Fan Fiction / Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ KnightDread ❯ Unexpected Detour ( Chapter 2 )

KnightDread

 

Disclaimer: I don't own VanDread or any other series made by Gonzo…

 

< >: Thoughts

 

Chapter 2

 

Unexpected Detour

 

The three were dreaming…

 

Jin, Tanaki, and Kazuki found themselves in the dream state; at least they thought they were in that state of consciousness. They found themselves surrounded by countless images. The majority of which showed the journeys they had done ever since leaving their new home several months ago. The beings, and the places they had seen, met and had been to, that along with their battles with many great foes. However, the other remaining majority showed their home Genon before its destruction, but those images made no sense to the three men and there were other images but in blackness. They looked in curiosity and then with calmness as the consuming but safe blackness claimed them.

 

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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.

 

Magno Vivian, age one hundred and eight, captain and founder of the pirates looked about as she commented about this not being like the afterlife. 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?!”

 

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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.

 

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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… were Jin, Tanaki, and Kazuki.

 

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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, not to mention that Parfet, their chief engineer mentioned that their engines were also dead, 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 trio of men began to recover consciousness.

 

“Those are the men we encountered while looking for Dita Captain, when Jura and I found Dita, she was chasing the one with blue hair, down a turn and that was where we encountered the one with silver hair and the other with black hair.” Meia explained as she pointed to Kazuki then to Jin and Tanaki.

 

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

 

Magno looked a bit shocked as the three men suddenly opened their eyes and were already standing up. She looked on as the one she had directed her remark looked at her in deep irritation.

 

Kazuki then moved to reach for one of his swords, when Jin strode forward and held his right hand. Tanaki appeared on his other side holding his shoulder. The reaction of the pirates was instant as they directed their weapons at the three men.

 

“You know better than to draw a weapon at a person that's not the enemy.” The silver-haired male said to his comrade. The one with blue hair nodded reluctantly and he released his grip on his sword. The other one then directed his own gaze at Magno.

 

“We'll consent to be your prisoners, provided you don't start insulting us.” He said as he and his comrades surrendered their weapons and showed their hands to the pirates, Magno looked on amazement as her crew placed wrist restraints on the men.

 

The one who she had directed her remark at give her another angry but now calm glare they were being escorted away. “Know this… Don't let the fact that you're old give you an excuse to be insulting to someone you just met.”

 

Magno wondered at this as her security personnel escort the new prisoners.

 

< Something's rather different about those men, I can feel it. >

 

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Later…

 

Kazuki looked rather angry at this point still but had calmed down. He, Jin, and Tanaki found themselves yet again in another cell behind energy bars, this time on the women's ship. Their weapons were now in the custody of the pirates.

 

Jin looked around and then became aware that his comrades weren't alone this time. Nearby at a corner were a certain doctor and a certain Ranger medic who had not fled with their fellow crewmates in the escape pods prior to the explosion.

 

Tanaki and Kazuki noticed this and also directed their gaze at the young Talark medic and the young Ranger.

 

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

 

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

 

“My name is Duero Mcfile.”

 

"My name is Kyle Mirano."

 

"And you three are?" Duero asked.

 

Jin nodded a bit. “My name's Jin.”

 

Tanaki nodded as he introduced himself as well. “The name's Tanaki.”

 

Kazuki gave a shrug and nodded as well as he introduced himself to the doctor and to the Ranger. “Kazuki is my name.”

 

“I see… you three have very unusual names.” Duero remarked while Kyle nodded in agreement.

 

“I hope that wasn't meant to be offensive.” Jin said as he and his team relaxed a bit. They could tell that the man wasn't being offensive but wanted to test him a little.

 

“No offense intended to any of you. But I must say that three of you are not like any third class citizens I've ever seen in my life.” The young medic remarked. “Each of you were able to defeat at least half a dozen armed guards. Then each of you defeated another dozen each who were armed with spears with your own weapons without killing any of them. I thought that only the elite were ever trained in such hand to hand combat methods and armed fighting techniques.”

