"Hey, Garret!" Mr. Farris called out as the pilot approached his mobile suit. Garret turned and waited as the mechanic approached him. "It seems your GINN's thrusters were overheated in that last fight, how hard did you push the thing?" he asked.
"I honestly have no idea why they overheated like that, I didn't really do anything unusual" Garret replied.
"Might just have to face it, your GINN is getting old. Compared to ZAKUs and GuAIZ Rs, that suit is pretty out dated" Mr. Farris explained.
"I know. It's still alright for now, I just won't be able to push it too hard" Garret said and he boarded the mobile suit. He booted up the systems of the mobile suit and began typing away on the keyboard. Slowly he began to lose himself as he checked over all of the mobile suit's systems. He was awakened from his trance by Marcel's voice talking to him.
"Garret, you ok there?" the younger boy asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm ok" Garret replied, a little confused as to when his friend had appeared.
"Here, I bought your dinner up to you, you're clearly not coming out of there anytime soon" Marcel laughed. Garret got up and floated out of his GINN, taking a plate of beef, potatoes and vegetables from Marcel.
"Thanks" Garret said with a smile.
"Is your GINN alright?" Marcel asked as Garret ate.
"I think so, it seems like there was just a small blockage in the cooling system, I told Mr. Farris about it and it should be cleared before we go into battle again" Garret explained. Marcel nodded in understanding and let his friend eat.
"I heard the Commander talking to Lucian, apparently he's getting transferred to another ship" Marcel sighed once Garret had finished.
"The Commander or Lucian?" Garret asked.
"Lucian. The Commander said that he's going to be sent to a ship in the fleet defending the PLANTs" Marcel said sadly.
"That won't impress him, he'd much rather be on the front lines" Garret said. Marcel nodded in agreement and the two both floated in the hangar talking for some time before retiring to their rooms. The two only slept for a few hours before they were woken by the sound of alarms. "Seriously… already…?" Garret groaned as he got up. He rubbed his eyes and then headed for the locker room and got changed into his pilot suit.
"Look alive there Garret!" Lucian called as he came into the room.
"Is it that ship again?" Garret asked in reply and Lucian nodded. Marcel was the last to enter the room and once the three were changed they all headed into the hangar. Garret climbed swiftly into his GINN and was placed on the catapult.
"GINN, all systems green, launch anytime" Victoria's voice said over the comm. link.
"Garret Kross, GINN, soar!" Garret called as he shot along the catapult. He was quickly joined by the two ZAKUs and the three sighted the Agamemnon-class ship.
"Garret, since you were the one that gave us the victory in the last fight, I'm putting you in charge of this one in my absence. Lucian, Marcel, obey his orders" Commander Falcon spoke over the comm. link.
"Roger that sir!" both Lucian and Marcel replied.
"Slow down, we'll let the enemy come to us" Garret said and the three mobile suits slowed their movement. For the battle, only Lucian's ZAKU was equipped with the gunner wizard pack. They waited for about a minute until Garret made his next order. "Lucian, fire at their engines, see if you can prevent their movement" he ordered.
"You got it!" Lucian responded eagerly and raised his beam cannon. "Target locked, fire!" Lucian called and the red and white beam shot out towards the enemy ship. The attack struck home striking the ship's engines. The Agamemnon-class immediately slowed to a halt and the catapults opened up.
"Now we've got their attention, let's kick ass!" Marcel said eagerly, flying forward with his beam rifle ready.
"Bayonet, what's the enemy fighting strength?" Garret asked the ship as he saw mobile suits launching.
"Six mobile suits, two M1 Astrays, two High-Manoeuvre GINNs and two Windams. The Windams are equipped with Jet Strikers" Victoria said in reply.
"Roger. Lucian, try and hit those GINNs before they get too close, we can't outrun them" Garret orders. The other pilot acknowledged the order and began firing at the black and purple suits with his beam cannon. "Marcel, you take out the Windams, again try and do it before they get too close, I'll go for the Astrays" he continued. Lucian was the first to claim a kill, hitting one of the GINNs with his beam cannon. Marcel was next, striking one of the two Windams in the cockpit with his beam rifle.
