Dawn Desert

(Two chapters released together, not a single chapter owed. I wrote from noon until now to finish. Yizui is sick but still has to bring the baby to type, I'm truly speechless.)

Xiao Ran turned to look at the Lightning Ginn, which hadn't been disassembled yet, and said helplessly, "My Ginn can't be deployed under these circumstances either. For now, we can only trust Kira."

The people on the Archangel knew a thing or two about Ginn's situation, so Mu didn't object when Xiao Ran said this. After all, they couldn't possibly send their own people out in Mobile Suits that were full of problems to be target practice.

Half an hour passed quickly. The Archangel's numerous violent tremors and the loud noises from outside the ship made Mu, who was in the hangar, extremely anxious. He had already changed into his pilot suit and was seated in the Skygrasper, just waiting for the maintenance crew to finish the final preparations before he could deploy immediately.

Everything always seemed to take longer the first time, but fortunately, this agonizing wait didn't continue for Mu. Soon, under Sergeant Maddox's loud shouts, the maintenance crew finally tightened the last screw on the Skygrasper. Mu gave a thumbs-up to everyone and contacted the bridge.

While making the final parameter adjustments to the Skygrasper's weapons, Mu submitted his sortie request to the bridge. At this very moment, ZAFT's desert-type warships, stationed in the distance, fired two shells towards the Archangel with their main cannons. Although the Strike Gundam outside tried its best to shoot down one of the shells in mid-air, the remaining one exploded less than thirty meters away from the Archangel, causing the ship to shake violently and its entire hull to tilt.

"Halt sortie, halt!" Maddox, who had been thrown to the ground, yelled repeatedly at Mu, "This situation is no good!"

But soon the warship regained its balance. The bridge had the Archangel ascend into the air again, and Mu seized this opportunity to start the Skygrasper's engine and move into the catapult. Amidst a series of changes in the launch system, it finally soared into the sky.

With the Skygrasper's deployment, Xiao Ran felt somewhat redundant staying in the hangar. The Lightning Ginn couldn't be used, and for the other Skygrasper to sortie, it would require at least fifteen minutes of debugging and weapon fitting. Moreover, Xiao Ran had never intended to use such a fragile little aircraft for combat. Although this little aircraft had surpassed the scope of a fighter jet and could be considered an aerial Mobile Armor, Xiao Ran still felt it wasn't safe enough.

Regardless of whether he was afraid of death, if he were to pilot the Skygrasper out to fight like an idiot without understanding the situation, Xiao Ran would have died long ago. He wouldn't have entered this world cautiously, taking one step at a time, nor would he have relied on his knowledge of the plot to recklessly change things and earn Merit Points and other rewards. This was because he knew deeply that only by surviving would there be more possibilities, and only by being more careful would he live longer.

With nothing else to do in the hangar, Xiao Ran turned and left, heading directly to the bridge. In the tense bridge, Xiao Ran's quiet entry didn't attract anyone's attention. He simply stood at the back, experiencing the battle process firsthand. When faced with another salvo from the enemy warships, Xiao Ran didn't appear anxious or flustered like everyone else. He calmly watched as Kira, in his magnificent display, shot down all the shells with a single blast, nor was he shocked by Kira's god-like attack like the others, because he had already anticipated it.

He had anticipated the Strike Gundam's energy shortage, the appearance of the Dawn Desert, and even the retreat of ZAFT. Experiencing it all again through the eyes of a participant, knowing everything that would happen, seemed to bring a different kind of feeling.

Xiao Ran was noticed by others only when the Dawn Desert people proposed negotiations. When Mwu turned to leave the bridge, she finally noticed him and asked in surprise, "When did you get here?"

"After Mu deployed," Xiao Ran replied.

Mwu nodded. "We still don't know the situation with these people. For safety, you wait on the ship. If anything happens, I'll leave the Archangel to you."

Xiao Ran was stunned by Mwu's words, but then he felt touched. He was touched by Mwu's concern for his safety, touched by her trust in him, and even more so by her entrusting the Archangel, which was currently her life, to him. Although Mwu said these words because she had grown suspicious and disappointed in the Earth Force, her feelings towards Xiao Ran were truly sincere.

"What can I say," Xiao Ran looked at Mwu and smiled slightly, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Aren't you afraid I'll defect with the Archangel from the Earth Force?"

Mwu also smiled, a smile so beautiful. "If I die, I won't be able to manage it anymore. You will be the highest commander of the Archangel belonging to the Eighth Fleet then, and the Archangel will be your ship."

"Mwu... you fool, please, don't fall for me!" Xiao Ran shouted inwardly. He had fallen for Mwu, and Mwu had indeed fallen for him. However, as he was destined to leave this world, he didn't dare to accept this feeling, or rather, he wouldn't dare to accept it until he found a way to bring her with him from the mission world.

"The Archangel is everything to you, and I won't let anything happen to it, nor to you." Although Xiao Ran warned himself inwardly, he couldn't help but say these words. After saying them, Xiao Ran turned around. "Let's go, I'll go with you. The people below should be from the Dawn Desert, the North African resistance against ZAFT. It shouldn't be a problem."

After speaking, Xiao Ran took the lead into the elevator and turned to make a gesture for Mwu to follow.

Although Mwu had said those words to Xiao Ran, she had still made all the necessary preparations. She wore a bulletproof vest under her uniform, and a squad of guards, carrying weapons and wearing headphones, hid on either side of the opened doors, nervously guarding against any possible unexpected situations.

However, when Mwu and Xiao Ran, accompanied by two guards with their weapons slung over their backs, emerged from the Archangel, they witnessed a scene that was almost unbelievable. A blonde girl had just slapped Kira, who had just gotten out of the Strike Gundam, heavily on the face. She was also tightly gripping Kira's collar with both hands, yelling at him in a furious tone, "Why is it you, why is it you! Come back to me, why!"

The scene between the two instantly turned the tense atmosphere into one of inexplicable confusion. Everyone stared dumbfounded at the silent Kira and the furious Cagalli. The attitude of the Dawn Desert, which had intended to show the Earth Force who was boss, inexplicably dissipated. Instead, they watched with interest at the female warrior within their team, unconsciously revealing gossip-mongering expressions.

"They know each other. Is she also your student?" Mwu turned and asked Xiao Ran in a low voice.

Xiao Ran shook his head and smiled. "I wish I had a student like that, but her background is too significant for me to handle. We only met once in Heliopolis. Kira might have had something happen with her at that time, otherwise, Kira wouldn't have piloted the Strike Gundam."

Mwu was astonished. "Girlfriend?"

"You're overthinking it. At that time, this girl wanted to run towards the battle for some reason, and Kira, worried about her, followed. I don't know what happened afterward," Xiao Ran shook his head. "But judging by the looks of it, this girl seems to have a high status within the resistance. Now, we don't have to worry about them launching a surprise attack."