Chapter 11: Christmas

Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread or the Ace Combat Series.

The Odyssey of Discovery: Gryphus 1

The next day came and this one was special because today was Christmas Eve. What it made more special is that a comet was nearby.

Belvedere asked, "Is it okay if I display the comet on the main screen, commander?" Gryphus Squadron was there to oversee the holiday from their position on the bridge.

Alex chuckled, "Heh, when it comes to decorations these women know how to pull it off."

Ezra appeared out of nowhere and showed him two ornaments, "Hey Alex, which one of these are prettier?"

Alex gave it some thought and answered, "Go with the star one, it has more significance to this holiday." Magno comes out wearing a Santa Clause outfit.

BC gasped, "Captain!"

Magno smiled, "We certainly can't have Christmas without Santa Clause, can we? And who better to play the part besides me?" The bridge bunnies gather around the elder woman.

Amarone said, "Captain, you look so cute in that outfit!" Seeing this brought a sense of relief to Gryphus Squadron it seems Christmas hasn't been forgotten 800 years in the future.

In the kitchen Jura watches Barnette put chocolate icing on a cake roll (at least that's what it appears to me) while Barnette hums a tune.

Jura commented, "You know what, Barnette I don't think there's enough icing on this. Make sure there's a lot of powdered sugar." She spotted Dita's tiara.

Dita licked a simple of the chocolate icing, "It's delicious! Wow!"

Jura walked over, bonked her on the head and scolded her like a mother would to her child, "I told you to watch over the turkey, Dita. Get back to the oven!"

Dita sighed, "Yes, ma'am." Turning around she witnesses smoke coming out of the oven indicating that the turkey was burnt. She runs out of there.

Bart, Duero, Hibiki, Pyoro and Gryphus Squadron observe the preparations though the men of Tarak had no idea what was going on.

Hibiki asked, "What's going on down there?"

Pyoro replied, "It's Christmas Eve, they get like this every December 24. You don't know what Christmas is?" Hibiki looked at Duero and Bart for an answer but got none and they bowed their heads, "It's a festival for crying out loud! Don't they have those on Tarak?"

Bart said, "Well, there was one." He remembered the rituals and military rallies on their home planet, "But they weren't one would consider enjoyable, were they guys?"

Duero and Hibiki replied in sync, "Not at all." The Aurelian pilots come to the conclusion these men needed education.

Alex said, "In our home country of Aurelia, Christmas is a yearly event where family and friends gather to celebrate the holiday not just about the food which can be huge depending on the number of people. They talk to one another about stuff like what they have been doing or some other random stuff. In my personal opinion, Christmas is my favorite holiday. It gives you the chance to reflect on what you have done that year. The last important holiday is New Year's Eve where you make New Year's Resolutions. In more simple terms setting up goals you want to accomplish for the next year. " As they listen, Bart thought back on his relationship with his father, Victor Garsus. Victor would always criticize his son for his cowardly behavior and how Bart did nothing to change it. Perhaps when they return to Tarak, he could start over with his father such as prove how much this journey has changed him for the better. Another thing he should change his view on women, seeing them as not monsters the propaganda films showed but fellow human beings.

Mia joins them halfway through the conservation and adds her input of Christmas. Once the conversation's over, the men go their separate ways to think over what the pilots told them.

Mia now saw her chance to spend some time with Alex seeing as how they couldn't as of late.

Alex asked her, "Can you tell me some more about you? It feels like I still don't know you."

The younger Gisborn smiled, "Fair enough. As long as you tell me about yourself, okay? Where do I start? As you know, I am Meia's younger twin sister because we look alike save for the three year age gap and hair-length. Nonetheless our Fahma loved us with all her heart. Meia and I used to play with each other when we were kids. Had the occasional fights but that happens with every sibling pairs. I was never really interested in the development my parents were doing and that day when the explosion happened, my relationship with Meia deteriorated and once the survivors were ordered to board those shuttles to escape the second, bigger explosion things went downhill. I didn't join Magno's crew initially because the shuttle I was on got attacked by a Tarak patrol unit, I was able to survive but the rest of crew weren't lucky. For the next 10 years I spent wandering one side of the universe to the other until rather by fate or chance I met up with Magno and joined her crew. I never shared my planet's belief about men. Alex, I'm concerned about my sister. I don't want her to remain isolated, please help me in bringing back the loving sister I saw as a child."

