Afterward
Written by: Norsehound
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CHAPTER SIX:
Alien encounter
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The small creature was gently handed up to one of the beings.
Dita was limp in the hand of the creature as it held the seemingly lifeless humanoid in it’s hand.
One of them called out in disgust, while another one offered a suggestion.
But a power armor approached.
Those assembled around the respectably sized craft stopped and waited for the armor to stop, and the forward compartments opened and the pilot emerged from it’s protective casing. It spoke some things before gently taking a hold of the creature in one of it’s hands.
It looked down at the limp girl in it’s hands and then said some things. The others walked away from the craft, leaving it where it was and it’s occupant in the careful hands of the higher authority.
The entity made something equivalent to a smirk and gently carried the unconscious human out of the hanger and down the passageways inside the ship.
The walls and air were moist and warm, and faint precipitation covered the walls and armor of the creature holding Dita carefully.
It strode into a separate lab room and uttered some things to another one of it’s species. The other one looked up, said a few things in response, and then prepared a large glass containment capsule. The alien gently set down the creature in the containment vessel and it closed around the sleeping Dita.
The alien commander looked at the small creature in the glass, then said some more things to the scientist, who responded with some meaning.
The officer gestured an agreement and turned it’s eyes down to the unconscious Dita and stared at her for a moment before turning out of the lab and heading out into the corridor to make a report to a higher authority.
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The alien vessel emerged from it’s rip in time and space and coasted clear of the gateway. It’s engines lit again and pushed the craft gently from it’s location.
It wasn’t alone.
Herded in the space were several more vessels in a small rally of ships in the local area of space. Two of the other vessels were similar in shape and look to the one that captured Dita, but there were different ones also.
The largest of the assembled ships was a massive ominous shape roughly cylindrical but with no tapered ends or anything. Antenna sprouted here and there along the surfaces of the ship, and a quartet of vertical blisters was positioned next to one another near the back of the hull and it’s four massive engines.
Beside it was a craft of similar size but of different shape. Like the largest vessel it had a roughly smooth body near it’s back end, with an assembly of instruments and engine clusters on it’s back facing. But it narrowed down two thirds of the way from the back into a smaller head-like assembly- with an eyeless skull tapering into a snout and with a definite cut along it that looked like a hidden jaw. Only one of these vessels was present in the assembly.
Smaller ships were in the area also. One class was slightly larger than the Nirvana, but was nowhere as graceful. The tapered lump of vessel had a trio of engines- two of them at the back of the vehicle while one was mounted underneath. A total allotment of thirteen of these ships drifted in the cluster.
The other class of smaller ship was the size of the Nirvana and wasn’t as glamorous. Like the other ships it had a thick, unattractive hull but the various ships in the assembly came in the colors of green or dark orange. Nevertheless, these ships had a grill-like engine at their prismatic aft hulls, which tapered out to a rectangular section with a clear division along it’s middle. Like the other ships, antenna were also placed here and there along the hull to give it an organic feel. But unlike the other ships, there was a total of eighteen of these vessels in the area.
The vessel responsible for capturing Dita came to a hold beside the largest of the ships and cut it’s engines. The large vessel at the center of the group discharged several flights worth of various mecha and fighters to arrive and dock with the smaller vessel. A curious brick-shaped ship also undocked from the large ship and proceeded to the cruiser. It wasn’t as large as the other capital ships, rather instead it looked more like a transport. It too had the same green coloration, but was only the length of three of the alien mecha placed end-on-end. It’s meager armament of a single barrel at the front seemed to indicate it was some sort of shuttle.
Still, it approached the side hanger of the vessel with whatever cargo was inside with the intention of boarding the craft.
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When Dita awoke some time later she immediately had the feeling she was being watched.
She wasn’t far from the truth.
Six aliens surrounded her and stared their powerful eyes down at her.
She stood up trembling in panic and fear, clutching herself as she stared at one of the aliens to the next.
"Who are you!?" She demanded, shouting, "What do you want with me?"
One of the aliens talked to another one, which indicated agreement.
Another alien spoke across the table to one of the others who was seated. It was the same one that had come out of the armor and carried her to the lab. It responded with some words, unintelligible to Dita but still audible to the human ear. The girl collapsed on her knees in terror and looked from one alien to the next.
Soon she realized the size of these aliens, and her mind skipped.
The table was easily as large as her dread.
