Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread.

Vandread: The Unknown Soldier

Chapter Nineteen: Liberation

Location: Warship Avenger, Outer Hull

After jumping out of the assault ship and onto the hull of the destroyer, Julia and the rest of Team Five landed on the scarred hull of the ship. The armor had been blasted in some areas, though not deep enough to penetrate. The warship she was on, the S.D.S Whirlwind, struck out with its laser cannons and scored several hits on the enemy vessel. Now it was up to them and a few other teams to enter the ship and secure it.

Private Nick Hawkins was the first to land onto the hull of the ship. Not too long after, Julia used the ejectable maneuver thruster pack mounted on the back of her armor. With little difficulty, she landed onto the hull and almost immediately the magnetic boots pulled her onto the hull. She headed over to their entry point, which was an airlock. Private Hawkins was placing a breaching charge onto it and quickly moved away. An explosion tore through the hull, and Julia could feel it even through her heavy armor. As there was no air in space, the explosion little resembled what it would normally look like. But it still had the same effect, as two bodies flew out into space.. With rapid efficiency, the team bolted through the now-open airlock and into the interior of the ship.

In the Dauntless’ main cargo bay, twenty soldiers stood at attention as Admiral Graff gave them their orders. Major Nigel Owens was one of the men standing at attention. In his late thirties, he was of normal age for a person of his rank. He listened intently as the Admiral was giving the orders. He was in overall command of the four combat teams that would board the unknown vessel.

“We have located an unknown vessel entered the nebula approximately five hours ago,” Graff was saying. “We found out that it matches nothing currently in our database. So, it might not be one of our enemy, but it has the possibility of being hostile. Your orders are to board the vessel and find out if it’s actually a threat to us. Due to that fact, you will only be allowed to use non-lethal weapons and weapons set to stun. You will launch at 0845, that is all,” he said as turned and walked out of the cargo bay.

“Alright, you heard the man!” Owens bellowed as he turned to face his troops. “Suit up!”

Julia snapped a couple of shots off at one of the enemy soldiers impeding her way. Both shots caught him high in the chest, dropping him where he stood. It had been almost too easy, at the beginning. They were stunned at the sudden appearance of several large, armored figures. She swore she saw one of the poor bastards wet himself as soon as he saw her. Then they had regrouped and started to put up more of a fight.

They had set up barricades up in the corridor ahead, determined not to let her team any further. Their efforts were futile, however as Steiner unloaded an unhealthy number of rounds from the chain gun slung under the right arm of his armored suit. Instead of their normal armor-piercing ammo, they were loaded with a special flechette ammo, so they wouldn’t breach the hull of the ship. The shots tore into the ineffective barricade, splattering the soldiers behind it all over the deck.

“This is almost too easy,” Steiner said, his thick accent heard clearly through the comm.

“It looks like they weren’t expecting a fight,” she replied as they advanced forward. As they passed an intersect in the corridor.

“Lieutenant, to your left!” Hawkins yelled out as a soldier charged at her. Purely on instinct, she raised her left arm and swung hard, backhanding the brave, if not foolish soldier in the head. The blow threw him into the wall. He slumped against the wall, his skull crushed.

“Remind me never to get on your bad side,” Hawkins said sarcastically as he saw the brutal display.

Ignoring that comment, she turned to face the rest of her team. “Alright, let’s get going.”

Major Owens checked over his troops as they stood at attention in full gear. He himself was going to command his team on the boarding operation. He looked over each trooper and noted with satisfaction that all of his men were ready to go. Every trooper had on a full body armor suit, to allow protection to almost every part of their body, except their head. They had a helmet for that. Each one of them, including the Major, carried a powered down laser rifle. All it would do would stun the target it hit. The rifle could be set to it’s regular power output at the flick of switch. And they were only to do that if the ship was indeed one of their enemy’s. Each trooper also carried a few smoke grenades, and Owens carried a laser pistol, also set to stun.

