Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[SulliMike23]

Originally Posted by Satashi

Spoiler for I did that too:

Fate hummed along with the radio as she turned a ratchet wrench to tighten a bolt on a tractor mower. Her hips swung to her tune, showing off her tanned curves not covered by the shirt she was wearing. Blue jeans stained and dirty, she turned to reveal that most of her front had dirt on it as well from working. When the lyrics came on she couldn't help but sing along to try and pass the time on her maintenance. “Uptown girl! Shes been living in her uptown world. I bet she never had a back street guy, I bet her mama never told her why.”

Chrono walked past her, used to this, and butchered the lyrics as if he were talking to her while singing. “You're gonna try for an uptown girl? Nanoha's been living in her white bread world. As long as anyone with hot blood can, and now shes looking for a downtown woman.”

Fate cut him off on the last line with a smirk. “Thats what I am.” Jumping down from the seat of the tractor, Fate sang into her wrench “And when she knows what she wants from her tai-yai-yime.”

Chrono shook his head and got on the ground to change the oil. “And when she wakes up, and makes up her mai-yai-yaid?”

Fate picked up an air hose and swayed her hips while walking to a tool table to get the tire filler fitting. “Shell see I'm not so tough, just because I'm in love with an uptown girl! You know Ive seen her in her uptown world.” Moving to another tire, she checked the pressure on it. “Shes getting tired of her high class “toys”, And all her presents from her uptown boys. Shes got a choice.”

Both of the people messing with the tractor sang loudly and off key, finally finishing off their work on the tractor and nodding in satisfaction. “So,” Chrono mused aloud, letting the song finish in the background.”How far have you two gone?”

“I tripped and broke my legs at first base,” Fate sighed and put a hand on her hip. “Dang uptown girl won't put out.”

BTW, to answer previous question, I post at:
AnimeSuki
Fanfiction.net
Mediaminer - only lemons really
Portkey - my old HP fics I don't touch anymore
Shoujoai - my old Prettycure fics and some Nanoha was requested to be posted there
Queenbee for my Japanese Prettycure stories

I rest my case.

[Kaijo]

Cut and pasting to another thread; thanks for the heads up. Wasn't sure where to post it.

[Rising Dragon]

You should move that to the Magic and Technology thread, or the Generic Discussion thread.

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

The page flip may cause people to miss it, but I posted the next Cradle battle item as the last post of pg 833.

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not dead yet!

...

... Though I might be. Soon. But anyway.

I present to you "Sisters", chapter 2.

Spoiler for Sisters chapter 2:

-snip-

Spoiler for Author's Notes:

1. Ironically enough, while listening to this chapter I alternated between listening to "How To Save A Life" by The Fray and "Hear You Me" by Jimmy Eat World. I wonder why.

2. And so we have our first hints of a serial problem. I originally had a bit with the baddies meeting to discuss Hikaru (I changed Light's name to that), but it didn't seem to fit. I'll try to put it in next chapter, since Nanoha and Co. learn about what's going on then. Oh, and yes, Chrono noticed a similarity between the victims. Oh dear.

3. Miyuki meets a kid. Or, should I say, Chris. Innocent friendship? Maybe... hopefully it worked.

4. Yes, I made Miyuki a mechanic just to make that joke with Bobby. I thought it was funny, in any case.

Now if you don't mind, I need to repair the large dent in my desk that's shaped like my forehead. Enjoy.

Oh noes, a boy!

What an interesting development!

Will Nanoha go yandere and murder befriend the hypotenuse?!

I can hardly wait to find out!

I am partially to blame for RB's slowness since I borrowed her brain for work on False Light, the original post-apocalyptic dark fantasy I'm currently working on. ^^;

[Hekate]

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

Spoiler for Back to the Cradle...:

Having selected to come in low and fast... you flip your fighter on its head and drop the nose, taking her into a steep dive. Keeping your eye strictly on the altimeter, you roll rightside-up once more and drop until you're well below one thousand feet before leveling off just above the surface.

[STAGE ONE!]
"INTERCEPT!"

Streaking along a hundred feet off waves at mach fifteen, your fighter produces so much friction from it's passing that you leave a glowing trail of fire, signature of the Phoenix' namesake.

The shockwave and back-blast from your engines disturbs the waves as you rocket along, your target oblivious to your approach.

A blip on your forward sensor grabs your attention, and the targeting computer brackets something dark on the horizon and bleeps a collission warning. You ease back on the stick and climb to four-hundred feet as whatever it is rockets by below you. You barely make out the blurred structure of a medium size surface patrol ship... Bright red markings on it indicate you just hypersonic-buzzed a Mid-Childan coast guard vessel.

Good thing you didn't crash. Maybe staying THIS low is a bit-

"Sea Gull Spirit to Port Gallium, we just got rattled by something... Damn! I've never seen anything that fast."

Your communications system is quite sophisticated, and local Mid-Childan safety operations frequencies and encryptions are no match for it as it quickly descrambles and lets you listen in on the short-band traffic.

"What? Sea Gull Spirit, what do you mean? What did you see?"

"I'm not sure! It was moving so fast and so low, leaving a trail of fire! The sonic boom blew out the bridge windows! My ears are still ringing. Can you spot it?

"Negative... It's too low, we can't track it with the port radar or sensors..."

"Turn a satellite on section four eight dash seven two... It's heading straight for Engagement Area Alpha!"

"Command channels are swamped, it'll take a few minutes to get a request through..."

"Don't give up! Area Alpha really don't need any surprises from what I've heard..."


Looks like you've made a minor error in assuming the open sea was an empty place, but no matter. It's not like they can shoot at you. Though given current tensions, it wouldn't be unexpected. Beats capital starship beam weapons certainly.

While they're busy trying to figure out what you are, and where you're going, though they have half of that already, you have a few options to take care of. You won't get any hints this time... So think VERY carefully about the potential pros and cons of each and every option.


A: Continue as planned.
B: Change heading and alter your approach pattern.
C: Break Radio Silence
D: Bug Out (Return to Base)

Again, we're not kidding. Even the most simple option here has unexpected drawbacks.

You have two minutes and twenty seconds to weight your options before TSAB command channels turn an observation satellite on your current path.

What happened to your IFF T.T

Can their observation satellite determine if you are friendly or not without action on your part? Is your communication encryption is strong enough to prevent eavesdropping? Is the Cradle observing satellite positions? If the first is yes and third is no, then always pick A, if the first is no but the second is yes, then always pick C

On the other hand, if it is possible to simply radio HQ and ask them to sort out the trouble without giving away too many details of your mission? If this is true and the above options don't fit, pick C.

[RadiantBeam]

You know... I saw this in the Relationships thread:

Originally Posted by TAM-Lisa

Lutecia x Vivio will remind me Nanoha x Fate from MGLNanoha A's. Vivio is Nanoha's daughter, and Lutecia remind me Fate from season 2 when I saw the last episode of season 3.

And it made me laugh hysterically.

...

That and it made me want to update my ViCia series. I really need to. It's been awhile since I finished "Sunrise".

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not dead yet!

...

... Though I might be. Soon. But anyway.

To paraphrase Aika from Aria, PREMATURE DEATH IS NOT ALLOWED!

Spoiler for Sisters chapter 2:

*ka-snip!*

Spoiler for Author's Notes:

1. Ironically enough, while listening to this chapter I alternated between listening to "How To Save A Life" by The Fray and "Hear You Me" by Jimmy Eat World. I wonder why.

2. And so we have our first hints of a serial problem. I originally had a bit with the baddies meeting to discuss Hikaru (I changed Light's name to that), but it didn't seem to fit. I'll try to put it in next chapter, since Nanoha and Co. learn about what's going on then. Oh, and yes, Chrono noticed a similarity between the victims. Oh dear.

3. Miyuki meets a kid. Or, should I say, Chris. Innocent friendship? Maybe... hopefully it worked.

4. Yes, I made Miyuki a mechanic just to make that joke with Bobby. I thought it was funny, in any case.

Now if you don't mind, I need to repair the large dent in my desk that's shaped like my forehead. Enjoy.

Is the opening line a quotation? If so, from what?

Hayate and Fate here kind of remind me of "Expressions of Love" from Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu. As in, Fate having problems with Hayate the Groping Bandit because she likes her and Hayate doesn't act like she has any special feelings for Fate in particular.

Chrono here is interesting. Highlighting his sensitive side to make up all the badmouthing we've been giving him in the ViCia/Shadows stories?

Miyuki's scene with Bobby was hilarious. Particularly when he said "The chicks dig loud"! Trust me, Bobby-boy, the only chicks you'll be getting near don't care about whether your car is loud, soft, or running at all so long as you have your daddy's money to spend on them.

I have to agree with deathcurse in that it sounds like Chris is Hikaru. Every movement he makes, every word he says, every line of his description just screams "creepy guy with a horrible secret!!"

Which brings me to the one piece of this story which I have some issues with: Chris's Intelligent Device.

Intelligent Devices (despite the fact that every main cast member seems to wind up with one) are very rare, very special pieces of technology. They definitely aren't the norm for mages, even military mages (Chrono, for example, is only shown using Storage Devices: first S2U and later Durandal). If this "Chris" has an Intelligent Device at all, then there should be a serious plot-heavy reason for it, whether it's because he's a TSAB mage prodigy or because he's an evil serial killer associated with a powerful conspiracy group with access to Evil Mad Science. And he shouldn't be bringing it to Miyuki's garage for repair, either: Device Meisters like Mariel and Shari don't grow on trees and their lab facilities don't, either (consider, for example, the way in which the repairs for Raising Heart and Bardiche had to happen in A's).

On the other hand, Miyuki's garage job makes perfect sense: there's only so much of the technology that changes between cars (okay, the internal combustion engine might or might not be replaced by some magitech powerplant, but the drive train, suspension, etc., etc. would still function similarly to judge by what we see with Midchildan cars in StrikerS. And the computer functions would probably be even easier to deal with because of the more advanced computer tech) and if she's spent enough time hanging out with Shinobu and repairing the android maids, she's definitely got the skills.

Miyuki's desire to be useful and have something to do is easily empathized with. After all, she basically came along to keep Nanoha company, but "kid sister's not-at-work, only-in-home-life sidekick" isn't exactly an emotionally fulfilling role.

Nice subtlety on the wincest; I didn't even notice what Miyuki was hinting at until I was rereading. Don't despair, Miyuki, we're rooting for you! Mostly!

Um...so why is your desk dented?

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

That and it made me want to update my ViCia series. I really need to. It's been awhile since I finished "Sunrise".

Yes, you do need to that. How am I supposed to write any NanoFate stories without you giving me ideas for them?

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Intelligent Devices (despite the fact that every main cast member seems to wind up with one) are very rare, very special pieces of technology. They definitely aren't the norm for mages, even military mages (Chrono, for example, is only shown using Storage Devices: first S2U and later Durandal). If this "Chris" has an Intelligent Device at all, then there should be a serious plot-heavy reason for it, whether it's because he's a TSAB mage prodigy or because he's an evil serial killer associated with a powerful conspiracy group with access to Evil Mad Science. And he shouldn't be bringing it to Miyuki's garage for repair, either: Device Meisters like Mariel and Shari don't grow on trees and their lab facilities don't, either (consider, for example, the way in which the repairs for Raising Heart and Bardiche had to happen in A's).

Yes, Sora was kind enough to point that out to me while we were discussing it via PM. And now there's a new hole in my desk. Gah, I have to find a way to work around that one.

Um...so why is your desk dented?

It's such an excellent method of working off stress, you see.

Yes, you do need to that. How am I supposed to write any NanoFate stories without you giving me ideas for them?

Now I feel inspired.

EDIT: Gah! Forgot to answer this...

Is the opening line a quotation? If so, from what?

Yep, it's a quotation from "How To Save A Life" by The Fray. I found it oddly fitting for the chapter, for some reason.

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Originally Posted by Hekate

What happened to your IFF T.T

You're a pilot operating a out of an otherwise unknown faction to the TSAB operating in support of them without their knowledge. You do not have an IFF signature that they recognize. Not to mention that since you're coming in on a radio blackout, your transponder is off.

Can their observation satellite determine if you are friendly or not without action on your part?

That can identify what you are, but not who you are, or your allegence unless you engage first. If they're operating on any kind of combat rule similar to the US combat doctrine, they would be restricted from engaging unless fired upon, or instructed by higher ups to engage because of risk factors. The risk factors here may or may not be such that they'd be told to engage the unknown. The gamble is up to you.

Is your communication encryption is strong enough to prevent eavesdropping?

Unknown... Quattro or Uno was able to hack into and disable the networked battlefield systems of TSAB HQ previously. It can be assumed that your network with the carrier is seccure at least for a short time once you break silence, but that the TSAB network is compromised. Any information you pass to the TSAB network runs the risk of intercept.

Is the Cradle observing satellite positions?

Unknown. Nothing indicates whether the Cradle is monitoring the uplink/downlink information on the sats. Givin that everyone is going for the cradle, that kind of high precision information management might not be of any consiquence and is being ignored. (For the record, the satellite positions wouldn't change... their cameras would just adjust and refocus.)

On the other hand, if it is possible to simply radio HQ and ask them to sort out the trouble without giving away too many details of your mission?

Again, you are an unknown blasting your way into a high tension fight unannounced, and uninvited. The reactions from either side could be as varied as night and day. The TSAB may see your approach as a Godsend, or you may become Primary Target Number Two for every mage in sight.
Likewise, transmission of data from you could inform the Target of your approach if Quattro intercepts it from the TSAB network. Be aware of the potential of the primary target as a risk facctor in your assessments.

[Hekate]

Spoiler for AdmiralTigerclaw:

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

You're a pilot operating a out of an otherwise unknown faction to the TSAB operating in support of them without their knowledge. You do not have an IFF signature that they recognize. Not to mention that since you're coming in on a radio blackout, your transponder is off.



That can identify what you are, but not who you are, or your allegence unless you engage first. If they're operating on any kind of combat rule similar to the US combat doctrine, they would be restricted from engaging unless fired upon, or instructed by higher ups to engage because of risk factors. The risk factors here may or may not be such that they'd be told to engage the unknown. The gamble is up to you.



Unknown... Quattro or Uno was able to hack into and disable the networked battlefield systems of TSAB HQ previously. It can be assumed that your network with the carrier is seccure at least for a short time once you break silence, but that the TSAB network is compromised. Any information you pass to the TSAB network runs the risk of intercept.



Unknown. Nothing indicates whether the Cradle is monitoring the uplink/downlink information on the sats. Givin that everyone is going for the cradle, that kind of high precision information management might not be of any consiquence and is being ignored. (For the record, the satellite positions wouldn't change... their cameras would just adjust and refocus.)



Again, you are an unknown blasting your way into a high tension fight unannounced, and uninvited. The reactions from either side could be as varied as night and day. The TSAB may see your approach as a Godsend, or you may become Primary Target Number Two for every mage in sight.
Likewise, transmission of data from you could inform the Target of your approach if Quattro intercepts it from the TSAB network. Be aware of the potential of the primary target as a risk facctor in your assessments.

Can we just radio HQ and have them register our IFF to the TSAB forces as friendly, then turn our transponder on?
It's not as though IFF's will reveal our position to the enemy...supposedly.

Otherwise we will continue as planned, A. After all, assuming the atmosphere is similar to Earth, Mach 15 is a bit over 5 kilometers per second~

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Originally Posted by Hekate

Can we just radio HQ and have them register our IFF to the TSAB forces as friendly, then turn our transponder on?

I'm going to speak to you here as someone who took Military Comms training. (SATCOM)

Note, that to radio HQ, you have to Broadcast. You broadcast, everyone sees you. Including people you don't want seeing you.

It's not as though IFF's will reveal our position to the enemy...supposedly.

An IFF squawk is a signal generated by a transponder consisting of an encrypted code that is then picked up by recievers and processed to determine if you have the right code... to match the other friendly units. In order to squawk, you have to broadcast the code. Refference what I said about broadcast.

So actually, yes... Yes, it IS as though IFF will reveal your position.

[Hekate]

Spoiler for Admiral Tigerclaw:

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

I'm going to speak to you here as someone who took Military Comms training. (SATCOM)

Note, that to radio HQ, you have to Broadcast. You broadcast, everyone sees you. Including people you don't want seeing you.



An IFF squawk is a signal generated by a transponder consisting of an encrypted code that is then picked up by recievers and processed to determine if you have the right code... to match the other friendly units. In order to squawk, you have to broadcast the code. Refference what I said about broadcast.

So actually, yes... Yes, it IS as though IFF will reveal your position.

Just so you know, I have no military training at all. Internet Commando / Armchair General ftw

The basic idea still stands; it is to give out as little information as possible so that even if the Cradle eavesdrops they won't know much other than a new challenger is approaching--something that should be happening frequently as the rest of the non-rapid response portion of the TSAB mobilizes.

But if it's not possible and we have to give out information such as our payload and weapons platform, or if the TSAB comms operator will scream out that the savior has arrived, basically anything that puts us as something more than just a small mage unit, then we will still proceed as planned. A is now the default answer with C happening if we can do it without too much attention. After all, fast Mach 15 is fast

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

Spoiler for Back to the Cradle...:

Having selected to come in low and fast... you flip your fighter on its head and drop the nose, taking her into a steep dive. Keeping your eye strictly on the altimeter, you roll rightside-up once more and drop until you're well below one thousand feet before leveling off just above the surface.

[STAGE ONE!]
"INTERCEPT!"

Streaking along a hundred feet off waves at mach fifteen, your fighter produces so much friction from it's passing that you leave a glowing trail of fire, signature of the Phoenix' namesake.

The shockwave and back-blast from your engines disturbs the waves as you rocket along, your target oblivious to your approach.

A blip on your forward sensor grabs your attention, and the targeting computer brackets something dark on the horizon and bleeps a collission warning. You ease back on the stick and climb to four-hundred feet as whatever it is rockets by below you. You barely make out the blurred structure of a medium size surface patrol ship... Bright red markings on it indicate you just hypersonic-buzzed a Mid-Childan coast guard vessel.

Good thing you didn't crash. Maybe staying THIS low is a bit-

"Sea Gull Spirit to Port Gallium, we just got rattled by something... Damn! I've never seen anything that fast."

Your communications system is quite sophisticated, and local Mid-Childan safety operations frequencies and encryptions are no match for it as it quickly descrambles and lets you listen in on the short-band traffic.

"What? Sea Gull Spirit, what do you mean? What did you see?"

"I'm not sure! It was moving so fast and so low, leaving a trail of fire! The sonic boom blew out the bridge windows! My ears are still ringing. Can you spot it?

"Negative... It's too low, we can't track it with the port radar or sensors..."

"Turn a satellite on section four eight dash seven two... It's heading straight for Engagement Area Alpha!"

"Command channels are swamped, it'll take a few minutes to get a request through..."

"Don't give up! Area Alpha really don't need any surprises from what I've heard..."


