Drifting in space in orbit around one of Mid-Childa’s moons was the peculiar object astronomers down on the planet had discovered a few days ago. It had not diverged from its orbit during that time and allowed the scouting ship
Velanis to inch closer for a better look.
The Airhawk, as they had been notified it was named, was still as dead as when it had first been detected. However, it became apparent when
Velanis moved in closer that there was signs of life on-board, being picked up by the ship’s sensitive sensors. It was quite weak however, and there was only one.
Two small drones appeared from the
Velanis’ hangar and sped towards the drifting ship. Their brief mission was to attach themselves to the Airhawk, against the side pointing away from the
Velanis’. They would then navigate it with the help of their thrusters towards the
Velanis so it could be brought into the hangar.
The two helmsmen controlling them aboard the scouting ship had had enough training to easily coordinate their movements and bring the ship in with short notice.
“The drones are working just as expected, Captain. Opening the hangar doors now,” one of them said and adjusted the controls.
“Take your time, no need to rush,” the Captain said who surveyed them. He had done a few similar missions before, but he had never salvaged a foreign spacecraft.
“We’re close to breaking our record. No way back now.”
The Captain chuckled at the young man’s competitiveness and thought no more about it. He looked at the surveillance camera feeds that were surveying the hangar and that showed the small ship being towed into it. It went fast, but it was still under control. Levers came down from ceiling and attached grapple arms onto the hull to keep it in place.
“Closing hangar doors now. Drones have been parked and the salvage fastened,” one of the helmsmen said.
When the hangar doors had closed, air escaped into the hangar and the Captain watched the Airhawk dangle slightly as gravity took it under control. It was fastened properly however, and didn’t loosen.
“Get the maintenance crew down there. We have orders to open it up and check inside before going back,” he said. “I’m going down there too.”
He left the bridge and made his way to the hangar. It wasn’t far away, as the
Velanis itself was rather small, but still capable of mission requiring large cargo. It was of a newer model, only a few years old, and was a fast and nimble ship. The Captain had been the first and only one to command her ever since the first flight.
When he arrived at the hangar there was a large group of people in front of the Airhawk. He recognized the chief engineer and saluted him.
“Captain, glad you decided to join us on this strange occasion,” the chief engineer said.
“Well, you know, orders. Not that I’m not happy like to be here anyway, Jaol,” the Captain said.
Jaol laughed. “Always the curious, eh? One of these days you’re going to take a nosedive into something you will regret later, Frank.”
“Maybe so, maybe so. But still, lets open her up and see what we have,” Frank said and looked at the Airhawk. In the light of the hangar’s spotlights, it showed the ship had been through rough times. Its hull was damaged and dented all over and the paint job scratched away in several places.
The engineers began their work to cut her up. Blowtorches sparkled and whined in the process as they chewed through something akin to large bay doors. They were large, much larger than when they had viewed it in space.
Frank wondered why a mere scouting ship would have such large bay doors, but then again so did the
Velanis.
The engineers finished their handwork and silenced their tools. They then began to attach metal poles and other things inside the cuts to pull the doors off.
They heaved back and forth, each move loosening the doors until they fell off with a loud clanking noise. Jaol handed a flashlight to one of his subordinates and went inside with him, the rest of them waiting outside.
A few seconds later Jaol shouted at the Captain.
“Frank, I could tell you what I see, but I think you’ll be more satisfied to see it with your own eyes.”
“Found something interesting?” he asked as he made his way into the wreck. He fetched a flashlight for himself as he did so.
Jaol and his subordinate were standing a few meters inside the dark ship. They were looking at something with a glassy surface.
“What do we have here then?” Frank said when he reached them. He was looking at something resembling a casket with a window. There was frost on the hull of it, obstructing his view.
“I managed to scrape the surface higher up and peer inside. Take a look,” Jaol said.
Frank changed his position so he found himself beside the horizontal casket and could look inside.
“What the hell? A little girl?”
“A rough guess, but I’d say she is fourteen or fifteen years old. Note the armor.”
Frank looked closer and noticed the strange armor the girl was wearing. It resembled a barrier jacket that he himself had, but more technological. It had wires in many places and was more of a mechanical construction than clothing.
