Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread.
The Perfect Weapon
Chapter Two: The Man With No Past
Location: Main Cargo Bay, Pirate Base
He could hear noises, and as his hearing came into focus, the noises he’d heard were people talking. He slowly sat up, looking around, seeing a whole lot of people standing around, mostly women, all staring at him.
“Look! He’s awake!” one woman exclaimed.
He did not know where he was, he did not know who these people were, so he asked, “Where am I?”
This time it was an old woman who spoke up. “You were drifting in space, until one of our pilots found you. You are currently in the Tarak/Mejale system.”
“What…?” he wondered, not getting any of it.
“If I may ask, who are you?” the old woman said.
“Who am I?” he echoed, seemingly unable to bring up any memories as to who he might be. “I don’t know…”
Not long after he said that, an aching pain surged through his head, and he collapsed into unconsciousness.
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Location: Infirmary, Nirvana
“So, how’s our guest, Doctor?” Magno asked as she stepped into the infirmary.
“So far, he hasn’t awakened yet after he collapsed,” Duero, the ship’s doctor, replied. “His vital signs are stable, and he appears in good health.”
“But he doesn’t have any memory,” Magno stated.
“We haven’t found any records pertaining to him yet, and he apparently doesn’t know who he is,” Duero said. “There is something else unusual about him, as well.”
“And what would that be?” Magno asked.
“After running preliminary scans on him, I found out that his right arm, as well as his right eye, are not real,” Duero answered.
“You mean they’re fake?” she said.
Duero nodded. “They appear to be advanced prosthetics. How he lost an arm and an eye I don’t know, but the technology used to create them is pretty advanced.”
“Well,” Magno said as she looked at the young man. “We’ve sure got us one heck of a mystery on our hands.”
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Location: Rear Hangar, Nirvana
The several meter tall humanoid machine slowed its gait as neared the docking cradle. The Kusanagi Model Vanguard stopped in front of it, and turned its back to the cradle. Slowly, it backed into the cradle, instructed by a female tech from the deck. Once secure, the cockpit hatch opened, allowing the pilot inside to exit his machine.
Once on the deck, Nikolai looked up at his machine. Different from the ones that fought against the Harvesters in that final, climactic battle, and far superior to the old Tsukumo Model Vanguards. It was also different from the model his teammates used, as it was specifically tailored to be a command vehicle. Instead of the single, ‘cyclops-eye’, it had a visor that provided better overall view for the pilot. It was also fitted with better communications equipment, but where it really shined was in its weapons systems.
As the Vanguards were originally meant to be close-combat machines, they lacked any sort of effective ranged weapons. In other words, most Vanguards did not equip guns. Due to the need for tactical flexibility, these new models incorporated guns, and also had several hand weapons designed along that line. Part of the reason for this was to help bridge the firepower gap with the Dreads, which were typically far better armed. The other was to deliver capable firepower against the Harvesters’ weapons.
Unlike the other four machines under his command, his had several integral weapon systems built into its overall design. Each forearm contained a rapid-fire machine gun, and over its right shoulder was an electromagnetic rail gun. A relatively new weapon, it used a series of electromagnets lining the inside of the barrel to fire a solid slug at over twice the muzzle velocity of any conventional shell-firing weapon. Also, its right arm could be fitted with rapid-fire, multi-barrel auto cannon for heavy firepower. That didn’t count the handheld or close-combat weapons the machine could use. Overall, a very-well armed machine with good maneuverability.
“Looks impressive, doesn’t it?” Nikolai asked the person who was just now coming up behind him.
“Sure does,” Hibiki replied.
He had first met Hibiki when he and several others were asked to search for men for the so-called ‘cohabitation’ experiment. With sightings from the Harvesters on the fringe of their system, the leaders of Tarak and Mejale slightly revised this experiment. Instead of sending men selected by the envoys, they chose a crack Tarak military unit to send instead. They would still perform this experiment, but their primary reason was military reinforcement. Nikolai believed it was also due to some political maneuvering the Prime Minister, as he probably wanted to include Tarakian military personnel, so as to not to let the women take all of the credit for any possible victories.
Nikolai turned to face Hibiki. “This machine is currently only one of two currently in existence.”
“What about the other ones?” Hibiki asked, still looking up at the machine. “Why do they look different from yours?”
“Because this one was designed for use by commanders,” Nikolai replied almost instantly. “The other four are just for typical soldier use.”
“I see,” Hibiki said. “I would like to see how it performs.”
“I think I might be able to arrange that,” Nikolai replied with a faint smile.
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Location: Infirmary, Nirvana
Where am I? That thought raced through his mind as regained consciousness. Slowly, he opened his eyes, only to be met by the harsh glare of the sickbay lights. Squinting, he brought his right arm up and used his hand as a shield to block the light. It was then that he noticed something awkward. He sat up, looking at his left arm, flexing it to make sure. He then flexed his right arm. Something didn’t feel right, his right arm looked just like his left, moved just like his left, but it didn’t feel real.
