Okay, first of I'm very sorry for being so late with an updates. Stuff seemed to keep piling on at home and I barely had time to try writing, but here you go.
I do not own Gundam 00 or Vandread.
Tieria wiggled around in his seat, cuffs rattling rather loudly. Across from him Setsuna raised an eyebrow, but couldn't bring himself to ask why his friend was so fidgety. Actually, he found it kind of amusing.
"Setsuna?" Tieria called to him abruptly, ceasing the annoying racket at the same time.
"Yes?'"
"Do you know where our guards went?"
"Their Commander ordered them to prepare for a scrub down. Not sure why though."
"Oh," Was all the effeminate young (?) man said before resuming his fidgeting.
"Why are…?"
"Bathroom," Tieria answered.
"I see. You should've gone before we got here," Setsuna pointed out, though he refused to mention he also needed to use the John.
"I didn't think they would lock us up like this for so long. And they would've have chained us up like this if someone hadn't gone and broken his cuffs!"
Setsuna shut himself off from the whiny little girl and leaned his head back. Slowly, he stretched himself through the bars and walls that made up his prison. Standing in the hall, he took a moment to get his bearings. When he was ready he made his way to the Paeksis chamber, which was abuzz with voices. Every which way he looked there was an engineer shouted numbers into headsets as they leaned over their laptops and datapads. From what he could tell they were measuring and calculating the extent to which the Paeksis had engulfed itself into the ship. Glad to see that the massive blue sun that shone above them emanating a steady stream of light, he left the women to their work.
As he wandered the Ikazuchi all he could fine were technicians looting supplies and transporting to their half of the ship. Every so often he found one of them taking apart a wall panel, always gasping when they realized the walls were filled with Paeksis crystal and the wires within absolutely useless.
After a while he decided to leave for the women's half, but not before making one last stop.
If he were there physically the light from the men's cargo bay would have blinded him. Much to his surprise the pirates were busy with laser-saws, drills, droids, and other tools refurnishing the massive room. New platforms had been added, two of which were occupied by the grey Dread and red Dread. Nowhere could he find the blue one and its bubbly pilot. So, he decided to ask.
Out of the twenty or so minds he read, three gave him the answer.
'God I wish Ms. Gasco was here! I never understood how she could organize all these new recruits.'
'Wonder when those two are going to be back. We need that Dread to finish this platform.'
'Dita is so lucky! Can't believe she got to ditch and salvage mission. Dread pilots are always favored over the rest of us.'
"Oh my god! This is so amazing!" Dita exclaimed, barely able to contain her bubbly joy as she flickered her camera with one hand and piloted her Dread with the other. "Gasp! It's an Atopski-type UFO! Did you see that Ms. Gasco?"
In the seat behind her Gasco sighed so deeply she could've raised, killed, and raised the dead again. The first thing she'd probably say to them is, "Its Gascogne!!!"
Before leaving Setsuna took a moment to inspect the Gundams. Apparently the women hadn't taken the time to try and crack the locks on either 00 or the GN Arms. Not like they could anyway. The only way to pilot them would be to have one's biometrics programmed into the systems, and of course only the Gundam Meisters could authorize that.
00 shined like the angelic titan it was. Century old battle scars had been cleansed from its body by the Paeksis, leaving its skin as smooth as marble. Flexing his non-existent hands, Setsuna recalled the sensation he'd felt while piloting the night before. It had been too long since he'd last danced with his old friend. As much as battle disgusted him he could not help but enjoy cutting down his faceless robotic foe. Better they fell by his blade then they live on to kill others
Slipping into the GN-Arms Setsuna moved to the cargo hold of the battle cruiser and checked on Seravee Gundam. Even in the shadows Setsuna could make out the behemoth of a mobile suit. Just like 00, the Paeksis had cleansed Seravee of all impurities. Its entire form was bulky with metal muscle and filled the chamber with its commanding presence. Twin GN Cannons sat just above its kneecaps and another pair on its shoulders. Its hands, the only "small" part of the machine, held the GN Bazooka IIs, a pair of Vulcan cannons that could have easily eliminated the attackers from the night before.
Running his hand over the giant's smooth armor, Setsuna could feel its regret in not being able to take part in the battle. While the Paeksis had repaired the general appearance of the machine it had failed to completely fix the programming. Its operating system was riddled with incomplete algorithms that caused the GN Drive to overload whenever they started it up. Hopefully now that 00 was operational they could use it to reboot Seravee's system. 'Don't worry. You'll have your chance.' He assured the machine before leaving the makeshift hangar.
Wandering the ship with no real destination he passed through the women's bridge, residential quarters, Dread Platform, and weapon's hold, or Registry as they called it. The former two were completely swallowed up by the Paeksis, forcing the original occupants to relocate to the men's section. Of the dozens that lugged all their belongings onto makeshift elevators Setsuna decided to follow a familiar blonde. Remembering his first encounter with the Dread pilots he recalled her name as Jura.
"Hurry up, Barnette!" The blonde shouted to her scantily clad friend.
"I'm going as fast as I can. Do you really need all these clothes?" Barnette asked, one arm carrying a large duffel bag and rifle bag while the other hidden underneath nearly a dozen garment bags.
"Are you kidding? You know I can't live without my babies!" Jura said, herself juggling half a dozen purses that overflowed with perfume bottles.
They hopped onto one of the makeshift elevators just before it passed their level, which just so happened to be where Paiway was sitting. Setsuna, having nowhere else to go, joined them. He took a seat beside the young nurse, who just so happened to be jotting down they wonderful events that plagued her happy little family.
"If you have so much time on your hands why don't you help out?" Barnette complained.
"I'm busy!" She barked back as she glanced at the older women. Noting their large load she slipped on her frog-hand puppet (yes you read me right!) and threw a frog-voice into it's little mouth.
"Barnette and Jura seem to have a lot of stuff," And back to her voice, "We're lucky cause our rooms are okay. Ribbit."
"She's pushing my buttons," Jura muttered.
Barnette noticed something her friend missed. "Hey, what's with the rope?"
Paiway tugged at the rope that extended down from the world above and wrapped around her waist.
"Oh, this? Well, this is only a temporary elevator. So if it stops you two are stuck here."
Just as the words left her mouth she began to float a few feet above her seat. On instinct Setsuna grabbed a hold of the rope. Together the nurse and solder left the Dread pilots in the darkness of the elevator shaft, where they cried for help.
Once they passed back into the Taraak half Setsuna stepped off the platform and headed for the bridge. The three operators sat idly by and probably wouldn't have noticed him if he was really there. He walked along the platform that extended above the garden and gazed into the darkness before him.
