Fan Fiction / Zoids Fan Fiction / Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ ZoidDread ❯ Timely celebration ( Chapter 13 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

The Nirvana is getting some down time and the crew are now celebrating Christmas. And since they had done the same things back on Zi, the Reinharts get involved, juggling their time in helping the women and explaining the details of Christmas to the Tarak men.

But the Harvesters are not interested in celebration...not in the very least.

Anime/Manga: Fan Fiction / Zoids Fan Fiction / Vandread Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Romance / Adventure | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 05.02.2007 | Updated On: 09.06.2007 | Pages: 24 | Words: 23.1K | Visits: 860 | Status: Completed

ZoidDread

Disclaimer: I don't own either Zoids of VanDread, nor do I have any ties to their respective owners. I'm just a guy with too much free time and a massive amount of imagination.

Chapter 11

Timely celebration

< >: Thoughts

<<“ ”>>: Organoid language

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

In a sector of unexplored space…

In the massive gears over a large and apparently hostile world was a massive city, held in place in massive one of the massive gears that surrounded the world. The surface of the planet resembled a wasteland as massive winds buffeted the surface, vast oceans of water were there, but the water looked dead and corrupted, there was not a single tree or large enough tract of land in sight…only little islands, bare of life and foliage, and the sky was all wrong, it was dull and life-less, further shown as massive storms were everywhere, unleashing violent and devastating storms of water and lightning, further devastating an already desolate world. On certain parts were cities…or rather, wreckages of cities, clawing up into the sky like men filled with utter desperation and hunger.

There however were signs of civilization as a massive city in the clouds passed over the surface. He city however was like that of a dying civilization, desperately holding on to whatever breath, blood, and life they had left in them. In a massive complex, several beings were deep in discussion on very sensitive matters….and it seemed that they were discussing what to do to accomplish a goal.

The beings looked once more to the images before them, records of Cube Fighters being caught in battle with the Dreads of the Nirvana pirates in their Dreads, and then the three Reinhart siblings in their Zoids, the battles were not limited to only space battles either, there were the videos high-lighting the battle between the Cube Mantis forces and the Zoids of the pirates, all of which were led by the three Reinhart siblings.

The videos then focused on the ZoidDreads and lastly, the Zoids and their pilots themselves. As each record of the victory of the pirates and their allies was played, the general atmosphere in the room was very dark…namely when the video of all three ZoidDreads were seen destroying the Harvester ship that was over Anpathos a few days.

They were the leaders of the Harvesters and it seemed that they were in discussion on how to end the threat of the Nirvana and it's forces once and for all. The beings then spoke to one another as the images continued to play.

“This must not be allowed to continue! We have been interrupted by these insects for too long! Already the Harvest plan is behind the schedule we have outlined, and several viable harvest have been ruined by them!”

“I agree…we had thought them to be ordinary and could be easily harvested, but now that we know that they have the other Paeksis with them, we can ill-afford to ignore their actions.”

“How can we beat them with their ZoidDreads then? The machines possess ample power due to the Paeksis, even if we could isolate one of them, we do not have the means to defeat one easily…let alone all three at once.”

“Why don't we turn our focus on other worlds? Surely we can just ignore them, after all, it is only one ship and a handful of people.” Another commented.

“Are you blind?! One ship and three unknown robotic beasts! They have already interfered with two vital Harvesting operations and have begun to cost us valuable supplies and resources…we must end their defiance at all costs before it has a chance to spread! They have the Paeksis to thank for their power…along with those machines that appear to be sentient.”

“He has a point, if we allow the Nirvana to continuously defy and fight us…and it will inspire the other worlds that we have targeted, wasting valuable time, organs and resources.”

“From our initial recon scans of these war-machines, they have a highly advanced independent AI system, and though we do not have full knowledge on how it works, it can be copied…and if they have the energy of the Paeksis to effect those transformations, then we have to find some way to even up the odds. We must also deal with the fighters of the pirates that emit the same Paeksis energy since they are part of the transformation of the units themselves.”

“I believe it is time we use those design plans that we have found before.”

“Them…are they still serviceable?”

“Very much, and with our factories and our own Paeksis, we can have the units ready for combat in a matter of weeks. I believe it's time we show those Ligers, that we have more than enough power to rip out their fangs and teeth!”

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

The Nirvana was busy moving about through space, and the crew were very busy, and yet this massive amount of preparation. But this was no war-time preparation, but a festival of another kind, as the women were decked in even more colorful costumes and dresses…not to mention they began to decorate sections of the Nirvana in various hues and other items. This day was very special to the women as it was celebrated in Megele with great timing and cheer, and this was the only time they get to unwind in this trip they were in. Right now, the only companion they didn't mind having along in their travels was a massive ice comet that was flying along their path

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

Buzam looked about from her current place in the bridge and could only see the bridge crew…who were supposed to be in their stations, but were instead moving about in jackets and were carrying various decoration items and even removable spray paint canisters as they began to decorate the ship.

<It's just like this every year at this time of day.>

The silver haired female was happy for only one thing…due to her advanced stages of pregnancy, which limited her movements; Ezra was the only one of the bridge crew that was both in her station and not moving around. She knew that the young mother to be was still there and right now as she looked upward to the massive ice comet that was nearby in space, she wanted to see just what was on the thing. She had no choice but to accede to the wishes of the crew to have the comet as the only thing on the screen right now since they had yet to have snow on the day.

“Ezra, give me a spectral analysis on the comet and it's current trajectory…”

That was how far she got as she found herself being greeted by a pair of Christmas decorations, one in the shape of a bell, and the other in a star. She was surprised for a moment until Ezra spoke while moving the items away from the commander's face.

“Commander, can you tell me which you think is perfect?”

Buzam knew that she might as well give up, since all the women were into the festive Christmas spirit, there was little chance of any of the crew being on their usual posts and duties, and from the many years she had worked with the others, she knew that she might as well let them be.

“Why don't you just pick what you like Ezra?” Buzam said as she looked at the pregnant woman with a sigh and a tired expression.

Ezra however looked distressed and shook her head as both items made sounds to follow the woman as she showed her indecision in a rather…funny manner.

“I'm really sorry, but I like them both!”

<I thought as much.> Buzam said to herself. She then shook her head in surrender and it got even more humorous as she saw their Captain, in a Santa Claus outfit.

“Hello BC, like they say, how can you have Christmas without Santa Claus, right?" Magno said with a cheerful smile as she greeted her crew.

The whole bunch crowded around Magno and said that the costume was so cute. But to BC, she just sighed shook her head, once more wearing the expression ' I give up. '

“Well…never thought I'd see this come about.”

The women turned and saw Brandon who had an amused expression on his face and a glint of humor in his eyes. He then walked in and smiled as he bowed in greeting to the elder woman.

“Nice to meet you Captain, or should I say…Santa Claus, like the costume by the way.”

Magno grinned at Brandon's smile and remarks, this was the first time she noted Brandon being a bit more…relaxed, since it seemed that he too was in the festive Christmas spirit.

“Why thank you Brandon, you're looking very lively yourself.”

Brandon laughed good-naturedly as he took out a card of some sort, some of the women were surprised at what it was, but they were even more surprised in the fact that it was Christmas card. The eldest brother then took out yet another, but this one had a cute baby picture, the baby being a girl and surrounded by gifts and presents. He then gave the baby themed Christmas card to Ezra who was pleasantly surprised at the gift.

