Fan Fiction / Zoids Fan Fiction / Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ ZoidDread ❯ Beasts of War ( Chapter 3 )

 

ZoidDread

 

Disclaimer: Zoids and VanDread belong to other people, not me. So bother them instead if you guys have questions. Clear?

 

< >: Thoughts

 

< " " >: Mental communication

 

Chapter 2

 

Beasts of War

 

Brandon, Scott, and Lance found themselves dreaming, or at least they thought they were dreaming. That was what they were feeling as countless images flew in front of them. The images included the countless places and beings they had been to and met during their long journeys to find their mother in this new universe. The other images were on their lives back home on Zi. Their births, the day they met their companion Organoids, their years growing up, training with their father and mother on piloting and maintaining Zoids, their long years in the Academy, the death of their father and their vow to guard their mother, their long weeks of taking good care of their only parent, down to the incident that sent them into this universe. And lastly, their five-year search for their mother. The visions disappeared as the darkness embraced them once more.

 

-----------------

 

Many light years from Megele and Tarak…

 

The pirate cruiser and the old section of the colony ship violently reappeared in normal space. Both vessels were severely damaged, but were still in functional order, but then the older vessel unleashed tendrils of light from the depths of it's Paeksis reactor core. On the bridge of the pirate vessel, the crew began to rouse themselves.

 

“Uuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh… this doesn't feel like the afterlife. Where the heck are we?"

 

Magno Vivian, age one hundred and eight years old, founder and captain of the pirates looked about. Her bridge crew were now regaining consciousness and didn't seem none too worse for wear. It was then that the whole ship shuddered as something took hold of it.

 

Magno looked up at the main view screen and gasped as she saw that the old section was moving around as it took a life of it's own. It continued to unleash massive crystal tendrils that resembled arms that began to collect all the debris around it's vicinity and incorporating itself, including the pirate cruiser!

 

“What's that thing trying to do? Is it going to swallow the entire ship?!"

 

-----------------

 

The two vessels became one whole unit as they were linked together by a massive crystal, with the Ikazuchi's belly on top of the pirate vessel. Inside the female vessel, the sections began to undergo a massive metamorphosis as the Paeksis began infusing it's energy into all the cables, mechanisms, and circuits. The women worked desperately to stop it, but their efforts weren't getting any success as the entire craft was completely engulfed.

 

-----------------

 

A few minutes later…

 

Inside the reactor room of the Ikazuchi, the three Dread pilots who had been dead center in the explosion came to their senses, and were quite surprised to find themselves lying on the floor.

 

“Is… everyone all right?" Meia asked as soon as she regained consciousness.

 

“I'm…okay, though I feel different a bit." Jura answered as she sat up from her lying position.

 

“Where's… Dita?"

 

“Hi!"

 

Both girls turned and sighed in relief as they saw the apprentice pilot lying flat on her stomach and waving to them from a distance.

 

The overly excitable redhead began mumbling. “Something… went beep… then… VROOM! Alien powers are SO amazing!"

 

Lying nearby, and still asleep were Brandon, Scott, and Lance.

 

-----------------

 

The captain of the pirates, her first officer, and the chief engineer stepped into the reactor room, with a small escort team. They had been informed by their chief supply officer Gascogne, or Gasco, which she totally dislikes though the crew didn't seem to mind calling her anyway, that the two ships would not separate from the outside, so they made the decision to check the problem at it's source.

 

Meia and her two subordinates were there waiting for them, and the aqua-haired apologized to the ancient woman. “I'm very sorry that you had to come all the way here, Captain."

 

Magno waved her off. “There's no need to apologize Meia. I just had to see all this for myself." She began walking around the room and looking at the Paeksis's handiwork. The entire chamber was flooded with crystals. “Amazing." Her gaze caught some movement, and then drifted to a trio of men who were each about regain consciousness.

 

“The one with the shoulder length hair was the one Dita was chasing, when me and Jura got to her, these other men were there as well." Meia explained.

 

“So these are the ones, eh?" Magno said, then remarked. " It's been a long time since I've seen a man, not to mention three, are their faces always this stupid looking?"

 

Brandon, Scott, and Lance were opening their eyes when they all heard the stinging barb. As soon as they got to their feet, they immediately took stock on just who insulted them. Lance snorted as he gazed at the aged woman.

 

“Look who's talking, I don't know what chip you got on your shoulder about men, old lady. But don't let the fact that you're old give you the excuse to insult someone you just met."

 

Brandon and Scott sighed as they prepared for what reaction the old captain would give.

 

-----------------

 

Later…

 

Brandon and his siblings were now locked in another cell with energy bars, this time in the women's ship as they regained consciousness.

 

“Okay… that wasn't an entirely good idea." Lance said as he fingered the floor.

 

“True, but you had a point." Brandon said as he looked around the new cell. Scott nodded silently as he gazed, then noted that they weren't alone, as he spotted two certain individuals were nearby who didn't make it into the escape pods.

 

“Hello Third-class citizens." Duero and Dylan greeted.

 

Brandon smirked a bit. “You can drop the act on calling us Third-class citizens now, so what are your names?"

 

“My name's Duero, Duero McFile."

 

“My name's Dylan, Dylan Krueger. And you three are?"

 

“My name's Brandon, Brandon Reinhart. These are my younger brothers…"

 

“Scott Reinhart." Scott gave a slight smile as he nodded to the young Tarak native.

 

“Lance Reinhart." Lance said in confirmation as he extended his hand in a gesture of a handshake. Duero accepted the handshake from Lance, and then from Scott and from Brandon. The tree brothers then shook Max's hand.

 

“Reinhart… I've never heard of that name before. But you seem to be different somehow; I knew that as I studied you during the inauguration ceremony of the Vanguards." Dylan said as he gazed at the three men like his friend.

 

Duero thought deeply then resumed speaking. “You three aren't like any third-class citizens we've ever seen before… that is if you really are citizens of our home-planet." The young doctor remarked. “You all were able to evade the guards and beat them aside as if they weren't even there. I was under the impression that only the elite were ever trained on how to fight with such deadly hand-to-hand combat skills, evasion tactics, and weapons mastery."

 

Scott smirked. “We've been training since we were still kids, and we've had some real good teachers."

 

“I see, and exactly how did the three of you manage to sneak onboard the ship past all the security?" Dylan asked with a curious eye.

