Chapter 8

"Chime, mandatory mission completed. Assist Meyrin Ramsus in repelling the next wave of enemy attacks and ensure the safety of Kira Yamato, Tolle Koenig, Miriallia Haw, Sai Argyle, and Kuzzey Buskirk."

"Mission reward: Accumulated and settled upon completion of subsequent side missions."

"Subsequent side mission initiated: Ensure the successful escape of Earth Forces warships from the ZAFT warships' pursuit within the Helios Polis area. Successful mission reward: D-class general-purpose mobile suit piloting skills. Accept or decline the mission?"

"If you decline the subsequent mission, the reward for the first side mission will be changed to 300 battle points."

Which is more valuable, 300 battle points or a skill? Xiao Ran didn't even think about it and directly chose to accept, especially since it was the most needed D-class general-purpose mobile suit piloting skills. The rewards after completing the subsequent mission were quite substantial.

"Accept."

After confirming the mission in his mind, Xiao Ran lifted his head. At this moment, Meyrin had already called Kira to pilot the Strike Gundam and carried everyone to the two giant steel hands, waiting for the obviously distracted Xiao Ran to climb up.

Xiao Ran, regaining his composure, smiled awkwardly at everyone and hurriedly climbed up. After stabilizing himself, the Strike Gundam made a jet jump and landed steadily in the launch port of the Archangel. The whole process felt like just a slight vibration, showing how outstanding Kira's talent was.

As soon as everyone stepped onto the launch port deck, they saw a group of people in Earth Forces uniforms running over. From a distance, a female voice called out: "Lieutenant Ramsus!"

The voice, which should have been cold and sharp but now seemed somewhat weak, reached Xiao Ran's ears, making him turn his head slightly. What he saw was a young woman with short, simple hair, standing tall in her uniform. This person was Lieutenant Badgiruel.

Meyrin turned her head, her tone also showing some excitement: "Lieutenant Badgiruel."

Lieutenant Badgiruel ran up to Meyrin, stood straight, and saluted: "Lieutenant Ramsus, I'm glad you're safe."

Meyrin returned the salute with a smile: "I didn't expect you to bring the Archangel out."

Badgiruel was about to say something but was distracted by the sudden opening of the Strike Gundam's cockpit. She saw Kira Yamato, who still looked like a child, slowly descending and was greatly surprised.

The maintenance crew member widened his eyes: "Hey, what's going on? Isn't that a kid? Why is he sitting there?"

"Lieutenant Ramsus, who are they?" The voice, which should have been cold but now seemed somewhat weak, reached Xiao Ran's ears, making him turn his head slightly. He carefully observed the young woman who looked tall in her uniform. Xiao Ran clearly saw that Badgiruel's eyes were a bit red, with a hint of sadness on her face.

Meyrin hesitated for a moment, turned her head, and looked at Kira with a troubled expression, unsure whether to tell the truth. But after Xiao Ran's light hum, she shook her head at Badgiruel, but a hint of joy still showed in her eyes: "They are civilians from Helios Polis, and they pose no threat to us."

"Wow, that's quite a surprise." Mu La Flaga, dressed in a combat spacesuit, appeared and introduced himself first.

Mu first asked Meyrin about the permission to board the ship. After learning that all the main officers of the Archangel had been killed, Meyrin became the acting captain. As in the plot, the talkative Mu pointed out Kira's identity. As soon as the word "Coordinator" was mentioned, the Archangel's guards immediately raised their guns and aimed at Xiao Ran and his group.

Xiao Ran immediately stepped in front of everyone, looking at Meyrin with a questioning gaze. He knew they wouldn't shoot, as this was clearly a way to gain favor by using the familiar plot. But from his eyes, it was as if he was asking Meyrin, "What do you mean by this?"

Meyrin lowered her head and sighed slightly, struggling between duty and character. She finally waved her hand at the guards: "Lower your guns. This is neutral territory, and it's normal for Coordinators who don't want to be involved in the war to be here."

The guards looked at each other and gradually lowered their weapons, but they had to follow Meyrin's orders. They finally put down their guns.

