After the Battle 7

Beneath the towering hangar dome, the air was thick with the distinctive scorched smell of engine oil, coolant, and metal.

Time seemed to stretch, dilute, and rewind here, back to not long ago, to the moment Xia Ya and Lacus Clyne had silently watched Jiliang and her companions from afar.

Several icy-white beams from enormous spotlights shone down from above, clearly outlining the mobile suit parked at the center—the Experimental Nuclear Zaku. Its armor was covered in scratches and black marks left by energy weapon burns. Several damaged armor plates hung limply open, exposing the intricate piping and transmission mechanisms within.

Orb's ground crew, dressed in orange coveralls, moved busily around the feet of the massive machine like industrious ants.

A tractor engine rumbled deeply, thick steel cables already hooked onto the mounting points along the machine's waist armor. At the signal of a ground crew foreman, the tractor slowly started up, towing the silent steel giant toward its designated maintenance area.

Around it, lifting platforms gave off soft hydraulic whines as they carried technicians up and down to conduct preliminary assessments of the machine's damage.

Welding sparks occasionally flashed in the distance alongside the shriek of metal cutters. Other battle-damaged Orb MS units, the M1 Astrays, were undergoing emergency repairs.

All this noisy yet orderly activity seemed to have nothing to do with Canard Pars, who stood off to one side.

He had just completed the handover with the ground crew supervisor and confirmed that his machine would be properly stored, at least until Orb decided what to do with him.

Leaning against a row of tool cabinets with his arms folded across his chest, he looked past the bustling crowd toward Jiliang, who was speaking with a technical officer nearby.

Jiliang wore a slightly oversized Orb Army pilot