He noticed the girl was still breathing, judging from the movement of her chest. It was very slow however, which he found odd.
“Any idea what this thing is?” he asked Jaol and nudged the casket.
“Never seen anything like it in my life, but my guess would be some kind of life support.”
“Tell your men to keep their hands of it then. I don’t want an accident to happen due to someone tripping a few wires until we get the higher-ups to get a look at it.”
“Sure, I’ll tell them,” Jaol said and shifted his light in another direction. “But I think there is something more you want to see.”
Frank moved past the casket and stood beside Jaol. He followed the light with his eyes until he came upon something akin to bone. He turned his own light on to illuminate it more. He didn’t believe what he saw. It was too surreal.
A few meters in front of them lay a huge mass of bone. It reached all the way up to the roof and stretched further back into the ship. Pointing in their direction was probably a huge jaw, as teeth still bulged out of the bones surrounding it and holes where the eyes would have been glared at them. It was clean of meat and muscle tissue, but it didn’t give off any smell. Frank found it extremely unnerving.
“The skeleton of a dragon? How the fuck does it fit in here?” Jaol said, astounded.
“Beats me,” Frank said, as astounded as his chief engineer. He looked at the skeleton more intently and suddenly grew white in his face.
“Jaol, get everyone out of here, close the door best you can and put the hangar in full lockdown,” he said in a low voice.
“What? Why, it’s just a skeleton,” Jaol said, surprised at his captain’s strange reaction.
“No it isn’t. I sensed something strange when I entered the ship but didn’t think more of it. Now however, I recognize it. Magic is in the air, Jaol, and I just saw that skeleton move.”
“What? Are you insane-“ Jaol said but stopped himself. The bony jaw in front of him opened and closed slowly, as if it was trying to sense them. The whole skeleton made small movements and became more awake.
“Get out of here now,” Frank said and backed away. The other two did the same while keeping their eyes on the skeleton. It didn’t increase its movements, but still kept them under its gaze.
They finally got outside and told the others of the situation. They went to work quickly once they understood what was going on and did their best to lock the bay doors with what they could find.
On the Captain’s command they then left the hangar and put it in full lockdown mode, locking any entry way into it.
Frank summoned a window in front of him and called an operator.
“Top priority message from the
Velanis. Get me in contact with Lieutenant Colonel Yagami, fast.”
~~******~~
The phone rang in the living room. Sigrid was sitting right next to it, reading a few books she had gotten from the library. She picked it up before the second tone had passed.
“Sigrid speaking.”
“I’m glad you’re home,” Hayate said. Stress and nervousness strained her voice.
“Is something wrong? Did something happen with the ship?”
“You could say that. They found something on-board, a girl and a skeleton. The skeleton of a dragon.”
“A skeleton?” Sigrid said, surprised.
“It was alive to boot. Don’t ask why, I have no idea either how a skeleton can be alive, but that’s what I was told. I don’t know if I should believe it or not. The
Velanis is on its way to the spaceport and a car is on its way to pick you up. I’ll talk to you when you get there,” Hayate said and hung up.
Sigrid put the phone back and got up from the couch. She headed to the closet in the bedroom.
[Is something wrong, my Lady?] Forseti asked.
“A lot is wrong. They found a girl and a living skeleton on the ship. Any ideas?
[My databanks do not have any information about ‘living skeletons’. Any other information I can analyze?]
“Nope, not yet,” Sigrid said and closed the wardrobe. She had her barrier jacket on now with all of its accessories. It had gotten a few upgrades by Shari, but Sigrid had not tried them out fully yet.
She picked up Forseti on her way out and headed for the car waiting downstairs.
~~******~~
She arrived at the spaceport twenty minutes later. Their car had gotten permission to enter the property and they swerved around numerous hangars until they came upon the right one. The whole spaceport was brimming with activity, but there was one runway cut off from the others. Sigrid guessed it was reserved for the
Velanis.
From a distance she saw Hayate talking to a few other officers standing on guard. It looked like she was telling them orders. Sigrid’s car pulled up next to them and she got out.
“Sigrid, I’m glad you made it on time,” Hayate said when she noticed her.
