New thread for announcement purposes (and apologies for the wait!). Previous chapters, and if you want to read the whole fic in one thread, can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4269
Disclaimer: No copyright is mine, thus no copyrighted character is.
Art of Love; Art of Death
By Pale Wolf
Chapter Four
Genocide Countdown
---N====================>V---
12:05 Friday, June 16, 2017 CE
L2 Orbit, Earth's Moon
Around sixty thousand kilometers above the surface of the moon, sixteen shadows glinted silver.
Onboard, computers processed the tasks given to them. The calculation was completed almost instantly, and each ship came to a similar conclusion.
Maneuvering thrusters gave a long pulse, steadily swinging the ships' noses down, towards the moon - or rather, just slightly past it.
And then the main engines lit up, the ships shining brilliantly as the magical power imparted acceleration. Burning at slightly different rates, bringing some ships forward and others back, quickly stretching and reordering the formation. The four battleships at the center. Four cruisers in front. The remaining eight cruisers covering the rear flanks. All fanned up and down, providing a near-globe of defence around the main firepower.
They were approximately four hundred and fourty thousand kilometers from their target point, a firing position against Earth. It was a distance that the inhabitants of that world had taken three days to cross. With their mighty engines, and the cruisers slowing down to stay with the battleships, it would take them three hours.
If, at least, they travelled the entire distance through the three-dimensional Euclidean phase space humanity, their creators, was born to perceive and interact with. But their creators had found ways around those limits.
Without fanfare, with a simple circular plane dilating open in front of each ship and a gentle pulse of their engines, they slid into the - to human eyes - swirling indigo and darkness of the dimensional sea. Navigating through this eldritch space, they could arrive within minutes.
They wouldn't, though. They had been told to take their time, conserve resources, and leave the inhabitants of Tokyo one last hour. And then they would be above Tokyo, where Latoya had called them. In bombardment range.
They'd be at her side soon.
---N====================>V---
12:10 Friday, June 16, 2017 CE
Tokyo, Japan, Earth - Non-Administrated World #97
Sentoshi Mori, South Tower Fourteenth Block, Millennium City
Kanata hoped she had not forgotten anything... This was her very first time, and she did not want to give a bad impression... especially not to people around her age... She had plenty of time to mess everything up later.
"Um... so... that is everything... The design is mostly based on Buddhist architecture and landscaping... ... I already said that, didn't I...?" She just remembered she had opened up with this...
Vice was snickering. "Don't worry, no less interestin' than the first time."
Kanata's cheeks heated. She looked down, trying to use her now-long hair to hide her reaction - it had some benefits, at least...
Teana hummed. "I forgot to ask last time, but why is it based that way? I'm pretty new to the area and culture, so I'm not clear on a bit of this."
Kanata blinked, looking up. "Ah... okay, um..." She took a deep breath, turning a little to face both of them equally. "By the time Buddhism arrived in Japan, it was already syncretic, adapting and amalgamating to other religions and cultures, such as it did in India, China, Korea... Basically, it fit their religious doctrine into its own... It took three hundred years to fuse with Shinto, and even then it was never quite a complete fusion, but from then to 1868, the faiths were essentially practiced as one. So... Buddhist and Shinto building styles were essentially the same..."
Vice cocked his head. "1868?"
Teana jabbed him in the ribs. "Hundred-fifty years ago, it's 2017, remember?"
He chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Guess I'm a liiiiittle too forgetful, can't believe I forgot the year, damn that's embarrassin'..." His tone seemed... odd. Speaking a little bit too fast, yet he didn't actually sound embarrassed... more... nervous. He smelled nervous. And... oddly familiar. A touch of oil and machinery... just a little leather, as if from a seat...
Kanata flushed, jerking back. Had she been leaning forward and smelling him? Please don't let them have caught that... What am I doing...?
The three just traded wary looks... Vice and Teana seemed somehow nervous... and Kanata was just hoping they'd let her mistake slide...
Another moment passed.
Teana coughed into her hand, breaking the silence. "... What changed in 1868?"
"Ah! Um... that was the separation order, part of the Meiji Restoration..." A safe topic, thankfully...
"Buddhism was strongly connected to the Shogunate," Saiko's voice interrupted - Kanata blinked, turning to see the young woman coming up from the shrine's entrance, dressed in the black uniform of the local school. "The Tokugawa had a number of anti-Christian policies - you needed to associate yourself with a Buddhist temple to get a confirmation of not being Christian, or life was impossible. And by law, you owed the temple in question quite a sum of money. When the Shogunate went out, several of the restorationists tried to send the Buddhists out with them."
Kanata noted an oddly confused expression flitting across both Teana and Vice's faces, but decided not to pry - if they wanted clarification, they would ask for it, if she elaborated without being asked it would come off condescending, though in fairness that era's history was fairly convoluted - turning her attention to Saiko. "Saiko-san? I thought you were in school?" She hadn't realized Saiko's English was that good.
The older girl waved a hand shortly. "It grew boring."
Kanata blinked once more. "But... is it not important to..." She paused, shaking her head. "... never mind... sorry."
Saiko raised an eyebrow, stepping past the guests and up to Kanata. "I have learned what I need to know. My attendance is solely a social obligation." She laid a hand on Kanata's shoulder, adjusting her scarf with her free hand and nodding to Teana and Vice. "Tourists?"
Kanata nodded, but then realized she was assuming, and turned to them for confirmation.
Vice chuckled. "Yeah, pretty much. Right now, at least."
"We're on business in the area," Teana supplied. "Free time for the moment to find our way around."
"What business?" Saiko queried, gaze steady on them, unwavering. ... Was something bothering her?
Teana shook her head, hands upraised. "I'm afraid I'm not allowed to talk about it."
Saiko's hand tightened on Kanata's shoulder, a little painfully. "You are soldiers." She didn't even stop for the jolt of surprise from them, continuing, "I will not see violence near this shrine."
Kanata looked up at her, shaking her head. "Ah, no... they're just looking around..."
"Which is precisely my concern."
Teana took a deep breath, shaking her head. "... I don't even want to know how you figured out we were military, but I can guarantee what we're here for isn't aimed at getting violent, and shouldn't involve you. It's just an investigation, with permission from the government."
Saiko's eyes narrowed a little further, and her hand clenched slightly tighter, before she blinked, looking down at the hand and pulling it from Kanata's shoulder quickly, with a short, cryptic glance at the younger girl. She turned back to the soldiers. "... Very well."
Kanata sort of wanted to rub the pain out of her shoulder - she was tough, but Saiko had a grip like iron - but didn't really want to make the older girl feel guilty, so she turned her own attention on Vice and Teana to distract herself. "Um... it is the way you walk..." She gestured to their legs. "You were trained to use firearms, which reflects in your stance, and military drill - there is a uniformity to your movements that most people do not have..."
Vice tsked. "I knew those drill nights were gonna stick with me until I died. ... Wait, you caught it too?"
Kanata reddened a little. "Ah... well, it seemed intrusive to mention..."
Vice's palm rose to cover his face. "Worst. Secret agents. Ever."
Teana rolled her eyes. "We're not secret agents, Vice, and this isn't a secret mission."
"It should be! ... Yeah, okay, I'm done now."
"Thank you," Teana - and Kanata - stated simultaneously, before glancing at one another.
