Fan Fiction / Zoids Fan Fiction / Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ ZoidDread ❯ Combat Training ( Chapter 7 )

ZoidDread

 

Disclaimer: I hereby state that Zoids and VanDread don't belong to me, I am merely using them to tell a story.

 

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Chapter 6

 

Combat Training

 

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

 

A few days later…

 

The Nirvana was moving along on the stars, heading back to the home system where the male planet of Tarak and female planet of Megele were found. The vast majority of the Nirvana's crew were all female pirates…while a small group comprised of men, three from the planet f Tarak, but three other men from another dimension. The three men had already thrown a good number of loops on the women, namely when it was learned that they were very good cooks.

 

Now however, the women or rather a group of them would be under the command of the men in question should a ground operation be called upon to handle the missions that deal with terrestrial operations for the pirates. Naturally the idea of them being under the authority of men certainly didn't suit well with the women and now they were being assembled in a massive meeting hall on the still unexplored sections of the colony ship section.

 

They chatted and for the time being tried to forget how demeaning it would feel to be commanded by the men, even if the men in question were not from Tarak…all men were the same to them.

 

At least they were…

 

Dita walked up to her fellow women and listened to them while they were chatting. The redhead could tell from the mixture of uniforms, the women were from various groups on the pirates crew roster, some were from the security forces, others were from the Register, some were even from the Dread Squadrons. They were selected by both Magno, Gascogne, and Buzam, along with Brandon and his siblings to be the ground operations unit of the Nirvana.

 

After the disaster that happened a few days before, the pirate officers were pleased that Brandon and his brothers chose to be overall ground operation commanders of the pirates. The facts were that the three had far more combat experience on ground warfare and were every much capable leaders in their own right, plus they were willing to lead the pirates despite the dislike the women would have for them…being men. However they had asked for a few rules and the most surprising of all was the fact that they would not be using Vanguards. The officers wondered about that but since the three were very serious about their task, the older women nodded and allowed them to do as they wished for their ground forces' training.

 

Currently the three brothers were in the Conference Room chatting with the pirate officers as the Nirvana was moving over a nearby planet.

 

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

 

Conference Room…

 

“According to the scans there are no signs of human habitation on the planet, not even the seismic scans have picked up any underground facilities or hidden places…hard to imagine that such a planet that can be inhabited have no forms of human civilization.” BC reported as the group gazed on the view-screen on a planet they had uncovered recently.

 

“Anything else?”

 

“The planet's climate is temperate and has a few other climate and environmental types, namely plain, arctic, and desert. Rivers and oceans are present as well. There will be large amounts of plant and animal life, and the atmosphere is a mix of gases similar to that of Earth, so it can be able to support life...strange it was never colonized.”

 

Brandon nodded along with his siblings as they looked at the planet…it reminded them of Zi, their home-world very well, and it was ideal for what they had in mind.

 

“That planet will do just fine Captain, we'll have the training there.” Lance spoke out.

 

“Now?”

 

“Yes…better we get to the training phase and use what time we have to do it.” Brandon said calmly.

 

Gascogne then looked at all three brothers and asked a question.

 

“How long will it take for you to train them? You do realize that we are somewhat pressed for time.”

 

“We'll try and see how well they do for a few days, maybe a week or two, if they do well…then we'll expand the training to improve their skills. Normally we would need months or a year or more since Zoids don't exist in this dimension, and none of you're crew have any combat experience…so we will do what we can and hope it will be enough.” Scott replied as he was checking on a computer to evaluate the time constraints.

 

The pirate officers thought about it and realized that they could do little but allow the brothers to do what they could with the time given to them.

 

Magno then got up and smiled at the three brothers.

 

“Ready to meet you're trainees?”

 

Both brothers merely smiled and got up as Magno was accompanied by Buzam, and Gascogne.

 

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

 

In the section…

 

As the officers arrived, the females gathered in the area were directing their attention on them, not just because their Captain was among them along with the Commander and Supply Head…but their squadron Commanders.

 

Dita, who was now joined by Jura, Meia, and Barnette were nearby to watch the event. The redhead wanted to greet Mr. Alien and his brothers but decided against the idea since the Captain was there right now…and this was an important situation.

 

Magno smiled and looked at the assembled women. She calmed them down before they could complain with a gesture of silence.

 

“I know that many of you do not wish this to be happening, namely that you will be under the command of Brandon Reinhart and his siblings…because they are men. But they are now part of this crew, and have proven themselves to be very much qualified to lead you all as leaders of ground combat operations for this ship. As you're Captain, I am requesting that you follow their orders as if they were my own and this is for the betterment of us all as we journey back to Megele and Tarak. They are not from here, yet they are willing to help us in our journey, and this is the way they will help us make it through.”

 

She then turned and faced Brandon and his brothers.

 

“The floor is yours.”

 

As the brothers and the officers moved aside, the women then asked them sullenly and with resentment one very important question...at least in their minds.

 

“Do we get to paint the Vanguards we're going to pilot?”

 

The brothers looked at them with a curious eye…that is…a fake curious eye since they had intended for them to be brought here instead of the Vanguard Hanger since they had a surprise…one of the requests they had made to the Captain and her officers…who were right about one thing…they specialized in Zoid combat…so if they were going to be the leaders of a ground team…why not use the machines THEY were familiar with.

 

Brandon took this situation as their cue. He nodded to Lance and Scott to moved to a set of control panels.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

The women groaned and one of them…one of the security personnel named Mia Shani, a brunette with long hair and blue eyes spoke first. She was not in the mood for this and resented the idea of being under the command of men.

 

“What do we mean?! Do we get to color those drab and ugly Vanguards you're going to assign to us so they can at least look nice?!”

 

Brandon laughed a bit…making the women growl and wonder if he was mocking them, just to throw his weight around.

 

Barnette thought the same and was about to throw in her two cents, but both Jura and Meia stopped her, just in case she caused a disturbance.

 

As soon as he stopped and smiled…Brandon threw a bombshell at the assembled cadets.

 

“Who said you were going to be piloting Vanguards? My brothers and I don't pilot them, so why would we ask you to pilot them anyway?”

 

The women were stunned and somewhat wary. They didn't know just what Brandon was driving at, what sort of machines would they be piloting then? If not Dreads or Vanguards.

 

“So what are we supposed to pilot then?”

 

“Now that is the question I wanted to hear.”

 

Brandon them turned to his brothers who appeared to have finished their work on the computer monitors, and he signaled them to open a nearby door, a door wide enough to allow tow lines of people to walk through. Brandon then directed the women to form into two lines and then when that was over, the eldest brother then led them into the room of the unexplored section.

 

Scott and Lance then spoke to the remaining women, namely the four Dread pilots, the Captain, BC, and Gascogne.

 

“Care to join us?”

 

The women looked at one another and shrugged, though they were intrigued…just what kind of machines did Brandon and his siblings have in mind for the newly formed ground force to use if not Vanguards…it certainly could not be their own machines since the sentient Liger ZERO Zoids would not respond to anyone else except the three Zoid pilots.

 

As soon as they entered the room behind Scott and Lance, they found themselves on the rails of a large hanger…big enough to house quite a number of machines like their Dreads though they could only see the groups of women and the brothers as the railing was the only lighted area of the large hanger. They spotted Brandon turn and hold a control box in his hand.

 

“These will be what you will be piloting for the ground missions.” The eldest brother said as he turned on the lights to the rest of the still darkened room…revealing a massive number of machines that were unlike t\anything the women had ever seen before!

 

There was a myriad of various machines.

 

One type looked like a massive feline machine that was sleek, powerfully muscular, and deadly looking…and with impressive metallic teeth and claws, there were two large forward teeth on the sides of the mouth…making the machine look like a saber toothed cat from the stories they heard about earth's history. The machines was very impressive looking and it had an array of powerful looking cannons.

 

Another was also feline like in design…but was aerodynamically designed for speed and raw acceleration. The design seemed to be like that of the high speed land animal known back on Earth as a cheetah, it had powerful legs, a strong speed and rapid attack profile…on the back of each unit was a powerful engine system with two fins and a pair of deadly looking forward facing beam cannons.

 

Another feline design was the same as that of the Liger ZERO Zoids though only to some degrees as it seemed to be designed like a lion and seemed to be armed with effective but smaller and lighter weapons, along with it's teeth and claws.

 

Yet another feline design mirrored the Liger ZERO Zoids of the Reinhart siblings, but unlike the first seemed to be designed for close and medium range battles, it seemed to have a pair of folded energy emitting blades that had some similarities to the Strike Laser Claw systems on Zarreke, Rikera, and Kail. It also had cannons on it as well.

 

The next was more lupine in design, like a large wolf and it had several different types of the machines. It had large generators and boosters on the legs and back along with some rater powerful though light to medium class cannons. It seemed to follow the wolf design very well and seemed to be very capable either alone or in packs like real wolves.

 

Brandon grinned at the looks of shock and awe the women gave the Zoid units and then spoke out pointing to each Zoid Class.

 

“These are Zoids from our world…unlike the Zoids we pilot, they can be piloted by anyone with the right training and skills, and they are able to travel in space due to them having the same gravity actuator field generator systems installed in our own Zoids.”

 

He then showed images of the Zoid types to a nearby screen…starting with the saber tooth tiger form.

 

“This one is from the Guylos Empire, known as the Saber Fang. This unit us designed for powerful close range combat and long range as well due to it's combat design. It is fast and very deadly in the right hands. You can remove some of the basic weapons and install new ones on the Saber Fang if you wish, but we don't recommend you burden it too much.”

 

He then showed the cheetah type Zoid…

 

“The next one is a high speed attack unit also developed from the Guylos Empire…the Lightning Saix, it's Ion engine system and hologram technology make it a deadly and powerful high speed attacker, in the right hands, this unit will prove to be a very deadly foe…however only those with high tolerance to g-forces get to use this Zoid.”