The second GINN closed in quickly on Lucian and cut through the ZAKU's cannon with its sword. "Damn you!" Lucian roared. He pulled out his tomahawk and drove it into the cockpit of the ZAKU. He kicked the mobile suit away and then watched it explode. "GINNs gone!" he informed the others.
"Windam incoming!" Marcel called. He put his rifle away and then pulled out his tomahawk. He swung it horizontally but the Windam moved down, the attack however still removed it's head. "I'll take you down!" Marcel roared. He quickly pulled a hand grenade from the ZAKU's waist, pulled the pin and then rammed it in the Windam's exposed neck. The mobile suit exploded in front of him, blowing Marcel back.
"Guess that just leaves you two" Garret said, raising his machine gun. One of the Astrays tried an overhead swing with its beam sabre. The GINN reached up and grabbed the mobile suit's wrist before putting his machine gun to the cockpit and holding in the trigger, emptying the whole clip. He flung the Astray beside as it exploded and then spun around and went to fire at the next Astray. "Shit, emptied the clip!" Garret exclaimed as the Astray neared him. He went to reload the gun but the enemy suit fired it's beam rifle and destroyed the GINN's gun arm. Garret quickly pulled out his sword with his free hand, boosted forward and drove the blade through the Astray's cockpit. He retreated slightly when the suit exploded and the three pilots joined each other again.
"Garret, you ok?" Lucian asked upon sighting the GINN's condition.
"Yeah, only lost an arm. Let's bring down that ship" Garret replied, turning to face the Agamemnon-class. "We just have to take out the bridge and it's done for" he explained. The three mobile suits flew towards the stationary ship, readying their weapons. The GINN had its sword ready and the two ZAKUs prepared their rifles. They reached the ship and the two ZAKUs focused on destroying the ship's weapons while Garret headed for the bridge with his GINN. He reached it and hovered in front of it for a moment, looking into the bridge through his main camera. He then closed his eyes and cut through it with his sword. The three flew away swiftly as the ship exploded behind them. "They were scared… terrified…" Garret said quietly, picturing the faces of the people he saw.
"Woo! We did it!" Lucian cheered, thrusting the fist of his ZAKU into the air. Marcel laughed at his friend, but Garret remained silent. The three landed back on the ship and disembarked from their machines.
"Can you guys go report to the Commander? I'm tired, I need to get some sleep" Garret told his friends before floating away to his room. He threw off his jacket once he reached his room, curled up in mid-air and fell asleep within minutes.
"Garret is developing into a fine pilot, huh Aston?" Captain Phillips asked when the two were alone on the bridge. The ship floated motionless in space while the two officers awaited their crew's next orders.
"Indeed he is; he's handled himself exceptionally well lately. Even I was taken by surprise when he took down the Duel. The three of them have all gotten good" Commander Falcon said in reply. "Haha, I'm afraid my own skills are beginning to slip" he said with a sarcastic smile.
"What do you think our next orders will be?" Richard asked.
"I'm assuming it will be one of two things. We'll either be called back to the PLANTs or we'll be deployed to assist in the battle over Earth" Aston spoke in reply.
"That battle still hasn't ended?" Richard asked, rubbing his bare chin. Aston shook his head in reply.
"Although Purity have their Gundams, ZAFT and the Earth Forces have more skilled pilots. Purity however, also has numbers. So far the losses to all three sides have been rather heavy and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight anytime soon" Aston explained.
"Therefore, it would seem that we'll most likely be deployed there to help, especially with the news of Garret taking down that Gundam reaching HQ" Richard pointed out and Aston nodded in agreement. "We'll just have to see what our orders are…" he continued and again Aston nodded.
