Gundam SEED Fan Fiction / Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ GunDread SEED (Redition) ❯ Gundam Assault ( Chapter 2 )

GunDread

 

Disclaimer: Everything Gundam and everything VanDread does not belong to me, I'm just a writer.

 

< >: Thoughts

 

Chapter 2

 

Gundam Assault

 

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

 

Kyo was dreaming…

 

Kyo felt that he was in the dream state; at least he thought he was in that state of consciousness. He found themselves surrounded by countless images. The majority of which showed the journeys he had done ever since entering space months ago. The beings, and the places he had seen, met and had been to, that along with the battles with many great foes by himself and with Freedom. However, the other remaining majority showed his life on Earth all those centuries ago, but they were still in haze and shadow there were other images but in blackness as well. He tried to make sense of it all but had to stop as the consuming but unthreatening blackness claimed him.

 

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

 

Many light years away from either Talark or Megele…

 

The pirate ship and the old section of the Ikazuchi violently reappeared in the void of new space with the power of an exploding star. Both vessels were severely damaged by the torpedoes' explosions, but then the older one began to unleash tendrils of light from the main Paeksis reactor core unit. On the bridge of the pirate ship, the female crewmembers roused themselves from their little experience.

 

“Uuuuuuhhhhhhh…. This doesn't feel like the after-life at all. Where the heck are we?”

 

Magno Vivian, age one hundred and eight, captain and founder of the pirates looked about. She was happy to see that her crew on the bridge of their cruiser were now regaining consciousness, and didn't seem any worse for wear. Then they were shaken with strong force as if their ship was taken by something massive.

 

Magno looked up at the main view-screen and gasped in shock as she saw the old section of the Ikazuchi shoot out massive glowing crystalline tendrils as if it were alive. Its deployed tendrils of crystal began gathering the surrounding debris and began to incorporate them into its structure, including their own pirate cruiser!

 

“What's that thing trying to do? Is the crystal trying to consume the entire ship?!”

 

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

 

The two vessels were then linked together by a massive and VERY thick stem of the glowing green crystals as the Ikazuchi's belly fused with that of the top of the pirate cruiser. On the pirate ship, it's sections began undergoing it's own startling metamorphosis, as the Paeksis began infusing all cable, circuits, and mechanisms. The women worked desperately to stop the transformation, but their efforts were in vain as their ship was completely engulfed.

 

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

 

A few minutes later during the transformation…

 

Inside the reactor room of the Ikazuchi which was now flooded with crystals, the three Dread pilots who had been at ground zero of the explosion came to consciousness, and were quite surprised to find themselves awake and alive and lying on the floor.

 

“Is… everyone alright?” Meia asked as she got up on her hands… “Jura, are you alright?” She asked her blonde companion, whom she spotted lying near her.

 

“I'm… okay.” Jura answered as she sat up and also looked around the room and slowly got up.

 

Meia placed her hand to her face and rubbed it slightly. It was then that a thought struck her mind. “Where's… Dita?”

 

“Hi!”

 

Both Meia and Jura looked in the direction of that voice and gave sighs of relief as they spotted the red-haired apprentice pilot lying on her belly some distance away from them and waving her hand.

 

The overly excitable redhead began to mumble. “Something… went beep… and then…. VROOOMMM! Alien powers are SO amazing!”

 

Lying nearby and still rather unconscious… was Kyo.

 

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

 

The captain of the pirates, her first officer and their chief engineer along with a well armed group of their security team stepped into the reactor room. They had been informed by their chief supply officer Gascogne Rheingau (or simply Gasco, though she hates being called by that name), that the two ships could not be separated from the outside from the looks of things, so they decided to do the source of the problem.

 

Meia and her two subordinates greeted them as soon as they had arrived from their shuttle, as the squadron leader greeted the ancient female. “I'm really sorry that you had to come all the way here Captain.”

 

Magno waved her apology off gently as she smiled at her young but talented Dread Squadron leader. “It's quite all right Meia. I just decided to see this for myself.” She began walking and looked at the room, which was flood with the Paeksis' handiwork, crystals were everywhere. “Unbelievable.” She then caught movement and looked at its direction, and gazed as a certain man began to recover consciousness.

 

“That's the man we encountered while looking for Dita Captain, when Jura and I found Dita, she was chasing this man.”

 

“So that's the one you reported in earlier, eh?” Magno asked as she directed her gaze at Kyo, she then remarked. “It's been a long time since I've seen a man. Were their faces always that stupid looking?”

 

Magno looked a bit shocked as the young man suddenly opened his eyes and flipped from his back and landed on his feet with acrobatic grace. She looked on as the youngster she had directed her remark looked at her in deep confusion.

 

Kyo looked at the people in front of him, and silent chided himself for forcing himself awake before he could clear his head, as the images were still blurry. He however got the strength for a retort.

 

“Strong words for a woman who's not easy on the eyes either, you old fossil.”