 

He then showed the Lion type Zoid.

 

“This is similar to our Zoids but is designed for close to medium range combat and defense. The Shield Liger, which was designed by the Helic Republic, is armed with energy shield emitters that can deflect solid or beam type attacks, though not those of a very high caliber and grade. The Shield Liger is basic, but is strong enough to survive”

 

The next design came on the screen.

 

“This is the Blade Liger version…it was designed following the blue-prints of a hero of our world's own Zoid. It is armed with a set energy emitting blades that are folded to the sided and cane by released to spread out on the sides to slice apart a target, or positioned forward to stab a target in the chest. It's cannons will provide it with defensive and offensive ranged firepower. And both Shield and Blade Ligers have cannons installed in the tails.

 

The next and last design was the Wolf version.

 

“This is also from the Helic Republic and is known as the Command Wolf, it is a good Zoid alone, but works better in packs…like a real wolf pack would. There are three variants, the first is the basic Command Wolf, the next is the AC version and the last is the Desert version. The AC is armed with a more powerful cannon though it is slightly bulky and the Desert is designed for better operations in desert areas.”

 

Brandon then smiled as turned off the screen and directed the group to the descending elevator.

 

“Now then…pick you're Zoids and get ready for you're training. We're going to the planet below us to start you're training regime.”

 

The women…who had expected themselves to be piloting drab and ugly Vanguards were looking with awe at the possibilities of what to do with their Zoids once they picked them.

 

Magno, Buzam, and Gascogne were surprised greatly at the sight.

 

Dita was smiling like a cat, complete with starry eyed expressions and cat ears as she saw more alien machines!!!

 

Meia had to admit that these units…were impressive…better than the Vanguards were.

 

Jura and Barnette were in the same boat as both friends were looking at a pair of Saber Fangs.

 

Brandon and his siblings looked at the women as they ran up to look at the Zoids they would be piloting, they couldn't help but smile at the looks the women have. There were some other Zoid types that they had also stored, but for now, they would have to use these Zoids for their training in order to make sure that they got enough training to handle the other possible to use Zoid Types, namely the more dangerous and deadly versions.

 

All of them had been trained as officers and as pilots, just like their mother was, and they knew their general skills, along with their specialties, and each others as well…this made them a versatile strike team in most terms, now it was time to train the women pirates just how to pilot their new weapons effectively and with few mistakes…though their time-table would be short and options were limited, they were going to use whatever time they had to get this just right.

 

As soon as the women made their choices, the men gave them orders to get enough supplies, clothing and tools, and whatever they will be needing since they will be going into boot camp in the next few hours. As the groups of women left the hanger, Brandon ran through his checklist to see if they had all the gear needed for the training, he had planned this for a few days and although they were dealing with only bare essentials, he liked to have all his options available.

 

That was when he noted the interest being shown by Meia to one the Lightning Saix Zoids. He liked the Lightning Saix himself and had piloted one before…but he preferred his Liger all the same, and with his custom made Jaeger CAS, he knew his Ultimate X Liger would be able to go toe to toe with the Lightning Saix Zoid in a speed duel.

 

“Care to take a more close inspection of the Lightning Saix Meia?”

 

Meia broke her look from the cheetah type Zoid and shook her head.

 

“No…I prefer my Dread.”

 

Brandon saw that Meia was still by heart a Dread pilot and shrugged his shoulders as he ran through the checklist once more, an consulted with Scott on what they would need to when they got to the surface, namely on food, supplies, equipment, power supply, and shelter. That meant getting what they could from both the Nirvana and their own supplies and equipment.

 

Unlike Meia however, Dita was very interested about all the Zoids and naturally since Lance was not rather busy as of the moment she decided to come to him in her usual fashion.

 

“Mr. Alien!”

 

Lance barely had enough time to turn as she glomped onto him and hugged him tight, further embarrassing the youngest of the Reinhart siblings, it had been hard enough to deal with the fact that he and his brothers were on a ship literally overflowing with gorgeous females in various attire, it was even harder for him to be on the receiving end of the overt curiosity of one of them, namely this bubbly redhead who was very much the type most guys back on Zi would had drooled over. Normally Lance would not mind too much about the actions of Dita, but they did tend to embarrass him a great deal.

 

“What is it?!”

 

Dita smiled and asked Lance the question she had in her mind about the Zoids.

 

“Can you tell me what you about those alien machines? Please?!” The redhead said as she released Lance and gave the sad puppy dog eye treatment to the youngest Zoid pilot.

 

“Okay, okay…” Lance said as he tried not to laugh at the utterly cute look Dita gave him. He then pointed to each Zoid and looked at Dita's rapt expression.

 

“Which Zoid do you want to know about?”

 

Dita looked at all the Zoid typed and then pointed to the Lightning Saix models.

 

“Can you tell me anything about that alien machine, please?”

 

Lance nodded as he began to explain the history of the Lightning Saix.

 

“The Lightning Six is a second generation Zoid that was built a few years after the end of the Republic Empire war back on Zi for the Guylos Empire. The first working model of the Lightning Saix was made by the famed scientist Doctor D who used and ancient Zoidian data template to help combat the Geno-Breaker, a powerful and dangerous Zoid piloted at the time by a rogue Zoid pilot named Raven, The prototype was a very high performance machine the first test pilot lost consciousness and the prototype was saved before it slammed into a rock face, despite the limiters to it's combat systems. The sad part was that it's data drive had bee corrupted.”

 

“It was only when Irvine, a mercenary pilot who fought alongside the Guardian Force, a task-force made by both sides to prevent another war, lost his Command Wolf and allowed the combat data of his destroyed Zoid to be installed into the Lightning Saix model…and he became the best pilot to handle the Lightning Saix. The sad part was that the one Irvine had was the only model for a while since Raven had destroyed the factory capable of producing more Lightning Saix units, and it's only after a few decades when the Lightning Saix would be mass produced. The Lightning Saix is designed to use it's ion engine boosters, acceleration, and hologram projector technology to confuse and disrupt any scanning attempt and outrun other Zoids with ease, with the exception of the Liger ZERO with the Jaeger CAS my brother pilots, and also some other Zoids, it does have a vulnerability to attacks from the sides and can't turn quickly at high speeds, so it is designed for quick strike and fade assaults.”

 

“Wow…what about that one?” Dita asked…pointing to the Blade Ligers. Lance smiled as he saw the Zoids that were pointed at by the redhead…after all…before his Organoid Kail fused with it…he piloted the Blade Liger in his Academy days.

 

But before he could make any comments…Brandon called his attention.

 

“Hey little brother! We need to get the gear organized, grab a Godos and both you and Scott get the stuff ready!”

 

Lance nodded and looked at the redhead.

 

“I'll chat with you some other time. I've got work to do right now.”

 

“Okay…have fun Mr. Alien!”

 

Both the middle and youngest Reinhart siblings got to work as they went to a nearby paddock to grab the Zoids and waited for Brandon to both open the other side of their sections of the ship and get their gear ready for transport, and the list was handed to them to know what gear they would have to be using in order to get their training on the ropes.

 

In the five years they had been wandering this galaxy and dimension, they had met various civilizations of humans, and even other…alien ones. And they had been able to gain quite a great deal of knowledge and equipment. At times…in order to buy supplies, the brothers loaned their services to the right sides as mercenaries, they didn't like it too much, but their duties paid well and they were able to buy a lot of needed supplies, tools, equipment, and more, they also forged some good alliances and those helped on more than one occasion before they went on to find their mother in this vast galaxy and dimension.

 

These supplies, equipment, and resources would now be used in training what in their minds would be the first ever Zoid Force on this dimension.

 

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

 

Later…

 

The women were now back and had brought quite an amount of materials…many of which raised the eye-brows of all three siblings. They noted that since the women took feminine nature to a high degree in their world, there was the big possibility that they would have brought more than was both needed and necessary…and since they were going to the surface of the planet, the men were only concerned about the needs and necessities…they planned to deal with those details once they were on the surface and not before…the one thing they did not need, was a rebellious squadron that gave them too much trouble…unlike the female Zoid pilots that they knew off, the women of Megele were not familiar with Zoids…so they would have to learn quickly and wasting time on too many frivolities was one thing the three brothers were not in the mood for.

 

As the women waited, the brothers then began to explain what they had to do, with Brandon going first.

 

“All right, listen up…The Zoids you each have selected have in the cockpits, containment lockers to store you're gear, make no mistake however that it is only for the bare necessities and basic needs. Anything that is not needed and is only excess baggage, we urge you to leave them behind. Also…you will NOT be ferried there via shuttle…you're going to be riding you're Zoids down to the ground to where we will be having the training for you all to be the Nirvana's ground operations unit. As such…you will have to get used to traveling from the ship all the way to the planet should we be needed to do the ground operations. Is that understood?”

 

The women replied that they would bring what they could, and in the way they did it, it made the brothers realize that this was going to be one of those days. Scott took to the floor and pointed to their Zoids.

 

“These Zoids will be you're partners in the training, though you will be assigned to groups and then to squadrons. Thus every one of you will need to be responsible for every aspect of you're respective Zoid, from repairs, upgrades, maintenance, re-arming, re-fueling, customization…the works. Make no mistake that these Zoids are among the first of their kind in this universe, thus they are not easy to replace. Since this section of the Nirvana is the only place where the Zoids can be repaired…or if it comes to it, rebuilt…then make sure not to waste their abilities.”

 

Lance then took over, and spoke to them.