“Oh! Is this for me?”

Brandon nodded.

“For you and you're soon to be born daughter Ezra, Merry Christmas to you.”

Buzam was curious about this and asked Brandon a question.

“Do you and you're brothers celebrate Christmas in you're dimension Brandon?”

The eldest brother nodded with a smile and replied back, while looking at the women who were busy decorating the ship.

“Yes, very much, I and my siblings haven't missed a single Christmas when we were still kids ourselves. And even all throughout our adulthood from Zi to here, though we don't get to do that very often, due to always being on the move once we were stuck here in you're dimension.”

“Is you're Christmas the same as the one we celebrate on Megele?” Ezra asked, touched by the gift card and the nice words of congratulations and wishes of good fortune to her and the child to be born. It was a very nice gift and she wanted to know if there was something like Christmas on the place where Brandon and his siblings were born and raised.

“Yes it is, though I can bet that some of the customs are somewhat different from the ones you have on Megele once you celebrate Christmas.”

“Care to elaborate a few?” Magno asked the eldest sibling with her smile not wavering in the least.

“Maybe some other time, I can bet that right now, my brothers are trying to explain the mechanics of Christmas to our three Tarak comrades, and since they have a different outlook on things, all these things must be really confusing them.”

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

In the kitchen…

“DITA!!!! WHY WEREN'T YOU WATCHING THE TURKEY?!?!?!”

Jura shouted in anger as she looked about for the redhead. Dita had been assigned on kitchen duty with her and Barnette, who was in her normal suit, bared of the long gloves and cooking apron, to prepare the feast. However as she and Barnette were discussing the desserts, she spotted the redhead licking some of the chocolate cream off the cake and was not watching the turkey, as soon as she left the redhead alone, expecting her to get back, however the very second she heard Dita make a panicked sound, she knew things were bad, and sure enough…they were…

The moment she looked at the oven and saw the smoke, the blonde knew just what had just happened to the turkey she had ordered the bubbly redhead to watch over.

However, Dita was smart enough to beat feet before the blonde could find her, thus Jura could do little as both she and Barnette rushed to the oven, both of them armed with fire extinguishers.

Now as to where Dita had gone…

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

Sure enough…

“So what is Christmas exactly?” Duero asked as he Dylan and Bart looked at the two Reinhart siblings. The three Tarak men had been out-rightly confused by all the odd activity they were seeing, and seeing that the only men who were not confused by all this were the younger Reinhart siblings, they decided to ask questions on what this was.

Scott spoke first as Lance was busy looking at what the decorations were that the women were about to use in the celebration of Christmas.

“Christmas is a celebration of thanksgiving held every Dec 25 each year, it celebrates the year spent and looking forward to the New Year. There are other ways to interpret Christmas but the most famous is the Christmas Thanksgiving Feast and the exchange of Gifts.”

“Gifts?” Dylan asked curiously.

“Every Christmas, it is a tradition for closer friends, family, and…shall we say…very close friends to give each other gifts to celebrate their time together. The type of gift can vary, but as long as it is given with the best intentions and with a show of friendship, the gift type doesn't matter.”

Lance then piped up with a grin.

“You're forgetting the finding of the Christmas tree and trimming it bit brother.”

Scott laughed a bit on that regard, though they had artificial trees for that sort of situation back home, their father was the traditionalist type and at times insisted that he and his boys would go out to the nearby pine woods reserve outside of the city and get themselves their own tree…and naturally, that led to some rather funny moments in their child-hood.

“Finding a Christmas tree?” Bart asked in confusion.

Lance merely laughed and replied.

“That's another old tradition back in the old days, not something done anymore, namely with trees being artificially grown as they are. Apart from the gift giving bit and the use of a Christmas tree with the trimmings and decorations, there's always the Christmas feast, now that is what most younger people wait for!”

“Do you celebrate this occasion back in you're world too?” Duero said, noting to himself that since the brothers were very open abut Christmas, then that must mean that they themselves celebrated the festival.

“Quite frequently, once the occasion starts we don't miss it, namely during our off times.”

The others turned to the side and saw Brandon with a smile on his face, and a certain young redhead was right next to him.

“Mr. Alien!”

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

Later…

“Wow! So you really celebrated Christmas Mr. Alien?”

Dita was very ecstatic to know that Lance and his siblings did have the Christmas tradition when they were young themselves, and she couldn't help but feel more and more interested to learn what she possibly could about Lance and his brothers. Currently the two of them were ahead of his siblings, as Brandon and Scott took the time to explain some of the finer details of Christmas to the men who accompanied them.

“Yeah, though there are differences to our way of celebrating it to yours back on you're home-planet.”

“Really? Like what?”

“Well…our dad and no doubt some other fathers were traditionalists, and what we mean by that is that when Christmas came to us, he'd drag us to a nearby pine tree reserve and have us look for a tree that we could use for a Christmas tree, we didn't use any of those plastic or synthetic trees. Naturally we'd have a heck of a hard time cutting the tree down, and when we finally dragged the tree into our home's living room, we looked at it and saw that it turned from being majestic…to being unwieldy and too big…so we had to trim it up until it would fit into the living room. Then we'd have to climb around it and put on the decorations…naturally we all smelled of pine sap, sweat, and pine cones afterwards, plus our clothes were both stained and soaked…boy was mom furious on those occasions.”

All three brothers laughed a bit and then sighed sadly, making Dita stop in her smile and wonder why they acted like that, however, the once sad atmosphere on the brothers quickly faded and the looks were replaced by eager grins.

“So, you plan on looking for any Christmas decorations around the ship?”

“Yes! Can you help me?”

Lance shrugged his shoulders with a smile.

“Sure…I happen to like Christmas, so I'll be more than willing to help you out.”

Dita smiled warmly and looked at the other men, who naturally included Brandon, Scott, Duero, Dylan, and Bart, the three Tarak men were still somewhat unsure as to why they were also included, but since they were curious on exactly what was Christmas about, they went along with the others.

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

Later…

“Hmm, this place looks like a real mess.”

Scott commented as they checked the room they were currently in, there were boxes everywhere and the smell of years old accumulated dust was certainly enough for them to tell that this room hadn't been touched in quite a while. The brothers had seen places like this before, they even had one in their old home, but they certainly didn't have rooms with that much dust in them. Brandon and Lance nodded as they checked out the boxes.

“What exactly are we looking for in here anyway?” Bart asked as he and his fellow men looked about.

“Looking for decorations for the Christmas tree of course…you want to look only at a bare pine tree all night or what?”

Lance said as he looked at some of the nearby boxes, but found nothing remotely similar to Christmas decorations, unless a large amount of stored material could count. The place appeared to be a storage area, but not for any decorations of any kind.

“This place might not be the place the Colonists stored the decorations, cause if it was, then we would have found them…maybe they were in a different place on the ship.” Scott commented as he looked over a few more containers.

Brandon and the others said nothing as they too continued to look, however, all of them quickly turned as a crashing sound was heard and a cloud of dirt was seen, along with a rather large door-like hole in the wall as they also heard a yelp of pain.

“OUCH!!!”

It seemed that Bart had found something…

Lance rushed over there and looked over to find the Tarak blonde on his posterior and rubbing his head to relieve some of the jarring sensations he no doubt suffered from the sudden event.

“Bart! You okay?”

