Andarian, Yumi, and Alex began heading towards the bridge of the Legitimate. They looked around the ship a bit as they passed through the halls. They passed the cafeteria, the lift to the hangar, and many rooms for the crew. Along the way, they saw many people rushing about, making last minute preparations and supplying. One of the crewmen saw the pilots and greeted them with a salute, to which the pilots saluted back.
The crewman seemed very familiar. He was as tall as Andarian with jet black hair and stern, watchful eyes. It dawned on Andarian that he was the one who picked up Captain Hamatari earlier. The man lowered his hand and spoke in a deep voice. "I am Commander Noral Kinoru. I have been sent here to give you your card keys to the ship." He gave them the cards which was completely white except for the CETA Logo on one side and the swipe strip on the other. "These cards," he continued, "will get you to the bridge, the hangar, the bathroom facilities, and your own cabins. Other places such as the engineering room are restricted."
He began walking down the hall, the pilots following, and pointed out things like the cafeteria and washrooms. "The cabins for the lower ranked personnel are located down the hall to my right." He pointed down a long hall that led to the middle of the ship. "This," he said, stopping at what appeared to be an elevator door, "leads up to the bridge. When you get up there, you will need to ask me or the Captain to stay. If not, you will be asked to leave."
The pilots approached the lift to the bridge and Kinoru used his card to open the lift doors. They went up to the bridge, but did not get the expected greeting. Instead, they were met with chaos and mayhem. Captain Hamatari was going from station to station. She saw the pilots but continued with what she was doing.
There were seven stations, two navigation up front, four in the back for combat, and the last, which was Jessie's station, for communication was off to the left. Then there was the Captain's chair, located in the centre, and the Commander's chair, near the back with the combat computers. At the very back, close to the lift, were four other seats for guests.
At the navigation stations were two males. One had blue eyes and brown hair, named Josh Thompson, and the other had blonde hair and green eyes, named Ray Inoran. He also had a large scar that ran down the side of his neck and under his shirt. They both were mid twenties and looked to have a few years in the military.
There were three males and a female at the combat stations. Two of the males were twins, Thrice and Kanora, and had black hair and brown eyes. Thrice had shorter hair and Kanora had glasses. The other guy had green hair, slightly spiked, and had teal eyes. He was referred to as Crash, which he had received after a big battle near Earth a few years ago. The one girl had long blue hair, like Andarian, that was tied in a ponytail, and had grey eyes. Her name was Katrina.
Kinoru stepped out of the lift and went over to his station further into the busy room. The pilots just stood there wondering what to do. Despite the commotion, Captain Hamatari approached them. "You must be our new pilots," she said, saluting.
"Yes we are," replied Andarian, also saluting. "I am Andarian Tamaru. This is Yumi Shira and here we have Alex Ratsu." Alex and Yumi saluted as their names were called.
"I am pleased to meet you," she said nicely, "but under these circumstances I have no time for such pleasantries." Her voice turned to a more commanding one, with power and authority.
"May we ask what's happened?" Yumi asked over the noise. For a moment a group had moved aside and she thought she saw someone she knew at the communications station. She shrugged it off as Hamatari answered her question.
"The Hulgar have attacked and the Legitimate is preparing to launch ahead of time," Kiariel replied. "Please head down to Briefing Room Two and I shall send Commander Kinoru momentarily." With that, Hamatari resumed her duties.
Alex wanted to go and find out more details but Yumi held him back. "We need to go," she said simply. "Otherwise we could get in serious trouble." Alex had to agree. Andarian opened the lift and signalled to Alex and Yumi to head down. Yumi led the way to the Briefing Room, which was not that far from the lift.
They did not have to wait long before Commander Kinoru joined them. "As I am sure you are now aware," he began when the others were seated, "the Hulgar have attacked us. Although they came in a small number, they were too much. Right now, there are three Shadowedge MS's, a Centaur MA, and the Apollo warship." They shifted slightly as the ship began descending into space. One of the crewmen came on the PA system. "The CPCW.-A15 Legitimate is now launching. Prepare for battle upon launch. Condition Red is announced." The pilots looked at each other, now understanding what their mission could be.
Warships built in the Plants descend on a special air lock lift and release them into space. The engines then start up after the warship is launched from the gate. Warships that have been in service have a special gate and hangar they go to. Since this was the first time the Legitimate has been launched, it exits through the special gate.
"All emergency crews prepare for damage to the lift. Stand by at your stations," The voice continued. Yumi began to wonder who it was, for she seemed familiar.