Saiko shook her head, turning her gaze to Kanata. "I'll give them the tour, if you want to prepare lunch."
"Ah! Um, you need not worry, Saiko-san, I already did."
A momentary irritation crossed Saiko's eyes. "I see."
"U... um, was there something I shouldn't have showed them...?" Kanata cast back in her memory, trying to think if she'd made a misstep with the religious rules anywhere... She'd remembered she wasn't supposed to let the general public inside the honden - where the 'kami' was supposed to be enshrined - and she hadn't showed them inside the residential... had she forgotten one?
"Doubtful," Saiko shook her head. "Well, they've seen around, they should head out now, right? K and L will be home soon and we need to get lunch ready."
Kanata blinked. ... Kaede and... Luka, she supposed? Why the letters? But she nodded. "Ah... yes, you're right." She turned to Vice and Teana. "I am sorry, but I'll need to prepare lunch for the priestess and the other tenants..." She bowed in apology... dammit, she'd done it with her hands at her sides again, like a boy. She was bad at this.
Vice chuckled, shaking his head. "Nah, don't worry about it. I can tell your sister doesn't much like us, and for what it's worth, ma'am, I'm sorry for whatever we did that ticked you off."
Kanata and Saiko blinked simultaneously, turning to face each other and blinking again. Sister? No, Kanata didn't have any siblings... though Saiko did look a little similar to her 'new body'...
At the moment they were eyeing each other, there was a sudden burst of music at Saiko's hip. The older girl jolted back, staring down in confusion at the ridiculously upbeat nineties pop emanating from her waistline, before she apparently remembered that she had a cellphone and extracted it from her pocket, flipping it open and pressing it to her ear. "Uh, yes?" She seemed much less cool and unflappable than usual over the phone, as if she wasn't really comfortable with it.
While she spoke, Kanata tapped her cheek. The music seemed familiar... ah, wait, wasn't that one of the opening themes for that old animated series...? Rurouni Kenshin, right? She'd never seen it herself, but a lot of the adults she'd known touted it as a classic. Perhaps Saiko was a fan? Rather conflicted with the 'strict and proper' image Kanata had had of her before, but it wasn't like people didn't have millions upon millions of different facets.
She shook her head, shaking off the thoughts. She could go over it later, right now there were still guests... "Um, I'm sorry, I'll lead you out. ... Sorry about the suddenness..."
Teana shook her head. "I don't mind. I'm a little used to anti-military sentiment, I'll admit. There really should be no harm to the area, though."
Not other than the monsters hunting people, at least... Hm. Kanata eyed Vice and Teana for a moment. She'd previously assumed that 'supernatural' meant the government didn't know about it, but that wasn't necessarily the case... was that what they were investigating? She needed to find some way to broach it... If she didn't, she supposed she'd probably run into them, so it wasn't critical, though. And if she weren't subtle enough about it and was wrong in this guess, she'd see herself remanded to psychiatric counselling. Might be best to stay safe
Kanata shook her head, again. Too much woolgathering. "Ah... no. It's not that, it's just that..." She trailed off because she didn't actually have an answer. "... it's not that," she finished, pathetically. Face red, she stepped down the path to the exit, beckoning for them to follow.
"I did say I don't mind," Teana noted. "You've been perfectly polite, and your older sister was..."
Vice coughed into a hand. "Not perfectly polite, but reasonably subtle in displaying her displeasure," he supplied.
Teana nodded. "We'll go with that."
"Um... good luck on your investigation..."
Teana blinked. "Ah, thanks. ... Hopefully it goes well." Something in her gaze indicated that it had a lot of room not to go well. That could be it...
... But argh, Kanata couldn't think of what to say. Too little time, her mind was racing too fast to lock down the words she needed to hint at the monsters without alienating them...
Oddly enough, she was saved by Saiko's voice from behind. "Do you two want lunch?"
Kanata blinked repeatedly, turning to face Saiko, as did Teana and Vice. Hadn't she been trying to shoo them off...? ... Had Kanata misunderstood...?
Saiko was flipping closed her cellphone, slipping it back into her pocket. "That was K. She and L apparently went off to some nice restaurant for their lunch on the spur of the moment. So we have some extra food, and I'd... like to apologize for my rudeness... earlier." She very nearly ground the last bit of that out between her teeth.
Vice paused, lips pursing slightly as he worded his next statement. "Uh... I don't know, you don't sound all that comfortable with-" He cut off at a look from Teana, and their gazes met.
Their 'staring silently into one another's eyes' phase continued on.
Kanata's cheeks reddened. Oh... Oh.
She hadn't realized they were... er. Together. They hadn't really touched or held hands or anything, but they seemed to be close enough to figure out what the other was thinking and communicate just through eye contact...
Finally, the uncomfortable silence ended as they stepped apart, facing Kanata and Saiko.
Teana spoke. "I wouldn't want to impose..." she began.
Saiko nodded. "I'm offering. ... I'll admit to being... uncomfortable. But that does not... excuse... my prior behaviour... The invitation is yours to... do with as you wish."
Kanata pressed her lips together. She wasn't the most perceptive in the world, but Saiko's lie was completely transparent... had Kaede bawled her out over the phone and made her do this?
Teana nodded. "All right, then. Thank you for your hospitality."
Vice coughed. "Uh... should we be bowing or anything?"
Saiko shook her head. "That's... not expected. Your introduction to our culture is negligible, if we told you 'bow' you'd either miss cues or overdo it to the point that the cultural mangling gets annoying."
"Ah... handy. Really should hit up some of the others for advice. So in the future we can hit that happy medium of 'appropriate'. The ignorant foreigner excuse only goes so far."
Saiko's eyebrow rose. "Yes, yes it does. I must say you're one of the least annoying foreigners I've met."
Teana chuckled. "I suppose that's a good place to be?"
"Yes. It is." Saiko beckoned with a hand. "Come, we'll get lunch ready in the residential building."
"Ah!" Kanata spoke up. "Saiko-san, I will cook."
Saiko blinked. "... You can cook?"
"Ah, um... acceptably... I asked for some groceries yesterday... so I could repay you for taking me in..." Ack, she hoped she wasn't making Teana and Vice uncomfortable by bringing up a semi-private topic like that... "I can at least make an improvement over instant food..."
Saiko paused, and then nodded. "All right then. I'll entertain the guests while you work."
Okay... at least this would give Kanata time to probe into their mission...
---N====================>V---
12:20 Friday, June 16, 2017 CE
Tokyo, Japan, Earth - Non-Administrated World #97
Honden, Sentoshi Mori, South Tower Fourteenth Block, Millennium City
Samantha Raine stepped through the mirror, emerging in the darkened, wood-panelled room. There was no light, but that hadn't stopped her for quite some time. Her eyes easily tracked through the darkness, and lay upon her Master/Mistress - the being was beyond such trivial things as gender, manifested as an elegant pool of darkness. Or at least, that was the way Samantha saw it - it looked different for everyone.
Samantha stepped a pace ahead, away from the jewelled mirror she had entered through, and lowered herself into a curtsy. "Master, you called me?"
Her Master gave a low, innocent chuckle - several voices speaking over one another simultaneously, a young girl, an elderly man, a boy, a woman... "You know, Samantha, I was given the most amusing new name today. Call me Calaritana."
Samantha bowed her head. "As you wish, Master Calaritana."
