By NightsDawne
Chapter 14: A Time for Action
"I count three, no, four trucks." Seifer shifted his weight on his elbows, focusing the binoculars more tightly on the missile base. "Two men working on one of them. Looks like an elite and a regular soldier. Don't see any SeeD uniforms, red or any other color."
"Just two?" Selphie sounded disappointed, laying on her stomach on the edge of the bluff next to Seifer.
Seifer pulled the binocs away to look at her. "What, you want the entire army?"
Selphie flashed a disturbingly cheery grin. "Bring 'em on, we'll blow them to smithereens!"
"Selphie, you're a nut. But I like your style." Seifer went back to watching the base.
Selphie fiddled with her walkie-talkie. "Thanks. Guess we'll just have to settle for two, though." She gave a sigh, then jumped slightly as a loud crackle of static echoed from the walkie-talkie. Seifer started, then grabbed it, thumbing the volume down quickly.
"Keep it quiet." He handed it back to her.
"Sorry. I keep hitting that little dial by accident." She held the unit to her mouth, pushing the send button. "Helloooooo?"
The walkie-talkie sputtered for a second, then Quistis's voice came through. "I read you, Selphie. See anything? Over."
"Four trucks and two uniforms on the outside. Oh, over."
"Roger," came Quistis's reply. "We can get a couple of disguises then. We'll meet you at the east gate. Over and out."
Selphie grinned, switching the walkie-talkie back to standby mode. "I love disguises."
Irvine crouched beside the east gate, watching the two soldiers through the scope of his rifle. The elite was half immersed in the hood of a truck, waving a wrench at his assistant, who was keeping up his end of the deal by dutifully handing over tools as required. Quistis looked around for Seifer and Selphie, noting that Fujin and Raijin were keeping low on the opposite side of the gate, but starting to look restless. "C'mon, c'mon," she breathed to herself as she looked back to where Irvine's rifle pointed, urging her friend and student to show.
A tap on her shoulder nearly sent her into attack mode. She spun and grabbed a wrist, then relaxed at seeing Selphie's green eyes wide with surprise.
"Oops," whispered Selphie. "Didn't mean to startle you."
Quistis waved an okay and nodded to Seifer as he ran in a crouch to join them. She pointed through the gate to the two soldiers. "Irvine's got them targetted," she whispered. "As soon as the elite is out of the hood we can take them down."
Selphie scooted over to Irvine, leaning over his shoulder and peering at the soldiers. Irvine peeked up at her with only a hint of annoyance at the disruption of his focus, then put his eye back to the scope. Selphie put her lips to his ear, her whisper tickling. "Say, isn't that...?"
Irvine looked up again as he felt Selphie's weight lift. It took a moment for it to register what she was doing and he could tell from the faces of the others they were also struggling to come to terms with her sudden and insane behavior. She stood, giving a sharp whistle and waving to the two soldiers. Seifer slapped his hand against his forehead and grabbed her to haul her back down, but it was too late. The blue-uniformed regular turned toward the gate, the red-uniformed elite smacking his head on the hood as he sat up.
"Selphie, are you totally psychotic?!" hissed Quistis. Irvine hurriedly put his eye to the scope again, ready to drop them before they could sound the alarm, but Selphie escaped Seifer's grasp and jumped in front of him.
"Wedge! Biggs!" Selphie pushed the gate open, skipping towards the stunned soldiers.
The others dove to follow her, weapons at the ready. Irvine almost felt like cracking up with relief though at the unexpected response. Wedge groaned and threw his arms up in the air in surrender, his elite superior dropping his wrench and shaking his head in dismay. "Wedge, we can't get a break," Biggs moaned.
Selphie stopped up a few feet from the pair, beaming happily as if greeting old friends. "What are you two doing here? I thought you gave up the army."
Wedge sighed, keeping his hands up. "We did. Only we managed to get in so much trouble because of you guys we not only got our pay docked, we wound up owing the army."
Biggs frowned, sliding down to the ground. "They've taken our homes, our cars, everything. All we want to do is just live a nice peaceful life and never see any of you SeeDs again and what happens?"
Quistis stepped forward, relieving the soldiers of their machine guns. "Sorry, it's not personal."
Wedge's shoulders slumped. "Just shoot us and get it over with."
"We don't shoot prisoners," said Quistis cooly. "Take off your clothes."
Wedge and Biggs looked at each other, then at Quistis. "Begging your pardon, ma'am," started Wedge.
"But we've both got girlfriends," finished Biggs. "Even if we can't afford to go out on dates anymore."
Quistis rolled her eyes. "Give me a break. We need the uniforms. Irvine, Seifer, you're the only two that will fit them." She motioned for Biggs and Wedge to move behind a truck, Seifer and Irvine following with bemused smiles on their faces.
