Back with an update at last!

I would have been back sooner, but the head of my order betrayed us all to the dark lord and held me prisoner on the top of his tower while he martialled a force of orcs to decimate the face of the United States and then the world of men.

...No...I just made that up. Sigh

The truth is I've been hideously busy and run half ragged. For a while it was all I could do to get a paragraph written a day. But I finally got this out. Part of the reason for the delay is that this isn't a particularly exciting chapter, at least in my opinion. For the most part, this is just "filler". It's really hard to make flying a bunch of planes over a series of shoreline defenses that entertaining after the first minute or so. Oh well...you can see how I did.

Sephiroth shot backward through the air, riding on the streams of wind itself. However…this was an opponent who wasn't hampered by this. Bahamut looked up as he shot away from him, and then leapt into the air as well. His own power of levitation soon enabled him to sail right for the dark man, and renew his assault. He initially charged and swiped at Sephiroth, but in response the Jenova mutant calmly flipped back and over Bahamut's own head while in mid-air, coming behind him and hovering there. Like lightning, he struck out for the esper again. Yet Bahamut wasn't going to be stabbed from behind either. He twisted his body back one way, and twisted his limb back in the process to aim behind him. He deflected Sephiroth's blow, and then quickly twisted his body back and swung around to swipe at Sephiroth yet again. Once more…the dark man was genuinely surprised at how fast he reacted, and swerved back to avoid the blow.

The two shot away from each other, but at the same time continued to tail one another as they swept through the interior of the Dome. Their bodies seemed to be carried along on invisible rails as they swirled around each other and soared through the gaps and tunnels that filled the massive mechanical area. Every so often, Sephiroth, taking the offensive, would dart forward and slash at Bahamut. However, the esper would always counter or spin out of the way, letting Masamune hit only metal. He would counter a moment later, forcing Sephiroth to be cautious as he fought. The esper was serious and strong, and he couldn't be lax as he was with Ragnar.

Sephiroth abruptly shot forward again, and swiped his blade at Bahamut once more. Again, the esper lashed out and countered with a block. He did so three times against Sephiroth's advances, and both of them continued to sail through the air as this happened. On a fourth strike, however, aimed at Bahamut's neck, the esper pitched backward in midair, letting the blow sail over him harmlessly. The speed with which he did this stunned the dark man, as he realized he was wide open by the time Bahamut recovered and was slashing for his side. He barely managed to recover and swing his own sword down and around to intercept the blade. But he did in the end, and the two sides held a moment. Both of them poured out their massive strength against one another again. But in the end, Bahamut managed to overcome the Jenova mutant, to his surprise, and with the first grunt either of them had uttered in that battle forced his sword to the side and smashed it into a wall of conduits. The effect lodged it there for a moment, creating all the break Bahamut needed to go on the offensive.

Now Sephiroth was truly amazed, and his eyes began to show it as his cool exterior cracked. He managed to pull out Masamune to guard in time…but it was too late to keep Bahamut from assaulting him. With devastating power and speed, Bahamut flew at the dark man and unleashed his storm of blows. Sephiroth was amazed. He had never fought an opponent so fast and strong before. And never, ever had someone forced him to retreat on his advance.

Bahamut dove forward and slashed at Sephiroth once more, this time aiming for his neck. On seeing this, Sephiroth didn't move to guard, but instead focused all of his attention into doing something else. As Bahamut brought the blade around…Sephiroth seemed to suddenly vanish into midair, letting Bahamut's weapon sail harmlessly by and imbed in a nearby conduit, much as Sephiroth's had. Moments later, the dark man reappeared behind the esper, his own sword over his head and ready to strike.

Then, just as it had been with himself and Ragnar, Sephiroth was stopped by Bahamut apparently using a sixth sense. Before the blade could strike, Bahamut's own sword was bent back and guarding behind him. The Masamune collided, but the esper held. A moment later, and Bahamut too faded out of existence. Sephiroth barely had to sensory capability to see him move and reappear, facing forward, right next to his body, and then drive forward in a jab. Sephiroth again was forced to react quickly to deflect it downward. However, not even halted, Bahamut continued to advance, swinging his blade back up and bringing it down from the opposite side. Sephiroth again had to deflect it, this time forcing it into a way that was not his intention. He realized, to his amazement, that Bahamut was forcing him to fight his battle.

"I prefer to attack face to face…not stab my opponent in the back." Bahamut darkly stated as he continued to advance. "I want my foes to know my wrath when I destroy them."

Despite his continuing attempts to block, Sephiroth smiled back. A moment later, he disappeared from view and tried to come in from the side. But Bahamut reacted first, seeming to disappear and reappear to guard it. Sephiroth did this two more times, but each one was intercepted and blocked by the blade of the esper. At last…he reappeared over the head of the opposing warrior…with his own blade raised high over him. He dove down and brought the blade upon Bahamut hard. Even though the esper raised his own blade and guarded it, the clash was so strong that sparks went forth from both powerful weapons, and soon Bahamut was being forced slowly out of the air and to the ground.

"Sentimentality and honor are irrelevant notions of an unevolved mind." Sephiroth calmly answered as he pushed. "There is only one true law…live or die, by any means necessary."

Bahamut's eyes blazed as he glared back at him.

"…Only to one who loves nothing."