'The stars are wrong,' He thought quietly as he studied the constellations.
He looked away. He looked at the pond below him. A fish jumped in and out of the cool water. The stars were wrong.
He looked back into the void, eyes dancing around in his head. Two blue stars caught his attention.
If his assumption was correct, and it usually was, the Atlas colony once hovered between those two stars. A few stars away were where the denizens of Tartarus used to mine metal and build warships. All the good that did them. They had dominion over an entire solar system and now, well, they didn't.
To his left Setsuna spotted a circle of stars that glowed tomato red. Blood Pearls. Dead planets that was once pristine for mounting anti-orbital cannons on. Because these planets were generally covered in oceans of molten lava they are super heated. All someone would have to do is attach geothermic generators to the cannons and they would have the perfect line of defense.
Least, until a few months ago. The ring of stars Setsuna was staring at was once the location of the Atlas colony, the same colony whose death had forced him out of cryosleep.
All this weighed down on Setsuna as he made his way back to his body. From what he understood about the constellations he'd they were probably one of the galaxies that bordered to the one housing Taraak and Mejare, most likely the Shoshone System. Being no mathematician he couldn't even comprehend how far long it would take for the ship to get back home. Of course he could just dump all the info on Tieria. He liked numbers.
As Setsuna phased through wall-to-wall he was surprised to have eight pirates dressed in anti-bacterial suits run right through him. If he could feel anything he'd probably be nauseous from having at least one person run through his stomach. Whirling around to face their backs, he watched them split into two groups, one heading to where the Taraak cell was and the other towards his cell. For a moment he just stood their, staring at the empty hall. Then he ran.
Slamming back into his body with a jolt he flung himself forward in his seat. Pain spiked along his arms and legs from trying to move a bolted down chair. Gasping for breath (out of body experiences always sent one's body into overdrive) he shouted to a wide-eyed Tieria.
"I think I figured out what 'scrub down' means!"
Tieria raised one eyebrow. "OBE?"
Setsuna nodded, sweat raining from his charcoal hair.
"So, what does scrub down mean?"
"Hey! What are yo—"
A stream of ice-cold water pelted Hibiki in the face, literally drowning out his words. The young man stumbled backwards alongside Bart, who cried like a whee little lassy. However the pirates didn't let up, dowsing each of the men with the full force of their water hoses. Setsuna, Tieria, and Duelo stood there calmly, protecting their packages from shrinkage.
"I took a look at the constellations earlier," Setsuna said to Tieria over the sound of the hoses. "Looks like we're in the Shoshone System, a couple stars from Atlas and Tartarus."
"Interesting," Tieria said, his brow heavy with concentration. "By my calculations it should take us 270 days to get back to Mejare and Taraak."
"How can you be so sure?" Duelo asked from in between the two Meisters. "You two seem to know a lot about what's going on around here."
"Celestial Being's database houses dozens of petabytes of data detailing the location and history of every colony ship that left Earth," Tieria explained. "Through our many contacts in each colony we have been able to catalogue even more data on the systems surrounding them. In the process we have developed star maps and routes that connect each colony together."
"So, do you have data on the machines that attacked us?"
Hibiki decided to perk up his ears. He had been wondering why Setsuna had been so come when he cut down his foes.
"They have appeared in our records before, however, each time our contacts ended up dead. Very rarely did one put up a decent fight."
"So that explains how you fought them off," Hibiki said to Setsuna. "You knew how they would fight! You knew they could have blown me up!"
"Not exactly," Setsuna responded without any sympathy, "All are data pertained on what not to do when fighting those machines. No one has ever lasted long enough to give us any data on how to fight back. We're probably the first to ever survive an encounter with them."
"I'd also like to ask you about that," Duelo stated, "If all your spies that contacted these aliens died, does that mean they're targeting your organization?"
"That's one theory," Tieria lied. Better they believe we know nothing, he thought. "What we actually said was that every one of our members who fought those aliens died. The whole truth is that the colonies they were stationed at were also wiped out."
All but the sound of rushing water disappeared with those words for a minute. Right after the water shut off Bart said the most obvious thing.
"We got to get the hell out of here!"
"Easier said than done. Its amazing this ship has held itself together for so long." Tieria stated as he pulled a towel from a stick one of the guards extended to him.
"By the time we get back home they'll probably have eaten us!" Hibiki's voice boiled with both fear and disgust.
"If they wanted to eat use they would've already," Setsuna replied, shaking his wet head. But under his breath he muttered, "Unless they wanted to clean us first."
After drying off and changing into clean clothes the men were escorted back to their cells. Surprisingly, Tieria and Setsuna were allowed to come along with the Taraak men. They remained silent all the way. Their guards flicked off the energy bars of their cell and shoved them in with little love.
Filled with dusty boxes and shelves the cell was not the most hospitable part of the universe. Hibiki and Setsuna took spots under a shelf that Tieria laid down on while Bart sat on a box on the left side and Duelo on the right.
"Bart Garcus." Setsuna addressed him frankly. "How did you get stuck on this ship?"
Fear and embarrassment ravaged the helmsman's face. With a high-pitched voice he said, "You see, about that…"
And so began Bart Garcus's epic battle to reclaim the ship from those dastardly, despicable pirates. While he was on his way to the bridge a squad of pirates appeared right around the corner. Cut off from the rest of the ship the young soldier and his squad refused to give up even an inch to the women.
"One by one my brothers in arms fell, but I knew I could not give up until I reclaimed the ship!" Bart declared, punching a fist into the air. "And now fate has provided me with four comrades. What do you say guys? If we join forces…"
Hibiki ignored the blond's speech about how they could make the women bow before them and become the heroes of Tarakk.
'Why'd this have to happen to me?' The little man thought to himself. 'I'm back just where I started. I though I'd changed my life!
'But still…What the hell—'
"—Happened back there?" Bart finished for him, leaning rather closely to Hibiki's face. "Who made that Vanguard and how did it combine with the Mejarian fighter?"
"How the hell should I know?" Hibiki barked back, fangs bared, "And forget about that! Do you think I'm going to forgive you for socking me before? They nearly locked me away!"
"Now, now. I was only acting in your best interests. Better they lock you up then force you onto the battlefield."
"You just don't know when to shut up do you?"
Duelo slipped himself into the conversation before Tieria could. "He's nervous. He's trying to distract himself through conversation. Just forgive him."
"Wow! You really are a elite!" Bart exclaimed. For a brief moment Setsuna sensed his fellow captive's ambitious thoughts. They weren't pleasant.
