Radio Silence (Shade, Fury)

...To not get a communication from Esthar was not strange, even for days at a time.

...Comm blackouts of any extended time, however, are. Esthar was always talking, even if it was to itself. For all communications in the hyper-advanced city-state to stop, for THIS long?

It wasn't often SeeD did internally-driven ops. But, something this serious warranted it.

Simon Crowley was the one mainly concerned with it. He'd sent notice of the situation ahead to Shade and Raven, though, it was only a general overview that he'd sent. He'd have to be there to fully brief them, and see if action was warranted.

Entering the Headmaster's office, where Shade could usually be found, Simon began setting up his personal terminal, as well as a projector. He was taking this very seriously; he was already suited up in his CS Armor, sans helmet.

Though he tried not to show it, he was a bit nervous. Esthar is a very well-developed nation. Anything that could take it off the grid had to be formidable.

...His nerves also came from the fact that he knew the Leonharts would not be amused. As he looked out the panoramic window, he could see the gray of the morning twilight being banished by the oranges and pinks of sunrise.

Hell, as he heard the elevator arrive, again, he was half-expecting to be either shot or stabbed by one of the two, for the wake-up call his request had been.

Fury briskly walked towards the elevator that led up to the Headmaster's office. Apparently, there was an issue so important, Simon believed it warranted tearing him away from his morning work out. Fury walked alone through the empty corridors. The place was eerily quiet at this time in the morning, as most everybody was still in bed. Fury had forgone wearing his AMP suit as he didn't believe he was going to need heavy armor for a freaking meeting, especially one called by Simon. Though, he never went anywhere without his kevlar. So he walked into the elevator wearing his usual vest and other assorted combat gear.

As the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, Fury walked into the office and saw Simon. Looking him up and down, Fury wasn't amused with the fact that the techie was fully decked out in his own armor. That meant it was time to go to work. He also noted that Simon was even more nervous than usual around him. This must be a really important mission for him to be acting like this.

"Alright, Mr. Crowly, let's hear it. What grand mission do you have me going on today? Too many rats in the laboratory? Some bully stealing your lunch money? Fury chuckled as he walked over to the chair in front of his sister's desk, sat down, and closed his eyes. If he had to listen to the boring explanation, he might as well catch up on some sleep.

Simon, actually, was not surprised by Fury's attitude. He'd been vague in his impromptu summons, so, of course Fury wasn't expecting the sort of danger level Simon was.

"At this point, Fury, I honestly wish that it WAS something like that."

He really did. Especially since SeeD hadn't faced down a potential threat of this magnitude since the fall of Ultimecia. Esthar was one of the remnants of the Centra. Unlike Dollet, Esthar held together, and is all the stronger for it. Their technology is so advanced as to possibly surpass that of Centra itself, should it be applied correctly. ...Which is why Simon was all the more worried. ...It wasn't until about a half-hour ago that he figured out WHY Esthar had gone silent.

"Since the actual briefing's gonna be long and boring, and you look half-asleep anyway, I'll spare you the details. Short version? Esthar is screwed beyond belief. And, unless we do something, the rest of the world will follow."

Staring out the window, Simon seemed to be in another dimension. ...In his mind, a scene played back. Blood and gore adorning mechanical blades. The screams of the innocent. The smell and taste of blood and oil in the air...

"...It's the bloody Horizon Massacre all over again..."

Fury's eyes opened when Simon spoke again. He could hear the distress in his voice. This was not some routine mission. Fury looked Simon up and down again. The scientist was as tense as a spring all coiled up. He seemed like he was going to explode with the news he had and it was obvious by the look on his face that the issue disturbed him deeply. While Fury knew Simon to be a man to wear his heart on his sleeve, he had never seen him like this. This attitude even scared Fury. It must be big.

Fury leaned forward in his chair to better listen to Simon. Apparently, something was really wrong with Esthar. His smirk faded quickly to a blank stare at the techie. Fury's first thoughts ran to Odine. The rat must be up to his old tricks again. Fury's mind raced back to his last encounter with the mad scientist, where he had almost killed the man before he had the chance to cause any harm to anyone. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that the man had done nothing wrong yet. Fury couldn't help but feel like he had made the wrong decision. It didn't matter though, because the threat he had given the man will hold true. If the man had continued with human experiments, he will die.

If he caused this... if all those people died because of him... He will wish that I had killed him the first time.

Fury stood up and swiftly walked towards Simon. He grabbed Simon by the shoulders and spun him around to stare him in the eyes and said, "Simon, it is very important that you give me all the details right now and also tell me everything you told Shade about this already. You tell me right now or so help me Pulse, I WILL throw you off this balcony."

Fury's mind was already racing towards plans and actions. But no matter what he thought of, the only thought that broke through was that this was all his fault.

((OOC: trying this again for the SECOND time!! since my mouse obviously HATES my guts having closed out my post right when I FINISHED IT!! >< *pants and holds temper in check*))



As the elevator reached up to the Headmaster's office with the usual ping!, Shade yawned for the umteenth time. The to-go mug of steaming coffee in her hand wasn't much help in waking her up due to having worked extremely late the night before on the Ragnarok production reports. But one such as Simon Crowley was renown for his persistence when it came to an issue he felt required immediate attention. Such urgency came to no surprise to Shade at such an early hour when having dealt with Simon's "emergencies" since they were children, where at one point, the 7 year old Crowley felt a Moomba's painful hangnail was a justifiable cause to trigger the Garden's emergency alarm at 3 in the morning.


As the elevator doors slowly slid open, Shade stepped out to find her brother already threatening Simon's life. Yet again, she found herself none at all surprised since Fury didn't endure Simon's style of insistence as Shade had over the many years, thus lacking the patience for it. She stood there for a moment or two while taking another sip of her hot beverage with eyes still half closed as she watched the scene unfold before approaching the two silently.