"Love is just as irrelevant and meaningless as the other emotions you prize so much." Sephiroth replied.

"Strong words for one who has been beaten by such an 'irrelevant and meaningless' emotion twice now." Bahamut answered. "And who is about to be again."

With that, to the surprise of the dark warrior, Bahamut gave a yell and pushed forward with all of his might. To the disbelief of Sephiroth…he found himself suddenly thrown off of the esper with incredible force, and back toward the ceiling. He sailed upward for a brief moment before connecting…and on doing so smashed into the wall hard, denting the cables and conduits around him. The dark man was overwhelmed as his impact was absorbed by the metal, and he began to pull out from it again. He almost felt pain from that…

However, to his further surprise…he soon had to dart out of the way again. Bahamut was on him within a fraction of a second, not at all tired or slowed from his act of power, and was slashing at him again. Sephiroth had to quickly move out of the way before the sword of the esper ripped a massive slash through the ceiling. Yet even that failed to slow the esper down, and soon he was on the offensive again.

Unbelievable… The dark man thought.

I might actually have to use more…

Damn this Dome…

Cloud's cursing did little to improve his situation as he moved as fast as his enhanced muscles could take him. He could afford to pay little mind to the moaning of the youth draped across his shoulders. If this was causing him more pain, it was unavoidable. He had to find a way out of here. And right now, this wasn't doing it.

The ex-mercenary now held Ragnar over his shoulders, and was doing his best to get to the top of the Dome. The voice, unfortunately, was on hiatus or something, for it didn't give him any advice on how to get out of the fortress as it had to lead him to Ragnar. The only alternative left was to try and find his own way out. Not trusting to be able to go out horizontally without running into a thousand soldiers, Cloud was doing the only other option he had…going up. With that basic rule in mind, he was ascending as fast as he could.

However, the going wasn't easy. There were lots of places in this Dome where one could ascend, only to find themselves blocked in some sort of dead end chamber, forcing the person to descend and try to find another ascension point. That was the case right now for Cloud as he wormed his way through the Dome. He had gone to all the trouble of finding an elevator that could go up another three floors…only to find that it terminated in some rather in descript room for maintenance. He grit his teeth in anger on seeing it, once again barring his way. He hadn't the time for this.

Eventually, he decided to do something about it. Luckily, he had more than enough strength to hold Ragnar over his shoulders with one arm. He did so now, and reached for his back with his other hand. In a moment, Event was out, and he went up to the nearest wall. After bracing himself for any steam blasts or potential other ills that could come from this…he plunged his sword into the wall and used the atom edge to cut a tremendous, man-sized section from it.

As expected, the wall erupted into steam, and several machines around it broke down on doing so. Cloud was forced to retreat again and shield himself. However, the Dome had lots of automatic systems to compensate for the massive amount of maintenance it required, and it did so now. Soon, the steam and other equipment leaks were shut off, and the way was clear. Cloud slowly recovered and looked to see what had happened. The metal that he had sliced through had collapsed into a pile on the floor, but it revealed another mass of conduits on the other side.

Cloud moved forward to quickly rake the first batch out of the way with his feet, and then sliced again. Once more, he had to retreat as it cut off. He had a feeling that someone somewhere was watching this, and knew that something was going wrong with their technological masterpiece. However, he couldn't worry about that now. This time, when the smoke died, there was a gap remaining, going clean through to the other side. There was just enough room for himself and Ragnar to move through.

Hoping that he hadn't just cut his way into another dead end, Cloud moved forward again, kicked the last of the debris out of the way, and went on.

Mack looked down to his console, wincing a bit from a blast of light that went off near him. The clock on it still read another two minutes. It made him grit his teeth and swear in a way that would have done Cid proud. He ended it with some sort of curse at time, demanding that it move faster.

We don't have two more minutes!

The grid wasn't getting any less hellish. It was amazing that the New Shinra had managed to put such thick defenses so far inland. At this point, what was thinning out was being compensated for by ground forces with RPGs, or multiple rocket launching vehicles. The firestorm of power wasn't lessening up…and they couldn't take it much longer.

Another powerful explosion ripped from below, and Mack looked down to see the result. The Excalibur was buckling. It was taking the worst. The pilot wasn't as good as on Cid's craft, and the lower hull had been heavily damaged as a result. Some shot had managed to puncture the air bag, and as a result it was having a hard time staying aloft. But even the Sierra was wavering. They were almost out of countermeasures, and all but one of their guns had been destroyed. Their salvos were empty, leaving them as nothing more than giant targets in the sky. And despite their best efforts, they were burning themselves out. Their damaged craft was taking much of a pounding. They were reducing speed, and as a result the New Shinra were getting more and more hits in. Mack frequently found his Phoenix grazed by stray fire. Some of the missiles were almost hitting them, forcing them to use their own countermeasures. One of the wingmen had already taken a disabiling hit, and was now continuing its flight on fumes.

