Chapter 1: A New Crew Member

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Ace Combat series.

The Odyssey of Discovery: Gryphus 1 The Second Stage

Vandread Dita leads the Dreads, Tianlong and Gryphus Squadron against the Harvesters.

Hibiki declared, "No way these ways fools are gonna beat us! They got another thing coming!" Suddenly they see specks of light appearing out of the blackness of space.

Jura asked, "What is that?" The concealed enemy unit fires twin beams of energy at Vandread Dita, blowing off its right arm.

Hibiki looks to his right to witness Meia and Jura's Dread, Tianlong and Gryphus Squadron's aircraft get severely damaged and the pilots were unresponsive.

The young Tarak growled, "Damn you!" He aims the Vandread's remaining laser cannon, it charges up at first but then dies. The enemy damages Vandread Dita more and then switches to the Nirvana. Hibiki watches in horror as their home gets destroyed by their ruthless opponent. One final hit destroys Vandread Dita.

Kyle shoots up from his laying position screaming, sweating profusely and panting heavily. He feels a slender hand touch his shoulder making him whip around to see Meia looking at him with concerned eyes, she woke up when Kyle screamed.

Meia asked, "Kyle, what's wrong? You screamed without warning."

The Aurelian replied, "Don't know if it was a dream or some kind of premonition. Did you have it too?" He saw her nod, "What do you think it could mean?"

Meia answered, "Don't know. It was just a dream, Kyle."

Kyle sighed, "I hope so, Meia. Might as well get up since that dream robbed us of beauty sleep." Meia leans forward to kiss him and they get out of bed. Kyle allows Meia to shower first and once she is done, Kyle takes his turn. They next get dress. Meia steps out of the pink nightgown and into her flight suit, zipping it up and puts her circlet on.

Kyle dons some blue jeans secured by a dark brown belt, black T-shirt, socks and white Adidas shoes. He puts his circlet on the right side of his face as part of his oath of wanting to change and no longer felt afraid of showing his artificial left arm, though one couldn't tell if it was because the surgeons did an excellent job replicating it from the real hand, skin and all. It was only until the synthetic skin was cut or scraped enough to show its metallic appearance.

They head for the hanger since Kyle had a feeling the other Dread pilots and Hibiki will be there.

In the hanger, Hibiki stares at his Vanguard as he struggles to grasp on the dream he experienced moments ago.

He mumbled, "That light, what the heck was it?"

Dita called out, "Mr. Alien?" Hearing the girl's voice Hibiki turns around to spot the pilots wearing troubled looks on their faces.

Hibiki asked them, "What is it? What are you doing up so early?" There was a tinge of fear in his voice, not that anyone could blame him.

Meia said, "It was trying to communicate with us. Sending us a message, at that's what it felt like to me."

The Vanguard pilot asked in surprise, "Are you saying you the same thing I did?"

Dita asked, "That means you saw it too?" Kyle looks at the redhead with a deadpanned expression on his face.

'Didn't she hear what Meia said?' He thought.

Jura said, "That's creepy. How can all of us have the same dream at once? It's really weird!"

Meia explained, "All of us here have something in common. The modifications to the Dreads, Vanguard and the aircraft that Gryphus Squadron flies are the proof."

Jura added, "That's still weird. Having the same dream like that is...oh!" She stops when she felt her head throb painfully.

Dita asked, "Jura, are you okay?"

The blonde-haired woman replied, "It's nothing, Dita. I'm going back to bed." The pilots watch her leave and go their separate ways.

Parfet runs to the engine room after receiving urgent news from a fellow engineer.

She asked, "How is it?"

The engineer said, "Not good. Output's decreasing and the numbers aren't stabilizing!"

Parfet asked again, "When did it start happening?"

The engineer replied, "About ten minutes ago."

Parfet stated, "This Paksis was the prototype, I have no way of predicting what it's going to do." She looked at the Paksis, "You're a trouble maker, you know that?" Hibiki wanders through the hallway, his mind still processing on what the dream meant.

'I know it was a dream but it felt so real. What could it mean?' He thought, touching his shoulder.