 

Kyle nodded as well. “You all seem to use some techniques that I'm not familiar with, but I recognize some of your styles. And I also noticed that you seem to have been under a great deal of physical training to use such fighting methods. And most Third Class citizens have only rudimentary health care. You three are too healthy to match the profile."

 

“Let's just say…that we've done a lot of practice.” Jin said as he moved his arms a bit to relieve some stress in it.

 

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

 

“That's what I'd like to know too.”

 

“The guards were rather sloppy and lax so we had no problems in getting inside the ship.” Tanaki said with a smile. Jin and Kazuki managed to suppress their own grins.

 

“I might have to agree, to a point however, but there's a lot more going for you three than just mere luck. From what we've seen during the ceremony, each of your separate movements were too well coordinated and each of you have shown that you all had a lot of extensive, physical training. While each of you were out, we examined your bodies. Now before you react, what we did was give each of you a basic medical examination and checked your basic vital signs, namely heart rate and breathing. All three of you have bodies that are in top physical condition, something that isn't expected from third class citizens as well. If it weren't for those ID tags each of you had on. We would have then mistaken you for part of the top one percent elite combat divisions.”

 

Kyle nodded in agreement.

 

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

 

"You too… Ranger." Jin said as he got a look at the Ranger tab on Kyle's coat.

 

“So do the three of you care to elaborate on where each of you attained those skills?” Kyle asked.

 

“Sorry my friend, I and my friends would love to do that, but now doesn't seem to be the right time.” Jin said with a bit of an apologetic tone.

 

It was then that Kazuki 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.” Kazuki commented.

 

The machine looked at the blue-haired Sorcerer-Knight in puzzlement. The three men merely ignored it and checked on the gear that the women didn't take…namely their most precious possessions as their gauntlets were very much hard to remove due to the latches being only removable by the wearers.

 

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

 

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, she was unaware of the crystal seemingly glowing faintly, as if it tried to reach out for something only it could sense and not the other people.

 

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

 

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! Don't surprise me!”

 

It was then when he tried to escape he ran into a pair of legs in a flight suit, 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.

 

“Uh…hi there.”

 

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In the decontamination chambers…

 

The young Dread pilot named 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 and Kyle 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….and the green-haired girl was the one who placed them there in the first place.

 

However, the young apprentice nurse didn't listen to her comrades, as she sat on her desk and shook her head, saying that until the icky germs of the men were gone

 

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

 

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. Jin had told his comrades not to offer any resistance as they, Duero and Kyle were escorted under heavy guard. He and his friends since childhood weren't concerned that their wrists were once again bound by the wrist restraints that were placed on them by the women. The restraints were no better than those of the men, albeit a slightly tougher design but they can easily break them just as easily as with those of the men, or use their respective mystical abilities. The weapons trained on them were of no consequence to the three Sorcerer-Knights. Jin, Tanaki, and Kazuki could tell that by the way their captors moved, that their combat skills were good. But could never reach their caliber and level.

 

No, this was an opportunity to get their bearings, such as where they were now in the cosmos and just what the heck had happened to both ships. They had already noticed the changes the Paeksis reactor had caused to both vessels, as they had determined that the changes were similar to what happened to both them and their gauntlets. Also they wanted to know what these women were like. After living several months on Talark, the three of them had developed a burning curiosity on just how the `fairer sex' lived. Walking next to them and the doctor and Ranger was the strange robot that appeared to be like that of a child.

 

As soon as they Duero and Kyle entered the interrogation chamber, they all saw another man was already in the proverbial `hot seat'. Once Jin and his comrades saw their fellow prisoner, they 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 warriors. They didn't hold it to him however, considering his expression, he was terrified…no doubt from the propaganda that had been fed to him when he was a child…

 

As the five 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 Jin and his band, and gave a slight snort. “So these are the only men left on this ship, eh? They're nothing more than a bunch of kids.”

 

She gave Kazuki a slightly hard stare, no doubt remembering the time he nearly pulled out a sword on her, and gave the other two a slightly curious stare. She wanted to know just how different these three men were.

 

“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." Kyle remarked as he also was curious as to how this old woman knew the small machine.

