Fiona couldn't help but giggle at what Van was doing. H had his head up against her stomach as if trying to hear anything. "I think it is a little early to hear or feel anything from the baby Van," she said with a laugh.
Van had a disappointed look on his face as he pulled away. "I can't wait for it to be born. I guess I am just getting a little overexcited," Van said laying next to her and putting his arm around her shoulder.
Fiona couldn't help the giggles that erupted from her throat. "I am barely a month and half into this Van. We still have seven and a half months left before this little one is born," she said placing her hand on her stomach. "We will have to think of something though, I don't think a military base was meant for a daycare," she said in a thoughtful way.
"Crougar and I have been trying to come up with a solution for that. For the time being we have to keep you here since those people are after you. We plan to secretly send you into hiding once the baby is born. It is probably the safest thing to do. Plus I will be your bodyguard in that time," he said in a proud way. He was not going to accept that sort of thing unless he could be around Fiona while it happened.
Fiona absolutely loved the thought of it. The baby and her would always be protected from those that meant to hurt them. "If that is the case then I am sure that this little guy will be fine," she said in a dreamy way.
One of Van's eyebrows rose in question. "Are you so sure that it will be a boy. I have a feeling that it will be a girl. One that will have the beauty and grace of her mother," he said and smiled when he saw Fiona blush slightly.
"I think you are right. This feeling I have makes me think that too now. I can almost picture her. A girl that has my hair but your eyes and playfulness. Almost a perfect mixture of the two of us. I hope that she does end up that way," Fiona said with a smile as she kissed Van on the cheek.
"Yeah, that sounds like what I can think of as well. I hope it turns out that way most. I will love it no matter what it turns out to be like. As long as it is ours then it could be horribly disfigured and I wouldn't love it any less," he said with a smile as he pulled Fiona close to him.
Van suddenly stood up as he remembered something that he had to do. He hoped that he wasn't too late for it. "I have to go see Crougar really quickly. He said that there was something important that he had to announce," he said and Fiona only nodded her head before he rushed out of the room.
Van rushed into the hanger and snuck into a small line that consisted of Irvine, him, and Thomas plus one or two other guardian force members just as Crougar came driving into the hanger with more people than he had when he left.
The car came to a stop and Crougar plus two other people stepped out of the car. Crougar inspected those that were there. "At ease men," he said and they relaxed a little. "As of today, we have two new members of the guardian force. Both are very skilled pilots so be sure to give them the respect you would give to any of your other teammates," Crougar said and then turned towards the two people with him.
A young female who looked like she was only about Van's age stepped forward and saluted to the. "Lieutenant Ashley Hawk. Pleasure to meet you all," she said with a smile that caught the attention of several men in the room. Many of whom were drooling at the sight of her.
Van couldn't help but notice that Thomas seemed really interested in the new girl. 'Good, maybe now he will stop pining over Fiona,' Van thought with a grin knowing he would have her all to himself. He didn't care about her though. He had his own beauty. In Van's mind this new girl paled in comparison to Fiona.
The second of the two people stepped forward and shivers ran through everyone's spine. There was something about him that no one seemed to trust. Van had it worse than anyone else. "My name is Zack. I was a lieutenant in the imperial army until I was assigned to guardian force," he lied since he had made it all up.
"You are all dismissed," Crougar said once the introductions were all finished. He turned around as a man came up to him with papers that needed looking over. When the man left, he noticed that the new guy was standing by waiting to talk to him. "Yes? Can I help you with something?" Crougar barely looking up from the papers he was reading.
"I am not fully aware of some of the ways that the guardian force is run around here, I was wondering if maybe you could give me some information about it," he said although he didn't really care about it all. He could easily destroy the guardian force when he wanted. Soon there would be none left and he would have no need to know these things.
Crougar sighed as he put down the papers. "If you are looking for answers then it would be wise to talk to Van Flyheight. He is the leader for your group. I am a bit busy now," he said before nodding his head at Zack and then walked away from him with his face in the papers once again.
