("Normal Dialogue" / "Thought")
The entire bridge was in shock. Seraphim - which had been casting the Trial Field all the while - had just been destroyed in one shot.
"Any signal from Seraphim or Tieria?" Sumeragi asked in desperation. Mileina, tears evidently flowing inside her helmet, could only squeak out that there was none.
"How could this be? Is there an enemy mobile suit that is unaffected by the Trial Field?" Sumeragi muttered. "How could I have not predicted this? This was exactly what we did when we were brought to heel four years ago, cutting our links to Veda and trying to operate by ourselves…"
"It is him." Billy stated, half in reverence, half in fear. "The Innovator who is above all Innovators."
"Ribbons Almark." Anew mentally continued, the mere thought of her creator and then-ultimate superior creating a rage that she barely contained beyond tightly clenching her fists. But her anger was also directed at herself, for she had held the secret that Tieria was already deceased for not much more than fifteen minutes before he effectively "died" again, this time for everyone to notice and grieve over.
The atmosphere on the bridge became tense and heavy, until a beep from Feldt's terminal got her attention. "Sumeragi, I got an incoming transmission… from Veda!"
"Veda?" Sumeragi asked in bewilderment.
"Affirmative." Feldt responded. "It states that it has detected a new machine which it does not support, and that this machine is currently engaging the 00 Raiser in combat."
"We need to support Setsuna!" Anew instinctively responded. Feldt nodded, although her agreement was not just due to her own assessment of the battle situation. Just then, the bridge door opened and Lasse kicked his way in.
"I heard the ruckus. Let's move Ptolemy out to support the 00 Raiser." The burly helmsman suggested. He then side-eyed Billy, evidently wary of the interloper, but quickly relented after Sumeragi stepped in between them with her hands up in reassurance.
"Are you sure you're alright?" The tactical commander asked, knowing his prior condition.
"Yeah. Somehow." Lasse confirmed, nodding. "We should get underway. Setsuna needs our help."
As Lasse swiftly got into his usual helmsman seat, Anew felt a sudden weight on her legs. Again, the duty she felt as part of Ptolemy's crew called out to her, but she was unsure if she would be allowed to, in the manner in which she desired to contribute.
"Sumeragi, I think Anew should be able to help helm Ptolemy." Feldt spoke up from her elevated station. "She… managed to hold out against their probing earlier. I have confidence she will continue to do so, should it happen again, until we root them out."
"Eh?" Anew uttered, stunned that Feldt was vouching for her.
"Approved." Sumeragi decided in a snap call. "Anew, if you will."
"R-Right!" Anew rapidly got back to her old co-helmsman station, catching up with Lasse on the checklist required before Ptolemy was safe to move again.
Sumeragi leaned forward and pressed a button on her commander's chair, hailing Ian in the sub-bridge. "Ian, we are moving. Prepare to open fire." As Ian's short reply came over the intercom, a sudden thought came over Sumeragi. "Anew, when you can, contact Lockon and get him over to support Setsuna. I'll get Allelujah." The tactical commander requested as she went around and settled into her chair, to which Anew silently nodded, double-timing her checklist and quickly bringing up a link to Cherudim from her own station.
Only Billy would be left standing on the bridge, and he looked incredibly lost. "You." Feldt harshly beckoned, pointing to the auxiliary terminal Anew had commanded for most of the battle thus far. "Sit down and try not to flail about. And no funny business." The tactical operator would add, swiftly locking down the terminal from her own console.
It was not as if Billy had a choice. He made the short distance over, sat, and hoped he would not be shot when everything was over.
"Transmission from Ptolemy! Transmission from Ptolemy!" Haro chirped in its dock inside Cherudim's cockpit.
"Yeah, patch me in Haro." Lyle nonchalantly replied.
A video feed was brought up inside the cockpit, showing Anew's head and upper body from her helmsman station on the Ptolemaios II. "Lockon? Lyle, are you there? I don't see you."
"Anew!" Lyle perked up. "Yeah, I'm sitting outside, admiring my handiwork." He replied to his lover, the audio passing through his helmet's microphone back to the ship via Cherudim's communications link.
"Oh, um…" Anew paused, hesitant to deliver what she had to say. "We have new sortie orders for you."
"I see. Lay it on me." Lockon stood up from his perch, turning to drop into Cherudim's cockpit.
"Setsuna and the 00 Raiser are engaged in combat with an unknown mobile suit. Veda has communicated to us that it does not support this machine. Sumer-" Anew appeared to catch herself, something caught by Lyle as he settled into his seat. "We need you to support Setsuna and defeat this new threat."
