Chapter 10: Knocking on the front door.
Silence.
Then the wind caused the interior of the parachute to flap like madness until it was fully open, and Zell floated down to the ground. When his shoes hit the ground, Zell's instincts and the training took over. He detached from the chute pack, gathered up the chute, and hit it in some nearby bushes. The other five people in his squad did the same thing.
While Zell, Quistis, and the others from Garden kept the black suits on, the two Esthar soldiers tore them off, and put on masks that went with their opalescent combat armor. A touch of a button, and both men were little more than translucent shimmers in the night. They were to provide stealth support for the rest of the team. The camouflage disengaged, and they reappeared to give thumbs-up. From pouches, the two removed weapons that were sickle and part shotgun. Everyone else had been issued basic combat pistols to go along with their weapons of choice, or Zell's own choice to use nothing but his body.
The Esthar special troopers gave pre-arranged hand signals, which meant that they would scout ahead, and check the area around the fish cannery. After Zell nodded, they turned their camouflage back on, and vanished into the dark.
So much for us showing them, Zell thought. He gathered the rest of them: the actual SeeD members, and gave them the place order: himself in the front, then Xu, then Nida, and Quistis following in the rear. They nodded, and four SeeDs made their way to the cannery.
XXX
After their small meal, Selphie and Irvine caught a quick nap. They weren't supposed to, but Irvine said it would be easier if they had the extra rest. Once they "went in" it could be awhile before they slept again. While Irvine slept like a bear, Selphie was quite troubled. Fortunately for her, the dreams would not last that long, as another SeeD would be checking up on them soon. But, until that time, she dreamt of swirling black water: a torrential whirlpool that was sucking her down into it. And while she feared going down into that darkness, she knew that if she went down there, she wouldn't be alone. Never alone down there, she thought. He sleeps down there He's dead, but alive. He's dreaming. Always dreaming. And we are in his dream—his nightmares made flesh.
XXX
Squall had bummed a few stiff drinks from the captain of Garden's Dagger. He sat upon the deck waiting. The latest word was that Zell's team had been inserted. Now it was up to them to make it to the canning facility. He only hoped that there was no resistance. SeeDs were not supposed to kill innocent people who were just victims of money. Damn you, Cid, he thought. Does Edea know what you're doing with her "children?"
XXX
"No one, absolutely no one," Zell whispered to Quistis, "I've never seen a town so quiet."
"It's not unheard of. A place this small, and so isolated. They probably function like one big household, and go to bed and the same time."
Getting to the cannery had been easy. The building was constructed of sheet metal and wood—nothing too heavy or durable, but the resources of these people were limited, so it wasn't surprising. From their vantage point atop the roof, Zell and Quistis began examining the town's buildings with their binoculars. It was more of a village with several outbuildings used to store fishing equipment, boats, and various other wares that such a community would need. Most of the homes were small and made of wood. The bare grain or cheap paint had been bleached by the sun and salty air. Moonlight didn't reflect too well off of them, but enough for their equipment to see. The problem was that the moon kept being obscured by the dark clouds that seemed to be doing their best to work against Zell and the others.
Somewhere out there ahead of them, their friends from Esthar were prowling about. Use of radios was forbidden until they knew more. Xu had already turned on the silent indicator to let the stealth troops know they were in position, but they had not turned up.
A gun shot rang out in the night. All four of them turned towards the direction it came from. Each had their own look of horrified surprise. The mission was compromised.
XXX
"What happened?" Squall was breathing hard from having run down into the boat's control center.
"It's a message from Nida, sir," said the technician, "The insertion team's stealth has been compromised."
Squall punched the air, and cursed. "Send in the boats, but hit the beach with rockets and clear a path. I don't want anything stopping them."
It had begun.
XXX
"It's beginning to rain," she said, coming over to where Seifer was sitting, "Bad time to start an operation."
"But they are," he said, "It's hard to believe they would with 'the hero' in charge, but the radio chatter looks authentic."
"So we're supposed to wait?"
