PS: All "Roland" in previous chapters have been corrected to "Loran". Loran Cehack (ロラン・セアック, Roran Seakku), the main protagonist of ∀ Gundam. This novel refers to dozens of animes and I have only watched about half of them, so sometimes I make mistakes in term translations.
Chapter 41: The Angry Shinn
C.C. was so distracted these days, exuding an air of unhappiness, that even Mayu didn't dare to talk to her.
Since a few days ago, Ade didn't answer her call and email. She knew that Ade had the habit of browsing Anaheim's forum every day, and would also deal with emails by the way. In his words, "I will feel uncomfortable if I stop studying every day". There could only be two explanations for this anomaly: 1, he has been fooling around with some woman and forgot everything else; 2, something has happened to him. She wasn't able to contact Uraki either, so this undoubtedly means the latter.
The night she lost his contact, she directly reported "Dr. Lingus is missing" to Anaheim. By common sense, Loran or Diana should personally deal with it. But the moon government did not give her any feedback, she can only wait for the news irritably every day.
The last time Ade's name appeared in the media was on the 14th for the Bloody Valentine's commemoration, but nothing news could be traced after that.
"Miss C.C., big news, big news!" Mayu suddenly shouted excitedly, "Hurry up and read the headline! It's about Mr. Ade!"
C.C. hurriedly took out her phone and opened the news, on the front page was a big Loran's avatar, she clicked in and at the top was a short video. She took a deep breath and pressed the play button.
"I, Loran Cehack, am issuing an ultimatum to the Earth Federation on behalf of the Lunar Government." Loran's face in the video was full of fury, "Please keep your sanity, hand over Dr. Adrien Lingus to us safely as soon as possible, and do not continue to test our patience, or we will not be able to guarantee that we will not act aggressively."
The video was short, over in less than half a minute, but it was so informative that it filled C.C.'s head with questions. What's all this with? Why did Ade suddenly go from being in PLANT to being held by the Federation? How many days has this been going on that Loran himself is now threatening the Federation? And where did the Earth Federation get the nerve to detain Ade? But fortunately, one thing was certain: Ade is still safe. C.C. didn't believe the Earth Federation would really dare to go against Loran.
She searched for relevant information again, all unreliable speculation, no useful intelligence.
"Shinn Asuka requesting return." It was Asuka after his daily patrols, but today the voice was extra serious, "Miss C.C, please have the infirmary staff prepare, I picked up Uraki-san at sea. He's very dehydrated."
An hour later, the group left the infirmary. Although Uraki was not in a life-threatening condition, he was still in a coma. Long-term exposure to the sun and insufficient hydration had caused skin burns and severe dehydration, and he might not have been so lucky if he had been found by Shinn two days later.
"The … two were attacked, Uraki was crashed and Ade was picked up and held by the Federation, which should probably be the case. As for who was the attacker, we will have to wait for Uraki to regain consciousness before asking him." C.C said to Shinn her own speculation, "You do not have to worry too much. The Earth Federation doesn't dare to let him die."
"Die? Die?" The young girl who was following Shinn suddenly opened her eyes wide and revealed a frightened look, "Don't … I don't want to die …!"
Shinn tenderly embraced the young girl, reaching out to gently stroke her head, "Don't be afraid, it's okay. Stella will not die. I will protect you, so don't be afraid."
"Shinn … protects …" Stella visibly relaxed and hugged Asuka back clingingly, "Shinn! "
"Miss C.C., you did that on purpose, right?" Asuka looked at C.C with dissatisfaction, "Stop stimulating her, Stella is pitiful."
"Aren't I helping you?" C.C turned away expressionlessly, leaving only her voice and back, "Better demonstrate it to Ade as well after he is back, so he can realize the difference between different people."
"Mayu, what's wrong with Miss C.C.?" Shinn uncertainly looked C.C.'s direction, "Shouldn't she be happy to know Ade-san is safe now?"
"Brother … why are you so skilled?!" Then Mayu also pushed the wheelchair away.
Shinn looked bewildered for a moment, then took Stella's hand and walked outside, "Forget it, let's go out and play."
Today, the ship needs to replenish some resources, so it stops in the Orb Union port. Shinn took Stella to the pier for a walk. Of course, Shinn also asked C.C. why we have a dedicated dock, why our ship can stop everywhere offshore, why our freighter is carrying a Gundam and can still come and leave at free… the answer he got was heartbreaking, "Because we have money."
This dock is contracted by them, so there are no idle people around. Stella is happy to bounce on the shore, and Shinn stood not far away and watched her with a smile.
The young girl in front of him can't remember anything but her name. When she was just picked up, Miss C.C. kept her in isolation for two days for observation, during which time she was cared for by Shinn. Perhaps because the first person she saw when she opened her eyes was Shinn, she was particularly close to him.