“Ow, define okay…what happened?”

“I think you've just found the mother lode buddy.”

“Huh?”

Bart turned and found himself in a darkened room with so many strange and odd items, some appeared to be furniture, paintings, books, and even several large size figurines, some appeared to be made out of solid wood, some of metal, along with other materials, and from the looks of things, namely the large amounts of dust in the room and on the items, this room had been sealed off quite a long time ago.

“Wow…what is all this?” Dita asked in wonder as she looked at all the items in the room.

Duero and Dylan, each ran a finger on the accumulated dust and made an estimation on the age of the room and what era all this stuff might have been in before they were stored here, with Dylan taking the lead.

“This must be items that have been present in the Ika…Nirvana rather, when they were still in the Colonization Era, judging by the amount of dust, this place must have been sealed off at a much older date than the room we were currently in.”

“Good point, got to admit though, this stuff is certainly valuable in historical senses, it's not everyday you get to see…hey, is that a nut-cracker over there?”

Brandon said as he reached out for what appeared to be a toy soldier with rather large teeth. The elder brother smiled as he saw that his earlier description was very much accurate.

“What's a nut-cracker? It looks more like a toy soldier to me.” Duero replied as he looked at the figurine.

Brandon grinned a bit and was about to explain just what a nut-cracker was until Dita called out to get their attention, apparently the redhead was busy rummaging in one of the boxes for some more items.

“I found something, but I don't know what it is.”

The others looked to see what appeared to be a rectangular plastic container and it had the words `X-mas with the family.' Narurally, the men from Tarak, and the single woman from Megele didn't quite get what that all meant…however, the three brothers from Zi knew exactly what it was….and the contents of it as well as they smiled.

“A VHS tape…never thought we'd see one of those again. Might be interesting to see just what's in there, eh?”

Scott then rummaged for a bit and smirked as he also found something worth using.

“A cassette player, this will work just fine. Give me a few seconds to figure this baby out.”

It didn't take long for Scott to figure out the systems, and get the cassette player working. Despite the length of time it had spent in the room, the device was in very pristine condition and it was a simple mater to make the needed adjustments for it to be compatible with the video system, however, the brothers and their comrades discovered that they couldn't find a television set, and therefore had to hook the cassette player with one of the video monitors.

However, they had forgotten to limit the video feed and Scott's actions had allowed the cassette player to be logged in with ALL the video networks in the Nirvana.

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

In the galley…

Jura, and Barnette were busy getting the rest of the Christmas feast in order, after removing the over burnt turkey that Dita had left alone, the mess was cleanable, but it meant that they won't be having the main Christmas course for quite a bit, however, the women were far from discouraged as they went on with their work.

Jura was busy combing her hair and Barnette made the finishing touches on some of the desserts, when the two had their attention brought towards an activated monitor showing the normal colors of something soon to be broadcast.

“What's going on? What's being shown now?”

Paiway chirped as she rushed up to see just what was being shown on the monitor.

The color screen then faded and was a bit grainy at first, until it cleared up to show a view of a camera aiming at a fire place at first, and then to a nearby Christmas tree, complete with all the decorations and even the usual stockings for Santa Claus, until the video settled on a woman holding a little baby, and a young girl with freckles and pig-tails smiling and talking.

“Ooh, this is nice!”

“That baby is so cute!”

The comments ran on as the women who were viewing the video determined that it was a video on a happy and normal Christmas, and they naturally made the assumption that it was on Megele, their home-planet.

However that assumption, along with all the comments were replaced by shock and disbelief as the woman and her daughter were then joined by the ohma…who was NOT a woman…

But a MAN!!!

The woman and girl however seemed very happy in the company of the new arrival and the coupled smiled in front of the video, looking right at the stunned crew.

Paiway sweat-dropped.

“A woman…

Jura dropped her brush and looked on.

“And a man…living under the same roof?”

Barnette was stunned.

“It's can't be…”

However, the reactions to the video were not limited to the kitchen as women in the Engineering Bay, the Bridge, the Zoid Hanger, the Dread Hanger, the hallways, and practically every section of the ship were looking at the revelation.

In the room where the video was coming from, the men of Tarak were also looking like poleaxed oxen at the sight of a man and woman living together under the same roof.

“AMAZING!!! This is SO COOL!!!!”

Dita was smiling and cheering as she too looked at the video, apparently untroubled by the sight of a man and woman living together. The only men who were enjoying the sight somewhat were the three Reinhart siblings…as this brought back memories of their own childhood during Christmas.

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

Later…

The three Reinhart siblings took the time to walk around and see how the women were busy preparing the ship for the Christmas celebration, however, the effects of the video were very much seen as some of the women were deep in gossip about it. The brothers however knew for a solid fact that the women were not the only members of the Nirvana crew affected by what they had seen.

Earlier at the Medical Bay…

Bart was currently in hysterics as he still could not believe what he had just witnessed.

“A MAN AND A WOMAN LIVING TOGETHER UNDER THE SAME ROOF?! IT'S UNHEARD OF!!!”

Duero then handed the blonde Tarak cadet a small amount of pills, along with a glass of water.

“Here's some relaxants, take them before you stress yourself too much.”

Bart wasted little time and gulped the pills, along with the water, much to the amusement of all three Reinhart siblings. As soon as bart got his breath back, Lance grabbed him by the shoulder and smirked.

“You're forgetting something Bart…where we come from, it' not unheard of, in fact, it's the norm, after all, the three of us have a mother.”

“THAT'S DIFFERENT!!!”

“Oh? How so?” Scott asked, though he had a rather accurate idea as to what Bart was going to refer to.

“No man from Tarak will EVER consent to living with a woman! It's…not natural!!!”

“In case it may have escaped you're attention Bart, you're not on Tarak anymore, and apart from our home-planet and dimension, there ARE worlds that have men AND women living together, we've seen them in our travels, long before we landed on Tarak.” Brandon replied with a sigh and a shaking of his head, mainly at Bart's naivety.

Duero and Dylan however, being the ever eager-to-learn intellectuals that they were, immediately became very curious about the travels the siblings had done. Like all men of the planet Tarak, the two long time friends have never seen beyond the debris belt that acts as a shield for their home system, thus the fact that there truly were other worlds out there that had other humans living in them was certainly a source of knowledge for them. And the facts were that Brandon and his siblings, having come from a world where men and women lived together, just like the video had shown, and the brothers themselves were the children of union between man and woman, thus they were the best people to talk to about the possibility of relationships between men and women.

“Can you tell us anything about you're travels, namely the worlds you've seen and the people you've met?” Duero asked with great interest.

“What are they like? How do they live? What kind of customs do they have?” Dylan asked, showing his own vested interest on the matter.

Brandon and his brothers were willing to tell the two friends, but after seeing the very agitated look Bart had on his face, they thought better of it, the last thing they needed from the blonde navigator was another verbal sparing match.

“Maybe some other time guys.”

Back in the halls…

The brothers could only shake their heads at the memory of Bart's actions in the Medical Bay. The three of them hoped that Bart would finally get the hint and try not to think in the ways of Tarak, out here in the galaxy, things like that were not needed, besides, the alliance between their sides had to hold firm, and in a way, it was difficult for the brothers themselves to fit in.

