Disclaimer: I believe you know already.

Vandread: The Unknown Soldier (Revised)

Chapter Ten: Decision

Location: Conference Room, Nirvana

"This is a Solaris Arms Needle Pistol," Aidan said as he tossed the gun onto the table. "It fires several needle-like flechettes, a nasty weapon. I've used it once before."

"So what does this mean?" asked a grim-faced Magno.

"It means that the assassin was from Solaris," Aidan replied. After killing the assassin, a lot of the anger he felt had yet to bleed away.

"Which means the E.D.A. knows where we are," BC said.

"Most likely," he replied. "And after their bitch of an assassin doesn't report in, they'll probably come in with their whole damn fleet."

"So what?" Hibiki blurted out. "I'm ready for a fight, I'll take'em on."

"Do you think they are that easy?" Aidan replied, slightly irritated at his outburst. "From what I gather, you've never killed anyone before. Do you think you can? They are nothing like the Earthers."

"So wha-"

"We need to come up with a plan," Meia said, interrupting Hibiki's reply.

"I agree," he replied as he looked over at Meia. "I can provide information on their tactical doctrine, as well as specifications for certain weapons they use."

"Are we in danger of being attacked?" Magno asked.

"Isn't that already obvious? They sent an assassin that tried to off Maria, and now that that has failed, they'll try a more direct approach," Aidan said, obviously irritated. A lot of these people are idiots.

"It's all… your fault," Barnette accused, her voice barely audible, then growing in strength. "It's all your fault."

"How is it my fault?" Aidan replied, anger edging his voice.

"If it wasn't for you and that damn girl, none of this would have ever happened," Barnette said, trying to pin him with a venomous stare. "A lot of people I knew and called friends died."

"Keep in mind, I never wanted to be on this goddamn ship in the first place," he said, glaring at her coldly.

"That doesn't change the fact that you could have prevented all this," she accused him. "They still would be alive-"

Aidan laughed harshly, "So, your dislike of me is why you try to blame me, how pathetic."

"You would know nothing, being the cold-hearted bastard you obviously are," she shot back at him. "You wouldn't know what it was like to lose friends."

Aidan felt his anger come back full force, and in a few quick strides, placed himself in front of Barnette. He grabbed hold of the collar of her suit and slammed her against the wall. "Don't even think I don't know what losing friends feels like. I was in that damn city Augusta. I saw horrors there that haunt me even today. One of my friends had a wife and a three-year old little girl, and I saw him blasted apart as a tank overran our position. He did that, saving me from that fate, and I don't even have a family. Do you call that fair?"

He continued his verbal attack, his fury unabated. "Tell me, how would you feel if that blonde woman next to you died from a bomb planted by that very assassin, and you were the one spared. I felt exactly that way when I saw Sakura die, and she died for no goddamn reason at all, just because some cowardly bitch had planted a bomb. And she was the only reason I cared about living at all. So don't you fucking tell me that I don't know what it's like, you bitch."

"Aidan, release her," Magno commanded sternly.

He ignored her command until she repeated it a second time. He then slowly released his grip on her, but still stared at her, fury in his eyes. "Think about that, because next time you accuse me of something like this, you won't be so lucky next time." He then turned and faced Magno, his eyes colder than ice. "And I don't take orders from you."

He then turned and started to walk away, but stopped when he heard the sound of a gun preparing to fire. He knew who it was, but he didn't even bother to turn and look at her. "Go ahead, it won't matter. I'm already dead." Without another word, he walked out of the room.

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Like everyone else present, Meia was stunned by Aidan's sudden outburst. She knew that Aidan and Barnette never liked each other, and this just made matters worse. She also noticed, that when he spoke, she could hear a faint accent, one she couldn't place. That mattered little, for now. What was kind of awkward was that she actually felt sorry for him. She knew what it was like to lose someone you cared for. She should dislike him as well, because he had just threatened Barnette and told off the Captain, but she couldn't bring herself to do that. She watched him as he exited the room, and not long after, there was a long drawn out silence. It was then she noticed something on the floor. She walked over and picked it up, and opened it.