"I wished to inform you. It seems the Silver Ghosts survived the Fall as well."
Samantha couldn't control the hiss of breath. She had never encountered them directly, but she had heard stories. Terrifying stories.
The pool of darkness twisted into an upward curve and a pair of globes above - a smile. "It seems Latoya has continued to surprise us. She is as interesting as ever."
"The Silver Ghosts are coming?"
"Oh yes," her Master agreed. "Within the hour, at their current rate. Most likely, this city is their target. Knowing Latoya's methods, she means to ravage this city from the face of the Earth, and all of us within it."
Samantha shook her head. "Master Calaritana, we are not prepared to withstand a full assault from the Silver Ghosts. Let alone what that would do for secrecy..."
"It is not a concern. I would perhaps be threatened, so I will make myself absent before their arrival. You would do well to extract what other resources you possess from the city as well. The Takdis, we need not concern ourselves with. We have trillions and the ones in Tokyo are not under control."
Samantha nodded. "Understood. ... What about the Gatekeeper?"
The voices giggled. "You needn't worry. The Herald will protect the Gatekeeper. On this prepared land, the Herald cannot be destroyed, not even this early. Not even by the strength of the Silver Ghosts."
Samantha frowned, brushing her long blonde hair back from her face. "Master Calaritana, we are deep within the Neutral Zone. Even if a distress call went out immediately, and anyone responded, it would be hours, or days, before a relief fleet arrived. Couldn't the Silver Ghosts manage it, with that long with absolute orbital superiourity?"
The pool of black fluid swirled, bubbling up, with a few spouts arcing up. "Latoya could manage it within an hour. It's not a concern, she will not have that long. A Suvota fleet is approaching as well. They should arrive not far after Latoya. She won't have enough time to circumvent the Herald's defenses."
Samantha's jaw tightened. "The Suvota's interest in this world is going to throw everything off. The TSAB is already putting their fleet to readiness. That fleet could as well engage us as the Suvota."
The fluid formed into a smiley-face again. "It makes sense now. Latoya is moving. I'm sure this was her will."
Samantha's eyes narrowed. She doubted it, personally. The Silver Ghosts could not have assembled early enough to have gotten the contacts to do this... There had to be someone else moving against them. "... Should I warn the Dispossessed?" She changed the topic.
"They are useful, but in the end they are just accessories. If they can't manage it, they won't be much use anyway." There was a short burble, as if a shrug. "And if they die at this stage, that simply motivates the Herald."
Samantha nodded. "The rest of the city?"
"I haven't a clue what we'd do with them if they survived. Humans are only entertaining in small numbers."
"I agree. And I hope I am among that number, Master Calaritana."
"Oh yes. You're exquisite, little Samantha."
Samantha flushed. "You flatter me, Master."
"Not at all. I will be sure to keep you. I suppose there are benefits to the years we lost with the last candidate for Herald. You would not have been so amusing if we had advented nine years ago."
Samantha tsked. "Again, Master, if you allow me, we could punish the fools that stood in your way that time."
The voices giggled. "That will not be necessary. They are quite entertaining, themselves. ... But one thing."
"Master?"
"Takamachi. Entertaining though she is, she has an unfortunate habit of winning when all reason would dictate otherwise. She is present and weakened - I will require her to be removed before our advent. She could become as dangerous as Latoya - who cast us down at the height of our glory."
Samantha curtsied. "I will have it done, Master."
"Oh, and the Sovereign will be coming to continue his work in this land. After Latoya's business is done one way or the other, but do prepare for his arrival, and provide him with whatever he requires."
Samantha nodded. "I will."
"You are dismissed." The fluid formed a hand, making an exaggerated shooing motion. "Now, to work!"
Samantha brought her hand to her mouth to cover the giggle, before turning and stepping back to the mirror, her heels tapping against the wooden floor paneling.
---N====================>V---
12:30 Friday, June 16, 2017 CE
Tokyo, Japan, Earth - Non-Administrated World #97
Residence, Sentoshi Mori, South Tower Fourteenth Block, Millennium City
Teana glanced across the table at the 'Saiko' girl - apparently Kanata's older sister, and around her own age. "So, you're one of the... uh, 'mikos', here?"
"No s. The singular is the same as the plural," the girl corrected, elegantly bringing a teacup to her lips and sipping. Or rather, bowl, or at least that was what it looked like to Teana.
Teana, Vice, and Saiko stared at one another uncomfortably for a few more minutes, listening to the hiss of something cooking in the kitchen.
Vice's telepathic communication sounded in the back of Teana's head. 'I don't know how productive this's really been.'
'Hm. I have to agree. It felt like Saiko had something to hide, but my investigative skills aren't up to figuring it out. It's probably something for local authorities anyway.'
"You seem to have quite the mutual understanding," Saiko noted, lowering the tea-bowl-thing. "It's as if you can hear one anothers' thoughts."
Teana kept her face straight - though she needed to take a sip of tea to cover her expression for a moment, attempting and mostly failing to mimic Saiko's graceful motions.
Vice, however, jolted a bit. 'Can she pick up our telepathy?!'
Teana shrugged. 'Could just be a local saying. If she was, that probably confirmed it though.' And to Saiko, she spoke. "We've worked together for a little while. I guess we got used to each other."
At that, Saiko's lips curled slightly, into the first smile they'd yet seen on her. "Watch out for one another. Comrades cannot be replaced."
"That sounds pretty ominous," Vice noted. "Something gonna happen?"
"Something always happens," Saiko stated, evenly. "The world is not kind, and in the military, you are not subject only to your own errors in judgement."
Vice raised an eyebrow. "I thought you hated the military, but now it's sounding like you were in it."
"I was," Saiko agreed. "What you must understand is that however well-intentioned you and the people around you may be, the people you take orders from are not. The true believers are the first up against the wall, because they are always a danger to political and economic interests. Those who benefit from the status quo see dreamers and visionaries as a threat."
Teana's brow furrowed. She'd need to look into the history of this world and see what had happened... though, more likely a side project for her free time than anything she'd really have to investigate. And to be honest, considering the whole results of the JS Incident investigation last year, she couldn't really disagree. Except for one point. "They don't always win."
"If you have been fortunate enough to see anything that prompts such a belief, then I envy you." Saiko took another sip of tea.
The three remained silent for another short moment, before the younger girl's - Kanata's - voice came from the kitchen. "Um, lunch is ready..."
Saiko lowered her teacup and stood, smoothly striding over to the side room. "I'll assist her in getting it, as guests you can simply wait."
Teana and Vice glanced at each other. 'Starting to doubt that 'hiding something' assumption I had. I guess this might just be a waste of time.'
'Well, it's not like we had much else to do,' Vice pointed out. 'And hey, free lunch.'
Teana nodded agreeably, looking around. The place was rather nicely decorated. A few comfortably dark-blue walls, well-crafted furniture... on the whole, Teana'd call it 'classy'. Well-appointed and quite nice-looking, but the place didn't overdo it or go out of its way to spice things up or make ostentatious displays of wealth.
It wasn't too long before the dark-haired sisters stepped out of the kitchen, carrying plates piled with a medly of food. Teana's eyes widened as she caught the scent. She had no idea what any of that was, but it smelled good.
Kanata lowered the plates in her hands to the spaces in front of Teana and Vice, and stepped back, hands folded in front of her. Teana noted the hands shifting and clutching one another - the girl was seriously nervous.
