Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread. I did make Kagen and I am ready to cooperate with anyone if they want to put him into another story. Neo Strife is a character that I was asked to put in my story by a fan of my writing.

Author note: A Flash-forward is a vision of something in the future. The one in this chapter came from the second season the 4th episode. It was caused by the Paksis so it was bluish.

BC says, "This is a marine planet with 99 of the surface covered by water. The atmosphere consists of nitrogen and oxygen. The conditions for human life are met here… I see an island. It appears that the inhabitants are humanoid. The remains of a colonization ship are on the ocean floor."

Magno says, "I guess we'll go say hello to our comrades."

Everyone starts to leave the conference room.

Kagen says, "Captain, request permission to investigate the colonization ship on the ocean floor. I believe we might find some more information on our ship from the database onboard."

Parfait says, "That might help us understand the ship better."

Magno says, "Go right ahead."

On the Bridge

Belvedere says, "Such a beautiful planet…"

An indicator goes off.

BC asks, "What is it?"

Ezra says, "Enemy on the planet's other side!"

A comm. screen pops up and Bart says, "L-Let's run for it!"

BC asks, "How many?"

Ezra says, "A dozen or so cube types, uh…And I see some strange contraption."

Kagen says as he disconnects his data pad, "It looks like they are repairing that strange machine."

Magno asks, "What is that?"

Kagen runs to the Hangar.

In the Hangar

Hibiki runs in and suddenly is blinded by a bright light. Someone laughs. Hibiki hears the laugh and thinks, 'Why does this old hag bother me? Doesn't she realize that Kagen's Vanguard can combine too?'

Jura says with Barnette hovering around with a vid-camera, "So it's finally here. Listen. This time, you're finally going to combine with me."

She whispers to Barnette, "Well? Wasn't it great?"

Barnette says, "Perfect!" Kagen steps into the room and is blinded in the same fashion as Hibiki. Kagen draws his pistol, shoots out the lights, and shouts,

"Whose bright idea was it to put those lights there!"

Barnette is furious. She walks up, slaps Kagen, and storms out of the room.

Kagen asks while rubbing his cheek, "What I say?" He shakes his head and starts up his Vanguard after suiting up in his diving gear.

Kagen and Hibiki launch with the others not far behind.

Hibiki rushes at the enemy and slices at one. The enemy dodges and then rams him toward the planet.

Jura shoots the enemy and Hibiki pulls away from the planet.

Jura asks, "Well? Want to combine now?"

Hibiki says, "Damn you!"

Dita says, "Mr. Alien, look out!"

An enemy is about to ram him, but Dita shoots it down before it reaches him.

Dita says, "If you're going to combine do it with me!"

Hibiki says, "Sheesh, each and every one of you! You're all annoying!"

Hibiki boosts away from both of them, slices at two more enemies. The enemies dodge and fire back at him.

Hibiki says, "Damn it, they learned how to dodge…"

Kagen swoops by and destroys the cube that fired at Hibiki.

On the Bridge

BC says, "The enemy's maneuvers are far better than before."

Magno says, "They are reading our cards now. What despicable enemies."

Over the comm. Jura says, "Everyone, listen up!"

BC says, "Jura?"

Jura continues, "Today is the day I finally show off my elegant transformation!"

Amarone sighs and says, "There she goes again."

Hibiki pops up and says, "Don't decide that on your own! Who'd want to combine with you?"

Kagen pops up and says, "Both of you shut up and get back to fighting the enemy!"

Hibiki swings at another enemy and it dodges, Hibiki then draws another sword with his left hand and slices through the enemy.

Dita speeds toward Kagen with some enemies on her tail. Hibiki watches as Kagen slashes the enemies as they fly past him.

Meia says, "Pay attention!"

Hibiki is then tackled by three enemies and forced toward the planet's atmosphere.

Meia and Dita notice and try to come to his aid but are forced to fly away as more enemies begin to fire at them.

Dita says, "Geez, I can't get close to Mr. Alien!"

Meia says, "Dita, eyes front!"

Dita dodges two more enemies causing her to move away from the planet. Jura speeds past her and heads straight toward the planet.

Meia says, "Jura?"

Ezra says, "They're entering the atmosphere!"

Kagen looks toward the planet and sees Hibiki falling. Kagen says, "Hibiki, I'm coming!" Kagen hits his boosters and rockets straight toward the planet. A few enemies try to get in the way but Kagen just slices them in half and moves on through them.

