Disclaimer: As you all know, I don’t own Vandread.
Vandread: The Unknown Soldier
Chapter One: Encounter
Location: Outside the Magnetic Storm, on the edge of Tarakian/Mejalean space.
Vibrations shook her Dread as it took another series of hits to its shields from a cube-type. Meia cursed under her breath as she brought her fighter around to give chase to the enemy that shot at her. As soon as she had a lock, she fired, sending several laser bolts into the enemy cube, ripping it apart. She then focused her attention on one of the larger ships and launched several missiles. The ship buckled in and exploded as the high-explosive warheads impacted on its surface.
A few weeks after the last major battle of the harvest war, several scattered groups from the Earth fleet were located on the edge of the system, close to the magnetic storm. Being the most experienced and capable, the Nirvana was tasked with hunting down the last remnants of them. Meia had no qualms about that, after all Earth was the enemy, and they deserved no mercy. The battle they are currently engaged in is with the last group of them.
“That’s the last of them!” Hibiki cheerfully shouted over the commline as he and Dita blasted the last enemy ship into atoms.
Meia let out a sigh and leaned back in her seat. “Good, now let’s return to the Nirvana.”
“Copy that,” Hibiki and Dita replied in unison.
As she turned her Dread around and headed towards the Nirvana, something caught her eye. As she looked over, she saw what appeared to be a flash, and a large ship stretched into reality right in front of her eyes.
“What the hell is that?!” Hibiki asked, his voice full of excitement.
“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out,” she throatily replied as she towards the vessel.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Captain…”
“Captain…”
“Aidan…”
Consciousness slowly returned to Aidan like dawn rising over a fog-shrouded moor. His vision still blurred, he looked up to see the face of a young woman with dark, shoulder-length hair.
“Sakura…” he muttered, as he attempted to lift himself up. He collapsed back to the floor as he realized his left arm wouldn’t move. He felt no pain, but he knew that was because of the painkillers administered by his suit. He assumed his left arm was dislocated. Forcing himself into a sitting position, he then stood up. His vision cleared, he looked at the woman and saw that it was Maria.
When he got up, she let out a sigh of relief. “Good, you’re okay.”
He ignored her as he took hold of his left arm and forced it back into its socket. There was a loud pop as he did that, and he saw Maria cringe as it met her ears. He walked over to the doors and depressed the stud that opened it.
“Come on,” he said.
“Sure,” she replied as she got up and followed him out into the corridor. “Where are we going?” she asked as they walked.
“We’re heading to the bridge,” he answered quietly.
They walked for a few more minutes, Maria following quietly behind, until they got to the doors that lead to the bridge. Luckily they were on the same deck as the bridge, because the elevator was destroyed by an explosion. Once they stepped into the bridge, Maria suddenly became white in the face. She covered her mouth and turned away, sickened by the scene in front of her.
The bridge was pretty much in ruins, with a good portion of it covered in blood. Several bodies lay in the twisted, huddled heaps on the floor. The smell of death wreaked throughout the room, and it started to make her sick. As she looked back at Aidan, he seemed not to be affected by all of the death in the room. He noticed something, and started walking towards it. He stepped over a body as if it were nothing more than a log in his way.
He kneeled over what appeared to the body of the captain. She followed him in there, and saw a pool of blood around his head.
“He’s dead,” Aidan said, and without another word he walked over to what appeared to be the communications console. He glanced down at the tech slumped over the controls. The dead tech was female, and to Aidan couldn’t have been a day over nineteen. He picked up the dead tech and gently laid her on the ground out of the way. He then took off his helmet and set it down on the edge of the console, and then put on the headset and started to broadcast a distress signal. After a couple of minutes, he took it off and threw it down.
“Dammit!” he cursed. “It doesn’t work.” Then something caught his eye, he looked out the bridge viewport and saw a large silver ship in the middle of it.
“What the hell…”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As she took another pass around the ship, Meia scanned every major detail she could find out about the ship. By the several gun ports that ran along the length of the vessel, she knew it to be a warship. The several scorch marks and damages to it, she assumed that it just recently saw battle, and was on the losing end of it. Numerous questions still ran through her head. Questions like ‘Where did it come from?’ ‘Who did it fight?’ ‘Was it the Earth fleet?’ And the final question, ‘Were there any survivors?’
