Squall entered the Annihilator, and dived straight into the cockpit. He depressed a red button, of which the Lexicon hatch closed down. Fresh oxygen immediately pumped through the pipes of the cockpit. Squall relaxed a little. He was still feeling a bit dizzy after that huge fusion intake of raw power. Clearly, his sensors have improved by a great lot, but it got better as time passed. Squall's hands took position on the flight stick. He yanked it. The Annihilator rose of the grounds of the Lighthouse, and shot into space.
Squall often wondered of the theories of which life, in itself was fabricated. Was there someone higher up there? If there was, this person was not being kind. Many a time, he had been left to himself to fend off others who were in his way, he thought bitterly. He entire life revolved around himself, without a care to those around him, or why he joined SeeD. It was absurd, he thought. Now, here he was trying single-handedly to infiltrate X-Com's bases, in search for a portal machine he couldn't confirmed created. But it was this hope, that drove him on. As the Annihilator pushed its warp drives to its maximum capacity, the planets seem to just fade by him, the moment he saw them, the very same instant it was a memory. Squall released the stick, and his fingers ran over the keyboard. The Annihilator slowed down, obeying its retro cruisers. The Annihilator finally cruised to a halt. Squall sat back in the seat, silent.
"Captain. We have visual contact with the Annihilator." Number one said. Quistis nodded her head.
"Bring it up on visual." She said. Nida entered something, and the big screen in front of the bridge flickered.
Damn, Quistis thought. Squall was taking 40 winks in the middle of space. But then again, he might just be meditating silently to himself, a thing he usually does before doing something major.
"Helmsman Mark, take us within the Annihilator's visual contact." Quistis ordered. Mark nodded.
The small screen before Squall came to life, as he snapped out of his thoughts. He peered down at it. It indicated that a starship from Garden was here. Garden, he thought. The computer suggested either a subspace hail, or a friendly maneuver. Squall mused. He pressed the subspace hail. Quistis's virtual face appeared on the small screen staring straight at him.
"This is Annihilator to Stargazer." Squall said evenly. Quistis nodded.
"This is Stargazer. Quistis at helm. Squall, are you alright?" Quistis asked.
Squall inevitably released a small smile from his lips. Quistis frowned.
"Is that a yes or a no?" she asked. Squall withdrew the smile, only to be suddenly replaced by a frown which creased his face.
Quistis smiled. He is always like that, she thought. This commander, she had always fascinated herself with. The secret admiration for her commander was buried deep within the confinements of her heart, not to be let out even at the worst times. She didn't know when it started, but all she was certain, it was there. But her commander had chose to risk his life to save a good friend of hers, which he loved. Her good friend also loved him, and they were a couple. One cannot imagine the hatred I have for Rinoa, she thought. But it was paradoxical, for she was her good friend at the same time.
"Quistis. Head back, I must undertake this alone." Squall said quietly. His eyes possessed the flare of a madman's. Saying so, the Annihilator started to gain velocity, and cruised away from Garden. Quistis sat back in her command chair, dejected.
Rinoa grasped the crystal ball in her palms, and looked at the snow falling magically from the top of the sphere. White flakes fell languidly, twirling and spinning as it descended from the sphere. The little house at the bottom of the sphere lit up with a brilliant green, and a spark enveloped the small little room which Rinoa was contained in. The brightly lit room faded to darkness, and the sphere fell to the imaginary floor. Rinoa was no more.
It was time. Squall closed his eyes, and slowly brought his hands up to his eyes. A murmur formed on his lips, and a small blue flame materialized into his palm, facing outwards. The flame burned steadily, as it increased in strength. It flickered brightly, as Squall released it. The blue flame enveloped the Annihilator, as it glowed blue. It was time to go. Squall closed his eyes once again. When he reopened them, he was in the middle of a vast ocean. Squall let out a sigh. He touched a control on the Annihilator, as it powered up, heading in a direction even Squall didn't know.
Squall peered at the world below from his cockpit. An endless and vast blue of the deep ocean was what Squall seemed to be looking at for the past few hours. The Annihilator was already traveling at its top speed steadily. He frowned. Squall depressed the throttle, as the Annihilator took a nose dive. If all of this dimension was water, he was going in to check.
The Annihilator slowly gained speed as it advanced downwards. Intense heat burned the frame of the Annihilator, but it was still holding strong. It would have to burn for a long time before it could even start to disintegrate. Squall pressed a button on the aircraft's console. A secondary layer of shielding came into action, as it unfolded to shield the main shields. Squall relaxed. Now, it should hold twice as long. The water was about to hit the nose of the Annihilator. The ETA given by the Annihilator's computers read 3 minutes. Squall pushed the impulse engines into overdrive. It sped up rapidly. The Annihilator suddenly jerked to its right, as the automatic computer systems kicked into action, nearly taking a direct missile hit. The radar showed nothing for miles, but there were missiles streaming over the place. Squall set the navigation into an evasive mode, and clasped his palms together. It was wet with perspiration. The Annihilator jerked again to its right, as a missile suddenly exploded from no where.
It must be the X-Com and it's cloaking technology, Squall thought. The ferocity of the attacks increased just as the Annihilator hit the water front. The vast endless sea disappeared. It was instantaneously replaced by a place with lots of tall buildings, taller than anything Squall had ever seen in his world, now that he knew that a world besides his existed. The Annihilator navigated its way around the buildings. Squall looked around. There were flying vehicles everywhere, as though it was commonplace. Squall steered the Annihilator towards something like an air lane, and went along with the flow of flying vehicles. Squall set the Annihilator on auto and set back in his seat.