Looks like you've made a minor error in assuming the open sea was an empty place, but no matter. It's not like they can shoot at you. Though given current tensions, it wouldn't be unexpected. Beats capital starship beam weapons certainly.

While they're busy trying to figure out what you are, and where you're going, though they have half of that already, you have a few options to take care of. You won't get any hints this time... So think VERY carefully about the potential pros and cons of each and every option.


A: Continue as planned.
B: Change heading and alter your approach pattern.
C: Break Radio Silence
D: Bug Out (Return to Base)

Again, we're not kidding. Even the most simple option here has unexpected drawbacks.

You have two minutes and twenty seconds to weight your options before TSAB command channels turn an observation satellite on your current path.

Cute. Very cute. Breaking radio silence would alert the Cradle to our presence, and mark us as a hostile for them. In addition, breaking radio silence is no guarantee that anyone will believe we're an ally, so it has one guaranteed downside with only a possible good side.

Changing our heading and approach vector changes nothing about the end result. We're still headed for the same place, only now the TSAB realizes we have access to their comm channels. This might send them into a panic even more. This time there's no up side, but possible downsides.

Bugging out means abandoning the mission. Game over in regards to the Cradle fight, and the possible addition of betraying the sectret base's location to everyone.

Lastly, we can continue on and engage the Cradle. This carries the risk of us being attacked by our own troops, but if we're lucky we can engage the Cradle before any considerable firepower *cough*Hayate*cough* is brought to bear. Once we've engaged the Cradle, our friendlies will realize that we're not what they should be concerned about right now, and though we might not get the protection I initially hoped for, we still retain the element of surprise and avoid getting shot at. Unless of course someone decides we are to be taken out alongside the Cradle.

It will probably help if we don't start popping any Hammers when we arrive. Taking down TSAB mages won't really encourage them to label us as a friendly.

So A for me.

[arkhangelsk]

Ultimately, the problem is more how ATC will weigh everything. But the way I see it, if we have Mach 15 speed at low level, it so far exceeds anything the TSABbies have that my only concern would be the ship, which hopefully would be able to handle such a target speed since it is supposed to be a space combatant. Neither the drones or the mages can reasonably engage us as per canon abilities. Even after the "buffs" given to them by ATC (or you), we should still have a HUGE safety margin on this regard.

So, if by B we mean getting out of the likely zone of observation for the satellite, I'll say go for it. If we get acquired given weak TSABbie concepts of security (for some reason now they got voice radio encryption but it can't be worth much in relative terms if a fighter comms suite breaks it in real time...), it is at least possible that the downlink of our coordinates would be intercepted. In which case we'll be engaged the moment we pop up above the horizon, with THEM being able to cut seconds off their acquire-track-fire cycles because of datalinked data.

It is unlikely the TSABbies can firmly link our evasion to the fact we intercepted them. All they can know easily is that we've disappeared from the zone of observation. Even if they DID go so far as to label us hostile, they've got no assets that can engage us unless we fly straight at them.

After evading the satellite, set up our final approach so as to bring us out of their critical angles. Critical Angle is Qkr=arc sin (Vl / Vk), with Vk being our speed (about 5100m/s) and Vl being the speed of Middie mages, or their beams. If we generously assume Vl as about 600m/s (close to Mach 2), then critical angle is less than 7 degrees (<6.76). In other words, we aim straight for an intercept course to our Cradle, and then lead or lag that by 7 degrees, and we should be safe from engagement by anything other than the ship's guns. (For more margin, assume Vl as 900m/s, then Qkr is <10.165 degrees). (From Khvoshch, Tactics of Submarines), p.210).

[Nanya01]

It's that time again...

RadiantBeam and I are proud to present...

Day in the Life

Chapter 23

Partners

Also, long chapter, broken up into multiple posts again.

Spoiler for Partners:

Teana Lanstar shivered as she walked past the ship-port. The autumn winds were getting slightly worse these days. She didn't know why she was walking this way, what with that incident a couple of weeks ago. "And to think, I almost had a new working partner out of it too." She muttered, shaking her head. She still felt bad for that little girl, to live with such a curse for the rest of her life.

Stretching, she yawned slightly. Subaru had a few missions lately that kept her away from their shared apartment and Teana just found it too lonely in her apartment without her girlfriend these days. She could spend time at the Nakajimas, but Dieci seemed to be curious about too much about her relationship with Subaru for Teana's liking.

Just because I'm a lesbian doesn't mean... Her thoughts trailed off as she saw Hayate and Signum walking out of the ship-port, followed by the rest of Hayate's Knights, Nanoha's sister Miyuki, Rein and Agito. "General Hayate." She called to the shorter woman.

"Huh?" Hayate blinked and smiled at Teana. "Hello, Teana, it's been awhile since I saw you last. How have you been?"

Teana shrugged as she fell in step next to her former commanding officer. "Pretty good, actually. Solved a major case while you were away, I have the paper-work done and everything."

Hayate nodded and made a note to read the report when she had a chance. "Do you have any missions coming up?" Seeing her shake her head, Hayate nodded and turned to the rest of the group. "I'm going to be heading to the Saint Church, Signum, Agito, I need you two to come with me." They nodded as she turned to Teana. "If you aren't busy Teana..." Seeing her shake her head, Hayate smiled softly. "Come along then, Admiral Chrono and Colonel Nakajima are going to be there as well."

Teana nodded, wondering just what was going on as she, Agito, Signum and Hayate got into Signum's car. She watched as Shamal, Vita, Zafira, Rein and Miyuki got into the car ahead of them and drove off before Signum pulled out. At the corner, the two went their own ways.

"Ah, General, might I ask why you want me to go with?" Teana asked from the back seat as Hayate nodded.

"You may." Hayate said as she sighed. "There was an incident on Earth involving a new type of Intelligent Device and a former TSAB member who was targeted by someone. You'll hear the details in a bit."

Teana nodded as the Saint Church came into view. This sounded very important.

It felt strange to be standing in the Saint Church with the likes of Genya and Chrono. Teana knew she was at a point in her life where she could easily be admired by the two older men, but her training still made her a little jittery around them both.

"You called us here on emergency, Hayate." Chrono leaned back in his chair. "What happened?"

Hayate nodded once before she spoke. "You may remember Marona, a former member of the TSAB."

"Yes." Chrono frowned. "She retired several years ago and returned to Earth."

"Is she in trouble again?" Genya asked.

Hayate shook her head. "No. She's fine, as of now. According to Vita, she even has a girlfriend, but I digress." Hayate took a deep breath. "It seems that during her travels she was threatened by a group of Earth men who somehow got their hands on low-grade Intelligent Devices; not horribly strong in design, but they held a lot of power."

Teana raised a brow. That was new. "A new design?"

"A leaked one. That isn't all." Hayate sighed. "It seems whoever decided to develop these kind of Devices also took the time to develop a method of implanting magic power into things like bullets to inflict magical damage."

"How did--"

"Nanoha-chan's sister was shot with one of those bullets while defending Marona and her companion."

The others nodded as Carim cleared her throat. "Hayate, what do you know about these devices? Do you know who made them?"

"Unfortunately no. We had as many people looking over them as possible and we even captured a few people who were using the devices over the course of the last month. No real details from any of them." Hayate sighed and shook her head as she looked at the others in the room in turn. "The people that had these devices had almost zero magic potential, and yet were capable of using these devices and using magic."

"How?" The other four asked as the same time as they thought about it. If there were devices like that floating around these days...

Shaking her head, Hayate frowned softly. "Unfortunately, we don't know any of that, but we did find something promising... Signum?"

The pink haired woman stepped forward from her place against the wall as a star map, one that showed a rather large section of space lit up at the table. "We have managed to track down where these weapons were coming from at any rate, but the distance is rather surprising." She pointed to a blue dot nearest to everyone. "This represents Mid-Childa..." Then she pointed to an orange dot that was around five feet, or rather, the other side of the map as she continued, "this represents where we think the devices came from, at least, before they got to Earth."

"But that's..." Teana stared, her eyes slightly wide.

"Nearly a week's travel away even on the fastest ships, yes." Hayate murmured. "Which is why this puzzles me."

Nodding, Chrono looked from the map to Hayate. "What do you need?" He didn't like the way that she pursed her lips softly.

"If it's alright..." She turned to Teana. "Teana, I would like for you, Signum and Agito to go check this out."

"Just the three of us?" Teana blinked a few times as Hayate shook her head.

"No, choose at least one other person, whoever you think would work best for this mission, to help you out. But I need to know what's going on. We all do."

"One person?"

Hayate nodded. "Someone you can trust. Someone with a clear head, if possible."

Teana winced. Well, there went her suggestion for Subaru; her girlfriend hadn't been in the best state of thinking ever since the whole incident with Ixy had exploded. After a moment, she said softly, "Is Ginga currently on a mission?"

Genya shook his head. "No, she has the day off right now. She's home with Wendi and Nove."

Teana nodded. "Ginga, then. We'll take Ginga."

Hayate nodded and looked at Signum. "I'm sorry, I know that you just got back..."

"It's okay." Signum smiled softly. "I'll get plenty of rest on the way over. If you'll excuse me." Seeing Hayate nod, Signum slipped out the door with Agito following her a moment later.

"Make preparations, Enforcer Lanstar, you leave in three days." Chrono said to her as she straightened up and saluted him.

"Yes, sir."

Outside the room, Signum blinked as she saw Schach walk to her. "Ah, Schach, how are you?"

Smiling, the nun walked up to her friend and fell in line. "I'm well, actually. How about you? I haven't seen you in almost a month, I was beginning to worry."

Signum smiled softly as the two walked down the hallway. "Just cleaning up a small mess on Earth. Unfortunately, I leave for another mission soon."

"So soon?" Schach frowned softly. "We hardly talk these days anymore."

Signum shrugged, slightly uncomfortably. "I know. But this is something that has to be done." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Schach nodding slightly.

"Please tell me you have time to stop for some tea at least. Sein's gotten really good at making some these days."

Signum nodded, smiling softly. "I think I would like that."

"Also, I think it would help Vice."

Signum blinked at that. "Vice?"

"Yes. He's been coming around here and hanging out. I think he's lonely." The thought made Schach giggle softly. "Apparently you two talked quite a bit before you left, and he misses your companionship."

"Is he here now?"

"I haven't seen him." Schach admitted as the two walked into the commons area, where Sein was serving her sisters some of her new tea. "Like I said, Sein's gotten good with the tea."

"Ah! Sister Schach, Signum." Sein smiled at them. "Come on, sit down, I'll get you some tea too."

Signum nodded at the shorter, petite blue-green haired girl as she went to get some more glasses. "They seem to be doing well."

"Yes." Schach smiled. "They've settled in amazingly. It's a relief, honestly."

Signum nodded again and made a mental note to call Vice when she had the chance. She hadn't known people could really miss her, especially someone like Vice, and it felt kind of good to know that.

---

Ginga sighed and had to resist the urge to laugh; she'd never been in such an interesting position before.

Said 'position' was wedged between Nove and Wendi, both sound asleep and clinging to her tightly like she was some kind of human-shaped body pillow. Not that Ginga was complaining; ever since her missions had started up, she rarely got much time to spend with her lovers.

They were still working on that, she thought. It was hard, and it took a lot of talking to make their feelings known, but they were working on it.

It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't just in their underwear and nothing else... And the blanket was on the floor, away from them. At least cuddling against Wendi and Nove kept her warm.

Though, she did wish they weren't hugging so tightly, oh well, she could put up with it, especially with the way Nove was giving her soft kisses to her breasts in her sleep and Wendi was nuzzling her side affectionately. And Nove complains about Wendi and myself being too affectionate with her. Well, maybe she could stop fondling Nove in the living room when they were watching movies. But it was always fun to watch the short redhead blush and bite back a moan. Besides, getting her worked up always led to interested bedroom moments.

Ginga grimaced as she felt a gentle mental prick at her mind, and wished she could sit up. Yeah, I'm here, she said.

Ginga? Hey, it's Teana.

Tea, hey. Ginga blinked. What's up?

I hate to ask this of you on such short notice on your day off, but... we need another person for our mission...

Really?

Yeah, we need to leave in a couple of days and I needed someone with a clear head for this one. It's going to be a long trip too.

Ginga nodded and rubbed Wendi's side and Nove's back. Sure. I'd start right now, but Wendi and Nove are pinning me down a bit.

...I do hope that you mean that they're laying on your sides and hugging tightly and not that you're having sex.

Ginga nearly started laughing. If we were having sex, the two of them would be broadcasting what they were doing to you, just to get you worked up.

...Now I know why Subaru's the way she is... Teana's voice groaned in dismay. You like to tease a lot, Ginga.

I know, but don't worry, I'll be there.

Thanks.

Oh, and Tea...

Yeah?

Don't wait too long to tell Subaru... She's going to want to give you a goodbye present. Ginga smirked as she imagined the younger girl blushing hard.

Fine, fine. Teana was grumbling, but Ginga knew it was only a show. I'll figure something out.

Okay. See you soon.

Teana echoed her goodbye before cutting the link, and now Ginga found herself with the very interesting task of waking her lovers and telling them what she had to do.

First things first. Waking them up.

Ginga could do a million and one things to wake Nove and Wendi up in a heartbeat. Most of them were naughty and led to R-restricted activities.

But to do this quickly and easily, without any distractions...

Ginga took a deep breath and sat up. Or tried to. She was pulled back down seconds later with a startled yelp and a laugh.

"Trying to slip out." Nove muttered and looked up, her eyes slightly tired, but also a bit frustrated. "I don't like waking up alone anymore." She said as she crawled on top of Ginga and pressed her body fully against Ginga's, getting a shiver from the taller girl as their chests pressed tightly against each other. "I think Ginga needs to stay in bed..."

"Me too..." Wendi grinned and kissed Ginga's neck. "Think we can convince her?"

Damn.

Begin emergency evacuation procedures.

Or at least that was what Ginga should have been doing, but it was hard to think straight with Nove on top of her and Wendi kissing her neck.

"Hold on, hold on." The taller girl struggled to keep her head from clouding. "Look, I... I'm sorry, I just needed a way to wake you two up."

"Oh?" Nove blinked a few times as she looked at Ginga. "You could have done it more pleasurably..." She trailed off, shivering as she felt Wendi's hand slip under her panties and rub her rear directly. "Like what Wendi's doing right now..."

The taller redhead grinned at Ginga and Nove. "So, why did you want to wake us up, Ginga?" She smirked as Nove gasped and squirmed due to what her fingers were doing to the other redhead.

Ginga sighed and smiled. "But see, if I woke you up that way, I'd never get out of the bed."

Wendi grinned. "Maybe, but, you never know, right?"

As entertaining as this was...

"I... kind of have to go."

The two stopped and blinked at her. "Go where?" Nove asked, blinking as Ginga sighed.

"A new mission. I'm going to be working with Teana this time." Ginga sighed at the looks she was getting. "I'm sorry, I might be gone for awhile too..." She blinked as Nove kissed her on the lips gently. "Nove?"

"We'll miss you..." She gasped as she felt Wendi's fingers start to tease her again.

Wendi nodded. "Yep... but for now..." She grinned at the two. "Let's have some fun."

"But, I need to..." Ginga groaned as the two started to work her over. Hell with it, Teana did say it would be a couple of days after all.

(---)

Sein was heading back to the table with some more glasses when she blinked at who was walking her way. "Ah! Vice! How are you?" She smiled at the short-haired man.

"I'm fine." He laughed sheepishly. "Hoping you aren't sick of me yet."

"Ah, no, we all enjoy your company. Come in, come in, you're in luck! Signum's actually here having tea with Sister Schah, you caught her just before she headed out."

His eyes seemed to light up. "Really?" He smiled as she nodded. "Well, lead the way."

"Of course." She grinned at him.

Deed and Otto shared a look before getting up. "Excuse us." Deed said softly as she and her sister left the table. "We forgot something. Sein, we need your help with it too."

"Sure thing!" She grinned and left as soon as Vice was seated at the table with Signum and Schach looking at him. Agito was sitting on the table, enjoying the small amount of tea she was drinking.

Agito grinned the moment she saw Vice. "Hey, Vice," she greeted. "How's everything going?"

"Good enough." Vice laughed sheepishly. "Mostly just been doing some light errands and cargo transports for Hayate and the others... though I got shot at once."

Signum blinked and raised an eyebrow at him. "Shot at? What happened?" She wasn't too worried about him being hit, he was an excellent helicopter pilot.

"I don't know, honestly." Vice frowned. "I was delivering some materials for building Intelligent Devices, and while I was at the drop-off point someone shot at me and tried to make away with some of the stuff."

Signum blinked. "... Wait, they shot at you?"

"Well, yeah. I was making a ground delivery."

Schach frowned softly. "Did they get away?"

"Hell no, I sniped all of them in the leg." Vice chuckled softly and took a sip of the tea. "Sein's gotten good at making this stuff, hasn't she?"

Schach nodded at that. "Oh yes. To think that just a few weeks ago she couldn't boil water without causing problems... At least that was just because she didn't pay attention to it."

"Her concentration's gotten much better," Vice agreed. "She actually listens when she asks me for a story now instead of zoning out."

Agito snorted at that.

Signum shook her head. "It sounds amusing."

"She's very child-like at times, I think she would have rather had been causing mischief rather than terrorism." Schach said, getting a soft laugh from the others.

Vice nodded and looked at Signum. "So, Signum, what have you been up to this last month?"

Signum shrugged. "After Miyuki was injured, we were asked to guard Fiasse and Marona in her and Kyouya's place." More like Shamal had signed them up for it, but she wasn't going to complain.

Though sometimes she felt that for a woman in a relationship, Marona was... amazingly open.

"Ah... Must have been fun." Vice shook his head.

"It was... I think Vita had a lot of fun interrogating some of the people we caught." Signum took another sip of her tea. "There were more devices than we had thought in use."

Schach frowned softly. "What do you mean?"

Signum sighed softly and shook her head. "It's why we went to Earth, apparently somehow, someway, prototype devices ended up getting shipped to Earth..." She looked around before leaning in and whispering low. "We may have found where they're coming from... But the place is on the very edge of the TSAB's control."

Vice winced as he thought about that. "Oh... That's..." He trailed off as Signum nodded and sighed. "Be careful out there, it's practically lawless, being so far from the main headquarters."


Signum blinked at that before she smiled, slowly. "Thank you. I'll try my best to be, though I make no promises."

Vice shrugged and smiled. He knew he'd worry about her either way, but at least she seemed willing to try for his sake.

Schach nodded at her. "Good, but do try to not get hurt too badly. It wouldn't be good to find out that you got hurt badly out there." Oh, she knew that Signum might get hurt, that was the price that they paid for being fighters, mages, and TSAB employees.

"Teana, Agito and Ginga are going to be going with me." Signum said softly as she leaned back. "I'm fairly certain that nothing more than checking out a few activities that aren't totally legal. We'll check for any Lost Logia that might be getting dealt as well." She just hoped that it would be simple in and out.

