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The Third Ideal.

Blue Sun Facility. Location – classified. The Blue Sun technicians swarmed around the machine, carrying out last minute checks before it was activated. A huge man stood over the work, watching the technicians carefully. Those who saw this man would automatically think he was dangerous – however, those who knew him needed no convincing that he was dangerous.

“Well?” He asked eventually. One of the techs scurried over to him, and cleared his throat nervously.

“We’ve almost finished calibrating the capture engine, sir. We should take another hour at the very most.”

The man nodded his head. “Good. I expect it ready by 9:00 hours at the latest.” He glared at the tech. “The final stage of Project Vengeance must not be delayed.”

The technician nodded differentially. “I-I understand, sir.”

Two men wearing blue gloves walked in. “Commander Talos?” One of them said.

Damon Talos, commander of Project Vengeance, slowly turned around. “Yes, Ketter?”

The operative cleared his throat formally. “Sir, we’re pretty sure we’ve found the current position of Serenity. It’s on a boarder world called Ballard.”

Talos frowned. “Ballard…?”

The second operative chipped in. “Yes sir. It’s basically a typical border world, but it was once used as a base by the forerunners of the Independents…”

“I know that Volk.” Talos snapped. “Several years ago, one of the members of the secondary phase of Project Vengeance was cornered there. I’m worried that Reynolds has worked out the significance of that rock.”

“As far as we’ve determined, commander, Serenity is just carrying out a routine stop – picking up supplies, looking for work and so on.” Ketter informed.

Talos considered this for a while, and then nodded decidedly. He turned to the technicians. “Very well – once the capture engine is finished, use it to capture the subject, and place them on Ballard.” He turned to Ketter and Volk. “Can you get more precise details as to their position?”

Ketter and Volk nodded and answered as one. “Sir.”

Talos nodded grimly. “I don’t want another screw up… Not like Dobson, not like on Ariel and not like Early. Dong ma?”

“Commander…” Volk interjected. “What if the subject harms, or even kills, River Tam?”

“Recapturing River Tam is secondary.” Talos said grimly. “If a psychic escaped before, we hunted them down and dragged them back. Now, we have plenty of psychics. The priority with River Tam is this: no one leaves Project Vengeance. Not unless we carry them out in a body bag.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ballard. Captain Malcolm ‘Mal’ Reynolds squinted out at the small town, still unaccustomed to the light from an actual sun.

“Oh, look! They have horses!” He heard Kaywinnit Lee ‘Kaylee’ Frye gasp delightedly. Mal squinted even more, trying to make them out. There – a plastic horse outside of two bars opposing each other. Both horses looked as if they’d been unattended since at least the War of Independence, and one of the bars had the same look.

“Yeah, that’s real sweet Kaylee, but could you concentrate on findin’ those engine parts you keep on at me about for the moment?” Mal asked.

“Kuh-ooh duh lao bao-jurn...” She muttered under her breath.

“Jayne, Shepherd, could you give her hand?” Mal asked.

“It’s no trouble at all, captain.” Shepherd Meria Book assured him.

“Sure Mal.” Jayne Cobb grunted, shifting the weight of his gun before heading off with Kaylee and Book. “Hey, Preacher, you up for some weight-liftin’ after this?”

“Uh, let’s see how heavy the parts are first…” Book smiled slightly.

“What are we gonna do, sir?” Zoë Warren asked.

“Yeah, Mal, you must have something for us to do.” Hoban ‘Wash’ Washburn muttered. Seeing Mal’s face, he said “Hey, don’t get me wrong, it makes a change to be walking on solid ground, and as we all know, change is good.”

“We, ladies and men folk, are gonna look for a job.” Mal announced. As the three people turned to go further into the town, they heard a voice.

“Two equines, one white, one red…” A small sigh. “Missing one black and one pale…” It trailed off wistfully. Mal, Wash and Zoë turned and looked at River Tam just standing there, her head to one side, with Simon Tam running up behind.

“I’m sorry, captain, but she disappeared as soon as I turned my back…” Simon started.

“It’s OK, doc.” Mal said. “This ain’t anything like an Alliance hotbed, so you and your sister are free to mosey ‘round, same as the rest of us.”

Simon nodded. “OK, thank you captain.” He led River off, talking to her as he went. “Mei-mei, why did you wander off like that? You know we’re not supposed to go off the ship unless the captain says we can.”

“He did.” River pointed out.

