The Eden Complex
Prologue: Dogfight
"Hyne-damned. It's never ending," Lieutenant Squall Leonhart said to himself in the cockpit of a one-seater sky Viper. He looked out from the glass canopy of his fighter to the endless ocean ahead. The Viper's hull was sharp as a blade, ripping through the sky and arching backward, encircling the carrier ship below cruising slowly through non-territorial ocean. The type C war-class ship, Odessa, wade ahead on high alert.
"We'll be hitting the Bikanel-Centra channel, soon," Squall heard over the communication link. The voice came from Quistis Trepe, Captain of the ship he now flew over. "Bring her down, Lieutenant. I don't expect there to be any surprises, not yet anyway." Squall nodded to himself, feeling uneasy about the whole thing.
"Copy that, Command. Heading back."
The Odessa and her crew were contracted and deployed as escort to a top-secret research facility, completely surrounded by ocean. It was nicknamed "The Deep Sea", as most of the research that went on there involved excavating deep under water and into the crust.
It was long wondered what items had been unearthed, or what ghastly weapon had been developed as a result of the radical, ofttimes illegal "discoveries" made by the researchers stationed there. Now, some of that mystery would be solved.
Aboard the Odessa was The Deep Sea's newest toy, mined deep from under the ocean. The Lieutenant hadn't laid eyes on it personally, but from the excited chatter of the crew, he could only assume it was some kind of a weapon. And that made the Odessa a target.
Leonhart's primary objective was to provide any combat support should there be any complications.
Their journey to and from The Deep Sea had taken two and half weeks by ocean, and there were four more days to go, before the journey would end at their base of operations in the Balambese-Besaid Island Federation.
Squall initiated landing procedures, easing in slowly onto the flight deck. His Viper purred until silent. Unfastening his helmet, he popped open the glass canopy of the cockpit, letting the fresh sea air fill his head and dry the sweat in his hair. He was greeted by crew members, who immediately began re-fueling the machine, while others performed maintenance checks and the like. Squall was helped from the Viper by a ladder positioned for him to descend from.
From the tarmac, he could see the silvery underbelly of his machine, its Estharan designed flight mechanisms that allowed it to cut weightlessly through the air, or fire high powered pulsar charges from turrets on each of the wings. This particular model was dubbed the Gunblade, named after a handheld weapon used by very few of the operatives on the ship, Squall being among them.
He crossed his arms, taking in the oceanic expanse. He was sure that if enemies were to appear they'd be able to react in time, but nonetheless, he felt helpless outside of the Viper. Though, he understood why Captain Trepe chose this route, instead of the shorter one, leading through the Gagazet mountain shield and into friendly Trabian territories. There were too many places for enemies to hide there. Regardless, they were sitting ducks on this outdated enourmous rig either way, Squall concluded.
"Good flying out there, Lieutenant," his came from Captain Trepe, strolling onto the tarmac from the command bridge. Her long, blonde hair blew in the wind, and her sharp, inquisitive eyes seemed to become even bluer amongst the sky and ocean. She was dressed in a regular Balamb Garden merc operative uniform, a dark blue jumpsuit. Her rank was signified by gold shoulder adornments. Quistis Trepe was flanked by another pilot, Warrant Officer Zell Dincht, and the head researcher from The Deep Sea. Squall remembered the man's name to be Ansem Somov.
"Sir." Squall replied. The Warrant Officer took this as his chance to jump in.
"Yeah, good flying. But it'll be nothing compared to what I'll be piloting once we get back to base." The Warrant Officer's chest swelled at something he was thinking about. The man before Squall was shorter, with cropped blonde hair that was spiked in the front. He naturally gifted and extremely skilled at hand to hand combat and proved to be more than an apt pilot, but his lack of regard for chain of command prevented him from climbing the ranks as quickly as others in his age group.
"You mean the weapon?" Squall asked.
"It's quite more than that, Lieutenant." This was from Ansem Somov. Ansem was a rather tall and dignified man. His last name implied that he was born in the Trabian region. It was the first Leonhart had seen the man until now. His mustached lips twitched into a smile, as he straightened his broad shoulders to further explain himself. "What I mean is, I think its implications range far beyond that of military interests."
