Wow, I am already at chapter six. Foe me this is an accomplishment. I still got a few ideas left, but any you reading this would like to contribute would be helpful.
Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread.
#6: Doubts
"I think it is safe to take your cast off, but only slow, fluid motions for another 2 days. No jerking it around, and your grounded tell then." Duero told Hibiki calmly, as they sat in the infirmary and he inspected Hibiki's injuries.
"What?" Hibiki shouted slamming his hands down on the metal table he was sitting on. But now sooner had his left hand hit the table, when he brought it back up to his chest, clutching it tightly as a lance of excruciating pain shot through it. "I'll see what I can do doc." He said defeated. "You will need to keep you chest wounds bandaged. They aren't heeling very well, id I have a idea it might be an after effect of the strange powers that boy slashed you with." Duero said, to no argument Hibiki.
"Oh, that so sad Mr. Alien!" Dita cried as Hibiki rejoined her out side looking down trodden. "Let me go make you something good to eat." She said grabbing his good arm, and his mood improved at what she said, and he didn't even protest as Dita dragged him of to the kitchens. It was around noon and the ship was a hive of activity. People went about their jobs, and heading to the mess hall when the got a break.
"The crew I got put on ain't to bad. At least I get to handle high explosives as a job. But it isn't like I don't have that back in my room, in fact, I think I used some to hang a poster of the fully automatic Pacer." Jack told John as the sat at a table that was empty, holding heavily loaded plates of food. "How's the day treating you?"
"Spent most of it down in the bay fixing up the Vanguard I got." John answered digging in to his plate. "That's about it." Meia sat in the seat next to John at their table sending a small hi to them both, and then started into a plate she had brought along.
"We are going to go out at 1:30 today to practice with the Vanguards fighting with the dreads." She informed John. "I want you there 15 minutes early to go over some of the maneuvers we'll be performing." Her plan during this practice was to see how he was at commanding his troops on the field, and to see how he took to orders himself.
"I'll be there." He said nicely, "It will be nice to get out there in an actual Vanguard for a change."
"And with they way you flew in the simulation, you'll need all the practice you can get." Jack smirked at John, then said to Meia, "Just make sure he gets back by dinner, he gets a bit cranky if he doesn't get his food." Meia looked strangely at the man, not use to this kind of conversations.
"You'll be going to, all of men are going out to practice, it'll be announced soon." She said as another man approached the table.
"Would it be alright if I joined you?" Vinn said formally.
"Only if you toss that kind of thing out the window, were all friends now, remember?" John replied
"Ok, sorry." Vinn said as he took an empty seat. He had become less jumpy at the women since his multiple encounters with Dita while still on Tarrak.
"Hey," Jack asked Meia, "Who's that girl with the green hair?" He gestured over her shoulder. She turned looking around, their where quite a few people with green hair over in that area at the moment. "The one next to the mouthy blonde."
"Oh." She said, comprehension hitting her, "That's Barnette, one of the dread pilots." Barnette was seated next to Jura, who it looked had managed to pin down a couple of the new men at a table as the started their meal, and was conversing at them, without much room for them to say anything even if they could. Barnette just sat, cleaning a small handgun. "Why don't you go introduce yourself, she looks bord."
" I think I will." He said, standing up and heading over, "I'll be back in a minute." John, Meia, and Vinn watched as he walked over, tapped Barnette on the shoulder with a hand incased in a shiny metal gauntlet. She turned and he started to talk to her.
"Why does he wear those metal things?" Meia asked John.
"It just a kind of thing he does just cause they're special to him, you know?" He said
"Yeah…" She replied, bringing a hand up to touch the ornament she wore on her head, and watching Jack more closely. Whatever he said had caused Jura to stop talking at the men seated around her, and she just goggled at him in surprise as he turned and walked back to the group. Even the men were staring at him.
"What did you say? It must have been something if it caused Jura to stop talking." Meia said, seeing that Jura's face was now turning an angry shade of red. The guys around her decided they had been given an opportunity to get away safely, and took it.