Kinoru continued the meeting for a few minutes talking about battle formations and the capabilities of the ship. After he finished with the instructions, and each were given a slip of paper with their locker number and combination, the pilots went to the lift that sent them down to the hangar. The hanger and change rooms, along with the Bridge and a few other points in the ship, were sustained in a small fraction of Earth's gravity, low enough to seem like weightlessness, but enough to stay in control. The Gravitational Simulators were either not needed or a bad idea to have in these areas.
As the pilots arrived at the lift, Jessie came over the PA System again. "The Legitimate has successfully launched and is now in space. All hands within the core of the ship, prepare for the Gravitational Simulators to come online." Andarian used the wall to help lower himself to the floor, Yumi and Alex doing the same. They felt the gravity return and promptly called the lift using the key cards, and descended.
When it got to the hangar Andarian and Alex went towards the male change room to their left, using a motorized conveyer belt on the wall to guide them, and Yumi went to her right, also using the belt. Inside the lockers they were assigned, they found black and silver suits which they were to wear overtop their current uniform. The ship began to rumble, meaning the engines had started up.
As they exited, they met up in the centre in front of the lift and looked over the railing towards the lower level where they saw the three Gundams. They jumped over the railing and, using it, floated through the air towards each of their Gundams.
Andarian found his and grabbed on to it. He made his way to the opening where he sank down into the cockpit. He began booting up the Gundam and, when prompted, entered the password he received earlier in the meeting. The other pilots did the same in their Gundams.
The screen in the centre of the cockpit flashed then showed the words General Unilateral Neuro-link Depressive Autonomic Manoeuvre.Andarian noticed that the first letter in each word spelled the word Gundam. The last things to appear on the screen before the navigation system were the words Century Talisman, which makes CETA, and the CETA crest. Andarian placed the helmet on his head and closed the visor. He flipped some switches to start up the Gundam as the catapult was prepared and the Gundam placed on it. A female voice came over the radio.
"Andarian, you are first to launch. Yumi, you are second, and Alex, you are third." It was then that Yumi recognized who the voice belonged to. It was her cousin Jessie. The pilots acknowledged as Jessie continued. "Catapult levels normal. Nuclear Core activation denied for all pilots. Strength of the enemy is 20 MA's and 2 warships. Take care of the MA's."
"Another warship?" asked Alex.
"Yes," Jessie replied. "Another one showed up a short time ago.
"Roger that," Andarian replied.
"This is going to be awesome!" exclaimed Alex.
"Don't get yourself worked up now," snapped Yumi. "This isn't the usual training simulation."
"I know that," Alex snapped back.
Andarian just sighed. Those two were always fighting. He just learned to deal with it. "It's time. CETA Pilot Andarian Tamaru, Eclipse… Let's Ride!" With that, the Eclipse lurched forward and flew into space. Andarian flipped a switch and activated the VPS armour. The Gundam turned from the grey of the metal to a black and dark blue.
Yumi followed. "Yumi Shira. Warp… I'm heading out." She launched and activated the Mirage Colloid, vanishing completely.
Alex brought up the rear. "Alex Ratsu. Lunar… Here we go!" Alex flew out and activated the VPS armour, which also made the Gundam black and dark blue. He also transformed into his MA mode. The OctaCannon folded and the shields covered the body. He flew off with the others.
On the bridge of the Legitimate, Captain Hamatari scanned the situation. She sat in her chair. "Where is the Apollo? And where is the enemy?"
"The Apollo Class warship is the Viper. It's at Blue 22 Charlie, and the enemy is close by," Ray replied. "Wait! I've lost the signal from the Viper!" The entire crew turned to him in disbelief. "Now the enemy is closing on us. Red 73 Alpha, distance 700."
"There's a CETA MA heading towards us," stated Jessie. "It appears to be damaged."
"Slow our speed and bring it in," commanded Hamatari. Jessie opened the hatch from her station and alerted emergency crews as the MA entered. The black and silver MA lined itself up with the hatch doors and flew in at quickly. A wire net, which had been lowered from the ceiling of the launch gate, caught the MA as in flew in. Once the hatch was closed, the emergency crew ran towards the MA and opened the cockpit to find Jena unconscious. After briefly assessing her, they loaded her onto a stretcher and sent her to the Infirmary.
Andarian and the other pilots soon saw their enemy. Yumi was the first to strike, taking out two enemies with her beam sabre, hidden by the Mirage Colloid, at a speed of Mach 50. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "A basic attack at high speeds can be powerful."