...

Why did she suddenly feel a chill down her back?

"Signum?" Vice blinked. "You okay?"

"Huh?"

"You just shivered like a cold breeze blew by, and it's still very warm."

"I think I am." Signum sighed softly. "I think I might be a little paranoid, that's all."

Agito blinked curiously up at her master, then shrugged and went back to her tea.

Vice nodded at her, smiling softly. "Hey, you'll be fine. I can't think of anyone tougher to go on such a mission. Just be careful and watch your back."

Signum nodded, smiling softly at him. "Thank you."

"Hey, don't forget, Signum, Vice and I are here if you need to talk to us." Schach said to Signum, smiling softly.

"Thank you." Signum smiled softly, a warm feeling going though her body.

(---)

Days later, on a small ship, Teana found herself sighing as she sat in a small room reading a book as Ginga lay on the bed, playing a game, as they waited for the ship to get out of hyper-space. "Sure is taking awhile, huh?" Ginga, dressed in a tank-top and panties, said as she turned off her game and sat up.

"Yeah..." Teana nodded and marked her page. "Sorry I'm not much for company."

Ginga giggled softly. "It's okay..."

"...Hey, Ginga, I was wondering something."

"What?" Ginga blinked at her as Teana gave her a curious look.

"How come you got so close to Wendi and Nove anyway?" Teana was curious, since she couldn't figure it out herself. "For that matter, why did Wendi and Nove get together? Weren't they raised as sisters?"

Ginga chuckled. "Why are you so close to Subaru?"

Teana blinked. "Ah... well..."

"To be fair to them, Jail didn't exactly enforce sisterly feelings." Ginga sat up on her bed slightly to better focus on her game. "He said they were sisters, but he never really did anything to make them realize the true meaning of being sisters."

"So... they never knew...?"

"Well, I'm sure they love their sisters like I love Subaru, I don't doubt that. It's just... for them, it was a much blurrier line."

Teana frowned. "So... why did you get close to them?"

Ginga chuckled softly and shook her head. "I have no clue, honestly. Nove asked me on a date because she was worried about Wendi laughing at her. Honestly, I think that the two of them only wanted me to be with them because I helped Nove out and I didn't try to take her away from Wendi..."

Teana shook her head. "Sounds complicated..."

"It was." Ginga sighed heavily. "Nove's actually very insecure about everything around herself. She wants stuff, but she's afraid to go for it. Wendi's more secure about herself, but she's afraid of losing what she has." Ginga shrugged slightly. "It was hard for the first little while. Nove and Wendi... I honestly think that they're soul-mates... If you believe in that, that is."

"Really?" Teana blinked, surprised.

"Yeah, I think so."

Teana hesitated. "Then..."

"Yeah?"

"Where do you fit in?" Teana's voice was timid. "I mean, I've never heard of someone having more than one soul-mate, not counting Nanoha-san."

---

Back home, Subaru wondered if she should've taken the time to mention that she'd messed with the room's security and such so that Wendi and Nove could hear what was being said.

"I don't know, to be honest, I thought they were just letting me come along until they figured themselves out. Then we went to the beach one day..."

Teana's voice was heard next. "What happened there?"

"We got close... Things might have gotten a little out of hand, but when the two finally stopped beating around the bush..." Ginga was heard sighing. "So, things got heavy between the three of us, I was about to leave, but Nove pulled me back and things happened... Lots of things, we became lovers that day."

"Oh... Wow..."

"So, Teana, when did you and Subaru become lovers?"

"..."

"Teana?"

"You know, you just kind of dodged my question..."

"Huh?"

At Ginga's curious tone, Nove stirred. "Come on, Wendi, this is--"

"SHHHH! I wanna hear what happens next!"

"You just said you didn't know... if you think Wendi and Nove are soul mates, why do you stay with them? If that's true, they can leave you at any time... just wake up one day and realize they love each other and not you..."

"I know... I can see them leaving me if they want to... But they make me feel really good. Even if they don't feel that way about me in the end, I'm glad that i helped them out..."

"Ginga... You... You're taking this well..." Teana sounded surprised.

"Hey, they kicked my butt when we first met, I think I've got a scar on my butt somewhere from that, but anyway, I honestly don't know why they stay with me. I'm glad that they do, but if they wanted to leave me, I wouldn't stop them."

"You love them... Don't you?"

"Enough to not hate them if they left me."

Wendi looked at Nove. "You wouldn't leave her, would you?"

Nove shrugged and grimaced. "No... Why would she think we would?"

"Now answer my question, Teana... Why did you fall for Subaru?"

"Other than her being stubborn and persistant?" Teana asked dryly.

Ginga laughed. "She is rather stubborn. She got it from Mom."

"Believe me, I know." Teana sighed. "I... she makes me feel so good. I always feel so confident, even if I'm just thinking of her. She loves me a lot, which honestly amazes me because I know I'm not as kind to her as I could be..."

"Ah..."

"Yeah... and, you know... when Nanoha-san was having her babies, and Subaru was all excited... I really wouldn't mind having her baby in a few years. If, you know, there was a way to do that."

Listening in, Subaru blushed hard and started poking her fingers together. If she had known that Teana would allow that, she would have brought it up. She blinked as Wendi clapped her on the back, grinning at her.

"Good job!" Wendi grinned at her as Subaru blushed more.

"Really? I honestly see Subaru as the one carrying your child more than you carrying hers."

"Wait? There is a way?"

"Possibly, you'd need to see a doctor first, but yes. But you seem more like the one who would get Subaru pregnant rather than she get you pregnant."

"Ginga!"

"What? It's true. You seem more masculine than Subaru is at times."

"Okay, so I take charge in the bedroom, Subaru's submissive. What about you?"

"Wendi's actually the one who's the most forward between the three of us. Nove likes getting back at her though." Ginga's voice was heard laughing.

"And you?" Teana was clearly amused.

There was a long moment of silence; finally, Ginga coughed quietly.

"Honestly, I... I don't really do so much..." Ginga's voice softened. "I thought maybe that would make things easier if they ever asked me to walk away. Mostly I just let them do whatever they want and take what they want to give me."

"Kind of passive, huh?"

"Yeah, I know... I'm actually a little worried." Ginga was chuckling softly.

"About what?"

"That... That if they do leave me... That I'll end up being hurt badly."

"Do you love them?"

"I... I don't know, honestly." Ginga sighed. "I think I do, I really think I do, and, it scares me that they don't love me."

"You think they don't?"

"I honestly can't tell... I just know that when it's the two of them, they seem so happy, like everything's right in their world, and I think... I'm afraid that I'm just something they're used to and don't need." Ginga sighed softly. "I could live without them, I know I could, but I really don't want to."

"Ginga..."

There was a knock on the door, the sound of the door opening and someone stepping in. "Signum, what can we do for you?"

"We're almost there. Get dressed, we arrive in two hours."

"Yes, ma'am." Both Ginga and Teana said at the same time as it sounded like Signum left the room.

"Turn it off..." Wendi sighed as Subaru did so. "Ne, Subaru..."

The blue-haired girl looked at Wendi. "What?"

"Why did you choose Teana? She seems mean to you sometimes? Why fall in love with her?"

Subaru frowned. "Well, yeah, she is sometimes, but... she was the one who always supported me, even when we were training with Nanoha-san. And we're alone and it's just us... she's so loving and sweet. It's hard for her to be public about it."

Wendi nodded and looked at Nove. "What's wrong?"

"Does... Does Ginga think that we'll just leave her?" Nove frowned, she couldn't imagine just leaving her lover like that.

"Sounds like it." Subaru shrugged. "Honestly, Gin-nee's only been one or two serious relationships... and she's never been in love before."

"oh... Hey, Wendi..."

"Yeah?"

"We should take Ginga out on a date when she gets back."

Wendi grinned at that thought. "Yeah... A night where she gets anything she wants?" Seeing Nove nod, she chuckled. "Awesome."

(---)

"So, how close are we?" Teana asked as she walked up to the bridge with Signum, Ginga on her other side.

"Getting close, I think." Signum shrugged. "I just know they want us to come and meet on the bridge for something."

"Ah, good, you're here." The captain, an older man with a gray beard and hair said as he stood up, dressed in a blue uniform. "This is the planet, Ukuro." He said and gestured to the planet as it came up on the view screen. "A completely industrialized planet. Heavy pollution, smog, the rain's slightly acidic, so don't stay outside for too long if it does start to rain."

The three nodded and looked over the planet. "There's no vegetation here, how do people live here?" Teana asked no one in particular.

"Food's mostly imported in. There are factories that can grow food for cheap, so people can survive." The captain said and pressed a few buttons. "You'll need to blend in, make it look like you're the scum of the universe." In front of each of them were some worn brown clothes that would hang loosely around their bodies. "Anyone goes in looking like they belong to the TSAB, they aren't going to come out alive, or at least, not as pretty."

"You sound like you've had some experience with this." Signum said as she picked up her clothes. "I take it we should keep our devices on us."

"If you didn't, I'd say you're stupid. I know you can do magic without them, but it's better to be safe than sorry after all." The captain said as he pressed a few button, a display screen popping up, displaying a one-story building that was rather long. "This would be your best bet to start. It's a remodeled meeting hall that's used for auctioning off stolen goods. If anyone would have unstable or prototype TSAB tech, it would be here."

"What about Agito?" Teana gestured to the tiny Unison Device as she struggled into her clothes, grumbling and muttering all the while. "She kind of stands out."

The captain sighed at that. "Keep her close to you. You can't hide her completely, but don't let her attract attention to you. Unison Devices aren't common on this planet, so she'll attract attention either way. Try your best to keep her low-profile." He looked at Agito. "You got that? No crazy stunts, no flashy fireworks."

Agito nodded.

"What about your full form?" Teana asked as Agito shook her head.

"Can't manage magic too well with it." The redheaded device muttered softly.

"At least if she's near your group, you shouldn't be bugged too much. Unison devices are rare enough for the TSAB, if, say, criminals have one, other criminals are less likely to bother them." The captain spoke up. "Ladies, we'll arrive in 45 minutes, go get changed and head down there."

"Yes sir." The three said and turned to leave.

"Oh, and ladies..."

"Yes?"

"Good luck." The man smiled at them. You're going to need it. He thought to himself.

"Suddenly, I'm not looking forward to this mission," Teana murmured.

Ginga just shrugged as Agito finally got into her clothes, landing on Signum's shoulder. "So..." The purple-haired woman looked at the pair. "How do we hide Agito, or keep her from attracting attention?"

"My shirt has a pocket on the left front side. She can hide in there." Signum said. "Plus she's closer in case I need to unison."

"You all right with that, Agito?" Teana asked.

The small Unison Device nodded. She didn't mind hiding in Signum's pocket, it was actually quite comfortable.

"Alright." Signum said as she entered her room. "Let's get changed and get down there."

The younger two nodded at her as they went to their room to change.

(---)

Teana, dressed in brown, slightly ragged, clothing, grimaced at the air. "Bleah." She knew that she'd get used to it, but it was still pretty repugnant. It didn't help that the skies were fairly darkened by various smog clouds and other things.

Signum nodded and looked at the buildings, they were fairly unimpressive, slate gray, some windows, mostly metal and square. "Let's go." She said as she saw the building that they were looking for in the distance.

"It's close by?" Ginga asked.

Signum nodded again. It was one of the few blessings for the mission, in any case; they didn't have to go very far to get to where they wanted to be.

All in all, it only took them a few minutes to reach the building. Thankfully, everyone seemed more interested in minding their own business than checking out the newcomers.

The inside was dark, but that was due to the low lighting and the dark paint on the walls than anything else. It was larger inside than Signum had thought, lots of round tables in the place. Finding an empty table, the group sat down, just as someone walked onto the stage on the far end.

"Welcome everyone. Thank you for waiting. Our next item for bid is this lovely control console for any space ship. Using this would allow anyone to plot a course anywhere in the universe easily. Salvaged off of a patrol ship that somehow exploded last month." There was a general chuckling from the people in the room. "The bidding shall start at 90."

Somehow exploded last month? Teana hissed.

Ginga sighed. My department's been tracking this. It's a black market trade for weapons and new Devices.

Signum nodded as she watched people bid for it. I'm not surprised about this at all. The law doesn't apply as much out here. It's like a cockroach den. Squish a few, there's millions more in hiding.

"Sold to the man in the blue fur coat for 200. Next on our list is this interesting Storage Device. It's said to be able to turn anything into ash within a moment of being exposed to its heat. I don't know where this one came from, folks, it's a total mystery to me. The bidding starts at 250!"

Teana raised a brow. You know...

Yes? Signum glanced at her.

I hate to be picky or anything, but this is some pretty low-grade stuff they're pawning off. I see these kinds of things back home all the time.

Ginga nodded. It's incredibly hard to get the rare stuff, but if we poke around a bit...

It took hours, but by then the low-grade stuff had gotten away and new stuff came up.

"And this... This is a fairly rare find, folks. An actual Intelligent Device from a TSAB mage that disappeared a month ago." The announcer held up a black cube. "As you know, Intelligent Devices are rare even within the TSAB, so finding one out here is a near miracle. Bidding starts at 10,000."

Teana nearly stood up but Ginga grabbed her and stopped her. Don't. You'll blow our cover.

But...

That's not even the best they could have. Ginga's voice was soft. Sit. Wait. That's important, but there's more to come.

Agito squirmed slightly in Signum's pocket. She was starting to get warm.

"And sold for 30,000. We're going to take a small break now folks. When we come back, a really rare treat! An actual Belkan Unison Device, just sit right back and relax."

As applause erupted, the three exchanged stunned looks. "Did he just say a Belkan Unison Device?" Teana whispered.

Agito growled, to her, that was more than enough to check out the back. "We have to check it out."

Ginga nodded at her. "Right, but if we all slip back there, it would be suspicious..." She trailed off and looked at Teana. "You can do it, right?"

Teana smirked and nodded. "Stealth and spying are a specialty of mine after all." At least they were with that invisibility power of hers.

Signum nodded at her and leaned close. "Keep us updated..." She looked around and saw that no one was paying attention. "Go, now."

Teana nodded and in a flicker, she vanished.

Agito grumbled. "I wanted to go..."

Signum sighed. "Fine. Just stay close."

Agito nodded as she slipped out of Signum's pocket, flew to the floor and raced over it, knowing that most people wouldn't look down for a small, speedy object, and then disappeared after Teana.

Slipping past the door to the back, Teana was glad that it was already slightly open. She had Cross Mirage in single gun mode out and held in front of her. Looking around the stuff, she grimaced, most of it wasn't very rare, but there were a few things that could be found here and there. Books, tomes, magical artifacts, a small cage with a whimpering blond-haired girl in a skin-tight black suit that looked weak, an orb that hovered in mid-air, a...

Teana blinked and turned back to the cage. "The device..." She whispered and went to the cage, making sure not to rattle it too much. "Hey..."

"Don't... Don't hurt me..." The girl whimpered and curled into a ball and trembled slightly.

Flickering, Teana came back into view as she undid the lock on the cage and gently, very gently pulled the device out of the cage. "Hey, I won't hurt you... I'm..."

"Teana!" Agito yelled and zipped over to her.

"Agito?"

"Hey! You!" Teana looked up, seeing a balding, fat, hairy man in a tank-top and black pants, yell at her. "Let go of that property!"

Teana sneered at him, pointed Cross Mirage and shot for his leg, only to curse as a shield appeared in front of him.

"Nice try, girlie, but I've gone up against my fair share of TSAB mages, you're nothing but a little girl with a fancy gun." The man sneered at her. "I'll be glad to sell that for you once I'm done having my fun with your body." He grinned lecherously at her.

Agito knew the captain had said no fancy tricks, but this bastard deserved it. "Teana, stay put!" she called, zipping past the shooter.

The bald man blinked as Agito hurtled towards him. "What the.. hey, another Unison Device! I can--"

At that moment, Agito set off her pride and joy-her fireworks.

Right in the man's face.

Teana cringed. "Ouch," she whispered, before turning back to the Unison Device in her hand. "Don't worry," she said softly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Please.." The device whimpered and looked at her. "Help me."

"Don't worry, I will." Teana said and held her close. "They won't get you anymore."

She didn't look like Rein or Agito, which meant she probably depended on a different element... shaking her head, Teana looked up. "Agito, come on, we've got to go."

The redhead nodded and flew after Teana as she ran for the back of the room, only to stop and curse as she ducked behind a few boxes as more people piled in from the outside. "Agito!" She cried out as the device flew next to her. Signum! Ginga! There's a problem! I'm cut off.

What do you mean, cut off? Ginga asked.

There's a lot of people down here, and they're coming in fast. Teana cradled the Unison Device closer protectively. I can try to fight my way out, but I'm outnumbered and I can't tell if they have Devices with them.

We'll be there, just hang on. Signum's voice was heard over the communication.

The device opened her eyes, which were green. "I'm sorry... This is my fault." She whimpered.

"No it ain't." Agito growled and tossed a few fireballs out.

"Just be silent and get close." Teana muttered as Agito grabbed her shirt as she flickered and disappeared. Hopefully they could slip out without getting into a fight along the way.

Considering the way that her leg was hit as she moved by a thrown pipe, that threw that theory out the window. "Oww..." She grunted as her illusion flickered.

"Teana?" Agito asked nervously.

"I'm fine, give me a minute." Teana grimaced as she rolled to her knees, her barrier jacket appearing around her a moment later. To hell with secrecy right now. She pulled up Cross Mirage, smiling as it went to Dagger mode and sliced through oncoming debris. "Agito, cover fire." She said as several balls of energy floated around her. "Crossfire Shoot!" She cried out, the balls lancing out and smashing through several of the debris and into people.

"Behind." Agito grimaced as she fired several flames at some guards coming from behind Teana.

"Damn, where is..?" Teana sighed as the doors to the outside were blown off their hinges as Signum and Ginga broke through. "Thanks." She called out, shooting one of the guards in the knee, making him fall to his knees.

"I swear..." Signum shook her head and punched an oncoming guard in the face before blocking a piece of debris.

Ginga had rolled foward, dodging a crate thrown at her before she kicked one of the people in her way. "Come on!" She frowned as Teana limped slightly. "Hang on." She grabbed Teana and lifted her up and put Teana onto her back as she rolled out the door.

Signum twitched, grimacing slightly. This was all shot to hell. Finding out information... Why did things have to go to hell like this? She blocked a box with Laevantine as she covered the backs of everyone else, before blinking as a few devices fell to the ground. "Thanks." She said as she grabbed them and ran. There wasn't enough room to fight effectively here.

"Signum!" Agito went back to her master.

"Oh, hell." Teana winced. "Should I..."

"Let her go," Ginga muttered. "She can probably help more than you, in any case."

"Gee, thanks so much." Teana blinked at the small whimper before she remembered her cargo. "Wait, Ginga, put me down. She's hurt."

"Huh?"