Another powerful explosion struck from below, seeming to hit a vital point on the Excalibur. It must have…for an eruption followed it, causing flaming pieces of debris to suddenly explode up and around the fighters. Mack himself barely saw this in time and managed to swerve out of the way. The rest of his fighters quickly moved as well…but it was too late. Squadron 8's leader took too much, and a series of small fiery eruptions went off in the cockpit. To his credit…the pilot's final maneuver sent the Phoenix flying out from over the airships, so that it didn't crash into them and explode. However, another wingman went too far…and a cannon shot hit its rear. As it exploded into a fireball, Mack saw a pilot go flying from the cockpit, deploying a chute as he did. Mack didn't even know if this pilot would hit the ground before this firestorm killed him…

Those thoughts, however, were interrupted by a crying out on the radio.

"This is Excalibur! We've lost our second stern engine!"

"Use the auxilary! Use the damn landing jets if you have to!"

"No good! Fire has broken out! Wiring snapping-"

The captain was cut off as another eruption went off. It was below this time, but the Excalibur lurched as another blast of flame destroyed another section of the airship. The fighters got out of the way…and this time began to move out as far away from the Excalibur as they did. Flames seemed to be growing on it…and it was wavering.

"We've lost the controls! All alternate circuits failing! Countermeasures lost! We're dropp-"

The radio cut off after this, as the rest of the electronics on board the Excalibur began to fail. Mack looked down and out again, and saw the prow of the great airship suddenly take a nosedive. For a brief moment, the fighters and the Sierra were clear of the firepower, as it turned its full attention toward finishing off the falling Excalibur. However, that was no longer necessary. All systems were failing, and a chain reaction had been set off. Mack saw lines of explosions begin to go off around the entire ship, increasing in frequency and power, as huge pieces of the craft flew off. It continued to fall, and soon fell into a nosedive. A diving noise cut the air as the massive airship pitched down and picked up speed. The fighters and the remaining airship continued to watch…but they knew it was too late. There was no time for the crew to bail out now, and nowhere to go. After a few fateful moments, the craft crashed into the ground, and immediately erupted into a fireball. The force of the explosion ripped through the air, violently thrashing about the remaining airship and the fighters. Mack himself had to grab on hard to his controls and fight to keep them steady…but his attention was solely on the Excalibur as it turned from fire into smoke, and began to burn. One of their airships had finally been shot down.

The commander had little time to worry about the crew, however. With one of them down, they had that much lower protection, and the enemy soon exploited it. Soon, they were being fired at again. The Sierra was taking the worst beating, being mercilessly attacked with twice as much firepower before. But now, they were no longer in the clear. In seconds, another explosion went off. Mack's radar beeped loudly to show another wingman down. Flak soon began to erupt around the sides, forcing the wingmen in further. Even then, missiles and cannon shots came inward and nearly hit them…so much so that Mack was now forced to engage in evasive maneuvers. The Sierra alone provided little protection now, and soon had enough to deal with on its own. On his part, Mack soon found himself going for his countermeasures again as more rockets began to sail his way. The first two missiles headed for him were destroyed…but he realized he was nearly out. Once he was, he'd be a sitting duck.

Gritting his teeth in anger, Mack looked down to the time. There was still another minute left.

"Commander, we're getting killed out here!" The voice of Phoenix 2 sounded.

"I can't keep this up much longer! I've lost a maneuvering engine!" Phoenix 3 added.

Mack fumed and called over his radio. "You hear that, captain?"

"Yeah, I heard it! What the hell do ya' want me to do about it?"

"I have to increase speed! We're getting murdered out here!"

Mack had a feeling that his fellow wingmen didn't like the sound of that. They knew that the Sierra couldn't keep up with its level of damage. That meant they'd be out in the open again, like they were last time. But they had no choice. Back at the sea, the enemy was starting to rout their fleet. If they didn't make this now they never would. Staying where they were might be the truly fatal thing to do. And so, with that in mind, Mack reached down to his throttle and tipped it back to full. An acceleration force snapped him back into his seat…and his craft suddenly went rocketing out from over the Sierra.

Moments later, the rest of his wing were falling in behind him, accelerating as well. For a brief moment, they were clear as the enemy undershot them. It was a miracle that they were able to accelerate through the firestorm. Mack used this time to look below and to his counter. The targeting system recalibrated to take into account this new speed, and the time shrank to thirty seconds. Mack exhaled and hoped that was enough, and then leveled his gaze ahead of him. He watched as the guns below continued to undershoot him, but rapidly began to even out again, moving to attack the now unprotected fighters…

However, an instant before the first missile could readjust…Mack felt his craft suddenly shudder. It wasn't only him, but the rest of his wing too. Some force was shaking the air around them. The commander looked out in confusion, and turned down to his radar to see what was going on. It turned out he didn't have to. Moments later, the lower cockpit view was filled with the image of the Sierra as the airship once again rolled underneath them. Firepower soon impacted it, but it once again took the blows.

Mack was astonished.

"Captain Cid? What're you-"

"Stop talkin' and keep flyin', you damn idiot!" Cid yelled back over the radio. "We put all our spare power into the engines! We can't maneuver or use countermeasures! I'm blowin' my baby to hell, so you better not #$?! this up!"

Mack hesitated, staring at Cid's ship and taking this in. Then he understood. At this speed, it was all the New Shinra could do to get a direct hit. Their side shots were too imprecise. They could still shoot them down…but not with the Sierra in the way. It was acting as a shield again. Only now, it couldn't fight back. All it could do was take the shots…which it now did as firepower blasted away at it, sending more metal fragments everywhere. The Captain was sacrificing the ship to give them a clear shot.

