Chapter 38
It had been many days since the three ships had decide to hide out at the old junkyard, even true things have been very peaceful for a long time now, there was a small battle going on between all the junk.
Mu was in the Strike flying full speed towards the mobile suit that was coming right at him, it only took about a half second before he slammed the beam saber out after his opponent, but unfortunately the only thing he hit was the other mobile suits saber.
"You are not making this easy for me kid!" Mu said loudly, while the Strike and Freedom struggle hard for control, but finally they broke away from each other Mu shooting of the machine guns in the Strikes head, hoping that would distract the kid for a bit.
But Kira just flew straight over the shoots and thrust out the Freedoms saber back after him.
Forcing Mu to use the shield to defend himself, they did however not stay like that for long, before Mu throw the Strike backwards took of full speed away from the kid, heading over to what looked like a totally smashed up Laurasia Class.
Actually the only reason they could even recognize it, was because of the light green colour of the ship.
Seeing Mu take of like that, Kira immediately took of after the blond man, but once he got over on the other side of the old Zaft ship, he discover that the Strike had disappeared in all of the junk.
"Damn where did he go!" Kira mutter while looking around after his old mobile suit, but there where no sign of the Strike anywhere there was just so many placed to hide around here, that trying to find Mu, was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
"You can't find me!" Mu sang in a loud teasing tone, as he watched the Freedom taking another look around, obviously trying very hard to locate him, but Mu was completely sure that unless Kira looked directly at the place where he was right now.
There was no way that the boy would ever find him here, it was no doubt the perfect hiding place, but what made the whole thing even better was that he could see every single thing the boy did.
It was not like this was the first time he had been training in the Strike in all of this junk and that meant he had found a lot of good hiding places.
"I thought this was supposed to be training Mu, not hide and seek!" Kira said as he slowly moved the Freedom over a few piece of metal that was floating around in front of him, still not finding any traces of the Strike.
Hearing the kid said that Mu couldn't help but let out a small laugh, as he continued watching the back of the Freedom.
"Ahhh lighten up kid this is fun, it truly reminds me of my on troublesome childhood" Mu said not bothering to hide the fact that he was having a good time right now, it was actually very rare that one could use a mobile suit for something else other then fighting battles.
Thinking a few seconds about the blonde man's words Kira slowly rolled his eyes, as he slowly removed a few pieces of metal hoping to find the Strike back there, but unfortunately there was no luck there either, the only thing he found was the messed up head of an old GINN.
"You do realize Mu that the Strike will run out of power long before the Freedom will" Kira said hoping to lure the blond man out, but Mu was clever enough not to fall for such a thick, he just laughed a bit still not moving from his little hideout.
But finally after a few minutes he couldn't help, but think that just sitting around here like this was getting a little boring, luckily the Strike still had most of it's energy left so he could still put up a pretty good fight.
So after deciding that he slowly reached out for a small piece of metal, where he looked at it for a few seconds, then he pulled the arm back and throw the junk full force at the Freedom, then took of after it while pulling out the right beam saber again.
Hearing the alarm go of inside the Freedom, Kira hurried turned around, where the first thing he saw was the junk coming at him, with the Strike following closely behind it.
Seeing that he immediately used the shield to knock the metal away, then flew forward to counter the Strike, and it wasn't much later before the two mobile suits beam sabers meet one more time.
"By the way Mu, you do know that I still have your engagement ring to Murrue right?" Kira asked while the two of them fought to get the up hand in this little battle.
Mu just made the Strike nodded a few times, as he tried his best to push the Freedoms beam saber aside, but that truly was easier said than done.
"Yeah I know kid, but I don't really need yet and I trust you to look after it for me" Mu told him, as the two of them quickly backed away from each other, only to slamme their weapons back together a half second later, but unlike the other time, they didn't stay in that lock for long, before Kira kicked out after the Strike.
But he missed as Mu took of away from him, this time not getting the opportunity to hide like last time.