"I just introduced myself, and said that she was welcome to join us if she got tired of hearing Squawky over there talking about herself. But I don't think they liked that very much." At that he cast a big smile over at the fuming blonde, who saw it and seemed to turn even redder with fury.
"Did you here the way he insulted me? And now he's over there gloating about it!" Jura fumed at Barnette, who was used to Jura's reactions on about anything by now.
"Yes, I'll go overt here and have a talk with him about his conduct if you want, so you won't do anything you might regret later in front Meia." She said, trying to comfort the raging girl.
"Good idea, tell me how it turns out, I'm going to go see if I can't find out where those men slid off to." She said, calming down, and walking off looking around. Barnette just sighed to herself, putting her pistol back together and attaching it her belt, putting away the little cleaning brush, and saying to herself, "If she doesn't find a man to have a baby with, it's going to kill me."
"Looks like it worked, here she comes." John said giving his buddy a slap on the shoulder as Barnette plopped herself down in the chair next to Meia.
"Why did you have to say that to Jura?" She asked, more exasperated then angry.
"Well, I didn't think you could hear me, I could barley here my self over it, and if you couldn't here my introduction, then I would have wasted my time. By the way, you heard my comment about your eyes, didn't you?" He explained as the others listened, munching on their lunch.
"No, why?" She asked, caught of guard by this.
"I Said I liked your eyes, they're a very nice shade of purple." He said unashamedly. Barrette was even more unprepared for a complement and just gaped for a moment as her brain tried to start her back up.
"Uh… thanks." She finally managed to get out.
"Don't mention it, I'm a softy for purple, but enough about me. I couldn't help but notice the pistol you got there. A classic model, but a bit unreliable if you don't take really good care of it. I'm a bit of an…Enthusiast of firearms, and I saw that your using a wire brush to clean it." He said, not giving room for her to insert her thought, though she couldn't say anything anyway as she was still recovering from the complement. He reached into his cloak and pulled out a small cylinder of peach colored material mounted on a thin metal pole and held it out for her to take. "Here take this, it works the same way as the wire brush but doesn't scratch up the inside of the barrel and helps smooth out old scratches." He stood, picked up his empty plate and started to walk off saying, "I gotta get back to the work or Gasco will have my head, see you on the field." He dumped his plate off in the used dished bin and left the room. It was two minites before Barnette managed to pull herself together enough to say,
"What just happened?"
"Looks like you just made a new friend." Meia laughed at her bewildered expression.
At 1:15 the door to the dread bay opened up and John strolled in.
"I'm here just like you wanted." He said in a friendly voice, smiling at the Pilot with the light blue hair and odd shoulder pads.
"Good," She said, and wasting no time plowed into covering all the maneuvers she wanted to go over during the practice that day. John listened without interrupting through the whole thing, admiring at times some of the more advanced thing the girl came open. It reminded him of his military days. He liked the service, but after finding out some of the things his superiors did, he dropped out, his morals telling him he wanted no part of being their. He met jack during his time in the military and formed a quick friendship. He was one of the reasons John quit. He was snapped out of reminiscing as the woman in front of him finished up. "…so you move you're your C team to this area and await further instructions." He stood up and almost saluted, but caught himself and slicked his hair back.
"Yes ma'am" He said, and the doors opened reveal Dita and Jura, closely followed by the other men who climbed into their Vanguard and fired them up.
"Where's Hibiki?" Meia asked, surprised to see Dita without him.
"The Doctor said he couldn't fly because of his arm for a couple of days, but he told me to tell you he didn't need to practice because he was to good." Dita answered gloomily.
The dreads burst from the bay to a predetermined place, followed by the slower Vanguards. John patched a COM link to all of the van guard units.