 

“We did a lot of checking on the security systems on the ship, and it wasn't hard to find loop-holes in certain areas of the ship's onboard systems. We've actually been…"

 

Brandon broke in before his younger sibling could finish. “I think that should give you your answers. We've been well trained on how to sneak into well-guarded places so much it became second nature."

 

“I see… though we think that you're still hiding something from us, what you've said should help us picture how you all sneaked in here. Your movements at the ceremony were well coordinated and you all showed extensive physical training. When the women brought you all here, you were all still unconscious, so we decided to examine you three. Don't get alarmed, all we did was check your basic vital signs, you all have good heart rate, and breathing, and you all are in excellent physical condition, just totally opposite from what's expected from third-class citizens. If it weren't for your ID tags, we would have pegged the three of you being from the elite top one percent elite combat divisions." Duero said with Dylan showing his agreement with his best friend.

 

“Man, you're sharp… doctors." Lance said with a smile as he recognized the medical symbol on the young men's trenchcoats.

 

“So, care to tell me on how you all learned those skills?" Duero asked.

 

“Sorry doc, but that's data we don't planning on sharing.” < At least not yet. > The brothers thought together.

 

It was then that their gazes turned to the robot Lance had with him, it was lying nearby and showed static on its monitor. Then it began to quiver and shake, and then sprouted metal arms and legs. Its screen came online and displayed a pair of large eyes. The thing stood up and looked around for a while, and scratched it's head in puzzlement and confusion.

 

“Where am I? Who am I?"

 

“You seem to have changed quite a bit." Brandon commented.

 

The machine looked at them in puzzlement.

 

The three brothers sighed as they decided to check on something important. They sat in cross-legged positions and began to concentrate.

 

-----------------

 

As the two ships continued to reformat themselves, the pirate crew did their best to halt the changes, but with little or no success. Before long, every circuit board, cable relay and mechanism of the pirate vessel and the Ikazuchi were totally flooded with crystals. In effect, the engines were totally offline and so were most of the major systems.

 

In the engineering section, Parfet and her crew did their best to determine the extent of the damages; unfortunately they had no starting point to begin their search. As Parfait ordered her teams to begin inserting Linestar Particles into the main relays to determine the full extent of the systems and gain control, they didn't take the time to explore a hidden section of the colony vessel. Which was only three blocks away from the reactor room and led to another hidden launch port. Inside they would have found a massive number of strange beast-like machines, foremost of all were three armored cat-like mecha with unique armor components in various sections, that began to growl silently as they received their masters' psychic signals.

 

-----------------

 

<“Zarreke. Are you well?" > Brandon asked his partner

 

< “I'm still in perfect operational status, but I feel different somehow." >

 

< “I feel a bit different also Scott, as if my systems were boosted by some waves of unknown energy." > Rikera said to his own comrade.

 

< “You don't seem to be damaged at all Rikera, but you seem to have been altered somehow." > Scott answered as he mentally checked up his partner.

 

< " Kail, are you also okay?" > Lance asked his Zoid.

 

< " Yeah, but I feel as if I'm stronger than ever." >

 

The three brothers nodded in agreement. Something happened that somehow altered the power and performance of their Ligers, it didn't endanger their systems and motor functions, but seemed to be totally beneficial. They then checked themselves and found their bodies to be also altered, in terms of their already formidable physical skills and energy wielding abilities. It wasn't life threatening so they decided to let it pass. They now focused on what they should do now.

 

-----------------

 

In the depths of the old Ikazuchi, a panel opened up at the base of a crystal covered statue. Out crept the coward Bart, who had been in hiding all throughout what had occurred before and after the explosion. As he looked about in the desire to know what had happened to the ship, a shiver ran down his spine as he knew that he was in BIG trouble. As he moved around a piece of crystallized bulkhead gave way, narrowly crushing the young cadet, he let out a scream and fell hard on his rear.

 

“Damn it! This ISN'T funny!"

 

It was then that he looked up and saw that he had been discovered. A certain Dread Squadron Leader was standing in front of him and aiming her laser-ring at him, and her thumb was only a millimeter from the firing stud.

 

“Uh…hi.”

 

-----------------

 

In the decontamination rooms…

 

“Paiway! Let us out of here! It's freezing cold!" Barnette shouted as she continued to pound on the glass as she and four others were being treated with douses of cold water. They were in their undergarments (Wolfish whistles!) and were now in the danger of being infected by the worst case of pneumonia anybody ever got.

 

However, the young nurse in question sat at her desk and shook her head. She wasn't letting them out until all the nasty germs were gone.

 

-----------------

 

Later…

 

Magno made the decision to interrogate the prisoners and had ordered them all to be brought to the interrogation room, which was now in the old section of the Ikazuchi. Brandon and his siblings decided not to make any moves against their female captors as they; Duero and Dylan escorted under heavy guard along with BC in tow. They weren't concerned with their bonds that were placed on them by the women, they were no better than those used by the men and it would be no trouble for them to break free. The weapons trained on them won't make much in terms of difficulty. They could tell that the women behind them had good combat skills, but were not up to their level of expertise.

 

No, this lack of resistance was for the gathering of information, such as to where in the new universe were they, and what just happened to the whole ship. They had noted the changes that the Paeksis had made, and the changes were similar to what had happened to their Ligers. And it would be a chance to learn about the women's way of living, having been on Tarak for a month and not heeding or believing the propaganda films shown on the desert world, that had made them deeply curious as to how the women lived on their home-planet. Walking or rather jumping along with them was the NAVI robot.

 

As they, Duero and Max entered the interrogation room, they saw that they weren't the only prisoners, as another man was there and was also in the proverbial hot seat. As soon as they saw him, Brandon, Scott, and Lance categorized him to be a total non-combatant. He showed that he had no combat experience period. And the way he trembled made him look very pathetic.

 

As the four sat down, the doors opened up and in walked the Captain of the pirates.

 

< Great! It's the same old woman again; I wonder what she'll say this time? > Lance thought.

 

Magno gave each man a once over and gave a snort. '' So these are the only men onboard? They're all a bunch of kids." She then gave Lance a stern yet vaguely curious glare. There was something about the young one along with his comrades, she didn't know why, but their way of behavior didn't seem to be in place of their fellow companions.