But as Kira was chasing after Mu he couldn't help but smile a bit. "Ok Mu I promise I will look after it for you, just tell me when you want it back" the boy said as the two mobile suits continued fighting with each other.
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Meanwhile not that far away two other mobile suits was fighting with each other, Cagalli was in the Duel Rouge using both of her beam sabers against her boyfriend that up until now had only use one saber and the shield to defend himself.
"Ahhh damn it! stay still Athrun!" the girl whined loudly in frustration, as she again slammed both sabers out after the red gundam in front of her.
But Athrun just duck under them and flew a bit away from her, trying his best to keep his laughter under control, but that was hard with all the coursing Cagalli was doing right now over the fact that she was not able to hit him.
But once she got that out of her system she quickly turned around and shoot of the railgun at him, hoping to that would be enough of a diversion for her to get close to him again.
Athrun however just used his shield to take the first shot while flying under the second one.
"I thought you said that this was supposed to be a close combat only" Athrun said, as he saw the Duel Rouge coming straight at him, still with both beam sabers ready to strike, and once close enough she immediately slammed both of the weapons out after him.
Seeing that Athrun hurried use the one saber he had out to take the left beam saber while using the shield for the other one, and it didn't take long before the two of them where struggling hard to hold the other mobile suit back.
"Yeah it was, but I want you to take me serious, not just fight back when you feel like you have to!" Cagalli yelled a bit angry that Athrun wasn't trying with all his might to defeat her.
Even true a small part of her mind did realize that this was only the third time she was out in this machine, and that if Athrun took this seriously. She could end up getting hurt very badly, but that did not mean she had to like the idea of him going easy on her. She truly did want to show him that she could handle the Duel, just as well as that last pilot Kira had killed that time back in Orb, it actually annoyed her a bit that she wasn't able to use it as good as he was.
But with practice she was completely certain that she could beat almost any mass-produced mobile suit, that was thrown at her, and was actually one of the reason she need Athrun to fight her just a bit more seriously.
"STOP holding back Athrun!" the blond girl yelled, as she again used the two sabers to try and hit the Justice, but this time he only used the one saber to take both of hers, seeing that Cagalli hurried gave the red mobile suit a hard kick getting it just a bit away from her, which made her flew full speed forward to attack the Justice one more time.
But Athrun just made a quick maneuver away from her, and took of in a different direction.
Looking after her boyfriends mobile suit, a few seconds Cagalli couldn't help but let out a few more course, while trying to come up with away she could get the up hand on the Justice.
"Why doesn't this idiotic thing have any more close combat weapons" she mutter angry as she thought about all the weapons the Duel Rouge had now that the Assault Shroud was on it, but in the end she realize that the beam sabers was the only thing she had going for her in close combat.
"Damn it!" she coursed loudly, as she again took of after her boyfriend, determined to give him the best fight ever.
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As that was going on Dearka was sitting in the Buster waiting around for Nicol to finished finding whatever he was looking for, there wasn't really much training in what the two former Zaft pilots was doing right now.
If someone saw them they would no doubt say that they where playing around more then anything else, finally after a few minutes the Blitz show up again carrying as much junk it could possible manage in both of it's arms.
"Ok are you ready for one more try Dearka?" Nicol asked while letting go of most of the junk, only keeping a single piece.
"Yep Nicol this time I will hit them all!" Dearka said in a determined tone, as he got the Buster ready to continue their little game, while waiting for Nicol to throw the first piece of junk, that he had been collecting all over the place, it was only a second later before Nicol throw away the first piece of junk.
Which immediately made Dearka firing one of the Buster cannons after it, but unfortunately the beam flew right past the junk not hitting anything, which was actually a bit amazing considering all the junk that was surrounding the two boys.
"Damn it! why the heck are all those annoying small thing so damn hard to hit!? I usually don't have this much trouble taking out a mobile suit, so why the hell is this so much harder?" Dearka asked, as he watched Nicol pick up another piece then pull the arm back and throw it even harder then before.
