Phase 3 – Torn Hearts

After the meeting, Amaru headed back to his home close to the Military Complex. He entered his house and the warm air carried the scent of seasoned chicken to him. He followed the scent back to the kitchen, where he found his mother, a Natural. "Hello Amaru," she said sweetly, pulling him in for a hug. "What did Chairman Tamaru want today?"

Amaru brushed his blonde hair from his hazel eyes went to the dishwasher and began to empty the clean dishes from it. He peered out the window to see the sky a bright orange. It was growing late and dinner was almost ready. "I received my own Gundam," he replied with excitement in his voice. "It's not yet completed, but they said it will be soon." Amaru moved to the cupboards opposite of the dishwasher and placed some plates in it.

Amaru's mom went to the sink, began filling a pot with hot water, and placed it on the element of the stove. She turned to Amaru. "What about the other pilots?"

"They went to the Legitimate after the meeting. They've already gone." Amaru looked down, slightly depressed that he did not get to know them before they left. "They say it will be done in a week." Amaru went to his room and changed into his street clothes.

He returned to help his mom with finishing dinner. He set the table and helped finish cooking. The room had a nice feel to it, like the spring after a long winter. Amaru's father walked in a moment later dressed in a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase. He was not in the military for he too, like his wife, was a Natural. This made Amaru a First Generation Coordinator. Amaru sat down as his mother brought out the food. His father went into his office, removed his coat, and placed it on his chair; his briefcase went under the desk.

Afterwards, he joined Amaru and his mother at the table. The chicken was cooked to a golden brown and there was corn boiled and buttered. They sat down to eat and exchanged pleasantries. During dinner they talked about work and the meeting with the Chairman and the new Gundams.

After dinner was over and the dishes were cleared, Amaru returned to his room, sat on his bed and opened a study book on how to program the OS of a MS or Gundam. He read for several hours before falling asleep. Amaru was the only member of the Shadow Team, although his Gundam was not yet ready, that had not graduated from the Military Academy yet. In his sleep, he dreamt of his friends, his teammates, worrying about their fate.

Andarian replaced the picture on his wall and wiped his face. He adjusted his short collar and left for the Infirmary which was located bridge but still several decks away. When he walked in , the smell of medicine washing over him. He asked one of the nursing staff to see the girl and was directed to her.

He saw as he was led to her that she was sad and also seemed alone. Her bed was in one of the far corners of the room. Andarian wondered if she was placed there on purpose or if she requested to be placed there. Either way, it did not make sense to him.

The nurse touched her leg slightly to indicate that she had a visitor. She was awake and turned her head. Her eyes stared at his and a cold chill ran down his back. "Andarian…?" she asked weakly.

Andarian recoiled slightly as she whispered his name. "Yes it's me," he replied quietly. "How do you know my name?"

She sat up in bed and turned to him. She wore a white hospital jumpsuit that bore the CETA crest. "You look like your father…" she spoke again in a whisper. She looked up at the ceiling. "How do I look?" she asked randomly. Andarian blushed at the question. She saw this and let out a quiet laugh. "Not like that. I meant with my injuries."

Andarian looked at her forehead, bandaged, then down her neck, also bandaged and her arm, which had a cast on it. "You got banged up quiet a bit." He looked at her charts, not really understanding a lot of it but getting the just of it. "I've seen worse, but this is going to take some time to heal."

The girl silently agreed. She offered her good hand. "I'm Jena, Mobile Armour pilot for the CETA Alliance. My Mobile Armour is the CPMA.- 4V9 Centaur."

Andarian took Jena's hand and shook it lightly. "Andarian Tamaru, son of Chairman Tamaru, Mobile Suit Pilot, also of CETA. My Gundam is the CPSG.-240 Eclipse." They both smiled.

Captain Hamatari looked out the window. The vast distance between them and the ship had closed over the last few hours. The Orange Condition was still in effect, meaning they were in pursuit and all hands were to be ready for battle at any moment.

Commander Kinoru talked to Hamatari quietly for a moment. "We may be close to catching them," he started, "but what are we going to do for supplies? We are already very low."

"I know," she replied, "but at this rate it will still be another few hours until we can catch them, maybe even a day." She looked out at the ship, then at the computer. "I don't necessarily call that close.

