When Roz put on his pilot suit and approached Jesta's cockpit, the atmosphere made him unsure of what to do.
Just a moment ago, the aura between them had been almost ready to clash, and now… they seemed to be at peace?
"Are we heading out? Roz," Christina pressed a button on the tablet, signaling that her work was done.
"You… didn't fight?" Roz asked, thinking it over and finally voicing his question.
"I get a point. See, I told you he'd ask us that," Big Haro said, poking its head out of the cockpit, its mechanical claws fixed in place.
"…I give up on the position inside the cockpit," Christina said after a brief silence, stating her decision. "Roz, we both know that my assistance in piloting the mobile suit isn't very effective—there are too many unnecessary calculations and altitude thruster activations."
"The upcoming battle won't get easier, only harder." Christina set down the tablet and came in front of Roz. "The position beside you is important, but if the cost is putting you in danger, I cannot accept that."
"Big Haro will do better than me. I've already discussed it with her," Christina suddenly reached out and hugged Roz' head, kissing him passionately.
It was a completely different sensation from kissing a human. The smell of synthetic skin, the feel of electronic muscle fibers, and the cool temperature, along with a flexible tongue greedily taking Roz's saliva.
"I haven't applied any heating, so bear with it for now," Christina said after some time, stepping back.
"I give up this time, but next time, I won't let go."
Even after Christina left, Roz remained dazed.
He had truly treated Christina like a daughter all this time, and now this sudden shock caused his brain—having never experienced romance—to short-circuit.
"Alright, Roz, snap out of it!" Big Haro's voice brought him back to reality.
Jesta's armor and internal structure unfolded, revealing the circular cockpit, which already had pre-prepared slots.
These slots were just the right size to fit the four palm-sized psychoframe pieces.
"Pick up your wrench and get to work, Roz," Big Haro handed him a wrench. "She's been waiting for a long time."
Roz looked at the wrench in his hand and then at Jesta's head.
Jesta hadn't activated; the gray visor didn't glow, yet Roz seemed to sense that Jesta was waiting for something.
Roz lowered his head. The box containing the prototype psychoframe pieces had been opened by Big Haro. Under the hangar lights, the gray psychoframe glimmered slightly.
He reached out and picked up a psychoframe piece; the cool touch from it brought a sense of reassurance.
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They probably read the blueprints Roz used to build the Jegan, because the slots for the psycommu skeleton in the Jesta's cockpit were set up in the same installation pattern.
As the last psycommu skeleton piece was installed, Jesta's inner frame reassembled, the outer armor closed over it, and everything locked into place.
Roz sat in Jesta's pilot seat, put on his helmet, and checked the communication system.
The cockpit door closed, plunging him into darkness. Then the pale blue UI lit up, and everything outside was projected into the full-surround cockpit display.
Roz reached out and swiped across the touchscreen on the control panel, familiarizing himself with the machine.
"When I was chatting with that girl just now, we really almost started fighting." Blue Haro extended her mechanical arm, smoothly moving from above Roz's right side to the assistant position assigned to her, and fixed herself in place.
"But you can see she really cares about you." Blue Haro shook the wings on her head. "After I explained the difference between my assistance and hers in piloting the MS, she happily gave up this spot."
Roz didn't know how to respond to that topic, so he silently reviewed the maintenance status of the machine.
Blue Haro, of course, knew Roz's social skills—or lack thereof—so she didn't tease him further and moved on to another topic.
"By the way, this is Jesta's first official sortie since boarding the ship. Why not do the usual launch from the catapult rail?"
"…We're just negotiating near the Archangel; no need for the launch deck." Roz seemed lost in thought as he spoke. "Besides, Jesta's first appearance is already flashy enough. I remember when the Jegan A-type first went out, it blew up the scrap yard I rented."
Roz placed his hands on the control sticks and pressed some buttons. Jesta's thrusters and vernier nozzles moved once or twice.
"Beep beep beep… beep beep beep…" Jesta's communication channel suddenly received a request.
"This is Roz," he answered, giving Blue Haro a subtle glance.
"Roz, this is Mu. We're leaving now." Mu, now dressed in his Earth Forces uniform, waved from the hangar. "The safety of Murrue and me will be on you and Kira for now."
"Tch… I'm only responsible for protecting Murrue, leave the rest to Kira," Roz said with narrowed eyes. Even as he claimed he wouldn't protect Mu, he switched his beam rifle to full-auto mode. "Let him erase the little notebook filled with my black history."
"Oh, is that so… then I guess I'll have to recite your classic lines in front of the guerrillas." Mu, clearly understanding Roz's plan, pulled out his notebook. Everyone had been on edge since Andrew's attack, and a little banter between him and Roz would help lighten the mood.
He began, "Listen, I even took the time to carefully write this down, cough cough… CE.71, a certain…"
"Alright, enough. Put it down; we've enjoyed it long enough." Watching the Strike Gundam leave the hangar, Roz maneuvered Jesta to follow suit.
"Pffft…" Hearing this, Murrue, who had been keeping a straight face, couldn't help but laugh.
Soon, the rest of the Archangel crew joined in, amused by the two of them.
It was common knowledge aboard the Archangel that when Roz got carried away in a fight, he would forget to turn off the comms and say incomprehensible things.
Why Roz specifically targeted Mu was probably because Mu kept a record of Roz's words in his notebook and threatened to publish it after retiring. But rather than targeting, it felt more like playful rivalry among friends.
