Garret was woken in the morning by the sound of the alarm echoing through the ship. "What the hell?" he groaned, pulling on his red jacket. He opened the door and saw Lucian heading past. "Lucian, what's going on?" he asked.
"We found that Purity transport, we ran into it earlier than expected. We've been ordered to launch immediately" Lucian replied as the two headed for the locker rooms. Marcel was already waiting there for them in his pilot suit. The other two quickly got changed and stopped as Aston entered the room.
"Morning boys" he smiled, opening his locker and taking his white pilot suit out. He quickly changed into it and the four headed for the hangar. The three younger pilots boarded their respective mobile suits and waited for Aston to get into his, a white GOUF Ignited. The GOUF was loaded onto the catapult first and armed with its shield. "Aston Falcon, GOUF Ignited, engage!" the commander called as his mobile suit was fired out into space. Lucian was next onto the catapult; his ZAKU was armed with its gunner equipment and then placed in a launch position.
"Lucian Williams, ZAKU, let's go!" the black haired pilot called as he joined the commander. Next up was Marcel, his ZAKU was armed the same as Lucian's.
"Marcel North, ZAKU Warrior, bring it on!" Marcel called and he too shot forth into the blackness of space. Garret was loaded onto the catapult last. A new sword for his GINN was placed on the suit's hip and its machine gun was put onto the back of the waist.
"Garret Kross, GINN, soar!" Garret called out and he joined his comrades on the weightless battlefield.
"Everyone, I should have warned you of this earlier, about the enemy fighting strength" Commander Falcon spoke over the comm. link. "There have been rumours circulating that Purity has begun the reproduction and mass-production of the mobile suits referred to as Gundams in the last two wars. Be on your guard" he explained.
"Gundams huh… this could be interesting" Lucian muttered. Ahead of them, the pilots saw an Earth Forces Agamemnon-class warship.
"That's an Agamemnon; that is far from a transport ship…" Aston said quietly to himself. "Marcel and Lucian, both of you launch ranged attacks at both the ship and it's mobile suits on my signal, Garret and I will get in close with our swords" he explained.
"But sir, we haven't even confirmed them as an enemy yet!" Marcel pointed out.
"That is why I said 'on my signal' Marcel, should they attack us, I will give the word" Aston replied. Marcel nodded and readied his beam cannon.
"Commander Falcon, the ship is deploying mobile suits! Five Moebius, three Dagger Ls and one unknown!" one of the members of the Bayonet's CIC spoke over the radio.
"Acknowledged. Lucian and Marcel, you two focus on the Moebius squad, god knows what they're carrying. Garret, we'll take on the Daggers and the unknown" Aston ordered. The two ZAKUs hovered around the Bayonet, aiming their beam cannons at the small, pink mobile armours. Three of the Moebius began firing their railguns at the green mobiles suits, the two ZAKUs flew around avoiding the attacks, trying to line up their own shots.
"Stand still you little bastards!" Lucian yelled, firing off a shot from his beam cannon. It tore through one of the Moebius, destroying the mobile armour. He grinned and then lined up another shot.
"Lucian! Two of them got through, they're armed with missiles, the three with railguns were decoys!" Marcel called, spinning around. Lucian also turned around aimed his beam cannon at one of the two missile-armed Moebius.
"Shit! We can't hit them without hitting the Bayonet!" Lucian yelled.
"I'll get them, cover me!" Marcel instructed. He threw aside the ZAKU's beam cannon and ejected its backpack, flying towards the two Moebius. The mobile suit's tomahawk was launched from the shield and Marcel grabbed it with the ZAKU's free hand, initiating the beam edge. He heard Lucian take out another of the Moebius while the last one was trying to stop him reaching the two with the missiles. He boosted forward quickly and slammed his tomahawk into the cockpit of one of the Moebius, destroying it. He looked to the other Moebius and realised that there was no way he could reach it in time. "Dammit!" Marcel roared and he hurled his tomahawk at the Moebius. His eyes widened when the weapon struck home and cleaved through the mobile armour. Behind him, Lucian destroyed the last of the Moebius squad and he moved to join Marcel.
"Still got your rifle?" Lucian asked.
"Yeah, let's go help Garret and the Commander" Marcel replied and the two ZAKUs moved off to join their comrades.