Mack couldn't believe Cid would do such a thing…but now wasn't a time to dispute it. Apologizing mentally for Cid's sacrifice, he looked up ahead and kept flying forward.

The next thirty seconds dragged on for an eternity. Mack kept looking to the time and cursing at it to move faster. If anything, the New Shinra seemed to shoot now harder than ever. Missiles and cannon fodder blasted away at the hull of the Sierra, until it looked like a trail of flaming debris was being carried through the sky. Stray shots continued to get through, but it no longer mattered. They couldn't stop now. They had to keep going without avoiding, lest they fall out from over the Sierra and be a sitting duck. Mack winced as he heard the Sierra get blasted again and again, each time dreading to see the same fate that befell the Excalibur. Eruptions went out from time to time eternally…but it continued to fly onward. Each second seemed to go by slower than the last, and to Mack it seemed as if time would stop before they reached there.

One massive explosion made the Sierra buckle. A stream of firepower went out from under it as it wavered in the sky, and struck the side of the other remaining Squadron leader. The attack caused an eruption that made the craft spiral wildly to the side…where a heat seeker impacted it and turned it into flaming debris. More shots began to graze the sides of the other craft. Another eruption went off, actually making the Sierra pitch dangerously yet again. Mack thought it was over, that they would collapse after all this time…

Then…the most wonderful sound he had heard in a long time went out.

The computer beeped to indicate it was in firing range…and locked on.

Mack snapped out of it, and quickly looked back to his console. Sure enough…it was all green, and his special missile was locked. Almost spastic…he jammed both fingers down on the firing buttons.

Moments later, two hisses erupted from the side of his Phoenix as the two specially armed missiles broke off from the sides, activated their targeting systems, and ignited. The twin rockets shot away from Mack's craft a moment later, dodging through the firestorm far faster than human eyes could target, and soared for their destination.

After several long minutes of running through the innards of the Dome, banging her legs and arms into what seemed like every metalwork in her way, and fearing all the while that those behind them would catch up, Aerith and the others at last were in visual range of the end.

The metalwork ahead was now visible, for there was light on the other side. Pale and dim was its glow, but it was not industrial. It was of some sort of different quality. Aerith initially saw little other than that the wall ahead was smooth and not of the same polished metal like the interior. As the group ran onward, it became more clear and distinct. She began to see metal sutures along it, and signs of some other heavy machinery built into it. However, it didn't bear the same conduits and pipes that ran everywhere else, and there appeared to be some space in front of it. As the others further ahead reached it, they fanned out before it and at last came to a halt, filling the busy inner machinery corridors of the Dome with loud breathing as well as gunshots and hydraulics.

At last, Aerith too came up to it. The others filled in behind her, with Barret and Yuffie taking the last position. They turned back the way they had come, panting with anxiety as well as exhaustion, and looking for signs of some other attacker.

The Cetra looked up and around herself. However, as far as she could see, this relatively blank metal wall stretched to the right, left, and up as far as the eye could see. Not only that, but there was indeed a five foot space between it and the innards of the Dome. She didn't understand this at first, until through looking around she noticed that the area was curved. Then she understood. This was the exterior wall of the Dome.

"We made it…" She exhorted aloud.

Yuffie and Barret turned their heads briefly to this, seeming to not realize that they had finally made it through. After the long, fearful, dangerous run through the bowels of the Dome, they had had last reached their exit. The feeling gave them immediate relief and joy. Many others on the group shared it…but some did not. Tifa was among them, as she, without smiling, walked forward to the edge of the Dome, and put her hand against the wall. She held it there a moment…before abruptly drawing it back, making a fist, and then punching forward. The amount of force was shocking, and a rather loud bam erupted from it that sounded through the interior, actually causing the others to look at her in confusion. To anyone else, that would have broken all four of their knuckles. Tifa didn't even shake her hand after doing this.

"…So how do we get through this?" The woman finally asked.

This made all those gather pause, as they slowly realized the legitimacy of this question. Until now, they had still had enough instruction to know where they were going. But now that they were at this point, they realized that one of the dead or non-present members of their group probably knew the way out, but had not shared it. Now they began to realize they were at an impass…

There were a few more moments of silence, when one of the Wutai soldiers finally turned and put out a more useful question. "I don't suppose anyone has anything that could pierce the metal of this wall?"

Another soldier frowned and shook her head at that. "Even if we still had the torches, I doubt they could get through the armor of the Dome."

"Well we better think of something!" Yuffie answered back with growing anxiety. "Those guys are still after us, and they're probably not that happy about what I've been doing to them! And now we're in light!"

"We have a few grenades left…" Another Wutai soldier spoke. "But they can't get through armor."

Tifa paused a moment here, but then suddenly seemed to realize something. She turned her head to the largest member of their group. "Barret, your minigun can pierce armor, can't it?"

Barret turned to Tifa at that. He paused a moment, as if thinking it over himself. But then, he gave a nod. "Yeah…yeah, it can." He began, initially sounding enthusiastic. However, that soon faded, and his surly look returned. "But I've been shootin' the Shinra all day, and I'm nearly outta ammo. I don't know how much I got left, and if it's gonna be 'nough to shoot our way out."