"You know, with my superior speaking ability, Setsuna's combat skills, Tieria's talent as a hacker, and Duelo's brain," he didn't even glance at Hibiki, "we can easily take control of the ship. I bet by week's end, we'll have those woman ea—"
"What are you all chatting about?" A sly voice asked through the bars. Bart jumped around to find the Commander looking down upon him.
"Oh, well, you see, we were just joking around." Quickly the lies stuttered out of his mouth.
"Oh, really? I'd to hear them sometime," Seriousness slipped onto her face rather elegantly as she turned of the cell bars. "We need you at the bridge."
"Y-yes, of course!" Bart quickly leapt to his feet and shuffled out of the room. "See you fellas!"
"Don't let them eat you!" Hibiki shouted after him.
Setsuna started at his young friend. "I should probably explain to you about women."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, they—"
"Like to nimble on your bones while your still alive," Tieria cut in, rewarding himself with a smile from Duelo, "and they love young men the most. You should probably keep quiet from now on."
And so he did.
"This place looks more like a giant factory than a spaceship to me," Gasconge stated to the Captain via the video feed from her datapad to the ship. In the background Dita was sliding through space taking photos of the crippled alien ship.
"Wow! This is amazing!"
"Well, anything substantial?" the Captain asked as she gazed dully at the young girl.
"We're searching the database but it's pretty huge."
"Hey! Ms. Gasco! Can I go look around?" Dita asked gleefully.
Gascogne grimaced. "Absolutely not! We've got worked to do."
To emphasize her point she flicked her young assistant in the head and sent her flying through the ship.
"Ahhhh! I can't stop! Someone help me?"
The Captain had to chuckle at that. Suddenly, she got a incoming call from BC. "Huh? What is it, BC?"
"I brought our navigator here."
"I'll be right there," She turned to Gascogne. "Good luck you two. Keep safe."
"Roger."
The elderly woman then disconnected the video feeds and hit a switch on her armrest. Her captain's chair swiveled around in place and slid along a conveyer belt through a hidden entrance in her room to the bridge of the ship. There her stern second-in-command and the cowardly Bart Garcus greeted her.
"H-Hello there. I heard you were in the need of my assistance." The young man looked like he was ready to pee his pants. Not that the powerful Pirate Captain Magno could blame him.
"Yes. That thing," She stated, pointing with her fan towards green Paeksis pool that sat at the end of the bridge. "We haven't been able to operate it. So tell us how you did it."
The young man's demeanor went from shock to fear to confident in a matter of seconds. Tugging at his cuffs he pointed out that under the circumstances it was obvious that he should help. Reluctantly, BC set him free.
"Now try and listen closely," He said quite arrogantly as he made his way to the walkway. "This is a male ship. So only males can operate it. So I'd say you are very fortunate for all of you that you happened to find me. I guess you could say that I'm an indispensible—Huh?"
As he said this the Paeksis pool shined brightly and, with a flash of light, sucked him down into the navigation chamber.
Laying her head in her hands the Captain said, "I really don't understand this system at all."
Barely over the shock of being stripped of his clothes and hooked up to a battleship, Bart tried to make since of the images before him. The Paeksis had deemed it necessary to show him live video feed of the alien wreckage. Why? Well, that's what he wanted to know.
When he waved to his hand to dismiss the images, he felt the Paeksis quiver as if it was scared. Then, without warning, the ship turned away from the wreckage and began flying off at a blinding speed into the dark abyss.
"What is going on?" The Captain barked.
"This system just booted up!" Belvedere stated as she leaned over her consul, quickly analyzing the data on it.
"Checking target destination," Amarone began, but was cut off by her own scream when the ship shook violently.
"What the hell did you do?" The Captain's face appeared to Bart via video feed.
"Huh? Just hold on a minute!" He pleaded right before the ship shook violently again. 'What trouble did I get into this time?' he thought.
Back at the wreckage Gascogne and Dita had just finished gathering all the data from the enemy ship.
"All right. We are all down over here," She said over her datapad to the Captain but no one responded. "Captain? You there, ma'am?"
Back on the suicidal ship….
"Ms. Gasco? Please respond, Ms Gasco. Dita, please respond." Ezra pleased into her static filled computer terminal. Sweat poured down her face and her breath grew ragged as the stressed piled on. The lack of air conditioning and sleep had drained her body. Now, with two of her friends missing, her heart began to ache.
"Release the markers!" Buzam ordered, giving Ezra a worried glance. Good thing she did because if not she wouldn't have seen her faint, crying, "Ms. Gasco…"
"Ezra!" She was at her side in a second, gently lifting her subordinate up. Checking her pulse, she found her alive but weak, drained. Her face was bright red and whole body burning up from fever.
Into her headset Buzam shouted, "Someone prepare a bed in sickbay and get me a gurney! On the double!"
Hibiki flung his head into the air and shouted into the green world that surrounded him.
"Who the hell are you? What are you trying to get me to do? And what is that huge robot anyway? Is it all apart of your plan? What do you want from me? Ahhh!"
He screamed erratically as bolts of electricity ran through his body. Pain and light filled his vision. Suddenly, memories of life on the farm with grandpa poured into his mind. In each the old man was talking directly to him.
"Hibiki.
"I want you to go to the city Hibiki."
"Why?" He asked. He was caught up in his dream, seated in the entrance to their home, his grandfather standing in the doorway
"To truly know yourself, you need friends," He threw Hibiki a necklace with a keycard attached to it. "They are like mirrors. Without them, you are nothing.
"Go to the city and make friends. Then you will know yourself."
Light filled his vision, but not before he made out the image of a dark haired boy around his age standing behind his grandfather, eyes aglow.
"Grandpa…" He muttered as he awoke. To find Duello leaning rather close to him. Shoving the older man away he shouted, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Above them Tieria groaned. "Why the hell do you have to be so loud? I was just getting some sleep."
"I was checking your temperature," Duello stated, completely ignoring his fellow bishonen.
A little embarrassed at his reaction, Hibiki quickly apologized to Tieria. "Sorry, I was just shocked." Then to the doctor, "I'm alright, Doc. I was just having a weird dream."
"Must have been pretty weird if you were mumbling in your sleep. Whose grandpa?"
"Grandpa's just Grandpa. He's nobody special. He's the one who raised me."
"Nobody special? Humph…" Tieria grunted as he rolled of his makeshift bed/desk onto the ground.
"Hey that's right. You said you knew Grandpa." Hibiki said, pointing to Setsuna, who was still sitting next to him.
"Peculiar," Duello said snidely, "I'd find it hard to believe that one of the first-generation would have any contact with the three of you."
Hibiki would have retorted if the Captain's scary second-in-command hadn't appeared in the hallway.
