II: Signs
Squall emerged from the Training centre to run into Zell.
' Hey, Squall, s'up? Had a good workout?' emphasising 'workout' with punching motions.
Squall almost felt annoyed at his friend's explosive, cheerful greeting. But since meeting Rinoa, he had opened up much more, and was determined not to go back to his old ways again, so he brushed aside his irritation, and said, ' It was alright, met a coupla Rexaurs, some good battles.'
' Cool, how about some hotdogs?'
' Er, okay. I'll get the rest of the gang together.'
' Seeya in the Caff.' Zell sprinted off, after more shadowboxing to show his opinion that the meeting would be cool.
Squall shook his head at his friend's bouncy attitude. He wondered who was actually worse, Zell or Selphie. He headed to the dorms, when another bright, bubbly personality dressed in blue ambushed him.
' Hi, Squally!' a pair of arms wrapped themselves around his chest. Squall turned and said ' Hi yourself, beautiful.' The mass of dark hair currently burrowing into his chest swept back to reveal Rinoa's face gazing adoringly into his.
When he managed to distangle her, she looked at him with puppy-dog eyes, and, jumping up and down, dragged him off towards the Caff. Squall decided that neither Zell nor Selphie were a match for Rinoa.
He dug in his heels. ' Let me change out of this stuff first!'
She pouted. ' Oh, alright, but hurry up.'
He grinned and disappeared inside.
***
Ultima ploughed on against the heavy ocean current. If his memory still served him well, the entrance to Ultimecia's Castle was somewhere along here, in one of the narrow straits between the islands of the Centra continent.
He saw a cliff-face, with a U scratched in; this was the place. He placed the palm of one massive hand on the U. Purple beams of light shone, entirely unaffected by the swirling water, and the cliff-face was suddenly caught in a dark bubble of silky blackness, looking like a demi spell. Instead of destroying the rock when the bubble expanded, it opened up into a large circular doorway.
Now to see the Sorceress.
Ultima dismounted, and stepped through.
***
Dressed in a fresh uniform now, Squall was currently being dragged along the corridor of the dorms by Rinoa, travelling at high speed. The rest of the gang had already got there when they arrived.
' Hiya, Squall!' came a high, excited voice.
' Hi, Selphie, ' he said warily. ' Hi, Quisty, Irvine.'
His former instructor smiled and the gunman nodded at him.
Zell appeared, carrying a tray of his favourite food.
' Bagsy, I get all the hotdogs!'
Irvine reached over and flicked one up, catching it. ' No chance, boyo.'
Everyone reached for a hotdog.
' So, wassup, gang?' said Selphie cheerfully.
' Your cholesterol.' Irvine replied immediately with an absolutely straight face. A split second later, most of that face was covered in hotdog as Selphie playfully hit him.
' Mmmmf' he said.
' Serves you right,' giggled Rinoa.
' Could Commander Leonhart please come to the bridge? With the Team.' Said the PA system.
Everyone knew who the Team were, so they made there way to the lift quickly, Zell armed with 5 hotdogs.
Squall flicked the 3rd floor switch. The lift paused as it checked that
they were allowed up to that level, then shot upwards.
Xu was up there waiting for them.
' Hi, guys. There's something out there, which I thought you should look at.'
Squall stepped forward beside Nida, who was still piloting the Garden. In the distance was a line of black specks, about 6 km away.
' Nida, what's our present position?'
' The Garden is presently 9 km south of FH.'
' And their approximate position?'
' About 6.5 km to our southeast.'
' That means they are pretty close to the Esthar continent then.' Said Quistis.
' Yes, they present course indicates that they set out from Esthar.' Replied Nida.
' Can you identify the ships?'
' No; they are nothing that we have encountered before in any military or peaceful situation. Their shape and methods of propulsion seem to indicate that they are of Esthar origin, though according to our database, the Esthar army contains nothing of that design. They appear to be ships, but I suspect that they are actually airships.'
' Have they made any hostile moves towards Garden?' this time it was Rinoa who spoke.
' Not as yet, though their course indicates that they were aware of our presence when they set out, with the possible intention of interception.'
' Are they armed?'
' They are not yet within visual range, but preliminary estimates show that each ship has at least several beam weapons and projectile weapons.'
' Nothing the Ragnarok can't take care of, then.' Said Zell eagerly, rubbing his fists together.
' Hold on, Zell, we don't know if they mean to fight.' Said Xu.