 

“I also was under the impression that this ship belonged to Talark.” Jin asked, not showing that he already knew the history of the ship. But he was curious as to the side of the story by the women.

 

“Same here as well.” Tanaki and Kazuki replied, as they knew that Jin wanted to hear the women's side of the story.

 

Magno was unaware of the three space warriors' true motives for making those statements and 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, Kyle along with Jin, Tanaki, and Kazuki remained focused. Duero had been trained to keep his focus as a medic and likewise for Kyle. But in the case of Jin and his team they felt extremely disgusted by Bart's reaction.

 

“Knock it off man! That's embarrassing! Besides you certainly need to lighten up, they won't eat you.” Kazuki said with a shake of his head.

 

Magno raised an eye-brow at that. “My, you Third Class Citizens certainly have a load of courage.”

 

Jin merely smirked in reply. “We are a lot more than mere citizens of Talark, to tell you the truth, we don't belong there at all…that means we're not from Talark and these ID tags we've got are forgeries…thus we know for a fact that you ladies don't ever eat the livers of men or any of their innards, and judging from the looks of you're younger female members…I sincerely doubt that any of you match a monstrous description at all.”

 

“Oh really? There might be some truth to that as you are certainly not like what I expected of Third Class citizens, not to mention you wielded weapons. So then, if you're not from Talark…then who exactly are you three and where are you from?

 

“I'm Jin.”

 

“Tanaki is my name.” Tanaki replied.

 

“Mine's Kazuki.” The blue haired male replied.

 

As soon as they were done telling the women their names, Jin took up the conversation where he left off.

 

“Now as to where we come from…we don't really know ourselves, we're on a personal journey to find our own place in this universe, and we only stopped on Talark to rest and get supplies…once we were done, we would jump ship and leave…that is, until you and you're pirates show up and take over the ship…and now we're here, having this conversation, which would be okay if it wasn't for the fact you've got weapons aimed at us and have us in these cuffs.”

 

Magno wondered what her options were now, there was something very unique about these three youngsters…that much she could sense and see from them. But with the situation as it was, she would not have enough time to figure them out completely, thus as much as she wanted to find out more of the three men, she decided to put her other questions aside for now…however, she was still intrigued by them and she decided to tell them about that particular fact.

 

“You know something Jin…you three are very interesting people.”

 

The three martial artists and Sorcerer-Knights chuckled a bit and gave a slight grin.

 

“Oh, we're a LOT more interesting than you know. …care for a demonstration?” Jin said calmly.

 

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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!”

 

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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.

 

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“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.

 

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

 

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

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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“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.

 

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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 and Kyle decided to place their combined skills and knowledge as physicians to work. They 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 them, but Duero and Kyle held up their hands to a non-threatening gesture Kyle then spoke to the young crew-member, “Don't worry, we're both doctors. We just want to see if we can help her.”

 

The girl lowered the ring, and as soon as that happened Deuro began instructing her to help remove the debris from her injured comrade and help him take her to the medical bay. Kyle immediately 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.”

 

Jin and his team looked at the young Talark cadet with curious yet restrained looks.

 

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. My other comrade is also an accomplished medic and could also be helpful in treating the 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 five 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 Jin, Tanaki, and Kazuki.

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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Down at the cargo bays…

 

Jin, Tanaki, and Kazuki stood in an unused area as Buzam and a subordinate kept watch over the three of them.

 

“The three of 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 the three of you to the brig at this point.”

 

“I see.” Jin said as he and his team went to separate areas, Tanaki sat down near a crystallized- crate facing the other wall, Kazuki just rested back at the wall, as Jin simply stood.

 

BC gazed at the three of them one by one and then directed what she had to say to Jin.

 

“You and your friends seem… unconcerned about what's happening. Don't any of 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 and your apparent teammates can help as well?”

 

“No offense meant or anything….BC, but we have no loyalty to either Talark or Megele…and that also means that we have no loyalty to you. Why should we fight for you're group?”

 

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

 

Kazuki gave her a slightly disgusted look. “That's not the meaning of Jin's statement, but nevertheless, do you really think you know anything about us?”

