"Phew… what a tricky enemy, I almost died." Rau Le Creuset floated out of the escape pod and onto the hangar of the remaining Nazca-class ship, finally relaxing.
There had been several close engagements with Jegan earlier; if Jegan hadn't discarded all its weapons, Rau probably would have died there.
"But it was truly brutal…" Rau looked up at the mobile suits in the hangar, falling silent.
Aside from the Aegis Gundam, which was still relatively intact, the Duel Gundam's assault armor and right hand were severely damaged, and its shield and beam rifle were destroyed. The Buster Gundam's head monitor was heavily damaged, its right arm severed, and its weapons destroyed.
As for the Blitz Gundam, it had taken a direct hit from Jegan's close-range forged rocket last time and hadn't been repaired yet.
"Captain Creuset…" Athrun floated over from the Aegis Gundam's cockpit, hesitating slightly. After all, of the four Gundams, his was the only one still relatively intact, which was hard not to criticize.
"You made it, Athrun." Rau saw Athrun and didn't get angry; instead, he smiled and patted Athrun on the shoulder. "You not only held back the Strike Gundam but also preserved the Aegis Gundam's combat effectiveness. Well done."
"Now that the long legs have landed on Earth, our current state isn't suitable for pursuit. Leave the long legs to the Earth forces for now." Rau began floating toward the hangar exit. "Let's head back to HQ for repairs."
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Asteroid Belt, "Shipyard" Base.
"Hurry up and get this mounted!"
A huge blue Haro, acting like a supervisor, stood on an observation platform, issuing orders to a group of smaller Haros below.
A dark blue mobile suit was being loaded into a rocket's payload section.
"Big sis… this mobile suit… can it be used?" Marvin wiped sweat from his brow instinctively, seeing the slightly familiar mobile suit being loaded.
Although the body itself shouldn't be capable of sweating, his subconscious made the motion anyway.
"It's not that I don't trust you, big sis… but not everyone is like Roz…"
"Like him, constructing suit by hands?" The large blue Haro turned, its teal eyes fixed on Marvin. "I may not do it by hand, but with these few machine tools I can achieve a similar effect. Besides, Roz has already implemented the pre-installed tech in the suit, so strengthening it is easy."
"Too bad this world doesn't have Minovsky particles; otherwise, this suit would be perfect."
Watching the rocket assembly complete, the large blue Haro swayed the wings on its head.
"Rocket assembled! Everyone, move to a safe location! Stop streaming your virtual idol nonsense here!"
Once the rocket's systems were fully checked on the panel, the large blue Haro began linking the operating system.
"It's just a one-time-use rocket anyway; as long as it reaches the destination safely, that's enough."
Coordinates were pulled from the world line, set, and the rocket ignited.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, the rocket launched from the "Shipyard," heading toward Earth.
"Mission complete. Everyone, continue your work." The large blue Haro floated back to its custom recliner, adjusted to the most comfortable position, and started observing the factory coming back online.
Occasionally, it would receive complaints from colleagues who hadn't been assigned yet about the crazy overtime.
After the shipyard had been idle for a while, the large Haro even felt its own dark circles had faded significantly.
No wonder those colleagues who had found operators were able to eliminate their dark circles so quickly.
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"The route has deviated significantly…" On the bridge, Mu, Badgiruel, and Murrue were staring at the electronic map in silence. "We've landed right in the center of ZAFT's controlled area."
Although Roz had done his best to push the Strike Gundam toward the Archangel, trying to alter the landing trajectory, the final result was still a descent into the deserts of Africa.
"We'll have to cross the entire ZAFT-controlled region to reach the Atlantic," Mu waved his hand. "Of course, since the Earth is round, we could also go east, pass through Arabia and India, and enter the Pacific."
"One route is the fastest, the other is safer?" Faced with the current situation, Badgiruel was uncertain.
"How are Kira and Roz doing?" Murrue asked, looking at Mu.
"Kira still has a fever. Probably from the heat when the Strike Gundam landed on Earth?" Mu didn't know much about Kira's condition, only that the ship's medic said he just needed some rest.
"As for Roz… after a brief unconscious period, he's awake and is in the hangar disassembling his cockpit." Mu sighed. "What a good mobile suit… just gone like that."