 

“Once we get to the surface of the planet, you will be given the schedule of activities and you're quarters…make no mistake of this ladies…on our world, there are talented female Zoid pilots…but since Zoids are not native to you're world or anywhere else in this galaxy for that matter, you all will need to learn how to pilot them from scratch. This training will be hard, it will be difficult…and you will have to show you're determination, guts, physical ability, mental aptitude, and desire to learn. Just because you are female, does not mean I nor my brothers will take it easy on you…and remember this last bit of advice as well…there is no such thing as fair in real war…you're enemies…those aliens we can call the Harvesters due to their agenda, don't play by anyone's rule book, namely yours when they fight, but their own… this means that any tactic goes, no matter how underhanded it might be when you face them…we can't say that WE know their methods as we have never met them before…but it pays to be prepared for any eventuality. Now get to you're Zoids, stow away you're gear and our Ligers will escort you to the planet's surface. We will contact you on how maneuver you're Zoids in Space once all of you are now deployed.”

 

The women wasted no time and rushed to their Zoids…eager to see just what the beast mecha can do in their hands…some of them saw the controls to be somewhat similar to the Dreads and thought that they could do better…but they were about to get a serious wake-up call soon. The brothers then explained to them how to move their Zoids in space via the use of the installed gravity actuator field generator systems. The women cadets followed the orders and when the Organoid controlled Liger ZERO Zoids led them out of the ship via the modified Launching Bay, there quite a number of them expecting that they would float away.

 

The gravity actuator systems however drowned out that idea as their Zoids moved in space with little trouble and the women began to move their Zoids and before they could try and run about, the brothers came out in the Godos Zoids, and the Godos were dragging out massive containers filled with a large number of supplies and equipment for the training of the new Zoid pilots. The stuff they had stored was more than sufficient as they moved the containers about.

 

“All right…now you all follow our Zoids to the ground location and then we can get down to what we need to do today. Once we get on the ground…don't wander around and get lost while we set up the base camp…this planet might look pretty, but this is not Megele, and we don't know the kind of life-forms that can be found there… are we clear?” Brandon asked as he called all the female pirates assigned for ground operations training.

 

The pirates nodded and while still not very happy and resented the idea of being under the command of men, even if they were very much radically different from the men they were trained and taught at birth to despise, they were eager to see just how they would do using their selected Zoids in combat.

 

The Zoids were able to run towards the planet with the Liger ZERO Zoids in the lead…the Zoids of the chosen pirates in the middle, while the three Reinhart siblings were on the Godos, moving the massive containers and when they were close enough to the planet…allowed the planet's gravity well to drag the containers down. The containers were highly durable and impact resistant, along with the fact that they were designed for atmospheric deployment due to the increased heat shielding installed into them.

 

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

 

In the Nirvana…at one of the observation decks…

 

“I hope Mr. Alien will be fine down there, along with the other Mr. Aliens.” Dita chirped out as she looked at the now descending Zoid units. The Dread pilot hoped that her Mr. Alien would be fine and she also hoped to get a change to go down there and see how he was doing along with his siblings first hand.

 

Alongside her were the other Dread pilots, namely Jura, Barnette, Meia, and the head of the Register, Gascogne…all of the women wondered on just how successful the training for their fellow women with Zoids will be with the Reinharts at the helm of the training exercises.

 

“Do you think they'll be all right?” Jura asked.

 

Barnette merely snorted. “The others will be fine, the three men are the ones that should be concerned, I wonder if they know how to even lead others in a fight.”

 

Gascogne sighed…ever since the integration f the men into the crew by order of the Captain, a lot of women showed a dislike for them, but Barnette seemed the harsher one compared to the others, namely towards the Reinhart siblings, especially Scott, the head of the Register had a suspicion that it had something to do with the fact that the three brothers were different and showed much greater talent, namely in cooking, but it was Jura's fixation on Scott that seemed to get Barnette rather agitated, though why was beyond the Register head's understanding, surely such a connection would be very difficult to begin with since Jura was still not used to having the men around herself, despite being interested in fusing her Dread to Scott's Ultimate X Zoid Rikera.

 

“The three of them have worked side by side with one another for five years before they ever joined up with us Barnette, not to mention the fact that they are very familiar with Zoids so there's no doubt in my mind anyway that they will do fine.” Gascogne replied.

 

“Yeah, yeah…I just hope they don't get it into their heads that since they are part of the crew, doesn't mean that we're going to be forgiving if they do something in-appropriate to any of us here, if they do…then Grandma help us.” The green haired girl replied…that was also when Gascogne noted the pointed look she gave Jura…

 

<Is it just my imagination…or is Barnette jealous of the time Scott spends with Jura?>

 

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

 

Later…on the ground…in mid-day…

 

Brandon and his siblings were busy working on setting up their base…it had been nearly two hours since they had landed on the planet for basic terrestrial combat training with Zoids and the pirate women, and now they were not in the best of moods at this point.

 

They had picked a very solid location for the training of the women, a large valley with mountains and woodlands nearby and the site of their boot camp was near a massive river and water falls, good amounts of animal and plant life were seen and later…once the camp was set up, they would see what was edible on this surface to complement the rations and food supplies they had on hand. Near them was the desert, a good distance away that would serve well as a desert training area for the women to learn Zoid desert warfare tactics, the forests would be perfect in training them on how to operate in closed areas, and the mountains would certainly help train them in high altitude warfare, plus the winding canyons would be good for testing their abilities in piloting Zoids, and then the open fields...would be great for just as many activities.

 

However it was a chore to keep the women from wandering off and getting lost…once they had arrived, the women complained about having some pains in their stomach, which the brothers explained was gravity sickness, they had suffered that in their five years of landing their Zoids on a planet and then lifting off again, it took some time to get used to and that was one of the things the women would have to learn to deal with…that is if they would stay put.

 

The planet was beautiful, but since it was a new planet, there would be hidden dangers nearby and the last thing the brothers needed were lost and injured cadets…so as they set up the base, the Ligers under the command of their Organoid cores kept on patrol…all three using their CAS Armor.

 

The components of the building were made from prefabricated sections and parts…allowing for manageable assembly and disassembly, this included living quarters with ports for air-conditioning, water, electricity, and utilities, a mess hall for dining, communications bunker, a gym, general stores…and an armory for both pilots and Zoids. They had brought about six massive containers housing the supplies, including munitions, food, water, equipment, tools, and more. The first was to establish the frame-work of the base structures…and then installing the power lines, water, and more. They had massive Solar energy converters and battery reactors, which would be helpful in maintaining the base's operation capacity.

 

As soon as they were done with basic structures, the installation of all the functions was about to start. This would include the women working real hard today in helping them set up base camp…after all, three men couldn't do all that by themselves.

 

The women were busy enjoying the cool air coming from the mountains but were not happy that they were not allowed to explore the rest of the valley as they wanted to…even more so since the three massive sentient Zoids in the CAS Armor stood guard over them all. That however was about to change when their commanders called their attention.

 

“All right then…now that we've got the basic frames in…it's time to finish the rest of the base…grab the nearby tools and change into those coveralls ladies…it's time to get dirty.”

 

“WHAT?!”

 

One of the things the women despised more than anything was to get dirty, and they naturally complained as the brothers went to work once more. They however decided to deliver them a choice as Brandon spoke calmly at them all.

 

“Look…this is already you're training, if any of you are Dread pilots, then you will know how important it is to customize and manage your own machines…this will also apply to you're Zoids, besides that…if we don't get this done tonight…we're not going to get started with you're real combat training. You can follow the order and help us set up the base…or we'll be having no sleeping quarters tonight. Plus…we'll have you all replaced.”

 

Faced with the possibility of no shelter and beds for the night and no food, the women grumbled and would have considered mutiny against the siblings but they had no choice since they would be disappointing Magno…and that was the only reason they were doing this, respect for the Captain…however, they also realized that for the first time, they had this desire, no matter how small it was to show these three brothers up. They wanted to see just what the Zoids were capable of doing to prove that although the Zoids were not native to their universe, they would show that the women of their world can do better than men. They all got into the coveralls and got the tools and utilities given to them and got to work.

 

The brothers knew that by Megele standards, the women would have already rebelled, but they were able to sense the change in them…the women were fired up after they were goaded by them. By normal senses, such actions went against military protocol and that also went against what they themselves learned, but in this case, it worked.

 

The first reason they stuck with the Saber Tigers, Command Wolves, Shield and Blade Ligers, and the Lightning Saix instead of some of the more powerful Zoids in their arsenals…namely a number of Gojulas, Dark Horns, Dibison, Iron Kong and several other models was that the ground team had to be fast and flexible, they also had to be well armed and able to even up the odds in a fire fight on the ground, though the more massive Zoids were perfect in fire support roles.

 

The next reason was the fact that they all would be fighting not just on planets, but in space as well, if the Nirvana was suddenly attacked and needed support for it and the Dread Squadrons, then the faster Zoids could make it to the battle and if needed, fight in space, but that would leave the larger Zoids at a speed disadvantage in the sense of moving from the planet to space, even with the gravity field generators. The only time the larger and more powerful Zoids would be used was if the need was great…they could only train a small strike team, considering the fact that the pirate crew numbered only 150 and if they took out more pilots to use the much larger Zoids, then it would leave the ship short handed in situations when every pilot counted. However, the three made sure that every Zoid in their arsenal would be used to their full potential and not be left behind.

 

For now however, they had a special plan for the completion of the base once the ladies were done.

 

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

 

Hours later…nearing night time…

 

As soon as the women were done with the work, they trooped into the showers that they also helped install…complete with water recycling systems and temperature regulation systems…and the water was gained directly from the river and water fall. They never realized how good it felt to take a shower and took this time to properly clean the dirt, oil, and sweat. As soon as they were done they got to their rooms and dressed, with the their leaders namely Mia Shani, a blonde with brown eyes named Kara Edel, and a raven haired, blue eyed woman named Rin Kamia, the three became more like the ring leaders of the female group, Mia had chosen to use a Blade Liger, Kara took a Lightning Saix, and Rin had taken to the Saber Tiger. They decided to talk to the men and tell them straight that if they ever tried something like that on them again, then they were going to walk out.