Dita said, "Mr. Alien!" The Vanguard turns around to see the redhead running up to him.

Hibiki asked, "What do you want now?"

Dita twirled her fingers inside her pajama sleeves, "Well, I was wondering when you'd have time to come visit my room. You made a promise, remember?"

Hibiki blushed, "Dita, look at the situation we're in! We are fighting an enemy that's utterly ruthless and you expect me to visit room now?"

Dita pressed, "But when? Tomorrow? The day after? Or maybe the day after that?" Her closing proximity causes Hibiki to feel uncomfortable.

The Vanguard pilot said, "Sometime soon, okay?" He starts heading for the cafeteria.

Dita said, "Wait, Mr. Alien let's eat together!"

Hibiki replied, "I'll eat by myself, thanks." Meia and Kyle watch them squabble with a smile.

Paiway said, "So a new day begins: Dita chasing Hibiki." She pulled out her frog puppet, "I can't believe Dita would chase a man that's weird, ribbit."

Pyoro came out of nowhere, "Actually that's normal human behavior." He hiccups after that.

Paiway pushed him down with a tick mark, "What do you think you're doing interrupting a lady like that, how rude!" She then realized, "Hold on, I just heard you hiccup. But you're a machine, you can't hiccup." He proves her wrong by hiccuping, send the nurse off her feet. Meia looks at the scene with confusion.

Kyle shook his head, "That spying habit is going to get her into trouble some day. I'm heading to the cafeteria for breakfast. Coming, Meia?"

The Dread leader said, "Right behind you." Magno, BC and Gascogne have a meeting about the current status of their journey.

BC displayed the star map, "We're 90 days from Mejale. In regards to Operation Harvest, Earth's plan to use our bodies as a source for new organs, we've sent all the information we have regarding it to both our home planet and the men's world of Tarak."

Magno asked sternly, "Understood. But what happened to the communication pods we sent out before?"

The platinum-haired woman said, "Don't know, captain. They should have arrived by now but we have not had any reply from Mejale or Tarak."

Gascogne stated the obvious, "It looks like they don't give a shit about us otherwise they would have responded."

Magno reassured, "I'm certain they won't ignore the information we send them this time. Not after they discover that Earth plans to take our reproductive organs."

Parfet popped on the monitor at Magno's side of the desk, "Parfet reporting."

Magno asked, "Anything wrong?"

The lead engineer answered, "Afraid so. The abnormalities the Paksis was giving off earlier this morning, I have no idea what's causing it! We are continuing to follow the control procedure but so far it's not working! The readings we're receiving show the output is 80% normal!"

Magno groaned, "Not this again."

BC speculated, "We could be experiencing residual rejection effects when the female ship and male ship fused together."

Gascogne said, "Guess it feels the same way we do. Men and women are so different we'll never be able to understand each other." After breakfast Kyle brings Eugene to the simulation room in order to see how much his flying skills have improved.

Kyle watches Eugene begin the simulated fight with Fenrir once flown by Alect Squadron. Throughout the simulation, Kyle notices Eugene utilizing the same tactics he uses in actual combat the veteran pilot concludes the former AWACS only man needs to improvise because the enemy will adapt or come up with new strategies.

Eugene manages to down 2 enemy fighters before the remaining ones box him in and fired ARAAMs simultaneously at his E-3 Sentry II destroying it instantly and resulting in mission failure.

He was about to try again when Kyle stopped him, "Hold it, Eugene. While I admire your need to do the simulation again the end result will be the same. Using the same tactics over and over will only work for so long until your enemy changes strategy or comes up with new ones. In turn you must come up with new ones as well if you wish to keep your opponent off-balance. Keep them guessing what your next move will be and go for the kill when the opportunity presents itself. You may not be on the same level of skill as me or Alex but you are a good pilot. However, unless you improve your skills you won't survive. We both know Earth's pissed that we destroyed one of their flagships and will increase the ferocity of their attacks on us. Those pricks will rue the day thinking they will succeed in this harvest operation. There's something I like you to do, Eugene. Shoot me!"

Eugene asked, "What?"