 

“Hey it's interrogation time! I'll tell you everything!" The little robot began hopping around the old woman. It was already evident who's side it took.

 

The pirate captain looked down and smirked. “Well, how nostalgic! A NAVI robot and this one's still in working condition."

 

“I'm afraid I don't follow." Duero said.

 

“I thought that this ship belonged to us, the men." Dylan answered as he was curious as to how this older woman knew about this machine.

 

Magno gave a snort and addressed them all. “I'll have you know that this entire vessel was actually one of a fleet of colony ships that were sent from a planet Earth to colonize other worlds. This happened long before your own fathers were even born, however your cowardly grandfathers stole this segment and fled into the dead of night."

 

The robot nodded as it continued with the explanations. “They overhauled the section and added residential areas."

 

Magno nodded. “That's right. We're just taking possession of it again. So technically speaking, this ship belongs to us. Now the big question is, what are we going to do with the six of you?" She licked her lips as she said. “Perhaps we should just roast you over a slow fire. I always did like my men's innards medium rare."

 

This made Bart recoil back and nearly piss in his pants, but Brandon and his brothers along with Duero and Max, remained calm. The doctors had been trained to always keep their focus. But for Lance he had grown tired and disgusted by this useless banter.

 

“Quit pulling my leg old one. Just what are you talking about?"

 

Bart looked at Lance with disbelieving eyes. “Don't you see? She's going to cook us and eat our livers!"

 

Scott snorted as well. “Let me ask you something. Have you guys EVER seen a woman in the flesh before? She doesn't fit any profile of a cannibal or monster as far as I can see."

 

“Are you two insane?! All men of Tarak know that women are monsters!"

 

Brandon gave a disgusted look. “Well, here's a little tidbit of data you'll find interesting. My brothers and I were never born on Tarak, which means that in simple terms, we're not from your planet."

This announcement got Magno's attention and that of the others and she began to feel intrigued by the three men in front of her.

 

“Really now? If you three are not from Tarak, then why do you have Third-class citizen ID tags?"

 

Brandon snorted as he looked Magno in the eye. “When our vessel landed on Tarak, the transport was so badly damaged that it would never fly again. So we decided to hack into the planetary database and established false citizen data and forged these false ID tags, while we searched for a way out of the planet. Once we found out about the Ikazuchi we decided to use that as a springboard to escape into space once more. When the time came for it's deployment we decided to board it unofficially and move on… until you and your pirates showed up."

 

Scott smiled a bit. “Plus that, we've been downloading data from the Ikazuchi and determined both the history of Tarak and Mejele, and believe me when we say that you all have really odd history."

 

“Oh? What do you mean by that?" Magno asked.

 

“Okay then, let's review what the data archives had on it. When the colonial fleet left Earth, which I take is the world of your ancestors, the ships were separated and the rest were able to establish other civilizations. But on the case of the Ikazuchi, you all had a crew of sixteen, both men and women."

 

Brandon took over. “Now for reasons we don't know why, the crew got into one really bitter argument and decided to have nothing to do with one another. The men took this section of the colony ship, while the women took the other. Both sections landed on two different planets. Your ancestors landed on a resource rich planet with the more technological section and were able to prosper."

 

He then talked to Duero, Max and Bart. “While your ancestors took the less technological section and landed on the sterile world, and had to rely on innate survival instinct and what they brought with them and in time they also prospered, though slowly. Thus both the women dominated planet of Megele was born and the male dominated planet of Tarak was born."

 

Lance then took over. “Now on this war between your cultures, since this has been going on for some time. Since the time of both cultures, they pretty much isolated one another and had no solid contact for what… a hundred years? Since that time it's natural to assume that both cultures would spread myths and rumors about the opposite gender. And in order to maintain the said fear and hatred of the other gender, then the government would make propaganda films and horror stories."

 

Brandon also began to smile. “Not only that, you've all got some real weird rumors about men. You women think we men carry diseases, while in the case of the men, they think you women are monsters and you eat their livers. And from what I've seen you used that fear well, with those formless spacesuits and scary masks, they help give your crew a good psychological edge when fighting."

 

Lance laughed a bit loudly at that. “Those rumors have got to be the worst lies and garbage my brothers and me have ever heard of. What kind of oddball information agency did you all have on the planets you lived in anyway?"

 

-----------------

 

Elsewhere…

 

Dita and Ezra enjoyed looking at the void of stars via viewscreen while being in the newly formed Bio-Garden.

 

“We all heard that the Paeksis was a source of immense power, but we never knew it could do this! And we never knew that it could send us to a new galaxy!" the gentle woman exclaimed.

 

“It's the power of the aliens Ezra!" Dita sighed with a blissful expression as she admired the garden alongside the gentle bridge officer. “I wonder whether I'll be transformed also if I'm abducted?"

 

She then turned to see Ezra, breathing a bit harder than before.

 

“Ezra, are you all right?"

 

“I'm fine Dita; I just remembered the others at the hideout."

 

“I know, we all left the veterans back at the base before we left."

 

Dita looked out in the stars and became excited as she spotted something coming. “Look at that Ezra!”

 

Ezra looked through her special camera and detected several objects approaching the ship in high speed. “What are those things?"

 

Dita came in with a glazed starry eyed look coupled with cat ears as certain images of little green men and floating discs came into mind. “Don't you know Ezra, those are MORE aliens!"

 

-----------------

 

Back at the interrogation chamber…

 

Magno's eyes narrowed and BC became quite tense; their expressions told the three Reinhart siblings that they hit the target dead center.

 

“You can call us wrong, since the data in the ship's data banks are rather old and most of what we've said is merely guess work."

 

Duero nodded. “Are you part of the elite? Only the elite had records of the past, and no one else could possibly have them." Dylan nodded in agreement as he too knew that no one other than the elite could ever have records of the past. The brothers then considered the facts… could these three men really be from another world? And if that was true… then they may be correct in their explanations on how they got in the Ikazuchi.

 

Magno remained silent for a moment then gave Brandon and his siblings a simple smile. “You three are very good to have figured everything out. Now I'll ask you a question. What are you're names?"

 

“Brandon Reinhart."

 

“Scott Reinhart."

 

“Lance Reinhart."

 

“Well, Brandon, Scott, Lance… the three of you are very interesting."

 

The brothers smiled a bit. “Oh believe us captain; we're a LOT more interesting than that."