One of the navigation crewmen was at his station and checking the thermal scans. "The Thermal Pattern lock is still holding," he reported. "However, if they take on any more distance from us, we'll lose them."

After Yumi left he cleared the dishes and noticed the one plate still there. He called to the cook. "Who's this for?"

The cook, a large man with no hair on his head but a short black beard, turned and looked at the plate. "It's for that girl in the Infirmary, but no one has taken it or come to get it."

Alex took it and said to the cook that he was going to take care of it. He walked away and down to the Infirmary. He went in and saw Andarian there. He was sitting on a stool beside the girl. Andarian called Alex over. "Hey. It's about time you got here." Alex approached and stopped in his tracks.

He looked at the girl and Jena sat up in her bed, pulling the zipper up a bit. They locked eyes and the room went silent. Finally, after a long period, Alex stuttered her name. "J-Jena?"

Andarian took the plate from Alex for fear of him dropping it. He tried to break the silence. "So you two know each other?"

Jena continued to look at Alex. "Yeah we do," she said without breaking the stare. "He's my boyfriend."

The crew continued about their jobs. In a short time, Yumi entered. She looked around the bridge and, when she spotted her cousin, went over and greeted her. Jessie looked a lot like her, but much older, and longer hair. "Hey, how you doing?" Jessie asked.

Yumi looked at her screen and saw her report. "Well I don't seem to have as much paperwork as you do."

Jessie looked at her screen and continued typing. "So do you like your room?" she asked as she worked

Yumi bent down. "Yes I do. But why are there some of your things in there?"

Jessie laughed and looked at Yumi again. "We share the same room. Didn't you notice the bunks?"

Yumi thought about this and made sense of it. "I guess some of us don't get out own rooms." She looked at the time, noticing how late it was and feeling sleep come over her. "Wow," she said after a pause. "With all the excitement I didn't feel how tired I was until now."

Jessie looked back at the Captain as she returned to her seat. "Go to Condition Green, we need to make a stop. We are going to stop off at the ZAFT Outpost Kronos. We need supplies and that's the closest place we can go." The others nodded. "Follow your normal shifts. The others may take this time to rest."

Jessie announced Condition Green so all hands could resume their normal duties, then turned to the Captain. "May I take my leave now?" When the Captain nodded, Jessie took out the earpiece and rose from the chair, using it to keep her from floating away. She looked at Josh and said "I've forwarded communication controls to you." Josh nodded and returned to his work. Jessie turned to her younger cousin again. "Come," she said. "Let's go get some rest." She pushed away from the chair and made her way to the lift.

Yumi followed her, saluting to the Captain and Commander as she passed. She made one last glance back, noticing that Thrice, Crash, and Ray had all left. 'Guess it's not their shift,' She thought as she used the wall to enter the lift. The two girls descended into the gravitated halls and walked to their room.

Jessie went to the desk and began to scan-read the papers. She noticed that, like Alex's, there was a page missing. "Did you know there's a page missing from the data sheets?"

Yumi looked at the sheet. "No I haven't gotten that far yet. I'm still on Charge Settings." She took the sheets, hesitated, and then placed them on the desk, deciding not to do any reading tonight. She looked over to the other bed to see her sister pull the skirt away from her body, revealing her pink underwear, followed by her unzipping her shirt, her black bra showing, and then sit on the bed.

Jessie took a small book from under her bed placed it on her pillow. She threw her body back and sat up against the wall. She removed the shirt, took the book and lay down in bed. Yumi also stripped to her green bra and panties and got under the covers. "Jessie?"

"Yes?" she answered. "What is it?" She marked her page and turned to Yumi.

"Do you think I'm weak?" she too turned to face her sister.

"What do you mean by weak?" Jessie asked, growing concerned. She got out of bed and went to Yumi's side.

Andarian stood there in awe. Alex took a step forward and took Andarian's place on the stool. "You were the one piloting that MA?" he asked although he knew the answer.

"Yes…" she said weakly, "…that was me." She turned away and looked at the food, which she began to eat.

Alex just stood there, dazed and surprised. He had not seen Jena in years, yet there she was sitting in a hospital bed eating away, fairly banged up. He could not help but feel some pity for his girlfriend.

Jena looked up at Andarian and Alex. "I'm fine, ok?" She continued to eat.