 

“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 the three of 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 gave her the signal to place the objects she had requested from the security teams on the floor.

 

“By the way, here are your weapons.”

 

She then began to walk towards the exit when her subordinate called out.

 

“But what about the three of them?”

 

BC gave a shrug. “Leave them here. Even with their weapons, it's not like there's anywhere they can go to. Not that there is anywhere for us to go either.”

 

Jin then smirked and called to Buzam…making the sub-commander turn and look at the three men.

 

“We will talk between ourselves for a bit, and when we decide what we should do, then we will call you and tell you our decisions.”

 

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

 

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 and Kyle 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 THEIR way, as another injured female was brought in, this one was injured by another collapsed wall. Kyle took her in as they deposited the first injured pirate. That statement made the female assisting them 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…

 

Jin sat on the floor cradling his staff, while Tanaki and Kazuki sat on the floor as well, their sheathed swords by their sides. They were thinking of the consequences and BC's words.

 

Jin spoke. “You two do know this much. If we do decide to go out and fight, then it's likely that the three of us will wind up as lab specimens.”

 

Tanaki nodded. “Besides, we'll still be prisoners once we return to Talark and Megele's home system and as soon as this crisis ends.”

 

Kazuki nodded. “True, but we are Sorcerer-Knights, and we swore once that we will help those in need of help. Have we already forgotten the good people we fought for through our travels?”

 

Jin and Tanaki smiled and nodded. “No, we haven't forgotten them and what they fight for.”

 

“So it makes no difference whether we fight and wind either as prisoners or lab subjects, right? These people are fighting for their survival and that's something worth fighting for to me.” Kazuki said.

 

The three looked at one another and unanimously voted that no matter what happens, they will help these people, and quickly decided on their course of action and damn what will happen to them.

 

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

 

“I and my comrades are going to fight Captain.” Jin 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? We'll go out and lend a hand to them.”

 

“Are the… three of you pilots? Can you fly those Vanguards?”

 

Jin gave a slightly disgusted look. “Those hunks of junk? No we don't pilot them.”

 

“If you and your team aren't pilots for the Vanguards, then how do the three of you expect to fight? Can you and your fellow men pilot Dreads?”

 

Tanaki sighed and Kazuki showed signs of impatience. Jin looked bored. “Just direct us to the nearest airlock. We'll deal with the rest from there.”

 

“An airlock? What are you three, insane? Don't tell me that you three plan to fight the enemy in just spacesuits?”

 

“That would be rather ridiculous.”

 

“I should think so.”

 

“What I and my comrades have now will do just fine.”

 

“WHAT?!” Magno looked at the trio with shock in her eyes.

 

“We said that we're more interesting than you can ever imagine, Captain. Now, are you going to direct us to the nearest airlock, or would you let us do nothing to help you all out?”

 

Magno gazed deeply into Jin's ocean blue eyes and saw the intensity in them, she didn't need to look at Tanaki or Kazuki's eyes to know that the same intensity was in them too. They were dead serious. Though she had no idea what the three men in mind nor did she understand it as well, she nodded to Buzam to release the manacles Jin's wrists and those on his comrades. But just as the first officer was about to press the remote…

 

“No need to bother with that.” Jin said as he showed a pair of crushed restraints, Tanaki and Kazuki also showed their own manacles crushed like paper as well. They had already broken free earlier. Each of them now tossed the useless devices over their shoulders, Jin then asked. “Now, where's that airlock we requested?”

 

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

 

Jin and his team ran into the airlock chamber that was situated near the Dread launching platform and shut the door behind them. The lights within the small enclosure dimmed as Jin, Tanaki, and Kazuki prepared to join the battle outside. The three of them didn't notice that the scanners in the airlock were active and were trained on them, recording their actions and transmitting them to the bridge.

 

Jin looked back at his two friends. “No turning back now.”

 

They looked at him and nodded. “No turning back.”

 

They each summoned their gauntlets to unleash their full power and sure enough, the gauntlets responded very quickly to the commands of their masters. The crystal beasts glowed and so did the same lights on their foreheads.

 

“SORCERER-KNIGHTS!”