Seeing that, Dearka aimed carefully at the junk, this time there was no way he would miss, he just had to hit it, and finally after a second he shoot of the cannon one more time, this time destroying the old ship part completely.
"YES!" he cried out in a happy tone.
"That's more like it! I just need to concentrate, then there should be no problem winning this little game, I might still get that teddy bear I really wanted!" the Buster pilot said once again aiming the cannon at the next piece that Nicol was already getting ready to throw.
"Hmm I have to make sure he doesn't hit this time, if he does that we will be even again" Nicol mutter trying to figure what direction it would be best to throw the metal in.
Finally after thinking hard about it for a moment or two, he made a motion like he was going to throw it, then he quickly pulled the arm back, turned around and throw it of in a complete random direction.
"Hey Nicol that's cheating!" Dearka complained loudly, as he hurried fired his one shot after the metal, but because of Nicol's little thick the shoot flew far past the junk, hitting a few parts of a very old Moebius instead.
Seeing how far he had been of the target this time, Dearka couldn't help but glare a bit angry over at his friends black gundam, just as it reached out for another piece of old junk.
Knowing that the game wasn't over yet, Dearka got the Buster ready to shoot again, watching all of the Blitzs movements very carefully, he did not want to fall for the same thick one more time, and just as that thought had ran through his mind the Blitz moved his arm back and hurl the junk as far away as possible.
But this time Dearka did made sure to hit the target almost immediately after Nicol had let go of it.
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While the six of them where having fun Lacus was on the Eternals bridge watching her husbands mobile suit and the Strike meet one more time, only to separate a half minute Mu using the machine guns to try and hit the Freedom, but Kira quickly evade the shoots while thrusting his weapon out after the Strike.
"Damn that was a close one for Yamato he almost had him that time" DaCosta called out loudly, as he and the other crew members gather there watched the two mobile suits fight with big eyes.
Seeing as this battle was just for fun, it was actually a very exciting thing to see, and the crew just couldn't help but talk loudly about which one of the suits was going to win, even true they all knew that the Freedom was the most powerful of the two, but now that they where only using beam sabers it was a bit hard to tell who of them where having the advantage.
"I don't think so La Flaga know this area much better then Yamato does, that gives him a clear advantage!" another one said, not taking his eyes away from the battle even for a second.
One thing he had notice the last few days was that the Strike pilot had been spending a lot of time just flying around out there, clearly training very hard with the blue mobile suit.
Hearing that DaCosta took a small glance away from the screen and over at the guy, thinking a few seconds about his words, he truly could see the logic, in what he had just said, but that did not mean he thought Kira was going to lose.
"Hmm you do have a point there! but I don't really think that La Flaga can beat the Freedom, by just knowing this area better, I mean the Freedom is just that much faster then the Strike" DaCosta said, now once again looking at the screen, this time all the more curious about seeing who was going to win the little sparring match out there.
It was just about the same time that Andrew Waltfeld enter the bridge. "Good morning everybody!" he called out in a happy tone, while making his way over to his sit, and it did not take long before the man had gotten comfortable there, looking completely relaxed now like he didn't have a care in the world.
"So how are the children getting along out there?" He asked looking at the monitor with great interested.
As DaCosta began explained what was happening outside of the ship, still with most of his attention turned towards the screen. "Ok how much are you all betting on this little fight?" Andy asked just as they all saw the Freedom and Strike meet one more time, both of them fighting hard for control for a few seconds.
Until the finally broke apart, flying almost beside each other, which made the Strike slammed it's saber out after the other machine that defended itself with it's shield.
"We are not really betting on this sir, it's not like there are any placed around here we can use money anyway" A female crew member reply almost as far away in the battle as the rest of the bridge crew.
But unfortunately the fun and games didn't last for long before something began ringing loudly all over the bridge.