 

“So, care to tell me where you all really came from?"

 

It was then that the whole ship shuddered from an impact from the outside. The alarms blared out as the bridge crew called in and announced that they were under attack.

 

-----------------

 

“CAPTAIN! We're being attacked by an unknown enemy force that came out of nowhere!" Parfet declared as she checked out the systems of the fused ship.

 

“Can you move the ship?' Magno asked over the communication networks.

 

“Sorry, but the engines are still offline! And the auto-defensive systems are just barely repelling the attacks."

 

Magno immediately switched to the Dread crews and the launch areas. “Barnette!"

 

-----------------

 

“Paiway has us all locked in the decontamination chambers! We can't get out!"

 

-----------------

 

“The main Dread platforms are also offline! We can't launch any fighters!" Gascogne reported as she and her staff tried their best to get the ship online.

 

-----------------

 

The only good news came from Meia as she, Dita, and Jura ran towards their Dreads, which were still in the Paeksis reactor room. However, as they got to their Dreads, they stopped and gasped.

 

Within the room were their fighters, but each had taken new configurations after being engulfed by the Paeksis.

 

“Are those… ours?" Jura asked as she gazed in awe at her Dread.

 

“WOW!" Dita gasped.

 

Meia paused in awe for a moment, but immediately ran to her fighter and got onboard. The other Dread pilots followed their leader and checked out their systems.

 

Inside her Dread, Meia nodded in approval. “Looks like the systems haven't been changed much. How about the two of you?"

 

“I think mine will fly." Jura replied via her comlink.

 

“They must have been powered up!" Dita responded with joy in her voice. “This is so exciting!"

 

“Don't try to take on all of them alone!" Meia warned as she lifted her ship off the floor and flew in the direction of the hanger followed by Jura and Dita. They soon arrived in the void of space, and were immediately greeted by the… enemy.

 

------------------

 

The attacking vessels were unlike any type of ship the women pirates were aware of. Small fighter craft the resembled odd-shaped octopus types unleashed a barrage of laser and cannon bolts at the fused vessels and their trio of defenders. Some distance away was the enemy alien mothership, which resembled a large seed. Once in a while it's maw opened and it would release twin cubes, which immediately broke apart into even more fighters. It seemed that for every fighter the Dreads took out three to four more would arrive to take their fallen comrade's place. It wasn't long before the Dreads found themselves outnumbered.

 

-----------------

 

“Excuse me please! We're really a peaceful race!" Dita cried out as she made her craft dodge the barrage of incoming fire from the unknown alien machines.

 

“Dita! These are our enemies! This no time to act like this a social gathering!" Jura scolded, she then began to wonder why Dita's flying skills had improved so dramatically. She had just pulled of a complex evasion pattern.

 

As soon as she took down another alien fighter, Meia noticed that her ship's response time was far better then before. “The controls have been altered somewhat." She winced as she suffered a hit on the stern. “Who or what are these things? Are they really aliens?"

 

“Well, the one thing I'm sure of is they're definitely not men." Jura assured.

 

“No kidding! They're really BAD aliens!" Dita screamed.

 

-----------------

 

Bart gasped as he was led towards the transformed bridge which consisted of two comm stations with two other stations for data gathering and what appeared to be some sort of pool filled with green-blue fluid which extended outward. He had managed to weasel his way out of the possibility of being shot by claiming to be a helmsman for the ship, and his two other Tarak companions were already chosen as medical officers by the Captain, and they were running to the medical bay to treat their patient. The three other men were to be sent to a cargo bay for later questioning.

 

“So can you operate it?" Magno asked.

 

Bart walked forward and looked down at the glowing blue-green liquid. “You have got to be kidding!" As he walked away in fear.

 

“Are you saying you don't know how to operate it?" Magno then glared at the young man, she was beginning to think that she had made a mistake by trusting the blond coward.

 

“No! It's not that! It's just that this has been one of our military's best kept secret weapons!" He moved cautiously and extended one leg toward the pool, then let out a scream as the liquid came alive and grasped his leg with a tentacle to grab his leg and pull him in.

 

Both Magno and the robot stared with wide eyes.

 

“That's some secret weapon." The old woman breathed.

 

“He doesn't know how to operate it, does he?" The robot said.

 

-----------------

 

Inside the gel, Bart found himself buck-naked and in what appeared to be a virtual reality representation of the outside environment. All of a sudden, he saw the images of the battle being waged by the Dreads and the unknown forces and he reacted with his natural streak of cowardice.

 

“NO! GET AWAY!"

 

As he thrashed about, the entire ship thrashed in unison with the cadet's body movements, catching everyone onboard off-guard.

 

“Well what do you know? The ship moved!" Magno commented.

 

It was on that same time that engines came to life as Bart used the oldest tactic in the book, retreat.

 

However, the alien mothership had no intention of losing its target that easily; it followed them while unleashing even more fighters.

 

-----------------

 

Down in the cargo bay areas, Brandon and his siblings were left standing in an unused area as Buzam and a subordinate kept watch over the three of them.

 

“You three should be safe down here. This portion of the ship hasn't been used, and it would be too much trouble to keep the three of you in the brig at this point."

 

“We understand, though it's better that you let us go out and fight." Scott said as he looked out a nearby porthole.

 

BC looked a bit surprised at them. “You three want to fight? Against who? The enemy outside or us women… No I think that it would be better that you help out, just as your fellow men are helping out and risking their lives. How do you three plan on helping?"

 

Brandon shrugged a bit. “We don't exactly have a clue yet. But I do need to ask you one good question… BC right?"

 

“Yes, what question is that?"

 

“What's your reason to fight?"

 

“My reason? I decided long ago that when I joined the pirates that no matter how things work out I'll always fight for my comrades, and for my own survival. I made that decision and I am ready to live with the consequences. That's my reason."

 

“I see. Do us a favor. My brothers and I will discuss what we'll do. When we've made up our minds, we'll send you a call, so you can leave us here, you however can be assured that we won't leave the ship, since we don't have anywhere to go anyway."

 

Buzam looked at Brandon and then to Scott and Lance. This normally would not suit well with her to leave prisoners behind, but she understood that they had nowhere to go anyway, so why stop them?

 

“Fine, you're going to be alone here." BC said as she walked to the exit and motioned for her subordinate to follow her.

