A/N: As you all may or may not know, it has been an eternity since I have updated. Due to the multiple things going on in my life, as well as writer's block, I haven't been able to work on these fics like I wanted to. But recently, I have been able to find the time to update the Vandread fics that I have. After re-reading a few of the chapters here, I have found that I do not like how the story is going. So, as a result, I am revising chapters ten through twelve, as well as uploading a new chapter. Hope you enjoy reading it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread. But I do own the characters I have created.
Vandread: A Renewed War
Chapter Ten: The Darkest Day
Location: Inner Defense Perimeter, Tarak Space
"It's time," a voice said with chilling certainty. Several black, humanoid shapes seemingly shot out from nowhere. Those that did manage to see them against the darkness thought they were vengeful ghosts sent to torment some poor souls. No one paid them any real mind until one flew by a patrolling Vanguard, slicing it in half at the waist. A few seconds later it exploded into a fireball that quickly disappeared.
A series of alarmed shouts and commands could be heard through the Tarak communications network. Moments later, a pair of rapid response Vanguards approached the last known position of the destroyed patrol, weapons at the ready. It didn't help the first one, who swiftly shared the same fate as the first one. The second was a little more prepared, parrying the blade strike with it's sword. What it didn't expect was a second blade appearing out of nowhere, slicing the machine from groin to head.
To Becker's surprise, the second Vanguard was still in one piece. No matter, he thought as he kicked the split-open machine away from his. Crystallized flecks of blood were barely visible when the machine's left arm blade retracted back into the forearm. Suddenly, his sensors warned him of multiple enemy contacts. Two frigates and about thirty Vanguards were approaching his position.
Fools, he thought wryly. They march straight towards their deaths. "Thanatos, you are clear to engage," he radioed over a secure channel.
"Aye, Commander," came the reply of the Captain Sternreich. "Disengage active camouflage! Charge forward laser cannons! Load launch tubes one through four with Thunderbolts. Target the starboard frigate, and fire!"
Four ruby-colored beams shot forth from the nose of the black vessel, followed a second later by four anti-ship missiles. Since all the Tarak vessels sans the Ikazuchi II lacked any sort of energy shielding. The red beams cored into the front of the blocky ship, melting the armor, creating holes in the hull in which air vented out of the ship, along with several of its crewmen. The missiles were a split second later, drilling into the weakened armor of the brick shaped vessel. The missiles were designed to punch a hole into the armored hull of enemy warships, and then explode. And they did so, with devastating results. Several explosions tore through the insides of the ship, gutting it. What remained of it exploded a few seconds later, but the Thanatos was already aiming its weapons at the second frigate, which had started to open fire.
Most of the fire went wide, due to the range at which the two ships were. The Thanatos was meant to be a destroyer that can fight at all ranges, while the Tarak frigate was only effective at short to medium range. And with the same brutal efficiency, the second frigate was destroyed just as quickly.
"Commander," he called over the comm. "We are finished here, both targets destroyed."
"About time," Becker replied jokingly, then quickly got serious. "We're ahead of schedule, proceed with primary objective."
Location: Brig, Tarak Imperial Vessel O-Bakemono
To the guards inside the brig, it seemed that Aidan was quiet, his hands bound. He was the kind of prisoner the guards like. Silent, obedient, not at all unruly. In truth, that's probably what they would least want. Meia sat there next to him, glancing sidelong at him. She was also attempting to think of a way to get out, but was coming up blank as well. She was about to whisper something to Aidan, only to be interrupted as door leading to the brig slid open, immediately grabbing the attention of the two guards. A man of somewhat slender build and short black hair entered.
"State your name, rank and business here," one of the guards barked to the man as he approached them.
"Corporal Akira Shindoh," he stated flatly as walked with arms reach of the first guard. "And my business here is the release of the prisoners."
"By who's authori-" the guard's response was cut off suddenly as Akira grabbed the man's rifle, ripped it from his grip, and with an upward strike, slammed the stock of the rifle into the man's jaw. The sound of breaking bone could be heard as the man fell backwards, knocked unconscious by the blow.
"You traitor!" the other guard yelled, raising his rifle. Before he could fire, Akira was already in front of him, the barrel right underneath the man's jaw, bayonet extended, less than an inch from the man's throat. With the threat of imminent death over him, the second guard dropped his weapon, only to be swiftly struck by the rifle butt to the stomach, doubling him over. Before he could recover from the blow, Akira struck him in the head with the stock with enough force to knock him out.
After glancing at the two unconscious guards, Akira sat the rifle down on the table nearby and locked the door to brig, making sure no one could get in without overriding it. He then walked over to Aidan and herself were being held and typed in the code to drop the laser grid, as well as unlocking their restraints. Aidan was already on his feet, taking an instinctive defensive posture, not sure what to expect from him. The man named Akira noticed that, and shrugged it off.
"There's no need for that," he said. "I present no threat to you."
"How do I know that for sure?" Aidan asked, motioning to the two unconscious soldiers.
"Yeah, how do we know that this isn't a trap?" she asked, rubbing her wrists after taking the restraints off.
"It isn't," he replied. "But I guess there is no way of proving that to you, is there, Meia Gisborn?"
"I believe you have us at a disadvantage, Corporal," Aidan interjected. "What exactly is your reason for releasing us? What's in it for you?"
"Nothing," he replied flatly, handing Aidan back his gun and it's holster. "It's my orders."
"Orders?" Meia asked incredulously as he handed her back her laser ring., which she promptly placed back on her right index finger.
"Orders that came directly from Lord Grand Pa," Akira replied, openly telling them, when she thought he wouldn't. "This ship and its captain are in violation of its original orders."