"Understood." Lyle responded, cracking his knuckles and taking up Cherudim's controls. He almost closed the video link, but Anew's nervous clearing of her throat made him pause.
"Come… come back alive, you hear me? Please come back to me." Anew pleaded, her eyes watering. Lyle turned to face her as she declared, blushing, eyes closed in embarrassment:
"I love you, Lyle."
Lyle could hear the other members on the bridge shift in their seats. "Probably surprised to hear that from her." He reassuringly touched the video panel, declaring in return with a warm smile, "I love you too, Anew. I'll be back with you soon, I promise."
As the link was closed, Haro decided to chime in on its own. "Anew loves you! Anew loves you!"
"She does, Haro." Lyle agreed with his robotic companion as he brought up his battered Gundam and moved it out of the colony ship. "I love her too. And I will continue to love her for the rest of my life, after we settle this."
"One last fight." He steeled himself as he caught two trails, one green and one orange, converging and clashing in the dark distance. "Just a bit more, Anew."
If Ribbons hadn't shot down Seraphim, Revive Revival would have done it himself. Vaporised it, even, with his Gadessa's GN Mega Launcher.
"When I get my hands on Tieria Erde, I'll…" A very angry Hiling Care grovelled as her Gazzaro finally got going again, after having to switch to the backup operating system due to Tieria and Regene's takeover of Veda.
"Hiling, we will settle that later. First, we need to regroup with Ribbons." Revive suggested, as the two Innovator mobile suits moved in a tight formation. The Reborns Gundam had been activated, and the information on the Gadessa's displays indicated it was in combat with an enemy mobile suit. "Is that the 00?" Revive wondered, "How wonderful if we could get it. The raw power it possesses will allow us to rightfully reclaim Aeolia's Plan."
As Revive and Hiling approached, they could see the intense clash between the Reborns Gundam and the 00 Raiser. The latter did appear to have some damage, but that did not seem to affect its combat ability, repeatedly dodging the Reborns' beam shots and charging for quick swipes and slashes with its large sword.
In wordless agreement, Revive charged the Gadessa's GN Mega Launcher, whereas Hiling charged ahead to intercept the 00 Raiser in close combat. After taking aim at what had become the Innovators' most loathed enemy, Revive released a shot that would have done more than a glancing hit to the 00 Raiser had it not evaded at the last moment.
"We're here to back you up, Ribbons Almark." Revive hailed over their communications channel.
"It is quite unnecessary of you." Ribbons dryly replied, as he used the Reborns, now in its Cannon form, to continue barraging the 00 Raiser with beam fire.
With Hiling aggressively duelling the 00 Raiser, Ribbons and Revive were free to take their shots at range. Furthermore, Setsuna's focus on Ribbons allowed Revive's shots to connect more often, although the former always seemed to minimise the damage to the 00 Raiser every time. It was aggravating to Revive. "This human…"
An opening soon popped up with Hiling spraying beam vulcan fire around the 00 Raiser, allowing Revive to aim and shoot a charged beam from the GN Mega Launcher of the Gadessa. It appeared to have hit - there was even an explosion - but Revive was disappointed to find that his enemy had somehow survived.
Worse still, his enemy was being reinforced.
The orange Gundam that had just arrived had already transformed into its fighter plane-esque form and peeled off to engage Hiling, which left only the green one - battered, missing half a leg as well as almost all its weapons, save for its pistols and some bits, and even sparking in places. Revive felt almost revolted that the enemy thought it worthwhile to challenge him with a mobile suit barely capable of sustained combat.
Yet, this mobile suit dodged his first charged shot from the GN Mega Launcher. And the next. And the next.
"Look at your machine!" Revive exclaimed in disbelief as he fired the Gadessa's GN Vulcan at the enemy Gundam, although the enemy pilot would not be able to hear him. "Do you seriously think you can win against me?"
Revive moved closer and kept up the attack with Gadessa's weapons, but the firepower advantage was negated by the enemy's seemingly abundant mobility in dodging his shots. Even shooting off one of the pistols the enemy mobile suit held in its hand was not enough, for a few seconds and a reach behind the suit's hip later, there was another pistol firing at his suit.
The 3-dimensional firefight took its toll on Revive's attention span, and a momentary loss of visual contact led to the enemy mobile suit gaining a relative position above his own. The next thing he knew, pink beams were showering the Gadessa's GN Mega Launcher, blowing it up in the mobile suit's hands.
"Damn it! I'll get you!" Revive cursed, as he brought up the GN Vulcans in the Gadessa's arms and attempted to retaliate by firing at the enemy.