"The Unison Device. She's really weak, and this is hurting her. Put me down. I'll limp."
Ginga nodded at hearing that and put Teana down gently as more people started piling out of various buildings, waving weapons at the small group.

"Holy hell, what's going on here?" Ginga yelled as she rolled forward, dodging an attack, before kicking the person in the face.

"Arrrr! Get the theives! They're stealing the goods!" An older man with one eye, a greasy white beard and wearing blue, ratted clothing called to the others, working them into a frenzy as his sword suddenly flashed and with a downwards slash, a wave of magical energy lashed out, slicing through the ground and a few people as Ginga and Teana jumped to the side to avoid it.

"They sound like cheap pirate imitations," Teana gasped out, pulling Cross Mirage up to her face and held in a defensive position.

"Yeah, well, they're pretty damn dangerous--" Ginga muttered as she dodged another swing at her head and kneed the woman in the gut, driving the air out of her attacker's lungs, driving her to her knees.

Teana heard the shot before she saw the flash of light; cradled in her hand, the Unison Device let out a small cry. "Look out!"

Teana turned around and braced herself.

Just in time to see Ginga stand in front of her, her hand held forward and take the shot, the bullet ripping right through her back, causing her to fall in a spray of blood.

Ginga gasped and stumbled backwards. "Barrier... Piercing... Great..." She mumbled, the bullet piercing just above her right breast, blood pooling out of both holes. Slumping to her knees, she grimaced. "Heh... Well, if I have to go, at least I'll go down fighting."

"I'm sorry..." The small device said in Teana's hands as Teana got close to Ginga and shot at a few of the criminals, some of them pulling out various magical and non-magical weapons.

"Just be quiet." Teana grimaced as she saw Signum fly through the air, flaming wings blazing as her unison powered through as she rained flaming destruction on various enemies. "We'll get you out of here."

"But..."

"No buts." Teana knelt over Ginga. "Are you okay?"

"... Ow..." Ginga twitched feebly. "Oh, man, my karma sucks. First I'm worried about my relationship, then this happens." She laughed weakly.

"Hey, as long as you can laugh about it." Teana pressed her free hand to the wound, trying to stem the blood flow.

"I can help." The device said softly as she winced and stood up. "I can fight them..."

Teana shook her head. "No... You're hurt, my ankle hurts and Ginga's injured, you can't do much."

"I can do this much..." The device floated up and tossed an arm to the side as she looked at Teana. "Unison..."

Teana's eyes widened. "Wait..."

"In!" In a flash, the device merged with Teana, getting a gasp from the orange-haired girl as she felt filled with a new sense of power rip through her. Winds ripped around her as Teana's orange hair turned blond, her eyes green, her uniform went from white and red to blue, green and yellow as the unison completed, even Cross Mirage looked slightly yellow.

Looking at the people around her, Teana shifted Cross Mirage to dual-hand mode and fired a few shots, they were far faster and far more deadly as the bullets went ripping with the speed of the wind, spiraling, twisting and skewering people, objects and attacks, rendering them useless.

Above her, Signum and Agito looked down and were surprised at the unison that had happened. "Quite a strong device." Signum muttered as she turned and lashed down with Laevantine's snake form, knocking several people away with ease and injuring some of the others. "I think we're going to need a clean up crew..."

"Or we can burn them all to ash!" Agito grinned suddenly, one that was nearly mirrored on Signum's face as she smirked softly.

"Indeed."

If you're going to do that, please watch your aim, Ginga pleaded mentally.

Will do. Signum smirked, then blinked as the men crashed into barriers. "Huh?"

Ginga smirked as she sat up, ignoring the blood that gushed from her wound. "I can do something, at least," she murmured.

Continued in the next post...

[Nanya01]

Continuing...

Spoiler for Partners PT II:

Teana was surrounded by a soft breeze, one that was visible to people as she walked forward slowly. Slowly, because she was fighting back the urge to run forward as fast as she could, become one with the wind. "Tornado Burst!" Both Teana and the Device said at the same time as Teana held her guns apart, holding her arms in a 'V' formation as she fired a few shots, the magic bullets suddenly stopping, exploding and turning into tornadoes which sucked various people into them and sent them and various debris spiraling up and away.

Teana blinked as she could feel everything on the battlefield, everything, from every hair on Ginga's body too the heat that was radiating from the Unison'd Signum. "How?"

"I control the wind... I can feel everything... You and I are now one, you feel what I can feel." The device whispered to her softly.

Teana smiled to herself. "You're a heck of a partner... Uh, do you have a name?"

"No..." The device said sadly. "No one has ever named me before."

"Very well, your name from now on... Is Teela."

"Teela?" The device blinked as Teana shot a powerful hurricane gust at some people trying to get her from the side.

"Like it?" Teana asked as she threw up a shield, one of wind, that caused incoming magic attacks to collide against each other in the spiraling mass of energy winds.

The Device repeated the name a few times before she smiled, timidly. "It's a pretty name," she whispered.

Teana smirked, her newly green eyes glinting as she fired more shots. She crossed her wrists and fired a few close shots, blinking as the wind pooled together, spinning out of control as people were pulled into the vortex and then thrown out before the winds died out. "This... This is incredible..." Teana muttered as she jumped to avoid an attack, her eyes widening as she could feel herself not falling to the whims of gravity. "How?"

"I said, I control the wind. That includes how heavy you are in it." Teela said as she pointed a finger out, making a gun motion, Teana following it and pointed at a nearby building. "Now watch this... Vacuum blast!" She and Teana cried out at the same time as Cross mirage shot something that wasn't air, she couldn't see it, which was weird, she could actually see air currents now, but she couldn't see this. It was almost as if...

"An absence of air?" Teana asked, blinking a few times as the shot sliced the building in twain, destroying it completely.

"Yes, an elemental device can control all aspects of their element perfectly. The fire device, I have no doubt, can strip heat away from something, causing it to freeze, or extinguish fire that is heading towards her and her partner."

Teana winced. "That... sounds a little cruel, somehow."

"It kind of us. It depends on what kind of personality the Device has."

Teana shot a look at the Unisoned Signum and Agito. "Somehow, I can see them doing that... Ginga! How are you?"

Gripping the wound with her hand, Ginga smirked at Teana. "This, this is nothing, been hurt worse before." Still, watching Teana command the winds was rather awe-inspiring, now if only she could find a unison device some day...

Still, this wasn't the time nor the place to worry about that. Staggering to her feet, Ginga rolled forward quickly, making sure to take a few stragglers out. Thankfully with Teana throwing tornadoes and Signum flaming everything around her, Ginga didn't have to worry about too much. Even that wannabe pirate with the deadly sword wasn't bothering her at that time.

Suddenly Ginga paused, blinking. "What the..."

Her vision was blurry. It only last a minute--she blinked and it was gone, she could see clearly again--but for a moment, she'd almost been blind.

Blood loss must be going to my head...

She shook her head. Oh well, it could be worse... Maybe she needed to get out of here and let the two power-houses deal with everything? No, she couldn't. What kind of TSAB mage would back down when she could still fight?

Spying a straggler, one that was trying to snipe at Teana, Ginga dashed forward as fast as she could, her gloved hand spinning in it started to resemble a drill. "Revolver... Spi..." She faltered as the world went blurry, causing her to stumble and trip over a loose stone before she crashed to the ground. "Wha... what..?" Was all she could say as her world went dark.

"Ginga?!"

Cursing, Teana put a halt to her attack and ran to her friend's side, kneeling down beside her. "Hey! Ginga! What's wrong, are you okay?"

Ginga opened her eyes slowly and blinked groggily, trembling slightly as blood seeped out of her wound. "I'm fine," she said weakly. "I just... for a minute, I couldn't..."

"Don't move." Teana's voice was tense. "You're trembling like a leaf. What's wrong?"

"I... Heh, I'm not sure to be honest..." Ginga chuckled, her eyes were buzzing softly as they flickered on and off.

Teana cursed as Signum landed near her. "Go."

"Signum?" Teana blinked as the Signum flame flashed, a wall of fire spreading out in front of her, blocking people from getting to her.

"You two are hurt, the device is injured as well. Get Ginga to the drop-off point and call the ship to pick her up. Protecting allies is also a job of an Enforcer."

"... Fine." Teana hated doing it, but she saw no other option. Swooping Ginga up into her arms, she started to run. "You stay awake, Ginga! I'm not going back to Mid-Childa to tell Nove and Wendi that you got yourself killed protecting me!"

"I thought we already established that they don't..."

"You don't know that!"

Watching them go, Signum narrowed her eyes at the remaining combatants. "Agito..."

"Right!" The unison device called out as the two, in synch, held out their left hand, a mass of fire surrounding it, before bringing it across her body, where the glob of fire became a lancing sword, which she swung out horizontally, setting people, items and even buildings ablaze.

(---)

Teana grimaced, she could feel the Unison starting to wear down. "Are you okay, Teela?"

"I... I'm fine..." The device said softly as she panted. "Guess this is straining me and you both, huh?"

"I'm a Mid-Childan-style mage, not a Belkan-style mage, I don't think that Belkan unison devices merge well with my style." Teana joked softly. "Ginga would have been a better choice, I think." She said as she hobbled to the area in question and radioed the ship for emergency pick-up. "This mission's gone straight to hell..." Teana muttered, still, a new ally would be worth something out of it... If she survived the trip home that was.

"Uh... Teana?" the device said nervously.

"Yeah?"

"Even if your friend is a better Unison, I don't... I want to stay with you."

Ginga laughed weakly. "I'm hardly useful right now as it is..."

Teana nodded, sighing as she saw Ginga suddenly fade and warp away to the ship. "We need to help..." Her eyes widened as she dodged to the side as a powerful magical beam ripped through where she was a moment ago. "What the?!" Her eyes widened as she saw the man who was doing the auctions from before.

"You dammed TSAB freak! Doing an honest auction and you just had to stick your freaking nose where it wasn't wanted, didn't you?" The man screamed at her, holding a device in his hands. "Destroy..."

"Atomic buster!" The device said in a monotone voice as a white beam of energy snaked at Teana, who dodged and fired back a few powerful wind shots. "Barrier." The device called out as the shots hit a white shield.

"Is that the new Intelligent Devices that were encountered on Non-Administered planet 97?" Teana asked him as her barrier went up while she slowly circled him. He was the only one near her, she could feel it. The wind power that Teela granted her was incredible.

The man froze. "You know about those?"

"Your goons are horrible at keeping their testing a secret." Teana smiled thinly. "Who gave those to you? Did you steal them?"

"All I know is that these babies were given to me, I was told to send them to some non-administered planets, ones that weren't in a constant state of war, and gather data on how they worked." The man shrugged and patted his staff, it didn't look very dangerous, being no different in looks than a typical shooting-staff that trainees got back in the academy. "So, you know, don't ask, don't tell. When the person wanted the data back, they'd ask for it back. Too bad you took so long though... We've been doing this for almost three years now." He smirked as several lancing shots shot into the air. "These things... They're insane... Even someone with barely any magic like myself can use power on par with an Ace like you.."

Teana would smile at the compliment, but the wind wasn't able to block the lancing shots as they tore through her passive shield and even her active shield were straining to stop the attacks.

"Teana!"

"I'm fine, Teela... Your abilities are incredible... When we get home, I promise you that I'll introduce you to Hayate and Rein, you'll like them." Teana could feel Teela smile at her. "Just one question for you." She called to the other man.

"Yes, what?"

"If those devices are so strong and intelligent devices, how in the world can you use them?"

He smirked at her and chuckled softly. "These things... They aren't too smart for anything but battle... Stripped of nearly anything but the most basic AIs... They'll grow, but then they need to have their AIs stripped again... But they're able to allow any weak mage to use magic that you'd expect from an A-rank mage or higher. Imagine of an S-Rank had one of these!"

"Yeah, I can." Teana muttered as the energy in those attacks finally dissipated. "You're under arrest for illegal selling of stolen property, mistreatment of a Unison Device and probably a dozen other crimes when I figure them out." She called out as she pointed Cross Mirage at the man, charging up a green energy shot from both guns and firing them at him, the energy turning into blades of wind that cut the man up and made him drop his device, his hands too bloody and messy to hold anything anymore.

"That Unison Device?" The man let out a harsh bark of laughter even as Teana swooped down on him. "Hell, you can't get me on that. She's nothing but damaged junk."

At that, Teela whimpered.

Teana narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you mean?" She asked as she kicked his bloody body to the ground with her foot, turned Cross Mirage to one gun mode and picked up the Intelligent Device. At the very least she could let someone give this thing a good home after it was examined.

He laughed again. "She's so damaged from forcefully Unisoning with other masters that she's barely strong enough for anyone anymore! Hell if I know how a Mid-Childan mage like you managed to Unison with her so well in the first place..."

Her eyes widened. "Teela!"

"I... I didn't want to worry you... I... I might not last long." She said softly. "But... I can feel her... The one that gives you strength... So beautiful and strong... She's the one you love..." The blond device said softly. "Thank you, for showing me this little bit of happiness.."

"Teela, stop... Cancel it, right now... Please? I promised you! I'm taking you home and you're going to meet Rein and Hayate, and Subaru, Nove, Wendi and the rest!" Teana said, slightly hysterically as she could feel her strength from the unison ebbing away softly. "Don't you dare die on me!"

He smirked at her. "What? Already bonded to such a defect?"

"But..."

"Teela! Cancel it, now! That's an order!"

"Okay," the device said, her voice tiny. There was a brief flash, and Teana blinked, looking down to see her clothes were back to normal, Teela kneeling in the grass, trembling and panting softly. Without hesitation, Teana knelt down and scooped her up into her arms, cradling her close.

It was weird, not feeling the wind, seeing the currents, feeling everything, it was like she had suddenly gone blind, deaf and mute at the same time, still, that wouldn't matter if the device died all of a sudden without getting some help. "Teela... You'll be fine." Teana said and cast a binding spell on the man. "You, on the other hand, are not."

"Indeed." Signum's voice was heard as she and Agito floated down to the ground, in Signum's hands was a crate full of various items. "A small sample mixture of devices of various levels, go and call the ship to take us home..." She looked at the man and smirked softly. "As for our lovely guest... This wasn't a total bust after all."

"Signum, we need to take Teela back. She's hurt pretty bad."

Signum nodded as she saw the Unison Device. "I wasn't going to leave her behind anyway." Signum said softly as Agito floated to the other device, looking concerned. A screen popped up in front of Signum. "Ah, Captain."

"What in the hell is going on down there?"

"Things went south, but we have critical information and what we were looking for, and more. Get us out of here."

"Too many to do an individual lock... Hold on." The captain muttered as the whole area around Teana, Agito, Teela, Signum, the devices and the injured criminal lit up, before they were warped out of the area.

Most of the people left on the planet were burned, traumatized, in need of hospitalization, but would live. The nightmares about a gun-toting Wind Goddess and the rumors that the outskirts of the TSAB's control and through the criminal underworld would remain for years after this however.

---

Ginga groaned. "I don't want to go to Medical."

"Ginga, don't be a baby." Despite her worry for Teela, still cradling her tightly, Teana smirked at the purple-haired woman. "That wound needs treatment, and Nove and Wendi need to fuss over you."

Ginga sighed. "Teana..."

The orange haired girl shook her head. "Look, Ginga, I'll go with you, if you want me to, my ankle needs to be looked at anyway and Teela needs to be put in a recovery pod until we get back to Mid-Childa." She sighed, and smirked sardonically at Ginga. "Why are you so against this anyway?"

Ginga looked away. "I'm scared, okay?"

"About getting your body fixed? That's kind of silly for a mage, Ginga..."

"Not that!" Ginga yelled at her, shaking her head. "Telling Nove and Wendi..."

Teana just blinked...

(---)

Back on Mid-childa, Nove blinked as the communication system came back online, letting them hear what was going on on the ship again. "Oh, hey, they're back on..." Weird, it had only been a few hours.

"Really?" Subaru jumped over the couch and landed next to Nove, leaning in eagerly "I hope it went well!"

"Sorry, Ginga, I thought you were nervous about getting that bullet hole fixed up."

"Nah, this is easy to fix, just a patch job. Your ankle's going to need some ice though."

"I might need to get it looked over by a specialist when I get back, I keep spraining it badly, I think the tendons and ligaments are getting weaker in it."

"Fine, fine, what about Teela?"

Subaru frowned and looked at Nove. "Who's Teela?"

"I don't know, this just came back on." The redhead shrugged as she frowned softly. Ginga had been shot? It didn't sound bad at any rate if she was still talking like this.

"She just needs to recover in a pod, but you dodged the question again."

"What question? You didn't ask one."

"Huh? Oh, right. Why are you scared about talking to Nove and Wendi anyway?" Teana asked, curious as their voices faded away.

Nove frowned softly. "They're moving away!"

Subaru grinned and flipped the channel on the box. "Yep, but I bugged the whole ship." She giggled softly. "Did it as a joke just to listen to Teana so I wouldn't miss her."

Nove looked at Subaru with new-found respect. "Nice... How did you know which ship..?"

"Wasn't hard..." Subaru shrugged uncomfortably, if anyone of her superiors knew that she did this, she could get into serious trouble. "Just looked for ships that were going to head out into deep space that wasn't a normal patrol ship and bugged it."

"Why do you want to know?" Ginga's voice was heard on the box.

"Maybe because I care about you?" Teana shot back. "You're Subaru's sister. You're part of her family, so I happen to care about you."

There was a long, long pause on the box; then...

"... I'm just scared... Whenever they open their mouths I'm waiting for them to ask me to leave... honestly, I kind of hoped the bullet wound would kill me..."

"If they ever heard about this, they would smack you for talking like this... But, honestly, Ginga... I can relate."

"You can?" Ginga sounded surprised as Nove and Subaru looked at each other in worry before turning back to the box completely.

"Yeah... I always knew that Subaru preferred girls over guys... I... When I started to feel the same way, I knew that she wouldn't mind if I asked, but... I was worried... Worried that she would only want me for the sex... Not for love or companionship." Teana sighed on the other end of the communications. "I miss her so much right now, actually."

"Tea..." Subaru nearly teared up as she listened in. "Why wouldn't you tell me? Why tell Gin-nee?" She knew that Teana couldn't hear her, or tell her since she wasn't there.

"Why didn't you ever tell Subaru that?" Ginga asked, seeming like she'd read her sister's mind.

"... Because... I hated myself for doubting her..." Teana sighed. "Subaru's just... she's so open, about everything, and I'm not. I've always known she loved me, even if I can't always show how much I love her, or say it, or... but there's a cynical side of me that still believes she's just in it for the thrills, or because I'm familiar, and I hate knowing that..."

"...You've been used before, haven't you?"

"My last partner on the Marriage Incident. I'd rather not talk about it too much though. I feel so bad for Subaru and Ixy though." Teana sighed as the two eavesdroppers heard a door open up. "Hello, doctor."

"Ah, here's the injured three." An older female's voice was heard. "Ah! A unison device! Oh, she's in bad shape, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she needs treatment before she passes." Ginga said there was noise heard, sounding like footsteps, rustled clothes and tubes moving.

