A/N: Wow...it's been a looong time! Been busy with lotsa stuff, even during the vacation! And now, school's starting again! It's a good thing I was able to finish at least this chapter...
Anyways, enjoy! Hope the next update won't take too long...
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CHAPTER 6
Convergence
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Three days passed without much incident. In the infirmary, Meia stared at the unconscious form on the room's one bed. Unbeknownst to the casual observer, or to those who didn't know her well enough, thoughts were running rampant through her mind.
'Why do I get this feeling that this...isn't someone to be...feared? Could that other ship have been just a newer Tarak model? But the Ikazuchi warship was the last one out in production...even Parfet was more than sure about that. If so, then who exactly were on that ship? And what was their agenda for...?'
She stopped suddenly and held her breath for just a second as she thought she noticed the figure move, something it had not done the whole while of her stay at the infirmary. It was only for a second, though, and she let it go, resolving that it must have been only her imagination. The instruments monitoring the sleeping individual's life signs showed no change whatsoever.
'I must be thinking too hard...' she thought exhaustedly to herself, getting up and leaving towards her own quarters. She wasn't tired in the least, but situations like these called for a short nap...
'Three days, and nothing...' Meia absently strayed back to her thoughts as she made her way along a corridor with a view of the outside. 'I'm sure things have calmed down enough, save for the Tarak prisoners, to decide on a next course of action. The problem is...even I am clueless as to what to do next...'
She stared into the blackness of space. '...if only he'd wake up...then maybe this mess could be cleared somehow...'
For the second time in as many minutes, she shook her head. 'Why do I think too much about that? I really must be in need of some rest...'
She was about to step inside her room when an alarm went off and the ship suddenly shook violently. The Sub-Commander's voice then resounded throughout the ship.
"All Dread pilots report to the hangar immediately! Hostile unknown vessels approaching dead ahead! Repeat..."
As fast as she could, Meia sprinted to the ship's hangar.
'These sudden changes in atmosphere could sometimes be a pain in the head...' she thought irately.
When she had reached the hangar, she was met by Parfet. Dita and Jura were climbing onboard their own machines, and Barnette was already getting ready for takeoff.
"Why weren't we informed sooner?" Meia fumed as she ran to her Dread, now even more cross.
"Sorry! But it just sprang out at us as well on radar, then suddenly went berserk and all!" Parfet replied as she scurried as well to get the ship in order.
In no more than a few minutes, the Dreads were launched and flying in formation. At once, they were greeted by a hail of laser beams and enemy fighters. Luckily, none of them were hit as they quickly executed evasive maneuvers and began hitting back.
Among their enemies were small, unmanned ships that fired deadly blasts of red lasers; medium-sized ones that had appendage-like razors; and sphere-shaped vessels that seemed to zip aimlessly through the unoccupied patches of space in-between their smaller escorts.
"What the...? This is getting really tiresome..." Jura commented angrily after a few more exchanges of fire. While none of them were hit in any of the face-offs, they weren't able to hit any of their enemies either.
"They seem to be...I dunno...holding back, I think..." Dita said.
"They're studying our maneuvers..." Meia concluded simply.
"What?!" the rest of the Dread pilots shouted simultaneously. Barnette added, "You can't be serious!!!"
"Just do your best and concentrate! All of you! And be careful!" the Dread leader shouted back.
'Damn...even then...this isn't going to be easy...not at all...' Meia silently cursed shortly afterwards, hoping that she didn't give her teammates false optimism.
The Dreads executed another wave attack...and then another...and another.
Nothing seemed to work.
"I don't believe this!" Jura said, even more exasperated than before.
"Leader! Our ship's being attacked!" Dita's frightful voice drowned that of Jura's annoyed one, and was paid more attention – even by Jura herself – mainly because of its message.
"What?! But how did they get past us...?" Barnette began to say, but was interrupted by Meia's commanding tone.
"Everyone back to the ship! Defend it at all costs!"
Meia was exhausted at this point. She knew that the others were as well. They had tried several complex strategies, and none proved effective.
These were no ordinary enemies.
'Damn! We'll need a miracle...'
It was then that she noticed a couple of figures fly out of their ship's hangar.
It was the black Vanguard...
...followed closely by the golden one.
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A crack of light momentarily broke the darkness. Even upon just waking, Jai felt, quite oddly, more refreshed than anytime recently previous.
