DISCLAIMER: I don't own Vandread or any of its characters. Gonzo does.
Epilogue
(Three weeks after the battle at Caliban)
"Come on! Stop fidgeting!" Misty tried to push aside Meia's hands, but the stubborn woman refused to move them a single inch more to the side.
"That's enough already. It's too tight as it is, do you want to immobilize me?" Meia disengaged herself from Misty and moved to the side, tugging vainly at the skirt she had been forced to wear for the day, trying to loosen it. She finally gave up and scowled at Jura, who was standing at the other side of the room, examining her manicure while Barnette, who was standing behind her, slaved at adjusting her fancy (but still revealing) dress 'just right'.
"This is the last time I'm ever going to allow you to choose what I wear. I knew I should have done it myself."
Jura raised an eyebrow at her. "No one would let you dress the way you wanted at such an important event. You have less fashion sense than one of those Tarak barbarians. You're supposed to receive a whole lot of medals for your 'great accomplishments' during the war, and on TV, too. Do you want to show up looking like you fought the war just yesterday? You should be thankful that someone like me actually took the time to choose your outfit for you."
She turned to frown at Barnette. "Barnette, I told you that the right side was tilted too much, but you're adjusting the left. Please pay more attention."
Barnette growled something under her breath. "Adjust it yourself, then! It's always the right side tilted, or the left side uneven, or it's drawn too tight, or something else. I'm getting tired of doing this!"
"Now, now.... no need to get angry. Come on, it's just a little favor..." Jura used her most soothing tone of voice to try and calm her friend down.
Meia turned away from the scene, walking (with a bit of difficulty) towards a window, where she stared down at Mejele. It seemed like such a long time since she'd last been here... she pushed the memories aside. There were very few good things she could remember about the planet aside from her early childhood. Briefly, she remembered the panic when she had been forced to leave her mother behind in the abandoned unit. The selfishness and arrogance of the women who lived there had left her without a family, and now they were going to give her a medal for saving their lives.
She felt a pang of shame and she banished the thought. Many of those women had also given their lives in an attempt to defend Meranos, and even more had died due to her own commands during the battle of Caliban. The thought depressed her even more. She'd seen the casualty reports, and well over a million soldiers of Mejele alone had been killed in the fighting, and even more from Tarak and Meranos. The armed forces of Mejele and Tarak had been severely depleted in the war against the Legion and the clean-up operations of remaining Legion bases and surviving units. The entirety of the Meranos defense force had been completely wiped out. Now that so many had died, they were going to give her a medal for it. The 'achievement' was even emptier since she knew that it was her own tactics that had caused the deaths of many of those soldiers. She was only able to repress her guilt because she knew that if she had not done what she did, the Legion would have won and their planets would have been doomed.
"Leader! Hurry up! We're going to be late!" She turned to see Dita waving at her from the door.
"All right. I'll follow you in a while."
Dita nodded and disappeared, calling for Hibiki to follow her. Meia turned back to the window.
The mythical 'glory' of war is nothing but a lie created by those who enjoy waging it. There is no honor in this. This is pure, simple survival. His words rang in her head, and in that moment, she couldn't agree more. Averius... She had ordered the shuttle to circle the ruins of the Hellgate several times, trying to see if he had survived. No one had spotted any sign of a ship escaping, but she wouldn't be surprised if he was still out there somewhere. Up until now, she still wasn't sure why she'd tried to find him. Was it some need to see if he could still be redeemed? Or was it a desire for some sense of closure, to be sure that this last, and seemingly most dangerous piece of the Legion was gone?
She still had no idea, and she knew that most probably, that question, as well as many others she had about the enigmatic man would never be answered. She just wished she knew what he'd been doing during those final moments on the Hellgate. Most of the others seemed to consider him as nothing but a bad dream, trying not to think of the darkness under their feet, the darkness he and the rest of the Legion had emerged from. Meia understood the sentiment, especially since she had once, and only once, landed on the surface of Caliban, the homeworld of the Black Legion while a campaign was being undertaken against the Legion recruitment post there.
It was a brutalizing hell where humans were either ground up and then thrown away, or became the ones who did that to others, sacrificing them for their own survival. The end result was a vicious race of heartless killers, who respected only strength and cunning. Knowing that, she could not bring herself to hate Averius, or even the rest of the Legion for that matter. They were only doing what had been taught to them. Humans are the only pack that tolerates predators of the same species. Knowing where he had come from had led her to understand Averius better, and truly appreciate the fact that he'd still been human enough to give her one final gift in the end.
Slowly, she turned and began walking to the door, hoping they wouldn't expect her to give a speech when they gave her the damn medal. She paused suddenly, several ideas that had been floating at the back of her mind clicking together at once.
Several minutes later, Meia was sitting on her bed, carefully opening an envelope she'd found stuck to the underside of the same chair Averius had occupied when he'd come during his midnight visit. She pulled out the contents: a letter and a bulky set of data disks. She unfolded the letter and began to read.
If you've actually found this, you're as bright as I pegged you for. Yes, I never left your ship in the first place. I simply put the ship I'd come in on autopilot and sent it out. I told you what I did so that you would bring the fleet to the Hellgate, then I simply hid in an unused storeroom. You should change the security system on your computers. It was stupidly easy to get a map of the ship. I was able to get on the Hellgate, and back off it, by hitching a ride on your shuttle. I had to borrow one of your spacesuits for it; it's hidden down in the same storeroom I occupied during both parts of the trip.
I placed this message under the chair the night before I really left- don't bother looking for me, I'm long gone by now. The disks contain the data I uploaded while you were escaping from the Hellgate- all of the engineering advancements the Legion had made to that day, along with codes that will allow you to access the automated shipyards, which I know your alliance decided not to destroy. All that data seemed too important to just blow up, and I couldn't think of anything else to do with it. I trust you didn't think I was actually stupid enough to kill myself on the Hellgate. I got to the shuttle bay ahead of any of you by using a hidden tunnel that connected it to the bridge. I hear you've got a medal coming, 'heroine'. You deserve it, you know. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting you to do half as well as you did.
Meia slowly refolded the letter, putting it back in the envelope before picking up the disks. She shook her head. He'd outwitted everyone again... well, wherever he was, she wished him luck, and she sincerely hoped he continued on down the new path he appeared to have chosen. Feeling much better for some reason, she got up and headed off for her awarding.