Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Finding Sanctuary ❯ Dead Ends ( Chapter 6 )

"Tomorrow, my lord? B-but, my lord. I have much to do here still," the general protested.

"The business left undone at Doma and Hargenh has been postponed for too long, I'm afraid," the emperor explained. Though the emperor had no need to explain himself to a servant, Leo wanted very much to learn why the emperor had a change of mind. Unfortunately, Kefka was also present.

Leo looked at Kefka, expecting him to be at an irritating sneer. Instead, he was half-surprised to see Kefka seemingly in a trance, staring at the fire, deep in thought. Something about the meeting had greatly disturbed Kefka to give him pause. Even Leo thought this odd.

The general swallowed and respectfully conceded. "As you wish, my lord. I am merely concerned about General Chere. I promised to give her my guidance should she need it."

"She is in good hands at the moment, Leo. You have done your job well. No harm will come to her. I am convinced that she would perform rather well in her mission."

"So you are going to accept her proposition, my lord?"

"Yes. But my decision to send you to Doma has nothing to do with her proposition. That was just a coincidence. Tomorrow, after your departure from Vector, we will announce General Fencross's death. And later, Kefka and I shall make our disappearance. She is a brave woman, Leo. In a week's time she will be a capable woman. Don't you think so, Kefka?"

Kefka snapped back to reality with a startled gasp. "What…? Oh, indeed, my lord! I totally agree," Kefka lied.

"Is something the matter, Kefka?" the emperor asked. Leo, too, was curious.

"Forgive me, my lord. It was just something General Chere said about infiltrators. It has made me concerned about the security of the Bronze Fortress," Kefka said in haste. He stood up from his seat and bowed. "If his lordship has no more need of my presence, I would like to return to my service and make sure that the Fortress remains safe."

"You are excused, Kefka. And so are you, Leo," the emperor said. It seemed that he, too, wanted to be left alone in thought.

The general and the adviser exited in respectful silence. Once outside, both walked the corridor without a word. Kefka seemed to be too worried about something to even brag about how right he was about the general's scheduled departure. Leo didn't know whether to take this as a good sign or not. The general was tempted to ask what was really bothering Kefka, but he bit his lip before he could.

When they reached a junction where the both of them were to part, Kefka said with a sneering grin, "I told you so." Kefka laughed the rest of the way.

**********

Personal Log of Lady Celes Chere, General of Vector.

Day Eight of the Celestial Rise.

I am to stay a general. That was the plan all along. The emperor made no mention of my temporary status. He made no mention of General Fencross's. His mind was decided on my mission. I am dancing to their music.

The emperor is a liar as I have suspected. They are all liars. They lie to control me. They lie to protect me. I will find out why.

I offered them a piece of my mind about the so-called rebels. The emperor is cautious, but I predict that he would accept my suggestion. Leo will be sent away. General Fencross will be announced dead. The emperor and Kefka will lie low per my suggestion. The emperor did not seem to mind. However, I sensed that Kefka was fully opposed to it and that he was unable to speak his mind freely at the meeting. The strings that tug are gaining directions.

Slave Crown Technology. Kefka wanted to utilize it. What is it? I must find out.

Investigation of the Terra Episode. General Fencross almost died because of it. What did it involve?

Guardian. Who is she? What does she want? How did she gain access to our system? Why can we not trace her?

Rebels. I will make myself their perfect target. I will make them come after me while I track them down. They will not catch me off guard like those pompous fools. As harsh as it may sound, the colonels deserved it.

Llurd. Though I have not spoken to him yet, I predict that he is bitter about my promotion. Why wouldn't he be? He coveted this rank. He will despise me. No matter. I am general. He is colonel. He will obey me.

End of personal log.

**********

In the newspaper were four main reports. The first was the tragic death of General Fencross due to an unforeseen heart problem during his recovery. The Revival team failed. A funeral ceremony would be held in two days time. The second news was the Emperor's departure from Vector on a diplomatic mission in the Far North together with Adviser Palazzo. The third report was General Cristophe's return to his mission in Doma and Hargenh.

