Setzer (gabbiani) wrote in imperially, @ 2008-07-26 13:30:00 |
|
|||
The city they landed on the outskirts of was only several miles from Maranda-- razed by destruction, one would think it would stand as a cautionary example for what the Empire was capable of. As if there weren't already enough all around them. Yet, the people of this city had refused to give their allegiance, and the Empire didn't operate on a strike basis. They allowed one chance, and after that came annihilation. A new imperial base would be erected upon the ruins of what this city would be by the next day.
After they finished getting the Magitek off the airship, Setzer switched his position from captain to mechanic, doing a last minute check on the machinery. Between him and Edgar, there were never any problems. Setzer may of payed no care when it came to both his own life and others, but that didn't mean he wasn't good at what he did. Gestahl kept him because he knew that.
It had been three weeks since he had personally placed the slave crown back around Terra's forehead, and in those three weeks he had business that kept him away from her. When he reached the Magitek that she was in, he took an extra moment on it. He chanced a brief glance up with his single blue eye to look at the blank expression on her face. Like everyone else in the stronghold that was Vector's steel castle, he had grown accustomed to seeing her that way, barely even as a person but as a thing. As a weapon, like the Magitek itself. Yet unlike everyone else, he had seen how she looked when it was off, and though he wasn't one for regrets, it made it more pronounced to see her like this. He knew that behind the placid mask she wore, she must of been brimming with a hatred for him. He took no enjoyment from what he saw as a necessary precaution, but if she felt that way, it was deserved.
"They'll have you at the front for for this, behind the first line of soldiers," he said, knowing she could hear him perfectly well, and that no one else really bothered to inform her ahead of time. All that mattered was that she followed the directions they gave her when the time came. Setzer himself was rarely involved in larger disputes, even though he was more ruthless than most of them. His personal involvement was saved for much smaller missions, ones of a different kind of importance. An exercise in allegiance was something they practically did once a month. "I'll collect you in the evening," he said as he took a couple steps back from the hulking device that the girl sat atop.
"This area is going to become a war zone in five minutes," came a voice from nearby, drawing Setzer's attention to it. It came from a tall woman, with pale blond hair that fell down her back. Despite the dirtied condition of most of Vector's citizens, everything about this woman's appearance was always immaculate and clean-- even when there was bloodshed, it rarely tainted anything but her blade. Her voice was hard, crisp, lacking any feminine touch to it. Besides Terra, she was the only female within the whole of the imperial fortress, and yet her presence was more intimidating than any of it's men.
"General Celes," Setzer replied, before he flashed her a grin. "Is that a touch of concern?"
"Concern for why you're concerned about her, Captain," Celes replied flatly, and Setzer lifted his eyebrow slightly. Had she of even the slightest suspicion to how he had been involved with the girl and she could have him tried for what would be seen as a first class crime. Gestahl would tolerate his disrespectful behavior, but compromising one of their strongest weapons was unforgivable. However, Setzer only laughed then. "You can't blame a man for wanting a little female company," he said, before he jerked a thumb towards the empty-eyed girl. "This one's more accommodating than you, General."
A glare fixed on Celes' face, entirely resenting the man's unprofessional behavior. She never understood why the Emperor had granted him a position of such power, one nearly as weighty as the generals themselves. That wasn't to say she didn't recognize that he was one of this generation's smartest minds, having designed the flying aircrafts entirely unaided, or thought that his constitution was any less than theirs, but that attitude made all of it fully worthless to her. A loose canon in their ranks was a threat to all of them. When rule of the Empire passed on to her and Kefka, she would have him removed.
"Return to your ship, Captain," Celes said as she looked towards the city, missing as he tipped his hat in her direction before turning and leaving. She also continued on in the other direction, down the line of soldiers they had brought. She chose to never linger near that girl for very long, another element she thought should have no part in the Empire. When Celes was leading the army, she always said that they should take no prisoners. If these people wanted to die for being foolish, then they would; slavery should be below them. For now, she turned a blind eye to it like the rest of them.