 

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

 

“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.

 

Just then a trio of blue bolts of light burst forth from the bottom of the pirate vessel and streaked towards the enemy groups. Within those lights were…

 

“ IT'S MR. ALIEN, AND THE OTHER MR. ALIENS!” Dita cried out with joy as she spotted Jin, Tanaki, and most of all Kazuki.

 

“They're our reinforcements?!”

 

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

 

To the astonished eyes of the women pirates and the men on board who were watching, the three men were bathed in a fiery aura of blue light. As the three summoned their clans' beast symbols over their heads as their bodies underwent the startling transformation; their clothes were immediately removed from their bodies as the light nearly became blinding. The two bolts of light on top of them changed at first into orbs but then took new forms, one into a fierce reptilian beast with wings that breathed fire, another was a large wolf that gave a fierce howl while baring it's fangs, and the last one was a massive tiger beast with blue fur and white stripes also snarling and baring it's fangs. The animals then shot into the chests of the three men, as that happened the auras faded as pure blue light surrounded their forms. And soon their forms changed as if the three of them were wearing armor. Jin, Tanaki, and Kazuki's already super-human powers were further increased with the addition of quantum energy condensers and weapons, magical(elemental) energy condensers and focusing units, and lastly with chi energy and nearly impenetrable bio-armor. Once the transformation was completed, the light bathing their forms broke away like shattered crystals, as the three men went into battle stances. The last of the Sorcerer-Knights 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 by claws and exploded into pieces. As the light faded she looked out in astonishment as a certain individual in armor stood on the one of the booms of her Dread. The person's face showed itself as an outline through the face armor and helm appeared on her comlink and she smiled as she recognized Kazuki.

 

“Mr. Alien!”

 

Kazuki gave a sigh. “Will you please stop calling me Mr. Alien?” He said in a slightly annoyed tone. His armor allowed him to easily patch into the Dread's communication systems.

 

“I don't know Kazuki, I think that the name she gave you is kind of funny.” Tanaki laughed through his armor.

 

“Knock it off Tanaki!” Kazuki retorted.

 

Tanaki was on one of the booms on Jura's Dread while; Jin was on Meia's Dread.

 

“Can the chatter guys! Let's show these new threats how to really fight!” Jin shouted as he activated his thrusters and dove straight for the clouds of enemy fighters.

 

“ROGER!” Roared Tanaki and Kazuki as they charged deep into the fray.

 

Kazuki went first as a pair of blue spheres appeared on his hands, he placed his hands in front of his face and shouted as he moved his hands outward.

 

“DRAGON AURA!”

 

The spheres bathed him in a powerful but not blinding aura. The thrusters on his back ignited with more power as large glowing wings appeared behind him and a fierce dragon appeared surrounding him with it's maw wide open.

 

Jin dove forward as a sphere condensed in front of him as it expanded and bathed him its power and luminescence, the aura began to become sleek and streamlined as a massive wolf appeared around him and gave a wide open snarl.

 

“WOLF AURA!”

 

Tanaki as well made a sphere condense but it was in his outstretched right hand that was in a claw-like appearance, the aura appeared as a tiger roaring and leaping forward with it's right paw forward and all claws extended outward to the fullest.

 

“TIGER AURA!”

 

The three men in armor and their respective auras smashed directly into the clouds of enemy fighters and began to smash into them like comets the three men wiped out large numbers of the enemy. Anything that the three Sorcerer-Knights collided with was immediately turned into space junk. With each of their passes several enemy fighters were demolished instantly. As four dozen were wiped out the three men deactivated their auras and stood in front of the remaining fighters and the mothership.

 

The main unit of the enemy deployed two more cubes as it had now determined that the three newcomers were the real threats, however, it quickly sped up the process of releasing it's forces and four more cubes were released, sending out even more of the octopus like fighters for the Sorcerer Knights to face alone. But that meant that there more targets for Jin and his team to destroy.

 

Jin dove into one group and summoned one large sphere into his left hand.

 

“FROST NOVA!”

