Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread.
Author's Notes: Finally, back to work here. I apologize for the incredibly long period between the last couple of chapters. I've been busy on other things.
Actually, to be honest I just haven't gotten around to it. Hopefully this burst of industriousness will last long enough to finally get this story finished.
Chapter 14
The clamor of the alarm bell broke through the haze of shouting and the sounds of equipment being hastily pulled on. Men rushed in every direction, calling to their comrades as they attached chinstraps or adjusted sword belts. General Metraiya stood removed from the general confusion, standing on the ramparts outside the army barracks. His stomach tightened uncomfortably as he watched the trails of fire fall from the sky, stretching across the semi-darkness of the predawn sky as before crashing to earth at a point hidden from his vision by the buildings between his vantage point and their landing site. He knew without a doubt, though, that the points of red-orange light that left tracks of fire were landing at the palace of the People From The Sky. Of that, there could be no doubt.
"Lord General!"
Metraiya turned to see his aide dashing up, hastily pulling on his helmet. The man's face was as pale as Metraiya had ever seen him, and the officer could plainly see the fear in his eyes as he looked up to watch the flaring lights descend from the dark heavens.
"What are they, Lord General?"
"What else could they be, Nashen? Demons come to devour our people. The prophecies they gave us have come true."
Nashen licked his lips.
"But-but surely the ones who descended from Heaven could defeat them. Did they not say they came to protect our people?"
"Aye, they did indeed. However, they also did say that we must be ready to fight by their side when we are called. The Blessed Ones have ordered me to prepare our warriors to defend the city."
At the other end of the city, though, an entirely different situation was taking place at the Meranos holding facility.
"Damn it! Where'd they come from?"
"Emergency message from Captain Caeris! Boarders have seized control of his ship!"
"Get a message to Minister Haakon now!"
"We're trying, sir!"
The CO turned angrily to face a pair of trembling officers.
"What's the situation outside?"
"There have been a large number of landings around the base perimeter, sir. They appear to be some kind of unmanned drop pod mounted with fast-firing anti-infantry weapons. Every attempt to breach the ring they've formed has failed completely. We're planning to mobilize every heavy weapon in our stock and clear out enough to get people in and out the front gate at least."
"What about the natives?"
"We've sent the order. They're mobilizing their entire in-city garrison; it consists roughly of about five thousand men. It'll take them a while to get here, though, and they certainly can't break in. They'll be slaughtered."
The CO turned to his tactical officer.
"How sure are you they'll fight against an invader as technologically advanced as this? Their troops are certain to be armed to the teeth with modern weapons."
"Don't worry, sir. We've got them totally convinced we're divine messengers. They see this as a sort of preordained apocalypse and are prepared to fight to the death. They won't be able to do much but they'll slow the invaders with their numbers, at least."
The commander was impressed.
"How'd you get that sort of devotion?"
"Not hard, sir. We predicted a few natural phenomena like blizzards and eclipses, made a big techno-show with lights and holograms, and helped them establish better irrigation and sanitation systems. They see us as visitors from heaven, here to save them from destruction we 'prophesied'."
"Well, they'd better be able to do hold them off long enough for reinforcements to arrive, or we're all going straight to hell."
Meia stared out the drop pod's single viewing window, trying to breath shallowly so as not to make herself sick from the claustrophobic confines of her helmet and the harsh scent of the recycled air supplied by her respirator. She knew that if she wore this suit long enough, her body would adjust and she'd stop minding the smell, but it seemed it wasn't going to happen soon enough to keep her from pulling the thing off and vomiting. Dita already had. She dearly wished she had one of the familiar Mejele-designed spacesuits they used on the Nirvana.
More to distract herself than anything else, she turned away from the topsy-turvy view of the planet's surface coming closer and closer, steeling herself as the pod began to rattle violently with the force of reentry. The bright red glow spilling in from the viewing port dimmed as her armor's viewers darkened to help protect her vision, reducing the amount of light that got through.
Her gaze fell briefly on the weapon being carried by the soldier sitting opposite her. It was a gun…a very big, multi-barreled gun. Set upright, it would easily reach past her waist if she stood beside it. An ammunition belt extended from the weapon's breech, connecting it to a cylindrical drum that sat on the floor next to its owner. For it to have such a large ammunition capacity, she wondered what the thing's rate of fire was. Probably incredibly high; the mercenaries seemed to have a very carefree attitude when it came to using ammunition.
She looked back at Sergeant Nefzen. The burly NCO was tapping a finger impatiently on the stock of his rifle, occasionally glancing at the timer that displayed the time remaining before landing in large, green numbers. When it hit two minutes and thirty seconds, he looked back at his squad and its attached guests.
"All right! Listen up. Our job is to baby sit these four. No wandering off anywhere and no engaging hostiles unless in self-defense. We follow after the advanced teams have sent the all clear. All of you got it?"
A chorus of affirmatives rose from the other soldiers. Most seemed bored, and impatient to get their feet on the ground and get moving. Meia knew well that the waiting could easily be the most nerve-racking thing about combat; waiting around before getting into the action, like when she was waiting for the signal to launch, gave people time to think- and worry. Sometimes it was better to be in the middle of the chaos and action of combat; despite the very real fear for your safety, it generally kept you too busy to consider your own mortality.