“Alright, let’s move out!” he commanded as they boarded the small, sleek assault shuttle that would allow them to rapidly close and board their target.

The whole crew seemed to be on edge, as a result of their second defeat at the hands of the fanatics from Solaris. Barnette felt the same way, for she was injured in the last attack, although it wasn’t a bad injury. She was aggravated at the thought of having to retreat from battle a second time. The cowards had used that device again, and again they were forced to back off again. They apparently hadn’t bothered to enter the nebula to finish what they started. She wanted to fight, badly, to drive them back to wherever they came from. Her thoughts were interrupted as she thought she saw a small, black object moving toward the Nirvana from a viewport on the ship. She felt that there was something wrong with that object.

Julia charged forward, intent on closing with the bastard that killed one of her teammates. The soldier had managed to fire a lucky shot through the collar of the armor. Her teammate had dropped heavily to the deck, blood pouring out of the neck wound until he stopped moving. As soon as she thought she had him, he shut the hatch in her armored face. Steiner knelt downed and checked on his fallen comrade.

“He’s dead,” he said in a flat tone.

“Damn, Hawkins, I want this hatch blown open,” she ordered him.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied as he went over and placed a breaching charge on the hatch. When he was done, he backed away. “Get clear!”

The explosion tore the hatch open, and she bolted through it. She found the soldier running away from her.

“Oh, no you don’t,” she said as she raised her right arm and fired. The shots hit him in the leg just below the thigh, cleanly severing it and he dropped to the deck, writhing in agony. His screams filed the corridor as she calmly walked over to wear he was squirming and fired a pointblank shot in the head. He stopped as blood began to pool where most of his head used to be.

After the execution of the soldier, she noticed that she had found the door leading to the brig. She blasted it open and went inside. She killed both guards quickly with shots from her laser rifle. She looked up and saw someone familiar. It was Aidan Mercer, her team’s original leader. The person in the other cell she did not recognize.

“About damn time you got here,” Aidan said as he stood up.

Meia had looked up to see a huge armored figure blast it’s way through the door and kill both guards in the room. She looked at it more closely and noticed that it’s face looked like a skull. Briefly she thought about the Mejalean space suit that had intimidated the men of Taraak with the mask it had. This looked like it would kill you with a glance, and it’s armored bulk backed that up. Briefly it looked at her and she saw it’s red, glowing eyes. She shivered slightly, until she heard Aidan speak up. The armored figure raised it’s faceplate to reveal a young woman’s face. She was clearly surprised at the fact. The figure then smashed the control to open Aidan’s cell and he got out of the cell.

“Why are you here, in a place like this?” the woman asked him.

“It’s a long story, Lieutenant,” he said as he picked one of the dead guards’ rifles and walked over to her cell. He raised the rifle and fired at the lock mechanism and the cell door opened.

“And who’s this?” she asked,” gesturing to Meia.

“My name is Meia Gisborn,” she said to the woman in the armor.

“Lieutenant Julia Marks,” the woman said.

“Captain, we’re picking up a transmission,” Ezra reported. “It’s audio only.”

“Put it on,” Magno replied.

“Roger,” she said.

“This is… we are in need of assistance… damaged, respond.” the voice said.

“It’s coming from that shuttle,” BC said, bringing up a fuzzy image of a black shuttle.

“They appear to be in need of assistance,” Magno said. “Allow them to dock.”

“Captain, are you sure that’s wise,” BC commented. “We don’t know who they are.”

“I know,” Magno replied. “But we’ll find out, let them know they have permission to dock.”

The ruse had worked, they just got the signal to dock, they just found their way in. Major Owens nodded to the pilot of the small craft. He turned to face his men.

“Alright, once we dock, prepare to engage, our primary objective is to secure the bridge.”

“Yes, sir!” they responded in unison.

Chapter Nineteen done. And as always, your feedback is appreciated.