle knew that Heero would probably resort to another self-destruct to solve the problem, but he still put on a tense expression and said to Quatre, Duo, and Heero,
"My Gundam can transform into a plane and carry another one. At full speed, we might reach three hundred kilometers out.
Heero, your Gundam can transform into a plane too — it should also be able to carry one more. Go as far as you can; it's better than waiting here to die.
Let's get out of here together, or we'll all be finished."
Seeing Heero still unmoved, Tolle shouted again,
"Heero! Hey, Heero, did you hear me? If you don't move, I'm taking Quatre and leaving — I'm not waiting for you two!"
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