Chapter 6: Carrus' Rival

Setsuna's hands flicked across the "All systems online, GN drives at normal levels" Setsuna said to himself, as he clicked his visor into his helmet. Setsuna looked to his side and saw the six GNX suits' eyes flash on a bright violet.

"GNX squad Alpha ready to launch when you are commander!" One of the pilots said over the comm to Setsuna.

"Roger that" Setsuna responded as the hanger bottom opened under 00 Qan [T] to reveal the launching catapult. The Blue Gundam slowly got lowered and turned upright to be attached to. Once 00 was tightly fitted into the launch braces Setsuna clenched onto his controls. "Setsuna F. Seiei... 00 Qan [T]... Launching!" Setsuna called as 00 burst forward out of the ship, "Alpha team launch at once." Setsuna ordered 00's eyes flashing bright blue.

"I hear you commander." one pilot responded as the GNX' were moved along a conveyer belt and each moved one by one onto the same launch catapult.


Lotte and Kat had just landed in the other ship when the alert had come in. Nodding to each other, they had already headed to the Harute and were now patrolling between the two ships, looking out for any enemy.

"This is Harute, no enemies detected so far..." Lotte sighed.

Kat confusedly asked, "Commander Seiei, are you sure there's an attack?"

The 00 Qan [T] stopped, looking around quickly. "I know that I sensed something out here...or getting closer." Setsuna narrowed his stare around him, "The only issue is that I can't determine where it is now..." Setsuna lightly set down on top of an asteroid while the six GNX units take off with three with Celestial Being and the other three meeting up with Harute.


Raven peered from the side of an asteroid, watching as the Harute and 00 appeared in his sights. "I recognize that fighter, but that Blue Gundam is completely different... and where's that Freedom... Huh?" Raven's keen Quantum senses sparked, as a voice spoke, calling a name, Setsuna. "Oh ho? Quantum Brain waves huh? Must be an innovator. Heh, nice... wonder if he's any good before I pull the plug on 'im... And on top of that… those are new models? And coming out to play with me? I may just have to be tricky... Deathscythe, take those three out, make a distraction."

"On it" Twi replied.


"GUNDAM!"

"What the? HURK!"

"COMMANDER SEIEI!"

Setsuna's head pounded at the sound of the GNX units being taken out one by one. "Those are the latest mobile suits, how are they being shot down so easily?" Looking right away toward one of the destroyed GNX's, Setsuna grimaced, seeing a burn through its body. . "...Rrrrr...All GNX units fall back to the ship and hold your position." 00 Qan [T] jumped from its spot to hover around looking. "Harute pilots, stay on your guard and take out any units you may see". Setsuna comm to them, a second later his attention was drawn to a small glitter of light. "There!" Setsuna yelled his GN sword V switching to its rifle mode and fired at the asteroid. The shard of rock splintered into hundreds of pieces, as Raven disappeared amongst the rubble.

"He's faster than I thought... Deathscythe, continue what you're doing, I'll give you cover!" Raven flew into some more debris, firing upon two more GNX units behind the Harute.

As the battle of silence continued, Kayos' Gale Strike hit the side of Celestial Being. "If he doesn't come too subtly, fine then…" he murmured. Pulling out the two Anti ship blades, Kayos stabbed them into the hull of the ship, and with a twist of his arms cut an oval into the side of the ship. Activating his boosters and floating away back behind an asteroid.

Weiss shot a rocket at the partly through oval and hit it dead on, if not a little to the right. "I'll berate myself for missing my mark later!" Weiss yelled as he punctured through the oval cut on the craft and made a hole to space.


Carrus cringed, his head began to pound heavily, the pain felt unbearable. "UGH! What the... what the hell is happen... UGH!" Collapsing on the floor, he could hear the sounds of detonations and shots from outside, but in his mind, he heard the voices of those who had been killed during the battle. "Damn... damn it..." Suddenly, the ship shook violently, as he felt the ship had begun to tear itself apart. "What the? WHOA!" Slamming against the wall, Carrus rubbed his head. "Damn it... Not now…" Carrus began to slowly edge out of his room, noticing the guards had left their posts in a panic. "Crap... this is not ending well... better get to work..." Sliding along the walls, Carrus silently made his way to the Freedom that lay waiting for him in the hangar.


