ARMY OF SHADOWS an ff8 fanfic by SiLeNcEr

 DAY 1. 14:21:23, Deling City

I stood amidst the various crates and supplies. I was just finishing my second 
cigarette when that 'Galbadian official' finally decided to show up. He was 
dressed like all the others - black suit, black glasses a typical man in black.
"About time" I said throwing my cigarette away. "I grew tired of waiting for 
you…"
"With all due respect, you did not have a choice Commander."
He was right… I never would have admitted that to anyone but Galbadia was 
running the show and I could not do anything.
"So what is the sudden need for the Black Ops?"
"Straight to the point?" The official smiled. A smile of a typical bastard who 
liked giving orders to people. "I figured you would do so. It's a double job - 
kidnapping and demolition."
"Great… I assume we will have to blow up the place from witch we kidnap our 
target?"
"Yes. All orders are in here" He handed me an envelope. "Te pay is 5000 gil for 
the target and 5000 gil for the demolition. All clear?"
"Crystal clear."
I turned around and left the warehouse. Before me Deling City in all its glory 
stood. Since the defeat of the Sorceress Galbadia has been busy healing the 
wounds that the war brought. Now, three years after those dark times Galbadia is 
once again a country to be feared. I had my part in that.
I am Kaede Shimazaki, Galbadia Garden instructor, specialty night-ops and silent 
takedowns. I am 21 years old and about 186 cm high. My dark, straight hair is 
long, gathered in a ponytail and reaches my hips. But apart from that I am the 
commander of the 'Black Ops'. Galbadia's response to SeeD. Unlike SeeD however, 
our group remained in secret. Members of the BO are still normal Galbadia Garden 
students and obligated to keep the secret of their membership in the group. 
During our existence for four months we were in hundreds of missions. Spying, 
assault, assassination, all kinds of dirty stuff that our employers would hate 
to be involved in themselves. Then during one of our operations one of my men 
talked to much. Our existence was uncovered and from that moment many students 
came to Galbadia Garden in hope of joining up this new elite group. The 
headmaster denied our existence, but I knew that this was his plan. We mostly 
work for the G-Army now, as Galbadia is starting to reinforce its position in 
the world. And as Deling City has been rebuilt and the annex of Dollet last 
month Galbadia turned it's sight to Timber and it's never ending rebellion.

DAY 1 17:31:03 Galbadia Garden

I stood in headmaster Martine's office. Every move of the Black Ops had to be 
acknowledged by him. I stated what was the mission and when I want to strike - 
this night.
"So how many people do you want to use?" 
"3 squads of 4 people, plus the two newbies as watchmen."
"Very well. Ill give the signal to your men."

I turned around and left the office. As the leader of the group I knew the 
identities of my men but only the headmaster had the authority to call a meeting 
of the group. Members of the black ops do not know who they are outside the 
group. We have our own nicknames; everyone gets one when he is accepted into the 
group. Afterwards for around one month the newcomers observe the rest in action. 
Most members of the Ops are prepared by psychiatrists and psychologists to take 
the possible burden of killing innocent people. They are trained not to feel 
love, hate, ambition, only to follow orders. I knew that it is impossible… Even 
I… My feelings did not disappear and I have been prepared for my current 
position since I was 3 years old…

DAY 1 18:30:43 Galbadia Garden.

The 14 men selected by me were waiting for orders. They already were dressed in 
black clothes, masks covering their faces. The standard equipment for each BO 
member was a short, straight, razor sharp blade, two pistols, binoculars and 
infa-red sensors two explosive charges powerful enough to blow a small building 
to bits and a rifle. According to a member's specialty the rifle could be a 
standard assault rifle, a sniper rifle or a heavy machine gun. Every weapon in 
our arsenal except the HMG was silenced. My team for the Timber mission 
consisted only of assaulters. The two newbies stood behind the rest, a little 
unsure of their purpose.
"Welcome." I said as I entered the room. I also was wearing a BO uniform. "Today 
we go to Timber. Our mission has two points: One - extract the leader of the 
only active resistance group in Timber, two - kill all others and blow their 
base of operations witch is a train. The newcomers will be watching this 
operation from our temp. HQ in Timber, Muro you watch over them."
"Yes sir." Muro replied.
"The rest of you will attack. Kade, Hamm, Miko and I go from the roof, extract 
the leader and blow the thing up, the rest of you watch the train from both 
sides and make sure nobody leaves or enters." My men bowed. "One more thing. We 
might meet members of SeeD on this one. They are not to be hurt, we do not want 
to start a war."
"Yes sir!" All of them replied.
"Meet in Timber exactly at 2200. Dismissed."

