Vandread GA: The Second Stage
Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread, or anything that references other anime, manga, movies, video games, and comics; they all belong to their respective owners and creators including Gonzo and Bandai. I do own the things I created; enough said.
Chapter 5: Bittersweet Reunions and Battles (Part 2)
Moments later around lunch time, Arthur and Brian decided to get lunch from the Café of the Nirvana along with Lockheed, Dita, Misty, and Hibiki while Air Chief Marshall Salvador declined politely and left the ship along with the rest of the high ups of the Terrain Prime Self-Defense Forces.
As they were eating, Lockheed couldn't help, but look down at his meal embarrassed he touched a female in an inappropriate matter. Seconds later, Barnette ironically came in with Jura with her and both of them looked at where Arthur, Hibiki, Dita, Misty, and Lockheed were sitting at.
After getting their meals, to Barnette's surprise, Jura went to over to the table where the group was at and sat down across from Arthur. It was then that Lockheed turned around and looked at her for a good several seconds before returning to his meal.
"It wasn't funny! I seriously mean it!" Lockheed shouted.
"Well, at least you didn't get hit in the nuts or had water poured on you while you were asleep." Arthur said.
Upon hearing this, Lockheed inquired and Hibiki told him about the prank.
Flashback
Four days earlier; February 8th, 3818 AD; 3:00 pm (1500 hours)
Arthur was just taking an afternoon nap after helping to repair some of Mission Delta 6's security systems when unknown to him, Hibiki was going to pull a prank on him.
Following right behind him were Dita and Misty with Dita having a camera to record the moment and Misty with a bottle of water for the prank moving quietly behind Hibiki while keeping quiet in order not to wake up Arthur, which would ruin the prank.
After making sure Arthur was soundly asleep, Misty handed Hibiki the water bottle and with Dita recording it, began to pour a very tiny amount on Arthur's crotch while he slept and using about four to five tablespoons worth of water, the water gradually seeped.
"Oh man this is going to be priceless..." Misty said quietly.
After about a couple of minutes, Arthur then woke up feeling water in the crack of his ass and at once Hibiki, Dita, and Misty ran quickly away while filming and being chased at the same time.
While Hibiki, Dita, and Misty were running from Arthur, not too far away Barnette, Meia, Jura, Brian, Bella, Pyoro, Paiway, and Bart were talking among themselves when they saw Hibiki, Dita, and Misty running away for some reason.
That was answered when they saw Arthur run past them with a part of his pants wet around his crotch area and once he left everyone surely, but slowly ended up laughing at what happened.
End of Flashback
"And I ended up making him scrub the toilets in the men's quarters along with Dita and Misty for that trick," said Arthur.
"Man, if Steve was there, he would've loved to have gotten a picture of that," replied Lockheed.
Several hours later found Arthur wanting to talk to his sister Victoria who was on the TPSDNS Sparta taking care of few things. After taking a shuttle to the ship, it didn't take him long to find her in the Hanger bay which was where the shuttle docked.
Before he could speak, the Valkyrie Gundam pilot and officer turned around and gave him a harsh glare before walking up to him while unknown to the two siblings, Hibiki, Meia, Dita, and Jura who accompanied him hid in the shadows to watch the show play out.
Then seconds later before Arthur could come up with a reason for his absence and supposed 'death', Victoria cut her brother off coldly as she walked away from him ignoring him greatly.
"Great, what I am I going to do?" Arthur said to himself.
Nearby, Meia spoke to her friends, "And I thought I had ice in my veins."
Jura on the other hand along with Dita were determined to help out and as soon as Arthur left and Victoria returned, Jura left the hanger to talk with Arthur while telling Omar to start the tour without her.
Moments later, Arthur wearing his pilot suit was busy looking outwards to space on board the TPSDNS Sparta, he was just lost in thought as what to do about his relationship with his sister when he heard footsteps.
"Mind if I join you?"
"I guess..."
Jura then walked over to and stood to Arthur's left, he glanced over and was surprised to see her in her custom pilot suit he gave her at Christmas last year along with Dita and Meia's suits minus the helmet and her hair was down.
"Look, I understand you want to be left alone, but as a fellow crew member of the Nirvana, I want to help anyway I can with what's plaguing you." Jura said.
"Listen Jura, I understand that you want to help, but this is a family matter, did ever you grow up with a sibling?" Arthur asked.
"No, same goes for Meia and Dita. Barnette I know has two older sisters and two younger sisters from my time of knowing her." Jura said.
Arthur just signed before speaking, "She's just feeling like that I put her in a position where she had to live up to who I am which is really dumb in my mind because she should forge her own legend in her own way. It's not all my fault that Bella, Brian, and I got sing-shot across the galaxy and fighting the Harvesters along with being MIA."
