Summary- AU, Squall, Selphie, Irvine, Zell and Quistis are part of a resistance group known as The Forest Owls, fighting against the oppressive Galbadian Government. On a high-risk mission to steal Ragnarok, an experimental, high-tech fighter craft developed by Galbadian scientists, Squall and the gang find a girl on board that will drag them into a situation far beyond anything they thought they were a part of.


Chapter One

The dried out earth crunched as a lone figure with a bag slung over their shoulder walked toward a large metal fence.

"Remember Squall, this is a covert operation, so no charging in funs blazing, alright?" the oh-so-familiar harsh-toned voice of a certain blonde female broke out into Squall's earpiece.

"Whatever," came the reply.

Pulling out a pair of wire cutters from the duffel bag, he set to work making an entrance for himself out of the steel perimeter. Once he was finished, he tapped on his earpiece once, and said;

"Irvine, I need you to take out all of the guard towers you can see, it'll make it easier for me."

"Can do Boss!"

Squall's trained ears picked up the barely audible sound of 5 silenced rounds hitting 5 Galbadian soldiers, and their consequent slumps onto the wooden floor of the guard towers. With one out of many problems dealt with, Squall looked around for a possible path to his target, the Ragnarok, a high-tech fighter craft that if deployed could mean the end of the rebellion. Squall's plan was quite simple in context, steal the Ragnarok. If that wasn't possible, plant lots of C4 near its fuel tanks and blow it up. Simple plan it was, until they saw how heavily guarded it was.

Squall managed to see one route. He'd have to kill maybe 5 or 10 guards at most, and do it fast. Pulling out a dagger, deciding using his gunblade would be too cumbersome for the task, he started running towards the first guard. Covering his mouth so he couldn't scream for help, Squall drew the blade quickly across the guard's throat. Throwing the body to the ground he headed towards the second guard and disposed of him, too.

That's where it all started to go wrong.

The 3rd guard Squall was supposed to kill on his route saw him standing over his comrade's dead body. That same guard was also standing next to an alarm, which, unsurprisingly he pressed. Cursing under his breath, Squall sheathed his dagger and drew out his own customised gunblade, The Lionheart. Running toward the guard, Squall slashed him across the torso, blood spurting out of the fresh wound. After smashing the alarm and shutting it up for good, Squall ran towards the two guards guarding the entrance into the craft.

At least, last time Squall checked, it was two.

At least 10 guards had amassed in front of the ramp, all of their weapons pointed towards Squall. Readying his weapon, he was about to strike when rapid burst of about 10 or 12 shots struck the Galbadian soldiers. Tapping his earpiece again, Squall spoke to the "Lone Gunman"

"Kinneas, you know I could've handled them on my own"

"Yeah well, Leonhart," Irvine replied, using his commander's surname just as he had done his "I'm freezing my ass off here waiting for to get that damned ship and I'm pretty sure the others are getting mighty nervous, 'specially since you let the alarm go off."

Squall merely grunted, then shut his earpiece off. He needed to get this thing moving in about 3 minutes otherwise he'd be up to his neck in Galbadians.

Walking on board, he headed straight to what he had gathered through sketchy info from Watts ("I had to pay 10,000 Gil for the info sir!" Squall remembered the energetic, if not somewhat annoying spy for their resistance movement had said) was the bridge. Luckily, the bandanna-clad spy had pulled through, and Squall found himself on the bridge with the cockpit at the front. Sitting in the pilot seat, he began entering the access codes to unlock the clamps holding the Ragnarok to the ground and get the engines started. Squall made a mental note to repay Watts somehow, as he felt the ship shudder and then rise very quickly into the air. Grabbing hold of the controls, Squall began flying the ship out of the area. Tapping his earpiece he relayed his orders to the rest of the team.

"Mission successful, pull out and meet me at the rendezvous near Timber by 1900 hours, got it?"

After 4 'understood's from the team, Squall headed to the deepest part of Timber forest, hoping the trees might provide visual cover from the Galbadians. At 1859 hours, a Galbadian scouting vehicle parked by the craft, and out stepped Quistis, the "Big Sister" of the group, as well as being the most logical of the team; then Zell, the enigmatic, hot dog-loving blonde haired martial artist from Balamb with a distinctive tattoo going down the left side of his face. He tended to have a bit of short temper, and wasn't exactly sharpest knife in the drawer. He was good with electronics and machines though; next was Selphie, the petite brunette from the town of Dollet in Northern Galbadia. She was the one that was always in high spirits even when things were down. She may not have looked it, but she was deadly with the shinobou, and was one of the first people to join The Forest Owls in the fight against Galbadia; and finally stepped out Irvine, a carefree, ladies' man, was the sniper of the group, he had a loose tongue and great charm. To fit in with the whole "Lone Gunman" act, his dress style was similar to that of a cowboy in old western films.

Walking on board, they found Squall waiting for them.

"We need to clear out the ship, make sure we don't have any stowaways. Zell, I need you to go to the bridge and use the sensors to tell us where there are, if any people left on board. I also need you to check to see if the Galbadians have put a tracking device on here, if they have, disable it. Understood?" Zell gave a mini-salute and ran to the bridge.

"Tilmitt, you're with me, Quistis, you go with Kinneas. I'll take the 3rd and 4th floors, you two take 1st and 2nd. Move out."

AN-I decided to revamp the interior a bit, so it probably won't be like the ship in the actual game. But hey, it's AU, so it can be different :p

Quistis and Irvine saluted and walked to the stairs which would lead them to the lower floors. Just as Squall and Selphie were about to set off, Zell interrupted them;

"Nothing's appearing on either of your floors, Squall."

"I'd still like to check around though. You know, explore the ship, you never know what we could find here." Selphie said. Squall nodded in agreement

"She's got a point Zell, Go and help Quistis and Irvine instead, we'll be fine."