DAY 1 22:04:12 Timber

"Sir… It looks like there are only 5 people inside now." Kato, one of the 
newbies spoke. I stood behind him. We were in a small building opposite the 
train station in Timber. The train we were supposed to blow was standing in the 
station for the past 15 minutes.
"Is our target inside?"
"Hard to tell… There are two woman inside, but from this distance I cannot make 
out anything else."
"Great. All right, let's move now… If they aren't all there we will have to wait 
inside."

12 minutes later I and the other three were on the roof of the train. Moving 
silently to avoid detection we reached a possible point of entry, a small vent 
that could be blown open with our assault guns. We lied down next to it. I 
pointed out Miko, and pointed the vent. Then I heard voices coming from inside. 
I raised my hand indicating to hold with the opening.
"What about the others?" A melodic female voice said.
"They have been… Delayed… Zell had to stay behind in Balamb, something with his 
family, Selphie is helping rebuild Trabia Garden, Irvine had some things in 
Galbadia Garden." Another voice, this time male, calm and controlled, replied.
"So why have you called us here?" Another male voice said, this one was stern 
and low pitched.
"I'm afraid my father… He might send some people after me…" The melodic voice 
started. "He was here recently. Said something about Galbadia starting a push 
against the resistance factions in Timber."
"What push?" The calm voice asked.
"They intend to wipe out the active resistance group… Us."
"Wipe out?"
"Kill…"
"They wouldn't dare!" Another female voice said, this one defiantly belonged to 
one of the oldest people there, still pretty young however. "Do they know who is 
in charge of it?"
I lowered my hand. The grate was blown open in a second. The next second I was 
already inside aiming my gun at the four people standing in the room I dropped 
into. Miko dropped in right behind me and immediately covered my back. One of 
the women in the room was dressed in a blue dress with dark, straight hair. I 
recognized her immediately - she was the one I was supposed to extract. She was 
sitting on a bed, next to her a man with short, brown hair was sitting. He had a 
scar across his face, right between his eyes. 'Squall' I thought. Next t the bad 
a blonde woman with small, nearly invisible glasses was leaning against the 
wall. 'Quistis'. Near the exit another man, blonde with short hair and a gray 
coat, also with a scar on his face. This one I did not recognize. That man tried 
to reach for his gunblade, but I was quicker and shot it. The power of my shot 
blew the blade right out of his hand and out of the room.
"Hands up" I said calmly. Everyone listened to me as Hamm descended through the 
hole in the roof.
"The girl comes with me." I did not waste time for chitchat. "There is one other 
guy here. Where is he?"
"I don't know what you're talking about" The man with I failed to identify said.
"Yeah…" I smiled, although they could not see it. "I thought so."
"Commander" My comm. plug came alive. "The rest of the resistance members have 
dispersed… They knew we were coming…"
"Roger. Evacuate." I replied. "All right… Hamm, get the hell out of here. Miko 
set up the bomb. I am not told to kill you, so I'll be nice. Two minutes to get 
out of here should be enough."
At that moment another man entered the room with the blonde guy's gunblade. I 
turned to him and a second later someone hit me in the back of my head. I 
dropped down to the ground, acting as if I lost consciousness… Then I saw the 
blonde guy nearly rip Miko in two with his gunblade. She managed to activate the 
explosive in time, but I knew she was dead.
"Let's get the hell out of here" The new guy said and a moment later everyone 
was gone. I stood up and checked out if Miko was still alive. She wasn't. I 
cursed and went out of the room through the hole in the ceiling. I sat down 
quietly and waited for the SeeD's to leave the train. I aimed at the blonde 
woman and released one shot, directly into her leg. She screamed and fell down 
to the ground. Rinoa shouted 'Quistis' but was dragged away by Squall as he saw 
me jumping of the roof. Two of my man ran up to me.
"Miko's dead. Take this one to HQ. I'm going after them in my civvies."
A minute later the train exploded.
Ten minutes later I was dressed in a black coat. I smoked a cigarette in one of 
Timber's many train stations. The blonde guy from the train was here, obviously 
waiting for something. The rest came in disguises, but I recognized them almost 
immediately.
"Got the tickets," The blonde guy asked.
"Yep." Squall answered.
"Zone will stay behind to warn the others." Rinoa said.
A passenger train pulled into the station. I did not hear their dialogue for a 
moment.
"Yes the usual place." The guy to witch they referred as 'Zone' said.
"Good." The blonde guy said. "And were are we going?"
"They have Quistis. I'm gonna talk to my father about this." Rinoa said.
I smiled. In a way we succeeded. Rinoa was going back to her father. All of them 
except Zone boarded the train. I stood up and walked up to him. The train slowly 
started moving. The ones in it could not see what I did. From under my coat I 
pulled out a silenced pistol. One shot in the head was enough. Zone's body fell 
to the tracks bellow. I dropped my cigarette and left for our HQ…

