Now I start on chapter seven, this Sunday night as I wait for new episode of family guy. enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread, because I am just that nuts.
#6: Why are you looking at me like that?
Hibiki was sitting on the stainless steel table for waiting for the doctor to see him. He was back in the medical room to have a talk about the side effects that he had felt while in Dita's room the night before. "Hello." Duero said as he entered the room. "What can I do for you?"
"Well I wanted to talk about some of the side effects from that attack." Hibiki said quietly.
"Very well, as your doctor, I'm here to help in any way that I can." Duero responded bringing up his analysis of Hibiki's wounds on the data pad he had gotten from Tarrak, it was a very useful piece of equipment.
"Well I went to Dita's room last night after dinner." Hibiki started.
"You visited Dita's room?" The doc said interestedly, his visible eyebrow raised, and Paiway stopped what she was doing on the other side of the room, her notebook instantly in her hand. Hibiki's face flooded with color at this, but continued in a defiant tone.
"Well yeah, I made a promise, and I intended to keep it. Besides, she had cookies. Anyway," He plowed into the account of what had happened during his visit. Piaway was scribbling furiously as he spoke.
"She scooted up right next to me. Then my brain stopped working real well, and my injured arm lifted itself up and put itself around her shoulder. I couldn't move it. Then she turned to me and I ran away as fast as I could. I think the side effects made my arm do it." He finished, His blush receding at the story climax.
"That would be a reasonable explanation for this phenomenon, except for one thing." The doctor said, hand at his chin. Hibiki's face fell at this.
"What do you mean?" He said, a bit of fear in his voice. If it wasn't side effects, what made his arm do that?
"Your arm wasn't damaged by the powers the boy was using, it snapped as he was pressing on you to keep you on the floor." This was followed by a long argument between Hibiki, the doctor and Paiway, who decided she should interject with a "Hibiki's just in love with Dita." The doctor had agreed and Hibiki didn't like it. The argument consisted of Hibiki inventing wild stories to explain it, while the doctor pointed out several logical points from Hibiki's story, until Hibiki finally just stormed out, not willing to accept their explanation.
That was two weeks ago today. Every thing had reached what passed as normal on the ship. The men where completely integrated into the ships crew now, and were no longer afraid of the women just for being women. Hibiki had tried to avoid being alone with Dita since that one night, fearing what might happen if the small part of him that wanted to be with her. That part was like a small tear in the back of his brain that grew the more time he spent with her. He had been successful at this, except during the practice sessions, now being held daily, when he had to combine with her to go over some of the moves. During those times, he had tried to focus on what Meia was telling them, but found it increasingly difficult with the exuberant redhead sitting on his lap. The small voice in the back of his head was constantly saying, "Tell her how you feel." Weakly, but was drown out by the protest the normal parts still occupied. But the voice in the back got stronger and more determined each day. He was afraid it would break through and take over soon. John was excellent at piloting the Vanguard by now, and soon became Meia's second in command. He was smart, Confident, and inspired unquestioning loyalty in his men. She thought he could have asked them to eject from their Vans, and fight hand to hand with an enemy that could annihilate them in the blink of an eye, and they would do it without question or hesitation. A slight uncomfortable feeling rose in the pit of her stomach as she to the seat next to him, which she cast away with a little more difficulty that she thought it would have taken. They had dinned together at lunch and dinner for the past 2 weeks. She would have liked to sit across from John, but as usual, Jack was sitting there, Vinn next to him. They were both assigned to Redge crew with Gascogne. From what she had heard they were the 2 hardest working members under her command. Vinn worked with military precision, occasionally saluting Gasco out of habit in the beginning, but had managed to go three days without doing it so far. Jack was just trilled to do any little thing that was asked of him. He said he just loved being here so much that he'd do just about anything they wanted him to. Duero and Parfait were spending allot of time together lately; it seemed she had forgiven him for letting Jura pounce on him before they left and after they got back. Parfait was still going to make him pay for that embrace with Jura that she failed to get into. It was bad enough he let Jura glom on to him, but embracing her too? He had said he was just comforting her, but Parfait wasn't going to let him smooth talk her. Jura was still going out