Fan Fiction / Zoids Fan Fiction / Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ ZoidDread ❯ Unwanted company ( Chapter 10 )

ZoidDread

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Zoids or VanDread, both shows are different in every way, and I am only using them to make this story of mine.

 

Chapter 9

 

Unwanted company

 

< >: Thoughts

 

<<“ ”>>: Organoid language

 

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

 

The Nirvana was currently a good distance away from what appeared to be a massive space station and port. The women and men from either Megele and Tarak had never seen anything like these stations before, however, this wasn't the case for Magno and the three Reinhart siblings. For the three brothers….this was not the first time they had seen stations like this one, and for the Captain….she had recalled the Colonization Fleet helping construct these and had stayed in a few of these stations herself. These wee called Missions, similar to the old Earth buildings that acted as rest houses and safe havens for many, these were used to house ship crew, permanent personnel, and traveling merchants. This one however was already abandoned when the Nirvana arrived.

 

The pirates however knew that even if there were no people to trade with…there as nothing wrong with doing salvage work…the Mission was a treasure trove of spare parts, equipment, supplies and other items. Thus a salvage team was deployed to check it out.

 

Brandon and his siblings were already hard at work as several other members of the pirates were with them, Meia was near the inactive computer core and was able to open an access plate and begin removing serviceable computer chips from mother boards and spare wiring. The other pirates were also there, both Barnette and Jura were looking for any luxury items and food, Jura was in the market for clothes, and Barnette…being a lover of antique fire-arms wondered if a gun-shop or museum was nearby. Dita was likewise with them.

 

The three brothers however were rather armed, all three of them carried combat knives and pistols with full ammunition. They decided not to take any rifles since they would not have too much trouble, but they certainly were not going to go without any back-up plans. As the group worked...a certain egg shaped robot floated over to Meia who was very busy right now with what she was doing.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Meia didn't break her concentration on the task at hand and replied while still going at her task.

 

“What does it look like to you Pyoro?”

 

“Looks to me like you're robbing the place.”

 

“We're not robbing it.”

 

“Then what are you doing since it certainly looks like you are robbing this place to me.”

 

“We're getting material that's not being used on this station, we can put the materials to better use from here.”

 

“Oh, I see…”

 

Brandon got up and shook the dust from his hands and walked over to his brother Lance and whispered something to his sibling and Lance nodded in agreement and moved out of the area while placing a comm.-link on his ears, Brandon then made his way to where the robot was and then looked at Pyoro with a somewhat stern eye.

 

“Pyoro, do us a favor and help out instead of asking too many questions, go join Lance for a bit, he'll be checking out some of the other areas to search for supplies.”

 

Lance nodded and took out a flash light within his vest pocket. The flash-light however had the activation button on the end so the light was accessed with a press of the fingers while it was held in a reverse grip in the hand…a commando's flash-light. The youngest brother checked the light for a bit and then called Pyoro.

 

“Come on…let's go see just what else it out here Pyoro.”

 

“Coming!” The little robot replied as it followed the youngest sibling as the pair went out to see just what else they could find in the abandoned Mission.

 

Meia and the others went back to their tasks, while the two brothers kept in contact with their youngest brother via comm.-link.

 

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

 

In the other section…

 

The two were busy rummaging through the nearby storage center and finding several containers they searched for anything worthwhile in them. Lance was busy rummaging through the place while Pyoro did likewise with the containers near his area. The youngest brother didn't quite like the idea f being alone with just Pyoro since the little robot would be in danger, but as far as he could tell, there was no sign of danger.

 

“Do you really think we can find anything in here Lance?” Pyoro asked suddenly as it floated over to the youngest sibling.

 

“Maybe…it's going to take some thorough searching though, not everything is easy to spot first time out.”

 

“Really?”

 

The two were busy looking through the containers that they were not aware that they themselves were being watched…Lance however, having been a military child quickly sensed that something was somewhat amiss as his combat senses told him that there was something nearby and seemed to be observing them, he didn't know what it was but the last thing he wanted to happen was to be caught off guard.

 

He turned and had his activated flash-light in his left hand in a reverse grip and placed it before his chest with his right arm on top of the left with his pistol aiming forward with the safety off. The youngest Reinhart scanned the area intently, not making a sound and breaking his concentration.

 

“What's wrong Lance?” Pyoro asked worriedly…the battle ready expression on the young man's face and the way he held his weapon told the robot that something was up.

 

“I can't be sure…I had a feeling that someone or something's watching us.”

 

“Where?”

 

“I don't…wait…there!!!” Lance said as he suddenly saw something move in the shadows…it certainly wasn't human sized and had gotten away before he could identify it. He fired off a pair rounds from his pistol as a warning…the rounds ripping into the walls…the vague shape then seemed to be now on the beams on the roof.

 

Lance growled. “Damn! Whatever it was, it's fast!”

 

His comm.-link came online as his eldest brother came on the link. His voice was not very much in a good mood.

 

“Lance?! Was that you shooting?! What's going on over there?!”

 

“I've got a feeling we're not alone on this Mission guys…someone or something was near here, looking at Pyoro and me…we're going to investigate.”

 

“All right…we're on our way there now! Watch yourself!”

 

Lance nodded at his brother's message as both he and Pyoro began to look for their unseen observer. As he moved about, he kept both flash-light and pistol at the ready as he scanned the blackened areas as some sections of the Mission did not have power as of yet. His eyes looked intently for the shape of whatever or whoever it was that was spying on him and the Navi-Robot. He then moved cautiously…his military training and experience kicking in as he was scanning the sides, sectors, upper areas carefully. As he moved through what appeared to a business section he looked up and then spotted the shadow yet again in the upper beams of an unlighted section of the station and aimed his weapon and shouted at a clear voice.

 

“Whoever or whatever you are, you had better come out of hiding and show yourself…try anything threatening and I'll take you down!”

 

Lance kept his gun trained on the form as it became clearer as more light filtered in and the form was approaching some emergency light sources and his own flash-light as he advanced himself towards the stranger form.

 

As soon as the figure came to light…Lance was surprised greatly.

 

“An ape?” The younger brother asked as he lowered the weapon a bit to look at the unknown form more carefully.

 

It was actually an orangutan, a primate that he had heard of in his travels but had never seen before. Judging from the dress, boots, and gloves it wore…the animal was a female creature. The creature however didn't seem scared at the fact that Lance had a pistol in his hands it was still loaded and aimed at it. It however suddenly looked love-struck as it gazed at the floating Navi-robot. The orangutan then gave a whoop of joy and charged…catching the robot in it's long arms and began to lick at it affectionately.

 

Naturally the Navi-robot was not very appreciative of all this slobbering adoration.

 

“ACK!!! STOP IT!!! THAT”S SO UNSANITARY!!! LANCE!!! HELP ME!!!”

 

Lance didn't know what was going on, and there were some important questions on his mind. One of them was what was an orangutan doing in an abandoned Mission? It certainly looked to be healthy and well fed, and from the way it moved, it seemed to be the domesticated type…no way would a wild orangutan act this way around total strangers. If that was the case…where was the owner?

 

He however had to push those questions aside as his danger senses told him that he, the orangutan, and Pyoro were not alone…but this presence was not the same as the primate before him…this one had an aura of danger on it and it sent Lance's danger senses on alert. He quickly leaped forward and turned in mid leap to face the back and kept his flash-light on and his weapon trained on whoever or rather it was that appeared.