"You're names Duello, correct?" She asked, sweat shining off her forehead. "Its your turn to come with me. If you aren't to busy of course."
He nodded.
"Also, I'll need you too, Tieria."
The purple-haired bishonen glanced at Setsuna, who merely nodded in response. And with that, Setsuna and Hibiki were left alone.
"So…" Hibiki began, "I was wondering how you knew Grandpa. He isn't a member or Celestial-whatever, is he?"
Setsuna stared into the hallway, he face covered in shadows. "Tieria and I are orphans, and Celestial Being raised us. One of our guardians was a friend of your Grandfather and over the years we visited him. When he died we went to visit your Grandpa and tell him the news. It was then that we found out you were in the city."
"But how did you know I was on the ship?"
"I didn't until I saw you at the opening ceremony."
Hibiki's face grew bright red with embarrassment. "Oh, about that…"
"You have a good kick," Setsuna stated, a small smile appearing on his blank face.
Laughing, Hibiki asked, "You think? Thanks. I really wanted to kick Bart that time. That guy just makes me so mad."
"Hmmm," Setsuna hummed quietly. Though the young man seemed antisocial, Hibiki gained a strange sense of comfort from his presence. He was like a cat that watched over your home when you slept, occasionally purring to show its love.
Strangely, at this thought Setsuna began to take off his deep blue jacket and white jerkin. Underneath he wore a blue tank top over his thin but muscular chest.
"Its hot," he moaned, throwing back his hand and splashing sweat everywhere.
"Wonder if they'll ever turn on the air conditioning."
Down in the engineering bay the situation wasn't much different. The temperature had broken the eighties, leading to a bunch of sexually deprived, glasses wearing, spanking hot engineers stripping off their work jackets for tight, black sport's bras. Oh, and they were frustrated.
One of Parfet's underlings glared at her computer console. It was flashing an image of the pirate ship, Ikazuchi and Paeksis crystal, all which seemed quite unstable.
"The crystalline response is down 45%!"
"Temperatures up six degrees!" A fellow sexually deprived engineer stated.
"What's going on her, girls?" Parfet asked as she entered the room, stripping off her sweat covered jacket down to her tight, black sport's bra.
"I have no idea where to start." The first engineer moaned.
"Just do what you can," Parfet assured her assistant and turned to another one. "What about you? Any luck?"
The woman she was referring too was leaning over Pyoro. He was lying on his side with a fatigued look on his face, cables connected into his head and stomach.
"I don't know," The girl muttered.
Pyoro moaned loudly as he rolled from side to side, crying, "Sick…"
"Sick?" Parfet questioned. What the hell is going on?
The doors to the medical bay hissed open as BC led Duello, Tieria and two guards in. At the very end of the room (why they carried her all the way to the end, I do not know) was a young brown haired girl sitting at the side of Ezra, who lay sleeping on a bed.
"She's running a fever and it won't go down. Will you take a look at her?" BC asked, her voice serious with a hint of concern.
"That's curious," Duello stated, staring at the young girl. "I thought women's technology was quite advanced."
"Hmm," BC hummed at the young man's inquiry. "You really are one of the elite. Always probing for answers, the exact opposite of some other boys I know."
If Tieria cared about the response than he didn't show it.
"Very well. Approximately 90% of our ships systems are offline right now. That includes the medical ones. Is that enough for you, Doctor?"
He stared down at her, he expression unchanged. "I'll examine the patient."
As he and one of the guards went over to Ezra, Tieria stared at BC.
"Why did you bring me here?"
"Aren't you just happy to be out of your cell?" She asked, her seductive eyes delving into his.
"Actually, no. I was just about to get some sleep when you showed up."
"I see. Well, then I won't waste your precious nap time." She headed over to one of the computer terminals, waving her hand to tell him to follow. "I was hoping you could take a look at the computers. You seem to have an understanding of this system."
Tieria nodded and let his fingers dance across the computer screen. Symbols and colors flashed that BC didn't recognize.
"Interesting," He muttered.
"What?"
"Your ship and the Ikazuchi operate on completely different systems. When the Paeksis fused them the systems began to compete for control. That's why so many different areas of the ship are offline."
"What can we do?"
"Recalibrate the entire ship so that the two systems are one. However, to do that we'd have to shut down everything. Weapons, navigation, life support."
"For how long?" BC sure as hell didn't want to turn off life support, but if it got the ship working normally again it might be worth it.
"On a ship this big? An hour probably."
"Great. We all will be dead in half that time," BC slapped her hands on her hips to show her annoyance. "Any other ideas?"
"Let me see."
At that very moment the lights flickered off along with the computer terminals.
"What the hell just happened?" BC shouted, glancing around the room at other shocked expressions.
As soon as the lights went out Duello had snatched a com-device from the brunette at Ezra's side, much to her objection.
"Engineering, I'm working on a patient. Please make power to the sick bay a priority."
"We've got enough trouble on our end," Parfet snarled back. "I wish I could help you but I can't read men's language."
"I could read it if I was there," Duello said as he looked at BC.
She tilted her head at this and said, "Go ahead."
"There's nothing I can do from here," Tieria said, waving his hands in disgust at the computer terminal, "I'm better off down with him."
"Alright," Then to the guards, "You two. Go with them. I have other business to attend to."
Back at the wreckage Dita scanned the empty space before her via a metal ball with a scope on it. It beeped as it picked up the signals to multiple red markers.
"Any luck?" Gascogne asked from deeper within the ship.
"Just markers."
"Alright. Lets pack up and get going. Nothing else we can do from here."
But just as they began to float out to the Dread, three prongs shot from the heart of the ship towards the two of them.
Matters were not much better at the pirate ship. The bridge crew had just realized they were headed straight into a nebula.
"Its just one problem after another," was all the Captain could say. Sweat dripped off her forehead, which was already wet from an ice pack. Much use it did, with a fan already run not a foot away and a paper one in her limp hand.
"This is Meia!" And she appeared on the viewing screen in all her Amazonian-ness. "The Dread platform is down. I won't be able to retrieve Dita and Gascogne."
"We're going into that!" Bart shouted as he finally realized that the Nebula was full of giant chucks of ice. And the shields were down. "Dammit! Can someone please raise the shields?"
Duello and Tieria stepped off the elevator quietly, slipping into the room with silent grace and beauty. For a moment the engineers were so distracted by their work that they hardly noticed. Kind of insulting if you think about it.
They were finally noticed when they walked straight towards Parfet, much to the shock of multiple other woman who wailed "MEN!"
Buy the head engineer was all business as she ushered the men forward to where she was working on Pyoro, who was shaking like a bobble head.