 

However, when they got to the hall where they were supposed to meet up with the three siblings and complain, they were surprised to see a large table filled with food!

There were platters of cooked fish, meat, vegetables, bread, fruits, noodles, soup, pastries, and even a large roast in the nearby fire-pit, various dishes were also present, nearby were their drinks, of water, juice, and tea. The brothers had also set up tables and there were utensils for them to use.

 

Brandon and his brothers were nearly finished and then looked at the women.

 

“Well? What are you all standing there for? Dig in and after dinner, we get to the training outline. This is for the hard work you ladies put into the camp, and once you're done…we'll outline what you all will be doing in the next few weeks…or longer if we have the time.”

 

The women needed no further encouragement and grabbed the plates and utensils, they at first took only small bites to see if the food was cooked right or the three brothers had the food catered from the Nirvana…but the brothers assured them that they had cooked the food when the women were working, in order to reward them for their hard work. And since the food and drinks were very good the women were happy and spent the time to rest and eat up.

 

Later…

 

As they cleared up the dishes, the brothers had the dishes placed aside and handed them to a pair of cleaning robots that they had gained from one of their travels…as the robots cleaned up the collected dishes, the brothers called the women to seat together as they would be outlining the training program for the next few weeks or more.

 

Brandon began first.

 

“The first few weeks will be dedicated to physical training and improvement. This will include, strength, stamina, reflexes, senses, speed…the whole ten yards, so expect very serious physical training, along with obstacle courses, hand to hand combat, melee combat, running, weight lifting, and more. Now the reason for this is to build you all up physically, in the sense that you will need to by physically fit to handle the rigors placed on you're bodies in both training and combat with Zoids. How many of you have selected the Lightning Saix Zoid?”

 

After several hands were raised, he nodded and told them a shorter version of the Lightning Saix' production debut and what it was capable of doing when in the hands of good pilots, and the danger of losing consciousness due to the g-forces given by the cheetah type Zoid to it's pilots at full speed.

 

“Even if the Zoid is now less likely to do that due to the increase to it's safety systems, it is still needed for you all to take the needed training in order to bring out your combat potential and skill and to combine it with the Lightning Saix' power. That is why most of the Lightning Saix Zoids will be armed with special medical scanners to we can keep track of you're situations during training.”

 

“Of course it won't be merely physical training and conditioning alone that will help you pilot the Zoids, you will need to learn combat tactics with them, how move in unison, formations, fire team attacks, bombardment tactics, hit and run tactics, sniper work, mobile ranged combat…all the skills needed to pilot Zoids.”

 

Scott then took over.

 

“Keep in mind that the three of us, me and my brothers have been piloting Zoids for years…long before we ever joined up with you all on the Nirvana, and as you all know…Zoids are not native anywhere in this universe. Thus we are the only Zoid experts on hand, don't try to customize you're Zoids until you have run your own tests and consulted us and allow us to run tests on it also…otherwise the Zoid and you will suffer both in training and combat. Do not hesitate to come to any of us with question pertaining to Zoid piloting, maintenance, and customization.”

 

Lance then spoke to finish off the meeting with their squadron.

 

“The training will begin at exactly 0430 hours in the morning so get enough sleep, once we're done we get to basic exercises, and then have breakfast. Do not be late…ever, you can only back out from the training for the right reason, we don't accept lame excuses, only legitimate ones. This is a totally new world you ladies have just walked into, follow the rules and our orders, and you'll do fine. Is that clear?”

 

The silence was a bit deafening until Brandon spoke evenly.

 

“I didn't hear your answer to my youngest brother's question, is that clear ladies?”

 

“Yes sir!” The women replied with considerable reluctance…showing that they still didn't like taking orders from men.

 

As the pirates left for their sleeping quarters, the brothers then began to plan out the days' activities and make some special ones.

 

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

 

The next day…

 

The women were still sleeping when sirens were heard all over the base…and it was loud enough to wake them and disorient them, and thankfully they managed to regain enough wits to wear their clothes, though this meant only their body suits, and as they rushed out of the sleeping quarters, as soon as they got out into a open area of the field of their base, out came strong but not blinding flood lights, making the women shriek a bit, and when their eyes adjusted, there were Brandon, Scott, and Lance, all in sleeveless tank tops, running pants and shoes, all three of them looking very sternly at them,

 

“What are you going to do now?!” The women asked as they tried to get adjusted still to what had happened just a few minutes earlier.

 

The three brothers merely replied. “We're starting you're training, get into lines of three and get ready to jog, we keep this up until 0630 hours, break-fast is already cooked and will be still hot once we get back to base. After that, at 7:30, we get down to the other physical exercises.”

 

“Can't we eat now?!”

 

“Nope, you'll need to develop a tolerance to hunger too…in ground operations it's not always a good idea t eat until you are certain that you can do so in relative safety…the last thing any ground soldier would like is to be attacked by their enemies during eating time…plus this will wake you up quickly, and there's a cool wind from the mountains and forest, so you'll feel fine, but be prepared to sweat.”

 

The entire group jogged around the base and as the brothers predicted, the cool mountain/forest air was refreshing and invigorating, but it did little to ease the sounds of hunger they heard from their female trainees, along with pants, grunts, and Megele based curses…apparently the women were not used to this kind of training in most if not all senses…but the brothers had done this before…many years ago and were rather comfortable with it and the exhaustion and exertion, but the women…well…they are going to need a lot of work.

 

Next to the running group were Zarreke, Kail, an Rikera as the Organoid fused and converted Liger ZERO Zoids walked to escort them around, they were act as sentries t ensure that the training group didn't suddenly get attacked by anything on this planet.

 

As they soon returned to the base, the three brothers breathed easy as they let the fatigue burn off a bit, but since they had been into this regime for nearly all their military days, they were very ready to do the next round, but they turned and saw the women who were sweating like mad and were panting and wheezing. Some flopped to the ground and lay there, others at on the ground and tried to breath, the rest also sat down as the brothers could tell that both their legs and bodies burned from exhaustion and lactic acid build up. They knew that right now would be a good time for them to bleed out their fatigue so they let the women rest a bit, but told them to stretch their limbs. The women complained as to how the men seemed to at peace with this pace…and the brothers replied that they had been doing this for nearly ten years so they very comfortable with it, and it helped them keep their combat edge with their Ligers.

 

The women could only moan as they rested for a few more minutes but then had to get up as the brothers told them to head into the mess hall grab some food and drink. Despite the fact that they smelled from sweating, the cool air kept the scent at bay and the call of hunger was far more convincing than their smell at this point.

 

The food was pancakes with berries, ham, bacon, scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, slices of fruit, hot bread and sausages, with extra bread, butter and cheese, the smell of the food, along with the introduced cool air from the outside was enough to drive the women to forget their discomfort as they grabbed their plates and went down to the eating…as the brothers also sat down and ate their own break-fast nearby. The women were not too exhausted to eat as they did their best to pack it in, though they still watched what they ate and in how much since they wanted to watch their figures…not that the men minded it…considering their cultural upbringing.

 

As soon as they were all done, they told the women to take a short break and clean up since later it would be classes on Zoid maneuvers and tactics, along with basic piloting skills and more, once that was done, they would continue their training regime until lunch time and then after that…it was time for practical field work, along with knowing their Zoid's strengths and weaknesses, and the methods on maintenance, upgrading and customization.

 

The brothers would gauge the level of the women pilots in the afternoon in the field exams and then train them hard until they were able to handle the load.

 

The women thought that after the two hour jog, things would be a bit more bearable…

 

Boy, were they wrong.

 

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

 

The Nirvana…

 

Buzam looked at the incoming video feed from Scott as they saw Brandon and Lance begin lectures on the basics of using Zoids in combat in their training hall. The stern and focused looks the eldest and youngest brother showed their commitment to their work as the women who tried to cause some disturbance were quickly marked for serious attention on the PTC sessions later after classes.

 

“How is the training going?”

 

Scott shrugged. “They do have some potential Captain, but it's going to be quite a bit before they come even close to the standards of basic cadets. But as long as they are willing to follow orders, they'll be just fine, as long as they give their best, then it will do…however in order to avoid what happened to Meia Gisborn, Brandon and I will do an intensive review of the chosen pilots, so we'll see where they will be assigned to in the ground squadron…as it is…we'll need their files if you have them.”

 

“Done…we'll be sending the files down soon.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

Both pirates then looked at one another as Buzam shook her head.

 

“I have to admit, Brandon and his siblings are certainly strict and very intense in their duties as leaders.”

 

“I know…you can tell that they are very serious about their duties in this matter, they maybe harsh in some of their duties, but they have been through worse and they know that it is necessary to do this to build the crew they were given to train to be good pilots…let's not forget that Zoids are their specialty, not ours.”

 

“True…but I think the crew down there will be very resentful Captain, sooner or later, they might decide to go against the brothers and that is one situation that we cannot afford to have right now.”

 

The ancient woman nodded, her First Mate did have a valid point, the women down there will still hold resentment, and the last thing the crew needed was a mutiny.

 

“We'll have to go down their a few times to make sure we can smooth over any difficulties, that way it would be easier for the crew there to work with them.”

 

On the ground…

 

The women were being tested greatly as they went through the obstacle course and were sweating like mad and their bodies were pushed to the limits…and that was before they went next to the training course of hand to hand combat, namely in the areas of hand to hand and melee combat, the next also included weight lifting and power exercises. The women swore that they would faint at the intense rate of their training. They had to not forget on their classes as well as the brothers had been very serious about their work as their trainers and their leaders.

