"Beep beep beep… beep beep beep…"
The alarm rang by his ear, and Roz Links, who had been sleeping in the pilot seat, woke up.
For some reason, yesterday the seat had still been in normal mode, but now it had turned into the reclined chair form used when the NTD system is activated — and despite sleeping here all night, his back didn't hurt at all.
As Roz fully woke up, the originally reclined pilot seat transformed back into normal mode.
He stretched a little, patted his cheeks to clear his head, then reached out and turned on the touchscreen panel in front of the pilot seat.
"Roz, you're awake?"
It seemed Murrue Ramius had heard the noise he made waking up, and her voice came over the comm.
Right now, the super freighter had already moved far away from the Archangel. Murrue and Natarle Badgiruel could only command Roz through the large number of screens installed inside the ship.
The many screens displaying radar scans and external camera feeds of the Archangel even made her feel a bit like she had returned to doing command drills back in the military academy.
"It's exactly seven a.m. You're very punctual, Roz."
At this moment, Natarle's voice also sounded from the comm. "Also, your snoring last night was very loud."
"Ah?"
Roz froze for a second at Natarle's words.
And through the comm, Murrue's voice also rose in surprise — she clearly had not expected Natarle to say something like that.
"Ahem… It was just a joke."
Seeing her friend's expression beside her, Natarle suddenly felt a bit embarrassed, but forced herself to stay calm and continued, "I read in a book that relaxing before a battle improves combat performance and survival odds."
"To be honest, what you just said isn't a joke, it's a scare."
Roz subconsciously wiped the sweat on his forehead. "You acting the exact opposite of your usual strict personality — I almost thought someone swapped you out."
"…I am still myself. I've just experienced many things."
After a moment of silence, Natarle finally spoke. "But since the joke turned into a scare, that wasn't my intention. I won't do that next time."
She sighed, planning to adjust her mindset and return to her usual cold expression.
But Murrue suddenly grabbed Natarle's hand.
"But… I think it's nice."
Murrue looked at Natarle's constantly shifting eyes. "If you never take the first step, then nothing can ever change."
"To be honest, I've always worried about your relationship with the other crew members. If you're willing to try improving that, nothing could be better."
"Is that so…"
Natarle froze for a second. Murrue's words left her unsure of how to respond.
Indeed, she had always lived strictly as a "dutiful soldier." In many situations, even when she had already been emotionally swayed, she would still make cold, rational decisions.
But on that collapsing steel structure of the Garuda-class… she had reached out to a former comrade for help, and received only a bullet in return.
Falling from ten thousand meters, she had never felt such relief — as if the chains called "Earth Alliance" had been shattered. She calmly accepted that she was about to die… until Roz saved her.
Honestly speaking, ten thousand meters in the air, a young man piloting an MS, a pure-white and red sacred machine… these elements together even felt a little romantic. Perhaps the person rescued should have been a lovestruck maiden, and then cue the cliché of "the prince in the holy machine and the princess live happily ever after."
Unfortunately, the one caught was someone like her — a woman not good at showing emotion. Even though a tiny spark of a long-lost girlish heart had flickered the moment the Unicorn Gundam caught her, she was a complicated adult, and her pride would never allow her to "cling" to someone.
Still… the sight of the Unicorn descending from the sky to catch her — that was something she would never forget in her life.
Thinking of this, Natarle couldn't help but sigh.
"Indeed… change is a good thing."
At this moment, Roz had no idea how many thoughts Natarle had run through in just an instant.
"After all, people don't stay the same. We're changing every moment."
If Roz were on the super freighter right now, he would definitely feel the tidal wave of emotions coming from Natarle. But he was on the Archangel, separated from the super freighter by a long distance.
But honestly… being able to read someone's emotions from so far away — just what kind of incredible NewType would be needed for that?
-----------------------------------
The Archangel continued its voyage until the time reached 1:00 p.m.
It seemed the moment was chosen perfectly — during the crew's shift change, when everyone was most fatigued — fifteen Earth Alliance warships suddenly appeared on the radar, startling everyone.
Considering network latency, by the time the radar displayed the warships, they had likely already aimed their ship cannons at the Archangel.
"Roz, enemy warships detected, fifteen in number!"
Murrue frowned as she looked at the radar images, her mind working at high speed.
"Open the hatch. Let the Unicorn sortie."
In the dim cockpit, Roz put on his helmet and flipped down its visor.
Feeling the familiar shadows inside the launch tube, Roz glanced at the Big Haro fixed in the rack beside him.
As long as the Unicorn didn't stray too far from the Archangel, Big Haro could, despite a 120–200 millisecond network delay, smoothly control the Archangel and execute Murrue and Natarle's commands.
"Sorry… Archangel."
Roz turned off the comm and sighed.
"I can't take you with me… For the sake of the other crew, I have to sacrifice you."
"Please, hang on a little longer at the end… let them get farther away."
As if responding to Roz, the Archangel's engines roared even louder.
The familiar launch hatch opened. Explosive waves rose in front of the ejection deck. As the water receded, the familiar Earth Alliance warships appeared.
Why had only these old ships been sent instead of the newer Archangel-class warships?
The main reason was that all Archangel-class ships of the Earth Alliance had been dispatched to defend Gryps. And why use Archangel-class assault ships, not designed for defensive combat, for escort duties? Purely because the Earth Alliance designers had not yet completed follow-up designs for the Archangel-class derivatives.
"Phew… Sortie, Unicorn."
Roz took a deep breath and pressed the pedal. The electromagnetic catapult engaged, propelling the mobile suit along the launch track at high speed.
The propulsion backpack activated. Thick thruster flames shot from the back of the Unicorn, lifting it slightly above the water's surface as small waves threatened to crash it, allowing it to hover steadily in front of the Archangel's bridge.
Roz observed the Earth Alliance ships marked in the 360° cockpit, as well as the Daggers preparing to sortie, then raised the Unicorn's beam magnum in his right hand, aiming at one of the Earth Alliance warships.
Then, Roz pulled the trigger.
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