 

The sphere detonated as a massive spherical wave of energy expanded outward at an unbelievable speed as it consumed the entire group… covering them in ice. Jin then smashed his fist into the tendrils that were connecting all the alien fighters in ice and they just shattered.

 

Another group came right at him, and Jin wasted little time as he gathered a massive amount of energy and the energy created mists around his arms and hands and then water appeared on the hands and feet armor of the eldest of the Sorcerer-Knights, he then lashed out with the mists…the water becoming bitter cold and froze his foes, or became so hot to the point they were like acid and melted the armor of his foes. His punches and kicks were powerful enough to rip right through metal and the alien fighters were helpless as the Sorcerer Knight ripped through them with ease.

 

Kazuki rushed for another group as the alien ships fired volley after volley of laser fire, which he dodged without any effort, the summoned a sphere of burning flame in his right hand, and smashed it directly into the lead fighter.

 

“BURNING WAVE!”

 

The lead fighter exploded as a massive wave of flame flashed out from the first target, it then consumed the other fighters instantly and barbecued them all into slag. Kazuki then moved past the exploding rubble and then began to use his martial arts training to lash out and destroy more of the enemy foes with fists and kicks, but the blows were followed by flame that moved like living things…which was impossible as fire needed oxygen and there was no such gas in space…just a cold and empty void…but the fires burned brightly like a star. The flames also consumed those alien fighters and reduced them into sludge from the intense heat and power.

 

Tanaki moved into the center of his own target group and summoned a pair of spheres in his hands. The spheres were then surrounded by four whirling blades of pure air that shaped like curving inward blades.

 

“WHIRLING SHURIKEN!!!!!” (*)

 

Shouted Tanaki as he smashed the spheres right into the forces before him…unleashing a massive spherical wave of destruction that instantly shredded the enemy force like they were nothing but packs of paper targets in the wind. The energy was so strong that even those alien fighters that were not in the sphere's area were shredded in a heart beat

 

Jin went next to another target group as he gathered the energy of his blood and the armor's built in factories.

 

“PIERCING RAIN!”

 

A massive sheet of icicles appeared and launched deep into the enemy group, the alien fighters' armor proved to be totally useless, as the icicles were as hard as diamond and pierced like laser bolts, cutting them to chunks before they could defend themselves or evade the sudden and deadly projectiles.

 

Kazuki was last. “DRAGON BREATH!”

 

He reared back and out from his helm came a massive gout of rapidly expanding flame that rapidly incinerated all it touched. It was like a massive cloud of flame that moved like a massive flame thrower, destroying all it touched.

 

Tanaki however wasted little time and unleashed a massive blasting wind that came as a wave of pure destructive force at the other fighters that came at them.

 

“AERO GEYSER!”

 

The massive wall of air that was moving at such a speed to have the cutting power of a scalpel diced the enemy to shreds in less than a second and it took only a moment or two for the decimated hulks of the fighters to explode violently as the winds that were those from a nightmarish world to die down.

 

The Sorcerer-Knights stood tall before their foes…and to the stunned gazes of the pirates who were unable to believe that three men wielded such power and weapons…however, this was merely the icing on the cake for them today...

 

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

 

The other alien fighters made a fierce lunge towards the three while they were then reinforced by more of their kind, however, that brought them certain annihilation.

 

Jin summoned his weapon as a shaft of light appeared from the nacelle on his back and landed in his left hand, the light faded to reveal a staff that immediately extended into it's full length of 6'6. He placed both his hands on the staff and readied his battle stance.

 

Tanaki just grasped the light from the nacelle on the left side of his hip and it formed into his katana, which he readied into his combat position.

 

Kazuki reached for the two nacelles on his sides and pulled out the shafts of light that took the form of his long-swords, as he placed them blade on top of blade.

 

They dived into the first group and attacked with swings, slashes, thrusts, and stabs, without hitting each other accidentally with their weapons. The three didn't take too long in turning the group of alien fighters into confetti.

 

The three remaining groups made their attacks and were treated a quick but powerful execution.

 

Kazuki went first as his blades gave a fiery aura of blue flame.

 

“DRAGON TALON FURY!”

