Operation Break Point

Kiera had been in a lot of situations, some more dangerous then others. In her career of being a Air Pirate, never mind one who took from the corrupt and such and gave to the poor, she was no stranger to danger. One of the many useful skills you learned, was how to gather information and learn quickly the ins and outs of the land. If you didn't, then it was more likely to get you killed then any stray bullet or any blast from a weapon.

When her ship had a malfuction in a jump, they had to lay low in a world called "Aenerald" according to the computer. She knew nothing about it at first. In fact, it was the first time she had even heard about it. The land, far as she could see was a piece of shit. There was hardly any fertile soil and the air was polluted. That lead her to conclude quickly it was home of civilization. You didn't have that kind of thing otherwise.

Ya..I'd bet a monkey's ass there's something here.

She along with her crew, or rather the temporary ones traveling with her came along for the trek of finding more food and supplies. That meant Rick, Cloud and Tifa. All of them were pretty strong, not to mention with Cloud's SOLDIER training things came in very handy in hardy enviorments. They had been attacked earlier by strange monsters that Kiera had to guess were native. The Airships turrets easily took care of them, so the 'base' at least, was safe. But just to be on the safe side, they traveled together in the mean time.

"Hm.."

Kiera paused, seeing Rick with an air of thought around him. They were looking around, but for what if anything in particular she didn't know. "What's on yer mind Rick?"[color=#cc99ff]

"I don't know..something just doesn't feel right. Or maybe its more this." Rick pointed to the ground. There was a few large holes in the ground. "Cloud, take a look. Doesn't it look tank shells? And armor rounds? Plus..."

Rick walked a bit closer, crouching down, frowning as he stood up, shaking his head. "..They're too tiny." He mumbled to himself, almost looking slightly depressed. "..Something really bad happened here recently and it looked like a lot of kids got killed, judging by it. It couldn't have been that long long ago too.."

What they were standing on was the remains of a village ruin, overrun no more than a few hours before their arrival. What they were looking at was the after effects of an extermination run. The screams, the terror in the air, it was all too real and fresh...
Soresta trembled, clutching her head in her hands, shaking and shivering from fear. They told her to stay hidden, they said it wasn’t safe. She wanted to be there, to help her people, to rescue the children. But they slaughtered them all. Lining them up. Giving them some time to flee, only to shoot them in the back of the head. Some humans were vile, those that lived and danced in the blood of this pointless war. From the looks of it, the humans already won. They had dominated every part of the globe with the exception of the few non-humans still fighting back. But if her theories were correct, they only used them as playthings; to keep their soldiers nimble and create a means of passing the time.
Everyone was dead, she knew they were. But now she was stuck in the cocoon her Elven guards had wrapped her in. Apparently, they thought they were coming back, but nobody ever listens to the command to flee. They thought it was some sort of dishonor. She sighed at the thought, pulling herself together, thinking it was pointless to wallow in pity at a time like this.
The Fae tried to pull the vines and branches apart, but it was no use. Her physical strength was a joke, even compared to some of the children. She tried for hours, it seemed, to squeeze herself between the thick branches but to no avail. And she wouldn’t dare call for help, not if there were human soldiers about, anyway. The cocoon was nestled between the roots of an old, dying tree; blending in with the rest of the tangled forest floor. As she struggled, only slight movement could be seen if one was looking close enough.
Ironically, she was only hidden a few yards away from the perimeter of the small village. But her Elven guards sealed her too tightly for her own good. They might have just created a personal coffin for her. When she couldn’t stand the confined space any longer, and her mind started playing tricks, Soresta started to scream. “Help! Somebody, help me! I’m trapped!” she shouted, “HELP!”

Cloud frowned, hand twitching briefly upward, toward his shoulder, and the hilt of his sword just above it. He was uncomfortable here. He knelt down, eyes flitting over the scarred and blackened ground. "...Hn, you're right... something is definitely not right here... this doesn't look like a battlefield, it looks like a massacre... based on positioning and tracks... rubble.... these people were running away..." He stood, brow furrowing as he also realized just where they were. "This was a village..."