Once she stood beside her brother, who kept his fuming glare locked on his target, she reached into her pocket and casually pulled out a sterling silver zippo, which appeared as if it been rung through a wood chipper. She slipped the lighter into one of Fury's vest pockets with a groggy tone in her voice. "....you left that in the training center yesterday." With another sip of her coffee and a dismissive sniff, she turned away with a "....carry on" muttered through her lips and headed for the large plush leather chair on the other side of the large mahogany office desk.

(Okay, now, in all fairness, that Moomba was berserk with pain; it coulda hurt somebody!)

Finally, everyone here.

Squirming free of Fury's grip, Simon returned to his terminal. ...He had no desire to actually eliver this message. In fact, he'd just as soon that the event in question had never happened. But, the fact of the matter was that it had happened, was happening. And, if it was what he thought it was, he had to get it taken care of.

"Well, as you both know from my alert, Communications in Esthar, of all kinds, have been dead for the past 71 hours. Comm blackouts are common for Esthar, occuring during system maintenance. But, those last, at most, an hour."

Pressing a small button, well hidden in the top of the armorsuit's chest, Simon's helm telescoped out of the armor, a series of plates fusing together at the seams to create a single, environmentally-sealed armorsuit, helm included. At this time, as well, the projector flicked on, showing various streams of data. Mostly communication logistics.

"The real issue comes from about an hour back, when comms came back up. I don't expect either of you to see it right away. It really only makes sense to people who regularly dealt with cyber-warfare. But, the data reflects two things. One, this shows commands going out to Esthar's automated defenses, and their machine armies. ...This makes the second fact even worse."

...Simon swallowed, hard. ...He knew how they'd react.

"Two? The code structure is nearly a carbon-copy of what's used by the Fringe."

Fury heard the ding of the elevator and the sliding open of it's doors a moment after he had finished his threat to Simon. He loosened the grip on Simon, it was too late, Shade was already there. Fury nodded to his sister as she slipped the zippo into his vest. He was going to need a smoke if this situation was what he thought it was. He calmly made his way back to his seat as Simon pulled away and began the briefing.

Fury studied his sister for any hint of a response from hearing the issue was with Esthar, but in her current state of half-slumber, she was more difficult to read than usual. In fact, he couldn't read her at all, which made his sense of urgency even greater. If he could just get a little more information from the man, he could come up with some form of excuse and leave. Maybe if he got a head start on them, he would actually be able to follow through with the kill this time without Shade guilting him into justice. Odine had to-

Did he just say the Fringe?

Fury's attention spun towards the now fully armored Simon. He looked at the man for any sign of lying, but couldn't find any. Besides, why would Simon lie about something like this? What gain would it bring him? Fury thoughts rushed back to a month ago when he had found an early version of the Fringe on Cocoon, rummaging through the Ark's. Could them getting away with just a small amount of tech really push their plans up that far and take over an entire City? Fury hoped not, but there was no way to truly be sure without going there an finding out.

Fury stood up and studied the projections. Turning to face Shade, he said, "When are we leaving? I have to make arrangements to have Jayda watch the girls longer."

By the time Shade reached her chair and slumped into it, Simon was engrossed with his explanation. While listening intently and turning on her monitors and checking her overnight messages, Shade nearly spewed out her next sip of coffee all over her desk when Simon's last assumption was announced. Due to her early morning haze, she was caught dumbfounded for a brief moment before Fury snapped her brain back to attention, demanding when they were to be off right then and there.


After a blink or two, Shade recomposed herself and stood back up suddenly and slammed her lidded cup on the desk as she gave the both of them a stern glare. First she addressed her brother with a calm, yet stern tone in order for him to see reason for just a moment before he high tailed it out her office with just the slightest reason to go blow something up. "Can we just spare a few more moments to verify what Simon's findings are before jumping to a such a severe conclusion just for the sake to shoot someone?"


With a slow, deep intake of breath, Shade then turned her steel hues sternly upon Simon and used the same calm voice, yet her words beheld a straining tone. "Now.... thus far you've stated Esther's communications were down for 71 hours. Glitches happen, Simon. It's to be expected with any form of technology, no matter how advanced."


She slowly sat back down and calmly explained his other concern. "As for the commands going out to Esthar's automated defenses, and their machine armies... that's standard procedure when whenever Esthar's system experiences any sort of shut down, Simon. To be sure their offensive and defensive systems are back online and in proper working order."


After clearing her throat and leaning forward to rest her elbows upon the desk to lower her head and rub her temples, Shade proceeded to confront Simon's theory. "Now.... you state these code structures are a carbon copy of the Fringe.... so please explain how you could possibly make that determination when there's nothing within THIS dimensional version of our world's database of the Fringe to compare to? And what system in THIS dimensional version of our world could you have possibly used to determine such a code structure when this version of our world is still picking up the technological pieces after the Sorceress War?"

...She was seriously going to try and downplay this?

"Alright, Shade, first of all? Esthar's an incredibly advanced nation. A day is a glitch, maybe. Almost three? That's something gone horribly, horribly wrong."

Nervously, he ran a diagnostic check on his machine arm. Rotating the various sections, hyperextending the joints, and other various movements the construct had to be able to pull off. ...He had to concede to Shade's point, though. With nearly all of Esthar's defenses controlled by an AI matrix, any sort of system failure would require a recalibration of all the systems. However, there was one detail.

"Second, while they would be testing all the systems, the signatures I'm picking up are highly irregular. Besides the 'Terminator' units, analysis suggests deployment of Gespers. Fury, I don't know if you've encountered the unit, so, I'll explain."

The projector then displayed an image of the being in question, as well as statistics.

Spoiler:

The being shown seems to be susceptible to toxins and pathogens, and capable of psychic attacks.

"Gespers are a sort of artificial life. Machines, yes, but, they're made of calcium, carbon, and proteins rather than steel, silicon, and copper. A sad attempt at cloning, to further Sorceress Adel's agenda. The problem with them is that they'll attack anything and everything that ISN'T a Gesper, and there's no rhyme or reason to it. Development on them stopped after the Sorceress War. The fact that there are Gespers at ALL, ESPECIALLY inside the city, is worrying; Esthar's a looney bin, but, even they're not crazy enough to try this again."