"That is correct, you know before I meet you I was spoiled and I'll admit it I wanted a baby to be famous, but you made a good point during the time protecting the polluted planet. We're at war and having kids right now isn't a good idea and I want to know you more and hope you continue to teach me on how to be a better leader and be a competent one as well..." Jura said.
On the other hand, a tour led by Omar with Hibiki, Dita, and Meia along with Victoria following eventually saw Jura talking to Arthur before Victoria turned away in disgust which annoyed Meia to the point she pulled out her laser ring and demanded an explanation for her harsh treatment.
"Just why the hell are you treating your own brother, your own family like this?" Meia asked.
"Yeah what the hell ma'am, you should be at least happy that he's back, alive, and now have a bit more reason to fight the Harvesters along with Tarak and Mejere." Hibiki said annoyed.
"Don't you at least care about your own brother?" Dita asked.
Seeing that they wanted answers, Victoria motioned Dita, Hibiki, and Meia to follow her to her quarters, but then saw Jura looking at Arthur before hugging him, which surprised her as in her life; her brother never had a relationship with another person because of his upbringing.
She and Arthur's uncle who was Harold's father who played a part of raising all three of them also taught them not to get into a relationship if they had flaws on them or the person was flawed to the point the relationship couldn't work out.
"Boy, looks like your bro has found a good catch! I could see her chilling with Marilyn Monroe..." Omar said with a smile.
Victoria shook her head and spoke, "Um, Squadron Leader Hanson, please report to my quarters now."
After breaking off the hug, both Jura and Arthur followed Victoria, Hibiki, Dita, and Meia back to Victoria's quarters while Omar left to do other things. On the door of her quarters were her name and her rank. Once inside, the group saw that her room was small; it had a bed, sink, mirror, desk, an overhead shelf, a small dresser, and a chair. It also had an entrance way to a bathroom as well.
Once everyone was seated, Victoria then explained that the reasoning for her behavior was out of mixed emotions mainly out of frustration that she had to live up to the legend of her brother along with wanting to get payback against Tarak for what happened nearly a year ago.
Then Victoria reveled that in reality, she's actually happy that her brother, Brian, and Bella are still alive and kicking as she then showed her brother and his companions footage of various refugees Terrain Prime was taking in spreading word of the Nirvana's defiance against the Harvesters.
Victoria then spoke, "Oh by the way brother, have you had sex with any of the women on the Nirvana excluding Magno, Buzam, Gascogne, and Paiway?"
In an instant, Arthur turned the brightest shade of red that it could've come from Jura's dread as his companions jaw-dropped instantly at her choice of words before Arthur found the words to speak up.
"What the fuck sis? That question is a big fat no! as far as I'm concerned, don't give these ladies any ideas as there's a war sis! Now I know where you got that Politically Incorrect language from; dad..."
"Yeah, he passed out in shock when I told him and as for mom, she just let out a very loud sequel of joy."
Victoria said that as the two fist-bumped each other before displaying the 'Rock on' gesture as they have done before ever since they were kids. After that was said and done, the PA system came on.
"Will Squadron Leader Hanson of the TPSDNS Solaris report to the R&D department on the station immediately?"
"I better see what they want." Arthur said.
With that said he left the room and to the base/station leaving everyone in the room. After he left, Hibiki and Dita decided to tell Victoria the prank he, Dita, and Misty did to her brother and the prank he did to him along with Brian. Upon hearing it, she found it hilarious along with the one her brother did to Hibiki much to the relief of Dita, Meia, Jura, and Hibiki.
A few hours later, the small group left the TPSDNS Sparta and back towards the Nirvana except for Arthur who was at the R&D department with Bella, Brian, and the other Gundam pilots including Lockheed for a very important experiment called Project Lighting Commando.
This project would enhance any pilot or Self-Defense force person to beyond the peak of human perfection in order to create the perfect warrior and citizen. It had its risks like death, but Arthur along with his comrades were willing to face it.
After catching up with their fellow pilots, the twelve pilots turned in for the night after preparing for the procedures, which would happen tomorrow. The next morning at 8:00 AM or 0800 hours, the twelve pilots found themselves in almost a crypt-like chamber with a pod for each pilot.
"Hope this works..." Brian said.
"It will why else would they ask us to do it?" Yao asked annoyed.
After each pilot stripped down naked which the guys went first while the women looked away and stepping into each pod. The women followed next with all twelve pods sealed and vital signs monitored like crazy.
Sensei Doctor FC spoke to everyone present including Magno, "Welcome everyone, for today we're going to witness medical history. Today we're going to create the Lighting Commandos for we are about to begin the augmentations of the Lighting Commando Program which is injecting specialized chemicals and drugs into them along with bonding special metals to their skeletons. Let's begin."