"OK Commander, good luck." Squall winced mentally at the use of his "title" before heading off with Selphie.

Squall and Selphie then began the repetitive task of opening each door cautiously, then checking quickly inside if there was anything of interest. They went through the 3rd floor with no incidents, although Squall decided they split up and check two rooms at once to speed things up. They had found nothing until Selphie called to Squall.

"Squall! I found someone! I think they need help!" Squall rushed over to the room and froze suddenly when he looked at what Selphie was looking at:

A young woman was in chains and hanging off of the wall. She had a bag over her head and Squall could only discern her gender due to the style of her torn and blood-stained clothes. Squall quickly drew his blade and cut her free from her chains. The woman slumped to the floor, and Squall, kneeled beside her, ripped the bag off of her head and checked her pulse and breathing.

"She's still alive, but she has a low pulse and needs medical attention now, I'll do what I can with magic" Squall closed his eyes, held his hand out in front of him over the girl and concentrated on the rarest curative magic junctioned within his mind

"Curaga"

White light seeped out of his hand and spread around the body of the woman, healing most of the visible cuts on her body, but some larger ones remained.

"I'll carry her to the bridge; she can rest and recover there."

Selphie nodded

"I'll meet up with the others after I've finished exploring"

Squall nodded, and then picked her up. It was then he noticed a strange-looking device attached to her wrist. Not being able to figure out its purpose, he shrugged and carried on carrying the woman to the bridge. He could ask Zell later what it is.


"What did you guys find?" Squall, sat across from the mystery girl, asked Quistis and Irvine

"We found a hanger, 1 jet, several bikes, a few crates, nothing out of the ordinary, everything else was pretty much empty." Squall nodded. After they left his presence, he motioned for Zell to join him, pointing to the strange girl's wrist.

"Any idea what it is Zell?" Squall asked. Zell examined the device on her wrist for several moments.

"From the looks of it, it's emitting some kind of field-I'm guessing that's what hid her from the sensor scan. Oh by the way, I didn't find any kind of tracking device on the ship."

Squall nodded. "Good."

Knowing he wouldn't get any more of a response from him, Zell left him alone. It was then that Squall finally got a good look at the young woman still asleep in a chair. She had black hair which went just below her neck; yet it was matted with old, dried blood at the roots, and a round-ish face, numerous tiny red marks, the remnants of her previous injuries. She had somewhat pale skin. Squall couldn't see her eyes for the moment.

She'd look pretty if it weren't for all those cuts. Probably why the Galbadians took her prisoner. Sick bastards. Squall thought.

She was wearing a blue jacket that went down to her ankles at the back, and had a black top underneath it. She also had short black shorts that stopped a little after the halfway line of her thigh, as well as black boots.

"One more thing Zell"

"Yes?"

"Remove that bracelet on her arm; we don't know exactly what its doing" Zell nodded, and knelt down beside the woman to take it off, but couldn't

"Um, Squall?"

Squall grunted; his form of saying "what?"

"I can't get it off"

Squall knelt down beside Zell and attempted to take it off himself. He wasn't lying; he couldn't pull it off the woman's wrist. Sighing, he stood back up.

"Just leave it for now, we'll ask Kadowaki about it when we get back."

Quistis ran up to Squall.

"We've got incoming!"

Squall ran to the radar monitor. Sure enough, a lot of red blips were heading for the large green one. Cursing mentally, he quickly formulated a basic plan to get them out of here alive.

"Dincht, you're on navigation, Kinneas and Quistis, weapons, Tilmitt, you're co-pilot, go!" Squall quickly sat the girl up in a chair and strapped her in, before running back into the main pilot's seat.

Ragnarok quickly rose into the air and sped off over the countryside, Galbadian fighters AN: They're just like regular fighter jets, thought I should include them otherwise the Galbadians wouldn't have anything to stop Squall and co. with would they? following behind. Once they were close enough, Quistis let loose a volley from the aft machine gun, destroying two jets that careered off into the dense forest

"They have a lock on us!" Irvine yelled

"Releasing counter-measures!" Quistis exclaimed. Ragnarok veered off to the left, shooting out some kind of firework that drew the missile toward it. The dog fight was now taking place over the ocean.

"They've got another lock!"

"Counter-measures are disabled!"

"Strap yourselves in and hold on tight!" Squall ordered. Grabbing the control stick, I can't remember what it's called he set the Ragnarok into a rough spin before turning sharply to the right, the missile still following closely behind. Jerking up the stick, the Ragnarok rose sharply before Squall shut off the main engines, turning on all the manoeuvring thrusters on the underside of the ship at the back, spinning the Ragnarok a full 180°. Back down toward the shimmering blue water below. Slamming the ship into full throttle, it began hurtling toward the sea at tremendous speed.

"SQUALL! What are you doing?" Selphie yelled at him. He didn't answer. Instead, he just waited until the Ragnarok was about to hit the water, before repeating his trick form before, only this time with the thrusters on the top of the Ragnarok, and then speeding away.

The missile didn't stand a chance of following, and thusly crashed into the sea before detonating. Quistis dispatched of the last of the fighters. Sighing in relief, she slumped in her chair.

"We've lost them. For now." Squall noticed land was encroaching on the horizon.

"Where are we Zell?"

"We're approaching Esthar." Squall nodded

"Good, I think I have an idea…" He half-said to himself, looking over at the mysterious young woman.


So, what do you guys think? I keep thinking I've written the whole action sequences horribly wrong, but that's up to you :P Read and review, but no flames please :)

For those of you that have read my harry potter fic, "Darkened Skies Above" and are wondering when I'm next gonna update, it's gonna be a while, huuuuge writer's block on that one I'm afraid.