As the enemy cam closer, Andarian let out destructive beams from his rifle and Alex used the OctaCannon in a rapid-fire way, taking out three of the enemy MA units. Andarian looked behind him to see the Legitimate launch a volley of missiles towards the two enemy warships.
Yumi deactivated the Mirage Colloid and activated the VPS armour. Like the others, her Gundam became black and dark blue. She replaced the sword on her back beside the sniper rifle, which she removed and began charging. "Alex, cover me."
Alex transformed out of MA mode and went to guard the Warp. Andarian went further into the group of Hulgar MA's and unleashed the DRAGOONS. Flying everywhere, the DRAGOON parts shot out a light show of lasers. Although they did not do a lot of damage, it still protected him from the enemy fire. Andarian got a warning light as the enemy warships fired missiles at the Legitimate. He redirected the DRAGOONS to block the shot, giving the Legitimate the chance to fire back, which they took.
Alex used his shields to block the beams from the enemy. "Are you almost done?" Alex asked impatiently using the OctaCannon to ward off the enemies.
"Yup! Get out of the way!" she exclaimed. Alex moved aside and Andarian retracted the DRAGOONS and flew away. Once they were out of the line of fire, she released the charged beam and watched as it pierced two MA's and hit a third, destroying all three. "Yes I got them!"
"Fire missile tubes one through four with Sledgehammers," the Commander ordered. "Increase speed by fifteen percent and fire Valiant one." He turned to Jessie on his left. "Where are our mobile weapons?"
"They are all in good shape," she replied. "The Warp and Eclipse have sixty percent of power left and the Lunar has fifty-eight. They are all fighting the enemy's MA force."
"Keep an eye on them," she said, keeping focus on the battle. "Load all missile tubes with anti-beam depth charges. Turn pitch angle twenty degrees. What's the state of the MA we took in."
The crewman on Kinoru's right answered. "The MA has sustained major damage and the pilot has been sent to the Infirmary with medium injuries."
"Save the specifics for later," Hamatari said, trying to keep focused on the battle. "I want that MA up and running as soon as possible. Also, the doctors have my permission to treat the pilot with whatever it needed." The crewman relayed the message to the two locations quickly before returning to the battle.
Andarian resumed using the DRAGOONS. He used his grappling to grab one of the MA's and threw it into one of the enemy warships. Andarian looked up and pulled the Eclipse away from a shot from one of the warships. "Damn that was close," he sighed.
The captain addressed him from the Legitimate. "Andarian. Are you ok?"
"Yeah I'm fine," he responded. The Lunar flew past him in its MA mode and the Warp had gone invisible again. "How many enemy forces remain?" he asked.
"There are four MA's left and the two warships." Jessie answered for the captain. "The Warp has gone to take out the weapons of one of the warships and the Lunar is out getting those last few MA's. Go to the other warship and disable it."
Andarian simply nodded as he changed his course, drawing in his grappling and DRAGOONS. He looked to his right to see random beams shooting out of nowhere. That he guessed was Yumi and the Warp. He then turned to his right to see Alex taking care of the MA's. Andarian changed the setting of his rifle to disruptive mode and flew around the ship, shooting at random areas, dodging the return fire from the ship. He found that many of the weapons stopped firing. His plan was working.
"Fire anti-beam depth charges and prepare to fire Valiants," ordered the Commander. Kiariel watched as they slowly took control of the situation. The missiles fired at the warship were blocked. The Valiants charged and fired on the warship the Warp was attacking, doing a large amount of damage to its hull. The same warship fired and destroyed one of the two Valiants. The captain cursed as the impact shook the entire ship.
In the Infirmary, the doctors treated Jena's many injuries received during her battle, including a large and deep cut on her brow with minor blood loss, some minor burns on her leg, and a broken arm,. They stitched her up as best they could, as she lay on the bed, unconscious. In her condition, she would not pilot her MA for some time. There in the bed she rested, unaware of the battle outside. For the time she rested, she was at peace.
Chairman Tamaru sat in his office. He flipped through some papers that he needed to fill out and took a pen from his desk. He began to read the papers and sign in some areas. He glanced outside for a moment before returning his focus to the documents in front of him. The door opened as one of CETA's generals entered. He stepped in through the door and saluted. "Permission to enter?" he asked at attention.
"Yes," the chairman replied. "Please come in." He waited for the general to come in. "You may sit." The general did so in a nearby chair. He turned it to face the chairman. "What do you bring with you?"
The general straightened. "I have brought news of the battle outside," he said with a saddened tone. He handed the Chairman a small disk, which he popped into the player on his desk. He brought up a small screen, on it read the words 'Voice Only' and a line or motion showing the sound.
