Chapter One: Infiltration
Surface of planet Tarak
Launching platform of the Ikazuchi flagship.
The Prime Minister of Tarak finally arrived at his closing statement. He stared out proudly over the sea of eager faces before him, each clad in the sand colored uniform of the Tarak military. With this force of fresh soldiers, and the new vastly upgraded Ikazuchi at his command, there was no doubt in his mind that this would be the beginning of the end for the vile Mejere.
At the back of the assembly, there was a brief silent scuffle, completely unnoticed by anyone else. One unfortunate cadet vanished for a moment and was replaced quickly by another man wearing the luckless cadet's uniform. He paused for a moment to adjust the standard-issue military beret over his blazing orange hair, pulling it down so that it rested at a rakish angle, covering his right eye. He flicked the four spikes of hair dangling over the left side of his face, so they came to just above his eye, and sighed.
"Guy's so pompous and full of himself, a freaking full scale riot could probably break out down here and he'd just plow right on." He muttered.
He stared up at the dim, smog-obscured sky with piercing blue eyes. A black silhouette flitted through the pollution above him, damn near impossible to spot unless you were looking for it in the first place. He allowed a small smile to flicker across his face. His brother was en route to the Ikazuchi and his designated location. In the front ranks stood a tall man with long black hair, his face betraying no sign of emotion as he listened to the Prime Minister's speech. He seemed to exude an aura of calm collectedness that was unfazed by anything around him. Two rows back, a blonde haired man also listened to the Prime Minister's speech, but with considerably less attention, yawning widely.
The stranger tuned back in to the Prime Minister's speech in time to catch the part he had predicted would come.
"We shall at last reclaim our place in the stars, by first wiping out the scourge of pirates that have been harassing our transports! Why wait until the designated time? Let us go forth now!" He raised his fist to the sky as the new soldiers roared their appreciation.
At the back of the assembly, the stranger smirked and shook his head.
"Completely reckless and idiotic. Kind of like me, only I'm much less predictable than that." He flicked his bangs again and stared up at the podium, resting his right hand on his hip. His eyes narrowed and he grinned as he lit a cigarette.
"And so the Axel brothers make their entrance into the fight! I swear, this guy's gonna make life a lot easier for us to get everything into place."
So saying, Axel Sixgun turned and disappeared into the crowd.
'I wonder how Edge is doing?'
Elsewhere, at the Vanguard hangar aboard the Ikazuchi, the door hissed open to reveal a certain black-haired third-class citizen.
"Ha! Not bad, eh?" Hibiki Tokai grinned to himself.
He strode into the hangar, light from the corridor behind him his only illumination as he searched for the Vanguard bearing his part.
"Come on, where is it? Maybe they didn't use it because of the scratch on it. Ah!"
He stopped in delight.
"There you are! So that's where you've been hiding, eh, partner?" As Hibiki stared up at the Vanguard bearing his mark, standing tall and noble, he felt tears come to his eyes .
"Just look at you! You've gotten so big! I'm so proud of you, I'm gonna take you home right now!" He leapt for the cockpit.
At that instant, one room away, the Prime Minister gave the order to lift off.
Far below them, the mighty thruster system ignited, blasting the massive ship free of its dock as it soared toward the heavens, the support of an entire planet behind it.
This however was completely lost on one unfortunate third class citizen who was promptly buried under a pile of loose cargo.
"Owww! H-hey! What's happening?!"
He struggled over to the porthole. What he saw did not make him feel any better about his current situation.
"We're leaving! This is not good..." He whimpered. A sudden noise behind him made him whirl around, to an amazing sight.
The left wall of the hangar had suddenly turned black. As in pure black, not just a shadow or something. As he gaped at it, the darkness suddenly swirled in to the center to form a spiraling vortex, and... something came out of it.
The figure landed, dropping to the floor in a crouch. At first, Hibiki couldn't make out what exactly it was, but as it slowly straightened up to a well over six foot height, the vortex slowly dying, he recognized it. The figure was a man, clad in a solid black cloak wrapped around him, effectively hiding any clues to the body beneath it. He had short dark purple, almost black hair, and a high collar that covered the lower half of his face. As the man turned his head slowly, looking from left to right, Hibiki saw that the right side of his face had a strange metal mask partially covering it. Where his right eye would have been was now a glowing cybernetic one that matched the movements of the left, while the mask continued back along his cheekbone, before abruptly widening out into an ax shape that stopped just before his ear. Two dangerous looking swords were cross-sheathed on his back, each at least six feet long. Any further observations were forestalled by the stranger locking onto Hibiki's presence. The red eyes narrowed as he turned towards the now extremely nervous third-class citizen.
"Hey! Who the hell are you?!" Hibiki yelled at him.
The stranger was silent as he looked around the chamber. After a few moments, he turned to Hibiki, and tossed a piece of paper to him. After a few tries, he managed to catch it, and opened it.
"H-hey! This is-!" It was a fully detailed blueprint of the Ikazuchi's internal layout, down to the last detail. He looked back up at the man.
"Huh?"
The stranger indicated the room around them and pointed to the map with a black gloved hand.
"You don't know where this is? It's the Vanguard hangar, right about...here." Hibiki pointed to a spot on the blueprint.
The man nodded his thanks and turned his attention towards the Van-types. Seeing as though the stranger meant him no harm, Hibiki opened his mouth hesitantly.
"Say, who the heck are you anyway?"
The stranger seemed to consider the question for a moment, before he answered.
"Edge Axel."
"Okay... You're not gonna, uh... try to kill me or anything right...?"
A flicker of what could have been confusion passed across Edge's face before he shook his head. Hibiki gave a sigh of relief.
"Heh, you had me worried for a moment. The name's Hibiki. Hibiki Tokai." He held out the blueprint. Edge reached out and took it, two black-gloved fingers closing over the edges. Hibik took the opportunity to take a closer look at Edge. The strange black cloak he was wearing seemed to be made of a strange, tough leathery material that moved as easily as silk.
"What's that stuff made out of?" He asked.
Edge stowed the blueprint and turned his attention back to their dim surroundings.
'Doesn't talk much, does he?' Hibiki thought .
"Hey, Edge"
Edge turned his attention back to the boy.
"What are you doing here anyway?"
Before Edge could answer, they heard the sounds of people on the other side of the massive doors, opposite Hibiki's entrance. He quickly signaled Hibiki to silence and turned his attention to the voices.
In the main ballroom, the cadets of the Tarak Space Forces were rather busy enjoying the inauguration ceremonies as they drank their wine and talked with one another.
One of these cadets was none other Axel Sixgun, who was more than happy to sample the free drinks while he focused his attention on the various conversations going on around him.
"I can't wait to go into battle!"
"Neither can I!"
'Tch. Rookies.'
"When can we see those new weapons we heard so much about?"
"Those new Vanguards will surely put those women in their rightful places!"
'Rightful places, my foot. How many times have you guys gotten owned again?'
"Say, after all this is over, do you want to make a kid?"
"A kid with you? That's not a bad idea."
Dead silence from Sixgun.
'Er...Moving right along, then...'
As the various tidbits of conversation waved through the air and the celebration continued, he spotted an interesting target.
"Hey, Duelo. I heard that you made the top of your class."
The individual named Duelo simply nodded as he sipped his wine. He was the rather tall raven-haired man Sixgun had seen during the assembly with one bang covering the right side of his face. He carried the demeanor of an educated and creative mind.
Also dangerous as hell, if you're undercover and trying not to be noticed.
"Yeah, congratulations are in order you know... hell, you could be assigned to head-quarters." Another cadet spoke out.
