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Noemi blinked as she received the transmission from Sephiroth. She had honestly not thought of this speed as being too fast. However, she saw reason in his question. So, after a moment, she began to order her grew to turn off the engines and only allow the ship to drift via thrusters.
Sephiroth nodded his head as the ship began to slow down and almost drift along in space. Then he narrowed his eyes and began to heavily focus. *”Very good…”*
Twenty-five miles ahead, a giant portal suddenly appeared right in the ship’s trajectory path. The portal was wide and huge, certainly large enough to consume the entire ship. The portal’s middle sucked anything that drifted near it into it’s depths. It behaved in much the same manner as a black-hole, however the insides of the portal were swirling and light filled. Great swathes of lightning crashed around inside as well, some even escaping the portal’s perimeter.
General Sephiroth quickly emerged from his quarters when the navigation equipment began to spazz and seize up, blaring a series of warnings as it couldn’t identify what was ahead.
“Can we steer around it?” He said as he abruptly stepped up behind Noemi.
Noemi closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she forced herself to calm down despite the fact that her own implants were screaming about an unknown phenomenon ahead of them. Having heard about portals from the other Sephiroth, she figured that this was his doing.
However, she calmly spoke up to the crew, “If any of you are afraid of what may lie on the other side of that anomaly, go to the escape pods and leave now. I will not discredit you for choosing your lives over this venture.”
Thus, within a few moments, a few members of the crew quickly got out of their seats and left for the escape pods. However, the mass majority were more loyal to Noemi than anyone else. So, they stayed.
By the time the last escape pod left the Halcyon, the ship began to drift through the rift that Sephiroth had made.
General Sephiroth yelled as the ship continued on it’s path towards the portal. “This is madness! Steer away from it! Steer, damn you! That’s an order!” He growled as he paced away from Noemi, moving towards the control crew. “MOVE!”
He dropped to the floor and covered his head with his arms, bracing for impact when the ship began to sail through the portal. “Where’s my crew?? Brace for impact!” He snarled loudly. “Get the fire extinguishers!” He was screaming the same orders through all channels of the neural implant network on the ship.
Sephiroth grunted as he spoke to Noemi telepathically again. *”You are going to arrive somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, high in the air…”*
Noemi, unlike her love, kept a level head. As captain, it was her job to always remain calm no matter the circumstances. If she had to, she would send a ship on a suicidal crash without even flinching in order to save her crew. So, this sort of thing did not phase her.
Instead she just took in another deep breath before she spoke to the members of her crew that remain, “Stay steady. We are not going to die. We shall be safe on the other side.”
She spoke with confidence, despite not being fully certain of the facts herself. Still, she wanted to believe that she would have a chance to live in freedom, so she went for it.
~So, we are going to appear in Earth’s atmosphere? I understand.~
When the colours and blackness of space shifted and changed into the crazy and wild randomness of the lights inside of portals, Sephiroth lowered his head. He knew all too well about what happened in portals, for he had frequently been hit by flying objects while passing through inside the strange world-between-worlds, and the silver-haired male found himself quite thankful for the fact that he had a giant ship around him to help act as armor against the outside.
When the portal gave way again to clear blue skies and clouds, he sighed with relief and stood up again.
*”No, not exactly Earth – that planet is no more. Gaea is no more either. Both of them have been merged together. Nobody knows what to call the planet any more. Though ‘Gaea’ is ‘Earth’ in another tongue. So I suppose either is acceptable…”*
Meanwhile, General Sephiroth stood up again when he saw the calm blue skies over the Pacific Ocean out the window, and narrowed his eyes as he quickly turned his attention to the navigational equipment. He growled as he watched the tracking needles trace around aimlessly, looking for a recognisable landmark, beacons, co-ordinate markers in space, anything… the words “location unknown” blipping on thee screens the entire time that the machines performed the scanning process.
“Where the fuck ARE we??”
Noemi walked over to the General’s side before she set a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him. Shaking her head, she sighed at him.
“You marines are definitely allowed a lot of… insecurity,” she spoke in a light tone, with the hint of a smirk on her lips. She then moved to the nearest viewing window so that she could look at their surroundings.