Squall frowned. ' Whatever their intentions, we have to be ready.'
By this time, the 6.5 km separating them had been reduced to 4, and they could now make out the black ships. Each of them had the streamlined sleekness of all Estharan craft. Weapons were prominent, and the ships themselves were jet-black, with a trace of sliver here and there. They were in an inverted-V formation, the craft on the outside flanking the Garden, so as to surround it. The ship at the end of the formation was bigger than the rest, with even more visible weapons.
As the formation approached, Nida gently slowed the Garden down, as the flanking ships neatly turned inwards to surround them. There were seven ships in total.
Seeing this, Zell muttered, ' I don't like this one bit. Let's just hit 'em with the Rag and get outa here.'
The lead ship hailed them. Nida used one of the newly discovered functions on his control panel. A large video screen came on Star-Trek style. It showed a middle-aged woman, dressed in sombre black; she looked very much like a sorceress.
Squall spoke first. ' Greetings. Who are you and what are your intentions?'
' Commander Leonhart, Esthar is proceeding with a military operation. That operation involves the destruction of this Garden, which we are about to execute.'
' Destroy Garden?' Zell exclaimed.
' Yes. The SeeD's are regarded as a threat to Esthar road to a new empire, therefore we are currently at war.'
' You were sent by Esthar? By Laguna? I can't believe that. He is one of the Garden's greatest supporters.' Selphie protested.
The sorceress' eyes seemed to flicker for the slightest moment to Rinoa, who frowned. Then she said ' Yes, this operation was by presidential order.'
' But why would –' Squall started to say when the screen went blank.
Outside, one of the black ships turned slightly, as if adjusting its position, and fired a green beam from one of its weapons. The blast struck the shields and armour recently installed by the FH technicians, and the energy was dissipated, damaging the shields, but leaving the Garden itself unscathed. Even so, the Garden rocked with the impact of the blow. ' Thank Hyne for the shields' muttered Nida as he wrestled with the control pylon.
Squall made his decisions quickly. ' Xu, broadcast an alert on the PA. Irvine, Quistis and Selphie, you organise a defence against boarders. Nida, get your top pilot classman to take over; you're coming to pilot the Ragnarok. Rinoa and Zell, you come with us too. Remember your junctions everybody!'
Everyone rushed off to do his or her jobs. Soon, squads of SeeD's were rushing around, stationing themselves at all the entrances.
Squall and his team boarded the Ragnarok, currently residing in the Quad.
' Right,' said Nida happily as he sat down in the pilot's seat; the Rag was his favourite toy.
As they lifted off and reached altitude, they saw an enemy craft swoop in for an attack. Nida pushed the Rag for an intercept before Squall could open his mouth to issue his order.
' Zell, you got the beams ready?'
The martial artist, who was sitting behind the weapon controls, shouted ' Yeah.'
' Take it away with the main beam.'
A second later, a huge beam shot into view from under the airship and arrowed straight for its target. The impact almost spun it upside down, but its pilot managed to regain control, and jinked to avoid being a sitting target. However, Nida brought Ragnarok in to closer range and Zell opened up with the beams again.
Rinoa, who was manning the radar, shouted ' Incoming attacker, 5o'clock.'
Nida confirmed this by looking at his own screen, which showed a simpler 3D picture of where everybody was.
The Rag twisted out of the enemy's lock-on and looped, evading. The attacker followed suit, trying to get a better aim with its cannons. Nida threw the Rag into a series of evasive manoeuvres, which managed to dodge most of the fire, only getting hit by a couple of glancing shots. He dived down on an unsuspecting Esthar ship, which was preparing to fire on Garden with missiles. Zell opened up with a beam shot and a laid a spread of Gatling Gun fire on as well. The Demo ammo fired by the Gatling exploded in front of one of the ship's missile launchers just as a rocket came out of it. The beam hit the ship itself, and a split-second later, the missile was hit by the bullets and exploded, overloading the vessel's shields and cracking its hull open in a huge explosion.
Zell whooped and promptly took manual control of one of the beam weapons, spinning it until it faced their rear attacker and firing repeated spears of energy. The Esthar pilot was flying at too great a velocity to stop or dodge the beams, and crashed straight into most of them, managing to reduce the last few shots to glancing hits as she tried to pull away.