"This is Captain Talmir of the Apollo Class warship, Viper. The Enemy is too great. Our forces have depleted and our ships have sustained a large amount of damage." The voice was worried and in panic, as if to finish this message before the enemy destroyed them. "Worst of all they sent in a probe and stole valuable information of the secret projects of CETA." The chairman and general gasped at this news. What info the Hulgar took became unknown as the transmission cut out after that. The chairman cursed and slammed his hands on the desk.
Alex flew back to the Legitimate and saw the damage it had received. "Captain Hamatari? Is everything ok?" He transformed back into his normal form and used the multi-targeting to block more missiles.
"Yes," the Captain replied. "Come back for a quick resupply Lunar. You're too low on power."
Alex looked down at the power metre. 'Damn,' he thought. 'She's right.' He turned the Lunar around and began to re-enter. "Ok I'm coming in." He landed inside the launch gate as it shut behind him, moved to the resupply station and shut off his Gundam. He opened the cockpit and went over to the videophone on the wall of the hangar. He called up to the bridge, hoping to receive some information. "So how's the damage?"
The Captain forwarded the call to Kinoru. "We've lost two of our seven missile tubes and one of our Valiants. Besides that the only damage is some fires inside but those are all under control." She quickly turned as she got news from the Warp. "We have just learned that the one of the two enemy ships has now fallen."
Alex nodded and ended the call with a salute. He returned to the Lunar and launched as soon as the resupplying was finished. He joined the Warp, now visible and using the sniper, and the Eclipse, still shooting at random areas of the ship, disrupting the computer systems. Those two were in no need to resupply for they both had more than half of their power.
They were glad to see the Lunar return, but their moods soon changed as the enemy ship seemed to get a new boost of power. Yumi looked at her display and saw a large Nuclear power activate. "What's going on?" she asked. Her screen began to darken and blur as the power source began to disrupt the computers. "N Jammers?"
The captain came over the radio. "Did anyone activate their Nuclear Cores?" Her voice was mad at first, for she had not given permission for the pilots to use the Nuclear Cores, but changed to fear as Andarian, Alex, and Yumi all denied the NC activation. Then she watched as the ship set out a powerful barrage. The Warp got away quickly and the Lunar backed out, using his shields. The Eclipse, however, had some difficulty. It used the one shield it had but it did not have the defence of the Lunar or the speed of the Warp. The Eclipse did get away though as the Enemy ship turned and began to flee. The Legitimate sent out signal flares, bringing in the Gundams.
Alex did not want to return. "I just got back out," he complained but Captain Hamatari just stated, "Only the Warp has the speed to keep up with a warship. The Lunar would fall behind for sure." Alex had to agree, so he re-entered.
The Commander looked up from his screen. "Go to condition yellow until we are sure the ship is far away and still going." The Captain turned to him and asked for his thoughts. "There's no reason to pursue that ship. Besides, if it's using nuclear technology we are no match for it, even if the Shadow Gundams have NC activation clearance." The Captain agreed and sat in her chair again.
Andarian and the other pilots remained with their Gundams, filling out some sheets based on the performance of their machines. They filled out information like stat confirmation, OS functionality, and other stuff like that.
The captain was about to leave for a quick refresher when a message came to her from the Plants. It was Chairman Tamaru. Hamatari and Kinoru saluted, but the others were still busying away with repairs and monitoring the Hulgar ship. "How goes the battle?" he asked.
"The battle has ended," replied Kiariel. "We destroyed one of the ships and the other got away with serious– "
"The other ship got away?" he nearly screamed, cutting of the captain. He filled her in on the fact that one of those ships sent in a probe that stole valuable information. The entire crew gasped and for a brief moment, turned to see the Chairman before returning to their work.
Kinoru quickly gave new orders. "Stay at Condition Yellow for now until we get closer to the ship. Full speed, course; Green Charlie. Once they are within one hundred kilometres of our range, change to Condition Red." The Chairman wished them the best of luck before signing off.
Andarian locked his Gundam and went to his room. He opened the door to find his stuff, clothes and books, already in his room. He set the papers he was carrying in the desk, taking a brief moment to look at the computer, and then headed off to the male shower room.
In the shower room was Alex, already stripped and under the warm water. "Hey, we did good today, eh Andarian?" Alex rubbed some soap on his body and peered out of the shower.