Hibiki is still falling and one of the enemies detaches because of the heat of reentry.

Hibiki screams, "Hot! I don't wanna be roasted!"

Jura is closer and is going in at an angle to reduce the friction. Jura asks, "Barnette, is the camera rolling?"

Barnette says, "Is this really the time?"

Jura says, "Just watch."

Kagen slows down and pulls his shield off his back. He then crouches on top of the shield and goes down feet first.

Jura and Hibiki collide in the atmosphere and there is a flash of light. Meia says, "Jura!" Dita says, "Mr. Alien!"

The flaming mass strikes the water at high speed causing a big splash.

Ezra says, "They've landed on the water near the city! Kagen is still in reentry."

BC says, "Jura! Hibiki! Are you all right? Respond!"

Barnette says, "Jura, it can't be…"

Dita asks, "What? What happened?"

Kagen says, "I'm altering my course so I can go see if they are all right."

Kagen lands on the water about 100 meters away from where they landed.

Kagen opens up his cockpit, gets out, and starts to dive into the water to check if they are alive when water shoots up and something moves inside. Kagen jumps back in his cockpit and says, "You might want to see this." He sends an image to the Nirvana.

Magno says, "Another new one came out."

BC says, "However that's…"

Amarone finishes her sentence saying, "A crab."

Jura looks at the image and says, "N-no! This just can't be mine!"

The enemies start to attack and Kagen starts to sink. Kagen says,

"I'm sinking? I must've damaged my shield too much in reentry." Kagen quickly puts the rest of his diving gear on and warms up the new aquatics gear he installed a few minutes ago. Kagen says,

"I hope this works!" His shield gives way and he starts falling to the bottom of the sea. Kagen says, "Oh shoot! This is way deep! Better deploy the comm. relays." A buoy floats back up to the top with a cable leading back down to an underwater comm. dish.

Hibiki says, "Damn it, how do I move this thing? Shut up! This isn't the time! We have to fight back!"

Jura says, "No!" and slams her hand down on the panel in front of her hitting a button in the process. The Vandread suddenly boosts backwards.

Hibiki says, "Crap, where are the weapons? The weapons?"

BC says, "This doesn't look good. They're headed straight towards the ocean city."

Magno says, "What about Meia and Dita?"

Belvedere says, "They're still engaging the enemy in orbit!"

Kagen says, "I'm on the bottom of the ocean, heading towards the colonization ship."

Hibiki says, "She sure is doing whatever she wants."

Jura says, "I've had enough! Let me off!"

Hibiki says, "Shut up! Help out a bit here!" He then notices the lever on his seat and says, "This one?"

He tries it and the Vandread stops and swings its claws destroying one of the pursuing enemies. Hibiki says, "This is okay, too." He continues swinging the claws but hits nothing this time.

Jura says, "What is this? It looks horrible!"

Hibiki pushes her aside and says, "Shut up! If you have the time to complain, then look for weapons!"

Jura pushes him aside again and says, "No! Let me off this thing!"

Hibiki pushes her away again and says, "Be quiet for a bit! What about this one?" He hits a button and the giant disc flies up above the Vandread. It charges up a bit and then fires a little beam to each of the small discs charging them up until they each blast out a beam in every direction destroying the remaining enemies. Hibiki says, "All right!"

Meia reports in and says, "The cube-type enemies have been destroyed. But our attacks are unable to damage that strange machine."

Magno says, "You can come back for now. Good job."

Meia says, "Roger."

Kagen says, "I have reached the colonization ship and am about to go inside. The ship has retained its air supply so I'll be all right down here. My scans show that the air is breathable if a little stale. From what I see there is no reason to send anyone else down here. Shoot, I'm surprised that I could stand the water pressure down here even with my insulated diving suit. I'll be out of contact until I can get back to my Vanguard." The comm. window closes.

BC asks, "Could that be…a machine for the 'harvest'?"

Magno says, "I don't know. Why don't we ask the people down there?"

Under the sea

Kagen starts the depressurization procedure and thinks, 'Now I just wait. What to do? I could record a message incase I don't come back!' He hits a button and starts recording.

"Uh, well if you are getting this message then I'm either dead or my machine thinks I'm dead. Enclosed are five personal messages. Hibiki, Dita, Meia, Jura, and Barnette are the people these messages are for. Paiway, if you listen to them I will haunt you forever! Don't let my death faze any of you! I was prepared to die for all of you."