Nida ignored it for the moment, and turned to the ships currently besieging Garden. The SeeD base's shields were still holding, and bolts of light were flashing out from the weapons that had recently been mounted, gifts from Laguna. The FH technicians had at first refused to install them but Laguna had insisted, backed up by Kiros, Ward and a dozen Esthar troops. The technicians had sullenly agreed, and now Squall was glad that Laguna, in his wisdom, had insisted. The Garden was holding its own, making up for its lack of speed and evasion with firepower. The chatter of machine cannons could also be heard.
Aboard Wave Serpent 1, Captain Charinida gave out orders.
' Prepare the main cannon. Pilot, bring the ship 20 degrees starboard to enable better range of fire. Fire auxiliary weapons. Are the torpedoes ready loaded?'
' Yes, Captain'
' Prepare to fire.'
' Preparing to fire.'
' Fire!'
' Torpedo 7 fired.'
Her weapons officer looked up. ' It's a hit Captain.'
Her radar officer suddenly looked up. ' Incoming Captain. The large red Dragon ship has destroyed Serpent 5 and is headed this way, sir. Its preparing to fire sir. Our shields are low and I advise evasive manoeuvres sir.'
Charinida quickly ordered ' Pilot, evasive manoeu-' when a huge blast rocked the entire ship. Alarms blared.
' Return fire. Ret-' the ship blew up.
The rest of the attacking force was weakened by Garden's return fire. Nida was about to swoop in for a pass at another ship, when they were suddenly hailed by the lead ship.
Nida looked at Squall, who nodded. Nida flicked on the communications system.
' This is Commander Dilynrae of the Battle Group cobra. I request a conversation with Commander Leonheart.' It was the sorceress who had hailed them earlier.
' This is Commander Leonheart speaking.'
' We … wish to stop fighting and to discuss terms. Our ships are far too damaged to continue fighting.'
' Since you used an act of aggression on us, what is to stop us from destroying you?'
' This, fool. Your words have given us time to prepare a final attack.'
While they were talking, the remaining black ships had moved into a formation evenly surrounding the garden. A black beam was linking the ships by their prows, and the black energy was forming rapidly.
Rinoa blinked in surprise, and suddenly shouted ' It's a huge form of demi! They've somehow managed to use it and fire it from a cannon!'
Squall emerged from the Training centre to run into Zell.
' Hey, Squall, s'up? Had a good workout?' emphasising 'workout' with punching motions.
Squall almost felt annoyed at his friend's explosive, cheerful greeting. But since meeting Rinoa, he had opened up much more, and was determined not to go back to his old ways again, so he brushed aside his irritation, and said, ' It was alright, met a coupla Rexaurs, some good battles.'
' Cool, how about some hotdogs?'
' Er, okay. I'll get the rest of the gang together.'
' Seeya in the Caff.' Zell sprinted off, after more shadowboxing to show his opinion that the meeting would be cool.
Squall shook his head at his friend's bouncy attitude. He wondered who was actually worse, Zell or Selphie. He headed to the dorms, when another bright, bubbly personality dressed in blue ambushed him.
' Hi, Squally!' a pair of arms wrapped themselves around his chest. Squall turned and said ' Hi yourself, beautiful.' The mass of dark hair currently burrowing into his chest swept back to reveal Rinoa's face gazing adoringly into his.
When he managed to distangle her, she looked at him with puppy-dog eyes, and, jumping up and down, dragged him off towards the Caff. Squall decided that neither Zell nor Selphie were a match for Rinoa.
He dug in his heels. ' Let me change out of this stuff first!'
She pouted. ' Oh, alright, but hurry up.'
He grinned and disappeared inside.
***
Ultima ploughed on against the heavy ocean current. If his memory still served him well, the entrance to Ultimecia's Castle was somewhere along here, in one of the narrow straits between the islands of the Centra continent.
He saw a cliff-face, with a U scratched in; this was the place. He placed the palm of one massive hand on the U. Purple beams of light shone, entirely unaffected by the swirling water, and the cliff-face was suddenly caught in a dark bubble of silky blackness, looking like a demi spell. Instead of destroying the rock when the bubble expanded, it opened up into a large circular doorway.
Now to see the Sorceress.
Ultima dismounted, and stepped through.
***
Dressed in a fresh uniform now, Squall was currently being dragged along the corridor of the dorms by Rinoa, travelling at high speed. The rest of the gang had already got there when they arrived.
' Hiya, Squall!' came a high, excited voice.