"Listen up, I'm in charge when where out here, and I give the orders. You will do exactly what I tell you, unless the dread leader, the Commander, or the Captain herself says something different." He said to the men. "Anyone who doesn't, or disrespects them when you are under my command, will have to answer to my boot when we get back to base. You read me?" He yelled the last part, and every one gave a healthy yes sir. He the patched a link to Meia. "Ready when you are." Meia was impressed, he not only didn't object to her command, but along with everyone else, obeyed it without question. He saw that she was above him on the chain of command, and respected that.
They practiced for a good 5 hours, the pilots all having learned the maneuvers and were able to perform them pretty good by the time they returned to the ship for dinner, much to the approval of all the pilots. Meia, John, Jack and Vinn all sat at a table together again, and Paiway and her puppet joined them. Halfway thorough the meal, Barnette made her way over because Jura was off trying to find the other men who had eaten quickly and filed out of the hall early to avoid her. "She's acting like Dita, Only chasing 6 instead of one." She said, sitting with a sigh. They sat chatting merrily long after the hall had cleared; drinking tea and just enjoying each other's company. At about ten thirty, the girls said good night and made their way out of the hall and off to bed.
"Well, I had my doubt's at the start, but 2 days on this crate and we already have friends in the female population." Vinn said, sitting back in the chair, putting his feet in the one across from him that had contained Paiway a minute ago. "I guess having a military background and having a healthy distrust in what they say helps you adjust, but I kinda feel sorry for those other guys."
"Yeah," John grunted, "They don't seem like monsters to me, but that blonde one might have been about to turn into something akin to one." Jack just stared darkly into his mug of tea. John noticed this, and added, "come on, just have some fun while were here, who knows what the future holds, your free now, and yeah got me and Vinn to cover your back." He said patting him on the back, as Vinn nodded.
"Yeah, well…" Jack said quietly "You're right, it just catches up with me some times." They headed back though the ship, still having to use they're maps to make it. Everyone else had apparently headed here to avoid the blonde girl, because these doors had locks, and the light saying they were locked was aglow on all the doors except theirs and Hibiki's. They strode into their rooms, wishing each other goodnight, changed, and fell asleep almost as soon as they hit the pillows, exhausted from the practice they went that day, looking forward to another long day with their new friends.
Hibiki strode into the hallway about a half-hour after the others, he had finally decided to make good on his promise to visit Dita's room. It had been filled with stuffed alien toys and decorated with similar pictures as well. He was surprised to find a section of wall dedicated to him, too. They spent awhile just chatting, Hibiki cramming cookies Dita had made for him down his throat. Once the cookies were gone, that just left the 2 of them, and Hibiki got nervous. Dita had started moving closer to him along the bed. The closer she got, the more nervous he got. When she made it next to him, he found his bad arm was slowly rising, coming to rest across her shoulders. Dita jumped a little at the sudden contact, the slight blush in her cheeks burned red and spread across and up her face almost instantly. The jump Dita made sent burning pain through his arm but he didn't notice the pain in his arm. His face, burned so hotly, he thought it must be giving of enough heat to be comparable to one of the stars winking at him out the window. Dita slowly turned her head toward Hibiki's, which were fairly close to begin with. Their eyes met, and Dita closed her eyes and began moving her head closer. Hibiki's brain seemed reconnect with his body at that moment, the signals telling him to break contact and run pounded through the newly opened channel all at once. He jumped off the bed, yanking his arm up and over Dita's head, which sent a searing pain so bad that his eyes watered up as he clutched the injured appendage with a howl of pain and regret that he had pulled away. He made a rushed apology and excuse as he dashed from the room. Dita made a little huff of annoyance and disappointment, changed and crawled into bed. Hibiki stopped reaching his room. He lay down on the bed and thought about what had made his arm move of it's own accord. He'd ask the doctor tomorrow if that was a side effect of the strange power that kid had processed and was able to go to sleep, having convinced himself that was what it was.
Here you go its chapter six, fully finished. I will most likely be focusing on John, Jack, Vinn, Hibiki, Duero, Jura, Barnette, Meia, and Dita over the rest of the series, so bear with me. The other six men willl be mentioned, but not a lot.