The Quartet

"I will not agree to your request."

Bargyll looked sharply at Xiao Ran, who was pleading with her. Her resolute tone made Xiao Ran's heart sink, and he couldn't help but show a hint of anger.

Bargyll ignored the anger in Xiao Ran's eyes and spoke with sharp intensity, "You're eavesdropping on our military secrets and attempting to interfere with our military arrangements. What exactly do you want? I've always found you suspicious. Your appearance was too coincidental, and you can pilot an MS that natural humans cannot. Even with Captain Mwu and Lieutenant Kira confirming you're a teacher from the industrial college, I still suspect you're an intelligence operative for some faction. Speak! What is your motive for coming aboard the Archangel?"

Seeing Bargyll's stern expression, Xiao Ran opened his mouth and moved it. After taking a deep breath, he gave a self-deprecating laugh and said, "Come on, would a spy act like me? I did hear your conversation, but you were speaking so loudly that it would have been impossible not to hear, right?"

As Xiao Ran spoke, he quickly thought of ways to resolve the situation, ways to make Bargyll agree to his request.

At this moment, Xiao Ran was also extremely annoyed with himself for being so impulsive and actually seeking Bargyll's help. Even asking the unreliable Mu for help would have been better than asking the by-the-book Bargyll. Even if Mu suspected something, he would most likely just investigate in secret. He wouldn't question me directly and waste time like Bargyll, leaving no room for negotiation.

Of course, asking Mwu would have been the best option. However, after hearing about the Participants, Xiao Ran had been somewhat dazed and only focused on preventing those Participants from boarding the Archangel. Seeing Bargyll emerge, Xiao Ran, in his dazed state, assumed she was going to handle this matter and thus stopped her.

But now, apart from confirming that these individuals were Participants, he knew nothing else. The reason he needed to use in this short time was already giving Xiao Ran a splitting headache.

"Participants, Participants... Hmm? That's it!" Xiao Ran's eyes suddenly lit up. Looking at Bargyll, who was staring intently at him, he suddenly felt an immense surge of confidence. "I don't know if you knew about something when you were in Heliopolis."

"What does that have to do with what I'm asking you?" Bargyll said coldly.

"It's very relevant," Xiao Ran calmly reviewed everything he needed to say in his mind, gradually deepening his tone. "On the same day Heliopolis collapsed, shortly before the attack, the spaceport of Heliopolis was attacked by many people. Do you know about this?"

Bargyll's eyes flickered slightly. "I do."

"But those people weren't from ZAFT. Although, from a certain perspective, they did help ZAFT a lot by drawing away most of the attention of the security forces." Xiao Ran quickly pieced together the events in his mind, also to make everything sound more plausible. He said, "There were only five people in that group at first, but after the conflict with the security forces, their numbers at least tripled. And each of them possessed physical abilities even greater than Coordinators. Some even had skin that bullets couldn't penetrate."

"Are you joking with me?" Bargyll sneered, thinking Xiao Ran was trying to distract her and change the subject.

"You can ask Kira, Tolle, or Miriallia about what I'm saying. Because afterwards, Kira and I encountered a part of that group. They had obvious bullet marks on them, but no wounds. In one or two seconds, they could cover dozens of meters. Is that something humans can do?"

Bargyll remained expressionless, completely unmoved.

Xiao Ran, however, paid no attention to Bargyll's expression or her thoughts. He continued speaking on his own, "Afterward, I investigated the spaceport incident. Because of the entire Heliopolis incident, most of the information was vague, but at least one thing could be confirmed: the entire spaceport security team was wiped out, the reinforcements were wiped out, and many passengers present at the time were unaccounted for. And all of this was accomplished by perhaps only a dozen or so people. Oh, and this wasn't a surprise attack, but the result of a completely frontal confrontation while surrounded."

After Xiao Ran finished speaking, Bargyll's expression, which had been unchanged, finally showed a reaction. A flicker of disbelief flashed in her eyes.

"If I'm not mistaken, weren't the people you mentioned earlier, like me and Kira, all from Heliopolis?" Xiao Ran looked at Bargyll, his expression full of seriousness and pleading. "It's true that there are people with super personal abilities, but what about those who exceed human limits? The Strike Gundam should still have records from that time. You can ask Sergeant Maddox to help you find them. You'll understand when you look."