Kagen hits another button and continues.

"Hibiki, know this. Dita likes you, and really cares for you. Please don't break her heart."

Kagen hits a button and continues.

"Dita, I know it seems like Hibiki hates you but he really doesn't. He actually acts like that just because he likes you so much that he doesn't know what to do about it. Please don't cry. People count on you to be happy."

Kagen hits another button.

"Meia, I just want you to know that of all the 150 women on the Nirvana you are the one who convinced me to join the pirates. I almost thought I had died and gone to heaven when I woke up and saw you. Then you pointed that ring at me and I remembered where I was. I… I… I… I can't seem to say what I need to say. Forgive me."

Kagen hits another button.

"Jura, I just couldn't like you. You were way too vain, too stuck up and just plain stupid sometimes. I mean you didn't even realize that my Vanguard could combine with yours as easily as Hibiki's could have. Barnette really cares for you. You are very lucky to have her by your side. You really need to treat her better though. If you break her heart I will haunt you along with Paiway you hag! I did like your eyes though. I just have a thing for green I guess."

Kagen hits two more buttons.

"Barnette, I… I… I liked your beatings, they were both informative and… well… interesting. I also liked when you kissed me. I mean it was so spontaneous each and every time. I could feel the feeling in each one. I just wish I could've convinced you that I'd never hurt you, and if I did… I'd… I… just don't know what I would do. I also wish I could've chosen between you and Meia. My love went to both of you. I just wish you could've felt it."

Kagen breaks down into tears, reaches down, and pushes the button to end the message and store it in the Vanguard's storage banks. "Well, at least that's done. If I live I'll just edit them as time goes by."

The computer says, "Depressurization complete. Awaiting instructions."

Kagen grimaces and says,

"Slowly replace the air in the cockpit with water, store the air for later use. When cockpit is full of water open cockpit hatch." He puts on the helmet and attaches the hose to his air tank.

On board Vandread Jura

A comm. window opens and Barnette says, "I saw your elegance! I have it perfectly stored on video. Jura! Jura, can you hear me? Answer me!"

On the Bridge

Ezra says, "We can communicate!"

Magno says, "Put them on the main monitor."

Ezra says, "Sure!"

Fanieta says, "Hello. My name is Fanieta. Welcome to Anpathos, the most beautiful planet in the universe."

Magno says, "Anpathos? Is that your planet's name?"

Fanieta says, "That is correct. This is what we have been calling it. We've been waiting a long time."

BC asks, "Waiting?"

Fanieta says, "You must be the Munya."

Magno says, "Unfortunately, we aren't this so-called Munya. I'm sorry, but can we come down there? I have a lot of things I want to ask you."

Fanieta says, "The time of our ceremony is approaching…so we cannot greet you well, but…"

Magno says, "I don't mind." Magno opens a comm. window to Navigation and says, "Bart, can you hear me? We're going down to the planet now."

Bart says, "Oh, yeah. Sure…"

Magno says, "I'm going to leave things to you. So take care of the ship while we are gone."

Bart says, "Are you serious?"

Magno says, "Oh, and 1 more thing. Running away is prohibited."

The comm. window closes as Bart protestingly says, "P-Please hold on a minute… You can't be serious."

On the planet

Hibiki jumps out of the cockpit after beaching his Vanguard. He looks at the town and the big tower at the center. He sees people carrying food and other things. He says, "I wonder if it's a festival. Hey! Hey, let's go over there! Hey! Come on!" He hears the shuttle as it comes down on the other side of the city.

Under the sea

Kagen accesses an airlock and goes inside the colonization ship. He does another air scan and then removes the hose and his air tank. He then opens his visor. He says,

"Hmm, the air isn't as stale as I thought it would be." He accesses a nearby terminal and uploads a map and sees what systems still work.

"The security system is half operational. Mostly security droids and a few mounted turrets. I might be able to input my id into the security files and then all I have to worry about are the droids. Most of the files are in terminals on the bridge. There seems to be a few cryo-chambers in operation. A few vehicles are in the Hangar. I'll check all that out on the way back."

He walks down the corridor towards the cryo-chamber looking at his map. He hears something. He draws his sword and it starts to glow green. He peeks around the corner and sees two battle droids and a super battle droid approaching his position. He thinks,

'From the data banks I can tell that these aren't just regular security droids, these are battle droids! The big one has a wrist rocket launcher and a rapid fire blaster. The other two had some sort of blaster rifle. Good thing I brought a watertight backpack. Ok, I'll kill the big one and a small one. The last one I'll hack so I can get some info on the blasters.'

