Mu, also on standby in the Zero, deliberately opened a channel to the GINN. Even though he did not believe Kira would defect, with Siegfried's ruthless turn on the battlefield as precedent, Mu was at his wits' end over these two Coordinator kids. Speaking too harshly might push them to rebel, speaking too lightly did nothing, and the Archangel truly could not go without MS protection right now, so he could only rely on his age and keep probing to reduce the impact of their rebellion.
"Does Captain Flaga think Kira did something wrong?"
With nothing else to do, Siegfried did not mind chatting.
"That princess staying on our ship forever isn't a solution, but making such a decision without permission also breaks military discipline. You two really know how to give me trouble."
Unlike before, Flay never got the chance to take Lacus hostage, and Badgiruel did not use Lacus's civilian status to force the Cruze Team to stop pursuit. From Mu's perspective, although he supported Kira in his heart, he did not take the initiative to open the door like before. In short, the Archangel had not crossed a line that even they would find despicable.
"Kira will come back."
"And what about you?"
"What?"
"I mean, if you were the one sending that princess off, would you come back? Sai-KRausRaude."
"Who knows, Captain Flaga."
The short exchange was cut off by alarms. Across the channel, Rau was piloting Xigu and trying to use the chaos to leave the last Alliance G behind, and Mu's Zero received sortie orders. Only Siegfried remained on standby.
"In the end, a crack still appeared."
Sitting idly in the GINN, Siegfried soon heard the alarms end and knew they had not fought. It was likely Lacus's quick response that forced Rau to abandon the plan.
Before the Zero and Assault even returned, Siegfried opened the GINN hatch and left Ganaku without greeting anyone. In the corridor, he saw the anxious Miri and Sai changing expression at the sight of him. He paused briefly and still offered Miri some reassurance.
"Kira should be back soon. Don't worry, he won't abandon you."
"Then what about you, Sai? Will you abandon us?"
Whether it was a slip after tension eased, Miriallia asked a question that left Sai confused.
"Who knows, Miri. Maybe I won't."
The same question as before, yet Siegfried's answer had changed slightly. Unaware of the shift in his tone, he waved and returned to his room, knowing that his earlier sortie was only out of necessity. Kira slipping away without notice had shaken Murrue and the others, and with the whole ship lacking a sense of safety, they had no choice but to keep Siegfried in the GINN on standby.
Now that Assault had returned, no matter how Kira would be dealt with later, someone guilty of a "greater mistake" like him was better off staying where he belonged.
Back in the room, Siegfried was surprised to find that Cagalli had not stayed behind with Miri and the others. Running off when things got serious did not fit the image of a so called single-celled organism at all.
"Miri and the others insisted I come back. They said Kira is their classmate and there was no need to drag me in too. They also said if I got locked up too, no one would bring you food, so I ran back on my own."
She explained loudly, afraid he might make some irritating comment if she spoke too late. After finishing, she paused and asked the question Siegfried had heard three times in a short span.
"If, I mean if, you were the one sending Lacus off, would you come back?"
Her answer was a long silence, so long that she felt even breathing was a luxury.
"Yeah, I'd come back too."
In that moment, Cagalli felt the empty part inside her finally filled.
The same question, three different answers, and some subtle changes that even Siegfried himself did not notice.
As Strike Gundam returned to the ship, the restless warship finally settled down. No matter how many hidden currents lay under that calm surface, Siegfried was at last able to sleep properly. For him, that alone already felt like a small victory.
The biological clock forced into him during the time at Mendel made eight hours of sleep an unshakable habit. Even without any sense of day or night aboard the ship, his body still followed that rhythm, though he could stay awake for days if needed. After lying in bed for barely three seconds, the boy still got up to wash his face.
On the other side, Cagalli seemed to have been too excited the night before, and the noise in the room did not disturb her at all. Seeing her extremely ungraceful sleeping posture, Siegfried shook his head with a quiet smile. He pulled the blanket over her anyway.
Kira's unauthorized action the previous night had not led to results as bad as Siegfried had feared. The impact had not spread across the entire ship, so Murrue chose not to announce the punishment to everyone. However, after finishing the questioning of Kira, the trio soon received a new report from the maintenance crew, and Murrue felt a familiar headache coming on.
"Take a look at this report."
As a technical officer, Murrue could read the report well enough, but its contents went far beyond her expectations. Because of that, she needed Mu and Badgiruel to examine it together with her.
"No response to pilot inputs? Multiple firing commands and close combat commands rejected by the system?" As a veteran pilot, Mu frowned the moment he read it.
As a new warship, Archangel's escape was also a process of data collection. Beyond routine maintenance, the crew's other major task was gathering combat data from the two mobile suits. Regardless of whether Earth Alliance would later decide to mass produce mobile suits, issuing this order was a responsibility Murrue could not avoid.
"So, does that mean Sai's mobile suit had a problem?"
Badgiruel did not understand the technical side as well as her superiors, but from their expressions she could tell something was wrong. The data analysis report on the GINN clearly pointed to an abnormality.
"And here, repeated maneuvers don't match the pilot's commands. This is troublesome."
"Captain, what exactly is the problem?"
For some reason, as Murrue looked at her most reliable subordinate, the always calm Badgiruel, she saw a rare trace of urgency on her face.
"Natarle, I will explain. Simply put, according to this report, Sai did not betray his allies."
Mu was still flipping through the detailed parameters, so Murrue explained first.
"You mean the GINN itself has issues?"
"That possibility can't be ruled out. The GINN was captured temporarily, and there may be system flaws we never identified. But this never happened in previous battles, and the suit's condition was confirmed many times by Sai and the maintenance crew. Based on this report alone…"
"Then doesn't that mean Sai is innocent? That he didn't betray his allies out of anger?"