With the Raganok circling ever closer, Dawn pushed herself deeper into the shadows. As the ship passed over-head, the outcast looked at it, with a mixture of fear and admiration. Like its organic counterparts, the flying harbinger of doom was truly beautiful. Like most things in life, its far more scary to have you're destruction to be pretty.

With a sinking heart she realised that there was no running now. The seeds, once they touched down would place the city under total lock down. No escape. Game over.

She began to make her way down to the square, where the dragonic flying machine had touched down. Might as well go down with a bang, after all.

Squall faced the galabdian in front of him, and walked down the ramp. Both men surveyed each other on the earth, as the rest of the seeds piled out of the ship, forming two neat rows behind their commander. The president was already flanked by mages and solders, which mostly had projectile weaponry.

In the back of Squalls mind, tiny alarm bells began to ring.

Why do you need us? Squall thought. You have enough muscle power here on your own-are the rebel groups that strong. If they are not, why are we here?

The president smiled coldly. "I am afraid, Commander Leonhart, that the circumstances have changed. I was expecting a quick arrival on your part, yet you spent six hours getting here. With your fine spacecraft, I was expecting at a maximum of two hours. What is your excuse?"

"Sir. We have to prepare the ship and Seeds for arrival, and as you are well aware, we must abide by the air speed limits whilst flying to avoid accidents. We Also told you when we were to arrive, and we have arrived on time."

"You are not needed anymore commander. We have already captured the rebels."

He gestured with one hand loosely at huddled figures behind him, mostly in their teens, but children and the elderly are just as noticeable in the crowds.

"If you have done our job for us, it is still standard procedure to claim travelling expenses-unless you have another job for us."

The president turned away. "In actual fact Commander I do."

Spinning round smoothly and meeting Squalls eye, the president looked at his men.

"Commander, your last order from me is to die."

On this cue, the solider behind the power hungry man raised their sub-auto machine guns and opened fire.

Dawn, watching the show, saw this as an opportunity to help the captives whilst the two superpowers tussled. Jumping off the fire escape, on which she was perched she then padded off towards the commotion. Perhaps, she thought wistfully, the dictator has bitten off more than he can chew.

Squall was suddenly very glad for G.F. enhancements, and seed training, and to be still breathing. His instincts, which were abnormally high even without any G.F.'s, being a sorceress' knight, were working overtime, dodging bullets that rained down on him, and deflecting the bullets that he couldn't. He was soon was moving so fast he was a blur. All that could be heard was the rattle of machine guns and the ping of bullets on gunblade. Every time a bullet hit the blue blade, there was a blinding flash of light, as the estharian metal sparked in protest.

Spinning…

So fast…

It hurt…

Snarling, he felt red hot metal slice across his arm.

Concentrate! Squall screamed mentally. Keep going!

His weapon was heating up, glowing white blue, a flaming brand leaving an after image in the air, making the commander harder to hit.

Whilst Squall danced with death, Quistis, second in command, started barking out orders. Seeds changed formations, the projectile specialists and mages moving forward and taking aim. It was apparent that Squall was changing positions too fast to cast a protect spell, so the mages contented themselves with blasting the enemy.

Dawn crawled on hr stomach, under Para magic and bullets that buzzed like flies over her head. The first huddled figure was dead, hit by a stray bullet. The second was Kim, scared out of her mind and barely coherent. Her slang, language and accent got worse the more frightened she got.

"Shut up shutupshtupshutup" Dawn hissed as she cut her bonds, and then was forced to tackle her as she tried to get up. A firaga spell whistled over her head, witch would have vaporised the panicky teen. Shoving her head in the muddy ground Dawn carried on to the next captive…

Squall pirouetted over to the next man and promptly decapitated him, whilst the last two were taken out by the Seeds. The momentum of his fight caused the Gunblade to fly out of his hands and bury itself into the wall beside him, as he cannoned backwards, landing heavily on his back.

Grinning, Zell bounced over and helped him up. Squall panted, doubling over as lactic acid seared into seemingly every muscle in his body.

"That was so cool man I'd li! H-hey! One of them is free!"