 

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

 

Later… In a prison cell…

 

< Okay, so that wasn't exactly the BEST way get to know someone.>.

 

Kyo thought silently as he reminded himself to be a little more tactful to people he barely met. That was when he looked around and then became aware that he wasn't alone this time. Nearby at a corner were a certain doctor who had not fled with his fellow crewmates in the escape pods prior to the explosion.

 

“Hello, third class citizen.” Duero greeted them in a rather polite manner.

 

“Same to you. Who are you?” Kyo asked as he moved to a better position as he was in front of several boxes.

 

“My name is Duero McFile. And you are?" Duero asked.

 

“Kyo.”

 

“No last name?”

 

“Nope, don't have one. Just call me Kyo.” <I can't recall ever having one anyway.> Kyo said as he shook hands with Duero.

 

“I must say that you are not like any third class citizen I've ever seen in my life.” The young medic remarked. “You were able to defeat a nearly a dozen guards without killing any of them. I thought that only the elite were ever trained in such hand to hand combat methods and techniques.”

 

“Let's just say that I've…been around.”

 

“Okay then, answer me this. How did you get past the security on this ship?” Duero asked.

 

“The guards were rather sloppy and lax so I had no problems in getting inside the ship.” Kyo said with a smile as he checked his inventory.

 

“I don't believe any of that for a second. From what I've seen during the ceremony, each of your separate movements were too well coordinated and you have shown that you all had a lot of extensive, physical training. While you were out, I examined your body. Now before you react, what I did was give you a basic medical examination and checked your basic vital signs, namely heart rate and breathing. Your body is in top physical condition, something that isn't expected from third class citizens. If it weren't for that ID tag you had on. I would have then mistaken you for part of the top one percent elite combat divisions.”

 

“You're pretty observant… doctor.” Kyo smiled as he noticed the medical insignia on Duero's trench coat.

 

“So do you care to elaborate on where you attained those skills?” Duero asked.

 

“I just…know those skills.” Kyo said with a bit of an apologetic tone. <I don't even know who taught me. >

 

It was then that Kyo noticed the small robot they had brought with them was lying nearby with it's screen showing nothing but static. Then it began to quiver and shake, then suddenly sprouted metal arms with three fingers each and two legs. Its screen came to life, and displayed a pair of large eyes. The thing then stood up and looked around while scratching it's head in confusion.

 

“Where am I? Who am I?”

 

“You seem to have changed quite a bit since the time last I saw you.” Kyo commented.

 

The machine looked at the young Gundam pilot in puzzlement.

 

Kyo shook his head and checked his hidden laptop and checked on Freedom..

 

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

 

As the two ships continued to reformat themselves, the pirate crew continued to work hard to stop the changes to their vessel, but had no luck in going so. Before long, every circuit, cable relay, and mechanism of their cruiser and the old colony ship were flooded with crystals. As such was the predicament, the engines were offline along with most of the systems.

 

At the engineering section of the ship, Parfet and her crew of engineers were trying everything in their power to determine the extent of the damage, but had no idea where to start looking. As the chief engineer ordered her staff to insert Linestar Particle charges into the main relays to gain control of the systems, not one of her crew or herself were able to see that nearby was a launch bay with a massive combat mecha waiting for it's master. It's eyes briefly flared on as it began receiving data from it's owner and pilot.

 

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

 

Back at the cell, Kyo became somewhat puzzled as the data concerning Freedom came in. The Gundam seemed to have been altered in its power structure and system drives. The OS however remained intact, and most of the data banks were unaffected. Kyo decided to let it be and he then turned his thoughts in what he should do now.

 

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

 

In the depths of the former Ikazuchi, a panel opened up at the base of a statue also covered in crystal. Out crept the cowardly Bart, who had been in the base hiding since the explosion had occurred. As he looked around the crystal encased room he began to wonder what had happened to the ship, a shiver went down his spine as he realized that he was in BIG trouble. It was then that a piece of crystallized bulkhead broke free and fell down, nearly crushing the young cadet, he let out a scream and landed hard on his rear.

 

“ Damn it! This isn't funny at all!”

 

It was then when he looked up and saw that he had been discovered. A certain blue-haired Dread Squadron leader was aiming her laser-ring at him and her thumb was only a millimeter away from the ring's firing stud.

 

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

 

In the decontamination chambers…

 

“Paiway! Let us out! It's freezing in here!” Barnette continued to shout as she pounded on the glass as she and four other girls were being doused in cold water in the chambers. The sad part of it is that the five women including Barnette were the ones Duero had treated. They were in their undergarments (Wolfish whistle) and were facing the soon to become possibility that they would be in danger of catching pneumonia.