"We might as well give it a try. We don't have anything else." Tifa answered.

Barret paused again for a moment, but then grunted and gave a nod. He turned away from the corridor, leaving Yuffie alone to guard it, and faced the wall ahead of him instead. He planted his feet, and moved his flesh and bone hand to his gun and began to adjust something. "Alright, y'all!" He sounded around him. "Get the hell outta the way and stay covered! I don't know if these things are gonna ricochet!"

Seeing as everyone had already seen the effect of Barret's bullets, they didn't need to be told twice. They immediately went off to the sides and back into the machinery portion, taking cover behind thick and broad areas. Aerith herself got behind a rather thick looking transformer box, and covered her head as she crouched behind it. Even Yuffie, who was supposed to stay guard, hunched down and crawled back, so that Barret's own body became a human shield for her smaller one. Once all were in place, Barret dug his feet in, braced his gun arm, took aim at the wall, and opened fire.

The gap passage was soon filled with a deafening echo as bullets erupted from the end of Barret's gun arm. Aerith winced and squinted, covering her ears as best as she could. Yet she still managed to watch as streams of light came forth from the end of the barrel and embedded at a part of the wall. As Barret had feared, they did ricochet, but only to a small degree. As they impacted the wall, most of their bulk embedded into the steel and pounded deep divots into it, while only fractional pieces snapped off and went flying away. Most of the bullets merely compressed inside and then fell off, causing a slow trickle of bullet metal to rain down from the hole. At first, nothing happened. As Barret fired, his bullets sank deep into the armored wall, but nothing came through. Only yellow light and red slag formed in a small indentation…and Aerith feared for a moment that it was no good. If so, then she might have to try… But she doubted she could make a flame hot enough to melt this kind of steel, and even if she could she was still drained from the shields. Then…there was the matter of that feeling that came over her…

However, even as these fears entered the Cetra's mind…a ray of white light burst forth from the impact area. The bullets had pounded their way through, and now the early morning light reflecting off of the white snow sent a dazzling ray within. Barret grinned and grunted a "yeah", and then began to move his arm slowly up. As he continued to fire, the shots impacted along the hole he made and began to eat away from it, and he slowly began to make a long cut into the metal. He continued to fire, and slowly began to make a space for them to escape through.

Despite Yuffie's own cowering, she soon threw her shuriken again into the darkness. Aerith wasn't sure if she saw anything or not. She could hear nothing over the gunfire. She hoped that they were staying away, interpreting this as some sort of attack on them and not an escape strategy, which would make any pursuers charge them. Barret continued to blast away at the wall until he had a three foot long "gash" into it. But after that, he frowned, and immediately twisted his gun and began to move horizontally. He proceeded to blast a rough two foot line, and then repeated the motions to make a crude rectangle. Only the first side was blown all the way through. However, he quickly went over the other three sides again, and continued to do so for a few brief moments as he spent the rest of his ammunition. He slowly wore away at more of it, until the metal began to break in a few places and let more light through.

But at that point, the turret suddenly stopped spitting out bullets. It continued to turn and make a whirring sound, but no more came from it. Barret did this for a moment, but then grit his teeth and held his arm back. What was left was a partially punctured rough exit in the metal, still smoking and smoldering from what had been unloaded into it.

"That's all I got." Barret answered. "I can't blast through anymore."

No one had any time to ponder this statement…because more gunshots soon went off. This time, it came from behind them. Luckily, the shots were wild, and all that anyone saw hit was the wall in front of them as a chain of sparks went off against it, the result of machine gun fire against an armored surface. At that, everyone immediately snapped out of their daze from before, turned around, and looked back into the darkness. Even in the black area, they could see some movement, and a few reflections of light from metal and visors. Yuffie didn't hold back, but the moment her shuriken returned threw it again. The others with guns took cover and quickly began to respond.

However, as Aerith got up and saw Barret, now useless without ammunition, running for cover himself, she saw one of them not do so. Tifa stepped forward again, and moved once more to the space on the wall she had hit before. Only now, it was right over the place where the rough rectangle had been cut. The firefight soon began, and the two sides were beginning to shoot at each other once more. More stray bullets whizzed by the entrenched soldiers and hit the metal wall beyond, impacting around Tifa's body and nearly grazing her more than once. Yet she had no fear. While the others tried to keep the New Shinra pinned down, she exhaled, made a martial movement that looked like she was focusing power, and then swung her fist forward full force and iron palmed the space for all she was worth. Aerith didn't see it move, but thought she heard it creak somewhat. Without hesitation or pause, Tifa immediately began to unload on it with both fists with such power and speed that Aerith was shocked. These blows would do little other than shatter ones fists against an immovable object with anyone else, and yet she tirelessly and painlessly pounded away at the metal while a shootout continued around her.

Her work did bear fruit soon. As she continued to beat the metal, Aerith saw pieces of the edges crack. More light from outside began to spill in. And the more that came, the harder Tifa beat. The metal began to bulge and sway, and continued to crack and strain. Finally, she paused long enough to rear back and focus an especially large amount of power into one arm. Then, she struck forward with so much force that Aerith could almost swear the ground around them shook.

