Disclaimer: Vandread belongs to Gonzo. All music copyright to their original owners.

Vandread: The Unknown Soldier

Chapter Eleven: Tactics

Location: Gym, Men’s Section of the Nirvana.

(BGM: Releasing the Demons- Godsmack)

Aidan hammered the bag with another heavy blow, not letting up in the least. Blow after blow, the bag was pounded mercilessly. He worked out in the gym, only really to help get the recent events out of his head. The last few days had been hell, with the resurgence of all of his painful memories resurfacing to haunt him once again. Sweat ran down his forehead and into his eyes, and he paused only for an instant to wipe the sweat from his face.

The sound of the explosion, the force of another explosion knocking him off his feet, the intense pain through his left arm, watching Sakura die in his hands, that was the most painful memory that resurfaced. All because of that damn bitch, he thought angrily. He slammed the bag with a vicious round kick, then immediately turned and slammed his fist against the wall. He ignored the pain that lanced through his arm from hitting the wall with such force.

“Dammit!” he cursed, and a second later a beeping sound filled his ears. He reached into his pocket and picked out his wrist communicator. He activated it.

“Aidan here,” he said into the communicator.

“We need you down in the tactical briefing room,” BC ordered him.

“I’m on my way,” he replied. He shut off the communicator and grabbed a towel off the rack next to him, and headed for the showers.

Sitting alone in the dark, Maria brooded over the what happened only a couple of days ago. She sat on her bed ,her face buried in her hands. She thought it was her fault, all her fault. If it weren’t for her, several of the people that died would still be alive. She wished the assassin would have killed her, so she wouldn’t have to deal with this. She was knocked out of her despair buy a knock at her door. She managed to compose herself and ask.

“Who is it?” she asked weakly.

“It’s me, Dita,” came the reply. “May I come in?”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to be left alone,” Maria said softly.

“But…” Dita said.

“I said I want to be alone! Now go away!” she yelled, as soon as she was confident Dita had left, she resumed her sulking.

Hibiki sat in the cockpit of his Vanguard, his partner. He was making adjustments so he and his partner would be ready for the upcoming combat. He would be ready for anything, although he never directly faced a human in space combat. He checked over every system, making sure he didn’t miss a thing. He would be ready.

These people gave up their humanity when they sided with Earth, he thought bitterly.

Making adjustments to the tactical simulation again and again began to bore Meia. She had been working on it for the last two hours, using the data that Aidan had provided. The data included the enemies’ battle strategies, tactics, and stats on the various vessels and fighters in use by them. It would all become useful when they encountered their enemy on the field of battle.

She rubbed her eyes, and glanced at her chronometer. It was well past midnight, and almost everyone else was asleep at this time. She went back to staring at the screen, trying to figure out how to improve it further. Aidan walked up to her, and handed her a cup of hot tea.

“Thanks,” she said as she accepted the mug and took a sip of the warm liquid.

“Thought you could use it,” he said as he turned to look at the monitor.

“I still need to work out a few bugs,” she admitted.

“Still, it looks like a sound strategy to me,” he replied. “I used to have to come up with plans for an operation, but that was only when I commanded a squad of special ops soldiers, nothing near this scale.”

“Special ops?” she asked, showing a little interest.

“Yeah, although I did a few missions solo, although it did not like some of the missions I was assigned. I did several things that I didn’t want to do,” he said, looking at the monitor again.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn‘t mean to…” she apologized.

“Sorry about what?” he asked as his eyes met hers. “There’s no need to be, it’s all in the past anyways.”

For a long few minutes an awkward silence dragged on. Without realizing it, they were both staring at each other. At about the same time they realized it, and both of them looked away, blushing.

“Well, I’ll leave to let you finish up here,” Aidan said after another long minute and walked out of the room.

Meia stood there for a long moment, puzzled of this feeling she was having. Was she feeling an attraction toward him? Was it even possible? She contemplated on those questions in the darkened room.

What is it about her that reminds me of Sakura? he thought as walked down the corridor. It had bugged him since he first met her, and he had yet to figure out. Was it her looks? Her personality? Sure, Meia had a attractive body, he admitted that much, but that wasn‘t it. It’s not her hair, Sakura’s was longer and was black, a stark contrast to Meia’s sapphire blue. As he stopped in front of the door that would lead him to the men’s quarters, it hit him. It was her eyes! She had the same striking green eyes as Sakura.

Sitting in his Captain’s Chair, Captain Gunter Argust tapped his finger on the arm of his chair. He was in command of a task force sent to hunt down the heretic vessel known as the Artemis, which carried the heretic’s leader’s daughter. He was the Captain of the battle cruiser known as the Indomitable, as well as six other vessels, three destroyers, two frigates and a patrol ship. Last he had known, the ship went off course and was rumored to be somewhere in this system.

“Report any contacts,” he ordered the sensor technician.

“Negative, there are no contacts yet, sir.” the tech replied.

“Damn,” Gunter mumbled, as he started tapping the arm of the chair again.

The silence dragged on for the next thirty minutes, only interrupted by the beeps and sounds from the computer terminals. The sensor tech cried out.

“Contact, we have unknown warship one thousand kilometers in front of us.”

“Is it the Artemis?” he queried.

“Negative, sir.”

“Magnify, the image,” he ordered and the crewman zoomed in the image. It was the image of a large, sleek and elegant silver warship. He stared at it for a moment, then he realized what it was. It was the infamous ship that had a hand in defeating the Earth forces all across the galaxy. It was the Nirvana, if he could remember right.

“Battle stations, general quarters,” he barked, and then moved to a series of other commands. “Charge the laser batteries, load the missile tubes, and notify the rest of the fleet, we are engaging.”

“Unidentified fleet located dead ahead!” Bel’s alarmed shout rang across the bridge. “They appear to be preparing for combat, it looks like they mean to engage.”

“How many?” BC asked.

“I count at least seven ships, and what appears to about a hundred fighter craft,” Amarone stated.

“Damnit,” BC muttered. “Meia, mobilize the Dread Teams on the double!”

“Roger,” Meia responded from the other side of the connection.

It had begun.