Alex said, "As a fellow crew member, I promise to help you. No one deserves to spend the rest of their life alone. Guess it's my turn. My mother and I were close in terms of our mother-son relationship. My dream was to become a fighter pilot there was something about that job that had me so interested. I don't know if it was soaring through the skies or seeing many different types of military aircraft. When I told mother about it, she encouraged me to pursue my dream so I did. I was the second youngest cadet to graduate the Aurelian Air Force Academy at 17 years of age. Hearing tales about the famous Aurelian pilot Gryphus 1 I knew who I wanted to be assigned to. When I introduced myself to him, he greeted me in a neutral tone which took me by surprise because I remember him being more cheerful. I want to live my life to the fullest because as a fighter pilot it could end in the blink of an eye." Mia stares at the young pilot with awe and felt her heart racing. Alex suddenly found the present to give her. He wished Mia Merry Christmas and heads for his room to prepare the gift.

Back with Hibiki, the young lad wanting to further his brother relationship with Kyle, approached the pilot, "Hey Kyle, there's something I need help with. Follow me." Kyle hesitates at first but later relents and follows the young lad through the hallway toward the old section of the Nirvana. Meia joins them along the way.

They arrive at the old section of the Nirvana and after a formal conversation, Hibiki asked, "What did you do with your family on Christmas?"

At first Kyle didn't want to tell but eventually told them, "My sisters and I would help our parents put up the Christmas tree, decorating it with ornaments, hang up the Christmas stockings, etc. My sisters would help mom cook dinner while I just relaxed. One thing I didn't like about Christmas was the holiday shopping, people would run over each other just get to buy something. 'Better go to bed early or else Santa Clause won't come to our home' is what mom would always tell us. I guess my hope for the future is have the two genders reconcile." Hibiki took his turn at telling Kyle and Meia about his past or at least what knew and what his hopes for the future which was leaving his own mark in the annals of history earning him looks of surprise Kyle and Meia. Kyle also saw a part of himself inside Hibiki, his hopes reminded Kyle of his life before it went to shit thanks to the death of his family, near obliteration of his hometown and his physical augmentation.

Meia asked Kyle, "Can you tell us about Mobius 1 and Tianlong Squadron?"

Kyle smiled, "Okay. He served the Independent States Air Force in the year 2003-2005 when he took part in the Second Usean Continental War between Usea and Erusea, a war he later wished never happened. Five years earlier an asteroid code named Ulysses 1994 XF-04 struck the Usean continent, killing 500,000 people and leaving many others refugees. Erusea built up their military strength and invaded Usea. They were able to achieve military superiority using Stonehenge, a bunch of railguns that were originally made to destroy asteroids but it became effective against military airplanes. Many air strike attempts to destroy Stonehenge ended in failure and because of this Erusea was able to occupy much of Usea. ISAF was pushed to North Point. Ken's first mission of reclaiming Usea was intercepting a bomber squadron sent to destroy Allenfort, an air force base held by ISAF. The bombers were no match for Mobius 1's skills. Throughout the war, his contributions allowed ISAF to reclaim ground culminating in the attack on Stonehenge, the weapon responsible for so many losses. He destroyed every single railgun by himself and later shot down Yellow 4, a member of the famous Yellow Squadron. During the closing days of the war, he led ISAF forces to additional victories. He led the invasion of Farbanti where he shot down Yellow 13 this is turn made Erusea surrender. However, one week later a group of Erusian officers took control of Megalith and had planned on attacking ISAF. In response to this, Ken led his new squadron to stop Megalith. Arriving at the target area, he shot down the remaining pilots composing Yellow Squadron. Following the destruction of generators and a large missile, the war officially came to an end. His biggest regret of the war is shooting down Yellow 4 because he realized she was 13's closest friend and possibly lover since he could relate. Some of the ISAF pilots who perished were close, personal friends with Ken since the Air Force Academy days. One year later a group of Erusian military officers calling themselves "Free Erusea" captured an old munitions factory, giving them access to weapons and initiating Operation Katina. Ken was selected to end Free Erusea which he did thanks to his lethal piloting skills. After returning home, he spent time with some of his squad mates to cope with the pain of loss he felt during the Second Usean Continental War along with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that military personnel sometimes get during or after war because of the psychological strain." Hibiki and Meia listen intently.

Kyle stopped to breath and continued, "Tianlong Squadron was an interesting lot. Chang Shengli was a calm but somewhat stern individual. Some of his hobbies included training to keep his piloting skills fresh, protecting allied nations and won't hesitate to shoot a traitor in the face. Sometimes Chang would engage in small talk with Ken and Ken would look at him and say "Hm? Did you say something?" This pissed Chang off and I found it hilarious. Every time he'd fight Ken, Chang got his ass handed to him.