looking for the six other newcomers after quickly finishing a meal with Barnette. Barnette didn't feel like chasing after her, so usually came over and grabbed the seat next to Meia like she did today. The six men were trying to avoid Jura, but she usual managed to catch one and hang around him till he made it back to his room and locked her out. They responded lots better to the girls who weren't constantly coming after them. The preferred the ones who just cast them a friendly greeting whenever they passed in the corridors, or words of praise when the saw a job they did well. Victor, for instance, had taken an interest in one of the bridge crew. And she seemed to have taken an interest in him. He and Belvedere could be sometimes be seen eating together at breakfast before heading of to their jobs. Bart had recently gotten over his infatuation with the commander, with a healthy push; finding out she was a man placed with the pirates as a spy, but defecting and helping them back to the ship. He was now trying to woo one of his fellow bridge officers, Celtic. After me, she's probably changed the most, Meia thought. Celtic was so uncomfortable with the men when they were first captured, that she had hid herself in a big bear suit, to avoid all contact with them. But she had come out over her shell since then and gone back to wearing her assortment of costumes she collected. Everyone aboard agreed that she looked a lot better outside of that suit. She even gained a few stares from the men aboard, and not because of the attire. This thought brought Meia back to something Pyoro had said when she had tried to blow herself and Ezra's baby Cailua out of the escape pod she had accidentally stumbled into and sent out of the ship. The air had run out, and the Harvest were itching to meet her, and she had thought that a cold, bleak death in the vacuum of space was better than letting the Harvest using her body. She put the baby in the only sealed EVA suit, assured her that the 'Nirvana would find her, and pulled the airlock release, only to find her in the supply ship, then piloted by Barnette. When they got back to the 'Nirvana', she had picked up the crying baby, and it giggled happily in her arms. Pyoro said something about when she smiled; it was the most beautiful face of all. She thanked him, but in all likely hood he was talking about the baby, but she took the complement anyway. It was a first back then, she was miserable the time back then, never letting herself get close to anyone, or vice versa. She hated to admit it, but she felt better now that she had opened up.
"What's a matter, squawky got ya down?" Jack said over at Barnette, who looked down trodden, seated next to Meia.
"Would you stop calling her that, she's my best friend." Barnette shot back with a slight smile.
"Well, I can certainty see why, self absorbed, outwardly fixated, and obsessive." He said back to her with a matching smile. They had become friends as well. Barnette had changed a bit as well. She no longer despised the men as she had when she helped start a riot. Everybody had changed since the first met the men and their ships fused to create their home. But all the changes seemed to be for the better.
"Put it up on the screen, and tell me what I'm looking at." The Captain said to her first mate.
"It is a class 7 cargo ship, call sign 'Forager'. Not a military vessel, as you can see from the painting and lack of heavy offensive weapons." B.C. said from her seat, as the scanners and other bridge members fed info to her station. The bridge was dark except for the glow coming from the crew's stations, and the forward screen. They had powered down as they entered the orbit of a brown moon circling a vivid green planet. They did so the ship they were eyeing wouldn't pick them up on their sensors.
"What do you say we introduce ourselves?" The Captain said as she opened a ship wide COM channel and stated, "we have just spotted a cargo vessel in our area, all dread teams gear up and get ready to head out. The same goes for the Vanguards. Let's get out there and do what we do best!" She finished to a large cheer from the group in the mess haul. It had been along time since they had been in a battle, but even longer sense they made a pirating run.
"Does she always give such moving speeches?" Jack asked Barnette as the rushed of to get ready. She nodded and took of toward the regular dread bay, while he opened the door to the Vanguard launch bay. He jumped in and fired it up along with every other guy. Their Vans had been decorated to the users own tastes, and were the newer model, and resembled Hibiki's, have two eyes, but bulkier and with old fashioned metal weapons. They color differed, Vinn's a white, with green trimmings and yellow eyes, Johns was White with blue trimming and red eyes. Jacks looked the most intimidating by far, jet black, (like most of the stuff he owned) with very dark purple trimmings and blue eyes. They all burst from the bay and joined up at a rally point with the dreads, already there and awaiting orders. Meia patched through a system wide COM and began the briefing.