Saiko lowered her own plates in front of two more seats, and glanced at Teana, clearing her throat. "She's standing so you can try it first. To cut off the parade of mistaken assumptions." Saiko gracefully returned to her own seat.
"Ah, that makes sense," Vice noted. "Thanks."
Teana looked down at the plate, picking up the knife and fork that Saiko had set there while Kanata cooked. At least the implements were familiar, even if the food itself was not. It was a well-stirred melange of different, finely-sliced parts - thin strips of some kind of white, spiced meat, circular slices of some kind of orange vegetable, little chunks of a vaguely yellowish peeled tuber, triangular slices of some kind of plant, and chopped bits of what looked like a type of mushroom. It smelled quite good, all mixed together to a roughly even composition.
"Um... I am afraid I do not have much experience in traditional-style cooking," Kanata apologized. "I am... largely self-taught. I... hope that is not a problem..."
"Ah, no, don't worry," Vice shook his head. "It looks real good. And huh... yours doesn't seem to have any meat in it?"
Kanata flushed, laying a hand on her folded top and squeezing the fabric around something she apparently wore under it. "Ah... Apostles' Fast is still another two weeks or so..."
Vice blinked. "Religious? Uh, I hope it's not offensive or anything that we're..."
"Ah, no! Fasting is between me and God, your own religious convictions are not for me to interfere with..."
"Now there's an enlightened attitude that could've saved everyone a whole lotta trouble," Vice noted, referencing an unpleasantly large proportion of the history of the worlds.
"Ah... I... try not to be troublesome..."
Around the same time, Teana slipped her fork in, schooled the food into place with the knife, and lifted it up to her mouth, chewing.
She finished chewing shortly, lowering the utensils and looking to Kanata. "You said you were 'acceptable'."
Kanata winced. "Ah... I'm sorry..."
Teana shook her head, taking another forkful. "'Acceptable' really doesn't cut it, this is spectacular. Wish I could cook like this, takeout's good but..."
"This is better," Vice agreed. "I, uh, assume you're allowed to sit down now?"
Kanata flushed, nodding, and moved up to the remaining seat with a similar fluid grace to Saiko. "It's... okay, then?"
"Better than," Vice declared. "Seriously, don't worry."
"Sit down and eat, Kanata," Saiko commanded. As the younger sister obeyed, Saiko turned her attention to the guests. "By the way, there is a rather large amount of extra, so if you require seconds, simply ask."
Teana nodded. "This looks like enough, but thank you, Saiko."
As Kanata and Saiko raised their own utensils...
A telepathic communication from Shari echoed in the back of Teana's head. 'Everyone! We have an emergency! Rendezvous at my location!' She gave off a magical pulse, indicating a lower floor of the arcology tower - where their long-term lodgings were to be.
Teana glanced at Vice. Was she having trouble setting up? It'd have to be some pretty major trouble...
Fate's voice came next. 'Calm down, Shari, what's wrong?'
'A fleet just jumped out of the dimensional sea, and they're approaching Earth!'
Teana blinked. 'Weren't we expecting the Strigon SPS to show up? It's early, but...'
'It's... not a Suvota fleet. I can't identify it. They have no IFF, the ships don't resemble any known classes... the closest comparison I can get is that four of the ships look like the Saint's Cradle!'
The knife and fork fell from Teana's hands, clattering against the plate.
Nanoha's response was a flat, deceptively calm 'What.'
There was a long pause, presumably as Shari ordered her thoughts. 'Sixteen ships total. Twelve on the 'slightly large for a cruiser' size. Four extremely large, the structure looks very similar to the Saint's Cradle, but the readings are nowhere near as energy-intense - still bigger than anything in the dimensional sea. I've calculated their vector, and they appear to be heading for an orbital position directly above this city.'
'Any communication from them?' Teana queried.
'No. There was a short burst as they came out of the dimensional sea, and nothing since.'
'All right. Teana, meet Nanoha and I at the top of the south tower, Millenium City.'
'Ah, I'm already here, actually, Fate.' She looked at Vice, gesturing for him to say something and distract their hosts, Kanata and Saiko were staring at her.
'All right, good. Who else is near that location?'
'That'd probably be me, ma'am,' Vice spoke up, glancing apologetically at Teana.
'Meet us there. We're going to need to entrust Vivio to your care.'
'Eh?'
'Nanoha, Teana, and I are going to need to fly up and see if we can establish communication with that fleet. Vice, we'll need you to take Vivio to a safe location - our headquarters seems ideal, but use your own judgement, just keep her safe.'
Vice nodded sharply. 'I will.'
'Shari, try get in contact with the local officials, inform them of the issue and see if you can get us permission to hail or negotiate. Once you have that permission, hail them. Continually, until you get a response, then patch me through.'
'Ah! Yes ma'am!'
'Two more tasks for you in our headquarters, delegate them as necessary. Number one, get a message off to the main office, and keep them updated. And number two, try track down where that initial communication went. They're talking to someone on this planet. I don't know who they are, but I want to. Fleets don't just appear out of nowhere.'
Teana nodded. 'I'll be on my way.' She looked up, tuning out the continuing discussions. "Ah... I'm sorry, I just realized we're late to meet up with our superiours..." She winced at the look on Kanata's face. "I'm really sorry, I didn't even think about it until just now..."
Vice shot her a look - no telepathy necessary to carry across the 'that's a pretty transparent lie' message.
Kanata swallowed. "Um... it's all right..." She stood. "I'll lead you out..."
The expression on Kanata's face made Teana felt like she'd kicked a small pet, or Subaru (much the same thing, really). "Thank you... I really don't like darting out all of a sudden like this..." Teana sighed. Really, there wasn't anything she was allowed to say. If she explained it, she'd be revealing magic, other dimensions, and more or less everything, explicitly against the orders of the local government. If she didn't, it just looked outright rude and insulting - like she and Vice had suddenly decided Kanata's hospitality was unsatisfactory and charged out with an admittedly-lame excuse.
Vice tsked, as he stood up as well. "There anything we can do to make it up?"
"Um... no, it's fine..."
It wasn't fine, really, but if she turned it down there wasn't much they could do. Teana sighed, standing.
Saiko simply watched as Kanata led Teana and Vice out, chin resting in her palm and a slim finger smoothly tapping her cheek in a perfect, metronomic rhythm. Her eyes were unreadable.
---N====================>V---
12:42 Friday, June 16, 2017 CE
Amur Oblast, Russian Federation, Earth - Non-Administrated World #97
Vostochny Cosmodrome
"... General, the oncoming fleet is still not responding to hails," Mladshiy Leytenant Mikhalkov reported, a worried note entering his voice.
General-Leytenant Viktor Sakharov bit down sharply. He turned to another of his subordinates - Leytenant Kaidan Alenko, young and fresh-faced as they came. "Call Valenski. Get him on the horn now. Have him use that fancy comm gear and call all the known powers, Suvota, Argene, TSAB, I don't care which. Fucking find the fuck out where the balls this fucking fleet came from." The last sentence being in the Mat dialect - only the use of a language where every word was a foul imprecation could properly convey his feelings at the moment.
Alenko jumped. "Ah, yes sir!" He skittered over to a nearby console, picking up a phone.
