"Shifting Sands"

Part One

By Vincent Valentine

A/N : I don't any of these characters. I don't own Star Trek: Voyager or Final Fantasy 7, so don't try and sue me. And this is a crossover fiction, so it may be a little confusing to those of us that still haven't seen either Star Trek: Voyager, or still haven't played Final Fantasy 7, you poor, poor souls. Okay, that's it. Ja ne!

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The depths of space were like those of waves in a ocean. Normally quiet, but when something disturbs them, they tend to ripple and crash in the proverbial rocks. Such is the case, when a ship drops out of a Trans-Warp conduit. The ship damaged badly, one of the engines shut off, in fear of an explosion.

"Report, Harry!" Captain Janeway commanded of her ensign operations officer.

"Starboard warp nacelle is off line. Same with warp drive and maneuvering thrusters. We've got Impulse only for the time being." Harry Kim responded, calming down from the battle.

The Borg cube had done such damage to the Voyager, while trying to capture the small ship in one of the Borg's Trans-warp tunnels. The federation ship was forced to cut off early, from their planned destination: Earth.

"Form repair teams immediately. I want those systems back on-line by the end of the day. Tom, where are we?" First officer Chakotay asked to Tom.

Tom Paris hastily checked over co-ordinates on the helm control panel as he softly shook his head. "The sensors are fried. All I can offer is the viewing screen." Tom justified, looking back to the two commanding officers.

Captain Janeway looked briefly over to Chakotay, before looking back to Tom. "On screen then, Mr. Paris." Janeway stated simply, looking to the viewing screen. Tom nodded then punched up a few commands, activating it.

The planet that showed up looked like Earth very much. The same blue oceans, the same land masses where they should be, and the white strands of clouds hanging in the atmosphere. Everyone on the bridge held a gasp, looking to what might be his or her home.

"Wait a minute. Did we make it?" Harry asked skeptically, looking to everyone, and couldn't help but having a slight tinge of excitement into his voice.

"We won't know for sure until sensors come back on line, but it is possible." Tuvok stated in the standard Vulcan logic that had kept him steadfast in all the years on Voyager.

"Let's not get excited, everyone. We don't know for sure yet, so I don't want any jumping to conclusions." Kathryn Janeway spoke reasonably, trying to not get anyone's hopes up. Still, even she had to admit deep down inside; she was excited about this being their home. A home that they had been away from for seven years, traversing so many dangers and obstacles to reach once again. "Prepare landing procedures, Tom." Janeway said, then sitting back down in her chair.

"Yes, ma'am." Tom said, an excited smile on his face. Voyager slowly entered into the planet's orbit, then settling down into the planet's atmosphere.

The fireworks danced along the night sky, brilliant colors of red's and blue's and any other colors thought imaginable painted on the black diamond canvas. On the ground, a celebration was occurring like no other. Dancers danced, people performed tricks, and jubilant music played for all to hear. The celebration was an anniversary, the anniversary for the Saviors of the Planet. Or at least that's what AVALANCHE was renamed after the Meteor incident. Most of them attended this celebration, a five-year anniversary to show their appreciation, but all were not in attendance.

"I don't see why I have to wear a party hat." Red XIII stated curtly, the paper hat attached to the white string under his furry chin. His tail swished back and forth on the chair he was setting on, an obvious sign of annoyance with such decorations cramping his mane.

"Because it looks nice on you, Red. And deep down you know you like it." Tifa stated with a smile, her dress replacing her normal white shirt and skirt, her Premium Heart not anywhere on her fists. She showed that continual cheerfulness that annoyed some, but was pleasant to others.

"The hat is a lot better than this dress, Red. Gawd, not only is it tacky, but it's not even my color." Yuffie complained, nothing new to the others since they had been there. She slouched in her chair, eyeing the crowd. "There's so many people here, they have Materia, and I can't even "borrow" it from them. Jeez, what a boring night." She continued on, another member of AVALANCHE looking to her.

"God%#@!@^,Yuffie, quit complaining. This is our celebration, so enjoy it, kid." Cid states simply, taking a long drag from a cigarette, hanging between his lips. He slightly smiles as he blows a smoke ring, looking to it as it gradually floats into the air.

"I thought you told Shera you would quit." Vincent says quietly, meant only to Cid, instead of the others. The sometimes-quietest member of AVALANCHE spoke to his friend, trying see what he started again.

Cid looks over to Vincent, smiling softly. "Only around her and the baby. Do you see either of them around us?" He says with a mischievous smile, then taking another long puff from the cigarette, then blowing it back into the air.

Vincent shrugged simply, then sat back in his chair. He nervously tugged at the collar of his shirt, seeing that the bow tie around it was a little tight for his taste. The whole suit entirely was out of his taste, nothing like the black clothes and crimson cape he normally wore.

"Relax, Vincent. Even you can manage to have a little fun for this. Or are you afraid you'll spoil that bad-ass image to everyone?" Cloud remarked off to his left, looking to his friend with a broad smile. An icy glare from Vincent made the smile disappear slightly, Cloud moving to scratch the back of his head. "Come on, guys. It's our celebration, and all we have to do is sit through it and make tiny speeches at the end." Cloud stated simply, leaning back in his chair. They all sat on a grand stage, and were allowed to wave to everyone as they passed by. Some of them even signing autographs for excited fans.

Everyone had on the planet had praticly gotten to know each of them, after they saved the planet from Meteor. Their faces were broadcasted as such, proclaiming them saviors of the planet. All though each of them had thought that they were only doing their job, they come to think that what they did was a notable thing, and decided to celebrate in it.

"Hey, if Reeve put this on for us to show his thanks, why isn't he down here with us?" Yuffie asked, somewhat angrily looking to Cloud.

Cloud shrugged, looking to the teenage ninja. "Why would he? He's the president of ShinRa now, and if he did come down, he'd probably come as Cait Sith." Cloud tried to explain to her, then thinking how humorous it would be to see the small robotic stuffed cat in a small tuxedo, making a speech in front of everyone.

"Damnit, can't you all relax? This a party, numbskulls." Cid stated, somehow getting a glass of champagne, lightly sipping on it. He then set the glass down on the arm of the chair, looking to them. "This is a party overdue for a long-ass time. We should-" Cid began, but was interrupted by a bright flash of light from up in the sky. Many of the people turned to look at the sky, then started to turn and run, as they could see something approaching the planet, very rapidly to add worse for wear. Images of Meteor began to flicker through all of their heads, and how is only a matter of feet from landing on the Earth, barely escaping total annihilation. "Shit." Cid managed finally, looking to the others.

Cloud stood up rapidly from his chair, looking to them. "All right, people. We're going to go check that out." Cloud ordered, already beginning to strip out of the suit, and into more comfortable clothes, should a fight happen. "Let's mosey." He said, starting to move off the stage. He looked back to see of them still standing there, looking to him. Cloud sighed, and put his hands on his hips. "Alright, alright. Let's move out." He gave in, as the others nodded, and followed him off the stage.