"What's going on?" Andy asked a bit worried that someone had found them all the way out here, but his worries was quickly put to rest when the same woman as before began talking loudly to him.
"Someone is trying to get in contact with us sir, I don't really know who it is, but I can tell you this much the signal is coming from a place very far away from here!" the woman said trying her best to find the source of the communication.
The man got a slightly thoughtful look on his face, as he tried to figure out who want to talk with them so far away from anything, finally he looked back over at the woman.
"Ok lets try and talk with this person, they might have something interesting to say" the man said looking up at the screen that was still showing the match between Mu and Kira, but it didn't take long before the screen went black.
"Eternal do you read me this is Eileen Canaver, please come in Eternal!" the woman on the other end of the line said in a very loud tone, it was obvious that the woman was getting very impatient waiting for a reply.
Hearing who it was Lacus couldn't help but smile a bit, she had always like Eileen she had helped her father many times in the past, but before the pink hair girl could open her mouth and said something to the woman, someone else beat her to it.
"Hey Eileen! it's always good to hear your voice, this is Andrew Waltfeld speaking from the Eternal!" the man said talking to the woman like she was a long lost friend.
Ignoring the man attempt to be funny the blond woman immediately began telling them why she was contacting them, it only took her a few minutes before she had told them everything she knew.
"Are you sure about that miss Canaver?" Lacus asked obviously concerned about the information the woman had just given them.
The blond woman couldn't help but be a bit surprised at hearing Lacus voice again, but she knew she had to cut this short before someone intercepted the communication between her and the Eternal, so after thinking a small minute about it she again began talking.
"Yes miss Lacus I'm sure, by the way it's nice to hear your voice again, I was worried something might had happened to you!" Eileen said with great haste.
It was becoming more and more clear for the ships crew, that she was running out of time, Lacus was just about to say something back, when the woman suddenly cut of the communication.
Leaving the entire bridge in a deep silence, that Lacus finally broke a few minutes later. "What do you think about that Mr Waltfeld?" The pink hair teenager asked in a somewhat quiet tone, and with a far away expression on her face, it was obvious that she was thinking very hard about what her father's right hand on the Zaft Supreme Council had just told them.
Andy didn't say much, as he too thought about the new information they had just been given, finally he slowly turned around and looked back at the young woman behind him.
"I think we need to tell the others about this, so hurry up guys and get all the mobile suits back to their ships pronto! we got something very important to tell them all, and we can't really talk about this before Athrun and Kira are up here!" the man said in a serious tone.
While wishing a bit that he had been wise enough to bring a cup of coffee with him when he left his room, he could really use it right about now.
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Bark outside the pilots was still having fun, when they got the signal to return on the double.
"Ahh man! I was just about to win!" Mu complained loudly, while putting the beam saber bark to where it belonged on the Strike, then flew of full speed towards the Archangel that was already opening it's hangar.
Kira on the other hand didn't say much, as he sat there looking after the Strike, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on, everything had been so peaceful the last few weeks, since they had arrived there, and he had truly been enjoying all of this free time together with his wife.
But unfortunately now it looked like that was all over.
It was just about the same time his best friend mobile suit came over to him. "Hey Kira what are you waiting for lets go already!" Athrun said snapping Kira out of his thoughts, just as the Buster and Blitz flew past them, also heading for the Archangel.
Shaking his head a bit Kira took a small glance away from the Eternal and over at the Justice that was still floating right beside him.
"You are right Athrun, I was just thinking about what could be going on" Kira said sounding a bit thoughtful, as he deactivated the beam saber and slowly placed it back on the Freedoms left hip, with that the two of them took of towards the Eternal.
With the Justice entering the ship first, followed closely by the Freedom, each of them not wasting a second in getting their mobile suits back to their usual place.
After that they both hurried opened the cockpit and jumped away from the machine, heading full speed towards the exit of the hangar, determined to get up to the bridge as quickly as possible, and it didn't really take all that long before the two boys got to where they need to be.