"Don't worry, as long as nothing bothers her, she'll be fine. She'll need some time to recover fully though."

There was some silence, other than clothes being removed, or at least it sounded like it to the two as they looked at each other.

"Hey, Nove..." Subaru said softly as she looked at the redhead.

"Yeah?"

"A unison device... Sounds cool, huh?" She grinned, trying to take her mind off of what she had heard from Teana. She made a mental note to try and ease the worries from her lover as soon as she got back home.

"Yeah..." Nove nodded, but it was clear her heart wasn't in it. "Cool. Wonder what element it is."

At that point the doctor spoke up again, getting their attention. "Well, well... looks like you got shot straight through, Ginga. It missed your vitals and your spine, so you shouldn't have any lasting effects..."

Ginga laughed softly. "Thanks, Doctor."

"Good, go get some rest, it will take a few days to get back to Mid-Childa, you should be healed by then. As for you, young lady... Let's have a look at that ankle."

Nove sighed and turned off the box.

"Nove?" Subaru blinked in confusion as the redhead got up and wandered away slowly.

"I... I need to talk to Wendi." Nove said softly, the energy seemingly leaving her body with each step.

"Ah, okay." Subaru nodded. "Uh... have fun."

"Yeah..."

Days later, Nove found herself bundled up in the cold air, waiting with Subaru, Wendi, Rein and Hayate, all bundled up similarly. "Um, General Yagami..."

Hayate smiled at her and shook her head. "It's okay, Nove. I'm not on duty today. Just here to greet Agito and Signum, just like I suspect the three of you are here to greet Teana and Ginga."

Rein grinned as she saw the ship in question coming in. "Hey! I see it!" She started to get more and more excited as it got closer. "I hope everyone's alright."

Hayate nodded, Signum had said last night that the mission went decent, a few bumps along the way, but they had a distributor for the Intelligent Devices, several Intelligent Devices and a new ally. She had been tight lipped on the subject but there had been some minor injuries.

It only took the ship a few minutes to dock, and in a matter of minutes the whole crew was out.

Signum was positively swaggering; Hayate couldn't recall a time when her Knight had ever looked so smug and pleased with herself. Agito was no better than her master, with a grin on her face.

Teana walked with a faded limp in her gait, but otherwise she seemed largely fine, speaking quietly to a small blonde Unison Device that sat perched on her shoulder. The poor thing looked nervous, and had one tiny hand tangled in Teana's hair.

Ginga was moving the slowest of them, which was understandable considering her injury, but overall she looked no worse for wear. She smiled weakly and lifted a hand when she saw Nove and Wendi, even as she felt the familiar ball of fear in her stomach.

Good luck, Teana said mentally.

Thanks. You too.

Hayate smiled at the group as they got closer. "Welcome back, everyone." Her smile widened as she saw the Unison Device try to hide in Teana's hair. "This must be your new partner, Teana. Congratulations."

Teana nodded and gently lifted the device off of her shoulder. "Everyone, this is Teela, I met her on the mission and she was a great help."

Rein's eyes went wide and sparkly before she shot towards Teela, and the tiny blond yelped and nearly dove into Teana's hair when she saw the ice-based Unison Device coming. "Hi!" Rein greeted enthusiastically. "My name's Reinforce, but you can just call me Rein!"

Hayate blinked, then laughed as Agito scowled at Rein from her place with Signum. "Oi, Rein, give her some space. She's scared."

Teana giggled softly and pulled Teela away from her hair. "It's okay, Teela. Just say hello. Rein's a good person."

The device nodded and waved gently at Rein. "Hello." She smiled shakily as Rein suddenly threw her hands up in the air joyously.

"Yay!" Rein cheered and smiled happily. "Your name's Teela?"

Teela nodded shyly.

"It's a pretty name! I like it." Rein nearly gushed at her, getting the long-blond haired device to blush shyly

"Thanks." Teela smiled timidly. "Master named me when she found me."

Teana blinked. "Master?"

Behind her, Agito nearly started laughing as she clutched Signum's shoulder tightly, mostly to keep her from falling to the ground, but also to keep her from laughing hard.

Teela poked her fingers together and looked at Teana, nodding. "You saved me. You named me and we unisoned together..."

Hayate raised an eyebrow as she heard that. "Unison, huh? Impressive," she smiled at the two, "congratulations, Teana, you now have a powerful and loyal partner to help you. And you, Teela, welcome to Mid-childa."

Subaru nearly was bouncing on her feet before Teana sighed, walked up to her and smiled. "Hey, I'm back."

"Tea..." Was all Subaru said before she hugged Teana tightly, getting a gasp from the girl.

Teela, floating right behind Teana sweat-dropped. "Should I be worried about master?"

Rein shook her head and smiled. "No, because Subaru just missed her, that's all."

Signum stepped up to Hayate, her features becoming more somber. "Hayate, I hate to bring this up... But we did capture the person dealing the prototype devices and Teela here."

"Oh?" Hayate blinked as her mind slipped into its military mode. "What do you mean, Signum?"

"It seems that they've been shipping them to non-administered planets for three years now, testing them. He doesn't know where the devices come from or who makes them." She shook her head. "In other words, we're no closer to figuring it out than we were before."

"I see..." Hayate muttered, twitching slightly. She had been hoping that finding out more from where they had come from would shed some light on them. "I'll read your report on them later, Signum. Right now, you and Agito should go home." She smiled at the two of them. "I'll make you two some dinner tonight."

"Thanks." They both said, smiling at her as they walked away with Rein following.

Hayate turned to Teela and smiled at her. "I know that Teana's your partner and master, Teela, but you and her are going to need to get registered."

"It's all in my report, ma'am." Teana interrupted as Hayate nodded at her.

"I know it will be, Teana. Just procedure, that's all. Don't worry, just have her registered before your next mission, that's all."

"Yes, ma'am." Teana wondered if something was wrong with Subaru. Even when the girl was at her most affectionate, she never held on this tightly.

Ginga shook her head, amused, before walking over to where Nove and Wendi were standing. "Hey," she said softly.

"Hey, Ginga..." Nove said softly, looking at the way she was grimacing. "How did the mission go?"

Ginga felt the knot in her belly come quietly undone, at least enough for her to breathe normally. "Pretty okay," she said with a laugh. "I got shot, but I'm fine. How have you two been while I was gone?"

Ginga blinked as Wendi suddenly grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss, the redhead's tongue pushing past her lips as she gave her lover a deep kiss. Ginga might have been surprised, but it didn't take her long to get into the kiss, returning it fully as Wendi rubbed Ginga's lower back.

After a few minutes the two slowly separated, panting for air. "W...Wow... What a way to say hi." Ginga blushed as Wendi grinned at her.

Wendi shrugged and grinned. "What can I say? I missed you."

Ginga raised a brow. She'd heard a lot of things from her lovers before, but they'd never explicitly said they'd missed her when she was away.

Wendi blinked at her. "What?"

Ginga shrugged uncomfortably. "Nothing, really, just kinda surprised is all, feels nice to be missed like that."

"Hey, Ginga..."

"Yeah, Wendi?"

"Are you happy?" She asked, getting a stunned look from her lover. "Are you happy with me and Nove as your lovers?"

Once again, Ginga's eyebrow shot up. "What brought this on?" she asked.

Not that she minded all that much, honestly, but still. She was concerned.

I'm taking Subaru to my place. Teana's mental voice made her blink. She's acting weird, and Teela needs to spend the night in observation anyway.

Alright, take care, Teana, rest your ankle, okay?

No worries.

Ginga shivered slightly. "Can we go home and talk? It's getting cold out here." She was relieved as both Nove and Wendi nodded and the three left the area.

(---)

Ginga sighed as she found herself topless and on resting on her front, her head resting on her crossed arms as she got her back massaged by Nove while Wendi was sitting on the floor, looking at her. "So... right there, Nove... So what was with that question, Wendi anyway?"

Wendi blinked, then looked at Nove nervously over Ginga's head. The purple-haired girl saw the look and cringed, slowly closing her eyes as her heart clenched painfully. You knew this was coming, don't act so surprised, she chided herself mentally. You've known this would happen from day one.

"Uh... Ginga..."

Dammit, it still hurt. "Yes?"

"... How mad would you be if I told you that Subaru kind of messed with the ship... and we heard you talking to Teana?"

Ginga blinked, of all the things she was expecting, this... This wasn't it. "Subaru did what?"

Nove sighed and slowed down with her back massage. "Ginga... We... Do you really think that Wendi or I would just ask you to get out of our lives like that? You're precious to us."

Ginga blinked again. Her words had made sense when she'd spoken them to Teana, but now that she was speaking to Nove and Wendi she felt much less secure. "I... you don't need me." She kept her voice neutral, but the pain was in her eyes. "Neither of you need me, not the way you need each other or..." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "The way I need you both. You'd be perfectly happy without me. I've seen you two together."

"Maybe..." Nove said softly. "But.. Ginga, if... If it wasn't for you... We wouldn't have gotten together, and... Even if Wendi and I need each other... We need you too."

Wendi nodded as she got close to Ginga and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Ginga... It just wouldn't be right if you weren't here with us. I love Nove... And... I love you." She cupped the back of Ginga's head and kissed the stunned Ginga on the lip again, gently, tenderly, lovingly.

Ginga returned the kiss without even thinking, it came as naturally to her as breathing. Even as she kissed Wendi she could feel Nove hugging her quietly from behind, nuzzling against her as close as possible.

After several minutes, Wendi slowly pulled apart. "How did you ever think about this by yourself?" she asked softly. The thought that Ginga had been harboring this inside and hurting because of it was painful to both redheads, even if Wendi was being more vocal about it.

Nove said nothing, but she tightened her grip on Ginga.

Even if she was certain while talking to Teana about her worries, now... Now she wasn't so certain. "I... I just thought that the two of you didn't need me. I always caught the way that you gave Nove more attention when we made love... Or how you would hold her close. I never thought you really wanted or needed me as much as you two needed each other. If something happened to me, you two would be fine, but..." She stopped as she was rolled over onto her back suddenly, her breasts swaying from the motion as Nove suddenly captured her lips fiercely, robbing her of her ability to speak anymore, Nove's clothed breasts pressing against her naked ones as they kissed.

It didn't take long for the kiss to rob her of her ability to think coherently, as well. Nove had never been the most affectionate of the three, but she was doing a swell job of making Ginga's mind go cloudy.

Nove only broke the kiss because she desperately needed oxygen, and Ginga inhaled deeply, trembling. "N-Nove?" she squeaked.

Normally such a comment would have been enough to anger Nove as it was, but after hearing Ginga explain to Teana why she'd acted the way she did when the three of them had sex was enough to make her blood boil.

"Do you honestly think... For one moment... That you aren't important? That we don't love you?" Nove narrowed her eyes at Ginga. "I'll let you know right now that if you weren't important I wouldn't share my bed with you. I wouldn't hold you at night, I wouldn't make love to you." She leaned in and rested her forehead against Ginga's. "I love you, dammit!"

Ginga was stunned and shaken, deeply. She could see the truth in Nove's eyes, could hear it in her voice, and hesitantly she reached up, cupping the redhead's cheek. "Nove, I..." She blinked and jolted briefly as Wendi crawled in next to her hugging her tightly.

"Wendi?"

"Ginga, don't you dare think we'll kick you out of our bed. This bed... The three of us share it. That's how it's going to be, understand?" Nove narrowed her eyes slightly. "Don't you dare... Don't you dare thing that we would kick you out of the bed..."

Wendi nodded as she gave the side of Ginga's breast a soft kiss. "Ginga... If we kicked you out... The bed would be cold." She teased lightly. "And I like holding you and Nove, smelling you both after a long, hard day, or when we're done making love. So, Ginga... Don't you doubt yourself... or us again, please?"

Ginga nodded slowly even as she pulled them both closer and held them tightly. "Okay," she whispered.

"Oh, and..." Wendi gave her a slow, lazy smile. "You can be more assertive in bed, you know. You won't hear us complaining."

Nove got a smirk on her face and leaned down, kissing Ginga again, deeply.

She didn't think about it anymore after that.

---

Teana sighed as she stepped out of the shower, brushing her hair back and dressed in only her panties and a long, loose shirt. She frowned.

Subaru had been acting strangely ever since they'd gotten back to the apartment; she just kept looking at Teana, like she was afraid she would disappear, and besides her greeting hug, she hadn't touched her once.

It was annoying and a little troublesome. Teana was suddenly grateful Teela was staying away overnight this time.

Spotting Subaru dressed in boxer-style yellow panties and a tank top talking to Teela over a communication screen, Teana walked up to her girlfriend and suddenly put her into a headlock, pulling her back so that she was laying down next to her. "Okay, Subaru, what's wrong with you? Normally you would have kissed me or at the very least offered to shower with me, are you feeling alright?"

"Master?" Teela blinked, surprised, as the communication screen flickered.

"Hey, Teela." Teana didn't even loosen her grip on Subaru as she smiled at her new partner. "Do you mind if I talk to you tomorrow? I need to ask Subaru something."

Teela shrugged, then nodded and ended the connection.

"Ack! Tea... Why?" Subaru tried to get out of the headlock, not too hard, but she tried.

"Why are you acting weird, Subaru?" Teana asked, irritated at her girlfriend. "It's not like you."

Subaru winced and squirmed, but Teana had a strong grip, even if it was gentle. "I'm not acting weird."

"Then why haven't you kissed or groped me since we got back? Hell, Subaru, you didn't even try to join me in the shower..." Teana sighed sadly. "I could have used some relief."

Subaru looked at her girlfriend as Teana's face was flushed slightly. "T...Tea?"

"Yeah, I was waiting for you to jump in the shower with me and help me get some relief, okay?" Teana was blushing harder with each word. "What's wrong, Subaru? You're acting like you did something you shouldn't have."

Subaru looked up at Teana nervously for a moment before she squirmed and managed to get free of Teana's grip. "Well, I... kind of..."

Teana sighed. "What now?"

"I just... was playing around, and rigged some of the audio on the ship as a joke to hear things..." Subaru took a deep breath. "And I... heard you talking to Gin-nee..."

Teana blinked, her face paling slightly. "S...Subaru... You..." She paled worse as Subaru nodded at her. "You... Subaru, I never..."

Subaru shook her head. "No... You... I know it... You were serious, weren't you? You think I'm only using you because your familiar or just using you for sex relief."

It was amazing how pale one's face could go in such a short amount of time. In that minute, Teana's strength failed her completely; she sat quietly on the floor, trembling, and closed her eyes.

"Tea?" Subaru was off the bed and by her side in a heartbeat.

"I... I didn't mean it... Subaru..." Tears started to slip from Teana's eyes as she opened them to look at her girlfriend. "Deep down, I worry that maybe you don't love me, but... I never tell you, because..." She trailed off, unable to finish that sentence.

"Because?" Subaru prodded as she looked at Teana curiously, and a little worried for her girlfriend.

"...I'm scared..." She said in a soft, weak voice.

"Scared?" Subaru blinked.

"Yes... that maybe I'm right, and you don't... love me, you just see me as something familiar, or just for fun..." Teana swallowed hard. "And I know it's so stupid, but... it scares me to think that..."

"Why?"

"... Because I love you..."

"Tea..." Subaru said in a soft, gentle voice as she moved one hand to Teana's cheek, cupping it softly as she lifted up her girlfriend's face to look her in the eye. "Tea... You aren't a one-night stand like those other girls were back in the academy. I understood that back then, so did they. You... I... When I first saw you, I thought you were so beautiful, so strong... I wanted, more than anything, to be someone special to you." A small smile appeared on her face. "Maybe it's just because you're so familiar to me, that we've worked together for so long... But, I'd like to think that it's because we have worked together for so long that we can become something more, Tea..."

Teana took a deep breath. "What's the difference?"

"Tea?"

"For you, what's the difference between... I don't know, a one night stand and a real relationship?" Teana blushed slightly. "I never had either while I was at the academy, so I don't know the difference, if one exists at all."

Subaru smiled softly. "A one night stand... Just what it sounds like. One night, no attachments, no commitments, just fun, pleasure, and if you're lucky, you'll wake up to find your partner still there with you. But, a real relationship..." She took a deep breath. "It's one where you know you can trust them, watch them, love them, knowing that they feel the same way. One where you can talk about how you feel, your worries, your fears, complain, argue and fight, and still be there for them when they need someone to lean on." She shifted uncomfortably as Teana looked at her with a slightly weird gaze in her eyes. "At least, that's what it's supposed to be. Those girls," Subaru shook her head, "they were just for fun. But, Tea... maybe I'm young, maybe I don't know everything, maybe I shouldn't say this but... I love you too."

Something inside Teana tightened painfully, then released. She blew out a long, ragged breath and closed her eyes, stunned to realize she was trembling.

"Tea?" Subaru scrambled closer, afraid she'd done something wrong. She seemed prone to doing that sometimes, especially with Teana.

"I... Those words..." Teana kept her eyes closed as she felt her eyes start to burn. "I... Do you mean it, Subaru?" She needed to hear them, one more time.

Subaru nodded, even though Teana couldn't see it. "Teana Lanstar... I love you... So much... Just looking at you, right now... My heart flutters and I want to hold you... If yoummph!" Her eyes widened as she was tackled to the ground, Teana's lips pressed to hers as Teana's warm body pressed against hers tightly.

Subaru was quite used to the sensation of being pinned down like this; it hadn't taken too long for Teana to establish that she was the dominant one in the relationship when it came to these kind of matters, a fact that amused Subaru to no end. So for her, this wasn't a new thing.

What was new, though, was the way Teana was kissing her. It was a deep, hungry kiss--but in a way gentle, soft, even as she pressed closer. Teana had never kissed her like this before, like she was afraid that the moment she pulled away, Subaru would disappear.

So Subaru held her, even after Teana ended the kiss gently, Subaru held her girlfriend to her, not letting go as Teana clung desperately to Subaru, trembling softly as Subaru rubbed her back. "Tea..."

"Don't leave me... Please don't leave me."

Subaru shook her head. "I won't, Tea. I won't leave you." She blinked as Teana raised her head, tears falling out of her eyes. "Tea?"

"Subaru... Please... Show me... Make love to me... Be in charge tonight."

"Tea..." Subaru whispered softly, before lifting her girlfriend up and walked to the bed. "I'll make you feel special tonight." She whispered, kissing Teana on the lips as her hands started to roam her lover's body.

At the end of it all, when they finally ended, Teana let out a sigh of bliss as she cuddled up to Subaru. The purple-haired girl was right; she had made Teana feel special.

(---)

There was a soft chuckling noise, a low baritone spoke up in the darkened room. "I wonder... General..." The voice, unmistakably male, continued softly. "I wonder if you'll find out before it's too late."

Spoiler for Notes:

We were supposed to kill off Teela, we were supposed to... We even talked about it before-hand. We just couldn't bring ourselves to do it when the time came.

