In Archangel's hangar, the maintenance crew wore heavy spacesuits, bracing against the fierce wind that had followed the ship along the ejection track due to its high-speed flight.
At this moment, they were waiting for someone to return piloting a mobile suit.
"The Unicorn is back, maintenance crew, prepare… huh? Why does it look like this?"
Over the intercom, Miriallia's voice carried some surprise and confusion.
Before Murdoch and the others could react, the roar of a high-power engine reached their ears, as if a mobile suit was rushing toward the hangar at full speed.
"He's here!"
Seeing the red-and-white mobile suit flying onto the ejection deck, Murdoch shouted over the comms, waving his pointer.
Although he had been startled by this unknown mobile suit moments ago, seeing the psycho-frame glowing red through the white armor gaps made him recognize the pilot immediately.
There was no other reason: the glow of the psycho-frame was so distinctive that everyone on Archangel instinctively associated it with Roz.
The Unicorn smoothly flew into the hangar without landing, keeping a hover-like posture. It drifted, turned, and finally stopped firmly in its assigned bay.
"Close the hangar doors!"
With Murdoch's command, the hangar doors shut, and the violent wind ceased.
Previously hidden maintenance crew, who had been avoiding the wind, emerged from various places and began their work.
The red glow on the Unicorn faded, revealing the gray psycho-frame. Its previously split armor closed, returning to its original form.
"Transformation… so this mobile suit has a second form?"
Watching the Unicorn, now back in its standard single-horn state with the V-fin folded, Murdoch's eyes widened.
"This kind of mobile suit… is a nightmare for the maintenance crew!"
After all, the more complex the structure, the more than doubled the maintenance workload. For a suit like the Unicorn, with its interlocking armor and transformation that raises the frame, Murdoch could feel a headache coming just by estimating from experience.
At this time, the hangar quickly secured the Unicorn and extended the gangway for the pilot to exit.
"Doctor! The doctor is here!"
Roz, wearing the red-and-white pilot suit, carried someone in an Earth Alliance standard spacesuit out of the cockpit. "This person has been shot! We need a doctor!"
To avoid worsening Natarle's right shoulder wound while exiting the cockpit, Roz carried her horizontally.
Seeing Natarle's pale face from blood loss, and the wound still bleeding despite her covering it with her left hand, anxiety surged in Roz's heart.
"Here! Quickly, put her on the stretcher!"
At that moment, the ship's doctor, who had just entered the hangar, sprinted to the gangway with a stretcher.
Strangely, Natarle felt light, as if her body had no strength.
Feeling the hard floor beneath her, her blurred vision caught Roz and the doctor hurriedly removing her spacesuit and applying temporary bandages to stop the bleeding.
The hangar lights were dazzling, and the pain in her right shoulder made Natarle instinctively squint.
She looked to the side at the Unicorn, quietly stationed in the hangar, recalling how it had caught her in midair.
"So beautiful…"
Then, a sudden wave of dizziness overtook her, and she fell asleep.
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At this moment, the Kaohsiung Mass Driver.
Muruta, still wearing that light blue suit, sat in a waiting room, watching as the mass driver systematically launched a large number of warships into space.
An officer opened the waiting room door, hurried to Muruta's side, and whispered a few words in his ear.
Hearing the officer, Muruta couldn't help but frown.
"Garuda Unit 2 lost signal… are we certain it crashed?!"
"The naval forces saw the wreckage falling from the sky. The survival capsule was destroyed into unrecognizable fragments. No one survived."
The officer paused, then said, "Based on salvage analysis, Garuda Unit 2 was hit by a high-temperature, high-powered weapon."
"Positron Cannon?"
Muruta recalled the currently most powerful weapon in small-range precision strikes. "Has Archangel landed back on Earth?"
"Unknown… but one thing is certain: there's a problem at the lunar base."
The officer began analyzing the current intelligence: "Navigation data for Garuda Unit 1 is only with the Atlantic Federation HQ, and Garuda Unit 2's data was only sent to the lunar base."
"I suggest a thorough investigation of the lunar base. Last time, it was infiltrated and attacked, destroying the Blue Cosmos and Kingdom of Foundation joint project."
"Foundation? That Orphee guy is up to something on the Moon again?"
Hearing the name, Muruta instinctively felt a sense of disgust.
"Forget it… I heard ZAFT has developed a new mobile suit, a GUNDAM to rival the G Series."
After a moment of thought, Muruta decided to handle this critical intelligence first: "Our spies inside ZAFT have located those units. Organize a second-generation enhanced human squad to capture them."