“According to our.. visitor.. we are in another reality. This planet is not one that we’ve ever encountered before,” the captain explained. “However, we might as well get used to considering it as our new home.”
Noemi then narrowed her eyes before she glanced toward her quarters. ~You may as well come to the bridge now,~ she instructed the leather-clad man. ~We will need directions if you want a flight to your home.~
General Sephiroth scowled as he stood upright, moving back over to Noemi. “Captain…” He growled at her through his teeth. “If you have a moment, I would… like to speak with you in private…”
Sephiroth nodded his head slowly. *”I understand.”* He moved off the seat and began moving through the ship. Although he had never been in it before, knowing the way wasn’t hard at all. There were many indications on how to get to the bridge and he followed the route there, standing near Noemi within a matter of minutes, nodding to her.
“Do we have a map of the area?” He glanced at the equipment, suprised to see 3D scans of the ocean floor directly below them. He sighed and turned to the more archaic scans that were in 2D. “See where we are,” He moved to the monitor. “Mideel-Samoa is to your south and west. Maybe a few hours of flight away from where we are.”
Noemi glanced over at the “younger” Sephiroth as he entered the bridge. She then nodded at him as he began to give out instructions as to where to go. Nodding, she glanced at her crew before she commanded, “Follow his instructions for now. Unless he directs the ship into a mountain, take his navigation advice.”
With that said, she nodded to the General before she stepped off the bridge. Soon enough, she made it to her private quarters, which were akin to a penthouse suite.
General Sephiroth snarled as he stepped off the bridge to follow Noemi. After following her into her private quarters, he stood over her, glaring hard down at her. While he would never dream of raising a hand to the female, he couldn’t deny that part of him felt like killing her right now. In any case, it was very easy to tell that he was incredibly pissed off.
“What is the meaning of this madness, Noemi!?” He growled at her. “First we go out into space without much of a briefing… then you willingly flew into a portal, after every single piece of navigational equipment on the table told you not to!?” He snarled. “Have you gone insane!? They’re going to Court-Marshall you for this!”
Noemi moved to sit down in her office chair, which was positoned near the rear window of her quarters. Lowering her head, she slowly shook her head before she calmly spoke, “There will be no court marshaling if there is no court to charge me, General Sephiroth…”
She glanced to the side, for she didn’t want to look at the anger in her love’s eyes. She was fully aware that she took a large risk. However, she believed that it was worth it. After pursing her lips, she looked up at General Sephiroth once more.
“General, they were planning on sending me to a suicide mission within the next few weeks. I had already received the orders… As I said, I am getting old, and they no longer had much need for me. They planned on killing me, and my crew. I felt this was a better option. Haven’t you ever wanted to be free?”
General Sephiroth continued to growl, though this time it was more out of sheer frustration above all else. He kicked at a nearby table, then sat down, burying his face in his hands.
“I know about the suicide mission…” He snarls. “No retirement. For any of us…” He paused, hesitant. His entire life had been nothing but protocols and when he had dared to think outside their discipline fields, he had been punished or his mind was re-arranged. He genuinely feared it happening still and he chose his words very carefully.
“But that is the way of things.” His tone was cold now. “We were born for it. We were created for it. And now.. now you have brought us here! They’re only going to track us down and kill us now!” He shook his head, very upset. “We’re going to go down in infamy like Hojo and all the others who became traitors and went against the will of the alliance….”
Noemi shook her head at Sephiroth’s sentiments. Yes, she understood that they would forever be proclaimed as traitors, if they had been found out. However, she felt that what she had done was worth the risk. In the long run, she felt that the chance to live was more important than anything else.
So, she calmly responded, “If the information that we were given about realities was true, then they won’t track us down. Look at this world, General. It does resemble Earth, does it not? However, it isn’t quite right. I think he may have been telling us the truth.”
General Sephiroth growled. “You took a HUGE risk on something that was a ‘maybe’, Noemi…” He shook his head. After a few moments he raised it again, scowling as he tried to contact something that wasn’t there.