“Anything new?” Sigrid asked. Her tone had changed slightly from her normal self. Her professional side she had not shown to anyone else so far shone through. Hayate got put off by the sudden change.
“Well, no. We haven’t gotten anything new as far as I know. It should be here any second now.”
Sigrid looked around to see if anyone else she recognized was there. As far as she could tell, only Hayate was there.
“I don’t see Miss Nanoha or Miss Fate around. I thought they were involved in this too?”
“Enforcer Harlaown and Captain Takamachi have other things to do. You might not see them for a good while,” Hayate said, slightly confused of the weird choice of words Sigrid used. “However, we have some additional reinforcement. I think you haven’t met before.”
She gestured at a childlike figure in a red dress and a blue wolf standing a distance away, discussing something.
“Second Lieutenant Vita and Guardian Beast Zafira are part of my personal squad and will help during the operation.”
She then pointed towards a tent. Medics were running around, preparing beds and bandages in case of the situation turned grim.
“The woman in the white coat, that’s Chief Medical Officer Shamal, another member of my squad. She’ll be in charge of our medical support. Lastly,” Hayate said and pointed at a pink-haired figure. She was observing the rush, standing in silence.
“First Lieutenant Signum. She’s the commanding officer of my squad, apart from myself.”
Sigrid stared at the woman. A feeling she had not felt many times before rose inside of her and she didn’t know how to react. There was something extremely familiar about this figure called Signum she felt.
Sigrid shook her head. No way. After all this time, it couldn’t be
her. It wasn’t possible.
“Sigrid? Hello?” Hayate was waving a hand in front of Sigrid’s eyes. She snapped out of it.
“Sorry, I-I drifted away there,” Sigrid said flustered.
Hayate made a reassuring little smile. “It’s OK, it’s your first operation together with these people after all.”
“It’s not that, it’s…” Sigrid said but didn’t continue. “Never mind. What’s my part in this?”
“You will be an observer, to start with. You stay here with me and depending on how things go, you might have to engage in combat. I assume you’re okay with this?”
“Yes, no problem. I didn’t expect to be involved at all.”
“Considering we’re dealing with something unknown and it’s from your homeplanet, I thought it would be good having someone near with first-hand experience,” Hayate said.
“I’ll do my best,” Sigrid said.
“Lieutenant Colonel!” someone shouted from the crowd. “The ship is coming!”
“Here we go,” Hayate said and mentioned to Sigrid to follow her. They walked up to a military truck standing nearby and climbed up onto it to have a better view. Hayate felt the sudden onset of déjà vu.
At that moment, the
Velanis broke through the clouds and headed for the spaceport. It aligned up smoothly as it should and touched the ground a few seconds later. It didn’t seem to have any problem flying or navigating, so they probably had managed to contain the creature within without suffering damage.
The engines reversed and it slowed down until it came to a complete stop. It then began to move slowly backwards towards the crowd consisting of mages, military personnel and equipment. They had prepared a drop-off zone nearby which the
Velanis moved towards with her aft.
When it reached it, the
Velanis stopped completely and shut down its engines. The area became quieter, void of the engine’s noise, and a speaker was turned on.
“This is Captain Frank Edeilstein of the
Velanis. When command is given we will open our aft hangar doors and drop the Airhawk outside. We will then move away and leave you to it,” it sent out.
“Give them the command, we’re ready,” Hayate told an operator who relayed the message. Sweat formed on her forehead and she wiped it away. The tension was high for everyone.
With a metallic clunk, the hangar doors began to open and the Airhawk became visible. Slowly but steadily it began to be pushed out by mechanical arms until it set down inside the zone. The
Velanis then moved away as they had been told to do and cleared the drop-off zone.
Small groups of people rushed towards the Airhawk and took positions around it, covering every angle. Vita and Signum had been assigned to open it with Zafira on stand-by right behind them. They stood in the middle of the crowd, right before the bay doors.
“Loosen the doors,” Hayate said again and relayed the message. Two engineers began to cut the doors open and while the sparks were flying, Sigrid became more anxious of what would happen.
The engineers completed their work after a few minutes and moved away from the vessel. Signum stepped forward and made a slash across the bay doors with Laevatein, making them lose their final hinges. The doors fell down and exposed its content.