She hiccuped and swayed in her seat as the aliens continued to talk.
One of them spoke to her.
She turned her head and stared dumbly up at the one that had addressed her, analogous to a deer in the headlights.
The one that brought her in slammed a fist on the table and startled Dita, making her jump and stand up as it yelled in harsh bass tones across the table to the one that addressed her.
One of the aliens at the head of the table spoke some bass tones and the aggressive one sat back down and looked at Dita.
The scared little girl looked back in terror and then turned again to another one of the aliens, who was motioning one of his hands and indicating Dita.
One asked something that ended in the tone of a question.
Some of the others seemed to agree, but the aggressive one only sat back and stared at Dita thoughtfully.
A warbled tone came across the table and the aggressive one spoke up once more.
Shouts fell through the air and confused Dita even more, so much that she clutched her head.
An argument ensued, and Dita craned over to rest on her knees and squeeze her eyes shut. Eventually she relaxed and fell on her side, unconscious.
The aggressive one stopped the conversation and gently reached across the table with one hand and carefully used another to scoop Dita gently into his hands. With some final bass tones he spoke some words to the other aliens and then left the room with Dita protected in two of his arms.
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After depositing Dita back in the lab, the aggressive alien came to another enclosed area, where some of the aliens from the table chamber had come for another briefing.
A hologram of a ship manifested and hovered over an unlit table.
This one was luminescent and sleek, with shiny lines and a light grey coloring.
The aggressive alien identified this ship as the same one he had attacked only a day before.
Alien writing scrolled down the sides of the display and indicated hypothetical points. Had Dita been there she would have recognized it as the Nirvana.
Displays from combat footage were shown on separate holographic screens and the aliens mused over these images of power. The hologram shifted to display several other reconstructed models of light which could have been identified as various Dreads, Vanguards, and of course, the Vandread.
The aggressive alien mused a hand to his mouth parts in confusion as he looked over the strange machines being displayed.
The leader of the aliens spoke up in more bass tones and their attention turned to the hologram once again.
Now two separate ships appeared in the display, the Nirvana and one other. The commanding alien said some words and indicated both vessels, using his voice to project some efforts of power and strategy.
The other aliens listened passively to the leader as he went on and talked bout both models of light.
The aggressive alien considered the two vessels with curiosity and recalled the fights with both of them. They were unlike their own vessels, and somehow…
The commander then turned their attention to a massive hologramatic plate crowded with hundreds of billions of stars. Zones lit in green were marked with the insignia of the aliens, while other spots were highlighted in various reds and blues to signify, apparently, threats and noncombatants.
The commander pointed to some parts of the gigantic map, and even indicated a marker on the map that perhaps showed their current position. Another smaller blow up manifested and showed a dot of brilliant color. The small display played in a loop, showing the area of space before, during, and after a brilliant flare up.
The aggressive alien reminisced in remembrance to seeing that only a week or so ago, before the confrontation with the unusual lustrous ship.
An alien asked a question and one of the other aliens answered, motioning to parts of the display and then calling up another hologram display that showed additional information, showing sensor output for the past week. He indicated some displays, and then motioned to the commanding alien to go on.
More videos were shown, including the breaking through the clouds and seeing the back of the unusual dagger ship for the first time. With the recording was sensor information that was displayed aside the video.
More combat footage was shown, with some focuses on the Dreads, the aggressive alien’s armor, and the Vandread as it closed and engaged in combat. Movies showing the shields breaking on the Nirvana were displayed, and casualty reports were also shown.
Then the movie displays vanished and the commanding alien spoke some more before the meeting ended and the aliens went their separate ways.
The aggressive alien remained in the room to talk with one of the ranking aliens, the commander of the vessel. Some words were exchanged, until the commanding alien indicated approval.
The aggressive alien left the room and strode back to the science room. Once there, he pulled up a seat and sat down beside the glass jar containing the strange alien that he had come to capture.
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The small fleet of ships were traveling now, thrusting at moderate speed and headed for another destination.
The important craft carrying many of the important aliens left and headed for the sleeker of the two largest ships, entering it and disappearing inside.
Distant was a planet, a brown unforgiving world that was the current destination of the fleet.
The assembly of many ships continued at normal drives to the planet, ever watchful of the space around them in case of a possible ambush.
And almost without warning, a ship exploded.
The alien vessels immediately went on alert and launched pods as a vessel approached.
