I apologise once again for this update taking quite awhile. Between loss of internet and other things, getting on here to update has been essentially impossible. I'll be trying to update a few times over the next few days. Here is chapter 15.
Garret stopped his Gundam and opened the cockpit when the Aegis crashed to the ground. He waited impatiently for the zip line to lower enough before he leapt off it and ran towards the red mobile that turned grey as it lost power. Aston landed near the Duel, the DINN RAVEN that had shot Hilde down being held by his GOUF. Garret scaled the remains of the fallen Gundam as he saw fires starting to spark from the damaged parts of the suit. He hit the emergency release for the cockpit and looked down at Hilde wearing an EAF flight suit that had been spray painted purple, the visor broken and several pieces of shrapnel from the wrecked cockpit imbedded in the flight suit itself. Garret could see two lines of blood running down the unconscious pilot's face as he reached in and undid her seatbelts. He pulled the girl from the cockpit and carefully climbed down the Aegis with her. Aston's white GOUF approached him and knelt down, holding out its hand for Garret to place Hilde on. He did so and watched as the mobile suit flew away with the remains of the DINN RAVEN in tow. Garret returned to his mobile suit and then walked back to the base where he boarded the Ceres. The ship loaded the wreckage of Hilde's Aegis before starting to move away.
Garret's eyes widened when he docked and saw the state of Victoria's GuAIZ and looked down to see the girl being carted away one of the beds from the sick bay. As soon as the Duel was docked, he scrambled from the cockpit and down into the hangar. "Victoria!" he called as the doctors took the young pilot away.
"She took a bad hit from that DINN, she fell unconscious as soon as she returned to the ship" Marcel explained.
"Is she hurt badly?" Garret asked urgently, taking his helmet off.
"I'm not sure, I didn't see her. The doctors were pretty quick to get her out of the GuAIZ and get her out of her though" Marcel replied. Both pilots watched as Hilde too was taken out of the hangar surrounded by doctors. "So that's the pilot of that Aegis?" Marcel asked and Garret nodded in response. "Apparently we're going to take the pilot of the DINN the Commander took out as a prisoner too" the pilot spoke, looking to the crimson haired man descending from his mobile suit. Marcel and Garret saluted as the young Commander approached them, he simply waved it off however. Garret often forgot that Aston was only twenty, three years older than himself. He seemed so much more mature and refined, he thought to himself.
"Are both of you ok? No injuries?" Aston asked them. Both responded with simple no sirs and the Commander nodded. "Good, I don't think we need anymore. Our fighting strength is low enough now with only two useable mobile suits, I hope Purity doesn't take this chance to attack..." Commander Falcon spoke. "Let's report to the bridge and see if we have new orders" he continued as he left the hangar. The three pilots all changed into their uniforms and walked to the bridge of the Ceres where Captain Phillips rose to greet them.
"Base command said there is no sign of any further enemy units in the area, it seems we've beaten them back for now" he said, the relief in his voice quite obvious.
"Do we have a new assignment yet?" Aston asked, taking a seat behind the map table at the rear of the bridge.
"As a matter of fact, we received our new orders in the middle of that little skirmish" the Captain spoke in reply. "We are to travel to the Northern Territory; there are reports of Purity forces on their way from Perth, most likely on their way to attempt a retake of Darwin" Richard spoke.
"That reminds me; nobody ever told me what happened at Perth. All I heard was that we failed to take the city" Garret pointed out, looking between Aston and Richard.
"Its more or less that simple, we were defeated. The ZAFT forces were overwhelmed and had to retreat. We fell back after we lost you and shortly after the order was given for everyone to retreat" Aston explained. "The Purity force was larger than we anticipated and the ZAFT forces unable to retreat were decimated" he continued.
"What happened to Lucian, did he make it out?" Garret asked.
"Yeah, we got a message from him just after the retreat order was given, he went to Adelaide" Marcel explained, Garret could tell he was happy the other young man had escaped the city.
"Marcel, I need you down in the hangar. Give the mechanics a hand fixing up your ZAKU" Aston said, looking at the brown haired young man. Marcel saluted the Commander and left the bridge. "Garret, how is your arm doing?" the crimson haired man asked.
"It's fine, the stitches are out and my shoulder is healed" the blonde pilot replied, taking a seat next to Aston.
"It worries me that Purity has gone to producing such high level mobile suits like the DINN RAVEN. They may not have given it the nuclear reactor like they are meant to have, but those machines are still quite deadly by themselves" Aston said grimly, looking at the map in front of him.
"I agree, it was quite unexpected to face something like that" Captain Phillips commented, glancing over his crew. "I personally think Victoria did quite well in bringing one down. She's picked up her piloting skills quite fast" he continued and Aston nodded in agreement.
"What do you think Garret, she's becoming quite a fine pilot is she not?" the Commander asked his silver-eyed friend.
"Uh... yes sir. She's gotten really good" Garret said, looking away from the other pilot.
"Haha! At this rate she might even surpass you!" Aston laughed. The remark earned him a glare from the young man which simply caused him to laugh harder. Garret could hear several chuckles escaping lips from around the bridge, even Captain Phillips let out a deep, booming laugh.
"Traitors" Garret said quietly, a slight smile crossing his lips. "What would you have me do while we head for the Northern Territory?" Garret asked, his eyes turning to Commander Falcon.
