Becoming the Fisherman

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(The second chapter will be out after midnight. If you can't wait, you can read it tomorrow. Speaking of which, this holiday has been quite tiring.)

On the bridge of the Archangel, Mwu, Bargyll, and the others were already feeling down about leaving their comrades behind to deal with the situation alone, unable to do anything. However, a text message from the Menelaus instantly made Mwu and Bargyll stand up, their expressions filled with disbelief and astonishment.

"Rebellion!?" Mwu slammed her hand on the armrest and shouted in a panic, "Contact the Menelaus immediately, I want to speak directly with General Harborton!"

Dalida, the intelligence control officer, the curly-haired man with glasses on the bridge, after trying to contact the Menelaus, replied with an anxious expression, "We can't contact the Menelaus, they've unilaterally cut off all communications with the Archangel."

Upon hearing Dalida's reply, Mwu seemed to have lost her senses, "Turn 180 degrees, course for the Menelaus, we're going to support the Menelaus!"

Mwu's order stunned everyone on the bridge, especially the helmsman, who looked at Mwu with a shocked expression.

"Damn it!" Bargyll clenched her fists tightly and turned to Mwu, "Captain, please calm down. There's no use for us to stay here! We'll only be a burden to the entire Eighth Fleet. You absolutely cannot turn the ship around at this moment and betray the lives of those sacrificed soldiers!"

"But General Harborton..." Mwu lowered her head and said softly in a trembling voice, "Are we just going to pretend we didn't see it and run away ourselves?"

Bargyll gritted her teeth and walked in front of Mwu, softening her voice slightly, "This isn't running away. Our departure is precisely to save them. Only when we leave will ZAFT stop its attack, and General Harborton will have a chance to mobilize personnel to suppress those rebels."

Mwu understood the current situation, but she couldn't accept facing an attack from her own people while simultaneously fighting the enemy. It was too much for her to bear. After a long silence, Mwu looked up at the giant warship on the main screen, which was slowly moving and blocking the Archangel from behind. She took a deep breath, "Maximum speed, disengage from the combat zone, begin calculating descent trajectory, complete all hangar bay securing procedures in the shortest time possible, notify everyone to prepare for descent to Earth."

A unified voice echoed from the bridge: "Yes."

Miriallia, sitting at the CIC station, simultaneously sent these messages to Xiao Ran and Kira.

"Rebellion on the Menelaus, the military police and landing forces are completely unable to resist, rebel personnel are moving towards the bridge. This ship has decided to block all attacks towards the Archangel until the rebel personnel reach the bridge. Please, Archangel, speed up and immediately leave the combat zone for Earth."

"Warship is preparing for immediate descent to Earth. Strike Gundam must not stray too far from the ship. Lightning Ginn prepare for immediate return."

Xiao Ran, piloting the Lightning Ginn, saw the message Miriallia sent him after destroying a Ginn that was charging towards the Menelaus. After reading the message, Xiao Ran merely sighed and shook his head, but he wasn't the least bit surprised by the events.

It seemed that as long as they were in this combat zone, they would receive the same faction mission. Therefore, not only did the four participants on the Menelaus receive the system-prompted mission, but Xiao Ran also received the same mission.

However, Xiao Ran had directly refused the first mission so far, but he hesitated on the second one. This was because he knew the Eighth Fleet would be annihilated here, and they were facing more ZAFT forces than in the original story. Annihilation was no longer in doubt. The commander was Cruze, and Cruze, who sought to provoke a larger war, would not miss such an opportunity for ZAFT to attract hatred again. It was not Cruze's style to not annihilate the Eighth Fleet completely. Therefore, he refused the first mission without hesitation.

But there was a reason for Xiao Ran's hesitation on the second mission. After receiving Miriallia's message, he understood what was happening on the Menelaus. Those four participants who should have been monitored must have received the same mission. For the C-rank mobile suit data, they prepared to subdue Harborton and take him away directly, which was why they were advancing towards the bridge. He was still hesitating whether to refuse, but after seeing Miriallia's message stating that the military police and landing forces were no match for them, Xiao Ran also had the idea of accepting the mission and reaping the benefits.