The reason was since they were somewhat the middle ground kind of people, they had to explain to the men the customs of the women, while they themselves have to deal with the cultural outlook of the women towards men, the large portion of the crew, with the exception of the Zoid Squadron who were their fellow Zoid pilots, and several other members, including Gascogne, Magno herself, Parfait, and even Dita, were still not very trusting of men, even if they themselves were not members of Tarak.

Plus the things they knew about men and women would no doubt cause some serious problems if they ever talked about it. However, that certainly didn't mean that they were not going to discuss it with themselves.

“Hey guys…what do you think would happen if we told Duero, Dylan, and Bart HOW men and women had kids?” Lance asked with a sly grin.

Both brothers looked at their youngest sibling, as if to determine if he suddenly grew horns, a tail, and breathed fire, though they had this kind of conversation before, it wasn't like their youngest sibling to ask such a question from out of nowhere.…however it certainly didn't mean that they didn't find the idea funny.

Scott managed to stop his laughter at the images that train of conversation invoked in his head. He could imagine the kind of anarchy that would occur, not to mention the sheer amount of outright shock Duero, Dylan, and Bart would have if they found out about…the facts of life.

Brandon was in the same boat as his brothers, laughing as well. When he and his siblings were of the right age and understanding, their parents took the time to tell them about the facts of life, and all the mechanics involved, and due to the loving relationship between their father Alex and their mother Mara, the parents of the Reinhart siblings were very much open to their sons, while ensuring that they taught the boys the responsibilities involved with the facts of life, along with the need to have meaningful relationships with the opposite sex. Despite those things, the brothers certainly didn't mind laughing at the idea of how the men on the Nirvana would act if they told them about the mechanics involved.

However, they knew that the topics they had in mind were not for the sake of pure entertainment so as soon as they stopped laughing they thought it over.

“I don't think we need to mention those things to the right now, the last thing we want to do is shock the guys out of their skins…not to mention the kind of trouble we'd get into if the women find out.”

Scott and Lance nodded at Brandon's reasoning, and as soon as they were able to force out their laughter, they moved on…however, it didn't take long for them to arrive near the galley and that was where the three brothers got the whiff of something that was too badly cooked, and from whatever they could smell, it was meat.

As soon as they entered the kitchen…they saw just what exactly made such a horrid stink. And since they loved to cook on their off times, the chef in them was shocked at what they were looking at.

“WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?!”

As soon as they got close enough to look closely at the horrid mess before them, they realized that it was supposed to be the turkey for the Christmas feast. This was a bad omen to them, a Christmas party without the main course turkey….it was sacrilege!!!

The brothers looked at one another, and then the kitchen…and nodded. If the turkey was not to be available, then it was time to improvise, there was going to be a feast for the crew and they were going to do their part to make that happen.

Time to fix this mess!!!

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

Later...

“Darn it...If only Dita hadn't burnt the turkey, we'd be about done by now!”

Jura moaned in disappointment as she and Barnette made their way back to the kitchen, after they had managed to get the burnt turkey out of the oven, they realized that while they had prepared most of the food, Dita's clumsiness had ruined the main course, now they had to do something in order to make due.

Barnette nodded in agreement, she was a great cook on the ship, no one among the crew could contest that fact, although others could also cook, including Dita, but even she couldn't possibly make another turkey at the amount of time that they had left to work with. So what were they going to do now?

The question got answered as they suddenly smelled the very delicious odors coming from the kitchen. Both women looked at one another in surprise, as far as they knew, most of the kitchen attendants were busy in the main hall, getting the previously cooked items ready the party that was soon to come…so who was in the kitchen?

“You don't suppose?” The blonde ventured out as an explanation as to what was going on in the kitchen.

Barnette was a bit confused at first, but quickly made two and two together and growled slightly as she took the lead, with Jura behind her. And sure enough, they found the Reinhart siblings busy with the kitchen.

Brandon was busy running a taste test through some meat sauce that he had prepared for the spaghetti, which was made naturally from ground meat, mushrooms, olives, and tomato sauce, finding the taste to be perfectly balanced, he then made a silent prayer to his mom for teaching him the way to make good spaghetti. As soon as he was done, he checked the noodles and found them to be ready as he began to haul the strands of pasta through the strainer and placed them into the waiting tray, it was enough, at least by his estimates, for the crew to have.

As soon as he was done, he went to check on the pot nearby and took it out to see if the crabs he had put in were done, and from the deep red coloring of their shells, this was enough for him to know that the crabs were well cooked and as soon as that was confirmed, he began to take the crabs carefully out of the pot and then with a small hammer, cracked the shells of the claws and legs as he placed the food on the tray.

Scott was busy with the deep fryer of the kitchen and from what the two women could see, he was roasting something, or several things. They doubted it was turkey, and looked a bit more closely and found out that it was a large number of ducks, Scott was roasting them Peking style. As soon as he was able to look at the ducks after lifting them up, the middle sibling saw them to be in a crisp golden brown and the skin looked to have been cooked very well. Once that was done, he took the ducks out of the fryer and then placed them on a set of serving trays.

He then went over to the oven and saw that the large loaves of bread that he had been warming up were now ready and with care so as to avoid both dropping the hot loaves and keeping himself from being burned, placed them on the nearby trays with a few bowls of butter and cream cheese, plus jam spread.

Lance was also busy with his part of the cooking as he took out several cabbages and then added them to the rest of the mix for the Cesar salads and the other soups that he had in mind. They were already clean and the youngest sibling wasted little time in taking out a knife and with calm control and patience, began to cut the vegetables and when he was done, began to arrange them in careful, precise order for the salad presentation and then took out the needed dressings.

All three siblings were very busy in their work that they hardly noticed the appearance of the two and the women could only watch as the siblings seemed deeply intent on making the dishes. The other dishes that were already present had different kinds of soups, stir fry, roasted fish and some vegetables as well.

Jura had to admit that the sight of the men working with amazing diligence in food preparation was somewhat interesting for her to see. Barnette however waited and when the siblings were done and were about to move on with several other dishes, she called them.

“What re you three doing?”

Lance looked up and replied.

“We're helping out with the Christmas feast, what's it look like?”

“We don't need you're help.” Barnette said acidly at them, the one thing she didn't like was the fact that three brothers were once more getting into things she felt were not their business as they were men, and yet here they were.

Brandon looked at her and raised an eye-brow, while pointing to the charcoal mess that was the main course turkey.

“If that's the case, you'll have to tell us just what happened to the turkey and how you plan on getting the rest of the meals set.”

Barnette looked at the turkey and growled somewhat, since she didn't need top be reminded about the kitchen disaster that happened only a few hours before. However it was still a great blow to her pride as a woman of Megele to have to rely on the siblings to make the Christmas celebration a successful one.

Brandon however could tell that Barnette was mad at them and he then walked up to Barnette and spoke cordially.

“Look Barnette, we happen to have celebrated Christmas where we come from and we happen to love doing those said celebrations, since it's a part of who we are, and we want to do our part in making the celebration a very memorable one.”

Barnette merely snorted and walked away…leaving Brandon to wonder just what was it that made her seemingly so hostile towards men, it may have something to do with the fact that she grew up on Megele, or something else, regardless, he hoped that things would not become too complicated between his brothers, himself and Barnette, since despite her attitude and hostility, the brothers respected her as a military pilot, and as a tough and strong woman…which in a way reminded them of some of the women they had met in their travels.