"...We've got to find out what's going on, and help if possible." Tifa's voice was soft, but firm. Something was going on, that lead to the slaughter of defenseless people, including children. Tifa couldn't just stand by and do nothing. And she knew Cloud and Rick would feel the same, even if Cloud might not outright say it. Then she saw Cloud stiffen. "Cloud? What is it?"

"...Someone is calling for help. Someone here is alive. Come on." He suddenly took off toward the outskirts of what was once a village. He paused momentarily, looking around with narrowed eyes as he tried to pinpoint where the voice was coming from. After a moment, he continued on toward an old tree. He knelt down, seeing something quite off; tightly wrapped vines and branches, as if covering something. And the voice was coming from inside. With little hesitation, he gripped at the vines, and began to pry them apart; and unlike the one trapped inside, Cloud had quite a bit of strength at his disposal.

Kiera was actually quite for once but both she and Rick quickly went after Cloud. Kiera went to go help Cloud pry the cocoon loose while Rick went slightly to the side, eyes narrowed and body slightly tense. Just because it looked as if everything was clear, didn't mean there was no other hostile forces out there, but it looked all right so far but looks could be decieving. He had never been in SOLDIER but instincs told him not to let his guard down.

"Don't worry! We got ya." Kiera grabed a hold of a opposite end and began peeling it like a banna.

(OOC:  For ease of story advancement, I'm pulling this post for the time being, and will jump in a little bit later.))

At the sound of footsteps and the rustling as her cocoon was removed, Soresta went silent and pressed herself against the back ‘wall’. The people she sensed on the outside definitely weren’t Elven or Fae. She trembled, her mind racing and plotting out the surroundings and thinking of a way to escape. The moment she saw an opening, Soresta leapt out of the cocoon. Her hands grabbed the outer edges and she pulled herself up, seeing Cloud and Keira for a split second, then threw her body weight against Keira to push past her. She barely noticed Rick as she stumbled but did everything in her power to run away.

In her haste, Soresta tripped and fell, less than ten feet from the group that found her; her calve catching on a piece of broken pottery. The edges were sharp and slit a long gash on her leg, but within seconds her skin stitched together and most of the blood absorbed back into her pores; only a thin streak of dried blood remained. Thinking quickly, Soresta picked up the piece and held it up to her throat, the sharp edge bit into her delicate skin as she turned to face them. "Come any closer and I will put an end to my life!" she shouted, the motion of her jaw made the ceramic slice further and drew more blood. She wouldn't tell them who she was and even if they shot her she still had a chance to survive.

Cloud stood slowly, watching the girl warily. It was Tifa who spoke up, however. "Hey, hold on, now..." She held her hands up and out to her sides, showing she was unarmed, as she very cautiously moved forward, but stopped several feet from the girl. She quickly judged the distance, wondering if she could cross it before the girl could react. "We're not going to hurt you, okay? We just arrived on this planet not long ago. We noticed that there was an attack here... can you tell us what happened? Why someone would destroy a village like this?"

"The-" Kiera cut herself off as Soresta pushed off and away from her, before she or Rick, or anyone else could do anything. Rick was going to move forward but then the young Fae said she'd kill herself if they moved closer, so both held their ground. Tifa was talking, so for now they let her do most of it and then pick up from there.

Soresta continued stepping backwards to get away from them. She didn't believe them, rather, she didn't trust them to be telling the truth. She knew of Muiria's plan to try finding other dimensions or worlds but she didn't think it would succeed. Judging by the astronomical location and after years of stargazing, Soresta calculated that no one would reach their planet in time. The likelihood that Muiria's plan would work was 1,308,999/1. Even if she found people who could help them, Soresta couldn't imagine the technological advances that would allow such help to travel the distance in an amount of time that would prove beneficial.

She stared at the group, noting that they were all human in appearance. Though their clothes were strange, humans always wore odd, confining garments, she wouldn't mistake them for anything but human. There was already bloodshed today, no trickery was going to convince her otherwise. "How then, do I know it was not you who did this? Don't lie to me, humans." she said coldly, a tone she almost didn't recognize but this was her first encounter with humans. Apparently she had some hate in her after all. Good. It was about time she grew a set of claws.

