Chapter 48: Space

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Hojo asked Scarlet.

"Repurposing the Sister Ray was essential for our anti-Sephiroth movements. Remember: even if this Huge Materia rocket does work, which is unlikely as Avalanche controls two of the four needed pieces of Huge Materia, we'll still need to deal with the person who summoned Meteor," Scarlet explained.

Rufus was pacing around the Conference Room, rubbing his chin. He'd grown more and more erratic the further time went on. Hojo, Reeve, and Palmer sat on one side of the table, spaced quite far apart. Heidegger and Scarlet sat right next to each other on the opposite side.

"Will it work?" Rufus asked.

"We'll need an enormous amount of power behind it, but yes, it will work," Scarlet explained. "The energy shield surrounding the Northern Crater is on a similar electromagnetic frequency as the Mako Reactor cores. An overcharged Mako shot from the Sister Ray should overload the shield."

"So you've just got a team of Gelnika's carrying this thing to the place that has the best shot at the Northern Crater?" Rufus asked.

"No," Scarlet replied. "I'm having them await a few more calculations. I need to determine the amount of power needed, the angle and trajectory required, and some modifications need to be made to the Sister Ray herself. She was made to fire shells, not a Mako beam."

"So where is this rocket now?" Hojo asked.

"For security purposes, nobody in this conference room is privy to that information except Heidegger and myself," Scarlet said, standing up as though she was expecting a fight.

Rufus turned to Scarlet, his eyes were red for lack of sleep and he had his arms tightly wrapped together.

"I am the President of this company and I expect to be briefed," Rufus said, with a slight quiver in his voice.

"Of course, Mr. President," Scarlet said nodding. "But nobody else here needs to know. Or, for that matter, I believe should know."

Rufus looked ready to shout again, but he simply rubbed his hair and began to bite his fingernails. "Fine. Notify me of your final decision and make it quick."

"Sir, I really think-" But Hojo was cut off simply by a look from Rufus. A dark glare that the others had not seen cross his face in the entirety of their working together.

"I," Rufus said slowly, and eerily calm. "I do not care what you have to say on the subject, Hojo. You have vexed me for the last time, I assure you. I am not going to die because of this. You all might die. The entire populace of Midgar might die. But I am not going to die. Is that clear?"

Hojo simply nodded in response.

"All of you, get the hell out of this room," Rufus said, in that same unnaturally calm voice.

They filed out and shut the door behind them. After a moment they heard a piteous wail and the sound of something very heavy, but concentrated hitting a wall. Then the sound of chairs being flung around the room, smashing into the table, the walls and even the door, which nearly burst open had it not mysteriously been locked from the inside.

"The man's a lunatic," Hojo said, shaking somewhat.

"Coming from you, that's a scary thought," Scarlet scoffed. "But you're right. He's completely out of control. Doesn't he realize we're worried about what will happen if Meteor hits too?"

"He's upset," Reeve shrugged. "But he's going to bring us all down if we don't deal with him."

"How do you propose we 'deal with him'?" Heidegger asked.

"Oh come on!" Reeve shouted. "Do you think I'm the only one that sees it? Scarlet, you said it yourself. If something isn't done quickly, forget Shinra; the entire world will be destroyed."

"Well, the rocket launches in nine hours," Scarlet said. "I guess for now we'll just place our hopes in that. Palmer, you have a flight to catch."

Palmer nodded as he cleaned his glasses. "Right. I'll be off to the airport then. Wouldn't miss this for the world."

He waddled off towards the elevators.

"So, you really don't trust me?" Hojo asked. "Not that I blame you. I don't trust any of you at the moment."

"All the more reason we shouldn't decide anything drastic," Heidegger suggested. "Unless Reeve has a plan of course."

Reeve pushed Heidegger out of his way and walked down the hallway towards his office. Hojo sneered and followed behind Reeve.

"The Proud-clad main shell is already completed," Scarlet said. "We just need the weapons systems and control panel. How soon can your men have it operational?"

"I've already ordered them to begin working based on your blueprints. It will be ready by tomorrow morning," Heidegger explained.

"Your boys do fast work," Scarlet grinned.

"They are well trained," Heidegger said, opting to say no more about the specifics of his men's "training".

Cloud and the others took care to properly patch the submarine's hole, a task that was finally accomplished with the aid of some metal working tools borrowed from the Highwind. Cid then slowly steered the craft into a deeper part of the small cove in an attempt to hide it, in case Shinra came wanting their submarine back.

"You never know when a sub might come in handy," Tifa suggested.

After making sure not a trace of the sub could be seen from outside the cove, they boarded the Highwind and the airship took off towards Rocket Town.

"It'll be a while before we actually get there. Even at full throttle I'm saying about eight hours," Cid explained aboard the bridge. "So we get dropped off outside town, sneak in, steal the Huge Materia from inside the rocket, and then leave the same way we came?"