"The ship well be assaulting is a cargo vessel that has no visible heavy defenses weapons. We are going to cripple it, taking the engines and defenses out. Then the Vanguards will dock inside of the launch bay on the starboard side, and eliminate anyone guarding the bay. The strike time inside will then make their way to the bridge and capture any ranking offices they can, while the dread team will mop up any single ships they launch. Jura, you have A team, you'll take the engines out, Barnette, you have B team, take out the defenses. I've got C team and we'll focus on the single ships. John's in charge of the vanguard team, or team D from now on. Land in the bay, and take out any resistance. The 'Nirvana' will dock as soon as you give the all clear, and additional teams will board and start gathering supplies and getting any data they can from the bridge computers."
The COM link snapped off and they all accelerated around the moon, the Vanguards trailing behind the swift and agile dreads. Hibiki was with Meia's team because he belonged in space, not fighting on foot in the close quarters of the ship.
"Sir, a fleet of single ships are approaching, Your orders?" The man at the screen said to the man in the seat in the center of the bridge.
"Looks like they found us first, give them a warm welcome, all we got, but watch for the special ones, that Vanguard, and the big ship, we need them in one piece." The man said back to his subordinate.
Everything went crazy as soon as they rounded the moon and broke orbit. Heavy gunfire was incoming, as well as severalhoming missiles. The cargo ship had turned it starboard side toward the dreads and opened fire with several anti-air batteries recessed in its hull. Two dozen single ships launched and added their fire to the mix.
"A team, switch to knocking those guns out!" Meia yelled over the COM, as she dodged a few missiles and shot down a single ship. All of the vanguard unhooked their machine guns and started shooting down missiles as the moved toward the launch bay, dodging the gunfire from the 'Forager'. By the time the first Van touched down inside the bay, all but two of the ship's guns were down, and only 5 fighters remained in the air. The bay doors closed behind them, trying to shut out the vanguards. 5 of them didn't make it in.
"Work on taking the engines out, and I call you when I get this door open." John called over the COM to his men. He hollered his side arm, grabbed his combat knife, and grabbed the assault rifle behind the seat, and jumped out of the cockpit and onto the floor. Vinn, Victor, and Jack quickly joined him. All were using the same gear, except Jack who had a large rifle of his own design, and two silver pistols, his cloak's hood covering his face. Each of them had a Med. Kit if needed, but from the looks of the things, it would be an easy job.
"Up two floors is the door controls." Vinn stated, looking up at a glass walled structure. They headed up the ramp and right before they hit the top, a door slid open revealing a fire team of 7 men in light combat armor. Jack had managed to drop 3 men with quick headshots before his fellow even leveled their rifles. He wasn't called a weapons expert just cause he knew how to use weapons, he was fast and deadly. The others of the team drowned in a hail of bullets. They proceeded onto the upper walkway and opened the door to find a technician huddled in the corner. Victor hog tied him and let him be, as Vinn sealed the door. John drained the atmosphere from the bay and opened the door to the bay, calling to the pilots on his hand held radio to enter the bay, the last one entered, and he shut the door behind them. They pilled out and reconnoitered at the door with the blood seeping under it. They moved through it and the ship, taking out any resistance they encountered. There were a lot of armed crewmen for a cargo vessel. After about ten minutes, they made it to the only door to the bridge, which was locked.
"You five, go and make sure that the bay is still clear, and post in the control room." John said to the men who had arrived late, as they reloaded after the last firefight. They ran off back the way they came and disappeared behind a corner.
"Jack, Get a charge on that door, and be ready for anything." Jack moved to the door and dug in his cloak, and withdrew a small remote mine. He set it near the part where the door opened, and they all backed away around a bullet marked section of wall, a body slumped bellow. Jack pressed a small button on his rifle, and the mine detonated with a small bang, leaving a hole about the same size as the mine in its place.
"Is their anything that you didn't include on that thing? Get another charge on the door, but make it a big one." John said.
"No can do, that was my last one, just cover me." Jack said as he moved to the door and slid his gauntleted hands into the hole. They leveled their rifles at the center of the door, and jack pulled at it. With a squeal of stressed metal and straining hydraulics, the door slowly slid open. When it was fully opened, jack dove back out of firing range as the men opened fire, cutting down the man that had been standing their, a sword raised to chop at the hands in the hole of the door.
