A/N: This is the rewrite of Chapter Eleven. There are a few changes in this one. The major changes will take place in the revision of Chapter Twelve.
Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread.
Vandread: A Renewed War
Chapter Eleven: Encroaching Darkness
Location: Edge of the Magnetic Storm
We have returned… To take everything your people care for and destroy it completely.
That was the primary thought of the murderous, godlike entity behind the sudden appearance of the Harvester Fleet. The large force moved forward uninhibited, thanks to the lack of any ships or minefields present this time around. They were like a plague, unable to destroy and would most certainly destroy those they came into contact with. Time was running out, and they knew that forces of either planet would not be able to stop them this time. They were too caught up in their own petty war, and they would be slaughtered to the last man, woman, and child for it. They would not be stopped this time…
Location: Corridor, Tarak Imperial Warship O-Bakemono
Aidan walked down the corridor, thinking to himself that this wasn't going to work. Not only did it involve a lot of risk, but the chances of someone noticing something peculiar were way too high in a situation like this. Not that he was afraid for his life, mind you. No, it was more out of a concern for Meia's safety. He was going to make sure she made it out of here alive. He could care less what happened to Akira. After all, Aidan still didn't trust him, but he admitted to himself that his assistance was needed to get off this damned ship.
"Hey, you!" a passing crewman shouted to him. He slowly turned to face him, showing no indication that anything was out of the ordinary. "Where are you taking the prisoner?"
"The prisoners have escaped!" he heard someone yell from down the corridor.
Shit! Aidan reacted quickly, slamming the stock of his rifle into the man's abdomen, then swiftly bringing it up, striking the man's jaw. As the man fell, Aidan took aim and fired down the corridor, silencing the man who shouted the alarm. The sound of gunfire echoed loudly through the corridor, alerting everyone nearby. He quickly thumbed the button on the remote on his belt, releasing Meia's restraints with a click. She quickly brought up her arm and shot her laser ring at an approaching guard, hitting him in the gut and dropping him.
"So much for that plan," Akira said flatly as he took cover.
"Shut the complaints, spook," Aidan said harshly as he fired a few rounds down the corridor. "What's the quickest way to the hangar?"
Without any warning whatsoever, Meia suddenly collapsed to her knees. Aidan instinctively grabbed for her, believing she had been shot. He quickly pulled her into cover. Quickly inspecting her body, he realized she hadn't been shot, but collapsed because of something else.
"What's wrong?" he asked, not hiding the concern in his voice. He noticed that she was in obvious pain by the look on her face.
"The pain… they're-" was all she muttered before her voice was drowned out by gunfire.
Location: Bridge, Tarak Imperial Flagship Ikazuchi II
"Sir, a large Harvester fleet has just appeared at the edge of the system!" an officer reported. They will be within range in about half an hour."
The Prime Minister acknowledged the report with a nod. He was raging inside, the fierce resistance by the women, Becker's betrayal, and now this?
"Sir," the comm tech reported. "We have an incoming transmission. It's from the Mejalean flagship."
"Put it on screen," he ordered. He let his obviously show contempt, for his enemy deserved nothing less. The woman's face appeared on-screen moments later. He put a condescending tone in his voice. "Finally ready to surrender?"
"Hardly," the woman replied flatly. "I am Admiral Alaria Zuka of the Mejalean Border Guard."
"Well, Admiral," he said disdainfully, as he felt she did not deserve such a rank. "What is it you want then?"
He could from her facial expression that she had no love for him either. "I propose a ceasefire so we can deal with the Harvester threat that is approaching us."
"I am afraid we cannot accept such a proposal at this time," he said with sinister joy. "This conversation is over."
She was cut off before she could reply. "How could that witch even propose such a thing?" he said aloud.
"But, sir," his second in command said. "She has a point. We'll need every last unit to fend off the earthlings."
"Don't you see!" he interrupted. "The second we drop our guard, the women will attack us! We don't have that choice! And I'll no further insubordination on your part, or I'll have you shot!"
Location: Bridge, Border Guard Flagship Athena
"What in the hell is wrong with that man!" Alaria barked. "That bastard's blind hatred will condemn all of us to our deaths!"
"I agree," Commander Sophiana Victoria replied, unfazed by her outburst. "He is blinded by his hatred of us to see the bigger picture. He sees us as the primary threat, he completely believes his nation's own propaganda about us."
