As the hours proceeded, Marcel walked the Chaos to the catapult and readied it for launch. "Commander, I'm heading over to the Izanami now" he spoke. Aston gave his consent and Marcel launched from the Ceres. The Izanami was sailing a decent distance ahead of the Minerva-class so Marcel activated his mobile armour form for the flight. Once he reached the large aircraft carrier he transformed his machine again and landed on the deck. He opened the cockpit and lowered himself to the ground on the zip line. He was greeted by Atticus and Dante, the latter in his flight suit for reasons unknown to Marcel.
"So they sent you over to greet the new guys?" Dante asked as the three stood around on the deck.
"Yeah, I'm not sure why Commander Falcon didn't just come though" Marcel sighed, slightly irritated to have to do the job.
"Whether you like it not, you were given the job and as soldiers we do as we're told" Atticus spoke, toying with a silver coin in his hand. "That would be the transport ship now" the Orb pilot said, pointing to an Aegis-class ship that had hardly appeared on the horizon.
"Wow, you have really good eyes, I can barely see them" Marcel commented.
"I'm a sniper after all, in a mobile suit and on foot, sighting distant targets is my job" Atticus replied.
"So you guys stole your Gundams from Purity right?" Dante asked Marcel. Marcel nodded and Dante laughed in response. "It's pretty funny that you're using their own weapons to beat 'em" Dante laughed. Marcel saw the irony in the point he made. As the Aegis-class ship came up alongside the Izanami, Marcel saw two pilots board the aircraft carrier and head towards them. One was another ZAFT soldier and the other an EAF soldier. As the two pilots came closer they removed their helmets. The EAF pilot was a young woman with short black hair with purple streaks. Her grey eyes looked between the three gathered pilots and glanced briefly at the Chaos standing to the side. Marcel's eyes widened when he saw the ZAFT pilot remove their helmet. It was a tall young man with spiked black hair that hung just below the base of his neck and a pair of sapphire blue eyes that stared at Marcel. A dark scar ran horizontally across his cheek and stopped just below the corner of his lip.
"I am Elisa Marion from the Earth Alliance Forces, pilot of a Slaughter Dagger" the young woman spoke with a salute. Her voice was mature and serious and her eyes never stopped examining the three pilots before her. Next the ZAFT soldier stepped forward.
"My name is Lucian Williams from ZAFT, I pilot a DOM Trooper" the black haired pilot said, saluting. Lucian suppressed a smile as he saw numerous emotions flash across Marcel's face; surprise, anger, relief, Lucian knew he wouldn't hear the end of this for a while.
"I am Atticus von Schwarzlang, welcome to the Izanami" Atticus spoke, saluting both of the pilots. "This is Dante Wolf, another pilot for this ship" Atticus said, motioning to the pilot on his right.
"My name is Marcel North; I am one of the pilots of the Minerva-class ship, Ceres. I welcome you on behalf of Captain Phillips and Commander Falcon" Marcel spoke, trying not to lash out at Lucian.
"While you machines are loaded onboard, please feel free to look around the ship, I can show you around if you'd like" Atticus spoke. Elisa took Atticus' offer and the two proceeded inside the ship. Marcel and Lucian stood in silence, their eyes on each other.
"So, how's it going?" Lucian asked, breaking the silence after a minute or so.
"We're in the middle of a war, how do you think things are going?" Marcel commented.
"True. So that Chaos over there, is that yours?" Lucian asked, motioning to the grey Gundam standing to their right.
"Yeah, I got it not too long ago after my ZAKU was trashed in a fight with the Tyranny" the brown haired pilot explained.
"That black and red Freedom?" the DOM pilot asked, unconsciously rubbing the scar on his cheek.
"You know it?" Marcel asked and Lucian nodded.
"The pilot of that thing gave me this scar" Lucian said. "My ship got into a fight with him just after the Perth conflict and suffice to say, it didn't go to well. I made the mistake of getting to close and he got me. Luckily he only nicked my cockpit, but my survival was at the cost of one of my comrades" he explained.
"I see… we almost lost Garret at Perth, he was captured by Purity but he managed to escape. Now we also have an ex-Purity pilot on the ship, she helped us all get our Gundams" Marcel explained.
"Seems like a lot has changed since I left you guys. Especially you" Lucian commented. The two spent half an hour talking and explaining to Dante how they had been comrades before the anti-Purity squad. After they had been talking for a while, Marcel climbed back into his machine and closed the hatch.
"I guess I'd better head back, everyone is probably expecting me" he said, turning on the Chaos' Phase Shift. He lifted off from the Izanami and returned to the Ceres. He landed in the hangar and was greeted by Commander Falcon.
"So what are the new pilots like?" Aston asked, watching as the Chaos pilot descended to the floor.
"One of them was an Earth Forces pilot and I think you already know who the other was" Marcel commented in response. Aston couldn't help but grin and Marcel shook his head with a smile.
"You'll be happy to be fighting alongside him again won't you?" Aston asked.
"It'll be just like when we started out on this mission, we'll have the whole team back together again" Marcel said and Aston nodded.
"You should get some rest, we're having the mission briefing onboard the Izanami tomorrow morning" Aston spoke and Marcel nodded, leaving the hangar. Aston proceeded to the bridge and sat down behind Richard.
