AS 25
Quistis sipped a glass of wine and stared evenly through the lenses of her glasses at the man in front of her. Beside her, Selphie scribbled notes, trying to keep up with the litany of events they were hearing from their gracious host: Professor Baxter. They didn't have much time with the man, which was too bad, Quistis reflected. She found his company to be rather lovely. He had a cloud of white hair groomed into waves that curled around his ears, faded blue eyes that sparkled genially behind tiny rectangle-frame glasses and a figure that spoke of living well. He laughed often and openly with no hint of malice.
At the moment he was discussing his last class at Trabia. A class album was propped on one knee, spread open as he traced over the old faces with his finger. The pages were slightly worn, as if he had opened them many times before, and between each page extra photographs and newspaper articles had been stuffed. As he flipped the page one of those articles slid on to the coffee table and Baxter picked it up with a tender smile.
"Ahh, now, these two were my prodigy students!" Baxter announced, "Every professor hopes he will have a pair of students like this at least once in his lifetime."
Quistis and Selphie both leaned forward and Selphie gasped, "Malach!"
The professor looked up at her in surprise, "Oh? You know this young man too?"
Quistis bit back a squeak of alarm but luckily Selphie was on the ball. The brunette leaned forward eagerly and tapped the photo, "I remember seeing him around Trabia all the time!"
Baxter smiled kindly, "Yes, Malach and Tom were my brightest students you know. They helped me with my research in their senior years but were endlessly getting into mischief," he chortled.
Both SeeDs pasted on what they hoped were believable smiles. Baxter leaned back and began to recollect some of the projects the three had worked on. Many of them went straight over Quistis' head and she hoped she didn't look as lost as she felt. Baxter was undeniably a genius in his field and he spoke with passion about the creations that were concocted in his labs. It made Quistis sad to think that such a wonderful man had helped foster ideas in Malach's mind that would eventually lead to the unethical creations of the Biomechanics lab.
The rest of the interview passed soundly and as the minutes ticked by Quistis was able to relax and even enjoy talking to the kindly professor. They bid him a fond farewell and collected their notes, both lost in thought as they travelled back to the Presidential Palace. They found Squall and Laguna having lunch together and joined them, sharing the information found. Laguna sighed and rested his chin in his hand, looking pensive at their news.
"I'm glad to hear that the Professor doesn't have anything to do with it," He mused after a moment, "You'll want to track down that other student though."
Quistis nodded vigorously and wrote down what Laguna said. Squall however, disagreed, "We don't know if Baxter is clean, not really,"
"Squall!" Selphie protested, "You didn't meet him, he was really, super nice!"
Squall shared a long look at her. Was Selphie being too trusting? Was he not being trusting enough? They knew everything about Professor Baxter's day job but he could still be developing materials outside of the labs, or giving guidance to the two students. Squall ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He realized everyone was watching him and waiting for his decision.
"...We'll leave him be for now. If we're given any indication that he might still be in contact with either of the two students, we have to act, I'm sorry, Selphie," he finished.
Selphie swallowed but after a moment nodded, "Yeah. You're probably right."
Squall squeezed her hand and hoped she understood that it was his job to make sure they had all their bases covered. Instantly he berated himself—of course she knew: Selphie was a very competent member of SeeD and even if he didn't trust Baxter he should trust Selphie. The sudden tapping of computer keys snapped Squall from his brooding. Selphie and Quistis were now staring into the screen of Quistis' techtop. Both of them wore frowns of concentration and then looks of identical shock.
"What is it?" Laguna asked, peering over their shoulders,
"Tom Bril, Malach's partner... he's in Dollet!"
"Irvine and Michelle are there!" Squall almost yelled, "Quistis! Contact Irvine immediately. He needs to find everything he can about that man!"
OoO
"COMPANY!" Zell roared as he scrambled for purchase and earth erupted in front of him from another missile.
They had been enjoying the tranquil forests when a persistent humming had broken the air. Barely seconds later two fighter ships had burst through the tree tops sending down a shower of bracken and had opened fire on their modest campsite.
Kerei and Zell bounded away immediately while Nida rolled into the dubious cover of the cave and fished for his quiver and bow. One of the jets slashed through the air low enough to allow six armed men to drop to the ground before returning to the safety of the sky. Zell grit his teeth, time to roll.
Kerei hopped nimbly from rock to rock, ducking the wild blows of her opponent. She was facing three of the men who had crashed their campsite and with all the smoke and dust in the air she wasn't sure where the others were. A fist flew into view and she jerked to the right, barely avoiding an explosion perfectly timed to strike her. She cursed and then cursed again as dust got in her mouth. The three men were trying to surround her but if she kept backing up they'd have a harder time. One of them made a lunge for her unprotected left side and Kerei pivoted and slammed her fist into his torso. She connected with hard armour and growled loudly, dropping down and tripping him with a vicious sweep of her leg.