' Hi, Selphie, ' he said warily. ' Hi, Quisty, Irvine.'
His former instructor smiled and the gunman nodded at him.
Zell appeared, carrying a tray of his favourite food.
' Bagsy, I get all the hotdogs!'
Irvine reached over and flicked one up, catching it. ' No chance, boyo.'
Everyone reached for a hotdog.
' So, wassup, gang?' said Selphie cheerfully.
' Your cholesterol.' Irvine replied immediately with an absolutely straight face. A split second later, most of that face was covered in hotdog as Selphie playfully hit him.
' Mmmmf' he said.
' Serves you right,' giggled Rinoa.
' Could Commander Leonhart please come to the bridge? With the Team.' Said the PA system.
Everyone knew who the Team were, so they made there way to the lift quickly, Zell armed with 5 hotdogs.
Squall flicked the 3rd floor switch. The lift paused as it checked that
they were allowed up to that level, then shot upwards.
Xu was up there waiting for them.
' Hi, guys. There's something out there, which I thought you should look at.'
Squall stepped forward beside Nida, who was still piloting the Garden. In the distance was a line of black specks, about 6 km away.
' Nida, what's our present position?'
' The Garden is presently 9 km south of FH.'
' And their approximate position?'
' About 6.5 km to our southeast.'
' That means they are pretty close to the Esthar continent then.' Said Quistis.
' Yes, they present course indicates that they set out from Esthar.' Replied Nida.
' Can you identify the ships?'
' No; they are nothing that we have encountered before in any military or peaceful situation. Their shape and methods of propulsion seem to indicate that they are of Esthar origin, though according to our database, the Esthar army contains nothing of that design. They appear to be ships, but I suspect that they are actually airships.'
' Have they made any hostile moves towards Garden?' this time it was Rinoa who spoke.
' Not as yet, though their course indicates that they were aware of our presence when they set out, with the possible intention of interception.'
' Are they armed?'
' They are not yet within visual range, but preliminary estimates show that each ship has at least several beam weapons and projectile weapons.'
' Nothing the Ragnarok can't take care of, then.' Said Zell eagerly, rubbing his fists together.
' Hold on, Zell, we don't know if they mean to fight.' Said Xu.
Squall frowned. ' Whatever their intentions, we have to be ready.'
By this time, the 6.5 km separating them had been reduced to 4, and they could now make out the black ships. Each of them had the streamlined sleekness of all Estharan craft. Weapons were prominent, and the ships themselves were jet-black, with a trace of sliver here and there. They were in an inverted-V formation, the craft on the outside flanking the Garden, so as to surround it. The ship at the end of the formation was bigger than the rest, with even more visible weapons.
As the formation approached, Nida gently slowed the Garden down, as the flanking ships neatly turned inwards to surround them. There were seven ships in total.
Seeing this, Zell muttered, ' I don't like this one bit. Let's just hit 'em with the Rag and get outa here.'
The lead ship hailed them. Nida used one of the newly discovered functions on his control panel. A large video screen came on Star-Trek style. It showed a middle-aged woman, dressed in sombre black; she looked very much like a sorceress.
Squall spoke first. ' Greetings. Who are you and what are your intentions?'
' Commander Leonhart, Esthar is proceeding with a military operation. That operation involves the destruction of this Garden, which we are about to execute.'
' Destroy Garden?' Zell exclaimed.
' Yes. The SeeD's are regarded as a threat to Esthar road to a new empire, therefore we are currently at war.'
' You were sent by Esthar? By Laguna? I can't believe that. He is one of the Garden's greatest supporters.' Selphie protested.
The sorceress' eyes seemed to flicker for the slightest moment to Rinoa, who frowned. Then she said ' Yes, this operation was by presidential order.'
' But why would –' Squall started to say when the screen went blank.
Outside, one of the black ships turned slightly, as if adjusting its position, and fired a green beam from one of its weapons. The blast struck the shields and armour recently installed by the FH technicians, and the energy was dissipated, damaging the shields, but leaving the Garden itself unscathed. Even so, the Garden rocked with the impact of the blow. ' Thank Hyne for the shields' muttered Nida as he wrestled with the control pylon.
Squall made his decisions quickly. ' Xu, broadcast an alert on the PA. Irvine, Quistis and Selphie, you organise a defence against boarders. Nida, get your top pilot classman to take over; you're coming to pilot the Ragnarok. Rinoa and Zell, you come with us too. Remember your junctions everybody!'
