Garret sat on the lounge in the Ceres' locker room, panting as he looked at the other soldiers around him. Victoria, Commander Falcon, Marcel, Terrance and Raquel. "That idiot… if he hadn't fired back he would've lived" Terrance said angrily, dropping his red helmet on the floor.
"He was only trying to avenge the Commander, you know what those two were like" Raquel commented.
"We should be thanking Stephan actually. He drew the fire of that mobile suit away from us, allowing us to retreat. If it wasn't for him, we'd probably all be dead… or most of us anyway" Aston explained. Terrance glared at the young commander with his single eye and then sighed, the man was right. "You two will be transferred back to your ship once we arrive back at base, for now just rest" Aston said before leaving the room.
"Are you ok?" Raquel asked, looking to Victoria.
"Well that was my first real battle, so I'm a little shaken, but I'm alright" Victoria replied.
"You moved pretty well out there for your first time, I'm really impressed" Garret commented, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Yeah, you're pretty good at handling that GuAIZ" Marcel said with a smile.
"I had a good teacher" Victoria replied, poking her tongue out at Garret.
"Are both of you alright, you just lost a teammate and your commander" Garret asked, looking at Raquel and Terrance.
"I'll be ok, I wasn't particularly close to either of them" Raquel sighed. "Although it's still sad" she continued.
"This isn't the first comrade I've lost to the fight…" Terrace stated.
"I see, well, I'll take my leave for now" Garret said and he left the room, closely followed by Victoria and Marcel. "Let's head to the bridge and see what's going on" Garret told his two comrades and the three made their way up.
"So then, what are our orders Richard?" Aston asked, taking a seat as the three pilots entered.
"Well apparently the only attacks to fail were this one and the one on Perth in Western Australia, but apparently they encountered the ship we saw above the Earth, the Archangel-class" Captain Phillips explained.
"Great confidence booster…" Marcel muttered, looking at the floor.
"Don't feel too bad Marcel, none of us were expecting a replica of the Freedom to show up, it caught us by surprise" Aston explained. "So Richard, our orders?" he asked.
"For now were to return to base and await further instructions" Captain Phillips explained.
"I see, the relaxation should be nice… if it's really possible to relax in a war. Take us back then" Aston ordered, taking a seat. "Victoria, I saw that incident with the Calamity, how are you holding up?" the commander asked.
"I'm ok sir, just a little shaken" Victoria said in reply.
"Just take a little break; we all went through something like that at some point. Right Garret?" Aston asked, looking to the young man.
"Yeah" was all Garret said in reply.
"It's happened to you?" Victoria asked, looking to her friend. Garret simply nodded.
"I never knew that either, what happened?" Marcel asked, also looking at Garret.
"I'll tell you later" Garret said.
"You're all dismissed for now, take some time to relax" Aston said, motioning for the door of the bridge. The three pilots all headed to the outside deck and stood at the railings.
"So Garret, tell us about that experience of yours" Marcel said, leaning his back against the railings.
"It wasn't long after I joined ZAFT, one of the first missions I was sent on before we got assigned to the Bayonet for the first time…" Garret spoke and he let his memories take over as he spoke.
-Space, CE74-
The GINN flew through space, its machine gun drawn; the enemy was an unknown group. Garret watched the screen through his green helmet, searching for any signs of movement. He swept his gun around, his eyes flitting across his screens. A video link appeared on his screen and a red helmet appeared, a set of cool, blue eyes looked at him through it. "Garret, calm down" the person spoke, his voice calm and reassuring. "The enemy is just a few mass-produced suits, nothing to worry about. Besides, I'm here" the young man said with a grin.
"R…right, sorry Cecil" Garret replied, trying to calm himself. Cecil was a young man in his twenties who piloted a GuAIZ R. He was a mentor of sorts to Garret and a very calm person when in battle or under pressure. The two flew side-by-side towards the wreckage of an Agamemnon-class warship that they had been asked to investigate.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I can't see any enemies around here" Cecil spoke, glancing around the area. "The Commander said that there was an unknown group patrolling around this ship right?" he asked Garret for reassurance.
"That's what he said" Garret replied quietly. The two mobile suits floated over to the wreckage and began slowly pulling parts of the debris away. Garret pulled away a large section of the hull and peered inside, he saw nothing in particular as he scanned the GINN's eye across the gap.