Viktor folded his arms across his chest, staring up at the sixteen signals approaching Earth, where their trajectories were displayed on the large screen at the front of the command center. He shook his head. "I've been saying it from day one and high command didn't listen. First dumbfuck that stations a fleet in orbit wins the planet. We've got almost nothing for self-defence."
The hulking Starshiy Leytenant Igor Khariton and his partner, Praporshcik Kira Agarkov, a small girl barely at legal military age with dyed-green hair tied back in a twist, stepped up to Viktor's side. "Are you certain that they are aggressive?" Khariton queried.
Viktor looked up at the man. Admittedly Viktor was fairly on the short and slim side himself, but Khariton was still fucking huge, and built like someone had strapped several slabs of beef onto a bear, then shaved it completely hairless. "Not sure sure, but come on. Look at it. That's four fuckhuge battleships, twelve heavy cruisers... assuming standard level of Outsider tech, that's enough firepower to mow through half the TSAB's Navigational Patrol Fleet, or almost anything on Earth. You don't mass that if you're not planning bullshit. Especially not in a backwater, which pride aside, we are."
Khariton nodded, folding his tree-trunk-like arms as well. "Do you have some hint who they are, boss?"
"Not a damn clue, which is making me even more skittish. We've run the damn things through all the warbooks we've scrounged up. There isn't even a resemblance. Suvota, Argene, Mid, Velka, Forien, Laturo, nothing even looks like it might've been designed by the same school of thought. Which means either this is someone obscure, or someone they don't know about. Either one bones us."
"Obscure, sir?" Agarkov queried. "Why would that be bad?"
"Obscure means small, which means this - which is already a fairly significant investment even for a big power - is a much larger proportion of their military force. If the TSA were at war footing, they could toss these around as heavy scouting forces, but a smaller, obscure power investing this much means business - they likely expect a return. And the refusal to communicate? Not good."
Khariton nodded. "It is ironic that they appear to be heading towards Japan. This is reminiscent of Perry's Black Ships."
"At this point, gunboat diplomacy, unequal treaties, and decades of exploitation are the best scenario running through my head. We've got almost nothing to fight with, if it comes to it."
Agarkov winced. "I've read about that history... Is this the end, sir? Of Earth's independence?"
Viktor's lip quirked up in a smirk. "Not necessarily. I said 'almost'." He raised his voice. "Prep the Vladivostok Pluto batteries, and funnel them targeting data on our incoming. Do not open fire, return fire only."
"Ah, sir!" Alenko looked up from his position at the phone. "Mister Valenski's on the line, he wants to talk to you."
Viktor nodded, stepping over to the phone and raising it to his ear. "Sakharov here."
"General, it's a pleasure to speak with you," the liason - Torlo Valenski - began. "I'd chat, but I have orders from the President."
Viktor nodded sharply, turning to keep an eye on the frontal display, and the inexorably approaching yellow dots. "Go ahead, Mister Valenski."
"You are not to engage the incoming fleet. I'm still attempting negotiations with the Outsider powers. And the ships are heading for Japan. Do not fire unless we are fired upon."
"That was my intention, Sir."
"And by 'we' I mean 'we'. Russia. Japan is a NATO ally, and it is their responsibility if it is attacked."
Viktor frowned. "Sir, it's an Outsider power. I do not see them caring where each of us drew our borders, and Japan couldn't have done anything to tick these guys off specially. It's random choice, they got unlucky but it's an attack on Earth, not NATO."
"We cannot afford a war here, Mister Sakharov! We have neither the technology nor the resources to face down such a power, and we need to stick with every last hope for peace. If that means Japan gets levelled, then at least Russia wasn't."
Viktor gritted his teeth, glaring down at the phone. "Sir, this command was established for extraterrestrial defence. Are you telling me the game plan is surrender? Then what's the purpose of even being here?"
Valenski took a slow, calming breath over the other end of the phone. "I gave you a direct order, Mister Sakharov. Passed to you from the President. I will not debate this. You may protest in the after-action debriefing, if you so choose." He hung up.
Viktor calmly lowered the phone. He really wanted to break it, but that wouldn't benefit anything. He looked up.
Everyone in the command center was looking to him.
... Wouldn't be right to betray their expectations, now would it?
He tossed his head, throwing his perennially overlong hair away from his eyes, and brought his hands up to adjust his uniform collar, straighten everything out. "I've received orders to leave Japan to burn," he began. "My own inclination is to retaliate in the event of any attack on Earth, but my orders say to defend Russia only. As such, I will hereby inform you that every further word coming out of my mouth is mutiny."
There was a long moment of staring.
"If we all get lucky, nobody has to act on them, and this all ends peacefully. If we don't, we've got two choices. Number one, flagrant and direct violation of orders - court martial offence." Viktor shrugged. "Don't need to lay that one out, right? Number two, this planet burns. We ain't in a position where we can afford factionalism. Stand together or hang separate." He looked around. "Anyone read the history of the Americas? Well we're the Indians. We, Earth. We've maybe got the strength to fend off outside domination. But only as a planet. No country can do it alone. Up to now, we've got lucky. The Outsiders we've met so far haven't been as cockishly imperialistic as we were." He nodded at the screen. "Looks like our luck's run out."
Lieutenant Mikhalkov swallowed, raising a hand like a schoolboy. Understandably nervous, kid had clocked in to work a few hours ago and now his boss was talking treason. Viktor pointed at him, and he lowered his hand. "U... uh... um... wh-what are you proposing, sir...?"
Viktor grinned. "I am proposing this command do what it was intended to do. Face down against any enemy of Earth. We can defend Russia first. I'm down for that, I like it too. But in the event of an attack on any nation within our regional umbrella, we retaliate. In this case, that means we prime Pluto, and return fire if that fleet makes any attack on Japan." He tugged his collar again. Damn thing was way too tight. "Someone's gotta set an example. Both to the Outsiders, and to each other. If an attack is made on Japan, Russia will help them. If an attack is made on Russia, America will help. There's no denying, we've got some ugly history. But history's history. It's over." Viktor made a slashing gesture with his hand. "Ended a long time ago. Someone's gotta take the first step - say 'I don't care what your ancestors did, you're my ally'. 'I don't care what disputes we have, you do not deserve having this happen to you.' We've been fucking staring at each other over nukes too damn long for too damn many stupid reasons. We ain't gonna be singin' Kumbaya, but it's time someone stood for what they thought was right instead of what benefits their country alone."
Viktor took a deep breath. "Okay. I've said my piece. I ain't gonna force you to follow my orders. That'd be no more right than letting Japan burn. If you don't want to do this - and make no mistake, it's a hell of a risk - then I'll do what I can myself. Can't say how much it'll be, but..." He shrugged. "As such, my last orders are to prepare Pluto. Fire it upon anyone who attacks Earth - Russia, Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam... ah, fuck, even China. You'll have until they attack to decide." He turned, striding out of the command center, leaving his subordinates staring behind him.
Alenko, Khariton, and Agarkov fell into step behind him, through the plain, military-appointed hall.
Sakharov laid a hand on his music player, in his pocket. And opened up the mind-to-mind, magic-powered communication that he really wasn't supposed to know. 'Everyone keeps rushing me... Time to get Falx ready to go. Plan's accelerated up to phase four.'
'Phase four, boss?' Khariton queried, almost laughing. 'You make it sound as if you are not making this up as you go along.'