 

Brandon and his siblings however knew that the battle-field was a different story and what they were doing was merely part on how to make sure they were able to handle the stress placed on them in combat once they were called upon to handle ground missions for the ship. Magno and Buzam did state that they would come frequently to check on the progress, starting tomorrow to help smoothen out any of the problems that may arise between them and the women. All three brothers nodded and went to do their work as the women were finishing their rounds in the yards, and they were still sweating, even in the cool air. As soon as the women stopped, the men gave them time to cool down and told them to move around to cut down the build-up of lactic acid in their bodies, as soon as they were feeling a bit more active…the men led them to have lunch and told them that they had an hour and a half later to relax and rest before they would be piloting their Zoids in the practical phase.

 

As soon as they finished their lunches, the women went to their quarters and took a very long shower, letting the warm water help them sooth their tired muscles. The women who still wanted to relax a lot more took the time to go out and looked at the forests and the mountains, plus sitting down to the ground and just resting. The others took the time to sleep and closed their eyes…all of them however knew that their resting period was not going to last very since they did only have one hour and a half before they would once more be back in the training regime. The brothers were then in the hangers and took out their Liger ZERO Zoids and got ready for the training exercises.

 

They didn't know how the women would take to this situation now that they will be piloting Zoids in real time combat, since it was known that many Zoids, including the ones they had had close combat ability, they were also going to teach women how to fight with Zoids in close combat.

 

After and hour and a half, the women were once more awakened and now headed out to the Hangers as the brothers were waiting, even if they were still somewhat tired, this was the part of their training that they would have to get used to.

 

In the ensuring hours before darkness fell on the planet, the women were now piloting their Zoids as they put themselves through running exercises, not minding the bumps and finding themselves being kept safe by the restraints in the cockpit of their Zoids…several of the pirates, namely those who chose to pilot the fast Lightning Saix, including Kara found themselves seeing the full power of the Zoid as the g-forces were unlike anything they had ever experienced, thankfully they were given special piloting suits and harnesses to help then get used to the speed of the Lightning Saix should they activate the high grade Ion Engines of the Lightning Saix Zoid.

 

The one who trained them in high speed combat was none other than Brandon, with his Ultimate X Zoid in it's Jaeger CAS Armor, the blue armored Zoid ran with the black, and red armored Zoids as the eldest of the brothers taught them how to move in formation, use the air tunnels behind each of them to boost their speed and how to move in a straight line to fool forward facing enemies into seeing only the lead Lightning Saix thus making it hard to discern numbers at high speed, and how to shoot targets were at high speed with considerable accuracy. The women found themselves struggling to do that as the terrain they were running in was not as flat and they had to be careful or else they would cause considerable damage to their Zoids with one foul misstep.

 

Brandon was familiar with ranged combat and close fighting as his brothers, but he preferred the high speed approach, and critical strike…which was why he was considered the high speed demon of the Academy. His ability to tolerate g-forces was considerable though he knew of safety and used restraints and protection to prevent lack of consciousness. He was by far the best high speed combatant though many would contest that…he was still considered the best.

 

He kept in contact with the girls and told them when to decelerate until their bodies recovered from the speed and then told them to make the needed changes should they suffer again from gradual stress.

 

The women who were not part of the ones who selected the Lightning Saix were in awe at just how fast those Zoids were moving…they were almost like black, red blurs with green nearby from the eyes. The Zoids not only looked awesome to many of them, but moved beautifully. They however had to focus on other matters as the two remaining Reinhart siblings were still before them.

 

Scott was teaching the women who piloted the Command Wolves, Blade Ligers, Shield Ligers, and Saber Fangs the basics of Zoid close combat, with him using a remote controlled Saber Fang to spar with him and Rikera, as the middle brother's Organoid evolved Zoid fought with only basic armor and weaponry. The women could only watch as the two Zoids faced each other, leaping, smashing, biting, clawing, and tearing into one another like…well, beasts…showing that despite them being robotic fighting machines, Zoids, whether basic, evolved, or wild possessed the innate combat instinct of beasts and the only way they would survive using their Zoids in a possible ground confrontation, and in close combat where their guns, cannons, and missiles were of now use was to fight like beasts.

 

Scott was very familiar with ranged combat like his other brothers, along with close combat, but among the brothers and in the Academy, there were few who could match him in close combat as the instructors said that he had a knack and talent in close combat.

 

As soon as the middle brother and his Zoid finished the instructions, he then told them that regardless whether you're Zoid possessed guns, missile pods or beam weaponry, it still paid to utilize the natural weaponry it already possessed, both built in and outside. He then told them to prepare themselves for the fight as the Zoid he fought with was up on it's feet, and was now joined by an AI controlled Blade Liger, and Command Wolf. The good news was that most of the weaponry was reduced in damage power to ensure no serious injuries to both pilots and the machines. And at the signal…the AI controlled Zoids, with the slightly damaged Saber Fang in the lead squared off with the first trainees, the women were still not used to this and it was natural that despite these not being Vanguards, the women were not used to close quarters combat and they were being bushwhacked by their Ai opponents and had their Zoids taken out rather early as the AI piloted Zoids were now on top of them and had that been a real combat situation, the enemy Zoids would have a clear shot at them with either fangs or claws. The others who watched now had idea of what would have been Meia's situation in a fight had it been in a Vanguard and she fought with Brandon and his Zoid Zarreke.

 

Scott looked at the first batch and sighed as he spoke to them in their comm.-systems.

 

“That was not good ladies, not good at all…though I doubt we will be having that level of difficulty in ground ops, or these kinds of fights, you're lack of training will be a serious problem. Get you're Zoids back up carefully and rejoin at the rear…until you all get the basics right, we will be at this until night-fall. Next!”

 

The next batch of cadets were now in the plate and got ready as the AI controlled Zoids faced them and the women who had been bushwhacked by their AI controlled foes got their Zoids back up and moved back somewhat humiliated that they didn't even last three seconds, while Scott not only lasted far longer but also took down and AI unit, they planned to ask him if he had cheated as they were led back by Mia, just as Rin and her allies went into the fight.

 

Lance had his Liger Kail in his Panzer Armor and was now leading his own class at target acquisition as they watched and his Liger dish out powerful blasts with the Hybrid Cannons on several large targets made out of easy to replace foam boards, though it might have seem like overkill…using high powered canons on boards of foam, the foam was made out of high density light weight fibers and could withstand light weapons like it was battle-ship plating…perfect for Zoid ranged weaponry as the Panzer CAS covered Liger ZERO Zoid was flanked by the remaining Shield Ligers, Blade Ligers, Command Wolves and Saber Fangs. The Liger however used only smaller bursts of power, but it still pushed the Zoid back considerably and the cooling system certainly was tested. That was why Lance economized his use of his Hybrid cannons, and also used his other weapons except the missile pods. Despite the recoil he suffered from using the Hybrid cannons from time to time, his accuracy at hitting long range targets without missing was exceptional.

 

Lance was very familiar with high speed assault, and close combat as his other siblings, but he was more attune to ranged combat than they were and was very much the heavy gunner of the trio…that was why he also tweaked the sensors and targeting systems of his Liger to get maximum coverage for target acquisition and range…and his brothers don't hold it against him, they knew he could be just as skilled as they were in high speed, and close combat. Plus his aptitude with his Liger's ranged guns and Panzer CAS had saved their combined bacon more than once.

 

As soon as he was done, he guided his Liger away and let the ladies piloting the Zoids to step into the firing line he set up.

 

“Okay ladies…you're on.”

 

The women smiled and got ready as new foam sets were sent up by the lifters, and when thy fired, their learned an important lesson. How to handle the recoil that might affect accuracy since some of their Zoids' weaponry had some powerful recoil. Despite his own recoil problems which he still has some difficulty in fixing, his advice of how to correct their recoil compensator systems and dampeners proved helpful as their shots became more accurate, that was only phase one however as Lance took to the firing line and this time the targets were moving, the target boards were at different speeds, some were slow, other were of medium speed, and the rest that were in neither category were at high speed, and considering that they were random locations, certainly made it harder to hit. All of the targets were well within weapon range, but with the fact that they were all on the move, this made aiming at them a bit more challenging than most would think.

 

Lance himself took the time to adjust his aiming and shots to make sure he had the correct modifications to his Liger's targeting systems and scanners, along with improving the recoil compensators of his Zoid to handle the recoil from firing at moving targets, once he was doe, they got to work taking out several more targets, and the recoil was still strong but not enough to decrease the Zoid's accuracy rate as it hit a good number of the slow moving and middle speed targets, he however took greater care in targeting the more fast moving targets and the ones that were at a greater distance too…he took his time and fired several shots, though some didn't hit bulls-eye, they were still hitting the targets well in the area to do the most damage. As soon as he was done…he turned his Zoid to face them.

 

“All right…now it's you're turn.”

 

The ladies struggled with the new problems of adjusting their systems and aiming at moving targets, the slower ones were easy enough to hit, as well as the ones at a balanced speed, but the faster moving ones and those at a distance took some getting used to…many didn't do well, but some proved to be excellent shooters and would need to work on it more, and get better long range weapons.

 

As he looked at the performance…Lance conversed with his Organoid.

 

“You think we should introduce Gunsnipers to those with good sniper skills? We just might need the ranged firepower someday Kail?”

 

<< That seems to be a good idea, long range, and precise fire-power can be the key to win certain fights, better ask not just me though, ask you're siblings. In my case old friend, I say go ahead. >>

 

Hours later…

 

The women trooped into the mess hall and ate their dinner, they were tired as can be…still aching from the runs they had just done and felt like they had been in a triathlon three times. They had been worked to the bones in physical training, their minds were tired from remembering their lessons, and then their bodies were put to the test.

 

And this was only their first day!

