Disclaimer: Damn, why do I keep repeating this?
Vandread: The Unknown Soldier
Chapter Eighteen: Captive
Location: Brig of E.D.A. Warship Avenger
Tightly clenching his fists, Aidan tried to banish the horrible memories from his mind. These particular ones came back with intensity after that conversation with that bastard. No matter how he tried, he'd always be haunted by them. He remembers standing over them, pointing a gun, first at the little girl. Driven by an impulse that he did not want and tried not to obey, he pulled the trigger, then adjusted his aim and fired again. He thought that was bad enough, but with the information the traitor provided, it became even worse. Even though the info could be false, he felt that it pretty much true.
"Dammit…" he muttered, careful not to get the attention of the guards.
As he sat there on the single bunk that occupied his cell, he contemplated on how he'd kill that bastard if he could ever get his hands on him. He also wanted to escape, but chances are he'd be killed long before he'd ever make it off this ship. There was nothing better to do, so he would risk taking a nap. There was always the fact he would be haunted by those same memories while he slept, but even still, he tried. He moved from a sitting position to a lying one, and stared up at the blank, dull ceiling. It wasn't long before he drifted off into a fitful sleep.
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The situation was similar in the cell next to Aidan's, except it's occupant wasn't trying to get some sleep. In fact, she utterly refused to give in to that desire. Meia sat on the bunk, leaning against the wall, thinking over the events of the past several hours. That conversation still bugged her, but she was thinking of something else at the moment. She didn't like her situation at all.
What would make these people side with Earth?
These people were crazy. These guys are probably looking forward to being 'harvested', like it was some high priority goal in life, she thought with bitter humor. She brought her arm up and gently rested her hand on her bandaged arm. Pretty much overcome with exhaustion due to the events of the last several hours. She fought against the tempting lure of sleep, for she did not want to keep her guard down for even a moment while held captive.
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Meanwhile, on the Nirvana…
Maria strode down the corridor, full of new confidence after thinking over her priorities. She had finally come to a decision, and that decision was to forget about the past and just be determined in a set goal, to protect the welfare of her friends and the people back on her home planet.
As she walked by a few people, she received sidelong glances from a few of them. It was only natural, as she looked different than before. Whereas her violet hair used to be shoulder-length, now it barely reached down to her neck. It wasn't long before she made it to where she was originally headed, the cafeteria. She was looking for someone, and she had found her. She walked to where Dita was sitting.
"So, there you are," she said, getting Dita's attention. "I was looking for you."
Dita looked up from what she was doing, and stared at her a moment before recognizing her. "Oh, hi, Maria. I like the new look."
"Thanks," she replied, accepting the compliment. "I just wanted to apologize for what I said to you the other day."
"Okay," Dita replied. "But you don't really need to apologize. I understood how you felt."
"Thanks for understanding," she said.
"No problem," Dita replied, flashing her usual smile.
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On the other side of the cafeteria, a solitary person sat at one of the tables. Misty sat there, with her food completely untouched, due to the fact that she was in deep thought. She wondered just where Meia had went, and why she had not returned. They same could be said of the soldier that went by the name of Aidan Mercer. Why had they not returned? She hoped that they had not been captured or killed by the enemy.
"Dear sister, where are you?"
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The tone of the conference room where the two of the three highest ranking pirates were, was a little more somber. They were discussing what they would do in the event that they were attacked again.
"So what do you propose we do, BC?" Magno asked.
"With half of our remaining pilots wounded, and our squadron leader's absence," BC answered, referring to Meia. "We can't very well fight and hope to win, as they have more ships and that device."
"I agree," Magno replied. "But where do you suppose we go?"
"Long-range scans have located a large nebula in front of us," BC reported. "I propose we use the nebula to hide from them until we can figure out how to mount a counter-attack."
"Hmm… very well," Magno replied, coming to a decision. "We'll go with that, but what do we do if Meia tries to return and isn't able to locate us?"
"The best we can do is leave a marker of our last known location, and hope she figures out from there," BC replied.
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As soon as the alarm sounded throughout the ship, everyone stopped what they were doing and immediately headed for their stations. For Jura, that meant to head immediately for her Dread and prepare to launch. It took her a few minutes, but she was able to make it there before Dita. What didn't help matters was the fact that Meia was absent from the ship, which also meant that her Dread was not there either. That also left her in command of the Dread Teams, something that had been decided long ago because of the lack of capable pilots. Once she got into the cockpit of her fighter, the image of BC appeared on her main monitor.
"All Dread Teams, you are to remain on standby," BC commanded. "We are not going to engage them, for now."
"What's up?" she couldn't help but ask.
"We are at a disadvantage against them," BC responded. "Therefore, we are heading straight for a nebula to escape from them for the time being."
"Understood," she replied.
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"Colonel Albrecht," the Captain of the S.D.S. Whirlwind said through the commline.
Looking up from the reports he was looking over, he tapped the stud on his desk and replied. "What is it, Captain?"
"We have just picked up an encoded transmission," the Captain's gruff voice replied.
"Where from?" he queried.
"It was emitted from that planet at ten o'clock," the Captain replied.
"What does it say?" he asked.
"I have someone decoding it right now," the Captain responded. "We'll be able to read in about five minutes."
"Alright," he said. "I'm coming to the bridge."
"Understood," came the reply.
It took him a few minutes, but once he made it to the bridge, the contents of the message were all but forgotten. The bridge crew was in the middle of what could be called controlled chaos. Apparently, something came up that was far more important than a mere message. He strode up to the Captain, who was sitting in his chair, issuing orders to the bridge crew.