Garret's awoke the next morning and looked around the room. It was good to not wake up to an alarm, he thought. He pulled his jacket on and floated out into the corridor, leaving it undone. He headed for the cafeteria and found both Lucian and Marcel already there. "Mornin'!" Lucian called out. Garret retrieved his breakfast tray and sat with them.
"Where do you think we'll be sent next?" Marcel asked, looking between his two friends.
"Not sure, but I know the ship taking me back to the PLANTs will rendezvous with us in about two hours. It sucks, I'd way prefer to be on the frontlines kicking Purity's ass!" Lucian complained, slamming the table with his fist.
"At least if you're at the PLANTs you'll be closer to your family" Marcel said optimistically.
The three continued idle conversation as they ate their meal, mostly remembering their times together back at the training academy. Their conversation was disturbed when Commander Falcon entered the room.
"Lucian, your transport ship has arrived early, you'll need to go pack your things while they load up your ZAKU" he spoke to the black haired pilot.
"Yes sir…" Lucian sighed in return, getting to his feet. He left the room and Aston looked at the other two pilots.
"We have our orders. The Bayonet is to assist allied forces in the battle against Purity above Earth. We'll be facing some extreme numbers, as well as Gundams" Aston explained.
"What Gundams have been confirmed?" Marcel asked.
"So far, allied forces have engaged against the GAT-X102 Duel, GAT-X303 Aegis, GAT-X103 Buster, GAT-X207 Blitz and GAT-X252 Forbidden" Aston listed, reading a sheet of paper in his hand.
"So what exactly do we have to do?" Garret asked, looking to the commander.
"Simply go into the battle zone and destroy as many of them as possible without getting shot down" Commander Falcon explained.
"What about my GINN? It's kind of minus one arm right now" Garret said.
"Hopefully we can get the damage repaired before we get there. If not, you'll just have to sit the battle out" Aston replied. "But let's hope it doesn't come to that" he said. Garret sighed and then both he and Marcel went to see Lucian off. They found their friend about to board his shuttle over to the Laurasia-class that was to be his escort.
"Lucian!" Marcel called out, causing the soldier to turn around. "You weren't gonna leave without saying goodbye were you?" the smaller boy asked.
"Sorry. I'm just so pissed off that they're assigning me to a defence force. It doesn't make any sense" Lucian groaned.
"I'm sure they'll send you back to the front eventually, just do your best out there" Garret explained.
"Yeah I know… I still don't like it though…" Lucian groaned. "Well I have to go, I'll see you all again when you come back to the PLANTs" he continued. Garret and Marcel nodded and watched as their friend boarded the shuttle and departed from the ship.
"We'd best be checking our machines" Garret said and Marcel nodded in agreement. The two headed into the hangar and examined the three mobile suits there. Marcel's ZAKU looked like it was in perfect shape. The leg of Aston's GOUF had also been replaced the suit looked ready for battle. Garret's GINN however had a large piece of material secured over the location of its missing arm.
"Do you think your GINN will be ready in time Garret?" Marcel asked.
"I'm not sure, I hope so though. I don't want to leave everything to you and the Commander" Garret replied as he floated to the cockpit of his mobile suit. The two spent the majority of their day inspecting their mobile suits before heading to bed early for a good rest.
It took the Bayonet a day and a half to reach the battle zone. When they got there however, Garret was awoken from sleep by the ship's alarms. "All hands proceed to level one battle stations; pilots proceed to your machines and prepare for immediate launch!" Victoria called through the ship's speakers. Garret quickly emerged from bed and went to the locker room, changing into his pilot suit. He headed into the hangar and his heart sank when he saw only half of his GINN's arm had been repaired.
"Garret, I want you to go to the bridge and assist Captain Phillips" Aston said, moving past him and boarding his white GOUF. Garret sighed and floated past Marcel as the smaller boy headed for his ZAKU.
"Hey Garret, you'll be out there soon enough. I'll make sure of it" Marcel said quietly. Garret gave him a puzzled look, but the pilot was already boarding his machine. Garret then proceeded to the bridge and sat in the seat next to the man in the black uniform.