Another eruption behind her cancelled her plans and she hastily began to fight forward, hoping to return back to the campsite. A man grabbed her and clung to her right arm, trying to drag her down with his weight. She floundered momentarily and let out a clipped cry of rage. Magic hissed to life in her left hand. The man looked up at her, firelight reflecting an angry orange in his eyes.
"FIRAGA!" Kerei punched a burning ball of flame into the face of her attacker and watched him flail backwards in pain.
The two remaining were suddenly wary of her and she used their moment of indecision to tackle one of them and drive both fists into his face. Her momentum carried her right over his head and somersaulting closer to the sheltering band of rocks that surrounded the cave and campsite. Hurriedly she raced for it, kicking up dirt as she ran, the last attacker hot on her heels. The humming of the fighter jet above her intensified and she threw her hands up as the ground shattered in front of her, blinding and disorienting her. The man behind her grabbed her waist and hurled her to the ground roughly, sending stars bursting in her vision as her head cracked against the ground.
Zell fought on the other side of the campsite with seven attackers, three of the original and four dropped from the second jet. His face was bruised from a punch he hadn't been able to avoid and his teeth hurt from being clenched so hard. Punch after punch he tried to fight towards the camp, hoping to find Kerei and get back to back with her. Seven fighters was a bit much, he thought as he took another hit to the kidney, I mean, they are clearly over-compensating, Zell reasoned as he flip-kicked one of the men and knocked him unconscious. Six left.
Nida raced up the hillside and balanced precariously on top of the cave. He strung his bow and squinted through the clouds of dust. Where were Kerei and Zell? Ah. He could spot Zell now, being dragged down by six soldiers from the aircrafts. Hardly fair, Nida thought absently as he aimed and fired. Five left over there. He pivoted to try and find Kerei and saw her cast a fire spell. She had one man on top of her in an instant and as another missile blocked her from Nida's vision he could see two more running through the debris to engage her in combat. Well, that left Nida multiple targets to pick.
Zell gasped for air and got a mouthful of dust instead. Was there anything left of the campsite now that it had taken numerous missiles? He had four attackers now thanks to an opening given to him by Nida's arrows. Zell's blood boiled and he could feel himself drawing ever closer to his precious Limit Breaks. A kick to the thigh nearly cinched it but Zell wasn't close enough yet and he retaliated with a wildly swung blow instead. He was mere feet from the crescent-shaped border of rocks that Kerei was trying vainly to get to. He couldn't see her but he knew she would be trying to get to him as hard as he was trying to get to her. Hands grabbed him and pulled him backwards, upsetting his balance and he choked as two men began to punch him repeatedly in the ribs. His vision hazed over and Zell gave in to the roar of blood in his ears.
Kerei screamed in fury as one of the men succeeded in pinning her to the ground. She was choking on dust and blood and had no idea how many men were attacking her now. Craning her neck up she bit viciously at the man's chin and tore through his skin with her teeth. He cried out helplessly and let go of her to rear upwards and reach for his bleeding face. Kerei slammed her fist into his groin and kicked him off her, spinning to her feet. She whirled furiously, feet and fists flying into anything within reach. Lunging for the rocks she hauled herself on top of the barrier and then yelped as someone grabbed her ankle and sent her crashing down on to the stone. She spun and held the rock with her hands while lashing out with a foot, kicking the man repeatedly in the arm until he let go.
The move had cost her though and the men she had pushed back had already risen to their feet. Finding herself instantly swarmed, Kerei backpedalled as fast as she could and all but fell into their destroyed campsite. Someone yanked her hair and brought her back to her knees with tears forming in her eyes. She drove her fist into the gut of her nearest attacker and swept a low kick to trip two more. There were simply too many of them around her to fight well and missiles kept crashing into the clearing making it hard to see. Fingers grabbed her neck and hauled her backwards while another man returned her gut-punch in a sickening blow that brought blood spraying from her mouth. Kerei felt dizziness threaten to overtake her and she struggled in a drunken haze to stand up. She whirled around as fast as she could to strike the man who had grabbed her but promptly took a face full of water. Spluttering she tripped back and realized she was in ankle deep water.
Completely disoriented now Kerei flailed to keep her balance and succeeded in accidentally smacking a man in the face as he leapt to hit her. She almost took a crushing blow by a soldier attempting to knock her out with a club he had made out of the surrounding debris but fortunately she was saved by a dolphin crashing into him.
"Dolphin?"
Kerei squeaked, spinning to watch the aquatic creature dive into the water and disappear from view.