"What's happening Mr Waltfeld?" Athrun asked loudly immediately after they got in there.
Andy however didn't say much he just took a small glance back at the two pilot. "Have a little patience you two, lets wait until the other ships are ready to listen to what we have to say, I don't really feel like telling this twice" the Desert Tiger said.
Just as the bridge of the Kusanagi came up on the monitor, only to be follow a half second later by the Archangel.
"Ok would some please tell me what was so important, that I need to stop beating up Kira?" Mu asked, while taking a short glance over at the boy he had just been sparring against, the expression on the blond mans face was more then enough to tell them all, that he was very unhappy about being interrupted in his little training match against Kira.
In his eyes they had just gotten to the fun part, when they where called back to the ships.
Hearing the blond man said that, Lacus couldn't help but roll her eyes a single time, before she explaining what was going on in a tone that made it completely clear that this was a very serious matter.
"We just got inform by Eileen Canaver that a big Earth Forces fleet are heading towards Boaz, and that it was becoming clear that they where going to attack the space fortress!" the pink hair girl said, while taking a short look around at all of them, where she could easily tell that they where all very shocked by what she had just told them.
"What!....you.....you.....can't be serious, they are going after Boaz!?" Dearka asked in a shocked tone, while thinking hard about just how many Zaft force that was gather at the space fortress.
In his eyes it almost seemed impossible to beat them all, which made the whole thing with the Earth Forces attacking the place very hard to believe.
"Yeah apparently, but I can't help but have a very bad feeling about what the Earth Forces are planing, if they really are going to take the fortress down, they got to have something special planed, I serious don't think they can take it out with just space ships and Strike Daggers!" Andy said in a thoughtful tone.
While thinking back to the last time he had been on the space fortress, there had been Zaft ships and mobile suits all over the place, he did however not get much time to think about it before someone else began talking.
"Do you think this could be the beginning to an all out attack on the Plants?" Murrue asked in a somewhat worried tone, as Mu step over and placed a hand on her left shoulder giving it a small squeeze, making her look away from the monitor and up at the blond man, while everybody else was looking at the concerned brown hair woman, think hard about what she had just said.
But after a few seconds the Desert Tiger broke the silence.
"It might be, I'm sure many of the Earth Forces high command have always wanted to try a stunted like that" Andy said, in a slightly angry tone not once looking away from the captain of the Archangel, that slowly turned her attention away from Mu and back at the one eyed man.
That was when Kira step over beside Lacus. "The big question now is, what do we do about it? I think it would be best if we find out what they are up to" the boy said.
He too was having a bad feeling about this, the things Mr Waltfeld and Dearka had just said, really made his stomach turn, for some reason it sound just so far out, like someone had to be completely insane to attack that place.
"I agree with you Kira, that would be for the best, we need as much information as possible right now!" Athrun said in a loud tone, he truly didn't like where this was going either.
Andy looked a few times between the two boys, and couldn't help but smile a bit, both of them really did deserve his respect, they where both working so hard to put and end to this war.
"Unfortunately you two, we are quite far away from Boaz, not even the Eternal at her top speed could get there in time, before the attack starts!" the man said, as he looked away from them and down at the floor.
"What about the mobile suits doesn't they have the speed to get there in time?" Mu asked in a serious tone, from where he was standing over beside Murrue, making everybody else turn their attention over at him, each of them thinking their own thought about what Mu had just suggest.
But that was when someone else began talking with a deep thoughtfulness in her voice. "Hmm according to this, only the Freedom and Justice have the necessary speed to pull that of, and if they have to get there right before the attack starts, then they would have to leave almost immediately" Erica said over from the Kusanagi, still working hard on the controls in front of her, before she once again began talking.
"And I really don't think I have to tell you this, but if you insist on going, the two of you will be completely alone, there will not be any reinforcements from the ships" the woman said.
While finally looked up from her work and over at the two boys, she really didn't like the idea of sending the two of them of to such a dangerous place, she had seen how happy Athrun made Cagalli.