Viktor did laugh. He'd made that whole speech up off the cuff. Hopefully it all held together, he'd sort of been going stream of consciousness. 'Come on, when people bone my plans this hard you're surprised I make 'em flexible? Whether or not my boys go through with the whole 'defend Earth as a whole' thing, I'm gonna have a man after my head by tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have a free planet tomorrow. If so, we move on to long-range plans, and fold our boys here into Falx if they demonstrate they're for Earth, not the government.'
'Pretty big if, sir,' Alenko noted. 'Or, sixteen pretty big ifs.'
'Yeah, well, that's what the Falx is for, ain't it? We'll engage independently of Space Defence if we have to. Take a position, low Earth orbit, and set up defences, give them an Oberth boot into their fucking teeth if they get all up in the kool-aid. May not be enough, but it's what we've got. It's what the planet's got. Up for it?'
'Yes sir!' all three responded simultaneously.
A moment later, four more telepathic 'voices' came. 'Igenis!'
Viktor grinned. For all the headaches, there was nothing to match commanding these troopers.
---N====================>V---
12:47 Friday, June 16, 2017 CE
High Orbit, Earth - Non-Administrated World #97
As Fate finished the transfer spell, the tower around them gave way to blackness, stars and the Earth hanging small below them.
Nanoha offered her a smile. 'We'll just have to talk to them quick and then we can get back to Vivio.' Mental communication, of course - they were sort of in space, the lack of atmosphere made talking... difficult. Their barrier jackets provided them the air, so strictly speaking they could talk, but nobody would hear it.
Fate nodded. 'I'm not comfortable with this, though. They haven't been responding to the hails of anyone on the planet... and as much as I don't want to get ahead of myself, those ships look very heavily armed.' Well, strictly speaking they couldn't actually see them - the ships were two hundred kilometers away, Fate had transfered them in well out of known weapon ranges and they'd fly the rest of the way. They were in detection range, and their Devices had fairly decent-quality scans, though.
Teana seemed to hum to herself noiselessly, stretching out with her scans. She and Nanoha probably had a much better sensor picture than Fate herself did, being shooter/scanner-types, but Bardiche wasn't registering a data feed, so she apparently wasn't missing anything.
'What are you thinking, Teana?' Fate asked, as she began to slowly accelerate towards the oncoming ships - Teana and Nanoha increased their speed along with her. While the current situation took priority, the whole purpose of an Enforcer apprenticeship was this - testing and practicing Teana's judgement, with someone more experienced to ensure any mistakes didn't wreak havoc.
Teana shook her head. 'Just bouncing a few ideas, trying to figure out what we might have on our hands.'
'I'd like to hear it, Teana-chan,' Nanoha requested, meeting their shared apprentice's eyes with her own wide, earnest, and innocent. That woman had some spectacular talents... 'I'm kind of really confused right now.'
Teana glanced at Fate for permission.
Fate nodded. May as well fill the few minutes until they made it there. Fate had a few theories of her own, but she'd rather wait until Teana had aired hers first - see what Teana was actually thinking before the girl heard her teacher's opinion.
Teana pursed her lips. 'Wasn't there a theory on the Saint's Cradle having been from Alhazred, before Velka? It could have been a modified version of one of their regular ship classes, and someone could have excavated a few of the ships in usable condition.' She shook her head. 'It could still be any of millions of groups, national, criminal, academic, but the excavated fleet idea would at least mean that it isn't someone who managed to hide an entire development project and shipyard. ... Again. Considering what we're here for, though, it could be step two of the Suvota weapons development, but the Cradle-alikes have me leaning towards the excavation theory.'
'That's my leading idea as well,' Fate noted. 'Which suggests whoever's doing it is trying to show off their new Logia fleet. Except, there's still the lack of communication...' She sighed, though only she could hear it. 'If they're showing off, I'd think they'd be broadcasting who they are. Absolute silence suggests they don't want to talk, they don't want to show anything... they just want to do something, and there aren't a lot of nice things you can do with a warfleet.'
'Huh... could it be someone from Earth?' Nanoha queried. At their looks, Nanoha shrugged. 'Earth isn't all united, it could be another country trying to attack Japan or somewhere nearby, or it could be them just bringing the ships in for a landing. It might not be another world with plans for Earth. Ah! This is with the Logia fleet idea, though. If the owners built it, Earth's definitely off the owners list.'
'I really hope not...' Fate pointed out. 'The TSAB doesn't have jurisdiction to stop Earth nations from blowing each other up. I mean, I will anyway, but I like this job and I don't really want to get court-martialed.'
'That's assuming we can stop it,' Teana stated. 'One ship the size of the Cradle took Mobile Section Six and about two thirds of the MAF to stop, these ones have just the three of us. I've gotten better since then, but not that much better. It'd definitely be preferable if they're open to negotiation.'
Nanoha nodded. 'If not... Teana, go Optic Hide and move as fast as you can while staying invisible. Does Cross Mirage still have the maps of the Cradle loaded?'
'Yes sir,' the Device responded.
Teana nodded as well. 'I memorized them too. Do you want me to try sneak onboard?'
'Only if negotiations fall through. Try get in the back way and break something important, me and Fate-chan can break in through the front.' Nanoha pumped her fist.
Fate's palm rose to meet her temple. Nanoha was way too confident, but that was pretty much the best plan they had if the ships were hostile and weren't willing to talk. The three of them were the sum total of the TSAB's military forces in the area. The Albion had left hours ago and would be hours getting back - and even then, the XV-class cruiser would have trouble against one of the twelve lighter ships, let alone the four heavyweights. '... Nanoha's right. Do it, we'll go on ahead. Don't break silence unless you think you need to, but listen in to us.' She suited action to words, increasing the flow of mana into her flight matrix and gently, smoothly increasing her acceleration up to around what Nanoha could do without straining herself - twenty meters a second per second or so. About twice the acceleration of an Earth-made fighter jet on afterburner.
Nanoha matched Fate's acceleration, as Teana - less expert at flight and going even slower due to the invisibility spell - fell behind, and vanished from both view and sensors. 'I can go at least another quarter over this, Fate-chan, seriously, you don't need to baby me.'
'Nanoha-chan, please, save it for when we need it. Don't push yourself too much!'
Nanoha grinned over at her. 'How many times have we had this conversation? Don't worry, Fate-chan, I'll be fine.'
'You'd better. If you go into traction again, I'm tying you to the bed.'
Nanoha's eyebrow rose.
Fate blinked - it took a moment before she caught up, and she flushed. 'The hospital bed! Mind out of the gutter, Nanoha!'
Nanoha's grin widened, and she looked ahead again. 'Eyes front, we're coming in range.'
Fate turned ahead as well, solidifying her grip on Bardiche. ... Yeah. She could see it now. Four times the massive, elegant cranked-arrowhead shape of the Saint's Cradle - though painted silver and crimson rather than the Cradle's gold, and with a simpler, less-sharp bow - and a few more dots around the four larger ships.
... Wait a minute. 'Nanoha, I'm scanning with sensors... there's no combat air patrol. Mages, drones... there's nothing.'
Nanoha shook her head. '... One mage.' She transferred the readout to Bardiche, and Fate saw. Pretty strong. Raw numbers were definitely up there.
