Disclaimer: Vandread is the property of Gonzo. I own all characters and technology corresponding to the planet Solaris, which is also mine.

Vandread: The Unknown Soldier

Chapter Seventeen: Hunted

Location: Jungle, Meia’s Dread

It had been about an hour since they crashed onto the planet’s surface, and Meia was yet again in the cockpit of her Dread, to see if she could get it to start again. So far every attempt met with failure. Frustrated, she slammed her fist down on the console and ignored the pain it sent through her hand.

“Any luck down there?” she asked Aidan, who was trying to help repair the Dread.

“Nope, I can’t do anymore,” he said as he shut a panel.

The rain was still coming down, and by this time they were both soaked. Aidan climbed onto the Dread and met her as she climbed out of the cockpit. “You know, we’re not going to be able to get off this rock unless the others find us,” he said

“But we can’t activate the Dread’s beacon function, because it will attract the enemy,” Meia said, frustrated.

Aidan stared at her for a moment, with her hair matted down from the rain, and a frustrated look on her face. He found her oddly attractive. Before he could think better of it, he said it out loud.

Meia was apparently caught off-guard by the statement, for she blushed and looked away. “Shut up,” was her only reply to that statement.

Before either of them could say anything further, the sounds of a roaring engine filled the air.

“Damn, I knew they’d do this,” Aidan said as he looked at Meia. “It’s a dropship, they’re sending a team to try and capture us.” He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from the cockpit. “We need to get away from here.”

“But, what about my Dread?” she asked after they had jumped off the Dread and onto the ground.

“It’s not going anywhere,” he replied as he pulled her into the jungle.

The large, angular dropship sat down in a clearing about five kilometers from where the Striker crashed. The bay doors on the rear opened up to disgorge several soldiers in full combat gear. Each one was armed with a laser rifle, and held it at the ready. The last soldier casually walked out of the dropship and onto the ground. He raised the visor of his helmet and scanned the area.

“Alright, I want a five kilometer search around the dropship. You are to split into teams of two and begin your search for the pilots and the fighter. If they are dead, fine, but if not I want them taken prisoner. Do I make myself clear?”

“Sir, yes sir!” came the reply of several soldiers in unison.

Staring at the dropship from quite a distance away, Aidan could tell it was a large one. Even through the thick vegetation it still could be seen. Something seemed a bit awkward, that was for sure.

“It’s them, but they’re using a dropship that’s too large for a small unit of soldiers searching for us,” he said quietly. More to himself than to Meia. She overheard him, and replied.

“They’re probably hear to confiscate my Dread. They must want it because of it‘s connection to the Paksis.”

“Damn,” Aidan muttered. He tossed his sub-machinegun to Meia. “Use this, it has very low recoil and it’s suppressed, which means it doesn’t make hardly any noise.”

Before she could protest, there was a noise off to their left, the sound of crunching footsteps. It appears as one of the patrols got near their location. They both instinctively took cover. Two men slowly crept forward, rifles ready to shoot at anything that moved. Without warning, Aidan grabbed the rear soldier and put him in a sleeper hold. The other turned around, ready to shoot him, but was hit in the back with a burst of gunfire, which knocked him forward. The bullets didn’t penetrate his flak vest, so he wasn’t harmed. That was, until Aidan hit him with a blow to the abdomen that knocked the wind out of him. Another blow to the jaw knocked him out. Aidan then picked up both of their rifles and walked over to Meia.

“Sir, we’ve lost contact with two patrols, they appear to have been taken out,” the solider reported.

“Damn, any luck finding that fighter?” the commander asked.

“None yet, sir, they are still searching for it.”

Suddenly, his helmet mounted communicator crackled to life. “Sir, we’ve found the fighter, it’s about ten kilometers from your current position.”

“Good, soldier, secure the area and as soon as we acquire the prisoners we’ll load it onto the dropship and get out of here,” he spoke into his helmet mike.

“Roger, sir.”

Aidan slowly crept through the underbrush, wary not to let his and Meia’s presence be known. They were trying to make it away from the soldiers searching from them, for which they seemed to get ever closer. Aidan had a feeling, he couldn’t quite place it, but something was not right. His suspicions were correct, when several soldiers appeared almost out of nowhere. They were surrounded.

Aidan raised his rifle into firing position, but did not even attempt to pull the trigger. One of the soldiers spoke, his tone demanding.

“Drop your weapons, you are surrounded! If you do not comply, we will be forced to open fire.”

Slowly, Aidan lowered his weapon and tossed it away from him. Meia did the same a second later. The enemy soldiers advanced.

The commander watched as they led their prisoners back to the dropship. One was a man whom he recognized as a SDF soldier, with attire that proved it. The second was a blue-haired young woman, wearing a pilot suit of some kind. He knew she was one of the Mejalean pirates that defeated Earth in the Harvest War. The mere thought of that disgusted him, how could this woman be one of the people that defeated the unstoppable Earth fleet?

“Get your hands off of her!” the brown-haired soldier yelled at the men that were escorting the woman.

“Be quiet, Infidel!” the guard yelled as he pushed him with the muzzle of his rifle.

The soldier acted like he complied, but instead suddenly stopped and slammed his foot down on the guard’s foot and slammed the back of his head into the faceplate of the guard’s helmet. He then back-kicked the guard in the stomach. He was hit in the back by the stock of another guard’s rifle and knocked onto his knees. The guard then aimed the rifle at his head. Looks like we have a defiant one. He walked over to the prisoner who was now restrained.

“Name and rank, soldier,” he barked.

The only reply he got was a venomous stare. He walked over the man and looked at his dogtags. “Mercer, Aidan. Rank, Captain.”

“Take them to the dropship,” he ordered the guards.

Meia watched as Aidan attempted to escape, but was hit with a rifle, and knocked to the ground. The restraints around her wrists prevented her from doing anything. She was to be a prisoner, a fact that she did not like. After she and Aidan were taken to the dropship, it lifted off, and her Dread was in the cavernous compartment with her.

“So, what will happen to us now?” she quietly asked Aidan, who was seated next to her.

“We will be taken to their ship, thrown in the brig, probably interrogated, and eventually killed,” he replied, looking straight ahead.

“Sounds like loads of fun,” she muttered as she leaned her head against the cool metal surface of the wall and closed her eyes

Well, that’s the end of the story for ya. Just kidding, I’ll get the next chapter up soon.