Riding on twin plumes of light was a sleek vessel unlike anything within the alien fleet. It’s curved, streamlined hull and colored extensions made it vibrant and colorful in contrast to the dull green of the alien vessels. It’s head was a massive triangle in shape, and it was mounted on a backward-bent joint to a block body. Connected on either side of the front part of the body were two elongated hull parts that were colored at their ends. And at the back of the blocky lower hull were the two engine drives propelling the vessel.
Mecha of their own design launched from dual hangers and exchanged fire with the armless mecha of the aliens and more fights and explosions blossomed in the stars.
The green aliens had turned their machines and were facing down the sleeker and faster vessel as it approached the formation.
But then something spectacular happened.
The forward hull parts of the sleek vessel shone and shimmered along their lines, and on the part of the main hull between the projections a door opened and shimmered with unearthly light.
Electricity sparked between the twin booms as the ship continued to approach the alien fleet.
In response, the smallest ships and the sleeker of the largest two ships also opened jaws of their own. The smaller vessels had the entire front section of their ships part open while the largest ship opened it’s jaws only on the front half of the ship. Like the newcomer, blue blasts of electricity sparkled between the jaws in preparation of particle fire.
The sleeker ship fired first and directed it’s blast against one of the larger ships.
The more slender of the largest green alien vessels was encompassed in the blinding blue light and vaporized.
Then the smaller ships opened fire with beams far greater than the volume of the ships firing them.
But the sleek ship, in anticipation of this, winked out of existence after abruptly cutting off the beam and seemed to vanish before re-appearing right behind the enemy fleet and rejoining the battle.
As the slower alien vessels turned their own weapons returned fire. All of them visibly curved off linear paths out of the beams and headed for the sleek alien vessel.
The ship’s hull wasn’t touched, as an energy field was shimmering in place to deflect the beams of energy.
In response the triangular vessels in the fleet had opened their own maws and particle beams were being charged and aimed at the ship. More combat mecha and fighters were deployed from the remainder of the largest ships and were swarming for the sleek vessel.
The sleek ship returned fire with smaller tracking guns, shooting pins of light to intercept the swarming alien mecha- which some of them were stopped by the energy field in activation.
The three cruisers continued to fire but then started to turn as the sleek ship disappeared once again.
This time it appeared close to some of the smaller ships, and opened concentrated fire into the closest of them.
Armor buckled and then burst under the repeated impact of aggressive guns and the ship withered, melted and exploded in brilliant light. More fire came from the alien ship before it jumped once again.
The aliens turned to shoot at it’s latest location, that being some distance away and recovering it’s own mecha. Fighters and mecha belonging to the green fleet rushed to intercept, but by the time they got there the sleek ship was already burning away at incredible speed and disappeared with a final jump.
When it was confirmed that the alien ship was gone the fleet regrouped and tried to pick up the pieces of that assault.
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Dita had awakened during the battle and remained completely confused during it’s duration. Frightened, she sat down on the glass to wait it out. When the klaxons had ended she stood up slowly and looked around, confused at the interior of the gigantic space that held her.
She sat back down again from looking at the gigantic equipment that surrounded her and hugged her knees to her chest.
"Mr. Alie….ahh….Hibiki…" She muttered and squeezed her eyes shut, "But I want
to call you Mr. Alien! Why don’t you do neat things anymore Mr. Alien?"
She rolled on her side and sighed. Hibiki, in the last days, was too busy to
play with her. Now she had nothing left…
And if she was trapped here, her life might leave her also.
She closed her eyes and tried to think of something. There was no possible way she could escape her captors- they were too swift and too precautions. The glass container she was kept in didn’t seem to have any exits or ways of escape in any form unless one of the aliens allowed it.
And now one of the aliens came through the doorway.
She looked up at it and stood up slowly and recognized this alien.
It was the aggressive one, the one that had yelled during the conference. But was it in defense or anger of Dita’s treatment?
The alien cast it’s eyes down on Dita and remained unmoving, while the little girl looked back up at the alien in confusion.
It muttered some bass tones that Dita could hear through the glass.
"H-Hi!!!" She called and waved to the larger alien.
The alien was a little taken back at this and confusion was clearly expressed. It hesitated and replied to her.
"H-Hi!! HI!!" She repeated and waved enthusiastically again.
The alien raised one of it’s hands and repeated the waving gesture slowly.