"So, how'd he take it?" the Captain asked, turning to look at Aston.
"I think he's happy, those two are as close as brothers and I think Marcel is relieved to be able to fight with him again" the Commander spoke in response. "I think we all we be" the white uniformed man added. The next morning came and the Ceres pilots as well as Captain Phillips went over to the Izanami and gathered in the briefing room with the Orb ship's pilots and Admiral La Flaga. Richard and Mu stood at the front of the room and waited for everyone to take their seats and become settled. Garret, Marcel and Victoria all made sure to sit with Lucian.
"So as you all know, our mission is to destroy the Purity mass driver on their artificial island. For this battle you will be split into two groups. One group will travel along the ground in their mobile suits and take out the island's command centre and then proceed to attack the mass driver itself. The other will battle Purity's forces in the air to cause a distraction for the ground group to proceed with little interruption" Admiral La Flaga explained, looking at the group of pilots. Richard flicked a switch on the panel before him and a map of Purity's artificial island appeared on the screen behind himself and the Admiral.
"The ground squad will start from here" Richard spoke, tapping the south-west corner of the map. "This squad will consist Garret, Aston, Lucian and Atticus" Richard explained and each of the pilots nodded as their names were spoken. "You will move through the streets and head for the command centre near the centre of the island. We expect there will be a defense force of some degree stationed there, so you will need to eliminate them and then destroy the building. After doing this you will head to the mass driver itself and attack that along with the diversion squad" the Captain continued.
"The diversion squad's job is to more or less attack any Purity suits you can hit and destroy any of their hangars to halt deployment of their forces. You are to do this until the command centre is destroyed and then you are to head to the mass driver and assist with its destruction" Mu explained and the pilots nodded in understanding. "Are there any questions?" he asked. Everyone had the same question on their mind but it was Garret who asked it.
"What do we do if the Tyranny shows up?" he asked and an uneasy silence enveloped the room.
"For now, I would ask that should the Tyranny appear you are to retreat immediately. Do not engage that mobile suit" Admiral La Flaga spoke. "I know that the pilots of the Ceres have Gundams now but I do not believe it is enough to stand up to the Tyranny, I can tell you for certain that it is more powerful than the standard Freedom" he explained. "This mission will take place at 0900 hours tomorrow, you all need to be ready and be onboard your machines at 0830 hours" the Admiral explained.
"Also, the pilots of the diversion team will launch from the Izanami so you will need to be on that ship by 0800 hours tomorrow morning, the ground team must be on the Ceres by the same time" Richard spoke and the pilots all nodded. "You're all dismissed" the ZAFT Captain spoke and all of the pilots left the room.
"Hey Garret, do you wanna come hang out with Lucian and I?" Marcel asked, running up to his friend. Garret smiled but shook his head.
"Sorry, but not now. I want to make sure there are no problems with Duel. Maybe later" the blonde pilot spoke, walking away from Marcel.
"So he's still Captain Serious huh?" Lucian asked the Chaos pilot.
"He's been really laid back lately, I haven't seen him like this for a while" Marcel commented. "He must just be tense because of the mission" the brunette boy continued.
Garret sat in the cockpit of the Duel onboard the Ceres, typing away at lightning speed on the keyboard. "If the Tyranny shows up, we're supposed to retreat? Not a chance in hell, I'm gonna shot that guy down" Garret spoke quietly to himself. "I won't let him get away again" he said. He put the keyboard away and placed his hands on the joysticks. He gripped them tightly and took a deep breath, his eyes closing. His eyes opened quickly when Aston's face popped up on his screen. "Commander" Garret spoke with a small nod.
"How is your suit?" Aston asked, typing on his keyboard instead of looking at his subordinate.
"Everything seems to be working normally, although I'll have to remain without my phase shift on until we actually get into combat, I can't afford to waste the battery" Garret replied, leaning back in his chair.
"That sounds like a good plan, you just stay in the centre of the group so you don't get shot before you can activate it. I'd say myself and Lucian will take the lead with you behind us and Atticus behind you" the Commander explained. "You seem tense, is everything ok?" the Commander asked.
"Yes sir. It's just a pretty serious mission and we can't really afford to screw it up" Garret replied.
"That is true, just make sure you get some rest beforehand otherwise you will screw up" Aston warned. "Don't worry about Victoria either, Hilde and Marcel will make sure nothing happens to her. Even without them, she's developed into quite a fine pilot, don't you agree?" the white uniformed man asked.
"Yeah, she's gotten really good" Garret replied. The two continued their idle chat for an hour or so before Aston decided to leave his machine. Garret however remained in his Gundam, simply staring at the console. Garret's eyes opened when he heard Hilde's voice outside his cockpit. He hadn't noticed that he'd fallen asleep.
"Are you alright in there? Everyone's been looking for you" Hilde said, she was crouched on the edge of the open cockpit. "When you didn't show up to dinner Victoria started getting a little worried out so I came to look for you" the purple haired young woman explained.
"Sorry, I guess I just fell asleep. What time is it?" Garret asked, rubbing his eyes gently.
"It's seven-thirty" Hilde replied and Garret sat up a little straighter. "Come get some dinner, you need to eat" Hilde spoke, climbing down from the cockpit, Garret following after.