Disclaimer: It is Gonzo that owns Vandread, not me.
Vandread: The Unknown Soldier (Revised)
Chapter Three: Revelations
Location: Bridge, Nirvana.
"Massive energy spike detected!" came Belvedere's alarmed shout. "And it's coming from that unidentified ship!"
"What in the hell is happening!" Magno fairly blurted out, shock edging slightly into her voice.
"It appears the engines of the ship are overloading," Amarone put in. "At this rate, they will explode, and destroy everything within a five hundred meter radius."
"Ezra, contact BC and the others," Magno ordered. "Tell them to get off the ship immediately."
After several failed attempts, Ezra reported to the Captain. "Captain, there is a huge amount of magnetic interference coming from the ship's engines, I'm unable to contact them."
Everyone looked outside to see a ball of light expand from the rear of the ship. It expanded until it engulfed the entire vessel, releasing a massive amount of energy in the process. A few seconds later, the light faded and all that was left of that ship were nothing but several small scraps of debris.
"Captain," Ezra said. "The Commander reports that everyone, including the survivors, made it safely away from the ship."
Magno let out a sigh of relief, as she was glad they had made it off in time. But there were several questions still unanswered, and she wanted those answers. She was going to have to ask the survivors, whoever they were.
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Aidan watched from one of the shuttle's view ports as the massive ball of light that used to be a proud fighting ship, the Artemis, faded back into the cold, black abyss known as space. He continued to stare blankly out the view port until the image of a young woman with shoulder-length raven black hair and striking green eyes flashed into his mind.
"Sakura…" he whispered, tightly clenching his fists.
"Did you say something?" a deep male voice sounded behind him. He slowly turned around and saw a man with long black hair facing him.
"No… it's nothing," he replied.
"Duero McFile," he said as he held out his hand.
"Aidan Mercer," he identified himself as he accepted Duero's handshake. From his appearance, Duero appeared to be a medic, as was evident by the red cross on his jacket. Duero was also slightly taller than him, somewhere between fifteen and twenty centimeters.
"If I may ask, why did you activate that ship's self-destruct system?" Duero asked.
More questions? he thought wearily. "Operational security," he replied after a short silence.
"Operational security? Care to explain?" Duero asked, probing for more information.
Before he could answer that, he felt a slight jolt. They just now docked with the large, silver ship, and would be debarking soon.
"I'll explain later," he said as he moved past Duero and picked up a couple of drab green duffel bags.
Several moments later, they disembarked from the shuttle. As he descended down the ramp, he noticed pretty much the whole crew was gathered around the shuttle, wanting to take a look at the survivors, no doubt. It also occurred to him that the majority of the crew were women, but he noticed a couple of men down there as well. He suddenly felt out of place in a place that seemed out of place.
"Wow…" Maria said in amazement as she reached the bottom of the ramp. Aidan remained quiet as he planted his feet firmly on the deck. He scanned around and noticed an old woman approaching to where they now stood. She started talking to the silver-haired woman that he'd seen on the Artemis. From what he could tell, those were the two in command. He glanced around and noticed the same dark-haired woman glaring daggers at him. He turned to face the old woman as she addressed him.
"Tell me, young man, what is your name?" she asked.
"Captain Aidan Mercer," he replied, stating his rank and name.
"So you're a soldier, eh?" she surmised, as she glanced at his armor. "Well then, Captain Mercer, there are several questions I'd like to ask you, but maybe you should head down to the infirmary first," she said, gesturing to the now dry blood on his face. "I'll send someone to come and get you later."
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Down in the infirmary, Aidan had insisted that Duero check up on Maria first, even though he had what appeared to be more serious wounds. He stood there, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Duero had just finished checking up on Maria.
"Nothing serious, just a bump on the head," he said, and looked over at Aidan. "Now let's take a look at you."
"Fine," Aidan said as pushed himself into a standing position. He tapped a button on the left forearm of his personal armor. There was a hiss as the suit depressurized. He reached up and unhooked the lock on the left shoulder. He repeated it on the right. After that, he unhooked the lock on the collar of his suit. The chest armor unhinged and he pulled his arms out of the suit. Then using his arms, he pulled his legs out of the lower half of the armor. He was dressed only in a lightweight sensor mesh, which would allow the monitoring of his vitals as well as help administer painkillers.
"Now, let's take a look at your wounds," Duero said.
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About half an hour later, Duero had finished tending to his wounds. According to Duero, he had a few cuts on the side of his head, due the fact that a part of the visor actually shattered when it was shot. He was lucky he didn't lose his right eye. There were also some minor burns that had come from when his leg was shot with a laser rifle. There were a few small bruises here and there, as well. He also felt lingering pain from when he relocated his left shoulder.
After that, he changed into a fresh set of clothes. He had on a pair of blue-black fatigue pants, a sleeveless black t-shirt that accentuated his lean, muscular frame. It also exposed a familiar scar that always brought back painful memories. After he put that on, he laced up a pair of black, steel-toed combat boots. He picked up his handgun and loaded a twelve-round magazine of ten millimeter rounds, then holstered it on his right hip. He also had a few extra clips of ammunition in a belt pouch, as well as a combat knife sheathed at the small of his back. He had no intention of using either weapon, provided they didn't give him a reason to. He also pulled out a disc from one of the duffel bags. After that he was ready to go.