Kyle nodded, "You heard me right. Aim your gun at me and fire." Eugene brings a shaky hand to his M9A1 Beretta and takes aim at his flight lead. A part of him wonders what Kyle's objective was.

Before he can pull the hammer back, Kyle pulls out his Beretta faster than anyone could blink and shoots Eugene's gun out of his hand. The weapon spins on the floor a few feet behind Eugene before it stops, looking forward the man sees the smoking barrel of Kyle's M9A1.

The Aurelian explained, "There will come a time when you might crash onto a planet that have creatures we can barely imagine, some that only exist in our nightmares. Should you come under attack by something non-friendly do not hesitate to pull the trigger. Do you understand?"

Eugene nodded, "I think so."

Kyle replied, "Good. Now go practice your marksmanship skills, Eugene you must keep them sharp. Oh, yeah one more thing. You need to be more confident in yourself, pal. If you freeze up in battle it will cost you your life." He exits the simulation room and heads for the storage area to look for more books hoping that one of them will contain information about what happened to Aurelia in their absence.

Did Diego Navarro conquer Aurelia or did something far more catastrophic happen? The more he thought about it, the more curious he got. He even asked Duero to help him since he knew the doctor's curiosity about the country increased ever since Christmas of last year.

In the brig Bart ate some pellets and said, "Women are weird. At first I thought they ate men's internal organs but after Gryphus Squadron came into the picture, I have changed my perception about them." He then noticed Duero reading some sort of book, "What's that you're reading, doc?"

Duero held the book up, "I found it on the pioneer ship." He opened the book titled "Hello Baby" and started, "The baby's life begins when the sperm which is the father's seed is accepted by the female's egg called an ovum. The two of them fuse together to form a zygote which in turn develops into a fetus."

Bart asked him, "You actually read that stuff?"

Duero smirked, "I find it fascinating."

Kyle walked into the brig, "Hello, Duero."

The doctor nodded in return, "Greetings, Kyle. Here for more books about Aurelia?"

Kyle replied, "I hope to find one that contains the information I need. You haven't had much luck on your end?"

Duero shook his head, "Sadly no." They spot Hibiki walking tiredly into the brig and collapses onto his bed making them wonder what made him like that.

In the women's restroom a couple of crew members were applying makeup.

The first one said, "It's strange, you know. I mean eating meals with them doesn't bother us anymore."

Her friend added, "Then it's revealed we all originate from the planet Earth. It's too bad Kyle has been taken because I wouldn't mind loving him despite his faults." Barnette was on her way to care of lady's business when she happened to overhear the conversation.

Barnette marched past them, "A prisoner is a prisoner, we can't go easy on them. We need to show that we're the ones in charge!" She exits through the room.

The black-haired crew member asked, "Do you think she'll start another riot? Should we talk to the captain?"

Barnett poked her head through the door, "Oh, shut up you two! I'm not gonna do anything!" She refuses to admit it but the sight of Kyle with those glowing red veins marks terrified her, the dark green-haired woman had a nightmare about it where he lost control and killed the entire Nirvana crew including her. All of them with no conscious, reason or anything remotely human. The Kyle she saw in the nightmare wasn't human he was a demon straight from the depths of hell. Barnette kept telling herself it was only a nightmare, nothing more. She needs to watch her step around him if the young woman doesn't want that nightmare to become a reality.

Back at the brig, Hibiki finishes telling Duero, Bart and Kyle about his interaction with Dita.

Duero asked, "You promised you would go to Dita's room?"

Hibiki nodded, "It came out of the heat of the moment, you know?"

Bart told him "So what's the big deal? Go and see her."

Hibiki retorted, "You go see her!"

Bart pointed at the Vanguard pilot, "You're the one who made the promise, pal not me."

Hibiki grunted before crossing his arms, "You gotta be kidding. Going to a woman's room? A real man would never do that!"

Duero explained, "What real men do is keep their promises. Your other self would have realized that."

The Vanguard pilot said, "It's not like I want to break the promise but..."

Kyle titled his head, "But what? Just spit it out, get it off your chest."

Hibiki blushed, "Look, if I go in there what are we going to do when I'm in there? I mean what are we gonna talk about?"