"Hey! You listening?"
She turned back to Sergeant Nefzen, who was glaring at her.
"I said, you had better follow orders, all right? If you get any of my men killed because of some stupid mistake I'll personally gut you after we get back."
Annoyed, she opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by a strong bout of turbulence as the pod activated its thrusters to slow its descent. When the shaking stopped, Nefzen reached out and slapped a control on the cramped pod's ceiling, studying a screen that lit up before sitting back again, apparently forgetting her. Meia was forced to postpone her angry retort when Jura leaned over. The other pilot's voice was quiet, and made strangely unfamiliar by both her words and the harsh, metallic tone the helmet's voice projector gave her.
"Settle down! No point making the big brute angry. If I can lose some of my hair, you can take an insult."
Meia's anger evaporated as she studied the armored form seated beside her. She was almost tempted to pull her helmet off to make sure it was Jura. Before she could reply, though, the ride came to an abrupt stop as the pod finally touched down, shaking her like dice in a cup, even in her seat restraints. When she'd finally settled down, she saw that the other soldiers were all either finishing the task of unstrapping themselves from their seats or were already on their feet, moving to the doorway where the sergeant stood.
Nefzen hit the door control, and with a hiss and the whine of servos, the doorway unsealed itself and swung open, allowing them to climb out. Once out of the pod, the mercenaries immediately scattered to check the nearby area for hostiles and establish a perimeter, while Nefzen activated his comm. unit and reported a successful landing. After a moment more of speaking to whoever was at the other end, he turned and gestured to another soldier.
"Corporal, break out the map and plot the easiest course to the enemy base."
The man nodded, pulling out a data pad that displayed surveillance data collected by their drones. He tapped rapidly on its tiny keyboard before looking up and nodding.
"All right, let's move out! Cortez, you take point. Everyone else, fan out and keep your eyes open. Stay alert, stay alive!"
As they began tracing the path the corporal had set, Meia glanced at the sergeant out of the corner of her eye.
"How exactly are your forces going to do this?"
"We've dropped a significant number of troops to complete this operation, along with quite a few heavy support batteries and vehicles. The plan is basically advance on their base in a straight push with all units while under cover of every gun we've got."
"You're sure that'll be enough?"
"Valkoris troops have engaged soldiers from at least seven different planetary armies. In every case, a single platoon of our men was able to put out a much greater volume of fire than much larger formations of our opponents, and with better accuracy from longer range. That was good considering we were also outnumbered by a significant margin in every engagement."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Hibiki spoke the question from somewhere behind Meia.
The sergeant grunted in annoyance.
"Since you're too dull to understand, it means that we're pretty sure we've got more guns than they've got guts. This is the kind of operation we excel at- a quick, hard strike to seize an objective before retreating. In this sort of situation a small but highly trained and highly equipped shock force will be a lot more effective than a big, lumbering mass of half-trained conscripts."
"Like your storming the Nirvana?" Meia was aware her voice was cold, but there wasn't much she could do about it. These still were the people who'd attacked the place she called home, even if they were now on the same side.
Nefzen gave her a sideways glance.
"Sort of. That was a good example of our preferred MO."
"Attack by surprise and shoot everything you see?"
"Hey. We only fire at people who're firing at us. What I meant was using a combination of superior firepower and speed to efficiently accomplish a mission objective. If you beat the enemy before they can even start fighting, you win while lessening casualties on both sides."
"That's easy to say when you aren't taking the casualties."
"Not our fault you got caught sitting on your asses. Blame yourselves for being easy targets, not us."
"How can you say something like that?" Dita's voice was filled with a combination of repulsion and shock at the mercenary's callousness.
"What, is it tough for you to hear? I'm not here to hold your hand and tell you fairy tales, missy. The universe is a big shithole, and you don't survive through it by closing your eyes, covering your ears, and pretending the bad guys aren't there."
"People like you are the bad guys." Dita's voice was small.
"Yeah, boo-hoo. I've got a stinkin' pirate telling me I'm a bad guy. You'll have to excuse me if I don't take your opinion to heart. Now shut the fuck up and keep going. I'm sick of this philosophy bullshit."
His tone was harsh, but Meia thought she detected a faint hint of self-loathing lacing the anger. His helmet revealed nothing, though.
Somewhere ahead, a massive explosion sounded, throwing up an easily visible plume of smoke. They watched it rise lazily, spreading out over the rest of the city. Nefzen pressed one hand to the side of his helmet, apparently listening to a communication.
"Sounds like the first batteries have opened up. Spotters say the defenses are pretty thick."
"And you're still sure you'll be able to break through?" Hibiki sounded slightly incredulous.
"If massed firepower isn't enough to do the job, that just means we need to use more of it. In this day and age, there ain't no nut too tough to crack…with the right nutcracker."
The sergeant's grim statement almost seemed to hang in the air, spreading ominously like the clouds of smoke as they dashed deeper into the city.