With this mighty blow, a huge cracking went off as what was left of the metal snapped. A foot-thick section of metal popped out from the side of the Dome and fell to the ground. A blast of frigid, cold air streamed in, and the sound of the winter wind accompanied a frigid gale. The sun was still just rising, but the light was high enough in the sky to blind those that had been in darkness so long. Yet despite all this, Aerith felt her spirits rise as fresh air rushed into her nostrils, and the wide open world outside was revealed.

Surprisingly, it was one of the Wutai soldiers who took charge next. While still shooting, he snapped his head out to the exit. "Go! Make for the airfield!"

There was a moment's hesitation. Even Yuffie didn't want to be the first one to leave, and in doing so secure her place of safety while leaving the rest of the group to their fate. Aerith herself, unarmed as she was, felt a notion of solidarity obliging her to stay. However, this pause was both unneeded and potentially dangerous. Tifa clenched the fist that had given the final blow, showing signs of pain at last, but then turned and went to Aerith. At last she ducked low to avoid potential counterattacks, and darted over to the Cetra's side. On reaching her, her good hand shot out and seized her by the shoulder.

"Come on!" She yelled over the bullets as she yanked the woman to her feet. The power and speed with which she did so left no room for arguing. Once she was on her feet, she was powerless to resist as Tifa dragged her over to the opening. Nearly throwing her through it, the woman dragged the Cetra to the edge and gave her a shove to help her move out. At the last moment, Aerith complied, and proceeded to jump out of the hole and into the exterior.

For a moment, the woman was terrified. She didn't immediately hit ground, and realized that they were a certain distance in the air. She feared a long and painful, perhaps even fatal, fall. However, her free fall descent lasted only a moment, before she felt her lower body enveloped in soft coldness. It was a good ten foot drop from where they had made their exit, but there was several feet of snow piled up at the side of the Dome, providing a very large and deep cushion to impact her fall. Her body crushed into it as she landed, and immediately the powder dipped into every break in her clothing and went into her skin, giving her a freezing sting. The effect further awoke her from her previous daze, and almost immediately on landing she struggled to rise up again and stand on the snow.

As she rose, Tifa herself sailed down and impacted nearby. She got up quicker than the less physically capable Cetra, took her by the arm again, and drew her further away from the "window", giving more room for the others to fall. Soon they did. Barret leapt down next. After a pause, Yuffie followed. The four turned and looked up, and waited for signs of the others to come. For a long moment, they saw nothing, but continued to hear gunshots, and saw one every now and then come out from the side.

But then, to Aerith's surprise, all of the remaining soldiers leapt out as a string. As they were still falling, a series of explosions went off more or less uniformly behind them. Aerith saw a few small tongues of flame come from the opening as the last one fell, getting a bit scored as she came down. But once they were down, each immediately got to their feet, and started to run for it.

"Come on!" One called. "You should have started running already!"

Yuffie, on hearing this, immediately took off after them. Tifa looked to Aerith and urged her on, and after a pause, Aerith's confusion cleared and she began to run after them. Tifa followed. Barret was last to move, looking back to the opening, now seeing smoke coming from it, and then turning back to the others before beginning to move.

"What the hell was that?" He called out to them as they ran.

"We threw the last of our grenades into the machinery before we jumped!" One of the soldiers called back. "We must have busted a few machines…burst a few valves… Hopefully it will keep them pinned down until we can get to the plane!"

"Let's hurry up and get there!" Tifa called back. "I want to try radioing Cloud again!"

"Damage report!"

"The second turret has gone offline again!" One of the officers on board the Murasame's deck responded. It was growing increasingly chaotic in here. None of the consoles were blowing yet, but their ship was taking such a pounding that emergency lights and signals were going off all around it. From the display of the outside, Godo could see guns relentlessly pounding away at them. They had already disabled one of their turrets…two if what this latest report said was right. They were sustaining heavy damage. They could keep defending themselves for now, but not much longer.

"Decks three and four report a breach!" The officer who had spoken, the engineering officer, continued. "The main engine is overheating!"

"Admiral!" Another officer called, this one manning the tactical station. "The Mikado is sinking! The destroyers who were attacking it are switching their targeting to us! We have to pull out soon!"

"Not yet!" Godo immediately yelled back, bracing himself against the rails as the ship pitched again from taking another heavy shot. "What's the status of the missile?"

"Impact in less than one minute!"

"Order the fleet to stand their ground until impact is confirmed!" Godo responded. "We're going to give them as much time as they need for as many shots as they need!"

"The fleet is collapsing, Admiral!" The tactical officer yelled back. "If we don't break for it now, some of the remaining ships won't get away!"

"We can hold these Shinra dogs for another minute!" Godo yelled back. "Stand your ground!"

"Impact in forty-five seconds!"

"It's ready!"

Torunga sighed in relief. The past few minutes had been nerve wracking. They had no radar systems, so they had no idea when an attack would come. He had been forced to simply work as fast as he could and hope for the best. And in a rush job like this, the chance for error was only compounded. The electricians had fumbled and mixed up countless wires while trying to find the critical ones that would simply activate the shield. It wasn't enough to just hook up a button. They also had to wire up all the priming controls, and they had to radio instructions to reactor control to pick up some options that they couldn't do alone. Without a display, they worked somewhat blind and simply hoped that somewhere in the computer space their controls were doing the right thing.

