Wasteland. Arid, dry, empty wasteland, devoid of life, drained of energy. An unnatural phenomenon that spread like a blight around any Mako reactors that had been placed. The mountains at Nibelheim, the mountains leading to Corel, all areas that sung testament to the destructive force of the ShinRa creations. It was a horrifying sight, the sense of loss that pervaded the area, as if the Planet mourned for its wounds, mourned for the lost spirits plucked from the lifestream artificially. Of all of these death sites however, the area surrounding Midgar was the largest. It bred disturbing monsters, unnatural hybrids of organic and machine, all of the Planet Energy being sucked out by the 9 Midgar reactors. Midgar was the largest city on the planet, so large that it was divided into 8 separate sectors, all of which were over crowded, and to add to the already miserable conditions, every Sector had its own slum, remnants from the old Midgar, the Midgar before ShinRa became a conglomerate.
50 years ago, Midgar was a small village, around which 8 smaller villages were situated, and a ninth Kalm, was somewhat to the east of these 9 villages. These villages were never large places, and were generally seen as so insignificant that there was no record of them, and so their names have been forgotten in the annals of history. In Midgar however, the future President of ShinRa, built and put into use the first Mako Reactor, changing the energy industry forever. ShinRa built his business empire around this success, building Mako reactors in Nibel and Gongaga at the demand of the respective Town Mayors. As this success lead to more and more people moving into the Midgar area to work for ShinRa, the town spread, swallowing the smaller 8 towns, and as time passed, more reactors were built in each town, with the first being christened Mako Reactor 0, the largest of all the Mako reactors to date.
It wasn't long after this that Reeve, the new Chief of Urban Development at ShinRa Inc, revealed his plans for the Plate to be built above the 8 villages, and these were the original Sectors. It was believed that more and more people would be attracted to work at ShinRa Headquarters, and this in turn would bring in more money for Midgar's economy, which in turn could be pumped into improving the efficiency of the Reactors and bettering the living conditions for the Midgar inhabitants. It was a noble plan, and one that Reeve and his team believed in.
However, as these plans often go, the extra income into the economy wasn't used the way it should have been, instead being given to military and scientific purposes, creating the ShinRa army, and later the Mako Infused SOLDIER. Due to this, the original villages, fell into squalor, and became known as the Slums.
The Slums were terrible places to live, the polar opposite of the Sectors. Many of the houses were still made of wood, and disease ran rife. Junk littered the streets and crime was an every day occurrence. It was of these things that Godo thought as he walked through the Sector 5 Slums, eyeing the amazing amount of trash that had been discarded from above the plate. Children groped through piles of the stuff, looking for lost gems that had been thrown out, any piece of scrap metal that could be used to fix a home, or Materia, or Medicines that had been unwanted. Desperation shone in almost every face that Godo saw. But despite this, Godo saw pride in their eyes, a jealous pride of what they had achieved and sustained against the odds. To them this was home. It was a look that the Slum section of Junon's inhabitants had shared, and it reflected everything Godo felt for Wutai.
Because of this, Godo felt a connection with the Slum's, and an outrage at what the ShinRa had done to the people who had trusted, and still trusted them. And all the time he felt this he was wondering, was this what Wutai would become if the ShinRa ever got their hands on it. Would he see the same despair on the faces of his neighbours, would his grandchildren be rooting through scraps to find materials so that they could live. He sighed and felt Staniv's hand on his arm, the look on the Healer's face said everything, he was thinking the same thing. Godo smiled encouragingly at his friend, Staniv had lost much these last few years. Staniv's son had been a warrior too, one who had been killed near the beginning of the war, at the blade of Sephiroth himself, and just a few weeks ago his home had been destroyed and his brother killed at the siege of Tamblin.
It was enough to temper the will of any man, and Staniv had supported Godo from the beginning of the war. All he wanted was for the ShinRa to stop attacking Wutai, and there had been times that Staniv had pushed for a peaceful solution to war. Godo had often been forced to concede that Staniv's solutions would work, but his pride was too great to ever put these into motion. He would only ever give into ShinRa as a last resort. They had taken too many lives from the hands of the Wutai; too much had been destroyed at the hands of ShinRa.
All around Godo, members of the Crescent Unit scurried around the slums, preparing for their infiltration of the Sectors above. Many of them were dressed as ordinary civilians now, and were being briefed by Chekhov. Behind her Shake was getting ready, looking with disgust at his outfit, he was to pose as a small child in the Slums Park, and he was to pass information from the Sectors above back to Godo who would return to Wutai. His job was to sort through the information and sort out the relevant and useful pieces from the meaningless drivel that the Spies were reporting. Shake was good at this, and would know which pieces could be important, no matter how trivial they seemed.
Chekhov was a different matter, she was being sent directly into the heart of things, the only woman on the team, she was to infiltrate the working class of ShinRa and find as much information as she could. It was something she could easily perform, men had a way of falling at her feet just to earn a smile or touch from her. Godo, on more than one occasion, had dealt with the feelings of guilt for his wife that Chekhov brought up in him. Yuffie hadn't made this any easier, often asking him if she was going to be her new mother.
Staniv left Godo to speak to some more Wutai units that were sitting around a map of the Sector 4 slums. They were there simply to distract the SOLDIER and Infantry from discovering the true spies within Midgar. They were under strict orders to make themselves noticed by the ShinRa administration, engage with the ShinRa troops and retreat where possible to drag out the conflict and confuse the troops. If retreat was impossible, then they should defeat the troops as quickly as possible and go back into hiding.
This was to continue for as long as possible, until the six spies deemed it prudent to flee back to Junon, and from there to travel back to Wutai. This was Godo's strictest order to them. If they sensed any danger, or threat of being discovered they were to leave immediately. He would not endanger the lives of his men needlessly. He couldn't live with the deaths of more children of Da-Chao on his shoulders.
Staniv returned to Godo's side, and saluted curtly. His eyes were hard, determined and Godo could sense the fire inside him. The military movement and stance was something Godo had never expected to see from Staniv, his old friend and healer.
"Godo…Sir." Staniv began, "I'm staying here…I'm replacing one of the spies, I think my experience in the capital will help me fit in, replacing one of the ShinRa higher level employees."
Godo let his jaw drop; it was possibly the last thing he had expected to hear from Staniv, but strangely, he felt he should have seen it coming. If anything Staniv would want to stay with Shake, the child he had begun looking their own respective families were lost. Shake, when he was found was a disrespectful, stuck up brat, who cared for no-one and wanted everything his way. Staniv took him in, and taught him to become the warrior and prodigy that he had become.
"Very well," Godo agreed, knowing that he could not stop his friend from staying, and if he tried then Staniv would never forgive him, "Just, look after yourself and Shake, and keep an eye on Chekhov for me."
Staniv grinned, saluted and walked off, chasing after Shake and the others as they dispersed throughout Midgar. Godo sighed and began the lone journey back to Wutai, a journey he thought he would be making with Staniv.
As he stepped out of the Sector 5 gates, he looked back past the church, and saw there was no more sign of any Wutai men or women to be seen, as if they had never been there at all. Godo shook his head, praying to Da-Chao and Leviathan that they would return to him at some point.