Bart and Duero looked at each other and said at the same time, "Good point."

Kyle chuckled, "I can think of a few but it'd most likely be casual talk. She wants to get to know you better, Hibiki. Man up, would you? Think of this as a step to becoming a better person."

Hibiki thought about it and sighed, "Okay, I'll think about it." On the Nirvana's bridge, the radar picks up an object.

Amarone said, "Commander, I'm picking up a distress signal."

BC asked, "What type? Is it the Harvest?"

Amarone replied, "No it's not from the Earth's fleet, it's a different frequency. It's coming from an escape pod but that signal has not been used since the Frontier Era!"

BC turned to Magno, "Perhaps it was escaping the forces of Earth and was letting out a distress signal hoping someone would pick it up."

Magno answered, "Something doesn't feel right. We need to be cautious on this one." She then contacted, "Parfet!"

The lead engineer popped on a monitor, "Yes, captain?"

Magno asked her, "How's the Paksis doing?"

Parfet smiled, "Stabilized somehow."

The pirate captain nodded, "Carry on." She then contacted Bart, "You there, break time's over!"

Bart sighed, "Aye-aye, captain." The monitor closes after the transmission ends.

Magno leaned back into her seat, "Now we'll see how this plays out." At the infirmary, Duero does a checkup on Ezra's baby using an ultrasound.

Paiway gasped, "Wow, it's really moving!"

Duero said, "This is the last month so they could separate at any time."

Ezra smiled, "Separating? We call it giving birth."

Paiway asked her, "Where do you want your baby, Ezra? We don't have the facilities for such an event but consider we have a guy..." She gives Duero a suggestive look.

Duero cleared his throat, "I'm a doctor and as such I have knowledge about pregnancy." Ezra and Paiway sweat drop at his proclamation.

Jura walked into the infirmary, "Doctor, can I have something for my headache?"

Duero turned in his chair, "What's wrong?"

Jura said, "It all started with that dream."

The doctor cupped his chin, "A dream? Come to think of it, Hibiki mentioned he did have a similar dream the Paksis has been action up. Can they be related somehow?"

Jura felt her head throb and demanded, "My head's killing me, can I please have some medicine?" She noticed Ezra, "Sorry I didn't mean to yell?"

Duero got up, "It's alright. Please have a seat while I find the proper medicine."

Jura sat down and looked at the ultrasound smiling, "Your baby's grown." The blonde-haired Dread pilot spots the Hello Baby book and takes it.

On the bridge, BC stares at the monitor displaying the Nirvana's distance to the escape pod.

She said, "The fact that we're receiving a distress signal means we might have to go into combat at any moment. I want all systems thoroughly checked in a combat ready status report."

Celtic swung around and saluted, "Roger!" She cut out the face of her teddy bear costume.

BC observed the change of look, "I suppose this is an improvement."

Celtic titled her head, "You do?" Barnette shoots the targets in the shooting room, stops for a moment to reload and continues firing.

Eugene practices as well on Kyle's order.

Jura was sitting down and said without warning, "You know, Barnette I wanna have a baby." The announcement caused Barnette and Eugene to miss their final target.

Barnette exclaimed, "What?! A baby?"

Jura smiled, "Yeah."

The dark green-haired woman asked, "And you want me to Ohma, is that it?"

Jura shook her head, "No. Think of what it'd be like to have a baby with a man?" Barnette gasps at that.

'Suddenly I feel extremely uncomfortable.' Eugene thought.

Jura stood up, "That's what I want, Barnette making a baby with a man's seed. Think of going back to Mejale with that news, Barnette. No Mejalian has ever done it before. I would be the first one, I would be Mejale's greatest heroine!" She looks at Barnette with starry eyes and floating hearts.

The dark green-haired woman sighed, "That sounds like something you would do, Jura." She then gave Jura a nervous look, "So this seed, where would you get it? I don't think Mia would forgive you if you did it with Alex, Meia would probably demote you for doing it with Kyle and I'm sure Dita wouldn't be too happy if you were pregnant with Hibiki's child."

Jura glanced at Eugene with a sensual smile, "Care to try it out, Eugene?"