The Gesper's image was then replaced by that of one of Esthar's most powerful weapon; the Mobile Type 8.

Spoiler:

A truly frightful machine. Possessed of Homing Lasers, Corona field discharges, powerful physical attacks, and the thermonuclear weapon only called "Megiddo Flame".

"Not to mention something like a Mobile Type 8 would get a lab diagnostic, as opposed to a field run."

The Mobile Type 8 vanished from the screen, and a map of the main center of Esthar came up.

The Presidential Residence and surrounding area were shaded gray. The gray clashed with a purple zone, surrounding the laboratory complex deep within Esthar. This purple zone surrounded the gray, as if containing it.

"Finally, not all the units are being controlled by the same signal. The Gespers are in a perimeter around the President's compound. Elastoids are attacking the lab complex, while the Mobile Type 8 provides air support. That's the gray on the map. The purple represents the Terminators. ...These are being controlled by a separate signal from the others."

At that point, the comm data came back up. Two different sets of data streamed past, as Simon continued.

"As for the signals? ...Hackers all have signatures. A combination of cypher-crackers, viruses, and other programs that are different between each hacker. I know the Fringe's cyber-warfare tactics. The signal controlling the main force is definitely Fringe."

Simon's hand went to the chin of his helm. Tapping his fingers thoughtfully, he continued.

"The other signal is... Curious. I've never seen anything like it. It's got elements of Fringe coding in it, but, it uses a lot of systems that SeeD created... And..."

The amber wedges in his helm went round. ...Simon realized what else the code contained.

"...Shade... ...This is impossible... ...This other signal contains elements of my own, personal cyber-weapons... ...We can't ignore this. Something is terribly, terribly wrong, here."

Fury stretched in his seat and watched Simon as he nervously played with his arm. The situation was obviously really upsetting him and Shade's disregard to the intensity of the problem seemed to really get under his skin, because he snapped at her. Old friend or not, she was still the Headmaster of the Garden and technically boss to both of them and considering this was a military organization, if only a mercenary one, her stature still meant something. But Fury let it slide. If Shade felt that discipline was needed, she would handle it.

But something didn't really add up. "How do we know this isn't just the inhabitants of the city trying to go rouge again? I mean, didn't they use to be completely invisible? It wasn't until our... father found it that it joined the rest of the world. Maybe they want to get lost again."

But before he got an answer, Simon tore into a long detailed report on the things they were going to face. Fury quickly lost interest because of the condescending way Simon had made the introduction. But Fury didn't want to steal the already extremely nervous kid's thunder, so he kept quiet. Instead, he pulled out a smashed package of cigarettes and his newly returned zippo and lit up a cigarette. It took him several moments to realize he was in his sister's office and that she had a rule against smoking inside it. Turning around in his chair to face her, he gave her an uneasy smirk and then offered her one before going back to the presentation.

After a few moments, it was over. Fury looked at Simon for a moment before stretching again and saying, "I finished the SeeD course in record time, I learned all your world's customs and traditions in a matter of months. I have worked very hard to make sure I know everything I can about this world while maintaining the one I grew up on. So please, next time, don't waste our time with things we already know. Especially when Shade is only giving you a short window to try and convince us going in is warranted."

Although Shade had her elbows propped up against the marble top desk and her fingers rubbing at her temples, she was listening to Simon's every word intently. All her hard work for the past several months, every tense political meeting, every tedious contract, every diplomatic argument untangled, came rushing through the Headmaster's mind like a speeding freight train. If there was the slightest chance Simon was pushing the panic button over this, all of Shade's work to unite their world as one would be lost, even if some of his claims had merit. Which was why Shade's mentality was torn in half at the present moment. If Simon was right, not only was this dimension of their world at risk to the tragic fall their own time suffered, but so were all the other planets within the realm now that they were all connected together.


With her head still bowed, Shade heard the familiar sound of Fury's zippo and within seconds, the smell of his cigarette wavered through her nose. Her head slowly lifted to her brother's smirk and offering, to which Shade sighed heavily and snatched one for herself. A rare occurrence for her, but with Shade's nerves shredded through the wringer, it was either a cigarette, or a whole bottle of vodka being consumed with her morning brew. After the first drag and another gulp of her coffee, Shade rubbed at her weary eyes before switching on the multiple monitors upon her desk and checking through global announcements to see if there was any hint to Simon's claims within them. Finding nothing at all, Shade had to wonder if no news was good news.


While clicking a few various accounts, Shade proceeded to address Simon with a calm tone as her other hand opened a drawer at her desk to pull out a small glass ashtray to set between her and Fury. "Simon.... it's not that I don't take your suspicions seriously.... but you have got to understand the position I'm in here. I've busted my ass for months trying to unify Esther with the other cities of power, as well as the Gardens. We desperately need Esther's technology shared throughout the world in order to protect this planet from outside threats now that all the realms are connected. Hell, just getting Esther's diplomats to even speak to the Deling President took weeks!, and I'm still smoothing over the upset over the Odine attack last month."

She spared a quick glance at her brother and gave him a dismissive wave of her hand that held the cigarette in her fingers with a casual roll of her eyes and a matching smirk. "They don't even know you were involved.... I managed to swipe out some of that crazy clown's memory... he thinks it was a wild animal attack, remembering only the bear and a crazy squirrel."


Now looking back at Simon, Shade returned to the point at hand with serious, yet slightly threatening tone in her words as her steel hues narrowed against his own. "Now let me make something abundantly clear to you, Mr. Crowley.... I take any, and every threat against this planet seriously, no matter where, or what it is. But I also have to take into account the repercussions if a suspicion is carried out too far." She paused for a brief drag to control her early morning scorn before continuing with authority in her tone. "Should we rush into Esther in a blaze of glory, with a stampede of SeeDs, with weapons bared, and to the hilt with armor, all over some malfunction, or because of some hoax by some bored little hacker who can't even jack off anymore to amuse himself? Guess who has to smooth the waters, Simon? It sure as hell isn't going to be you. The president elect, nor any of the officials there know you from a hole in the wall. They're guns are going to turn on Balamb, probably the rest of the Gardens as well, and all the negotiations me and the worldly officials have struggled for will be for nothing...."


