The battle raged all around Seifer. It surrounded him and heightened all his senses. The noise of gunfire and combat rang in his ears and kept him tuned to the tide of combat around him. The closest pirate took aim with his rifle, and time, for Seifer, slowed to a crawl, as it always did during such moments. He had time to notice the sunlight on the barrel as it swung toward him. He saw where the pirate aimed and had time to step aside. Seifer watched the bullet fly past him, noticing the ripples it left in its wake. He stepped to one side and swung Hyperion up backhanded; gunblade met rifle and sparks flew. Following through, Seifer brought the blade back down again, at enough of an angle that it bit into the pirate's neck. One of Seifer's long legs lashed out, knocking the man to the ground. Seifer then dropped into a crouch and whirled around, catching the pirate behind him by surprise. A muffled report issued from the gunblade as it bit into flesh, cutting far enough into the man's side that Seifer could feel it connect with the spinal column; another pirate lay dispatched.
Seifer stood, turning to face the other members of his squadron. To the two cadets in his squad, he seemed less like a man and more like a force of nature. Back at Garden, he had achieved almost legendary status, but the students working with him did not expect the efficient machine before them. They saw a blur, the sole participant in a choreographed dance. The underclassmen panted, already tiring from battle, when he turned to them. The minute they saw the resolve in his eyes, though, they stood at attention, ready to follow him into battle. With his blade, he pointed towards the central building of the base complex and headed off without a word.
* *
Squall stood by, watching the battle, part of him longing to join in the fight. He couldn't feel comfortable acting as an observer, but the nature of the field exam demanded that the candidates prove themselves. He turned away, going over the tactical readout of the battle, sure that he'd missed something. For the first time, he noticed a small building to one side of the complex. A tall antenna protruded from the top of the building, similar to the antennas on the other buildings. This one, though, looked more advanced, reminiscent of the Communications Tower in Dollet, only more menacing somehow. Squall's stomach sank as he realized the antenna's purpose.
"Shit..." he muttered aloud.
Three squadrons advanced on the main building, their progress impeded by the hail of gunfire. As they neared the compound, a high-pitched whine filled the air.
"Everybody scatter!" Squall yelled, his message relayed to the cadets over the communication channels. No sooner had he given the order than a brilliant red beam of light flashed down from the sky, leaving a smoking crater where, just moments before, one of the squadrons stood.
"We don't know when that thing's going to fire again! Nida, Irvine, whenever you're ready!" Squall screamed.
"Received and en route. It's going to take some time, though, since I'm dodging anti-aircraft emplacements all over the place."
"Squall!" Selphie called out, as she hurtled across the battlefield towards him, "Squall, this is not good!"
"I know," he replied, "those antennas are feeding our locations to a satellite cannon. I should have seen it sooner. Damn it!"
"We have three squadrons pinned down!"
Sure enough, squadrons A, B, and D all stood trapped, crouching behind a small outcropping of rock, trying to keep their heads low to avoid the gunfire from the pirate base. Seifer kneeled with them, teeth clenched, as he tried to think of a way out of the situation.
"There's only one way we're all getting out of this alive, Squall." Selphie's inherent cheer vanished, replaced by genuine concern for the younger students. The death of so many of Selphie's friends – killed in the missile strike on Trabia Garden -- wounded her, and she did not intend to let it happen again.
"I know, Selphie. We have to take out that antenna. You up for it?"
Selphie patted the nunchuku hanging at her side and smiled, grim satisfaction dancing in her eyes. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Xu," Squall said, "we've encountered a potentially dangerous situation. Selphie and I are going to intervene. I'll see if we can salvage the exam, but if not, I want the SeeD forces ready to go as soon as we get the cadets clear. Please notify all squadron captains of this development."
"I'll get right on it, Squall. Make sure you bring everyone back in one piece. That goes for you too." Squall tuned out the beginnings of Xu's announcement to the captains as he looked for the best way to access the antenna building. Suddenly, Selphie's voice pierced the air.
"Seifer!" she screamed. "What the hell are you doing?"
Seifer began crossing towards the building, striding amid a hail of bullets, all of which fell to the ground, energy expended, as they encountered the magical shield he had created.
Squall issued a set of hasty commands to Xu.
"Put me through on a direct line with Seifer. It's urgent. Once you've finished with that, scramble the SeeDs. I want them to get the candidates out of here as soon as possible. Have Irvine supervise the withdrawal on the transports, and we'll get out on the Ragnarok. The mission is now a secondary priority."
Squall heard Xu reconfiguring the communications setup.
"Okay, Squall," she said, "you're through. Do what you have to."
"Seifer. Get back here, now." Squall's voice came out clipped and terse as he spoke.
"Sorry, Squall. No can do."
"Listen very carefully. This is a direct order. I am speaking as field commander of SeeD. Turn around now. I know you want to help, but the Ragnarok is on the way. We'll take care of this once everyone is clear."
"That cannon has to come down now, and you know it as well as I do. The Ragnarok won't be here in time. I'm going offline now. Goodbye, Squall."
The channel fell silent dead as Seifer cut off communications. Squall turned to Selphie, trying to think of a way to save his friend.