Garret flew forward, his sword drawn, moving towards the three Daggers. One of the Daggers engaged its beam sabre and the two exchanged blows a few times. Garret lowered his sword and then quickly flicked the GINN's wrist up, cutting of the Dagger's sword hand. He then quickly boosted forward and drove the GINN's sword through the enemy cockpit. He shoved the mobile suit away as it exploded. "Commander!" Garret called as he saw Aston's GOUF under attack by the other two Dagger Ls. The GOUF pulled it's sword from its shield and swiftly cleaved through the waist of the first Dagger. As it exploded, the second flew to the side of the GOUF and raised its beam sabre high. The GOUF's shield arm stretched out and its heat whip shot out, piercing the cockpit of the attacking suit. Aston kicked the Dagger L away as it exploded. "Whoa…" Garret whispered as he watched.
"The unknown mobile suit launched from the Agamemnon-class has been identified, GAT-X102 Duel! It's a Gundam!" Victoria called over the communicators of the four pilots.
"I guess the rumours were true…" Aston said quietly. "Everyone be careful, it may only be a mass-produced model but its fighting strength is unknown, attack together!" he ordered the three red pilots. Within moments, the blue and white mobile suit came into view, wielding its beam rifle and its shield.
"For the sake of our blue and pure world!" the ZAFT pilots heard a voice yell. Obviously the Duel's pilot, they thought. The Gundam raised its rifle and fired off a quick succession of shots towards Aston. The commander raised his shield and deflected the shots and raised its other arm, firing off a few shots from its beam guns on its arm. The Dual quickly moved to the side and then rammed its shield into the GOUF.
"Argh!" Aston groaned as his mobile suit was thrown back. He quickly steadied himself and was forced to quickly raise his shield as the Duel fired on him again. "Garret! Use the Phase Cutter!" Aston called out as he tried to defend the Gundam's attacks.
"Roger" Garret replied and he flicked a switch on his console. In response, a clear gel came from the hilt of the GINN's sword and covered the blade of the weapon. "Phase Cutter engaged" Garret said and he boosted towards the Duel. He swung the sword heavily at the Duel which raised its shield in response. The sword blade cut clean through the shield, catching the pilot of the Duel by surprise and causing him to retreat from the GINN slightly.
"The hell is with that sword?!" Garret heard him yell. The Duel threw aside the remains of its shield and drew one of its beam sabres with the newly freed hand. "Filthy Coordinator!" the pilot roared, firing his rifle as he approached Garret. The GINN boosted around, dodging the shots as Aston's white GOUF tried to circle around behind the Duel. "Not a chance" the pilot sneered as he noticed the commander. He threw his beam sabre at the GOUF, piercing its left leg, causing the limb to explode. Garret tried to use the opening to hit the Duel, but before he could reach it, the Gundam drew its second sabre and blocked his attack.
"Damn, this guy's good for a Natural" Garret commented. He was taken by surprise when a red energy beam shot past his camera between his GINN and the Duel. He boosted back a bit and then turned to see Lucian and Marcel's ZAKUs approaching. Marcel let loose a hail of shots at the Duel. With no shield, the pilot was forced to move around and avoid the shots. In response, Aston also began firing the GOUFs arm beam guns as well; to further restrict the movement of the Duel. Several of the rounds grazed the mobile suit's armour, but none were direct hits.
"Lucian, fire a beam above him. Garret, move in and take him out with your sword when he moves to avoid it!" Commander Falcon ordered. He and Marcel restricted the Duel's sideways movement and when Lucian fired his cannon, the Gundam moved down. Garret quickly turned his boosters onto full and readied his sword.
"Argh! Die!" the Duel's pilot yelled, firing off several beams at the GINN. One of the shots destroyed the GINN's free arm and its head, but Garret didn't falter. He reached the Duel and drove his sword into the mobile suit's cockpit before dragging it up through the Duel's head. The Gundam exploded, throwing the GINN backwards and causing Garret to be thrown around in his seat. He leaned down on the cockpit, panting and trying to regain his breath.
"Garret, are you ok?" Marcel asked, flying over to the stationary GINN.
"Yeah, I'm fine" he replied quietly. He checked the GINN's systems to make sure that there was no major damage to the suit. "Thrusters are overheated… looks like I'm not moving" he sighed, looking at his console. Garret was taken by surprise when Marcel's ZAKU grabbed the hand of his GINN and began flying back to the Bayonet with him. "Thanks" Garret said.