Kagen dashes around the corner and the three droids fire at him with their blasters. Kagen reflects the first shots at the super droid and then rushes at a small droid to cut it in half. The big droid shoots a rocket at the small droid in an effort to kill Kagen. Kagen sees the rocket coming and kicks off a wall to get away from the explosion. Kagen rolls to the big droid's feet and cuts him in half. The second small droid sees this and starts to run to get help. Kagen catches him and plugs a cord into his brain. Kagen says,

"Let's see what this guy knows." A minute passes and then he says, "Ok, that is all the info I need about the weapons. Let's see if I can reprogram this guy." A minute passes. "Done."

The droid picks his rifle up and starts walking to where Kagen told him to. He shoots down about 5 more droids and 1 more super battle droid. The droid is then shot down by another super battle droid. Kagen then steps around the corner and blasts the last droid with his blaster rifle.

"Good thing I picked up all those blaster rifles." He walks into the cryo-chamber room and sees a round shaped droid. It unfolds and then deploys a shield and starts firing at Kagen. Kagen dodges behind a corner and waits for it to stop shooting. When it does he shoots a quick volley at it. It starts to shoot at him again and he takes cover. "Damn, the shots had no effect. That shield blocks energy beams."

(Flash-forward)

Barnette says, "If beams don't work, use something solid!"

(Flash-forward ends)

"Thanks again, Paksis. Wait a sec! She hasn't said that yet! Oh yeah, the Paksis is a timeless entity."

The droid stops shooting and Kagen rushes it blade bared and lands on top of the shield. He then takes the sword and stabs through the shield and then slices through the arms. He then takes a cable and drains the droid's memory banks and adds the info to the rest.

"I might just have an approximation of the strength of the droids on this ship. Now to check on the cryo-chambers."

He walks up to the main control panel and checks the vital signs for the active cryo-chambers. He suddenly walks over to a wall and punches a hole in it with his fist.

"A thousand people were put to sleep, and only one is alive? Why! Why did these people have to die? I must find out why they were left asleep!" He walks over to a dead cryo-chamber and looks at it. He finds a certain wire cut.

"A wire is cut here. Let's find out where it goes." He follows it up to the release mechanism. "Looks like sabotage. Someone tried to wake them up, but since they couldn't get out and get some air, they suffocated to death. Someone must've seen what was happening and stopped his waking up sequence. They must've thought to come back for him when they could fix it. Their mechanic was one of those put in cryo-sleep. He was the first one who awoke to a horrible death. In order to release this guy I'll have to bring him to the Nirvana. Let's see if he had anything aboard this ship. I know I would miss my stuff if it was left behind. Hmm, he has a vehicle in the Hangar and a room on the way to the Bridge. I'll need a container from the Hangar. There is an Armory near here. I wonder if it has any inactive droids. Let's go see. Neo Strife isn't going anywhere soon."

Kagen checks the cryo-tube holding Neo Strife one more time and then moves on to the Armory. He hacks the door open and finds a few battle droids and super battle droids. He reprograms them and then activates them. He then takes a few hover lifts and continues to the Bridge. When he gets there he sees three destroyer droids and two computer controlled turrets.

Kagen thinks for a sec says, "Maybe…It might just work." He plugs a cable into a terminal outside the Bridge and accesses the security system. "Now just to hack this…" He hacks into the turret system.

"And now to target the Destroyer droids. I just hope my theory works and their shields fail." He hacks the targeting systems and then targets the destroyer droids. He activates the sequence and then unhooks from the system to get into position. Suddenly the turrets start to fire at the droids and then Kagen dashes into the room and behind a terminal. He pulls out a blaster rifle and waits till the firing dies down, then he jumps out and fires at the destroyer droids.

"Oh, shoot! One still has his shield!" Kagen hits a button on the rifle, throws it at the droid, rolls to avoid the droid's blasts, and draws his sword. The rifle overloads and drops the droid's shields. Kagen then rushes the droid and plugs into the droid's brain. He hacks into it and reprograms it to protect him.

