Disclaimer: I don't own Vandread.

A/N

This story is entirely fan-made and fictional. Any acts that you might find offensive, disguising, inhuman, wrong or just don't like, we are not liable for. You are reading this story of your own free will and not being forced, if you don't like something we are not forcing you to stay and read it. Please leave the page and re-frame from reading the chapter and or story. All Copyrighted Characters belong to their respect owners. We don't claim anything that is not our own creation and are merely using them for fan made material.

I accept constructive criticize and help but being rude and disrespectful will not be tolerated. This is done for the fun of writing not to make every little person happy, while making people happy with are stories is great we are not here for Money, Fame or Fortune this is done for the simply joy of writing.

Prologue

Barnette pushed down on the controls and the Dread took a nosedive through the debris field. She yanked back on the controls, straining as the G's put on her body almost became unbearable. Her Dread threatened to come apart. It held together, the bottom of it scrapping against the shredded hull of another ship nearly two-times the size of the Nirvana. When she cleared the debris field, she jerked the Dread around, hit the brakes, and two speeding red blurs darted over and under her. She opened fire. The heavy rounds ripped clean through the first one, blowing it to pieces in a flash of thunder and light. The second one escaped, but not unscathed. It drifted to the left and disappeared in the debris field.

Barnette cursed and followed after it.

Two hours ago they came across two ships that had been ripped clean apart by something and a station already breaking up from damages sustained in battle and the planet that it hovered as it was being ripped towards it. In a few hours the station would fall to the planet and all of its resources would be gone. That was something that they couldn't allow to happen.

So they were sent out to get the supplies while a small detachment stayed out and provided security for the others. Since the Nirvana didn't have any defensive weapons it was forced to stay back while the few Dreads that remained out circled the area for their enemy.

They didn't have to wait long.

A few Harvester Cubes showed up, but were quickly dealt with. They had hoped that they got them before they could get a message off to their Mothership. Their hope turned to fear in a matter of minutes. A small fleet of Harvester Cubes and Egg Carriers showed up. Outnumbered and forced to fight a defensive battle, it was only a matter of time before things truly turned sideways for them all. The supply team was thankfully able to get out before the station was forcibly shoved into the atmosphere of the planet.

A little over thirty minute ago the station began to burn up on reentry and in a matter of minutes it was going to hit the planet. While there was no life on the planet, that didn't mean that anyone was happy about it. The team that had gone inside it had only managed to cover a third of it before the enemy showed up. They were low on food, water, ammunition, and parts. It was estimated that they only managed to secure about twenty percent of their required needs.

Barnette's Dread rocked to the side. A pillar of fire shot up in front of her. She had no choice but to go through it.

"Everyone be careful!" Meia's voice broke through the channel. "They're blowing up the vessels in the debris field! All pilots are to pull away from the debris field and cover those that are still near it!"

Barnette forced her controls to the side and ripped her Dread upwards away from it. Another pillar of fire shot up front of her. She barreled through it. Four Cube-types greeted her on the side and forced her downwards back to the mess of explosion. Her Dread shuddered as it passed through the spinning halos of destruction. One of the Cube-types latched on to the front of her machine. She wasn't sure, but it looked as though it looked at her with an evil glint before a ball of fire consumed her. Her harness snapped. She was thrown against the protective glass of her canopy.

Another explosion rocked through the Dread. It lurched backwards and she heard three distinctive clamps on either side of her. Getting back to her controls, a warning flashed on screen and it showed a picture of her machine with the left wing ripped off. She'd manage. She flew it with less. Her engines went out. Another alarm and that was when she knew they had her dead to rights.

Gravity turned off. She floated upwards. It turned back on and she slammed back into her sit. Another explosion tore through her Dread and this one sent her spiraling. She could see the planet, the Nirvana, the debris field, and the others all fighting for their lives against the Harvester Fleet before it all looped back to the first thing she saw. She tumbled through the cockpit of her craft for almost an eternity before it righted itself and blistering hit touched her skin. Garbled cries broke through her radio and before long it was nothing but static.

Barnette tried to gain control of her Dread from the internal struggle of the gravity well that was the planet behind her. Black smock obscured her view. She tasted cooper in her mouth as sweet glistened off her forehead. The collision alarmed sounded. All color drained from her face. Her fate was sealed.

The smoke cleared and she saw the mountain ridge come into view. Her Dread smashed against the side of the ridge, forcing it into a spin. Barnette wanted to throw up as the force exerted on her body was too much for her to take. It came to a crashing halt as her speeding remains of the ship hit something hard that slowed to a near crawl. She slammed against the dash board, screamed in pain as her arm twisted and broke at the elbow. Her head bounced off the dashboard and she slipped into darkness. The last thing she remembered seeing were a few shadows standing over her form.

"Hold on! We'll get you out of here. Just stay with us!"

(-)

Barnette's eyes cracked open and the blurry image of a shadow passed over her. "…Duerro?" The shadow said something, but she couldn't make it out as its hand ran over her body, doing something that she couldn't follow. Barnette tried to focus on something else in the room, but her mind drew nothing but blanks to what she saw. She awoke when jostled. Her mind didn't clear and the shadow was soon over her again. "…Duerro?"