With a momentary pause, she took one final drag before extinguishing the cigarette and sparing Fury a quick accusing glare for the temptation to smoke one. “But....” Shade casually rose up from her seat to pace around the desk, placing herself between Simon and Fury as she leaned back against the edge of the marble desktop with her arms crossed and her brow furrowed while her piercing hues stared at the floor. “...if Simon's right.... we have only a foreboding outlook here. If this indeed the Fringe, we have to act, and act now and very carefully. They'll expect someone, somewhere outside of the city to have suspected something by now. They'll be on their guard and trigger happy. So this is what I suggest we do....”


First, Shade's stare addressed Simon. “We're going to Esther... just the three of us, with just a....little help. I'll explain that part later. But for now, we go in without looking like we're ready to blow heads off. We don't want to rouse the slightest suspicion, or we're screwed from the get go. So ditch the fancy armor, slap a hidden enchantment on it, whatever. Same goes for our weapons. We take public transport, or go by foot to get there, but no airships. If it's the Fringe, Simon, they'll shoot us down on sight the moment their radars pick up on us.”


Now Shade turned to her brother. “I'm not saying airships won't be used at all, Fury. I suggest you and I alert our teams as to what's going on. They're to be ready with the Kestrel and the Oasis should we need back up, or simply to get us the hell out of there should things go wrong. We go into Esther with stealth, find out what the hell is really going on, be it a glitch, a hoax, or Hyne forbid, the Fringe. I'm afraid we can't plan ahead anymore than that without solid confirmation, but I will say this.... If Simon is right, pray that he's not. If Simon is right, be ready for the worst and have everything you got ready upon command.”


Shade pushed away from the desk and ran her fingers through the tussled strands of her dark hair before pulling her leather gloves out from her back pocket and putting them on. “Simon, if you have anything else you wish to add, or inform us about, I would suggest you do so now before we head off.” Shade placed herself on lockdown. Her fears were suppressed, her own memories and nightmares of the Fringe shunned and locked away, she was now back to what she knew best to be.

"You'll have to forgive the longer aspects of the brief. You've been trained, yes, but, how could I expect you to know about an experimental weapon that, until now, we'd thought discontinued?"

That much was true. The last place Gespers had been found was within the now-lost Lunatic Pandora, and, even then, those units were better than 15 years old.

"And, if they were trying to vanish again, they'd just set their barrier screens back up. There isn't one good reason they'd deploy highly-dangerous military hardware, inside their own city, of their own volition."

Simon decided, at that moment, to light up one of his own cigarillos, the mouthpiece of his helmet folding away so that he actually could. As he let the smoke roll through his mouth, he briefly amazed himself; most people couldn't stand clove. He'd let someone bum a smoke off him, once, and the poor sucker was on hands and knees, sputtering after just one drag. ...Probably because you don't smoke a cigarillo like you would a cigarette; Even the unflavored ones are stronger than their paper-and-sponge cousins.

...Malfunctions, or a hacker... Considering the codes he'd picked up from the ambient wifi noise, he highly doubted either. Certainly, a malfunction in the AI control core could produce similar codes in the main force. Or, a hacker could have very easily stumbled into the same sort of cyber-weapons that the Fringe had. Technology didn't have one set path, after all. It was possible someone had developed methods of cyber-warfare that match Fringe profiles... But, the odds of either one were one in a million, maybe less. So, Simon understood Shade's position, here.


Her suggestion, though, lit up the optics in his helm. A covert op! He was going to suggest the same thing, himself! Throwing a batallion of SeeD at the problem would just generate a lot of unnecessary deaths. A small strike team could move faster, unnoticed, and do more damage where it counted. Since she seemed to want to take this slowly, Simon pulled the SeeD seal buckle from his belt. Pressing emblems on a touch screen on the reverse, a synthetic voice called out.

"Fold!"

With the synthetic voice's confirmation, hexagonal webbing, displaying many Chevrons, appeared around Simon. After shimmering briefly, the armor vanished, leaving Simon in his street clothes.


"...Actually, Shade, I may have something that can help. I've got access to a prototype Airship that could be of use here. If we're going for stealth, this thing can't be picked up on Radar, EM sensors... It's virtually undetectable."

The projector started back up, displaying base schematics for the ship in question. As far as build, it bore a resemblance to the Ragnarok-class Airships. Unlike them, though, it traded a short body length for a less noticeable vertical profile. Gone were the two supermassive engine pods, replaced by a quartet of wing-mounted engine nacelles. Finally, it did not seem to have any visible weapons, though the schematics suggested otherwise.

"It's not invisible, no. But, other than looking out a window and seeing the thing, the only way to pick it up is thermal imaging, which, as best as I can figure, isn't a reliable long-range method of detection. At least, not yet."

The projector finally shut off, as Simon finished.

"It's your call, Shade. If you wanna risk it, I can have the crew ready for takeoff five minutes ago."

Fury wasn't pleased with Simon's explanation for why he was talking to Fury about the enemies they could face like he was his instructor, but he bit his tongue. That was a fight for another time. Instead, Fury focused on the man's half-cocked answer about why it couldn't be them just wanting to disappear. Even if they could just turn on the old on/off switch and turn invisible again, there would be people completely opposed to the idea. They would have to mobilize their military to keep both external and internal threats to a minimum. But once again, Fury bit his tongue. He wanted to at least check out Esthar and if he brought that up, Shade would never agree to going in.