"I hear that when he took the qualification exams he left the position line of his submission entry form completely blank." Another cadet chimed in as he came to the group.
"Are you serious?"
'What is this, a tutorial in sucking up?! Jeez...'
Just then another cadet came in carrying a box filled with pink and white colored pellets.
"Hey guys! Everyone having a good time now?"
The group turned to see another newcomer arrive; wearing the same cadet uniform as they did, but somehow managing to seem completely out of place in the atmosphere of a military ship. He lacked the build of a soldier, somewhat skinny, with a mess of blonde hair. His voice was a bit nasal sounding and he seemed to be quite full of himself. None of which stopped him from offering the group the food pills.
"Here! Take some of this; this stuff is a lot better than the ones you get in the factories. I got them through some good connections. Think of these as free samples since I'm giving you some. Strictly confidential, though!"
The cadets each looked nervously at the pellets.
"Thanks for the offer. But no thanks."
"Yeah, I'm rather full right now."
"Same here. Sorry."
"Thanks for the offer anyway."
The man shrugged his shoulders. "Okay if you insist, but know that you might never get to eat this good again! Well hello there! You two seem to be gentlemen of distinguished taste!" The last comment was directed at two passing cadets who he trailed after with the same sales pitch.
'...He didn't even finish talking before he started up again...Wow...'
"Who was that guy?" one of the cadets asked to his fellow crewmembers.
"His dad owns the Garsus Foods Cooperation. Put it simply, his family feeds us and let's not go any further than that."
"Geez. I think I'm getting a case of heartburn." One cadet said as he thumped on his chest in exaggeration.
Before the others could respond, the lights dimmed, a video screen lowering at the front of the room. It flickered for a moment and began to play, showing combat images of the military's new secret weapon, the Tsukumo Van-type machines.
Despite himself, Sixgun was interested.
'Impressive. They've maximized the capabilities for close range combat by outfitting them with just about every melee weapon you can find. These must be the designs I discovered in that heavily protected section of the military database. Nice.'
One of the clips shown was that of a squad of Vanguards crossing a battlefield amid heavy opposing fire. One of the mechs was moving on steadily, arms raised in a 'macho' pose, and took a rocket to the chest. It stopped for a minute and continued moving as though nothing had happened. Sixgun cocked an eyebrow.
'Uh-huh. Right. I wonder how many of these clowns are gonna rush into battle, confident in their 'invincibility' and get their asses blown to hell.' He thought, lapsing back into his natural cynicism.
"Let's hear a big round of applause for the new Tsukumo-type Vanguards!"
Sixgun dropped his cigarette. The doors to the hangar in the back were opening.
'Oh, SHIT.' That was most definitely NOT a part of the plan.
As the doors finished opening, the lights in the hangar snapped on to display two dozen completed Vanguard machines. The cadets cheered wildly and applauded. That however, died after a few moments as they noticed something out of place. Or rather, two things out of place.
Edge's eye twitched.
...God damn it all.
Halfway up the front of the first Vanguard, Hibiki managed a small, nervous laugh.
"Who are they?!"
"Hey, that kid's a third-class citizen!"
"Yeah, but who's the other guy?"
"What's up with his face? And what the heck is the deal with his clothes?"
"Maybe he's a third class citizen as well!"
"How'd they manage to get onboard the Ikazuchi?"
Duelo glanced at the boy for a moment. From his appearance, it's quite likely that he's just some wannabe Vanguard pilot. The other man, however...
The stranger stared out at the crowd, his eyes cold, showing no trace of fear or any other emotion for that matter. The possibility of him being a third-class citizen as well seemed highly unlikely. From what Duelo could tell, the stranger carried himself far too proudly to be anything so low-ranked. There was also the fact that no third class citizen was allowed to carry a weapon, and this man was violating that ban in an extremely obvious way. His physical ability must be incredible if he could wield those blades with any degree of skill. Any other physical details were hidden by the strange cloak he wore. As for the strange metal half-mask he wore... A method of hiding his identity? No, his high collar did that effectively enough. Something he needs to hide, then?
At that point, security personnel from all over the room began closing in on the two strangers. Beneath his cloak, Edge's hands twitched, instinctively reaching for his blades.
...No. Not yet...
His eyes narrowed as he waited for them to make the first move. To his left, Hibiki, deciding that it was now or never, launched himself off the Vanguard and bolted for the higher ground of the statue nearby. Four guards raced after him, more than happy to leave the dangerous looking stranger to the others. After a few moments of eyeing Edge nervously, they finally worked up the nerve to rush him.
Edge flexed his fingers, the joints cracking.
Moments later, all six guards were stretched out on the floor in agony, groaning as they held their various injuries. Edge stood in the middle of them, a raven specter staring down at them with disdain. He hadn't moved an inch from his spot.
...Useless...
Duelo nodded approvingly, his interest deepening. This man, whoever he was, was a master of close range combat. Six separate attacks had come at him from various directions and he had beat them all without returning a single one. As near as Duelo could figure out, the stranger had simply read the timing and direction of their attacks and simply moved his upper body to allow the attacks to miss him completely and continue straight into one of the other unlucky soldiers. All without ever revealing anything underneath his cloak.
Atop the statue, Hibiki stared at him in disbelief, temporarily pausing from kicking off the other guards.
'He... he just beat them all! Just like that! How the hell did he do that?!'
One of the guards who had taken less damage than his comrades, staggered back upright, wiping the blood from his chin as he stared at Edge, enraged. Edge glanced back at him disinterestedly.
"You... you, a lowly third class rodent, dare to strike down a member of the military?! You'll pay for that!" he shouted.
"..." Edge looked at him unmoving, his expression changing, very slightly, to one of boredom, which only served to heighten the guard's anger.
"You insolent dog! Are you even listening to me?!"
Edge seemed to think for a moment, before turning back to the guard.
"...No." He said calmly.
A vein popped on the guard's forehead.
"D-damn you! You...you factory reject!" The guard screamed as he lunged at Edge.
Edge's widened slightly, before they narrowed again, the barest hint of anger flaring through his icy countenance.
In the crowd of spectators, a familiar figure sighed.
"He really shouldn't have called him that. Ah well."
WHAM!
Sitting on the edge of one of the tables, a glass of expensive champagne in his hand, Sixgun sighed again and ducked. Milliseconds later, the unfortunate guard sailed past his head, hurtling the full length of the room to slam into the opposite wall with a painful crash. Sixgun straightened back up, drained the glass, discarded it and promptly swiped another, completely unfazed.
At the front of the room, Edge stared after the guard, gauntleted fist still extended, his face unreadable. A sudden noise made him whip around, to find several weapons pointed at him and the now-subdued Hibiki.
His eyes flickered toward the crowd for a brief instant, locking eyes with his brother. Sixgun made the slightest of nods, invisible to anyone not paying close attention to him, but it was enough for Edge.
He turned back to the guards, and raised his hands slightly, allowing them to move in and restrain him. The two intruders were then hurried off to the detention area, to await the Prime Minister's displeasure.
The entire exchange between Edge and Sixgun had taken mere milliseconds, but still one person had managed to follow Edge's quick glance and find the target. Duelo's unconcealed eye narrowed slightly. So there were two of them, working as a team.
The one in the crowd, posing as a soldier, seemed to be much more relaxed and carefree than his partner, moving through the people, sneaking various glasses of different drinks as he went. Suddenly, he turned, his gaze meeting Duelo's. The two eyed each other for a brief moment, before Sixgun gave a cocky grin and half raised his glass in a toast, a professional courtesy to the elite who had seen through his charade. With that, he turned away and was gone, only a faint wisp of cigarette smoke to show that he had been there.
