Shifting Sands

Chapter 3

By Vincent Valentine

A/N: Thank you all so much for the positive reviews. I've decided to write this chapter as fast as possible for all of you. Heh heh, Barret will not be in the story unless I bring him in as a cameo for the last chapter, or if you guys beg and plead for him. Anyway, it's time for our FF group to take a tour of Voyager. Thanks! Ja Ne!

The azure light eventually faded from Cloud's eyes. He had to blink a couple of times to get his eyesight back into focus, as did the rest of AVALANCHE. They all felt tingly, like after the use of materia after a long period of time, but once everything became clear again, they saw they were no longer on the planet, but inside the massive Starship.

Chakotay looked over them all, and smiled softly. "I don't imagine all of you are accustomed to using Transporters. The effects will wear off shortly." He offered to them, knowing that the first time he was transported anywhere, he felt like he was going to lose his lunch.

Yuffie looked up to him with hazel eyes, her ivory skin tainted with a soft green color, her head bobbing and swimming. "Urk." She stated simply before she heaved her banquet dinner onto the transporter pad. Everyone jumped a step back as Yuffie decided to grace them with showing that she had the green salad along with the baked potato for her evening meal.

Harry immediately rushed over to her, but then took a side step to the right when he saw how much vomit was actually there. "Um, are you alright? Do you need to go to sickbay?" Harry asked, still slightly looking to the mess, then looking back to her. With a shake of her head, Yuffie declined, which meant that Harry got the fortunate pleasure of getting to go back to a safe distance.

Cid smirked slightly as he lit up a cigarette, looking down to the young teenager. "Damn, kid, that must be a new record. Even for a shrimp like you." He said, chuckling softly. He gave her a reassuring pat on the back once he saw that she got back up again, wiping her mouth clean of the residual mess.

Chakotay couldn't help but smile at this. He imagined he would have probably done the same thing, if he were in their position. "I think we should move to the briefing room. I'm sure the captain will want to speak with you all, and it will give the cleaning crew a chance to get in here." He said, moving all of towards the doors, which automatically slid open. All of the people silently exited the room, moving down the respective halls.

The Starfleet ship was massive. To AVALANCHE, it was an impossible maze and labyrinth of passageways and technology. It was bigger than anything any of them had ever seen, even bigger then the Highwind airship. Cid had the look of a kid in a candy store, as he was sure that he had actually died and went to his proverbial heaven. Even Vincent, who was still at the back of the group, had a slight smirk on his face impressed with how far the human race could possibly go.

Chakotay stopped suddenly, and with a smile, looked back to them all. "I thought you might want to see this. This is our main engineering facility. This is what powers Voyager through space." He says, motioning them all to go in, as the metal doors swished open.

All of AVALANCHE looked on in dawning wonder, looking to all of the flashing lights and people in the facility, working on their individual tasks. A sharp yelp of excitement brought all of there gaze's back to Cid, who just looked ahead of them all, looking to the Warp Core. The swirling colors of blues and whites, along with hum of electricity and power running through there, filled his mind of fantastic images of possibly putting something like that in the Highwind.

Tom smiled to Cid, as he looked to the Warp Core himself. "Like a kid in the candy store. This is really what gives Voyager the ability to travel through space. This allows us to travel at warp speeds, even going as fast as warp nine point nine." Tom stated, looking to them all, Cid moving to past them all.

The aging pilot didn't even care when the cigarette fell from his awe-stricken mouth. He gently placed the Venus Gospel along the banister surrounding the core, looking up and down the mighty machine of science with shimmering light in his eyes. He gently ran his hand along the smooth texture of the core itself, drool slightly escaping from his mouth. Red XIII padded up to his friend, can't help but to smile at him, seeing is how this was probably Cid's dream coming true in front of him.

"We should explore the rest of the ship, Cid. We can come back to this later." Red XIII stated simply, looking up to him but received no response. Red XIII softly shook his head, as he wrapped his tail around the Venus Gospel and biting into the baggy part of Cid's pants, having to drag the pilot out of the room.

After finishing the rest of the tour, they all convened in the briefing room. The members of AVALANCHE took sitting positions in the available chairs that were surrounding the table, setting their weapons down by the wall, most of them leaning against it. Tuvok, Harry, and Tom had left Chakotay in the room by himself, knowing that the captain would be soon enough.