Which meant when she suggested they go in quietly Fury just nodded his head in agreement. That was what he had meant when he first tried to get going, but apparently that wasn't clear. Surveying and scouting from a computer screen was great and all, but Fury preferred boots-on-the-ground, eyes-on-the-scene intelligence. Computers could be fooled, his own eyes could not. Fury leaned forward in his chair and listened as Shade briefly outlined her plan. As soon as she mentioned getting his team on standby, Fury stood and extinguished his cigarette before walking out onto the balcony to call Dusty.

With his ear still listening in on the conversation, Fury spoke into his phone, "Dusty, put the team on standby. We have a developing situation."

Fury could hear Dusty chuckle at the other end of the line before saying, Yes, Sir. We got an op going?."

"Something like that, just have them ready. Meet me in the hangar in about five minutes and bring your civies," was all the answer Dusty would receive at that time for Fury overheard the stint about thermal imaging from Simon. He quickly hung up the phone and returned to the office.

Glancing at his sister before looking back at Simon, Fury said, "That wouldn't be a very good idea..." Fury looked back to his sister and said, "You remember our little "run-in" with the Fringe last month on Cacoon? Well, we didn't get every single last one of them and there was a substantial amount of tech still stolen from the Ark. Now, considering that I personally use thermal imaging on long range scopes, there is a definite possibility that the Fringe may have picked up on that tech too. If the threat is the Fringe, then using a ship, even one invisible to radar, would be unwise."

Fury moved back towards the door and said, "Our best option right now is the on the ground approach. And don't worry about the weapons. I'll keep my vest on underneath my civilian clothes. With it, I can call any weapon I have in the Kestrel's armory to me instantly, so you can store whatever gear you need there and I can retrieve it for you anywhere."

Shade was preparing her own weapons as Fury returned from his call to Dusty and spoke with Simon. Whatever the two were discussing, Shade paid only half an ear to as she was now taking her turn contacting Brix on her own phone. She expected the groggy answer, knowing Brix was never up this early in the morning, but as Shade began to explain the situation, her comrade became immediately alert.

“You have got to be kidding me! No wait... you have no sense of humor.... Have you lost your damn mind!?”

“Just inform Jayda of the situation and have the Oasis at the ready should we need you.”

There came a rustling sound and a few grunts from the other end of the phone, confirming Brix was indeed getting out of bed and taking the news seriously. Just as Shade was about to hang up, she heard Brix chuckle. “Hey-hey-hey..... is Dusty coming too?”


Shade snapped her phone shut at that very moment with an annoyed roll of her eyes before returning her full attention back to Simon and her brother just as Fury mentioned their past mission in Cacoon. She nodded to what he said while addressing the concern to Simon. “Even if this possible Fringe threat hasn't developed the capability, Esther itself has thermal imagery detection for them to use, as well as the city's other defensive means to use at their disposal. I simply don't want any risk at all of being suspected as a threat. If we go in looking casual, city officials, if any are actually still there, will simply see it as me coming to call over a diplomatic matter, and you two as my escorts. As for this possible Fringe threat, to them we would appear no more as wayward travelers.”


With her sword and whip strapped at her left hip, she engaged her swordbelt enchantment for the entire ensemble to disappear, only to reappear whenever Shade would mentally summon for the weapons. The same was done with her Gryphon crossbow, which was strapped onto her upper left thigh. “As I said before, it's just us three going in. What crews we have are to be on stand by only. Now that we have a plan, I say we get our asses in gear.”


Whatever thoughts she had, she kept them to herself. There was no use for anxiety in Shade's book. She wanted to get there as soon as possible. If the Fringe indeed found their way into this realm of her world, there would be no end to their reign of destruction and slaughter of lives, especially against the worlds that had primitive means of defense compared to what this world, or even Fury's home world have. “We go into the city and take the underground train to Timber. From there, we head to Fisherman's Horizon and into Esther. I don't know about you guys, but I'm taking my Rage cycle along for the ride to save some time.” She stood at the elevator doors awaiting for Fury and Simon to join her.

...So, this was it, then. The Psycommu doing its job, the elevator at the back of the office chimed.

"If we're really gonna do this, then, you're right; we can't afford to waste a second."

Quickly heading for the Elevator, it brought him down to the garage. He'd actually planned for just this contingency.

In the dim garage lights shone the Trunade; one of Simon's prime engineering feats. Built to withstand explosive impact, and capable of moving over most any sort of terrain, he could think of no better machine to ride into battle with. Simon popped the hood, running one final check of systems, as his Psycommu alerted him to a transmission.

"Commander, I hate to press you, but, time runs short."

Simon smiled, slightly, hearing the heavy Trabian accent in his old, tired voice. Marko Ramius, his Executive Officer. The man was a consummate professional, who had little trouble taking direction, or giving it; as well as being very bright.

"Change of plans, Ramius. We're going in low-key. Maintain geosynchronous orbit over the Great Salt Lake; I want you guys there five minutes BEFORE I call." Simon said, checking the oil in the restored engine.

"Understood, Commander. Should we begin bombardment with our descent?[/b]" The Trabian asked.

"Negative." Simon replied. "Odds are pretty good you'd take down friendlies that way."

At this point, he was waiting on Shade.

Fury entered the elevator with Shade and started the decent with her. As the elevator slowly ticked downard, he turned to her and said, "Dusty's coming along with us. I was thinking about it and in case we need to split up it would be wise to have another person in the field. This way we are up to a full squad and if needed, Dusty and I can get into a position to give covering fire from a perch. I know you want to keep this low-key, but we've ran similar ops to ones like these in broad daylight in Eden before. We know how to stay under the radar."

The elevator dinged and Fury stepped out into the dim lighting of the garage. He swiftly walked over to the large truck Dusty was leaned up against and got in. Dusty hopped into the driver's seat just as Fury watched Simon slide into what looked like an assault car. He raised an eyebrow but otherwise ignored the fact. He wasn't going to cause a scene over something so simple as what vehicle the man chose to take.

Dusty looked at the sight and grunted, asking, "Aren't we just going to the train station?"