"You really don't know how to take a break do you?" Aston frowned.
"That's from hanging around you too long" Garret remarked, getting to his feet.
"Yeah that's probably true. Why don't you go check on Victoria, see how she's doing" Aston suggested. Garret nodded and left the bridge. The blonde haired young man reached the medical bay and knocked gently on the door. The doctor answered it, sliding his glasses up his face as he looked at the pilot.
"Which one do you want?" he asked, stepping out of the room and leaning against a wall. Garret guessed he was referring to Victoria and Hilde.
"Is Victoria up?" Garret asked in response.
"Not at the moment, I just gave her an anaesthetic for her pain so she'll be out for a little while" the older man spoke. "I think the Purity pilot might have just woken up though so you can see her if you'd like" he continued.
"Is Victoria badly hurt?" Garret asked.
"She has a pretty nasty gash on her left shoulder from shrapnel but other than that it's just minor cuts and bruises as well as a concussion" the doctor explained, fiddling with one of the buttons on his long, white coat. "Do you know that Purity pilot's name?" he asked.
"It's Hilde, I'm not sure of her last name. I'll come back and see Victoria later" Garret said as he started to walk away.
"I'll let Hilde know you were here then, Victoria should be up somewhere within the next two hours" the doctor said to the pilot as he watched the red uniformed young man walking away. Garret walked out onto the outdoor shooting range of the ship and took a gun and the safety wear from the first booth he reached. He pulled on the ear muffs and slid the goggles down over his eyes. He raised the gun and focused as he waited for the targets to start popping up.
Bang, bang, bang. His three shots pierced the heads of the first three targets to appear. Bang, bang. The next two were eliminated by shots to the heart. The final two targets surfaced, the first shot pierced the head of the closest target, the second hitting the left shoulder of the further one. "Dammit, didn't get that last one" he muttered, slipping a new clip into the pistol. He cleanly took down the next set of targets, watching as each one slid back into the floor. Garret pushed the ear muffs off so they fell to his neck and looked out over the rugged terrain the ship was passing over. He lifted the gun again and hit the button to start the targets appearing and began taking them out. Garret's shot rarely ventured far from the centre of the targets' heads or their hearts as he repeatedly blasted them away with the small handgun. He put the gun down when he ran out of clips to use and walked back inside the ship, heading back towards the medical bay.
As he neared the medical bay he saw Aston approaching him. "Garret, I have something I need you to do" the Commander said friend when he reached his friend.
"What is it?" Garret asked in response.
"I want you to talk to that Purity pilot, see if she will join us. See if she would be willing to help us fight against Purity" Aston explained.
"Is now really a good time? I mean she's just had the group she followed almost blindly turn on her in an instant, maybe we should give her a chance to let everything to sink in first" Garret said, looking at the crimson haired Commander.
"I know what you mean but if she has no intention of joining us we are going to send her somewhere safe that Purity cannot get to her" Aston told Garret. The younger pilot sighed and walked past the white uniformed man and into the medical bay. The doctor told him Hilde was in the second bed and the he walked where the older man pointed. He reached the end of the bed and Hilde's blue eyes looked up at him.
"You... what do you want?" the young woman asked, leaning back on the pillow behind her head.
"I came to talk to you" Garret replied, taking a seat and pulling it up next to the bed. "It looks like the situation is reversed from last time we met" he said with a faint smile as he noted the bandages on her upper body and head. Hilde watched the ZAFT pilot, her face near expressionless.
"Why didn't you just leave me to die?" Hilde asked.
"After I spent that entire fight between us trying to convince you to leave Purity and go live a proper life do you really think I'd just leave you to die? Especially at the hands of one of your... comrades" Garret said, the last word holding a sarcastic tone.
"I guess I failed Lord Alastair... I couldn't do what he expected of me" Hilde sighed, before wincing in pain from one of her injuries.
"You're still willing to call him 'Lord' even after he told the other soldiers to shoot you down if you so much as hesitated? He didn't care about you Hilde; he was using you as a pawn because of your skills. Since you didn't follow his orders blindly by shooting me down, he couldn't use you anymore so he tried to... dispose of you" Garret told the purple haired pilot, his expression and tone serious.
"What would you know?" Hilde retorted weakly but both of them knew Garret was right.
"Look, I'm not going to beat around the bush here, we want to know if you'll join us in our fight against Purity. If you don't we can send you somewhere they can't get to you" Garret explained.
"You want me to just drop everything I've ever known and try and kill the man that saved me all in a second just because you say so? Do you honestly think my loyalty is that shallow?" Hilde asked in response, the anger she felt at Garret's comment clear in her blue eyes.
"Well I guess I have my answer" Garret said quietly, rising to his feet. He walked past Victoria's bed, not even noticing the brunette watching him as he went. Hilde lay in her bed, staring up at the roof, thousands of thoughts passing through her mind.
"Why the hell is he so deadest on getting me to leave Purity?" she asked herself, clenching a fist. "Lord Alastair... is what he said true... were you really just using me?" she asked the air quietly. "Why is it that my mind is telling me he's right? I guess I've known it all along" Hilde sighed, closing her eyes. "Lord Alastair was only ever interested in my skills, he never saw me as a person... only a weapon. But how can I turn on the person that gave me a second chance at life?" she asked herself. She slowly drifted away into a troubled sleep as the thoughts wrestled in her mind.