"Yeah! That’s it!" She replied, "Hi!!!"
The alien’s mouth parts moved and it uttered a response, "H-Hi."
Dita giggled and called up, "Now you’re learning how to speak!"
"…Speak?" Repeated the alien and left off in a ramble of bass notes.
"Yeah! Talk, you know…" Said Dita and moved her fingers in a talking motion.
The alien was clearly confused.
"Ohh…if only I had my translator…" Dita replied in remembrance of one of the obscure toys meant for ‘alien contact’ that was somewhere in her room. But she looked back up at the alien and attempted to continue contact, "Um…." She moved her hands in the similar fashion she had once done with another alien…but who was now stuck in the Mejere system.
This alien was clearly puzzled.
"….Hey, can you understand….forget it…" Dita gave up. Obviously this alien didn’t communicate by hand signals.
It spoke to her again, warbling some notes.
"What do you mean?" She asked and shook her head, "I don’t understand a word you’re saying…"
The alien motioned to her and uttered some notes.
"I-I don’t…" She said, shaking her head, "I can’t understand you Mr. Alien!"
At once she recognized her mistake and slapped both hands on her face. Her tears started to well up as the thoughts of Hibiki Tokai filtered through her head. She collapsed on her knees in sobs, and forced the alien on the outside to react with curiosity.
It uttered some notes of concern, even said, "Hi?" Once or twice with the wave gesture to try to appease the creature, but it wasn’t working. Dita was in the throes of tears.
The Aggressive alien was so moved it activated something on the container and the glass cup lifted. The alien leaned on the table and reached a hand out to the smaller Dita.
Dita became aware that a gigantic finger nudged her gently in the side and she stood up sharply and backed away with a look of terror on her face.
The alien retreated and hastily closed the glass again, but it’s eyes remained fixed on her with curiosity.
"Y-You…" She said sadly, "Wanted to…help me?"
"…Help?" Replied the alien.
"Yeah…help…" She said, her hands clasping one another before her breast, "Yes…help…make me feel better."
"…Better?" Repeated the alien.
Dita shook her head sadly and sat on the ground again, "What’s the use…you’d
never understand me…"
"Understand…." Repeated the alien and thought over this. He pressed his hands
against the glass and uttered some tones to Dita before turning and leaving the
room.
Dita watched him go with some confusion and then turned away, sighing before putting her head in between her arms, "Mr. Alien…." And sobbed.
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The aggressive alien on the other hand was busy going somewhere.
Even though he just left the lab, it was one of several aboard the craft. His destination was another form of laboratory.
The doorway opened and the armored alien entered the passageway and toned out some notes to another occupant in the room.
The unarmored alien looked up from his station and warbled back some notes in confusion.
A conversation soon struck up between the aliens, the aggressive one motioning with his hands the gestures repeated to him from the alien and even said some of the words he had heard, "Hi….Better…..Understand…"
"understand…" Replied the unarmored alien and asked a word.
The aggressive alien asked for details but the unarmored one simply dismissed it and uttered some more tones- to which the armored alien nodded in agreement.
The unarmored alien repeated one tone over and over to himself as it turned and consulted a computer chart.
Rows of the alien language filtered past the screen and the aliens studied the characters, until the unarmored alien found an item of his search and accessed the details. He warbled some tones of logic to the unarmored alien, who nodded with some eagerness and listened to what the alien was saying.
After holding up another lengthy conversation the armored alien nodded in agreement and said some things before leaving the chamber and headed for the hanger. When he arrived he strode across the bay to where the blue Dread Dita was parked and stared long and hard at the unusual craft.
He exchanged words with one of the others in the bay before turning and heading back into the ship again.
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Dita was quite bored until she saw the alien come in again.
"Oh…you’re back?" She asked and stood up.
"Understand." Muttered the alien to Dita.
"What?"
The glass opened and Dita was plucked from the glass canister and carried by the
alien back to the hanger.
Dita’s excitement grew when she saw that they were coming into a hanger and her dread was present. But the feeling left her when she saw that they were headed for another mecha instead.
The empty power armor stood only steps away from the parked Dread. Dita blinked and identified the shape as the same one that had captured her…
The alien indicated his armor and said a word Dita could make out, "Nousjadeul-Ger."
"What?" Dita asked.
The alien warbled a response.
"I don’t understand…" She replied.
"Understand…" Repeated the alien.