In Xiao Ran's mind, he also felt that those participants might indeed be able to take Harborton out of the warship and escape the area. After all, based on his previous encounters with other participants, the abilities of other participants besides himself seemed somewhat strange. They could tell at a glance who was a Coordinator and who was a young participant, and there was a bald participant whose body could not be penetrated by bullets. Therefore, Xiao Ran believed that these participants on the Menelaus might also have other abilities to ensure they could complete the mission, otherwise they wouldn't have made such a move.

Although the mission did not indicate any penalty for failure, Xiao Ran did not believe that there would be no penalty for mission failure. However, after thinking about it, Xiao Ran gritted his teeth and accepted the faction side mission two, the mission to protect Harborton, because compared to the unknown failure penalty, the mission reward was truly tempting.

Looking up at the Menelaus, which was slowly blocking the direct path of the enemy's pursuit and attacks behind the Archangel, but also blocking Xiao Ran's possibility of continuing to fire into the center of the melee, Xiao Ran narrowed his eyes, "Accept Faction Mission Two!"

"Accepted Faction Side Mission: Protect the Wise General Harborton. Ensure Harborton's safety until the end of the battle. Mission completion reward: C-rank mobile suit construction data. Mission failure will result in expulsion from the Earth Alliance faction and joint pursuit by the Earth Alliance and ZAFT factions."

"Hiss." Xiao Ran let out a soft whistle and finally breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't expect the penalty for mission failure to be expulsion from the faction and collective pursuit by both factions. This was not a big deal for Xiao Ran, because his ultimate faction goal was not the Archangel, but Orb, or rather the Three Ships Alliance. By the time he joined Orb or the Three Ships Alliance, he would be pursued by both sides anyway, so this penalty was insignificant.

After accepting the mission, Xiao Ran turned to look at the Strike Gundam, which was fighting against the Duel Gundam and Buster Gundam. He pushed and pulled the control sticks, and the Lightning Ginn raised its arm and fired a shot towards the Buster Gundam. Immediately after, a series of red beams, even faster than before, shot towards the Buster Gundam one after another.

"Is this guy crazy?" Dearka, sitting in the cockpit, kept operating the Buster Gundam to dodge the Lightning Ginn's attacks. He found that the firing frequency of the Lightning Ginn was now one-third faster than before. Just dodging these attacks left him with no time to spare, and he couldn't even provide support to the Duel Gundam in the distance.

Due to the continuous high-frequency firing of the Lightning Ginn, the pulse cannon held in its steel hand also began to heat up due to insufficient heat dissipation, and even the muzzle slowly turned red. However, Xiao Ran did not stop firing because the muzzle turned red. After firing more than a dozen rounds, he finally released the trigger under the alarm in the cockpit. At this time, the Buster Gundam had also dodged far away due to the Lightning Ginn's attack.

Looking at the Buster Gundam far away on the screen, and the Duel and Strike Gundams entangled, either clashing beam sabers or exchanging fire, Xiao Ran directly pressed the communication button, "Calling the Archangel. I can no longer attack. Lightning Ginn requests to return to base."

"Lightning Ginn is permitted to return to base. Please use the first catapult for return."

"Received." After hanging up the communication, Xiao Ran operated the Lightning Ginn, unplugged the power connected to the pulse cannon, kicked off with his legs, and the thrusters behind him roared to life. He quickly flew away from the Archangel. After flying a considerable distance in front of the Archangel, he made an arc turn and flew towards the Archangel's open catapult. The moment he entered the catapult, the Lightning Ginn turned around, and its various deceleration thrusters sprayed continuously. It finally stopped when it hit the resistance belt inside the Archangel.

As soon as he got off the Lightning Ginn, a ship-wide announcement echoed from the Archangel: "The Archangel is about to fully enter Earth Sphere's gravitational range. All personnel, please prepare for descent immediately after completing your tasks. Hangar bay containment of Ginn must be completed within three minutes. Descent procedures will begin in five minutes."

Xiao Ran left the Lightning Ginn and saw a group of staff in yellow uniforms jumping out from all directions. He could also hear Sergeant Murrue's somewhat hoarse voice, "Quick! Everyone, hurry up and secure the Ginn!" (A great event for free stuff, cool phones await you! Follow the official WeChat account of Qidian Chinese Network (add friend, search for qdread) and participate immediately! Everyone wins a prize, follow the qdread WeChat official account now!)