Irvine pulled on the blue visored helmet of his disguise and turned to let Selphie tuck his long hair under it. "Swear, I don't know how y'all wear these things. Get claustrophobia in 'em."
Wedge and Biggs, dressed in their bvds and Irvine and Seifer's coats, surveyed their replacements glumly from under Fujin and Raijin's watchful guard. "Try to stand a little straighter, will you?" advised Biggs. "I'd hate to have anyone think I let Wedge get away with slouching."
Irvine straightened and threw his shoulders back, snapping off a salute. "That work?"
Biggs nodded. "Better. Although I think after this we're just going to be facing the firing squad anyhow."
Irvine snapped his salute off at Seifer, who looked more the part of an elite soldier than Biggs did once he had the uniform settled on. "Ready, sir!"
Seifer's grin showed under the visor of his helmet. "Well, it's the wrong uniform, but I am a captain finally. At ease, corporal."
Quistis held the machine guns out to them. "Okay, just get inside and get what information you can. I'm trusting you both to follow orders and not pull any stunts."
"Aw, I'm hurt, Instructor." Seifer slung the machine gun over his shoulder, turning for the base building. "You know I always follow orders."
"I meant mine, not the ones you make up, Seifer." Quistis shook her head at his back and looked to Irvine. "Be careful in there, alright?"
Irvine grinned softly. "Don't worry, beautiful. I promised I'd be a good boy for ya." He spun on his heel to follow Seifer. They kept a watchful eye out, but nobody emerged to challenge them. Relaxing slightly, they walked through the front doors, nodding to the single guard leaning against a desk. The Red SeeD nodded back, giving no further notice to the apparent soldiers. Irvine nudged Seifer to guide him to the left, Seifer turning without breaking stride and heading for the inner rooms.
"Just one?" Seifer whispered as soon as they were alone in a hallway. Irvine shrugged, equally confused by the lack of a swarm of enemy forces. the missile bases had been fully manned by Esthar soldiers, both human and cyborg. It would have taken a decent sized force to take them. Their footsteps echoed softly in the empty passage. Both started to get a little tense again. There should be more men here.
"You two lost?" Irvine and Seifer spun to the speaker, a Red SeeD armed with a wicked looking barbed spear, standing in an open doorway.
Seifer cleared his throat. "Looking for the coffee machine. Where the hell is everyone, anyway?"
The SeeD leaned forward a bit to see the name on Seifer's chest. "Biggs, is it? Coffee machine's down that way. What do you mean, everyone?"
"The place just seems kind of empty." Seifer slid his thumb down the strap of his machine gun, assuming a casual air. Irvine fought to resist the temptation to scratch his neck, his sunburn and hair both working to give him a terrible itch.
The SeeD cocked his head to the side. "What, nobody bothers to tell you regulars?"
"I'm an elite," snapped Seifer.
"Whatever." The SeeD maintained a look of condescension. "The others left this morning for the objective. Just left enough of us here to man the missiles. To be honest, I don't see why you soldiers are needed here, except to fix the equipment."
"Can't run a war without equipment, can you?" Irvine sensed a growing confrontation. Even if the remarks were being directed at a false pretense, Seifer was getting a little sick of the attitude the SeeD was giving him. "Which objective?"
"The objective, dipshit. Balamb Garden? The White SeeD ship?"
Irvine felt the color drain from his face. He could see Seifer's lips tighten slowly. "What about Esthar?"
The SeeD shrugged. "So that's what they told you, huh? Well, maybe that's what Caraway wants, but the Galbadian Army stands a snowball's chance in hell of getting it with those other SeeD forces out there. That's what you need us for. We'll take them out for you, make it a cakewalk to get in and take over Esthar."
"So you're going to use the missiles to crash the Garden, then your troops can move in?"
"You catch on quick." The SeeD scratched his chin. "For a soldier."
Seifer started to open his mouth, on the verge of blowing, but Irvine cleared his throat. "What about your coffee, sir?"
"Forget my fucking coffee!" Seifer stepped forward, visor to face with the SeeD. "There's kids on those SeeD vessels, don't you know that?"
"Future enemies of Galbadia you mean, don't you, Biggs?" The SeeD didn't even blink. "I'd advise you to stick to your coffee and mechanics and leave the SeeD vessels to us professionals." He turned, stepping back into the room and slamming the door in Seifer's face.
Irvine grabbed Seifer by the elbow. "C'mon, we gotta report back."
Seifer pulled away from him, turning to stride down the hall. "Screw that. We're going to make sure those missiles don't take out the Garden."
Irvine hurried to catch up to him. "Seifer.. our orders."
Seifer spun to face him. "Those missiles might get shot off any second. Are you just going to stand by and let it happen because Quistis told us not to act? She didn't know about this, Irvine."
Irvine swallowed, looking at his own reflection in Seifer's visor, then nodded. "Okay. Let's find them missiles, Captain."