Anew grit her teeth as she and Lasse steered Ptolemy at the white and red enemy mobile suit, the one Veda reported had been fighting the 00 Raiser. It was a risky manoeuvre, charging head-on at such a small and mobile target, but Setsuna needed all the help they could give. And if the enemy was dumb enough to stand perfectly still, it could not hope to withstand the bulk and weight of an entire warship slamming into it.
"We'll get you Ribbons." Anew internally swore with conviction. "Here, now, we will put an end to your delusion."
"Arios has defeated one of the additional enemies!" Mileina reported, as Anew spotted pink beams emanating from Ptolemy and rushing towards the enemy. In the sub-bridge, Ian and Linda were making full use of the forward facing GN Cannons, the heaviest individual weapons they could bring to bear.
Suddenly, Anew saw the enemy mobile suit adjust itself, its shoulders folding down and the back fins rotating to a vertical orientation. She pushed the steering sticks down a fraction of a second sooner than Lasse, but by this point it was much too late.
Mileina was too focussed on the broader battle situation to be aware of the massive orange beam being fired on the ship. "Arios got disa- AAAAAAAAH!"
The whole ship shuddered as the enemy's massive beam attack smashed into the upper stern of Ptolemy. "Engines took a direct hit! We can't move!" Feldt screamed her report as the rumbles subsided.
"Fire smoke missiles!" Sumeragi ordered.
"Setsuna is still out there!" Lasse protested, but the tactical commander held firm.
"Just do it! Launch the missiles!"
As the missiles shot out of the launch tubes and were well away, Anew's frustration boiled over and she slammed the side wall next to her. "Damn it!" She uttered out angrily, eliciting looks of pity and understanding amongst the rest on the bridge.
"Ian, how long do we need for emergency repairs?" Sumeragi requested over the communications link to the sub-bridge.
"Ten, no, twenty minutes minimum! And we definitely won't be doing what we just did before the hit!" Ian replied in exasperation.
Sumeragi took a breath, closing her eyes as if pondering the situation. "Ptolemy can no longer provide independent combat support." She would declare after making up her mind, "Once we get going again, we will retrieve the Gundams starting with Arios while staying out of any ongoing battles."
"B-but…" Anew blubbered.
"I'm sorry, Anew." Sumeragi softened her tone. "There's not much else we can do. You have to trust that Lyle can handle the enemy he is facing."
The fear, the doubt, and all the other negative feelings seeped into Anew's heart. She believed in Lyle, but she was under no illusion that Revive - she was sure it was Revive based on the data she could glean - did not hold all the advantages. "Revive has more firepower, less damage, less fatigue… He could just…"
Even mentally, Anew choked up. As much as she recognised the distinct possibility that Revive would defeat Lyle, that Revive would kill Lyle, she did not want to accept it. All this time, she had fought and resisted for that glimmer of a chance she could live peacefully with the man she loved, and yet that glimmer seemed so fragile with the raging battle off in the distance. A battle that, while valiant, Lyle seemed on the verge of losing horrifically.
"Please, Lyle." Anew wished upon the stars of the cosmic backdrop. "You promised to come back to me alive. I ask for nothing more."
It was inevitable that Lyle and the Cherudim would get hit in its battle against the Gadessa. Lyle just did not expect to be hit so severely.
The Gadessa had finally managed to gain a bead on the Cherudim, landing multiple shots from its wrist-mounted guns on the torso and shoulders of the latter. Even with Cherudim's cockpit being extensively armoured, the damage was so significant an internal explosion dotted Lyle's pilot suit with bits of shrapnel - and blew out a quarter of his helmet visor, cutting up the right side of his face.
He didn't feel any pain in his right eye, but the next time he attempted to open it, he only saw red from it due to all the blood that was flowing from the facial cuts. He shut his eye again, grit his teeth and continued firing back, although his own shots were ineffectual at best.
"Haro, can Trans-Am be used?" Lyle called out loudly to his robotic partner.
"One second of use! One second of use!" Haro replied.
"That's enough for me!" Lyle hyped himself up and pushed Cherudim forward, firing with his GN Pistol IIs and commanding the two GN Shield Bits he had left to provide some means of additional attack power against the enemy. Those Bits soon got picked off, however, and another lucky shot from the Gadessa took out Cherudim's left arm, the explosion also knocking out the GN Pistol II from the Gundam's right hand. The momentum from its charge caused it to slam into the Gadessa, and the right hand had its upper three manipulators, including its 'thumb', removed by the contact.
As Cherudim drifted, spewing sparks and smoke, Lyle noted his Gundam's condition. "This is bad, everything is bad, but I still have one gun left." As the Gadessa charged at him, intent on finishing him off with a beam saber, Lyle opened his bloodied eye once more, and at the last possible moment, activated Trans-Am.