Duelo stared musingly after him for a few seconds, trying to fathom his purpose here, but aside from the thought of being a possible Mejere assassin, (highly unlikely, considering his appearance), nothing else came to mind.
...Unless, of course he/she had undergone major surgery for this job.
On the other side of the room, Sixgun suddenly sneezed.
"Damn. I wonder if that means someone's insulting me. Oh well."
Duelo turned his attention in the direction they had taken the two intruders. The boy was understandable, but the tall, black clad one was a mystery, even to him. Perhaps an undercover elite? What was the objective of these two strangers...? For now, it seemed that only time would provide the answer.
Elsewhere...
"Keep an eye on these two, Unit six." One of the guards ordered.
"BEEP! BEEP! Roger."
Hibiki groaned, recovering, then yelled at the guards.
"Hey! You could at least have given me a real cell!"
One of them laughed.
"Ha! This might be just a storage room, but it's more than enough for the likes of you and your friend here. He doesn't seem to be much use without these swords of his, right guys? What the-" The guard turned, stunned. It was taking one guard apiece to hold one of the dangerous looking blades, and this guy carried them both around on his back like they weighed nothing!
In the shadows at the back of the cell, Edge's cybernetic right eye glowed ominously in the dark, the barest gleam of it reflecting off of his human one. Even obscured by darkness and deadly silent, he managed to project an almost solid aura of menace. The guard fought down the fear that had risen in his chest and glared at the silent figure.
"Still won't say anything, huh? Well let's see how confident you two are at your public execution! And you can bet it won't be too quick or painless!" he snarled. "Come on guys, let's head back to the party."
With that, they left the prisoners, one brooding darkly while the other desperately racked his brains in an attempt to find a way out of his current predicament. After a few moments, Hibiki gave up with a sigh.
"Why does my life always turn out this way?"
He turned hesitantly to Edge.
"So what about you? What's your story?"
Edge froze him with an ice-cold glare.
Hibiki moved back a little, nervous.
"Er...right. Uh..."
What do you actually say to someone like that?
Edge's eyes thawed slightly.
"I would rather not speak of my past."
Hibiki recovered slightly.
"Oh, right. Yeah, I can understand that. My life hasn't been all that great either."
He hesitated.
"Can I ask you something?"
Edge nodded.
"Before...What you did back there...How'd you beat all those guys so easily? And why didn't you use your swords?"
"There was no need."
"Where'd you learn to fight like-"
The cell robot outside interrupted them.
"Beep! Quiet in there, third class."
Hibiki turned his attention towards the small machine.
"Hey there partner. Why don't you let me outta here? I mean, we were both born in a factory, right? That practically makes us brothers! Whaddya say?"
"Incorrect. We are composed of entirely different materials."
"But I have this really great generator I can install in you and-"
"BEEP! Denied. Subject is making an improper request. Instigation of bribery is a crime. Therefore..."
Hibiki looked at it, confused.
"Therefore what?"
"Punishment."
KA-ZAP!
"Owww... Stupid machine...Hey, what are you looking at?!"
In response, Edge closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall.
"HEY! I'm talking to you!"
--
From the shadows, Sixgun watched the Prime Minister's platform rise up to the command bridge. He tossed away his cigarette as it disappeared from sight.
"Well, he's outta the way now. I'd better get moving myself. Especially if that signal I detected in the debris fields earlier was what I think it was." He turned away heading for the lower sections. He checked his watch.
"If it was, then everything's going like we figured it would and in the next couple of seconds, I can expect..."
BOOM!
Sixgun smiled.
"...Bingo."
--
Back in the cells...
"Hey who do you think I am?! My life's not supposed to turn out like this you know, and-"
"Scanning... You are-"
BOOM!
The entire cell was shaken by a tremendous vibration as the sounds of an explosion echoed through the ship. The robot's hover systems malfunctioned, overcompensating and pitching it into the cell bars. Even as Hibiki was regaining his footing and wondering what the hell had happened, Edge was in motion.
Ignoring the flashes and arcs of high voltage electricity coming from the downed robot and the flaring lasers, he reached through the bars and seized the machine, yanking it through the now considerably weakened lasers. He tossed it to a startled Hibiki.
"Hey! What the- How'd you-Gah! Hot, hot, hot!" He juggled the heated robot frantically until it had cooled enough for human contact.
"Wh-what do you want me to do with this?!"
Edge jerked his head in the direction of the servicing panel for the bars. Hibiki's eyes lit up.
"Of course! I can shut them down with this! I'm brilliant! Hah!"
Edge shook his head in disbelief, before he turned and looked upward through the decks, as he called out to his weapons.
Four decks up, in the hastily abandoned ballroom, the jewels set into the crosshilt of both blades glowed an answering blue. Slowly, they rose into the air, turning this way and that, searching for their master. After a moment's hesitation, they tilted downwards and tore through the floor, lancing through the ship on a direct course for the waiting Edge. Several moments later, after Hibiki had recovered from the shock of nearly getting skewered by two swords that had ripped through the ceiling, he and Edge were moving rapidly along a corridor that lead to the upper decks. As an afterthought, he decided to take along the still-dormant robot. Flashes of light from a nearby viewport caught his attention. Staring outside, his blood ran cold.
"Oh no! Those are Dreads! That means we're being attacked by women! Aaaah! We need to get out of here now!"
Edge halted, slightly baffled.
"What...?"
"Come on, let's go!"
Hibiki raced off towards the Vanguard hangar, Edge following closely. Edge had no idea why this boy was so afraid of women, like the rest of the men aboard this ship, but he resolved to find out, one way or another.
--
Elsewhere.
Strolling carelessly along one of the catwalks on the top decks, smoking his trademark cigarette, Sixgun looked out at the battle. The sleek, fast-moving fighters-what had the information called them? Dreads?- right, Dreads, were running rings around the much slower Tarak vessels, many of whom, in attempts to hit the enemy, merely ended up missing and blowing up their own ships.
He gave a whistle of admiration as one of the Dreads, a purple one with swept back wings, each ridged into three sections, pulled off a particularly stylish downward barrel roll, releasing a storm of seeker missiles on the way.
"Daaammn. Now that's one babe with some serious skills. Now if only I knew what she looked like, I'd be all set."
As if the universe had just decided to mock him, the Dread looped up and passed directly in front of him. Looking into the cockpit, he was rewarded with a glimpse of...
A young woman, looking to be no older than him, clad in a loose black pressure suit, stared back at him. She had beautiful, violet eyes, and short, dark green hair, held back with a purple headband, a flower shaped metal ornament adorning the left side of it. Their gazes met, for a brief moment, her violet eyes widening in surprise as they met his startled blue one.
Then it was gone, boosting away over the hull. In the cockpit, Barnette Orangello looked back over her shoulder, her mind reeling. Moments ago, when she had passed one of the observation windows on the upper decks, she had seen someone standing there, leaning on the railing as he watched the battle. Then as her Dread had looped up and over it, the stranger's gaze had met her own. Tall, strongly-built, clad in a dashing military uniform and with a beret rakishly tilted over his right eye, he had stared back at her from across the distance between the two ships. Even though they were so far apart, his eyes on her own had sent an electric charge through her body, a feeling unlike any she'd ever experienced before. Another thing that confused her was the way he had looked at her. Not with revulsion or hatred like the men she was used to, but with something close to...admiration, but at the same time, something...more...
Back on the Ikazuchi...
Sixgun stood motionless, staring after the indigo Dread, an unreadable expression on his face.
After a few moments of silence, a smile crept across his features.