“Yes, but only just then. Why’d you leave the ship?” Simon repeated patiently.

“I wanted to get a flower.” River said calmly.

“Well, OK, we’ll see if there’s anywhere here that sells flowers…” Simon replied hesitantly. “But I don’t think we’re likely to find any.”

“She knows where there are flowers.” River said confidently.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Elsewhere… Somewhere in the canyon, someone was beating out the tribal rhythm that was drummed every morning and night. In the centre of the plaza at the entrance to the village, a flame burned brightly, warming the evening air. In front of the flame, a man sat quietly cross-legged, his eyes closed, facing towards the heart of the flame. Upon seeing him for the first time, many mistook him for something out of a nightmare, but those who knew him knew he had merely lived through a nightmare and still was willing to risk his life for others. The sound of people living washed over him, but didn’t seem to affect his meditation – the occupants of the village were used to him and his ways. Even when a stray kick of a ball passed an inch a way from his face, blowing his hair, he didn’t flinch. It was only when he heard the sound of the sky above him being split that he opened his eyes and looked up. He smiled at the sight of the Highwind.

“I was wondering when they’d get here…” Vincent Valentine muttered to himself. He stood up, and started walking towards the gates into the village of Cosmo Canyon. He was met on his way by a creature that had a combination of feline and canine characteristics. A single gold eye looked up at him.

“So…was that the others I just heard?” Nanaki, formerly known as Red XIII, asked conversationally.

Vincent nodded. “I guess we’d better inform Reeve.” Two days before, they’d received a package from Reeve. Apparently, he would be unable to make it to the gathering, as he was too busy trying to sort out the mess left by the Shin-Ra. So, instead of coming personally, he had sent one of his Cait Sith robots, sans the moogle. He’d included a note asking that he be contacted as soon as the rest of Avalanche were there. Vincent pulled out his PHS and pressed the speed dial button set to Reeve’s number. The phone clicked, and a voice replied:

“Yeah?”

Vincent sighed. “Reno, where’s Reeve?”

“Hi Vincent, how’re you? ‘Fine thank you Reno, yourself?’ Yeah, not so bad…” Reno said slightly sarcastically down the phone, before replying: “Reeve’s in the toilet at the moment, since you ask. What, the rest of Avalanche there already?”

“Yes. …How are you and the rest of the Turks?” Vincent asked to make up for his abruptness earlier.

“Fine, fine. Rude’s… well, Rude’s Rude. Always been the same, not likely to ever change. Elena is slightly less ditzy now… But don’t tell her I said that.” Reno replied, his voice betraying his respect for his colleagues. “Hey, looks like the boss is here.” Vincent heard Reno say away from the PHS: “Hey, Reeve. Valentine for you.” There was a muffled reply, and Vincent heard the phone being passed over, and someone clearing their throat before they spoke.

“Vincent? It’s Reeve. How’re things? Have the others arrived?”

“Things are good Reeve, and the Highwind flew overhead less than five minutes ago, so they could be along any minute, depending on monster attacks.” Vincent replied.

“Right, I’ll activate the Cait Sith robot.” Reeve sighed. “Oh, you have taken it out of the box, haven’t you?”

“Yes.” Vincent replied, slightly annoyed that Reeve would think that they’d missed such a simple thing.

“Right – I’ll see you in a minute.” Reeve said, and hung up.

---------------------

“Hey guys!” Yuffie Kisaragi yelled, waving as she ran up the steps. Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart were just behind her, and Tifa grinned and waved, while Cloud just nodded.

“Hi Yuff, Cloud, Teef!” Cait shouted through his megaphone as he bounced down the stairs. “Where’s Barret and Cid?”

“They’re just coming.” Cloud answered. He smiled. “Cait, Vincent, Red, it’s good to see you all again.”

“It’s been too long.” Tifa agreed.

“Too long? I’m too outta bloody shape for these soddin’ stairs.” Cid Highwind grumbled, climbing up the stairs into the village.

“Watch your goddamned language in front of my daughter!” Barret Wallace shouted up behind the pilot, climbing up the last few stairs with Marlene sitting on his shoulders.

“At least he’s not smoking, Papa.” Marlene said, and then: “And you watch your goddamned language, too!” Avalanche laughed at the young girl, their laughs a mixture of guffaws, chuckles and giggles.

“Well, are you all going to come in and sit down?” Nanaki asked eventually, leading Avalanche towards his dwelling in Cosmo Canyon.