He leaned back in the recliner, his head resting on his joined hands. "Galbadia doesn't want to walk into a shooting gallery. Let SeeD shoot its wad. Then we show them that we know what they're doing."
Seifer and Fujin had been given quarters aboard a Galbadian aircraft carrier. It wasn't as big as the warships of old had been. For one, they had no manned aircraft. A collection of heavy unmanned war machines was onboard, but the hope was that they wouldn't be needed.
The vessel was one of a few secrets that Vinzer Deling had left behind after his death. Galbadia had every confidence in it, but they didn't want another war. Rather, they had News reporters tucked away onboard as their secret weapons. Naturally, they were not to know about Seifer's presence on the boat because of his notoriety. He and Fujin were there just in case Galbadia wanted to insert troops, which were in several troop carrier craft floating nearby. Seifer had to laugh though. Odds were they'd be staying on the boat living comfortably tonight. It wasn't really about having a "failsafe" as they called him. Raijin just wanted to show off.
This had been the result of the spy-network Raijin had created all over the world. With this, Raijin had been able to tell Martine where Seifer had been, and that Dollet wanted passion of an insignificant island in the north. The island was apparently worthless, besides the fish cannery, but the Galbadia Council of Generals saw a severe threat: from such a remote location, missiles, purchased from Esthar, could be fired by Dollet straight into Galbadian territory, before countermeasures could be mustered.
If this worked out, Raijin would be a hero. And he could do it call without a shot fired or a Galbadian soldier killed. With this, and his previous experience under his belt, Raijin would have to be elevated in the military. Just a little closer to where he would want to be in order for a future run for President.
"Raijin," Seifer said to himself, "Where did you get all of this ambition and craftiness? Were you inspired by me?" Fujin rubbed his shoulders, not saying a word. "And if that's so, did you bring me here to show me how much I have been surpassed?"
XXX
Nick had been in the "service" since he was sixteen. Now at twenty four, he had seen action all over their continent. While Esthar tried to maintain a strong central government, several separatist factions had sprung up after Adel had been overthrown. Officially, everyone knew that President Loire was completely unopposed, but secretly, they were in a constant civil cold war. All sides did agree that Galbadia was a greater enemy, but the "Galbadian problem" had quieted down. The good thing about their social uncertainty had been a strength of military that they believed was the greatest in the world. Once SeeD had gotten power, it was only a matter of time till they had to react. But, the president's choice had been assimilation of ideas rather than SeeD's destruction.
Nick's own father had served in the "old war" almost twenty years ago. Their family had a proud heritage of strength and courage, but Nick was running. Luke, the other Esthar soldier, and Nick's friend, had gone missing. They'd received the silent alert from Xu, but Luke had wanted to make another sweep of the outbuildings with a direct line of sight to the cannery. Snipers had been a real problem in their conflicts back home, and they didn't want the radio-party picked off by some lucky island redneck.
They agree to meet after five minutes of quick reconnoitering. The infrared scopes in their helmets made it easy, except that this place appeared to be completely asleep. The time came and went, and Luke didn't show, so Nick had gone looking. Then he heard the shot.
A sprint, and a few flips off of low buildings brought Nick to the building where it happened. No one was visible, but he heard commotion inside. Using his CG-blade, he smashed through the cheap wooden door, and entered. No one was on the first floor, so he headed into the basement, Downstairs, the basement was flooded waist-deep with water. That was where he saw it.
Luke was struggling with several people. "People" was a loose term because there was something very wrong with the, in Nick's eyes. Some of their features were a little too soft. Their eyes bulging like dead fish.
Dirty brown water began to turn red. Even though they outnumbered him six to one, Luke had cut several of them up something horrible. Their flimsy disgusting limbs were covered in deep slashes and there were a few bloody stumps left probably from a pointblank shotgun blast. Another looked to have taken part of the shot to the chest, but they were not stopping. When Luke kicked one away, Nick blew its face off with a blast from his own CG-blade, and then joined the fracas to fight alongside his friend.