"This just might turn out to be fun after all...Heh heh heh..." He lit another cigarette, laughing quietly to himself as he walked away, heading for the area the Dreads had broken into, the echoes dying away behind him.
The Central Reactor Room.
High above the Paeksys reactor, two figures moved across the maze of catwalks, one running frantically, while the other moved as fluidly as the shadows, his body leaning forward as he ran, his cloak flaring out behind him.
Suddenly Edge slowed down and halted, looking over the edge of the catwalk. That energy... "Edge! What's wrong?"
Hibiki's voice pulled Edge back to reality. The strange glowing machine would have to wait... even though he felt as though it was...calling him somehow...
He pointed to the reactor below them.
Hibiki glanced over the railing at the pulsing reactor. "Sorry Edge, but I don't know anything about that thing either. But we really don't have time to be worrying about that now! Come on! Can you move?"
Edge nodded curtly. Suddenly his eyes widened and he whipped around staring up at the ceiling of the reactor area. Hibiki, who by this time had learned the hard way not to ignore Edge when he sensed something like this, followed his gaze, worried.
"What is it?"
Two decks up, a certain blue Dread hurtled out of control. The rookie pilot at the controls was desperately trying to slow her headlong rush, failing miserably.
"Aaaaahh! I can't stop! Help me!" she cried out in panic. Suddenly another wall appeared in front of her, filling her vision. She screamed and instinctively tensed for the crash, her hands accidentally activating her Dread's laser weapons.
Seconds after he sensed the out of control Dread, the ceiling flared white-hot. In the milliseconds before the twin lasers blasted through the metal, Edge lashed out with his leg, in a titanic kick that slammed into Hibiki's abdomen, hurtling him off of the catwalk and to safety. As the lasers finally broke through the ceiling in a mammoth blast that rocketed towards him, Edge turned to face it, his face contorting into a snarl as the catwalk vanished in a brilliant haze of energy.
--
Sixgun raced onward through the maze of corridors. Suddenly he halted, detecting a vibration that rattled through the whole ship. A quick glance out the window confirmed his suspicions. The cowardly leader of the fleet had just ejected their section of the ship leaving the old section Sixgun now stood on for the pirates.
"Time's running out..." he grinned, a glint in his eyes. A feral smile crossed his face.
"After all, this just wouldn't be any fun otherwise. Heh-ha-haaaa!"he laughed wildly as he tore off, his speed increasing rapidly.
--
On the floor of the reactor chamber.
Hibiki stared at the strange girl in front of him as she made some weird hand signs.
Just moments ago she was saying something about him being an alien and now she was doing this. Deciding to play along for some strange reason, he mimicked her signs. The red-haired girl, named Dita Liebly, jumped for joy.
"I did it! I did it! I made first contact!"
"Wha-What the hell? I don't have time for this! There's the robot, but what happened to Edge?"
Grabbing the robot, he raced off, Dita in hot pursuit.
"Wait Mr. Alien! I want to take some pictures of you!"
"Aaaah! Get away from me, darn it!"
The Pirates Main Force.
The unfortunate Tarak cadets had by this time been rounded up and were being herded at gunpoint into the escape pods.
"I know it's just a disinfectant, but I don't think I'll ever get used to that smell." Jura Basil Elden complained as she removed her pressure suit. Twenty years old, she was an extraordinarily beautiful woman, and was unafraid to show it, clad in a black dress that reached her ankles. This was slightly pointless as it was slitted along one side all the way to her waist, not to mention a deeply plunging neckline. Annoyed, she stared around the room with bright green eyes, a rapier sheathed at her hip.
"Has anyone seen Dita?" asked another woman. Dressed in a form fitting gray, black and white jumpsuit, she glanced around, her eyes a wintry blue-green color. She wore a strange black circlet on the left side of her face, splitting into two prongs, one above and below her left eye. With short, light blue hair, she carried herself with an air of command. This was Meia Gisborne, commander of the pirate Dread squadrons.
"The last I saw of her, she was crashing through that bulkhead over there, heading down-Ouch!" The speaker was cut off by a nurse who was patching up a wound on her right arm. Barnette winced again as the nurse tightened the bandage slightly. She was Jura's best friend, and had gotten her injury from a stray energy bolt that had managed to break through her pressure suit's toughened layers. She wore a pair of skintight boots that reached halfway up her thighs, a purple leotard-like outfit that revealed the upper parts of her cleavage and a .9mm handgun strapped to her side. A dangerous looking assault rifle lay next to her. "Be careful with that, Paiway! It hurts, you know"
"Just try to endure it for a bit longer." Paiway replied, adding more disinfectant. Fourteen years old, she wore an outfit which resembled, oddly enough, a French maid's uniform. Long black hair dangled from the sides of her hair in two ponytails.
Nearby, Duelo hesitated. As an experienced doctor, he had been trained to give medical aid to anyone, regardless of who they might be. He debated with himself for a few moments before finally making his decision.
Meia peered into the darkness behind the shattered bulkhead.
"Jura, I'm going to look for Dita! Come with me."
The blonde-haired Jura sighed.
"See, this is exactly why I didn't want to take a trainee along with us on this mission."
Meia stared at her coldly.
"If you had a problem with it, you should have said so back at the base."
"Oh all right, I'm coming!"
On the old ship three more of the Mejale pirates entered a section which was like a sub-command bridge. As soon as they took off their helms and suits, they approached the consoles in front of them and began to access the data.
"Oh my! I can't read a single word of this!" This from a brown haired, gentle looking woman, named Ezra Veil, or just Ezra. One of her companions, a girl in pigtails wearing a large pair of glasses spoke up.
"Don't worry Ezra! I thought something like this might come up, so I created this!"
"What does it do?"
"It reads all known languages and translates them into one we can understand!" She turned to the third member of their party.
"I'll make one for you too, Commander-"
The member in question was already scrolling down the screens and downloading files as quickly as she could access them. With a silver mane of long hair that reached her waist, tanned skin and wearing a decidedly Arabian looking outfit which revealed her midriff and arms, she was the second in command of the pirates. She raised her communicator to her mouth and spoke into it.
"Have all of the enemies been immobilized? Good. Dump them."
"Huh? You already know how to read their language?!"
Ezra shrugged.
"Well, that's the elite for you, Parfait"
Back at the pirate-controlled area...
"Hey! What do you think you're doing? Get back in line!" A guard shouted as she spotted Duelo heading for some lockers.
Duelo ignored her, reached into his locker and retrieved his overcoat.
"Get back in the escape pod!"
"There's time enough for that later." He replied coolly.
"Do as you're told or I'll shoot you!" the pirate replied, leveling her rifle at him.
"I'm no threat to you."
His eyes flicked towards the injured women and the young nurse trying to attend to them.
"I happen to be a doctor."
The guard lowered her weapon and shared a nervous glance with her comrades. Paiway meant well, but the truth of the matter was that she simply didn't have the training or the experience to properly treat them. Plus, she was still only an apprentice nurse, after all. All of these reasons, however did nothing to make them feel any less uneasy about coming into contact with a Tarak man.
--
High above them, three stories up the wall, Axel Sixgun gave a wolfish smile and stared at the hole the teal haired woman and the loud blonde had gone down. Thanks to an unexpected turn of circumstances, he'd found a rather interesting shortcut to the reactor area. All he needed to do was follow that damn tunnel and he was as good as gone. He stepped away from the wall grating and started to move back along the service bridge when he suddenly stopped.