He put that out of his mind as the kitchen attendants came, and naturally they were surprised at the number of new dishes that had been made by Brandon, Scott and Lance, seeing that these dishes were ready for consumption the women made their part and took the dishes, placed them on carts and now took them away to be presented for the rest of the crew for the feast.

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

Later…

“Man, what is her problem?” Lance grumbled, having recalled what had happened in the kitchen with Barnette. The youngest sibling was still not very happy with the way Barnette acted, however he didn't dislike her to the degree that she disliked his siblings, however she seemed to have an increased dislike for his middle sibling.

“Not a clue…though I think it might have to do with Jura being all attracted to you know who.” Brandon replied as the three of them were in the Bio-Park.

“Will you guys knock it off?” Scott said with shake of his head.

“Besides that, even if I was attracted to Jura, do you two honestly think I'm willing to try to court her and risk Barnette going all ballistic on me?”

“Hmm…you did try that before you know? Remember that time in Galdran 5?”

“That was an accident, and you know that very well bro, I was drunk…how was I supposed to know she had a boy-friend in that state?”

“Yeah, not to mention the fact her boy friend was a member of the Special Forces. I still recall the fight that happened afterwards.” Lance said with a hint of nostalgia.

Scott sighed and nodded sourly. “Yeah, yeah, go ahead, remind me of that…”

Brandon smirked a bit at the results of that mentioned event. “But you have to admit…she did like you.”

Scott nodded and a slight smile showed on his features. The brothers however stopped their little trip down memory lane when they heard an explosion and saw a plume of smoke in the Bio-Garden, as soon as they got there, they relaxed and released their pistols as they saw Parfait working on what they surmised was a snow maker device.

“Having trouble with the snow Parfait?” Scott asked as the head engineer wiped the soot from her eye-glasses.

“Afraid so…this machine always seems to bug up for some reason or another.”

One of the engineering staff came to her superior and shook her head while showing the blueprints for the snowmaking machine. “I'm afraid it's not looking good ma'am, I believe we've busted up a couple of the relays, ma'am."

Parfait kept her spirits high. “Don't you all worry about it! I'll make it snow for Christmas yet!"

“But at this rate, we'll never make it in time for the parade!"

“Oh yeah, you're right about that. Maybe… I should scrap it?"

That didn't suit well to the others.

Jura shook her head as she and Barnette came up to them. Jura's best friend gave all three siblings a warning glare, not in the mood for any interference from them.

“I won't have it! It won't be Christmas at all without any snow or snow sculptures!" Jura said with a pout.

Buzam sighed as she decided to suggest an alternative. “We'll be passing by that huge comet outside at exactly midnight. That should help satisfy everyone's desire for snow this year."

“But then it wouldn't be the same!" One more crewmember complained.

“Yes! We'll only be able to see it from inside the ship!" Another girl going by the name of Celtic Midori added. She was always wearing this big bear costume and this made the brothers wonder what was the exact reason why she always wore the thing, it must be really hot and musty in that bear suit.

Parfait then had an idea and looked at the three brothers.

“Do you three know anything about this device?”

Brandon shook his head sadly.

“Afraid not...we're combat mechanics and we've never had any experience with snow making machines to begin with. I do believe however you can get it working soon Parfait, besides we've got some things to tend to ourselves.”

Barnette smiled widely at that remark and just looked on, but not without a biting remark towards the siblings.

“Seems there's something that you guys are not very skilled at it seems.”

Buzam was not liking that comment as she looked on towards them, knowing that Barnette was among the number women who openly disliked the men on the ship. The last thing she did not want to hear was something that would cause the brothers to get angry.

However, her fears were lessened when the brothers merely shrugged their shoulders and merely walked away, but not before Lance explained that they had their own things to do before the main Christmas event took place.

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

In the Dread Hanger...

Meia got ready her Dread fighter and was now on her way to do routine patrol, like Buzam, she was not the kind of person to indulge in festivals like Christmas, finding nothing very important to celebrate on days like this, considering her past, she spotted Gascogne and a few members of her staff working on adding a secondary seat to one of the Dreads, and failing since Dreads were never designed for double occupants. As she was about to leave, another person appeared from one of the doors.

“Aren't you supposed to be celebrating Meia?' Brandon asked as he carried a box filled with decorations.

Meia raised an eye-brow as she spotted the box and wondered just what exactly was Brandon doing with the contents of the box. However, considering the situation on the ship, she pit two and two together and decided to ask.

“You celebrate Christmas?”

Brandon nodded as he placed the box aside for a few moments.

“Ever since I could walk, talk, and use my hands....I've celebrated Christmas for as long as I was able, and so have my siblings. What about you?”

“I...don't want to talk about that right now.”

Brandon could tell that this was a very sensitive topic and might have something to do with her previous life tragedy and decided not to pursue the matter.

“Okay then, so where are you going?”

“I'll be out on patrol until then. And what exactly is that box?”

Brandon gave a smile as a reply.

“Ah, ah, now that would be telling. I'll be out on patrol myself since almost all of the preparations are done, so I just might wind being nearby on you're patrol in a few minutes. Now I've got something to do right now, so see you later.”

As the eldest Reinhart sibling left to finish his work, the Dread pilot couldn't help but notice a more...open and mischievous side to the Zoid pilot as he went on with what he was doing, making her wonder just what was in the box. Shrugging her shoulders, she decided to get to her Dread, she had a duty to the ship and now was not the time to get lost on what was going on.

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

Elsewhere...

Lance was busy finishing the wrapping of his own present, when a certain blonde navigator came on the scene, holding what appeared to be a case of some sort, and a simple look of planning was on Bart's face.

“Lance...can I talk to you for a minute?”

The youngest sibling wondered just what was on the Tarak cadet's mind, he certainly didn't look like he did back in the Medical Bay a few short hours before, where he was hysterical over the discovery of the video that had a man and woman living together under the same roof. As soon as he was satisfied with his own gift, the youngest Reinhart sibling then faced his Tarak comrade.

“Sure Bart, what do you want to talk to me about?'

Bart sat down and showed the case, and then opened it, revealing a large number of color coded food pills, the colors ranged from, blue, to red, green, yellow, violet, along with several other bright colors, making the Zoid pilot rather curious as to what exactly was Bart going to do with those food pills.

“Do you think these are all right?”

“All right for what?”

“As a gift...you did tell me that in Christmas you give gifts to others right?”

“Yeah, I did.” Lance replied with a nod, starting to see just where this might be going. “Why? You planning on giving them to someone?”

Bart nodded, this made Lance even more than curious as to just what or rather who had Bart doing something like this, he doubted that it could be any of the female crew members, given the fact that Bart was a staunch supporter of his home-planet's ideals and beliefs about women, but he also doubted that it could be any of the men, neither his siblings or Duero and Dylan, since Bart seems not to notice them...okay....best not to go there.

“Just who are you giving them to?”

Bart then looked a bit devious and this increased Lance's curiosity, but also his exasperation as well.

“Bart, just tell me who you're planning to give those pills to, don't keep me in suspense all day, I've still got work to do.”

“I'm planning to give them to our Commander.”

Lance's eyes widened at that statement and couldn't quite grasp the meaning of what Bart had just said...however, the shock didn't last long as he couldn't help but smile somewhat at Bart's sudden confession, plan and actions.

<Well, well...who'd have thought that?>

“Are you telling me that you're actually giving those pills as a gift to our commander Buzam A Calessa, who's a woman?”