"I'm trying to check the status of the Paeksis but I can't read the data."
"It's a hi-type number six," Duello explained. "What exactly are you trying to do?"
"I don't really understand it, but this guy's and the Paeksis's wavelengths are linked. I though he'd make a good sensor but I can't read the display."
"They were probably linked like the ships were when the Paeksis opened that wormhole. Looks like the Paeksis must have also adopted the Ikazuchi's language filters." Tieria said as he went over to one of the computer screens. "Do you mind if I use this?"
"If you think you can get anything done with it, sure. What exactly are you thinking?"
Tieria immediately pulled up a schematic of the ship and distinguishing which sections were governed by the men's system or the women's. All in all, they were even. Like he had mentioned before, recalibration was suicidal.
"Plan B?" he asked himself in a voice so low only he heard it. "Plan B."
With that he fingers began to dance across the screen. Numbers, images, graphs flashed for mere moments as he scanned through them at a blinding speed. His fingers never stopped as he glanced at Duello.
"Can you read off the data on Pyoro, please?"
Duello stared dumbfounded at his fellow man for a moment, then turned to the little machine.
"It says that impurities are spreading throughout the main engine room. It appears to be a reaction to all the sudden changes."
"Originally this system was used to collect and tap into the energy from the crystals' growth, but I've never seen a reaction like this." She said with a downtrodden expression.
"Perhaps its due to the fusion of the two ship," Duello suggested.
"That seems like the most likely cause." Tieria said over his shoulder.
"Any ideas?" Parfet asked, a spark of hope in her eyes.
"I'm a doctor, not an engineer," Duello stated with a hint of anger in his voice.
"And my specialty is with computers and programming. This is new territory for me." Tieria explained.
"That's no excuse!" Parfet barked at the two of them. To Duello she said, "Everything that moves is alive, least that is what I believe anyways. And isn't it a doctor's job to treat anything that's alive."
Then to Tieria, "And you! You obviously understand how this system works. Didn't you say you worked on those mobile suits of yours? I don't want to here anything about it not being in your job descriptions!"
Both the men nodded in unison and dropped their jackets to the floor. Time to get to work.
Bart growled at the snow that pelted him. Apparently eve to an astral projection frozen chunks of water hurt. With a tap of his finger he opened a video link with the engineering bay.
"Will someone please turn back on the shields?"
Much to his surprise Tieria was the one who appeared in the tiny video box.
"Tieria? What are you doing down there?"
"Trying to fix this damn ship. Would you mind dropping the ship a few hundred meters?"
"Um…sure." And with that thought the ship began to drop. Right into a storm of ice. The entire ship shook as the engines jerked and failed.
"All the activity in the engines have ceased," Amarone announce to the bridge crew.
"Just when I get good news I find out we're stuck in an nebula," the Captain moaned just before her fan turned off.
"Did you know this would happen?" Bart yelled to Tieria.
The purple-haired young main blinked, than said, "I just had a theory."
With a tap of his finger he cut the link to the navigation chamber, leaving Bart to be pelted by snow.
"That should give us more time and power to work with," Tieria said to Duello and Parfet. The doctor was busying himself monitoring the state of the ship. He was staring intensely at a countdown screen, which was stuck bouncing between 44 and 43.
"The parameters of the ship are fluctuating erratically."
"I see," Parfet said, jotting data down on her clipboard as she studied Pyoro's progress. "Why is this happening?"
At that the small machine muttered its name before shaking loose of the cords attached to it and releasing steam in their wake.
"I'm fine, thank you…" Pyoro muttered as he began to "blush."
"What's with this thing?" Parfet asked.
"Perhaps it has something to do with the composition of the nebula," Duello stated as he leaned over Pyoro.
"That's it!" Parfet exclaimed as she slammed a fist to her palm. "The ship must be getting rid of the built up impurities and neutralizing them all."
"Like a living organism," Duello muttered, then to Tieria he asked, "That was your theory wasn't it? If you drove the ship into the ice storm it would remove the crystals along the hull."
Tieria nodded and stepped forward. "Parfet gave me the idea." He glanced at her. "'Everything that moves is alive.' I thought that the crystals were like boils that sprout up along someone's skin and that if we remove them we could weaken the 'disease' running through the ship, or at least prove it is a 'disease.'"
"That's genius!" Parfet shouted as she slapped Tieria on the back. "Now all we have to do is find a way to administer an—"
"—antibiotic into the ship's system," Duello finished for her.
"Exactly. And I already have an idea for that," Tieria waved his hand at the computer screen he was working at. "I've developed a program that will merge the male and female systems of the ship. It's like an autoimmune disease; when the body attacks itself instead of the invaders. If we get the two halves to work together then it should give us back full control of the ship."
"Why haven't you administered this program into the ship?" Parfet asked, a look of annoyance in her eyes.
"There's a dead end I've hit. It looks like the program will have to move through the same system that is gathering the impurities and expelling them. However, until it's stabilized nothing can be done," he dropped his hands to his sides, apparently defeated.
Parfet, on the other hand, wasn't willing to give up. She bolted to the computer screen, waving her hand for the two of them to follow her.
"Lets take one more look at the system. There might be something we missed."
The laser drill in Dita's hand hummed as it fired a beam into one of the numerous metal prongs that entrapped Gascogne. Must to their disappointment, the metal remained as cool as ice.
"No luck at all," Dita cried.
"Well this is wonderful," Gascogne cursed herself, "I can't believe I screwed things up this bad."
Dita stared at her superiors with tearful eyes. "I'll go get the tools from the Dread."
"Don't bother."
"What?"
"Did you forget our mission?" Barked the older women. "We came here with a job to do and someone has to return with the data."
"But I can't just leave you here Ms. Gasco!" The girl was just about to burst into sobs.
"Who said you were leaving me here to rot?" Gascogne asked, giving Dita an assuring smile. "Just go back to the ship and get some help. I'll be just fine right here."
"Okay," Dita muttered reluctantly. "I'll be back soon. Don't go anywhere."
With a puff of smoke from her jetpack she launched herself out of the wreckage and towards the Dread. Just as she slipped inside and jettisoned herself into the swirling void, the ship began to hum with activity.
"Huh?" Gascogne craned her head to see a squad of cube-types slip silently towards her. "Looks like I've go company."
Magno rolled her head around to unkink the not in her neck. Old age seemed to be finally catching up with the Pirate Queen.
"Captain."
Through tightly closed eyes she saw BC appear on the viewing screen, apparently in the men's section of the ship.
"Yes?"
"I have an idea about how to retrieve Gasco and Dita."
