00 QanT

1300km to Mars

An arc of light green formed behind the asteroid field hovering some distance away from the planet Mars. At the tip of the trail was a pack of projectiles fuelled by GN particles, guarding the 00 QanT as it crept to the loaders' right flank.

One loader was trailing smoke after grazing a shot from Zabanya, which immediately gained Setsuna's attention. The bits blasted their way past the frenzy, disabling two loaders in the process. Setsuna and the QanT soon found themselves clashing with the smoking loader. The GN sword V swung down on its head, cutting Setsuna's opponent clean.

He swiftly reversed direction after conforming his kill and tackled another two mobile suits. Before his blade could cut down the red mobile suit directly in front of him its left forearm lurched out and grabbed its wrist, keeping the blade from reaching the machine. Setsuna grumbled inside his cockpit as his opponent blocked his attack. He called the bits back before his opponent could make another move, managing to block one of its melee attacks and dodge another.

The bit control system coordinated a simultaneous attack on the red mobile suit. But it was fast, and instead an unmanned mobile suit fell victim to the GN powered bits. Setsuna streaked through the explosion with his GN sword swinging upright, and used it to dismember another loader before fatally wounding it.

His third intended target was grazed by the GN sword as it pulled back behind the asteroids. What took its place was the menacing red mobile suit from before. This time with guns blazing. Setsuna was skilful enough to keep himself from being hit, and with Lyle's help he managed to keep him at bay long enough for him to rest the back of his mobile suit against an asteroid.

Setsuna was getting impatient upon his first encounter where he was outmanoeuvred by his opponents. He summoned his bits and strafed the looming asteroids in front of him with his buster rifle. In a moment's notice the cluster of loaders and mobile suits were sent flying by the overpowering blast of weaponised GN particles, with the exception of the red one and another yellow mobile suit that decided to follow their leader.

Lyle was quick to sever the leg of the yellow mobile suit as it swung around to make a pass a Setsuna. He destroyed another unmanned one before a smokescreen exploded in front of them without warning. Both of them hesitated for a split second, only barely enough for the hostile squadron to pull out and fly back to where they came from.

The innovator pursued for another minute, halting the formation and downing another two before being ordered to pull back by captain Lasse. He reluctantly complied and lowered his handheld weapon, as well as retracting the bits. Milenia opened the left hatch for both mobile suits to return, with Lyle landing feet first followed by a hyperactive Setsuna.

"Seriously? How hard can it be?" Setsuna grumbled.

"That will become your last kill if you didn't listen. Who knows where they're going." Replied Lasse from the bridge.

"They seem smarter than before." Was the first thing Lyle said when he flew out of the cockpit with his helmet hanging off his neck. Allelujah, who was assisting him on the platform, silently agreed. Ian and a handful of Haros made it to the hangar only half a minute later. The ball shaped bots quickly took positions in the Karel repair bots, while Ian supervised the process from below.

As Lyle signalled Setsuna to follow him and head to the briefing room through the elevator he started a barrage of questions regarding to their most recent encounter. "They sent a new unit, right?"

"That's for sure. And it seems to be nearly immune to the bits." Setsuna commented. He wanted to voice his worries about how eventually even the QanT would be overpowered by their new foes right away, but that would have to wait until the rest of the crew gets to hear his words. "How many?"

"Huh?"

"I'm asking how many did you shoot down, Lockon." Said Setsuna.

"I lost count after four. And since when do you ask that?" Lyle looked at him, confused. Setsuna was lost for words for a older version of him would never speak for at least a quarter of a hour after the mission unless absolutely necessary. Come to talk about it, he seemed to talk more, too.

"I guess after the last ELS battle?" He randomly guessed.

After that none of them said another word until they reached the briefing room. They were soon joined by captain Lasse, a holographic Anew and the rest of the Meisters. upon entry Lasse turned off the lights so the holo images displayed would be crystal clear. "So we've got both good news and bad news. Which one first?"

Although no one really cared if one comes before another, they voted for the bad news. "Here're some images captured by Ptolemy's onboard camera. It seems like our enemies have a new suit that can even match the QanT." Everyone glanced at the red mobile suit armed with turrets and a set of heavy cannons. Setsuna never noticed its primary weapon until now. Does this mean it has been going easy the whole time?

He had to put the thought aside to keep his attention to the session. "It's got lots of armour, but like all of them it uses traditional fuel. That means maybe you can burn down its strength overtime." Lasse almost pointed at Setsuna.

"The good news is mostly for the Meisters. By the end of the week Feldt will have her mobile suit ready for combat, and the 00QanT will receive its Full Saber pack during the next supply run." He stated. "So you two might want to look it up and practice before the next wave hits us."

"Noted." The two replied at the same time. With a vulture's eye Setsuna noticed Allelujah having a hard time standing straight, despite his best efforts to keep anyone like Setsuna from noticing. The innovator waited until the meeting was over, and ambushed him when he was floating down the hallway and to the gym. "Having some 'problems'?" He shot out.

It didn't take a genius for Allelujah to figure out what he meant, and it wasn't a good one. "Shut up, Setsuna. I'll deal with it."

Feldt was directly behind them when she witnessed Setsuna's weird behaviour. But when she pulled up between them and stole a glance at their trousers she instantly regretted her decision as she's seen things she should have never saw. Thankfully neither of them noticed her peeking, and Allelujah was still trying to defend himself from Setsuna's roasting spree.

"No! Or...will you shut up if I said no?"

"Maybe."

Around the corner behind them, Feldt chuckled.