"They'll be expecting us to do something drastic like that," Vincent said.

"Aye," Cait Sith nodded. "Shinra's not stupid you know."

"Shinra knows we're hunting Huge Materia," Yuffie said. "But they don't know we know about the rocket."

"Actually," Cait Sith sighed. "I hate to say it, but they've guessed that you do know about it. In fact Tseng and a troop of SOLDIERs have been deployed to Rocket Town."

Cloud narrowed his eyes. "Cait… you haven't-"

"No, I swear, I haven't been. My duties to Shinra involve only reporting your current location and sometimes I give bad information. It's how we were able to sneak so easily into Junon," Cait Sith explained.

Cloud nodded. "Very well then. I realize this isn't the best plan, but we can't just let them launch the rocket."

"I agree with numbskull," Cid said, folding his arms. "No way that thing's going into outer space without me aboard it."

And with a brief discussion, they finally came to the consensus to siege Rocket Town. Their arrival several hours later, however was a tad more complicated then they had predicted.

"Jeez!" Cid cursed looking out over the airspace around Rocket Town. "They have the entire Air Force hovering over the city."

"Almost like they don't want us getting the Huge Materia," Red scoffed.

"Yeah, something like that kitty!" Cid barked. "Pilot, take us higher!"

"Higher?!" Cloud asked.

"Yeah, if we don't get out of their range of fire those PC-132's will tear us apart!" Cid shouted.

"Won't we still be in range of the Gelnika?" Vincent asked.

"Gelnika was scrapped," Cait Sith said.

Cid turned to Cait Sith, a look of confusion on his face. "What? The Gelnika Carriers were their best ships!"

"Two were destroyed by WEAPON, one was lost during the repairs and the fourth was intentionally scuttled by Rufus Shinra, after he found out what Hojo was using it… not to mention the Huge Materia samples, for," Cait Sith explained.

"This is news to us!" Cid shouted. "Hell without the Gelnika's we may have a shot at outrunning those helicopters. They aren't too nimble!"

"Orders, sir?" The pilot asked.

"Oh, right! Let's confuse them! Fly higher and when we're past the city I want you to take a sharp dive and turn back into town near the rocket," Cid explained.

"Can this ship pull that kind of a maneuver?"

"Not gracefully," Cid chuckled. "You kids might wanna hold on to something."

The pilot swooped higher just over the guns of the circling helicopters. They rose as high as they could, but they were not meant for high-altitude combat. As they reached their peak the Highwind dove right through the circle of them and straight into the path of the rocket.

"Okay boys, keep this thing afloat and try to draw off some of those choppers when you go!" Cid shouted. "The rest of you idiots, follow me!"

They rushed out to the deck and leapt over the side of the Highwind onto the roof of Cid's house, then to the ground from there. There were two noticeable absentees: Yuffie and Red.

"What the hell are you two waiting for?" Cid shouted.

"Miss Yuffie gets motion sick, remember? And I've afraid I am still just as incapable of climbing ladders as I was a few months ago," Red explained.

"Fine, you take care of the ship. We'll be back before too long!" Cid shouted.

"Come on, we don't have much time!" Tifa shouted. "They look like they're about ready to launch."

The Highwind soared out of range and several of the helicopters did manage to follow behind them. The members of AVALANCHE rushed towards the Shinra 26, cutting down the few soldiers foolish enough to stand in their way. As they reached the last catwalk before the rocket itself, they saw Tseng and two SOLDIER 2nd Class troops barring their way.

"You're not going any farther than this!" Tseng shouted.

A loud voice rang out over the speakers near the rocket.

"Ignition primed. Launch in T minus two minutes."

"Go!" Vincent shouted, raising his weapon, he turned to Barret and Cait Sith.

Cait Sith nodded. "We'll deal with this lot. You get the Huge Materia out of the rocket now!"

One of the SOLDIERs tried to attack Cid, Cloud and Tifa as they started up the ladder, but Vincent blocked his sword with his suddenly clawed arm. He let out an enormous shriek of rage and Vincent was nowhere to be seen. In his place stood a hellish figure with dark black hair, a pale emotionless face and two very large claws where his arms should be. One of the claws even had rotating pockets of bone that rotated and bucked almost like a chainsaw.

Tseng backed away in fear. "What the hell?"

"You have no idea," the monstrous creature shouted back, impaling the SOLDIER on his claws.

Cloud, Tifa and Cid managed to get inside the Shinra 26 and scrambled to find where the Huge Materia was stored.

"T minus 60 seconds to launch."

"We don't have a lot of time here!" Cloud shouted.

"It's gotta be in the engine room!" Cid replied. "Up that ladder!"

However as they started to move towards a small ladder in the back, something quite unexpected happened.

"All crew clear the launch pad area immediately. The Rocket is now sealed."

And with that, the door to the Shinra 26 shut. Cid rushed over to the radio.

"Hey abort the mission!" Cid shouted. "You've got crew still trapped in here!"