Twi appeared in front of the Harute and activated his hidden beam sabre in his shield and fired it at the Suit. "Roger that Raven!" Twi said seriously.

The Harute transformed, as it evaded Twi's attack with precision and skill. "Stealth Cloaked Unit Detected, appropriate measures, approved." Lotte grimaced.

"Harute, now transforming. Gundam Marute, engaged" Kat finalised. Twisting around so that the Harute was properly oriented, the head opened up slightly, revealing two other eyes in the forehead. The mouthpiece slid open revealing another two, and finally the clear plate over it's normal eyes slid upward, and all 6 of it's eyes flashed, glowing a grim red. "Marute Gundam, Online."

"Now beginning Elimination of Target." The Marute twisted around, facing the Deathscythe head on, even though it was cloaked. It's rifle swords flew forward from the hips, the unit grabbing them as it flew at the Deathscythe, raising it's twin swords up to cleave the cloaked unit in two. Suddenly, the Gale Strike flew from around two asteroids and drew its twin beam sabres mid flight, while defending the Deathscythe.

"Twi, now would be a good time to leave!" Kayos yelled as his two blades clashed with the two blades of the Marute.

Kat grimaced as the Gale Strike emerged. "New target detected, stealth systems...not in use on this one."

Lotte sneered tightly. "Forward cannons, fire!" The Marute continued pushing forward on the Gale Strike with it's Swords. As it did, it's shoulders shifted further upwards, the large cannons on it's back twisting so that they both faced forward, aiming at the Gale Strike's lower chest, where it's cockpit was, as either cannon fired a powerful beam blast. The gale strike put its foot on the Marute's knee and pushed off, flying up over the beam attacks, the Gale Strike Gundam twisted midair and drew one of its anti ship blades, swinging it downwards. Kayos flicked on the joysticks, using its boosters, it boosted downwards both blades aimed at the middle of the Marute, about to cleave it in two.

"So we're a bit hostile that I can understand…" Kayos glared at the orange unit longinly.

"Target has evaded. Tracking." Kat announced, watching Kayos' movements.

Lotte jerked his head upwards. "Above!" The pair jerked backwards in unison, making the Marute raise one of it's own oversized swords, blocking the attack like it knew where it would be coming from. As it did, both it's cannons rotated back up, again firing twin blasts up at the Gale Strike

"Whoop! Well, looks like you missed again" Kayos said ducking under the blasts, as he boosted in front of the Marute.
"Seriously we're gonna play this game are we?" He asked, putting away his left anti-ship blade and re-drew his beam sabre for that hand. "Guess Im going to have to play un-fairly" he muttered as he dodged another beam attack. He boosted forward charging the Marute head on, then he boosted downwards right in front of it, just as the Deathscythe materialized right in front of the Marute his scythe's two blades rotated apart to form a T-shaped weapon. Kayos boosted around the Marute and started to attack at the back. When the asteroid rotated around to reveal Weiss in the Gundam, Heavy Arms Kai, both of its chain guns opened fire upon the Marute. All the melee weapons from the Gale Strike, and the Deathscythe collided into the body of the Harute, both Kayos and Twi evaded, just in time for Weiss to cut down the battered remains with his long range fire. The Orange Gundam crackled, and fell, lifeless into space

As they talk a sudden appearance of six blue and green projectiles fly straight at Kayos and Twi, striking the Strike against the hull, and the Deathscythe's arm. While the sword bits fly, the 00 Qan [T] hovers down next to the remains of the Marute. "My apologies…" Setsuna cursed at himself, seeing the remains of the Orb Gundam float past. "I was allowing my ships a chance to escape…" Glaring up to the Gale Strike and the Deathscythe. Setsuna turned toward Kayos as his sword bits returned to the shield and attached on. "00 Qan [T], eliminating the target!" Setsuna shouted rushing toward Kayos, with his GN sword ready.

"Oh, you again?" Raven laughed, leaping from an asteroid, in between the 00 and the Gale Strike, his Strike Noir began to draw the shorty beam rifles, firing them and the beam cannons at Setsuna.

