Prompt Post 9/26 - Aw, the numbers don't match anymore...
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(In which Shera explains her reasons.)
Shera left the bridge about an hour after liftoff - which had indeed been rather rough - and the airship was cruising steady over the ocean. Reno and Rude exchanged a speaking look and followed after her when Tseng nodded them away. Shera did not bother to look behind at them, but she did leave the door to the galley open when she went inside. It was as good an invitation as any.
“Sit down.” Shera said from over by the coffee machine. The pair of Turks sat. There was not a single soul in Shin-Ra who made better java than Shera.
Rude nudged Rena in the side with an elbow and nodded at the seat Shera had pulled out for herself. The dog tags were lying unattended on the table. Without thinking about it, Reno gave into his curiosity and picked them up.
“Captain Cid Highwind, Shin-Ra Aerospace.” Reno looked up at Shera as she sat down and sheepishly traded the dog tags for one of the mugs she had brought to the table. “Who was that, yo?”
“You’re impossible, Reno.” Shera sighed, but smiled faintly anyway. So she could not have been too upset with him. The Turks tended to be very wary of the Engineering Department - and not just because they knew how to make the best bombs. The fate of the eco-terrorist who had tried to sabotage the helicopters was still spoken about in shaken whispers. The entire motor pool had descended on the guy in a frothing rage. Reno was still trying to figure out how they knew the guy was skeevy.
“But that’s why you love us, babe!” Reno grinned, pleased that his efforts to get Shera talking were working this time. He had never met a female so resistant to the charm of a dangerous man before. “C’mon, you know you miss us when we ain’t around, yo.”
“Oh, I simply pine away to nothing.” Dry as dust, that was Shera all the way. The brunette shook her head at the pleading face the redhead was giving her. “What in the name of the Vanir are you boys up to now?”
“Well...” Reno fidgeted in his seat and looked up at the ceiling. Shera was less than a decade older than the two Turks, but sometimes that handful of extra years made a big difference. “We’ve kinda stolen the Highwind - does it count as theft when all the paperwork has Rufus’ signature on it? Anyway, stole the Highwind, and we kidnapped most of SOLDIER - they came willingly though, so I guess we’re just runnin’ away together, yo. Plus the boss came with us, so it’s really more like the company is splitting up. Man, that makes it sound like Rufus and his old man are gettin’ a divorce - ew I think I made myself sick. Oh yeah, and we put the kibosh on some nasty plans Pres Shinra and creepy-fucker Hojo had in the works, yo.”
Shera choked on her coffee. “You did what?”
“Rufus uncovered some disturbing information that prompted him to make the decision to break off from the main company.” Rude said with a lot less tangential information as Shera sputtered. “Soldier and the Calvary came with us.”
“We stuffed the Pres into a closet with Hojo and locked the door!” Reno crowed gleefully in response, unable to keep silent any longer and bouncing a little in his seat at the recollection.
“You’re insane.” Shera said in numb shock.
“Nah.” Reno shook his head and tapped his fingers against his mug. “See, most of Shin-Ra Company’s power comes from two things; money and arms.”
“And you just took Soldier with you.” Shera looked like she was still having trouble believing it.
“More like the General decided to tag along with us Turks and Soldier came along as a kinda package follow-the-leader deal.” Reno shrugged. “But hey, who’m I to argue, yo?”
“I’ll say.” Shera shook her head again, and then frowned, her brilliant mind having been busy running the numbers. “But the forces of Soldier, the Turks, and the Cavalry combined give you less than four hundred men. I know even a Soldier Third is equal to ten un-augmented fighters, but there are never more than a hundred fifty Soldiers. Turks are not focus-trained for combat and the Cavalry mostly fields scouts and messengers, and the only reason we have them is because chocobos were the only way to hit some targets in the Wutai War and if the company hasn’t managed to find a reason to disband them yet it’s because most of the jockeys use the birds supplied by the company to race and are required by contract to give a portion of the winnings to Accounting!”
“We know, but Rufus has a plan, and people have some serious superstitions about Soldiers.” Reno leaned back in his seat and frowned at the ceiling. Shera’s concerns were valid, but not as bad as she was making it out to be. It all came down to training and skill. The best of the best had left on the Highwind. Whoever the Company managed to get to replace them was going to be second-choice at best and completely unsuitable in most cases. “We’re goin’ to be smart about this, Shera. Wutai lost ‘cause they fought fer their honour - facing the Shin-Ra Army head on don’t work. There’re too many of ‘em and Hojo pulls some creepy shit outta his hat when pressed, yo. That’s why alla Wutai’s trainin’ is focused on their ninja ‘stead of their samurai now. Part a that is they don’t have any trained samurai left, and part a that is ‘cause they figured out the only way to win against Shin-Ra is ta fight smarter, not harder, yo.”