As if on call, Captain Janeway came in from the bridge, a warm smile on her face as she greeted the visitors to her ship. "Welcome everyone. "I'm Kathryn Janeway, Captain of the starship Voyager. I understand that you have all received the complimentary guest tour by my first officer, Chakotay." She said with a smile, looking to Chakotay briefly, before looking back to them all.

"I can imagine you have a lot of questions. But first, I'd like to get to know all of you first. We're explorers by nature, and new cultures absolutely fascinate me." She said again, the same inviting smile that made everyone feel comfortable during this time of heightened confusion. Clouds looked to the others in his group, shrugging lightly, as he cleared his throat and stood up first.

"I'm Cloud Strife. I'm an ex-SOLDIER from a town called Nibelheim." Cloud stated simply, not knowing what else he should add to it. The visitors from Voyager would know nothing of their exploits with Sephiroth or Shin-Ra, so there wasn't any point in telling them all about that. He nodded simply, and sat back down, as Captain Janeway nodded in return. Vincent slowly got up after him.

"My name is Vincent Valentine." He said in his basic voice that meant that was all there was to him that he was willing to share with anyone new. The neck collar of his crimson cape hastily came up and hid his mouth from view, just showing everything from the nose up now, as he sat back down. Captain Janeway smiled to him, offering a nod to the person who wanted to keep to himself. "If you ever get to meet a member of my crew named Seven of Nine, I think you two would get along very well." She stated to him, her tone conveying one of truthfulness. Cid smirked at Vincent, then stood up.

"I'm Cid Highwind." He said with a smirk, giving Chakotay and Janeway a brief thumbs up before starting to sit back down. Before he got all the way down, he shot back up again, meaning that he had something more to say. "And can I get some tea?" He questions to her, Janeway smiling in return. "Once the meeting is over, I'll show you how to use that replicator over there, and you can have as much tea as you want." She conceded to him, as he nodded and sat back down. Red XIII gently raised himself up to the table, placing his front paws on top of the tabletop.

"I am Nanaki, also known as Red XIII. I am the guardian of Cosmo Canyon." He states, his mildly deep voice shocking Captain Janeway as she was about to say something, he just smiled and nodded. "As much as everyone else on your ship has noticed, Yes, I talk." He says, shaking his head softly, looking over to Yuffie who smirked as she gently scratched under his chin.

"Don't be bashful, Red. You know you're a pretty kitty." She said in a sickeningly cute tone, that even made Red XIII's good eye narrow at her. With her traditional 'Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk,' Yuffie got up and bowed deeply. "I'm Yuffie Kisaragi. I'm the best thief around. Oh, I'm also Lady of the Pagoda in Wutai." She hastily admitted, as she sat back down, twirling a mastered Cure materia in her hand.

"It's wonderful to meet all of you. I'm sure we'll begetting to know all of you a lot better as we continue to st-" Captain Janeway began as her Comm badge chirped slightly. "Harry to Captain Janeway." Harry started off, as Captain Janeway responded. "Yes, Harry, what is it?" She asked, as her ensign responded to her. "Ma'am, Sensors just came back online and long-range sensors just picked up Trans-warp activity. There's a Borg Cube on it's way here." Harry finished, as Cloud and the others looked to the Starfleet captain, seeing her eyes widen. "Understood, Harry. All Senior officers report to the bridge." She commanded as she then looked to their guests, all of which had a look of utter confusion on their faces. "I'm sorry, but there is a problem that we must attend to. We're going to have to send you back down to the planet's surface." She stated, leaving no room for argument, as she turned towards the entrance to the bridge. Unfortunately, there was opposition.

"Wait a minute. We can't just sit back and watch if these "Borg" are going to threaten our home. We're going to help you." He said, immediately reaching for the Ultima Weapon. Twirling it around in the air a couple of times, he sets back in the sheath on his back. Captain Janeway smiled weakly at him, and nodded. "I understand. Everyone can come to the bridge. You can see the Borg for yourself." She said as she left the briefing room, the others following behind her.

Somewhere, back in space….

The Borg Queen watched as Voyager took off from the planet's surface. "I expected this much from you, Captain. It is a shame that this will be the last time we meet." She stated, a sick form of delight impending with her tone. She looked off to the viewing screen that showed the inside of the Cube that was approaching Voyager. "Prepare the stasis lock." She commanded, as she tilted her head ever so slightly, pleased with how this would turn out.