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Final Fantasy VII: The First Crisis

She looked out over the city as well. An hour and a half wasn't really that long a time, and she wanted to see her family as well. It would probably have to wait till her mission was complete. Looking at the pilot, she gave him a smile. "I've got family here too. How old is your kid?"

She looked at the men before climbing out of the helicopter. "You all can go get something to eat. Just be back here in 1 hour. I want to make sure everyone is back here in plenty of time to make the ship."
 
The rest of the soldiers went into town to grab something to eat. The pilot waved to them before turning his attention back to the cigarette in his hands. "He turns ten in a month." He said after a moment. A solemn smile found home on his face. "He keeps talking about wanting to join SOLDIER when he grows up." He took in a drag off of his cigarette.

"I was going to buy him a replica of Elochai's sword for his birthday this year. But considering the nature of our mission. That would be a bad idea." He gave a quiet laugh before scratching his beard. "Maybe I can make a wooden version of your weapon for him." He gave another laugh. "I'm sure he'll be replacing his Elochai poster with one of you in no time flat!"
 
"When is his birthday? Maybe I can have a sword commissioned for him." She glanced down at the sword at her side, sighing. "I wouldn't mind asking the person who made mine." Looking up at the sky, she let out another sigh. "It's some sick twist of fate that the same person made Elochai's sword as well." She laughed dryly at the thought of her face on countless posters. "I didn't join SOLDIER for the fame, yet I have the feeling I'll get it anyways."
 
"Oh. He doesn't turn ten til the end of next month." He said dismissively. He looked down at the ground for a moment. The pilot looked up at the woman before offering a reassuring smile. "Hey. You're already a damned hero in my book. All of those people in Kalm, we wouldn't have been able to save any of them without you there." He shrugged. "Oh, you'll be famous alright. You're the first woman in SOLDIER and if Kalm is any indication of your ability, than you'll be the hero of countless children and adults alike."

The pilot put the cigarette out on the ground before picking himself up off of the concrete and dusting off his uniform. "Well, we better get our bird on that boat and make sure she's secured." He said with an additional smile shot in the young woman's direction.
 
Chris smiled at the pilot. "I only did what I was sent on this mission to do." Turning, she moved to help him with getting the chopper on the boat. "If I have nothing else to do when the time comes, maybe I can come by here and say hi to your son on his birthday. Do you think he'd like that?"
 
"That would make his day, Ma'am." He said with a broad grin. He climbed into the pilot's seat to prepare to fly the chopper over to the boat. He dawned his helmet and prepared to take off, waiting for the SOLDIER to climb in.

Before long, the pilot was setting the helicopter down on top of the cargo ship. He quickly shut the machine down and climbed out to make sure it was tied down tightly. "We should be ready to set out for Costa Del Sol anytime now Ma'am." He said as he climbed down from where he had been securing lines.
 
Chris smiled back at the pilot. She already knew what she would give the kid. It was just a matter of retrieving it. It had been over a week since that day, so her stuff might not even be where she had left it.

While the pilot was securing the helicopter, she looked toward the town. "The men should be returning here shortly." She was a little worried about what they would see when they reached Gongaga, not wanting it to be a repeat of Kalm. "How long will the trip to Costa Del Sol take?" There weren't very many hours of daylight left, so they would probably have to stop somewhere to rest, either before or after they search Gongaga.
 
The pilot gave a shrug at her question. "Probably the rest of the night." He said honestly. "It's a long trip by boat. Taking into consideration that we're going to the other side of the world we probably won't see much of the night. It'll be daylight again by the time we reach Costa Del Sol."

After a few minutes the team was boarding the ship and prepared to set sail. "Sorry it took so long, Ma'am." One of the men apologized quickly. The pilot gave a short laugh before walking towards the front of the ship to see if his mechanical skills could assist the ship in anyway.

Before long, the ship had begun it's long voyage across the ocean. The crew worked quickly to keep the ship in operating condition as it traveled. It would be a twelve hour journey at minimum.
 
Guess they'll be resting before reaching Gongaga. Looking to the men when they return, she nodded. "It's going to be a long trip, so get some rest while you can. I expect everyone to be at the helicopter before the ship docks in Costa." With that, she went to find a place to rest and clean up.
 
The ship was quiet for the first six hours of the journey. There weren't any signs of trouble on the horizon as it continued on it's course. The pilot had stopped working on the helicopter and finally fallen asleep behind the controls. The members of Chris' team had gone to bunk with the ship's regular crew for the night. Only a skeleton crew was needed to keep the ship running at night so almost everyone was in bed.

"Hmm... This is too easy..." The voice of Elochai could be heard from anyone near the engine room. Two bloodied bodies lay dead where they were standing to guard the engine room. He drew his blade and made a pair of quick cuts into the generator before turning and giving a wave to a small group of his mindless clones before disappearing in a cloud of black feathers.

The group of clones turned and began moving into the crew cabin. Each of them dispatching of any sleeping soldiers they could. Back on the deck a small amount of clones had moved onto the deck and were approaching the helicopter. The sound of footsteps stirred the pilot from his sleep. He climbed down from the helicopter looking around. "Ma'am, is that you?" He asked groggily before seeing the clones moving quite quickly in his direction. "M-Ma'am!" He shouted before drawing his pistol and firing on the clones. He knew he wasn't a good enough foot soldier to fight these things himself. The sound of gunfire quickly waking the ship with a loud alarm.
 
Chris slept for only a couple hours at the start of the trip, but stayed in the cabin she had been allowed to use for the duration of the trip. Hearing the commotion on the deck, she grabbed her sword from where she'd left it by the door and hurried out to see what was going on.