"Although the name is similar to ours, new technology and new power can never be enough."
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After a few hours, Natarle woke up from her coma.
The lights in the medical bay made her squint as she tried to adjust to the current lighting. The pain in her right shoulder made it impossible to lift her arm.
"You're awake?!"
A familiar voice rang in her ear, and Natarle instinctively turned to look.
Murrue was sitting on a chair, looking at the now-awake Natarle with surprise mixed with concern. Roz and Mu were standing not far away, watching her.
"Murrue…"
"How do you feel? Any other discomfort?"
Faced with Murrue's concern, Natarle didn't know what to say for a moment.
"A through-and-through wound. Lucky there are no fragments left in your body."
Roz, standing nearby in his flight jacket and jeans, said, "When I saw your face back then, I almost thought you were dead. Luckily, the ship doctor is skilled."
"Otherwise, I'd probably have been haunted by a new space ghost… ow!"
Roz exhaled, intending to say something more, when Murrue sharply twisted his waist.
"Roz, don't say things like that in front of the patient!"
Murrue couldn't help but feel a headache at Roz's habit of lightening the mood with flirtatious talk.
"All right, since the two friends are reunited, let's give them some space," Mu said, glancing at the atmosphere, noticing there was still a lot for Murrue and Natarle to discuss.
Mu reached out, looping his arm around Roz's neck, and led him out of the medical bay.
"Cough… cough… let go, I can walk myself!"
Roz coughed twice and patted Mu's arm.
Once outside in the corridor, Mu released Roz and leaned against the wall.
"Phew… that was close, didn't strangle me."
Roz took a few deep breaths to calm himself, then reached out to close the medical bay door. "If I lost my brain, it would be a loss for this world!"
"You still exaggerate… hmm, maybe not?!"
Mu was about to refute Roz's arrogance, but recalling Roz's talent with machinery and his various "green-style" works, he instinctively accepted Roz's claim in his heart.
"By the way, I haven't seen you at the bar lately?"
Thinking back to his brief time resting in Orb, when Mu would sometimes disappear for half a day, Roz squinted.
"Hey, not everyone is a genius pilot like you. Training is necessary."
Mu waved his hand proudly, "Besides, I've found a lover. Gotta spend time with the young lady."
"…Who?"
For a moment, several names flashed through Roz's mind, most of them deleted immediately.
"See, it's her."
Mu didn't hide it; he took out his communicator and showed a photo of him and a girl in flight suits, close together.
"Mayura? That Orb M1 Astray test pilot?"
Seeing the somewhat familiar face in the photo, Roz's expression became strange.
"What's with an old weird uncle paired with a young girl? How did you two end up together?"
"What old weird uncle? Careful, I'll sue you for slander!"
Mu put away the communicator and explained, "Lately, I've been training intensely to catch up with your and Kira's progress in MS piloting. I sparred with her, and we just got familiar through practice."
"Besides, with the current situation, you know, a large-scale battle could break out anytime. We could die there, and everyone else would just have to hear about it."
Mu shrugged, "So, somehow, I just muddled through and confessed to her."
Seeing Mu giving a thumbs-up with a subtle smile, Roz stayed silent for a long while.
"I remember she has two close friends too. Be careful not to get completely outmaneuvered by the strategist."
Roz patted Mu's shoulder, feeling sorry for the man about to be surrounded.
"Hmph… two little girls, how could they compare to me, a bar-hopping old uncle!"
Mu said proudly, clearly disregarding Mayura's two friends.
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"Has the information been released?"
In a ZAFT office, Rau Le Creuset watched the scene on the large screen with interest.
"Of course it's been released. Did you insert that data into the mobile suit?"
Gilbert Durandal looked at the documents in his hands, seemingly deep in thought.
On the large screen, a mobile suit somewhat similar to the Strike Gundam was engaged in combat against several GINNs.
"He's only been a test pilot for a few days and already has a rough idea of how to operate this mobile suit."
Rau laughed, "Although he can't match those geniuses who can pilot a mobile suit smoothly in a single day, you can already see the shadow of the Red Coat Elite in him."
"The Red Coat Elite isn't his limit. I know that better than you."
Durandal glanced at a value on the actual physical report, marked with a red line, and squinted. "As long as he can release that restriction…."
He had already done everything he could for now. All that remained was to wait for him to become fully proficient in piloting this new mobile suit, as well as for the Earth Alliance to carry out the mobile suit acquisition plan.
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