 

However, the young apprentice nurse didn't listen to her comrades, as she sat on her desk and shook her head. “Not until all the male germs are gone.” She then directed her attention at her trusty diary. “Even in times of crisis, the teen idol Paiway does not lose her cool…”

 

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

 

On another part of the newly fused ship…

 

“We all heard once that the Paeksis was a powerful source of energy, you know Dita. But we had no idea that it could do this to the ship!” Ezra said as she looked through her special camera as she and the redhead Dread pilot were busy lounging at a terrace in the newly made garden showing the void of stars.

 

“It's the aliens' powers Ezra! I wonder if I would be changed if I was absorbed by the Paeksis.” The young Dread pilot asked to herself loudly with a blissfully curious expression.

 

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

 

A little while later…

 

Magno decided to question the prisoners and had ordered them to be taken to the interrogation chamber, which was now in the old section of the Ikazuchi. Kyo had decided not to offer any resistance as he, and Duero were escorted under heavy guard. He was a little concerned that his wrists were once again bound by the wrist restraints that were placed on them by the women. The restraints were better than the men and appeared to remote controlled. The weapons trained on them would make escape rather interesting. Kyo could also tell that by the way their captors moved, that their combat skills were good. But he knew that he had what it took to escape from this mess.

 

No, this was an opportunity to gather Intel, such as where he was now in the cosmos and just what the heck had happened to both ships. He had already noticed the changes the Paeksis reactor had caused to both vessels, as he had determined that the changes were similar to what happened to Freedom and himself. Also he wanted to know what these women were like. After living several months on Talark, the young Mobile Suit pilot had developed a burning curiosity on just how the `fairer sex' lived. Walking next to him and the doctor was the strange robot.

 

As soon as he and Duero entered the interrogation chamber, they all saw another man was already in the proverbial `hot seat'. Once Kyo saw their fellow prisoner, he categorized him as a complete non-combatant. He showed no experience in the field of combat and on the hand battle knowledge. And to add to that was the way he trembled, making him look even more pathetic to the seasoned space warrior.

 

As the three of them sat down, another door opened and in walked their inquisitor, none other than the captain of the pirates.

 

Magno moved to a nearby chair which was in front of the prisoners as she gave each man a long studying look, she made her look longer when she reached Kyo, and this time she wasn't showing a cordial look, no doubt not forgetting that old fossil remark. “So these are the only men left on this ship, eh? They're nothing more than a bunch of kids, and wet behind the ears.”

 

“Hey! Its interrogation time! I'll tell you everything!” The little robot began hopping to the place where Magno was sitting and began hopping around the old woman. It was very apparent who's side little machine was on.

 

The pirate captain looked down and gave a smirk. “Well now, how nostalgic! A Navi robot, and this one's still in good working order.”

 

“I'm afraid that I don't follow.” Duero asked in his inborn curiosity.

 

"This ship's been on our home planet for centuries." Bart remarked as he was afraid, but wanted to try and not show it.

 

“I was under that same impression myself.” Kyo merely said.

 

Magno snorted as she addressed them. “I'll have you know that this ship actually was once part of a colonial fleet of ships from the planet Earth to colonize other worlds. This happened long before your fathers were even born. However, your cowardly grandfathers stole this segment of the ship and fled into the dead of the night.”

 

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

 

Magno nodded. “That's correct. We're just taking repossession of it again. So technically speaking, this ship now is ours. Now the big question in my mind is, what are we going to do with the five of you?” She began licking her lips as she said. “Perhaps we should just roast you all over a slow fire. I always liked my men's innards medium rare.”

 

That statement made Bart nearly piss in his pants, but Duero, and Kyo remained calm. Duero had been trained to keep his focus as a medic. But in the case of Kyo he felt extremely disgusted by Bart's reaction.

 

“Oh give me a break! You don't actually believe ALL that propaganda garbage do you?!”

 

Bart looked at Kyo with a puzzled look, while in Magno's case, she was intrigued. “My, you seem to be quite brave to say such things.”

 

Kyo gave her a slightly insulted look. “You could say that I belong to the more open minded type of people. I like to confirm things only if I see and experience them on a first hand basis. Besides, what I've seen so far, fits the bill right to the letter.”

 

“Oh? Like what do you mean by that.” The pirate captain asked curiously.

 

Kyo paused and began to speak. “From what I've gathered on both your cultures and planets, the people of Talark and Megele have made no solid contact with one another as they have pretty much isolated each other anyway. So it doesn't take a certified brainiac to decipher, that during that long period of isolationism, rumors and myths about the opposite gender would develop. And it's quite obvious to assume that in order to maintain the fear and hatred of the opposite gender, then the governments would create horror stories and propaganda to make the fear and hatred paramount in their people, correct? And from what I've seen from you pirates, you've capitalized on that fear quite well. Those space suits for example that your crew used when boarding the ship, were copied from what the Talark government would show its people. Since they show that women were monsters, then those formless space suits and those scary masks would then provide your crew an effective psychological edge. Am I correct or mistaken?”