"Garret, get back!" Cecil yelled and Garret quickly pulled back on the controls. He moved back just in time as a shot flew in front of him. He turned his head and saw two standard GuAIZs, three Strike Daggers and two M1 Astrays approaching. "Come on, let's take these guys out!" Cecil said, pulling out his beam rifle and engaging the beam sabre in his shield. Garret sat back, launching barrages of bullets at the enemy squad. Cecil swiftly cut through two of the Strike Daggers as the third one approached with its sabre. The mobile suit swung its weapon horizontally but Cecil flew backwards, flicked out the two railguns on his waist and fired two rounds through the lower torso of the suit. Cecil turned and saw Garret being surrounded by the remaining four mobile suits. "Garret!" He called, flying towards his friend.
Garret pulled out his sword and drove it through one of the GuAIZs and spun around to quickly block an attack from the beam sabre of an M1. He exchanged several strikes with the Astray while the second GuAIZ snuck up on the GINN. It engaged the beam claws in its shield and prepared them for a strike on the GINN. The alarms in Garret's suit went off and he turned around, but it was too late. There was nothing he could do. At that moment, Garret released the controls and closed his eyes, waiting for the pain and then the silence that would follow. His eyes were flicked open when the GuAIZ before him exploded violently. Garret turned and saw Cecil with his railguns engaged turning on the two Astrays that were still around the GINN. The guns fired and took out one of the suits. Cecil flew forward at the last suit and drove his sabre through the cockpit, finishing it off.
"You ok there Garret?" Cecil asked, turning to the boy.
"Y…yeah, thanks" Garret replied.
-Earth, CE75-
"Wow, that Cecil guy sounded like one hell of a pilot" Marcel commented when Garret stopped.
"Yeah, he was the best I knew" Garret said, the sadness in his voice evident.
"'Was'? Did something happen to him?" Victoria asked.
"He was killed during a mission not long after that. His GuAIZ was swarmed by eight Slash ZAKU Phantoms and another mobile suit…" Garret explained.
"Oh. I'm so sorry" Victoria said sadly, placing her hand on Garret's shoulder.
"It's fine, I'm ok with it all now. He died protecting the ones he cared about; he wouldn't have had it any other way" Garret explained, staring out at the landscape before the ship.
"That group you said you were fighting… it was Purity right?" Marcel asked. Garret nodded in reply. "Same ones that got Cecil?" he asked. Again Garret simply nodded. "I guess that's why you really hate these guys huh?" he continued.
"Something like that…" Garret said quietly, toying with a plain, silver ring on his finger. "Do you really think… that we can win this war?" Garret asked, staring out over the terrain as it flew under the ship.
"Why ask that now?" Marcel replied, looking at his friend.
"You saw the power of that mobile suit in Sydney, what if Purity has an army of those things? Would we have a chance?" Garret asked; a distant look in his eyes.
"It's not like it's a completely new mobile suit, it's just a recoloured version of the Freedom Gundam. The thing was originally built by ZAFT, if we can get the schematics and find a weakness we can beat the thing" Marcel explained.
"But the Freedom also has far better fighting ability than any of our mobile suits, you two use common mass-produced suits and I use a replica of a Gundam that the original Freedom defeated numerous times with ease" Garret pointed out.
"Man, you're such a downer. You have to remember though; the pilot of the original Freedom was Kira Yamato. This guy is with Purity, meaning he's most likely a Natural. He caught us by surprise back there, but next time we'll be ready. We'll take him down" Marcel said, clenching his fist.
"Marcel's right, as long as we all stick together we can beat this guy" Victoria agreed, smiling at Garret.
"I guess you're right. Next time… we'll shoot that guy down" Garret said, a serious expression emerging on his face. The Ceres and Minerva arrived at the base and were docked in two separate hangars. The pilots of the Lions Team disembarked and returned to their own ship while the Joule and Falcon teams remained behind. "What do we do now?" Garret asked his comrades, looking around at the hangar.
"I think we just remain on the ship, I'd say Commander Falcon and Commander Joule are probably meeting with base command or something in regards to our next mission" Marcel replied, sitting on the ground. "I have a question Victoria, that was your first battle and your only other experience in that suit was the few training sessions with Garret when we were docked on that colony... how the hell did you get so good?" the young pilot asked, looking up at his friend.
