This is my third installment. Much more to follow.
								forceflow@fantasysquare.com
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First and Last Pt.III

Chapter 5:A New Enemy
On a different world…

Xenogears recoiled as the creature in front of it clawed the gear.
“Fei Fong Wong gritted his teeth and fired Xenogear’s chest cannon,
dropping the creature in its tracks.
These things are tough, he thought to himself, what the hell are they?
He took a moment to check on his team.

Elhaym Van Houten (Elly) wasn’t too far away.
Her gear, Vierge was hammering away at another creature with her rod.
Citan Uzuki was dispatching enemies left and right 
with his gear Fenrir and its sword.
Bartholomew Fatima (Bart) in his gear Andvari 
was concentrating on whipping the shit out of his opponents.
Billy Lee Black was providing 
covering fire with Renmazuo.  
Ricardo Banderas (Rico) was in the thick of it,
engaging three opponents in Stier.
Maria Balthasar was
similarly engaged.
The last two members, Emeralda and Chu-Chu
offered assistance to the other team members
whenever possible.

Another creature came forward to challenge him.
It swung a giant fist at Xenogears that promised to crush the cockpit…
If it had connected.
Fei’s gear ducked beneath the blow and responded 
with an uppercut that snapped the creature’s skull back.
It staggered backwards, recomposed itself and charged,
shoulder cannons blazing.
The armour strained and moaned as it 
struggled to hold against the assault.
“Fei! Get back!”
Fei immediately retreated as the Yggdrasil IV
in battleship mode came into view with its 
cannons firing at the creatures.
The one that was assaulting Fei 
vanished in an ugly ball of fire.

“So that last attack wiped the ‘Ethos’ H.Q. off the map.” 
 Everyone was silent as Fei summarize the attack.
They were in the Gun Room of Yggdrasil IV.
What was once a place of celebration and good cheer 
was now a place of increasing despair.
“The Etone Gear Garrison suffered 80% casualties,” his eyes narrowed,
“From this battle and the others which we have fought we have to admit
that standard gears are no match for these creatures.”
“If you’re trying to tell us that the omnigears are the only hope of defeating
these creatures than you’re right and yet at the same time wrong,” Bart retorted.
“Yeah our omnigears can defeat these creature but at what price?” he looked 
around the room. “Even your Xenogears was going down until Yggdrasil IV
came into the battle. All our gears suffered serious damage and will not
work for weeks until repairs are complete.” He closed his eyes.
“I think we’ll lose this war.”
“We must have faith.” Elly ventured.
The others nodded their agreement.
“If we lose, I’m going out fighting.” Rico vowed.
“Chu.” Chu-Chu agreed.
Fei looked back at the world map.
Red dots which marked cities attacked by these ‘Weapons’ where all over the place.
It took a miracle to defeat Deus and the Angels, he thought, now we need another one.
Father, give us your blessings…

Chapter 6:Hope
“Quistis, are the weapon systems online?”
“They’re ready to unleash hell at a moments notice Squall.”
“Right.” Squall sat back in the command chair.
“Disengage from the space dock.”
The Ragnarok maneuvered away from Lunar Base and blasted off.

“Squall,” Rick reported, “We have visual contact.”
Squall’s boots clanged against the hard metal deck as he walked to Rick’s station.
“So that’s our spacecraft.”
Rick nodded.
Selphie’s eyes were wide. “Wow.”
No one else had anything to add.
The ship was oval in shape. It looked almost like a rugby football 
except for the fact that the ship looked almost organic.
Bumps appeared to sprout from every single area.
It resembled a living creature instead of a spaceship.
The Ragnarok vectored in for a closer look.
Rick was studying his screen closely.
“Squall?”
“What is it Rick.”
“The hull is made of pure Adamantine,” he replied dumbstruck.
“There’s no way Esthar could destroy a thing like that.”
“Selphie bring us in close.” 

The Ragnarok maneuvered into what appeared to be a hanger.
Irvine was down first.
He took a quick look and ducked behind cover.
“All clear.” He reported.
“On the outside anyway.” Quistis corrected.
At Squall’s signal, Irvine and Selphie fanned out
to recon the hanger bay.
“Like I said, all clear.” 
“Same here”, Selphie confirmed.
The words had barely left her lips
when something struck her shoulder,
spinning her onto the hard cold deck.

“SELPHIE!”
Irvine raced over to her, 
All the while dodging bullets and returning fire.
A dodge to the left here,
a shot fired in return there.
More than once he heard something scream and fall,
inviting more guns to track him.
He finally got to Selphie.
She was barely conscious, her shoulder bleeding.
He picked her and her nunchaku, 
Selphie would kill him for leaving her prized weapon behind,
and raced back to the Ragnarok.