 

Brandon and his brothers looked over at the sheets and shook their heads…considering the day's results…there was going to be a lot of work left to do for all three of them, though the women showed much promise and only needed to learn more and more on the right methods and techniques. They also agreed with Lance that they would have to soon bring up the Gunsniper Zoids to test those with an aptitude for ranged combat, namely in the sniper role as precise firepower was just as needed as suppressive firepower.

 

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

 

The next day…

 

Brandon and his siblings were now on the regular jog run with the girls, and they were still sleepy, but the brothers knew that today would be the first day the pirates back on the Nirvana would be paying them a visit soon to check on the progress of the girls under their command, they were ready to have complains coming in soon to the pirate leaders and got ready for that.

 

For now it was training time until they arrived before classes started as they and the women moved on through the fields, the women looked sleepy, but the cool air invigorated them a load more and got them, on the move.

 

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

 

On the Nirvana, in one of the launch bays…

 

“Are you sure that you all wish to come along with me?” Magno asked the group of her crew, she had originally intended to bring only herself, Gascogne, BC, Duero, Paiway, and Parfait, but it seemed that several other wanted to come along too. The shuttle was fully fueled and they had gotten the go ahead signal from the brothers recently in the early morning and had told the crew that they would be heading down to the surface to check the progress of the female cadets chosen to be led by the three brothers.

 

“Yes Captain, I want to see how the women from the Dread Squadrons are doing after they had been selected to be part of the newly formed ground teams for the pirates.” Meia replied as she stood at attention and was in her normal businesslike manner as she spoke to the older woman.

 

Magno and BC could see the validity of Meia's decision; it was the reasons of the rest that bothered them.

 

Dita replied as to why she wanted to come along with the old woman.

 

“I wanted to see how Mr. Alien and the other good aliens are doing, and I want to see the new alien machines they have, can I go see them, please?” the redhead asked as she gave them a dreaded sad puppy dog eyes bit.

 

Magno laughed a bit and looked at the other assembled group.

 

“And you two?”

 

Jura smiled a bit.

 

“I want to see what other Zoids they have in their arsenals, I happen to like the looks of them and I want to see just how good they can operate…plus I plan on convincing a certain someone to do me a very helpful favor.”

 

The blonde smiled as she recalled her plans to try and convince the ever reluctant Scott Reinhart to finally fuse his Liger with her Dread once they were back on the Nirvana and in space operations.

 

Barnette merely shrugged her shoulders and replied.

 

“I merely want to see if they actually know how to work with women, no matter what they say about being able to lead, I want to see this for myself.”

 

Magno and Buzam knew that Barnette was still very much one of the women who still didn't trust the siblings, the two hoped that nothing dangerous would come out of the situation. Seeing as they had enough room and finding nothing wrong so far, the women agreed, Dita cheered and had a bounce in her step as she boarded the shuttle…Meia merely sighed and wondered how the others from the Dreads were handling the situation, Jura smiled and began to have a sly expression on her face as she planned out her latest scheme to convince Scott to combine with her and her Dread…Barnette merely sighed and shook her head at her friend's scheming…along with having some rather unfriendly thoughts on what to do when Scott might try something with Jura.

 

As the shuttle flew down to where the base was, the women wondered just what they were going to be seeing once they got into the temporary base of the male Zoid pilots. Magno and the silver haired Buzam hoped for the best.

 

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

 

On the grounds…

 

The women were given a break from classes for today as they were informed that the Captain was coming in to check up on them, the brothers then pointed to them that they can be free to relax before they get back to the training.

 

Brandon and his siblings communicated with the shuttle in the communications building and guided them to the landing zone that had been cleared up and set by them when they first came there two days before, they also told the crew to expect their fellow women to meet them.

 

As the shuttle arrived, the women were there to greet their leader and the others. Mia was then the one along with Kara and Rin who told the elder woman about their problems in training, and they were also the ones who directed the officers and the others to the command building where Brandon and his brothers had some things that needed to be done.

 

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

 

Later…

 

Brandon was drinking a cup of coffee and was on e desk with Buzam, Gascogne, and Magno sitting before him as he showed them the report sheets on the performance of each of the cadets under his command and that of his brothers. Lance and Scott however were not present, nor were they needed to since both had duties to perform.

 

Lance was busy looking at the women who were performing in the sniper course to see if his plan of inducting a select batch of cadets into the Sniper cadre would work out, along with him was Dita…who had been the first to enter their room and naturally glomp on him, startling the young man and making them laugh along with Magno who chuckled at the look of utter embarrassment on the face of his youngest brother, Dita's playful and cheery nature was really putting their brother on the ropes, though he was somewhat getting used to the idea…however even he and Scott hoped that the redhead will not do something that makes Lance too angry.

 

Scott on the other hand was busy training the female pilots in the gym on hand to hand combat, and he was busy as well with dealing with Duero and Paiway, the doctor went along to learn how the fighting style of their dimension went in terms of practice, Parfait tagged along to see the Zoids, since the gym was in connection to the supply storage and the Zoid Hangers, however, they were not the only ones as a certain blonde was with the group, along with a certain green-haired woman.

 

Brandon mentally sighed at the thought of both Jura and Barnette, both of them had no idea the effect the two of them would have on men not from Tarak…just like his brother Scott, like when he and Scott teased Lance about Dita's infatuation with him, he and Lance would laugh at him for the way Jura's more mature antics were affecting their middle brother, if the two were ever on Zi…not a single day would go by that they would be hounded by every young or older man on their world!

 

In all fairness however, all of them agreed that the inbreeding in Megele had allowed all the positive physical traits of women to be shown in full flower, they all doubted the phrase `ugly' existed in their dictionary. Dita was very pretty and upbeat, Meia might be cold at times, but she had a very attractive face, though her circlet kind puts that off…Jura was no doubt a blonde bombshell, and Barnette…though not as full figured as her blonde friend was certainly an eyeful…both of them were in their garb, and they would have been in serious trouble, namely when jealous girl-friends and wives would slap their boy-friends, and husbands.

 

That was why Scott was rather uneasy around her…he had been with very attractive women before, during his time in Zi, and when they were sent into this dimension, but with the things they had done and the constant moving around, along with their promise to find their mother that they have fervently kept for five years…he barely had the time to develop any sort of relationship…and now this voluptuous, sensual, and beautiful blonde woman was telling him to combine with her!! Never mind the fact that the way she says it and the double meanings of both her actions and words were sending the more…ah…primal ideas on the word combine into his middle brother's head!

 

The fact that Barnette was very hostile to them and very protective of Jura, made that idea even more risky. The one thing the brothers didn't want was a misunderstanding that would cause serious problems if taken to the extremes by the others on the ship…and the emerald haired girl was just one of those people capable of that. Back in their days in the Academy, they had seen fellow students, both men and women do stuff like that, and it resulted in a lot of situations, most were quick to pass or were corrected and resolved…others however left a lasting mark on people, and they were not very helpful nor were they wounds that would heal in time on occasion. That was the one thing they avoided doing in their days and they did fine…and something like happening on the Nirvana was the same as letting Zoid thieves enter you're garage and stealing you're Zoids without putting up a fight.

 

“So…what's you're take on the crew members that were chosen Brandon?” Magno asked the eldest brother as she finished reading the reports.

 

The Eldest Zoid pilot sighed a bit as he drank his coffee.

 

“Too early to tell Captain…they do have good potential and according to Lance…some of them can be trained to use Zoids that are used in sniper roles…but this is not something you do in one run…this process takes weeks and the first day tells me the women assigned to me have a very long way left to go.”

 

Buzam then spoke as she finished her own study of the reports.

 

“I'm afraid that we don't have a lot time left to offer you and you're brothers, if it can be done in a few weeks it, then it will be fine.”

 

Brandon put down his mug and sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. He then faced the silver haired Commander.

 

“A few weeks might not be enough, normally, had this been a military meeting back home Commander…what you're asking me and my brothers to do in weeks is something out of a cheesy action movie…none of them have ever seen a Zoid, let alone pilot one until yesterday, and it will still take us time to get them totally prepared for combat…We'll do our best to prepare them for any ground operations, but I still say we will need to have more time, until they are ready for any eventuality.”

 

Magno, Gascogne, and Buzam knew that they were asking a lot from Brandon and his siblings, and they were doing all they can…and that was for the time being enough. The Captain realized that her decision in choosing the Reinhart siblings for this duty was a very good move. Had they assigned others to do it, then the ground team would have been in serious trouble. They then handed the list of complaints the women had to Brandon.

 

The eldest brother could only sigh as he began reading the list and shake his head at some of the complaints the women had concerning the conditions they were in on the base and their training, it made him wonder if the women realized that although they would not be often in use as a strike force, they still needed to endure hardship and build themselves up both physically and mentally in order for them to handle the stress of battle. He and his brothers had endured five years in this dimension…knowing no one who knew them, relying on only what they had and on their Zoids…and each other, they relied on their training, skills, knowledge, and experience to see them through, and keep hold of their promise to their mother for five years, no matter what, they would not leave her behind and those who were with them, she was the only parent that they had, and their oath to their father held them close for as long as they could recall ever since they were stuck in this universe.

 

Comparing their five years of long work and hardship to only sore muscles, tired bodies, bruised egos, lack of any aesthetically pleasing things and more was a slap in the face to them…but they understood enough to know a portion of how their female cadets felt. Their parents taught them to do the right thing and when they made a promise…they had to keep it.

 

Magno didn't know the history of the brothers since they had never spoken to her about it, she suspected that something very important held them together, and if didn't have anything entirely to do with the fact that they were siblings, however she made no attempt to pry into the brothers' private affairs and sensed that sooner or later, they would reveal it themselves.

 

“If you want, I can talk with them.”