"If you come near me I will end my life. Either that, or you will do it yourselves. Make your choice, Fae-killers."

If she lived through this, she would have to undergo thorough meditation; the adrenaline her anger stirred was giving her goosebumps.

Now, Tifa was not a person who lost her temper, but she certainly found it upsetting to be accused of doing something so atrocious. What she had figured out, however, was that apparently, humans were behind what had happened here. Which meant that there was no way to, at this time, convince the girl they weren't a threat.... aside from Kiera's crew, perhaps. "...Kiera? Can you call down some of your crew members? I think that will help..."

Kiera bristled a bit. "I ain't a human and damned sure didn't do anything." Rick was offended himself a lot but he knew whatever he said might make it worse, so he forced himself not to say anything.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a strange device, it looked like some type of high tech radio. "Ya knuckle heads get here for a moment? Got a girl freaking out."

There was a brief bit of shuffling and then a answer before Kiera put the device away. After that she crossed her arms and waited. Not too long after some of Kiera's crew showed up..with their normal motley crew look. There was about four of them, three were basically small, short humanoid cats(AKA Chocolats) that originally come from Paprica. A certain jackass air pirate had them as crew, too, but Kiera didn't like to remember that. The other was what looked like a neko.

"Whatcha need us for boss?" One of the small cat people said.

"It's captain, yer a pirate." Kiera shook her head. "The gal there thinks we're from here and a bunch of crazies. Doesn't trust humans, take it a bad history between them, ya?"



"I see.." The neko said thoughtfully, turning to the woman. "May we at least ask for your name?"

She looked from one crew member to the other as each of them spoke, also noting that the males didn’t say a word. Regardless, her hand didn’t stray and kept the sharp edge steady against her throat. Soresta twitched, drawing a fresh streak of blood when Kiera took some sort of strange box out of her pocket; the rest of her wounds had healed.

At the sight of the cat people, Soresta gasped and almost drew a fatal line across her neck. Her eyes were wide with shock as she tried to make sense of the strange creatures. The tallest looked like a human with cat ears and tail. Her cheeks blanched, “How… repulsive. To think that your kind won’t be satisfied with taking Fae body parts, but now you utilize the appendages of lesser creatures as well.” She said aloud, her eyes clouded with disgust. Now she understood why Muiria discouraged her from trying to contact the human rebels, or humans in general. They were not to be trusted.

Her gaze slowly returned to the cat creatures. She felt so much pity for them; they were the size of children and just as adorable.
The Fae looked at the neko girl with disdain, “My name is… Sora.” She said hesitantly as she looked back at the cats. They were so cute; domesticated animals had long since evolved or were mutated and were extremely feral.

Tifa tensed a bit. "What... seriously? She was born with those ears and tail, she's a Neko! How dare you accuse her of something like that! Don't pretend you know anything about people you've never met!" It seemed this girl was going to see what she expected to see, nothing more, and the look she gave the Neko riled her.

The neko frowned a bit to this, but said nothing after Tifa's outburst. Seemed like there was going to be more trouble then expected.

Kiera's hackles rised, and her speech was back to more proper instead of her normal one. Her eyes actually glowed a eerie white for a moment, humans didn't do that magically enhanced or not especially not on Aenerald. She let a small almost animal-like snarl. "You ignorant bitch. For second to last time, I'm not a human, I'm a Alusarian! And don't you dare call Raja repulsive! There's nothing wrong with how she was born because that's how her race naturally looks! Tch..taking parts? What a load of shit. Alusarian's have been kicking the piss out of corrupt governments like this before this planet probably invented the wheel. And if they need to do it here, then can't blame them. Yeah, Tifa and others here are human. Ain't got nothing to do with this clusterfuck, two different animals. And one other thing sweetie: just because something looks human doesn't mean it is. You look human but aren't, I thought you would have gotten the memo."

Rick..just watched the esclating situation knowing tempers had rose and buttons had been pushed, even Tifa. He glanced at Cloud, almost as if saying 'how do we get int these situations?' before trying to play the peace maker. He was upset, yeah, but not as much as others could have been. SOLDIER training was handy, on and off the field.