But then an alarm shrilled in the bay.
"What does that mean?" Demanded Dita in the alien’s fist.
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The sleek vessel was back and shooting off more rounds as it powered at full speed for the alien armada.
This time they were ready- mostly.
The cruisers had turned and were returning with volley fire and missiles, while some of the ships were just getting back into gear.
The sleek vessel either deflected or dodged the blasts and launched it’s own mecha to begin another melee round.
One of the lagging destroyers at last turned and fired it’s volleys at the approaching attacking unit.
But the sleek enemy ship was drawing a bead on the cruiser and firing.
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Dita felt the deck give out from underneath the alien, and also being sheltered as the alien fell to the ground.
But Dita found herself free and tumbling across the bay.
She recovered and looked over at the alien, groaning as it lay on the floor.
"Mr. Alien!" She called out, hesitating as she realized her mistake. She looked around for something but instead found her Dread.
Hibiki’s memories returned.
She summed up her mind and ran full speed for her dread.
The aggressive alien shouted to her and started to come up to a stand.
But Dita had already reached the Dread and found the canopy to be open instead of off. The canopy closed and shut the alien outside.
Dita made a face and then smiled with glee as she realized the Pexis elements must have self-repaired the engine.
When the screen came up she saw the alien responsible for all this climbing into the humanoid power armor.
She hesitated as she stared at the alien closing itself in the armor. Didn’t she have it to thank for surviving this long?
But Hibiki’s brave words filled her head, "Whatever!"
"Right!" She puffed and powered the dread.
The Dread’s engines flared and the guns fired for the hanger door.
The alien power armor started to move just as the door blasted outward and the vacuum carried parts, equipment, and other aliens out into deep space.
The Dread and armor went with it, and before long Dita found herself in space again.
"Ahh!!!" She cheered and added power to the engines.
The blue Dread accelerated with speed and headed for the sleek alien vessel, now shooting on the far side of the fleet.
She glanced over her shoulder at a mysterious red dot.
The armor was following her.
She made a face of sadness and anger and shouted, "Leave me alone!!"
Power added to the repaired engines and the dread accelerated. But then it rocked under an impact blast, and sure enough the alien armor behind her was shooting for her engine again.
"Leave me alone….huh!?" She gasped.
"Leave me alone-!" "Cut it out!!!"
"….Mr. Alien!! I’m sorry!!!" She Sobbed in her cockpit and pressed her hands to her face.
But the sleek ship and it’s defending mecha had spotted her, and new traffic was heard over the radio. Three of the strange colored machines dove in and fired upon the advancing alien mecha that were chasing the dread.
The blue Dread came under control again and turned, banking for one of the opening hanger doors as the surrounding mecha opened fire.
But one determined alien was not going to let her go so easily.
Dodging and riding the full wake of a burning engine was the armor pilot, who roared forward at incredible speed and determination.
One of the sleek mecha came in his way and fired, but the alien was not affected by it and simply shoved aside the smaller mecha and blasted for the hanger-
-Making it inside just as the doors closed.
Dita’s dread set down at the far end of the hanger just barely able to fit, while the alien mecha landed and ran across the floor with heavy footfalls.
Smaller people emerged with weapons and fired repeatedly at the mecha in question in defiance of it’s presence.
The heavy armor ignored all this and headed for the downed Dread, it’s claws open in determination.
Dita remained in the cockpit in fear and sadness as she passively defied the alien’s attempts to contact her again.
But some of the defending mecha had appeared back in the hanger and were firing at the heavy armor.
The alien humanoid power armor turned and fired it’s chest gun to blow a hole in the side of the hanger and cause fire and mischief.
But the occupant of the armor, seeing that the situation was hopeless, backed his power armor for the doorway it came and the ship’s occupants were more than happy to close the door behind him and launch him out into space.
When the armor was clear it blasted away from the sleek alien ship at full speed- dodging the blasts to get some distance before turning around and looking at the sleek vessel.
It traveled into the distance before winking away by it’s advanced drive.
The alien breathed in his helmet, looking at the space where the sleek ship had vanished.
"Speak?…" He muttered in confusion and then lowered his eyes, "Understand…."
But these words didn’t have any effect- the ship was still gone.
"Understand…" He finished and turned to see the fleet of ships advancing. He ignited his engines and headed back to the home fleet, but not without a new objective in his mind.
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