“Yes, why, is the gift wrong?”

Lance shook his head.

“No of course not...it's the thought that counts in gift giving Bart, so to me, you might as well go ahead, but wait for the announcement of Christmas first before you give those to her, all right?”

“Sure. I'll see you around Lance.”

As soon as Bart left, and was very much out of hearing range, Lance began to snicker, and then laugh, he was laughing hard and couldn't help but smile as soon as he managed to wipe the tears from his eyes as the situation he knew was soon to happen played out in his head.

However, the very moment he thought about what his brothers would say and act when he told them about Bart's plan to give Buzam a Christmas gift made him wince and laugh once more. Of all the things that could possibly happen on Christmas, this was by far the funniest he had ever seen and experienced.

Later...

Brandon had finished his part in the decorations of the ship and decided to take first watch outside of the Nirvana, he knew that until the celebration was over, the Nirvana was still somewhat vulnerable and would need protection. As he got into his Liger, he turned to see his younger siblings approach him.

“You done already bro?” Lance asked as he was carrying some extra items with him as he looked at his sibling.

“Pretty much...you guys almost done with you're own part?”

Scott shrugged a bit. “Almost, just have to finish the last parts of the decorations. You want us to join you?”

Brandon thought about it and nodded. “Sure, I'll see you guys later outside, but let's make sure that we're all here before the celebration starts, or else the ladies would eat all the food and we didn't get to have any.”

In a few minutes, Brandon and Zarreke were out in space and were now running alongside the Nirvana as they too were set on patrol. Brandon took in the night in space with a smile as he looked at the multitude of stars and other cosmic bodies that he could see. However, he remembered something of importance and quickly placed such thoughts aside.

Where was Meia?

“Zarreke, can you find any trace of Meia anywhere on scanners?”

The Zoid growled back and the brother could hear the mental words of his Organoid fused Zoid in his mind.

<< “Afraid not Brandon, I can't seem to sense or detect her presence near or around the Nirvana, wasn't she supposed to be on patrol today?”>>

“Yeah, she told me herself no less than nearly an hour ago, it's not like her to just suddenly disappear, something isn't right here.”

It was then that his two brothers arrived in their own Zoids and were now running alongside him. Brandon also asked them the same question if they had also seen any sign of where Meia had gone to. The two siblings told him that they had found no sign of the aqua-haired Dread pilots, and this began to worry Brandon.

That was until Kail's long range sensors, fine tuned by Lance to be used in conjunction with the CAS mode with the Panzer's heavy weapons arsenals suddenly spiked as they were trained towards the nearby ice comet.

“Guys, this might sound weird, but I'm picking up energy fluctuations from the inside of the comet. And judging from the composition of the comet, I doubt that this is some normal reaction, something`s happening down there.”

“Looks like it...we'd better check this out, but let's be on the safe side, go in with full CAS, who knows just what we'll meet in there.”

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

Sure enough…

Meia was not in a very happy mood, she had recently been out on patrol when she had spotted strange lights inside the comet, normally she would have called this strange situation back to the Nirvana and wait for any support Dreads, however, she also knew that with the crew celebrating Christmas and it being in full swing already, there would be no back-up…she also thought that this situation would be easy to solve once she got a good look.

She didn't expect to be suddenly trapped in what appeared to be an energy web of some sort. Let alone find out that the thing that made the energy web was now making it's way towards her.

The strange machine resembled a giant, elongated spider and it apparently had been hiding in the comet and observing the Nirvana, using the massive sheets of frozen water crystals and gases to hide it's presence from the sensors of the pirates. It had one massive mechanical eye and several long appendages and Meia was not liking the situation as she saw that the appendages now sported massive razor sharp cutting blades, and the eye was looking balefully at her.

She tried to move her Dread to get a chance to fight back, however, the energy web was making the idea rather difficult. However she was not about to give up and let this thing take her out without a fight.

However, to her surprise, the thing reared away and seemed to look at the rush of gases above it, as if sensing that something was coming towards them.

And sure enough something was, as a massive feline like robot decked in blue and silver appeared from the gases and was joined by two others like, one decked in red armor and the other green armor. Meia knew just who they were the moment she saw them.

“Brandon?! What are you and you're brothers doing here?!” She asked the moment she was able to raise the brothers in question on the communicator.

“Now's not exactly the right time to be asking questions Meia, first we'll deal with you're `friend' here.”

All three Liger ZEROs then leaped towards the spider-like foe and got ready to dice it up with the attacker.

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

Elsewhere…

“Mr. Alien? Where are you?” Dita moved about with the small present in her hands, she had planned to give the gift to Lance the moment the celebration would start, and on that box was a letter that said `Do not open until Christmas' the redhead was very happy with her gift and hoped that Lance would like her gift a lot.

However it seemed that he was not around for her to give it to, and that made her wonder as time began to pass her by.

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

Back at the comet…

“Why is it, every time we get to have some time off from being constantly on the defensive, these guys come in and ruin all the fun?! And on Christmas no less?!”

Lance swore as he moved Kail away from another attack by the spider like creature, as it tried to attack him, it stopped and seemed to struggle in great pain and fear, it then turned and found one of it's limbs in the mouth of Rikera as the red armored Zoid was biting and tearing into the limb like a lion would on a leg of meat. It tried to free itself, and succeeded, but not before having to lose the limb.

The Zoid moved back and released the ripped off appendage and growled at the machine.

“Must be their lovely sense of timing.” Scott said as he began to manipulate the controls of his Zoid.

The two brothers were keeping the thing occupied as their elder sibling was currently trying to rip out the energy threads that kept Meia's Dread captive. The Liger roared and used it's teeth and claws, there was a chance that his guns would not be able to pierce the web so he would have to go close-up to his targets, however Meia was not very patient with the delicacy or reasoning behind Brandon's approach.

“Why don't you use those guns of yours or that energy dash so you can break me free?!”

Brandon looked at Meia as if she had grown another head.

“Let me get this right…you me to use THOSE weapons and techniques on you to free you?!”

“Yes!”

“Right, like controlling Strike Laser Claws that are moving at hyper-speed is an easy thing. If I did use that, there's a chance I would have shredded you and you're Dread, what kind of a rescue is it if I diced up the one I was supposed to rescue anyway? Hold still and let me worry about this.”

Meia grumbled as Brandon and Zarreke grabbed several more energy tendrils and ripped them apart, using the teeth and claws of his Zoid. Several more tendrils were now broken as the two other Zoids faced off with Meia's captor. The machine tried to harm the two Zoids, but wasn't getting anywhere yet as the two brothers worked in unison effectively, showing what five years of working together for mutual survival could do.

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

Back in the Nirvana…

Dita was still trying to find Lance so she could give him the gift that she had taken some time and effort to prepare. She hoped that he would like the gift she made for him since he had told her that he had known and celebrated Christmas. But for some reason, he was not around the ship or anywhere that he frequented for that matter, he wasn't even in his room, she hoped that he was safe and sound.

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

Lance however was not in the least bit safe and sound, as he guided his Zoid away from several more attacks from the spider-eel like hybrid machine alongside his elder sibling Scott. The youngest brother hoped to wrap this up spoon and use the Panzer's Hybrid Cannons to finally end this thing once and for all…but until Meia and her Dread were freed, there was no way he could go full auto on this machine without getting someone injured.