When she got on the deck, she headed toward the helicopter, following the sound of gunfire. Seeing the clones surrounding the pilot, she moved in front of them to get their attention on her instead of the pilot. "Get yourself to safety! I'll take care of these!" She didn't know yet if any of the men that had accompanied her were still alive, but her focus here was the clones.
 
The pilot quickly jumped back out of her way and around to the other side of the helicopter. "Phew..." He wiped his forehead before reloading his pistol.

The team sent to assist Chris had by some miracle made it out of the crew cabin alive. Each one emerged on deck, reloading their rifles. They quickly opened fire on the first group of Elochai clones they saw. Over the intercom a voice could be heard. "The ship has taken massive amounts of damage. All hands abandon ship!" The ship began to steadily take on water.

The pilot quickly hopped inside of the helicopter and began preparing it for take off. "Please have enough fuel to make it to Costa Del Sol!" He pleaded as he started the engine.
 
As soon as she killed the last of the clones, Chris sliced through the ropes holding the helicopter in place. "Everyone who can fit, get on the helicopter! We'll take you to Costa Del Sol from here!" She got on herself, making sure her men were on first before letting the ship's crew members on board. This whole mess stank of Elochai, even though she hadn't seen him personally.
 
The helicopter was capable of fitting ten of the ships crew. The rest would be forced to take lifeboats until Shin-Ra could send assistance. The helicopter rose up off of the cargo ship and began heading in the direction of Costa Del Sol. Hopefully this surprise assault would only be a temporary delay in their plans.

"Is everyone okay?" The pilot shouted over the sound of the helicopter's engine. "We'll be arriving in Costa Del Sol in a few hours. You can all get some rest in the mean time." He said before returning his attention the controls. One thing was for sure, his job was never this exciting before being assigned to Chris' team.
 
Chris, in the meantime, was already sending a message to HQ, informing them of the sinking of the cargo ship. It was all she could do for the men that wouldn't fit on the helicopter.

Unlike her men, she didn't have the option of resting. She had to figure out what Elochai's plan was, and find out how to get a head of him. Up to now, he seemed to be one step ahead of her and her team, which meant there might be someone at Shin-Ra feeding him information. Looking back at her men, the idea struck her that it could be one of them, or the director himself. No one else knew about the nature of her mission.
 
Within a couple of hours the city of Costa Del Sol came into view. "Alright Ma'am we're coming up on Costa Del Sol." The pilot announced. "We're going to have to stop to refuel but from here it should be a straight shot to Gongaga."

The helicopter slowly touched down just outside of town. "Alright boys. We're here." He said before shutting down the helicopter. "I'm going to go into town and get some one to refuel the chopper." He stepped down from the cockpit and began heading towards the entrance.
 
Chris nodded to the pilot, unbuckling and getting out of the chopper once it had landed. Walking into town, she called the director, hoping to get some more information about Elochai. There had to be more about the man than what she'd read in his file. It just didn't make sense to her why he was seemingly targeting her right at the exact moment she was due to join SOLDIER.
 
After a few rings the director picked up the phone. "Chris? It's good to hear you're alright. I was worried after the incident involving the cargo ship." He paused for a moment before clearing his throat. "Anyway, what can I do for you?" He asked.
 
Chris kept walking through the town as she talked on the phone. "I appreciate your concern. We just now arrived in Costa Del Sol. We are going to refuel the chopper before continuing the mission." She didn't reveal where she was going next, in the off chance that he was feeding information to Elochai. "About the file on Elochai that I asked for. That was everything you have on him? I just feel like I'm missing something where he's concerned."
 
The director sighed. "The file I had was still incomplete. The only person who has the full personnel files on Elochai or Xanatos is Hojo. Regretfully, Hojo won't be returning to Midgar for sometime." The director paused for a moment before he continued. "However, I can have one of my operatives sneak into his office and retrieve the documents you require."
 
Chris let out a long sigh. That wouldn't do her much good when she could be away from Midgar for who knew how long. "That won't be necessary sir. I'll just figure out his plan without the information. Thank you anyways." Flipping her phone closed, she put it in her pocket and went to get some breakfast from a diner she passed a moment ago.
 
After refueling the chopper the pilot took a few minutes to relax. It would be another long flight to Gongaga and he didn't really feel like spending the entire trip fatigued. He pulled a whiskey flask from his pocket and took a swig before returning it once again to his pocket.

The pilot eventually began making all the necessary preparations for the next leg of their journey. Hopefully they'd be able to use an Airship one day. That would make his job significantly easier. He wiped some sweat from his brow as he looked up at the sun that was slowly baking him. "I hope it won't be like this in Gongaga." He mumbled irritably before moving to inspect the engine.
 
After getting a quick breakfast from the diner, she headed back to the helicopter. Watching the pilot for a few minutes, she knew the man had to be tired. Deciding that they would stay for a while in Costa, she walked over to the man, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Hey.. Why don't you go get some rest? It probably won't matter if we leave now, or a few hours from now, and I am sure you are tired from having to fly that thing most of the night."
 
"It's your call, Ma'am." The pilot turned to face the SOLDIER before shrugging. "Ah hell. What could a couple hours hurt?" He asked with a small chuckle. He closed the engine before wiping his brow again with a rag. "I think I'll head into town and catch some shut eye." He said after a minute. "Unless you guys wanna risk me falling asleep behind the controls of the chopper." He gave another laugh before throwing the rag inside the helicopter and wandering off towards town.
 
Chris chuckled, watching him head towards town. She couldn't leave the chopper unprotected, remembering what happened with the cargo ship just a few hours before. Climbing into the helicopter, she moved her sword to where she could reach it easily, in case some of Elochai's clones showed up.
 
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