"No," the male voice said, clear as day.

Barnette's mind emptied and she snapped to the world of the living fully as she jolted upright and screamed. Pain like nothing she'd felt before rocked her body and she collapsed on the bed crying.

"Don't do that!" The voice said in alarm. "You'll tear your stitches!" Large hands grabbed her shoulder to hold her down while another was run over her abdomen. Barnette shook her head as she screamed in protest and in pain. "Stop thrashing! You're tearing your stitches up and bleeding again. Trig, I need some help in here!"

Barnette continued to scream and cry as another pair of hands held her on her side.

"She tore both sets out," the male said. "Hold her still while I give her a sedative. I can't work like this."

Barnette fought and fought until all her strength was gone and the weight of the world crashed on her eyelids. She awoke hours later with shackles on her wrist and ankles. The same shadow stood over her.

"Sorry about the restraints, but they're for my protection and your own."

Barnette tried to fight against them, but then gave up. The shadowed figure was a heavyset man with dark skin and a chubby face with stubble for hair. It was hard to tell if he was bald or had cut it not long ago.

"Where am I?"

"Onboard the Almighty April. I'm Doctor William. You're lucky to be alive… what with all your thrashing and constant bleeding." He shook his head. "They brought you to me to get patched up. How you survived that crash is beyond me. But, I'm not a pilot. So I suppose I can't say anything about it. Still, you should be dead."

Barnette tuned him out and looked around the room. Matching white walls and ceiling mixed with the disinfectant spray smell; she was in a hospital or medical ward.

"Crash?" she asked him, sounding unsure.

Fire and yells exploded in her mind. It rushed back to her quickly enough. She had been fighting above a planet with their enemy when the debris field that was a dozen ships began exploding. Fire consumed part of her Dread and then there was the loss of her thrusters. She remembered calling for help, but the fighters pushed her down to the planet and kept her friends away. The last thing she remembered was mountains and then unbelievable pain. The fear of dying had never been more real than in that moment for her.

"You've been out for two days," William told her. He grabbed a cup and filled with it water. "In case you're curious, you sustained massive internal bleeding, a piercing wound through the abdomen that almost nicked your small intestine and destroyed your right ovary, a concussion, broken right arm at the elbow, a four cracked ribs. You're chances of having kids are pretty well shot." Barnette looked at the restraints when he presented the cup. "Do you promise not to thrash around anymore? I haven't slept since Trig and Avalanche brought you in."

"I won't fight anymore." He sat the cup down and removed her restraints. Barnette lifted her shirt and looked at the mass of tape that now covered her abdomen. It hurt more to see it than to feel it. Small patches of blood had already begun to seep through the cloth and was no doubt marking the change for some new bandages. "I don't suppose you know where my clothes are, do you?"

William looked to the hamper on the left. "We had to throw them away when you came in," he confessed, much to her horror. "They were soaked with fuel and your blood. It wouldn't ever come out. And the damage done to them was… a little more revealing than what they previous had been. You wouldn't have anything to cover up your lower half if you wanted to wear that." Barnette had the decency to blush. There were something's that just weren't easy in revealing, even to a man. "Don't worry about clothes. Trig has a pair you can use until we get to our world."

"And who is Trig?"

"One of the pilots that found you on that death trap of a planet," he informed her. William returned to a makeshift desk and tapped on a keyboard. Barnette tried to see what he was doing, but the pain from her injuries made it hard to move. Her entire body felt stiff. She needed a massage or a nice soak in a hot bath. She'd take both at this point but wouldn't be picky either. "Once we've cleared this zone we're going to have you interrogated. I'll be in the room to monitor your vitals. You're still not cleared to leave. So if you feel stressed, let me know and I'll have them back off as best as I can. I'm just a doctor with little respect or authority in the military."

Barnette wasn't sure if that was a joke or a lie. She settled for a bit of both.

"Do you want something to eat? We don't have the best food here, but its food so it's better than starving."

The pirates' stomach grumbled before she could open her mouth with an angry retort. William turned just enough so that she could see his eyes roam over her before he turned back and typed on the keyboard some more. Barnette snorted angrily that her stomach would betray her to a man so easily, but found that her strength was too weak to endure the pain of keeping up her tough appearance before her most hated enemy.

A short time later a man came in holding a small tray with a cover. The two males had a small talk before it was placed down on a small stand. With some maneuvering it was placed in front of her and the cover was taken off. It was everything Barnette had remembered about hospital food. It was never good or appealing to the eye, not unless you got hurt on the Nirvana, then it was good cooking that was appealing to the eye. In short order she devoured the food and waited for William to begin speaking again. He continued to type away on the keyboard for another hour before standing up and moving to her side.

"We need to change the bandages now," he told her. Barnette paled. "Don't worry; we have female nurses that can do this if you're uncomfortable with me doing."

"I would very much like a woman to do it, thank you very much!"