The last report was about me. "Lady Chere to Take Charge of Rebel Investigation," it said on the headline. The column had my picture on it just as I requested. Vanity was not part of my plan. I simply wanted to make sure that the rebels knew exactly how I looked like. I would've clipped the column for myself as souvenir, but it was I who wrote the words. I wanted to deliver clear messages to all who read it--hope for the civilians, a challenge for the rebels, and disbelief for the Military.

Dr. Brown showed me everything that he showed General Fencross--the First Strike.

An intruder infiltrated the most restricted area of Magitek Lab Omega. It is still unknown as to how the intruder managed to bypass the sophisticated security systems and its redundancy support. Speculations suggest that the intruder had an inside assistance. It is still unknown as to how long the intruder actually stayed within the Magitek Lab, but Brown's team have concluded that the intruder's mission was to sabotage the primary reactor--and was evidently successful in doing so.

The intruder was detected due to an unscheduled activation of certain computers within the Omega Lab's Core by night-shift monitors. As standard operating procedure dictated, a team of engineers, escorted by a team of inner Imperial Guards, jumped to the scene to investigate. The intruder was discovered. She promptly fled the scene. The guards sounded the alarm and pursued her. The engineers contacted their Lab Director and Adviser Palazzo.

The pursuit has not been documented due to some technical problems with the security cameras and sensors. How convenient! During the time of the pursuit, two Magitek drones have been overridden to assist the intruder. The first drone was given a voice override code. It was soon subdued by the guards within the complex. The second drone was overridden internally. It killed four guards within the complex with its primary blaster.

Approximately ten minutes after the intruder was first spotted, the annexed Magitek powering station went up in flames due to a reactor overload. The intruder escaped. The second drone was found well outside its range of control, hence, was forced to deactivate itself. The guards who continued pursuit all died together with the night-shift workers in the powering station.

The emergency crew responded immediately and arrived at the scene of the burning rubble within five minutes. They managed to retrieve the lifeless body of one of the workers. In two hours time, the worker was alive again, brought back to life by a science team using Cid's method of Revival.

My first impression was that Brown's team concluded erroneously about the intruder's mission that night. If the intruder's mission was to destroy the reactor, then why did she infiltrate the most protected area of the Devil's Lab? Why go through the concentrated number of security measures of the Magitek Lab when she could have gone straight for the annexed Magitek powering station itself? Did the intruder trigger the unscheduled activation of the computers by accident? If not, what exactly were those computers for, and what was she doing with them?

I followed the lead. I went straight to the Devil's Lab to learn more about the computers. I thought the Emperor had given me enough clearance to access all facilities in the Bronze Compound during this investigation. I was wrong. My clearance did not extend far enough into the heart of the Devil's Lab. I was denied access each time they ran my card through the slot. Did the emperor forget to clear my access into the lab? Was it a simple oversight on his part? Or did he intentionally leave out the lab from my access card? Whatever the answer, I could not request for his clearance for they he had already announced his departure from Vector with Adviser Palazzo. Though in reality they were still within the Bronze Fortress, I was afraid that I would blow away their cover by making the request.

The first lead was a dead end. I have to go around it. I will try to find out how Terra got past the security by thinking like her. For that I would have to ask her.

**********

"Access denied?!" General Chere exclaimed in disbelief. "The emperor has given me the authorization to continue the Terra Episode investigation! How can anybody expect me to accomplish this if I cannot even interrogate her?"

The guard shrugged indifferently as if to say, "That's not my problem… general!"

I read his subtle facial expression. He was one of those who had reservations against my abilities. As a logical thinker, I did what the wisest course of action was--I yielded.

