Within the hangar.
Gu Xiaoxiao stood in her splendid formal gown, and the state she was in just now still had something of a fog about it.
The next second, a figure came darting out and threw its arms around her outright.
"Xiaoxiao!"
At that excited voice, and at that pair of familiar tails of hair, Gu Xiaoxiao knew at once the dear friend she had not seen in years.
"Xiaoxiao!"
The two dear friends held each other tight.
And when they let go, Xue Xiaoxiao at once looked her up and down, asking anxiously as she did, "Xiaoxiao! You're all right, aren't you! That pervert of the Qian family didn't do anything to you? If he ill-used you, you tell me. This young lady will go and avenge you this instant!"
Listening to those words of concern from Xue Xiaoxiao, that sense of distance from years apart was swept clean away.
This dear sister of hers was the same dear sister of old, who would always be taking her along into trouble.
"It's all right. That eldest young master of the Qian family didn't do anything to me. I had this. If he had dared lay a finger on me, I would have—" Gu Xiaoxiao patted the handheld terminal at her wrist.
Xue Xiaoxiao understood at once: within that terminal there was likely some hidden weapon of a virus tucked away.
But Xue Xiaoxiao knew all of this was no more than words to comfort her. Once she had truly married the Qian family's eldest young master, had she truly done such a thing—
then the Star-Shark Guild would have been finished.
So in all likelihood these means would only have been a weapon to comfort herself with, and Gu Xiaoxiao would have swallowed the pain of it, for the Star-Shark Guild's sake.
At the thought of it, Xue Xiaoxiao was heavy with guilt.
There was even a glitter at the corners of her eyes.
She said, "Xiaoxiao, I'm sorry! It's I who brought this on you. If I hadn't selfishly left the Star-Shark Guild, this marriage could never have been laid upon you. If it weren't for me—"
Xue Xiaoxiao's words were not finished before Gu Xiaoxiao covered her mouth.
And then said, "Xiaoxiao, this is no fault of yours. Even had you been there at the time, I could never have let you be the one to do it. Do you remember, when we were little — younger though you were than I, whenever danger came you would always be the one shielding me. Had I not had your protection back then, I could never have lived to this day in the Stellar Alliance. So even had you been there, I would have stepped into your place of my own accord!"
Xue Xiaoxiao looked at Gu Xiaoxiao blankly. This younger sister she had always believed to be under her own protection had, of all things, grown so strong within.
"Xiaoxiao is younger than you? Then how is it she calls you Sister Xiaoxiao all the while?" Zhao Chen at this point sprang down from the T3 Templar's cockpit, landing just beside Xue Xiaoxiao and Gu Xiaoxiao, and having caught what the two of them were saying.
Gu Xiaoxiao looked at the man before her in his close-fitting mecha combat suit, and there was some nervousness in her — but she explained in a small voice all the same, "In truth I was taken in by the Lady Guiji. I don't know my own exact age either; and Xiaoxiao's bone age and mine are close, so most likely we were born in the same year. But from the time we met, Xiaoxiao has always called herself the elder."
With that, Gu Xiaoxiao looked at the Xue Xiaoxiao who plainly stood half a head shorter than herself.
Going by looks and by bearing alone, it was plainly Gu Xiaoxiao who was the more like an elder sister.
"Enough now, never mind these unimportant things. Xiaoxiao, let me make an introduction for you. This is my employer, the Owl Dragon Legion's Commander-in-Chief, lord of the Owl Dragon System. And it was he who was willing to help me come and get you out."
With that, Xue Xiaoxiao looked at Zhao Chen in gratitude, stood up straight, laid a hand at her breast and gave a military salute. "Commander-in-Chief, I'll not say a great deal about it. I, Xue Xiaoxiao, owe you one!"
Your owing me one I care nothing for; what I care for is the permission to open the T5-grade interstellar mall. Though without that I might well have stepped in for Xue Xiaoxiao's sake regardless.
But certainly not as readily as this.
What Zhao Chen said to Gu Xiaoxiao, though, was, "Xiaoxiao was my classmate, and since you're Xiaoxiao's sister, then you're a friend of mine. I, Zhao Chen, am very fond of being of help to people."
Gu Xiaoxiao's cheeks flushed slightly, and she rather dared not meet this man's eyes.
For in this business she was the bride, and he had carried her off outright; and to think of that left a taste in her that was somewhat delicate.
"What were you about! Wasn't it laid down that you were to pilot the combat mecha and come to our support! How could you let the Commander-in-Chief pilot a combat mecha! If anything at all had happened to the Commander-in-Chief, could you carry the responsibility for it! You're a mecha pilot — and now you tell me your mecha combat suit has been stripped off you!"
From beside them came the sound of Panther-Girl's furious dressing-down.
A woman mecha pilot in a rather thin single garment stood there most pitiably, and said with her lip pushed out, "The Commander-in-Chief told me to take it off… what was I to do…"
"You—!" Panther-Girl meant to go on scolding, and even to hand out a punishment.
But Zhao Chen came over just then. "Panther-Girl, this is my responsibility. I am the Commander-in-Chief, and the girl could hardly disobey an order of mine. I acted rashly this time. If you would criticize someone, criticize me."
The woman mecha pilot, seeing the Commander-in-Chief speak up for her, had little stars sparkling in both eyes on the instant.
Panther-Girl, seeing it, could only let out a long sigh; how was she to criticize the Commander-in-Chief in earnest?
Panther-Girl could do no more than glare at that woman mecha pilot. "This time we'll let the matter go. But there is to be no next time!"
With that, Panther-Girl looked to the Commander-in-Chief again, and urged him with all the earnestness she had, "Commander-in-Chief, I do this with your safety in view. Before General Charlotte left, she charged me particularly that nothing whatever can weigh against your safety. Next time… next time you have a notion of this kind, please be sure to tell me. Or else… I truly cannot go on as captain of the guard, and I'd have no good account to give General Charlotte either."
Panther-Girl's devotion to her duty Zhao Chen saw well enough.
He was at this hour like an obedient child listening to a teacher, nodding away and giving assurance after assurance.
As for whether he would truly remember any of those assurances afterward, that was another question altogether.
Zhao Chen looked at that woman mecha pilot who had been caught in the overflow, and handed her the combat suit he had already changed out of.
The T3 Templar's combat suit was of a special material and made no distinction between man and woman; once put on, it would fit itself to the body of its own accord.
Which was why Zhao Chen had simply 'borrowed' hers.
"Forgive me for getting you a scolding from Panther-Girl. She means well by it, though — don't take it to heart. I have here a discount voucher for the specially supplied ingredients at the starship canteen. It's yours." Zhao Chen sent the electronic voucher over to her, then turned back to where Xue Xiaoxiao was.
The woman mecha pilot looked at the combat suit cradled in her hands, and gulped; she cast an eye about and, seeing nobody watching, buried her face in it outright and drew one deep breath.
An expression of rapture came over her face.
…………
"That's the Qian family's interstellar fleet! This is bad, we must withdraw quickly, or once the Qian family's fleet has us surrounded we're done for!" Gu Xiaoxiao, through the great viewport along one side of the hangar, could see the Qian fleet closing in outside.
And began at once to be alarmed.
But Xue Xiaoxiao laid a hand on Gu Xiaoxiao's shoulder, and showed a smile with a great air of mystery about it. "You needn't worry. You have a good look at our Owl Dragon Legion's Little Skeleton!"