All of the BO's that were at this mission were gathered at the HQ. Quistis was 
there as well, her hands were tied to the back of the chair she was sitting on. 
I had my mask on, but I had it rolled over in a way that I could smoke. I sat on 
a chair opposite of hers. Her wound was already taken care of.
"So tell me…" I said looking directly into her eyes. "How did you know that we 
were coming?" I let out a cloud of smoke from my lungs.
"Woman's Intuition." She replied.
"Hmm… Sure. Where are the other resistance members?"
"Witch ones, Timber's full of resistances…"
"Don't joke around… Your blonde buddy killed one of my men today… I already 
evened the score but if I don't find the other people I won't get paid… If I 
won't get paid my men won't get paid. I have been ordered not to hurt SeeD's but 
I might look back for a moment wile my men torture you…"
"So? I don't know really… They have their own places to hide…"
"That's better. You see… We are not different than you are… Both of us sell our 
abilities to others…"
"SeeD's do not kill innocents." She semed determined. I've seen that type 
before.
"We don't kill innocents as well… Most of them are terrorists or rebels… And 
these get their hands dirty, no matter the cause…"
"And all the other assaults… Like the strike on Eshtar one year ago?" Her face 
was calm, but I could see that she was nervous and uncertain of her future.
"My group had no affiliation with those who tried to kill president Laguna…"
"Oh? So why should I believe you?"
"You don't." I smiled "All you need to do is to do as you're told and we'll both 
walk away satisfied. Looks like the rebels got out of my grasp, but to hell with 
them… I want to know who told you that we're coming…" I dropped the remains of 
my cigarette.
"No, really we though so. A week ago Rinoa's father told her to return 
immediately to Deling or he will have to resort to drastic matters… We did not 
think you would come so late…"
I smiled. I pointed to one of my man to untie her. Once she was on her feet I 
pointed my gun at her and escorted her out. When we passed the burning wreckage 
of the rebel train she stopped for a second, but I forced her to continue 
walking. We reached the platform from witch the train to Dollet and later Balamb 
waited.
"Get in… The rest of your friends went to Deling City, but I assure you they 
will join you shortly. If this was a mission for SeeD than it failed. Tell this 
to your headmaster." I pushed her into the train as the doors were sliding shut.
"Wait what abo…" She started but I did not hear what she said later, as the 
train started moving.

DAY 2 00:23:12 DELING CITY

A storm brewed this night. I was dropped off by one of the choppers just outside 
Deling. I sneaked around the dark alleys and small streets of the city, avoiding 
any unwanted witnesses. I finally reached my destination, witch was the same 
warehouse in witch I met the official who gave me this job. He was already 
waiting in side. I was not noticed when I slid through the small vent in the 
roof of the structure. I jumped lightly onto one of the boxes, making a thumping 
noise to get his attention toward me.
"Who's there?" He asked, looking around.
"Guess" I said. He looked at me.
"Ahh… You… So what is the outcome?"
"The girl should be in Deling as we speak. You locate her and take her anywhere 
you want to. The resistance's base has been destroyed, one of it's key members 
killed. As for the others we were not able to locate them. It seems that someone 
tipped them off."
"Yes… We heard that… One of our generals, the one who ordered you to spare the 
girl… Told them about your coming. The garden will be paid 10000 gil for your 
services, as it was not your fault that you failed your mission."
"May I know where is the girl and her father? I have some unfinished business 
with them."
"Yes you may. I will give you their location."