"Be that as it may, Mr. Somov," Quistis said severely, "What concerns us is getting this back to Garden, right? So it doesn't matter what it is. As long as it gets there, untouched. That means no experiments, and one one getting into it. Am I understood?" Quistis was unrelenting in staring down the taller man, making sure he got the point.
"Oh course, Captain." Somov said innocently.
"Very good."
"You haven't seen it, have you?" Zell asked, getting closer. He threw his arms over Squall's shoulder. "Well, the Captain didn't say we couldn't look at it, right?" The Warrant Officer began to pull Squall into the direction of the hangar. "Come on, Lieutenant, this way, sir."
Squall was pulled from the deck until they reached stairs leading to lower levels of the ship. Zell then let go and began to descend to the hangar. Squall straightened himself before following. Behind him, Ansem trotted along, his thick white hair hanging passed his shoulders.
The hangar was darkened until Zell had flipped a lever for the spotlights. As Squall's eyes adjusted from the sudden darkness to the gradual lighting, he saw a hulking figure obscured in a deep green tarp. Light began to expose parts of the weapon that went uncovered by the tarp. It was a machine. There was earth still on the gunmetal exterior. Its curves were were smooth, yet the design was angular and imposing. "Let's get a little closer. Haha! Would you look at this shit?! It's insane!" Zell whipped across the room, to get a look at the thing from underneath.
Squall took in it's sheer size, know knowing now why it was imperative they use a massive ship like the Odessa. No aircraft Balamb Garden possessed had the capacity to accommodate this - Squall couldn't think of it as a weapon anymore- It was a just a machine. It stood about five stories high, and what Squall mistook for metal was actually some kind of highly refined bio-material that seemed to shift through subtle shades of black to gray every second. He leaned in closer, wanting to touch it, but his fingers came into contact with a cool, transparent Kevlar thin film.
As for the design, it looked almost hume. What it stood on, looked like two anatomically accurate legs. The joints and musculature were inorganic and exaggerated, but the overall design looked highly evolved, mechanical, and slightly animalistic.
"Boys back home said I'd be the first to pilot this thing, once the nerds fine tune it." Zell breathed in deeply, letting his hands rest on his hips.
"Pilot? How?" Just as Squall's question left his mouth, he noticed Somov jerking the tarp off of the machine, unveiling the entire frame of the humanistic machine. He saw that back was misshapen, protruding outward. There was tinted glass that looked like a canopy that would enclose a cockpit. He stepped back to look at the face of the thing. It seemed that there was no face, the cockpit was ergodynamic and morphed into the body of the thing naturally, as if to reject the need for a head.
"That answer your question, Lieutenant? Have you ever seen anything like it?" Ansem stepped back as well, crossing his arms. "We mined it deep below the surface. It was being overtaken by a growing reef, and would have been completely covered up if we hadn't found it." He paused. "When we dug it out, the reef collapsed and killed some of my only friends."
"This mission only called for the safe transport of the machi- excuse me - weapon. I assumed you joining us was a last minute contract modification. So is that why you won't part ways with it, Sir? It cost too much to finally get ahold of?"
Somov didn't answer right away, just sighed. His eyes seemed to be looking at the metallic claws that resembled hands. Squall noted the inbuilt sheaths, and firing nodes running up the side of the frame. Perhaps it was a weapon. It didn't look like it had any flight capabilities, but there were thrusters below the cockpit and at the feet of the giant.
"How old are you, Lieutenant?"
" 24, sir." Somov paused seeming to be lost in thought for a moment.
"I thought you were quite young. I estimate this machine to be just around 2,400 years old. Old to us, young in the relative scheme of things, I suppose. You know, this thing is suspicious."
"Sir?"
"I mean, it looks like a weapon, but… somehow, I still don't think it is." Ansem chuckled to himself. "And you have you no interest in using it?"
Squall thought the question odd. What would he ever need this machine for? Zell seemed willing enough to use it as a stepping stone for rank, but this machine only represented a directive from his superiors at the Private Mercenary Contracting Base, Balamb Garden. "No sir. My duty is to ensure its safe delivery, that's all."
"Noble. But power begets power. I believe this thing might very well swallow up the world." Squall passed it off as an uncharacteristically superstitious comment for a scientist to make.