"I'm out," John called, his ammo all in the pile of flesh and blood heaped on the floor on the other side of the door.
"Me too."
"And me."
"You know what to do." John said, drawing his pistol, as the other two did, discarding their rifles. They Cautiously ducked into the bridge, some metal containersproviding cover tothem from the rest of the bridge. Four men stood back against the far wall, swords drawn.
"Don't shoot unless you have to, take them alive." John whispered to the men next to him as the men with swords spread out. "I'll take the one far right, Vic, you take far left, Vinn, the one next to him, Jack, you get the captain." The all nodded, Vinn picking up the sword the man behind wasn't using any more. He had taken up swordplay during his stay in the military academy, but wasn't able to carry a sword, as it was reserved for officers. Jack snapped his wrist back and the hilt of a sword slid into his hand, and with another wrist snap, and a blade was shining, connected to the hilt. Jack stepped out from behind the cover, and pointed his sword at the captain.
"Let's go." He said as he swung the sword up gently. The captain smiled and advanced. John and the rest crept toward their targets pistols and knives drawn, and Vinn with his sword. The bridge crew jumped forward an attacked, Their swords clanging as they met with the others pistols, knocking them away, but they managed to block the follow up with their knifes. Vinn was trading blows with his opponent lazily, because he wasn't very good, and Vinn just blocked his attacks as if he was bored. Jack was exuberantly battling the captain, moving back and forth, side to side, as if in an elegant dance. They were still battling when the other three had finished, the loser tied up separately in a corner. Everyone was watching attentively, John unscathed, Vinn had a large bloody slash across his chest, from when he dropped his guard, and his opponent scored a target of opportunity. Victor had a few scratches on his face and hands, and was digging in his Med. Kit for some Band-Aids.
"What do you think?" Jack called still fighting. "Should I finish this the boring way, or with flare?"
"Go for flare." They all, including the captain's crewmates, called. Jack switched his sword to the left hand mid strike, reached in his cloak with the right, pulling out a black throwing knife. He spun it a few times in his gauntleted palm, and with a flick of his wrist, flung it into the man's left leg right above his knee. The man was distracted with the little knife buried three inches in his leg, and Jack flattened his sword on top of his opponent's and moved it in a semi-circle with a snap upward at the end. This sliced into the man's fingers holding the sword and the snap sent the sword flying up in a slow arc. Jack circled behind him with a turn, kicking his leg out, so the captain fell to his knees, as John grabbed the hilt of his sword and crossed them both, the blades turned at the mans throat. His three comrades clapped for him and he turned and gave a bow, tossing the captain's sword to them, his own sucked back up into his sleeve. The captain took this time to pull the knife out of his leg, and swiveled around, his arm swinging down at the bowing mans back. Jack pivoted on his left foot, turning around and grabbing the arm with the knife. He let the man's momentum carry him to the floor with a thud. Jack twisted the mans arm behind its owners back, and holding him to the floor. He plucked the knife out of the man's hand and placed it on the floor. He then flipped him over brought both arms forward, and bound his wrists, and ankles. Then he grabbed the back of the mans shirt and with a tug, slid him across the floor to his companions.
"Just out of curiosity, what would the boring way have been?" The captain asked, and, when he saw the looks his mates were giving him said, "Why are you looking at me like that, I wan to know these things."
"I would have grabbed your sword with my left hand, and then stabbed you though the stomach with mine." Jack responded.
"Personally, I'm glad you chose the fancy way." To this the boarders all laughed, John picking up the radio, switched it to Meia's freq. and gave the all clear. They stayed on the bridge, gathered up the swords, and tied them together.
"These will look great mounted on our walls," Victor said, grabbing the bundle. "A souvenir from our first successful mission." A few minutes later B.C., Gascogne, and parfait arrived on the bridge and took over. After they had extracted all the data they could from the computers on the bridge. They loaded the crew into one of their own escape pods, having extracted all the info they could get out of them. Jack put the little knife in the captain's breast pocket, saying that he might need it. He sealed the hatch and sent the pod off as a small voice came from Goscogne's belt.
"The connection is complete and we're starting to take all the supplies on board. Water pumping and we'll get the air as soon as you're clear."