I calmly took my access card from the guard and walked away in a dignified manner. I knew that arguing with the guard was futile. Both the Devil's Lab and the prisoner were off-limits to me by order of the emperor. Both were dead ends. But no matter, I thought optimistically. One of the clues must lead me somewhere. Even the gentlest of winds casts a ripple in the water. If I cannot ask her, then I will be her.

**********

And that was how I came to be staring at a big monitor in front of me in a private library open only to privileged people. I was alone. The monitor displayed three-dimensional blueprints of Magitek Lab Omega. The graphical representation was highly elaborate. Not only did it show me the rooms and corridors, it also revealed the ventilation, sewage, heating and cooling systems. The computer also had the ability to reveal the locations of all security cameras, motion sensors, power grid, laser tripwires, sentry positions, guard routes and Magitek drone patrols (also known as 'drone zones'). With another touch of a button, I could make the computer show the high-traffic areas, areas with low temperature, areas with high radiation, or even areas where a two-hundred pound person had been in the last two days.

The three-dimensional blueprint was immense. For six hours straight, I have been looking at it, following virtual corridors, going through virtual barriers, opening virtual doors while dodging virtual security cameras and sensors. Six hours and I have not yet seen half of the virtual Magitek Lab Omega. Six hours and I have not yet found a way to virtually infiltrate the outermost layer of the Devil's Lab.

This is impossible, I thought. It is a given that the infiltrator had help from the inside. But I don't think only one person could've helped her. Turning off one or two security cameras in one place is easy enough to do. But the redundant security system will reactivate them after six seconds--ten seconds, at most. Turning off three security cameras at a time is a handful for one person to do.

Making sure that they stayed offline while creating the illusion that they never were is close to impossible. And I haven't yet considered the rest of the cameras, tripwires, doors, motion sensors and the drones! Even then, these are only the automated security systems--programmed with clockwork predictability. The guard patrols are an entirely different matter--almost random! The Terra infiltration was a team effort. One to infiltrate. At least, two to handle automated security measures. And at least one to watch the guard patrols. A team that worked in flawless coordination.

I contemplated long in silence and concluded that it was--Still impossible! No team of this size could've acted with such coordination while evading detection. I am still missing something! Quite possibly something so simple that it has been overlooked by everybody!

The screen went blank all of a sudden. At first, I thought that there was a power failure. The humming of the other computers around told me that it was something else. I was still alone in the small library. There were no books--only computer terminals. There were no windows, either. The only exit was a high-security metal door that was locked at the time.

I tapped on my keyboard several times, trying to bring up the previous screen to no avail. Then, a female voice was heard from all corners of the room, dead and artificial.

"Mind-boggling, isn't it?"

My reaction was quick. I stood up from my chair with complete abandon of what I was doing, while drawing my sword. I made a slash as I turned around, just in case somebody had sneaked up behind me. My eyes scanned the room quickly. My ears listened for the slightest sound. The room was clear. I was still alone. Physically alone, at least. However, it was clear that there was a presence. A familiar one.

"Guardian," I said simply, lowering my sword.

"That is correct," Guardian answered. I sheathed my sword and picked up the fallen chair. I was more relaxed now. There was no immediate danger. "Don't bother trying to trace this transmission."

I had no such intention. I knew it would be futile. "What do you want, Guardian? I thought we were through. I gave you a chance when we first talked, and then you left me."

"I left because our meeting concluded," Guardian said. I walked over to the metal door, opened it, and then peered out. "There is nobody out there, Celes. And even if there was somebody out there, I wouldn't allow them to get in."

I raised a brow, intrigued. She can hear me. But can Guardian see me, too?

"Then, at least, lower your voice."

"The room is soundproof."

"How would you know that?" I asked. I wanted to see how much Guardian knew about the facility.

Guardian brought up the graphical blueprints again and located the exact same room that I was in on screen. The room was clearly labeled soundproof. Not only that, Guardian also showed me where the security camera in the room was located. I looked up to a corner of the ceiling and saw it. I moved around the room and observed that the camera followed me. It was how Guardian saw me.