"Such superhumans appeared, and not just one or two, but many at once. I absolutely won't believe that there was no organization or plan behind it. Those who could commit such inhumane acts at the spaceport are likely not good people. I've decided to stay on the ship, so I have to consider my own safety. And you, as the first mate, must also consider the safety of everyone on the ship. If anything happens, we will not be their match."

"If you believe me, investigate. If you don't, you should investigate even more. But in any case, preventing them from boarding the Archangel now is definitely the right thing to do." Xiao Ran gently patted Bargyll's shoulder and sighed deeply. "That's all I have to say. But if they have already boarded the ship by the time I leave the captain's room, I will take my students and leave the Archangel."

"Slap!" A crisp sound echoed in the corridor. Xiao Ran rubbed his slightly sore hand but also showed a hint of a smile.

After slapping away Xiao Ran's hand from her shoulder, Bargyll glanced at him coldly and said, "I will investigate."

Watching Bargyll turn and quickly walk away, Xiao Ran felt an immense sense of relief. "I don't know why, but ever since I came to this so-called Prometheus, I've felt an unprecedented sense of gratitude for being an Earthling, an ordinary person, haha."

Xiao Ran didn't know how Bargyll would investigate after leaving, nor did he know what those people he had identified as Participants were doing at that moment. He had already knocked on the captain's room door and walked in under the watchful eyes of Mwu and Harborton.

On the Agamemnon-class carrier Menelaus, the flagship of the Eighth Fleet, a shuttlecraft was ready. Inside, four people in their twenties were sitting together, three men and one woman. Their originally white, neat, and solemn military uniforms barely conveyed the aura of soldiers. Almost everyone had made some modifications to their uniforms, either cutting off their sleeves or leaving them completely open without buttoning them. The only woman had also shortened her skirt and torn it in some places to create a slit mini-skirt, showing no resemblance to a soldier at all.

However, each of them bore the exact same rank insignia as Mwu's collar – they were all Captains, even one rank higher than Xiao Ran.

Four duffel bags were placed beside them, as if they were fully prepared to depart for the Archangel.

Perhaps bored from sitting on the ship, a blue-haired man among the four stretched lazily and said in a drawling voice, "I wonder what these trash are doing, making us wait so long."

"The efficiency of this Earth Alliance is truly terrible." Another man among the four, who had cut off his sleeves to reveal his muscular arms, tapped the armrest of his seat and said disdainfully, "In our place, if the military operated with such inefficiency, the people in charge from top to bottom would have already been sent into the fuel furnace. These lower-class humans and genetically modified humans fighting each other, I don't see the point. Do they really think there are no other species in the universe besides humans?"

The blue-haired man, upon hearing what the sleeveless man said, also shouted in annoyance, "This is so annoying. I want to see our mobile suits soon. How much longer do we have to wait? I heard there are two mobile suits waiting for us on that ship. I can't wait any longer."

Another man who hadn't spoken, with silver hair that just covered his eyes, heard the blue-haired man's shout and suddenly reprimanded him in a cold voice, "Shut up, idiot. Do you want others to hear you?"

"Tch, you're only slightly stronger than me, so why act so high and mighty?" The blue-haired man, though annoyed, lowered his voice. "Once I get my own mobile suit, I don't believe I won't be able to beat you. Then, this position will have to be re-ranked."

"Alright, stop talking," the woman, who had been sitting with her eyes closed, pretending to nap, slowly opened her eyes. She first glanced at the three men with her beautiful, spirited eyes, then said in a slightly seductive but pleasant voice, "As we discussed earlier, the two mobile suits on that ship will be received by Sman and me first. You two will help us complete our exclusive missions. Afterward, you can receive the mobile suits you encounter in order and complete your missions."

Sman, the man in the sleeveless shirt, grinned at the other two after hearing the woman speak and said to her, "Don't worry, Big Sister. We won't mess around. Harvey, you should talk less. Barnes is stronger than you, so he's third. If you're stronger, you can pick the second or third position."

The blue-haired youth, Harvey, heard Sman's words and curled his lip in disdain. He glared at the silver-haired man, Barnes, and then closed his eyes, leaning back in his chair as if he had already fallen asleep in such a short time, not making another sound.