If the pirates' main force was down there...there was a good chance that indigo Dread's pilot would be there as well...For some reason, the thought of seeing her again seemed to exert an almost magnetic pull on him. He hesitated, glancing back at the grating. Strange as it seemed, at their last meeting, he'd felt an odd bond with the violet eyed beauty, as though she were a... kindred spirit... And not only that, but she seemed to be quite a capable fighter as well...
He straightened up, his flickering back and forth between the grating and the other end of the catwalk, torn between his choices.
After a few moments, he grinned and shook his head ruefully as he flicked away his cigarette.
"Man, what kind of a question is that?" He sighed and adjusted his eyepatch beneath his beret.
--
Below him...
"There, that should do it." Duelo smoothed down the edge of the bandage on Barnette's arm with the tip of his finger, satisfied with his work. With additional treatment, there shouldn't be any scarring to worry about either.
Taking the opportunity, he studied Barnette closely. Like most Tarak, he had never seen a Mejere in person before. They certainly didn't look anything like the monsters from the propaganda films, and was, despite some obvious...physical differences... human.
Barnette, noticing his scrutiny, glared at him.
"What?! Is there something you find interesting about me?"
Duelo smirked.
"Actually, yes there is." he replied.
A thought occurred to her. If this man was as observant as she thought, then perhaps...
"Well since you seem so interested, let me ask you a question."
Duelo was instantly on the alert.
"All right." He answered guardedly.
"Of the personnel onboard this ship, is there a man with orange hair among them? He wears a beret pulled down across his right eye like this and his hair hangs down a little on the left side." She demonstrated with her hands.
Duelo's eyes hardened.
"You know that man?" he asked.
"No, I just...saw him earlier. Why? Do you know who he is?" She asked suspiciously.
"No, I don't. I saw him earlier, but then he disappeared. I don't know where he came from or what his name was."
Barnette looked crestfallen, and then startled at herself for feeling that way.
'What's wrong with me? He's a Tarak, my enemy! Why am I so interested in him?' She thought back to their first meeting, remembering the feeling that had surged through her body when their eyes met, and the strange...sense...that they were similar in some way...
Duelo stared at her, intrigued, noting the various emotions crossing her face before a thought struck him.
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen him among the other prisoners your friends ejected..."
Barnette's eyes widened as she looked up at him.
That means he's still here!
She turned to call out a warning to her friends. Before she could do anything, the entire upper part of the opposite wall exploded outward in a cloud of dust and shattered metal plating.
From the center of the expanding cloud, a single figure hurtled downward, easily outstripping the falling debris. The wind rushing past his face, Sixgun gave a wild whoop of exhilaration and increased his speed, executing a series of acrobatic flips just for additional flair.
After all, if you're gonna make an entrance, you might as well make it one to remember!
He landed as lightly as a feather, on all fours, with a gracefulness that would have amazed an Olympic gymnast. The overall effect was only increased by the tremendous crash as the remains of the demolished wall slammed into the floor around him.
Duelo's eyes narrowed, as he tried to see through the smoke.
'Jumping down three stories without a scratch...Could it be...?'
Amidst the settling dust, the figure straightened up and gave a jaunty wave of his left hand, the other resting comfortably on his hip.
"Terribly sorry to bother you, ladies, but I've got some business to attend to on the lower decks. Unfortunately, you happen to be in my way, so if you wouldn't mind stepping aside for a bit, we can resolve this quite quickly. I don't plan to hurt any of you so..." he trailed off, hoping he'd read them correctly.
He wasn't disappointed.
Every available weapon the female corsairs had was trained on him almost immediately.
"Hold it right there! Don't come any closer or we'll shoot!"
As a response, Sixgun laughed wildly and launched himself forward with incredible acceleration, twin plumes of displaced air racing along the ground in his wake.
"Time for a little showing off! Heh-ha-haaaa!"
Almost immediately, the pirates opened fire on him. Barnette, who had been at the back with the other injured, finally managed to get herself around to the side, where she could get a clear shot at the intruder. Her assault rifle came up to fire but she almost dropped it in shock at the sight before her.
Twelve laser rifles locked onto him and firing nonstop, Axel Sixgun was having the time of his life. His trademark wild laughter ringing out over the gunfire, he was a whirlwind of movement, twisting, turning, somersaulting and ducking, evading every single shot with incredible speed and skill. She couldn't even see anything beyond the color of his uniform, everything else was blurred by the velocity.
Meanwhile, Sixgun contemplated his next move.
'Let's see...I can keep doing this until they run out of ammunition, which would be pretty fun, but that might take too long considering I'm on a time limit here...Or I can just temporarily disable them now, pass them and find Edge. I wonder if that woman really is here...She should have recognized me by now. On the other hand, I haven't seen anyone with that appearance yet...Oh well.'
With that, he threw his arms out to the sides with a snap. Two dangerous-looking handguns launched into his waiting grip from concealed clamps up his sleeves. He spun them in his index fingers as he flipped backward over a series of shots, before he locked his grip securely around their handles and primed them.
"Well, it's been fun ladies, but I'm on a time limit here, so I can't afford to sit around all day! Time to wrap this up! Let's go! Dual Magnums!"
He launched himself sideways with a powerful kick to the ground, his favorite Magnum .44s blazing.
One by one the pirates cried out in surprise as a tremendous impact hit each of their weapons, tearing them out of their owner's grips and slamming them against the back wall, split in half and shattered into ruins.
Sixgun's face was serious. Even when it wasn't to kill, he hated shooting at women, especially in an unfair fight. As he skidded across the ground, decelerating, a gunshot rang out and he jerked his head sideways, a bullet slicing a narrow scratch across his cheek.
'SonofaBITCH! Someone else with solid firepower?! I thought I was the only one who could pull that off! They've got some skill too, dammit!'
Both legs connecting solidly with the floor, he kicked off of it ferociously, rocketing for the source of the attack, Magnums extended out at his sides.
Atop one of the downed Vanguards, Barnette stared down the sights of her rifle, blasting off four-shot bursts at the rapidly approaching figure. Dammit, but this man was good! His skill was incredible, not to mention the extremely heavy firepower he was carrying in each hand. She leapt sideways as two shots screamed past her and blew craters in the wall. Of all of the old weapons she knew of, the Magnum series were the most powerful handguns ever created, and this man had two of them!
Sixgun reached the bottom of the Vanguard and leapt towards her, even as three more bullets hurtled towards him. One tore through the left side of his collar, but then it was over. He slammed into the ground in front of Barnette in a crouch, springing up at her. Even as she cursed in anger and readjusted her weapon's position, he caught the end of it in the curve of his left Magnum's grip, pushing it up. His right forearm slid across the base of the rifle, just in front of her trigger grip, locking the weapon's muzzle up at the ceiling.
'How?!' Barnette thought frantically as she struggled against his grip.
'How did he beat me so easily?!'
Sixgun smiled.
"You were good, I'll give you that. I didn't think there was anyone else still alive besides me who could wield that style of weaponry. Not bad, not bad at ..." The rifle shifted slightly, revealing his opponent's face, and the words died in his throat.
Barnette's grip went slack in shock, as the same electric feeling ran through her body.
They stared at each other for a full minute, neither moving, stunned.
Barnette finally recovered enough to speak
"Y-you...You're that guy from..."
Sixgun nodded weakly.
'Y-yeah. That indigo Dread... was you..." he finally managed to say.
The two of them were brought rudely back to earth by the shouts of one of Barnette's comrades.
"What are you waiting for Barnette?! Finish him off and let's get out of here!"
Both of them jerked visibly, suddenly remembering their situation. Strength suddenly surged back through their bodies as they struggled against each other, Sixgun holding back considerably, unwilling to use his full strength against Barnette. For some reason even he couldn't understand, he just could not fight her, despite her obvious skill!