Setsuna snapped his gaze at the Strike Noir, shifting his shield to face forward, blocking the beams and reflecting slightly as streams that fired in all directions back at Raven. "Beams do nothing to me!" Setsuna shouted staying behind the beam counterattack with his GN blade and swinging it at Raven.

Raven flew behind the 00. "Hi there jerk…" Drawing his beam sabres, Raven thrust his weapons towards the back of the 00, whose shield instantly turned on its axis to block the beam sabres. "Neat trick!" Once the sabres strike the shield the GN large bits fired out, both flew around behind Raven while the 00 turned its body toward Raven while keeping the shield in place. "Now that's not cool..." Raven lurched upwards, kicking the shield upwards and flipping around, as the bits pass under him, beam sabres aimed down the centre of the 00. Once the shield was kicked up Raven could see the Qan[T] face him, bringing its GN sword up to block the beam sabres. "Wow, you're as good as they say!" Raven laughed, knowing Setsuna could hear him.

"I assume that you have never seen my Gundam before." Setsuna answered, blankly pushing Raven back several yards with the force of 00 Qan [T]'s propulsion. "If that's the case then I'll... I'll have to destroy you... I'll eliminate you!" Setsuna yelled finally using the GN blade to knock both beam sabres out of the Strike Noir's hands. Both large GN blade bits made another turn around coming at Raven from the sides once more. "Face it… You can't beat me."

Raven smiled, knowing who he had met. "It's you... Setsuna F Seiei!" Doubling back, Raven grabbed both GN bits by their hilts before they stabbed into his sides, making Setsuna's eyes widen. Raven laughed maniacally, stabbing the 00 in the chest with one, and slashing across the head with the second. "You're MINE!" Raven was moments away from stabbing into the cockpit, when a blue and red beam cut across the emptiness of space, melting the arm that nearly dealt the lethal blow to Setsuna's unit. "SHIT! The hell was that?" Raven looked back at the source, seeing the Eternal Freedom Gundam emerge from the carrier. "Heh… it's you…"


"These odds..." Weiss grimaced.

"Are definitely not in our favour..." Twi cursed.

"Agreed. I guess we might as well do nothing as it retreats, HEY at least no one died right?" Kayos said with a laugh.

"Yeah, that's always good!" Twi replied, laughing.

"Alright im heading back to base, be a good boy while me and Weiss are away alright?" Kayos said, with a turn, boosting away.

"Roger that!" Twi chuckled, as he engaged his Mirage Colloid.

"HEY! Where are you three going?" Raven yelled over the intercom.

Twi was the first to answer. "Weiss will be back, and my right arm is toast, so we're heading in for repairs" He informed Raven.

"Bastard! And all while this is going on?"


Setsuna grunted as the 00 was knocked back from the resulting explosion from the Positron gun. 00 Qan[T] reached the one of the pieces stuck in its cheek and pulled it out and let it loose to go after Noir while a medium sized bit detached from the shield and flew in 00's hand as it clenched it and a beam sabre burst to life from the bit and swung it to take off Noir's legs, who flew over the attack. "Carrus what are you doing out here?" Setsuna asked looking to the Freedom. "For the record your uncle Zala now owes the ZAFT military several thousand dollars to replace that bit."

"Bill me later! I'm saving YOUR ass right now!" Drawing both beam sabres, he clashed with the Noir, pushing it away, all before he could stab Setsuna again.

"YES! Now THIS is what I'm after!" Raven laughed, as he flew backwards, firing the beam cannons at Carrus. The Freedom managed to spin over the attack, cutting off a wing on the Noir's striker pack. "Come on Freedom! Don't disappoint me now!" Attacking with his beam sabre, Raven aimed at the head of the Freedom, making Carrus duck, and begin flying through the debris field.

"Not a chance!" Twi emerged from the depths of space, swinging his scythe downwards. "I'll take you down while I have a chance!" Twi felt victorious, confident he had struck down the Freedom, when suddenly, the 00 appeared from nowhere in a flash of green light, catching the light of its beam scythe at the last second.

"Another one?" Setsuna growled, as his large bit came up, pushing the Deathscythe away. "Who are you?" Setsuna yelled through the comm as the GN bit returned to the shield. 00 Qan[T] turned back with its GN sword V in its rifle mode aimed at Deathscythe and charged to fire while its beam sabre was ready to counter any melee attack from the Deathscythe.