'No need to do that old man. I just said that to make it look like I cared,' he thought with a smirk as he walked down the halls with only one real goal in mind. The reason that he was really here, Fiona.
"Come on Fiona, you have to eat," Van insisted as he pushed some food towards Fiona. They were in the cafeteria yet Fiona kept saying that she wasn't hungry. "Van was disappointed when she pushed it back. "Oh come on. You need to eat something it isn't healthy for you or the baby if you don't," he said although he was smiling the whole.
Fiona groaned in frustration. She loved Van with all of her heart but this was a little annoying. "I'll be fine Van. I am just not up for eating this… stuff," she said taking a spoonful of the strange stuff they called food.
Van took the spoon and looked at it as well. He even sniffed it before making a disgusted face. "Ok then. I think even I have lost my appetite," he said making Fiona laugh. Both stood up and after disposing of the strange food, they walked out just as the new recruit walked in.
Fiona didn't know why but she felt eyes on her. It made her feel uncomfortable and she showed it by fidgeting around a little. Something inside of her told her that she be very cautious at that moment.
"Van Flyheight?" Zack asked as if he didn't already know who he was. It disgusted him that he had to actually be nice to Van right then. When he saw Van nod, he continued. "I was just wondering if you could inform me about all that we are going to be doing. Crougar told me to ask you," he said holding back the scowl he had when he saw Van and Fiona's attached hands.
"Um… I guess so. Is that ok with you Fiona?" he asked and she just nodded because she knew that it was his job. "You should go find something decent to eat. I will meet up with you after I am finished," he said with a smile as he turned towards the man who continued to give him the creeps.
"Nonsense. Why doesn't she just come with us? A lovely lady such as this shouldn't be alone," he said grabbing her hand and kissing the back of it. He was disappointed when she just put it away. "What do you say?" he asked Fiona. 'Hey if I can't get her by being myself. I will just put this act on for a while and then she will just come crawling to me,' he thought with a smirk.
"I really have some things to do," Fiona said trying to put on a smile. She made to leave but the man grabbed her arm causing her to stop. She saw his 'I-insist' face and looked towards Van. "Fiona," she said walking towards him and staying by his side. She just couldn't shake her bad feelings about this guy.
"What we do is pretty basic. We aren't really part of either military since we work for both sides. When needed, we are dispatched to different areas when conflicts arise. We are to find the best ways to solve the conflicts," Van said as they walked through the halls and he showed the man all the different areas of the base.
"I see," Zack said although he really didn't give a care. He kept looking at Fiona and smirked at how close he was to her right then. "Is that all that we do. It seems awfully easy," Zack muttered as he continued to stare at Fiona's back.
"There are many other things. We not only protect the towns but wherever it is needed. Bases, ruin, and all other places like that. We protect the peace that we obtained after the war at any costs," Van said not even looking at the man.
Zack was about to respond when the intercom went on. It was silent for a few seconds before the voice of Crougar was heard over it. "Van Flyheight, I need to see you immediately," Crougar's voice said before it was cut off leaving a confused Van standing there wondering what was happening.
Van nodded his head after a few seconds and turned towards Zack. "This will have to wait till later," he said before him and Fiona walked away. "Actually, you might want to come along. This will give you a much better understanding of our orders," he said as a second thought.
Van walked into the command room and saw Crougar and Irvine already standing there. "Good, you are here Van. There is something that I need you and the new guy to check out. It should be simple so it will be good to help break him in," Crougar said turning towards a screen.
A diagram popped up on the screen showing a map of an area about fifty miles from there. "Recently there has been a report of a genosaurer type zoid attacking villages as of late. It doesn't appear to have any pilot so it is still unknown why it is attacking. I want you to go and capture the zoids and bring it back so we can run some tests on it. We have already sent a few soldiers and although they have failed they did manage to disable its charged particle beam so you should worry about that," Crougar said as a picture of the zoid popped up.
