Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread, Gonzo does.
Author's Notes: This is a revised edition of The Unknown Soldier. I am doing this to correct errors and to modify it to further improve on it and possibly to make several of the shorter chapters longer. There might be a few changes in the plotline, but nothing too drastic as to change the entire outcome of the story, though.
Vandread: The Unknown Soldier (Revised)
Prologue: Evacuation
Location: Space Station Gloria, in orbit around Solaris
The station's alarms were blaring their harsh tones throughout the corridors, but Captain Aidan Mercer hardly noticed them as he rapidly scanned the area for threats. He had been originally assigned to escort and protect the Prime Minister and his daughter, Maria. By the time he arrived, the Minister had already been killed. He took out the two soldiers that were about to kill Maria. He then told her that she needed to get off the space station, which now was almost totally overrun by enemy soldiers. They were to head for the space docks and get securely aboard the S.D.S Artemis, an Essex Class frigate belonging to the Solaris Federation. It would immediately jump out system and rendezvous with the rest of the fleet.
"Hurry up!" he shouted to Maria, who was beginning to slow down due to fatigue. "This is no time to rest."
"I know that!" she shot back, panting from running.
Suddenly, the threat indicator installed into his suit's helmet warned him of four approaching hostiles. They were heading towards their location, so he had to do something quick. He quickly grabbed Maria and shoved her into the nearest room. He looked around and found a spacesuit and tossed it to her. "Put this on."
"Alright…" she said in a shaky voice as she started to don the suit.
Just as she finished putting on the suit, he pulled her from the room. She cradled the helmet in her arms. "Get behind me," he commanded. She nodded and did so. The enemy soldiers had just turned the corridor. Aidan raised his rifle and squeezed the trigger. Several rounds spat from the rifle and slammed into the first man, who seemed a little too eager and didn't check for any threats to himself. Aidan fired again as the first soldier collapsed in an expanding pool of blood. The others were a little smarter and ducked behind the cover of the corner. Glancing at the view ports on the right side of the corridor, he suddenly got an idea.
"Hold onto to something," he told Maria as he aimed his rifle at the view port. He fired the underslung grenade launcher on his rifle. The single high-explosive armor-piercing grenade was more than enough to almost shatter the armored glass. Suddenly, he rocked backward as several slugs struck him in the right side. He slammed his armored fist down hard on a large button and the bulkhead in front him immediately sealed off the area. He knew what the soldiers were going to experience next. The effects of explosive decompression were not pretty, and he knew they were experiencing it firsthand.
"Captain, are you alright?" Maria asked, concern evident in her voice as she saw that he got shot.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "Didn't penetrate the armor."
He motioned for her to continue moving. It took them a few minutes before they managed to reach the place where the Artemis was docked. They had to go through several corridors to get there, with Aidan gunning down any more rebel soldiers that got in the way. Once they got there, they noticed a group of SDF soldiers in a shootout with the rebels, who held the main control room for the docking controls. He motioned for Maria to duck behind the cover of one the stacks of metal crates.
"Who's in charge here?" Aidan asked the men as he took cover with them as well.
"I am," the soldier to his left spoke up. "Sergeant Jacob Masters."
"Captain Aidan Mercer, Special Forces," he informed Masters as he lifted the visor of his helmet. "What's the situation?"
"Well, sir, the rebels have holed up in the control center for the docks," he answered. "We can't pry them out."
Aidan went over the situation in his head and got an idea. "I have a plan. I want at least one of your soldiers to guard Miss Shakov. I'll take a couple of men and charge their position while the rest of you provide covering fire."
"Roger that," Masters replied and moved off to give orders to his men.
"Alright, he motioned for the two soldiers nearest him. "You will follow on my order. Now!"
Aidan got up and charged the rebel position, with the two soldiers following right behind him. The first rebel soldier attempted to raise his weapon to fire, but took a bullet in the chest instead. The others were forced to take cover as the soldiers behind cover started pouring cover fire to assist Aidan and his ad hoc team. Another rebel soldier took a few rounds to the chest and pitched over backwards. Aidan suddenly found himself face-to-face with a frightened enemy soldier. Before the soldier could do anything, Aidan drove his armored fist into the man's abdomen, knocking the air out of him. The soldier collapsed onto his knees, clutching his stomach and gasping for breath. Another punch to the face knocked him out. He walked up to the door punched in the access code. The door refused to open, remaining locked. One of the soldiers with him pulled a breaching charge from the rucksack he was carrying. Placing it on the door, he set the timer for fifteen seconds. Aidan and the two men quickly backed away from the door as the charge blew it open. One of the soldiers pulled the pin on a smoke grenade and tossed it into the room. The room began to fill with a thick, white smoke, making it hard to breathe as well as see for anyone in there. Activating his helmet's thermal sensors, he charged into the room.
He gunned down the first soldier with his handgun, then a second, as they could not see him very well to retaliate. The smoke started to clear now, and out of the corner of his eye he noticed one last soldier. He squeezed the trigger, but all he got was a clicking sound. Damn, out of ammo! It was then he noticed a laser pistol on the floor to his left. The rebel started to recover from the effects of the smoke, and leveled his rifle at Aidan. Before the soldier could react any further, Aidan threw himself into a rolling dive, and avoided a single laser bolt that seared past where he used to be.
