Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, and I ain't getting paid for this. They belong to Squaresoft, and they get all the money from them.
Chapter 3
Tharria leaned over the balcony sipping her wine and watching the stars. She hadn't seen her dance partner since she'd left him to have a rest. She sighed to herself. I didn't even get his name, she thought. Far below the Ragnorok shone in the light of the moon and the floodlights around it. People were already busy carrying things into the cargo hold and making minor repairs. Tharria thought it was strange that these people were working through the night, and through a party too, but then she remembered the President of Esthar was leaving first thing in the morning along with his group of SeeDs.
Not much security, Tharria thought idly. Anyone could dressed in overalls could walk right in there and no-one would be any the wiser. She sipped her wine thoughtfully. Hmmm, perhaps there was a way for her to help Grandfather. She was beginning to formulate a plan when she spotted 3 figures in SeeD uniforms heading towards the huge red ship. She guessed that they were the team who were being sent to Esthar to settle the rebels.
The 2 men and 1 girl stood around and seemed to be talking to various mechanics and workers. Tharria frowned. She was sure she recognised the dark haired guy. Leaning forward over the balcony to get a better look, she realised it was her dance partner! He turned away from the mechanic he'd been talking too, and walked a little way before stopping suddenly and looking up at the sky. Tharria raised her head automatically to see what he was looking at. She gasped. The sky was alive with little falling points of light. She watched the meteor shower for a few minutes before turning her eyes back to the dark haired SeeD. He was staring straight at her. She smiled, before turning and walking back into the ballroom.
Rinoa was standing near the doorway chatting to some SeeDs.
'Hey mum, I'm going up to the apartment.' Said Tharria, rubbing her head tiredly, 'I'm tired out. I'll see you in the morning.'
Rinoa smiled, 'Goodnight then. Sleep tight.' She said, pecking Tharria on the cheek before turning back to the SeeDs.
As soon as she was sure that she couldn't be seen by anyone going in or out of the ballroom, she hitched up her dress and ran towards the lift.
Ten minutes later she was stepping back out of the lift on the ground floor, dressed in her usual clothes with a bag slung over a shoulder. She headed for the large garages where most repairs to vehicles and machines were done.
She walked straight into the busy area, carefully placing her face in a look of someone who knew where they were going. The trick was to act like she was supposed to be here and to radiate confidence. It was strange but if you acted like nobody would dare to stop you from doing what you wanted, people often didn't.
Tharria spotted some overalls hanging on some pegs, and quickly pulled one over her clothing. There was a cap which went with the overalls. Tharria put in on in the hopes that it would prevent people from seeing her face.
'Hey you!' A voice shouted from behind her making her jump. She turned trying to act calm.
'Yeah?'
A man in a dirty overall gestured to her rucksack which was now on the floor, 'Is that part of the luggage to go on the ship?'
'Umm..yeah..one of the SeeDs gave it to me.'
The man nodded, 'Alright then, put it on with this lot and you can wheel it in.'
Tharria realised he must be some kind of supervisor and so nodded and said, 'Alright, guv.'
She moved her bag to a trolley with large crates on it, happy to see the man wander off to harass some workers who were having a quick smoke. Pushing the trolley onto the lift underneath the Ragnorok, she felt her and the trolley move upwards.
People were moving around inside the cargo bay too. More men and women dressed in overalls were manoeuvring crates and boxes into place, some were walking around with clipboards, and Tharria had no idea what the rest of them were doing. She smiled inwardly. Perfect.
She moved the trolley off to one side, and workers came over to move the crates into piles. It took two people to carry the crates and they were heavy. Tharria knew because she helped to move them, and it was then that she noticed that some had left a clipboard on top of a crate. Looking around to check that none of the other workers were looking she picked up the clipboard and headed purposefully towards the other side of the cargo bay, every now and then she would appear to stop and check a pile of crates and write something down.
It was during this façade that someone bumped into her roughly. Keeping in character she looked haughtily at the scruffy worker. He mumbled an apology and stomped off in the opposite direction. Tharria noticed that he kept looking around as if checking for people watching him. Definitely a suspicious character she decided, but she couldn't tell anyone in case she revealed her own identity.
Finally she was out into a corridor. There were still workers down here, moving things, adjusting things. She stopped and asked a woman working on a wall panel, where the sleeping quarters were.
'There off in that direction. Take the first lift you come to.' She frowned at Tharria slightly, 'Why d'you want to go up there?'
'Oh, boss wants me to check that everything's working up there,' she rolled her eyes theatrically. 'I think they've already been checked but I just do what I'm told.'
The woman grinned, 'Yeah he's always getting people to do pointless little jobs like that.'
'Well thanks anyway.' Tharria said hurrying off in the direction the woman had indicated. There were less people down here but so long as she glanced at her clipboard every now and then and looked like she was doing something important no-one even glanced at her.
Finally she was at the lift. She walked in confidently, and pressed the button for the next level. The lift doors opened to reveal an empty corridor. She stepped forward and headed for the end where it branched off to the right. As she neared the junction she could here voices coming from further down the corridor. She saw 2 figures come out of one of the rooms and had just enough time to nip around the corner and into the open door of a dark room.
'….well that's the SeeD rooms checked out, lets go to the bar and I'll buy you a drink…' Said one of the men as they walked passed the turn off. Tharria couldn't hear the other mans reply because they were already at the lift.