"I'm listening," the Captain said, fatigue reaching down into her bones.
"After looking it over I found that the male Vanguard can launch. We could have the boy to look for them."
"That's not a bad idea, but why not send the other one? The terrorist."
"I figure that the Vanguard pilot will be more cooperative."
"You're probably right. I'll allow it." Straightening up, she asked, "By the way, why are you in the men's section of the ship?"
For a few moments the vice-captain just stared at her superior. After blinking a few times she said, "I'm just fulfilling my role as your first mate."
And with that she was gone, probably to do just that.
"It's hot!" Hibiki yelled, his voice echoing down the hall.
"Guess they didn't turn on the air conditioning," Setsuna muttered hoarsely from beside the Taraak youth.
They were both sprawled out on the floor. Without shirts. Or undershirts. Or pants. Hibiki wore a red loincloth over his manhood and Setsuna a pair of black boxers. Still, this did little to reduce the amount of sweat that coated their half-naked bodies. It almost seemed as if they'd just finish a yaoi seen.
Rolling onto his side Hibiki corrected his loincloth so it didn't fall off and asked, "What do you think the others are up to?"
"Bart probably crashed the ship, Duello and Tieria are in the engine room fixing the ship, that red-haired girl – Dita, I think she's called – is lost in space, and the rest of the ship is in chaos." Setsuna declared as he took a deep, warm breath.
"Heh. You're probably right."
They both perked up as a shadow descended upon them. Both squinted at the light enshrouded woman in front of them.
"Interesting outfits," BC said with a grin.
"Is it our turns to come with you now?" Hibiki asked.
"On the contrary. I only came for you."
"Me?"
"I'm going to be honest with you. We left two crewmates behind. I'd like you to get them back."
Hibiki laughed. "What makes you think I'll help you?"
Setsuna stared at his friend, but said nothing. It was too hot for him to chastise anyone; let the woman take care of it
"This is no time for men and women to be fighting each other," She snarled, "You saw it, didn't you? That unidentified enemy? I thought you'd be willing able to help us since you defeated them before."
Hibiki glared at her and scoffed.
"The strong are supposed to help the weak, at least that is what I've heard is common sense in a man's world. But I guess not."
She turned to leave, but Hibiki called after her.
"Fine!" He spat. "I'll help you out. But this is the last time I let you manipulate me. I've already shown a side of myself to you I shouldn't have. I'm not gonna do this again!"
"I never thought I was manipulating you," she whispered just loud enough for them to hear. "It wasn't intended that way."
"Oh and one other thing," Hibiki stated as he slipped on his clothes. "Setsuna comes with me."
Setsuna stared at him, his expression in what he though was confusion but to others it was just the same empty expression. Hibiki met his eyes and said, "I'm a better pilot when you're around. And besides, it's hot in here."
Setsuna didn't know how to feel. He'd known this boy for maybe two days, saved him, nearly blew him up, and shared a storage room with him. And now his friend wanted to take him women hunting. This was a new day for him. A day when he could share a calm moment with another human being, when he could share love with another human being, when he could —
Ahhh screw it! He just felt a little happy to be out of the heat.
"Look at this," Duello said as he pointed at a schematic of the ship, some parts flashing red. "The input output ratio is off."
"That's because there are not enough routes!" Parfet shouted back.
"And the current ones can't handle the pressure," Tieria stated.
"Don't give up like that!"
Duello and Tieria glanced at each other.
"Bi-pass?" They asked together.
"A bi-pass?" Parfet stared at the two of them, confused.
Duello explained it. "When there's a blocked artery you simply create a different route for the blood to flow through."
"That's genius!" Parfet exclaimed as she jumped with joy, causing her assets to "giggle." She gave the two of them a thumbs up and patted Duello on his shoulder. "You'd make a good engineer," and to the rest of the room, "Alright everybody! Its time to get working!"
Duello and Tieria just stood their, the former because he was touched by the woman and the latter because of the "giggling." Tieria took note to his fellow male's discomfort and asked him, "Want some disinfectant?"
Back in the Bridge trouble was brewing.
Amarone tapped her screen three times and then announced "Something's on an intercept course!"
"What now?" The Captain growled.
"An asteroid sized ice massed is approaching."
"You hear that?" The Captain shouted at the green Paeksis pool. "Do something!"
"AHHHHHH!!!!" Bart screamed into the blackness of space. "Help me! Get me out of here!"
Dita spun her Dread to the side, avoiding a barrage of laser fire. Three cube-types were hot on her tail, their weapons glowing bright red.
"Noooo!" She screamed as energy beams discharged across the bow of her ship. Tightening her grip on the controls pushed deeper into the darkness, but they were unrelenting.
"I really hate aliens who don't know when to quit!" She cried just as her radar picked up an approaching vessel. "From the front too?"
Just as another barrage of lasers hit her she accidently fired a bolt of plasma at the foe in front of her. They discharged with a flash of light and she prayed they were gone. But, out of the darkness a red giant machine appeared.
"Hey! Is that how you treat someone who came to save you?" Hibiki snarled as his image flashed on her computer.
Behind him, Gundam 00 cut through the darkness, flying right past Dita towards the cube-types. In two strikes of his GN Swords they were turned into cheap metal.
"Mr. Aliens!" Dita squealed, flying straight towards the Vanguard. "You two actually came to save me!"
"Hey! Wait! Get away from me!" But his cries fell on deaf ears. With a flash of light the Vanguard and Dread fused to create the blue giant from the night before.
"Oh wow!" Dita exclaimed as she moved around in her seat, crushing Hibiki underneath her. "What is all this?"
"Hey! Would you cut that out?"
She ignored his squeals of terror. With a grin she turned to look him right in the eyes. "I want you to know I believed in you. I knew you would come to save me."
"Hmm!" He grunted. "I didn't come here to rescue you. I just came here to, uh, find you." He blushed and looked away.
"Well, thank you." Dita whispered to him.
"Hey, are you two done in there?" Setsuna asked. "Where's the other member of your team?"
A massive cube-type three times the normal size cut through Gascogne's cage with a small blowtorch. Steadily, it began to free the woman. Though, under the circumstances, she wasn't sure that was a good thing.
"You know," She began, trying to smile in this time of crisis, "you guys are quite sufficient. We could use some workers like you."
The machine ignored her as it cast another prong aside and stretched its massive claw towards her.
"Well, I guess I know what you want for dinner. So its finally my turn, huh?"
Her answer came in the form of a blast of the pink light that pierced the cube-type clean through its head. Two more bolts of light hit in the chest. Electricity sparked out of its wounds, followed by a roaring inferno. The woman covered her head with her arms; though she had little faith an inch of space suit would protect her. But nothing happened.