 

Magno's eyes narrowed at the two of them and BC became rather tense. Kyo gave a look that said `I should have known.'.

 

Kyo then continued with his words. “That method's a very common battle strategy you know. Play on the fears of your opponents, keep them off balance, and make them indecisive. Do that and victory is half-way into your grasp.” Kyo finished his own explanations with a smug smile.

 

Duero nodded as he looked at the young man with awe and curiosity. “Are you sure that you aren't part of the elite?” Duero asked as he gazed at the former Earthling and Coordinator.

 

Magno looked at Kyo silently and then gave a condescending smile to him. “Very good, what's your name?”

 

“Kyo.”

 

“Well… Kyo…you are rather interesting.”

 

The young Gundam pilot chuckled a bit and gave a slight grin. “Oh, I'm a LOT more interesting than you know.” Kyo said calmly.

 

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

 

At the garden still…

 

While the conversation between Magno and the other men was going on. Dita gave a happy smile and gazed out longingly at the void of stars. Alongside her was Ezra taking a deep relaxing breath, she stopped as she spotted Dita pointing at the void with a deep look of excitement.

 

“Dita? What is it?”

 

“Look at that! There's something coming this way!”

 

Ezra took a look through her special camera, and saw a trio of dots appear heading for them. “What could those objects be?”

 

Dita gave a glazed over, starry look on her face coupled with cat ears as several images came into her mind… concerning little green men and floating discs. “You don't know Ezra? Those are more aliens!”

 

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

 

Right at that moment…

 

At the very same time at Dita's explanation of the newly approaching objects, and the words Magno said, that the ship shuddered from the force of some form of impact. At that point alarms blared all over the ship, and the bridge crew along with Parfet called in to the chamber to announce that they were now under attack.

 

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

 

“CAPTAIN! We're being attacked by some unknown enemies that appeared out of nowhere!” Parfet declared as soon as she also got the data from her crewmates at the bridge.

 

“Can you move the ship Parfet?” Magno asked through the communications network as she managed to remain on her stool despite the impact of the blast that hit the ship.

 

“The engines won't respond and are still dead. And the auto-defensive systems are barely repelling the attacks!”

 

Magno thought quickly and switched to the communications for the Dread crews and the launch areas. “Barnette?” she called to Jura's best friend.

 

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

 

“Paiway has us locked in the decontamination rooms Captain! We can't get out!”

 

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

 

“The main Dread platforms are offline! We can't deploy any of the Dreads!” Gascogne reported to her Captain.

 

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

 

The only good news during this little situation came from Meia as she; Jura and Dita ran towards toward their respective Dreads, which were still housed at the Paeksis Reactor Room. However, as soon as they arrived, they stopped and gasped at the sights awaiting them.

 

Within the huge room were their Dreads, but the ships somehow took new configurations after being engulfed by the power of the Paeksis.

 

“Are these… our Dreads?” Jura asked as she looked at their respective ships.

 

“Wow!” Dita gasped, as she looked awed at the sight.

 

Meia also stopped, but then didn't hesitate to board her Dread, she reached it and climbed aboard, the other Dread pilots also did the same and entered their ships, and as soon as they were onboard they checked the systems.

 

Inside her Dread, Meia did quick but through system check and nodded with relief. “Looks like the systems haven't changed much. How about the two of you?”

 

“I think mine can fly.” Jura reported through her comlink.

 

“They must have been powered up!” Dita responded with excitement ruling her voice. “This is so exciting!”

 

“Don't bite more than you can chew!” Meia warned her team as her fighter lifted of and flew to the direction of the hanger, following her were her wing mates. They were soon in the void of space and were immediately attacked by the…enemy.

 

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

 

The new force that was their foes were not like any model the pilots had never seen before. Small fighter ships shaped like odd-shaped octopi that began letting loose a powerful volley after volley of laser and cannon fire at the fused ships and the three Dreads trying to defend it from them.. Some distance behind the fighters was their mothership; the alien vessel was shaped like a massive seed. Every once in a while during certain intervals the mothership's maw would open releasing two massive cubes, which would immediately break apart into new fighters. It seemed that for every fighter the Dreads would destroy, then three to four more would take the place of those destroyed by the Dreads. It wasn't long before the three pirates found themselves badly outnumbered.

 

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

 

“Excuse me please! We're really a peaceful race!” Dita cried out as she managed to make her craft dodge the incoming stream of weapons fire from her pursuers.

 

“Dita! These are our enemies!” Jura scolded through the comlink, then began to wonder just how did Dita's skills had improved so dramatically. She had managed to do a complex evasion pattern despite her still present lack of experience with her Dread.

 

Meia noted that her fighter's response time was better than before as she managed to dodge the barrage of fire from more of the alien fighters as she downed one of them. “The controls have been altered somewhat.” She then winced as her ship rocked as it took a hit off to the stern. “Who or what are these things? Are they really aliens?”