After pressing a series of buttons to start the sequence, on each pod each pilot was lowered into a tank of water for a reason which each pod was filled with water as well, but each pilot was sedated and given a breathing mask beforehand. Then a series of needles moved towards each pilot slowly each filled with cocktail of drugs and selected materials for the Lighting Commando Project including a dozen fragments of the Paksis to help.
"Okay, here goes nothing for today we will win the wars against us and escort the leaders of the Harvesters to the very gates of Hell. They will also become the leaders that'll inspire others to lead and to give hope no matter what happens..." Instructor Professor JJ said.
Among those watching were the captains of the 1st or Zeus fleet and some of the Nirvana's crew as well including Magno, but with very special permission and access. Duero was brought in due to him being medical doctor and was helping to monitor the vital signs.
After looking around, the higher ups gave the twelve scientists permission to start and they all at once pressed a button to start the augmentations. A second later, the process began which everyone watching with both high expectations and nervousness because if it went wrong, there would be twelve dead or badly crippled pilots instead of what was supposed to be Lighting Commandos.
"Body temperatures on each one are rising along with blood pressure and heart rates at alarming rates." Duero said worriedly.
Magno noticed that the pilots were trashing and asked, "Why are they acting like that? Aren't they supposed to be sedated?"
"They are, but it's still painful anyway and besides, this is part of Project Archangel." Ashley said.
They then looked at the twelve monitors and saw the twelve pilots were getting taller along with what Magno couldn't help, but get a bit scared at seeing molten metal being bonded as well. For Victoria, this reminded her of how Wolverine got the metal bonded to his claws and skeleton.
Inside the pods, all twelve pilots felt nothing, but sheer pain as the procedures went underway as they all each had flashbacks to different points of their lives before their minds concentrated on their desire to live.
About half way through the procedure, everyone started to hear screaming and this brought out some concerns from those observing it particularly Jura and Meia. Everyone watched with concern as the heart rates and blood pressures of all twelve rose greatly.
"They can make it…. they can make it..." Victoria said quietly.
As soon as it began, it ended and everyone watched with anticipation and worry including Jura, but it soon ended as the vital signs of all twelve pilots were all green though they would be groggy for a bit.
"They all did it, yes!" General Blackhawk said quietly.
The first pod to open after a period of ten minutes of waiting was Arthur's and everyone laughed as Jura got a nose bleed at Arthur's new appearance as he was now what they were seeing now at the height of 6'9 instead of 5'9.
"Whoa, I like the new appearance..." Jura said while ogling Arthur.
"Ha, Keep that up and you're going to a pervert before long..." Victoria said with a chuckle.
After being given hospital nightgowns, the twelve pilots including Arthur were placed on specialized medical beds and were led away for recovery and adjustment as everyone in the room clapped at the success of the project.
Unknown to anyone, a female wearing a black ops outfit had observed the experiment and left intending on getting data on the procedures. In another part of the station/colony, the unknown female had gotten to a safe area in an alleyway and pulled out a communicator.
"This is Gypsy here, the program was a success. The nine savages all survived and the along with those three traitors and some of the pirates are here as well. As for the four new Gundams, they're around 80 percent ready"
"Excellent, be sure to grab data on that project a and when the time is right, we'll steal those new Gundams and this time, we won't fail."
After ending communications, the unknown spy left the alley after removing her spy outfit and then returned to her hotel she was staying at. After getting in, she headed to her room and put the outfit away. Once the outfit was put away, the female looked outwards towards the facility and smirked as one thought came into her mind.
"I never thought I'd run into you here Barnette, soon we shall again and this time, I'll be the one to walk away victoriously..."
The next day, Arthur was sleeping in the men's quarters of the base recovering from the augmentations of the Lighting Commando program. Bella was sleeping in the Women's Quarters with Lilo and Nami.
Groaning as he sat up in his bed with a robotic mechanical assistant, Arthur felt like crap because although the program was designed to make him and his fellow Gundam pilots strong, it still had some side effects like drowsiness along with them complaining about the pain which was the following; bones feeling like they were burned into ash, blood vessels felt like acid, eyes that felt like acidic fire balls, and blood that felt more like fire.
He looked down to see all of the surgical scars that covered him now including needle marks and scalpel cuts as he looked around to see his fellow males also in pain, but otherwise fine as he croaked one word.
"Ouch..."
On the Nirvana, Jura decided to practice her sword skills in the Gymnasium and to her surprise, Victoria was working out on the treadmill.
"Do mind if I practice?" Jura asked.
"No not at all..." Victoria said.
After getting into her proper outfit which was a workout shirt, shorts, and sandals, Jura proceeded to practice her sword skills at the same time Meia and a few others including Julian to work out as well.