"It only could do that, if it were a weapon. You said it yourself, you think this machine has other uses. I have the same feeling." Ansem smiled at this, his aging eyes lighting up for a moment before returning to a warm, but stoic hazel.
"Well, it's out of my hands. Whatever it becomes, as Head of Research, I'll be responsible for it."
"If you're delivering it us, a PMC, it'll most likely become a weapon."
"I realize that. I'll consider it revenge for the scientists that died so that it could live."
"Hey, what are you guys yammering about?" Zell walked over to Squall and Ansem. "So, what do you think? Crazy, right?"
"Yeah. Let's hope the lid stays shut on this one." Squall said, realizing how much more of a target the Odessa became simply by having this thing on board. Pirates, governments, and even other PMCs might be after this same artifact if word ever got out.
"No problem," Zell said confidently. "If some fuckers wanna try taking this from me, I'll pilot this thing and show 'em a thing or two. Right, Squall?" Squall didn't agree or disagree, only looked on at the machine. Zell paused his laughing and noted Squall's face. "Pretty badass, huh?" Squall couldn't help but agree.
"What is this thing called?" Squall asked. At this, Somov pulled out a handheld device that served as a remote data terminal and pulled up a file photograph of what seemed to be a close up shot of the curvature of the cockpit on the weapon. Well formed letters hugged the curve in a deep red. "Griever."
"Correct. I have no idea what it means. But it's the only thing that stands out against the black shifty material that this thing seems to be made of. I do hope we hurry so I can begin to run tests." Somove quickly replaced the terminal in his thick long jacket.
"It'll be like piloting a bigger version of myself." Zell said in awe. Squall had never seen anyone excited over a simple weapons procurement mission. At least Quistis didn't seem overly excited about it. In fact, she seemed to be avoiding the thing.
Over the intercom, an urgent suddenly message repeated itself as red alert lights blinked on and off. "Level 1 Battle Posts. Level 1 Battle Posts. Prepare for anti-air, anti-ship combat."
"Shit! Is it the Galbadians?" Zell hollered, running at full pace toward his post on the deck, where his fighter, a Red Flag unit stood waiting.
The Odessa was suddenly rocked by an incoming bomb that exploded nearby. Over the intercom: "Prepare for evasive maneuvers."
"You'd better get a move on, Lieutenant." Somov patted Squall's shoulder. He didn't realize that he'd been immobilized by the machine.
"Get to a safe place, Sir!" Squall sprang into action, leaving the machine behind, and taking the same path Zell did to get to his Sky Viper.
"Hurry up!" Squall ignored Zell's impertinence as the adrenaline of the impending dogfight began to overtake him.
"This is Lieutenant Leonhart, ready for takeoff," he spoke into the communications system as he donned his helmet, strapped himself in, and prepared for takeoff.
"Copy that, Lieutenant," scratched back Command. Leonhart quickly flipped the necessary levers to give power to the thrusters.
"What are we up against?" The whir of the Gundblade coming to life, charged Squall's blood.
"Looks like one Al Bhed Carrier Pirate Ship and three Sky Vipers. Take them out, gain air superiority, and the battle is ours." The Lieutenant recognized the Captain's voice when he heard it. The Al Bhed had caught them by surprise somehow, but Squall was about to make them pay dearly.
"Gunblade, you are cleared for takeoff."
"Roger that, Command. Gunblade out." The fighter arched elegantly into flight, leaving a distinct white trail behind him.
In the air, Squall quickly located one of the enemy fighter units to the southwest, and closing in on him. He engaged his left wing break and banked right, while changing his course to meet the enemy head on. He charged a low hanging gun turret before releasing a barrage of bullets on the opposing fighter, who managed to slightly alter its course, avoiding the first stream. Leonhart expected that much from a pirate, and elevated as the other did, catching the Al Bhed sky viper in a spray of bullets. The Lieutenant's Gunblade zipped passed its defeated opponent. Squall barely noticed the craft exploding into fire and dust behind him after intercepting a missile headed for the Odessa.
"Yo, Leonhart! Watch your right flank. We got a wannabe badass. Took down two of ours. I'm gonna take out his partner and their ship. " Squall copied, and watched his GPS sensors locate an enemy unit heading his way. The ship's movements were fast and erratic. From the blips on his screen, he knew who it was.