Barnette, angry at herself for her own hesitation, had no such problem. Seeing the indecision in his blue eyes, and feeling the force of his block wavering, made her move. Pushing forward, she threw her entire body weight against him. Startled, Sixgun compensated with additional force, pressing harder. A split second later, she reversed her direction and used his own resistance to throw him past her.
Sixgun blinked in surprise as he felt his feet leave the ground.
'My, quite talented, aren't you? Definitely worth keeping an eye on you...'
Sixgun flipped twice in midair, easily dodging more bullets, and landed next to the downed blue Dread. He hit the ground in a crouch as two more whistled over his head, then straightened up and aimed both Magnums directly at Barnette, almost simultaneously with the leveling of her AK-47 at him.
He stared down the sights of his Magnums, eyes narrowed as they met Barnette's frustrated gaze. Reflexively his fingers tightened on the triggers, but stopped just before actually firing.
After a long pause, he closed his eyes and heaving an annoyed sigh, lowered the guns.
"Nope, can't do it. Sorry, but I don't much like shooting women."
Everyone else gaped at him. A Tarak who didn't kill Mejerans?! What the hell was this man?
Duelo suddenly noticed something else. When he had stopped speaking, the stranger's mouth had continued moving, meaning he had then said something that wasn't meant for them to hear. But then who was he talking to? A quick glance around gave him the answer.
Barnette glared at Sixgun, blushing bright red, while at the same time wondering why exactly she was doing so after his last remark.
Lowering his voice, he'd winked at her and finished his sentence.
"Especially one as beautiful and talented as yourself."
After a few seconds of embarrassment and confusion, she managed to respond.
"Just who are you anyway?"
Releasing his grip on the Magnums, Sixgun spun them once before he let the clamps in his sleeves pull them back up. With a cocky grin, he replied.
"The name is Sixgun, Angel. Axel Sixgun."
With that, he turned and started to walk towards the damaged bulkhead.
Barnette suddenly realized she was staring at him and blushed again before she suddenly realized he was escaping.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going? Stop or I'll shoot!"
Sixgun stopped, one hand resting on the rim of the hole. He glanced back over his shoulder at her, a strange smile playing on his lips.
"If you wanted to kill me, you'd have done it already, wouldn't you...?"
Barnette jerked as though someone had hit her. Angrily, she brought her gun back up to firing position and tightened her grip on the trigger. She held it there for a full minute, before she finally gave up and lowered it fractionally. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't force herself to shoot him. This man... Why?! Why did he affect her like this?! He was so damn annoying, and yet...and yet there was something about him...
"Don't feel too bad about it. When I think about it... if I had wanted to kill you before...I probably would have." He hesitated for a moment, staring at the floor, before his devil-may-care attitude returned. He glanced across at the nervous and angry female corsairs, most of whom had drawn close range weapons in the absence of their lasers, plus a few of those oh-so-annoying laser rings and smiled cheerfully.
"Thank you, thank you, you've been a wonderful audience! Now if you'll excuse me, I really must be going! Hey, you with the AK! You have a name? I'd like to remember one of the few talented female opponents I've fought in a long time! Or shall I just call you my Indigo Angel?"
Barnette, slightly dazed by his rapid change of topic, shook her head to recover and replied challengingly.
" My name is Barnette Orangello! Next time we meet, I won't go so easy on you, one-eye!"
His response startled her.
A sinister, almost terrifying smile crossed his features.
"Trust me, we'll meet again all right. And much sooner than you think...Heh-ha-haaa!"
Laughing wildly, he back-flipped into the darkness as several energy bolts struck the place he had been milliseconds earlier.
Barnette stared after him, a shadow crossing her features as she tried to figure out his parting words. She wasn't the only one, either. Nearby, a certain male doctor was also staring after Sixgun with considerable interest.
'He seemed quite comfortable talking to the women, as if it were the most normal thing in the world...Could it be possible that he is actually from neither Tarak nor Mejere...? And just what did that last remark of his mean?'
As Duelo and Barnette both speculated on the answer to that strange statement, it arrived much sooner than anyone would have liked...
Countless decks below them in the sub-bridge, Ezra gasped.
"Oh, my! There's a missile being locked onto us!"
Racing through the maze of catwalks, Axel Sixgun gave a feral smile. All hell was about to break loose in this sector, and he was going to be right in the middle of it.
Exactly where he always loved to be.
His wild laughter echoed off the walls long after he had blazed past them.
Down in the reactor room...
Meia looked around in annoyance as she walked across the network of bridges over the reactor.
"Where is Dita?!"
Jura sighed and leaned on the railing, looking over it to the ground six stories below.
"Well, we know she's in here. The lasers from her Dread made it here before the tunnel stops. Maybe she's wandering around exploring again."
"Wait...There's something there..."
Something glinted ahead of them, in the light of the reactor's glow. Meia's eyes narrowed in suspicion. As she got closer though, the shape of the object became more apparent, and her jaw dropped in amazement. Next to her, Jura gasped in shock.
"I-is that what I think it is...?"
In front of them, embedded solidly in the metal plating of the catwalk, was a huge sword, at least five feet long. A single triangular jetstone glittered in the center of the crosshilt, the pitch black jewel appearing to glow slightly.
"Wha...What the hell is this thing? No one can use something like this! ..." Jura paused for a moment and looked at it contemplatively.
"It's not half-bad looking though..."
Meia sighed.
"Jura, what's more important is how it got here in the first place. It definitely doesn't seem as though it belong here."
A new voice entered the conversation.
"Well, well, well. It seems like I didn't underestimate you after all."
Meia whipped around, her laser ring humming into life as she brought it up. Jura's hand flew to the hilt of her rapier as she turned to the source, and jumped in shock.
Less than six inches from where Meia's arms had been resting on the railing stood a man clad in the uniform of a Tarak officer, reclining back on the railing, supported by his elbows, a smoldering cigarette held loosely in his teeth.
Meia's mind raced.
'How the hell did he get so close to me?! I didn't even sense his presence until he spoke to us!'
"Who the hell are you?!" Jura demanded, clearly unnerved by the stranger's sudden appearance.
The stranger turned his head to face them, a friendly smile on his face. A beret pulled down at an angle covered his right eye while four spikes of orange hair overhung his blue left eye, which sparkled mischievously in the light from his cigarette.
"The name is Sixgun. Axel Sixgun. I believe you're looking for a red haired young girl around here? Name of Dita?"
Jura gasped.
"H-how'd you know?!"
Meia stared coldly at Sixgun.
"He probably overheard us while we were talking. If you could have gotten so close to us already, why haven't you tried to kill us?"
Sixgun blinked.
"Um... Why am I supposed to do that again?"
Meia stared at him, unsure of whether or not he was serious.
"You're from Tarak, aren't you? Mejerans like us are supposed to be your sworn enemies."
Sixgun stared blankly at her for a moment, and sighed.
'Why in the name of all hell do I have to go through this with EVERY FREAKING CHICK I MEET AROUND HERE?! First those nutcases upstairs and now this, jeez...'
He recovered and smirked at them.
"Technically, that would be true, but only if I actually worked for Tarak in the first place."
Jura stared at him strangely.
"In that case, where exactly are you from, then? You sure look like a Tarak to me."
Sixgun executed a sweeping bow with a grin.
"As observant as ever, I see. Before that, however, since I've provided you with my name, could at least grant me the honor of knowing the name of a beautiful woman such as yourself?"