"Think that's are Queue to exit." She said as they waked back to the bay.
The 'Forager' floated dead in space, crippled beyond repair, nothing left inside.
"Hit it, Bart." The Captain said, and was rewarded with an aye and dozens of lines of blue light, streaking toward the ship, dead in space. Everything had been striped from the ship, weapons, ammo, and the pirates had removed even the air. The lead beams struck the ship, and it shuddered as explosions blossomed from its hull. Once all the shots had struck, the sip sat for a minute, battered by the barrage, then ceased to exist as it detonated in a massive fire ball.
"A job well done, by everyone. It's nice to be back in business." The captain said happily.
The mess hall was in a state of celebration over their successful raid, a lively tune coming from the speakers. Everyone was drinking, and eating, and enjoying themselves. Meia, John, Jack, Vinn, Barnette, and even Jura were seated together celebrating. Jura had seen Vinn in the medical room getting his chest wound cleaned and wrapped, happily showing it of to her and recounting his version of what happened. He was glad she had noticed him, because he did think she was kind of pretty, and it couldn't hurt to get to know her, right? Victor was over with Belvedere telling how he had fought of a team of 7 men with guns by himself, and she listened with rapt interest. The 5 men who had showed up late to the bay were telling how they took out the engines while being trapped outside the bay to a group of pilots, all of which were a bit tipsy by then, giggling as the men mimed hacking at engine casings. Hibiki was vigorously eating everything within reach, while Dita watched happily, a pink tinge in her cheeks as she downed another glass of what she was drinking, Misty doing the same, the little blob thing dancing around her shoulder. Bart was off in a corner with Celtic, who was wearing a black and white striped dress and shirt, with a matching round hat perched on her head. Bart just listened to her talk, sipping his steaming drink smiling. The six got up and headed out of the hall, saying hi to the Captain and Commander as they exited the crowded hall. The stopped when they reached the environmental area beneath the bridge. They sat on the beach around a small lake and laid on their backs, staring at the stars through the large dome overhead. The lay there chatting, for a while. They started drifting of to sleep, the stars winking down at them, when one of the girls sat up, the others following.
"What's wrong?" They all asked.
"I'm just gonna go to bed, it's been along day, and i don't want to wake up with sand in my hair." Meia got up and started walking, saying goodnight, as the others got up and did the same, Jura giving Vinn a small kiss on the cheek, which caused him to turn bright red. As soon as the girls were out of sight, John and Jack started in on Vinn.
"Oh, that cut on your chest is sooo manly. Does it hurt bad?" Jack said, mimicking Jura in a girly voice. "Tell me how you got it again? You're so brave." Vinn's face turned even redder at this, and he yelled
"Shut up, you're just being an ass because you're jealous." Vinn said,
"Yeah, there's a lot to be jealous of, First there is your swordplay, and squawky, there's a real treasure." He and and him rolled around laughing.
"just because I'm not some freak who can do fancy sword tricks…" He stopped as he realized what he had just said, Jack and John stopped laughing. Vinn knew what he said was a big mistake
"We can't all be blessed; I just got inline late when god was passing out normalcy." Jack said with a laugh. "Don't worry about it, were friends, I mean, it's not like I'm gonna rip your head off." They left the environmental area, John and Jack right back on Vinn's case, his face as red as ever.
Jack entered his room, and closed the door behind him, locking it. His walls were decorated by a bunch of posters of guns with black backgrounds, all held up by shiny green tape. Even the ceiling was covered in posters, and the carpet on the floor of this room was black to. He took his gauntlets off and put them on the nightstand, on top of the box wrapped in green tape. He sat on the bed and pulled his metal boots off, revealing black socks, and slid them under the bed. He stood up and spread his arms.
"Only a freak could do this." He said quietly to himself with a chuckle. The cloak began to move; it sucked in upon itself, and flattened. When it stopped, it was a pair of black silk bed cloths. He crawled into bed and shut out the light.
There you go, hope you like it. I have read the Halo novles by Eric Nylund and William C. Deitz repeatedly, and their a great read, even if you don't know what Halo is. so i try to write the way they did a bit, because hteir writing style were so good. have fun.