That single second seemed to stretch out for an unreasonably long time as Lyle brought Cherudim around and behind the Gadessa. By the time the red hue from GN Particle supersaturation faded from Cherudim, Lyle had already swung its sole remaining hand back, taking the GN Pistol II hitherto clamped to the GN Drive on the back of Cherudim's waist.
"I swore to shoot down the Innovators! To protect you, Anew!"
Lyle pushed up and forward on his control stick, slamming the GN Pistol II in its upside-down grip into the midsection of the Gadessa, breaking the armour at the point of impact. Without hesitation, he held down the trigger on his control stick and did not let go. The pink beams from the gun burrowed into the unprotected internals of the enemy mobile suit, and eventually through it and clean out the other side, but Lyle kept firing until not only had the Gadessa broken away from Cherudim, it had blown up catastrophically, the explosion engulfing the Gundam and finally disabling it for good.
"This is what Celestial Being is for…" Lyle uttered, feeling his strength leave him as he and Cherudim broke off. He could only faintly utter "Anew…" before he did not have the strength to speak anymore.
"Forgive me, my love. I… I'm not sure if I can keep my promise…"
"Cherudim has defeated its opponent! Only the Gundam-type enemy is left!" Feldt reported, causing Anew to crane her neck back. The latter was still at the helm of Ptolemy despite volunteering to assist Ian with the emergency repairs earlier, with the chief engineer insistent that the repairs were well underway and that her assistance would not be needed.
"What's Cherudim's status? Is Ly-Lockon alright?" The lavender-haired Innovade hurriedly questioned, a hint of worry already seeping into her voice.
"U-um…" Feldt, having the data on hand, hesitated. "Cherudim is… seriously damaged. It's not moving under its own power."
Anew visibly slumped in her seat, holding her helmeted head in her hands. A lot of scenarios were playing out in her mind, and the overwhelming majority were negative to just tragic. Meanwhile, Sumeragi was on the line with Ian, requesting without explanation, "Ian, prepare to launch the R2 unit."
"Hey, I've got my hands full here! And we don't even have a drive for it!" Ian replied in a plainly exasperated tone. But again the tactical commander was insistent, and the subsequent exchange was short.
The whole bridge seemed to fall away from Anew, however. With Lyle's status unknown but seemingly in jeopardy, and her own inability to do anything with Ptolemy still practically immobile, the situation looked bleak to her.
The hope and determination that she had held at the start of the mission had seemingly deserted her, replaced with the dread, doubt and fear that she had always tried to hold back with regard to her relationship with Lyle. She had always known, as an Innovade, that even without the threat of conflict and war, she would always far outlive him. It was always clear to both of them that his role as a Gundam Meister was a very dangerous one, no matter how much he joked about the close shaves he had on some missions to her consternation back then.
But Anew was still afraid to confront the seeming reality that Lyle was just gone now, that their time together, so recently resumed albeit so awkwardly and distantly, was again at an end.
"Lyle…" Anew could only utter softly and wistfully.
"Hey, he's a tough guy. He'll probably just be passed out when we find him." Lasse attempted to assuage his co-helmsman, with very limited effect.
"We can't even move off right now…" Anew meekly replied. "Even if he's ok right now, if we can't make it there in time…"
"You know Ian. He's a technical wizard, he'll sort things out in no time."
"I… I suppose." Anew shook her head to rid her face of her tears.
"The 00 Raiser and the enemy Gundam-type took each other out! No signal from either of them!" Feldt suddenly reported, shaken herself by the news. Immediately, Sumeragi brought up the communications link on her chair and hailed Ian once again.
"Ian, I need the R2 unit launched now!"
"Alright! Just a moment, and… there. Engines are functional. R2 will go in a minute."
"Thank you." Sumeragi acknowledged, closing the link. "Feldt, direct the R2 unit to Setsuna's last known position."
"R-roger." Feldt gathered her bearings and continued her work. Meanwhile, Lasse and Anew were quietly re-checking the system from their respective seats. Satisfied that they had some thrust again, they moved Ptolemy forward again, albeit at an effective crawl.
"I-I have a visual on Arios on the super-long-range camera!" Mileina reported. A picture of the orange Gundam, or rather the remaining torso and legs of Arios, popped up on the individual screens of everyone on the bridge.
"Gnarly." Lasse commented.
"We'll need all the regeneration pods at this rate." Anew continued. "I just hope we have enough… and we can get there in time for them to be of any use."