Also, I'm pretty sure that Unison Devices that use elements can control all aspects of their element perfectly. Rein, despite being an Ice-Element managed to help Signum use fire.

Agito managed to extinguish fire while unison'd with Zest, who couldn't even use her power anymore. So, I'm certain that they can control every aspect perfectly.

Aaaaand I just realized that we now have three Unison Devices with Ice, Fire and Wind elements...

Hello thar Magic Knight Rayearth!

[SulliMike23]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

Continuing...

Spoiler for Partners PT II:

Teana was surrounded by a soft breeze, one that was visible to people as she walked forward slowly. Slowly, because she was fighting back the urge to run forward as fast as she could, become one with the wind. "Tornado Burst!" Both Teana and the Device said at the same time as Teana held her guns apart, holding her arms in a 'V' formation as she fired a few shots, the magic bullets suddenly stopping, exploding and turning into tornadoes which sucked various people into them and sent them and various debris spiraling up and away.

Teana blinked as she could feel everything on the battlefield, everything, from every hair on Ginga's body too the heat that was radiating from the Unison'd Signum. "How?"

"I control the wind... I can feel everything... You and I are now one, you feel what I can feel." The device whispered to her softly.

Teana smiled to herself. "You're a heck of a partner... Uh, do you have a name?"

"No..." The device said sadly. "No one has ever named me before."

"Very well, your name from now on... Is Teela."

"Teela?" The device blinked as Teana shot a powerful hurricane gust at some people trying to get her from the side.

"Like it?" Teana asked as she threw up a shield, one of wind, that caused incoming magic attacks to collide against each other in the spiraling mass of energy winds.

The Device repeated the name a few times before she smiled, timidly. "It's a pretty name," she whispered.

Teana smirked, her newly green eyes glinting as she fired more shots. She crossed her wrists and fired a few close shots, blinking as the wind pooled together, spinning out of control as people were pulled into the vortex and then thrown out before the winds died out. "This... This is incredible..." Teana muttered as she jumped to avoid an attack, her eyes widening as she could feel herself not falling to the whims of gravity. "How?"

"I said, I control the wind. That includes how heavy you are in it." Teela said as she pointed a finger out, making a gun motion, Teana following it and pointed at a nearby building. "Now watch this... Vacuum blast!" She and Teana cried out at the same time as Cross mirage shot something that wasn't air, she couldn't see it, which was weird, she could actually see air currents now, but she couldn't see this. It was almost as if...

"An absence of air?" Teana asked, blinking a few times as the shot sliced the building in twain, destroying it completely.

"Yes, an elemental device can control all aspects of their element perfectly. The fire device, I have no doubt, can strip heat away from something, causing it to freeze, or extinguish fire that is heading towards her and her partner."

Teana winced. "That... sounds a little cruel, somehow."

"It kind of us. It depends on what kind of personality the Device has."

Teana shot a look at the Unisoned Signum and Agito. "Somehow, I can see them doing that... Ginga! How are you?"

Gripping the wound with her hand, Ginga smirked at Teana. "This, this is nothing, been hurt worse before." Still, watching Teana command the winds was rather awe-inspiring, now if only she could find a unison device some day...

Still, this wasn't the time nor the place to worry about that. Staggering to her feet, Ginga rolled forward quickly, making sure to take a few stragglers out. Thankfully with Teana throwing tornadoes and Signum flaming everything around her, Ginga didn't have to worry about too much. Even that wannabe pirate with the deadly sword wasn't bothering her at that time.

Suddenly Ginga paused, blinking. "What the..."

Her vision was blurry. It only last a minute--she blinked and it was gone, she could see clearly again--but for a moment, she'd almost been blind.

Blood loss must be going to my head...

She shook her head. Oh well, it could be worse... Maybe she needed to get out of here and let the two power-houses deal with everything? No, she couldn't. What kind of TSAB mage would back down when she could still fight?

Spying a straggler, one that was trying to snipe at Teana, Ginga dashed forward as fast as she could, her gloved hand spinning in it started to resemble a drill. "Revolver... Spi..." She faltered as the world went blurry, causing her to stumble and trip over a loose stone before she crashed to the ground. "Wha... what..?" Was all she could say as her world went dark.

"Ginga?!"

Cursing, Teana put a halt to her attack and ran to her friend's side, kneeling down beside her. "Hey! Ginga! What's wrong, are you okay?"

Ginga opened her eyes slowly and blinked groggily, trembling slightly as blood seeped out of her wound. "I'm fine," she said weakly. "I just... for a minute, I couldn't..."

"Don't move." Teana's voice was tense. "You're trembling like a leaf. What's wrong?"

"I... Heh, I'm not sure to be honest..." Ginga chuckled, her eyes were buzzing softly as they flickered on and off.

Teana cursed as Signum landed near her. "Go."

"Signum?" Teana blinked as the Signum flame flashed, a wall of fire spreading out in front of her, blocking people from getting to her.

"You two are hurt, the device is injured as well. Get Ginga to the drop-off point and call the ship to pick her up. Protecting allies is also a job of an Enforcer."

"... Fine." Teana hated doing it, but she saw no other option. Swooping Ginga up into her arms, she started to run. "You stay awake, Ginga! I'm not going back to Mid-Childa to tell Nove and Wendi that you got yourself killed protecting me!"

"I thought we already established that they don't..."

"You don't know that!"

Watching them go, Signum narrowed her eyes at the remaining combatants. "Agito..."

"Right!" The unison device called out as the two, in synch, held out their left hand, a mass of fire surrounding it, before bringing it across her body, where the glob of fire became a lancing sword, which she swung out horizontally, setting people, items and even buildings ablaze.

(---)

Teana grimaced, she could feel the Unison starting to wear down. "Are you okay, Teela?"

"I... I'm fine..." The device said softly as she panted. "Guess this is straining me and you both, huh?"

"I'm a Mid-Childan-style mage, not a Belkan-style mage, I don't think that Belkan unison devices merge well with my style." Teana joked softly. "Ginga would have been a better choice, I think." She said as she hobbled to the area in question and radioed the ship for emergency pick-up. "This mission's gone straight to hell..." Teana muttered, still, a new ally would be worth something out of it... If she survived the trip home that was.

"Uh... Teana?" the device said nervously.

"Yeah?"

"Even if your friend is a better Unison, I don't... I want to stay with you."

Ginga laughed weakly. "I'm hardly useful right now as it is..."

Teana nodded, sighing as she saw Ginga suddenly fade and warp away to the ship. "We need to help..." Her eyes widened as she dodged to the side as a powerful magical beam ripped through where she was a moment ago. "What the?!" Her eyes widened as she saw the man who was doing the auctions from before.

"You dammed TSAB freak! Doing an honest auction and you just had to stick your freaking nose where it wasn't wanted, didn't you?" The man screamed at her, holding a device in his hands. "Destroy..."

"Atomic buster!" The device said in a monotone voice as a white beam of energy snaked at Teana, who dodged and fired back a few powerful wind shots. "Barrier." The device called out as the shots hit a white shield.

"Is that the new Intelligent Devices that were encountered on Non-Administered planet 97?" Teana asked him as her barrier went up while she slowly circled him. He was the only one near her, she could feel it. The wind power that Teela granted her was incredible.

The man froze. "You know about those?"

"Your goons are horrible at keeping their testing a secret." Teana smiled thinly. "Who gave those to you? Did you steal them?"

"All I know is that these babies were given to me, I was told to send them to some non-administered planets, ones that weren't in a constant state of war, and gather data on how they worked." The man shrugged and patted his staff, it didn't look very dangerous, being no different in looks than a typical shooting-staff that trainees got back in the academy. "So, you know, don't ask, don't tell. When the person wanted the data back, they'd ask for it back. Too bad you took so long though... We've been doing this for almost three years now." He smirked as several lancing shots shot into the air. "These things... They're insane... Even someone with barely any magic like myself can use power on par with an Ace like you.."

Teana would smile at the compliment, but the wind wasn't able to block the lancing shots as they tore through her passive shield and even her active shield were straining to stop the attacks.

"Teana!"

"I'm fine, Teela... Your abilities are incredible... When we get home, I promise you that I'll introduce you to Hayate and Rein, you'll like them." Teana could feel Teela smile at her. "Just one question for you." She called to the other man.

"Yes, what?"

"If those devices are so strong and intelligent devices, how in the world can you use them?"

He smirked at her and chuckled softly. "These things... They aren't too smart for anything but battle... Stripped of nearly anything but the most basic AIs... They'll grow, but then they need to have their AIs stripped again... But they're able to allow any weak mage to use magic that you'd expect from an A-rank mage or higher. Imagine of an S-Rank had one of these!"

"Yeah, I can." Teana muttered as the energy in those attacks finally dissipated. "You're under arrest for illegal selling of stolen property, mistreatment of a Unison Device and probably a dozen other crimes when I figure them out." She called out as she pointed Cross Mirage at the man, charging up a green energy shot from both guns and firing them at him, the energy turning into blades of wind that cut the man up and made him drop his device, his hands too bloody and messy to hold anything anymore.

"That Unison Device?" The man let out a harsh bark of laughter even as Teana swooped down on him. "Hell, you can't get me on that. She's nothing but damaged junk."

At that, Teela whimpered.

Teana narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you mean?" She asked as she kicked his bloody body to the ground with her foot, turned Cross Mirage to one gun mode and picked up the Intelligent Device. At the very least she could let someone give this thing a good home after it was examined.

He laughed again. "She's so damaged from forcefully Unisoning with other masters that she's barely strong enough for anyone anymore! Hell if I know how a Mid-Childan mage like you managed to Unison with her so well in the first place..."

Her eyes widened. "Teela!"

"I... I didn't want to worry you... I... I might not last long." She said softly. "But... I can feel her... The one that gives you strength... So beautiful and strong... She's the one you love..." The blond device said softly. "Thank you, for showing me this little bit of happiness.."

"Teela, stop... Cancel it, right now... Please? I promised you! I'm taking you home and you're going to meet Rein and Hayate, and Subaru, Nove, Wendi and the rest!" Teana said, slightly hysterically as she could feel her strength from the unison ebbing away softly. "Don't you dare die on me!"

He smirked at her. "What? Already bonded to such a defect?"

"But..."

"Teela! Cancel it, now! That's an order!"

"Okay," the device said, her voice tiny. There was a brief flash, and Teana blinked, looking down to see her clothes were back to normal, Teela kneeling in the grass, trembling and panting softly. Without hesitation, Teana knelt down and scooped her up into her arms, cradling her close.

It was weird, not feeling the wind, seeing the currents, feeling everything, it was like she had suddenly gone blind, deaf and mute at the same time, still, that wouldn't matter if the device died all of a sudden without getting some help. "Teela... You'll be fine." Teana said and cast a binding spell on the man. "You, on the other hand, are not."

"Indeed." Signum's voice was heard as she and Agito floated down to the ground, in Signum's hands was a crate full of various items. "A small sample mixture of devices of various levels, go and call the ship to take us home..." She looked at the man and smirked softly. "As for our lovely guest... This wasn't a total bust after all."

"Signum, we need to take Teela back. She's hurt pretty bad."

Signum nodded as she saw the Unison Device. "I wasn't going to leave her behind anyway." Signum said softly as Agito floated to the other device, looking concerned. A screen popped up in front of Signum. "Ah, Captain."

"What in the hell is going on down there?"

"Things went south, but we have critical information and what we were looking for, and more. Get us out of here."

"Too many to do an individual lock... Hold on." The captain muttered as the whole area around Teana, Agito, Teela, Signum, the devices and the injured criminal lit up, before they were warped out of the area.

Most of the people left on the planet were burned, traumatized, in need of hospitalization, but would live. The nightmares about a gun-toting Wind Goddess and the rumors that the outskirts of the TSAB's control and through the criminal underworld would remain for years after this however.

---

Ginga groaned. "I don't want to go to Medical."

"Ginga, don't be a baby." Despite her worry for Teela, still cradling her tightly, Teana smirked at the purple-haired woman. "That wound needs treatment, and Nove and Wendi need to fuss over you."

Ginga sighed. "Teana..."

The orange haired girl shook her head. "Look, Ginga, I'll go with you, if you want me to, my ankle needs to be looked at anyway and Teela needs to be put in a recovery pod until we get back to Mid-Childa." She sighed, and smirked sardonically at Ginga. "Why are you so against this anyway?"

Ginga looked away. "I'm scared, okay?"

"About getting your body fixed? That's kind of silly for a mage, Ginga..."

"Not that!" Ginga yelled at her, shaking her head. "Telling Nove and Wendi..."

Teana just blinked...

(---)

Back on Mid-childa, Nove blinked as the communication system came back online, letting them hear what was going on on the ship again. "Oh, hey, they're back on..." Weird, it had only been a few hours.

"Really?" Subaru jumped over the couch and landed next to Nove, leaning in eagerly "I hope it went well!"

"Sorry, Ginga, I thought you were nervous about getting that bullet hole fixed up."

"Nah, this is easy to fix, just a patch job. Your ankle's going to need some ice though."

"I might need to get it looked over by a specialist when I get back, I keep spraining it badly, I think the tendons and ligaments are getting weaker in it."

"Fine, fine, what about Teela?"

Subaru frowned and looked at Nove. "Who's Teela?"

"I don't know, this just came back on." The redhead shrugged as she frowned softly. Ginga had been shot? It didn't sound bad at any rate if she was still talking like this.

"She just needs to recover in a pod, but you dodged the question again."

"What question? You didn't ask one."

"Huh? Oh, right. Why are you scared about talking to Nove and Wendi anyway?" Teana asked, curious as their voices faded away.

Nove frowned softly. "They're moving away!"

Subaru grinned and flipped the channel on the box. "Yep, but I bugged the whole ship." She giggled softly. "Did it as a joke just to listen to Teana so I wouldn't miss her."

Nove looked at Subaru with new-found respect. "Nice... How did you know which ship..?"

"Wasn't hard..." Subaru shrugged uncomfortably, if anyone of her superiors knew that she did this, she could get into serious trouble. "Just looked for ships that were going to head out into deep space that wasn't a normal patrol ship and bugged it."

"Why do you want to know?" Ginga's voice was heard on the box.

"Maybe because I care about you?" Teana shot back. "You're Subaru's sister. You're part of her family, so I happen to care about you."

There was a long, long pause on the box; then...

"... I'm just scared... Whenever they open their mouths I'm waiting for them to ask me to leave... honestly, I kind of hoped the bullet wound would kill me..."

"If they ever heard about this, they would smack you for talking like this... But, honestly, Ginga... I can relate."

"You can?" Ginga sounded surprised as Nove and Subaru looked at each other in worry before turning back to the box completely.

"Yeah... I always knew that Subaru preferred girls over guys... I... When I started to feel the same way, I knew that she wouldn't mind if I asked, but... I was worried... Worried that she would only want me for the sex... Not for love or companionship." Teana sighed on the other end of the communications. "I miss her so much right now, actually."

"Tea..." Subaru nearly teared up as she listened in. "Why wouldn't you tell me? Why tell Gin-nee?" She knew that Teana couldn't hear her, or tell her since she wasn't there.

"Why didn't you ever tell Subaru that?" Ginga asked, seeming like she'd read her sister's mind.

"... Because... I hated myself for doubting her..." Teana sighed. "Subaru's just... she's so open, about everything, and I'm not. I've always known she loved me, even if I can't always show how much I love her, or say it, or... but there's a cynical side of me that still believes she's just in it for the thrills, or because I'm familiar, and I hate knowing that..."

"...You've been used before, haven't you?"

"My last partner on the Marriage Incident. I'd rather not talk about it too much though. I feel so bad for Subaru and Ixy though." Teana sighed as the two eavesdroppers heard a door open up. "Hello, doctor."

"Ah, here's the injured three." An older female's voice was heard. "Ah! A unison device! Oh, she's in bad shape, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she needs treatment before she passes." Ginga said there was noise heard, sounding like footsteps, rustled clothes and tubes moving.

"Don't worry, as long as nothing bothers her, she'll be fine. She'll need some time to recover fully though."

There was some silence, other than clothes being removed, or at least it sounded like it to the two as they looked at each other.

"Hey, Nove..." Subaru said softly as she looked at the redhead.

"Yeah?"

"A unison device... Sounds cool, huh?" She grinned, trying to take her mind off of what she had heard from Teana. She made a mental note to try and ease the worries from her lover as soon as she got back home.

"Yeah..." Nove nodded, but it was clear her heart wasn't in it. "Cool. Wonder what element it is."

At that point the doctor spoke up again, getting their attention. "Well, well... looks like you got shot straight through, Ginga. It missed your vitals and your spine, so you shouldn't have any lasting effects..."

Ginga laughed softly. "Thanks, Doctor."

"Good, go get some rest, it will take a few days to get back to Mid-Childa, you should be healed by then. As for you, young lady... Let's have a look at that ankle."

Nove sighed and turned off the box.

"Nove?" Subaru blinked in confusion as the redhead got up and wandered away slowly.

"I... I need to talk to Wendi." Nove said softly, the energy seemingly leaving her body with each step.

"Ah, okay." Subaru nodded. "Uh... have fun."

"Yeah..."

Days later, Nove found herself bundled up in the cold air, waiting with Subaru, Wendi, Rein and Hayate, all bundled up similarly. "Um, General Yagami..."

Hayate smiled at her and shook her head. "It's okay, Nove. I'm not on duty today. Just here to greet Agito and Signum, just like I suspect the three of you are here to greet Teana and Ginga."

Rein grinned as she saw the ship in question coming in. "Hey! I see it!" She started to get more and more excited as it got closer. "I hope everyone's alright."

Hayate nodded, Signum had said last night that the mission went decent, a few bumps along the way, but they had a distributor for the Intelligent Devices, several Intelligent Devices and a new ally. She had been tight lipped on the subject but there had been some minor injuries.

It only took the ship a few minutes to dock, and in a matter of minutes the whole crew was out.

Signum was positively swaggering; Hayate couldn't recall a time when her Knight had ever looked so smug and pleased with herself. Agito was no better than her master, with a grin on her face.

Teana walked with a faded limp in her gait, but otherwise she seemed largely fine, speaking quietly to a small blonde Unison Device that sat perched on her shoulder. The poor thing looked nervous, and had one tiny hand tangled in Teana's hair.

Ginga was moving the slowest of them, which was understandable considering her injury, but overall she looked no worse for wear. She smiled weakly and lifted a hand when she saw Nove and Wendi, even as she felt the familiar ball of fear in her stomach.

Good luck, Teana said mentally.

Thanks. You too.

Hayate smiled at the group as they got closer. "Welcome back, everyone." Her smile widened as she saw the Unison Device try to hide in Teana's hair. "This must be your new partner, Teana. Congratulations."

Teana nodded and gently lifted the device off of her shoulder. "Everyone, this is Teela, I met her on the mission and she was a great help."