William backed off and called for the nurses. A single guard entered with the two nurses and motioned for the Doctor to follow. William departed with a smile and once out of the room, the two nurses began working on Barnette. A million questions popped in her mind. Why were these women working with the men? Sure she didn't have much of an excuse given that she was working with three men back on the Nirvana but that was different. This didn't seem forced. This was more consensual. Five minutes of patching her up and they left. William entered not a moment later with the guard tailing him. They whispered quietly and once the guard left, William muttered a whisper curse.

"You don't like him?"

William laughed. "It's not that I don't like her it's that I don't like how they want to start interrogating you now rather than waiting the full three day requirement. The only reason they don't want to is the nature of their voyage out here. If you know anything about the destruction of the Inquisitor, Vanquisher, and the Exile, I'd suggest you talk quickly. According to your broken flight recorder, you had a battle of some sort over the planet. Dangerous."

"I fought something else. I was there to steal supplies for our voyage home. We honored the dead, per our captains' request."

"Well, let's hope that holds up. Otherwise, you're looking at a quick and painless death." She tensed. "I do hate Airlock Diplomacy. So mean and cruel." William went back to his computer and began furiously typing away at it.

Barnette gulped at the very thought of this diplomacy. She fought an inner war with her mind to try and remember what had happened during the fight. Nothing aside from her scream of fear and the pain that latter followed came to mind. It was a tough fight she had fought and ultimately lost, but it wasn't one she wanted to forget either.

The door hissed opened. Two guards stepped in with a man in between them. He was muscular, kind of tall, and rather young looking. Barnette read the name tags that were stenciled on their chest. One red Trig and the other read Shamrock. From her talks with William she knew Trig was a female. She stood a little taller than Shamrock, but was thinner. Both carried vintage 9mm pistols. She banked on them being the same model she used for target practice back on the Nirvana.

"My name is Richard Pool," the man introduced himself with a thick accent. His posture was ramrod straight, his arms behind his back, his head almost held high if he didn't have to look down at her, and an air of authority matches only by Meia or B.C. "I'm the Captain of this vessel. My squadron pulled you out of the wreckage of a downed aircraft over CPA113. I want you to know that this meeting is being recorded. We have four more guards outside with bigger guns if you try anything. The only reason you're not in a cell right now is by my order alone. Don't make me regret this choice."

Barnette pursed her lips together and stared past him towards the door. She could see the other guards in her minds' eye. They were probably out there with guns pointed at the door and the fourth one ready to blow it if necessary to free hostages. She turned her gaze back to the man. "Understood…"

"Good." Richard yanked a chair from the doctor, sat down beside her. The two guards moved up closer, both flanking either side of the bed. Shamrock looked bored if his posture meant anything to Barnette. Trig looked ready to pull the trigger on her gun. She was hoping for a chance to use it. "I want to know what caused you to crash on the planet. Do understand that failure to comply will result in some… violent persuasion."

"Airlock diplomacy?" she questioned heatedly. Richard didn't flinch. Barnette looked away for a moment, unhappy with all of this. Hibiki would have enjoyed this. Maybe even worshiped a chance for this to happen… "We were looking for supplies. We're on a voyage back home to our planets passed the Magnetic Storm. We came across the debris field and the station. We sent a team inside to find supplies while another squad stayed out in space to make sure we had the place on lockdown. We didn't have it that good. We got jumped by a Harvester Fleet. Before anyone could truly do anything my Dread was forced through the debris field. I got shot, the wrecked ship blew up, and the next thing I know I was going down to the planet."

"Harvester?" Shamrock spoke up. He was male.

Richard caste a sharp glance to the man. "Why are you going all the way out there?" Richard turned back to Barnette. "How'd you end up all the way out here if you're from beyond the Magnetic Storm?"

"I'm a pilot. Not a science person." Richard blinked and Barnette got the impression that another negative answer would result in the before mention diplomacy. "It had something to do with our ships before this whole mess got started. We were trying to steal a ship from the Men when they would rather see it destroyed. The vessel was one of the pioneer ships that brought us to our world and as such, we wanted it back. So as such they fired a warhead at us and the ship just sort of… warped us this far out before the missile could hit us. After that we were left to figure out what happened. We had little supplies, far away from home, and knew of a threat that was coming to our worlds."

"When you say that the ship warped you here, what do you mean by that?" Richard asked.

The door hissed open before Barnette could speak. Another guard walked in. "You're needed on the bridge, Sir." Barnette couldn't make out his name tag. He was a male though. He glanced in her direction and added, "Maggie and Cobra just sent out a distress call. They were getting attacked by something and both Guardians have been shot down."

Richard was on his feet faster than Barnette could follow. He walked out the door without a word spoken. The three guards followed in silence. Barnette's left eye twitched as she watched them leave. Her mind raced with the thought of getting back home. What were the chances she got back to them now with how everything was for her?

A/N

So I wanted to go back to the first Fic that started my thing here on this site and redo it in a more unique way than what I did last time. This time I'm breaking the story up into four parts.