“I see you’re awake, ribbit,” a young girl’s voice suddenly said.
Startled by the sudden voice, he snapped his head over to where it originated. His sudden reaction caused her to jump back slightly. “Who are you?” he asked.
“I’m Paiway, who are you?” the young girl replied.
“I don’t know…” he said, trailing off.
“You don’t know? How come? Ribbit,” the little girl named Paiway asked, holding up a puppet of some sort, he wasn‘t sure what it was.
“I told you, I don’t know who I am, I can’t even remember my name,” he said. “Why are you asking these questions?”
“Just curious,” Paiway replied.
“Right,” he replied, then noticed someone else enter the room.
“Oh, so you’re finally awake,” the old woman from before said upon seeing him sitting up.
“You’re the woman from before,” he said upon noticing her. “What is this place? Where am I?”
“My name is Magno Vivan,” the old woman said. “I am the leader of this group of pirates, and this is our ship, the Nirvana. But even though we are pirates, I assure you, you’re safe here with us, we have no intention of harming you, young man.”
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Location: Training Area Outside Pirate Base
“You can begin any time you’re ready,” Meia said over the comm.
“Understood,” Nikolai replied, tightening the grip on his Vanguard’s controls.
First off, there were several targets floating within his range of sight. He brought up his machine’s right arm, with it’s underslung autocannon, took aim at the first target, and fired. Several armor-piercing rounds spewed out of the multi-barreled weapon in just a few seconds, literally shredding the target apart. He switched targets, hitting each one in turn. It wasn’t long before there were no more targets.
“Ready for Phase Two,” he said.
“Understood,” Meia replied. “Activating combat drones.”
The second phase of the exercise was a live combat exercise. He had to fight and destroy ten drones, which closely resembled the basic cube-type robots of the Harvesters. That was accomplished, thanks mostly in part to the pirates’ capture of one of their flagships. Even though that ship was destroyed near the end of the battle against the Harvesters, they had ample technology to create near-replicas.
Suddenly, two cube-drones rapidly approached him, he dispatched them easily enough with bursts from his AC. A third one attempted to flank him from the left, and he shot it down with a sustained burst from his left forearm machinegun. He boosted out of the way of one that was rapidly approaching him from below. Moving out of its way, he blasted it apart as it passed where he used to be.
The rail gun slid from its stored position on the Vanguard’s back to its firing position over the right shoulder. He evaded the fifth one, waiting for the weapon to charge. He took aim, and fired. The only telltale sign of the weapon’s discharge was silver-blue flash, it hit it’s target a split second later, coring it. He dispatched the next two with the rail gun as well. For a split second, he let his guard down, and one of the drones slammed into him, jarring the cockpit. It was followed a few seconds later by the last two, pinning him in place.
Realizing he couldn’t get his machine free, he moved his right arm just enough to where the barrels of his autocannon pointed at the legs of the one pinning him from the front, and pressed the firing stud. The resulting burst sheared the drone’s skimpy legs off, allowing him to kick the disabled drone away. He used the autocannon as a club and knocked another away, then ejected the weapon from his machine’s arm.
With his Vanguard’s right arm free, he drew the sword that was stored on the hip, stabbing it through the one that still had a grip on his machine. The one that had been knocked away came at him again, and he used the one he ran his sword though as a shield, ramming it into the final one. With a burst from his left forearm gun, he finished it off.
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Location: Pilot Briefing Room, Nirvana
In the briefing room, almost all of the pilots were there, watching the exercise being performed by Lieutenant Nikolai Rayder. The four pilots under the Lieutenant were also present, observing his performance on the screen. After seeing the spectacular way he dispatched the last one, most of the pilots were impressed at his skill, although some felt differently.
“Impressive,” Rick Sanders said under his breath as Nikolai finished off the final drone.
“This the first time you saw the Lieutenant fight?” Arden Krueger asked.
“Yes sir,” he replied to the well-built Sergeant’s question.
“Just like the Lieutenant to show off,” Neo remarked.
Arden gave Neo a stern glance, but the blue-haired man didn’t seem to notice. Arden didn’t like the man, but his inclusion in this group had only to do with his skill as a pilot. If it weren’t for that, and that alone, he, or the Lieutenant would’ve already booted him out of this squad. Ian Frost, the last of the group, was the only one who hadn’t said a word. His cold, ice blue eyes were still on the screen. Most of the time, he swore that man had no emotion whatsoever.
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Leaning against the wall in the back, Rena watched the Lieutenant take on and defeat the drones with what appeared to be hardly any effort. From the first time she’d met him in the hangar, she had a strange feeling about him, one she did not like. There wasn’t something right about him. She just wanted to chalk it up to bad memories, but something told her it might not be that. She just wasn’t sure. Having seen enough of the exercise, she got up off the wall and walked out of the room.
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Well, here’s Chapter Two for you. Hopefully, I can update A Renewed War sometime before Friday. Feel free to review, if you want