CHAPTER FOUR

"What's worst Killing a Person, or Slowly Killing a Planet"

Barret Wallace

Founder of AVALANCE

(1 Year to the Nibelhiem Reactor Incident, and 2 Years to Final Fantasy)

Rocket town is currently, in the midst of a grand celebration, it is one day away from the launching of a rocket that will send the world into the Space Age. All eyes of the world are focused on Rocket Town; Hopes, and Dreams of Many ride on the event that will change the course of the World. After a long an extensive search for the right pilot; Cid Highwind was picked to pilot the rocket, and to be the first man into space. Cid is renowned pilot, and Aero Designer, in fact Shinra is currently building a flying ship dubbed the "Highwind" in Cid's honor. Security is tight, around the rocket, and no one can get close to the rocket without passing through several high security Shinra Checkpoints. Ian is currently assigned to a Shinra Reactor Patrol Detachment, he recently transferred out of Squad 53; a Special Covert Team, to be able to get to know his Girl friend Marlene Stannic, which they met at Costa Del Sol, a few years back.

Ian lives in Midgar, Sector 6 upper plate housing, with Marlene, the two have been romantically involved for some time now; they are currently having dinner together.

"So, how was your day Ian?" asked Marlene.

"Well rather dull and boring I wish that I did not have to transfer out of Squad 53, I heard that they are at Rocket town, ensuring that nobody gets close to that thing" said Ian.

"But then you, and me would not be having this Dinner right now" said Marlene with a smile.

"You are right, Marlene; transferring out of Squad 53 was the best thing I did" said Ian.

"Why, is that Ian?" asked Ian.

"Then I would not be able to this" said Ian, with an interesting look on his face.

"Why you are acting so coy and sneaky, I think you are hiding something" said Marlene.

Ian gets up, and walks over to Marlene's Chair, and stand on one knee in front of her, Marlene starts to blush, because she realizes something. Ian produces a small black box, and opens it revealing a small Diamond Ring. He looks up into her eyes, and grabs her right hand, and starts to slowly put the ring onto her finger.

"Marlene from the first time, when we laid eyes on each other after that first night we spent together on the beach at Costa Del Sol, I knew that you would be the one" Ian pauses as he looks at Marlene.

"From that moment on, we never let anything, such as the long distance that we were separated for the years in between, and up till now, we have finally been able to see each other, and now been living together for some time" said Ian.

Marlene, starts to even more blush, and starts to cry a bit in anticipation of what is coming out of Ian mouth.

"In short Marlene, Will you marry me?" asked Ian.

"YES" Marlene shouts in Joy.

Ian Gets, up, and Marlene starts to Hug, him in excitement, and then the two share a long passionate kiss. A bang on the door, Ian runs to the door then opens it, and sees a kid standing there.

"Yes" asked Ian.

"Turn your TV on President Shinra is addressing the World" said the Kid.

"Why, would he be addressing the World, the launch dose not happen for another Thirteen hours" said Ian.

"Well he decided to address the world now, in anticipation of launching" said the Kid.

"Alright" said Ian.

Ian closes the door, and heads to the TV, and switches it on, and then sits down, which Marlene lays on top of him. The TV goes blank, and then the Image of President Shinra is flashed on the screen.

"Greetings to the world, I am President Shinra; leader of the world, and the CEO of the Shinra Power Corporation. He Pauses

"Today is the last day of an existence which we are bound by the limit of being stranded on this rock, and tomorrow we will be only be limited by our imaginations, we will soon explore a new frontier, and go forth to find new challenges that await us" said President Shinra.

"We choose to go to outer space, not because it is easy, but because it was hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too" said President Shinra.

"We will continue to make breakthroughs, and eventually gain more knowledge, I ask each and every one of you all, to march with me to a new future, a future without limits, boundaries, and no obstacles" said President Shinra.

"Tomorrow is a day that we all are soon to be proud of, not only of your fellow man, but of the world" said President Shinra.

The TV goes blank, and soon replaced by a TV commercial, but then Ian turns it off.

"Wow, I hope it is a success, because after that I want to join the Shinra Space Corps" said Ian.

"No, you are not, because you hate being away from me" said Marlene.

"Yeah, you have a point, but I could always do this" said Ian as he begins to tickle Marlene.

"Hey, you know that I am extremely ticklish" said Marlene as she tries to get away from Ian.

Meanwhile on the outskirts of Rocket, and Small group of individuals assemble just a mile outside, the group is called AVALANCE, its leader is Barret Wallace, his mission is to undermine Shinra's Control of the world.

"Alright Jessie, I assume that you have finished the ID badge?" asked Barret.

A young woman gets up. She stands about 5, 6 and with long red hair, dressed in a Shinra Technician jacket, she had recently left Shinra, after being caught bypassing several high security checkpoints.

"Yeah, Barret I got it here" said Jessie.

"Okay, here is the Plan Me, and Wedge will, create a distraction, and you sneak in" said Barret.

"Then I have to disrupt the main oxygen power systems in the core, which will cause them to either override, and abort of course if they don't find it in time he might suffocate" said Jessie.

"That is a plan, either way it will be major broken promise, and it will hurt Shinra's creditability" said Barret.

A man which is a bit over weight stands about 6, 0 with black hair, and a go tee loads a rifle, and cocks it.

"Well let's do this, man" said Wedge.

Barret and Wedge run off in a different direction while Jessie starts running towards the Town. She almost gets to the town when suddenly Barret and Wedge start opening fire at Jessie. She starts screaming for help, and two soldiers of Squad 53 start running towards her.