 

That was when he saw him.

 

The man was tall, far taller than Lance was, and had more muscle mass. He had the build of a person more along the lines of a body builder, as compared to the Zoid pilot's more gymnastic form. He wore a kind of technological eye-patch over his right eye and there were two green stripes of face paint on his left cheek. He had dark brown hair slicked back with one long tress out in front, just above a green jewel on his forehead. He wore a set of clothes that were similar to the native-American people of Earth, and seemed to carry himself with the same confidence Lance and his other siblings had, but it was combined with a kind of sneakiness and secretiveness that spelled trouble and that made the youngest sibling to suspect and distrust him.

 

Lance didn't lower his weapon and spoke out to the stranger.

 

“Who are you and what are you doing on this Mission?”

 

The stranger didn't seem to register Lance and the pilot's gun he directed his gaze at the simian that was having a field day pawing and drooling all over the Nirvana's Navi robot. In a deep voice, he called out to the ape. “Utan!"

 

The animal looked up and nodded to its apparent owner. She ran to his side, with Pyoro still in her arms.

 

“What's that you got there?" The man asked his ape companion.

 

Utan smiled as she lifted up the now drenched Pyoro.

 

The stranger gave a nasty smile as he assessed his new property. “Well now… I'd say this little machine can get us some fast cash… once we stripe it apart of course."

 

Utan shook its head at her owner and held Pyoro close to her.

 

Lance didn't like the look that the new intruder was giving Pyoro, it was the kind of look a rat would have when it went after food that wasn't it's to begin with. So it was at this point that he came to Pyoro's rescue, he didn't quite like the prissy robot…but no way did he hate the robot at all. “Put him down!" He said with a solid tone as he kept his gun aimed at the stranger.

 

The man gave a bored look at Lance. “Excuse me?"

 

Lance didn't like the looks of this man, all his combat training and five years of experience told him that this guy was trouble “Are you deaf? I said put him down… now!"

 

The man gazed at the other male and snorted a bit. Lance looked to be around nineteen, which in truth he was. Furthermore the man noted his build and made the assumption that it didn't belong to fighters, despite the pistol and what appeared to be a knife. So in short the man thought that the Zoid pilot was nothing but a cocky punk. He was way stronger than this small fry.

 

“Well? Put him down before I put you down…now!" Lance said once more as he kept his weapon aimed at the man.

 

The man snorted once more and answered. “Hey, it's finders-keepers. Utan found him, so that makes him my property now. Why should I listen to a snot nosed punk?"

 

“Careful what you say, you might regret that." Lance said with a slightly insulted temper as he kept his gun ready. This idiot didn't know just how close he was losing his head as Lance hated being insulted by those who looked down on him. He however knew just what this tactic was for. Taunting was one way to make an opponent careless and too emotional. That was one of many tactics in martial arts and also in warfare, to break one's discipline and now way was he going to fall for it.

 

“So you don't like what I called you?" The man taunted once more. “Well, then…" He got ready in a battle stance of his own. “Why don't you come over here and teach me some manners?" He then gave Lance a smug grin. “If you can do that without relying on that gun of yours."

 

Lance was ready to put this boasting numbskull out like a busted light bulb, but he knew better than to attack at random, he took the time to assess the man in front of him.

 

<This guy's got some experience, no doubt as a street fighter or thug. That mean's the fool won't hesitate to cheat at all. >

 

He made note that the stranger had a hidden knife in his boot and also a hidden holster.

 

“Well come on." The stranger continued to taunt him." If you can beat me without those weapons, then I'll take back what I called you and I'll give the robot back too."

 

Lance wanted to just beat this guy to a pulp as he kept a good grip on his gun, but he weighted the options available to him. He could thrash him easily as he had taken on quite a number of people better trained that this guy, having been able to use his military skills for the past five years, plus his form may not be the same as the guy before him, but his muscle tone was of a very strong caliber due to both practical combat and training. But there was Pyoro to consider, though the machine was annoying at times, it was still part of the crew and so he had to take account of its safety.

 

It was then that the others came on the scene.

 

“Mr. Alien!"

 

“Lance!”

 

The young man turned and saw Dita and Meia running up to him, along with his brothers Brandon and Scott. On the other side, Jura and Barnette were also on their way towards them. With that distraction, the man reacted and took advantage of the situation he was in. Quickly taking Pyoro, he threw it towards Lance. The Zoid pilot however sensed the incoming projectile and ducked instantly. Pyoro went sailing over his head and his brothers' who had also dodged and ended up hitting someone else, Meia landed on her back as the mechanical mascot struck her head dead center.

 

“Leader!" Dita cried as she checked on Meia.

 

Lance was distracted for a moment… and the stranger then drew out his knife and lunged straight for Lance. Taking a hostage would benefit him in this mess and since the young pilot was the closest and was distracted…

 

However, the young Zoid pilot already figured out his plan and he himself had no plans on being anybody's hostage. Just as soon as the man came close enough, he dropped his flash-light and tossed up his gun and grabbed the extended hand slammed an elbow into the man's throat with considerable force.

.

The stranger gasped in shock and pain as he suddenly felt his supply of air cut off. The blow also made him feel great pain… his gripe on his weapon was loosened and the knife was dropped as Lance quickly disarmed him in a CQC move and twisted his arm and immobilizing him. Lance then made him fall to his knees and the brother kicked him as he released him, sending his face to kiss the ground…right in time for Lance's gun to return and allow the youngest brother to catch it

 

The stranger turned on his back and tried to get up again to fight, but was persuaded to stay where he was as a bullet was fired nearly mere inches from his face, making a whole near his head. He looked up to find Lance's still smoking gun aiming right at his face, right at the bridge of his nose, he could smell the used gun-powder and saw the cool glare leveled at him by Lance.

 

“Don't bother getting up.” Lance said evenly as his brothers arrived and they too aimed their pistols at him, both elder brothers were not in a good mood and were relaxed to see their brother was fine. The two then leveled the same cool glares at the stranger that was on the floor before them.

 

“DON"T MOVE!" Meia warned as she held her laser ring at the ready to shoot the stranger. Despite her calm nature…she was NOT happy at what had just happened as she was still bruised somewhat from being hit by Pyoro when the robot was tossed.

 

The man saw that he was in a dire situation with no apparent exits for him to use. Meia, Brandon, Scott, and Lance were all in the perfect position to end his life with one shot from either of their weapons. Jura and Barnette also arrived to back up their comrade with their own weapons. He glared angrily at all three brothers and vowed to silently get revenge on them

 

He then gestured to Utan, signaling her not to attack as the primate seemed ready to fight them.

 

“Who are you? What are you doing here?" Meia demanded quickly.

 

When the man didn't answer at first, Brandon deactivated the safety of his weapon and placed it closer to the man's face, and the eldest brother glared at the man, his face mirroring the distrust his younger brother had on him.

 

“The lady asked you a question…now talk, unless you prefer we shoot you?”

 

The man glared hatefully at Brandon and his siblings as he replied. “The name's Rabat, and as to what I'm doing here, is for the same reasons you all are as well."

 

“What are you talking about?" Meia asked, still not lowering her ring.

 

“You're all here to loot the abandoned Mission, just like me, right?" Rabat answered.

