The battle raged powerfully around the Ptolemaios, the four Gundam meisters trying their hardest to defend the ship and themselves. Dynames had taken some major damage and was now stationed right in front of Tolemy. The others were fighting their own battles; Kiryos was engaged with the HRL's super soldier, Nadleeh was trying to fend off three different mobile suits, and Exia was fighting it's was to the Ptolemaios. The four meisters were exhausted but they had to keep fighting. Miss Sumeragi and the rest of the crew were counting on them.
After about ten hours of fighting the enemy was given the order to retreat. By then Setsuna had returned with Lasse and the GN Arms. He was a little bit more tired than the others and Exia's performance was reduced because he had to activate the Trans-AM. Tieria had brought Nadleeh up next to Dynames, partly to inspect it and partly to see if Lockon was OK.
As soon as the enemy vanished the meisters all returned to the containers. On the bridge Feldt and Christina were hugging Miss Sumeragi in relief. When Lasse and the four meisters came in they were glomped by the three of them. Setsuna wasn't used to being glomped so he panicked and blushed. Tieria's eyes widened, Allelujah blushed a bit and Lockon smiled brightly.
"Thank God you're all alright!" Feldt said as she clung to Lockon.
"Yeah you guys had us worried." Lichty said turning around in his chair.
"You had us worried big time. Feldt was practically beside herself when Dynames was damaged that badly." Chris said, pulling away from Tieria.
"C-Chris!" Feldt cried turning bright red.
Lockon laughed lightly and put his arm around her. Feldt's face got a little brighter when he did. Allelujah and Tieria laughed at her face while Setsuna smirked.
"Hey, guys! I need a bit of help repairing the gundams. Come down here and help me!" Ian said from the screen in front of Lichty.
"Sorry, Old Man. We were just telling the guys that we were glad that they all came back." Lichty said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Well, I still need help so I hope all of you are coming to help me."
"We are just keep your shirt on, OK?" Lockon said pulling away from Feldt.
Most of the crew moved to the containers to help Ian. Miss Sumeragi and Lichty stayed behind to control the Tolemy. Feldt was helping Lockon and Ian with Dynames, Tieria had some of the Haros helping him out, Setsuna was helped by Chris, and Allelujah was also helped by the Haros. It would take some time to finish the repairs but it seemed like they had all the time in the world.
After about four hours Exia, Virtue, and Kiryos were fully repaired. Nadleeh had had the armor put back on to become Virtue again and the left arm and leg of Kiryos were replaced. Dynames would take some more time and now that all the Haros and meisters were helping out it would be finished faster than before.
"Jeez. What happened to do this much damage, Lockon?" Setsuna asked pulling out a mass of fried circuitry.
"Hey, give me a break. The enemy was on my left side. If Tieria hadn't stepped in I would probably be dead right now." Lockon said pushing Haro out of the way.
"Sorry, then. I was just asking so that we aren't in silence anymore. It's just a bit disturbing." Setsuna replied sifting through a box of similar circuits as the one he removed.
"Will both of you stop trying to argue? This is hard enough to do when it is quiet and you two are just making it worse." Ian said sounding very annoyed.
"Sorry!" was the unanimous reply.
Ian blinked and returned to work with a shake of his head. Soon Dynames was fully repaired and right as they finished the enemy reappeared. The alarm went off accompanied by Miss Sumeragi calling all meisters to their Gundams. Grumbling slightly all of them moved as quickly as their tired bodies would allow.
"Attention all hands! The enemy has reappeared and are armed to the teeth. The Gundams will launch right from the containers. Meisters, take up defensive positions around Tolemy. Feldt, open the containers." Miss Sumeragi said over the intercom.
"Rodger!" was the unanimous reply.
Soon all four Gundams were positioned in front of Tolemy. After a moment the enemy became visible to them. Lasse had launched one of the GN Arms and was hanging back by the assault container. The rest of the team was poised and ready for battle. That really didn't mean much because they were all exhausted from the last battle and then having to repair the Gundams.
"Give it your all, guys! We will too and try to be careful." Miss Sumeragi said determinedly.
The first enemy mobile suit came within range and the battle began again. This time Ali Al-Saachez was there in the Throne Zwei. Both Setsuna and Lockon reacted by fighting harder than before. The only problem was that they were both really tired and trying to push themselves to greater limits. Saachez took advantage of this a drove Lockon away from the Tolemy.
Setsuna swing Exia around so that he could pursue them and was attacked from both sided by the enemy. Fighting them would take time and he would lose sight of Lockon and Saachez. Just as he was about to engage the enemy mobile suits them were destroyed.
"Setsuna! Go after Lockon and the Throne unit. I'll cover you!" Tieria called out as Virtue came up beside Exia.
"Alright. Thanks Tieria, I owe you for this." Setsuna replied, taking off after the two Gundams.
"You won't have to owe me if you save Lockon." was Tieria's only reply before he reengaged with the Union forces.
Shortly after breaking away from the main group Setsuna almost lost the trail of Saachez and Lockon. It took him a minute to find it and when he did he activated the Trans-AM system. Following it proved difficult, seeing as it constantly wavered in and out of the asteroids. When he arrived at the scene the Trans-AM time limit was up. What he saw was not good in the least; Lockon had almost destroyed the Zwei but had taken massive damage form Saachez in the process.
Lockon was now floating among the wreckage of Dynames. He seemed unable to move in his condition. Opening Exia's hatch Setsuna pushed off toward him. When he reached Lockon Setsuna could tell that his fellow meister was barely conscious. A piece of debris floated by and Setsuna pushed off of it, holding Lockon's barely conscious form to him.
Then a sound caught his attention; it was the sound of certain metal parts that were about to blow up. Hearing that the young meister practically threw his friend into the cockpit of his Gundam. Lockon became full conscious when he hit the seat and watched in horror as Dynames started to blow up.
"Lockon! Go, take Exia and get out of here!" Setsuna called out to him.
"I won't leave you behind, Setsuna!" Lockon cried trying to maneuver Exia so that is was closer to him.
"Just go, Lockon. I promised Tieria that I would save you and I did. You just have to…" Setsuna's voice was cut off as the explosion enveloped him.
"Setsuna!" Lockon screamed as his young friend died in front of him.
The others heard the whole conversation between them and now they sat behind their GN Fields in shock. The enemy kept on hammering them, but they took no notice. Setsuna was dead and he died saving Lockon. Tieria took it the worst since he was the one who told the young meister to save Lockon. Everyone on the Ptolemaios was also in shock; Setsuna was dead and they couldn't fight back because of the shock. Celestial Being was just a bunch of sitting ducks at the hands of the Union forces.