DAY 2 1:13:22 DELING CITY, GENERAL CARNAWAY'S MANSION.

I was on the roof of the mansion soon afterwards. I've waited for some time, but 
finally the people that escaped me in Timber were there, with the general. I was 
hanging from the roof, looking at them through one of the windows. The general 
spoke about something to them, but I couldn't hear what. I took out a special 
device from my gear and planted it on the window. Now I was able to hear the 
conversation inside.
"…Did not know that they would go in so soon…" The general finished his speech.
"What the hell you mean, you didn't know?" The blonde guy in a coat seemed to be 
furious, than again that state was normal to him. 'These guys nearly killed us!"
"Not killed." Carnaway protested. The General was one of those few in the Army 
that protested against the creation of the Black Ops. He knew me very well 
however, as most missions had to be accepted by him. "The orders were to extract 
Rinoa and destroy the HQ."
"That's not what we heard…" Squall said. "Irvine said that the ops were sent to 
kill the resistance and extract Rinoa."
Irvine??? He's the Galbadia Garden student that joined them in the fight against 
the sorceress… I knew him pretty good actually, as all snipers were had to go 
through my course of emotion and feelings control. Irvine was pretty bad at it, 
as he could not stop thinking about the life he was about to take… But he was 
doing better and better. If this leak is true however, I'll have a talk with 
him… I wanted to leave since I've gotten the info I wanted but I continued 
listening.
"What does Irvine know??" Carnaway was nervous. It seems he knew that I would 
come to find out who leaked the info.  "He does not have any ties to the ones 
that assaulted you!"
"Maybe he knows more than you do… You've been manipulated general… They 
concealed the truth from you." Squall said.
"Whatever they did, we have to find out what happened to Quistis and try to get 
her out." Rinoa said.
"They… They probably let her go" Carnaway knew our methods very well. "Only 
questioned her and sent her back to garden…"
My comm. bleeped. I took the listening device from the glass and pulled myself 
up. I switched on the device.
"Commander." I said.
"We have a mission. Meet at 0200 hrs at the train station."
"Got it."

DAY 2 1:58:13 DELING CITY, TRAIN STATION, MILITARY OFFICE

This really was a busy night. I was sitting in a small office in the station. A 
man in an officer uniform was standing in front of me. He was talking to someone 
on the phone. The station seemed to be in turmoil, no trains were leaving and 
there was a real crowd around there. The officer stopped talking and turned to 
me.
"We have a serious situation." He said.
"Really?" I answered.
"Hmph… Some unidentified group has taken over the train to Balamb. They have not 
issued any demands, but said that if any G-Army presence is detected around the 
train, they'll kill the passengers."
"Where is the train?"
"It stopped about 3 of the way to through the underwater tunnel. We have a set 
of blueprints available for you." He gave me a small data disc. "Your men have 
already been alerted and transported here."
The telephone rang. The man answered, listened to someone for a minute and then 
hung up.
"We have a new report. They say that by 6 AM they will be out of the tunnel."
"Anything else?"
"It seems they are getting ready to transport something onto or off the train, 
I'm not sure…"
"Right." I said and left the office.

DAY 2 3:12:34, DOLLET CITY, PORT AREA.

19 men and myself were standing around a printout of the blueprints. It was dark 
and no one was walking around. We were in a deserted section of the port area.
"Right…" I said, pointing at the blueprint. "We spilt into two groups, as 
decided earlier. Group one will approach the rain using the rails. You will 
stand fast until we give you an all-clear. Group 2, led by me will descend to 
the tunnel using one of the many maintanence shafts located underwater. It's a 
deep dive, but we'll make it. Once inside we shall enter the train from above, 
with squads of 2. Into each of the 5 wagons. We neutralize all watches, squad 1 
moves in to kill anyone standing outside. Any questions?" I waited for a short 
time, but there were no questions… As always. "Good. Move out!"