Stella was usually very good and not very talkative, and was very quiet during her imprisonment. Now even after regaining a certain degree of freedom, when Shinn is not around, she will be alone to dwell or sing, and when Shinn is around, she will cling to Shinn. As long as people don't intentionally say the keywords like "die", she is completely harmless. So in Shinn's repeated assurance, C.C. allowed Stella to move freely with him watching.
And he has had a guess about Stella's identity. He had read the young girl's medical report, there was a large amount of hormone-based drug residue in her body, and the memory loss was most likely the aftermath of some kind of dangerous drug overuse. Comparing it with the situation in front of him, Stella's identity was almost certain.
But since he had promised to protect Stella, he had to do it. As long as he takes her back to the moon, the all-powerful First General Hospital of the Moon will have a solution. C.C. said that people shouldn't pick up a wild cat and raise it at random, because it will be painful when you have to abandon it. But Shinn knows he wouldn't throw Stella away. So it doesn't matter.
"Shinn! Shinn!" Stella smiled and waved at him, and Shinn waved back at her.
Stella had a very poor vocabulary, supposedly not having had the opportunity to get a good education, and the way to express her emotions was to call his name. Whenever Shinn thinks of this, he feels heartbroken. Before he did the daily patrols today, he went to Orb Union to buy some storybooks, intending to read them to Stella later. It was something he had done to Mayu before and was familiar with.
Just when he was distracted, not far away suddenly came a loud explosion-like sound, and the earth beneath his feet shaking slightly. He snapped awake and reflexively looked at Stella as the young girl lost her balance and fell into the water right in front of his eyes.
"Stella!"
Shinn ran to the shore. The young girl could not swim, and struggled badly in the water. Although this was deep water, fortunately, it was right next to the dock, and Shinn grabbed Stella's hand and pulled her out of the water. The stunned Stella flung herself into his arms, shivering wetly.
"It's okay, it's okay, I'll protect you." He gently patted Stella's back to calm her down. Then when he looked up in the direction of the explosion, and the dense MSs in the sky shook him, "… you must be kidding me."
No time to think blindly, he picked up Stella and ran towards the ship. After putting Stella back in her room, he came to the bridge again as fast as he could, "Miss C.C., the sky outside is full of Zakus!"
"I saw it, so that it makes sense." C.C. looked at him seriously, "This place will fall into a battlefield at any moment, and we must leave immediately. Asuka, please."
"Of course! I came along because I was worried about this situation! Mayu, Stella, Miss C.C., and everyone on board, I will protect you!"
Fortunately, F91 had just changed the battery and Shinn piloted the Gundam quickly to the outside of the ship. He let F91 stand on the ship to save the power consumed by the Minovsky floating system. He was the only fighting force here, he doesn't know how long it needs to last, and he may not have time to go back to change the battery.
Zakus came down from the sky like rain down, is this a ZAFT's full army attack? Why do you want to fight Orb Union again? Facing such an undeclared war, Orb Union was totally unprepared. Until now, they haven't made a decent resistance. It is really conceivable that many military installations of Orb Union must have been blown up before they could function.
The Blue-eyes White Dragon underfoot finally started to slowly accelerate, but at this time, some ZAFT MSs started to enter the dock area as well. A part of the ZakuⅡs started to indiscriminately bombard the warehouses on the dock, and a ZakuⅢ started to approach this way.
"This is a civilian vessel, no intention to engage in your war, please do not fire!" Shin shouted to the gradually approaching Zaku through the public channel, "I repeat, this is a civilian vessel, please do not fire!"
No one responded. Shinn doesn't know if they turned off the public channel or deliberately didn't answer, but this ZakuⅢ had raised its beam rifle and aimed this way.
Wait, the target is not himself? Shinn flew to the firing line with full thrusters and opened his beam shield in the nick of time to block the shot fired at the hull.
"Why are you shooting? I told you it's a civilian vessel!" Shinn roared at the public channel, "Just go to attack Orb Union! We just want to leave!"
"Kid, do you think I'm blind?" the ZakuIII's pilot finally spoke up, "That ship is obviously a converted battleship, right? That's what a war is. If you want to blame, just blame on your own bad luck."
Again, again! Bad luck, that's all! Mom and dad died because of bad luck, Mayu lost her legs because of bad luck, Stella experienced this tragic life because of bad luck, Ade-san is in danger because of bad luck, Uraki-san is unconscious because of bad luck. All because of our own bad luck!
"Uncle, are you blind?" Shinn said in an icy voice he had never heard before, "My MS is obviously a Gundam, right? That's what a war is. If you want to blame, blame it on your own bad luck."