 

“But what about them?"

 

BC shrugged. “Leave them. They'll stay here to decide what they'll do. There isn't any place for them to go anyway, like they said. Not there isn't any place for us to go also."

 

-----------------

 

Out in space, the Dreads were slowly being overwhelmed by the increasing numbers of alien fighters and the ship itself was taking a strong pummeling from it's pursuers. In the sick bay, Duero decided that since the medical facilities were still offline, then he and Max would have to do things THEIR way. That made the female aiding them VERY nervous as she whipped out her communicator and called in desperation for Paiway.

 

Speaking of whom, in the decontamination rooms, which were now flooded, the apprentice nurse, began screaming for all of them to stop getting hurt.

 

The ship ran for it's life like the small fish being chased by the bigger fish, but the alien mothership closed the gap even more.

 

-----------------

 

Back in the storage bays…

 

“What do you guys think?"

 

“I think that we should help them, it doesn't matter what they think about men in general."

 

“I agree, they aren't just going to last with three Dreads out there."

 

Brandon looked at his siblings and smiled at their stern expressions. Mom would be proud of them, and she would understand that they can't ever turn their backs on those who needed help, whether accepted or not. Though they wanted to find their mother badly, they were taught by her and their father, that no matter what, they could never turn their backs on others.

 

“Good, I think we should make a call." Brandon then moved up and reached for a communicator.

 

-----------------

 

“We're going to fight, Captain." Brandon said simply as he got in touch with the bridge through the communication systems.

 

“What did you say?" Magno asked.

 

“Those three Dreads aren't going to hold the line at the rate the enemy keeps going at it, right? My brothers and I intend to lend them a hand."

 

BC strode forward. “Before that, I want to ask you something Brandon. What's your reason to help us?"

 

Brandon smiled at that. “You don't need a reason to help people in need. You just help them. That is what you could call our incentive." Scott and Lance nodded in agreement.

 

Magno smiled a bit, and then decided to ask them how they intended to help. “Are the three of you… pilots? Can you three pilot those Vanguards?"

 

“Those hunks of junk? No."

 

“If you three aren't Vanguard pilots, then how do you all expect to fight, can you fly Dreads?"

 

“We're pilots all right, but we don't pilot Vanguards or Dreads. Besides, we haven't been in a Dread, how do you expect us to be Dread pilots?"

 

“Then what will you use to fight?"

 

“We've stowed our own personal machines in the Ikazuchi. All we need now is the go signal from you, Captain."

 

Magno looked at them, and could see the seriousness in their eyes. Though she had no idea what these strangers have in mind, she had no other choice at this point. She nodded to BC to release them from the manacles on their wrists. Just as the first officer was about to press the button…

 

“No need for that." Brandon said as he showed a pair of crushed restraints in his hands, so did Scott and Lance. They all had broken free already; they tossed the ruined pieces over their shoulders. They then asked. “Do we have your approval?"

 

“You have it, but you might have to tell me what kind of machines you plan to use."

 

“Don't worry, it's a guaranteed surprise."

 

-----------------

 

Brandon and his brothers got into the secret section and entered their Ligers and began to power up the systems.

 

“Sorry we're late Zarreke, we had to gain a little bit of time for you all to get into combat armor. Are you all ready?"

 

RRRRROOOOOAAARRR! < “Yes it's ready.” >

 

“Okay then, Guys. Let's go!"

 

“Roger that!" Scott and Lance said as Kail and Rikera roared in unison. Both pilots and their Zoids were now ready for battle, as they reached the launch platform, the robotic assembly arms near them got ready to launch.

 

Brandon got into contact with the bridge and he called the crew.

 

“We're all ready to go!”

 

“Understood, you boys had better be ready.”

 

The section the three brothers had intended to steal had also been reformatted into a multiple system base, supply storage, weapons deck, training simulation deck, storage for spare Zoid parts, and a launching deck reserved for their Ligers and other Zoid types.

 

“HERE WE GO!"

 

-----------------

 

“Reinforcements? Who is it?" Meia asked as she and her wing mates had been in formed by the Captain that help was on the way, which was sorely needed as the number of alien fighters came in the number of at least six dozen.

 

“The unpredictable ones."

 

“Huh?"

 

It was then that three massive glowing white comets came streaking out of the ship in unison, heading for the battlefield.

 

“She's referring to us." Lance said as the images of him and his older siblings came on the screen.

 

“IT'S MR. ALIEN AND THE OTHER MR. ALIENS!" Dita cried out happily.

 

“They're our reinforcements?!"

 

-------------------

 

The pirates were astonished, as the images of the three mecha came into view…One thing was for sure…They were NOT Vanguards

 

The machines were unlike anything they had ever seen before. They resembled massive beast-like mecha, totally unlike the Vanguards of the Tarak men. The machines were shaped like big predatory cats, their claws glowed with deep golden light, and they were decked in sections of white armor, and on each creature were pods that no doubt carried projectile weapons along with what appeared to be boosters on the back. One had blue eyes, another had deep emerald green eyes, and the last had violet eyes. But what was most amazing to see, was the creatures running in deep space as if they were on land.

 

“STRIKE LASER CLAW!" the three men shouted, as their machines leaped in the void of space and slashed several enemy fighters in unison. The fighters blew apart, giving a glowing backdrop to the beasts as they gave one primal roar of challenge that filled the void of space as their eyes glowed fiercely.

 

“RRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!"

 

Magno looked on in awe along with the rest of her crew. “What the heck are those…?”

 

-----------------

 

“Waaaaahhhhh!" Dita cried out as three fighters managed to close in and threaten to ram her Dread. However, two rail gun bolts hit two of the fighters and the last seemed to explode. She opened her eyes and found the last one inside the teeth of one of the white armored creatures that were beside her Dread.

 

Her communications screen came online as Lance's face appeared. “Are you all right?"

 

“Mr. Alien!"

 

“Will you please stop calling me Mr. Alien? My name's Lance." Lance replied in annoyance as Kail released the mangled fighter from its mouth.

 

“I think the name's kind of nice, don't you think?" Scott said in humor as he and Rikera focused on their enemies while unleashing a barrage of laser rounds, taking down more alien fighters.

 

“What are you getting at brother?!"

 

“Can it guys, time to take the fight to them." Brandon ordered as he and Zarreke charged into the fray, unleashing a barrage of laser bolts.