"Alright, Mu, tone it down a bit." Just as Roz wondered if he should provoke him further, Murrue spoke up. "Roz, the rest is up to you."
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"Ah… so that's the guerrilla unit…" Roz zoomed in on that area of the map when he saw a few jeeps driving toward them and examined the enemy armaments carefully.
Jesta and the Strike Gundam stood to either side of the Archangel like two guardian statues, watching the approaching guerrillas.
"Rifles, rocket launchers, missile trucks… a full high-mobility loadout." Roz looked at the weapons the Jesta had marked and analyzed the guerrillas' likely tactics.
"But I remember the BuCUE is a high-mobility frame too—can jeeps outrun BuCUEs?"
At last, the convoy stopped in front of Murrue and Mu.
A burly man with a scarred face, a full beard, and a wrapped headscarf—all muscle—stepped down from a jeep.
The others in the convoy also got out and fell in behind him.
"Hm?" Roz scanned the group and, as if noticing something, zoomed in on a well-built young man.
"…Something's off." Roz considered for a moment and pointed out the problem with that young man. "The vibe is different."
It was hard to put "vibe" into words, but Roz could sense it: the psychic fluctuations within a group tend to cluster in similar but slightly varied bands.
The enlarged young man's aura didn't match the rest of the guerrillas; rather than being a regular member, he seemed to have joined them for some other reason.
"And the other one…" Roz then enlarged the image of a blond youth—boy or girl, it was hard to say.
From that second enlarged image Roz felt a certain idealistic temperament, the kind someone like Ryan would have.
"A shame… if Ryan were still around, he'd probably be a neurobiology expert by now," Roz murmured with a sigh.
Meanwhile, the negotiations on both sides appeared to be proceeding smoothly.
Roz's finger, however, hadn't left the trigger. If Mu or Murrue gave the order, Jesta's beam rifle would sweep the group.
After all, they were already marked in the full-surround cockpit—if they're ambushed, why not shoot?
"Zzz… Roz, this is Murrue." Jesta's comm crackled. "Negotiations are going well, but they're asking for you and Kira to come out of the cockpits."
"…Understood." Roz fell silent for a moment and then ended the call.
"I'll be counting on you to protect me now." Roz smiled at Blue Haro and opened Jesta's cockpit.
"Don't worry—my shooting is pretty good." Blue Haro said, wagging the little wings on her head. "Isn't it easy when they're boxed?"
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"Never seen this type of mobile suit before…" The scar-faced man squinted at Jesta. "Cagalli, do you have any intel on this suit?"
"No, I haven't found any information on this suit either." The blond youth—Cagalli, boy or girl—shook their head. "Maybe it's a suit the Earth Forces built elsewhere?"
Her words lacked confidence; after all, Jesta had only appeared last night, less than twelve hours ago. Her intelligence network simply had no data on it.
In her network, ZAFT had encountered similar sunglasses-style units before, called "Cub" or "Missile Hedgehog," but those were just similar in appearance.
"But it doesn't look like the pilot is from the Earth Forces," the scar-faced man shook his head. His sharp eyes immediately noticed Roz's difference. "His pilot suit is completely different from the Earth Forces' standard suits."
He pointed toward Kira walking over.
Cagalli turned to look in the indicated direction and froze.
Then, out of nowhere, an inexplicable anger surged within her, and under everyone's shocked gaze, she strode toward Kira, who had just removed his helmet.
"You bastard!"
Seeing this, Mu instinctively reached for his gun.
But the burly youth Roz had zoomed in on in the cockpit earlier stepped in front of Mu.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa… calm down! Why's the atmosphere so tense just after getting out?" Roz suddenly stepped between Kira and Cagalli, separating them.
Then, Roz put his left hand behind his back and, in a position only Mu and Murrue could see, pointed to the gun holster on his waist and Jesta behind him, giving a thumbs-up.
Mu now noticed Jesta was still powered on, recalling last night how Jesta, unmanned, had quickly taken out two BuCUE units solo, and he relaxed slightly.
Mu then smiled at the burly youth and lowered his hand from the gun.
"Why are you sitting in that mobile suit!" Cagalli continued questioning Kira.
"You know her? A debt of love?" Roz seized the chance to make a joke, glancing at Kira.
"No… she's a girl I met once on Heliopolis, and I put her in an escape pod at the time…" Kira, confronted by Cagalli, stammered as he explained their first meeting.
"…Ah, got it." Roz actually understood nothing, but seeing the tense atmosphere soften slightly and then spike again, he wanted to steer the negotiation mood toward comedy.
"Hero rescues damsel, now meeting again on Earth, right?" Roz spread one hand palm-up and smashed a fist into it with the other, speaking with mock sagacity. "Who would've thought, Kira, you big-browed guy, your life script is just like a prime-time soap opera?"
"Ah… this…" Kira's sharp mind temporarily crashed under Roz's offbeat logic.
And Cagalli, distracted by Roz's words, couldn't reply.
The tense atmosphere became oddly bizarre, everyone's attention fixed on Kira and Cagalli.
As everyone knows, gossip is human nature, whether natural humans or Coordinators.
Even Kira's friends aboard the Archangel were paying attention.
At this moment, all Mu wanted to do was pry open Roz's head to see what on earth was going on in that brain.
..............