While Reid and McGillis were idly chatting about the universe, Gjallarhorn on Mars had descended into chaos.
The commander of Gjallarhorn's Mars branch had been killed in action. In theory, his second-in-command should have automatically assumed his duties and continued to lead the forces.
However, after Gaelio Bauduin was rescued, he directly took command of the Gjallarhorn forces on Mars with his rank of Major.
There was nothing to be done. The deputy commander of the Mars branch didn't dare defy Gaelio Bauduin, who was brandishing the banner of his family's honor.
Gaelio had gone all out to save McGillis. He directly used his status as the heir to the Bauduin family to demand the deputy commander's cooperation.
Gaelio was known for being a stickler for rules and obedient, yet now he was directly overriding his superiors to take control of all forces. For a time, many high-ranking officers on Mars were unsure whether they should first notify Earth and stand by.
However, a subsequent order from the deputy commander of the Mars branch came through, so the officers had no choice but to comply.
But Gaelio didn't dare order a direct assault on Tekkadan's base to rescue McGillis.
A frontal assault would be easy, but ensuring McGillis's survival during such an attack would be incredibly difficult.
McGillis was Gaelio's good brother, as well as the man his sister loved and his future fiancé; in a few years, their families would be even closer. If his own impulsiveness led to McGillis's death, Gaelio would never be able to forgive himself.
Therefore, Gaelio directly ordered the Gjallarhorn Mars forces to forcibly dismantle the top-tier Medical Pod from the Mars Medical Research Institute.
At this point, Gaelio could no longer be bothered with the subsequent protests from the Martian authorities. Ensuring McGillis's safety was the top priority, and exchanging the Medical Pod for him was the best first step.
He then demanded that the Medical Pod be delivered safely to Tekkadan's headquarters within five hours. He didn't want McGillis to endure even a second longer of the 12-hour captive treatment; getting him out even one second earlier was for the best.
Unlike Earth, which is 71% covered by oceans, Mars was all land except for a few large artificial lakes.
Thus, Tekkadan's headquarters, located in a frontier region, was very far from the Mars Medical Research Institute. Even by air, a five-hour delivery was pushing the limits.
However, Gaelio didn't remain idle while the delivery was in progress.
For Gaelio, once McGillis was safe, that unknown Mobile Suit had to be shot down.
Although Gaelio had personally witnessed McGillis's Schwalbe Graze vanish on the spot, he was determined to take down the unknown MS, even if it was piloted by an alien. Otherwise, he would be failing McGillis, who had sullied his own name to protect Gaelio's innocence.
So, for those five hours, Gaelio gathered all of Gjallarhorn's high-ranking officers on Mars for a tactical meeting, repeatedly replaying the battlefield footage recorded by his transport ship for analysis.
Initially, many of Gjallarhorn's senior officers were prepared to jointly protest Gaelio's uproar and his mobilization of troops to surround an unknown mercenary group.
But after watching the combat footage, these officers began to understand Gaelio. It seemed he wasn't just acting recklessly.
If the footage wasn't fabricated in the slightest, then Mars was truly in deep trouble.
Thus, the Gjallarhorn Mars forces began a large-scale transfer of materiel to the area around Tekkadan, with the intent to either shoot down or capture this Mobile Suit suspected of being piloted by an alien.
At the same time, within Tekkadan, after Mikazuki and Akihiro had regained consciousness, Orga confirmed their injuries weren't so severe that they'd be confined to the infirmary. He then gathered all his trusted subordinates, including the two of them, for a meeting.
Kudelia and her personal maid, Fumitan, were also invited to this meeting.
As the meeting began, Orga bowed his head to Kudelia and apologized straightforwardly.
"Miss Kudelia, I am truly sorry. Given the current situation, Tekkadan may no longer be able to continue the mission of escorting you to Earth."
Before Kudelia could reply to Orga's words, an uproar erupted from the Tekkadan side.
Eugene Sevenstark, one of the former youth leaders of Chryse Guard Security, had already had some reservations about Orga's decisions.
Of course, it wasn't that he didn't respect Orga's leadership, but he felt that many of his decisions were too rash and often made without any consultation, catching everyone else off guard.
Just like now. The payment for Kudelia's mission was the last lifeline keeping Tekkadan afloat, and Orga was giving it up just like that.
