Disclaimer: Vandread is not mine, although I wish it was.

Vandread: The Unknown Soldier

Chapter Two: Standoff

Location: S.F.S Artemis, Main deck.

Meia was already on the move when she heard several gunshots. Jura was trailing a little bit behind her as she made a dash to where she heard the shots. When she got there, she was shocked at what she saw. Barnette was on the floor holding her stomach, and a black armored figure stood over her, pointing a gun at her head.

"No! Barnette!" Jura screamed as she drew her saber and charged the black figure. The figure noticed her, and took his attention away from Barnette to meet this new threat. He raised his gun, but before he could fire, a well placed swing from Jura's saber knocked it out of his hand. Determined to knock him off-guard, Meia raised her right arm and fired her ring laser. Her aim was dead-on, both shots hitting him high in the chest, knocking him back.

The figure regained his footing, and she saw that neither of her shots penetrated the armor. Jura attacked again, and with what would have surely been a decapitating blow, but the figure raised his right arm and the sword struck the armored gauntlet. In an unexpected move, the figure grabbed the blade of the sword and pulled it towards him, forcing it from her hands. He then delivered a stunning round kick to her abdomen, knocking her to the floor.

He then charged towards Meia, she tried to fire her laser, but he was too quick. She brought her arms up to guard her face from a punch that knocked her back.

"Damn, he's fast!" she exclaimed as the figure attempted another punch, but she ducked under and shifted behind him. She kicked him in the back of the knees, and he fell to the ground. She jumped onto his back and pointed her laser at the back of his head.

"Who are you and why did you attack us?" she demanded, pinning him to the ground.

"Why would I tell you, pirate?" he spat. It seemed to Meia that when he said pirate, it sounded like a curse. And with that, he broke her hold, and knocked her off of him, and then he pinned her to the ground. She stared at the black, faceless visor, and then she heard a loud bang, and half of the visor shattered, raining pieces of it onto her face. She kicked him off, then got up to see Barnette, holding her gun.

Struggling to his feet, the figure's hand lowered from his helmet. Barnette shot him several more times, knocking him off of his feet. He fell to the deck, and didn't move. Barnette walked over there, and aimed the gun at his head. Before she could do anything else, the figure's legs snaked out, tripping her. The figure got up and grabbed her gun, and pointed it at her. His finger started to tighten on the trigger.

"Captain Aidan Mercer, I command you to stand down!" commanded an unfamiliar female voice.

Slowly, he eased up on the trigger, and lowered the gun. He ejected the magazine, snapped back the slide to eject the round in the firing chamber, and tossed it to Barnette. Turning to the woman that ordered him to stand down. He took off his battered helmet, and dropped it. It hit the deck with a hollow thud, but Meia barely noticed. The man known as Aidan Mercer had close-cropped dark brown hair and a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek. When he walked right by her, he looked over at her. His eyes met hers, and it seemed his cold gaze softened a bit, if only for a few seconds. He then locked himself back into an impassive, emotionless mask.

Blood running down the left side of his face, Aidan looked directly at the sapphire-haired woman. Something about her reminded him of someone he used to know, but he couldn't place why. She noticed him, and there eyes met for a few brief moments before he turned and walked over to Maria. He stopped abruptly when a pair of figures came running into view. One was a young, dark-haired boy and the other was a young woman with red hair.

"Who's that?" the red-head asked.

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Gascogne couldn't find any solid information from the computer banks of this wreck of a ship. She didn't like it, because they had no idea where this ship came from or who it belonged to. She looked over to BC and shrugged.

"It's no good here either, looks the entire memory bank has been erased," she said.

BC nodded and brought her communicator up to her mouth. "Captain, the ship's data core seems to have been completely purged. We cannot find any solid data about this ship other than it's name, 'Artemis.'

"Very well, continue your search and report any findings," came back the reply.

"Roger that, Captain," BC confirmed.

Meia's voice soon came over the communications link. "Meia here, we found a couple of survivors, and one of them apparently wasn't happy to see us. He surrendered, and he says there are no more survivors. He appears to be a soldier."

"Meia, where are you?" BC asked.

"I believe we're on the main deck not too far from the bridge," came back Meia's reply.