Mori Akaboshi was a beautiful young woman that hailed from a powerful Japanese mafia that ran through her family for generations but she wasn't interested of becoming the next successor and sought to create her own destiny. She soon became a fighter pilot. Mori was a compassionate person to her allies and lethal opponent to her enemies. She loved to play video games like Doom or Duke Nukem when I asked her why Mori said that sometimes old school first-person shooter games were better than present ones. She liked Duke Nukem because of his taunts whenever he blew up an alien and the PS1 version of Doom because of the horror based soundtrack and sound effects. Mori was a dangerous unarmed combatant which I experienced firsthand even though I won. She added the suffix of "kun" to my name whenever we talked.

Now this brings us to Catherine Morgan, she was obviously British in appearance and very fluent in their language. She was a tease even made fun of Mori's breast size, stating that she would never attract a man with B cup sized breasts. This irritated Mori to the point where she shot back of the fact that bigger breasts sag earlier this in turn caused a verbal fight to break out between the two and Chang had to break them up every time. Some of her down time involved drawing her favorite anime characters and Catherine certainly loved to trash talk her enemies something Chang felt would get her killed. We got along quite well. I didn't see Garuda Team often so I can't tell you much about them but I do know they pushed the invading Estovakia forces back." During his storytelling Meia and Hibiki saw some of Kyle's old self return making them determined to see that cheerful side again.

Suddenly the wall behind Hibiki gives way causing him to fall through, he grunts in pain before looking around to see numerous items.

He asked, "What are these?"

Kyle ran his hand across a dusty table, "They're items from the Colonization Era." A sound catches Kyle's attention and turns around spotting a figure of Santa riding a surf board on the wave, one hand holding the bag of toys and the other extended out and the emblem of the Southern Cross. Picking up the figure the Aurelian's eyes widen in shock, aside from the slight accumulation of dust the figure was in good condition.

Meia asked, "What's that?"

Kyle frowned, "It's a Santa figure my country makes every Christmas it was a memento of the Southern Hemisphere's backward seasons though they added the emblem of my squadron. A little girl bought this very same figure. What could this mean?"

His face returned to normal when Hibiki said, "Hey, this looks strange, right?" He showed them a VHS tape titled "X-mas with Family". Finding an old VHS player, they connect it to the display system.

Monitors appear everywhere on the Nirvana and the crew turns their attention to the movie beginning to play.

It started with the fireplace before the camera zoomed out to show a young girl and mother holding her baby, earning a chorus of awes from the crew since they were familiar to it. What surprised them was the father joining his children and wife, kissing her cheek and smiling at the camera sitting on a portable stand.

Kyle recognized the group and quickly identified them as his family. This was filmed when his mother gave birth to him, his mouth hung open as tears ran down his cheeks as memories of his old life flashed through his mind. A smile soon formed grateful that not all of the days when men and women lived together were completely forgotten.

The clock reached 10:00pm, meaning there was two hours left before Christmas arrived.

Eugene was helping Ezra finish making dinner and when Pyoro asked the woman if she was carrying a baby inside her which in turn making her uneasy, Eugene threw him out of the kitchen saying it wasn't polite to intrude on someone's personal life. Helping Ezra made him remember his younger days.

Flashback

A 10-year old Eugene Solano was aiding his mother cooking prime rib since his father had to cover for someone in the oil field but he said he would be home for Christmas Day.

His mother said, "Thank you for helping me, son. You can do whatever you want now I can manage from here."

Eugene asked her, "Are you sure?"

His mom nodded, "Yes." Eugene decided to watch Terminator 2: Judgment Day on DVD since he had nothing else to do. It was always one of his favorite movies, his mom lost count on how many times he watched it.

End of flashback

The Nirvana shakes and BC asked if they were under attack but it turned out to be one of the snow machines Parfet was working on malfunctioned, covering her face with smoke.

She sighed, "I was hoping to create a white Christmas but it failed."

Jura informed her, "Unacceptable! I won't tolerate excuses, Parfet. I want these snow machines running before midnight, understood?" The blonde-haired pilot walks away as Parfet sighs again.

Duero approached her, "Perhaps I can help you fix it." While he gave her whatever tool she needed, he asked, "Is it possible for men and women to live together?"

Parfet thought about it and replied, "Hmm, we're getting along so I think it's possible. You do remember, right? The present. You're gonna give me one, aren't you?" Duero contemplated on what to give her.

Bart was somehow able to convince BC to join them in celebrating Christmas.

They see explosions occurring inside the comet and were visible through its cloud Dita looks at it with sparkly eyes.

Unknown to them, Kyle left the preparations to enjoy some peace and quiet, he boarded the Gleipnir class airborne fortress they obtained at Anpathos. They renamed it Archangel and upon analyzing its schematics, the crew discovered its guns had an extremely advanced radar/thermal hybrid guidance system. This allowed the airborne fortress to accurately track its target through dense clouds by filtering out cooler temperatures which are highlighted in green to blue, leaving only the red to light purple colors.