“Where are we…? We’re way beyond any of the reception satellites…” He rose to his feet and peered out the nearest window. “It does resemble your Earth, Noemi. What’s wrong with it? Is this a new planet? Maybe they will keep you if they learn of what you have discovered…”
Noemi closed her eyes before she sighed at her younger friend. Soon after, she stood up from her desk before she walked over to him.
“Yes, I am aware that I took a large risk. The way I saw it, I was dead either way. I would have been killed either by my own hand or by blind loyalty.. To be honest, blind loyalty doesn’t sound fun to me.”
Shaking her head, she set her hands down on the General’s shoulders as she attempted to calm him down. She then glanced out the window again.
“I believe that other Sephiroth. This has to be another reality. As in, a new dimension. Hence, we won’t be discovered.”
General Sephiroth frowned. “So you believe the other reality was real…” He watched the scenery below, silent for a few moments as he observed. He saw dots of islands below, but mostly ocean. He tried requesting a map of the area, but the implants had no intelligence on the area yet and reported as much.
“This is real…” He mumbled. “I really can’t believe it. Yet here we are.”
“All the evidence states that this really is outside of networked space. So, yes, I’m certain that this is a genuine alternative dimesion, General,” Noemi stated with full confidence. “Of course, that also means that our positions as we know them are no longer valid…”
General Sephiroth deeply frowned at being informed of that. “So I have… no rank at all?!” He growled. “What the hell??” He peered out the window again, curious to watch the sights outside. He was most fascinated as the ship began to land, tensing shortly afterwards.
“Noemi… you might want to keep the crew at their stations…” He growled. “There are four dragons on the ground…”
Noemi walked over to the view port so that she could see what General Sephiroth was speaking about. She crossed her arms as she considered over the situation. There were indeed dragons on the ground. However, she was not certain if they were of the same calibur of dragon that they were familiar with.
Sighing, she nodded her head, “I shall relay the suggestion. However, I think your men are better suited for taking care of such things. Also… I believe they might be restrained by the looks of it.”
General Sephiroth muttered. “We shall see when they land…” He growled rather openly. “I don’t want to see the dragon issue here, if this is indeed an alternate reality of the one we came from.” He paused, adding, “Maybe the dragon problem is yet to begin here. Who knows?”
“I just hope we hurry up and land…”
Noemi hummed at the General’s sentiments. Frowning in thought, she considered the possibilities. While it may be that the dragon problem was only a glimmer of a possibility here, it may also be that it will never happen at all. So, at length, she shrugged.
“We shall see…”
She then frowned at General Sephiroth before she shook her head at him. “General Sephiroth,” she explained, “There is no way that the Halcyon can land on a planet and ever take off again. The best we can do is hover and port that way. However, I should say that we are pulling into position now.”
General Sephiroth frowned rather deeply now. He slowly shook his head and glanced downwards, nodding. “Hover and unload the personnel and crew. Then I suggest sailing the ship out into space where it can orbit the planet, like a satellite.” He hummed in thought. “If you use nothing but the emergency low setting, the renewable fuel in the cells will keep turning over forever. Until one of them gets a leak, anyway…”
Noemi hummed as she considered General Sephiroth’s suggestion. She then shook her head.
“No, that should not be necessary,” she responded. “I should be able to keep it hovering over this spot here without much difficulty. It would be much easier to provide transport back and forth between the ship and the planet if it is in the atmosphere. It can stay stationary in the atmosphere here for well over four decades.”
She then moved toward the exit. As she opened the door to leave, she looked back at General Sephiroth. “It appears that we have arrived. Shall we disembark?”
General Sephiroth scowled as he moved to follow Noemi, muttering something that vaguely resembled a ‘yes’. He stepped out into the corridor and headed for the planetary exploration pods, scowling as he looked back at some of the other crew and personnel.
“That other idiot should come with us.”
Noemi calmly walked through the corridors until she arrived at the docking stations for the shuttles. Being the most experienced and qualified person present to fly any vehicle, she immediately moved into the nearest shuttle so that she could begin the start-up procedures.
As she worked within the cockpit of the shuttle, she smirked at her lover’s words. ~You do realize that is very vague,~ the captain commented. ~By your definitions, there are many “other idiots”, especially including that one elf on my crew.~
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