If it's not too much trouble, could I please have a few of my readers who have read all of the chapters so far leave a review after reading this chapter please? It would just be nice to get some feedback on how this is going so far, thanks.
The Ceres travelled over the desert that covered central Australia, the sweltering heat causing the air around the massive ship to ripple. They would reach the border to the Northern Territory in a day or two and the crew were ready for a break, the heat made it hard to concentrate and work efficiently. Garret stood up on the deck in his uniform pants and a white singlet top, Marcel with him in the red pants and a black t-shirt. Victoria sat against the railing in her green skirt and a pink long-sleeved shirt, a sling holding up her wounded arm and her long hair tied back in a ponytail.
"It's so freaking hot!" Marcel groaned, sprawling out on the ground. Garret who was sitting on the railing watched his friend and let out a small laugh.
"Just imagine the people who live in areas like this" Garret said, looking out over the sand.
"They're nuts" Marcel remarked, covering his eyes with his hand. "I wanna go back to the PLANTs, it feels like forever since I've seen my family" he sighed quietly.
"You're not the only one, I really wanna see my mum and brother again" Victoria said, thinking about the two brought a smile to her lips.
"I don't think we'll be able to go back for a while. Not until Purity is defeated here in Australia" Garret said gloomily. The three sat, all thinking about their families and what it would be like when they could return to the PLANTs. They were snapped out of their trance when Commander Falcon walked out onto the deck. Marcel's and Victoria's eyes widened when they noticed their usually formal Commander's attire. His white jacket hung off his shoulders undone, the empty sleeves bouncing as he walked. His arms sat folded over his dark blue undershirt. He looked curiously at his two subordinates.
"Is something wrong?" he asked them.
"Well uh... it's just not normal..." Victoria said quietly.
"What's not normal?" Aston asked, honestly confused by their expressions.
"You sir. Seeing you so casual... it's kind of creepy..." Marcel explained, staring up at the man.
"I see... Well even Commanders are allowed to let their hair down every once in a while you know. I don't always look so dashing and knightly" the crimson haired man said with a cheeky grin.
"What the hell happened to our Commander...?" Marcel asked quietly to no one in particular. "I think the heat has broken him" the young pilot continued. Garret suddenly burst out laughing, almost falling backwards off the railing.
"Dashing and knightly? Oh god, that's rich! Man if only they'd seen you before you became a Commander!" he laughed, holding his stomach. Aston shot the pilot a glare but nothing could stop the blonde boy's laughing fit. Garret eventually caught his breath and then gave Aston an evil grin. "You hardly ever wore your uniform, always strutting around in jeans and singlets" Garret said, hoping off the railing.
"Yes well unlike some, I actually learnt a little respect for my occupation, instead of being a rebellious little bastard who has no respect for his superiors" Aston remarked, a triumphant grin on his face.
"Rebellious little bastard? This coming from the guy who took off in a DINN just to get a pizza from a nearby town because the poor little baby didn't like the cafeteria food" Garret stated, grinning from ear to ear.
"Commander Falcon seriously did that?" Victoria asked, trying to hold back a laughing fit like Garret's earlier outburst.
"Even you have to admit, the food on that ship was damned nasty!" Aston said loudly, trying to defend himself. Aston watched as the other three pilots burst out laughing and it was only a few seconds before he too gave in and joined them. The four of them sat around on the deck for an hour or so, talking about various things, a welcome distraction from everything they had been through lately. Their tranquillity was broken however when one of the bridge crew came running out onto the deck.
"C...Commander Falcon" he panted, bending over and placing his hands on his thighs. The red haired man got to his feet and approached the green uniformed soldier.
"What is it?" he asked, placing his hand on the man's shoulder.
"There's a large heat source ahead of us, a battleship" the soldier said, regaining his breath. "Captain Phillips wants all of you to gather on the bridge" he continued.
"Right, we'll be there immediately, get back and tell Captain Phillips we're on our way" Aston spoke. The solider nodded and ran back inside. "Well, let's get going. I have a very bad feeling in my stomach about this" the Commander said grimly as he did up his jacket and walked inside, the three red pilots following close behind. They arrived on the bridge to find the crew preparing for battle.
"Aston! That Archangel-class from the battle above Earth is approaching us" Richard said, turning to the four pilots. "It will be within firing range in three minutes" the Captain spoke.
"Right. Garret, Marcel, we're launching" Aston spoke, turning to his comrades, a serious expression on his face.
"What about me sir?" Victoria asked.
"You stay on the ship, your injuries still haven't healed and your GuAIZ hasn't been fully repaired yet. Help out on the bridge if you can" the Commander spoke and he ran from the bridge with Garret and Marcel close behind.