 

Pyoro floated up to Meia, with a look of suspicion. “I thought you said that this was all salvage work!"

 

Meia was ready to offer a suitable retort to the robot, when a massive explosion rocked the whole station. Meia got to her comm-link and learned from Buzam, that the aliens have just made their appearance and they were needed now to fend of the latest Harvester attack.

 

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

 

The women and the three siblings decided to let Rabat to his devices, they had other concerns as they left him be, they had the Nirvana to protect, Rabat got up after they all had left and signaled his companion Utan to follow him, he then turned to Utan showing him something. He smiled as he realized that he had gained a workable bargaining chip…namely since it seemed that the pirates had forgotten something.

 

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

 

Brandon and his siblings got into their Ligers, just as Jura, Meia, Dita, and Barnette got into their Dreads, the moment they streaked out of the Mission Station, they spotted the enemy…apparently the Harvesters had developed some new weapons as several of them didn't match up with the records they had on the aliens. However, that fact was the last thing on their minds as they were now under attack.

 

All three Ligers were now in the fight as a certain trader and con-man was in the area. As the ship, resembling a high speed sail boat, came on the scene the trader was not surprised to see the new units of the Harvesters…what he was surprised to see were the Ligers themselves. They certainly did not resemble any machine he was familiar with, it was not like the Vanguards he had heard about, or the Dreads for that matter. He was shocked as the machines seemed to actually MOVE in space like they were on the ground…running and sprinting like real animals!!!

 

His eyes widened as the Ligers suddenly glowed with a bright light and their white armor was now replaced by three different sets of armor. The Ligers then went into combat and began to rip into the Cube Fighters like predators falling on their prey, namely the Cube Fighters. The one in blue armor was running as the boosters on it's back opened up and suddenly ignited, the beast-like machine suddenly seemed to fade out of sight…and even it's electronic signature nearly vanished from his scanners as it was aiming at a large cloud of Cube Fighters…flashes of arcing energy were seen as the machine suddenly was behind the Cube Fighter Squadron and reared up to roar and roar it did.

 

Rabat then saw the Liger decked in red armor unleash several blades near the head armor and a glowing cone of light surround the head and the Liger smashed into several Cube Fighters at high speed, despite being somewhat slower than the one in blue armor, the red armored one was no slouch as it too had engine boosters, the blades did not retract as four more at the sides came into play and the energy shield covered the entire Liger as it leaped into the Cube Fighters and tore them to shreds and any space debris that was in the way as several smaller asteroids were sliced into confetti and the larger ones had massive gashes and were also red hot.

 

As soon as he saw the one in green armor, Rabat's eyes widened as it locked in at several bands of Cube Fighters that bombarded it…amazingly, the strange machine withstood the impact blasts and then glowing particles of energy were seen gathering in front of the cannons and in a moment a pair of powerful energy blasts were released, the blats instantly destroyed the Cube Fighters and reduced into atoms, those Cube Fighters that were able to evade the direct blast were not better off as the energy waves either ripped them apart beyond repair, or their circuits were fried to the core.

 

Rabat was shocked as the Cube Fighters that numbers in several substantial squadrons were severely decimated, but now the new weapons of the Harvesters came into the battle, while the surviving Cube Fighters maintained the attack with the pirates.

 

The new Harvester units resembled the Cube Fighters, only in physical form, but they were armed with more weaponry and heavier armor, plus it seemed that they were also capable in close combat as several large blades appeared from their arms as they attacked the Ligers, apparently the Harvesters designed these units to engage in close combat with the Ligers as they were the biggest threats to their operations.

 

Brandon and his siblings fought back and several of the new units were taken out before they could retaliate. The brothers knew that despite their successes, they could ill afford to be over-confident, even if there seemed to be no sign of any Seed Ships the brothers knew that it certainly did not mean that the Harvesters were not without surprises.

 

Scott ripped up three of the attacking units and one turned up in his Liger's jaws and was now crushed and gouged metal from the Liger's fangs. As he manipulated his Zoid to release the wreckage, he turned his Liger and faced two more of the new Cube Fighter variants and was about to fight when he spotted three more coming it, a five on one attack, not very good odds, regardless of one's skills. However the other three didn't have the chance to attack him as they were destroyed by beam cannons fire and missiles and a certain crimson Dread came on the scene. The shock of losing their reinforcements was enough to surprise the two that faced Scott and enough time for them to lower their defenses and wind up as scrap as both Liger and Dread finished them off.

 

“How was that?” Jura asked with a sly and seductive smile…which mentally grew as she saw Scott's embarrassed reaction.

 

“You sure took you're time.” Scott said with some disappointment, but it was VERY faint to how much his male body was reacting to the hot blonde woman giving him what he knew in his world as a `come here' look of seduction.

 

Since he had grown up on a co-gender world on another galaxy and his mom having taught him about the facts of life along with his siblings when they were old and mature enough, both mentally and physically, the middle brother was reacting in a normal way to the hot blonde giving him the look. She may only be somewhat interested in finding out how her Dread would fare if it merged with his Liger, but the inner male in the middle sibling certainly didn't mind the attention…he swore mentally when a certain part of his male anatomy began to react to Jura's heavy and sexy smile.

 

Jura's next statement certainly didn't help alleviate Scott's discomfort…it actually made it worse.

 

“Are you ready to combine with me?”

 

Scott quickly restrained himself before his body reacted with whatever images his now horny imagination was coming up with. The last thing he wanted to do was embarrass himself before a woman like Jura, that would be a serious blow to his male pride and dignity. He then wondered just what will happen once Jura got her wish…but after all that he had just experienced…he was not in the mood to be in the proximity of Jura at this point.

 

“Jura…we are in the middle of a fight here! And quit talking about combining for a minute will, keep that up, one of the enemy will get in and we're really going to be in trouble!”

 

Jura pouted somewhat as she did admit that now seemed to be not the best time…but she was not going to give up on her plan anytime soon.

 

Lance was busy fending them off with his smaller weaponry and Kail's teeth and Strike Laser Claws when his Liger warned him of an incoming attack as he engaged another foe…this one was about to attack him at the side of his Liger and he didn't have enough time to turn and fight back. However the attacker barely had time to recover itself as it was suddenly hit by weapons fire and exploded. From nearby came a certain blue and green colored Dread came on the scene and a certain young woman with a worried voice came on his comm.-link.

 

“Mr. Alien, are you all right?”

 

Lance nodded in response.

 

“I'm fine now…thanks for the support Dita.”

 

“You're welcome!” Dita said with her usual cheerful smile, happy in the fact that she had been able to help Mr. Alien and protect him from possible harm.

 

Brandon then cut through the comm. channels after he tore apart a few more of the units that tried to bushwhack him and Zarreke. He smiled a bit at the two and replied.

 

“As much as I would like to see you two get along so well, we don't exactly have the time for that sort of thing now do we? Combine and take out the station, I just got wind from the Nirvana's bridge crew that it's where the enemy is coming from.”

 

Lance and Dita agreed and both their machines fused to release Dita's ZoidDread. With a powerful roar the Liger activated it's boosted Hybrid Cannons and beam weapons…and in a heart-beat the weapons of the ZoidDread turned the entire station into nothing but rubble.

