Thor Kni looked over the data on the Nacskha-class High-Speed Battleship and said happily.
"This is really nice. Once it truly belongs to me, I'll give it a proper overhaul.
Nami, once the assimilation is complete, don't assimilate any more warships. Make everyone on this ship more cautious at a subconscious level.
Then secretly enhance it. Add PS Armor, Layered Armor, and Mirage Colloid, but don't use them unless absolutely necessary.
If any personnel or mobile suits are transferred away, have the New DG Cells leave their bodies immediately and remain on standby aboard the ship. The ship comes first.
Don't let the ship and all its mobile suits get destroyed before I become strong enough to take it back."
"Understood, Master."
"I wonder when I'll be able to pilot Gunpla openly. This warship can't be brought into the open for now either, so it's practically no different from not having one.
Looks like I can forget about it until we reach Artemis. For now, I can only practice piloting an MA in the virtual training simulator aboard the Archangel."
Kira piloted the Strike Gundam and led everyone to the catapult deck of the Archangel.
The moment they stepped onto the catapult deck, they saw a group of people in Earth Alliance uniforms hurrying toward them. From afar, they heard a woman's voice call out.
"Captain Lamias!"
Thor Kni saw a tall young woman with short hair in uniform. She was Lieutenant Bajiruru, whom he had seen earlier.
Mwu Lamias called out excitedly when she saw her.
"Lieutenant Bajiruru."
Lieutenant Bajiruru ran up to Mwu and gave her a salute.
"Captain Lamias, it's wonderful to see that you're safe."
Mwu Lamias returned the salute.
"Lieutenant Bajiruru, the same goes for you. Thanks to you protecting the Archangel, we were able to survive."
Lieutenant Bajiruru watched as the Strike Gundam's cockpit opened and Kira Yamato, who still looked like a child, slowly descended. She could not help but stare in shock.
Sergeant Madoc from the maintenance crew also widened his eyes and asked curiously.
"Hey, hey, what's going on here? Isn't he just a kid? Why was he riding that thing?"
Lieutenant Bajiruru looked at Mwu Lamias and asked.
"Captain Lamias, who are they?"
Just then, Mu La Flaga strolled over and said leisurely.
"Well, this is certainly surprising.
Hello. I'm Captain Mu La Flaga of the Earth Alliance 7th Fleet."
"Captain Mwu Lamias of the 5th Special Division, Second Space Zone."
"Lieutenant Natale Bajiruru, same unit."
Mwu, Bajiruru, and Mu began discussing the Archangel's current situation.
Mu La Flaga looked at Kira's group and asked.
"Captain Lamias, who are they?"
Mwu looked at Mu La Flaga and explained.
"As you can see, they're civilian children from Heliopolis. For some reason, they came to the factory area during the attack, and I had him board a G Weapon.
His name is Kira Yamato. Thanks to him, we drove back a GINN and protected this machine."
Bajiruru said in surprise.
"He drove back a GINN? That child did it?"
Mu La Flaga stepped forward and spoke to Kira.
"You're a Coordinator, aren't you?"
The moment the soldiers heard the word Coordinator, they immediately raised their guns at Thor's group.
Thor Kni knew at once that it was time to put on a performance.
Thor nervously shielded Kira and said to the soldiers.
"What are you doing? Even if Kira's a Coordinator, he's not the enemy.
Didn't you see what happened just now? He drove back the GINN and repelled ZAFT's attack.
What are you people thinking, pointing your guns at your own side...?"
Mwu Lamias lowered her head, sighed softly, and waved to the guards.
"Lower your weapons. There's no need to be surprised. This is Heliopolis, a colony of a neutral nation.
It's perfectly normal for there to be Coordinators here who don't want to be dragged into the war."
The soldiers obeyed and lowered their guns.
Mu La Flaga scratched his head, smiled awkwardly, and mocked himself.
"Ah, sorry about that. I was only asking out of curiosity, but I nearly caused a huge commotion.
On my way here, I saw the pilots of these machines. They had a hard enough time just moving around during simulated training, let alone fighting.
What a headache. Cruze's team is outside, and that guy is a real nuisance. We don't have time to chat here."
With that, Mu left and headed for the Moebius Zero he piloted, beginning repairs on the fighter.
The maintenance crew followed him and began inspecting and repairing the Strike Gundam and Moebius Zero.
The other personnel began gathering supplies from the Heliopolis satellite factory.
Sei Argyle asked Mwu Lamias.
"Miss Lamias, when can we leave?"
Thor rolled his eyes at Sei and thought.
Leave my ass. We finally got aboard the Archangel, and you want to leave and get yourselves killed? Nice one, Sei.
I've written this down in my little notebook. If you have problems later, I'm absolutely not helping you.
Natale Bajiruru spoke sternly.
"You've seen our military secrets. We can't simply let you leave like this..."
Mwu Lamias interrupted her.
"Lieutenant Natale Bajiruru, stop."
Mwu spoke to Kira's group in a gentle tone.
"Even if we let you leave, you can't enter the escape pods. They've all been sealed off, and the alert outside has already been raised to Level Nine because of the battle just now.
Besides, another battle could break out at any time. Letting you remain in an unprotected satellite would be irresponsible toward you as well."
Mwu looked at them with sincere, gentle eyes, and what she said made sense.
Under a Level Nine satellite alert, the passages leading to the escape pods had already been completely sealed.
Furthermore, all the escape pods had been sent to the launch ports. If the alert rose to Level Ten, every escape pod would be launched immediately.
If Thor Kni and the others left, they would indeed have no safety whatsoever in a satellite where fighting could break out at any moment.
After being persuaded by Mwu Lamias and Mu La Flaga, Kira Yamato continued piloting the Strike Gundam into battle to protect the Archangel and his friends.
At Mwu Lamias's suggestion, the Strike Gundam also switched to its Sword/Beam configuration, reducing the possibility of causing even greater damage to the satellite.
Before long, an energy signature appeared on the Archangel's radar. It was a signal that ZAFT's special detachment had begun its invasion.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!"
A piercing alarm suddenly blared, and everyone present tensed.
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