Fly Like an Eagle
Chapter 1: Spread your Wings.
It had happened. Balamb had joined Timber in their war for independence against Galbadia. Balamb had sent it's SeeD into battle, but, though each was masterfully trained in all forms of combat, there were simply not enough to defeat Galbadia's hordes of soldiers. Timber needed more support. Trabia was too far away, and supply lines would be too hard to maintain, so this left Esthar as Timbers last hope.
Rinoa Heartily, an ambitious, raven haired 17 year old was very involved in this. She had been appointed ambassador and had worked night and day to get Balamb on their side, but now she had her sights on Esthar. She had called the president and pointed out that if they lost this war, not only would the citizens of Timber suffer, but Balamb would be severely weakened and wide open for an attack. Galbadia would conquer it with out breaking a sweat, and would move north against Trabia, who wouldn't last long. It was up to him to stop this.
"Mr President, your army is every bit as powerful as Galbadia," Rinoa had told him. "With your soldiers, Balamb's Seed, and the Timber underground forces such as the Gray Foxes or the Forrest Owls, there's no way we can lose. Timber would be a valuable trading partner in future and would be indebted to you for your service."
"Yes, ambassador, I am aware of the consequences. However, I am unsure if the people of Esthar would approve of charging off to war against a country many consider our allies just because one of their colonies decided to become a country. We haven't had open warfare since the sorceress wars, and I would certainly prefer this didn't happen during my term of office." President Loire told her.
"I'm sorry sir but people are fighting and dying now and if we can't get your support I'm afraid we're all doomed to be under the oppressive control of Galbadia until well past the end of your term. History will remember you as the last president of a great nation that was afraid to act." Rinoa said desperately.
"..." There was a pause from the other end. "You make a strong point ambassador. If you would come to the Presidential mansion, we can gather the governors together and discuss going to war."
"Very well, when shall we meet?" Rinoa asked.
"It won't take long to rally the governors together, as soon as you can get here." Loire had replied.
Rinoa was very tired but very pleased with her work, it was past 11:00 and she had been working since nearly six that morning. Deciding that she'd inform her superiors of this accomplishment in the morning, she packed up her personal things and headed home. She hardly slept all night.
"You actually convinced him to meet with you?" Quisitis had asked her the moment she had explained what had happened the night before. "That's wonderful! You'll have to go straight away."
"I know," Rinoa said with a sigh. She had been expecting her boss to say this.
"We'll get Balamb's best pilots to get you there" Quisitis said happily.
"Pilots? As in more then one pilot and crew?"
"Yes Rinoa, you'll need escorts! You'll be flying right over Galbadian airspace. You'd be shot down so fast you couldn't even say–"
But what exactly it was Rinoa wouldn't have time to say without being shot down, she never knew. The phone had rang at that exact moment and Quisitis had answered it while mouthing silently for Rinoa to be ready to go the very next morning and that she would take care of flight arrangements. Rinoa went back to her desk and began gathering all the info she'd need to convince President Loire to come to their aid. When finally she was satisfied she had everything she needed, she went home to pack and get an early night. The phone rang bright and early, and Quisitis informed her to be at the airport in an hour.
"Oh man, one hour! That's ridiculous! It's only 4:30 now!" she complained into the phone, although Quisitis had already hung up. She grudgingly got out of bed and showered, dressed, and made herself look as presentable as possible with a shiny blue silk blouse with a knee length black skirt, a matching blazer, and high heels. She arrived at the airport and was surprised to find Quisitis and a man she hadn't met waiting for her at the entrance.
"This is Cid, he'll be your pilot." Quisitis said before Rinoa could ask.
"Nice to meet you," he said, offering his hand to her. She shook it.
"And you." Rinoa said as she surveyed him. He had the look of a powerfully built man with a bit of a sweet tooth. His arms were thick and muscular, although he had a rather large protruding gut that made his crisp neat pilot uniform look oddly stretched.
"Follow me, Cid will get your bags." Quisitis said to Rinoa as Cid took Rinoa's suitcase and purse and walked out toward the runway with them. "Do you have all the data you need to make an accurate assessment of our situation to President Loire?"
Rinoa sighed. Quisitis asked her this before every trip, in almost those exact same words. "Yes yes, of corse I do." she replied.
Quisitis led her outside onto the runway too, but to the other end than Cid was heading to. Rinoa noticed that rather than commercial airlines, there was one private jet, and 3 identical fighter jets. Looking around she saw Cid hurrying toward them from the private jet, and three people gathered around one of the fighters. She could see his steel gray eyes from here...
"Alright now before we take off," Cid said when he'd reached them, "I thought you'd like to meet your escorts. Eagle squad, front and center!"
The men near the aircraft grabbed their helmets and ran toward them wearing identical gray jump suits. It matched his eyes perfectly... When the men reached them they stopped 10 ft. from Cid, standing feet together and right arms up in identical salutes.
"At ease" Cid barked at them. The spread their legs to shoulder width and crossed their arms behind their backs. "This," he continued to Rinoa and Quisitis, "Is our best fighter pilot squad. They are expertly trained in aerial as well as ground combat and all three are SeeD rank 30. They think for themselves and act upon instinct, rather than strictly by orders, which explains why they are not top rank. I assure you that you will not find better pilots anywhere in the world."
Rinoa caught the eyes of the man in the middle, the one with steel gray eyes. She felt his gaze as though he were looking right through her. His long brown hair fell about his face, which had a long diagonal scar across it.
"For the interest of security, we will not be giving you their real names. You will address them by their call signs. This–" he said indicating the man on the left with short blonde hair and a mean looking tattoo on his face, "–is Karate Kid, or Kid for short. He's an expert martial artist and has the height of a 12 year old." Kid scowled, but Cid went to the man to the right. "This, Is Wild West,"
"West for short ma'am" He said, his chocolate eyes glinting at them flirtatiously. He was taller than the others, had long brown hair (kept in a neat ponytail), and a smile that would make any woman's knees weak. But Rinoa was looking at the last man, who she had been looking at earlier.
"This, is Lionheart. He has all manner of nicknames, none of which he approves of. He is Squad Leader." Cid finished.
The one called Lionheart said nothing, but simply continued to stare into her blue eyes with his gray ones.
"He don' say much now, but wait 'till we're in the air, then you'll hear him bark some orders at us." Kid told them to explain the silence.
"Well, I think we're about ready to go, Rinoa if you'll follow me to our plane, these men can get to their fighters." Cid told her, leading her to the passenger plane that already held her bags. She entered and took a seat in the cockpit, not so she was in the way, but so she could see out the front and could hear the radio. Cid did not object to this.
"Systems check." said a voice she didn't recognize. It was deep, and methodical, yet with a note of arrogance thrown in there. She liked this voice, it was very distinct and made all her worries melt away. Of corse she'd be ok, this man was with her. Her thoughts were interupter when she heard another voice on the radio.
"Karate Kid here, all systems checking out."
"Wild West reporting all systems are ready to go."
Cid picked up the radio, "Mother goose here with cargo intact, over."
"Lionheart, here, I'm set. Let's fly boys." the voice said again.
A/N: It's about 10:30 here on 8/30/05 and I'm sick of writing right now. I have renovated this story and have it all planed out. Chapter 2 will be posted tomorrow so I know I won't get any reviews. But please even if it's like a year after this post, PLEASE review my stories. I'm still new to fanfiction and haven't posted a story since play for me. This isn't as bad as it was and now I know what's gonna happen so I don't have to keep making shit up as I go. Rated M for a possible Lemon as well as language and violence although you can't tell by this chapter. R&R pleeze.
-N. F.