"Visual on Cherudim!" Mileina chirped up again. Like Arios, the Gundam was shown to the crew heavily damaged. It had its head, but it was missing both arms like Arios, as well as its whole right leg.
Suddenly, a video feed of Ian appeared in front of Anew's controls. "Hey, sorry to disturb, Anew," the chief engineer spoke. "I might need you down in the hangar later to help extricate Lockon and Allelujah. Not sure if their hatches will open by themselves with that kind of extensive damage. Plus, of course, injuries."
"I understand. I will be there shortly." Anew replied. "Um, will you be ok flying this ship alone, Lasse?"
"Ah, sure. Just let me know how much to adjust when we're closer." Lasse assured Anew, giving a thumbs up just for good measure.
"Thank you." Anew replied. "Sumeragi, may I-"
"Go ahead, Anew. We'll be fine here." The tactical commander assured her. Thus, off she went.
Cherudim was a very sorry sight when it was finally secured in Ptolemy's hangar. Anew drifted up to the cockpit section of the upper block, which remarkably had seemingly held together while the rest of the green Gundam had been damaged, if not outright cut off, from the long battle with the Innovators.
"Anew, you're here!" Linda exclaimed with some excitement. "Ian went off with Allelujah once he managed to open up Arios. Can you help with Cherudim while I check Arios and hook it back up to the ship?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Thank you. Go get your man out of there." Linda gestured to the wreck of Cherudim, with a curious wink to punctuate her sentence.
Anew turned to Cherudim's cockpit hatch, which thankfully seemed intact. As she felt around the frame for the emergency release lever, the hatch opened up by itself, surprising the lavender haired Innovade… up till she saw the broken-up interior, shards of various materials as well as blood droplets surrounding a slumped over Lyle.
"Sorry Anew! Sorry Anew!" Haro chirped in a seemingly alarmed tone whilst flapping its way out of the cockpit. "Lockon injured! Lockon injured!"
"I know, Haro. Please stand aside while I get him out."
"Thank you! Thank you!" Haro moved well out of the way as Anew reached in, swatted away some floating fragments and undid the safety restraints connected to the back of Lyle's pilot suit. After a bit of a heave, Anew pulled him out of the cockpit, with Haro helpfully powering down the Gundam remotely.
"Lyle?" Anew softly called out as she slowly kicked off from Cherudim, with Lyle facing up and moving as if on his back. The brunette Irishman slowly flitted open his eyes, his right one bloodied like the right half of his face.
"Hey, Anew. You look like a very pretty angel."
She did not have it in her to jibe back at his snarky comment, for she felt only relief that he was awake. "Oh, you. It's ok, you're safe now."
Lyle managed to break into a smile, and Anew would have called him handsome if not for the numerous cuts on his forehead still bleeding significantly. "I know. You're here, helping me like this, and you have the most angelic of smiles."
"C-could you cut it out? You're still bleeding." Anew beseeched, her face reddening in a flush of embarrassment. "I really should have kicked harder. We'd be at the airlock by now."
"Lockon loves you! Lockon loves you!" Haro stated the seemingly obvious as it followed the couple.
"Haro!" Anew squeaked out. It seemed to freak out the small round robot, for it began to open and close its flaps a lot more vigorously.
"Sorry Anew! Sorry Anew!" It apologised at its maximum volume, catching the attention of Linda at the opposite end of the hangar. Anew awkwardly waved her off as she carried Lyle into the opening airlock.
Given that they had already pressurised the hangar, Anew did not bother to cycle the airlock after they entered. However, she did stop to check on Lyle's facial injuries, gently feeling around the bottom of his helmet to release the seal connecting it to his pilot suit.
Putting the damaged helmet aside, she hurriedly searched the waist pocket of her space suit to bring out a clean gauze pad, pressing it on the wounds she could see on the right side of his forehead. She was so focused on the wounds that she did not initially notice his own hand clasping hers, but the warmth of his touch, even through his glove, caused her to slow down when she finally noticed.
"You alright, Lyle?"
Lyle hummed in agreement. "Feeling much better with you around."
With the initial shock and horror already faded, the subsequent relief within Anew was overwhelming, making her flip up her own helmet's visor and press her lips to his. She did not care if half his face was caked in blood, if her hand was still awkwardly pressing on the lacerations on his forehead. She was not even concerned that she was faintly aware of Mileina halfway down the corridor, probably mouth agape in shock and glee.
He was alive, she was alive, and they could be right next to each other as lovers without anyone to separate them, as they were right there and then.
They had won.
Author's Post-Chapter Note: Just one more chapter after this to wrap things up! Hope you have enjoyed the story thus far and will enjoy the final chapter!