 

“One thing's for sure though. They're definitely not men.” Jura assured as she got into contact with Meia.

 

“No kidding! They're really BAD aliens!” Dita shouted with anger as she continued to dodge the incoming fire as she also got into contact with Meia.

 

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

 

Magno winced as the ship took several more direct hits from their new opponents. Since they could not activate the engines they then couldn't move, they were also unable to regroup with the Dreads and were now nothing more than a sitting duck.

 

The shields were barely holding the attacks. Then another section of the wall in the interrogation chamber exploded behind them, and a scream tore through the room.

 

At this point, Duero decided to place his skills and knowledge as a physician to work. He began getting up, just as a female crewmember tried to help her injured comrade who was trapped by the blown section of the wall. She instantly pointed her laser-ring at him, but Duero held up his hands to a non-threatening gesture. Duero then spoke to the young crew-member, “Don't worry, I'm a doctor. I just want to see if I can help her.”

 

The girl lowered the ring, and as soon as that happened Duero began instructing her to help remove the debris from her injured comrade and help him take her to the medical bay. Once that was done he went on to check for any broken bones and gave the signal that the injured female had no broken bones from the impact and helped in taking several light boards nearby and made an improvised gurney to carry the injured female.

 

Bart took a long look at this and sensed an opportunity as well. He turned to Magno and began talking.

 

“Well now. It seems that we all are in bit of a dire situation right now, but I think there is a way out of this for all of us concerned.”

 

Kyo looked at the young Talark cadet with a curious look.

 

The captain likewise gave a look to the smooth talker, but in her case, it was a look of suspicion. But she decided to hear out what the man had to say. “I'm listening.”

 

Bart nodded as he began to explain. “Even though we are mutual enemies, it seems that we need to make our survival top priority. So I am suggesting a cease-fire and focus our different talents in combating this new threat.”

 

Magno gave a nod, as she understood the idea the man had in mind. “I see. That's not a bad idea. So what exactly did you have in mind?”

 

“Well, as you can see, my comrade in the trench coat, he is one of the graduates in our medical school and has effective medical skills, and he can help treat any of your wounded and injured. As in my case, I may not look like it, but I'm actually a helmsman.”

 

“A helmsman?”

 

“Warning! Danger! This guy is trying to pull something!” The Navi-bot said in alarm.

 

“Be quiet!” Magno commanded the little machine, and addressed Bart again. “I think that it would be in our best interests to pool together our resources… for this time being.”

 

Bart smiled and offered his hand. “So, I take it that it's a deal?”

 

The pirate captain responded by slapping away Bart's offered hand. “Now listen closely, I have no intention of being chummy with you. Don't let the fact that the three of you are still our prisoners slip out of your mind, do you understand that?”

 

Bart sighed and nodded. “Very well then.”

 

“What should I do with the three others?” BC asked as she directed her gaze at Kyo.

 

“Take him down to the storage area, and keep watch over him.”

 

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

 

Bart gasped, as he was lead towards the transformed bridge, which consisted of four comm stations and the command chair for the captain. And towards a platform which was extended and had a pool.

 

“So can you operate it?” Magno asked as she and the Navi-robot looked at the cadet.

 

Bart moved forward to the pool and looked at the surface of blue-green colored liquid. “You've got to be kidding me!”

 

“Are you saying that you don't know how to operate it?”

 

“No! It's just that this is one of our military's closely guarded secrets!' Bart said to cover his fear. As he cautiously placed his foot on the surface of the pool, and he screamed as the pool formed into a tentacle and took hold of his leg and dragged him into itself.

 

Both Magno and the Navi-robot stared wide-eyed.

 

“That's some secret weapon.” The old woman breathed as she stared at the now serene looking pool.

 

“He doesn't know how to use it, does he?” the robot asked with well-crafted innocence.

 

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

 

Inside the liquid pool, Bart suddenly found himself naked and floating in some sort of virtual reality environment. All of a sudden, he saw images of the battle raging outside and he naturally reacted with his streak of cowardice.

 

“NO! GET AWAY!”

 

As he thrashed about in the environment, the entire ship thrashed with his movements, catching everyone on the ship off-guard.

 

“Well what do you know? The ship moved!” Magno remarked as she sat in her command chair.

 

It was at that time that the once dormant engines roared to life as Bart used the oldest trick in the book, retreat.

 

However the enemy had no intention of letting them escape so easily, as the mothership pursued them while unleashing more fighters.

 

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

 

Down at the cargo bays…

 

Kyo stood in an unused area as Buzam and a subordinate kept watch over him.

 

“You should be safe down here. This portion of the ship hasn't been used for some time at least and right now it would be too much trouble to transport you to the brig at this point.”

 

“I see.” Kyo said as he merely stood there.

 

BC gazed at him and then spoke. “You seem… unconcerned about what's happening. Don't you realize that if we lose this battle, we will lose everything, including our lives? Your fellow men are risking their lives to help battle the enemy. Perhaps you can go out there and help as well?”