 

“We're on it!" Scott and Lance shouted as they and their Ligers rushed into battle, leaving behind the Dreads and their pilots.

 

The Ligers immediately smashed into the morass of alien fights, Brandon, Scott, and Lance began pulling intricate battle maneuvers that defied the laws of Zoid combat as the gravity actuators installed in their Zoids' bodies granted them an unbelievable edge in battle. Running around in angles all over the place and leaping in amazing movements, they were able to decimate the alien fighters with minimum difficulty with claw attacks and slashes and teeth, along with laser bolts and rail gun rounds. They activated their power boosters and cut down even more fighters as they nimbly dodged each and every attack thrown at them by their latest opponents and responded in kind with laser claw swipes and bites. Coupled with the Organoid systems in their transformed Ligers and their own latent combat skills, the three Reinhart brothers were having a ball slaughtering the alien fighters. The alien forces were now reduced to a mere three dozen as the Ligers and their pilots faced the alien mothership, with a series of growls, daring the aliens to make their move as they were in the backdrop of debris of at least three dozen of the alien fighters.

 

-----------------

 

Back at the Bridge…

 

Buzam was in shock. “Impossible! What kind of machines are those?!"

 

Magno looked on in awe and was totally speechless. She had to admit one thing. Brandon was right, he and his brothers were a LOT more interesting than she knew, and their machines were indeed a surprise.

 

-----------------

 

Out in space onboard three certain Dreads…

 

“They're so… elegant!" Jura said with a great degree of appreciation as she eyed longingly the three Ligers, and began imagining her piloting one of those mecha.

 

“YAY TO THE GOOD ALIENS!!!" Dita cheered.

 

Meia said nothing as she took witness of the Ultimate X Zoids in battle. But if the pirate crew and the men thought that was all the machines and their pilots were capable of doing… they were wrong.

 

-----------------

 

The alien ship responded the challenge by unleashing even more cubes that broke into fighters, as if had made the right conclusion that the new units were the main threats. The void of space was now filled by three dozen more fighters. However that meant more targets for the Zoid pilots to destroy.

 

Brandon ordered the change of armor. “ZARREKE! SWITCH STANDARD ARMOR AND MOBILIZE YAGER ARMOR!"

 

His brothers followed suit.

 

“RIKERA! SWITCH STANDARD ARMOR AND MOBILIZE SCHNEIDER ARMOR!"

 

“KAIL! SWITCH STANDARD ARMOR AND MOBILIZE PANZER ARMOR!

 

The three Ligers were bathed in a corona of blue light as they stood sentinel and then the light faded as the three Ligers were now decked in their masters' specialty armor.

 

Brandon's Liger's white armor was replaced by sections of blue armor and trimmed with white. The armor appeared similar to the standard armor but was more designed for speed and for mobility. On the back were two high output Ion Booster Thrusters, but the armor had been changed a bit to actually have the Boosters turned into enhanced Charged Ion Booster Thrusters. And the gun pods in the front were upgraded to have two extra gun pods and the rapid laser cannons were fused along with the armor, and the armor seemed to have gained extra power, no doubt from the event that triggered the power wave release. The newly transformed Liger roared in primal anger and waited for the alien forces to attack.

 

Scott's Liger's own standard armor was replaced by slightly bulkier sections of crimson armor and trimmed with blue. The armor was an opposite of Brandon's specialist armor but had at least several high output thrusters, though these were not in the caliber of the Yager Charged Ion Boosters. There were five specially made blades near the head armor section and four others on special pods on the back of the newly transformed Liger. But when closely inspected the blades had changed from their usually blue color to a deep emerald green hue and were thicker and sharper than before and they glowed with a light green hue as well. Scott had added the two extra blades into the Schnieder armor to add extra power to the system's specialty in close range battle while adding his own Gatling laser guns to the armor. The new Liger gave a threatening growl of it's own to it's enemies.

 

Lance's Liger's standard armor was replaced with several powerful sections of heavy high tensile strength green metal armor and what appeared to be two double barreled cannons known as Hybrid Cannons on the back, along with those were a massive number of missile pods in the legs and sides. The armor had been originally bulky and overweight, but Lance had made special changes to his own special armor, which reduced the weight and allowed the Liger to still fight with it's Strike Laser claws without losing the armor's high defensive output. But he also installed a specially designed cooling system, and with the gravity actuator units in Kail made Lance's own Ultimate X Liger capable of fighting without the fear of overheating. And the Hybrid Cannons were given an unlimited power load to continuos fire and were aided by the three rail guns, and the missile pods were also altered to not run out of ordinance. The new Liger growled in challenge to the newly added alien fighters.

 

The battle locked on once more and this time as the machines and the transformed Ligers charged into battle.

 

Brandon activated the Boosters and the Liger excelled its speed to great levels, he charged straight to the very cloud of the first group of alien fighters with the wings providing balance as Brandon activated the gun pods and rained rounds at the incoming alien attackers. The Liger's Ion Boosters suddenly glowed as particles began to concentrate into the thrusters' intakes along with more glowing lines on the armor.

“I think it's time for a real dash! SONIC WAVE!"

 

The Liger growled as the thrusters suddenly opened a lot wider as a massive wave of charged ion particles followed the Liger's path and on the outlines of the Liger's armor. Zarreke burst right through the cloud of alien fighters and the fighters were incinerated by the waves following the Liger as the ions melted their armor and fried their circuits.

 

Brandon directed Zarreke to the next cloud of alien fighters and easily evaded the incoming barrage of laser bolts. He then activated his Zoid's laser claws, and dived in.

 

“LASER CLAW BLITZ!"

 

The Liger lashed out with laser claw swipes that showed only flashes of light as it moved like a lightning bolt through the fighters. Once Brandon's Zoid passed through the mess, the fighters exploded into dissected pieces a moment later, with Zarreke growling in victory.

 

Scott took his turn as he activated the dual blades on the special back thrusters, two blades facing forward and the other two one the sides, and decimated a large group of alien fighters before they could even return fire. Then a line of fighters began unleashing a barrage of concentrated fire. Scott smiled as he retracted the blades on the sides and activated the ones on the head. Three blades appeared with the top most being longer than the ones on the sides of the face.

 

“BUSTER SLASH!"