For the first time in her life, Meia was completely at a loss. This man was totally unpredictable and every time he said something, he changed the subject. As for him not being from Tarak, he was most likely lying. If he wasn't from Tarak, then how could he have gotten aboard this ship in that uniform in the first place? There was something dangerous lurking behind his carefree fa?de and she was certain it didn't bode well for either of them.
Jura however, was more than happy to accept the compliment, and a lot more besides.
"Well, Tarak or not you certainly know how to appreciate true beauty when you see it! I am Jura Basil Elden, the most beautiful and elegant of the pirates of Magno Vivan's crew!"
A bead of sweat ran down the side of Sixgun's face.
"Er...right. And you...?"
Meia started. He was looking at her expectantly. She looked at him suspiciously for moment before she replied.
"Meia Gisborne."
One deck up, a pair of eyes flickered open, one glowing a cybernetic red in the darkness.
Sixgun paused for a minute, an almost invisible shadow flitting over his features, before his cocky attitude returned.
"Heh, you're certainly a cold one. Don't like me very much, do you?"
"No, and I don't trust you either." Her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she glared at him. For the briefest moment, when he had heard her name, she could have sworn she'd seen a flicker of some unreadable emotion in his eyes. Almost as if he'd known that was her name and was expecting it.
Suddenly he spun around, looking intently down at the right entrance to the reactor room, five floors below. After a moment, he smirked.
"You're in luck. Your friend's headed this way now."
"How'd you know that?" Jura asked him eagerly.
Sixgun held up a finger and waited. Seconds later, a familiar voice floated up from below.
"Wait up Mr.Alien!"
"AAAAAHH! WHAT PART OF LEAVE ME ALONE DIDN'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!"
He smiled.
"Bingo."
Looking over the railing, they were rewarded by the sight of a panicking Hibiki fleeing from the missing Dita.
Sixgun smirked.
"Now that guy's a bonafide Tarak. You might want to catch her quickly. I highly doubt that Tarak Prime Minister's gonna wait for his torpedoes to finish fueling completely. I think there's a shortcut if you go that way which should lead you back to your Dreads."
Meia stared at him suspiciously.
"Why are you helping us?'
Sixgun looked at her seriously.
"I suppose you could say I'm a neutral third party here. I'm not interested in watching anyone die, whether they're from Tarak or Mejere."
Meia stared at him, for a moment, debating it. If he was right, then they needed as much time as they could get to reach their Dreads. Her sense of distrust fought with the need to get her comrades out as quickly as possible, before her concern for them finally won out.
"Alright." she said finally. "But you're leading us out."
Sixgun smirked.
"Suspicious as ever, I see. You really are a lot like my brother."
Meia's gaze flickered for a moment as she stared at him.
"Like your brother? What's that supposed to mean?"
Before Sixgun could reply, Jura broke in.
"You have a brother?"
Sixgun nodded.
"What? You didn't think I used that thing, did you?" He said, smirking as he indicated the sword.
Jura's jaw dropped.
"Your brother uses that-"
She was interrupted by Meia's sudden shout of warning. Mere moments afterward, something smashed through the wall above them with a tremendous crash of shattering metal.
A black figure jetted down towards them, cloak billowing out behind it like the wings of some fearsome bird of prey. Edge landed next to his blade with a light thump, straightening up, the other sword sheathed at his back. Without even pausing to acknowledge the presence of the three of them, he drew the missing weapon effortlessly from its prison with one hand and leapt catlike onto the railing, scaring Jura and startling Meia. He paused for a moment, his gaze flickering over the lower area.
For some reason, Meia felt something strange pass through her body at the sight of this man, a terrible, dark feeling of nothingness and pain...while at the same time, feeling as though she knew him, somehow...
After a few seconds of watching Hibiki run around in circles, Edge made his decision. With a swift motion, he pulled back his arm and launched his sword downwards. It struck the ground a few metres ahead of Hibiki who screeched to a halt, startled. Before it had even reached the floor, Edge had leaned forward and, kicking off of the underside of the railing, shot after the flying sword.
Jura gasped in horror.
"Is he mad?! There's no way he can survive a fall like that!"
Meia found herself tensing up with a sudden anxiety for the stranger.
'Wh-what? Why am I feeling this way? Why do I care what happens to him?'
Next to her, Sixgun stared intently at the teal-haired woman, his expression unreadable.
'She definitely looks like her, and the similarity between the two names is too much to be a simple coincidence. Could it be...?'
Below them, Edge landed, slamming into the floor with an almighty crash, the impact shattering the deck plating around him. Hibiki gave a yell as the force knocked him off his feet and he slammed down hard. Behind him, Dita stumbled slightly, but kept her balance, snapping pictures madly.
"Is that another alien?"
Above her, Meia's eyes widened in shock, as she saw movement inside the cloud of settling smoke. At the same time however, a strange feeling of relief washed over her In the center of the impact crater, Edge straightened up, completely unfazed by the tremendous impact, which would have killed any normal person two times over. Spotting Hibiki, he pulled his sword out of the ground and started moving rapidly towards him, sheathing it on his back as he did so.
"Dammit, man! Were you trying to kill me just now?! That sword of yours missed me by a couple inches!"
Ignoring Hibiki's ranting, Edge blew past him, grabbing him by the back of the collar as he did so, yanking him off his feet as he continued running. Glancing back briefly at the red haired girl Edge noted that she'd stopped and was busily snapping pictures of him. Good. One less problem to deal with. His brother would take care of her and the other two...
Edge's body went rigid with shock and he jerked to a stop. Hibiki looked up at him angrily.
"Hey! What's wrong with you?! Put me--" He stopped abruptly at the look on Edge's face.
Edge looked as if he'd just seen a ghost. Slowly he turned his head to look up at the level he'd left his brother on.
Sixgun, his face grim, stared down at where his brother had suddenly stopped.
'So he's noticed it too, and just from the corner of his eye. I'm not surprised... It would affect him much more than me. She meant a lot more to him, after all...'
He glanced across at Meia, who had stiffened as her eyes met Edge's.
Across the distance, the two stared at each other, the teal haired Dread commander and the dark, enigmatic swordsman. For a second, time seemed to slow down for them, as they gazed across the divide, Meia's icy eyes softening slightly, for a reason unknown even to her.
For a brief moment, Edge's cold fa?de shattered. He tried to speak, but his voice failed him.
'That...face...It...It couldn't be...'
His mouth finally formed the word he had sworn never to speak again, the name of a woman from long ago...
"M...Mai..a...?"
Hibiki looked up at him, annoyed.
"Come on, Edge! We don't have time to stand around staring! Let's go!"
Edge started, Hibiki's voice bringing him sharply back to reality. His features hardened again as he managed to regain control of himself. Turning, he swept out of the room, Hibiki close behind him. He hesitated for a second at the exit, struggling with himself, before he managed to force himself to continue moving.
'That is not...her. It cannot be. They may look similar, but it cannot be her! I thought I could not be affected by anything in this world again, but...'
Edge's jaw tightened. This was not the time for such thoughts. He shook his head, as if to dislodge them, and increased his pace.
Before, as Edge recovered and hid his shock behind his cold features again, Meia jerked, snapping out of whatever spell had been keeping her staring at him. She turned away at the same time he did, concealing her emotions behind the neutral expression she always wore.
"All right. Now that they are gone, we'd better head down and get Dita before anything else happens." She motioned to Sixgun with her laser ring.
"Lead the way. Quickly."
Sixgun laughed and shrugged casually.
"You two really are just like each other."
Meia's eye twitched. There it was again!
"I don't have time for this. Move."
Sixgun sighed.
"Well, I guess you're right. Buut since, as you say, we're short on time..."