Opening her eyes she found a massive robotic hand wrapped around her, blocking the flames. When they died down it released her. She followed it to its head and smiled at what she saw. The blue giant she recognized from the previous battle had wrenched itself into the small opening in the ship.
"Well, looks like you waited till the last minute to rescue me. Not that I'm complaining."
Free of her bonds she floated towards the cockpit of the machine. The door hissed open, revealing a large cockpit with one seat, filled by both Dita and Hibiki.
"Not to comfy, I guess." She slipped inside and pealed off her space suit. "You wouldn't happen to have a spare shirt?"
Hibiki glared at her and looked away.
"You guys finished?" Setsuna said over the com system. "We better get back to the ship."
He sighed as the two giants floated away from the wrecked ship. Turning back to face it all the while charging the Vulcan Cannons, he unleashed two massive particle beams into the center of it. The explosion rippled through space, white-hot flames washing over 00.
"Damn! I thought we'd actually get a chance to cool off!"
Setsuna could only smile at his friend, but it didn't last. Energy coursed through his nerves with the intensity of a wild fire. He fell against his computer screen, twitching violently.
"Hey! What's wrong? Setsuna?"
"Mr. Alien? What's the matter?"
Their voices were far away, just like he was. He was standing of the hull of the ship, ice and space dust roaring around him. But that's not what worried him. A sphere of ice and rock was rolling down on them. It wouldn't miss and they couldn't avoid it. He could feel the crunch of metal, hear the screams of terror, and see the explosion that would engulf them. They were all going to die.
He was back in his body, panting and eyes glowing bright gold. His entire body was shivering and his head ache with a dull pain. He forced himself to breath, taking sever deep breaths before sitting up.
"Setsuna? Oh thank God you're alright! I was getting worried," Hibiki said, worry clearly the dominant emotion in his voice. "What happened?"
"Mr. Alien! Are you ookaayyy?" Dita stretched out the last word. Or that was the blood in his ears.
He didn't bother to respond. He spun the Gundam around and jettisoned himself on a course back to the ship. Hibiki and the others were right behind him, but they weren't fast enough to catch up.
Setsuna's golden eyes pierced the void. He could still see it happening. But he still had time.
He opened a small panel behind his control sticks, revealing a small number pad. Inputting his access code, his screen turned bright red.
He let the word fall from his lips.
"Trans-Am."
The words flashed on the screen as outside the Gundam's GN Drives tripled their output, the emerald particles now crimson red. And with a flash, he was gone.
"We've managed to secure up to thirty-six bypasses over here," Parfet announced as she typed on her computer. "How bout you two?"
Tieria was distracted with his own work, modifying and preparing his program for its activation. "Almost done."
Duello on the other hand was working on Pyoro, leaning over its opened stomach with a power tool in hand.
"Not much else I can do here. We'll have to make do with what we have."
"That won't do! If we don't have enough bypasses the system might overload!"
"Do you know what doctors do in times like this?" Duello asked.
"Huh?" Again, Parfet was confused.
"We trust in the patient's will to live."
"That may be all we'll need," Tieria muttered as he put the finishing touches on his project. Then he felt it. Like the plucking of a guitar string the feeling echoed through the air towards him.
'Setsuna?'
'Tieria! Thank whoever's out there you're still alive. How's the ship?'
'As chaotic as ever. Why? Should I be worried?'
'Hopefully not. Look, hang tight. I'm gonna try something.'
'Okay,' Tieria turned back to his program, but didn't input another line of code before he reached out to Setsuna. 'You're not in 00 are you?'
'Yah. Why?'
'Look. Whatever you're thinking you stop it now! We have no idea what'll happen when you activate Trans-Am!'
'We'll see.'
"The ice mass is getting closer!"
"No response from the Paeksis! We have no control!"
"Grr…" The Captain growled, but she stopped when she realized her fan had turned back on. The ship shook slightly as power filtered back into it.
Belvedere gasped as her computer screen lit up. "The system just booted up!"
Down below Tieria's program did its magic. Across multiple computer screens numerous systems beeped to life. Even Pyoro was feeling better. The tiny metal man jumped up from the operating table, squealing with joy.
"I'm ready for work!" He exclaimed as he saluted the engineering room.
"Alright! The system is back to normal! Our plan worked!" She gave Duello a high five, clutching his hand tightly. "Are we good or what?"
They both stared into each other's eyes, red slowly covering their faces. Not far away Tieria smiled at the couple.
"Young love…"
In the navigation room Bart continued to scream as the Captain shouted, "Hard to starboard 30 degrees!"
"I hope is not too late!" He squealed as he pulled the ship to the right. But he was right. The asteroid was only a few seconds away, and there was no room to dodge it.
"This is it!" Bart threw is arms up to protect himself, but not before noticing the red light that burned through the storm. "That can't be…"
Setsuna smiled as the Raister System hummed to life.
"70% charged!" Haro beeped.
"Perfect. Maintain speed."
"Roger! Roger!"
Drawing the GN Swords, Setsuna cut through the storm, aiming straight ahead. In the distance his golden eyes could seen the lights shining from the Nirvana and even hear Bart's cries for help. Why should Setsuna disappoint him?
"85% charged!"
Setsuna aimed the Vulcan Cannons forward and switched the GN Swords to rifle mode as he passed the ship. Glowing with a crimson light, 00 stopped right between the ship and asteroid.
"95% charged! 96%! 97%! 98%! 99%!"
"Firing GN Beam Saber!"
The shining red beam exploded from 00's weapons and cleaved clean through the asteroid, melting ice and stone alike. With a whip of its wrists, 00 cut through the asteroid twice more, severing it into four parts. But it did not stop there. Swiftly, he maneuvered the Gundam around the remaining chucks and shattered them into tiny specks of snow. Soon only space dust remained.
Setsuna sighed deeply as the beam saber flickered off and Haro announced that the GN Drives were completely empty. 'Too close,' he thought, 'far too close.'
"Incoming call! Incoming call!"
"Setsuna!" Far away someone called his name, sounding desperate and worried. "Are you okay?"
Setsuna lifted his head at the sound of Hibiki's voice. The Vandread was speeding right towards him, it's crystal wings releasing small pulses of light that jettisoned it forward. 'Vandread,' Setsuna thought to himself. 'That seems like a fitting name.'
"Mr. Alien!" Dita squealed as her face filled his screen. "That was so amazing! Alien power is just so amazing! Oh, are you okay? You look a little sick."
He smiled at the young girl's sense of wonder and concern. "Just tired. Very, very tired."