 

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

 

Rabat's jaw dropped to the flat of his console after what he had seen. Then he grinned in a more evil and greedy fashion. < I think I just hit the mother lode big time. >

 

He began to have images in his mind on how much money he could make out of those machines and their fire-power. He knew that hundreds of potential buyers who would love to spend every credit and currency they had to get their hands on the three beast machines…not just arms dealers would be interested, he that much for sure, scientist would love to find out how the machines moved…the tech needed to build them, and both illegal and legal entities would be paying big amounts to own them…he then wondered just how he would get them from the pirates.

 

However, his plans were put on hold… since it was then that several explosions rocked his ship. Looking at his tactical scanner, he saw himself being surrounded by the remnants of the alien ambush force. Apparently they had decided to get involved and were now after his ship.

 

“Oop chee!" Utan whined as she gave a soulful and pleading look in her eyes to her master.

 

“Oh all right. Go ahead." Rabat answered with a sigh. He knew he was going to regret this action yet again. But it was the only way to beat the enemy, and despite being a primate, Utan was quite capable of using the ship's main form of defense.

 

The orangutan happily bounded of to the back of the pilot's cabin. A minute and a half later, a hatch opened on top of Rabat's ship and a monstrous looking mecha system appeared. Inside the unit, Utan smiled as she pressed on the triggers on the two manipulators' and began to retaliate.

 

The mecha unleashed a murderous barrage of missiles, bullets, cannon, and laser shots at the remaining swarms of alien fighters. The enemy ships were blown to bits as the simian carelessly blasted away at their formations, shooting anything in sight and turning the enemy fighters to junk. The problem with this blast everything in sight approach was fairly obvious as the barrage may have destroyed all the enemy units…a large portion of all that fire-power also missed.

 

On the bridge, Rabat growled in irritation as the monitors showed him that Utan once again exhausted all the ordinance and ammunition of the ship. This was the one reason why despite Utan's skilled use of the mecha, he disliked asking the female simian to man their defensive unit.

 

< Damn! There goes all of last weeks earnings! Now I'll have to do some more trade work… >

 

He then decided to get into contact with the Nirvana, and do some trading. He had an idea that since he knew that the vast majority of the crew on that ship were women from Megele, he might just get enough profits to replenish what he had been forced to spend in the defense of the ship…plus he DID have something of a bargaining chip for the pirates.

 

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

 

A few minutes later, Magno watched as the bridge crew got into contact with the new ship as she came face to face with Rabat on the monitor. Beside her were BC, Dita, Meia, Jura, Barnette, Brandon, Scott, and Lance. All three brothers glared at Rabat and were not in the mood to see the man in question.

 

“Thanks to you guys, my ship received some engine damage!" Rabat complained in a rather arrogant tone.

 

That tone didn't suit well to Magno. “And am I to understand that you want us to help you?" She asked.

 

“I should think so." Rabat answered in a-matter-of-fact tone.

 

Magno snorted in anger at the audacity of the man in front of her, as his manners towards elders was totally non-existent. Not like Duero, Dylan, or Brandon and his siblings for that matter. “Apparently you need to know a few things young man about us before you start making demands… we're pirates and we only look out for ourselves."

 

Rabat smirked while shrugging, then held up something. “Okay, then does that mean I get to keep this?"

 

Dita gave a gasp as she saw that in their haste to fight the enemy, they all had forgotten about Pyoro.

 

Magno sighed a bit as she nodded. “He is part of this crew." She then addressed Rabat. “Very well then, you may come onboard."

 

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

 

Later…

 

“That guy's nothing but trouble…” Scott said with certainty as his siblings looked at Rabat as the man began to do his trading work.

 

His brothers agreed as they looked Rabat over like a pack of wolves in a cage, forced to look as they were being taunted by an arrogant and cocky dog, unable to attack and make him pay. Their danger senses told the three of them that this guy was going to cause problems for the crew in the long run and there was something else…in the five years they had spent on traveling from world to world, they had encountered a large number of people who certainly deserved to be kept an eye on this guy certainly qualified, plus his name seemed familiar to them.

 

The new arrival used his charm on the women and the items he had certainly got their attention. Jewelry, clothes, parts, equipment, you name it, he had it. The women who were there didn't know why the three brothers were somewhat hostile to the trader, but they paid it no mind. The fact that he seemed comfortable around women and he hinted on knowing the past relationships between men and women, the way the brothers did certainly made him intriguing.

 

Even the normally level-headed and practical Parfet was taken in by Rabat, when he offered her a power coupling that could help boost the Paeksis's power output. Paiway also got into the act as she tried to impress the trader by using several free samples of make-up. Rabat replied that she try again after five years.

 

Despite this however, not ALL the women trusted this new-comer…Magno had ordered Brandon and his brothers to secretly keep an eye on the trader and if he went out of line, to make him leave. Buzam herself also agreed with the suspicions of both her Captain and the three siblings, and decided to check on Rabat's ship for anything out of the ordinary.

 

Meia and Dita arrived and walked to the place where the brothers were leaning and Meia was now beside Brandon and Dita was next to Lance, she too didn't know why, but something about the male stranger didn't seem right to the redhead. Meia had the same suspicions on her face as she looked at Rabat. She felt a bit disgusted at the way her fellow pirates were fawning over the man.

 

“I don't trust him." Meia said simply.

 

Lance growled slightly at that statement. “Join the club.”

 

“What's wrong Mr. Alien?” Dita asked worriedly, she saw Lance as a normal person many times…for him to show this much hostility towards a person meant that her Mr. Alien knew that something about the man was wrong…just like she did.

 

“Something about him is totally wrong Dita…and the way he acted during the whole battle was very troubling. He hardly reacted when we were under attack, almost as if he thought he knew the outcome of the battle long before traded fire with the Harvesters before we defeated most of them.”

 

“You do have a point Lance…why did he act that way?” Meia asked the brothers…since she also had seen Rabat's ship not react in any way in the fighting that would be deemed normal in the mind of a human being, he could have lent his aid…but chose to hang back and act like a spectator, and only fought once he was attacked by the Harvesters.

 

“I don't know myself…but honestly, to me, this guy is trouble for all of us. I and my siblings have been planet hopping for five years in this galaxy and we've met quite a lot of shady and very questionable individuals in the span of that time and we've learned enough to know when there's something off about this guy…I'd trust him like I would trust a space faring rat.” Brandon said silently as he continued to glare at Rabat.

 

Meia had to smile a bit at the description Brandon gave since in her mind, it seemed to fit Rabat like second skin.

 

“That is a good way of saying it.”

 

Brandon smirked just a little bit but focused his attention on Rabat as the trader finished his work for the time being and left the area. He quickly summoned Lance over and whispered to his brother.

 

“Get in contact with Kail and the others, have them dig anything they can from the records we've had before we rode with Magno and the others, this guy's name is familiar for some reason.”

 

Lance nodded as he made his way to the Hanger where the Zoids and their Ligers were stored to get what data he could. Brandon and Scott kept an eye on him and followed the trader for a bit. The two eldest brothers knew that sooner or later….something was going to happen on this ship, and the trader was going to be the one to start it.

 

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

 

In one of the Hanger Bays…

 

Buzam looked at the ship Rabat had flown into the Nirvana with and wondered just who this character was….this ship had good armor, and appeared to have considerable speed…just the kind of vessel that was ideal in a sense for traders and other who needed good speed and protection from enemy attacks. Yet she still felt that something was off about this man and began to use the computer nearby to covertly scan the ship's data-case.