Especially that time when she saw them fooling around inside the Duel Rouge, and she really didn't think the young girl deserved to lose anybody else, her father had truly been bad enough.
Meanwhile Kira and Athrun was looking over at each other, both of them with a somewhat unreadable expression on their faces, but after a few small seconds of complete silence, Athrun slowly opened his mouth.
"I think we should hurry up and get moving then, we don't have time to just stand around here like this" the blue hair teenager said, while reaching out for his helmet, that had been floating around just beside him, this entire time.
"I agree with you Athrun, and please don't worry miss Simmons it's not like we are going there to fight a battle, we just need to find out what the Earth Forces are going to do!" Kira said, truly grateful that the woman was worried about him and Arthrun.
Erika just gave the brown hair boy a small smile. "I'm not really worried, I know you two can handle yourself, you have proven that to all of us, so many times since Orb, and I do believe you will be all right, as long as you are inside your mobile suits" the woman said while taking a quick breath, then continued talking in the same serious tone as before.
"I just don't want a certain young woman to lose her husband, and another certain young woman to lose her new boyfriend" Erika said, finally looking away from the two gundam pilots, and over at Cagalli where she immediately gave the blond girl a small yet teasing smile.
Cagalli however didn't say anything she just blinked a few times, then quickly looked away over at the wall, before any of them could see how red her face was at this moment.
Neither Kira or Athrun knew what to say after what the woman had just said to them, but finally Lacus calm voice could be heard echoing through the bridge of all three ships.
"There is no need for you to worry about them miss Simmons, I am completely sure that both Kira and Athrun will be all right" the pink hair girl said, while standing up from her chair.
And moving over next to Kira where she gave him the usual good luck kiss on his cheek, then whispered for him to come back safely, which made him nod slowly a single time, before he pulled away from her and jumped over next to Athrun, where he immediately gave his friend a light pat on his shoulder.
Seeing that Kira was finally ready to head out, Athrun got a determined look in his eyes, as the two of them hurried left the bridge, making their way back down to the hangar, where the Freedom and Justice was waiting for them.
With the two boys gone Murrue stood up from her chair took a single step forward away from Mu. "I think we should get ready to leave too, then we can pick them up when they are on their way back here!" the brown hair woman said, thinking about how much trouble the two teenagers could get in to.
If they actually got mixed up in the battle that was about to start, and that alone was the reason she felt like they had to go too, maybe they couldn't get there fast enough to anything to help out, but it would certain save the boys some time if they didn't have to travel all the way back here.
"Murrue's right we can't just sit around here and do nothing lets get to work people!" Mu said in determined tone, while taking a glance around on the Archangels bridge seeing that they all had the same kind of expression on their faces as he had.
Then he turned and looked back at the screen where he saw all of them nodded a few times in agreement, while Kisaka began telling them that they just need to get the few M1 Astrays outside back on board, then the Kusanagi would be ready to go.
It was just about the same time that Kira called out that the Freedom was heading out, follow only a second later by Athrun yelling that the Justice was launching.
And not much later they could all watch as the two mobile suit flew full speed away from the area, leaving the three space ships all by themselves, but it was only when they where completely out of sight that someone began talking again.
"I think all of us better hurry so we are ready to meet them half way, I'm sure both of them will be quite exhausted when they return" Lacus said in a tone that sounded much more calm then she actually was.
"You right pink princess, I'll be down in the hangar working on the Strike!" Mu said, as he turned around and left the bridge, with Nicol and Dearka following closely behind him, both of them determined to get their mobile suits ready for combat if there should be a need for them, while Kira and Athrun was gone.
Seeing the three pilots leave Murrue immediately yelled out a few orders and it didn't take long before the entire bridge was full of activity, as the crew there began working hard on getting the Archangel ready to leave, so they could follow the Freedom and the Justice.
And it really didn't take much time before all three ships was ready to get out of this area.
To be continued.