Garret climbed into the Duel and booted up the systems. He saw the cranes coming to take his Gundam to the catapult and shook his head. "Screw this" he said and he walked the suit to the launch platform. "Come on, hurry up!" he said as the Duel's shield and rifle were loaded on. When they were finally attached he lowered the visor of his helmet. "Garret Kross, Duel Gundam, soar!" he called as the blue and white Gundam shot from the Ceres, landing on the arid ground.
"Marcel North, ZAKU, bring it on!" the other red pilot called as he flew out to join Garret. The two started heading to the large blue and silver Archangel-class ship that approached them. The Cherubim, Garret thought to himself.
"This is Aston Falcon, GOUF Ignited, engage!" Aston yelled and his white mobile suit flew into the air above the others. Victoria stood on the bridge as she listened to Captain Phillips yelling orders.
"Load port side launchers with Dispars! Ready the Isoldes and Tristans! All hands prepare for anti-ship and mobile suit combat" Captain Phillips roared. The crew hurried to ready the weapons the Captain instructed. "Lower the bridge and turn hard to starboard, get them on our port side!" the black uniformed soldier roared and his orders were carried out. Garret watched as the Ceres turned so that the left side of the ship was facing the Cherubim.
"Sir, two mobile suits have launched from the enemy ship!" Erik called up to Richard.
"What are they?" the Captain asked.
"GAT-X103 Buster and ZGMF-X10A Freedom, it's that one from Sydney!" Erik called, causing the whole bridge crew to gasp.
"Aston! Watch it out there, one of your opponents is that black and red Freedom!" Captain Phillips called.
"You two hear that?" Aston asked the other two pilots and the both acknowledged that they had. "I want you two to let the Buster get past, let the Ceres handle it while we fight off the Tyranny" Aston spoke, drawing his sword.
"Is that ok to do sir?" Marcel asked.
"They'll be fine, Captain Phillips know what he's doing" Aston replied. Within seconds the Tyranny was upon them, the Buster flying close behind on a Guul.
"Allen, attack the enemy ship. I can defeat these weaklings myself" Xero, the pilot of the Tyranny spoke.
"But that bastard in the Duel is the one who captured Hilde, I want revenge dammit!" Allen said defiantly, raising his two guns.
"Lord Alastair told us not to kill them, are you going to disobey his orders?" Xero asked, aiming his beam rifle at the white GOUF that was fast approaching him.
"Fine, I'll attack the damned ship" Allen grumbled, ascending so he went over the ZAFT mobile suits and headed for the Ceres. He looked down with surprise when none of the enemy mobile suits so much as glanced at him as he passed.
Aston swung his sword down on the Tyranny which in turn raised its shield to block the strike. The black and red Gundam went to fire its rifle at the GOUF's cockpit when he was interrupted by a shot from the Duel's beam rifle. The Gundam flew back and switched its rifle for one of the two sabres on its hips.
"Commander, look out!" Garret called as the Tyranny soared forward, its sabre ready to strike. Aston's GOUF quickly descended when he turned off the thrusters and the Tyranny flew clean over it.
"Sit still!" Marcel roared, hurling a grenade at the Gundam. As the Tyranny began moving to avoid it, Marcel shot the projectile shot it and caused it to explode directly. He was startled when the Tyranny soared through the explosion, straight towards him. "Oh shit!" he yelled, throwing away his gun and pulling out his tomahawk. Xero smiled grimly, his waist mounted guns flicking out and destroying the ZAKU's arms. Marcel's eyes widened as the Tyranny got closer and closer, the pink blade of the beam sabre locked in his view. The Gundam thrust out and Marcel covered his face waiting for the impact to come. Xero turned down so the beam sabre sliced through the ZAKU's knees, causing the green mobile suit to fall backwards into the desert sand. "What...?" Marcel said quietly as the Tyranny then impaled the mobile suit's head and destroyed its main camera.
"Marcel!" Aston roared, flying at the Tyranny with Garret doing the same, running across the sand towards the Purity Gundam. Xero turned and watched the two mobile suits approaching.
"Fools... you don't stand a chance" the blonde pilot said, watching them through his visor. The Tyranny hurled its shield into the air and drew its second beam sabre, flying straight at the GOUF.
"So that's how you wanna play huh?" Aston said, his eyes narrowing through his white flight helmet as he readied his sword.
"Commander! Turn your cameras off!" Garret yelled, pointing his gun between the GOUF and Tyranny. Not bothering to ask what for, Aston trusted the other pilot and quickly switched off the cameras for his mobile suit. Garret fired off a grenade from the grenade launcher on the Duel's rifle and then shot it when it was between the two flying suits. He too turned his cameras off as he fired the beam rifle. The explosion from the grenade let out a bright flash that stunned Xero.
