Final Fantasy VII
SOLDIERS Story

Chapter 1
The Meeting

It was night. A group of soldiers sat around a fire place, their gear un-equipped lying beside them. Cloud, Zack, and 2 other normal Shinra soldiers stood close together a couple meters aways from the bon fire after being dropped off by a small air ship deep into the Ginjalo desert on Ched'Warraka, the western continent. The desert was near the large machine town of Gongaga. Zack was filled with many emotions. This would be his very first time meeting the great Sephiroth, the legendary super-soldier rumored to be invincible, an immortal, unstoppable, fighting machine. He felt very nervous and a little scared, he hoped he wouldn't say or do anything stupid in front of him, but at the same time he felt brave and excited, after all, he is about to meet the great Sephiroth. It would be Clouds first time meeting him as well, unfortunately Cloud wouldn't get the chance to see him that day but later on. He always dreamed of fighting alongside with Sephiroth in combat as a SOLDIER. His dreams, however, were crushed after realizing he would never become one of Shinras super-elite masters of combat. SOLDIER... 1 in 10,000 made it in. He was sure he would make it as well, if it only weren't for that fucking psychological evaluation test he probably could have and Cloud thought that about that every day. However it was probably true. Sephiroth was his idle, Cloud respected him more than anyone and always hated himself for not making into SOLDIER. Now he was just another ordinary soldier in Shinras army, given the standard R-75d assault rifle and navy blue uniform he felt like just another pathetic pawn in a game of very complicated chess, where nothing is what it seems. Zack and Cloud knew each other, but at this moment weren't as good friends as they would one day become. There fighting skills were pretty much equally matched, but it was Clouds negative, disrespectful, "I don't give a fuck" attitude and loner-mentality that resulted in him not getting into SOLDIER. But At least he could finally meet Sephiroth.

The small base Zack, Cloud and the others were now standing in was composed of 6 tents. There were three transport vehicles sitting behind the tents used to move the troops, equipment, and tents. Several chocobo's were scattered throughout the base and Shinra soldiers were everywhere doing various tasks.

Cloud could see a man dressed in a red uniform similar to his own walking toward them, definitely of higher rank, Cloud didn't know exactly what rank he was and he didn't give a damn. The man stopped about five feet away from the four men and lit a tightly hand rolled cigarette.

"I see your all here in one piece... that's good." he said, a grin appearing on his face. "My name is Dahon Aldael, I hear you boys are meeting Sephiroth for the first time, well you all must be pretty excited."

"Sir, yes, sir!" the 4 of them shouted.

"Your Zack aren't you?" Dahon asked Zack.

"Yes sir, SOLDIER 1st Class, sir!" Zack replied.

"Heard this is your first big mission, none of that other gotta drop off supplies to Junon and protect the convoy mission crap."

"Yes sir." Zack replied.

"Hmmm... I see. You'll be meeting Sephiroth shortly, as for the rest of you, you shall perhaps see him tomorrow, sorry you cant see him today, I know you are all probably very eager to meet him but he is far to busy right now. Zack however is a SOLDIER and that's a different story, you'll find out soon enough why later Zack." Dahon told Zack. "Heard about you, heard ya got some skill, heard that's why Sephiroth wants you with him on this mission, made a rep. for yourself already boy, good job."

"Thank you sir!" Zack replied.

"Hey you!" Dahon shouted at Cloud. "This is your first mission too aint it?" he asked.

"Uhhh... yes sir." Cloud replied quietly

"Your gonna have to speak up if you wanna be heard boy."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Cloud shouted.

"Good... very good, I like to find out everything I can about the people that I may die with, some of you may be the last people I will ever see, out here we are all a family, remember that, that's why I know so much about y'all." He said with a grin on his face. "Sorry about all that talk of death, didn't mean to scare ya." He laughed.

"All right boys, enough chit-chat, let's get to work, we're in the middle of the fucking desert you know, and things are getting pretty hot, already suffered a lot of casualties. Zack it's time to see who I'm sure you been dying to meet, oops, shouldn't of said dying, well let's see if your still alive by tomorrow, follow me." Dahon said, laughing sarcastically as he walked off. After a few steps he stopped, noticing Zack wasn't following him like he asked. Zack was in too much shock, he would finally be meeting Sephiroth.

"C'mon you doorknob, Sephiroth doesn't have all day!" yelled Dahon. "Fuckin rookie," he muttered.