Victoria asked a question to Jura after she got off of the treadmill, "Jura was it? What do you see in him? What was it about him that I can see clearly now that you're in love with him."
Dropping the tip of her rapier sword to the ground a bit and blushing as well, Jura then looked at Victoria a bit before coming up with her answer as she then found the courage to speak up.
"Well, at…at first I wanted a baby with either his seed or Hibiki's seed, but then Arthur sort of slapped me to my senses because he told me that it was hard enough that we have to care for Ezra's baby and we don't need another one. Plus, he told me that if I was to be with him, I'd have to mature up and can you keep a secret please?"
"What is it? I'm sure based on how Ezra has told me how you spend some of your time helping to care for her baby, I'm pretty sure you'd be a good mom and that would make me an aunt if you both get married and have a family..." Victoria said while whipping her sweat off.
Jura hesitated a bit and thought of carefully of what to say next because although she still wanted to be a mom, there was a side that she realized that she was in love with Arthur for a variety of reasons.
"All right I'll say it; I'm in love with your brother Arthur okay. When I'm around him, I feel secure and like I can lead with little problem. When Meia was put out of action and a flopped in my first attempt to lead, helped me get back on my feet by giving a bit of advice. He also saved Meia, Dita, Barnette, Brian, and I back on that desert mission nearly a year ago. Not to mention he was the first man I kissed and for some reason, it felt so good I wanted to just melt like butter and every time I kiss him, I feel like I'm in heaven. I hope you approve of me being with your brother Victoria along with the rest of your and Arthur's family." Jura said with a faint blush.
"If you're in love with him, why don't you go and tell him? I'm pretty sure he'd feel the same about you." Victoria said.
Jura looked at Victoria before replying, "Well, given the fact he's got a no-nonsense attitude and he's very strict along with the fact that he's focused on the war between Mejere and Terrain Prime along with the conflict with Tarak and the Harvesters, I'm not so sure and I'd feel like I'm doing something against Mejere standards."
Meia then spoke up after Jura, "Jura, I have something to say as well; I feel the same things like you recently, but it's to Brian and ever since he kissed me, I've been developing feels for him. In fact, when Brian first kissed me, I felt strange like I liked it and wanted more. I hope one day to see any family he still has and I hope to ensure he is never alone again."
"If both of you ladies are confused, why don't you talk to your captain, I'm pretty sure she could help very well better than I can..." Victoria said as she left the gym.
Unknown to everyone, history would be purposely repeated as unknown to the people on the station, Mejere was preparing to make their move on the new set of Gundams though they weren't the only ones as Tarak was also making its move as well.
On the other hand, Jura and Meia found themselves at Magno Vivian's quarters which after knocking, they were allowed to enter which the women then sat down and had a talk with Magno.
"What is it you ladies wanted to talk to me about?" Magno asked.
"You were around when men and women were together right?" Jura said.
The old pirate leader nodded and within a few moments, Jura explained in detail of the feelings she was developing towards one pilot while Meia told the same thing. After thinking about it, Magno came to a conclusion; they were in love or at least had crushes on Arthur and Brian.
"It's quite simple dears; you're both in love or at least have crushes on them." Magno said.
"But…it feels almost like its wrong though it is right at the same time…why?" Meia asked.
"Girls, there's nothing wrong with feeling in love for it is normal and I'm not surprised if Arthur and Brian are feeling the same as they too despite growing up in a co-gender world, they very likely never got into a relationship like this for you Jura it is with Arthur while Meia it is with Brian." Magno said.
After Meia and Jura left after talking to Magno about 30 minutes later who reassured them that what they were feeling was normal and not taboo, both decided they could use some time with the men they had feelings for.
The next day was of course February 14th or Valentine's Day and both Meia and Jura were determined to show the men they liked how much they cared about them, but were turned away at the military base gate as they were civilians though they could leave a Valentine for their men anyway despite this.
Also on the day, the Nirvana helped Ashley celebrate Bella's 20th birthday which everyone knew that despite the differences in rank, both sisters cared for each other which some including Gascogne admired which for the leader of the Register was for more personal reasons.
The other Gundam pilots gave tips and advice along with training them a bit so the Starfire pilots could become more effective against the Harvesters in the future along with the Nirvana's other forces.
A week later, Victoria underwent the Augmentations herself along with her squad mates, which went well like the last set of augmentations. Everyone who was augmented recovered fully with little to no complications.
A few weeks later on March 7th, 3818 AD marked Arthur Hanson's 21st birthday which everyone on the Nirvana help celebrate including Jura who gave him one of her one swords; a ninjato ninja sword which he repaid her with a passionate kiss.
Fate sadly, would have other plans and it would be ugly…in due time...
A/N: Here is the end of Part 2 of this chapter.
R&R to tell me what you think, but no flames only constructive Criticism is allowed.