“I see. As long as you have a reasonable chance of success I suppose I can’t complain - especially since I seem to have thrown in with your insane little rebellion.” Shera went back to her coffee, and the Turks eyed each other sidelong as they waited silently for the best moment.
“Who was he?” Rude asked quietly, indicating the dog tags with a tip of his mostly empty mug. “Who was he to you that just having those tags handed over could be enough to convince you to incite mutiny in your crew in order to leave Shin-Ra and steal the airship?”
“He is our Captain!” Shera hissed, her head lifting with unconscious pride and her eyes blazing with old, weary rage. “This is his ship. He designed it, he built it, and he made the working of it all possible. He hired most of us personally, taught all of us at one point or another, and I have never met a more capable or admirable man. He... the Captain disappeared in the middle of a project - the Shin-Ra Rocket No. 26. Cid - the Captain told me Heidegger wanted to turn the ship into a giant missile to use as a weapon against Wutai. The Captain never would have let his work be perverted like that! He was going to be the first man to make it into space! But... but one day we woke up and... We looked everywhere. We searched for months! There was nothing, they didn’t even have the decency to fake an assassination! We were left without closure, sitting in limbo, adrift without our Captain and desperate for some kind of sign as to his fate.”
“But-” A fisted hand slammed into the tabletop.
“No!” Shera said abrupt and fierce, cutting Reno off before he could say more as her voice rose to a near-shriek. “If that cat knows something - anything - about our Captain, then I’m going to find out what!”
“Even if all you find is a grave?” Rude asked gently.
“Even that.” Shera replied firmly, fearlessly glaring at two men who could kill her and make it look like the most innocent of accidents. She had no fear of men she had seen taken out by a flying wrench. Honestly, they would last less than a minute in Engineering with those poor dodging skills.
“Well then.” Reno said, going back to his coffee and shrugging one shoulder. “I guess that settles it, yo.”
(Word Count: 1369)
=/=
And here we have the prompt response for owleyes_arisen. Who wanted "either a continuation of this (history inverted) or of small packages". And lo, I have written more History Inverted.
So... I had to write a research paper yesterday on the "Effects of Disability on Formerly Able-Bodied Adults"... Yeah, it was fun times. Studying to be a social worker is kinda really depressing...
Here there be dragons! I got a velvet one! XP
♣
♥
♠
♣
♠
♥
♣
♥
(In which Shera explains her reasons.)
Shera left the bridge about an hour after liftoff - which had indeed been rather rough - and the airship was cruising steady over the ocean. Reno and Rude exchanged a speaking look and followed after her when Tseng nodded them away. Shera did not bother to look behind at them, but she did leave the door to the galley open when she went inside. It was as good an invitation as any.
“Sit down.” Shera said from over by the coffee machine. The pair of Turks sat. There was not a single soul in Shin-Ra who made better java than Shera.
Rude nudged Rena in the side with an elbow and nodded at the seat Shera had pulled out for herself. The dog tags were lying unattended on the table. Without thinking about it, Reno gave into his curiosity and picked them up.
“Captain Cid Highwind, Shin-Ra Aerospace.” Reno looked up at Shera as she sat down and sheepishly traded the dog tags for one of the mugs she had brought to the table. “Who was that, yo?”
“You’re impossible, Reno.” Shera sighed, but smiled faintly anyway. So she could not have been too upset with him. The Turks tended to be very wary of the Engineering Department - and not just because they knew how to make the best bombs. The fate of the eco-terrorist who had tried to sabotage the helicopters was still spoken about in shaken whispers. The entire motor pool had descended on the guy in a frothing rage. Reno was still trying to figure out how they knew the guy was skeevy.
“But that’s why you love us, babe!” Reno grinned, pleased that his efforts to get Shera talking were working this time. He had never met a female so resistant to the charm of a dangerous man before. “C’mon, you know you miss us when we ain’t around, yo.”
“Oh, I simply pine away to nothing.” Dry as dust, that was Shera all the way. The brunette shook her head at the pleading face the redhead was giving her. “What in the name of the Vanir are you boys up to now?”
“Well...” Reno fidgeted in his seat and looked up at the ceiling. Shera was less than a decade older than the two Turks, but sometimes that handful of extra years made a big difference. “We’ve kinda stolen the Highwind - does it count as theft when all the paperwork has Rufus’ signature on it? Anyway, stole the Highwind, and we kidnapped most of SOLDIER - they came willingly though, so I guess we’re just runnin’ away together, yo. Plus the boss came with us, so it’s really more like the company is splitting up. Man, that makes it sound like Rufus and his old man are gettin’ a divorce - ew I think I made myself sick. Oh yeah, and we put the kibosh on some nasty plans Pres Shinra and creepy-fucker Hojo had in the works, yo.”