Fury pinched the bridge of his nose and slowly nodded the affirmative.

Dusty's brow furrowed in confusion, "Then why is he-"

Before Dusty could finish, Fury began to shake his head side to side.

Dusty grunted again before turning on and blaring "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne and driving up next to Simon's car. He rolled down the window and leaned his head out to ask, "Do you really need a combat car to drive five miles to a train station?" Without even waiting for an answer, Dusty tore off out of the garage.

The five miles went by quickly with Dusty's unnecessary speeding and they were the first ones there. Fury caught Dusty up on the mission while they waited and then bought four tickets for everyone. Then he just sat back and waited for the others.

As Shade watched Simon depart in silence, she shook off the final drowsiness of the morning while strapping her weapons to her waist belt and walking to the elevator. She listened to Fury's explanation as to why he felt Dusty should tag along, and she nodded quietly knowing the truth behind his words. Those two were practically joined at the hip, as well as in the mind much like Siamese twins, so it came as no surprise to hear the co-op buddy would be along for the ride. At least Dusty was far more quieter than Brix.....


Now within the garage, Shade busied herself shoving her hands within her leather gloves while walking towards Griever's Rage. The motorcycle sat within the shadows, yet the silver Griever symbol still gleamed as it awaited for their departure. She happened to glance to see her brother pause over something before getting into the vehicle with Dusty, then her eyes followed where Fury had looked, as she too stared in slight confusion over Simon's choice of transportation for a 5 to 10 minute drive.


With a slight shrug, Shade mounted her cycle and turned it on, immediately setting the silent engine to hover mode to follow Fury and Dusty. As she came to the side of Simon's massive vehicle, she paused to give the whole thing a look over, then looked at Simon. "You do realize that thing isn't going to fit on the train, right?" She slowly accelerated through the hanger until outside, then the hover bike shot off keeping just a car's length behind Dusty.


Once within the Balamb city, Shade accepted her ticket they purchased, yet ventured to the ticket booth anyway to pay the extra fee to bring her cycle on board while Fury and Dusty awaited Simon. "Although flight is a risk for you and me, Fury, there's hardly any civilization along the way. Griever's Rage will be enough for Dusty and Simon to keep up if they need it." The train pulled into the station as she spoke and awaited for them to board.

The siblings Leonhart left a fair ways before him. Not that he minded. But, they did have a point. His systems check complete, he left the keys in the vehicle, and radioed ahead to Ramius, again.

"Change of plans, Marko. Stop at the Garden first. I need the Tempest loaded, ready for airdrop."

With that settled, Simon took one of the various motorcycles that the Garden kept on-hand. It didn't take him long to catch up to his brother-and-sister-in-arms.

Unlike Shade and Fury, however, Simon was, at the least, anxious. NONE of the scenarios were good.

A Malfunction. If there'd been a malfunction on this grand a scale, and Esthar couldn't get it under control, then, the machines would, eventually, form a rogue state, if left alone. AI is widely considered to be something generated by accident. And, with all the advancements Esthar had made, even without the introduction of sapient machines, the results would be a disatser.

A Hacker. Esthar has the best cyber-security known to man. And, it's been cracked by a human. No system is safe from such a person. Not to mention the massive military might they'd then command. Yet again, a bad situation.

Then, there was the Fringe. The one he was most sure of. At the very least, Esthar is all but doomed. And, if they manage some way to get a massive attack force in? It's all over. Everything. No world could even hope to defend against the Fringe.

None of these appealed to him. So, whatever it was, Simon knew that the source had to be dealt with. With extreme prejudice.

Pulling up outside of the station in town, Simon realized that,, while lost in thought, he'd somehow beaten the other two there. And, as such, he waited. Again.

...Or, at least, he thought he'd beat them there. In truth, the scatterbrained inventor had been the last to arrive, and had simply failed to see the two.

(OCC: Thanks for completely ignoring what both Shade and I wrote, Simon.)

Fury handed Shade her ticket when she arrived while Dusty went and purchased accommodations for Fury's bike on the train. He assisted Dusty in pulling the bike down out of the truck just as Simon pulled up to the front of the station. The poor boy seemed lost, like he didn't even notice that all three had already arrived and were waiting on him. Fury approached the techie as Dusty wheeled the bike off to place it in the cargo section. Fury watched the boy for a moment as he sat down and seemed to be waiting on them to show up. He chuckled as he approached him and said, "Decided to finally show up, huh? Well, come on, we're all waiting on you. Here's your ticket."

Fury handed Simon his ticket and began to walk towards the train that was awaiting them while he asked, "It probably won't be a problem, but is there any way you could camouflage that arm of yours? It would be very easy to recognize if things go south on us and we need to disappear."

Fury stepped onto the train and walked back towards the SeeD room that seemed to be on everyone of these trains. He unlocked the door and allowed Dusty to enter before walking over to one of the beds that were in the room. He collapsed on the bed and notified C.R.A.I.G. to awake him when the train reached their stop...

Time skip to Timber

"Sir, we have arrived in Timber, it's time for you to wake up."

Fury opened his eyes and sat up in the bed to look around. The others were doing their own thing in the room and getting ready to head out. He stretched in his seat and thanked C.R.A.I.G. before getting up and checking the knife he hid in his boot. Even if they were going in soft, he still had to make sure he had some form of protection.

Fury left the SeeD suite and headed out of the train and into the brisk afternoon air of Timber. He used his ticket to gain access to his bike and pulled it out onto the street. He jumped on the bike and waited for the others to get ready to ride out.

Shade used her time during the duration of the train ride to think over the matters and facts of the meeting while focusing on planning ahead to any given situation they would happen to encounter, be this a false alarm or a serious threat. Yet at the same time, her haunting memories continued to invade her concentration, putting her in an even more foul mood than before they left Balamb. She was actually thankful for the announcement that they arrived in Timber and immediately shot up onto her feet and headed out of their cabin without a word.