In comparison to the sheer size of the Empire, the resistance wasn't even a drop in the bucket. From miles away, Leo had watched one of it's airships enter onto the scene before landing on the opposing outskirts. It was a routine mission, one that he had let himself regretfully be a player in many times in the past. It had taken him too long to see how these acts were intolerable, that it was so much more than just a war for power. The entire world was being effected by it's oppressive near-omnipotence, and if something wasn't done, the condition of life itself would be irreparable-- people would altogether forget words like 'free choice', like 'hope'. Leo knew he would never fully be able to atone for what he had been a part of for so long. But he wouldn't wallow, there wasn't time for that. He would do everything he could to stop the Emperors' plan from progressing any further.
It had been four years since he had been pronounced as dead to the Empire, and over those years he had started the resistance. In the beginning, he worked alone, enough to be able to throw a wrench into the works now and then without them recognizing where it was coming from. But over time, it became apparent they needed to know there were plenty of people out there who weren't willing to simply surrender. Only when he had exhausted his ability to reason with Gestahl, to hope any of them would change their ways, did he see there was no other way than to oppose them with force. With him that day were only about thirty others, men who had either lost their families to the Empire, or wanted to make a better world for the ones they had. Despite being one of them for so long, his character had immediately drawn these citizens who wanted freedom to him-- they trusted him. It had begun as him alone, and slowly it had grown from there when they had seen what he meant to do. He made sure that trust wouldn't be misplaced.
Being a general himself for so long meant he knew the ins and outs of how the Empire worked, meaning he knew how to organize an effort against what was going to happen today. He instructed them that their positions would be defense based, that they would aid the townspeople and protect their homes, rather than to simply attack the group here today head on. If they tried that, they would surely be unsuccessful. It was difficult to make sure no one would let emotions run high when they were against a force who had personally touched all of their lives, knowing that was when mistakes would be made. He wanted to see as few lives lost as possible, which was one of the things that had made him such a poor fit in the Empire.
Leo had kept them from finding out he was alive this long, and he planned to keep it that way for awhile longer. To keep them in the dark was an advantage, and had little to do with him having any reserve against being the face of this group. In time, he would reveal himself as that, but for now he used it as a one up he had on them. When they suited up in preparation, he placed a helmet over his head that hid his features.
Not being needed again until the fighting was over, Setzer didn't even give it a second look after his initial job was over. He had retreated to the ships' control room with a bottle of whiskey, starting on it when the rumbling began outside. But he had barely gotten through a third of it, when a voice came through the communication system nearby him. It wasn't addressing him directly, but rather was a way to listen in on the discussion from one Magitek unit to another.
"Bizarre-- it's like they knew that we were coming."
"They've already taken down some of the front line soldiers. No way these are just ordinary citizens."
"Doesn't matter. The Magitek'll fry 'em all."
Leo knew they weren't prepared enough, but it would be years before they were anywhere close enough to prepared enough to handle any force of the Empire. These men wanted to fight now, and he couldn't deny them that any longer. They knew what they were getting into, and he did as well. The sight of watching comrades fall was nothing new to him, but the determination on his hidden features was nothing like those the other side wore. He would pick up slack, as the soldiers that led the front of the attack found out. His skill with a sword had always been something near legendary within the walls of Vector, something he devoted himself to while nearly everyone else turned to the alternative of what technology and magic would give them.
He hadn't had to face any of that directly until now, when he caught sight of a lumbering silhouette just as he finished taking care of two soldiers. He knew he would have to move quickly against the imperial machinery, that there was no coming back from even a single shot from it. When he saw the glow that began to build up at it's center, and he dashed forward, right into it.
At the last moment, he leaped up from the ground, out of the trajectory path of the beam. He landed on the face of the Magitek, and gripping his sword in two hands, thrust it down into the heart of the metal beast with a force unimaginable by any other-- swords typically could barely even scratch the paint. Pierced wires crackled, and while he knew it wasn't enough to entirely shut it down, that it had severely crippled it. He lifted his eyes, ready to face the soldier that was manning the weapon. He wasn't expecting it then when it was no faceless lackey, but that girl, her face unforgettable.