"Oops, sorry, almost caused a big commotion." Mu rubbed his head and laughed self-deprecatingly, saying, "On my way here, I saw the pilots of those mobile suits. In the simulation, they couldn't even walk straight... really... hehe."

After saying this, he was about to leave. When Badgiruel asked him where he was going, Mu shrugged and said lightly, "Where? Outside is the Creuset Team. That guy is a real pain. Oh well, no time to waste here."

Mu's departure left everyone looking at each other. Xiao Ran took this opportunity to speak: "Miss Ramsus, can we leave now?"

"This..." Meyrin's face showed difficulty. She didn't want Kira to leave, as she had seen his combat ability. But from her heart, she had promised Xiao Ran to let them go and didn't want Kira to be involved in the war. So she was somewhat indecisive.

Badgiruel, however, stared at Xiao Ran and said, "You saw our military secrets, so we can't just let you go."

Xiao Ran didn't show any emotional reaction to Badgiruel's words. He just smiled and said, "Miss Badgiruel, if I heard correctly, Miss Ramsus is the one in charge of this ship, right?"

"Lieutenant Badgiruel, stop." Meyrin took a deep breath, stepped forward, and placed her hand on Badgiruel's shoulder. She spoke to Xiao Ran in a gentle tone: "You can leave, but the satellite is now on a level 9 alert due to the previous battle. Even if we let you go, you won't be able to enter the fully locked escape pods. And there might be another battle at any time. If we let you go without any protection, it would be irresponsible to you."

Meyrin looked at everyone with a sincere and gentle tone. What she said made sense. The level 9 satellite alert had locked all the escape pod access points, and the escape pods had all been sent to the launch ports. If the alert level increased again, all the escape pods would be launched immediately. If Xiao Ran and his group left, they would have no safety in the satellite, which could be under attack at any time.

Xiao Ran's face remained calm, and Meyrin couldn't read his thoughts from his expression. But the others showed varying degrees of hesitation, which made Meyrin feel relieved. She continued, "I promised to let you go, and I will keep my word. If you trust me, I will let you leave as soon as the alert is lifted."

"Teacher..." Miriallia looked up, hesitating, hoping to get help from Xiao Ran.

The other boys looked at each other and said, "Teacher, we'll follow your lead."

"Hmm..." Xiao Ran heard their words, pretended to think for a moment, and finally nodded at Meyrin: "Then we'll trouble Miss Ramsus. Of course, as a return, I am willing to provide assistance in areas where I can help, given the shortage of personnel. I can't do much, but I can operate weapons manually. But this is limited to me; I can't let my students be put in danger."

Meyrin exhaled, rarely showing a smile to Xiao Ran: "Thank you very much."

"I'm doing this for myself too," Xiao Ran lightly shook his head and looked at Meyrin, saying, "I think if ZAFT attacks again, they won't be as easy to deal with as before. The first time, it was due to their arrogance and lack of understanding of the GUNDAMs. The second time, it was due to the captain's carelessness. But if they still don't take it seriously this time, I don't think the war between the Earth Forces and ZAFT would have lasted nearly a year."

"What do you mean?" Meyrin was taken aback, and Badgiruel also looked at Xiao Ran in confusion.

"By this time, even if ZAFT is incompetent, they must have already cracked the mobile suits you stole and obtained all the data. They now have a detailed understanding of the Earth Forces' GUNDAMs. Plus, Kira repelled the enemy twice, which might make them think the unclaimed mobile suits are the strongest. So this time..."

Xiao Ran tried to suppress his urge to laugh, afraid that his twitching eyebrows would give him away. He deliberately turned his head to look at the simulated sky outside the ship and slowly said, "If I were in charge, this time I would aim to win the battle in one go. I would send out all available forces with the strongest firepower. Even if it means sinking this ship in the satellite, I would capture the last mobile suit or destroy it."

"That's impossible. If that happens..." Meyrin's first reaction was disbelief, as this was a fragile satellite colony.

"If that happens, the already damaged Helios Polis satellite would not be able to withstand the enemy's attack and might disintegrate at any time." Xiao Ran sighed slightly, his expression heavy, and turned to look at Kira and the others: "I'm sorry, I wanted to keep you on the ship because of this. If I had noticed this earlier... I wouldn't have put you in danger. I'm really sorry."

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