 

If the suspicions both the Captain, and the siblings were right, along with her own, it was now the time to find out. However it seemed that the ship had a good solid pass-word protection system.

 

“Hmmm…”

 

Just before Buzam could get down to the part of cracking through the computer defenses, a voice came on the scene.

 

“Can I help you with something?”

 

Buzam merely looked over shoulder and saw Rabat looking at her with a curious eye.

 

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

 

In the Zoid Hanger Bay…

 

Lance was busy in Kail's cockpit and was busy looking over all their records on anything concrete on Rabat. Like his brothers, he too had heard the name, but since they had been wandering for the past five years, staying in one place was certainly not an option and they only recorded the information they felt would be more useful to them instead of everything at once.

 

As he looked over the data, the Organoids spoke to him through their special link.

 

<< “Looking for anything concerning that trader who's here Lance?”>> Zarreke asked the youngest brother. All three former Organoids trusted each sibling very closely and as such they spoke to the siblings very well.

 

“Yeah, me and the guys don't trust him…anything on you're data-banks?

 

<<“Give me a moment…here, when we were on Talver 5, his name came up when he blackmailed a pharmaceutical company to sell him several canisters of medical solutions, along with several components for medical kits.”>>

 

“Figures…a blackmailer. Anything else?”

 

Rikera spoke next.

 

<<“Rabat seems to be quite the rat all right, according to my archives…he was mentioned to have given a supply of low quality fuel rods to a power reactor on Fulmar Prime…the rods quickly deteriorated and the people barely contained the radiation along with preventing the reactor from detonating, and the people are still recovering from it.”>>

 

Lance's face then turned dark.

 

“What a minute?! HE was the one responsible for the Fulmar/Galvain Prime Meltdown Crisis?! The same one that we prevented two years ago?!”

 

This incident was the cause of near open war between Fulmar Prime and Galvain Prime, both planets with a somewhat tense trade agreement and slightly uneasy relations. The fact that the fuel rods Rabat sold to the people who ran the reactor fuel rods that were of poor quality from a failing company on Galvain Prime made Lance's blood boil. They managed to prevent an all out war by helping the moderate factions on both planets locate new fuel sources and also managed to help arrest any extremists that would have used terrorist tactics to further intensify the mess. To know that this man Rabat was the one who nearly caused two planets filled with people to go to war with one another made him very angry.

 

<< “Apparently so, since when we came to Galvain Prime to track down the same fuel rods…his name came up as the buyer. He managed to also steal large amounts of currency from both planets at the time of the crisis before our arrival.”>>

 

“I should have known!!! That guy's a real parasite!!!”

 

<<“That's not even the half of it…he apparently stole top secret design blue-prints for a living too. There have been reports that he had stolen such blue-prints from a major ship construction company on Tassel 9 and sold them to the highest bidder, he's even stolen weapon design documents from Janis 5. In my records…he was rumored to have been the mastermind behind a massive arms heist gone sour…he supposedly abandoned several business associates who were selling black-market weapons and military grade supplies…but not before robbing them blind of every credit they had.”>> Zarreke said as the Zoid relayed the information to Kail.

 

<<” Here's more…he also had swindled several banking firms to invest their funding at Terras 5 to a few dummy corporations…all under his name and robbed them too…not to mention he had managed to steal several contracts for food distribution to Terras 4's food deprived citizenry, when an explosion devastated the food supply network on the planet.”>>

 

By the time he had downloaded all the information the Organoids had complied on Rabat…Lance was shaking with rage. They had let not a human trader…but the worst form of scum board the ship, no doubt he was plying bogus items and Lance had a grave suspicion that he was going to do more than just selling bootleg junk.

 

“This has got to be told to the others!”

 

As soon as Lance left the Zoid Hanger and made his way to where his brothers were, he spotted several of the Zoid Strike team pilots who were there to make routine maintenance checks on their Zoids. He greeted them briefly and made his to his brothers while contacting them via comm.-link and gave them a brief description of what he had learned that concerned Rabat.

 

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

 

In another part of the Nirvana…

 

<That was weird…why the heck did that woman, hot looking as she is…smell like fire-crackers…that's not a normal thing for women from Megele, as far as I can guess.>

 

Rabat was busy walking around in other parts of the Nirvana. He had tried to learn as much as he could about the Nirvana, along with Tarak and Megele from the silver haired and bronze skinned Commander, the woman named Buzam A Calessa, or simply BC, according to the people he had eavesdropped on. The woman attractive, but Rabat could feel that something…was off about that woman, so he changed his game plan and walked away from her.

 

He pushed the thoughts aside as he continued his search for those strange beast like machines. He had gone to the Dread Hanger and having not found the Zoids, decided to look elsewhere, having managed to give the brothers the slip for the time being. He was interested in getting what he could concerning the machines he had seen, he left the other room he had been in since that room actually contained only the Vanguards from Tarak. Despite them no longed being needed for the time being, Magno didn't want the Vanguards to be considered worthless immediately, and decided to have them kept as support units, though how was yet to be determined.

 

As he looked about some more while moving he noted several women wearing what appeared to be pilot gear leave a section of the Nirvana he had yet to explore. He smiled a bit as he kept out of sight for a bit and then as he arrived, he used a hacking tool to get inside the room.

 

As soon as he turned on the lights, he spotted the Zoids…all of them, the Saber Fangs, Lightning Saix, Blade Ligers, Shield Ligers, Command Wolves, Iron Kong Mk II, Gojulas, Dibison, Rev Raptors, and the Gunsnipers. He was smiling evilly now and looked about, he then turned to spot Pyoro running, or in this case…floating away from a certain pet of his.

 

“GET AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!”

 

The Navi-robot screamed in terror as the over affectionate orangutan tried to grab him once more and do some more slobbering adoration. A much as Rabat would have liked the idea of laughing at the sight, he had bigger fish to fry.

 

“Utan! Get over here for a minute.”

 

The orangutan did what was the equivalent of pout in a primate's way of it as she walked over to her master, sad that she would have to leave her new toy behind. However…that changed as soon as she and her master entered the Zoid Hanger. She at first cringed at the sight of the other Zoids, but that look of fear changed quickly…

 

Into a look of love as she spotted one of the Iron Kong Mk. II Zoids quickly rushed up to it and seemed to really like the sight of the massive Zoid and quickly pointed to it to her master and began to make begging sounds.

 

“Oop chee! Chee!!” The female primate said as she kept on pointing and hugged the Iron Kong with obvious love and adoration. It didn't take a genius in animal languages to know that the simian wanted to have this machine instead of the one she normally used when defending their ship

 

“You've got to be kidding me Utan…that thing is far larger than the mecha we've got and there's no way we can place that in our ship!” Rabat said with amusement at the totally love-struck way Utan was acting towards the massive robotic primate, even if it seemed not to be the same as Pyoro.

 

Utan however stayed on the leg and arm of the Iron Kong, making Rabat realize that the orangutan would not leave the machine alone and he merely sighed in exasperation at the simian female.

 

“Fine…stay there for a while…I've got some searching to do.”

 

As he left the orangutan with her newest object of somewhat…twisted adoration, he looked at each Zoid type and whistled at the looks of each Zoid type, and his mind began to think about how much money he would gain if he found out how to construct them, he decided that he might as well get the data on how they functioned and learn their systems as he quickly began taking scans of the machines and then placed a disposable downloading plug on a nearby console in the Zoid Hanger and data began to fill a hidden data cube in Rabat's many pockets. This allowed him to move about unhindered and not needed to operate a console.