"A flash grenade" he murmured, covering his eyes. Aston flicked his cameras on, ignoring the still rather bright light even though it had faded slightly and pushed forward on his controls. He broke through the light and thrust out with his sword. Xero having expected such an attack had already ascended above where the GOUF would strike and aimed down with his shoulder and hip guns of his guns. "Too slow Coordinator" he spoke, letting loose the four attacks. The two shoulder mounted guns destroyed the GOUF's wing pack and the waist guns destroyed the arms and badly damaged the legs. The Tyranny within an instant descended, one beam sabre removing the white suit's head and the other removing its legs.
"Dammit!" Aston roared as the remains of his mobile suit fell from the sky. He quickly pulled on a lever on the console and ejected from the cockpit, Garret watched with relief as he saw him parachute to the sand.
"You bastard..." Garret said, his eyes turning back to the Tyranny. "You're going to pay for this!" he roared as his pupils dilated and he felt his consciousness almost leave his body. Garret felt as though he became one with the Duel, like he had felt when piloting the DINN over Sydney. The Tyranny descended upon him and Aston watched; his fingers crossed as he saw the seemingly untouchable mobile suit heading for his comrade. Xero swung down with his sabres, aiming to cut off the other Gundam's arms but Garret blocked the attacks, one with his shield and one with the sabre he drew quickly after putting his rifle away.
"What? He blocked it?" Xero asked; his voicing rising slightly in surprise. He smiled and began laughing quietly to himself. "Finally, someone who is actually going to challenge me!" he said, his laugh becoming louder. He attempted to kick the Duel but Garret leapt back and then boosted forward with his shield out. The shield slammed into the Tyranny's torso, pushing the Gundam upwards as they both moved into the air slightly. Garret swung around with his sabre as gravity started pulling his Gundam back to the ground but Xero flew backwards, avoiding the attack and distancing himself from the Duel.
Garret's eyes glanced over for a brief second as he watched the Ceres firing at the Buster with various guns and missiles while the Gundam hammered it with beam attacks. He tossed his beam sabre into his other hand and pulled out his rifle, aiming it towards the Ceres while the Tyranny came towards him again. He pulled the trigger and then stashed the gun away again, tossing the beam sabre back to this right hand. He didn't even watch as the beam rifle shot pierced the Guul the Buster was riding on and caused the Gundam to take a direct hit to the torso from several missiles as it fell to the ground. Garret crouched and raised his shield, covering his cockpit. He looked down at his console and saw he only had a quarter of his power left. "I need to end this" he said quietly, looking back up at the black and red Gundam. The Tyranny suddenly came to a halt and fired its shoulder cannons, the beams slamming into the already weakened shield of the Duel and buckling it, causing it to explode. Garret staggered back slightly but quickly regained his balance, drawing his second beam sabre.
"It's been fun playing, but let's end this shall we?" Xero asked, lowering his Gundam close to the ground and then dashing towards the Duel, his thrusters causing sand to fly in every direction. The two Gundams exchanged several beam sabre blows, making a crackling noise each time they connected. The Tyranny slashed out again, the four beam sabres clashing and the two mobile suits staring at each other as they pushed against each other. Xero pulled back and moved away from the Duel, watching the Gundam as Garret stepped back slightly. He swiftly hurled his beam sabre like a javelin and watched as it pierced the head of the blue and white Gundam.
"Shit!" Garret yelled as his cameras disappeared. Knowing the Tyranny would be approaching he opened his cockpit and saw how close the Gundam already was. He managed to block one sabre attack with his right sabre but his left arm was removed by the second swing. Garret narrowed his silver eyes, his dilated pupils watching the Tyranny through his restricted vision as he readied his sabre. Aston watched from the wreckage of Marcel's ZAKU as his friend's mobile suit was beginning to lose the fight. Garret went to the thrust out at the approaching Gundam when his Duel suddenly stopped and its Phase Shift Armour vanished. Garret looked down and saw that his suit had overloaded from the battery running dry. "No!" he yelled as the Tyranny reached him. Xero smiled grimly as he sliced off the Duel's right arm and then kicked it hard in the stomach, causing the powerless mobile suit to fall backwards.
"Too bad. You were pretty good" Xero commented, hovering above the fallen mobile suit, his wings extended fully, his Gundam untouched. "It's sad that you never had a chance in such an inferior mobile suit" Xero said as he turned and started flying towards the Ceres. He grabbed the badly damaged Buster by the arm and soared back towards the Cherubim, moving from side to side to avoid shots from the Minerva-class ship.
"Shoot that bastard down!" Captain Phillips roared to his crew.
"We can't sir, it's just too fast" Oliver Flynn, one of the ship's gunners said, trying to line up a shot with the Tristans.
"Sir! The Tyranny has boarded the Archangel-class and the ship is retreating!" Erik called and Richard noticed some of his men breathe sighs of relief.