"That worked out better than I planned. Now to get the information, Neo, his stuff, and get out of here." He plugs into the main terminal and uploads all the information. Kagen looks at his watch and says,

"I need to get done and report in with this information! I need a quick way to get where I'm going." He looks at what is in the room and sees a hover-cart. "Exactly what I need!"

A few min later

Kagen is at Neo's room. He starts loading everything up on hover-carts and sending them to an empty container in the Hangar. He finishes and jumps on another cart and sends it back to the Cryo-room. He connects the temporary cryo-life support mechanism and places the cryo-tube on a hover-cart. He then runs to the armory and grabs some parts for the destroyer droid and places them on a cart and jumps onboard as it goes to the Hangar. He loads everything in the container and then jumps in the cockpit of Neo's mech.

"These controls are the same as the Vanguard!" He starts it up and moves it into the container along with the rest of the items. He parks it and moves Neo into it. He then closes it and seals it.

"Now to get back to my Vanguard." He picks up a blaster rifle and a suit of pressurized armor that his helmet will connect with. "Good thing I found this pressurized suit, the suit I used to get down here got shot up by the droids." He jumps on a hover cart and returns to the airlock that he came in at.

He sighs, straps on the air tank, connects the hose, and initiates the airlock depressurization procedure. He had already moved the container into the sea. He gets back in his Vanguard as the sea begins to churn.

Suddenly Kagen's Vanguard and the container are sucked into the upper atmosphere by Vandread Jura's attack on the harvest container. Kagen quickly reacts and grabs a hold of the container before it falls. The container continues to fall at a slower speed. Kagen yells over the comm. link,

"I could use some help here!" Hibiki separates from Jura and flies down to help Kagen. With Hibiki and Kagen holding it the container stops falling but doesn't rise. Kagen shouts,

"Alakor!" Suddenly his Vanguard glows a bright green and his boosters give out a 10 increase in power and the container rises and Hibiki starts pushing up as Kagen lifts it. Kagen says,

"ALAKOR!" His boosters increase 33 in power. Kagen pulls the container to the Nirvana's Hangar. Kagen powers down his Vanguard and opens the container while listening to the recording of the comm. activity while he was incommunicado. He calls Parfait over the comm.

"Parfait, I need you over here in the Hangar. I found a person in cryo-sleep while I was down there. It seems like someone cut the hatch lock cables so he couldn't get out. I have him on running on temp. power, but I don't know how long that will last. I also need to speak to the Captain." Parfait nods and says, "I'll be right there."

In the conference room

Kagen says, "I apologize for disobeying your orders. I figured that if I brought Neo to the Nirvana he might want his stuff. And from what I've heard about the people on the planet he is better off with us."

Parfait a pop up on a comm. screen and says, "Sorry if I interrupted anything. I just wanted you to know that I've fixed the cryo-lock and we can wake him up now."

Magno says, "Kagen, for disobeying my orders I order you to make this newcomer feel welcome among us."

Kagen says, "What? Oh, I see. Ok, I'll do it."

Magno says, "Ok, now that that is settled let's go greet this newcomer."

In the Hangar

Kagen says, "Ok, everyone move back. You'll suffocate him if you stand that close."

Parfait says, "Ok, initiate wake up procedure!"

The hatch opens and Neo Strife wakes up.

Neo Strife immediately jumps up and says, "Where am I? Who are you people?"

Kagen says, "We mean you no harm. I am Kagen. I will try to explain everything for you. Now if you'll come with me and if everyone moves out of the way, I'll show you to your room. There are some things you might not want everyone to know. I have already moved your things to your new room from the colonization ship you were on."

Neo Strife sizes Kagen up for a second and says, "Only if I have your word you will not attack me."

Kagen says, "I swear by my sword that I will not harm you."

At this Neo Strife calms down and follows Kagen down the hall. Kagen begins to try to explain everything that happened.

This might be a little unclear if you haven't seen episode 9 of the first season of Vandread. I pretty much stuck to what was happening to Kagen because of three reasons: One is that he is my character. Two, Kagen couldn't change the fights because he was at the bottom of an ocean planet. Three, this would've been way too long and too confusing to read if I didn't exclude some part.

Here are my feelings on reviews: 1. Please do!

2. Any review is better than no review.

3. I don't like ROMs (Read Only Moron)s

So please don't be an Idiot and Not Review. I really don't care what you say as long as you say something. Anonymous reviews are fine. If you want to, you may email me. If you have any requests I'll be happy to listen to them. And who knows? I might just use them and give you credit.