 

“This battle doesn't concern me. Why should I get involved? As I recall, I have no loyalty to either your world or Talark for that matter.”

 

“Oh? Are you a coward then? I had heard that men always protected the weak and helped those in need. Was that all a lie then?”

 

Kyo gave her an even look. “You seem to think that you know everything about men, don't you?”

 

“No I don't, but I do know that everyone, men or women, must make choices in their lives and have to live with the decisions that they make. If you decide to just stay here and do nothing then you will have to consider what is at stake here.” She turned to her subordinate and then began to walk towards the exit when her subordinate called out.

 

“But what about him?”

 

BC gave a shrug. “Leave him here, it's not like there's anywhere he can go to. Not that there is anywhere for us to go either.”

 

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

 

Out in space, the three Dreads were slowly being outnumbered and outgunned by the sheer numbers of the alien fighters that now numbered at least twelve dozen and more were still coming. And the ship was taking a severe beating. In the medical bay, Duero had discovered that all the instruments were underpowered so they stated that since the medical facilities and tools were offline then they'll have to do things HIS way. That statement made the female assisting him VERY nervous as she reached for her communicator and desperately called for Paiway.

 

In the decontamination rooms, Paiway screamed to everyone to shut up and stop getting injured.

 

The ship meanwhile was still running for it's life, but the alien mothership was steadily closing in.

 

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

 

Back at the cargo bay…

 

Kyo sat on the floor deep in thought. He was thinking of the consequences and BC's words.

 

Kyo weighed his options and the results as well. He did know this much. If he do decide to go out and fight, then it's likely that he will wind up as a lab specimen, and he'll still be a prisoner once they return to Talark and Megele's home system and as soon as this crisis ended. Plus, they would try and take Freedom from him. The Gundam was more than just a war machine to Kyo, it was his friend and one of the only links he had to whatever past he had, and no way was he handing his Mobile Suit over to anybody.

 

Kyo sighed, He spoke the truth, he had no loyalty to Talark or Megele, and neither with the pirates he was with.

 

Despite this, he felt something tug at him whenever Buzam's words would repeat in his head. They seemed to awaken some old chord in his mind. But he couldn't recall what it was, but it didn't go away. It had something to do with duty, and free will.

 

< Choose your own path, protect those who can't protect themselves. >

 

That phrase got stronger and stronger, and Kyo decided he might as well get involved. Besides, he had no intention of dying today. With that he got and went to an intercom unit.

 

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

 

“I'm going to fight Captain.” Kyo said simply as he contacted the bridge through the communication network.

 

“What did you say?” Magno asked.

 

“The three Dreads out there are outgunned and outnumbered, right? I'll go out and lend a hand to them.”

 

“Are… you a pilot? Can you fly those Vanguards?”

 

Kyo gave a slightly disgusted look. “Those hunks of junk? I am a pilot, but I don't pilot them.”

 

“If you're not a pilot for the Vanguards, then how do you expect to fight? Can you pilot Dreads?”

 

Kyo gave an amused look. “I've never even set foot on Megele before, how do you expect me to pilot a Dread when I've never seen one, much less even been in one?”

 

“So how do you intend to fight?” Magno asked.

 

“I've my own combat unit in the ship. I know that unit better than anything else, and I'm the only one who can use it's full power. Get these restraints off me, allow to get to it and I'll help you deal with what's attacking the ship.”

 

“How can I be sure that you won't flee away?”

 

“I gave you my word that I'll fight for you and your crew. Are you going to let me help you, or are you willing to lose your ship, your crew and your life?” Kyo said evenly as he held his hands in front of the monitor.

 

Magno looked in Kyo's blue-violet eyes, and considered it. She then gave a nod to BC and the Commander pressed the control switch for the restraints.

 

Kyo nodded as the restraints fell off. “I'll be ready to launch in five minutes, I hope that your Dreads out there can hold it a bit longer.”

 

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

 

Kyo got back to Freedom and got into his pilot jumpsuit uniform. The uniform was the same as an old Earth Alliance uniform, but was silver with blue-green trim, and had layers of light but tough body armor and some similarities to old Z.A.F.T uniforms. He got on his helmet, and began checking the OS of his Gundam unit. He didn't take long to find that all the systems were green light and in optimal combat condition. He nodded and contacted the bridge.

 

“I'm ready to launch. Just how many targets are we dealing with?”

 

Magno answered. “Unknown, I hope that you and that machine of yours can handle what's out there.”

 

Kyo merely nodded as he locked in his helmet's protective visor. “Don't worry, Freedom and I can handle this.”

 

“Freedom?”

 

“That's my Gundam's name.”

 

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

 

“Reinforcements? Who is it?” Meia asked as she and her wing mates were in desperate need of help as the numbers of the alien fighters became too much for the three of them to handle without any support.

 

“That interesting one.” Magno replied.