 

He shouted as he smashed into the enemy fighters and began to slash and thrust at the collection of enemy fighters, and those who still managed to dodge his attacks were consumed as the flames captured them as well. When it ended he placed his blades on the same place as his enemies blew up.

 

Jin unleashed his aura and to the eyes of everyone watching, out of him came orbs of light by the dozen, which took his appearance and form, and even wielded the very same staff that he did.

 

“WOLF PACK BARRAGE!”

 

Jin and his clones smashed into the group he attacked as the he and his clones tore them all to pieces with swings and stabs. As it ended the clones disappeared as only Jin stood with his staff in hand, while the enemy group exploded like popcorn.

 

Tanaki released his sword and it seemed to merely float in front of him, he suddenly made several gestures and the sword suddenly spun itself like a top and glowed in immense light. The weapon suddenly exploded towards the incoming forces like an unleashed cat. Tanaki then was covered in light, golden light that became a tiger.

 

“TIGER SHADOW!”

 

The only thing anyone could see was the spinning blade as it tore through the alien fighters while the glowing tiger suddenly vanished…as more alien fighters were torn apart, the weapon suddenly stopped spinning towards it's last foe. Tanaki reappeared right in front of the last fighter and with several powerful slashes that the naked eye could not see as he placed his sword in both his hands, as the enemies broke to pieces and exploded.

 

The battle lasted only three minutes.

 

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

 

On the pirate ship…

 

“Impossible! HOW can those three men have such power?!” 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 Jin was right. He and his comrades WERE 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…

 

“They're so… elegant!” Jura said with appreciation on her voice as she stared at the three men, but she found her gaze to wander to the one in gold armor with purple trim and had his long black hair showing at the back of his helmet. She liked the way the armor looked and began to fantasizing herself in such powerful armor.

 

Dita's eyes were starry as she gazed at the three aliens but her gaze also went to her first alien… Kazuki.

 

“YAY TO MR. ALIEN AND TO THE OTHER MR. ALIENS!” She said as she cheered.

 

Meia… well, she was pretty much speechless, like her captain. Although she began to wonder why her eyes were on the one wielding the staff.

 

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

 

Jin and his team looked on in disgust as they spotted that the alien mothership still intended to release more fighters.

 

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

 

Jin released his staff and placed his hands outwards as a sphere of power formed in front of him. Kazuki's shoulder guards glowed as lances of light converged on the armor units. And lastly Tanaki placed his sword on his left hand as power condensed to his right hand. One the three had harnessed enough energy; they unleashed it at the enemy.

 

“ELEMENTAL BEAST CANNON!” The three Sorcerer-Knights shouted.

 

Twin beams of energy in the form of dragons appeared from Kazuki's shoulder armor and moved in front of him and melded into one dragon made of quantum energy along with magic and chi, which he shot at the alien ship. Jin unleashed a powerful beam attack in the shape of a charging wolf and Tanaki unleashed a fierce beam that took the form of a tiger.

 

Just as the alien ship let loose with two more cubes, the combined beam assaults smashed into it. The fighters were completely atomized by the blasts before they had a chance to separate. The beams went on and smashed deeply into the open maw of the alien mothership causing massive damage.

 

Kazuki broke free from the ranks and charged in with his twin swords while Jin and Tanaki covered his attack as their youngest teammate decided to finish the job. The three of them were unaware that a certain Dread was following them

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Jin and Tanaki broke from their escort job of their comrade and allowed him to take the point. But were then shocked to spot a Dread behind their comrade. “Kazuki! You've got company!” Jin called out.

 

Kazuki heard his friend's words and turned before he could unleash a Dragon Talon Fury assault on the damaged alien vessel. His eyes widened as he recognized the Dread.

 

“NO! GET BACK!”

 

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

 

There was a massive explosion, which engulfed both Sorcerer-Knight 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.

 

Jin called in with a look of surprise and satisfaction on his face. “Don't think of leaving yet, the show's just getting started.

 

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 Kazuki's armored form, but was in deep navy blue with silver trim. It was humanoid in shape and had two long cannon barrels mounted behind each shoulder. 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 Sorcerer-Knight and Dread Fighter… the KnightDread!