Confident they were gone she switched the light on in the room. A simple bed, desk and closet. Suddenly bed seemed very inviting. After shutting the main door and discovering that another door lead to a small bathroom, Tharria removed the overalls and lay down to think things over. She turned off the light to prevent people from seeing the light through the window although the blind was down so she thought that unlikely, still it paid to be careful.
She awoke to the sound of huge engines being ignited, and sat up cursing to herself. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, although it might have been for the best considering how tired she would have been today. She peeked through the blinds to see that the sun was just rising over the horizon. Laguna sure liked early starts. The Ragnorok shuddered and rose off the ground.
She jumped when the loud speaker crackled.
'SeeDs please report to the bridge. All security personnel please be on the look out for suspicious activity as we believe we have a stowaway. Over and out.
Tharria breathed deeply to stay calm. How had they found out about her so fast? Surely mum and dad hadn't taken it into their heads to start checking she was asleep before going to bed and breakfast? No that couldn't be right. They'd stopped coming into her room at her request because she liked her privacy. It was all well and good but it did mean that she had to clean out her waste paper bin and laundry basket whenever they were full, as opposed to Rinoa doing it.
Tharria shook her head roughly and stood up. Now was not the time to be thinking about laundry, she scolded herself. She heard booted footsteps and lowered voices head towards the lift. That would be the SeeDs. A sudden thought occurred to her. How likely would they be to look in the SeeDs rooms? After all they had been in them all night and were unlikely to be housing any stowaways. She stepped out into the corridor cautiously. There was nobody about so she quickly headed for the room which she had seen the workers leaving the night before.
After shutting the door behind her, she turned and surveyed the room. Huh, a guys room by the look of it. A bag on the bed had socks hanging out of it, and she tripped over a pair of boots on the floor. Kneeling down she peered under the bed.
It would be a tight fit, but she thought she could squeeze into the small space. It was the obvious place to look she knew but perhaps if she made it look obvious that no-one was hiding in this room…
She went and opened the main door, and then pushed the bag and boots underneath the bed before climbing under the bed herself. In the cramped space she just had enough room to manoeuvre the bag and boots in so they would hide part of her if anyone looked under the bed. Pushing herself back against the wall where the shadow was at its darkest she waited.
Sure enough she heard the lift doors swish open a short while later. Two pairs of booted feet clumped down the passage checking every room it seemed. Finally Tharria could hear their voices.
'…not much point checking the SeeDs rooms is there Fred?' She heard one say.
'Ah we'd better do it mate, just in case.'
She heard footsteps coming closer.
'Hey look this one's left his door open.' She heard the footsteps stop at the doorway.
'Nah there's no-one in here Fred. You check the other blokes while I check the girls' She heard the footsteps move away and breathed a sigh of relief.
She listened as they argued over who would get the honours of checking the girls room when she heard the lift doors open again.
'What are you two doing?' Said a authoritative voice.
'Oh..uh we were just deciding which room to check first, sir.' Said the one called Fred.
'Funny looked to me like you were bunking off the job as usual. Have you checked all these rooms?'
'Yes, sir.' The other man replied.
'You've checked under the beds, in the closets and in the bathrooms have you?'
'They've got private bathrooms?'
'I'll take that as a no then shall I?' Said the higher ranked security guard. 'Well you'd better go back and check them all again. Properly this time.'
Tharria's heart pounded. They were going to find her, it was only a matter of time, and there was no way she could climb out from under here and out into the corridor quietly enough not to be caught.
The door opened and she saw a pair of boots walk past. The closet door was opened, and then the bathroom door. Finally Tharria saw the person kneel down. She pressed herself as far back as she could into the shadow as a hand rummaged about, feeling the bag and the boots. A face appeared staring into the darkness between the boots.
'Anything?' Said a voice by the door.
'No, sir. I don't think anyone could fit into this space anyway. Mind you it's too dark to tell for sure.'
She heard a sigh from the doorway, 'Let me look, corporal.'
The face disappeared from view and was shortly replaced by another. This man pulled out the boots and bag and peered at the darkness. Tharria tried not to breathe.
'I think there's something else under here.' The man's hand groped under the bed. He touched her hand and yelled triumphantly but was cut off suddenly when Tharria's foot hit him in the mouth. He fell back and she struggled out from under the bed. One of the men made a grab at her, but she dodged and yanked his arm so he fell over with his own momentum. She was stiff though, and wasn't fast enough as she headed for the door. The only man left standing dived over his comrades who were struggling to get up and tackled her. She hit the floor with a thump.
Laguna was sat in one of the seats at the bridge staring out of the window. The Ragnorok was fast but it wasn't like you could travel from Balamb to Esthar in seconds. It would be a few hours before they reached the city. An official came up and coughed politely.
'Yes?' Said Laguna turning in his seat.
'Security say they've caught a stowaway, sir.'
'Ah, is this person armed?'
'Surprisingly not sir. It appeared the stowaway was a young girl, sir.'
Laguna frowned, 'Odd, the information indicated that it was an armed rebel.' He shrugged, 'Bring her up then, I wish to speak to her.'
'Are you sure that's wise sir?'
Laguna nodded, 'Yes, make sure she is not armed obviously.'
'Very well, sir.'
A few moments later a security guard came in pulling a dark haired girl with him.
'We caught her, sir! She was hiding in one of the SeeD rooms.'
'Grandfather!'