 

“Who?” Meia asked curiously.

 

“I don't care who she is, she'd better hurry!” Jura whined a bit as she dodged some more attacks from the strange fighters.

 

A new voice broke in. “Who said anything about your back-up being female?”

 

Just then an object burst forth from the bottom of the pirate vessel and streaked towards the enemy groups in a blaze of light. In the center was…

 

“IT'S MR. ALIEN!” Dita cried out with joy as she spotted Freedom and instantly recognized the Gundam.

 

“He's our reinforcements?!”

 

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

 

To the astonished eyes of the women and the men onboard, the machine that came out looked like a Vanguard, but was larger and had two pairs of wing-like thrusters and a double layered set of hip armor on either side. The machine was also colored gun-metal grey and bright yellow eyes. The machine suddenly glowed with a faint aura of blue-green light and a set of colors covered the once drab armor. The machine was now colored in deep shades of white, red and blue. It's wings opened and out came massive bursts of light from it's engines. The last of the Gundams of ancient Earth have now arrived and the battle for survival just went in favor of the humans.

 

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

 

“Waaaaahhhhh!” Dita cried, as a trio of the enemy fighters were about to collide with her Dread. However, the three fighters then broke into neatly dissected pieces as if torn apart by a massive knife and exploded into pieces. As the light faded she looked out in astonishment as a certain machine stood on the side of one of the booms of her Dread. The person's face showed itself on her commlink and she smiled as she recognized Kyo.

 

“Mr. Alien!”

 

Kyo gave a sigh. “Will you please stop calling me Mr. Alien?” He said in a slightly annoyed tone. He bypassed the comm.-protocols of the Dreads and that allowed him to easily patch into the Dread's communication systems.

 

Kyo immediately went into action and directed Freedom into a quick assault pass. Freedom opened it's wings and charged right into the fight.

 

Freedom unleashed a massive barrage of it's head mounted chain-guns and the shoulder-mounted machine cannons. Thousands of heavy armor piercing- high explosive impact rounds tore through the strange fighter's armor with little to no difficulty, turning large numbers of the enemy forces into nothing but floating junk.

 

Over twenty of the fighters were destroyed, so it wasn't a surprise when the main battleship of the enemy decided to take out Kyo and his Gundam. It opened up and unleashed two cubes that immediately turned into two more groups of enemy fighters. Kyo however wasn't the least bit troubled with the new forces. He activated his SEED mode took out two cylinders from the sides of Freedom and ignited Freedom's beam sabers. Kyo dived into the new mess and began striking out against the new forces. Alien armor proved no effective defense as the beam weapons tore through them and turned more of the fighters into scrap. Several fighters tried to escape from his sabers, but Kyo locked in and fired his wing mounted plasma-cannons which locked onto his shoulders and took them out. Several more attacked from above, Kyo retaliated by activating his Gundam's collapsible combat shield and deflected the shots, and retaliated by firing his dual rail-guns, taking out his next attackers. He then ignited the secondary blade on his beam saber, turning it into a double bladed lance, he then tossed the weapon and tore apart several more of the fighters. Kyo directed Freedom to recover it's beam saber and stood ready as it took out five more targets, eliminating any of the still active fighters. Kyo got back armed with his beam saber and shield, surrounded by more debris of the ruined fighters. The enemy had managed to fire several direct shots previously, but Freedom's P. Phase Shift armor was not even scratched by the blasts.

 

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

 

On the pirate ship…

 

“Impossible! Is that a Vanguard?!” Buzam gasped as the fight had ended, and the alien fighters were now junk floating in space.

 

Magno was completely speechless. She had to admit that Kyo was right. He WAS a lot more interesting than she had thought.

 

Everyone else on the ship from bridge to engineering section were also speechless.

 

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

 

Out in space, in a trio of Dreads…

 

“He's so… elegant!” Jura said with appreciation on her voice as she stared at the Gundam. For a man-made machine, the machine looked very elegant.

 

Dita's eyes were starry as she gazed at the Gundam unit. “YAY TO MR. ALIEN!” She said as she cheered.

 

Meia… well, she was pretty much speechless, like her captain.

 

< The pilot's reaction time is 0.00015 of a second! That's not humanly possible! >

 

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

 

Kyo spotted that the alien mothership still intended to release more fighters. He knew that it was time to up the game. He activated the computer and locked in the HiMAT combat lock-up system and locked on the new threats.

 

“YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SUCCEED THIS TIME!”

 

The Freedom then got out a beam rifle that it split into two weapons, while retracting it's combat shield. The Freedom locked all it's range combat guns, and unleashed a massive barrage of plasma, rail-gun, AP/HE bullets and beam rifle bolts at all the targets he could lock onto. All the newly released units were atomized and the beams slammed into the main attack ship, causing massive damage and tears. Kyo spotted that the machine was still active and he decided to take out his other beam saber while placing back his rifle into the recharge rack, and charged intent on finishing the enemy off. He was unaware that a certain Dread was following his Gundam

 

“Dita! What are you doing?! Fall back!” Meia ordered as she spotted her subordinate head straight behind the unknown pilot.