Inside it was a picture that showed a group of soldiers standing together, wearing gray combat fatigues. She immediately recognized Aidan, who was in the center of the picture. There were three other men and a woman in the picture. One of the men was taller and more muscular, with brush-cut blonde hair. The man next to him was just slightly shorter that Aidan, with short, light brown hair. The last man, who was on the other side of the woman had dark hair and a somewhat cold expression. Her eyes focused primarily on the woman standing next Aidan with her arm around his neck. She was just as young as Aidan in the picture, she was shorter than Aidan, and her black hair was back in a ponytail, with green eyes. This must have been Sakura…

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The ground shook as concrete cracked and crumbled underneath the weight of the machine treading over it. Aidan as well as one other scrambled to get out of the way as the massive vehicle treaded through the intersection. Its body was angled, and the turret on top resembled some kind of monster. It's treads continued to devour the ground, like some hungry demon with an insatiable appetite.

Two soldiers hurriedly got out of the way of the massive tracked monster, one almost getting his legs crushed. Both of them then dived for cover in a makeshift trench. The tank had just overrun their position, and they needed to do something about it. Aidan was going to do something about it. He motioned for the soldier next to him, who was named Dirk, to follow him.

"Alright, we need to get rid of that monster," he said to Dirk. "Or we'll be in trouble."

"How do you propose we do it?" Dirk asked him, clutching his rifle.

"We need to either blow out its treads, or kill the crew," Aidan said.

"I follow," Dirk replied as he glanced at the tank. "What do you wa- Get down!"

Before Aidan knew it, he was roughly shoved to the ground, and an intense heat washed over him. A few moments later, he came to, and a burnt smell reached his nostrils. After refocusing his vision, and he looked up into the bleak, gray sky. There was lingering heat emanating from him. After regaining all of his senses, he felt something lying on top of him. He looked down at it, and saw that it was a charred corpse. Revulsion overtook him as he shoved it off of him. He slowly got to his feet, and it took him a second to realize something. Dirk had shoved him out of the way, taking the shot from the tank that was meant for him. He saw that the tank was now farther down the street.

"Why did you…" Aidan asked him silently. I had no family, yet you had a wife and daughter. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair! Anger began to replace disgust, and he was going to make them pay for killing his friend.

Screaming his inarticulate rage, he picked up his rifle and charged for the tank, which was now in front of him, facing away. Thinking him dead, the tank commander had made his mistake. Once he was at the tank, he grabbed onto the rear handhold and climbed onto the vehicle. In a few seconds he was on top of the turret. The commander popped the hatch, and looked to see what was wrong.

"Take this, you bastard!" Aidan screamed as he smashed his boot into the man's face, and fired into the turret, killing the commander. He then, pulled the pin on a grenade and threw it down into the interior. He then jumped off the tank, and scrambled for cover. An explosion followed a second later, sending a gout of fire and smoke shooting out the hatch..

The fighting had been like that for several weeks, close-quarters and extremely chaotic. Near the final week, the commander ordered a complete withdrawal from the city and had it razed from orbit. He was torn from these memories by someone approaching where stood, leaning against the railing that overlooked the garden. He looked back slightly and noticed Meia come up to him.

"Do you mind if I join you?" she asked.

"No, I don't mind," he replied.

"I believe this belongs to you," she said as she handed him his wallet. "You dropped it back in the conference room."

"Thanks," he replied as he took it. "Did you look inside it?"

"Yes," she replied as she glanced down, then back up.

"She was a friend, no, she was more than that," he said, referring to Sakura. "When she died, I felt as though part of me was ripped apart and thrown away, and I seriously didn't care about my life. I joined special forces not long after, thinking I had nothing left to lose."

"I know how you feel, because I lost my mother when I was very young," Meia said, placing a hand on his arm.

"For some reason, you're the only one I can seem to talk to," Aidan said.

For the first time in a while, Meia felt her face get red with embarrassment. She quickly looked down to avoid his gaze. Composing herself, she looked back up and replied. "It's no problem. Will you be alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he replied, a smile creasing his lips. "Don't worry about it."

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Now that they were the only ones in the conference room, Magno consulted with her subordinates, BC and Gascogne. They were trying to figure out their next course of action.

"So what do you think we should do?" Magno asked them.

"If what he says is true, and they do know where we are, we should go on the move," Gascogne said. "Make it harder for them to find us."

"True, but I believe we will eventually have to face them," BC countered. "So I propose that we link up with the fleet that still opposes the E.D.A. and help them fight."

"Do we even know the general area of where this fleet is located?" Gascogne asked.

"No, but I think it is a better alternative that running from them," BC replied.

"Very well," Magno said. "Gascogne, do you have any problem with this proposition?"

"No, I do not, Captain," Gascogne replied.

"They crossed the line with that assassin, so we are going to help them get rid of the E.D.A. They will find out what happens when you mess with pirates," Magno said with a grim smile.

The decision had been made…

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