"Stay there, we'll be up there in a minute," she said they proceeded to head over there.

"Roger."

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Once BC and Gascogne arrived there, they immediately noticed the two unfamiliar faces. BC knew that these two were the survivors Meia was talking about.

"And who are you two?" BC asked them.

The young woman with violet hair replied first. "I am Maria Shakov, daughter of the Prime Minister of Solaris Federation, the late Cedric Shakov. She gestured to Aidan "And this is Captain Aidan Mercer."

BC nodded and then glanced over at Barnette, who was helping Jura to her feet.

"Seems you like you put up a fight," BC said non-concomitantly. "There is a lot of questions I'd like to ask you, like who attacked you? Was it forces from Earth?"

Aidan let out a short laugh. "No it wasn't the Earthers that did this, it was our own people. We are in the middle of a civil war."

Before BC could ask another question, Aidan continued. "This ship was supposed to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet, but the coordinates must have been off. I was assigned as her temporary bodyguard until we met up with the rest of our forces. There, was that enough information for you?" he asked sarcastically.

"For now. Since this ship appears to be dead, I'd like to salvage anything of use off of it."

"Good idea, Captain Mercer can help," Maria replied.

"Very well," BC said as she gave them all various areas to help salvage.

"Meia, I'd like you to go with Captain Mercer and recover any weapons that are in the armory. And keep an eye on him," she added.

"Roger," Meia confirmed.

Aidan led the way, and she held her laser ring pointed in his direction, just in case he tried something.

"There's no need for that," he said, gesturing to her laser ring.

"Why should I believe you?" she replied as she followed his lead.

"Because I gave you my word that I wouldn't try anything."

They continued walking for a few more minutes until he stopped in front of an armored door that she believed led them into the armory.

"We're here," he said as started to type in the code to release the lock. The was a hiss as the door started to open, then it stopped halfway.

"Damn, it's jammed," Aidan said as he smashed the lock with an armored fist. He then grabbed hold of one of the sides of the door and began to pull.

"I could use a little help," he said through clenched teeth. Meia walked over and grabbed hold of the same side that he was holding and began to pull. Without warning, the doors abruptly opened, sending Aidan onto his back. Meia fell backwards too, and landed face first on top of him. Her face was only a few inches from his. She pulled herself up off of him, and held out her hand. He grabbed hold and she helped pull him up.

"Sorry about that," she said.

"It's nothing," he replied as he walked in to the armory.

Meia noticed that this armory had enough weapons to supply a small army. Mounted in racks were an array of assault rifles, sub-machineguns, shotguns, and various other weapons. Aidan took one of the assault rifles off of the rack.

"This is a Solaris Arms SA23 'Raptor' Assault Rifle, standard issue firearm for the Solaris Defense Force," he said as put it into one of the bags he'd laid out on the floor. She assisted him until they got as many weapons and ammunition as would fit. He slung one of the bags over his shoulder and picked up two more. She picked up a couple of the bags as well.

"We should take these to the shuttle," she said.

"Not just yet," he replied. "We have a few more places to go."

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About ten minutes later, Meia and Aidan arrived at the bridge. Aidan went by his quarters on the vessel and picked up the few personal effects he had. When they entered the bridge, a strong disgusting odor floated in the air, the stench of death. When she glanced at Aidan, he seemed not the least bit affected by the smell. He immediately put his bags down and moved towards the center and nudged one of the dead crewman aside with his foot. Reaching down, he pulled a cylindrical device up from the floor. To her, it appeared to be a computer console of some kind. He typed something into the console and a computerized voice spoke.

"Voice Identification Required."

"Captain Aidan Mercer, 4th Special Forces Detachment."

"Authorization Confirmed. Security Code Required."

"Alpha-Delta-Niner"

"Security Code Confirmed. Self-Destruct System Activated. Vessel will self-destruct in T-minus fifteen minutes."

"What have you done? Deactivate it now!" Meia demanded.

"I can't, only the ship's Captain or Commander can deactivate it," he replied.

"Then how could you activate it?" she asked.

"I was given the authority because of mission security, protecting Maria Shakov at all costs. It's about time we left, don't you think?"

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This is Chapter Two for you. Chapter Three will be up soon. Please read and review