"Hello there, Cid!" came Palmer's grating voice. "Looks like you'll get to go into space after all!"

"Damn it!" Cid shouted. "There's nothing for it! Strap into one of those seats right now!"

"We have to get off of this thing!" Tifa shouted.

"You wanna try to get through that solid steel door, be my guest, but if you're not belted in twenty seconds you're gonna have a hell of a time doing anything by the time we're done!" Cid shouted.

Cid sat down in the pilot's chair and belted in. Cloud and Tifa found chairs beside him and strapped in as well.

"10…9…8…."

"They're coming out now right?!" Barret shouted.

"Not likely!" Cait Sith yelled back, his Mog throwing a hard punch at one of the soldiers. "Keep fighting!"

"7…6…5…"

"They'll be blown to bits!" Barret cursed, starting to move towards the catwalk.

"It's a spaceship you fool!" Cait Sith shouted back. "Cid will find them a way out of there, just keep fighting! And whatever you do don't get nearer that rocket than-"

"1… blast off!"

The rocket engines surged with intense flames. All combatants near the rocket on both side had to take cover far from the engines to escape the incredible heat. With a faint wobble and the falling of a few of the guide poles, the Shinra 26 launched into the air, and within moments was gaining incredible speed. Despite their bout of combat, everybody had to stop for a moment to witness the rocket sail higher and higher into the air.

The awe of those on the ground was nothing compared to the three unfortunate people stuck inside the rocket. Cid was whooping with excitement, but Cloud and Tifa, while starting to appreciate Yuffie's plight, were simply dumbstruck by what was going on. They were flying higher than any of them had ever or would ever go.

They were flying into outer space.

With a final cessation of the pulse behind them, they found their ship adrift in the dark black abyss of space. Save for the small sliver of the planet they could see beside them and the somewhat distant, yet ever-present red glow of the Meteor, they were completely alone.

"Primary boosters are cut!" Cid exclaimed. "Life support systems holding and we are all on track!"

"Cid?" Tifa asked.

Cid turned, he had the largest smile on his face she'd ever seen. "I know nobody's listening, but let me have this. I'm finally living my dream."

"Sorry to interrupt," Cloud said. "But we are getting closer and closer to Meteor. We need to get to the Huge Materia and find a way to change the course of this rocket."

"There's no 'steering' on a rocket like this," Cid said. "But we have an escape pod."

Cid unbuckled and began to float around the ship. Cloud and Tifa nervously removed their belts and floated around the ship as well.

"This will take some getting used to!" Cid chuckled. "Grab onto these railings around the ship to try and move yourself!"

Cloud climbed up the alcove to the engine room and saw the two pieces of the Huge Materia sitting inside a small glass container. There had been room for two more pieces. And then the doubt hit him again. What if what they were doing wasn't the right thing? What if by fulfilling what they had planned, they were robbing mankind of their only hope?

And yet, something inside him told Cloud that he had to get those pieces of Materia. That nothing else mattered in this world except obtaining them. He smashed open the cases and grabbed them. Carrying both of them he floated, slightly lopsided back down into the main room.

Cid took one of the materia pieces from his hands.

"Okay. Much as I hate to leave so soon, we better get on that escape pod before we're too far out to space for it to matter," Cid explained.

They floated down through the small shaft of the rocket towards the escape pod in the back. As they floated past the oxygen tanks, there was an enormous eruption as one of the tanks exploded from the pressure. The shrapnel knocked into Cid and he fell back against the wall, dropping the Huge Materia.

"Damn it!" Cid cursed.

"Cid!" came a woman's voice.

Cid turned to the escape pod room to see Shera floating towards him.

"Shera?" Cid asked weakly. "What the hell are you doing on this thing?"

"I," Shera rubbed her hair. "I was onboard, checking on the equipment during the launch."

Cid looked at the tank that blew. "Tank… seven…."

"Cid, save your strength," Tifa said, doing her best to bandage his wounded shoulder in zero gravity.

"No, damn it," Cid cursed. "Tank seven blew. Shera… you were right. All this time you were right."

Cloud grabbed Cid and pulled him towards the escape pod. Tifa picked up the other piece of the Huge Materia and they all strapped into the Escape Pod. Cloud shut the door and then pulled the release trigger before taking his own seat.

"If you thought going up was bad," Cid grunted. "You're really not gonna like going down."

As the escape pod slowly descended, they saw the Shinra 26 continue on its course. Moments later it collided with Meteor resulting in a blinding flash of light from the explosion. However, nothing else happened. The small broken pieces of the Meteor slowly pieced themselves back together in the wake of the rocket.

Cid turned to Shera.

"Shera," he grunted. "I'm so sorry."

Shera just stroked his head as the escape pod was suddenly pulled sharply by the planet's gravity. They dropped sharply. With another pull of a lever parachutes deployed and from the freefall, the escape pod slowly fell down into the waiting ocean below.