She keyed her communications system. “Captain, I’d like permission to dock with the ship and search for survivors.”
The response came back instantly. “Permission granted, but wait a minute, Duero and few others are taking the shuttle, they’ll help you.”
“Roger, Captain.”
As she flew in front of what she thought was the bridge of the ship, she thought she saw someone standing near the view port.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As Aidan saw the fighter pass the bridge, he knew they weren’t part of the rebel force, because that was a fighter he had never seen before, but he didn’t want to take any chances.
He turned to Maria. ”We’re going to have visitors.”
“Who are they? Was her only reply.
“I don’t know,” he responded.
He went over to the only operational computer on the bridge, and inserted a disc. He then began typing as he started to download every bit of valuable data from the ship’s memory core. As soon as he was done, he erased the ship’s entire memory bank. He unslung his laser rifle and fired three shots into the computer. The smell of ozone entered the room, as the computer was fried, sparks shooting from it. He then walked over and picked up his helmet and put it on. He walked over to Maria and put a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her.
“I want you to stay here and lock the doors after I exit the bridge,” he said as he walked just outside the doors.
“What are you going to do,” she asked.
“I’m going to greet our guests,” he said as he lowered the visor of his helmet.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As she slowly walked down the darkened corridor, Meia glanced briefly into one of the rooms, and saw nobody in there. To her it felt like she was on a abandoned ship, as it appeared that no one was alive onboard. So far, every member of the crew they found was already dead.
“All this death, who could have done this?” she quietly asked herself.
“Did you say something?” Jura asked.
“No,” she replied as something caught her eye. She walked over to where she saw and found another body, this time a woman’s. As she scanned the body, she a huge gash along the stomach and a poll of blood underneath.
“Oh my…” Jura gasped as she clasped her hands over her mouth.
Meia wanted to do the same, but instead locked her face into an impassive mask. She had to be the strong leader type that everyone saw her as.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aidan walked slowly down the dark corridor searching the area for the intruders that he knew were somewhere on this deck. He continued his advance until he heard a noise, stopping dead in his tracks and trying to locate its source. He pressed a few buttons on the controls on his left forearm, until it said ‘Optical Camouflage’ and he tapped the activation stud. The armor he wore became invisible, but not completely. He could still be picked by thermal or night-vision equipment, and if he made any fast movements he would be also be seen as a distortion. He thumbed the safety off of the machine pistol he recovered, and grinned. The intruders would learn why his codename is ‘Spectre.’
He moved closer to the noises, which he figured out to be somebody talking, probably female. He crept closer and scanned the corridor for his target. He located a single scantily clad dark-haired female, and from what he could tell, she was younger than him. He paid little attention to that as his gaze fell down on the holstered firearm at her side.
She’s not military, so she must be something else, a pirate. As the thought dawned on him he aimed his weapon down the corridor and activated the laser sight. The red laser dot centered on her chest, and his finger started to tighten on the trigger.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barnette cautiously walked down one of the many dark corridors of this warship, searching for any survivors, if there were any. She continued her advance for a few more steps then stopped. She suddenly felt like she was being watched, she looked around, but saw no one. That’s when she noticed a little red dot on her chest. She immediately dove to her right as a the loud sound of gunfire sailed through air where she once stood. She winced as the bullet grazed her left arm.
She freed her firearm from its holster as quickly as possible and aimed in the general direction of where the shots came from, but saw no one. Then suddenly and without warning, the air came to violent life as a ghostly figure dashed towards her. Her fear started to well up inside of her and she fired several shots at the supposed apparition. To her surprise, a few of the shots connected, and she realized that this was not a ghost.
The figure didn’t stop or slow down as the bullets hit it, but kept on charging at her. The figure stopped right in front of her, and she flung her right arm for a sidearm blow, but it was blocked. Before she could react, she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen as the air was knocked out of her. She collapsed to the deck, gasping for air, and she looked up to see a figure in front of her, but it was no longer invisible. The figure was wearing black armor, and he raised his gun, and pointed it at her head.
“Identify yourself,” his voice was cold and impersonal.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, here’s the first chapter, and I’m currently working on the second one. Let me know what you think.