"Lets head back inside. Tieria says they fixed the air conditioning," Hibiki announced. He stretched out one of the Vandread's hands towards 00. With a small laugh that only he heard, Setsuna clutched the Vandread's hand and went home.
"Hmm, well this is an improvement," Tieria said as he stretched out on his bed. Across from him Setsuna and Hibiki sat, both drained from piloting their machines. Bart was in a corner filling each of them a bowl of pills, their dinner for the night. The doctor/engineer sat on the floor cross-legged, scanning through a data pad Tieria gave him on women. He seemed quite intrigued by it.
Just a couple hours after the men had narrowly fixed the ship, saved the rescue team, and then saved the entire ship all of them (save Duello, who still had a patient to take care of) were called to the bridge just as BC made a startling announcement.
"The Captain and I have just finished our meeting and have decided to inform the entire crew of our situation. Upon analyzing the data we retrieved from the enemy debris we have gather some intelligence on them. I'd like you all to take a look at this image."
The image of a large black and yellow sphere appeared on every viewing screen so that everyone could see the face of their enemy. The entire sphere seemed to be covered in metal, mostly from sinister looking pieces of weaponry and the massive towers sprouting from the surface. Along each tower, giant gears turned. Tor what purpose, no one knew.
"This is our enemies home planet. We do not know their location, but they seem to have quite a lot of firepower. We are currently in this enemy's territory and they are attacking us because they perceive our presence to be hostile. For this reason we expect more battles to occur along our return course to Mejarion space.
"We learned something else from the data. Our enemy is calling for the total annihilation of our home world Mejare as well as the male planet Taraak."
The Captain took over from there. "We are pirates and as such our loyalties are not bound to either Mejare or Taraak. However, it's certainly not in our benefit to watch our potential customers wiped from the face of the universe. Because of that I plan on us reaching our home system before our enemy does and inform either world of this coming crisis. In order to be successful we must incorporate the men into our crew."
The ship exploded in shock at this revelation. Not in the past century of their existence had either sex worked together, not even in times of crisis. For all of them (save two special individual) this was unprecedented. Bart on the other hand found this delightful, even going so far as to say, "Well, you've finally taken my advice."
"It has finally begun." Tieria muttered to Setsuna, who nodded in agreement.
"There is much we do not know, such as the ship and that large machine. But I'm sure we'll learn more about these things one piece at the time as we continue on our journey. I expect the full cooperation of the entire crew. That is all."
The Captain gave a sigh of a relief just as Ezra and Duello walked into the room.
"I'm sorry I was down before," Ezra gave a quick bow to the older woman. "I'll be returning to my station now."
"Have you determined the cause of the fever?" BC asked.
"Well, about that," Ezra began but Duello cut her off.
"There appears to be some type of parasitic organism feeding on my patient's body." He said, ignorant of the shock this would give the bridge crew.
"No! Your wrong!" Ezra exclaimed, blushing bright red with embarrassment. "Well, you see, it looks like I'll be having a baby."
This came as a warm relief to the women. Belvedere leapt with joy and shouted "Mazel Tov!" for all to hear. Even Tieria and Setsuna smiled to each other with delight, ignoring their fellow men's confusion.
"Ezra, when in the world did you become a Fama?" Amarone asked, eyes aglow with joy.
"So whose the Oma?" Belvedere also asked.
Bart, the ignorant yet lovable lad he was, said, "I thought babies were supposed to be made in a factory."
"Huh?" All the ladies in the room said as one.
"Come to think of it I have heard that women reproduce internally," Duello stated as he rubbed his chin.
"Captain, please forgive me," Ezra said, "I was hoping to tell you once we'd finished the raid on the men before."
The Captain gave her an assuring smile and nod. "There's nothing to apologize for, Ezra. I hope you have a healthy baby."
Just before Belvedere and Amarone bothered Ezra with any more questions, the Gundam Meisters stepped forward. Tieria kept his eyes on the ground, mildly blushing. He knew exactly what went into making a baby for women and, well, it scared him.
"Mazel tov," He muttered, quickly running past her and out of the room.
"Um…" Ezra was at a loss for words as she watched him walk away. "Is he alright?"
"He'll be fine," Setsuna declared, suddenly at the future mother's side. Looking her directly in the eyes he gave her a rare smile and said, "Congratulations."
And that's how the men ended up getting their own dorm rooms in the male half of the ship. Bart passed around the food, still a little confused about how women had children. Some of the women had tried to explain it to him, but he found it all hard to believe.
"Hey, Tieria?" He asked as he handed him some food.
"Yes Bart?" The purple-haired beauty began to scarf down his food, ravished after all the work in the engineering bay.
"What did you mean earlier?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know. When you said 'It's finally begun.' What did you mean by that?"
Duello looked up from his book and even Hibiki showed a mild sense of interest. Tieria stared at his new friends. What could he say at a time like this? Truth or lies? Deal or no deal? Grilled cheese sandwich or taco?
"I was just thinking that this was something members of Celestial Being have been waiting for. A time when men and women were forced to work together."
That seemed to satisfy Bart and Duello, but Hibiki was clearly unhappy. Tieria watched anger and fear mix across the young lad's face. Oddly enough, Setsuna was the one to comfort him, "Don't worry. We won't let them eat you."
Back at the elevator, Jura and Barnette were STILL stuck between a hard place and fifty pounds of loaded weaponry.
"Jura, do you think they'll ever let us out of here?" Barnette cried. No, literally, she cried. Tears and all that crap.
"Someone let us out of her!" Jura moaned.
Then, an invisible boy with dark skin and black hair appeared next to them. He gave them a rare smile and, with a wave of his hand, the elevator started up again.
And thats a wrap folks! Hope you all enjoyed the new chapter. I can't promise that the next one will come any faster (what with AX being this week and Comic-con just around the corner) but I'll definitely try to be more organized with my work. On that note I would like to address the issue of pairings.
I plan on keeping almost all of the original pairings intact from Vandread. Since 00 didn't have very many for Tieria and Setsuna I plan on adding one or two that occur pre-Vandread and post-00.
Some people have mentioned a Meia and Setsuna pairing to me. That was my first idea, but that seems way to simple and obvious. I may keep that as my original plan or I'll go a totally different route (can anyone say YAOI? Setsuna/Tieria? Setsuna/Hibiki?). I joke (or do I?)
Anyways, I'm planning on Tieria developing a small friendship with Jura and maybe the same for Setsuna and Barnette (since he's the only one who could truly stand up to her on even ground). But I digress. All that will come later.
For now I hope you enjoyed Vandread 00: Elevator Music. Also, please review.