The others were laying down covering fire with the Sig-21 assault rifles in the Ragnarok.
Damn these blasted things, Zell cursed as he tightened the trigger.
By regulations, all SeeDs were required to go for a month long firearms training course.
They had to go back there every year to ‘update’ their firearms knowledge.
Just about everyone, except for the few exceptions like Irvine,
despised this course. ‘A freaking waste of time’ was the general opinion.
Then again without that course they could never have survived in this firefight
where they could not get close enough to engage in close combat.
He scanned the area and fired again at another partially hidden target.
Now if everyone could kill five they would just outnumber them four to one… 

Irvine glanced at the other members of the party.
The only one who was using her own weapon was Rinoa.
Her Blaster Edge scythed its way through cover and enemy
alike with equal ease.
Squall,
Rinoa,
Rick,
Zell…
Where the hell was Quistis?
Irvine got his answer in a minute.

The Ragnarok lifted up off the deck.
No, it can’t be, Irvine mind flashed wildly.
She can’t be leaving us behind!
Instead of blasting into open space
The Ragnarok turned around and opened fire.
The chainsaw buzz of the deadly hail cut off any scream 
their enemies might have made.

Over the buzz Squall dimly heard someone or something shouting.
“Quistis, cease fire.”
The guns cut off almost immediately.
“Raiders, stop! We surrender!”
 
 Rick snorted. “Raiders?”
Zell shrugged. “We’re not raiders!”
There was a visible pause from the opposite side.
“You’re not raiders?”
“Yes.” Zell replied.
“Then who are you?”
“We’re SeeD, Special Forces, 
we’re here to stop this ship from crashing into our world!”
There was another pause.
“Please hold your fire. 
I’m coming out.”
A creature walked out of the shadows with its arms raised.

Rinoa’s mouth was agape. She quickly shut it 
but the feeling which caused it still lingered.
The creature that walked out was almost human…
Save for the fact that its skin colour was blue 
and that it seemed to sprout tails from its head. 
It slowly walked out towards the SeeDs, holding its hands up.
Rinoa could feel the presence of others lurking in the shadows.

“I am Expedition Commander Magnus Calgar. 
Please accept my humble apologies for believing you to be raiders.”
He or it bowed to the assembled SeeDs.
“Is there anything we can do to help you?”
Irvine was more than ready to jump on the alien and show him
exactly how he could help him…
 by being a punching bag.

Squall stepped forward and pushed him back.
“Back off Irvine. I know how you feel right 
now about Selphie but now is not the time.”
Irvine glared at Squall and then at the alien.
He turned his back on them and ran back
towards Selphie who had regained consciousness.
The alien turned towards Squall.
“I am sorry for what happened to your comrade.
May I offer you the hospitality and medical facilities
Of our Worldcraft, ‘Hope’, to your team?”

Worldcraft.
So that was what they called this ship, Quistis thought.
She filed it away in her mind for reference later. 
Other aliens had started to come out of hiding.
She managed to pull a complete scan of the creatures.
Their biological makeup, their chemical composition and the lot.
Doctor Kadowaki would kill for this kind of info.
Those ‘Brain-Tails’ were actually nerve bundles.
It would probably give them an edge in any combat situation.
She shook her head as more info flooded the screen.
This is gonna take some time…

Meanwhile the aliens transported the injured Selphie to their sickbay 
along with a very anxious Irvine who snarled at any alien that got too close.   
Most of them took the warning and backed away.
Except for a few poor guys who got too close and 
nearly lost a ear to Irvine’s shotgun.
Squall and Magus were talking to each other.
“You said that your mission was to stop our Worldcraft, did you not?”
“Yes, we did.” Squall confirmed.
“I apologize once again for the mistake in judgement.”
“And I appreciate it.
Let’s get to the main point, can you stop your Worldcraft?”
Magus smiled sadly.
“We would if we could get into the control station.”
“Whats the problem?”
“Monsters.
They’ve infested the control station and its surrounding areas.
It’s all we can do just to stop them from advancing further.”
“Your people seem to be pretty tough.
If not for our ship, The Ragnarok, we would be dead by now.”
“I thank you for your compliment but we are unable to destroy these creatures.”
He sighed. “They appeared out of nowhere three cycles ago.
They completely took over the piloting system and changed it to its present course.
Sad to say that even if we took over the station again we won’t have any pilots.”
He knocked against the walls of the corridor. 
“And its hull compromises of our strongest materials.
Nothing could destroy it.”
He looked sadly into Squall’s eyes.
“I believe that your world might be doomed.”

To Be Continued…