Rein's eyes went wide and sparkly before she shot towards Teela, and the tiny blond yelped and nearly dove into Teana's hair when she saw the ice-based Unison Device coming. "Hi!" Rein greeted enthusiastically. "My name's Reinforce, but you can just call me Rein!"

Hayate blinked, then laughed as Agito scowled at Rein from her place with Signum. "Oi, Rein, give her some space. She's scared."

Teana giggled softly and pulled Teela away from her hair. "It's okay, Teela. Just say hello. Rein's a good person."

The device nodded and waved gently at Rein. "Hello." She smiled shakily as Rein suddenly threw her hands up in the air joyously.

"Yay!" Rein cheered and smiled happily. "Your name's Teela?"

Teela nodded shyly.

"It's a pretty name! I like it." Rein nearly gushed at her, getting the long-blond haired device to blush shyly

"Thanks." Teela smiled timidly. "Master named me when she found me."

Teana blinked. "Master?"

Behind her, Agito nearly started laughing as she clutched Signum's shoulder tightly, mostly to keep her from falling to the ground, but also to keep her from laughing hard.

Teela poked her fingers together and looked at Teana, nodding. "You saved me. You named me and we unisoned together..."

Hayate raised an eyebrow as she heard that. "Unison, huh? Impressive," she smiled at the two, "congratulations, Teana, you now have a powerful and loyal partner to help you. And you, Teela, welcome to Mid-childa."

Subaru nearly was bouncing on her feet before Teana sighed, walked up to her and smiled. "Hey, I'm back."

"Tea..." Was all Subaru said before she hugged Teana tightly, getting a gasp from the girl.

Teela, floating right behind Teana sweat-dropped. "Should I be worried about master?"

Rein shook her head and smiled. "No, because Subaru just missed her, that's all."

Signum stepped up to Hayate, her features becoming more somber. "Hayate, I hate to bring this up... But we did capture the person dealing the prototype devices and Teela here."

"Oh?" Hayate blinked as her mind slipped into its military mode. "What do you mean, Signum?"

"It seems that they've been shipping them to non-administered planets for three years now, testing them. He doesn't know where the devices come from or who makes them." She shook her head. "In other words, we're no closer to figuring it out than we were before."

"I see..." Hayate muttered, twitching slightly. She had been hoping that finding out more from where they had come from would shed some light on them. "I'll read your report on them later, Signum. Right now, you and Agito should go home." She smiled at the two of them. "I'll make you two some dinner tonight."

"Thanks." They both said, smiling at her as they walked away with Rein following.

Hayate turned to Teela and smiled at her. "I know that Teana's your partner and master, Teela, but you and her are going to need to get registered."

"It's all in my report, ma'am." Teana interrupted as Hayate nodded at her.

"I know it will be, Teana. Just procedure, that's all. Don't worry, just have her registered before your next mission, that's all."

"Yes, ma'am." Teana wondered if something was wrong with Subaru. Even when the girl was at her most affectionate, she never held on this tightly.

Ginga shook her head, amused, before walking over to where Nove and Wendi were standing. "Hey," she said softly.

"Hey, Ginga..." Nove said softly, looking at the way she was grimacing. "How did the mission go?"

Ginga felt the knot in her belly come quietly undone, at least enough for her to breathe normally. "Pretty okay," she said with a laugh. "I got shot, but I'm fine. How have you two been while I was gone?"

Ginga blinked as Wendi suddenly grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss, the redhead's tongue pushing past her lips as she gave her lover a deep kiss. Ginga might have been surprised, but it didn't take her long to get into the kiss, returning it fully as Wendi rubbed Ginga's lower back.

After a few minutes the two slowly separated, panting for air. "W...Wow... What a way to say hi." Ginga blushed as Wendi grinned at her.

Wendi shrugged and grinned. "What can I say? I missed you."

Ginga raised a brow. She'd heard a lot of things from her lovers before, but they'd never explicitly said they'd missed her when she was away.

Wendi blinked at her. "What?"

Ginga shrugged uncomfortably. "Nothing, really, just kinda surprised is all, feels nice to be missed like that."

"Hey, Ginga..."

"Yeah, Wendi?"

"Are you happy?" She asked, getting a stunned look from her lover. "Are you happy with me and Nove as your lovers?"

Once again, Ginga's eyebrow shot up. "What brought this on?" she asked.

Not that she minded all that much, honestly, but still. She was concerned.

I'm taking Subaru to my place. Teana's mental voice made her blink. She's acting weird, and Teela needs to spend the night in observation anyway.

Alright, take care, Teana, rest your ankle, okay?

No worries.

Ginga shivered slightly. "Can we go home and talk? It's getting cold out here." She was relieved as both Nove and Wendi nodded and the three left the area.

(---)

Ginga sighed as she found herself topless and on resting on her front, her head resting on her crossed arms as she got her back massaged by Nove while Wendi was sitting on the floor, looking at her. "So... right there, Nove... So what was with that question, Wendi anyway?"

Wendi blinked, then looked at Nove nervously over Ginga's head. The purple-haired girl saw the look and cringed, slowly closing her eyes as her heart clenched painfully. You knew this was coming, don't act so surprised, she chided herself mentally. You've known this would happen from day one.

"Uh... Ginga..."

Dammit, it still hurt. "Yes?"

"... How mad would you be if I told you that Subaru kind of messed with the ship... and we heard you talking to Teana?"

Ginga blinked, of all the things she was expecting, this... This wasn't it. "Subaru did what?"

Nove sighed and slowed down with her back massage. "Ginga... We... Do you really think that Wendi or I would just ask you to get out of our lives like that? You're precious to us."

Ginga blinked again. Her words had made sense when she'd spoken them to Teana, but now that she was speaking to Nove and Wendi she felt much less secure. "I... you don't need me." She kept her voice neutral, but the pain was in her eyes. "Neither of you need me, not the way you need each other or..." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "The way I need you both. You'd be perfectly happy without me. I've seen you two together."

"Maybe..." Nove said softly. "But.. Ginga, if... If it wasn't for you... We wouldn't have gotten together, and... Even if Wendi and I need each other... We need you too."

Wendi nodded as she got close to Ginga and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Ginga... It just wouldn't be right if you weren't here with us. I love Nove... And... I love you." She cupped the back of Ginga's head and kissed the stunned Ginga on the lip again, gently, tenderly, lovingly.

Ginga returned the kiss without even thinking, it came as naturally to her as breathing. Even as she kissed Wendi she could feel Nove hugging her quietly from behind, nuzzling against her as close as possible.

After several minutes, Wendi slowly pulled apart. "How did you ever think about this by yourself?" she asked softly. The thought that Ginga had been harboring this inside and hurting because of it was painful to both redheads, even if Wendi was being more vocal about it.

Nove said nothing, but she tightened her grip on Ginga.

Even if she was certain while talking to Teana about her worries, now... Now she wasn't so certain. "I... I just thought that the two of you didn't need me. I always caught the way that you gave Nove more attention when we made love... Or how you would hold her close. I never thought you really wanted or needed me as much as you two needed each other. If something happened to me, you two would be fine, but..." She stopped as she was rolled over onto her back suddenly, her breasts swaying from the motion as Nove suddenly captured her lips fiercely, robbing her of her ability to speak anymore, Nove's clothed breasts pressing against her naked ones as they kissed.

It didn't take long for the kiss to rob her of her ability to think coherently, as well. Nove had never been the most affectionate of the three, but she was doing a swell job of making Ginga's mind go cloudy.

Nove only broke the kiss because she desperately needed oxygen, and Ginga inhaled deeply, trembling. "N-Nove?" she squeaked.

Normally such a comment would have been enough to anger Nove as it was, but after hearing Ginga explain to Teana why she'd acted the way she did when the three of them had sex was enough to make her blood boil.

"Do you honestly think... For one moment... That you aren't important? That we don't love you?" Nove narrowed her eyes at Ginga. "I'll let you know right now that if you weren't important I wouldn't share my bed with you. I wouldn't hold you at night, I wouldn't make love to you." She leaned in and rested her forehead against Ginga's. "I love you, dammit!"

Ginga was stunned and shaken, deeply. She could see the truth in Nove's eyes, could hear it in her voice, and hesitantly she reached up, cupping the redhead's cheek. "Nove, I..." She blinked and jolted briefly as Wendi crawled in next to her hugging her tightly.

"Wendi?"

"Ginga, don't you dare think we'll kick you out of our bed. This bed... The three of us share it. That's how it's going to be, understand?" Nove narrowed her eyes slightly. "Don't you dare... Don't you dare thing that we would kick you out of the bed..."

Wendi nodded as she gave the side of Ginga's breast a soft kiss. "Ginga... If we kicked you out... The bed would be cold." She teased lightly. "And I like holding you and Nove, smelling you both after a long, hard day, or when we're done making love. So, Ginga... Don't you doubt yourself... or us again, please?"

Ginga nodded slowly even as she pulled them both closer and held them tightly. "Okay," she whispered.

"Oh, and..." Wendi gave her a slow, lazy smile. "You can be more assertive in bed, you know. You won't hear us complaining."

Nove got a smirk on her face and leaned down, kissing Ginga again, deeply.

She didn't think about it anymore after that.

---

Teana sighed as she stepped out of the shower, brushing her hair back and dressed in only her panties and a long, loose shirt. She frowned.

Subaru had been acting strangely ever since they'd gotten back to the apartment; she just kept looking at Teana, like she was afraid she would disappear, and besides her greeting hug, she hadn't touched her once.

It was annoying and a little troublesome. Teana was suddenly grateful Teela was staying away overnight this time.

Spotting Subaru dressed in boxer-style yellow panties and a tank top talking to Teela over a communication screen, Teana walked up to her girlfriend and suddenly put her into a headlock, pulling her back so that she was laying down next to her. "Okay, Subaru, what's wrong with you? Normally you would have kissed me or at the very least offered to shower with me, are you feeling alright?"

"Master?" Teela blinked, surprised, as the communication screen flickered.

"Hey, Teela." Teana didn't even loosen her grip on Subaru as she smiled at her new partner. "Do you mind if I talk to you tomorrow? I need to ask Subaru something."

Teela shrugged, then nodded and ended the connection.

"Ack! Tea... Why?" Subaru tried to get out of the headlock, not too hard, but she tried.

"Why are you acting weird, Subaru?" Teana asked, irritated at her girlfriend. "It's not like you."

Subaru winced and squirmed, but Teana had a strong grip, even if it was gentle. "I'm not acting weird."

"Then why haven't you kissed or groped me since we got back? Hell, Subaru, you didn't even try to join me in the shower..." Teana sighed sadly. "I could have used some relief."

Subaru looked at her girlfriend as Teana's face was flushed slightly. "T...Tea?"

"Yeah, I was waiting for you to jump in the shower with me and help me get some relief, okay?" Teana was blushing harder with each word. "What's wrong, Subaru? You're acting like you did something you shouldn't have."

Subaru looked up at Teana nervously for a moment before she squirmed and managed to get free of Teana's grip. "Well, I... kind of..."

Teana sighed. "What now?"

"I just... was playing around, and rigged some of the audio on the ship as a joke to hear things..." Subaru took a deep breath. "And I... heard you talking to Gin-nee..."

Teana blinked, her face paling slightly. "S...Subaru... You..." She paled worse as Subaru nodded at her. "You... Subaru, I never..."

Subaru shook her head. "No... You... I know it... You were serious, weren't you? You think I'm only using you because your familiar or just using you for sex relief."

It was amazing how pale one's face could go in such a short amount of time. In that minute, Teana's strength failed her completely; she sat quietly on the floor, trembling, and closed her eyes.

"Tea?" Subaru was off the bed and by her side in a heartbeat.

"I... I didn't mean it... Subaru..." Tears started to slip from Teana's eyes as she opened them to look at her girlfriend. "Deep down, I worry that maybe you don't love me, but... I never tell you, because..." She trailed off, unable to finish that sentence.

"Because?" Subaru prodded as she looked at Teana curiously, and a little worried for her girlfriend.

"...I'm scared..." She said in a soft, weak voice.

"Scared?" Subaru blinked.

"Yes... that maybe I'm right, and you don't... love me, you just see me as something familiar, or just for fun..." Teana swallowed hard. "And I know it's so stupid, but... it scares me to think that..."

"Why?"

"... Because I love you..."

"Tea..." Subaru said in a soft, gentle voice as she moved one hand to Teana's cheek, cupping it softly as she lifted up her girlfriend's face to look her in the eye. "Tea... You aren't a one-night stand like those other girls were back in the academy. I understood that back then, so did they. You... I... When I first saw you, I thought you were so beautiful, so strong... I wanted, more than anything, to be someone special to you." A small smile appeared on her face. "Maybe it's just because you're so familiar to me, that we've worked together for so long... But, I'd like to think that it's because we have worked together for so long that we can become something more, Tea..."

Teana took a deep breath. "What's the difference?"

"Tea?"

"For you, what's the difference between... I don't know, a one night stand and a real relationship?" Teana blushed slightly. "I never had either while I was at the academy, so I don't know the difference, if one exists at all."

Subaru smiled softly. "A one night stand... Just what it sounds like. One night, no attachments, no commitments, just fun, pleasure, and if you're lucky, you'll wake up to find your partner still there with you. But, a real relationship..." She took a deep breath. "It's one where you know you can trust them, watch them, love them, knowing that they feel the same way. One where you can talk about how you feel, your worries, your fears, complain, argue and fight, and still be there for them when they need someone to lean on." She shifted uncomfortably as Teana looked at her with a slightly weird gaze in her eyes. "At least, that's what it's supposed to be. Those girls," Subaru shook her head, "they were just for fun. But, Tea... maybe I'm young, maybe I don't know everything, maybe I shouldn't say this but... I love you too."

Something inside Teana tightened painfully, then released. She blew out a long, ragged breath and closed her eyes, stunned to realize she was trembling.

"Tea?" Subaru scrambled closer, afraid she'd done something wrong. She seemed prone to doing that sometimes, especially with Teana.

"I... Those words..." Teana kept her eyes closed as she felt her eyes start to burn. "I... Do you mean it, Subaru?" She needed to hear them, one more time.

Subaru nodded, even though Teana couldn't see it. "Teana Lanstar... I love you... So much... Just looking at you, right now... My heart flutters and I want to hold you... If yoummph!" Her eyes widened as she was tackled to the ground, Teana's lips pressed to hers as Teana's warm body pressed against hers tightly.

Subaru was quite used to the sensation of being pinned down like this; it hadn't taken too long for Teana to establish that she was the dominant one in the relationship when it came to these kind of matters, a fact that amused Subaru to no end. So for her, this wasn't a new thing.

What was new, though, was the way Teana was kissing her. It was a deep, hungry kiss--but in a way gentle, soft, even as she pressed closer. Teana had never kissed her like this before, like she was afraid that the moment she pulled away, Subaru would disappear.

So Subaru held her, even after Teana ended the kiss gently, Subaru held her girlfriend to her, not letting go as Teana clung desperately to Subaru, trembling softly as Subaru rubbed her back. "Tea..."

"Don't leave me... Please don't leave me."

Subaru shook her head. "I won't, Tea. I won't leave you." She blinked as Teana raised her head, tears falling out of her eyes. "Tea?"

"Subaru... Please... Show me... Make love to me... Be in charge tonight."

"Tea..." Subaru whispered softly, before lifting her girlfriend up and walked to the bed. "I'll make you feel special tonight." She whispered, kissing Teana on the lips as her hands started to roam her lover's body.

At the end of it all, when they finally ended, Teana let out a sigh of bliss as she cuddled up to Subaru. The purple-haired girl was right; she had made Teana feel special.

(---)

There was a soft chuckling noise, a low baritone spoke up in the darkened room. "I wonder... General..." The voice, unmistakably male, continued softly. "I wonder if you'll find out before it's too late."

Spoiler for Notes:

We were supposed to kill off Teela, we were supposed to... We even talked about it before-hand. We just couldn't bring ourselves to do it when the time came.

Also, I'm pretty sure that Unison Devices that use elements can control all aspects of their element perfectly. Rein, despite being an Ice-Element managed to help Signum use fire.

Agito managed to extinguish fire while unison'd with Zest, who couldn't even use her power anymore. So, I'm certain that they can control every aspect perfectly.

Aaaaand I just realized that we now have three Unison Devices with Ice, Fire and Wind elements...

Hello thar Magic Knight Rayearth!

T_T It's so beautiful. Teana thought she was one of Subaru's one-night...wait a minute...

[Tabasco]

Originally Posted by AdmiralTigerclaw

Spoiler for Back to the Cradle...:

Having selected to come in low and fast... you flip your fighter on its head and drop the nose, taking her into a steep dive. Keeping your eye strictly on the altimeter, you roll rightside-up once more and drop until you're well below one thousand feet before leveling off just above the surface.

[STAGE ONE!]
"INTERCEPT!"

Streaking along a hundred feet off waves at mach fifteen, your fighter produces so much friction from it's passing that you leave a glowing trail of fire, signature of the Phoenix' namesake.

The shockwave and back-blast from your engines disturbs the waves as you rocket along, your target oblivious to your approach.

A blip on your forward sensor grabs your attention, and the targeting computer brackets something dark on the horizon and bleeps a collission warning. You ease back on the stick and climb to four-hundred feet as whatever it is rockets by below you. You barely make out the blurred structure of a medium size surface patrol ship... Bright red markings on it indicate you just hypersonic-buzzed a Mid-Childan coast guard vessel.

Good thing you didn't crash. Maybe staying THIS low is a bit-

"Sea Gull Spirit to Port Gallium, we just got rattled by something... Damn! I've never seen anything that fast."

Your communications system is quite sophisticated, and local Mid-Childan safety operations frequencies and encryptions are no match for it as it quickly descrambles and lets you listen in on the short-band traffic.

"What? Sea Gull Spirit, what do you mean? What did you see?"

"I'm not sure! It was moving so fast and so low, leaving a trail of fire! The sonic boom blew out the bridge windows! My ears are still ringing. Can you spot it?

"Negative... It's too low, we can't track it with the port radar or sensors..."

"Turn a satellite on section four eight dash seven two... It's heading straight for Engagement Area Alpha!"

"Command channels are swamped, it'll take a few minutes to get a request through..."

"Don't give up! Area Alpha really don't need any surprises from what I've heard..."


Looks like you've made a minor error in assuming the open sea was an empty place, but no matter. It's not like they can shoot at you. Though given current tensions, it wouldn't be unexpected. Beats capital starship beam weapons certainly.

While they're busy trying to figure out what you are, and where you're going, though they have half of that already, you have a few options to take care of. You won't get any hints this time... So think VERY carefully about the potential pros and cons of each and every option.


A: Continue as planned.
B: Change heading and alter your approach pattern.
C: Break Radio Silence
D: Bug Out (Return to Base)

Again, we're not kidding. Even the most simple option here has unexpected drawbacks.

You have two minutes and twenty seconds to weight your options before TSAB command channels turn an observation satellite on your current path.