 

Rabat smiled even more as he finally faced the three Ligers that he had seen. The Zoids appeared to be now in their basic white armor, so Rabat wondered just what made them capable of becoming pure machines of war…he was going to find out now as he planned to get inside the cockpits of one of the Zoids…namely…Kail.

 

However…a certain person came on the scene and rushed up and blocked his path.

 

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

 

Brandon and his siblings were not in the best of moods when they found out just who Rabat was and what kind of man he was…he was not a shady human trader but a gutless, conniving, parasitic, and dangerous excuse for garbage in human form. They began to track him down until Pyoro had contacted them and told them that Rabat was in the Zoid Hanger, and Dita was there trying to stop the trader from boarding one of their personal Ligers.

 

This got the three brothers in a VERY angry state, not only was Rabat actually trying to steal THEIR Zoids, and quite possibly getting data from the other Zoids…but he would no doubt be trying to charm Dita into letting him get into their Zoids, and if Dita refused, she might get hurt by the man.

 

Lance was the most affected and he was in the lead of the trio, a look of intense hatred and disgust in his face. The mere thought of that slime-ball parasite trying to mess around with Dita got his temper boiling to super temperature. The redhead was a complete innocent, and very kind hearted, and it would be a serious mistake to allow Rabat to gain an advantage on her.

 

The moment they entered the room, they saw Rabat trying to sweet talk his way past Dita, the redhead stopping him with her arms wide spread to block the trader from getting into the Liger's cockpit. The brothers quickly caught the conversation between the con artist and the bubbly redhead.

 

“No way! This is Mir. Alien's partner, no one can be in there except him!!!” Dita shouted vehemently at Rabat, still intent on denying him access to the Liger ZERO that Lance piloted.

 

She had seen the very evil and greedy look that Rabat gave the Zoids when she spotted him sneaking into the Zoid Hanger and she had observed him with that look on his face as he looked at each Zoid, this allowed her realize that her Mr. Alien's suspicions about the man were all true. The last straw came to her when she spotted the man looked even more greedily at the three Zoids Mr. Alien and his brothers piloted.

 

“Come on…I just want to take a peek.” Rabat said sweetly.

 

Dita felt herself somewhat sickened by the tone in Rabat's voice and answered.

 

“NO!!! I WON'T LET YOU TAKE AWAY MR. ALIEN'S PARTNER!!!”

 

“You think I would steal it?” Rabat asked in a shocked and offended tone, all of which was false.

 

“YES I DO!!”

 

“No I won't…can't I just take quick look?”

 

Dita once more shook her head at him and stuck out her tongue in defiance.

 

Brandon and his brothers gave Dita credit for her courage. The man was taller and far stronger than the buxom and petite redhead, but she wouldn't budge, no matter how he might try and sweet talk her. However they knew that Rabat would not like to waste time and might try to force his way past Dita.

 

They then took over the situation as Brandon called out to Dita and Rabat.

 

“Step away from her and the Zoid Rabat.”

 

“Mr. Alien 2!” Dita cheered and Rabat looked back at the three brothers with disgust and anger, not forgetting what had happened when they had met…he was about to try and get the information another way, but when he turned to face Dita once more…he was surprised to see Lance beside her.

 

Lance had managed to avoid being seen and was now beside Dita, who was happy to see him come to her side. She had been very afraid on what might happen hadn't they arrived, but now she felt safe.

 

“You all right?” Lance asked Dita with a look of worry.

 

“I'm fine Mr. Alien.” Dita said with happiness as she now felt safe from the trader with Lance and his brothers nearby.

 

Rabat was about to make a snide comment at the two when Scott called him out once more…with a dark threatening voice.

 

“Didn't you hear what we said Rabat? STEP. AWAY. FROM. HER. AND. THE. ZOID.”

 

Rabat grumbled and backed away, as he looked at the two brothers, he felt another pair of eyes looking at him in hostility. He looked that way and saw that lance was looking at him, his look of relief and happiness when he faced Dita, was now replaced with a look of anger and venom when he was gazing at him. Dita was behind him as the brothers came to face Rabat.

 

Rabat acted cool and spoke in a smug tone at the three brothers, namely to Lance.

 

“What are you looking at?”

 

“At a walking pile of rotting refuse in human skin…you've got some guts trying to steal my Zoid and trying to take advantage of her.” Lance answered back.

 

Rabat chuckled and replied. “I was not going to steal it, and who are you to tell her who to associate with you snot nosed brat?”

 

“I'm the guy who if you keep insulting will stuff his gun up so far in the place in you're body where the sun won't shine for the rest of you're miserable life, that's who I am.”

 

Brandon then spotted Utan climbing up the arm of the Iron Kong and the brother was not in the mood to let anyone who was not part of the Nirvana crew mess around with any of their Zoids. He then gave the con artist a warning look.

 

“I'd like it more that you tell that pet orangutan of yours to get off the Iron Kong before we do something about it.”

 

“And what are you doing to do about Utan wanting to play around with that machine?” Rabat asked with a calm and slightly taunting look.

 

“Normally I'd tell it to leave it alone…but in this case…considering you're reputation and what we've learned about you're activities, we've decided that if you don't tell her to leave that Zoid alone…” Brandon took out his pistol and unlocked the safety…

 

“Then we'll fire a warning shot…at her.”

 

Rabat thought that Brandon was lying, at first, but the cold as ice look coming from the tallest and apparently oldest of the three men told Rabat that he wasn't lying about his very obvious and serious threat. With a look at Utan and a signal, the orangutan reluctantly released her newest toy and looked very disappointed.

 

Rabat then turned at the three men and gave them a smug and disapproving look.

 

“You three have been really hostile towards me for quite a bit, sure I tried to take your youngest brother a hostage back in the Mission, but all this anger and accusation is not needed, I'm just a trader after all.”

 

By this time however, several more women came on the scene. Namely Jura, Barnette, Meia, Kara, Rin and Mia, several of the security personnel, some of the Dread pilots, and the majority of the Zoid Squadron.

 

Magno and Buzam were still on their way to the location and Buzam was worried that the hostile situation between the brothers and Rabat could be bad…since even if she too had her suspicions on him, she was not about to accuse him of any crime without indisputable proof. However Magno said that since the brothers had been wandering the universe for five years, there was the chance that unlike them who had only been in their home system for a long time, know something about Rabat's activities and reputation to warrant their hostile reaction to him…as soon as they arrived, they looked on and decided to see the outcome of the meeting.

 

Brandon growled and spat out in disgust at Rabat.

 

“Trader huh? Then correct me if I'm wrong, have you ever heard of two planets, Fulmar and Galvain Prime?”

 

Rabat made a smug expression and mockingly answered the eldest brother and his younger siblings.

 

“The names sound familiar, I may have done business on either, but it's been some time so I can't really be sure.”

 

“That's bullshit you asshole and you know it! You sold the people of Fulmar Prime low quality and defective fuel rods, and the people barely prevented a reactor meltdown that would have killed millions of people and irradiated a large portion of the planet!!!” Scott said with venom.

 

Rabat snorted. “Hey, I gave them a good price to match, the people got what they paid for.”