"Look." Rick started. "Why don't we all calm down for a moment? What IS it going to take for you to believe us that we aren't from here?"

"Whatever. Bitch can shank herself for all I care now.." Kiera muttered under her breath, she didn't mean it..she just wasn't really thinking all the way through. That and she was over protective of her friends so when things like that happened, she tended to lose her head a bit.. She went to the side to cool off, not noticing she left a slight trail of blue colored blood from her nails digging into her palm.

Soresta blinked, never had she been called a bitch or anything like that before. The way Kiera was yelling at her was making her lose the usual serenity that surrounded her. No one ever raised their voice or yelled and the experience was proving to be a messy one.

"How do you expect me to believe what you say is true!?"she responded back, pointing the shard at them. Her wounds were nonexistant now. "We have been at war for hundreds of years and brutilized by humanity! Where were you when the Springs of Life dried? Where was the help that we needed when the Crystal Caverns corrupted? As far as I'm concerned, your being here is pointless. Who are you to come here, now, right when we're at the brink of extinction?!"her voice rose higher and higher in volume as she continued. "You should just leave and forget this planet. Everyone else has. So just... GO!"she said hoarsely, throwing the piece as hard as she could... it landed, harmlessly, a few feet away from her.

The Fae was shivering with raw emotion, looking at the ceramic piece with a trembling lip as Rick stepped forward to settle things. She looked up warily, eyeing all of them before responding, "Honestly, I don't know. You're all acting so strange. I've never... met humans before. But all I know are the horror stories and,"she stopped herself. "Well... I have my own story as well, I suppose..." she frowned. "I suppose, for now, the fact that none of you have made an attempt on my life is reason enough to cooperate. But I would prefer returning to the safety of my people."she said but her expression betrayed her.
She really would've felt one hundred percent secure if she was near Corsa, or even Muiria for that matter. They were her role models of strength and were like sisters to her. But she knew better. If they weren't 'friendly' like they claimed, then she was only setting her allies up for a trap. She wouldn't be that foolish. "I will show you the way, if you will, to a safe place. Since you aren't affiliated with the humans of this world, as you claim," she put slight emphasis on the last bit, "Then we should steer clear of any potential enemies nearby. Their numbers were... far greater than our own. It was nothing but a game to them. Taking over the village like that..."she looked down and around at the ruins surrounding the area.

Finally, Cloud spoke. "All races are capable of being cruel. Humanity is just more obvious about it since they are the most common race... and just because we are human, doesn't mean we don't have our own horror stories..." He glanced at Rick, then back. "We didn't come to this planet to help you. We came by accident. However, now that we are here, we can't just ignore what's happened. Some of us... our planet looks much like yours does now... if I didn't know better, I would wonder if Shinra had been here..." He shook his head, and Tifa sighed.

"Alright... Sora, you said? My name is Tifa Lockhart. This is Cloud Strife, and Rick Fair. The three of us are originally from the planet Gaia... we are human's, yes, but we don't have any problems with non-humans. One of our friends was a talking lion with a flaming tail, after all... anyway, um, the captain of the ship we were traveling on is Kiera Blackheart. She's an Alusarian from the planet Alus. Don't let her temper fool you, she's a sweetheart. We'll help you as much as we can, okay?"

Kiera grumbled a bit but came back and sighing. "All right, I'll calm my tits a bit. If my space ship was working right be safer to travel that way but we're out of luck." She'd go back to her normal tone before too long.

Rick nodded, the other crew coming by Kiera in the mean time. "I guess we should get going then, in case company comes back. Me and my friends are strong, sure, but we aren't exactly able to destroy entire battalions by themselves." Judging by the tracks and the like, they were looking at something with fire arms and tanks. That would be risky to deal with in large numbers, even for them.

Some of the things they said didn't make any sense, but she understood that everyone was calming down now; their explainations put her, if only slightly, more at ease. So they were stranded, it seemed. What a horrid place to end up, she thought with some pity for them.