'..where am I now...and how long exactly have I been out...?'
An audible whoosh brought him to almost complete attention. While he didn't have the strength to sit up, his eyes were able to slowly open fully.
'...what was that? ...sounded like a door or something...'
Deciding that it wasn't all that important, he simply lay in bed, the thoughts coming to his mind one at a time and staying there to accumulate. What seemed like a long time actually lasted only for no more than a few minutes.
'...oh, yeah...I'm starting to remember it all. How I was brought here; the things those two beings said...and then the sudden attack by...who knows who those were...'
At once, he was able to sit up completely on the bed at the thought of being in one of those ships that had attacked. This, he found very shortly after, was not exactly the correct course of action, as a feeling of immense dizziness crashed over him like a pile of bricks and he plopped back down.
'...postural hypotension...' he mentally reminded himself, passively recalling something he'd learned way back in his pre-med course. He waited a few moments before getting up slowly, tentatively flexing his joints in the meantime. He also noticed that he was still wearing the clothes he'd had on before the last time he lost consciousness. After making doubly sure that nothing was physically wrong with him, he began to look around.
The place looked similar to a medical facility, compared to the laboratory he had awoken to previously. The technology seemed more advanced, and the apparatuses were more organized. He was now convinced that this ship was at least still presently in-service in whatever organization it belonged to.
'...it would seem that this is one of the ships that attacked awhile back. If I'm still alive, and am actually being treated like this, then they shouldn't be all that hostile. But who are they...'
A blaring alarm abruptly cut off his thoughts, and a female voice sounded over the announcement system. "All Dread pilots report to the hangar immediately! Hostile unknown vessels approaching dead ahead! Repeat..."
"Now what could be going on...?" he said aloud, not really minding if anyone could have heard; there was nobody in sight anyway. Unfortunately, there also wasn't any window he could look through to get a better idea of things.
He sighed. '...to do or not to do...is the age-old question...aaah, what the heck! Here goes...'
In one fluid motion, he removed the machine leads that were attached to him, and literally sprang out of the bed. He surprised himself be finding that he could stand and walk normally given his previous condition.
Silently, he slipped out of the room and began traversing the corridors, making sure to avoid being seen by anyone. Fortunately, the people were few, and he had little problems. Still, the size of the facility made things none the more rapid.
...also, all of the crew members who passed him, he noticed, were female...
'All the rest of them must've gone out already or something...maybe there's another fight going on...what a future this is!' he thought.
He crept around cautiously until he came across a huge room that looked like the engine room. 'Oh, great...now where have I gone...?'
Before another thought could form, his eyes locked on a very strange object. It emitted a faint blue glow, warm and yet foreboding at the same time. In his mind, everything turned to black; he didn't notice the mechanics and crew in the area looking at him. There was only the blue, glowing sphere that seemed so...mesmerizing, almost alive...
The ship suddenly gave a lurch – it was clear that the pirate vessel was taking damage. Something in his mind told him to act quickly...
Then, before he even knew it, and before anybody else could react, he began running back through the hallways as fast as possible. It was as if his subconsciousness was leading his body to somewhere...not even he knew where or for what reason.
In an instant, he found himself in what appeared to be the hangar of the ship. His body, quite out of his own conscious control for causes unknown, didn't seem to care that he was attracting a lot of attention from the crew; it was simply acting on its own, as if it knew exactly what it wanted and how to get it. It was as if one was looking through the eyes of another's body.
There, in one corner of the hangar, was the black Vanguard the Mejale had claimed from the former Ikazuchi's remains. Of course, Jai wasn't at all aware of all those details; he wasn't even fully aware of what he was doing at the moment. Before anybody could stop him, he sprinted aboard and the machine immediately whirred to life.
'...what the heck is this...?'
His hands gripped the controls and began operating them, as if they had a consciousness all their own. The Vanguard stepped out and made its way to the launching dock.
"What are you doing?!" A voice sounded. "Stand down now!"
He shouted back, in a voice that sounded very much like his own, but not under his control, "Open the hangar!"
"Stand down! Both of you! Leave the Vanguards and..."
'Both...?'
He felt himself shout, nonetheless. "OPEN THE HANGAR DOORS! There is little time! Your forces at present do not stand a chance against the enemy! Now open the hatch if you value your lives! I am here to help you! You have no choice but to trust me!"
"Yeah!" Another voice piped up. "We don't wanna die in a place like this, for crying out loud! I promise we won't run away!"