Eugene closed his eyes to calm himself and told her, "Raising a child is not easy like it's portrayed as in movies, Jura. It's a serious commitment. Besides even if we did...do it, there isn't a 100% chance you would get pregnant the first time around. Another factor is there's a 50/50 chance the baby will be a girl. I'm not ready for that kind of responsibility. You should think about this hard." The alarm goes off as the Nirvana obtains the escape pod's coordinates.

The fighters head out and protect the Reg ship while it commences with the retrieval.

Gryphus 1 relayed the information he received from the Archangel, "There's a life form inside the pod, commander. It appears someone escaped from the Harvest. I recommend we recover the pod and get the hell out of here! My gut's telling me the enemy approaching us took from a different flagship and the main fleet has advanced longer than we thought."

BC replied, "Good point."

Hibiki approached the pod, "Here I am. I'll take care of it." The Reg ship's arms grab hold of the pod.

Gascogne grinned, "That's my line." She looked at her radar, "Perfect timing." The fighters head for the Nirvana when Catherine spots a cube-type aiming for the Reg ship.

She warned, "Gascogne, watch out!" The cube-type fires at the arms, destroying them.

Gascogne growled, "How did they get under us so easily?" Gryphus 1 engages the cube-types and readies the AMRAAM when they pull away in speeds never witnessed by the crew.

Barnette noticed it when her Dread took a hit, "They're a lot faster than the last bunch of cube-types!" Gryphus 1 activates Fenrir's Optical Camouflage, blending the aircraft with the background of space.

Still having the AMRAAM selected he waits for the missile lock to turn red, when it does he fires 4 missiles. One cube-type shoots the missiles down with improved firing rate taking Gryphus 1 by surprise.

'So it seems you guys are finally growing a CPU in those little bodies, huh?' He thought.

He enters gun range and fires the plane's machine guns at the cube-types the bullets cut through them like paper. Detecting MiG-29 Fulcrums, Gryphus 1 turns to his 5 o'clock and begins the dogfight with them. Out of the corner of his eye he spots a pair of cube-types grab hold of the pod and escape the battlefield.

Amarone informed, "Captain, the enemy has taken off with the escape pod!"

BC asked in surprise, "What? Do you mean they're not after us?"

Magno smirked, "Well, this is certainly an unexpected turn of events. If that pod is so important to Earth that they are willing to ignore us then we've got to get it back."

Hibiki said, "That pod's ours, we found it first! Give it back!" 4 cube-types surround him and attack the Vanguard until Meia does a pass-by and annihilates them with her Dread's laser cannons.

She suggested, "Hibiki we should combine now, it will help us out." They move in to fuse their machines together when a red beam comes out of nowhere and screams past them.

Hibiki gasped, "What's that red light?"

Meia instructed as she tried rebooting her Dread's systems, "The pod. You have to get the pod and return to the Nirvana now!"

Hibiki nodded, "Right!" Gryphus 2 flies alongside Mia as they take on a swarm of MiG-31s.

Gryphus 2 fires his F-22's Vulcan Gatling cannon at a MiG-31 in front of him, downing it with ease before evading another MiG-31's cannon. Swinging around he arms the Sidewinder and fires it after the missile detects the fighter's heat signature, the heat-seeker hits the MiG-31's underbelly like a javelin. Hearing the radar warning Gryphus 2 stares at the HUD and spots a familiar signature closing fast.

A voice said, "Missed me, boy?"

Gryphus 2 creased his eyebrows, "Francesca. I had a feeling you'd be the one who planned this attack. Your desire to kill Gryphus 1 is as strong as ever."

Francesca grinned maliciously, "Yes, it is. Where is he by the way? He never skips out of a fight."

Gryphus 1 said, "I was wondering when you'd show your face again, Francesca. Gryphus 2, help Mia out. Francesca is mine." A pair of AMRAAM missiles shoot down the cube-types that were secretly closing on Mia's 6 o'clock and flies through the conjoined fireball but the Optical Camouflage prevents it from being seen.

Gryphus 2 acknowledged, "Understood, sir. Be careful." He turns left to let his flight lead deal with the psychotic woman.