 

The Liger smashed through the line of alien fighters like a hot knife through butter. Alien armor proved a futile defense as the three blades busted through the line of alien fighters and the power of the blades cut through even more fighters, ripping them to pieces.

 

More fighters came in as the aliens tried desperately to thwart Scott and his Liger's assault. Scott smiled as he activated the other blades and charged forward with all the blades at the ready. Two on the side and two facing forwards, with all the head blades extended.

 

“NINTH BLADE ASSAULT!"

 

The blades unleashed a lightning storm of energy, blade to blade and formed a blazing corona of power that covered the Liger from head to tail and from blade tip to blade tip on the sides. The alien fighters never had a chance as the Liger tore through them all without a single inch of difficulty. The Liger then retracted it's blades and gave a defiant roar as the area around it was littered with debris.

 

Lance took his turn as the aliens charged. He unleashed a barrage of rail gun rounds once he stopped and held on without leaving his position. Once the fighters were in a loose but grouped line after dodging the attacks, they began to fire volley after volley of laser bolts at him, but the armor held the attacks and just made the attacks bounce off without causing any damage. Lance smiled as he activated his own weapons in response… namely.

 

“My turn boys… HYBRID CANNONS!"

 

The cannons on the Liger's back absorbed a massive amount of outside particles and energy from it's power reactors and fired two large beams of destruction, that totally caught the alien fighters by surprise. The beams smashed into the alien forces and ionized them in a moment, including even those that managed to dodge the beams path only slightly, as the flow of energy is so strong that it catches anything within the vicinity; the remaining fighters were finished off by the automated rail guns.

 

The last group of surviving fighters banded together and attacked the last Liger from all sides and also kept their distance as they didn't want to be caught in the blasting areas of the Hybrid Cannons.

 

“Mr. Alien!" Dita cried as she watched the bad aliens bombard Lance and his Liger.

 

“Don't worry about Lance. He'll be fine." Brandon said as he got into contact with the young redhead. “Just watch."

 

Dita didn't want to watch, but she didn't stop either. Magno and those of her crew thought that the man and his machine were done for and so did the aliens. No one and nothing could survive such a barrage.

 

The fighters stopped and were greeted by the sight of the Liger being totally undamaged…

 

“WOW!" Dita said with wide starry eyes while every female on the pirate vessel and the men were shocked speechless.

 

“Heh! You boys are really going to get it now!" Lance shouted as combat panels appeared all over his cockpit and they immediately showed him all the alien fighters, with target sights on them.

 

“BURNING BIG BANG!"

 

The Liger released a strong barrage of light, and that was immediately followed by literally hundreds of micro and medium missiles that streamed out. The alien fighters were totally caught by surprise and so was their mothership as it narrowly covered its maw. The fighters were bombarded by the missiles and were decimated in a few moments after the missiles launched from the Liger's missile pods. The whole of space was lighted up by explosions and were covered in debris of the alien fighters and only the alien mothership was left with the Ligers advancing on it slowly like predators on a wounded and vulnerable target.

 

-----------------

 

“Amazing! Did you see that?!"

 

“Wow!"

 

“Incredible!" BC said as she watched as the battle was over in minutes, if she thought that the strange beast machines and their pilots were deadly in their standard armor… “They… wiped out the whole enemy force in a matter of five minutes! What are they?!"

 

Magno looked on with awe in her eyes, never uttering a word.

 

-----------------

 

The alien vessel opened it's maw once more and was about to unleash even more fighters, Lance growled a bit and retaliated.

 

“HYBRID CANNONS!"

 

The cannons once more unleashed their power, ionizing the cubes before they could be deployed and smashing into the alien vessel, but he was a bit surprised to find the alien mothership severely damaged but still in operational condition.

 

“That one's got some tough armor. I'll deal with him." Lance said as he and Kail moved in for the kill.

 

“Lance, hold it!" Brandon and Scott shouted in unison as they watched their youngest sibling charge off recklessly.

 

However, he wasn't alone as a certain Dread fighter followed him in.

 

“Dita! What are you doing?! Fall back!" Meia ordered as she saw the redhead charge in, following the green armored beast machine.

 

“Don't worry! This is nothing! Mr. Alien and the other Mr. Aliens can win! I just know it!"

 

-----------------

 

As Lance primed up his Hybrid Cannons for a real up close shot, Kail captured his attention.

 

< “Don't look now but we're being followed." >

 

Lance looked back and immediately recognized the Dread and saw Dita on his communication screen.

 

“No! Get out of here!"

 

The alien vessel took this chance as it launched it's own attack and unleashed a large group of metallic tendrils that struck Lance's Liger on the side. At almost the same time, Dita's Dread collided with his Liger headlong.

 

The alien vessel unleashed a high amount of explosive energy and caused both the Liger and the Dread to be covered in a bright explosion.

 

“DITA!" Meia cried.

 

“You…Idiot!" Jura said with tears nearly threatening to run down her eyes.

 

On the bridge of the pirate vessel, Magno lowered her head and said, “Well, I guess that even they couldn't give us a miracle to save us all."

 

BC nodded as she prepared to give the order to abandon ship. Then Brandon called in.

 

“If you think that we'll leave our brother and you should abandon the ship, then you're wrong to think of both, besides, it's entirely not over yet."

 

At that, the Navi robot let out a beep and pointed excitedly to the main screen. Something massive was coming out from the center of the explosion.

 

-----------------

 

It was… big. The new mecha was at least five stories high. It seemed like Lance's Liger in the Panzer armor, but it was more massive in size and was in blue colored armor, with green trim and crystals imbedded in various areas of the armor. There were four cannon barrels on the back and mounted on the sides were what appeared to be crystal beam blades. On each leg of the enhanced Liger were larger laser claws and glowed with a fierce blue-green light. The mecha looked menacing enough to rip a planet to shreds with it's advanced arsenal. What everyone was witnessing was the perfect fusion between Zoid and Dread Fighter… The ZoidDread! (*)

 

“Well I'll be!" Brandon said as he looked in awe at his brother's and the redhead's fused machines.

 

“Now THAT'S impressive!" Scott said as he gazed at the new mecha.

 

Rikera and Zarreke roared their own agreement as they witnessed their companion Ultimate X's new fusion with the girl's machine.

 

“What is THAT? Is this another secret weapon?!" Magno asked, as her eyes were wide at the sight.