A pile of five electricians were at the console, having somewhat ripped it apart once again and scrambled over it for a few fateful minutes to try and get it working. However, they were still alive now, and Torunga heard nothing else coming outside. And now they were done, and were quickly backing away from their work once again. The head electrician remained in their midst, pulling his hand away from one last set of wires he had pinched together with a set of pliers. On doing so, he looked over to the Commander and gave a nod.

"It's ready. We've made all the preparations."

"Then activate it. Now." Torunga immediately answered.

The man nodded, and then exhaled a sharp breath of air before moving to the main button. As he did, the rest of the electricians finished backing up and looked out the window to the exterior. Torunga found himself doing it too. Now it was time to see if everything had gone right. If so…then they would see the shield deployed around their site for the first time; the only other shielded structure in the world. And to pull it off with so much more stringent requirements and at so short a window of time…it would be nothing short of remarkable. And so, he eagerly looked as the man pressed the button.

Nothing.

Torunga froze at this. The head electrician couldn't see outside himself, but his face immediately turned puzzled as he looked up. He would have heard the massive generators go off and the sound of projected lasers if nothing else. But he heard none of that. He pressed the button again, once more with no effect. He pressed it a third time, and still nothing. Torunga noticed this, as did the others. Their faces began to lose enthusiasm…and Torunga's began to grow worried.

"What's wrong?"

"I…I don't know." The electrician answered as he looked down to the button and pressed it again. Still no effect. Confused, he began to look around himself. "It's not working."

Torunga clenched his teeth and swore. He looked around for a moment, still seeing no change, and felt a bit of fear begin to rise in him. An attack was still coming, and they were still defenseless. "Damnit…" He cursed aloud. "What now? Did reactor control screw up?"

In response, one of the electricians immediately began to fire up their radio and call on it, to confirm Torunga's inquiry. But as they did this, the electrician dropped the button and began to look around the web of wires that had been woven around them in their work, looking for some problem. "Did we not do something right?" Torunga asked, his irritation growing…but only to mask his increasing fear. "Did we miss a link? Did a command not get entered?"

"We entered everything, sir." One of the electricians answered, giving an innocent shrug from the side.

Torunga frowned and began to bend down as well, getting to the side of the electrician and beginning to look through the wires. "We obviously missed something!" He called back, his fear making him lose control of his temper. "Don't just stand there! Try to find the problem! Go back over the protocol! We have to find what went wrong!"

"Thirty seconds to impact!"

As Torunga and the others bent down and began to dig through the wires, the one remaining electrician pulled the radio down from the side of his head and shook it. "Reactor room says all systems are go. There's no problem."

"Well tell them to check it again!" Torunga yelled back. For all he knew, the problem was on their end and not his. There was little reason to suspect it either way. Anything could be wrong. There were a hundred possibilities that they now had to run through in seconds. And each moment that went by put Torunga into a further panic. At any moment now, doom could come down upon them. They had to find what the problem was and fix it now. They had no more time for delays.

"Damnit!" The head electrician cursed as he threw a handful of wires down. "They all look good! If there's a short it would take hours to find!"

Torunga swore as well. In his frustration and anger, he rose from where he stood and went over to the console itself. Seizing it, he yanked back with such force that one would think if there were any wires there, they would have been severed. But fortunately, in this case, there was enough leeway for him to yank back. Once he had pulled it back, he nearly threw himself on top of the console and ducked his upper torso behind it and reached for the wires. Cursing again, for it was too dark to see, he reached back for his belt and pulled out his pocket flashlight. He switched it on and shone it down on the area behind, trying to see the problem.

Then, as if he had just found a glimmer of a gem embedded deep within granite…there it was. It shone right in front of him, clear as day. One of the color coded main wires hovered just a little in front of him, nearly severed in two. At that…he immediately recognized the problem. They had crossed too many circuits on this rush job of wiring. They ended up having to cut a few. In their haste, they must have accidentally snapped the main wire. But there it was now, clear as day. He felt some relief flow into him. This could be fixed easily enough…

However, at that moment…those gathered paused in their work. Not only them, but every member of the work crew on the frozen mountain. A new sound began to fade in on the wind, and slowly grew louder. It was a high-pitched whining sound…like that of a cartoon bomb.

On hearing it…Torunga stiffened briefly and felt his eyes widen. He knew what that was. Cartoon-like as it sounded…he had been in combat long enough to know what that was…the sound of something small and incredibly fast cutting through the air…and getting closer.

Fresh fear filling him, Torunga quickly went for his belt for his wire strippers. He had only seconds left…and there was no time to get an electrician in on this. It was up to him.

"Fifteen seconds to impact!"

As this was sounded, the deck of the Murasame rocked violently. This time, one of the consoles did snap and then erupt into flame. As the crew members were flung about chaotically, one of the officers recoiled from his console in shock, seeing sparks and flames suddenly roaring from it. A moment later, he snapped out of it, and dove for his fire extinguisher. As he put it to use, a fresh volley of cannon fire shook the deck of the Murasame again. Fresh sirens blared. The engineering officer looked over his own console for the latest bad news.

And through it all…Godo stood as straight and tall as a statue, and looked at the projected image before him, staring down the enemy destroyers as if he dared them to sink him.

"Admiral! Our lateral controls are failing! Fire has broken out on decks 1 and 2!"

