Back and bad. Still as terrible as ever, but at half the cost!
Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread.
#4: Next Generation
Jack had arrived in the plains on earth almost a two months ago, and had loved every minute of it. He still wore all of his gear; old habits making him feel more secure inside of his metal and cloth shell. He had not realized just how much being away from Barnette had tormented him until he had returned. His mind was nothing but thoughts of finding her, and now a vague and un-intrusive happiness filled his mind. He had been asked to go on several missions by the empress of the new empire, and had so far declined, wanting to nail down the foundations of a proper family. He was flying up to the outer rings today, for yet another meeting in which the empress would request his services.
He sat in silence, deep in thought after hearing the information presented.
"Let me get this straight, you want to fire me in a single person drop pod into the center of a heavily armed rebel base, with next to no supplies, no support, and little chance of survival. Then, you want me to capture their leader, carry him to an extraction point four miles away without being followed."
"Yes, that is basically it." The empress said, her heavily ornate dress jingling slightly as she shifted.
"You know I'm going to have to ask Barnette if it's ok with her and the little one." He said.
"No one outside of this room is to know of this. The contents of this program are to remain in the strictest of confidence." She said, making her will clear.
"So then what am I supposed to tell her? Year, well, I got to go away for an undetermined amount of time to do something somewhere with someone and might not be back?" He retorted, the sarcasm positively dripping from the words.
"You will have to provide a convincing cover story." She replied back, ignoring the quip.
"Fine, I'll do it, but you're going to owe me big time."
"Of course, a shuttle will pick you up at noon tomorrow, have everything ready by then.
Jack walked into the house, and found Barnette sitting at a polished wooden table in the kitchen, finishing dinner with little Sophia. He threw a large orange envelope onto the table, and Barnette picked it up, and read the letters stenciled on it.
"THE SWORD OF THE EMPIRE: PROJECT ARBITER"
"Project arbiter? Does this mean what I think it means?" She asked, thumbing through the contents.
"Yep, now they are giving fancy names to suicide missions." He sighed and slumped into the empty chair.
"So you accepted?" She asked tersely.
"Yep."
"So two months, and already back to the killing?"
"Looks like it, but they decided to call me an arbiter now, so I'm basically a glorified mercenary, which means it will be well worth our while."
"Will it? you were missing from our daughters life for 5 years, and now your already to leave it again?"
"What will you be doing?" Sophia's small voice rose, wanting to know what her parents were talking about. Jack sighed, his daughter was just too damn smart.
"You've seen how the news reports have said that all is well and good in the empire right? Well, that is all just a ruse to keep most of the people happy and not worried. Well, I'll be acting as a sort of peace keeper, taking out the bad people that want to hurt us that are happy with the way that the empire is running. They will send me on mission that if they sent regular army people, a lot of them would be killed. Your mother and I, and even you, are special, and can do things that normal people can't, I can go and make it so that very few people have to get hurt, but it also means that I might be gone for long periods of time, or even gone forever." He had decided it was best to just tell her the truth, because if he lied, when she finally found the truth, it would do more damage.
"So you'll be going to stop all of the bad people from hurting us?" She asked, her eye's alight with pure curiosity.
"Yup, that's more or less what I'll be doing, what do you think?" Jack asked tentatively.
"If your going to save lots of people, I want you to go." She replied happily, neither of the adults expecting her approval. "Can I have some cookies now?" She asked, her tone shifting to pleading.
"Sure, but go and eat them outside." Barnette stated pulling down an odd shaped jar, handing it to Sophia, who then ran off gleefully. Barnette shook her head. "I don't think she really understands what you're talking about."
"She surprised me before, but I guess you could be right. So, how do you feel about this?" Jack said, his voice serious.
"Well, first off, what's with the name? Project Arbiter? Sounds like someone wasn't all the way awake when they came up with that one." She said with a sigh and a skeptical tone, sitting at the table.
"Arbiter: one who passes judgment, or in my case, just a fancy name for a mercenary. I like the sound of the word, and a few of the higher ups knew and used it to help make my decision a bit easier."
"So, you really might not come back." She said, matching his serious tone.
"Oh, come on, you know me. If you couldn't kill me, no simple grunt with a machine gun's going to. Besides, if one of them did, then you could, so you don't have anything to worry about." He said, his usual joking air returned. She flashed him a small smile. "I have to go get my stuff together, and then maybe, you and I could, you know, have a little alone time together?" He said in a cute way. HE walked out before Barnette could object, not that she had any.
THE END.