"But no matter what, it's best the people are fine." Hearing that both were unharmed, Murrue relaxed slightly. "We're already far from the landing site; ZAFT probably won't find us quickly. Tonight, let's check the ship's supplies and do some temporary repairs."
"Badgiruel, I'll leave the first half of the night's watch to you. I'll take over in the second half."
"Understood." Badgiruel nodded while looking at the terrain map.
"Ah… that's fine. Captain Murrue, you go check in with Roz first, see if there's any lead." Mu stretched, looking exhausted. "I'll go see how the little guy's doing."
It seemed that here, Roz had become equivalent to "Doraemon" in their eyes.
"But we can't always rely on Roz. Mu, we need our own ideas and judgments too." Murrue glanced at Mu and sighed. "Besides, Roz has mostly been operating in space. On Earth, what he can do is probably limited."
"Ha, you're right." Mu scratched his head. "Maybe I've really become a bit dependent on him recently."
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By the time Murrue arrived at the hangar, Roz was standing in front of the cockpit, marked with scorch traces, holding a communicator and talking to someone.
"…Rocket delivery? I might not even be at this location tomorrow. How are you planning to get a new Jegan here?"
"What? Not a Jegan? What kind of mobile suit did you send me? Now there's no time to get familiar… What do you mean it has the same operation logic as a Jegan?"
Roz was already a bit numb when he received the communication from the big Haro.
He had just been worried about losing his mobile suit. Now, with insufficient materials and debating whether to rely on traditional skills and scavenge parts from a scrapyard to manually assemble a Jegan Type-A, the big Haro's message came through.
"Alright… I understand." Roz saw Murrue walking toward him in the hangar. "If there's nothing urgent… let's talk next time."
After ending the call, Roz quickly opened the map and began searching for nearby scrapyards.
"Tch… just hung up on one, and another comes through." Christina, who had already been slightly annoyed by the big Haro's voice, shot a reproachful glance at Roz when she saw Murrue arrive.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Roz, just picking up his wrench again, was momentarily confused.
"Never mind. What are we doing with this cockpit?" Christina redirected the topic.
"Oh, the cockpit…" Roz looked at the four palm-sized gray metal protrusions on the cockpit and felt his head about to explode. "First, remove the prototype psychoframe. Then copy the data from the prototype NTD system. After that, we'll format the entire cockpit."
Saying this, Roz pried off one of the cockpit panels, twisted a few screws, and removed a gray metal protrusion.
"Christina, take care of these psychoframes." Roz looked at the prototype psychoframe in his hand, his expression complex.
The image of the Jegan's cockpit being ejected was vivid in Roz's mind, making him grip this small psychoframe a little tighter.
By the time Murrue arrived, Roz was already removing the third psychoframe.
"Roz, you really are incredible." After observing Roz for a moment, Murrue said, noting he still had the same energy as before.
"Alright, I know what you want to ask. Honestly, I have no leads." Roz waved at Murrue without looking back, removed another psychoframe, and placed it in a nearby briefcase. "After the lab exploded, I went straight from Orb into space. I probably know less than you do."
"I see… alright then." For some reason, Murrue felt relieved hearing Roz's words.
Perhaps their experiences in space had "deified" Roz? Now, seeing that Roz also had limits made him seem more real to them.
"Roz, you still don't have a mobile suit, right? Can you pilot a Skygrasper?" Murrue noticed the two Skygraspers in the hangar and had an idea.
"I've never trained to pilot fighter craft. I can't handle that." Roz shook his head, removed the last psychoframe, and held it in his palm.
He stared at the psychoframe silently for a moment before putting it in the briefcase and locking it.
"If it's an MS… by probably tomorrow? Or after we reach the town, I can check a scrapyard."
Murrue was completely stunned by Roz's words.
"What does tomorrow or a scrapyard have to do with an MS?"
"Of course it matters. One is a more complete mobile suit; the other is an emergency one." Roz said, patting the beam rifle magazine charger nearby, which had a rough, green-skinned style.
"I see… got it." Though Murrue didn't fully understand Roz's meaning, seeing the rough-looking machine next to her and recalling Roz's mention of "manual assembly," she seemed to arrive at a wild conclusion.
"…I knew you wouldn't understand what I meant." Roz looked at Murrue's confused yet semi-comprehending expression and couldn't help but smile.
After all, no matter how genius Murrue was, she was still human. How could a human truly understand the thoughts of a Newtype green-skinned like Roz?
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