So, Eugene objected with extreme dissatisfaction.
"Orga, if you give up the mission now, what happens to Tekkadan? If we fail our first mission, no one will dare to hire us in the future. The funds we have left won't last long. In a few months, we'll all be starving."
The other members of Tekkadan were also aware of this problem. Only Mikazuki, Akihiro, and Biscuit remained silent as the others chimed in, agreeing with Eugene's view.
Faced with this situation, Orga spoke loudly with an expression of extreme unwillingness.
"What else can we do besides give up! Gundam Barbatos and the captured Graze are both gone. The Isaribi is now landed on Mars, and we have no extra funds to buy a rocket to launch it back into space.
"And even if we scraped together everything we have to get the Isaribi back into space, it would be useless! Without a Mobile Suit escort, how can a single armed warship break through the multiple blockades Gjallarhorn has between Mars and Earth? Insisting on continuing the mission is suicide!"
Hearing Orga's explanation, the others understood that it wasn't that he wanted to abandon the mission, but that Tekkadan simply lacked the ability to continue.
The only combat-ready assets the group had left were some Mobile Workers, most of which were ground types, with only a few space types.
With such little combat power, breaking through Gjallarhorn's blockade would be a miracle!
At this moment, Fumitan spoke up, contrary to her usual demeanor.
"This is a wise decision. However, what you need to consider now is not the problem of funds, but how to save your own lives."
Fumitan's words plunged the room into silence. Biscuit asked, his voice trembling slightly, "Why do you say that? Does that strange person outside actually want to silence us?"
Fumitan shook her head, then pushed up her glasses and said, "No, that mysterious man clearly has no intention of settling scores with you. In his eyes, you are probably just insignificant small fries. As long as you don't bother him, he won't bother with you."
Fumitan's words brought a sigh of relief from Biscuit. He really didn't want to face an enemy who could make a thirty-ton, eighteen-meter-tall Mobile Suit vanish into thin air.
But Fumitan's next words made everyone's hearts, which had just settled, leap back into their throats.
"The ones who want you dead are still Gjallarhorn.
"Before the meeting, I used a computer to check on Gjallarhorn's situation." (Fumitan possessed strong skills in network information, able to infiltrate Gjallarhorn's long-range communication network to obtain intelligence.) "Right now, all of Gjallarhorn's forces on Mars have been mobilized and are converging on this location. The movement of various supplies is completely undisguised. This is a mobilization on the level of all-out war.
"It seems the Gjallarhorn officer captured by that mysterious MS Pilot holds a high rank, which has already prompted the Gjallarhorn Mars forces to prepare for a full-scale siege."
By the time Fumitan finished, the smarter people already understood. But the boy soldiers of Tekkadan hadn't had much schooling, and many were still naive. Among them, Norba Shino asked cluelessly, "What does this have to do with us? Gjallarhorn is besieging that unknown MS, not us."
Orga, his expression exceptionally grim, answered this naive question for Fumitan.
"Because Gjallarhorn won't bother to investigate whether that mysterious MS has anything to do with us. That guy has already requisitioned our base, so in Gjallarhorn's eyes, we're in league with that MS.
"Gjallarhorn won't give us bottom-dwelling rats a chance to explain. They'll definitely make an example of us and wipe us out."
Fumitan strongly agreed with Orga's words, so she said, "Yes. That's why I suggest you run before Gjallarhorn completes its encirclement."
Fumitan had a selfish motive for guiding Tekkadan in this direction.
It was a fact that Gjallarhorn was closing in. Once the encirclement was complete, Kudelia would also be trapped.
Fumitan had considered running away with just Kudelia, but she was unfamiliar with this area. They probably wouldn't get far before being cornered by Gjallarhorn.
Therefore, Fumitan wanted to guide Tekkadan to escape together. With these local experts leading the way, she and Kudelia would have a chance of getting away.
Seeing that Orga also agreed with Fumitan's idea, the other Tekkadan executives present could only accept the reality.
Norba Shino slammed his fist against the wall and said resentfully, "Damn it! Why do we always have to be the cannon fodder in the games of these big shots!"
Norba voiced the feelings of most people present, but everyone was speechless.