He gave a devilish grin and whipped out his right hand. It glowed for a moment, and a huge gun appeared, covering it.
"Let's take the fastest way outta here!"
"No!" Meia shouted, suddenly realizing his plan. Sixgun pointed the gun straight down and pulled the trigger once. In a huge blast, the entire catwalk disintegrated beneath them along with every other one that was below it.
Jura shrieked in terror as she felt the ground give way. Meia had barely enough time to curse her mistake before she too fell.
Suddenly a strong arm wrapped itself around her waist and Axel Sixgun reappeared, holding both herself and the still-screaming Jura.
"Heh-hah-haaa! Don't worry about a thing ladies! I'm here, so just sit back and enjoy the ride! Woohaaaa!"
Kicking away any threatening debris, he landed perfectly. Deposting the two women next to him on the ground, he dismissed his shotcannon weapon and snapped out his Magnums.
"You might want to watch your heads." He winked cockily at them, pointed his Magnums upwards, and without looking up even once, blasted away every piece of falling debris with a blitzkrieg of shells.
Meia stared upwards in disbelief. This man...Sixgun...had just completely and utterly destroyed a little less than ton of falling metal with nothing more than a pair of solid projectile handguns! If he had seriously wanted to kill them before, there was no possible way that they would have been alive now.
Sixgun brought his arms back down and inspected his smoking guns.
"Hmm. I'll need to adjust the sights on this one. It's off by a couple milli's."
So saying, he ejected the spent, steaming cartridges with a metallic sounding click, and twirled them once before he pulled the weapons back into his sleeves. He offered a hand to Meia.
"You did say you didn't have much time, after all." He grinned smugly.
She slapped his hand away in irritation.
"I can stand just fine on my own, thank you." She managed to stand up, just as Dita ran past.
"Wait Mr.Alien! I want to talk to you!"
Meia caught her with a flying tackle.
"Dita! You know better than to wander off from the group!"
"Ah! M-Meia! I-I'm sorry. It's just that-"
Meia cut her off.
"We don't have time for this. You, lead the way." She said, pointing at Sixgun with her laser ring. He sighed and scratched his head.
"You know, even if you shoot me with that thing, it won't affect me. Besides, I already proved I don't mean any harm by saving you from falling."
"That was your fault in the first place." Meia pointed out.
He winced.
"Ouch. Fair enough. Shall we go then?" He inclined his head towards the exit.
Meia nodded.
"Jura, keep an eye on Dita. I'll go in front with him. Let's go."
"Emm... Meia?" Dita asked worriedly.
"What is it now, Dita?"
"I think Jura fainted." Dita poked the motionless blonde a few times for good measure.
A bead of sweat ran down Sixgun's neck.
"Er...Now that you mention it, I thought she seemed a bit limp when I dropped her off..."
Meia's patience snapped.
"Enough! You, carry Jura. Dita, let's go."
"R-roger!"
Sixgun rolled his eyes.
"Ahh, screw this!"
Before Meia could stop him, he'd jumped forward, tossed Jura over his left shoulder, scooped her up in his right arm, and deposited Dita on his back.
"Hang on! Now for some real speed!"
In the backs of his calves, a pair of concealed panels snapped open and powerful thrusters roared into life.
Meia stared at him in disbelief and amazement.
"What the hell are you?!"
"He's a really cool alien!" Dita chirped happily.
Sixgun's smile faltered for a second.
"Uh...What the kid said." He crouched down for a second as the power began to build up.
"Time to go! MAGNION BOOSTERS!"
He shot upwards, a streak of orange energy trailing behind him like an afterimage.
Moments later...
"BC! Where are you?" Magno barked.
"We're all aboard, except for Meia's squad!" her second in command replied.
"Let them escape on their Dreads! We need to get out of here now!"
"Roger!" BC switched to another channel. "Meia! What's your status?"
Meia coughed as the dust cleared.
"We're fine! I have all of the others with me now and we're at our Dreads."
Jura had recovered after they had smashed through the wall and was dizzily making her way into her Dread's cockpit, accompanied by a non-stop stream of complaints.
Dita was heading for her own Dread, eagerly looking around for any of the 'Mr.Aliens'.
None of them noticed, that in all of the chaos, Sixgun had slipped away.
On the opposite end of the hangar, the missing Sixgun was racing along the holding bays lining the opposite wall, his eyes scanning the designation numbers printed on the doors.
'Where in the hell are those two Vanguards? V-351...V-352...V353... Heere we go.'
As her cockpit dome locked into place, a sudden explosion on the left drew Meia's attention. Two figures appeared, moving rapidly out of the cloud towards them. One was the man Dita had been chasing, and the other...
Edge skated to a halt and glanced around. Hibiki, spotting the Vanguard bearing his mark, bolted for it. Seconds later, two Vanguard holding bays exploded outwards to reveal their motionless occupants. A familiar voice called out from atop one of them.
"Yo, Edge! About time you made it to the party! I got our rides right here! Mission accomplished, so we are outta here!"
Edge barely heard him. His crimson irises were locked onto a pair of teal ones that met his frosty glare with an equally cold one. Neither of them realized it, but the flicker of uncertainty they saw in the other's features was their own.
Dita's panicked cry tore their gazes away from each other.
"Help! My Dread's stuck and I can't move!"
Jura was frantic.
"Meia, come on! We can't wait any longer!
Meia hesitated, reluctant to leave a comrade behind to die, not to mention the black swordsman...
Suddenly, several things happened at once.
Even before she had finished speaking, Edge was in motion. In one fluid action, he drew both swords from his back and raised them to an attack position.
Seconds before he struck, Dita cried out again in desperation.
"Somebody help me please!"
As the wall shattered under Edge's fierce attack, a new light shone through.
The Paexis Pragma had heard Dita's cry.
Almost simultaneously, both Muramasa struck their targets in a tremendous explosion. On the Ikazuchi, the Axel brothers were blasted backwards by a powerful force, each crashing into one of the Vanguards Sixgun had freed.
The blue aura enveloped the entire region of space around the Ikazuchi, disrupting the fabric of time and space and disappearing into a wormhole, dragging the pirate vessel with it.
Some distance away, the Prime Minister of Tarak stared grimly where the proud Ikazuchi had once stood, the explosion fading.
"I hope you women enjoy the taste of defeat."
At the center of the maelstrom, the six who had remained on the Ikazuchi were overwhelmed by the awesome forces unleashed by the Paexis. The shimmering blue aura engulfed them completely, stripping away their surroundings.
Hibiki looked around wildly before something caught his attention.
Barely visible through the haze that surrounded him he made out the outline of a giant machine, a mecha like nothing he'd ever seen before.
"Wha...What is that?!"
And then suddenly he was falling, falling... The last thing he heard before he blacked out was Dita screaming in panic.
Meia managed to stay conscious longer than most of them. Around her she could sense the others, falling, like her.
Suddenly, a blur of silver caught her eye.
In front of her, a strange silver-white mecha stared back at her, a large four-legged dragon with a massive wingspan. An alien intelligence burned in its eyes as it looked at her. Then it nodded once, and faded away.
The last thing she saw before she slipped into darkness, was a black figure reaching her, and felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her, bringing a strange sense of security and protection with it...
Edge glanced down at the unconscious woman in his arms, an unreadable expression on his face. He looked upward, at the emptiness below, and his eyes narrowed.
On the edges of perception, he saw something... Something huge, a being that defied any sense of comprehension.
And he knew it had seen him in turn. It saw them all, the Ikazuchi, the pirates, and everyone else caught by the Paexis.
And it laughed.
Then there was a huge white flash, and darkness claimed him.