"You're from Tarak Intelligence, then?" Aidan stated, making eye contact him.
"You are as sharp as the report I received indicates, Mercer," Akira replied, then answered Aidan's question. "Yes, I am."
From where she was standing, she noticed Aidan flinch ever so slightly. I guess he didn't like the fact that Tarak had any information on him. She broke the uneasy silence. "So, if you're on our side, how do you suppose we get out of here?"
Location: Gymnasium, Men's Section, Nirvana
Mercilessly assaulting the punching bag with his fists didn't help get the Nirvana any closer to their home system, but it did help relieve a little bit Hibiki's stress regarding the situation. He was both surprised and angered by the fact that Tarak had quickly defaulted on its old, biased hatred, and had declared full on war with Mejale. His fists hurt with the constant pounding he was giving the bag, but he kept going.
"You should take a break," Duero said out of the blue, slightly startling Hibiki.
Hibiki stopped hitting the bag, and turned to face Duero, who was leaning against the wall near the entrance to the gym. "Why do you care?" he retorted.
"You will become exhausted very quickly, which is something that wouldn't benefit the crew if we were to come under attack," Duero stated flatly and to the point.
"Hmph," he replied, accepting defeat. "You have a point, I guess."
"You should go see Dita," Duero said. "She's seems to be worried about you."
"Since when did you become the go-between between me and her?" Hibiki replied as he took a towel off the rack and wiped the sweat off his face.
"Just making an observation," he stated in an objective tone. "The way you're acting is worrying her."
"Did she send you here?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.
"No," Duero replied. "I just needed a few books I forgot, and I noticed you were in here, making quite a lot of noise."
"Now that you know what I was doing, why don't you get what you came for, and leave," Hibiki said, somewhat harshly.
"Okay, fine, I will," Duero replied in a matter-of-fact tone, seemingly unfazed by Hibiki's harsh tone. He walked out of the gym moments later.
Location: Brig, Tarak Imperial Vessel O-Bakemono
I hate spooks.
That was the primary thought of the moment as he was putting on the uniform of one of the two guards that Akira had knocked out. He really disliked spies and intelligence officers, believing them to be constant liars. Although, he had to admit Akira had a decent plan, even if it was half-baked. Both him and the spook would disguise themselves as the two guards, 'escorting' their 'prisoner' Meia to be executed. When in truth it was an attempt to get to the shuttle that they were in when they were captured.
Akira was already in the other uniform, grabbed one of the rifles and handed it to Aidan. Taking it, he quickly looked it over. It was of simple manufacture, with the magazine inserted into the top of the weapon, similar to that of the ancient FN P90 sub-machine gun. The addition of a retractable bayonet completed the weapon. It wasn't a heavy weapon, but it had some weight to it. He hefted up to his shoulder and took aim at the wall. He preferred a weapon of Solaris make, but this would do. He holstered his sidearm into the belt holster of the uniform. He'd be damned if he was going to leave his handgun behind.
"You ready?" he asked Meia, making eye contact with her.
She simply nodded, her hands back in restraints. The restraints were remote activated, meaning either Aidan or Akira could push a button on a small remote to release them in a pinch.
With that, they proceeded out of the brig, intent on making it to the hangar alive.
Location: Bridge, Tarak Imperial Flagship Ikazuchi II
"What do you mean they've both been destroyed?"
The Prime Minister of Tarak could hardly suppress the anger that he felt upon hearing the news of the destruction of the two ships that were supposed to be guarding one of the approach vectors to Tarak. He wanted to physically lash out at the messenger for bringing him such news.
"Like I said, sir," the messenger replied, visibly shaking out of fear, but to his credit, not backing down. "They were destroyed by what appeared to be one ship, and several Vanguard-like units. There were no survivors."
Becker! That traitorous mercenary bastard! He will pay dearly for this! He raged internally, not wanting any of the bridge crew to know about his secret operations, which were being conducted without even Lord Grand Pa's approval.
"Minister! The Mejealean center is folding," an excited crewman shouts. "They seem to be falling back!"
"Excellent," he said, glad to have something positive to focus on. "Have our main force head for that opening. Then we can wipe these vile female vermin from the face of existence!"
"Understood, sir, I'll transmit the order," replied the crewman, who immediately went about the task.
Location: Border Guard Flagship Athena
"Hold the line!" Admiral Alaria Zuka commanded. "We cannot let the line collapse! The citizens of Mejale are counting on us. We cannot let them through!"
"Admiral!" the sensor operator replied, her voice full of shock. "Multiple ships and Vanguards are closing in on our position! They are headed directly towards us!"
Dammit! Alaria cursed inwardly. "Have the Starhawk and the Hera, as well as 35th and 56th Dread Squadrons move to intercept them!"
"Admiral!" the same operator called out. "We have multiple contacts! Multiple contacts appearing out of the magnetic storm at the edge of the system!"
"Bring up a visual of those contacts!" Alaria ordered. Her face went pale when she recognized what those contacts were. They belonged to the Harvesters. Just from the images, she could tell that there were at least five flagships, as well as countless drone ships and fighters that were being deployed from them. To her it seemed there were so many that it seemed like a giant wave of death was approaching them.
"Priority one message to High Command," she ordered the communications officer. "We have a large Harvester fleet appearing in-system and headed directly towards the fleet. Requesting further orders. Send that message as well as the data we have immediately."
"Yes, Admiral," the officer replied quickly.
Alaria was no fool, she knew why they were here. She also knew they would take full advantage of the conflict between her fleet and the Tarak one. They wouldn't discriminate between them, they would destroy both of them.
This is going to be a dark day…
Well, there you have it, a revised chapter ten. Let me know what you think, good or bad. I appreciate constructive criticism.