Finally, Biscuit raised his hand and said, "I need to arrange for my two younger sisters and Granny Sakura to escape, so I'm leaving first."
With that, Biscuit left the meeting room directly.
Seeing Biscuit leave like that, the others also recognized the reality of the situation and began to leave one after another, muttering curses. In the end, only Orga, Mikazuki, Kudelia, and Fumitan remained in the room.
Seeing this, Fumitan also pulled Kudelia to leave the meeting room, saying to Orga as they walked, "If you can help Kudelia escape Gjallarhorn's encirclement, we won't consider you in breach of contract, and you won't have to return the deposit. Commander Orga, please consider it."
After Kudelia and Fumitan left, Orga looked at Mikazuki, who still had medicinal patches on his body, and said with exceptionally low spirits, "Mikazuki, aren't you leaving?"
Mikazuki, eating fruit from the meeting room as if it were the most natural thing in the world, replied, "Wherever Orga goes, I go. We promised."
Mikazuki was truly Orga's spiritual pillar. With just those words, Orga's confidence instantly returned.
After pacing around the office for a few laps, Orga suddenly seemed to have figured something out. He said to Mikazuki, "Ah, that's right! It's not the most desperate moment yet. We still have a chance to turn things around."
With that, Orga took out the piece of gold Reid had given him from his pocket, tossed it to Mikazuki, and said, "Mikazuki, I know it's not right to make you work while you're injured. But please gather everyone at the hangar where that mysterious Mobile Suit is. Just say that Tekkadan is disbanding, and I'm going to hand out severance pay there."
Mikazuki didn't ask any questions, simply taking the gold and leaving.
After Mikazuki left, Orga went to the sink, splashed his face with water, and then walked directly toward the hangar where the Blade Angel Gundam was located.
At this moment, Reid was still making small talk with McGillis about the specialty foods of various regions on Earth.
When Nein alerted Reid that Orga was approaching, Reid was somewhat surprised.
He felt that Orga shouldn't be looking for him at this time; he should first be figuring out how to handle Kudelia's commission.
However, as Orga drew closer, Reid's Newtype Sense could clearly feel that he seemed to have made a great resolution. For a moment, Reid wondered if Orga was coming to risk his life against him.
Fortunately, when Orga once again walked to the foot of the Blade Angel, he simply looked up and said, "You there, mysterious sir. Let's talk again."
Reid looked at Orga in confusion and asked directly, "Talk about what? I think you should be calming your members right now. About ten minutes ago, this base started getting noisy everywhere. It seems like a lot of people are packing their things."
Hearing this, Orga snorted coldly and said, "Hmph, and isn't this all thanks to you? Gjallarhorn is surrounding this place, a full-scale encirclement from space to the ground. Once they attack, what chance do we have of survival? So everyone has no choice but to pack up."
Reid wasn't surprised to hear this. Even if Gaelio wanted to save McGillis, he would naturally want to settle the score after getting his man back. It was normal for him to send troops to surround the area.
However, Reid planned to just return to the CE Universe as soon as he got the Medical Pod. It wouldn't matter how tight their encirclement was.
So, Reid replied without a hint of crisis, "Oh, that's normal. But what are you telling me this for? You should also be trying to escape. You're the local experts here; you know all the surrounding pits and where they lead.
"Gjallarhorn can't encircle you up close. Their cordon must be large enough to be beyond the range of normal radar to prevent me from killing the hostage in an emergency. So you still have a good chance of escaping."
Seeing Reid's indifference, Orga naturally knew this mysterious fellow must have a way to escape. He continued, "Are you trying to make us really become rats scurrying through holes to escape? You caused all of this!"
Hearing this, Reid said dismissively, "Yes, I caused it. And? You're still alive, and you can still escape. Isn't that good enough?
"Chryse Guard Security should still have some assets left, right? The rest of you can split it and survive for a while. Staying alive shouldn't be a big problem."
Reid's words seemed to have provoked Orga. He strode to the side of the Blade Angel and slammed his fist on its foot, saying, "What I mean is for you to take responsibility! You directly caused Tekkadan's first mission to fail. Aren't you rich? Can't you just send us supplies and equipment? Buy us! Arm us! We'll help you fight Gjallarhorn!"
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