Dawn suddenly found out how much it hurt to have her hand stepped on. She screeched and tried to fight back, but Zell was having none of it. Wrapping a paw round her wrist, he dragged her towards the Seed officers beside the Raganok. Pulling a fancy salute, he brandished his find to Xu, whose eyes lit up in shock.

"Zel- I mean Mr. Dincht, who is…this?"

"I dunno, I just found her sniffing around the captives, what do you want me to do?"

A click echoed around the square, and Zell stiffened as he felt cold steel press against his neck.

"Well, blondie, I dunno 'bout her, but I would like to see you let the hell go of my friend." Kim stated grimly.

"Brave-very brave kid…" stated Zell, keeping his body loose…then sweeping his legs round and throwing himself on his back, using his arm as a pivot. Somewhere above his head, the woman's gun discharged, the faint crack telling Zell that it used a silencer, and thus his aggressor frequently used sneak attacks. The bullet in question sank itself into Xu's shoulder.

"…But not quiet good enough." He finished, pressing a foot on her throat.

"Scratch that Xu, make that two captives."

"I'm no kid! How dare you call me 'kid'! You soddin' seeds think your sooo tough don't you!" Zell tried to hold Kim away from him slightly as she raged on and on, whilst keeping her in his firm grip.

"A little help!" he yelled, as Kim began kicking his leg.

Voices began to be raised and soon everyone was shouting over each other, trying to restore order or otherwise. It rose and people began milling around. Towards the Raganok, then away, eddies in the flow of seeds. People began jogging, then running, in pointless circles. Seeds reduced to rabble.

"ENOUGH!"

How can one voice be loud and quiet at the same time, how can one voice be so civilised and full of primal rage in the same nanosecond? However he did it, Squall managed the feat, and it brought all in earshot to a sudden stop. Without missing a beat he began rapping out orders, bringing order once more. Seeds retreated back in the Raganok, messages were sent over the space ships radio, explaining what had just taken place. And somehow Dawn found herself and her second in command placed under direct scrutiny of the commander.

Her resemblance to him was striking, to say the least.

She was basically the same size and shape as him. They had the same hair colour, but hers was far longer. They had the same facial shape, but his was slightly sharper. However, he hadn't got her eyes – well he had one of them…they were the same eyes she had had before the Galabadian attack, stormy blue with flecks of grey. She wondered if they changed colour according to how he felt, like hers did…

…She hadn't got his eyes – well she had one of them…stormy blue with flecks of grey, but the other was bright green, like oak leaves, again flecked, but with an amber colouration. He wondered if they changed colour according to how she felt, like his did…

Squall was the first to break the silence, necessity complied him too.

"You freed your companions and escaped whilst there was confusion in the aftermath of the shootings…everyone still living after the aforementioned event escaped unharmed."

He tossed her a ring of keys.

"You have five minutes. The time may come when we need all the help we can get. Go now. I am sure that we will meet again."

She nodded and ran to begin her task.

Irvine Kinneas was currently board out of his mind. It stood to reason really, the desert was not exactly the most interesting place in the world-unless you have a thing for sand dunes. Scuffing at a stone for the hundredth time, he frowned in frustration. Quistis had to hid him from the Galabain government-that much was obvious. And, yes, the Centra content is about as far from Galabdia as you can get. What bugged him, and what he couldn't understand is why he was in the middle of a freaking dust bath. Why not hide in Onin's digs, or Edeas place, or the Chocbo Forest? WHY?

Perhaps, he reflected, she was still pissed from the Seed party. Personally he blamed the alcohol in the punch…that he spiked himself…and promptly forgot about…but really, it wasn't his fault that half the entire Seeds present got themselves rat-arsed.

Quisty was way too serious, he reflected. And so was Squall. Man, he was glad that

He never found out who spiked that punch- Squall would have maimed him.

He crawled into the tent there and then, laughing to himself. Watching Quisty table dancing would be something he would never let the G.F's take from him.

The scout bug watched in interest as the man retreated into the tent. Protocol and orders flashed through its silicon brain, and it sent out a signal with its findings encoded over old radio waves. At half the size of a grat it was perfect for recon missions. Its message was simple:

Target found image

Location: 20 miles from perimeter.

Requesting assistance.

Yeah! another chapter! Whoot me!

Yes, i am that sad.