 

Lance was furious as hell at the smug arrogance in the man.

 

“What they paid for were not only defective and low quality items, but would have spelled a massive disaster on their world both in the terms of the death of human beings and environmental devastation! Galvain Prime was even worse off since you swindled them of their own hard earned money and left them to bear the blame for the incident along with whatever amounts you robbed from the people of Fulmar Prime! You didn't care about any of that, all you cared about was lining those pockets of yours with the hard earned money of two worlds, and left them to die as the two nearly went to all out war!!!! It was a damn good thing we came there and prevented two civilizations from wiping each other out…all because of you, you sniveling space rat!!!”

 

Lance spat out in anger as he resisted the urge to grab his pistol and shoot the man dead.

 

Rabat frowned and was not in the best of moods at the attitude of all three brothers.

 

“How about you three mind your own business? You three have no authority to tell me how to find my own profits. I just make the best deals to eke out a living, there's nothing wrong with that.”

 

“In you're dreams…it's considered cowardly and criminal to have stolen several bank accounts from companies that worked hard to make their world prosperous. It's considered low to have stolen food shipment contracts for profit and leaving the starving people of a planet to nearly die of starvation. You stole design plans, you helped in black market arms sales and the weapons were then used to allow murder. We have all the records on the so called business deals you've done on some worlds…and we've made sure to check them very clearly, and we KNOW that the disasters on those worlds….were YOUR fault. So it would hardly surprise us that you've been up to you're tricks the very second you boarded this ship! In short Rabat…you are no trader…you are nothing but an opportunistic, gutless, cowardly, cancerous parasite…give us one damn good reason not to throw you in restraints out the nearest blasted airlock!” Brandon said evenly.

 

Rabat frowned even more at first and then smiled as he produced a data-cube. “I happen to have gathered quite a bit of information on you're machines, with the exceptions of those three Zoids you personally own. Here's the deal, I'll take on each of you in a match since there's an issue between me and the three of you, if I win all three…I get to take some of these Zoids from you along with the data.”

 

“And if we win all the bouts?” Scott asked evenly.

 

Rabat snorted, considering that he was taller, stronger, and tougher than these three. He merely considered Lance's skills as merely dumb luck and he was looking forward to giving the punks a serious beat down for what they had put him through.

 

“If you all win…then the data-cube is yours, and you won't have to see me again, do we have a deal?”

 

The brothers looked at one another and after a few minutes of individual thought and then speaking to one another, they gave their decision.

 

“You have a deal.” Brandon answered Rabat.

 

Rabat nodded with a smile and got ready to fight, and so did the siblings. He however had an issue with the youngest of them and pointed directly at Lance, showing that he wanted to face the youngest of the trio.

 

Lance had no problem with that challenge and faced Rabat in a measured combat stance as the two faced one another. The two waited for one of them to make the first move, not willing to lower their defenses for either. In the moment that followed, Lance was the first to strike.

 

Rabat grinned and braced for the attack, he was ready and saw that for all the words, this guy was a fool to strike first and he then fired out a powerful fast jab, but to his surprise, Lance managed to move away in time while blocking the blow and landing a good solid punch to his jaw…knocking him back for a bit. And before he could retaliate, Lance lashed out a high round-house kick to his left side…hitting him hard. Rabat recovered and blocked several more punches and kicks from the youngest of the siblings, Rabat landed a few of his own, but Lance blocked and dodged most of them, though he had a few blows hit him.

 

As they moved back, Lance had several small bruises on his body and one cut on his lip, but his deadly look of anger and defiance still in his face. Rabat was likewise injured, and had a split lip and a few other bruises as well, namely one on is left cheek. He didn't show that he was in pain, but he could feel a certain amount of pain as he tried to move about and get to a better angle of attack, Lance however wasn't going to give him one.

 

<Got to admit…this punk hits hard.>

 

Rabat then lashed out with another punch hoping to distract Lance and as the teen moved away, he lashed out with a kick and connected on Lance in the stomach, but his grin was replaced with a surprised expression as Lance had caught the leg in time, though barely and then the young man grabbed Rabat's still extended fore-arm and with a quick hold and throw send Rabat to his back with a powerful thud. Rabat tried to get up again and managed to punch Lance in the stomach, but the young man was not giving up, as he crouched down, his military senses kicked in as he avoided a follow-up blow from Rabat as both stood up Lance leaped and planted a powerful spinning heel kick to Rabat face, that blow send the con man reeling and he recovered his senses…now rather angry as a trickle of blood appeared.

 

The two traded several more punches and kicks, each others blows were blocked, but some blows from either of the two of them hit the other, Rabat however had just about enough of playing fair, and wanted to win this, he had money to make. With that in mind, he quickly leaped back and then took out a wicked looking knife and glared at Lance.

 

The others were shocked at the fight and the fact that Rabat was now armed with a lethal weapon and could possibly kill Lance. They also noted the tense looks in the faces of the brothers but they themselves made no move…and then they noted the not once did Lance flinch but reach out for his own weapon…the combat knife he had with him and as soon as he was ready, he merely wiped away the blood from his lip and taunted Rabat.

 

“Come on…come and get me!”

 

Rabat charged and began to slash wildly at Lance as the young man calmly blocked and parried several more blows with the knife, this went on until Rabat launched a surprise kick that he dodged and then could not block in time the slash to his stomach, however he moved away enough so the knife only cut his shirt and grazed his skin, however he retaliated in a serious way as Lance quickly and unceremoniously grabbed the still moving arm from the rear of the arm's attack arc and quickly slashed Rabat over the arm…and unlike the avoided slash, his weapon cut right into the skin and the flesh underneath.

 

“AAAARRRGGGGGH!”

 

Rabat moved away as the short yet painful gash on his arm began to bleed and he had reflexively dropped his knife and he was then knocked down with a sweep kick from Lance and before the man could recover, Lance's combat knife, with his blood on it was now near his neck, and Lance glared at him and said two simple words.

 

“I win.”

 

The youngest brother then got off Rabat and calmly wiped the blood off his weapon on Rabat's own tunic with obvious contempt and went to join his brothers as he showed that Rabat did get some good hits, but not enough to make the young Zoid pilot show pain. He had endured his own fair share of wounds, so adding a few more wouldn't kill him.

 

Before Rabat could say anything as he was up to his feet, Brandon came on the scene and was cracking his knuckles and looked at Rabat with intense hatred as he then loosened his body as cracking sounds were heard.

 

“You've got some guts to be trying to use a knife on my little brother. Now let's see if you can fight me.”

 

Rabat was not about to lose his chance to get some of the Zoids so he could really get some worthy cash so he quickly got up and got into position, but Brandon had vengeance on his mind as he barely allowed Rabat to get ready and slammed a hard blow into Rabat's stomach, making the trader bend over and Brandon was about to strike, when Rabat took out a length of cord from a hidden compartment from his wrist and grabbed Brandon's arm and with the eldest brother's arm restrained, he quickly punched Brandon on the jaw.

 

Brandon reeled and Rabat pushed it to his advantage, managing to land a few hits, but the brother blocked some of tem and then turned the cord to his own advantage, suddenly yanking Rabat forward and the trader's own momentum through the unexpected move was enough for Brandon to grab the cord and use it to wrap around Rabat's neck and then flip him over to his back with a thud. Brandon however was far from done and quickly dragged Rabat to his feet and kept a chock hold on the trader with the cord around his neck and with one swift kick sent Rabat to the side as the cord was now loosened from the throat of the trader.

