Ace's brow furrowed as her hands worked deftly on the dysfunctional generator. No matter how hard she tried to concentrate on the task at hand, her mind kept drawing back to her squad at the substation. She had formulated a dangerous and risky plan; a group of reckless, inexperienced soldiers attempting to capture a seasoned SeeD that was hellbent on causing as much chaos and bloodshed as possible. They wouldn't survive. Their deaths would be for naught, and she would have to accept that for the rest of her service.

"Goddammit..." She cursed low under her breath so that the others couldn't hear the insecurity in her voice. She had to pull it together. Her men looked up to her as a Lieutenant, and be damned, she was going to lead them to victory in this battle.

Driven by her newly found resolve, Ace returned to fine-tuning the piece of crap Dollet called a generator, praying that her high Tech grade in Garden would pull off for her now...

"S-Sir!"

"Interruptions, Fett!"

"No, wait! It's them! They made it!"

Ace's eyes widened at Fett's euphoric words, clambering quickly to her feet and leaning her head over the railing as she spotted her squad returning from the mountains, one soldier injured and propped against the shoulder of his comrade, and another supporting what appeared to be-

"They did it! By god, they actually did it!" Fett pumped his fist in the air with a boyish laugh as Ace stared on in numb shock. Her plan...worked?

Her squad of inadequate, foolish, bumbling soldiers actually captured the SeeD? And [i]survived[/i]?

A chorus of cheers and whistles echoed through the tower as the Galbadian soldiers congratulated one another, a sense of victory sweeping through the squad as Branon and his team of soldiers marched towards the lift, their chests puffed out with pride.

"Lieutenant Fiore sir!" Branon's voice was deep and boastful as he emerged from the lift with a shit-eating grin, pushing the bound semi-conscious SeeD to the floor as he regarded his superior with a cocky glint in his eye. "The operation went as planned, sir. This bastard wasn't easy to take down, but we got 'im. We've already confiscated his weapon. Oh, and we deactivated his junction drive too. Not bad, huh?"

"And the wounded?" Ace's response was calm and focused, refusing to be swept by the tide of her squad's rising enthusiasm. She was pleased beyond words that the plan had worked, but her priorities were, and always would be, on the welfare of her men.

"Healing 'em up as we speak," Branon reported proudly. "Doc's said that the wounds are treatable. He'll be out of action for the rest of this mission, but he'll live."

"Good." Ace couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and incredulity. Could she have asked for a better result than this?

She stepped towards the beaten SeeD, cool brown eyes gauging his appearance carefully as she assessed her enemy mentally. His hair was dark grey and matted with blood; likely his or a Galbadian solder blood, but she didn't know nor care to find out. Glasses hung precariously on the bridge of his nose from the scuffle, and his blue eyes were glazed and unfocused from the pain he was obviously suffering from.

This was a SeeD? But he looked so...[i]bookish.[/i] Asa scoffed inwardly at the observation, her hand laying over the paramagic drive on her wrist. "Scan."

[i]Duncan Lerwick
Age: 22
Elemental Affinity: None
Occupation: SeeD Instructor[/i]

Statistical probabilities and numbers followed the man's basic information, Ace choosing to ignore it for now as she cast away the spell and chose to kneel before the so-called Instructor. Well, that would certainly explain the bookish appearance. "Hey, wake up." Ace, never being one for gentle coaxing, slapped him sharply across the cheek with the back of her leather glove, her eyes betraying a harsh glare despite the controlled manner in which she spoke. "You've been causing quite some trouble for us, haven't you?"