Now backing her Gryphon motorcycle out of the train's cargo hanger, Shade whipped out her PDA device to find the most secluded route to reach the bridge of Fisherman's Horizon. Although it was a short distance from the station, she still didn't want the team to attract any unwanted attention, or draw any suspicion of there approach to Esther.


Later in Fisherman's Horizon....

Now halfway across the bridge, Shade pulled into the small run down community so the group could take a minute to stretch their legs and grab a quick drink. It wouldn't do them any good to arrive within Esther dehydrated and exhausted, especially if they were going to run into trouble as Simon predicted. With the hover engine turned off and the cycle resting against the kickstand, Shade reached into the travel sack attached to side of the bike to retrieve a bottle of water while awaiting for the others.


With them drawing so close to Esther, she figured this would be best time to layout their course of actions depending on what situation they may face when arriving into the city. Her own thoughts leaned more toward the option of splitting up. That way, no matter the issue at hand, with the four of them, there's was a better chance at least one of them could call for the arranged back up should any of the others within the team get captured. It would be the first issue Shade would suggest when the others arrived, and once they had their plans mapped out in better detail, it would be a non stop run for Esther City.....

Simon had spent the trip preparing, too.

This particular train was an oddity, in that the entirety was reserved for SeeD, and, thus, made up entirely of SeeD coaches, and freight cars, pulled by a dedicated engine. The point is, Simon had an entire coach to himself. The whole interior was alight with holographic displays, at least, in Simon's eyes. The GUI of his Psycommu created terminals where there simply aren't.

He was plotting.

Once they managed to get into Esthar, the Lab would be the first logical point. The convergence of an attack force on the area, combined with the resistance seen by the wholly-human members of the Estharian military, were enough to tell Simon that whatever was in there was, most likely, an ally. ...Regardless of the disturbing hack systems it used. So long as the Mobile Type 8 didn't interfere, the Elastoids should fall easily.

...The Presidential Palace, however, was a different story. With the amount of Gespers, and the presence of the Mobile Type 8, they would definitely need air support. And, it had to be a target; this is where the Fringe signals were originating from; this HAD to be the enemy's stronghold.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...It was eerie, Fisherman's Horizon. There were parts of the city, like where they'd stopped, that were essentially abandoned. It was before his time but, as he understood, the city was once a major layover point to Esthar, which lended itself to massive expansion. When the nation went dark, the Fisherman's Horizon was choked off, leading to large areas of urban decay around the midpoint of the massive bridge.

It didn't take Simon long to realize Shade was still in the planning stage. Approaching her, more than ready to head right into the city, he set off the discussion.

"...If I'm right about what's gone wrong in Esthar, then, the Lab complex holds people who're most likely on our side. ...We should start by getting in there, I think. Once we've assessed the situation, we can move from there."

Fury and Dusty slowly pulled up in the small town of Fisherman's Horizon. As they slowly pulled off to the side of the road where the others were parked, Dusty let out a long whistle at the sight of the town. "Who let this place go to the dumps? It looks like they slapped a couple of sardine cans together and decided to live in them!" he reached up and pulled his helmet off before reaching up and grabbing his nose, "And what the hell is that smell?"

Fury silently removed his own helmet and looked around. The small fishing village was truly in disrepair. Its sheet-metal buildings lay slumped and forlorn and the streets were lined with dirt. The place was obviously not cared for well and Fury thought about the possibility of getting the people who lived there some help. No one deserved to lived in those conditions. The thought weighed on him even more when he realized he was just signing himself up for more work. He looked over to Dusty and sighed. "It's fish... you know, the reason they call the place 'Fisherman's' Horizon?"

Leaning forward on the handle-bars of his bike, Fury listened to Simon's plan while the cool ocean breeze blew across his face. He agreed with the central premise of the techie's plan, but there was still a few things he was over looking. "Simon, no offense, but there are a few things we'll have to take care of first. When we arrive our first priority will have to be to find out what exactly is wrong. Once we know that, if it is an invasion, we should be able to find resistance all over, assuming they aren't all destroyed. If it's a malfunction, then we should work on finding the ruling body of Esthar. Either way, we aren't going to be able to formulate a real plan until we find out more information."

While taking another swig of water, Shade nodded at what both Simon and Fury stated. Most likely, Simon happened to think the same as Fury mentioned, but when talking, Simon mostly jumped into the heart of the matter, being that it was most relevant. After taking another drink and resting the bottle on her leg, Shade's hues drifted off into the distance in the direction of the city. "Which is why I wanted to bring up the possibility of splitting up, Fury. Since we're sort of walking into this situation half blindfolded, perhaps its an option we should consider in order to get the information we need much quicker in order to act."


She paused for brief moment while contemplating over the time remaining until they reached Esther, calculating just a few hours before sunset once they got there. Then her steady hues turned to Simon as she spoke her thoughts again. "I agree the Lab is one of the main focal points. That's where you should head for, and be as discreet as possible, because if there is a threat, the Lab will be under heavily surveillance.... So make sure you draw the least amount of attention to yourself."


With a brief sigh, Shade mentally shook off her fatigue and acknowledged her brother again. "Same would be expected for the Presidential Residence, of course.... I know the facility pretty well, but you... you have Dusty to back you up against what added forces may be there. I'm sure C.R.A.I.G. can get you throughout the layout as well as I could. So I'd suggest you head there, and I'll head for the Air-station to secure the landing docks should we actually need our back up teams to come in. Are we all in agreement?"

...A solo assault.

...It made sense, actually. Simon had the sort of gear required for a deep cover op. His Chevron System could facilitate many functions, including perfect stealth. However, that said, stealth would be a secondary thought...

"...Sounds like a good plan."

Looking out, over the remaining length of the bridge, Simon smiled, faintly. After what he'd suffered, he relished operations against the Fringe, whenever he got the chance. And, now, they were trying to take Esthar over. NO. He could not, would not, let that happen.

"Alright. Since the lab is outside the city proper, the in-city lab being nothing more than a connections hub for the resistance forces, I'll find myself alternate transport there. You three go on ahead."