Shera choked on her coffee. “You did what?”
“Rufus uncovered some disturbing information that prompted him to make the decision to break off from the main company.” Rude said with a lot less tangential information as Shera sputtered. “Soldier and the Calvary came with us.”
“We stuffed the Pres into a closet with Hojo and locked the door!” Reno crowed gleefully in response, unable to keep silent any longer and bouncing a little in his seat at the recollection.
“You’re insane.” Shera said in numb shock.
“Nah.” Reno shook his head and tapped his fingers against his mug. “See, most of Shin-Ra Company’s power comes from two things; money and arms.”
“And you just took Soldier with you.” Shera looked like she was still having trouble believing it.
“More like the General decided to tag along with us Turks and Soldier came along as a kinda package follow-the-leader deal.” Reno shrugged. “But hey, who’m I to argue, yo?”
“I’ll say.” Shera shook her head again, and then frowned, her brilliant mind having been busy running the numbers. “But the forces of Soldier, the Turks, and the Cavalry combined give you less than four hundred men. I know even a Soldier Third is equal to ten un-augmented fighters, but there are never more than a hundred fifty Soldiers. Turks are not focus-trained for combat and the Cavalry mostly fields scouts and messengers, and the only reason we have them is because chocobos were the only way to hit some targets in the Wutai War and if the company hasn’t managed to find a reason to disband them yet it’s because most of the jockeys use the birds supplied by the company to race and are required by contract to give a portion of the winnings to Accounting!”
“We know, but Rufus has a plan, and people have some serious superstitions about Soldiers.” Reno leaned back in his seat and frowned at the ceiling. Shera’s concerns were valid, but not as bad as she was making it out to be. It all came down to training and skill. The best of the best had left on the Highwind. Whoever the Company managed to get to replace them was going to be second-choice at best and completely unsuitable in most cases. “We’re goin’ to be smart about this, Shera. Wutai lost ‘cause they fought fer their honour - facing the Shin-Ra Army head on don’t work. There’re too many of ‘em and Hojo pulls some creepy shit outta his hat when pressed, yo. That’s why alla Wutai’s trainin’ is focused on their ninja ‘stead of their samurai now. Part a that is they don’t have any trained samurai left, and part a that is ‘cause they figured out the only way to win against Shin-Ra is ta fight smarter, not harder, yo.”
“I see. As long as you have a reasonable chance of success I suppose I can’t complain - especially since I seem to have thrown in with your insane little rebellion.” Shera went back to her coffee, and the Turks eyed each other sidelong as they waited silently for the best moment.
“Who was he?” Rude asked quietly, indicating the dog tags with a tip of his mostly empty mug. “Who was he to you that just having those tags handed over could be enough to convince you to incite mutiny in your crew in order to leave Shin-Ra and steal the airship?”
“He is our Captain!” Shera hissed, her head lifting with unconscious pride and her eyes blazing with old, weary rage. “This is his ship. He designed it, he built it, and he made the working of it all possible. He hired most of us personally, taught all of us at one point or another, and I have never met a more capable or admirable man. He... the Captain disappeared in the middle of a project - the Shin-Ra Rocket No. 26. Cid - the Captain told me Heidegger wanted to turn the ship into a giant missile to use as a weapon against Wutai. The Captain never would have let his work be perverted like that! He was going to be the first man to make it into space! But... but one day we woke up and... We looked everywhere. We searched for months! There was nothing, they didn’t even have the decency to fake an assassination! We were left without closure, sitting in limbo, adrift without our Captain and desperate for some kind of sign as to his fate.”
“But-” A fisted hand slammed into the tabletop.
“No!” Shera said abrupt and fierce, cutting Reno off before he could say more as her voice rose to a near-shriek. “If that cat knows something - anything - about our Captain, then I’m going to find out what!”
“Even if all you find is a grave?” Rude asked gently.
“Even that.” Shera replied firmly, fearlessly glaring at two men who could kill her and make it look like the most innocent of accidents. She had no fear of men she had seen taken out by a flying wrench. Honestly, they would last less than a minute in Engineering with those poor dodging skills.
“Well then.” Reno said, going back to his coffee and shrugging one shoulder. “I guess that settles it, yo.”
(Word Count: 1369)
=/=
And here we have the prompt response for owleyes_arisen. Who wanted "either a continuation of this (history inverted) or of small packages". And lo, I have written more History Inverted.
So... I had to write a research paper yesterday on the "Effects of Disability on Formerly Able-Bodied Adults"... Yeah, it was fun times. Studying to be a social worker is kinda really depressing...
Here there be dragons! I got a velvet one! XP
♣
♥
♠
♣
♠
♥
♣
♥