Twi was unsure of what to think, when he saw the 00 simply appear from nowhere, right before his eyes. Twi sat there for a couple moments staring down the charging barrel of the 00 Qan [T]'s rifle. Twi simply sat still, confused, he didn't know what to do.

"You're mine." Setsuna growled, just before the GN rifle fired and blew Deathscythe's left arm off, throwing the beam scythe into space. After the blast 00 Qan[T] readied his beam sabre. "Surrender yourself and you'll be spared."

Twi giggled as he defensive algorithms kicked in on his Gundam. He opened the comm line between the Deathscythe and the 00. "NOT UNLESS I GET TO RESENT THE EA!" he yelled, firing his machine guns that simply bounced off the 00's armour.

Setsuna narrowed his gaze just before he had Qan[T] advance forward as his GN sword mode sliced through the units legs. "You're not making this easy on yourself."

"I don't want to lose my squad, they're my FAMILY!" Twi replied harshly as he boosted backwards. "IF I surrender to you, I lose them!"

Setsuna lowered his beam sabre and GN Sword, staring at the Deathscythe. "I never would have thought that you EA pilots could feel such connections." Setsuna said coldly, "If all of you surrender, then I can arrange you all to share a cell."

Twi thought carefully. "But what if they don't want to?" He asked. "We are part of the EA for a reason." Twi muttered.
"I just don't know what the reason is…"

"Then I guess I'll have to take you in and kill them." Setsuna responded as he released the medium GN bit and its returned to the shield.

"NO!" Twi yelled as he charged the Qan[T] in a futile effort.

Setsuna sighed as the Deathscythe charged at him. "I warned you." Setsuna whispered, cutting it down quickly and without destroying it. "You're coming with me." Setsuna warned as the GN sword V moved around Deathscythe's torso and across its chest keeping it pinned.

"Commander!" a voice called on a comm. to Setsuna, he looked and saw a large squad of Space type Flag units flying past, two grabbing the Deathscythe.

"Good that you showed up" Setsuna answered, seeing several ZAFT carrier ships approaching as well.


"Damn it!" Carrus yelled, as the Strike Noir turned and began pushing the Freedom towards Earth.

"What the hell, you're getting soft on me?" Raven smiled, hearing Carrus' voice, as he turned on a video connection, seeing Carrus in the seat, without his pilot suit. "Well, another kid like me huh?"

Carrus' eyes widened when he saw Raven, someone not two years older than him in the pilot's seat. "Wait... YOU'RE the pilot?"

"Yeah…" Raven smiled. "Honestly thought I was fighting Kira Yamato at first... but now I'm facing some clone of his. Go figure!"

"You wish! I'm his son!" Carrus' rage urged him forward, as he pushed Raven back, as he fired his Lohengrin cannon and Valiant Railguns. Raven responded quickly, by flipping over the attack, and kicking the Freedom square in the chest. "UGH! DAMN!" Carrus felt the strain of his body, as it was flung into his seatbelts, his head slammed into the airbags that emerged from the console.

"Pity..." Raven sighed. "Guess you're not as skilled as him..." Raven flew straight at Carrus, taking advantage of Carrus' disorientation, and thrusting his beam sabre towards the Freedom.

Then, a familiar feeling swept over Carrus, as a sense of total clarity swept over him. And before he knew it, the SEED in him had bloomed, and his eyes turned opaque. It was it this point, that a voice called from the computer in the Freedom. "Warning. Odysseus programme activated. Initialising Lambda Drive."

"What?" Carrus exclaimed. "What's a...?" Raven aimed again, when suddenly, the hull of the Freedom glowed a bright blue, and as an asteroid passed over the Freedom, it disappeared from Raven's sight.
"The hell?" Raven cursed, when the Freedom flew faster than he could tell, right behind him, tearing the Striker pack off with his Dragoons, and firing ten consecutive Railgun rounds at the Noir.

Raven yelled, as the Noir flew backwards from the Freedom. "SHIT!" Entirely on instinct, Raven reached for the ejection seat, and pulled the poles, as the seat flew out the back of the Strike, as the black Mobile suit disappeared in a sea of flame.