"No problem, good job out there" Marcel commented. Lucian and Aston flew past them, not held down by the weight of a second mobile suit like Marcel. The two reached the ship and Garret's GINN was secured in place by clamps like the rest of the mobile suits. He climbed out and was surprised to see the mechanics already working on the GOUF's missing leg.
"Garret, well done out there. You performed extremely well" Commander Falcon said, approaching the other pilot.
"Thank you sir" Garret replied with a salute.
"It seems I got careless out there" Aston sighed, looking at the GOUF. "I guess even aces make mistakes huh?" he asked Garret with a grin.
"What about the enemy ship sir?" Garret asked, he had realised that with all the fighting, they had not done anything about the ship.
"Unfortunately it escaped during the battle, we have been ordered to pursue it however. We have to stop it before it gets to Earth" Aston replied. "I will explain everything properly later, meet in the briefing room with the others in twenty minutes" the Commander ordered. Garret saluted his superior and then floated off to the locker room. He changed into his standard uniform and then moved to join Marcel and Lucian near the couches.
"Well, I think we all have you two to thank for our victory today" Lucian commented, looking between Marcel and Garret.
"Um… why me?" Marcel asked; his voice quiet.
"You took out those two Moebius. I heard some crewmembers saying that those missiles they were armed with were anti-ship missiles. If they'd connected, we probably would have lost the Bayonet" Lucian explained.
"It was just a lucky shot really, if my tomahawk hadn't hit, the ship would have been hit" Marcel commented.
"Stop being such a downer Marcel, you saved the ship. Be proud of that" Lucian said, jabbing Marcel in the shoulder. "I think we all know what Garret did though" Lucian grinned.
"Yeah, I can't believe you took down the Duel!" Marcel said excitedly.
"I only beat it because the pilot was a natural, if that had actually been Commander Joule, we'd all be dead now" Garret commented.
"Man, you two really don't like accepting praise do you?" Lucian asked, looking between his two comrades.
"I'm too tired to be praised right now. Come on, the Commander wanted to see us in the briefing room" Garret and explained and the three pilots left the room. They entered the briefing room to find both Commander Aston and Captain Phillips waiting for them. The three pilots saluted them and waited for the gesture to be returned.
"Be seated" the captain ordered and the three pilots sat down. The artificial gravity had been turned on so they were able to sit down without floating away. "As you all know, the enemy ship managed to get away during our battle with its mobile suit team. We assume they were hoping that the Duel would take us down, but they were wrong" Richard said, looking to Garret.
"We have been informed that the vessel is heading towards Earth and there are reports of a battle going on near the planet itself. Our forces as well as a detachment of Earth Forces units are engaging a Laurasia-class, two Two Hundred and Fifty Metre-class ships and one Archangel-class ship" Aston explained.
"An Archangel-class?!" Lucian exclaimed.
"Yes. The fact the Earth Forces are helping us with this battle shows that the enemy is indeed Purity. We believe that the ship that escaped us may be carrying reinforcements as well as possibly cargo that they may need to get to Earth. It must be stopped before it reaches the battle zone" Aston explained. "It has also been confirmed that the forces above Earth have deployed more Gundams into the fight, they are using the GAT-X303 Aegis and another Duel" Aston pointed out.
"Another Duel… they really are reproducing the Gundams" Marcel said, rubbing his chin.
"Coincidently, we have no idea if that ship we engaged has any other Gundams on board, we must proceed with caution when fighting it again" Captain Phillips stated. "Be ready to launch at any time, we have no idea when we will catch the enemy ship" he continued.
"I apologise, but for obvious reasons I will not be able to join you for the next battle, you three will be on your own" Aston sighed, looking between his pilots. "But after seeing how you handled that last fight, there is no doubt in my mind that you will be fine" he said with a smile. "You're all dismissed" he spoke. The three pilots all stood, saluted and left the room.
"You coming to the cafeteria with us Garret?" Marcel asked. Garret in reply shook his head.
"I'll eat later, I need to go check some stuff with my GINN" he replied.
"Ok, see you later then" Marcel said. Garret waved his friend away and then returned to the hangar.