“Uh…brother, as much as this kind of situation is a good way to keep fit, we're not going to last long out here, are you done yet?”

Brandon gritted his teeth a bit and replied.

“Just about done…there!”

And sure enough, Zarreke was able to pull away the last of the tendrils that kept Meia's Dread restrained. The aqua-haired girl smiled a bit as she managed to get her Dread back into operation and saw that thankfully the systems were fine.

“Come on…we'll need to lure that thing out the comet so we can get rid of it!”

Brandon couldn't help but shake his head a bit as he watched Meia move away. He then mumbled a bit loudly as he began to move his Liger to follow the Dread, as his brothers also got ready to leave to get some more fighting room.

“She could have at least said thank you.”

Meia then replied, showing to Brandon that he had forgotten that he still had an open comm.-link connection to her Dread.

“Thank you Brandon…now let's hurry up!”

Brandon couldn't help but smirk a bit…she was somewhat very pushy and take charge…reminding him a slight bit about how his mother would boss around their dad when he and his brothers were kids. He liked Meia's spirit and attitude, not to mention that despite her still present dislike for him, he still saw her as quite a hottie…

“All right bros! Let's end this damned charade before we run late for the celebrations, we haven't missed a Christmas celebration yet, and we're damned sure not going to start today!”

“Way ahead of you brother!”

Lance and Kail got into firing position as he charged up the Hybrid Cannons, the spider-eel robot, apparently knew just how dangerous Lance and his Liger were in long range combat and decided to charge…hoping that it could close in and entrap the Liger Zoid and take it out. However, this was the opening the other Ligers and their pilots were looking for. Brandon and Scott, guided their Zoids in for the kill while avoiding the flying ice and rock debris.

Since the other Zoids were better equipped for close combat, they were able to protect their fellow Zoid and take out several more of the tentacles that the machine tried to use to attack both them and their younger comrade. Both brothers went to work and it didn't take long for Lance and Kail to get involved…it was like watching a pack of lions ripping into a meal as the spider-eel robot tried to evade the two, but fared poorly. Meia couldn't help but look at the situation with some awe as the brothers showed their skills in battle.

It was when the two elder brothers and their Zoids forced back the robot to land back on it's own energy net, minus a few limbs, some were blown off by the three Zoids' weapons, while the others were either sliced off by the Strike Laser Claws, Rikera and Scott's use of the blades on the Schneider CAS armor, or were torn off with the teeth as the three Zoids crushed the remains of the limbs in their mouths.

:Lance then smiled as his sensors told him that his Hybrid Cannons were fully charged and ready. He smiled as he locked on at the robot as it tried to recover itself.

“Good bye!”

The single eye of the robot could only focus as the barrels of the Hybrid Cannons glowed brightly, showing that it's death was coming right for it. With all it's limbs damaged, it had no way to fight back and could do nothing.

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

Back at the Nirvana…

<Mr. Alien…where are you?>

Dita thought once more as she went into the Bio-Garden in hopes that Lance and his brothers were already present. The rest of the crew were already there and counting the last few seconds until they partook of the Christmas Feast and gave their comrades the gifts they hoped to give to celebrate the coming New Year.

3….

2….

1….

As soon as everyone reached zero, they were suddenly surprised and quickly awed at the sight of the massive ice comet suddenly exploding in space. The crew looked at the spectacle, along with the officers, and comments of it snowing in space were flying all over the ship. It was also the right time for Parfait to successfully get the snow making machine online, now it snowed both outside and inside of the Nirvana…making the atmosphere even more enjoyable.

The only one who was not impressed with the snow show was Buzam as she was the only one in the bridge and who was the only one still on self imposed monitor duty….she was surprised by the sudden spike of energy in the ice cloud, and her scanners told her that it was weapons-fire. She then recalled that Brandon, his siblings, and Meia were currently out on recon patrol and decided to see if they were in the area.

“Meia? Brandon? Lance? Scott? Do any of you read?”

She waited for a few moments until Scott's voice came on the line.

“We're all here Commander, just ran into a little excitement back there in the comet.”

Scott then told her the shortened version of what had happened while he and his brothers when they had encountered the robot that was spying on the ship. Buzam was surprised and thankful that the four of them had managed to stop the threat before it got too close to the Nirvana for comfort. If they were unaware of the attacker, the Nirvana would have been in real danger.

“Where are the others?”

“Lance and me are making sure that we don't find any other stragglers, so we'll be a bit late…Brandon and Meia are already ahead of us…though you might not want to call in on them for a bit until they get back to the Nirvana.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah…let's just say that right now…those two are not in a very cooperative mood.”

Buzam was curious about that and despite Scott's warning she decided to listen in on the communications between Brandon and Meia.

Meia: Did you three have to do that?!

Brandon: I don't see why you're so upset, we got rid of the damned thing, didn't we?

Meia: I know, but did you all have to make such a mess, plus the way you three tore that machine up…it was disturbing!

Brandon: Can we help it if we're piloting machines with animal instincts?

Meia: Fine, never mind I brought it up, but why blow up the damned comet?! We could have been blown apart as well!

Brandon: Geez, you're a grouch…we got rid of the enemy, we cooked a part of the feast back on the ship…and we got the rest of the crew to see some snow…in space no less! What more do you want?

Meia: Right…like that spectacle was really part of the plan.

Brandon: You know something…you're a sour puss Meia Gisborn.

Meia: You…arrogant, egotistical male!

Brandon: Ouch, that's a blow to my pride.

Meia: You deserved it!

Brandon: Sour puss.

Meia: Arrogant jerk! I am really going to beat the stuffing out of you when we get to have a rematch!

Brandon: Bring it on then, I'd love to see you collect!

Buzam couldn't help but snicker at the two argue with one another. Therefore she was not aware of the fact that a certain blond male cadet from Tarak and the Nirvana's only navigator was hiding nearby to offer her a small case.

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

Later…

Lance grinned as he got out of Kail and looked at his brother Scott as he ran towards the main meeting hall to grab any more food left to feast upon. The youngest brother was dying to finally eat, but he had to make the last remaining checks on Kail before he could go and eat. Scott had already done his work and had gone ahead of the youngest brother, and he was now afraid that he was going to miss out on the grub.

As soon as he was done, he sighed a bit…making his Organoid companion look at him in confusion and it's inquiry made that fact very much the truth.

<<“ Are you all right Lance?”>>

“Not really Kail…even if I have finished my work…most of the food is already gone and the choicest bits too. Oh well…”

<<“ I see…hold on…you might want to re think that idea Lance.”>>

“What do you mean by that?”

“Mr. Alien!”

Lance winced a bit and sighed as he turned around and spotted none other than Dita Liebely with a warm smile on her attractive face. The redhead then rushed up to the tired Zoid pilot and he could only look at the buxom redhead and wonder just what was it she wanted from him. His stomach growled a bit to him and he was thankful that she didn't seem to notice…he didn't want to further add to his already hungry state the utter embarrassment.

“Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you ever since the countdown began?”

Lance tried to come up with a viable explanation for the redhead but before he could say anything…his stomach finally betrayed him and a very loud growl of hunger was heard in the now vacant Hanger. Lance sighed in disappointment at himself…

<Great…smooth move Lance.>

Dita however smiled and spoke calmly and with excitement.

“You've really been hungry Mr. Alien…it's a good thing that I decided to give you two gifts, come on, I can give you the first gift now! And it's perfect too!”