Crux finds himself being ambushed by a huge group of cube-types, pulling every maneuver he knows to avoid getting hit but these faster models have no problem keeping up. Seeing the enemies coming from all directions he releases an electromagnetic pulse that disables the cube-types and flies out of the swarm. Switching to the AMRAAM he gains the maximum 4 missile locks and sends the missiles on their way downing 4 cube-types and chains it with the Vulcan Gatling cannons bagging an additional 5 kills. However, there seemed to be no end to these guys as though they keep regenerating.

Tianlong Squadron fight side by side against the cube-types firing their planes' autocannon, the bullets form an X pattern trashing any Harvest unit that gets caught. They keep their moves tight and guarded any openings. However, Catherine and Mori feel that the squad was incomplete without Chang. Ignoring the agonizing pain his death brought, the two continue engaging the Harvest.

Jura finishes combining her Dread with Hibiki's Vanguard and secures the pod within Vandread Jura's shield.

The blonde-haired woman flicked her hair, "Ta-da! Am I good or what?"

Hibiki said, "Better late than never, I guess."

Jura brought her seat next to Hibiki's, a little too close and said, "Listen, Hibiki."

The Tarak teen asked in trepidation, "What do you want, Jura?"

Jura purred, "I wanna have a baby, will you give me what I need?" Hibiki's face turns red and starts sweating bullets.

He finally blurted out, "Look we're surrounded by the enemy! This isn't the place for that kind of talk!" Jura laughed at the young lad's embarrassment.

Meia ordered, "Hibiki, Jura, return to the Nirvana. The enemy's in observation mode so we'll..." She stopped when a familiar light appeared out of the darkness, "That light!" The unidentified enemy fires twin lasers at the Vandread's shield and causes it to defuse.

Amarone informed, "Vandread Jura defused!"

BC asked, "What did you say?"

Belvedere explained, "I'm not really sure, commander but when that beam hit Vandread Jura it caused it to defuse." Gryphus 1 enjoyed the frustration he is causing to Francesca she hadn't expected him to have a second fighter jet at his disposal. Plus the fact that Fenrir was cloaked made it more satisfying.

She growled, "Damn you, fight me fair and square!"

Gryphus 1 laughed rather hauntingly, "No, I like screwing with your mind. It makes me happy considering the fact that you fucked my life up." He fires Fenrir's machine guns at the X-2 Wyvern leaving holes in the plane's air frame. Couple more rounds or one missile and the Gryphus 1 would have the retribution he desired.

That chance is robbed from him as the damaged X-2 releases an electromagnetic pulse that disables Fenrir long enough for Francesca to exit the battlefield.

Francesca seethed, "You caught me by surprise this time, Gryphus 1 but rest assured it won't happen again!" Gryphus 1 clenches the joystick tightly his prey escaped its fate just when it seemed victory was at hand. No matter her time will come soon enough.

After recovering from the attack, Hibiki searched the area, "The pod! Where is it?" His eyes spotted it in front of him, "There it is, I'm going after it." He begins to head for the target when cube-types box him in.

Dita flew in exclaiming, "Stop it!" She combines her blue Dread with the Vanguard to form Vandread Dita and secures the pod in its hand.

Hibiki grinned, "Alright!"

Dita said, "Mission accomplished. Are we good or what?"

Meia told them, "There will be time for celebration later. Get back here at once."

Dita saluted, "Roger!" Meia smiles at her friend's antics and then spots the enemy Harvest unit that fired those red lasers come into view.

It was shaped like a sting ray, had tentacle-like appendages and twin rows of sharp teeth.

It shoots lasers from its eyes and hits Vandread Dita. The normal shiny armor changes to a red color.

Dita said, "Mr. Alien, the right arm! It's just like..."

The nightmare or premonition they had flashed through Hibiki's mind, "Are you saying that's gonna come true?" Inside the helm, Bart feels every ruthless barrage the sting ray unit sent his way.

Bart grimaced, "It never hurt this much before I don't know how much longer I can stand it! Hey engineering, what the hell is going on down there?"

Parfet appeared on the monitor, "That's what I would like to know! The Paksis seems to effected by that red light almost like it's scared of it!"