Picking up the pistol, he twisted into a squat ball and planted his right foot and pivoted toward the rebel, who was just now correcting his aim. Two cracks split the air, and the soldier with the rifle clutched his chest and fell face first to the ground, his weapon clattering to the deck. Aidan suddenly felt a searing pain in his left leg before the painkillers were administered from his suit's medpack, effectively numbing the pain. When he looked down, he noticed the laser had only grazed him, but had heated up the armor where it hit, slightly burning him. He knew he was going to be feeling that later.
"Area secure," he announced, and picked the laser rifle that the dead soldier dropped.
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"What in the bloody hell is takin' them so long?" Hector Cranston, Captain of the Solaris Defense Ship Artemis, barked to his comm operator.
"They got held up by the docks by a group of rebel soldiers," the operator replied, seemingly unfazed by the Captain's outburst.
"Damn, Earth-lovin' rebel bastards!" he snarled.
"Captain, the target is safely onboard," Aidan's voice rang throughout the bridge.
"Very well, Major," Cranston replied. He did not make a mistake of addressing Aidan by a rank higher than he actually held. Tradition among the fleet dictated that there be only one captain aboard ship at any one time. Everyone else who held the rank, especially ground-pounders, were given the honorary and very temporary rank of major.
"Helmsman, undock and take engines to full, we are getting the hell out of here," he ordered.
"Aye sir, undock and engines to full," the helmsman confirmed the order and did as such.
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Maria could feel the deck lurch slightly under her feet as the ship engaged its massive engines and undocked from the space station. She took off the helmet to her spacesuit, allowing her violet hair fall down to her shoulders. She let out a sigh of relief and looked at Aidan, who was standing off to her left side with a laser rifle slung over his shoulder and a laser pistol in his left hand. There was a barely audible hiss as Aidan lifted the visor of his helmet. He checked the power pack in the handgrip of the pistol and then tossed it her. It almost fumbled out of her hands as she caught it.
"What's this for?" she asked dryly.
"For your protection, you may need it," he answered in a flat tone.
She gave him a hard glance, and he just stared back at her, showing no hint of emotion. She then looked down at the pistol in her hands, then back at him. She opened to her mouth to speak, but was interrupted when the ship rocked violently. She was thrown off her feet, and she felt her head hit the deck and the blackness that followed a few seconds later.
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"What in the bloody hell was that!" Cranston cursed as another hammer blow struck the ship.
"Sir! An enemy cruiser has locked its weapons onto us, they are preparing to fire again!" the tech replied in an almost frightened tone.
"Dammit! Charge the jump drives, we're getting' the hell outta here!" he bellowed.
"Yes sir," the tech replied shakily. "It will take a couple of minutes."
"We don't a have a couple of minutes," Cranston barked, although there was nothing he could do about it.
"Sir, the enemy is launching fighters," the sensor tech replied, his voice surprisingly calm despite the grave news he'd just delivered.
"Well, launch the Strikers to intercept them," he ordered.
"We can't sir," the damage control officer replied.
"Why in the hell not?" he barked at the man.
"That last hit welded the hangar door shut," the officer said. "They are unable to launch."
"Well, Dammit!" he cursed as he slammed his fist down on the arm of his command chair.
"Sir!" a worried female tech shouted. "We have intruders onboard the ship, the enemy has boarded the Artemis!"
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A few seconds before Maria hit the ground, Aidan started to lose his footing. He caught himself before he could fall. He picked Maria up gently, her petite form not weighing that much as he moved her over and laid her on an empty bunk. He immediately heard an alarm sound throughout the ship.
"Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! All hands stand by to repel boarders!" the computerized female voice sounded throughout the corridor.
He unslung his rifle and headed out of the room. Before he moved away from the door, he programmed the door to lock to prevent anyone from getting in. He ran down the corridor and noticed various bodies of crewmembers laid out on the deck, some in positions only the dead could seem to achieve. He immediately saw two rebel soldiers heading away from him, chasing down another unarmed crewmember. Aidan dropped to one knee and took aim at the rebel farthest from him and fired.
The laser bolt struck the man in the back and knocked him heavily to the deck. The other rebel turned, but was too slow for Aidan's quick reflexes, and took a blast straight through his head, killing him instantly. Aidan got up and continued to search for any intruders. When he found them, he mercilessly killed them, even though they used to be his fellow countrymen. Although he didn't consider them to be that anymore.
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Hector Cranston fought back a wave of darkness as he struggled to bring himself to his feet. Just about the time he was about to give the order to jump, the main lift that leads to the bridge erupted into a huge fireball, vaporizing one the techs unlucky to be in front of it. It had thrown him heavily to the deck, hitting his head on one of the console panels, gashing it open. He fought another wave of blackness as he struggled to make it over to the jump controls. Once he got there, he used most of his remaining strength to shove aside the dead helmsman. After a moment in which he shifted between consciousness and unconsciousness, he managed to activate the jump drives. A loud raucous horn sounded throughout the ship, although he couldn't hear it, or anything else for that matter.
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As Aidan cut down the last intruder, a loud raucous horn sounded throughout the corridors. He knew in less than a minute the Artemis, or what was left of it, would jump into a safe, friendly system and out of this hellhole. Another hit rocked the ship, and a panel from the ceiling came loose and hit him squarely in the back, knocking him to the deck. He could feel that his left shoulder was dislocated by the hit.
"Shit," he gasped as he tried in vain to get back on his feet. Then suddenly a nauseous wave of light and sound slammed over him. The universe expanded around him and he was hit with almost physical force by another wave of light and sound. As quickly as it came, it was gone. He finally succumbed to the pain and fell into unconsciousness.
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This is just the beginning of the revised edition; let me know what you think about