Alex turned to Andarian and whispered to him, "Can you give is some time?"

Andarian nodded and without a word, he left the infirmary. He went to his room and continued looking through the pages of the booklet. He noticed at the last page that there was another page missing. He shrugged it off and looked at the time. It was late so Andarian striped to his boxers and climbed into bed. He entered a troubled sleep with memories of his mother and sister.

Alex took Jena's hand and spoke with passion. "It's been some time hasn't it?"

Jena blushed slightly and took hold of his hand. "Yeah, nearly three years if I remember." She rested her head on the pillow again, still holding Alex's hand. "You've stayed true to me then?"

Alex gripped her hand a bit tighter. "Of coarse Jena," he said awkward, like he could not believe she asked such a question. "After your ship got lost after battle I waited for you to return. Not a day went by that I didn't think of you." He sat on the bed with her and threw himself into her chest. "Not a day went by that I didn't worry about you."

Jena smiled. "Oh Alex, I've missed you too." She brought his head up and kissed him, their warm lips meeting. Alex returned the kiss and parted shortly after. "You'd better get some rest," she said, seeing his exhaustion. "I need the rest too." She gave him one last kiss before sending him off and falling asleep shortly after that.

Alex used the walls to move through the gravity-free halls to his room. He threw himself on his bed and took off his shirt. He fell asleep in his uniform pants. He had found the one he had been looking for. Nothing could ruin his mood.

Andarian was awakened at around three o'clock in the morning by Kanora. When Andarian asked why he needed to get up, he just answered, "They need you outside."

Andarian got dressed quickly and went to the hangar. He got his suit on and activated the Eclipse. He called the bridge. "What's the mission?"

Ray came onscreen and answered. "They need you outside for some minor repairs before we can continue our course."

Andarian typed in the password and activated the systems. "What about the enemy ship?" Andarian questioned.

"They've…" Despite Ray's hesitation, Andarian got the idea.

"I see… So they got away…" Andarian let out a sigh and moved to the launch pad. It lowered as the gate opened. "Andarian Tamaru, Eclipse… Let's Ride!" The catapult lurched forward and the equipment was attached. At the end of the gate, the Eclipse lifted and launched into space.

Before, while still in the Plants and during the battle, Andarian had not gotten a good look at the warship that he was a part of. Now he got a clear look at it. The ship was very long and had two big square-looking guns on either side, which were the Valiants. Along both sides there were four missile tube blocks each, with two more on the front and another two on the back. The bridge could be seen near the top of the ship and near the front. It rounded in with the rest of the ship so it was less of a target. The ship was mainly black and blue, just like the Gundams. It made sense for the Legitimate was made to carry the Shadow Gundams.

Andarian activated the VPS Armour and flew around to where work probes were fixing one of the engines. Andarian helped hold the pieces in place and brought out the pieces from the ship. They soon fixed the engine and were on their way.

Andarian returned and worked on the OS of the Gundam. He did not go back to sleep and worked from five to eight. He also scanned the computer for all installed components. He learned the use of the EOC Box, which was to control what systems used up the most energy. However, despite his long search, he did not find anything that was not in the manual. Andarian changed the password and locked the Gundam. He changed out of his space suit and back into his uniform and went to the cafeteria for breakfast.

Andarian saw Jessie there and when he saw what was being served he dashed to the counter. It was pancakes and bacon, Earth maple syrup and some sausages on the side. The cook looked at Andarian's happy face and said, in a discouraging tone, "Enjoy it for it's probably gonna be the last descent meal you'll have for a while." Andarian thanked him, although now slightly sad. He joined Jessie at the table.

"How'd the repairs go?" she asked him, cutting into her last sausage. She placed it in her mouth and set the fork and knife on the near empty plate.

"They went ok," he responded, also taking a bite of one of his sausages. "Just a small dent and some loose wires for the most part."

"So it didn't take very long." Jessie took her fork and ate the last piece of sausage. "When do you think we're going to get back home?"

Andarian nearly choked on his food. "What do you mean?"

Jessie frowned slightly. "I don't live at Central like you, Alex and Yumi do. I live at Uchuuno in the Second District."

"You haven't been home in a while have you?" Andarian asked, noting the fact that Jessie seemed lost and distant.