"HEEELP, ME A GANG IS AFTER ME" Screamed Jessie.

"Don't worry take cover, miss" said one of the Soldiers.

One of the Soldiers grabs Jessie, and starts taking her towards a house, taking cover from the shots from Wedge, and Barret, while the other one, returns fire. Machine gun fire is heard, and three other s starts running towards the source. A man dressed in silver, and black over coat, and with long shoulder length hair armed with a Masamune Blade within minutes gets there, and looks at one of the soldiers.

"What is going on here?" asked Sephiroth.

"Sir, this girl here was being shot at by a gang, but we don't know where the shooters twenty" said the Soldier.

"Interesting, I like to play with my prey, take the girl to the town, and I will hunt them down" said Sephiroth.

"Yes, Sir" said the Soldier.

Within a couple of Hours Jessie manages to make her way to the rocket, her modified ID badge allows her to get close to the Rocket, She swipes her card on the keycard access, and which it opens up the maintenance hatch, and she slips inside, she notices several wires, and panels, she clips a couple of wires, leading into the life support system, then put the wires back in the wrong place. After she is done, she climbs out, and closes the hatch while not letting anyone see her, and then she quickly and silently sneaks out of the town.

The sun is making its way over the horizon, as final preparations are being made; Cid is currently getting suited up, in his space suit.

"God Dammit, Shera watch what you are doing" said Cid.

"Captain, Please settle down, they can not leave with out you" said Shera.

"True, but I want my day to be perfect, ya know" said Cid.

"True, but you don't want to be remembered as an ass" said Shera.

"Whatever just get the suit on" said Cid.

Minutes late Cid emerges Thousands of Cameras, and Millions of people are watching Including Jeff Palmer, the Head of the Shinra Space program. Cid begins gets onto the jeep, which will take him to the Rocket. Still calm and cool he is ready for this day.

T-minus Twenty Minutes till launch" shouted the Control Room.

Shera takes up her position in the control room, and then she starts running diagnostic program on the rocket, she something wrong with the Life Support system.

"Sir, come here" said Shera.

A man runs over to her console, "What is it Shera?" asked the Man.

"It seems that there is a minor glitch in the life support system it will only take me a few minutes to fix" said Shera.

"Alright, but make it quick" said the man.

She gets up, and runs out of the control room, and forgets the wiring schematic of the life support system on her station, and drives at top speed towards the rocket.

"T-Minus, Fifteen Minutes" said the Control Room.

Cid finally is strapped into position, and starts he pre flight check, and starts to get nervous, and then excited because in less then fifteen minutes he will be in space, and the first man at that.

Shera, opens the hatch, and climbs into the maintenance access, she looks, at the wires, and notices nothing, but she starts looking at each individual wire, and then starts to trace the wires back.

"Nothing looks to out of the ordinary" she says to herself.

"T-Minus Seven Minutes to Countdown, close all open hatches" said the Control Room.

The hatch that Shera had opened swings close, and locks. She does not notices that the hatch has closed, she continues on with her work. She still is concentrated on the wires that are causing the problem.

"T-minus 3 Three minutes; Begin launch sequence" said the Control Room.

All of a sudden it is starting to get hot, and Shera notices that the Hatch is Closed. She turns on her headset, and yells into it

"Control, get me outta here, and Abort the launch I need more time" said Shera

"Too Late Shera, I can not override the hatch controls it is to late" said Control.

"SHIT, Shera what are you doing down there, get out of there NOW" screamed Cid.

"I can't sir there is a problem with the Life support system, I know it" said Shera.

"Well it is too late get out of there ,or you will be fried" said Cid.

"But Sir…." Said Shera as she blacks out due to the heat

"Ten , Nine, Eight , Seven…" the countdown.

"SHIT SHERA" said Cid.

"Five… Four…" countdown

As, Cid hits the abort button the rocket begins to ignite, and it starts to go upward but then falls backwards, and then leans up against the gantry.

A huge silence fills the Entire world……

"IGNITION ABORTED, IGNITION ABORTED" said the Control Room.

Several Weeks later….

Shinra had accused Cid Highwind of a faulty wiring system, and that he is responisable, in which they took control of the Highwind, and later he was drummed out of Shinra. Shera recovered from her injuries, and now her , and Cid live together at Rocket Town.

Shinra had decided to scrap the space program on its recent failure, and Palmer was reassigned to Midgar City infrastructure. Shinra's creditability was deeply affected its stock dropped significantly, which it begin to retool into underwater research, and Construction of More Mako reactors. Days later in Sector 7 slums AVALANCE is currently celebrating a huge victory.

"Well folks, I feel that nobody is going to trust Shinra for awhile" said Barret.

Jessie is just looking at her drink still shocked about the possible death, she could have caused to another person.

"Barret, I almost killed a person, you told us nobody would risk it" said Jessie.

"I am sorry, I never would have thought it Jessie, and it was one of those things that happen unexpectedly "said Barret.

"But it almost did" said Jessie.

"Well , I can not promise that no one will get hurt, or killed, but if you can not handle it Jessie, then leave" said Barret.

Jessie gets out of her chair, and starts walking towards the door, Barret looks up at her.

"Just remember Jessie if you leave, you can not come back one way ticket" said Barret.

Jessie turns around, and sits back down.

"Alright Barret, you win" said Jessie.

A small girls runs out of the back room, and walks up to Jessie

"Jessie, are you going to read me a bedtime story" said the girl.

"Sure, Marlene" said Jessie.