Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I skipped work the next day and slept off a mild hangover from the other night. But today I'm back, gracing everyone with my presence.

It's weird though, cause we all got orders to report immediately to the amphitheater and that all of our pre-scheduled jobs for today were cancelled. So I met up with Lennie and headed down to the assembly.

"What do ya think this is all about?" asked Lennie curiously.

"Dunno, but it better be quick cause I wanna get back to my ship." I said impatiently.

"Man it ain't your ship, it's Shinra's."

"Yeah well it's my ship no matter what those Shinra assholes say."

That provoked some laughter from Lennie.

As we filed into the assembly I saw portly little Palmer on the stage. Was he finally acknowledging me for Lircos? Palmer fiddled with the microphone and motioned for us to take a seat.

He cleared his throat and began.

"Now you may all be wondering what this is all about."

We nodded our heads.

"Well recently as you may have seen on the news…" he droned.

I lit up a cigarette and got ready to stand up for my big moment.

"There was a disastrous training accident out on the fields. Three of our best pilots were killed."

This was the big news! Come on didn't I get any recognition?

"And since this fatal accident has occurred we need to fill the spots of those brave pilots in their squadron."

I snorted; they'd probably screw me over on this one too.

"So at this time I would like to honor the following pilots and ask them to come up to the stage."

I tensed and accidentally inhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Would Leonard Clifton, Hector Winters and Cid Highwind please come up to the stage."

I sprang out of my seat and practically ran up to the stage. I'd finally made it!

As I got up their I saw that Lennie had a stupid grin on his face too, quite similar to mine. And then I looked to the left of Lennie and saw the kid. I'd heard his name but I'd just kinda forgot about it, till now.

Why the hell was that little twerp flying in a combat squad?

But I'm not gonna bother think about that now. Cause I just made combat pilot!

"Congratulations. Now your orders are to clean out your desks and report to the combat wing immediately after for flight suits." Said Palmer over the mild applause.

We were escorted out first by one of the Turks, the bald one. The kid tagged along to our desks cause he didn't have one to clean.

"This is great huh guys?" queried the kid excitedly.

"Yeah, sure, great." I muttered.

"How the hell did you ever make pilot anyway kid?" Lennie blurted out.

"Well when I was up in Hojo's lab I got a hold of one o' them flight simulators, and I flew it all the time and one of the guards saw my scores and told Mr. Palmer." He rattled off quickly.

"So it took us two years of flyin' for Shinra to make the fighters, but it only took you a day?" asked Lennie astonished.

"That's 'bout right."

"There goes Shinra, screwin' us over again." I muttered.

Suddenly I realized that Turk was still standing at the doorway waiting for us. I shoved the remaining stuff into the trash and motioned for Lennie to do the same. The kid tagged along behind us.

As we walked down the hall I heard the pressure locked doors to the combat wing hiss open. As I stepped over the threshold the eerie white light of artificial lighting bathed us in its glory.

****

Later on me and Lennie headed down to the bar to celebrate. Our whole afternoon had been spent getting fitted for flight suits and finding our bunks. We never even met our commander.

"So you boys are big time now." Said Abe as he poured us another round.

"Yep." I muttered not bothering to look up from my drink.

"Hey you two shut up, the news is comin' on. Might be somethin' about Lircos Cid." Said Lennie, still fairly sober.

Upon mention of my exploits I looked up.

"This is a special news flash." Said the reporter as she switched the broadcast over to another line.

Suddenly President Shinra was on the air, sitting at his desk.

"Good evening. I have some very important news for you…" he went on to explain about Lircos.

Finally they at least talked about it. Then they switched to a shot of the three Wutaian fighters. They must've taken that shot from my freighter.

"These three Wutaian fighters openly committed hostile acts. We have considered this matter a great deal and we have come to only one conclusion. The Wutaians have instigated a war. And we fear more hostile acts. If we wish to save ourselves then we must take action." Said the President, trying to look grim.

"Yeah!" yelled a chorus of drunken patrons.

"So we are issuing an order for all pilots and Shinra military personnel to report to their respective stations immediately.

Thank you, and good night." Finished the president with his hands clasped together as his image faded out and the reporter came back on.

"Well boys, looks like you better get goin'. Said Abe as he picked up our glasses.

"Yeah see ya later Abe." I muttered as I stood up.

As we walked out I threw Abe a few gil and zipped up my flightsuit.

On the long walk to our station many thoughts flashed through my mind.

So this was why they promoted us, because there was a war. Not cause of how well we could fly, but because those freaking bureaucrats wanted to start a little war.

Damn Shinra.

Authors note- Sorry it took so long to get the next chapter up. But I've been rather busy lately, but now that we got vacation I should be able to get some more stuff up soon. Please R&R!