The Hyperion was ghost grey and blended in with the clouds, smoke, and death it caused. It was well known in the merc underworld as 'shadow', and its pilot was just as notorious. "Gunblade, you still got that scar?!" This radio transmission came over an open channel, confirming Squall's suspicion that the Hyperion's pilot was none other than Seifer Almasy.
His blood boiled at the mention of the scar. His past with him was a complicated one as they'd had known each other as children and once fought as mercs on the same side. But Almasy went freelance, and now seemed to thwart him at every turn. "What are you doing with these Al Bhed pirates?" Squall asked cooly, as they exchanged fire gracefully in an aerial dogfight. They whirled about one another, performing barrel rolls and targeting with heated phaser ray shots.
"I don't know, maybe it has something to do with that little toy your boys at The Deep Sea dug up." Squall was surprised at just how forward Seifer had been. How did he know about the machine weapon? Seifer released an electrode bomb. It quickly darted and struck the Gundblade's right thruster. He began losing altitude. "What's the matter, Squall? Thought I was just going to lie?! Everything's different! I'm destroying that thing. Stay out of my way."
"Shit." Leonhart spat. What had gotten into Seifer? He had known him for a long time, and his attitude wasn't only frantic, but slightly crazed. Squall stabilized his fighter, circling back around to find that the enemy pilot Zell was against had fired a shot at the Odessa and hit it astern. From the fiery hole, he could see his comrades running for cover, and the Griever machine, still and unaffected.
At this rate, the Odessa would sink. He bypassed Seifer, using his only nitro boost to skirt ahead, despite the heavy damage his unit sustained. He quickly unleashed a hyper cannon shot, but not before the enemy shot down Zell's fighter. The Al Bhed ship exploded into nothingness.
"Damn, I'm going down, Squall. Get… Seifer." Zell's viper crashed landed into the ocean. It was on fire, but he could see the cockpit detach safely a hundred feet away, while the Odessa became increasingly engulfed in flames. Squall grit his teeth, and punched his accelerator as far as it would go, as Seifer pursued in Hyperion. He was hoping to lead Seifer away. The hope didn't last long as Seifer stopped his upward pursuit and took aim at the Odessa. Squall slammed on the brakes and made a sloppy bound around.
"Any last words, Scarboy?" Seifer had only aimed at the Odessa to get him to turn around before he was planning to, catching him off guard. "Still too soft, loser." He aimed and fired a vulcan laser at the Gundblade instead. It shot through the air, deathly blue and hot.
Squall managed to avoid a direct hit, but the laser skimmed the hull at the top, melting and exploding the metal and glass of the cockpit, causing all kinds of alerts to sound and blink on his dashboard. "Damn!" The shot ended up blasting his last thruster. He jutted forward as an explosion blew his left wing off.
Seifer had known exactly how Squall was going to react. After all of these years, he still couldn't beat him.
The Gunblade began to fall into a tailspin.
Was defeat the only path he could take besides death? The thought of losing would kill him more than dying in an exploding fighter.
Yet, he was mercenary. And he knew that the only ones that should kill, should be the ones ready to be killed.
And Seifer had sealed his dead-end fate as a no good merc.
The Gunblade flickered, reflecting the light of the sun from its broken glass and flying shrapnel before exploding in midair.
BAM! That was really fun to write. Mechs and military fighting are probably my most favorite things right now. Code Geass and Gundam definitely inspired this, but I don't know how I'll go about reinventing FF8 into a Mecha Military Supernatural Drama. But I hope it's good enough to continue.
Yes, if any characters and references seem out of place that's because they are! I like Mash-ups, so you'll be seeing the world of FF X and FF XII join with FF VIII's world in a cool and innovative way! The geopolitical scene will be messy! I hope you enjoy the drama of the ensuing character clash.
Next Chapter: The Griever Awakens
Facing death, what else can a mercenary do but choose to live to fight another day? What are the consequences of thwarting fate and what could possess the power to fight God's cruel design?
PREPARE TO FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO EXIST!
I do not own Final Fantasy VIII, or any of the other characters from the Square franchise. BLeh.