Now that their shaky introductions were through, the next ordeal would be to pinpoint their exact location. Most people would've had a rough time of it with the sun being directly overhead at noon and no wind blowing from any driection. But Soresta had a good sense of her surroundings, even standing in rubble, and was starting to turn toward the West.



"That would be our best bet," she told them, after staring in the direction for a moment. It was in the direction that sparse trees grew the thickest, and the only direction that foliage gave way to forest. Further in was a jungle-like terrain, and even deeper into that would be a cliff face and more jungle, then looming, tired mountains; suddenly barren of green. The next Fae village would be by those cliffs.



Soresta frowned, "We definitely won't make it before nightfall, but..." she looked at them again, "So long as we avoid conflict with remaining human forces, we should have no trouble travelling. I believe they went North," she said, looking down at the tracks, but honestly that was the end of her deductive reasoning. When it came to tracking, Soresta was at a loss; they could've gone South for all she knew. As long as it wasn't towards the woods though, they stood a better chance of reaching cover before dark.

Cloud simply nodded. "Probably best to leave Fenrir on the ship. It's not that loud, but it would certainly draw attention if spotted." That, and they wouldn't all fit anyway. "Anyway, let's get going..."

Rick glanced around one more time, as if checking something then was done. In reality he was just checking if there was anything left behind that might have proven useful but found nothing. "I'm with Cloud, let's get going." He had went to the left side, almost subconciously taking point on the left while Cloud was on the right.

"Ya. Got no use in staying.." Kiera seemed to have calmed down and ready to follow, her small crew that had come down like wise.

She watched absently as everyone prepared to move, having the feeling that even though she was much weaker and slower than the rest, they'd all be forced to follow her lead. The thought made her feel slightly smug, only because she disliked how aggressive the women proved to be. They were nothing like the cool and stoic elves she idolized; to some degree.

When she felt that everyone was ready to go, Soresta picked up her long, disheveled skirt so she could walk easier and began to lead. Her feet were bare, as were most forest-dwellers, and she had to be mindful of the ground in case she tripped or sliced a toe on some shrapnel. Despite her dress, Soresta walked as fast as any normal person after awhile and at one point she managed to lengthen her stride; an indication that they had now left the village perimeter.

Cloud was, as they walked, steadily putting together his Fusion Blade sword while keeping an eye on their surroundings. It was interesting, to say the least, seeing him take six seperate swords and fit them together to build one giant one similar to the Buster Sword that Rick carried.

Tifa settled in next to Soresta, though kept a comfortable distance between them, her arms clasped behind their back. "So... I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier. I took what you said wrong... it seemed like you were insulting her for having animal characteristics like that, and it upset me. When I realized you thought... well... I'm sorry."

Kiera was a stubborn individual. But she did know when to fold them and Tifa sort of took the first step, so he wasn't too surprised. "Eh.." She began. "I guess my temper got the best of me too, same here."

Raja shook her head. "What's done is done and it was a rocky meeting. There's no point in dwelling on a rough start. I'm not one to hold grudges."

The Fae nodded, looking at the ground sheepishly before returning their gazes. "I should not judge quickly, it's not the Fae way but... I guess that this is how I am, when I'm alone. This is the real me."she smiled weakly at that, starting to feel worse now. "And I'm sorry, for being assumptuous about your friend," she glanced back at the neko, "Fae are well known for their healing properties here. Our organs are vital and abundant with vitality. Humans... extract them to prolong their own lives. I had thought she'd undergone a similar procedure." she paused in speech but kept walking, glancing back at them. "Although... I wouldn't spread the word about this around the villages. Some are untouched by this abomination, others, well... it won't sit well talking about it, okay?" she asked and held their gazes, asking them to keep this bit of information secret. She only shared it because she felt it would someone explain and mend the situation from earlier, but it wouldn't do to have such vital intel leaked.

Cloud and Tifa both tensed at that. Cloud said nothing, though his grip on his sword tightened. Tifa simply looked at the Fae for a moment, then nodded. "We'll pretend we didn't hear it... though I imagine when we get to these villages, we'll be the one's needing protection. We can defend ourselves, but I don't want it to come to that..."