Disclaimer: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I don’t own Vandread.
Vandread: The Unknown Soldier
Chapter Four: Calm
Location: Men’s Quarters, Nirvana
“And this is where you’ll be staying for the time being,” said the young woman known as Meia, as Aidan scanned the room.
The room was very Spartan, with a toilet, sink, and a fold-out metal panel that serves as a bed. When he looked over, he noticed that Meia had already gone off to do something else. He set both of the duffel bags he was carrying down onto the floor.
“Hey there,” a male voice said as he turned around. The man was bald and was apparently wearing a tan military uniform. He held out his hand. “Bart Garsus.”
“Aidan Mercer,” he said as he shook his hand.
-
Finally rid of her spacesuit and into some fresh clothes, Maria noticed that the red-haired girl she saw earlier approaching her. She really wanted to go home, she really wanted to see her father again. But she knew that she never would, as she had seen him being gunned down by a group of soldiers. She had almost received the same fate, if not for the quick actions of Captain Mercer. Her mood suddenly got a little darker.
“Hey,” the red-head said. “I’m Dita Liebely.”
“Maria… Maria Shakov,” she managed to reply.
“Well, Maria, I’m glad to meet you,” Dita said cheerfully. “I was just going down to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat, wanna come along?” she asked.
Her mood started to lighten a little bit. It seems Dita’s cheerfulness was getting through to her. Maybe home could wait, maybe she could learn to like this place.
“Sure, why not,” she replied smiling.
-
“Well, BC, do you think he’s telling the truth?” Magno asked as BC looked at the data on the disc Aidan had given them.
“The information appears genuine, Captain. I’d say he is telling the truth,” BC replied.
“Then why didn’t the rest of the fleet arrive at the same point that the Artemis did?” Magno said, naming the ship that Aidan and Maria arrived on.
“Well, he did say the coordinates were thrown off just before the ship jumped,” BC said.
“Which means that the fleet they were supposed to rendezvous with is not too far away from this system..”
“If I had to make a guess, I’d say yes.”
“Well, I guess it’s time to inform the whole crew as to who they are and why they’re here,” Magno said.
-
“What’s that you’re eating?” Aidan asked Bart, pointing to the box he was holding.
“Oh, it’s a special nutrition tablet, wanna try one?” Bart offered him.
Aidan took one of the white and red tablets and popped it into his mouth. A few seconds later, he spat it out.
“What in the hell is this crap! This stuff makes rations taste good,” Aidan said as he walked out into the corridor.
“Where are you going?” Bart asked.
“I’m going to get some real food,” he replied, not looking back.
-
Maria picked up her tray and followed Dita to a table. She put her tray on the table and sat down across from Dita. She picked up her spoon and scooped up some rice, and brought it up to her mouth.
“So Maria, I’d to know more about you and where you live,” Dita said.
“Well, as you know, I come from a planet called Solaris,” she said after she took another bite of her chicken and rice. “And I am the daughter of the former Prime Minister, which was the leader of the planet.” Deciding that she wanted to no longer talk about herself, she decided that she would talk about Solaris.
“I know you saw a hologram of Solaris, but it’s not as dull when you look at it from orbit,” she said, taking a bite of chicken.
“Wow, I’d like to see it someday,” Dita said.
-
Hibiki casually walked into the hangar. He was headed towards his Vanguard to perform some maintenance. He stopped when noticed several machines standing alongside the Vanguards. They were coloured olive drab, the armour was angled, unlike a Vanguard’s rounded armour. The head contained a red visor unlike the Cyclops eye of the Vanguard.
He walked over to Gascogne, who was standing at the foot of the one closest to his Vanguard.
“Hey, what are these things? They don’t look like Vanguards to me,” he said.
“I don’t know exactly what they are called, but we recovered them from that wreck of a ship,” she replied, still looking up at one of them.
“They are called Strikers,” a voice from behind them said. They both turned around to see Aidan standing there.
“Oh, it’s you,” Hibiki said.
“These are the newest addition to the Solaris Federation’s military,” Aidan explained. “They were originally built to combat the Earth forces, but instead arrived too late, although they did see action once the civil war erupted.”
“Interesting, but none of them could ever stand up to my partner,” he said with a hint of pride, pointing to the gold Vanguard sitting on the far edge of the hangar.
“Quite,” Aidan replied.
“Do you know how to pilot one of them?” Gascogne said.
“I had some training on it,” he replied.
“Good, then why don’t you show us what a Striker can do,” she said with a smirk on her face.
-
Meia walked into the empty conference room, she needed to get everything ready for the new Dread pilots that were transferring over from their main base next week. She walked over to the console and brought up a few of the basic training formations that they would be using to integrate the new recruits with the veteran pilots already on board. She continued to work for the next several minutes until the door to the room opened and Misty walked in.
“Oh, it’s just you Misty,” Meia said as she looked up from the console.
“What are you up to, dear sister?” Misty asked.
“I’m getting everything ready for when the new pilots come on board next week,” she said as she input something into the console.
“Do you need anything?” Misty asked.
“No, but thanks for asking,” she replied.
“Alright then, I’ll leave you to your work,” Misty said as she walked through the doors.
-
Aidan sat in the cockpit of the Striker he was going to use for the demonstration. He initiated the start-up sequence, and felt the engine come online. He checked all of the controls and made sure he strapped in. He keyed his communication system.
“This is Aidan, ready to launch,” he said as he gripped the controls.
Immediately his Striker felt like it was thrown from the Nirvana by a giant hand. He stopped his Striker at a safe distance from the ship.
“This is Aidan, I’m ready to begin.”
“This is Gascogne, please stand by.”
The targets started to appear on his sensors, and he located and targeted the first one. He raised the long-range rifle and settled the crosshairs over the first target. He thumbed the trigger and grinned in satisfaction as the first target was shattered by the heavy armour-piercing round.
He continued dispatching the targets as they appeared one by one. Then the next set of targets were deployed. These targets could move via thrusters and had the capability to fire powered-down shots at him.
He released the rifle and pulled out the vibrosword from it’s position on the left hip. The vibrosword is a hard alloy sword equipped with a small sonic generator in the hilt. The high frequency vibrations cause the blade to vibrate at high speed for improved damage over a regular sword. He immediately activated his back-mounted thrusters and accelerated towards the first target, slicing it in half. He flew in towards the next one, avoided it’s fire as he took it out as well. He continued the process until all of the targets were eliminated, then went back to the Nirvana to dock his Striker.
As he got out of the cockpit, he saw Gascogne standing at the foot of the mecha. He walked over to her.
“Impressive,” she said. “I think we may a use for this,” she said as she looked up at the Striker again.
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Chapter Four is finished. Just so you know, the Striker looks a lot like an Armoured Shrike from Blue Gender. Please Read Review.