Kira Yamato and His Friends

As the Archangel's sharp turn sent a violent shudder through the ship, Kira Yamato was anxiously chatting with his friends.

"Where in the world is this ship headed...?"

In response to Katz Buskirk's question, Sai Argyle—the sociable, popular leader of their little group up until now—answered.

"That shudder just now was from changing course, right? I wonder if ZAFT is still pursuing us..."

"Their targets are this ship and the mobile suit Kira was piloting, right? Then they must still be after us."

Agreeing with Sai's deduction, Tolley Koenig spoke up as well, and his girlfriend, Miriallia Haw, chimed in.

"Exactly. By the looks of it, we're probably still in danger.

But Kira, thanks to you, those of us who couldn't evacuate in time would've ended up as corpses in the ruins of Heliopolis."

"It was nothing..."

Kira, still caught up in Athrun's words and the reality that Heliopolis had been destroyed, barely seemed to register Miriallia's thanks.

Miriallia wanted to check on him, but then Katz brought up a more pressing concern.

"Do you think our parents are all right?"

"They ordered evacuations across the entire colony. Everyone outside the factory district should've had time to get to safety, right?"

Sai's reasoning made sense. Miriallia felt somewhat reassured as she held her boyfriend Tolley's arm. Just as she was about to say something, however, an unfamiliar voice spoke beside them.

"Kira Yamato."

"Yes?"

Mu found it difficult to ask Kira and the other boys and girls for help, so he decided to open with a joke.

"Sergeant Murdoch's getting pretty angry. 'We're desperately short-handed, so why isn't the pilot at the maintenance site?'"

"The pilot... You mean me?"

Kira seemed stunned as Mu presented it as a fait accompli, while Mu tried to press his advantage and settle the matter on the spot.

"That's right. You're the only one who can handle the Strike Gundam, so naturally you're the pilot."

Kira, whose mindset had yet to change, wasn't about to accept that.

"Wait a minute! That may be true, but I'm not a soldier, and I never intended to take part in this war!"

Mu shook his head, looking first at Kira and then at Kira's friends, before asking in a serious tone,

"So when the enemy attacks again, are you planning to tell them that and just hope you and your friends make it out unharmed?"

Mu's words immediately drew everyone's attention. Seeing them waver, he pressed his advantage.

"Right now, we're all in this together aboard this ship;

and the only people who can protect it, Kira, are you and me.

I'm afraid the enemy will attack again, and we have no intention of surrendering.

So if you have the ability, you should do everything you can. Time and the enemy aren't going to wait for us to get ready."

Having said what he thought was enough for now, Mu started to leave;

but before he could go, Sai called out to him on everyone's behalf.

"May I ask where this ship is headed?"

Mu didn't hide anything—not even the problems they might face.

"We're heading for the Eurasian Federation's military base, Artemis. We expect to coast there under radio silence for one or two days.

But the enemy could catch up with us during that time, and there's no guarantee we'll be able to dock smoothly or resupply with provisions and personnel."

After that, Mu left the living quarters, intending to return to the bridge.

Once Mu was gone, the friends all turned to Kira, and Sai once again spoke for the group.

"Kira, what are you going to do?"

With his friends, Kira didn't feel the need to hide what he thought.

"Even if that guy says so, just because I can pilot a mobile suit doesn't mean I have to go to war."

His friends nodded in agreement, though Katz added,

"But if the enemy attacks, we can't exactly surrender on our own, can we?

If it comes to that, at least Kira would have to pilot the mobile suit to contact them, right?"

"Katz!"

At Miriallia's sharp rebuke, Katz hunched his shoulders and gestured an apology to Kira;

while Kira forced a smile and waved to show he didn't mind, Tolley, as Miriallia's boyfriend, took it upon himself to lighten the mood.

"Whatever happens, I'm hungry. You guys skipped lunch too, so you must be starving, right?"

Tolley's words made the others realize how hungry they were, and sociable Sai immediately thought of a way to help.

"There should be prepared meals in the cafeteria.

We'll need permission, of course, and I doubt the people on the bridge and in the hangar have had time to eat either.

How about this?

We go to the cafeteria and prepare lunch. Miriallia and Tolley can deliver it to the bridge, Kira and Katz can take some to the hangar, and I'll stay in the cafeteria. If you run short, contact me and I'll bring more."

The friends looked at one another and decided it was a good idea, then turned their eyes to Kira.

Feeling the concern of his friends, Kira felt a little better. Thinking of what Mu had said, he still didn't intend to go to war, but he did feel he should help out as much as he could with Sergeant Murdoch and the others' preparations.

With the plan settled, they all headed for the cafeteria in the living quarters.

The vast interior of the Archangel was deserted. The lights were on, but there was no one else around.

It wasn't until they reached the cafeteria that they found a crew member, who was frantically trying to keep up with the work.

"You kids here for a meal? Sorry, I can't manage on my own. Please wait a little longer."

"If that's the case, we can help."

The situation was a little different from what they'd expected, but Sai, being the one who'd taken the lead, naturally answered.

"Really? That'd be a huge help!

Can any of you drive a forklift? We need to bring some fresh water out of the cold-storage room.

I also need two people to help carry the meals I've prepared. We'll just have to make do with whatever's available today, all right?

Is anyone good with electrical work? I need to check the power on a few machines."

Clearly, the crew member temporarily handling the warehouse was genuinely overwhelmed. To be honest, the jobs he'd assigned weren't exactly suitable for students.

Fortunately, Kira and his friends had been caught up in the attack in the first place because they were studying the civilian applications of those very fields;

and, after Professor Kato had helped them overcome their qualms, they'd even taken part in some military work disguised as civilian tasks.

The group quickly divided up the work and helped the crew member prepare a late lunch for the entire ship, themselves included;

then, after helping with meal delivery as planned, they somehow ended up "volunteering" as members of the Archangel's crew.

No battles broke out after that, but as the two days of radio-silent travel neared their end and Artemis came into view, Kira volunteered to stand by in the Strike Gundam alongside Mu's Type Zero. The others had already grown accustomed to their roles, too, and were competently taking up their stations as crew members on the Archangel's bridge.