 

“I appreciate the offer…but I don't want to burden you with all this…”

 

“It is all right Brandon, you and you're brothers are already doing what we asked of you…please allow us to help you as well.”

 

Brandon sighed, but not before giving a warm thank you to the elder woman.

 

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

Elsewhere…

 

“OOOFFF!”

 

The young woman gave out a groan as she was tossed aside in a military precision throw by Scott, all the women were wearing two outfits in self defense class…a light-weight sleeveless body suit and a training gi in white over the suit. Right now the Eldest brother was wearing the same clothes as his students were. Around him were several more students and some were in small groups and they were looking at him with still uneasy eyes, not that he could blame them of course, this must be the first time they got manhandled by a man and being unable to either go through their world's decontamination methods, shower…or more importantly…fight back.

 

Next to the students were a certain pair of females in their normal garb, one was a drop dead gorgeous emerald eyed blonde in a dress that screamed sexy in ten levels of volume…in his mind anyway, and the second one was a short haired emerald haired girl who didn't look at him in a good way, despite the fact that she too wore clothes that would have had a lot of men who were not from Tarak look like a bunch of pole-axed idiots.

 

He shook those thoughts aside and went back to his class

 

“All right, as you have seen, Lana's mistake was she extended too early and this left her vulnerable to the attack, in any form of close combat, lowering you're guard should only be done for two reasons, the first is that it is a ploy for you to get you're into a vulnerable position, and if your enemy is defeated and can no longer fight.”

 

As the women looked on as the skilled hand to hand combatant continued his lecture, one of them asked a question.

 

“Why do we need to learn martial arts anyway? Do we need it to pilot Zoids?”

 

Scott looked at the students and spoke, ignoring the fact that Barnette and Jura were in the area.

 

“Martial arts is an important skill when there are situations where weapons are not available or are considered impractical, and also is a needed skill to improve reflexes, physical strength, and can be helpful in keeping fit. In piloting Zoids, you need to fast in both you're senses, mind, and you're body as well, and should you be in a situation where hand to hand combat is more useful and weapons are out of the question, martial arts is a good skill to fall back upon. Once you learn how to improve you're body's own speed, strength, and reflexes, you can use them to improve you're piloting of you're Zoid in battle. You're health is also important, and as such, martial arts keep you fit, and it builds mental discipline, which is very important in any fire-fight since if you lose you're mental discipline, you not only lose focus, but you might endanger yourself and you're comrades…and that is the last thing you want to happen when in a fire-fight. Any questions?”

 

As the women didn't ask any questions he got ready to continue his lessons and then had some volunteers spar with him in a three way match to show his skills in close combat against multiple opponents, as he did so, he would stop and explain different moves, attacks, defensive techniques, holds, methods of throwing, grips, and how use momentum, position, force, speed, leverage, and arcs of attack to their advantage. He knew those were important in conjunction with all the other methods of combat with both melee weapons and hand to hand. He then took out the knife he and his brothers used…it was the combat knife issued to all Republic soldiers and the middle brother than showed them how to use weapons that were ideal for close combat battles, as he had different types made from hard rubber and showed them what he learned in his Academy days, and the skills he picked up along with his brothers in the five years of travel.

 

Jura nodded in approval…though she still held to her world's beliefs that them were the enemy and could never equal women…she had to admit that Scott was a very skillful fighter, alongside his brothers…though there was something in him that seemed…somewhat off, though not in a bad way.

 

Barnette looked at the whole situation and shook her head…it still did not sit well with her…the idea that women being under the command of men, but since she could not do much about it…all she could do was wait and see.

 

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

 

Elsewhere in the base…

 

“Wow…so many alien machines! They are so COOL!!!”

 

Dita was very happy as she moved about, looking at all the Zoids that were in the hangers, waiting for their pilots after they had their lunch. The red-haired girl was happy to be seeing so many Zoids, it was like being in one of the zoos her homeland of Megele had, but this was the first time she saw massive robotic animals.

 

Lance as nearby as he was working on several of the designs that they had in their archives…apart fro their Zoids, supplies, and munitions, the brothers had on hand a large amount of design specs, data, plans and more from their military, both Guylos Empire and Helic Republic designs, most were of weapon systems, scanners, and more…some however were of Zoids that could be built, these plans however were never used by them since they were constantly on the move and the trouble it would cause if they slipped up and the plans fell into the hands of anyone with hostile intentions. For now, he was studying several design platforms and blue-prints.

 

One of which was an experimental weapon pack code named…'Wild Weasel'. This design was not yet in combat production as he last recalled, but seeing the specs had his interest for quite a bit, the reason he and his brothers never built it was the lack of time, and equipment.

 

Parfait then spotted him as he was in front of the design computer. The plucky head engineer was also in awe at the number of Zoids and their designs, alongside Duero, who left his friend Dylan back at the Medical Bay to handle the incoming cases while he would be around to help deal with any possible training injuries, though the brothers were able to make sure that there were no serious one, he had a suspicion that there will come a time that either he or Dylan will be assigned as medic to the base…he looked forward to that actually..

 

“What's that?” The bespectacled woman asked…pointing at the design plans for the Wild Weasel as she looked at the data.

 

Lance replied.

 

“These are design plans for a custom weapon system that can be used to boost a Zoid's combat abilities, this one is called the Wild Weasel.”

 

“Hmmm…how come I never saw it in this hanger?”

 

“It was never built…too little time and lack of equipment and machinery…plus it is a huge weapon pack…no Vanguard or Dread could use it, and even more so since it was made to be compatible with Zoids only. Besides that…there's no need to build it yet.”

 

“I see…”

 

Dita then walked up to Lance and hugged him, the proximity of the redhead to him was very much making the younger brother somewhat more uncomfortable since the way Dita was dressed was very much attractive, and being glomped n all the time and being shown a load of attention and affection from a very cute woman certainly had it's effect on the young man.

 

“What is it now?!” Lance asked as he squirmed at Dita's hug.

 

“Can you tell me about you're travels Mr. Alien, are there other places, aliens, being you and you're brothers have seen?”

 

“Now is not exactly the best…”

 

“Please….” Dita gave the dreaded sad puppy dog eyes on him and Lance tried not to get caught up into it but was failing.

 

However, he was saved from any further embarrassment as the PA system came to life and his eldest brother called him to get ready to provide lunch to both their students and guests. The youngest brother nodded, put aside his studies and made his way into the kitchen facility…with Dita following along, asking if she could help with the cooking.

 

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

 

Later…

 

In the mess hall, the women were eating their lunch heartily as there was steamed vegetables, beef stew with potatoes, roasted ribs, fruit salad, mashed potatoes with gravy, hot rice, and fried fish. The women admitted that they all agreed that the three men they were assigned to follow were good cooks, though they never admitted that openly.

 

Magno herself admitted that the three brothers were very good, and she wondered what other skills out of the battle they had with them. The older woman was enjoying her meal and relished the time away from the ship, just having a quiet meal and being in a situation where fighting didn't happen unexpectedly.

 

Buzam was still getting used to the fact that the three brothers could cook very well, so she was stunned by the way the food was made, it was well prepared and tasted wonderful.

 

Jura also smiled at the food, not too fattening but very tasty, Scott was a very interesting person as she was already finding out, as she planned to see if she could find a way to convince him to combine with her once they were back on the Nirvana and she had her Dread.

 

Barnette was also eating, but had a sour look on her face, despite the good food that was before her. She still didn't like the fact that men could cook and she was still very wary of the closeness Jura was showing to Scott. She wanted to make sure that the nonsense between the two would stop soon once Jura got what she wanted out of Scott…that however didn't relieve the tension and wariness she had for the middle sibling.

 

Gascogne had to admit as well that apart from being decent card players, the brothers were very good chefs, she had no doubt in her mind that the women on her world would be shocked to meet men who were not afraid of them, were good pilots, and cooks at the same time.

 

The pirate officers were able to request time to be spent on looking at how the girls would perform in their combat exercises with the Zoids. Brandon and his siblings saw nothing wrong with the idea and approved it. Normally since it was the second day, the only time an inspection by the higher ups was done was by the time the troops were sufficiently skilled to merit one…but this was just a good a time as any.

 

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

 

Later…

 

The women were surprised to learnt hat on this day, the Captain would be also around to act as an observer to see how well they were going to do on this new day's round of field exercises. She along with Buzam, and Gascogne will be looking at their performance and see if they were doing what she asked of them.

 

They realized that this was a good chance to show the Captain how they were doing and thus, despite their still present dislike of the Reinhart siblings, they agreed to do their absolute best to show that the efforts were going to pay off. As they got into the Zoids for their field exercises, the brothers were also boarding their own Ligers to begin their training tests as it was also time to show that they were the right people to lead the ground missions.

 

Magno, Buzam, Gascogne, Dita, Meia, Jura, Barnette, Duero, and Parfait watched as their fellow pirates were put through their paces, the brothers were able to incorporate various components of their training into the regimes.

 

Brandon was in his Liger, with the Jaeger CAS on , but was now being followed by the other Zoids, namely the Shield Ligers, Blade Ligers, Command Wolves, and Saber Fangs as the women were now being trained to fight on the move, against both mobile and immobile targets, combining the elements of Lance's training methods and his own. The end result was that the women now suffered the task of learning how to condition their Zoids and weapons to hitting targets while on the move, along with hitting moving targets…this proved to be a serious challenge and they were now getting the gist of what it meant to be a Zoid pilot.

 

Scott was also in his Liger and showed his own band of students how to fight with both close combat weapons, in conjunction with powerful blasts of their ranged weaponry, using the ranged weaponry to wound a tough opponent or to maneuver a target to a more favorable location for the fight to be in their favor. The women now had to spar with their AI sparring partners and with the Captain watching them, they had an even better reason to beat the AI pilots, upgraded as they are. The women were not going to let some AI piloted machines beat them this time around as they began to fight more fiercely.