"No I haven't…" Jessie stood and returned her plate. When Andarian called out for her she said, "My shift is starting soon." Then she waved good bye to Andarian and made her way to the bridge.

Amaru was awakened by his father early that same morning. "Come Amaru, the Chairman wants you." He got up quickly and went to the videophone.

"Amaru here." He saluted. "I apologize for my attire."

The Chairman came up on the screen. "It's ok Amaru," he reassured him. "Do you have classes today?"

Amaru went to the table and looked at his class schedule. "No, I have no classes today or tomorrow."

The Chairman seemed pleased. "I will be at your house in half an hour. Please be ready by then."

Amaru saluted again as the call ended. Why the Chairman was coming here he did not know, but he dared not waste any time. He rushed to the shower and rinsed off, scrubbing himself down a bit and drying off quickly. He just finished getting dressed in his uniform when the chairman arrived. He hugged his mom, then disappeared through the front door.

Out on the road was a large black limo. The chauffeur opened the door and Amaru got in, saluting. He sat beside the Chairman and the chauffeur returned to the front seat. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Amaru asked, doing up the seatbelt.

The Chairman turned to him. "We have a conference to go to," he answered, "with the leaders of the three other great nations."

Amaru went wide eyed. "You mean I get to meet the leaders of ZAFT, Orb, and the Atlantic Federation?"

Chairman Tamaru laughed a bit. "Yes. You'll get to meet President Cagalli Yula Athha of Orb, Chairman Athrun Zala of ZAFT, and Steven Shanner of the Atlantic Federation."

Amaru could hardly contain himself. They soon came to the centre of the Plant. They got out of the limo and took the elevator up to the middle of the Plant. The weightless area threw Amaru off a bit but he held on to the moving handrail. They went out to the hangar and boarded a ship that was Earthbound. It was not long before they took off.

Amaru and the Chairman found seats near the middle of the ship, which was surprisingly empty. "The purpose of this meeting," explained Tamaru, "is to prepare for future battles and hopefully plan the last one."

Amaru looked outside. He saw the occasional ships, MS's, and MA's pass by. "I hope we end this soon," he said mainly to himself. "It's been going on too long. I may not get my part in but I'd rather have no part and have it over sooner than to have it drag on and be a part of it."

Tamaru placed his hand on Amaru's shoulder. "Spoken like a true soldier." When Amaru placed a confused look on his face, he explained. "A true soldier may kill, but only a murderer would enjoy it. It will make more sense when you're older."

Alex entered the Infirmary to see Jena again. She was still asleep. The nurse came over to him. "She can go to a room now. She's healing very well and doesn't need to stay in here." Alex nodded and accepted a small bottle of pills. "She's to take two of these, once a day. It will help her heal faster."

Alex kissed her cheek and she awoke. "Is there a battle?" she asked, half asleep.

"No," he replied. "There's no battle. We are going to be arriving at Kronos in about half an hour." He took her hand and pulled her up. "Come now, you've got your own room."

Jena stood and walked slowly. Her body ached with each step down the hall. He brought her to the lift and took her to her room. She sat on the bed and looked at Alex. She was now more awake than before, but still very tired. She took off the white jumpsuit, exposing her white bra and pink underwear. She pulled up the straps of her bra and turned to Alex. "Could you do me a favour and go to the laundry room and pick up my clothes? They may still stained with a bit of blood. If they are, could you wash them?"

Alex nodded and kissed her on the cheek again, which she returned. Alex stood at the door and took the clothes. "Get some rest ok?" She nodded and her straps fell off again. Alex left the room and she fell onto her bed. She did not sleep, but just closed her eyes and rested.

Jessie looked at the computer screen. "Kronos has accepted our code and has granted us entry," she said to the captain.

The captain nodded as a ZAFT Major came on the screen. "Please use Port 'B' and we shall have to inspect your ship before we can allow anyone off or begin repairs and resupply."

"Understood," the captain replied simply. The navigation crew backed the ship into the port. They were now safe.

They think they're safe, but the Hulgar ship returns with a great force and weapons that shock all. Andarian and the Shadow Team find themselves up against some of the greatest foes. Next time on Gundam Seed Abyss, Bullets of Disaster. Lunar! The power you possess can defeat your foes, so go forth!