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Alexander Dawn

A man entered the room Alex was in, "Stop your playing, boy, you're needed." The man was one of the senior weapons correspondence analysts, though the name at present slipped Alex's mind. He wore glasses, as most the science lab did due to their late nights toiling over paperwork. He wore the lab coat everyone else did. But the T-shirt underneath was highly unprofessional, saying



"No dilly dallying. Let's move." As they walked down the hall, the analyst spoke again, "Though I'm sure you remember my name, as I make it on almost every major board committee in Midgar, I'm Rodney. That looks tells me you just remembered my name. Thanks a lot, kid. Either way...ah, I'll wait till we get to the briefing room. I will have to say this all over again anyway."


"Biggs!" A second class poked into the room, shouting, "Get your scrawny a** out here this instant. You are needed in the briefing room ASAP! Move it, runt. We've a mission to do. There'll be a bunch from the science department. Stay out of their way. Afraid if you bump into one of 'em, they just might break," he grinned a little, then became serious again. "You still on that bed? Did you not hear me? Move!" Several other third class SOLDIERS were given the same treatment down the hall. As Elgar's ears stopped ringing, he made his way to the debriefing room.


Rodney Stone stood up at the front of the long board table. Director Lazard stood at the back at the other head of the table, watching intently. A dozen scientists were seated around the table. Alex could pin a few to the Arms Development Department, but most of them were unfamiliar to him, and likely they belonged to other departments.

Elgar and a dozen other SOLDIERS, all third class recruits who had joined with in the past month or two, stood around the table. Ben, Elgar's bunkmate, nudged him and whispered, "Baker's dozen." He smirked a little, but after a few thrashings due to his joking, Ben had been able to control his laughter.

Rodney cleared his throat and started talking, "I suppose we can get this underway. I am Doctor Stone, the lead weapons correspondence analyst of the science department. Right now we have a major breach in our protocol. In Corel, due to a large amount of resistance, we decided to employ a classified weapon. The weapon would use materia to enhance weapons. This would cause guns to shoot lightning, fire, ice, and so on, instead of us having to augment the bullets, which so far can only produce incendiary rounds. Unfortunately, the three squads went missing, along with their weapons. You are to find the weapons, and proceed with testing them."

"Sir," a SOlDIER raised his hand, "Don't first class SOLDIERs test these things? How are we to fight off something that...."

"Sephiroth and a small detachment are already in Costa del Sol. They will likely arrive before you do. However, they still need scientists and back up, and if they did kill the SOLDIERs, from my calculations, we've lost a quarter of our first class. With that said, let's stop waisting time." The lights dimmed, and he brought down a map. He showed the entry points, where the squads went missing, and the most likely positions of the rebels. The first class SOLDIERs were taking out small fringe cells to ensure that the reinforcements would be minimal. Scientists were to stay back until the retrieval of the weapons.

The scientists were led to helicopters. SOLDIER was led to a cargo plane, informed that they would parachute to their targets. The scientists in the helicopter with Alex commented about how it was a suicide mission to go to the rebel heavy city of Corel. SOLDIERs were excited for such a difficult situation. Ben nudged Elgar, "This should be incredible. We can shoot up some rebels, make our way to the Golden Saucer, and pick up women to take to their haunted hotel. They'll snuggle all up and close to us and we won't even have to use our SOLDIER charm." He winked and laughed.

The trip took several hours. Some of the SOLDIERs exchanged stories and a few remained silent in reflection. A couple slept through the loud roar of the turbine engines. When they finally got over the ocean, it seemed an endless trip. Hours later, land was visible. Then the bright lights of the Golden Saucer lit up the night, drowning out the dreary city of Corel, which was to the north. It was a beautiful site, though the reality was darker for SOLDIER.

The SOLDIERs were given headsets, "Testing, testing. All right, now that everyone is online, this is your CO for the mission. Beta squad will consist of three of you. You will be parachuting out to where the scientists are to land. Defend them with your lives. If they're dead, you better be too. The rest of you will make up alpha squad and drop down on a position marked by the first classes down there. The position is suppose to be a bunker on a cliff top. The first class have been having issues with it because they're already on the ground, and it has heavy artillery. They also report Sephiroth detached from his unit about four hours ago from the group and has not yet shown up. He was suppose to neutralize a group holding up by the lift to the Golden Saucer." A green light appeared above the drop door, as the hatch opened. "Beta team, go. Your HUDs will display the landing zone." Three men stood up and jumped out of the plane.

The light went red, and the comm went silent for several minutes. "All right, alpha squad, go!" The green turned green shortly after the announcement. Elgar stood and got in line as they dropped one by one. A HUD display in his helmet displayed the LZ. The point was in the mountains. A small just in the mountain gave way to a defendable, but small bunker, in a pillbox style. Several cannons pointed outwards, to the south east, while the north west was against the mountain. The rebels seemed to only possess guns, having no one capable of using materia.

Alex spent most of the trip working out the targeting system bugs on his lap top. He had almost worked it out when they landed. He huddled behind the chopper for protection. As much as he liked to pretend he just didn't have what it takes to be a serious fighter. "This new technology sounds impressive, I hope I get to see it."

Elgar looked upon the materia. Indeed, the fire materia was at an advanced level, far beyond his current. He looked back at the one in charge.

"Sir, is it possible to hold onto my third materia? I currently have a lightning in my assault rifle and a restore in my armor. If I were to switch one of these fire materia into my weapon, could I keep my lightning materia with me? I would like to keep my options open in case we fighting an enemy with fire resistance."

He waited for the head of the operation to give him an answer while returning fire at the rebes.

Alex begins looking over the photos, "This stuff is fascinating. I'd like to go see it, but that's probably against protocol isn't it?"

One of the seniors, Mary Snivens, looked over his shoulder. She was well into her 50s, a kind old lady with graying hair in a bob. "No, dear, it's not against protocol. But you'd be shot to ribbons. Now work with what you have and stop wishing for what isn't. Figure out what you can from the photos in case they have to destroy the weapon."



"Biggs," the officer shouted as the front line had been fighting. "Are you going to assist us? I am unsure how poor you think your shot is," he ducked under a rebel and cut up into him, "But you're in SOLDIER son, and your shot has to be good enough to shoot the rebels without hitting us." He took a rifle butt to the face, recovered, placed his hand on the man's belly, and summoned fire to his palm, releasing it through the rebel. "That and we could really use some healing."

Elgar heard the officer's words and knew exactly what to do. He tapped his armor and then focused upon his injured comrades. A shimmering blue light surrounded each of them, healing their wounds with its soothing glow. Once the deed was done, Elgar took careful aim. He began to shoot at an almost rapidfire rate, though in actuality, he was aiming and killing a rebel with every shot, then wasting no time in shooting the next. All of his shots were either head-shots for an instant kill or neck-shots to stun them long enough for a melee SOLDIER to finish off.

The rebel numbers began to dwindle heavily, the SOLDIERs overpowering them with their Mako Infusion and superior skills. One of the melee SOLDIERS grabbed a rebel by the throat and pulled him into the bunker. He slammed him against the wall a few times and then proceeded to interrogate him with little success.

"Biggs! Give this guy a try!"

Elgar was able to break away from his position, the battle now over for the time. He approached the man who was still being held by the other SOLDIER.

"What is this rebellion all about? Tell us everything you know."