Looking around, Jai noticed the other Vanguard standing right behind his. He didn't know who exactly the pilot was, but guessed that he had boarded the machine only moments after he himself had done so. Still, the other didn't seem a threat...he was more of an ally, in fact.
A stunning silence dominated the entire ship for little more than a few seconds. Then, the docking gates were opened.
"...thank you." Wasting no time, both Vanguards then shot out of the pirate vessel.
Jai Akira then finally became fully aware of himself.
'...why do I get the feeling that I know exactly what to do...?' he thought, now piloting the black Vanguard expertly, and diving into the raging battle, the gold one following closely after.
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In the prison cell, Hibiki was growing more impatient.
"How long are we actually planning on waiting here, Mr. Know-it-all? This is getting ridiculous!" the dark-haired mechanic asked, annoyance clearly in his tone.
"…" was the only reply. Apparently, Duero was also getting restless, though he didn't let it show much.
Bart was more vocal, though...
"...well, at least they're feeding us here..."
Hibiki shook him vigorously by the collar. "Where's your pride as a man?! You sound like you're enjoying it here!"
"WAAAH! N...no! I...I-I-I mean...I..."
A loud clanging on the cell bars made them all look in the direction. There stood one of the Mejale, this one had short hair, and was in a violet uniform of some sort. She was holding a handgun.
"I can't believe how crazy you Tarak are...just looking at you makes me sick..."
Hibiki piped up. "Hey, you Mejale are the crazy ones here, you know? Where the heck are you taking us?! What've you done with our ship?!"
"The bottom line was that you lost the battle! And now you are our prisoners!"
"Hey! Let us out now and we'll show you..."
"Why bother? I could just shoot you from here, and..." she said smugly, taking aim right at Hibiki...then Duero...and then Bart.
The helmsman hid under the cot, crying like a baby. "Not me!!! Shoot him...or him! He's the noisiest one here! I-I'll do anything!"
"...idiot..." Hibiki mumbled, the blood vessels in his head pulsating.
She then laughed and lowered her pistol. "No wonder you lot are so miserable...you're such cowards!"
This further agitated Hibiki, who suddenly lunged at the bars. "What did you say?!"
"Be quiet!" she shouted, and banged her weapon once more on the bars for added emphasis. It seemed to work, as the noisy mechanic angrily took a seat on the steel floor with an audible "harumpf".
"And what brings you here, may I ask?" Duero finally spoke, calmly, detachedly, and with neither any hint of malice nor sarcasm nor curiosity, for that matter. "Surely you didn't come here just to pick on us..."
"...so I see some of you DO have some common sense..." she said after a long pause, shrugging and holstering her weapon, "Yes, my visit here was about something of importance. While you might not be overly concerned, my superiors have told me to inform you that we will be dropping you off at our planet once we get there, along with all the other trash that need to be disposed of..."
"...that isn't surprising..." Duero said.
She continued as if she wasn't disrupted. "...but it might take some time before that glorious moment actually comes. Somehow, the ship was thrown way off course..."
"...by that mysterious explosion, no doubt..." the physician interjected again.
This time, he was acknowledged. "That is also what we believe...but in any case, you three have been assigned to make yourselves...useful...for the time being."
Hibiki grunted. "What, you expect us to clean your stupid ship, or something?"
"Actually, we believe that part of it now used to be your ship."
"Then it is just as I expected..."
Hibiki grew agitated once more. "What?! You can't be serious! You can't believe this Mejale sc..."
Just then, an alarm sounded throughout the ship, the bleeping noise and broadcast announcement cutting off whatever was about to be said.
"All Dread pilots report to the hangar immediately! Hostile unknown vessels approaching dead ahead! Repeat..."
'Now where do I remember this scenario from...?' Hibiki thought bitterly to himself.
"It looks like this will have to wait..." The Mejale, now looking more worried than anything else, a stark contrast to her haughty attitude mere moments before, sprinted out of the hallway and beyond.
The three prisoners were left once again to themselves. Only, this time, the whole place had a livelier atmosphere.
"Okaaaay...now what?" Bart, unexpectedly, was the first to air the question.
"Maybe the cavalry's finally here..." Hibiki retorted, though rather weakly. He hadn't really counted on the Tarak to send any rescue party, and, if ever it had, it certainly wouldn't have been this soon to arrive.