"Selphie, we're going after him." She nodded and waited for Squall to give the signal. When he did, they both hurtled across the battlefield, trying to ignore the bullets crashing into the ground near them. On bursting into the building, Squall had little time to react as a blade arced out towards him. Squall brought his gunblade up in a hasty parry and the two weapons met with a bone-jarring clash. Squall found himself staring down the business end of a very familiar gunblade.
"Sorry about that," Seifer said, grinning, a mixture of guilt and amusement on his face. "I was sort of expecting an enemy or something. Anyhow, you kids here to help?"
"Yeah. Any ideas on how we're going to shut this place down?"
Seifer turned to Selphie, asking, "You were the one who took out the missile base, right? Can you do it again?"
"I'll see what I can do."
"Good," Squall replied, "and Seifer and I will go introduce our gunblades to anything that looks breakable."
"It's not the most subtle idea you've ever had, Leonhart, but it sounds like as good of a plan as we're likely to come up with on such short notice," Seifer answered.
The three started causing as much havoc as possible within the small building. Selphie pounded away on the computer while Squall and Seifer attacked anything resembling a power supply line. Occasionally, they ran across one of the terrified technicians who operated the cannon. The sight of the two scarred warriors, one fair and one dark, both glowering like gods of war, sent more than a few of them running in terror.
In a room on a lower level of the base, Seifer found a large room, with computer terminals lining every wall. A pillar stood in the center of the room, with a glowing canister on top of it. The national crest of Esthar adorned the canister, and a technician had just finished locking it down. At Seifer's approach, the man ran to one of the terminals and pressed a button, causing a glass enclosure to descend around the canister.
The technician fumbled, trying to get his weapon out of a locked drawer. He managed to free his pistol and raised it. In that time, Seifer crossed the distance between them. He raised Hyperion and, in one clean motion, sliced the man's hand off. It fell to the ground, blood spilling everywhere, the man screaming in pain.
Seifer grabbed the man by the hair and dragged him towards the glass
enclosure. He stood the technician up, facing
the glass, and slammed his face into the glass with brutal force. Seifer heard a crunch as the man's nose
shattered but despite a small spider web of bloody cracks, the glass held. Seifer threw the man against the glass again
and the cracks expanded, but the glass did not break. Seifer snarled in frustration, gritting his
teeth and ramming the technician into the glass one last time.
The satisfying sound of glass breaking rewarded his third effort, and he continued to push the man forward, breaking glass as he fell to the ground. Seifer used the edge of his gunblade to widen the hole, and ducked into the enclosure himself. He picked up the canister and headed for the stairs, leaving bloody footprints behind him.
* *
"Okay, Selphie, what did you find?"
The brunette's face lit up with delight, mischief dancing through her emerald eyes as Squall approached.
"Squall," she said, unable to contain her glee, "you are going to love this." She punched a few buttons and a gauge popped up on screen, detailing how much of the base's power fed directly into the cannon, and how long until it had enough energy to fire again.
"And?" Squall asked, secretly wishing she'd found the self-destruct command instead.
"Just watch!" With a few clicks, Selphie had taken active control of the gauge. She slid the power to the cannon higher and higher, draining more power out of the solar cells up above. Once the base fed the cannon two hundred percent of its normal energy allotment, the lights of the room dimmed. At two fifty, the room fell almost entirely dark. At three hundred, all the lights on the base died out except for the computer Selphie was using.
"Selphie, you're only charging the gun up faster. That's not what we want!"
"Yeah, but I also found the targeting mechanism. Let me put it this way: in a minute or two, you won't want to be standing here."
Squall almost missed her words, responding to a burst of static in his ear, "Seifer, what's up?"
"Well, I've got good news and bad. The good is that I've secured the package."
"And the bad news?"
"The bad is that I can't get it out because it's pitch black in here, so turn the damn lights back on!"
Selphie laughed aloud, relieved that everyone was going to be safe. "Why? Is widdle Seifer afwaid of the dark?"
A few more taps of the computer, and the three of them headed back outside, Seifer carrying the canister over his shoulder. As they cleared the threshold of the building, they could see the last transport speeding away. The Ragnarok circled overhead, having retreated out of gunfire range after setting Irvine down.
"Okay, Nida. We're ready for extraction whenever you are," Squall said.
"The sooner the better," muttered Selphie.
The red dragon ship lowered itself to the ground, amidst gunfire from the pirate base. Frustrated, Nida launched a few missiles in their general direction, sending the majority of the pirates running for cover.
"Sorry 'bout that, Squall. My finger must've slipped." Squall shook his head, knowing how much Nida enjoyed a chance to show off his aim.
"Understood, Nida. Happens to the best of us."
Without waiting for the Ragnarok to land, Squall, Seifer, and Selphie scrambled aboard. Under Nida's skillful guidance, the ship sped forward, gaining altitude with every second.
"Request permission to bomb the hell out of them, Commander."
"Granted."
Nida let another volley of missiles fly at the base, but they vanished in the blast from the satellite, which destroyed the rest of the base. Smoke from the charred remains of the base filled the afternoon sky; the Ragnarok started to turn slowly eastward, towards the country of Esthar.