“
Do you see anything?” Hayate asked Signum through telepathy.
“
No, it’s too dark,” Signum replied and Hayate watched her as she moved closer with Vita close in tow. “
Wait, I think I see something now.”
“
Talk to me, give me more info.”
“
It’s a skeleton alright, and it’s alive. It seems to be sleeping or something.”
Hayate sighed. It wasn’t what she had been hoping for.
“Ever heard of a living skeleton dragon before Sigrid?” she asked.
Sigrid shook her head. “No, never. I’m not familiar with many creatures on my planet, but I do know we don’t have skeleton dragons. Normal dragons are pretty normal, but not this,” she said and looked as confused as everyone else. Forseti kept quiet and didn’t object.
“Well then,” Hayate mumbled to herself. “
Signum, does it notice you’re there?”
“
I think so. It has showed an increased activity ever since we entered. It’s looking at me right now,” Signum said with barely noticeable change in her voice. The situation didn’t seem to affect her as much as the rest.
“
Do you see a casket of some sorts? They said there would be one there.”
“
Confirmed, I see it. It’s right next to the dragon. I’m going to see if I can get close to it.”
The link fell silent for a few seconds. Then the Airhawk vibrated slightly and a roar erupted from it. It was an angered roar, as if the dragon did not want them in there at all. Hayate saw Signum and Vita flying out as fast as they could.
“
What happened?!” Hayate relayed.
“
We were close to the casket when the skeleton suddenly got active. It tried to take a hold of us in the narrow quarter so we had to get out. Warn the others, this is going to get nasty.”
Signum broke the link again as a sudden spray of some kind of substance suddenly flew out of the ships belly. Signum and Vita reacted fast enough to raise personal shields against it, but some of it still made it through and landed on a couple of soldiers nearby. Screams were heard over the crowd and the soldiers tried to remove their armor. The substance had begun to eat its way through it and for the unlucky ones, begun to dissolve flesh. Medical teams rushed towards them with backup from everyone else.
“What the hell was that?” Sigrid uttered, staring at the scene.
“I have no idea, but this is getting out of hand fast,” Hayate said and brought up another window for additional information coming in to her.
[My Lady]
Sigrid looked at her suddenly speaking device. “What is it? You figured something out?”
[I have something in my databanks…I don’t know if it’s of any use to you however] he said hesitantly.
“Tell me what you found.”
[That substance being sprayed, I have a slight notion what it is. Something akin to acid…I have only a few recorded incidents of it]
“Will it help us any right now?”
[No, my Lady. My only advice would be to avoid the acid at all costs]
Sigrid brought her attention back to the scene. The skeleton had now moved outside the ship, but stopped not a long distance from it. It didn’t do anything else as personnel began to surround it.
“Tell them to hold fire until I say so,” Hayate said to someone. “Something more is happening.”
A small figure had appeared next to the dragon. It stumbled against the metal walls and took support against them. It looked tired and disoriented.
“It’s a little girl,” Signum said in a window next to Hayate. They refrained from using telepathy for now, as other listened in. “She seems to be in good shape, but mightily confused.”
“Give me a better visual if you can,” Hayate said. The image changed almost immediately and an improved image appeared. Sigrid widened her eyes and faltered on her words.
“I know who she is. She belongs to the Southern Beskanti army, in a special operations group. I’ve had to deal with them before.”
“’Deal with them’?” Hayate repeated.
Sigrid hesitated and wondered if she should tell Hayate about it. She decided she had nothing to lose after all.
“Some time ago, I was stationed at a base with an important installation to protect. This girl was the leader of a small group infiltrating it. We knew they were coming so we took care of her squad and captured her. I recognize her from the security feeds. However I received other orders and had to leave.”
“And what happened to her?”
“Interrogated I think. I don’t know exactly, because the base was reported as annihilated the next day. I have no idea what happened, but it seems this girl survived. I bet she had something to do with it.”
“I think you have to fill me in more on that matter later,” Hayate said and watched the situation unfold. The girl had begun to regain her senses and became more aware of what was happening.
“Yes, I know. Now is hardly the time for it,” Sigrid said.