Van stared at the picture of a zoid that looked like a genosaurer but there was something different about it. "So you just want me to capture it?" Van asked although he didn't really know why.
"Yes, try to capture it without doing too much damage to the zoid. It appears to be a new type of zoid so we figured we might be able to get good data off of it. Dr. D seemed to be ecstatic about the research her could do," Crougar said turning the screen off. "Moonbay will accompany you to help you transport it back. You are dismissed," Crougar said as Van saluted and Zack did a very weak one.
Van saluted before he turned around and walked towards the hanger with Zack close behind him. Fiona walked by his side as if she wanted to go with him. "You need to stay here Fiona. I am not going to put you in danger in your current state. I am not going to put you and our child in danger," he said softly to her.
"I don't want to remain here while you go out there Van. Let me go with you please," Fiona begged since before then the two of them always worked together on this. She saw Van shake his head and frowned. "Then let me go with Moonbay. She will remain out of the way and only help with loading," Fiona said practically begging Van.
Van was about to say no when Moonbay came walking up to them. "Sure thing Fiona, I can use the company. Don't worry about her Van. I will personally ensure her safety. No harm will ever come to her or the baby," Moonbay said grabbing Fiona's arm and dragging her towards the gustav.
Van groaned because he did not want Fiona to be getting into this sort of mess anymore. He knew it would be a lot more dangerous with her now that she was pregnant. He didn't know what he would do if her or the baby got hurt. He knew it would be pointless to argue with Moonbay though so he just walked to the blade liger.
Zack was furious because he was sure that it was too late to stop the baby's conception. That was why he had the backup plan that he brought with him. It would require that he got rid of Van and got Fiona to love him. He knew of the perfect way to do it.
Van stared out into the open desert searching for their target. "hey Moonbay, are you sure that this is the last place that it was sighted? I can't see anything around. It has probably moved on by now," Van said as he looked harder.
"Positive. A nearby village reported spotting it less than thirty minutes ago. Even if it did run away, it can't have gone too far. We just need to expand our search radius and we will find it," Moonbay said typing some things into her gustav. 'Wait a minute!' she said while she looked at the computer. "To your right Van!" Moonbay yelled.
Van jumped out of the way at just the nick of time as a claw was sent flying right past the cockpit of his zoid. "get out of here now Moonbay, protect Fiona like you said!" Van yelled as he charged at the zoid with Zack and his black leoblaze at his side.
Moonbay immediately got out of there as Fiona looked through the data they were able to obtain in that short time about the zoid. She wanted to be helpful and find any sort of weakness that she could about the zoid. "Van, there appears to be a few problems with it right leg. That should be where you need to attack," Fiona said to Van hoping he would hear through the fight.
"Ok, I got it Fiona," Van said pulling out his blades and charging right past the leoblaze who didn't even look like he was trying to fight at full strength. Van was suddenly thrown back when the zoid swung its tail hitting him hard. He got back up and saw that Zack was in a struggling match with the zoid.
The guns on the blade liger came out and Van took target of the zoids right leg. He noticed it sparking a little and knew that Fiona was correct about it. "Zack! Move out of the way!" Van yelled but the man didn't listen to him as he was pushed back a little. "Move it! I have a good shot!" Van yelled but the man still didn't listen to him.
"Damn it!" Van yelled putting his guns away and his blades out. He charged at the zoid as Zack continued his struggle. "Move it!" Van yelled as he neared. He swore that if the guy didn't move that Van would just run him through as well. He knew that the struggling was pointless because no damage was being done.
'As you wish,' Zack thought with a sneer as he let go of the zoid at the last minute. He watched in amusement as Van was taken by surprise when the zoid fired off its guns at point blank range blasting off one of the legs of the blade liger.
Van hit his head hard on the control of the blade liger as it was sent flying back. It hit the ground hard causing the canopy to smash open sending and unconscious Van to go flying out of the cockpit much to the horror of the two who were in the gustav.