Andarian looked at himself in the mirror and removed his shirt. "Yeah I guess." He moved to the cupboards and retrieved some shampoo and soap for himself, then removed the belt of his uniform and lowered his pants and boxers. He placed them next to Alex's stuff on the bench near the far side of the room.
Alex returned to his shower. "Well think about it. We defeated a warship and twenty MA's with a warship and three Gundams when," he hesitated, "and I mean this in the best way possible, but two of our warships, three MS's and a MA weren't able to do much damage to the small force." Alex's voice faded out near the end to a small whisper.
"You must remember," Andarian replied, stepping into the shower, "that they were caught by surprise." He turned the quiet shower on and turned the tap to the desired temperature.
Alex turned and looked over the small wall. "Hey, I heard that MA pilot is as young as us, and a female too." Andarian turned. "Well somewhere amongst our ages." Andarian laughed a little at that comment. He was the oldest of the pilots. Yumi was a year younger than Andarian and Alex a year younger than she was. No one knew the age of Amaru for he was quiet and kept to himself, but he seemed close to Alex's age.
Andarian rinsed his hair then applied the shampoo. Alex turned off his shower then reached for a towel and began drying off. "Hey, you wanna go see that girl?" Alex asked, rubbing the towel on his head, drying his hair.
Andarian rinsed his hair again then applied soap to his body. "Sure why not. She could use the company." Alex nodded and started to dress. He combed his hair and replaced his soaps in the cupboard.
"Well I'm gonna get some food before I go visit her," Alex decided before leaving with his things, leaving Andarian by himself. He moved down the hall and stopped by his room. He sat down at his desk and looked at the papers he received from the Chairman. He flipped through his sheets he filled out earlier and came to the last page of the manual. There was a sentence that read 'Along with the EOC (Energy Output Control) Box, every Shadow Gundam has the new-' and it cut off there.
Alex shook it off after taking a moment to see if he had forgotten any pages and stored them in his desk before heading to the cafeteria. It was quite the walk to get there. It was closer to the hangar level but near the middle of the ship, and the ship was quite big. When he arrived, he saw Yumi already there, eating away at today's meal. Spaghetti and sausages; its was an odd food choice to eat but still very tasty. Alex sat beside Yumi after he grabbed a plate for himself. "How goes it?" he asked.
Yumi turned to him and smiled. She took a sip from her water before speaking. "Did they make those Gundam's especially for us?" she asked him, turning away.
"What do you mean?" Alex looked at his food and took a small mouthful. "They were made from the most recent technology and we happened to be the best of our class." Alex turned to Yumi again.
Her brown hair had covered her face as she looked down. "The Warp," she started hesitantly. "It's made for someone who likes to hide, who likes to flee." She turned to Alex, eyes watering. "Have I always been a coward?"
Alex placed his hand under her chin, raised her head and looked at her. Their eyes met and for a moment, something stirred within the two of them. After a short pause, Alex spoke again. "You were very brave today," he said in a tone not normal for him. A faint smile came to Yumi's face as she fixed her hair and wiped her eyes.
Andarian looked up at the steamy ceiling. Images of the battle flashed in his mind as he rinsed his body. He shut off the shower and began to dry. 'Why are we fighting?' he asked himself. 'Why can't we get along with the Hulgar?' He looked at himself in the mirror again. 'Are we that different than they are?' He dried his body and dressed in his uniform again.
Andarian decided that he was not yet ready to go visit the girl so he went back to his room and sat on his bed. A small picture hanging on the wall caught his eye. He went over to it and removed it from the wall. He returned to his bed and scanned the picture.
It was from many years ago when Andarian was thirteen. The first time he was on Earth was when the picture was taken. In the picture was his father before he became the chairman of CETA, his mother and younger sister.
His sister was two years younger than him but had, at the time of the picture, surpassed him in height. She was very beautiful with sky blue hair and sapphire eyes. In many ways she resembled her older brother.
Andarian fell to his knees, eyes locked on the picture. 'Now I remember why I am fighting,' he thought. The sunset background seemed to cast a beautiful tint of orange onto his mothers face. 'I'm fighting to avenge you mother.' He looked down at his brother. His playful and content face brought a small smile to Andarian's face. 'I'm also fighting to rescue you sister.' He held the picture close to his chest and lowered his head, allowing tears to flow from his eyes and onto his leg.
Tension builds between the pilots as the pursuit of the Hulgar ship continues. Supplies run low and the Legitimate is forced to make a brief stop. The Enemy gets away and the young team is faced with a new threat. Next time on Gundam Seed Abyss, Torn Hearts. Warp! Speed into battle and grasp your victory!