The dragon roared again and changed its position so it encircled its master. Hayate assumed so anyway, as the creature seemed much attached to the girl.
Just as she was thinking that, the girl retrieved a big lance behind the dragon. Hayate noticed Signum and Vita prepared themselves for an attack, but she told them to stand down.
Vita tried to argue.
“Let’s take her down now before she does anything,” she said, irritated.
“I don’t want any unnecessary fighting if we can avoid it. Just be prepared but try not to show ill intentions.”
“I think we already done that, but I see your point.”
Vita and Signum backed away a few feet and stopped. The dragon had not moved and the girl was now out of sight due to the huge body. Suddenly small magic circles appeared in the sky.
“Incoming!”
Shields were raised against the rain of lances that had appeared. They glanced off or missed their targets, but allowed the girl the opportunity she had been seeking. The dragon suddenly uncurled itself and took a few beats with its wings. The girl was now on the back of the creature with her lance held high, as if she was controlling the attack.
“I heard something right before the attack!” Sigrid yelled to Hayate as they defended against more incoming lances. “It was in their dialect and my native language so I don’t think you reacted to it. There is no doubt; she is responsible for this attack.”
“Damnit. Signum, Vita, intercept her and stop her. Don’t let her get away,” Hayate told her two knights. They didn’t respond but she saw them making their way towards the creature just as it took off into the sky. They followed suit.
“You think they are going to catch her?” Sigrid asked as she brushed off the few lances still raining down on them. The attack had worn off more when the creature had taken flight.
“I don’t know. She might have more tricks up her sleeve.”
Just as she said that another message broke through to Hayate.
“We can’t get close to the girl and any normal attacks we do don’t have any effect on the skeleton, Signum said. “There is some kind of shield surrounding her and the creature, and we can’t break through it. I think some spells will work.”
“Do it. Do everything you can to stop her,” Hayate told her.
~~******~~
Up in the air, Vita threw another hit with Graf Eisen, but to no avail. The skeleton dragon had stopped and remained stationery, but its shield was too powerful even for her. She had never seen such an immense defense before.
[Swallow Flier!]
Orbs appeared and were hit with Graf Eisen. They impacted on the shield but again did no damage. Vita grew angrier by the second.
“Do something about this Signum!” she yelled to her companion, as if that would somehow help.
“I can’t do much more than you,” Signum retorted while performing another spell with Laevatein. Her sword ricocheted off the shield and only bruised it. That was when she noticed something happen inside.
“Hayate, something is happening up here.”
“Any progress?” she asked hopefully.
“We can’t even get through the shield, but never mind that. Something is happening with the dragon,” Signum said and let some uncertainty show through. “I think some kind of orb is forming in the skeleton’s jaw and the girl has her lance in its ribcage. It’s getting brighter by the second. I think a more powerful spell is on its way.”
“Pull back, I’m clearing the area, pull back,” Hayate replied.
“But we’re close to-“ Vita began to say, but Signum interrupted her.
“You heard Hayate, pull back.”
“Yea, yea.”
The two made their way downwards and spread out, leaving the girl and her minion up in the sky. She was still ignoring them, as if their attacks had not disturbed her at all.
Suddenly she revolted and coughed violently. Signum caught it and slowed down to observe. The orb wavered in brightness for s short moment, before the girl seemed to recover suddenly and retrieved her lance from the ribcage. She shouted something that Signum heard but didn’t understand. Then, the orb was unleashed.
Signum and everyone else didn’t know what to expect, but they had already spread out over a wide area just in case. They were lucky they had done so.
A huge and extremely bright energy beam roared past her and down onto the ground. It scorched the ground black and destroyed anything in its path. Tents and machinery that had gotten left behind disappeared in flames or exploded when the beam came into contact with them. It moved around slowly when the skeletal dragon moved its jaw back and forth for a few seconds, before the beam finally began to dissipate. The dragon and the girl then turned around and flew into the dark night.
Signum and Vita refrained from chasing them and flew down to help the rest.
They could overhear screams and orders being shouted from the window link with Hayate.
2009-05-01, 20:36
Author
(heh, good one, Itanshi!)
For those that belittle their favorite characters, complain about pairings, complain about oversexed images. Stop, thank you.