Everyone rushed off to do his or her jobs. Soon, squads of SeeD's were rushing around, stationing themselves at all the entrances.
Squall and his team boarded the Ragnarok, currently residing in the Quad.
' Right,' said Nida happily as he sat down in the pilot's seat; the Rag was his favourite toy.
As they lifted off and reached altitude, they saw an enemy craft swoop in for an attack. Nida pushed the Rag for an intercept before Squall could open his mouth to issue his order.
' Zell, you got the beams ready?'
The martial artist, who was sitting behind the weapon controls, shouted ' Yeah.'
' Take it away with the main beam.'
A second later, a huge beam shot into view from under the airship and arrowed straight for its target. The impact almost spun it upside down, but its pilot managed to regain control, and jinked to avoid being a sitting target. However, Nida brought Ragnarok in to closer range and Zell opened up with the beams again.
Rinoa, who was manning the radar, shouted ' Incoming attacker, 5o'clock.'
Nida confirmed this by looking at his own screen, which showed a simpler 3D picture of where everybody was.
The Rag twisted out of the enemy's lock-on and looped, evading. The attacker followed suit, trying to get a better aim with its cannons. Nida threw the Rag into a series of evasive manoeuvres, which managed to dodge most of the fire, only getting hit by a couple of glancing shots. He dived down on an unsuspecting Esthar ship, which was preparing to fire on Garden with missiles. Zell opened up with a beam shot and a laid a spread of Gatling Gun fire on as well. The Demo ammo fired by the Gatling exploded in front of one of the ship's missile launchers just as a rocket came out of it. The beam hit the ship itself, and a split-second later, the missile was hit by the bullets and exploded, overloading the vessel's shields and cracking its hull open in a huge explosion.
Zell whooped and promptly took manual control of one of the beam weapons, spinning it until it faced their rear attacker and firing repeated spears of energy. The Esthar pilot was flying at too great a velocity to stop or dodge the beams, and crashed straight into most of them, managing to reduce the last few shots to glancing hits as she tried to pull away.
Nida ignored it for the moment, and turned to the ships currently besieging Garden. The SeeD base's shields were still holding, and bolts of light were flashing out from the weapons that had recently been mounted, gifts from Laguna. The FH technicians had at first refused to install them but Laguna had insisted, backed up by Kiros, Ward and a dozen Esthar troops. The technicians had sullenly agreed, and now Squall was glad that Laguna, in his wisdom, had insisted. The Garden was holding its own, making up for its lack of speed and evasion with firepower. The chatter of machine cannons could also be heard.
Aboard Wave Serpent 1, Captain Charinida gave out orders.
' Prepare the main cannon. Pilot, bring the ship 20 degrees starboard to enable better range of fire. Fire auxiliary weapons. Are the torpedoes ready loaded?'
' Yes, Captain'
' Prepare to fire.'
' Preparing to fire.'
' Fire!'
' Torpedo 7 fired.'
Her weapons officer looked up. ' It's a hit Captain.'
Her radar officer suddenly looked up. ' Incoming Captain. The large red Dragon ship has destroyed Serpent 5 and is headed this way, sir. Its preparing to fire sir. Our shields are low and I advise evasive manoeuvres sir.'
Charinida quickly ordered ' Pilot, evasive manoeu-' when a huge blast rocked the entire ship. Alarms blared.
' Return fire. Ret-' the ship blew up.
The rest of the attacking force was weakened by Garden's return fire. Nida was about to swoop in for a pass at another ship, when they were suddenly hailed by the lead ship.
Nida looked at Squall, who nodded. Nida flicked on the communications system.
' This is Commander Dilynrae of the Battle Group cobra. I request a conversation with Commander Leonheart.' It was the sorceress who had hailed them earlier.
' This is Commander Leonheart speaking.'
' We … wish to stop fighting and to discuss terms. Our ships are far too damaged to continue fighting.'
' Since you used an act of aggression on us, what is to stop us from destroying you?'
' This, fool. Your words have given us time to prepare a final attack.'
While they were talking, the remaining black ships had moved into a formation evenly surrounding the garden. A black beam was linking the ships by their prows, and the black energy was forming rapidly.
Rinoa blinked in surprise, and suddenly shouted ' It's a huge form of demi! They've somehow managed to use it and fire it from a cannon!'