Disclaimer: Vandread belongs to Gonzo.

Vandread: The Unknown Soldier

Chapter Fifteen: Before the Storm

Location: Infirmary, Nirvana

Meia was relieved when she saw Aidan wake up. For a moment, she believed he would actually have died. He positioned himself into a sitting position, pain evident on his face. He apparently noticed her, and looked into her eyes.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“Am I?” she replied. “You’re one to talk.”

He laughed, it was the second she heard him laugh. The first time he did it was when they were on the Artemis, and that was more of a mocking laughter. This time it appeared to be genuine laughter. Although it didn’t last long, for he clutched his broken ribs in pain. She couldn’t place it, but there was something different about him.

Meanwhile, in the conference room, Magno, BC, and Gascogne were discussing the aftermath of the battle.

“Repairs are coming along, we have several breaches that need to be properly resealed,” Gascogne stated.

“Total casualties from the battle come up to twenty-four. Ten dead, fourteen wounded, including Aidan Mercer,” BC stated. “Surprising, since we were in a fierce battle.”

“Speaking of him, is he alright?” Magno asked.

“He just regained consciousness not too long ago,” BC replied.

“If he’s strong enough, I think we should have him report here. He might know what that strange energy field that disabled our shields and weapons is,” Gascogne said.

“Good idea, have him report here if he feels up to it,” Magno said.

Sounds of gunfire got her attention. Having just finished changing, Maria looked outside her room to see her father lying on the ground, blood pooling underneath him. She ran over to his prone body.

“Father!” she cried, and she looked up to see two soldiers pointing their guns at her.

“Don’t worry, you’ll soon be joining him,” the one closest to her said as he pointed his gun at her head. Before he could react, the soldier behind him pitched over onto his face, a crack split the air a split second later. A black armored figure had just shot one of them in the back and the other turned around and fired his assault rifle, he was shot, and he fell onto his back, his finger convulsively holding the trigger. The gunfire tracked away from the black figure and struck the wall.

Frightened, she grabbed a laser pistol off the floor and pointed it at the figure now approaching her.

‘Stay away from me!” she screamed as she fired it him. A second later she realized the figure grabbed her arm and pushed it upward, sending the shot into the ceiling.

“Get a hold of yourself,” he said as he took the pistol from her. “I’m on your side. I‘m with the Solaris Defense Forces.”

He lifted up the visor of his helmet and looked her in the eye. “You need to get off this station, there’s a ship in the dock waiting for you.”

“A ship? For me?” she asked, tears still in her eyes at the sight of her murdered father.

“Yes, but you need to be strong, there’s nothing you could have done,” he said as he pulled her to her feet. “Let’s get going,” he said as snapped his visor shut.

Maria was knocked out of her thoughts by a rap at her door. She turned her attention to the door.

“Who is it?” she asked, still sulking on her bed.

“It’s Ezra, and I thought you could use something to eat. May I come in?”

She thought about refusing, but her stomach growled in protest. “Sure,” she replied weakly.

The door opened and Ezra walked in with a tray in her hands. She walked over to where Maria was sitting and sat down beside her and sat the tray on her lap. On the tray was a bowl of soup, a loaf of bread, and a glass of water. She stared at it for a moment before picking up the spoon and started to take sips of the warm broth.

“You know, Dita was just trying to help you,” Ezra said, referring to when Maria told Dita to go away.

“I know, I was just in a bad mood, I’m sorry,” Maria replied.

“Dita is the one you should apologize to, not me,” Ezra said in her usual kind-hearted voice.

“I’m such a coward,” Maria said, putting the tray onto the bed next to her.

“Don’t say things like that,” Ezra said.

“But it’s true,” she said, holding back tears. “I was like that when Aidan rescued me from the soldiers that were about to kill me. And when the assassin tried to kill me as well.”

“But you are strong, otherwise you wouldn’t be hear today,” Ezra said, trying to cheer her up.

“I just don’t know anymore,” Maria said, no longer able to hold back her tears.

Aidan sat in one of the many chairs at the conference table, watching the recording play over and over again. It showed the expanding energy field engulf Vandread Dita, causing it to split up, then switched to a view of the Nirvana about to fire, but the systems shut down and the shields dissipated as the energy field struck it.

“Do you have any idea as to what that was?” he heard BC ask.

He thought for a moment, and he finally remembered. “I believe that is what is called a Paksis Nullification Device.”

“Paksis Nullification Device?” Meia, who was sitting next to him, asked.

“Yes, it was a device that was supposed to be used to disable the Earth’s automated fleet by a emitting a wave of electromagnetic energy containing an anti-Paksis virus. It shuts down any system or vehicle controlled by the Paksis. Although, there was only one prototype, and apparently it fell into enemy hands,” he stated.

“So if that’s what we’re up against, we might have a little bit of trouble if they decide to attack again,” Gascogne said.

“But why are they not attacking?” Magno asked.

Aidan shrugged. “I really don’t know.”

“Alright, dismissed,” Magno said.

Aidan saluted, which was unusual, for was not even part of the military. He turned and walked out the door, Meia following right behind him.

A few days later…

Meia headed down the corridor at about 2 A.M. whenever almost everyone else was asleep. He was thinking about something while she made her way to the cargo hold where her Dread was kept.

Why have they not attacked yet? she asked herself. They have had ample time, plus our defenses are weakened and they have the advantage of that Paksis Nullification Device.

She didn’t like waiting around, and they were taking too damn long to attack. What were they doing? They were out of range for the Nirvana to scan them, or even see them. Where were they hiding?

She came to the hangar and walked over to her Dread, which sat berthed with Dita’s and Jura’s Dreads. She climbed into the open cockpit, and sat there for a while. She liked the solitude of this place, it was soothing. It allowed her to clear her head. It was then she came to a decision, she would go scouting for the enemy. She closed the canopy and powered up her Dread.

Healed enough that he was allowed to return to his quarters, if you could call them that, Aidan lay on his bed, contemplating nothing of extreme importance. Actually, he couldn’t sleep, and was just staring at the ceiling. He heard footsteps out in the corridor, they were soft, but in the dead of night, soft sounds could sound loud.

He pushed himself up and got off his bunk and looked out into the corridor. The footsteps belonged to Meia as she walked down towards the cargo bay. She seemed to not have noticed him. He grabbed a blue jumpsuit and put it on, as well as his boots. He was going to find out where she was going at this time of night.

After following her, he noticed that she was in her Dread and now just powering it up. What was she up to? She apparently was taking off without orders, so he thought she was going to look for the enemy. That was a bad idea. He decided to follow her. After she took off, he bolted toward the remaining Striker, as the other was trashed. He decided he’d follow her, and powered up the Striker. He took off a few minutes later.

Meia was well on her way in her Dread, heading out to the last known location of the enemy. A few minutes later a blip showed up on her sensors, it was a friendly unit, a Striker. She keyed her comm.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked. “You’re supposed to be getting some rest.”

“I couldn’t just let one of my commanders go off on her own without backup,” he replied, grinning.

She smiled. “Alright.” She lost that argument. She slowed her Dread to allow his Striker to keep up.

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