By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Tseng stood upon the airfield. It had been a day and a half since Vincent had called him from the airship and it was due to arrive at any moment. Soon enough he could hear the drone of the ship’s engines as it appeared in the sky. He waited in patient silence as it descended and alit before him.

Vincent was the first to emerge from the massive ship, closely followed by Tifa. He went directly to his younger brother and gave him a quick embrace. "How are you doing, Tseng?"

He flashed a brief smile as he stepped back. "I am well, and yourself? Has your body been functioning right?"

The strangeness of Tseng’s comment didn’t strike Vincent as that odd. "So far, so good."

Tifa came forward and threw her arms around Tseng, her constant worry about his health alleviated for the time being as he looked so good. "Hey!"

He returned her embrace happily. "Hello Tifa. How is Cid coping?"

Her smile faded and at once as she returned to Vincent’s side. "He’s doing as well as can be expected. Luckily, he’s the toughest person I know and if anyone can make it through this it will be him."

"Yes, I suppose you’re right." Tseng dropped his gaze before looking up at Vincent. "Where is Jaras?"

Vincent looked back over his shoulder at the ship, just as his son stumbled from the doorway.

It was obvious to all that Jaras had been suffering for a long time. He hadn’t even bothered to come out of his quarters all day and the expression upon his face was one of sheer exhaustion. Clearly he hadn’t gotten any sleep whatsoever the night before, and truth be told, his head was splitting from having read for the past twelve consecutive hours. It was all he could do to distract himself from his memories. Jaras squinted in the bright sunlight and offered the faintest of smiles to everyone. "Hey."

Tseng nodded in acknowledgement and waived for them all to follow him into the base. He led them straight into the meeting room where they found Reno, Angel, Morris, Ericson, and Porter already assembled.

Angel at once flew from her seat and hugged her father. "I have been so worried about you!"

He patted her on the back as he finally broke off the embrace. "I’m fine, don’t worry about me."

She wiped the tears from her eyes before going to her brother and throwing her arms around him. "Jaras, are you doing okay? You look so tired."

"I’m okay, I just find it hard to sleep on that airship." He thought that by saying this he wasn’t really lying. "Do you know why he has brought us all here into the conference room?"

"Tseng is going to give us the orders for the mission to Midgar." Angel whispered quietly as she moved back from her brother.

Tseng walked over to the head of the table and motioned for everyone to sit which they all quickly did.

After a few moments, Tseng began to address them. "I suppose that you all know why we are here. I have decided on the plan to go to stop Hojo from carrying on the Neo-Jenova Project. I owe a large debt of thanks to you, Porter, for telling me about the second Midgar lab and how to access it. If you are physically up to it, you have my consent to join the mission."

All the eyes in the room turned to Porter who was sitting uncomfortably upon his injured hip. There was no way he was going to let this opportunity slip from his grasp no matter how much pain he was in. "I am up to it, I would like to go."

"Fair enough." Tseng lowered himself into his seat at the head of the table. "I also know that you, Jaras, have expressed an interest in this mission. Do you also wish to go?"

Jaras nodded weakly as the remainder of the color drained from his cheeks. "Yes, I need to go."

"All right then." Tseng scanned over the group before him. "Therefore, the insertion group will consist of Vincent, Tifa, Jaras, Reno, Porter, and Morris. Angel and I will be going along in the chopper, and will remain upon it. Ericson is going along for technical assistance as far as getting into the lab, but once the lab has been breached, Ericson will return to the where the helicopter dropped him off, and he will be picked up. The chopper will then leave the plate until the conclusion of the mission, at which time we will return to pick up the insertion team."

There was a short pause as Tseng caught his breath. The tension in the room was intense and no one dared to speak. This was the mission they had all been waiting for but were dreading at the same time.

Tseng finally continued. "Porter has informed me that there are passages within the structure of the plate that lead to various points. The team will be dropped off in Sector Three, as it is the location least likely to be watched. Due to his knowledge of these passages, Porter will guide the team through to the lab, which is nestled in Reactor Six. Once in the reactor, your goal is simple; destroy the Neo-Jenova Project and if time allows, assassinate Hojo."

This order sent a murmur through those gathered. Everyone present wished to kill Hojo.

Tseng took no enjoyment in giving such an order, even if it was against someone like the madman. "Hojo will not be easy to kill. As you all know he is infused with an incredible amount of Jenova and is virtually immortal at this point. I believe however that if he is caused enough damage there maybe a chance of him not being able to regenerate. Do whatever you need to do, but do not risk the lives of any of the mission members beyond reason. If it becomes apparent that there is no way to kill him within the confines of the mission, pull back and get the Hell out of that lab. Our main goal is to halt the Project, keep that in mind."

Another silence passed until Vincent asked that which all present were wondering. "When do we leave?"

Tseng sat back in his chair and sighed. He knew that no one was in top form for such a difficult mission at the moment, but he couldn’t risk allowing Hojo to make any sort of progress. An injured Turk, his mentally unstable nephew, and his recently altered brother made the insertion team questionable but there was no way to wait much longer. "We leave in two days."