"No...they said 'unknown vessels'. I doubt it would be the Tarak coming to get us...or for whatever other reason there is..." Duero stated.
"Could they be the same ones as the one when we fought the Mejale before?" Hibiki asked.
"It is possible...it has been about three days since that time. They might have sent for reinforcements before ultimately going down...though I have a lingering suspicion that these ones could be entirely different..."
"You think too much..." Hibiki said, frowning a bit. "Let's just try to get out of here and kick them all to another world or something!"
"And you don't think..." Duero shot back in his usual cold tone.
"Hey, guys!" Bart interrupted, "this isn't the time to be fighting! We should be coming up with a plan to escape! Now that they're under attack, it could be a golden opportunity for us!"
Hibiki only dryly replied, "So...any bright ideas?"
The helmsman thought awhile...then scratched his head sheepishly. "Well, I thought I'd leave that part to you both..."
"...idiot..." Hibiki mumbled.
"Hey! I'm not all that useless! For instance, I can remember how to get to the hangar and the bridge from here..."
"Really now...?"
"Yeah! It was when they were bringing us here, to this place..."
Hibiki cut him off mid-sentence. "All right, all right, but such information would be useless unless we do find a way to get out of here," he said as he stood up and began to lean on the cell bars.
Suddenly, the whole ship shook violently. Hibiki lost his footing and slipped. He extended a hand to grip one of the bars, but instead found only air, and crashed on his face.
"Huh? The bars are retracted!" Hibiki said.
Bart spoke. "Must be some kind of malfunction or something, after that shock..."
Duero, however, didn't sound optimistic, "It would appear that the vessel is taking damage...this does not look good..."
"Doesn't look good?! We're out!" the mechanic exclaimed, "How can it not be good?"
"Whatever the circumstances...we have to protect this ship from destruction."
"Help the Mejale?! Are you out of your mind?! Why the heck should we do that?!" both Hibiki and Bart questioned.
"Because if this ship goes down, so do we..."
"Oh...I hadn't realized that..." they chorused after a short, but meaningful, silence.
"Alright!" Hibiki said, getting to his feet. "Duero, see whatever you can do to help with the medical stuff around here...Bart, you go to the bridge; you are a helmsman after all...I'll help out outside with my buddy. It might be contrary to everything that stands true, but...do we really have to do this?"
Duero just shot him an indifferent glance, though one that almost bordered on malicious had there been just a little more emotion.
"All right...but maybe only this once..." Hibiki said dejectedly. 'Oh boy...I'm really going to regret this...I just know it!'
After being given directions by Bart, each of them ran their own ways. Hibiki made it to his destination in almost no time.
'Hey...Bart WAS telling the truth...'
When he had gotten to the hangar, the black Vanguard was already making its way out of its place in the corner.
'Whoa...don't tell me that the Mejale are capable of piloting that...not even our scientists could get it to move that well...'
Not giving the matter further thought, he just sprinted towards his own Vanguard. Jumping in the cockpit, he felt a sense of vigor at the thought of battle, though also a sense of misery at the thought of having to help the Mejale.
'In any case, this has to be done...' he thought, activating his "buddy" and stepping out towards the launching area.
A voice, clearly male, sounded from the black Vanguard. "Open the hangar!"
'What the...is it moving by itself? Or...is there another Tarak here?' Hibiki thought, now more excited.
The control center sounded back. "Stand down! Both of you! Leave the Vanguards and..."
The other expressed more urgency. "OPEN THE HANGAR DOORS! There is little time! Your forces at present do not stand a chance against the enemy! Now open the hatch if you value your lives! I am here to help you! You have no choice but to trust me!"
'Yeah...I guess they do, considering their ship's getting banged up...and we need them as well...so...might as well...I think...'
"Yeah!" Hibiki said, despite himself. He couldn't just sit back and watch this unfold...it just wasn't his style. "We don't wanna die in a place like this, for crying out loud! I promise we won't run away!"
'Hey...I gotta give them some sort of assurance...' he thought at his last comment.
A stunning silence dominated the entire ship for little more than a few seconds. Then, the docking gates were opened.
"...thank you." The black Vanguard said finally as it blasted off into the space beyond.
"You're not hogging all the action..." Hibiki mumbled, though supposedly directing his sentiments toward the other pilot...or whatever was in that thing. He then blasted off close behind.
"Yeah! Let's do this!"