Pyoro hovered over, "Forbidden existence. Dangerous to approach but they call each other, almost chilling to imagine."

An engineer asked, "Parfet, what's wrong with him? It's almost like it is drunk."

Parfet answered, "I don't know but it's almost like a living thing. Can they be connected somehow?" The sting ray approaches Vandread Dita and the pilots, not interested of being harvested, attaches the laser cannon to the good arm and takes aim but the laser cannon turns red in response.

Hibiki wondered, "What's going here?"

Dita said, "We can't move!"

On the Nirvana's bridge Amarone said, "The main enemy is approaching Vandread Dita! It seems to be effected by that red light and is using all of its energy just to maintain its current form!" The sting ray wraps its tentacle-like appendages around Vandread Dita pulling it toward its open mouth.

Jura said in fear, "We're done for!"

As the Vandread neared the mouth, Hibiki glared at it, "Dreams are real when we're asleep but I am not sleeping and the fact is that I'll never let you pricks win! Never!" Hearing the pilot's defiant speech, Vandread Dita recovers its power and breaks free, driving the laser cannon into the sting ray's mouth and fires. The enemy unit explodes and for a moment Meia thought her friends were caught in the blast. Those fears were put to rest when she sees Vandread Dita flying towards the Nirvana with the pod in its hands.

Meia sighed in relief, "He's reckless but he gets it done."

Gryphus 2 shrugged, "But that's what we love about him. He thinks outside the box."

Inside the cockpit of the blue Vandread, Dita said, "We did it! I'm so happy! As long as we fight together, nothing can stop us. Right, Mr. Alien?"

Hibiki struggled to say, "I...uh...well..."

Dita blinked, "What was that? I didn't hear you."

Hibiki blushed, "Nothing." He looked away mumbling, "I still don't know what to talk about. Not a clue." Later that day, Parfet works to get the pod open.

She said, "Almost...there. Got it!" With a hiss of cold air the pod opens up revealing its occupant.

It was a girl in her early teens, had blue hair tied in a high ponytail, wore a sleeveless yellow white trimmed bodysuit, triangular earrings and had some kind of capsule in her hands.

Dita asked, "Is it an alien?"

Parfet shook her head, "I'm sorry, Dita she is every bit as human as we are."

The redhead said in disappointment, "I see." Hibiki hops up and down to see what was going on but the poor lad's short height made it difficult so he forces his way through.

The momentum sends him careening towards the pod and would have fallen in had he not caught himself in time.

The mysterious girl stares at him with red irises and some sort of blob hologram appears out of the left earring.

Hibiki asked, "What's that?"

The girl said, "It's you. You saved me! Thank you, my lord prince!" She hugs Hibiki.

Barnette started, "Lord..."

Jura finished, "...prince?"

This embrace caused a spark of jealousy in Dita, "Hey!"

Paiway wrote down notes in her little book, "Things are getting interesting. A red circle check for sure!"

'The crew continues to grow bigger.' Kyle thought sighing.

A/N: Chapter 1 of the second stage done.

Hibiki, Dita, Jura, Meia and Kyle shared a dream where they got destroyed by an unknown beam of light. They wondered if it some kind of message the Paksis sent them.

Kyle gave Eugene some advice on the dangers of using the same tactics constantly and so far hasn't found any information about what happened to Aurelia after Gryphus Squadron's disappearance.

Eugene told Jura that raising a child isn't easy and that she needs to think about it because he certainly isn't ready for that kind responsibility yet.

Kyle and Francesca had a rematch and Kyle used Fenrir's unique design to his advantage, causing immense frustration to Francesca. She barely escaped and only delayed the inevitable. Her time is coming.

Now before tells me, I have looked on the Ace Combat Wiki and there was hardly any information about Fenrir's weaponry save for the AMRAAM and machine guns. But it makes sense giving the fact its development was kept secret. Also the prototype that the Aurelian amphibious unit obtained didn't have the Optical Camouflage or the High-Power Microwave weapon it has when you face the actual ones in the final mission of the game.

Read and review.

Stay tuned for chapter 2.

Vader 23A