 

That was very much a good sight to the pirate officers, and even the Dread pilots, including Barnette admitted that it was a very strange but exciting feeling, watching massive robotic beast ripping and tearing into each other like real life fighting animals.

 

Lance dealt with his forte of ranged warfare, but now included how to do it while evading enemy fire, using targets that fired lasers that while not harmful, were used at training in the art of firing while dodging enemy fire, since there were sensor pads on the Zoids, that if hit, the sensors would simulate real damage and inhibit the performance of the Zoid that was hit. This was his way of teaching the women who were assigned to him, that while hitting a target either mobile or immobile was a challenge, it would be an even greater challenge for them to avoid getting hit themselves.

 

The brothers not only taught sections of their students their skills but also taught them how to mix skills together to be more effective as pilots since the battle field was not going to be easy and they had to be prepared for anything and any eventuality that might occur, better to be prepared and alive than to be unprepared and dead.

 

Magno and the others watched as they decided to make some extra plans for the ground team before they would be called back to the Nirvana…their time table was discussed and the brothers accepted to train the women for a few more weeks before they were back on the Nirvana, and when the time permitted it, the brothers would land on a habitable planet and train the women more on the various methods and skills they all would be needing once they were needed on missions that required them to land on a planetary surface.

 

They also agreed on having both Duero and Dylan travel in rotations to the surface and be the base's medic team, and Parfait's request to be able to access the data archives of the brothers was allowed by them under the conditions that the plans were to be approved by them, this way what they deemed to be too dangerous was to be only released by them should the need arise.

 

The brothers also planned to use the Gunsnipers they already have soon in their training, but decided to use two now…one to show how it was used, and another to act as the field test model for the women to test their sniper skills with. For now it was still basic combat.

 

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

 

Much later…

 

“What are those?”

 

That was the main inquiry made by just about everyone on the women's side as they all gazed at the raptor like Zoids that was now being brought in from the Hanger…the Zoids were brought in an hour before by Lance who had gone back to the Nirvana via his Zoid and now there were two new Zoids with him.

 

The Zoids were like small dinosaur type animals and seemed to be smaller than the other Zoids in the base, but from the way that the brothers moved the machines, these were powerful machines…the women learned early that looks…when it came to Zoids was nothing compared to the ability and weaponry of the machine in question.

 

Brandon then began to outline the abilities and functions of the Zoid as Lance got into the Zoid and powered up it's systems and moved the Zoid into the assembled firing range and testing yard.

 

“This is the Gunsniper, this Zoid is the sniper Zoid used by the Helic Republic back on our world of Zi. This Zoid might seem small and light weight, compared to the other Zoids in our arsenals, but size and looks does not matter when you are using a Zoid. This Zoid has a slew of combat weapons, bite fangs, strike claws, beam gatling guns, beam bolt launchers, and a missile launcher. These are it's basic weapons, thus for a Zoid it's size it is well armed and equipped to handle a sizable number of threats. The reason why we call it the Gunsniper is about to be shown.”

 

The Zoid first started out with the weapons mentioned by Brandon as it went through it's paces, but then as it got to the area where large numbers of targets were seen, the Zoid then unleashed two more claws that dug deeply into the soil that seemed to crouch somewhat and the tail extended forward into sections as the tip revealed an opening that is normally seen from a rifle, and the shooting began as Lance was still in the cockpit, many of the viewers were then treated to an internal camera view and saw the youngest brother lying on his stomach and using what appeared to be a rifle.

 

“The Gunsniper is named as such because the tail actually houses one of the largest rifles known to exist, a 144mm anti armor rifle that can be used to break through most energy shields and armor classes, unless the target possesses exceptional armor and shielding. The Zoid was used to incapacitate larger Zoid types and take out smaller threats to minimize the risk of a swarm attack. The reason this Zoid is present is that some of you will be trained on how use the Gunsniper's main 144mm rifle in combat to disable large foes and help support you're team-mates. Before we do that however, we need to see you're skills with normal rifles and guns before we can consider you eligible to pilot a Gunsniper.”

 

As the women moved about, Jura turned to Barnette and asked her close friend.

 

“You want to try using the rifle in that Zoid Barnette?”

 

“No thanks, I rather stick to my Dread, thank you very much.”

 

Magno however knew about Barnette's skill with guns and naturally had her records pertaining to her performance in the Vanguard mission a few weeks before. They showed that Barnette had the potential to be a part of the ground operations forces, however Magno had reservations on the idea of having Barnette work under Brandon and his siblings.

 

The first was the fact that among the women, who still viewed men with suspicion, and didn't trust them, Barnette was the most vocal of the groups, going to some small but present lengths to antagonize the brothers, despite the fact that they were not from Tarak and thus, the prejudice of their world technically did not apply to them. The second was her dislike for Scott Reinhart, the green haired girl showed considerable wariness and distrust to the middle sibling, no doubt due to the actions being done by Jura to combine her Dread with Scott's Liger, and that seemed to make the emerald haired girl somewhat…jealous.

 

Magno was a very old woman, nearly a hundred years old to be in fact, but she knew enough about history to know about men and women living together and the problems that went with it. She only hoped that things did not get too out of hand until they all made it back to their home system.

 

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

 

As the activities calmed down and Magno and the others were leaving, despite Jura's request to stay along with Dita's, she spoke to her crew and told them that they were doing well, but needed to work a lot more in order for them to truly succeed.

 

As they left, the brothers went back to their duties in training the women, who were now getting used to their training as the ground operations force of the pirates. The one thing they noted that is that now for his rotation, Duero was their base's medic officer, and after a week, Dylan would be shipped in the base once Duero was done with his time there. The Captain also told them that after a few more weeks, they would have to pack it up and leave the planet.

 

They hoped that soon the women would be involved in a ground mission so they could see the results of their training.

 

For now…it was time to rest for tomorrow would be another day…

 

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

 

To be continued…

 

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

 

Author's notes:

 

Sorry about the delay of updates, had a triple birthday celebration the day before yesterday…my mother and my aunt's birthday since they were twins and my nephew's birthday was on as well…

 

So I hope that answers why there are only the short updates today.

 

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

 

The reasons why the more powerful Zoids are not used at this stage is that the women still have to be trained in basic maneuvers, and as such they had to learn using basic Zoids to grasp the needed skills in order to be effective pilots. Brandon and his siblings may have the talent, potential, and aptitude, but even they had to learn the fundamental basics of Zoid combat to serve as a foundation. Giving new pilots high powered Zoids is just plain wrong…they need the basic training in order to smooth out the rough edges properly.

 

Also, the Zoids only exist in the reality that Brandon, his brothers, and the other crew of the massive space traveling Whale King that they came in, and none of the women of Megele had yet to learn how to pilot the Zoids, thus basic training is a must. According to the data, a Gojulas is a massive and slow Zoid, unless in close combat, but that will not always be the case, and only an experienced and skilled pilot can keep it from being toppled easily …so that is why no power-house Zoids are in the scenes yet.

 

Oh yeah…my bad on the Lightning Saix, I managed to find out that it is not a basic Zoid, the reason I called it one is that the Lightning Saix that is used in this story are built after the battle with the original Death Saurer decades, before, so the Lightning Six is now becoming a slightly more common sight than it was once was when the prototype was still the only one of it's kind after Raven and his Geno-Breaker Zoid destroyed the factory that was capable of making more of the Lightning Saix Zoid type. The Lightning Saix that the pirates will be using are the ones that were built after they do get the factories back in order and the Lightning Saix is now in more open, though still limited use…though the women will still need to get used to the speed and acceleration of the Zoids of this type.

 

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

 

This chapter is done, now we move on to the next chapter, hopefully we can have some fun, and yes, in the coming chapters, there will be ground missions for the ground teams to accomplish, it's not always going to be space borne battles either way you know.

 

This will also include some original ideas on what kind of ground forces the Harvester possess in their army, apart from their already deadly space borne navy, this will be the reason why the Nirvana will be involved in a good number of ground and space battles…hey…this IS a crossover with Zoids you know, and no Zoid episode would be complete if there were no ground operations.

 

Whether I will introduce sea combat Zoids is still somewhat up for debate…after all…a Whale King Zoid can only carry so many Zoids. And I don't know just how much room is left in the Nirvana to house those types anyway.

 

I also have other plans for the many types of Zoids in the story, though since those were built in the middle between Guardian Force Time-line and New Century Time-line, don't expect me to bring out any super Zoids right off the bat.

 

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

 

On Barnette's case, she is not yet part of the ground operations force and would be considered as a potential candidate for the ground team. Despite the fact that she would make a great Zoid pilot, she still is hostile with the brothers and her dislike for hem and her stronger dislike for the closeness growing between Scott and Jura will make her rather untrustworthy at his point in time, so until that issue is resolved, she is not yet a part of the ground operations unit of the Nirvana, and she still has to under go training like the others, but due to her hostile nature towards the brothers, that would not be a good idea at the current juncture.

 

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

 

Hi, Brandon here…we've gotten way over our heads in this one! The ship's been ambushed and the aliens have some new fighter that's running rings around us!

 

Not to mention the fact that we are in a blasted asteroid field that is really messing things up for use out here!!!

 

Guys!!! We've got a serious problem!!!

 

What?

 

The fighter got Meia! The Dreads are in disarray and she's in bad shape!

 

Great, just great…any plans guys?

 

I got one…but it's going to be close…

 

Go for it little brother.

 

Wait…what about Meia?

 

She has something she has to come to terms with, we have to let her handle this on her own…she'd want us to.

 

---------

 

Mother….

 

---------

 

Next time on ZoidDread…Chapter 7 Ambush!

 

See you on the battlefield!!!