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Meia walked down the corridor, heading for the infirmary. She was to bring Aidan and Maria, the other survivor, to the conference room to talk to the Captain. This whole thing puzzled her, especially since he told her about the fact that it wasn't the 'Earthers' that had attacked them. He said his own people, why would they have the motivation to do that anyway? It could have been for any number of reasons, but she felt as if Earth did have something to do with it. She came upon the door to the infirmary just as Aidan had just finished getting dressed. She noticed that there was a long, jagged scar running from his left shoulder to the just above the elbow. Briefly, she wondered how he'd gotten that scar. As quickly as that thought came, it went, and she spoke up.
"The Captain would like to speak with you now," she said to Aidan.
He turned to face her. "Alright."
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Leaning against the wall next to the door of the meeting room, Barnette stood there waiting. The Captain sat at the head of the table, with BC standing right next to her. Gascogne was sitting in one the chairs near her. Others in the room included: Hibiki, Jura, Bart, and Dita.
She was seething with barely concealed anger. She had been defeated and nearly killed by a man. Only her quick reaction had prevented her from taking a bullet to the chest. She closed her eyes for a minute, to help calm down, but was forced to open them again when the door opened. The first two people to walk through were Meia and Duero. The third was that young violet-haired woman, and the last brought her anger back up slightly. It was the man named Aidan, the one who'd almost killed her.
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"So, Captain Mercer," Magno spoke, breaking the silence. "As you already know, there are several questions that I'd like to ask you."
"I know," he replied. "But before I answer any of your questions, I have one of my own."
"Go on," she said.
"Who are you people and where are you from?" he asked.
"I am Magno Vivan, and I am the leader of a band of pirates from the planet Mejale, and these three men are from Tarak," she replied, gesturing to a short kid with a cast immobilizing his left arm, that doctor, and a bald man apparently in some kind of military uniform.
"Pirates, I knew you weren't officially with any military," he replied.
"Now, I'd like to ask you that same question," Magno countered.
"As you know, I am Aidan Mercer, and I hold the rank of captain in the Solaris Defense Force," he said. "And this is Maria Shakov, daughter of the late Prime Minister of the Solaris Federation, Cedric Shakov," he said, gesturing to Maria.
"What is the Solaris Federation?" the silver-haired woman known as BC, asked.
"The Solaris Federation is located on a planet named Solaris," he said as he took out a disc and held out for the Captain to see. When she nodded her approval, he inserted into the computer console, and brought up the spherical image of a star system from the holographic projector in the center of the table. He keyed in the coordinates, and the star system was replaced by the image of a planet. The planet was a blend of blue, gray, and some green. To him, it looked dull, but it was home, something he was determined to help get back, if he ever rejoined the Defense Force. "This is the planet Solaris, and as you see, it isn't much to look at. There are two continents, one of which is pretty much a wasteland. The other one is the largest and that's where most of the planet's population is located."
"So, that is the planet you call Solaris," Magno stated. "But, why did your ship suddenly appear in this system, and why was it so heavily damaged?"
"Well, that is because we were trying to leave the system, and were under attack," he answered. "And before you ask, it was not Earth that did this, it was a group of rebels, under the aegis of Earth's Divine Army. We are in the middle of a civil war, a war against our own people."
"Earth's Divine Army? What the hell kind of name is that?" the short kid with the cast blurted out.
"They believe to be the ones chosen by Earth, or something like that," he replied to the kid's remark. "I don't understand all that crap those fanatics spit out."
"What exactly is this Earth's Divine Army?" Meia asked.
"They were formed secretly about five years ago. After our forces repelled the Earth invaders, a group of people believed that was the wrong thing to do. The people formed this organization, with which we've had a numerous number of low-scale conflicts, until about three years ago. They have then stepped up their activities and about a little over two years ago a city was destroyed in a three-week long battle that proved their so-called 'cause' couldn't be blunted.
"Why would these people want to do such a thing?" the blonde woman known as Jura asked.
"Don't ask me, I don't know what goes on in those fanatics' heads," he answered. "They have just recently performed a successful coup de'tat. They had assassinated the Prime Minister and were about to kill Maria. That was, until I intervened."
Silence seemed to stretch for a few, long painful seconds. Everyone in the room, except himself and Maria, showed some level of surprise or shock.
"I almost forgot, why did you activate the self-destruct system on that ship?" Magno asked, breaking the silence.
"Simple, Operational Security," he answered. "I didn't want the ship to fall into anyone else's hands."
"Okay, your story seems a little far-fetched, but for some reason I believe you," Magno said. "For the time being, you two can stay on this ship. Oh, and I heard about your little scuffle onboard the Artemis, and I don't want that happening again."
"You have my word," Aidan replied.
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Revised Chapter Three Finished, and the Earth-loving rebels finally have a name! Feedback appreciated.