I approached the terminal again and sat down on the chair. "You are interfering with my investigation, Guardian," I said flatly as if I wasn't interested in what Guardian had to say.

"The Terra Episode. Yes. I've heard the news," Guardian said. "How goes it?"

"I've identified one of the accomplices."

"Indeed. Who would that be?"

"You."

"Congratulations, Celes. But I think you already knew that."

"Maybe."

"Why have you not put me in your report yet?"

"I lack the evidence."

"That's not what I heard."

My curiosity upped one more notch. "Oh? What have you heard exactly?"

"Start of recording," Guardian said.

Celes: Fall back to our previous state of emergency--back to yellow alert. Let us give them breathing space once more. Allow them enough leeway to continue with their next operation while I embark on this investigation. The trail will be fresh. I will have no difficulty locating the leaks. Once we find these leaks, we will watch them very closely. Another infiltrator will show himself or herself sooner or later. The successive attacks are sure to have made them overconfident to attempt another one. (Conversation speeds up and resumes at normal speed.) My lord, I am aware of the risks. But I am confident that we can catch the next infiltrator this way. I do not see how else it can be done, my lord. The enemies are inside. And inside is where we should start!

My face felt heavy forming a frown. My top suspect had heard about my plan. It was definitely not a good thing. I shouted angrily, "That meeting was supposed to be a secret. How could you have heard? Unless… you were there! Who is this? Leo? Kefka? My lord? Is this a test?"

"Calm your self, Celes. I was not present at the meeting. I heard through electronic ears. There aren't a lot of places in the Bronze Fortress where I cannot hear."

"So you know of my plan now. What are you going to do?" I asked grimly.

"I plan to help you."

I laughed. "You mock me, Guardian. You underestimate me."

"I was being sincere," Guardian replied coolly.

"Let me get this straight. You want to help me with the investigation so that I may quickly apprehend you and your accomplices?"

"Negative. I want to help you with the investigation so that you may discover the whole truth behind the Terra Episode. I suppose the easiest way is for me to simply tell you what happened. However, you are the type of person who needs to be convinced of something before you could accept it. So what will it be, Celes? Would you believe me if just told you the whole truth now? Or would you prefer to do this the hard way?"

I was tempted to opt for the first choice. But Guardian was right about me. Whatever it was that Guardian had to say would only be met with my doubts and skepticisms. I could hear Guardian's claims, but I would never be able to accept them as the truth without testing them under fire.

"That sounded suspiciously like a challenge, Guardian. But I gotta hand it to you. You were right about me not opting for the first choice. Therefore, I will call your challenge."

"My challenge?"

"You said you could convince me of something by doing it the hard way. I say that there is nothing you can do or tell me that will make me believe a rebel. And I mean you!"

"Now that, to me, sounded like a challenge," Guardian returned.

The room's lights went off, replaced only by a red emergency beacon. Normally, a siren would accompany the red light, but this time, there was only near-silence. The computers were still active. The only exit was still locked. I grew apprehensive each second.

"What are you doing?"

"Setting up the board. Give me a few seconds and all will be ready," Guardian replied.

"I have no time for games, Guardian. Open this door now! We are through here!"

"Things are already in motion. Soon, so will you be. Tonight I will answer many of your questions regarding the recent events that has transpired in Vector. I will show you a certain secret that it keeps. And I will help you identify the other players on the board so that you may know who to watch out for."

I punched in the override codes. The door did not respond. I tried opening it manually by pulling a metal latch. The door only buzzed and denied me access. In frustration, I kicked the door with a short grunt.

"Who are you?!" I cried.

"My name is of no use to you and your investigation. It's a dead end like your previous attempts. It is what I am capable of doing that will interest you. Come closer, Celes, and watch carefully."

**********
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Author's Notes:

I haven't had the chance to proofread this one so if you see an error, please tell me.

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