 

“WHOA! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!” Jin and Tanaki asked.

 

“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 Kazuki's Dragon Attack. 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, Kazuki 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 need to breathe when I'm in my armor. Why am I in this cockpit? And why is it that there seems to be something on top of my legs? >

 

Kazuki realized that he was indeed in some kind of cockpit and was sitting on a command chair. He then noted that he wasn't in his armor, but was now in his regular clothes, with his swords by his sides. 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 and the other good aliens would protect us.” Dita said, as she was half-asleep as she leaned back into Kazuki's chest and snuggled closer.

 

Kazuki 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, and the strange and yet undeniable urge to kiss her. < Please, don't let Jin and Tanaki see this! >

 

“Hey Kazuki… what are you doing there with that babe?” Jin called in through the mecha's communicator with a big grin on his face.

 

“N…N…Nothing!” Kazuki replied as he tried hard not to blush.

 

Tanaki was there watching, making no comments but had the same big grin of his face as well.

 

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

 

The pirate crew and the men all crowded the hanger and waited as the gigantic KnightDread came in for a landing with the two other Sorcerer-Knights side by side like escorts. Just as the mecha was about to land, the mecha suddenly shifted back into Dita's Dread Fighter. As soon as it landed, a section opened at the top of the craft. Out came a deep blue light and out stepped Kazuki in his bio-armor form, emerging from the hatch.

 

The three Sorcerer-Knights landed on the floor of the hanger with a dull but loud metallic clang, which was heard throughout the hanger. That caused the female guards around Magno to raise their laser weapons at the three armored men. Who could blame them, especially when they were facing a trio of seven-foot tall armored beings who could be capable of so much destruction?

 

Jin shook his head as he directed his attention to Magno. “Captain, tell the crew to lower their weapons and calm down, since we will not attack any of you. You have my word and that of my comrades.” Tanaki and Kazuki nodded in agreement.

 

Magno, had long since been able to tell when one was lying due to her long experience and age. She could tell that Jin wasn't lying at all, so she motioned her guards to stand down and lower their weapons. She knew that the weapons her crew had with them would be useless against the three men, and she naturally knew after seeing what Jin, Tanaki, and Kazuki were capable of, then any hostility breaking out between them and her crew would be inviting disaster.

 

Jin nodded was he and his team, deactivated their armor and commanded it to return back into their secret sub-space pockets in their gauntlets. Their Sorcerer-Knight armor faded away and all that was left were three fully clothed men with their weapons with them. The instant the transformation was completed, Jin gave Magno a small smile.

 

“Like I and my comrades said Captain…. We are more interesting than you know.” Was all that Jin said as he, Tanaki and Kazuki collapsed, as they had not been able to eat a good meal and fighting in their armor was not part of the plan today. The guards rushed up to Jin, Tanaki, and Kazuki and hauled them up with a little difficulty of course…

 

“Take them back to their 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 Kazuki, as he and his comrades were being taken away. She gave a pleading look at her Captain, but Magno didn't seem to notice it as she turned to Buzam. Buzam nodded and called in more security detail to make sure that they didn't try anything…

 

Magno suspected that whatever the armor was, the answers were in the three men's gauntlets and while the men were unconscious, there was a chance that they might get some answers from the items once the Engineering teams got a hold of them…the gauntlets might also hold the key to the strange and amazing powers these men seemed to wield with no difficulty.

 

One thing was for sure…it was certainly going to be a very interesting day…

 

To be continued…

 

Author's notes:

 

It's been quite a bit since I worked on this project so forgive me if the cobwebs are still thick on this thing, I have been so busy with GunDread SEED as it is already reaching the end of the line that I kind of forgot how this one would go…either way, I hope this chapter will be enough for now.

 

(*) Borrowed this particular move from Naruto, namely the new season, where Naruto Uzumaki combines the Rasegan with his Wind Element.

 

I might try and make a story out of that series as well someday too.

 

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As before…send me a comment or an email, be constructive and civil…flames will immediately be thrown out the window.

 

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