"Well, there goes our best plan for fending off the Harvesters," Alaria said, calming down quickly. "Now, we can't disengage from battle with the Tarak units, for they will tear into our backsides if we move to defend against the earthlings."
"Perhaps," Sophiana proposed. "We could ask for help from the pirates. They have a solid record against them, and they aren't blinded by petty hatred."
"Looks like we have little choice in the matter," Alaria agreed. Even though intelligence points that their flagship, the Nirvana, is nowhere in the system, they are still our last hope. "Commander, open a channel to the pirates and let them know of our situation."
"Yes, ma'am," Sophiana replied with curt professionalism.
Location: Corridor, Tarak Imperial Vessel O-Bakemono
Wha… what is this pain? Meia thought as an unseen force dropped her to her knees. It was an intense pain that kept her from standing up, despite how hard she tried. She couldn't locate the source of the pain. It felt like her entire body was being forced to the ground, and kept there. She suddenly felt something grab a hold of her and drag her out the corridor.
"What's wrong?" she barely heard Aidan's voice over the gunfire. A red glow suddenly started to enter her vision. She immediately knew what was happening.
"The pain…" she muttered. "They're in trouble." She wasn't sure if Aidan had heard her because of the gunfire.
She suddenly felt Aidan grab her by the arm and lift her to her feet. He put her arm over his shoulder to support her. As much as she hated to admit it, she would need his help to even move, the force of the pain was almost too much for her, almost blacking her out twice on their way to the hangar.
"Something's… happening," she said as they made it closer to the hangar. "We… have to make it… back to the Nirvana…"
"Your shuttle's over here!" Akira had shouted over the gunfire.
"Got it!" Aidan replied just as quickly, discarding his rifle and pulling out his handgun. They started to move towards the shuttlecraft.
"I think I can… move now," she said to him.
"You sure?" he asked as he glanced at her. She nodded, and he released her. She started to move under her own power, but another burst of pain ran through her, dropping her to her knees once again. "Not again…"
She glanced up to notice a Tarak soldier take aim at her with his rifle. She tried to force herself to move, but her body still wouldn't comply. Seconds later, the soldier fired…
Location: Engine Room, Nirvana
It could feel it. It could feel it approaching, ever closer. An ominous, all consuming force. It was coming, and there was no way to stop it. They were connected, forever entwined to share their existence, but still, it wanted to end the other's existence. It viewed it as an abomination, not worthy of ever being merged to with it again as one. It sought only the other's destruction. For the first time since that fateful battle, the Paxsis Pragma was truly afraid…
"What happened?!" Parfet exclaimed, noticing that the Paxsis Pragma had all but shut itself off. "It hasn't behaved like this since…"
"Chief!" one of her assistants shouted. "All systems have shut off, except for life support!"
"What?" she replied, noting in her mind that it never really did that very often, if ever.
"What's going on down there?" BC asked through her comm unit.
"I'm not really sure," she replied, communicator in hand. "But it seems that the Paxsis, is afraid…"
"Afraid?" came back the reply. "That means…"
"Yes, Commander," she said, knowing the answer. "The Harvesters are close."
Location: Bridge, S.D.S Deimos
"Captain!" Ensign Sylvia Ross, the Deimos' sensor operator announced. "The Nirvana has stopped moving."
"Why?" Captain Vincent responded. "Is anything wrong?"
"Not sure, sir," Ensign Ross replied. "From what the scans indicate, it appears all systems except for life support have been shut off."
"Helmsman Nakama, bring us alongside the Nirvana," Vincent ordered. "Petty Officer Wesley, try and open a line to them, I want to know what's going on."
"Aye sir," they replied in unison. The Deimos moved alongside the Nirvana. Several minutes passed before Wesley spoke up.
"Captain," he said. "I am unable to open a channel with them. Whatever happened must've shut off their comms."
"Understood," Vincent replied, not liking, but accepting the report. "Keep trying to establish a comm-link."
"Sir! We have incoming contacts," Ross reported. "Running them through the database, they're from Earth!"
"Earthers? Here?" Vincent said, more of a statement than a question, then pressing a button on his command chair.. "Condition Red! Prepare for battle, lower the bridge. Engage point defense systems. Power up primary weaponry. All pilots to their machines! We have incoming hostiles, repeat, Earth forces are approaching our position. Nakama, I want us between them and the Nirvana. They are after that ship, and we won't let them have it."