"Stay the course!" Godo yelled back. "We're not leaving!

"Ten seconds to impact!"

Another volley shook the ship. The flames burned higher on the one console, making the officer more liberally discharge the contents of the extinguisher on it. Fear surged in the hearts of the hardened Wutai officers, despite their renown bravery, and anxiety made them more reckless and erratic in their movements.

"We've lost the third turret!" The tactical officer yelled. "If the last turret fails, we'll be nothing but a target in the water!"

"Admiral, gunners report overheating! We have to give the barrel time to cool!" The communication officer interjected.

"Tactical, give me a readout on the target site!" Admiral Godo shot back. "I want to know the result the moment of impact!"

"Aye sir!" The officer yelled back, despite his own mounting fear of their situation. He would obey his admiral coolly to the death. He quickly began to adjust the setting on his own console to interpolate data being sent from spy relay stations nearer to the target sight. Some of their own long range sensors could give data, but it wasn't adequate. Luckily, their spies could get close enough to give a bit more information on it. Not enough to do any damage, but enough to know something of its activities.

"Five seconds!" The radar chieftain announced. "Four! Three! Two! One!"

Despite the chaotic battle raging around them, the bridge went silent. The only noise that filled the air was that of the cannon fire outside and of the burning and sparking console. Everyone else held their breath and paid no more mind to the tremors and shifts on their bridge. They focused all of their attention simply on the tactical officer. Now…it had come to it. Their missile had impacted. The shot they had worked and labored so hard to get off had made its full run and embedded on its course, at the price of many of their lives. Now…they slowly waited and watched as the tactical officer poured his eyes over the readouts, waiting for their damaged antennas to get the correct amount of information. What was it going to be? Was it a hit? Or would their fighters have to risk their lives to make another shot? It seemed like it took longer than fifteen minutes to get a reply…but Godo stood and waited just the same.

The tactical officer's back was to Godo, so he did not see his face. But after a time…the communications officer put a hand to his ear. Something seemed to be coming through on his headset. He turned back to his console at that, and held on for a moment listening. As the officer did…Godo managed to catch a darkening of mood around him. He saw the man move slower…and his tension slowly fade as his arms slumped. While he did…the tactical officer inhaled slowly.

"…Report." Godo finally ordered, although it was neither loud nor vicious. Just a small order.

The officer swallowed, and sighed again.

"…No hit." He finally stated. The words were heavy and long, like bells in a cathedral, and they seemed to both weigh on all present as well as echo throughout the room with a grim silence.

The communications officer sighed…and spoke as well after a moment, pronouncing more dark words.

"…Two seconds prior to impact…their shield went up. The missiles impacted on it. Their emplacement is now impregnable from bombardment."

Torunga hunched over the console, sweat pouring down his brow, leaving his wet, nervous, trembling fingers clamped around the wires he had twisted together mere seconds ago. The echoing from the large explosion that had gone off right over them a few moments earlier was still dying, and in his mind he could still see the massive fireball that had erupted on the pale blue prism that now enveloped their work site. The prism was flickering now, and some of its sections went on and off. It wasn't perfect. However…it had done its job. Torunga still felt weak, like a prey that had narrowly escaped the jaws of a predator, and was forced to rest simply to appreciate the fact that it had earned the right to live another day, and realize that it wasn't in danger anymore.

Behind him, the electricians were much the same way. The entire construction site had gone silent as the workers stared blankly at the burning prism that surrounded them, watching the smoke from the missiles slowly fade. Death had brushed them by…and they had barely escaped with their lives. Not since before the initial survey team arrived had it been this silent on the mountain.

Torunga slowly swallowed at last…and moved his fingers off of the wires. They loosened a bit, but it no longer mattered. The shield had been activated. Doing the fastest bit of engineering he had ever done, he had used his own wire strippers to quickly remove the insulation from both sides of the wire, brought them together, twisted them, and then held with his fingers for dear life. All the time, he had heard the fateful sounds of that incoming missile howling for his death and that of his men, like a fell banshee coming to take their lives.

But in the end…it had come to nothing. The missiles had been stopped.

As Torunga relaxed, and his body slowly began to slide off the top of the console like a sack of dirty laundry, he realized they had done it.

They had failed.

As cannon shots continued to tear the Murasame apart, the crew found themselves unable to react immediately. It had been for nothing. The operations…the problems…those who had given their lives to make this work…it had all been in vain. The enemy had succeeded ahead of schedule. They put a shield up before they thought it was possible. And now…it was over.

Godo's head bowed slightly…as his insides burned with anger at how they had failed. Nothing his rage could do could make up for it…but he could mourn all those who had given so much in an attempt to make this operation succeed, only for it to falter at the end of all things. He had kept his crew and this fleet here hoping it would triumph. Now they had died for little. It brought back dark memories…memories of risking much in the Wutai-Shinra War only to have the Shinra make their best laid plans fail in the end. It was always a bitter sting…and now he felt it again. He had to steel himself to take it for a short while, as the rest of the crew turned and looked to him, waiting for what order he would give next. And for a moment, he only let their fleet continue to take a pounding.

Then, face full of bitterness and rueful abandonment, he turned his head up and gave an order.

"…Tell the whole fleet to pull back. Pull us back to escape while we still have time."

To be continued...