Fate directed her mental voice towards it. 'This is the Time-Space Administration Bureau. And this is undeveloped space. I request an explanation of your presence.'
Moments passed in silence.
'You are encroaching upon the territorial space of Earth. Your presence is a violation of interdimensional law. The Time-Space Administration Bureau has committed to upholding that law.' Fate tried again.
More silence.
Just as Fate was about to try another query, a dozen spheres of brilliant white light formed around the mere dot that the mage was at this range, and simultaneously discharged into white lances of mana that tore through the space in front of Fate and Nanoha.
A warning shot. Fate ceased her acceleration, gesturing to Nanoha to do the same. They didn't 'stop', of course, motion was relative and they were still drifting towards the fleet - which was still accelerating towards them. Even at this rate they'd be on top of it within five minutes.
'You,' a telepathic voice noted, 'are encroaching on the fleet's perimeter.' It was a surprisingly young voice, feminine and light, but even in tone, unruffled.
'We are Enforcer Fate T. Hallaoun and Captain Nanoha Takamachi of the Time-Space Administration Bureau,' Fate opened up. At least negotiations had finally started. 'We have been authorized to negotiate on behalf of Earth. And we must ask the reason behind your intrusion.'
The mage drifted into view - Fate had Bardiche enhance the image so she could see it clearly.
... She couldn't be more than fourteen. Young and slim, with short, jaw-length lavender hair, messy but brushed away from her face and held back with a black ribbon tied in a bow. Clear blue eyes, and dressed in a black, white-frilled dress, a black lace glove on her left hand and a silver bracelet on her right. And no expression whatsoever on her face. Her eyes flicked between Nanoha and Fate. 'I am the Sword That Cleaves Evil, Latoya of the Silver Light.' She paused, perhaps as if expecting the name and title to be recognized.
Fate blinked slowly, glancing at Nanoha. Nanoha also shook her head, holding up her hands helplessly.
The girl stared at them incredulously for a long moment. Then she simply shook her head. 'Stand aside.'
'And allow you to do what?' Fate had to ask.
'What is necessary.'
Fate resisted the urge to palm her face again. Why did nobody just come out and say things...? Okay, so she was guilty of this too, but seriously.
'There are seven billion people behind us,' Nanoha took over, pointing at the frighteningly small-looking planet with Raging Heart. 'We can't just let you through. But if you say what you want, we might be able to give it to you.'
Latoya shook her head. 'You will not. I have explained it four hundred and ninety two times in situations like this, and not once have I been believed. It's not something people are ready to hear, and this is a bad situation to present it. But what I do, I do for those seven billion as well.'
'Why don't you try?' Nanoha asked, smiling and holding out her arms, as if to hug the small girl. 'Just one more time? I'm ready to believe you.'
'I have heard that one hundred and twenty-five times. You will not believe me. Not before it is too late for that world. Stand. Aside.' She raised her right arm, palm extended, to point at Nanoha and Fate, and the bracelet gleamed silver.
Fate narrowed her eyes, raising Bardiche. 'What you want is something unacceptable, isn't it?'
'Yes,' Latoya agreed. 'It is unacceptable. But it is the only option. I tried mercy, and billions more died. You will not understand, and you will not believe me, but this is the only way. Stand aside.'
Fate shook her head. Bardiche snapped out into scythe mode, the yellow energy blade appearing with an inaudible hiss. 'Stop the fleet.'
A pale ghost of a smile flitted across the girl's lips. 'That you refuse to stand aside is unfortunate, but it is a credit to you.' White lines traced themselves out underneath her, arcing and swirling into a beautiful pattern that took Fate a moment to recognize as some foreign lettered calligraphy. 'Lanza de la Constelacion.' Another round dozen spheres of white mana instantly formed in a ring around her. 'I will save that world, no matter the cost. Fire.' She snapped her hand down, and the twelve orbs of light transformed into beams of white light once more - this time, aimed directly at Fate and Nanoha. Not a warning shot this time.
Of course, the two of them had hardly been sitting around and standing, so they'd split apart, maneuvering out and letting the magical attacks fly through the space between them.
'What are you-' Nanoha began.
'Divine.' Raging Heart added, along with Bardiche's 'Plasma,' as Nanoha and Fate rapidly charged up their basic attacks - not burning cartridges just yet, the target was only a fourteen-year-old girl, though one with a good understanding of shooter spells.
'-talking about?!' Fate finished.
'Buster!' and 'Smasher!' the Devices finished, unleashing thick columns of pink, and lightning-converted yellow. Not quite at the same point, Fate targeted Latoya directly, Nanoha put her buster just a little behind - where an instinctive dodge would take her.
'Pulso de la Velocidad,' Latoya's bracelet commented in a rich masculine voice, and she blurred out of sight forward and to the left - towards Nanoha, as fast as Fate's Sonic Move. 'Espada.' It was hard to track, but it looked like a white energy blade had formed somewhere around her right arm.
Neither of them stopped to watch - Nanoha brought up her staff and reinforced it with a shield, and Fate set her scythe to swing and initiated a Sonic Move to catch up with Latoya.
The young girl blazed into Nanoha, swinging a light energy blade that seemed to be held at the extended fingertips of her right hand - and caught by Nanoha's upraised staff. 'Espada Dual.'
An instant later, Fate arrived behind them, applying another burst of Sonic Move to slow down even as she swung the scythe - as Latoya swung her left hand backward, catching the scythe blade on a second white mana blade at her left hand even as said blade appeared.
Nanoha grinned. 'Gotcha!' She didn't even need to call out Hoop Bind as the four pink binding rings appeared around Latoya, snapping shut.
And apparently Latoya didn't need to call out as a single white sphere formed above them, shooting a beam down a bare millimeter away from Latoya's back, and arced out towards Fate - slashing through the bind rings milliseconds before they closed, and freeing the girl.
Fate didn't get hurt, of course, putting a barrier around her left arm and blocking the slashing beam of light. It vanished shortly thereafter, tossing her back a little bit - she fired a plasma bolt into Latoya's back as she went, before pulling herself to a stop relative to the battle.
The plasma bolt hadn't hit - Latoya had offhandedly cut it apart with her left-hand blade, spinning around and bringing the blade, and the remnants of Fate's plasma bolt, down towards Nanoha's head.
Nanoha wasn't a specialist in close combat, but she hadn't been born to a swordsman for nothing, and easily brought her staff spinning up to catch the white energy blade.
Which exposed her to the second one - Latoya slammed her right-hand-blade home with a punching gesture, a thrust right to Nanoha's heart. It shouldn't have done anything, which was why Nanoha had blocked like that - they were in space, there was nothing to push off of, so the force of any straight-line thrust was basically cut in half, simply pushing them apart. An anemic thrust like that would be easily deflected by Nanoha's auto-barrier.
Except that with a report of 'Pared Estelar,' a wide diamond of white light lined with alien letters appeared behind Latoya - her own barrier, which she kicked off of to drive her blade home through Nanoha's Protection, the shield cracking and shattering into motes of pink light around her.
'Nanoha!' Fate cried as Nanoha went flying back, barely even paying attention as she fired a good half-dozen Plasma Lancer bolts into Latoya's back - which simply shattered against her shield.
'I'm okay!' she called. 'It only just brushed through my jacket.' Raging Heart sent a status report even as Nanoha herself stabilized, letting Fate see. It was a hit, Nanoha's white barrier jacket was torn, directly over the heart, and a few miniscule bubbles of blood floated out in the negligible gravity.