Location: Corridor, Nirvana
Her breathing was ragged, her strength was rapidly leaving her, but she still pressed on. She had to find him, she had to make sure he was alright. She struggled, pushed herself beyond her physical limits, all for the sake of him. She continued on, nearly falling over several times, a red glow filling her vision. She forced it from her sight, only for it to come back a few moments later. She used the wall for support, stumbling further down the corridor, before finally collapsing, her body seemingly too heavy for her to move any further.
"Dita!" she barely heard it, but someone was shouting her name. She managed to look up, noticing that Misty was running in her direction. "Dita! Dita! Are you alright!"
Her words slowly faded out as Dita's vision started to go dark, evidence of her starting to black out. Her last thoughts before she passed out were of Hibiki, and how she hoped he was alright…
Location: Hangar, Tarak Imperial Vessel O-Bakemono
It seemed to her in that instant, that time slowed to a crawl. She saw him raise the rifle, and squeeze the trigger sending a burst of fire from the barrel of his weapon. She closed her eyes, knowing what was to happen next. One round struck her in the left shoulder, causing her to jerk backwards. Aidan had moved in front of her, taking the next round the man fired before he emptied the rest of his handgun's clip. She didn't see much else because she was thrown back, nearly knocked unconscious by the force of her body hitting the ground.
She barely felt Aidan place his arms under her, one under her back, the other underneath her legs. He lifted her up off the ground as she felt herself fade in and out of consciousness as he carried her towards the shuttle at a full run. He proceeded up the ramp of the shuttlecraft. Once inside the shuttle he laid her in one of the seats, and moments later she finally lost consciousness.
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"Damn it," he muttered as he noticed that Meia had fallen unconscious.
He quickly hit the switch to raise the ramp and shut the door. He quickly scanned the controls, and activated the shuttle's engines. He knew it would take a little longer to charge the engines from a cold start-up. But he didn't have that kind of time. Suddenly, one of the Vanguards burst from it's docking cradle.
"Oh shit!" he cursed, knowing that an enemy mecha activating was a very bad thing. It turned to face the shuttle, and raised arm to fire some kind of projectile on its arm. And it fired, only to be skewered by a lance from behind, sending the projectile flying into the hangar bay door, creating a hole, from which everything was starting to be pulled out. The shuttlecraft started to skid on its landing struts, being pulled towards the opening.
"I am going to make sure they can't follow you," said a voice over the comm system. Aidan recognized it is as belonging to Akira. The Vanguard pulled its lance out of the other machine, and waved a salute. Aidan realized that Akira was the pilot, and he was probably going to die, sacrificing himself so they could escape.
"Understood," Aidan replied to the Vanguard, as the engines finally powered up. He activated the thrusters, lifting the shuttle off of the hangar floor, then retracted the landing struts. He turned the shuttle to face the opening in the bay door, which was rapidly expanding from damage caused by the depressurization of the bay. He pushed the engines to maximum, and flew out of the hangar moments before an explosion engulfed it., trailing just behind the shuttle.
Location: Bridge, Tarak Imperial Flagship Ikazuchi II
The echo of a gunshot rang out across the bridge, silencing everyone just by sheer surprise.
"You… traitor…" the Prime Minister hissed at the man who'd shot him. He was holding his stomach, blood quickly staining his uniform, and starting to pool onto the deck. He dropped to his knees, rapidly losing consciousness. His vision started to blur, and he started to lose focus, but the shooter's next few words struck harder than any bullet.
"It is you who is the traitor," the Vice-Captain said coldly, gun still in his hand. "By your actions, you have doomed both nations because of a biased, petty, self-serving hatred. May there be no peace for you in the next life."
No! No! No! This cannot be! He thought in his last moments, refusing to realize the truth the man spoke. The women are the true evil, they have corrupted us. They have…
And with no further words, the man formerly known as the Prime Minister of Tarak died unceremoniously, face-first in a pool of his own blood.
Well, there you have it, the revised chapter eleven. One of the big changes you may have noticed was Aidan not piloting a Vanguard. After thinking about it, it seemed kind of out of place for him to do that. That, and he was more concerned for Meia's safety. Constructive criticism is welcome, let me know if I made mistakes or something that I may have missed. Of course, positive reviews are nice, too.