"Mr. Farris got an old mobile suit simulator out of the storage room for me and I've been practicing on it with any spare time I've had" Victoria explained in reply.
"That, and I really think you're just a natural at this piloting stuff" Garret put in, smiling at the girl.
"Well regardless of how it happened, it's a good thing. You moved well out there" Marcel complimented.
"Thanks Marcel" Victoria said with a large smile. The three sat idly talking until they finally headed inside for their evening meal. They entered the cafeteria and sat down with several other crew members, talking as they ate.
"Apparently the Purity forces near Perth are really putting up a fight against the ZAFT forces over there. I saw a report saying that almost sixty-five percent of our forces there have been badly damaged or destroyed. We rushed in without a plan... and now we're paying for it" one of the bridge crew with them explained. "I heard that's where Lucian was sent after he left the Bayonet back in space" the young man continued.
"What?! Lucian is over in Perth?!" Marcel exclaimed, rising to his feet and slamming his hands on the table. "If that's where the Purity forces are most aggressive, he could be in danger! Or worse..." he said loudly, his eyes scanning the room frantically as if searching for something.
"Marcel, calm down. I'm sure Lucian is fine" Garret said, looking up at his friend. He looked into the brown-haired boy's eyes, but all he could see was concern. He knew that the two had grown up together and that they had been close friends. He knew what Marcel was going through, he had felt the same way when he had heard about what Cecil had been sent to face a year ago.
"I have to see the Commander, we have to go to Perth!" Marcel exclaimed, running from the room. The crew member who had mentioned Lucian looked between Garret and Victoria.
"Did I do something wrong?" he asked.
"No, it's fine. I'll go talk to him" Garret said in reply and he followed where Marcel had gone. "I'd guess he's on his way to the bridge" he sighed, increasing his walking speed slightly. He reached the bridge and found Marcel arguing with Captain Phillips. "Oh god, here we go..." he muttered to himself.
"God dammit Marcel! We can't just leave our post just to go after one person!" Richard roared, getting to his feet.
"It's not 'just one person', its Lucian! He's one of us!" Marcel said loudly.
"I know its Lucian, and I'd be happy to know that he's safe and unhurt but we can't leave here and head to Perth unless we're ordered to!" Richard said, clenching his fists.
"Marcel! Come on, stop it! I know how you feel but the Captain is right" Garret said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"But Garret... its Lucian..." Marcel said quietly, his eyes lowering to the floor.
"I know Marcel, I know..." Garret said.
"How about I solve this little problem shall I?" a voice asked from behind the three soldiers. They all turned around and saw that Aston had arrived on the bridge. "I have our newest orders" he explained, sitting in his usual spot behind the Captain. Marcel's eyes raised and he looked at the red-haired young commander.
"What would they be Aston?" Richard asked, sitting in his seat.
"Our newest orders are to head to Perth immediately and back up our remaining forces. The Joule Team will also be assisting us" Aston explained. "Also, to ease your concerns Marcel, Lucian is alive and fighting. He's been placed in charge of one of the teams there that lost their Commander" he continued.
"Thank you sir" Marcel said quietly and he left the bridge. Aston's eyes shifted to Garret next.
"For the time being, I would like both you and Victoria to leave the ship and travel on the ground in your mobile suits. We've been informed that there is a small force heading towards the base from the north-west. Along with the Impulse from the Minerva, you will eliminate it and then rendezvous with the ships before we reach Perth" the Commander explained.
"Yes sir!" Garret responded, raising his hand in a salute.
"Dismissed, standby in your mobile suit for deployment" Aston said and Garret ran for the elevator. He returned to the cafeteria and found Victoria still there, waiting for him.
"Victoria come on, we gotta go!" Garret called, not entering the cafeteria before running for the hangar, the girl soon close behind him. He explained their orders to the girl as they ran until they reached the locker rooms. The two split off, changed into their pilot suits and met up in the hangar. They boarded their mobile suits and checked over the systems. "Are you going to be ok Victoria, you haven't really had much of a rest from the last battle" Garret asked, the concern obvious in his voice.
"I'll be fine Garret" Victoria replied, her tone warning the Duel pilot not to question her any further. They felt the ship begin flying again and both knew that they would be asked to deploy soon. Their time came soon enough.