 

“There's nothing to worry about! Mr. Alien can win this! I just know it!”

 

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

 

Kyo was about ready to cut through the armor of the enemy unit with Freedom`s beam saber and his plasma cannons, when Freedom's sensors warned him of an incoming signal at the rear. He turned and expected another attacker. His eyes widened as he recognized the Dread and halted his attack.

 

“NO! GET BACK!”

 

The alien mothership took this chance to attack and let loose metallic tendrils that struck Freedom on the back, and it sent powerful explosive charges to the Gundam's back. At the same time Dita's Dread collided with him headlong.

 

There was a massive explosion, which engulfed both the Gundam and Dita's craft.

 

“DITA!” Meia and Jura screamed at the sight.

 

On the bridge of the pirate vessel, Magno lowered her head and said in a solemn voice. “Well, I guess that wasn't enough of a miracle to save us.”

 

BC nodded as she suggested that the crew abandon the ship.

 

At that moment, the Navi-robot let of a loud beep and pointed to the main view screen. Something was coming out of the center of the explosion.

 

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

 

What came out, it was…huge. It stood at the height of five stories high. It resembled the form of Kyo's Gundam, but was in deep navy blue with silver trim. It was humanoid in shape and had two long cannon barrels mounted behind each shoulder next to a pair of massive wings. On the machine's forearms was a pair of double-edged blades that glowed with a blue-green light. It looked powerful enough to tear apart a whole planet with its metal shod hands alone. What everyone was witnessing was the perfect fusion of Gundam and Dread Fighter… the GunDread!

 

“What is THAT?! Is that another secret weapon of the men?!” Magno asked in awe.

 

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

 

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

 

The newly born mecha dove towards the enemy ship as it ripped off the burning tendrils for its chest. Several smaller attack drones were deployed to stop it, but those were swept away like little gnats. The ship then tried to seal itself by closing it's maw, but the machine simply pried the ship wide open by using it's bladed hands. Then the mammoth cannons went into position on the shoulders, pointing forward. The cannons powered up and unleashed a blast ten times more powerful than Freedom's combined weapons assault. The energy blast caused the back of the ship to bulge out before exploding. The mecha then moved backwards as the ship exploded like a miniature supernova. The female pirates and the males alike were in awe at the sight before them. When it was all over, the only thing left of the alien mothership was a burned out wreck.

 

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

 

Within the giant mecha, Kyo gave of a sigh of relief. It was finally over. But it was then that several things caught his attention.

 

< Wait a minute! I don't recognize this cockpit. Where am I? Am I still in Freedom? And why is it that there seems to be something on top of my legs? >

 

Kyo realized that he was indeed in some kind of large cockpit of a strange design and was sitting on a command chair. He then noted that he was still in his regular combat uniform. Then he looked at his hands. They seemed to be resting on the control disk/pads of the machine. It was then that he became aware that his hands were also resting on another pair of hands. That was then that he recognized what or rather who was on his lap!

 

“Hmmmm. I just KNEW that Mr. Alien would protect us.” Dita said, as she was half-asleep as she leaned back into Kyo's chest and snuggled closer.

 

Kyo felt a really big sweat drop form behind his head. He also tried to resist his body's reaction to the young girl's body on his despite the barrier of their respective clothes.

 

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

 

The pirate crew and the men all crowded the hanger and waited as the gigantic GunDread came in for a landing on the deck. Just as the mecha was about to land, the mecha suddenly shifted back into Dita's Dread Fighter and Kyo's Gundam unit. As soon as both landed, Kyo stepped out of his Gundam and rode the cable downwards.

 

Kyo then took of his helmet and smiled at Magno.

 

“Like I said…I am more interesting than you know.”

 

Kyo closed his eyes and collapsed in exhaustion. He lost his helmet and it landed on the floor and stopped rolling, BC immediately went forward to check his pulse and nodded to the captain that he would be all right. The guards rushed up to Kyo and hauled him up with a little difficulty of course…

 

“Take him back to his cell.” The aged female pirate captain said. “Gently.”

 

“Wait! Mr. Alien!” Dita cried out as soon as she had gotten off her Dread. However, she was held back as more guards blocked her chance to come close to Kyo, as he was being taken away. She gave a pleading look at her Captain, but Magno didn't seem to notice it as she turned to Buzam. The first officer spoke to the old woman, and Magno spoke to Parfet to begin studying this strange combat unit before heading back to the Bridge.

 

To be continued…

 

Author's notes: Those were some of the longest fighting scenes ever written, though I can tell that there are always longer fights in other books and novels. With this chapter the diverge from VanDread are now in effect. With that we can already guess that things will really step up.