Fate gritted her teeth, Sonic Move-ing around Latoya, to come to Nanoha's drifting side, Bardiche already upraised defensively, setting up a series of trap binds for the young girl if she came after them. 'Two more centimeters and your heart would be cut in half, Nanoha.'
Nanoha grinned, waving a hand through the droplets of blood and scattering them away. 'Nah. At least ten more, she only got a centimeter or two.' She waved Raging Heart, adding a pink bubble of Protection around the drifting pair and tossing a few more magical traps on.
The purple-haired girl matched her velocity to Fate and Nanoha's drift, standing in space with her white blades held out to the sides, pointing 'downward' (technically speaking, if 'towards Earth' were 'down', they would be pointed off to the left, but they were pointing in the same direction as her feet). She seemed content to wait for them to confer, apparently preferring not to challenge the little fortress they were building. Or perhaps she simply didn't care as long as they weren't approaching the fleet.
Fate frowned. Still hard to tell whether Nanoha was really that confident, or if it was just bravado... but at this point, even assuming Nanoha would go to safety, there was nowhere safe to go. Earth was the fleet's target, and Vivio was in Tokyo. 'This is going to sound really stupid coming from me,' Fate noted, 'but that's no ordinary girl. Her magical strength is significantly above average, but beyond that, she knows how to fight - her spells come out fast and precise, and she even knows tricks for zero-gravity we were never taught and uses them smooth as instinct. She's trained, and well. Someone on this level at this age would normally be at least semi-known, and you haven't heard of her in your ace or trainer networks? We were practically the talk of the TSAB's trainers.'
Nanoha shook her head. 'Nothing. I can't even recognize the style, and I've seen seven hundred.' She exhaled. 'Going to need to go to Exceed Mode. Even in Aggressor Mode I'm not fast enough to keep up with her, I'll need the armour.' A pink light washed up her body from her boots, turning Nanoha's lighter miniskirted barrier jacket into the much more familiar-looking, heavier and bulkier Exceed Mode, and repairing the hole over her heart. Fate watched that area, but the white cloth didn't redden. Good, Nanoha hadn't been understating the injury - or at the least, had been able to heal it without issue. 'I'm more concerned that there's just one of her defending an entire fleet.' As she spoke, Raging Heart changed as well, the golden head coming together into a 'spear' as the staff switched to its own Exceed Mode - Axel Mode was better for quick processing and shooting, but if Latoya kept coming up into their faces, the spear would be critical.
Fate nodded, looking out over the large ships. They weren't really growing closer - Nanoha and Fate were floating to Earth at the same rate the ships were, so relatively they were all at a standstill. 'Ships that size... I'd expect hundreds of mages in defence. Unless...'
Nanoha grinned. 'They're mostly unmanned. This is a small operation, not a nation-level committment.'
'... Think she can handle it alone, then?'
'Maybe, but I'd prefer if you went ahead to help her.'
'Not happening, this 'Sword That Cleaves Evil' just about put another hole in you.'
'Heheh. I'm getting a collection.'
Fate just glowered at Nanoha.
Nanoha held up her hands. 'Okay, I get it. You want me to go ahead, then?'
Fate pursed her lips, before shaking her head. 'No, no way of knowing what they have in reserve. Teana's stealth is our best bet there. Stick together and hammer down Latoya, then move on to the ships.' She had Bardiche load a cartridge as he switched back to Assault Form, control ring and starter ball of electricity forming around her left hand as her golden rune array traced out underneath her. 'Trident...'
She didn't really need to say the plan, eleven years together had left Nanoha and Fate a seamless, well-oiled fighting machine.
Nanoha held up the Protection barrier long enough that the next dozen beams of light slammed into it, converging to an accuracy of centimeters, leaving hairline cracks in the barrier right in front of Fate's nose.
Fate whistled. Another round of that, like Latoya was charging up right now, would definitely connect. Fortunately, Fate had already finished preparing her attack and detonated a cartridge, creating a golden form circle in front of her, and slammed the ball of electricity into it. 'Smasher!' The three waves of golden lightning arced out, away from the array, and curving back towards each other at the purple-haired girl's position.
Not exactly at her position. One beam above, two below, boxing her in as tightly as could be, for Nanoha's rapidly-charged thirty-bolt Axel Shooter to flow around the still-pulsing columns of lightning - Fate was simply continuing to pump mana into the Smasher, keeping it going - and connect with Latoya.
Another burst of speed pulled Latoya out of the cage of magic - and that alone could not be understated, there was less than a half-meter of space at any one point for her to pass through, shooter bolts layered upon each other and a third bolt blocking the space right after any two, with nearly half the space around her occupied by the 'prongs' of the Trident Smasher, and yet she danced through it at what would be, in air, the speed of sound, rapidly pulling clear.
This was unexpected, but not unplanned-for, and Fate dropped the Smasher, letting Nanoha pursue Latoya with the shooter bolts - fanning them out again to try and cage her in, she'd demonstrated she could evade that once, but keeping it up while under assault was another matter.
For her part, Fate kicked up another Sonic Move, accelerating up to where Latoya was dancing between Nanoha's bolts and having Bardiche rapidly spin down to Zanber Form - extending the blade out even as she brought it up and around into the girl. Hopefully she'd be able to hold this back to nonlethal.
The lavender-haired girl brought both her white blades around to meet Fate's gold, catching it and halting it still, though her arms quaked to do it - no matter how skilled she might be, she was still a small girl and had a ways to go before she outmuscled Fate.
They held together in the clinch, Fate trying to push Bardiche through as Latoya struggled to hold it back - but more importantly, their motion had reduced to drifting, the girl unable to evade while she held off Bardiche. And while Nanoha's shooter bolts formed a halo around them.
The girl's eyes flickered around, tracking the shooter bolts as they came in. 'Lanza de la Constelacion!' And white spheres formed around her, erupting into beams of light that swept across the pink mana bolts, tearing them from the sky.
But even Nanoha had to pay attention to shoot down that many targets, that small and moving that fast. Which meant Latoya wasn't paying attention while Fate charged her left hand with electricity, pulled it off Bardiche's hilt, and slammed it into the dainty girl's nose, snapping her head back and forcing her white blades into a weaker position - allowing Bardiche to swing through as her guard broke. Bracing her feet against a shield spell all the while, of course - she'd never done such a maneuver before, but Latoya had just demonstrated how useful it was.
... Or perhaps she was paying attention. Her head had moved back with the blow more than Fate had pushed it - she'd been moving it to reduce the momentum - and her feet came up, covered in white barriers, and she stood on Bardiche's Zanber blade for a moment as she kicked away, leaving only droplets of blood from her broken nose.
And three white spheres of light, that pulsed even as Fate's eyes widened, lancing out into beams of light that converged on her left elbow, leaving a sick snapping sound through the bubble of air that kept Fate breathing.
Fate blocked out the pain - and oh boy, there was quite a lot of it - looking up for Latoya.
... Apparently her response to being injured wasn't to withdraw and tend the wounds, it was to come right back at her opponent.
Fate swung Bardiche Zanber up one-handed to block the attack. She'd have to convert it to Riot Form if she couldn't get her elbow healed fast...
---N====================>V---