“What do you mean by that Dita?”

Lance asked as Dita grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet as he had been sitting down previously and dragged him to the hanger and then to a nearby table and there on the table was a covered set of platters, and the smells told him just what were under the covers, just as Dita took the covers off and revealed good portion of the food that were made and the ones that he and his brothers had made previously.

“I knew that you would be hungry and I decided to gather some food for you before it was all eaten by the others, I hope you like this gift Mr. Alien!”

Lance nodded and smiled at Dita as his stomach growled in hunger.

“You have no idea…oh yeah…I have a gift for you as well.”

With that, he reached into his pocket and took out a beautiful flower clip. The flower in question was a rose and it's petals were made from well cut and polished rubies and the leaves were emeralds as well. Dita felt her heart beat faster at the sight of the beautiful gift and watched as Lance placed it on her hair, right next to her tiara. Lance looked back and smiled warmly.

“You look really pretty Dita.”

“Thank you!”

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

Later…

The Christmas part went off without a hitch and things were certainly up to speed with the celebration, and gifts were soon traded along with prayers and wishes of good fortune. The crew however were all happy to have celebrated one year without too much hardship and they were finally able to have some time off ever since their sudden arrival in this area of space.

Meia was not very happy that she was once more rescued by the Reinhart siblings, but decided to put that out of her mind as she ate the food there…before, she had only tasted a tiny part of the food they could cook, but now she had to admit that they were very talented.

Barnette have a special gift, a diamond ring for Jura, however, Jura gave her a kiss, but the two friends seemed to get along just fine.

Bart finally gave Buzam the container of colored food pills. By most standards, it was not exactly the right kind of gift to give on Christmas, let alone the most appealing gift to be given in Christmas, but it was the thought behind the gift that counted after all.

It was then that meia, having finished the meal decided to enter the Bio Park and found Brandon in one part of the Park, looking at what appeared to be some sort of picture. She became curious as to what was in the picture that made the normally tough and strict eldest brother of Scott and Lance to look softer and sad.

As she came closer, she was surprised to see Brandon turned put the picture away and look at her with surprise as well.

“Meia? What are you doing here?”

“I was going to ask you the very same question, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be sleeping or something?”

The elder brother shook his head and replied.

“And miss a good Christmas night? No way…this brings back a lot of memories when I was still a kid back on my home world of Zi. I remember how my parents, my brothers and I would look at the stars and me, Scott, and Lance would try to guess all the names of the constellations in the night sky. Those were good times…”

Meia noted the look of happiness on the elder brother's face and ventured a guess that he was recalling where he had come from. It was then that Brandon looked at another area and then grinned at her…making her suddenly feel nervous.

“What are you looking at Brandon?”

“Do you know a particular tradition that involves men and women and a certain plant?”

Meia looked at him with a suspicious eye and glared a bit more.

“WHAT are you talking about?”

Before she could even guess his intentions, Brandon moved quickly and kissed Meia right on the cheek, making her blush bright red and she was stunned at the suddenly intimate kiss given to her by the eldest Zoid pilot. Brandon grinned a bit as Meia blushed and then glared darkly at him, and her eyes flashed brightly.

“WHY DID YOU KISS ME?!”

“We're under mistletoe right now…and tradition states that anyone under mistletoe would have to kiss…though in truth…I liked kissing you.”

Any form of retort Meia had in mind…along with any form of physical retaliation was stopped the moment Brandon said he liked kissing her. The Dread pilot was still stunned and watched Brandon smile and say Merry Christmas as he headed for the Living Quarters.

As soon as Meia's mental faculties went back online, she couldn't help but get angry and glare at Brandon, but any thought of hitting him was not there as she realized attacking him would be a bad idea….however a certain voice in her head seemed to slyly whisper to her that she might like Brandon kissing her.

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

In his room, Lance sighed as he enjoyed yet another Christmas and then looked at the strange gift given to him by Dita. After giving her the gift he planned to give her, he then accepted her own gift and abided her wish for him to open it on Christmas and it was now time.

Lance got his answer as the box revealed a flying UFO with Dita's voice saying merry Christmas to him and then the toy blew open to show him dressed up as Santa Claus himself, sleigh, reindeer and all. Lance couldn't help but smile at Dita's actions…as he was starting to like the redhead more and more.

“I take it that little toy is from a certain redhead with a serious crush on you?”

Lance turned and saw his brother Scott looking at him with smile on his face, and so was Brandon. The brothers laughed and admitted the today was a very interesting Christmas.

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In the Conference Room…

Magno drank some of the eggnog and smiled at the sights of the crew finally getting to unwind after a long few months of fighting and surviving by the edge of their teeth, it was a good change for them all to finally have the chance to relax, as such things didn't happen very often.

“ It's nice to finally see them all like the youngsters they are, isn't it BC?”

“That's true Captain…I hope that they will be ready for the many trials I believe we still have ahead of us.”

“I know…but for today…it's their turn to enjoy life, so let them have their fun…I am happy that just for one day, they get the chance to relax and enjoy life and it's many blessings.”

“I agree.”

The two officers looked on and smiled as they too decided to relax and enjoy the still present celebration. For today, they could enjoy the blessings of life.

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Enjoy the peace while it lasts gentlemen and ladies…for back on the Harvester world…

“How goes the progress?”

The head technician looked at the assembled council members and bowed, she then looked at the massive gestation/assembly tanks behind her and gave out the latest technical data on their newest projects.

“the final testing will be completed today and the weapons systems all check out. The data we have gained from Rabat has proven to be very helpful in designing the new units…though they themselves are still prototypes, they are more than adequate for battle against the Ligers on the side of the pirates, and any of their Zoids…plus the designs that we have been able to find were worth the efforts.”

The Harvester Council members looked into the tanks and from the liquids came a dark figure…beast like and almost glowing with power…the council members smiled as the three massive figures moved, opened their eyes that glowed blood red…and roared.

It was time to truly fight fire with fire…or in this case.

Zoid with Zoid!

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To be continued…

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Hi there….Brandon here, it seems that things are pretty calm now, and I hope they stay that way.

Don't be too sure…what the heck? Why are you pointing those things at US?! We're not the enemy!!!

What the heck?! Have the all gone loco?!

I see…so that's how it is eh? Fine…come bros…we're jumping ship.

What are you saying?!

I'm saying we've worn out our time here…time to leave.

Next up on ZoidDread Chapter 12 - Betrayal….See you on the battle-field!

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Author's notes:

This is it for today, more to come soon, and please…

Send me reviews and comments when you have the time.

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I am REALLY sorry for the long delay in the updates for this…(bows down head in shame.) I have been so busy with so many things that I forgot to update this little project of mine for quite a bit.

I apologize to those of you who have been reading this fic and I hope you can bear with me as I try to get this story back into shape.

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Hello there…figured I'd finish this fic now and then plan the next chapter for ZoidDread, and like before, I apologize for taking this long in order to make the updates, I had to since I had plenty of other matters to deal with.

Plus the fact that GunDread SEED is nearing completion with only several more chapters left to write.

And now…we are going to have a few new players in this hot mix…and the Harvesters have just instituted their own Zoid Project to deal with the Liger ZEROs and their pilots…just what sort of Zoids do they plan to use to deal with Brandon and his siblings?

Find out in the next chapter!