 

“Is this… a real miracle?" Buzam wondered.

 

-----------------

 

The huge beast machine dove towards the alien vessel. Several smaller attack drones were released by the mothership in an attempt to stop it, but the drones were easily swatted aside like annoying gnats as the cannons became massive beam blades and cut anything they came into contact with. The ship then tried to seal itself in, but the new mecha just tore it open with the beam blades and held the ship's maw open with it's claws. Then the mammoth cannons that had became blades retracted and became a massive set of four cannons, pointing forward. The power cannons glowed with a fierce light as they powered up and then unleashed a blast of destructive energy that dwarfed the Hybrid Cannons at least ten times. The energy caused the back of the alien vessel to bulge outward before exploding. The mecha moved back and the alien ship exploded like a supernova. The sight awed pirate crew and men alike. When it was all over, all that was left of the alien vessel was a burnt out husk.

 

-----------------

 

Within the giant beast mecha, Lance breathed a sigh of relief, but he then noted something odd.

 

“Wait a minute! What kind of cockpit is this? This isn't my Liger's cockpit! Why is it also that there seems to be some weight on my legs? Kail! Where the heck are we now?"

 

< “I'm still here Lance, but as far as I can tell, something had allowed me to fuse with this machine called a Dread." >

 

Lance looked about and had to admit that the new cockpit was really different. He was sitting on a chair. He noted that his hands were on a pair of control interface pads of the newly formed machine of his Liger and that Dread, but then he looked and spotted that his hands were resting on another pair of hands. That was when he looked and found himself realizing just why he felt that there was someone in the cockpit with him!

 

< “My, who's the girl?" >

 

“I think her name's Dita. But I've got a better question, how did she get in here?"

 

“Hmm. I just KNEW that Mr. Alien and the other Mr. Aliens would protect us." Dita said in a happy yet half-sleepy voice as she leaned back on Lance and snuggled closer.

Lance had a really big sweatdrop on his head as he looked at his unexpected co-pilot.

 

“My, getting cozy with the redhead, aren't you brother?" Brandon said as his image appeared on the communication systems of the mecha, with him wearing a knowing smirk.

 

“What the heck are you getting at?!"

 

“They look real good together, I wonder what mom would say if she saw this?" Scott said as he checked in with his own smirk.

 

“Stop it you guys!"

 

-----------------

 

The pirate crew and the men all stood in the hanger bay as the gigantic ZoidDread came in for a landing with the other Ligers following it. Just as the ZoidDread was about to land, it reverted back to Dita's Dread fighter. As soon as it landed a section opened and out came a massive beam of light that reverted into Lance's Ultimate X Liger, still in it's Panzer armor. It landed, as it's other Liger counterparts also landed, causing a massive metallic clang. The beasts then reared back and unleashed a power-filled roar of triumph, making everyone rather nervous.

 

The pirates and the Tarak men watched as the cockpits opened and the three Zoid pilots leaped out of their machines and landed on the floor. The guards immediately reacted and raised their weapons and aimed at them, wary of these strange men and their machines, but shrank back as the Ligers suddenly growled and stepped forward threateningly.

 

“Zarreke!"

 

“Rikera!"

 

“Kail!"

 

The pirate captain and her crew looked surprised as the massive beasts obeyed their pilots and stopped advancing.

 

“Captain, you and your crew are better off if you lower your weapons. The Ligers don't like it if you draw weapons on us." Brandon said as he stepped forward, along with his brothers.

 

Magno nodded in agreement and ordered her crew to stand down, after what she had seen; making enemies of these unknown men would be proving dangerous… especially in front of these machines.

 

Brandon turned to the Ligers and spoke out. “Remember that these women aren't the enemy, so don't give them any trouble. You hear me Zarreke?"

 

The blue eyed Liger nodded as it growled a bit in compliance.

 

Scott turned to his partner. “Rikera, you do the same, and try not to bite anyone of them."

 

The green eyed Liger nodded and growled.

 

“Same thing to you also Kail." Lance said as he faced his Liger.

 

The violet eyed one nodded and growled as well.

 

The three Zoid pilots then turned to face the captain. “What do you plan to do now?"

 

Magno turned and ordered her security teams to escort the men. “Take them all back to their cell." The old woman ordered, and faced the three men. “I still don't know much about you three, so if you don't mind."

 

“No worries here. Let's go guys." Brandon said as he and his siblings walked to their cell, while being under heavy escort by the guards.

 

“Wait! Mr. Alien!" Dita cried as she rushed out after disembarking from her Dread. However, more guards blocked her way to Lance and his older siblings as they were being taken away. She gave a pleading look to Magno, but the old woman ignored it as she stared at the three machines in front of her, she then turned to Buzam and gave her an order. The first officer nodded in agreement and called in Parfet.

 

To be continued…

 

*************

 

Hi. Brandon here. Looks like we've really got the Megele pirates' attention with Zarreke, Rikera, and Kail. And it seems to be really a strange situation for my brothers and me along with all the females onboard. It seems that the whole ship's been really transformed along with our Ligers, like what happened to Lance and Kail. And for some reason, I can't seem to shake this odd feeling in my gut that we're now involved in something big.

 

You're telling them Brother. By the way, the pirates, namely that silver-haired one named BC, wants us to go look for some of their comrades who've been sent out on a retrieval mission to the wreck Lance totaled with the help of that cute redhead… what's her name…? Oh yeah, Dita. Hey… You think something's going to happen between them?

 

Who knows Scott, maybe…

 

Hey! Will you guys knock it off?! Next time on ZoidDread Chapter 3: The Journey home begins. See you all on the battlefield!

 

Author's notes:

 

This wraps up Chapter 1 of ZoidDread and now the Zoids are in action! This chapter's new so it still will need corrections. If anybody's got suggestions, then an e-mail is nice. The three brothers have their own combat skills and it shows in their use of the armor of their Ligers. Brandon's style is fast, precise, and critical. Scott's style is close range, savage, and totally instinctual, and Lance's style is more on the long range, bombard and suppress style.

 

(*) Think the Liger Zero In Panzer form, but with some beam blades, beam claws, and four massive cannons on the back, which can split open ala Berserk Fury style. And decked in massive armor from the Dread, for extra defensive protection. What? I am using ZOIDS after all, NOT Vanguards so things are going to be real different now!