DAY 2 5:12:43 DOLLET-BALAMB TUNELL

They were almost finished when my group and myself descended through one of the 
maintenance shafts. The terrorists were dressed in black. They looked like they 
did not have any weapons, but we could not have a good look at them as only a 
few of them were outside. The groups of two placed themselves over each wagon of 
the train. I pointed down and we jumped. Kade and me were over the middle one. 
We went through the emergency grate with, and jumped down into a hall. Two 
guards were standing by one of the many windows in the hall. A second later both 
of them were sliding to the ground. Kade entered the first compartment, from the 
beginning of the train, I entered the second. The compartments were all the same 
all over the world - four beds and a small table. One guard was standing, 
looking out the window. He died before he knew that I entered. Kade was already 
entering the next compartment when I left mine. I entered the last compartment 
in the wagon. This one was a little larger then the other ones. I recodnized it 
as the official SeeD room… Inside three men in masks were standing. On one of 
the beds, Quistis was sitting. I was a little surprised to see her here, but 
that did not delay my actions. One of the guards saw me entering. Before he died 
he managed to say something to the others. Both of them turned around, but only 
one of them managed to see me before he died. The second one did not do anything 
else than seeing me, before he landed on the floor with a bullet in his head. 
Quistis' eyes opened widely as I felt movement behind me. Kade would not entere 
this comparment, knowing that I was still here, so I had to be the enemy. I 
slashed with my blade, not even looking behind. The enemy was sliced in two, the 
line of the cut went across the chest. My suit was sprinkled with his blood. 
Quistis opened her mouth, but did not say anything. I left her and the bodies 
and entered the hall. I took my communicator.
"This is B-Comm. Group one proceed. You are go." I said and put the comm. away. 
As I suspected a minute later two guards tried to enter the train from outside, 
put were imiideatly put away by Kade and me. Another minute later it was all 
over. My comm. came alive.
"G1. All clear."
"G2." I answered. "All clear." I set the comm. to the frequency used by the G-
Army. "This is BO. The train is clear. Send the clean-up."
"Roger that." The comm. answered.

DAY 2 9:32:12 GALBADIA GARDEN 

I debriefed the BO's and wrote my report on both of our missions this night. My 
classes for this day were canceled, as I needed some sleep. I was used to a 48 
or even a 72 h day, but the headmaster never wanted to push us to the limits, 
unless needed. But before I retired to my chambers, I still needed to find 
Irvine, the man I suspected of leaking information about our operations. I found 
him in his room. Irvine was pretty surprised to see a BO operative enter his 
private chambers.
"Irvine… Irvine Kinneas" I said as I entered.
Irvine raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" He said.
I looked behind me to confirm the doors were closed. This could erupt into 
something not pretty and I did not want unnecessary witnesses. "I have obtained 
information that you leaked information about a BO operation to a resistance 
group in Timber." I said calmfully. Irvine closed his eyes for a few seconds. 
"The information leak has led to the death of one of BO's members." I continued. 
He gazed at me, but did not do anything hostile. "Is this true?" I said simply. 
I decided to give him a chance to confess and say what he did.
"I said nothing that was not publicly known" Irvine answered. I almost sensed 
that he was hiding something.
"Publicly known???" I snarled. "Even the general that approved our orders knew 
less than you. You may put this sh*t to a rookie, but don't try to mess with me, 
boy."
Irvine straightened himself. "They were my friends… And you were going to kill 
them. What did you expect me to do?"
"You are lucky that I've already punished them for the death of my man… But I'll 
be watching you closely Kinneas, don't forget that…"
I turned around and left the room. I could have beat the hell out of him, but I 
saw no point. He did what he know was right and it did not matter right now. Of 
course I would report this to the headmaster later, but right now I only thought 
about a soft bed. This really was a long night…

END OF PART 1

By SiLeNcEr
silencer@polbox.com