Zack began walking behind Dahon. He already liked Dahon, he could tell he was a leader, and a good one too, very charismatic. As usual Cloud simply didn't care.

"He's in the main tent up there!" Dahon shouted pointing toward a large tent surrounded by smaller tents.

There were six tents. The largest tent in the center was about 10 meters in diameter and shaped like a half-sphere dome, sort of like an igloo, except made out of thin squares of mythril linked together with chains so it could be folded up and brought to different places if needed to. Above the tent there was a large, thick covering being held up by 4 large metal poles that appeared to be foldable as well, the middle of the cover had a large hole cut in it and dropped to the ceiling of the mythril dome. The tip of the dome poked out of the hole and had a smaller hole cut out of it as well for ventilation and moisture purposes. The hole was covered with 3 layers of mythril chain-link to prevent anything from happening such as an intruder trying to sneak into the tent through the ceiling during the middle of the night. The chain-links were welded to the tent and this was mythril, you wouldn't be able to break a metal as strong as mythril without causing commotion. The hole also served as a heating and air-conditioning service, it would collect moisture (especially when it rained), then absorb the water through a special covering beneath the mythril chains (which also prevented the rain from getting inside the tent). The water would then run through a network of tubing and fill into various pockets spread out through the tent. These pockets would then heat up, or cool down and release heat or cold through the tent. This could be controlled from inside then tent to get the perfect temperature. The entire tent (including the mythril) was also painted beige to blend in with the sand. The other tents were about half the size of the large one and were just like the large one in every way except of course smaller.

"Aw'right, wait here!" Dahon said.

He went inside the tent and seemed to be gone for a long time. After a few minutes he came out.

"Come in." He said.

The tent was filled with supplies. Box's, crates, and sacks of weapons, food, ammo and other supplies werew scattered all over the tent. A round table lied about 6 meters from the opposite wall of where Zack was standing. Sitting at the table were 2 men discussing something amongst each other. One of the men had long white hair, a black cloak, glowing green eyes, and a massive 6 and a half foot long sword strapped to his back. It was him, the legendary Sephiroth.

"Please, sit." Sephiroths said softly. "So your Zack, I've heard good things about you. This is your first real mission isn't it?"

"Yes, sir." Zack told him choking on his words. He was so nervous.

"I see." Sephiroth replied. "You probably want to know why you've been sent here don't you"

"Yes, sir." Zack replied nervously.

Sephiroth quietly laughed.

"He's still green," he commented to Dahon. Dahon grinned and nodded his head.
"We have found evidence of a large base in the middle of the desert, the base belongs to a tiny country called Obalin. One of the many countries in the eastern part of Ched'Warraka. As you probably know Shinra has had many problems with the constantly warring eastern area of the continent. Our intelligence tells us that this base is filled with radical new technology and weaponry being created if not all ready made. You've no doubt heard about the 4 large shipments heading from and to different locations containing many weapons, technology and vehicles belonging to the Shinra that were hijacked, and the huge factory on the outskirts of Junon being robbed, also containing weaponry, technology, and vehicles that belonged to the Shinra?

"Yes, sir." Zack answered.

"Thanks to our spies we believe some of the goods that were stolen are in that base, our mission is to find out what the fuck is going on. We have to know what kind of new twisted weapons these maniacs are making or have already made. We must take back what belongs to us if are spies are correct a large amount of what was stolen should be in that base. And lastly kill everyone, leave no survivors, and completely destroy the base." Sephiroth told Zack. "You, another SOLDIER named Kloden, and me have been ordered to sneak into the base and find out just what the fuck is going on. We can't attack head on, their defaces are far too powerful, we will have to use stealth, not brute force. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Zack answered.

"Good, more technical specs and other important info will be explained to you tomorrow, for now go get some sleep. We will be leaving at the break of dawn," Sephiroth said. "Dahon show Zack where he will be sleeping tonight, that is all, you are both dismissed, I must discuss some things Basvald."

"Yes sir, replied Dahon. "C'mon lets go." He told Zack.

"Who is Basvald?" Zack asked.

"Commander Basvald Alternalad, pretty much second in command on this mission next to Sephiroth," answered Dahon. "Now c'mon ya gotta rest up for tommorow."

He showed Zack the tent he would be sleeping in, he be sharing it with Cloud and the other two soldiers that came with him to the Ginjalo desert.