"What's happening, Captain?" he asked after waiting for the Captain to finish giving out a string of orders.
"We have located what appears to an E.D.A. vessel," the Captain replied, not bothering to take his eyes off the image of warship on the main view-screen. "Intrepid Class Destroyer."
"Have they detected us?" he asked.
"They have yet to make any movement," the Captain replied. "So, from what I can tell, no, they haven't."
"We could take advantage of this," he said after thinking for a few seconds.
"Do you have a plan?" the Captain asked.
"Yes, I do," he replied.
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He had only gotten about a half hour of sleep when the alarm sounded throughout the ship. Cursing silently to himself, Damon climbed out of his bunk and immediately grabbed a fresh uniform from the locker and put it on as quickly as he could. He exited his quarters and ran down to his action station, which was located in the main cargo bay. He entered the lift, and pressed the stud that would take him to the cargo bay. It took several long, painful seconds as the lift transported to where he needed to go.
He'd been promoted to First Lieutenant and given temporary command of Team Five of the 4th Special Forces Detachment. His original team leader and also friend, was none other than Aidan Mercer. He'd been given command upon Aidan's disappearance, along with the Artemis, the ship he last was reported on. Damon did not believe that Aidan was dead, for he was a hard man to kill.
After he finally got off the lift, he headed straight to where the rest of the team was assembled. He walked directly over to Heinrich Steiner. "What are our orders?"
Steiner, large, muscular man who stood over six feet tall, walked up to him. He had close-cropped blond hair that was cut in what some called a flat-top. His dark blue eyes finished out his imposing figure. When he spoke, it was with a deep Germanic accent, speaking of his ancestral roots.
"We are to prepare for immediate boarding action. They have located an enemy vessel in this system."
"Alright then," he replied. "Grenadiers, suit up."
He walked over to where they had the Heavy Assault Type Powered Armor, or 'Krieger' as it was also known. Nodding to the tech assigned to him as he was handed the black, skin-tight bodysuit. It was necessary to operate the armor effectively, as it was made out sensor mesh, that allowed it to transmit movement and other specialized commands to the armor's internal computer. It also allowed the operator to be hooked up to the automated medical pack built into the armor. The suit would help monitor the operator's condition and apply painkillers and other drugs in he or she was wounded.
He stripped out his uniform and into the form-fitting bodysuit, then approached the armor. Hefting himself into the armor, he locked his legs into the suit's heavy, armored boots. He then leaned forward and positioned his upper torso onto the heavy breastplate. He then inserted his arms into their armored equivalents and gripped the manipulator controls, which would allow him to operate the suit's mechanical hands. With help from the tech, he was able to lock the breastplate onto the rest of the armor. The tech then began to lock all connections and seal them, so the suit could operate properly in a vacuum.
The tech then plugged a series of wires into the chest, and ran a series of diagnostics, to make sure the armor would work properly. While the tech ran those checks, Damon operated the suit's fully manipulative hands. Satisfied that they working properly, he grabbed a specially-modified heavy double-barreled laser rifle, and attached it to his armor's right vambrace. Since they were going into the confines of a warship, they would need to be armed for close-combat. The rest of his team would be armed similarly. Private Nick Hawkins, the team's explosives specialist, would also carry a special canvas bag full of breaching charges and other explosives.
Once the tech finished, he gave Damon a thumbs-up, which he fully-operational and ready to go. He lowered the faceplate of his helmet, which had a skull motif painted on the front of it. Damon briefly thought about how the Solaris Defense Force liked to make helmets resemble skulls. The 'eyes' of the helmet glowed and eerie red once the armor was fully activated. He then engaged the helmet's built-in comm system.
"Grenadiers. Comm check!" he bellowed.
"Steiner, ready."
"Marks here, acknowledge."
"DeMarco here, I'm ready to go."
"Akida here, ready."
"Deveroux here, I'm online and good to go."
"Hawkins here, ready to rock'n roll."
Damon waited for a second, for the last member of the team had yet to report. "Collins, you ready?"
"Uh, yes sir," Collins replied.
"Good," he replied. "Let's move out!"
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"Sir! An unidentified vessel has just appeared on our scans!" the sensor operator, her voice tense with controlled excitement.
Blast! "Can you confirm who it belongs to?" Admiral Alexander Graff bellowed.
"No sir," the operator responded. "It doesn't match anything in the database, and the nebula is interfering with our scans."
"Dammit," he muttered to himself. "Bring it up onscreen."
"Yes, sir," the tech replied as she brought up the image of a decent sized, elegant-looking silver vessel. He judged that it was a warship by the way it looked, for a civilian or transport would not have a sleek, deadly look to it.
The Dauntless, along with the rest of the surviving vessels of the Solaris Defense Fleet, had taken shelter in this nebula to avoid detection by the larger E.D.A. forces. There were about thirty vessels of various size and class left to them. Now, some unknown warship, possible hostile, was on the verge of discovering his fleet. He did not want the location of his fleet discovered, so he had to come to a decision.
"Alright, I want several combat teams to prep for immediate boarding operations," he ordered. "Have then assemble in the cargo bay, I'll be down shortly to brief them."
"Understood, sir," the crewman responded.
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Jolted awake by a violent shudder throughout the ship, Aidan immediately sat up, wondering what was happening. He looked out of his cell, and he noticed several crewmen running down the corridor. He could also hear panicked shouting in the corridor as well. It appeared as if this ship he was on was under attack…
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Huzzah! That makes the third update in a week. Any feedback, even negative, is appreciated.