Grabbing the control stick, Gryphus 1 directs the behemoth towards the comet, the ship's computer aiding him. Normally the Archangel would be directed through his wrist computer but he wanted to test it via manual flight.

Activating its radar/thermal hybrid guidance system to work in sync with the Archangel's sensors, Gryphus 1 waits for enemy signatures to show up. Few minutes later he gets one, the guidance system filters out the comet's tail to show a spider-like Harvest unit lying in wait. Bringing the Archangel into firing range, the ship's targeting computer readies its primary weapon. Gaining a lock Archangel fires her four 16" guns. With zero gravity in space the shells fly toward the Harvest unit more quickly tearing into the enemy's body. Couple more rounds turn it into scrap metal.

Now that their Christmas will proceed smoothly, Gryphus 1 directs the Archangel back to the Nirvana's side.

The crew counts down the remaining seconds until both clock hands reach 12 signifying that Christmas had arrived.

Barnette gave Jura a ring and Jura gave her best friend a kiss on the cheek much to Barnette's disappointment, Duero presented Parfet with a painting that was supposed to resemble the blood stream but it looked more like a snowstorm, Alex gave Mia a very rare blue diamond that his mother gave him for one of his birthdays it served as his good luck charm.

Alex said to her, "I want you to have this, Mia consider it as a token of our friendship. With all the hardship you and your sister went through maybe this will help rekindle the bond you two shared as kids."

Mia replied, "Thank you, Alex. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find you a present. I'm sorry." She bows her head in forgiveness.

The Aurelian assured, "Seeing you happy is more than enough. Come on, let me see you smile." Mia lifts her head to give him a bright smile.

Eugene gave Dita a set of some planetary system after one of the crew members told him of her obsession with anything related to aliens.

Kyle received a circlet similar to Meia's from the Dread leader and a model of his F-22 Raptor from Hibiki. The circlet signified Meia's respect for him and trust, the F-22 Raptor model he got from Hibiki reminded Kyle of his passion for airplanes. To him these gifts showed Kyle that he had people to turn to for support, a shoulder to cry on and he wasn't alone.

Hibiki received a g-suit with the Gryphus emblem on it from Kyle to show his growing confidence in the Vanguard pilot and need to have Hibiki wear some more effective attire during battle. The g-suit would help counter the hard turns he might perform or when he combines with Meia's Dread. A laser ring from Meia told Hibiki that he needed some form of defense in case the enemy faced him in actual combat not behind some machine. However, he had no experience with any weapon. Not risking of shooting his eye out, he'll ask Meia for help since she knows how to use the laser ring.

Meia got a wrist computer from Kyle after he adjusted it to his modifications. For some reason, it caused her to blush she never received a gift from the opposite gender. The mere sight of Kyle standing next to her made the Dread leader's heart race. What did it mean? The gift she got from Hibiki was the model of her Vandread, he was hesitant to give it at first no doubt because of the lingering fear of women but after some encouragement from Kyle he gave her the present.

The crew finish exchanging gifts when Francesca appears on the monitor wearing a mocking smile on her face.

She said, "I wish you all a Merry Christmas because it shall be your last. You will all die a most painful, gruesome death by my hands!"

Alex was irate and stated, "We're coming for you, understand? You're dead!"

Francesca laughed maniacally, "Actually it's the opposite, you fools are dead. I have a present of my own, it will arrive soon. Enjoy your remaining days in the realm of the living! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" The screen closes and Alex was pissed.

Kyle said, "Calm down, guys. Don't let her spoil the mood that bitch's time will come. For now let's celebrate Christmas! Who's with me?" The crew raise their arms in the air to agree with him. Their battle against the Harvesters can wait they needed to enjoy this holiday to their heart's content.

A/N: Chapter 11 done.

Here, Kyle some information about Mobius 1, his experience in the Second Usean Continental War, Operation Katina one year later and Tianlong Squadron such as their personalities and hobbies.

Kyle himself revealed what he did with his family on Christmas and hope for the future. Some of his old self returned during his storytelling.

Mia asked for Alex to help her in seeing Meia the person she played in their childhood.

The Archangel destroyed the spider-like Harvest unit that was hiding in the comet.

Lastly the crew exchanged gifts and Francesca wished them a Merry Christmas because it'll be their last but Kyle calmed his crew mates promising them Francesca's time will come. What kind of present does she have for the crew?

Read and review.

Stay tuned for chapter 12.

Vader 23A