Nida dispatched three more men off of Zell and shifted his attention back to Kerei. She was utterly besieged but he couldn't get a lock on her targets because they were crowding so close to her. Biting his lip in frustration as he watched her go down, Nida yelled at Zell and hoped the blonde martial artist could hear him over the chaos. Nida snapped another arrow, guaranteeing that one more fighter wasn't going to rise back up. There were six left in total, two on Zell, four on Kerei. Nida desperately fired an arrow at the men on Kerei, hoping to at least distract them. The arrow missed and Nida watched it splash into the water. Wait, water?
He did a double take and yes, the campsite was submerged. Kerei and the soldiers were all equally bewildered at their now marshy battlefield and Kerei unwittingly took out a man on her side as she tried to regain her balance. Nida cheered for her but was immediately sobered as a soldier behind her picked up a thick branch and prepared to take a swing at Kerei's head.
He launched an arrow immediately, praying it would strike the target. The arrow bounced harmlessly off the club and Nida cursed, screaming at Kerei to turn around. Fortunately she was saved by a dolphin arcing gracefully into the man behind her.
"Dolphin?" Nida gasped, momentarily stunned.
Zell finished his Dolphin Kick with an elegant flourish, dropping both of the men left on him. He paused long enough to fish in his belt pouch and down a potion to restore his energy before bounding off to Kerei. He found her wobbling on her feet with three men stumbling in the mucky morass trying to hit her. The humming in the air was getting closer again and as Zell hooked one of the men and threw him to the ground, he yelled up at Nida,
"Hit the ships!"
Nida understood immediately and began charging a magical attack. Zell rushed to Kerei's aid and pulled her behind him as he vigorously dismantled one of the soldiers with well-timed hits. Sparks fell down on the two of them as one of Nida's spells connected. They felt the air rush past as one of the jets crashed into the trees not far from where they fought. Nida slid down the rock face and grimaced as he landed in ankle-deep mud. Kerei and Zell knocked the remaining soldiers out and sloshed through the muck towards him.
"Is... that... everyone?" Zell panted, wiping his forehead with the back of his arm, oblivious to the smear of blood and dirt he left behind,
"That's all I saw," Nida sighed in relief, "I didn't hit the other jet though, he never came back,"
"Probably ran away... to report, or get more," Kerei stumbled and Nida caught her expertly, "C'mon, let's move to the cave it'll be drier and we can patch you two up," he said wearily.
"Did our supplies live through that?" Zell peered at the campsite and frowned at the swirling muddy water.
"No," Nida sighed again, "All right, let's get to the Ragnarok, I landed it behind the mountain and hopefully they didn't hit it."
Kerei took several steps forward and then froze, suddenly whirling on Zell, "And what the hell was with THAT? Where did you get a freakin' DOLPHIN in the middle of a FIGHT?" she yelled, waving her arms in the air emphatically,
Zell coughed and shrugged sheepishly, "It's, ah, a Limit Break, I guess, ah, you hadn't seen it before?"
He grinned helplessly at her as she stormed off, limping and cursing as she went.
OoO
The Ragnarok was unharmed, to Nida's supreme relief. Shadowed by the mountain that contained the cave the two jet fighters must have missed it completely. They sat in the cargo hold and stripped off their muddy clothing, changing into cleaner suits and digging through medikits to patch their cuts and bruises. Nida cast healing spells on both the martial artists, knowing that from the livid marks on both of them that ribs had been broken. Kerei passed out soon after and they carried her to a cot so she could rest.
"You should sleep too," Nida advised Zell, "I'll call Squall and let him know, and I'll get that dispatch group we organized to begin their shift early so we can rest up,"
"Yeah, good call," Zell yawned and stumbled to find a cot of his own.
Nida got to his feet slowly and made his way to the command chamber. He radioed the backup dispatch unit first and directed them to the campsite, urging them to bring new gear and supplies. He then called Squall and faced a quick interrogation as the Commander demanded to know everything that had happened. Nida answered as best as he could and when he hung up there was a message waiting for him. A cadet saluted him as Nida walked down the cargo hold of the Ragnarok.
"We arrived at the area Sir! I sent a trainee to check out that downed fighter ship. It's built to do damage but strangely it was holding excavation tools in its hull," she looked confused,
"Excavation," Nida mused, "I guess they still want what's left of the caves. Thank you for the report," he added smiling kindly, "return to the station and I'll pass any orders along by radio."
The cadet saluted once more and left him. Returning to the command chamber he once again contacted Squall but this time he couldn't get through. Shrugging, Nida dropped the radio back into its cradle and decided he'd wait a few moments. If Squall was talking to someone it probably meant they had found something new on their part of the case. The caves were once more secure, so Nida was in no hurry. He stretched his arms behind his head and leaned backwards, a nap was in order before he tried contacting Squall again.
OoO