A Dreamer's Knight

Chapter 36 - Headache

A swirl of lights later, One found himself standing in an immense launch bay on the Yaevin Space Station. Whole starships could've fit in the space, though at the moment the Final Fantasy was the bay's sole occupant.

The Yaevin Space Station was one of the last remaining remnants of the ancient Glyche civilization. It was a self-sustaining station that maintained a standard orbit around Vinta. Although abandoned (while advanced in many ways, Vinta had little in the way of reliable space travel) the station was still used as a relay station for Vintan communications.

One looked around the launch bay in disbelief. It had been surprising to learn that the station had a launch bay that could handle a Dreadnaught, but it wasn't just capable of launching a dreadnaught; it looked as though it had been designed for just that purpose. Even the pod clamps were a perfect fit. There were slight differences, of course; it was a Glyche station, after all. Still, the similarity to the launch bays of the Star Ocean space station orbiting Earth was uncanny.

It occurred to him that he knew fairly little of the Glyche, their civilization having collapsed some three-thousand years ago. The Elsewhere, while having been in existence for about three-thousand years, had never been aligned to that time period since One joined, and there was precious little information about them in the Library. He wondered if I had any information on the Glyche in the mess that was the Office. My floor's a bit untidy, that much is true, but it's a bit rich for One to be criticizing my filing given the state of his shelves of movies and games. Mess indeed.

One shook his head. "Focus, One. We've got a job to do."

He rushed to the console beside the pod bay and activated the station's scanning systems. It took only a few moments to pinpoint the Breath of Fire, still near the Calline Gorge.

"Perfect," One muttered to himself, "I don't have to worry about collateral damage."

After setting the landing coordinates, he queried the computer as to how long it would take for the Final Fantasy to reach the planet. The answer did not make him happy.

"Ten minutes?!" he exclaimed as the countdown appeared on the screen, "I' m gonna have to stall for time."

The thought of having to face the bestial machine on foot was not comforting. "Still," he reasoned as he summoned his Impulse harness, "I made a promise. What good am I if I can't fend off a giant flying dragon-robot capable of shooting out dozens of man-sized draconic drones, melting solid rock, and crushing me like a mosquito with its gigantic claws?"

One thought about what he just said as he connected Headache and his tek-boots to the front and back plates of the Impulse harness. Shaking his head, he headed for the rapidly-forming CPD. "Keep the happy thoughts coming, One."

He stepped through the doorway and immediately started coughing. The fire from the dragon had spread to the forest around him, filling the air with a thick smoke. One squinted at the night sky for signs of the dragon as the door shut behind him, but it was too hard to see with the fire and smoke spreading into the upper branches of the trees.

Hearing several strange clicks following the familiar click of the CPD's lock, One turned around to see Sergeant Jures, Private Rael, and Private Jinne pointing their energy rifles at him.

"Uh, hi," One said, a little caught off-guard by this development. "Uh ... nice day for it?"

"Don't shoot! He's a friend!"

One glanced back and was relieved to see Mikaen hurrying his way.

"A friend?" asked Sergeant Jures

"Yes." Mikaen said, putting a hand on One's shoulder. "And a Dreamer."