Even as he did this, his Psycommu was allowing him to divide his focus, sending messages to the Detachment.

==================================================


Aboard the bridge of the Detachment, XO Ramius was quickly reading over Simon's orders.

Such changes didn't surprise him. Ramius had worked with Simon from the beginning of "Project Normandy", the operation that resulted in this ship. Simon didn't do much planning in advance. On the contrary, the man was the greatest user of the Indy ploy, save its namesake, that he'd ever seen. His plans were always fluid, always changing, always adapting. It was one of the man's strengths. So, this sudden, radical shift in orders was well within the norm.

At least, now. Marko Ramius had once been a deeply-rooted patriot of Galbadia, serving happily in its conquering armies. However, as their methods quickly became more brutal, and motives more self-serving, he grew jaded and disgusted with his own people. After giving the Dollet Dukedom sensitive information, that allowed them to resist Galbadia's invasion attempts, he dropped off the grid, working as an underground mercenary. ...Until Simon found him. Simn offered him a chance to do good, make new discoveries, and all while being handsomely paid.

"Mr. Grier! Change of plans!" Said the older gentleman, into a mic at his collar. "We're to meet Commander Crowley at the midpoint of the Horizon Bridge."

...He'd been briefed, somewhat, on what was at stake with this. ...It was important that they succeed. The world may depend on it.

Now, personal radios were important in the Detachment. The ship's bridge was long and narrow, running the length of the ship, unlike the centralized bridge more common to airships.

On the far end, in the Detachment's nose, was the helm. Sat in the Helmsman's chair was James Grier. When Adel's life ended, and over-the0-air communication was again possible, there was a resurgence of people wanting to fly. James Grier was, at one time, a SeeD Cadet. During his certification exams, however, he suffered a severe wound, damaging his spinal column, resulting in a severe disability. His legs, while not paralyzed, were weakened greatly, and now, prone to atrophy. His dreams of being a hero were dashed... Until flight again became commonplace. As it happened, James was, perhaps, the greatest pilot ever known. The problem was, when he started outdoing his instructors, he became painfully aware of this. Grier was cocky as all hell.

"Oh, come ON, we JUST got here!" James complained loudly into his radio. "Can starships get whiplash?"

"Cut the chatter and get us to the Fisherman's Horizon." Came Ramius' stern voice over the radio.

"Alright, alright! Jeez, who crammed a Moomba up your ass?"

With seemingly little effort, James re-positioned the ship, the gaze of the dragon's head bow shifting from the center of Esthar to the center of the Horizon Bridge.

"Commander, this is the Detachment. Orders confirmed, and we are en-route to your position. ETA eight minutes."

James knew, at least, tha descending back into the atmosphere was a rough job. The Detachment's NulGrav system, and hyper-advanced armor could withstand the stresses of rapid re-entry, but, the strain on the ship was incredible, and, to be avoided, when possible.

==========================================================

If either of the Leonharts were looking to the eastern sky at that moment, they might see the brief flare of the airship's engines kicking on.

"...For what it's worth, Shade? I hope I'm wrong. I really do."

...Simon truly did. The thought of the Fringe, taking another world... He couldn't stand it, wouldn't suffer it. And, although he hoped he was wrong...

...He knew he was right. The Fringe were in Esthar. ...Which made it all the more worse.

Esthar developed Para-Magic. Esthar figured out time-travel. If any body of intellect could pierce the dimentional walls, it would be Esthar.

...And, if the Fringe could come and go, between all worlds, however they pleased? It would be the end of life as all forms know it.

Fury and Dusty both leaned up against their motorcycles, listening to both Shade and Simon. Fury nodded to what Shade said as he dew out his pre-mission cigar. Biting off the tip, he drew out the old beat up zippo lighter and set it aflame. He took a long drag in before releasing it in a puff of smoke and saying, "We'll take care of it."

He reached down and pulled out two small rectangles that were no larger than a thumb joint from his vest and handed them each to Shade and Simon. "These will allow us to stay in contact without worrying about anyone in the city listening in. They'll also allow you to communicate with C.R.A.I.G. directly from anywhere in case you would need him for something."

Dusty threw his leg over the bike and started the engines. He pulled his ball cap down onto his head backwards and looked to the others silently as they each prepared to leave. He was eager to get moving. He wanted to get this over with as soon as possible because he hated that damned city. Every time they went there something went wrong and they ended up getting screwed over. Every damned time!

Fury did the same with his own bike as he looked up at the black dragon-ship flying down to land near them. The massive thing was impressive and the detail was amazing. Fury gave a small curt nod to Simon, letting him know he was impressed with the ship before flicking the nearly burnt-out cigar out to the street. He nodded to Shade and then they were off, driving for Esthar city.

As he drove, Fury's mind wandered back to when he had encountered the Fringe in Bodhum on his own world. If they had recovered any technology that day, and this was the Fringe, this could be a challenging mission. He could remember how ruthless they were and realized this mission was of utmost importance. This could be the beginning of the end. Fury had just reached a point of peace in his life and he wasn't about to let these monsters take that away from him. He had his daughters now. He had a sister he never knew he had before. He had an entire world depending on him as well as his duties as well as his duties at the Garden. Whatever happened, he knew he had to stop this. He had to keep those he actually cared about safe.

Just outside Esthar city...



Fury slowly pulled up at the edge of the bridge. The view in front of him flickered in and out of existence. He looked on as it finally appeared in full just as the sun kissed the horizon. He gave Shade a forlorn look as he saw the burning buildings and smoke filled skies. He slipped off the bike and called for his weapons. Instantly his guns all appeared on his back. He reached down to the twin revolvers and drew out the sleeker "Peacemaker" revolver and handed it to her grip first. "We have to move fast. We can't let them take this city. Be safe and stay in contact. I'll see you when I secure the president."

With that, he and Dusty set off into the burning streets, making sure to keep to the shadows...