 

Rabat took his time to get some breath into his body as he coughed and then loosened away the cord he had on his neck and looked venomously at Brandon who merely looked back and wiped the dust off his clothes and got towards him, however despite his anger, Brandon would not take advantage of Rabat still recovering. He waited as Rabat got to his feet and the trader growled as he saw the cut on his arm was still bleeding.

 

“You guys are something else…but no way am I giving up.”

 

He then took out another knife and held it in his other arm ready for another bout, he then charged right at Brandon who moved out of the way and punched Rabat hard, but the trader didn't give up easily and managed to nick his new knife through Brandon's defenses and cut the brother on the chest, showing a thin line of crimson, but not enough for Brandon to give up and he grabbed Rabat's arm and used a twisting grip and disarmed Rabat, forcing the trader to back away from him. Rabat moved back and managed to punch Brandon in the chest and the brother retaliated with a powerful backhand to the face of the trader, nearly making the con man lose his eye-patch

 

But just as Brandon was about to take out his own knife…Scott stepped in and was armed with two knives. The middle brother looked on in anger and spoke evenly.

 

“My turn then.”

 

Brandon looked at his sibling and decided to let his middle brother take the shot.

 

“Go ahead.”

 

However the battle between the two was stopped as Magno came on the scene, alongside was BC who looked as the middle brother stopped his approach and re-sheathed his weapons.

 

“That is quite enough! Rabat…if you value your hide, I suggest you leave this ship before you get yourself in much greater trouble from all of us.”

 

The trader looked as the brothers were getting back to their normal posture, showing that all they needed was to attack and all would be over, and the crew was also ready as Meia prepared her laser ring, Jura readied her sword, and some of the others were now armed. The trader realized that this was the best time to cut losses and leave.

 

“All right…we'll leave, but I did state that if I lost the data-cube is yours right?” The man then reached into his pocket and took out the data cube. He then placed it before the Captain and looked at the brothers, still with hatred, mixed with a different look, something close to intrigue.

 

As soon as Utan was beside him Rabat replied evenly to the brothers before making his way to the ship.

 

“Don't think I haven't forgotten this day, nor you three…we'll meet again soon, and this time…you three won't be so lucky.”

 

The brothers didn't bat an eye-lash and merely replied.

 

“We'll be waiting.”

 

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

 

Later…

 

The Nirvana was currently on their way to Tarak and Megele once more as they had spent some time removing any bugs and faulty junk the man had sold them, Parfait was not in the best of moods since she had been fooled by Rabat and it would take time for the junk to be removed, or else they could have caused great damage to the ship. Magno and Buzam were convinced by Brandon and his siblings not to chase Rabat, they had other important matters than to go chasing around the con artist, though the brothers were going to find out just what other crimes the man had committed.

 

In the meantime, the brothers were in the Medical Bay getting some treatment, As the two brothers Lance and Brandon had some of their cuts healed and bandaged, Dita walked in and bowed sadly before Lance and Brandon, making the brothers look at her in surprise.

 

“What's up?” Lance asked, his stomach being covered by several strips of gauze that had disinfectant to counter any possible infection from the cut, along with a few bandages for some other smaller cuts.

 

“I'm really sad you and the other good aliens got hurt Mr. Alien. I'm really sorry…”

 

Lance and Brandon shook their heads as the eldest spoke.

 

“It's all right Dita, we're fine and we'll be up and about in a few days so don't worry about us.”

 

Dita smiled as she sensed the truth in the eldest brother's statement and then smiled warmly at Lance and presented a tray filled with sandwiches and offered them to the brothers, who couldn't help but laugh, just as Scott came in with a slightly grim look on his face.

 

He reported that all the data in the cube was retrieved and was now being placed in a secure line system, however it seemed that Rabat had done two things, one he had left behind some previous data concerning other planets, whether by accident or for their own benefit, he didn't know…and it seemed that he had somehow copied the data, though it was incomplete.

 

That made the brothers wonder just what Rabat was up to this time.

 

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

 

Speaking of whom…

 

“Argh!!! That stings!!! Those guys are good, I'll give them that!”

 

Rabat growled a bit as he placed some power antiseptic solution and painkiller to his cut on the arm, with the assistance of a small medical droid he had purchased. As he got on the ship, he was happy in the sense that the pirates didn't decide to follow him, in his injured state, even though he would recover, he was in no mood to be caught in such a way. As he removed his tunic and the inner body suit he wore…he couldn't help but wince as he saw the bruises and injuries he had gained in the fight…he didn't get any broken bones but even with the light body armor padding he had on, the brothers certainly knew how to fight as the bruises were bluish and black, though they were not too large, they hurt like hell. He grabbed another spare med kit and took out some healing patches and used them on his bruises…muttering curses at the pain the followed.

 

As soon as the pain began to be a bit more tolerable…he took out another data-cube and slid it into a data cube container for data extraction and study no matter how much pain he suddenly re-invoked when he moved. As soon as the data showed itself, he was somewhat disappointed.

 

<Darn it! I only managed half of the download! Oh well, this should be enough for now.>

 

As the con artist began to heal, he took an inventory of his current profits and sighed that it was barely enough for new supplies of ammunition and some extra supplies of food, and munitions. He then decided to use a special comm. signal for his other `clients' to help him out.

 

And when he looked at the half downloaded plans, he smiled as the `clients' just might find this data VERY helpful…namely when it involved the creation of an AI core.

 

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

 

To be continued…

 

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

 

Author's Notes:

 

This will be it for now. I'll be taking a break for a while, so while I am away, please send more comments and reviews.

 

Just so everyone is clear, more Zoids will make their appearance soon, but I would not reveal them as of yet, I do have some plans after all.

 

Lance and his siblings have some latent abilities due to their Zoidian heritage that is still strong in them, but they are not super powered, they fight using martial arts and military hand to hand combat tactics, so they can get injured like normal people. This makes it all the more realistic when they fight, but don't expect me to make them softies either, after all they are soldiers from the military and they have been fighting in the VanDread universe for five years on their own.

 

I've modified the combat knife of the three brothers to be similar to that of the knives Riddick used on Crematoria in the movie the Chronicles of Riddick. This will show that though they are somewhat young, the three are well trained fighters.

 

Looks like Rabat thought ahead and made a back-up copy of the data he had downloaded from the Zoids while fighting with the brothers. Shows that every man has a back-up plan.

 

And just who are the `clients' Rabat is referring to?

 

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

 

Brandon here…well, Rabat may have gotten away but I've got a feeling we'll find him again…and when we do.

 

I'm waiting for that day brother…in the meantime we just found an abandoned Whale King and have just finished gathering what we could, and there seems to be a planet that's all water down there nearby…plus a city…shame we can't go for a swim.

 

No we can't guys, and I rather doubt the Harvesters came here for a break either! Here they come!!!

 

Scott! You okay? Jura?! What are you doing?! You're Dread isn't built for atmospheric combat!!!

 

What the?! Is that what I think it is?

 

Yep it is…I hope Jura's happy now, and now we have to help the people and stop them from giving themselves to Harvesters willingly…this day just never ends…

 

Next time on ZoidDread - Jura's Form! See you on the battle-field!