Oops. The fog of war strikes again.

B for me.

Change heading to clear the area, then swing back on course. They might know something is out there, but if they don't know my approach vector they'll be hard pressed to stop me before I'm in range.

Originally Posted by Nanya01

It's that time again...

RadiantBeam and I are proud to present...

Day in the Life

Chapter 23

Partners

Also, long chapter, broken up into multiple posts again.

Spoiler for Partners:

Teana Lanstar shivered as she walked past the ship-port. The autumn winds were getting slightly worse these days. She didn't know why she was walking this way, what with that incident a couple of weeks ago. "And to think, I almost had a new working partner out of it too." She muttered, shaking her head. She still felt bad for that little girl, to live with such a curse for the rest of her life.

Stretching, she yawned slightly. Subaru had a few missions lately that kept her away from their shared apartment and Teana just found it too lonely in her apartment without her girlfriend these days. She could spend time at the Nakajimas, but Dieci seemed to be curious about too much about her relationship with Subaru for Teana's liking.

Just because I'm a lesbian doesn't mean... Her thoughts trailed off as she saw Hayate and Signum walking out of the ship-port, followed by the rest of Hayate's Knights, Nanoha's sister Miyuki, Rein and Agito. "General Hayate." She called to the shorter woman.

"Huh?" Hayate blinked and smiled at Teana. "Hello, Teana, it's been awhile since I saw you last. How have you been?"

Teana shrugged as she fell in step next to her former commanding officer. "Pretty good, actually. Solved a major case while you were away, I have the paper-work done and everything."

Hayate nodded and made a note to read the report when she had a chance. "Do you have any missions coming up?" Seeing her shake her head, Hayate nodded and turned to the rest of the group. "I'm going to be heading to the Saint Church, Signum, Agito, I need you two to come with me." They nodded as she turned to Teana. "If you aren't busy Teana..." Seeing her shake her head, Hayate smiled softly. "Come along then, Admiral Chrono and Colonel Nakajima are going to be there as well."

Teana nodded, wondering just what was going on as she, Agito, Signum and Hayate got into Signum's car. She watched as Shamal, Vita, Zafira, Rein and Miyuki got into the car ahead of them and drove off before Signum pulled out. At the corner, the two went their own ways.

"Ah, General, might I ask why you want me to go with?" Teana asked from the back seat as Hayate nodded.

"You may." Hayate said as she sighed. "There was an incident on Earth involving a new type of Intelligent Device and a former TSAB member who was targeted by someone. You'll hear the details in a bit."

Teana nodded as the Saint Church came into view. This sounded very important.

It felt strange to be standing in the Saint Church with the likes of Genya and Chrono. Teana knew she was at a point in her life where she could easily be admired by the two older men, but her training still made her a little jittery around them both.

"You called us here on emergency, Hayate." Chrono leaned back in his chair. "What happened?"

Hayate nodded once before she spoke. "You may remember Marona, a former member of the TSAB."

"Yes." Chrono frowned. "She retired several years ago and returned to Earth."

"Is she in trouble again?" Genya asked.

Hayate shook her head. "No. She's fine, as of now. According to Vita, she even has a girlfriend, but I digress." Hayate took a deep breath. "It seems that during her travels she was threatened by a group of Earth men who somehow got their hands on low-grade Intelligent Devices; not horribly strong in design, but they held a lot of power."

Teana raised a brow. That was new. "A new design?"

"A leaked one. That isn't all." Hayate sighed. "It seems whoever decided to develop these kind of Devices also took the time to develop a method of implanting magic power into things like bullets to inflict magical damage."

"How did--"

"Nanoha-chan's sister was shot with one of those bullets while defending Marona and her companion."

The others nodded as Carim cleared her throat. "Hayate, what do you know about these devices? Do you know who made them?"

"Unfortunately no. We had as many people looking over them as possible and we even captured a few people who were using the devices over the course of the last month. No real details from any of them." Hayate sighed and shook her head as she looked at the others in the room in turn. "The people that had these devices had almost zero magic potential, and yet were capable of using these devices and using magic."

"How?" The other four asked as the same time as they thought about it. If there were devices like that floating around these days...

Shaking her head, Hayate frowned softly. "Unfortunately, we don't know any of that, but we did find something promising... Signum?"

The pink haired woman stepped forward from her place against the wall as a star map, one that showed a rather large section of space lit up at the table. "We have managed to track down where these weapons were coming from at any rate, but the distance is rather surprising." She pointed to a blue dot nearest to everyone. "This represents Mid-Childa..." Then she pointed to an orange dot that was around five feet, or rather, the other side of the map as she continued, "this represents where we think the devices came from, at least, before they got to Earth."

"But that's..." Teana stared, her eyes slightly wide.

"Nearly a week's travel away even on the fastest ships, yes." Hayate murmured. "Which is why this puzzles me."

Nodding, Chrono looked from the map to Hayate. "What do you need?" He didn't like the way that she pursed her lips softly.

"If it's alright..." She turned to Teana. "Teana, I would like for you, Signum and Agito to go check this out."

"Just the three of us?" Teana blinked a few times as Hayate shook her head.

"No, choose at least one other person, whoever you think would work best for this mission, to help you out. But I need to know what's going on. We all do."

"One person?"

Hayate nodded. "Someone you can trust. Someone with a clear head, if possible."

Teana winced. Well, there went her suggestion for Subaru; her girlfriend hadn't been in the best state of thinking ever since the whole incident with Ixy had exploded. After a moment, she said softly, "Is Ginga currently on a mission?"

Genya shook his head. "No, she has the day off right now. She's home with Wendi and Nove."

Teana nodded. "Ginga, then. We'll take Ginga."

Hayate nodded and looked at Signum. "I'm sorry, I know that you just got back..."

"It's okay." Signum smiled softly. "I'll get plenty of rest on the way over. If you'll excuse me." Seeing Hayate nod, Signum slipped out the door with Agito following her a moment later.

"Make preparations, Enforcer Lanstar, you leave in three days." Chrono said to her as she straightened up and saluted him.

"Yes, sir."

Outside the room, Signum blinked as she saw Schach walk to her. "Ah, Schach, how are you?"

Smiling, the nun walked up to her friend and fell in line. "I'm well, actually. How about you? I haven't seen you in almost a month, I was beginning to worry."

Signum smiled softly as the two walked down the hallway. "Just cleaning up a small mess on Earth. Unfortunately, I leave for another mission soon."

"So soon?" Schach frowned softly. "We hardly talk these days anymore."

Signum shrugged, slightly uncomfortably. "I know. But this is something that has to be done." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Schach nodding slightly.

"Please tell me you have time to stop for some tea at least. Sein's gotten really good at making some these days."

Signum nodded, smiling softly. "I think I would like that."

"Also, I think it would help Vice."

Signum blinked at that. "Vice?"

"Yes. He's been coming around here and hanging out. I think he's lonely." The thought made Schach giggle softly. "Apparently you two talked quite a bit before you left, and he misses your companionship."

"Is he here now?"

"I haven't seen him." Schach admitted as the two walked into the commons area, where Sein was serving her sisters some of her new tea. "Like I said, Sein's gotten good with the tea."

"Ah! Sister Schach, Signum." Sein smiled at them. "Come on, sit down, I'll get you some tea too."

Signum nodded at the shorter, petite blue-green haired girl as she went to get some more glasses. "They seem to be doing well."

"Yes." Schach smiled. "They've settled in amazingly. It's a relief, honestly."

Signum nodded again and made a mental note to call Vice when she had the chance. She hadn't known people could really miss her, especially someone like Vice, and it felt kind of good to know that.

---

Ginga sighed and had to resist the urge to laugh; she'd never been in such an interesting position before.

Said 'position' was wedged between Nove and Wendi, both sound asleep and clinging to her tightly like she was some kind of human-shaped body pillow. Not that Ginga was complaining; ever since her missions had started up, she rarely got much time to spend with her lovers.

They were still working on that, she thought. It was hard, and it took a lot of talking to make their feelings known, but they were working on it.

It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't just in their underwear and nothing else... And the blanket was on the floor, away from them. At least cuddling against Wendi and Nove kept her warm.

Though, she did wish they weren't hugging so tightly, oh well, she could put up with it, especially with the way Nove was giving her soft kisses to her breasts in her sleep and Wendi was nuzzling her side affectionately. And Nove complains about Wendi and myself being too affectionate with her. Well, maybe she could stop fondling Nove in the living room when they were watching movies. But it was always fun to watch the short redhead blush and bite back a moan. Besides, getting her worked up always led to interested bedroom moments.

Ginga grimaced as she felt a gentle mental prick at her mind, and wished she could sit up. Yeah, I'm here, she said.

Ginga? Hey, it's Teana.

Tea, hey. Ginga blinked. What's up?

I hate to ask this of you on such short notice on your day off, but... we need another person for our mission...

Really?

Yeah, we need to leave in a couple of days and I needed someone with a clear head for this one. It's going to be a long trip too.

Ginga nodded and rubbed Wendi's side and Nove's back. Sure. I'd start right now, but Wendi and Nove are pinning me down a bit.

...I do hope that you mean that they're laying on your sides and hugging tightly and not that you're having sex.

Ginga nearly started laughing. If we were having sex, the two of them would be broadcasting what they were doing to you, just to get you worked up.

...Now I know why Subaru's the way she is... Teana's voice groaned in dismay. You like to tease a lot, Ginga.

I know, but don't worry, I'll be there.

Thanks.

Oh, and Tea...

Yeah?

Don't wait too long to tell Subaru... She's going to want to give you a goodbye present. Ginga smirked as she imagined the younger girl blushing hard.

Fine, fine. Teana was grumbling, but Ginga knew it was only a show. I'll figure something out.

Okay. See you soon.

Teana echoed her goodbye before cutting the link, and now Ginga found herself with the very interesting task of waking her lovers and telling them what she had to do.

First things first. Waking them up.

Ginga could do a million and one things to wake Nove and Wendi up in a heartbeat. Most of them were naughty and led to R-restricted activities.

But to do this quickly and easily, without any distractions...

Ginga took a deep breath and sat up. Or tried to. She was pulled back down seconds later with a startled yelp and a laugh.

"Trying to slip out." Nove muttered and looked up, her eyes slightly tired, but also a bit frustrated. "I don't like waking up alone anymore." She said as she crawled on top of Ginga and pressed her body fully against Ginga's, getting a shiver from the taller girl as their chests pressed tightly against each other. "I think Ginga needs to stay in bed..."

"Me too..." Wendi grinned and kissed Ginga's neck. "Think we can convince her?"

Damn.

Begin emergency evacuation procedures.

Or at least that was what Ginga should have been doing, but it was hard to think straight with Nove on top of her and Wendi kissing her neck.

"Hold on, hold on." The taller girl struggled to keep her head from clouding. "Look, I... I'm sorry, I just needed a way to wake you two up."

"Oh?" Nove blinked a few times as she looked at Ginga. "You could have done it more pleasurably..." She trailed off, shivering as she felt Wendi's hand slip under her panties and rub her rear directly. "Like what Wendi's doing right now..."

The taller redhead grinned at Ginga and Nove. "So, why did you want to wake us up, Ginga?" She smirked as Nove gasped and squirmed due to what her fingers were doing to the other redhead.

Ginga sighed and smiled. "But see, if I woke you up that way, I'd never get out of the bed."

Wendi grinned. "Maybe, but, you never know, right?"

As entertaining as this was...

"I... kind of have to go."

The two stopped and blinked at her. "Go where?" Nove asked, blinking as Ginga sighed.

"A new mission. I'm going to be working with Teana this time." Ginga sighed at the looks she was getting. "I'm sorry, I might be gone for awhile too..." She blinked as Nove kissed her on the lips gently. "Nove?"

"We'll miss you..." She gasped as she felt Wendi's fingers start to tease her again.

Wendi nodded. "Yep... but for now..." She grinned at the two. "Let's have some fun."

"But, I need to..." Ginga groaned as the two started to work her over. Hell with it, Teana did say it would be a couple of days after all.

(---)

Sein was heading back to the table with some more glasses when she blinked at who was walking her way. "Ah! Vice! How are you?" She smiled at the short-haired man.

"I'm fine." He laughed sheepishly. "Hoping you aren't sick of me yet."

"Ah, no, we all enjoy your company. Come in, come in, you're in luck! Signum's actually here having tea with Sister Schah, you caught her just before she headed out."

His eyes seemed to light up. "Really?" He smiled as she nodded. "Well, lead the way."

"Of course." She grinned at him.

Deed and Otto shared a look before getting up. "Excuse us." Deed said softly as she and her sister left the table. "We forgot something. Sein, we need your help with it too."

"Sure thing!" She grinned and left as soon as Vice was seated at the table with Signum and Schach looking at him. Agito was sitting on the table, enjoying the small amount of tea she was drinking.

Agito grinned the moment she saw Vice. "Hey, Vice," she greeted. "How's everything going?"

"Good enough." Vice laughed sheepishly. "Mostly just been doing some light errands and cargo transports for Hayate and the others... though I got shot at once."

Signum blinked and raised an eyebrow at him. "Shot at? What happened?" She wasn't too worried about him being hit, he was an excellent helicopter pilot.

"I don't know, honestly." Vice frowned. "I was delivering some materials for building Intelligent Devices, and while I was at the drop-off point someone shot at me and tried to make away with some of the stuff."

Signum blinked. "... Wait, they shot at you?"

"Well, yeah. I was making a ground delivery."

Schach frowned softly. "Did they get away?"

"Hell no, I sniped all of them in the leg." Vice chuckled softly and took a sip of the tea. "Sein's gotten good at making this stuff, hasn't she?"

Schach nodded at that. "Oh yes. To think that just a few weeks ago she couldn't boil water without causing problems... At least that was just because she didn't pay attention to it."

"Her concentration's gotten much better," Vice agreed. "She actually listens when she asks me for a story now instead of zoning out."

Agito snorted at that.

Signum shook her head. "It sounds amusing."

"She's very child-like at times, I think she would have rather had been causing mischief rather than terrorism." Schach said, getting a soft laugh from the others.

Vice nodded and looked at Signum. "So, Signum, what have you been up to this last month?"

Signum shrugged. "After Miyuki was injured, we were asked to guard Fiasse and Marona in her and Kyouya's place." More like Shamal had signed them up for it, but she wasn't going to complain.

Though sometimes she felt that for a woman in a relationship, Marona was... amazingly open.

"Ah... Must have been fun." Vice shook his head.

"It was... I think Vita had a lot of fun interrogating some of the people we caught." Signum took another sip of her tea. "There were more devices than we had thought in use."

Schach frowned softly. "What do you mean?"

Signum sighed softly and shook her head. "It's why we went to Earth, apparently somehow, someway, prototype devices ended up getting shipped to Earth..." She looked around before leaning in and whispering low. "We may have found where they're coming from... But the place is on the very edge of the TSAB's control."

Vice winced as he thought about that. "Oh... That's..." He trailed off as Signum nodded and sighed. "Be careful out there, it's practically lawless, being so far from the main headquarters."


Signum blinked at that before she smiled, slowly. "Thank you. I'll try my best to be, though I make no promises."

Vice shrugged and smiled. He knew he'd worry about her either way, but at least she seemed willing to try for his sake.

Schach nodded at her. "Good, but do try to not get hurt too badly. It wouldn't be good to find out that you got hurt badly out there." Oh, she knew that Signum might get hurt, that was the price that they paid for being fighters, mages, and TSAB employees.

"Teana, Agito and Ginga are going to be going with me." Signum said softly as she leaned back. "I'm fairly certain that nothing more than checking out a few activities that aren't totally legal. We'll check for any Lost Logia that might be getting dealt as well." She just hoped that it would be simple in and out.

...

Why did she suddenly feel a chill down her back?

"Signum?" Vice blinked. "You okay?"

"Huh?"

"You just shivered like a cold breeze blew by, and it's still very warm."

"I think I am." Signum sighed softly. "I think I might be a little paranoid, that's all."

Agito blinked curiously up at her master, then shrugged and went back to her tea.

Vice nodded at her, smiling softly. "Hey, you'll be fine. I can't think of anyone tougher to go on such a mission. Just be careful and watch your back."

Signum nodded, smiling softly at him. "Thank you."

"Hey, don't forget, Signum, Vice and I are here if you need to talk to us." Schach said to Signum, smiling softly.

"Thank you." Signum smiled softly, a warm feeling going though her body.

(---)

Days later, on a small ship, Teana found herself sighing as she sat in a small room reading a book as Ginga lay on the bed, playing a game, as they waited for the ship to get out of hyper-space. "Sure is taking awhile, huh?" Ginga, dressed in a tank-top and panties, said as she turned off her game and sat up.

"Yeah..." Teana nodded and marked her page. "Sorry I'm not much for company."

Ginga giggled softly. "It's okay..."

"...Hey, Ginga, I was wondering something."

"What?" Ginga blinked at her as Teana gave her a curious look.

"How come you got so close to Wendi and Nove anyway?" Teana was curious, since she couldn't figure it out herself. "For that matter, why did Wendi and Nove get together? Weren't they raised as sisters?"

Ginga chuckled. "Why are you so close to Subaru?"

Teana blinked. "Ah... well..."

"To be fair to them, Jail didn't exactly enforce sisterly feelings." Ginga sat up on her bed slightly to better focus on her game. "He said they were sisters, but he never really did anything to make them realize the true meaning of being sisters."

"So... they never knew...?"

"Well, I'm sure they love their sisters like I love Subaru, I don't doubt that. It's just... for them, it was a much blurrier line."

Teana frowned. "So... why did you get close to them?"

Ginga chuckled softly and shook her head. "I have no clue, honestly. Nove asked me on a date because she was worried about Wendi laughing at her. Honestly, I think that the two of them only wanted me to be with them because I helped Nove out and I didn't try to take her away from Wendi..."

Teana shook her head. "Sounds complicated..."

"It was." Ginga sighed heavily. "Nove's actually very insecure about everything around herself. She wants stuff, but she's afraid to go for it. Wendi's more secure about herself, but she's afraid of losing what she has." Ginga shrugged slightly. "It was hard for the first little while. Nove and Wendi... I honestly think that they're soul-mates... If you believe in that, that is."

"Really?" Teana blinked, surprised.

"Yeah, I think so."

Teana hesitated. "Then..."

"Yeah?"

"Where do you fit in?" Teana's voice was timid. "I mean, I've never heard of someone having more than one soul-mate, not counting Nanoha-san."

---

Back home, Subaru wondered if she should've taken the time to mention that she'd messed with the room's security and such so that Wendi and Nove could hear what was being said.

"I don't know, to be honest, I thought they were just letting me come along until they figured themselves out. Then we went to the beach one day..."

Teana's voice was heard next. "What happened there?"

"We got close... Things might have gotten a little out of hand, but when the two finally stopped beating around the bush..." Ginga was heard sighing. "So, things got heavy between the three of us, I was about to leave, but Nove pulled me back and things happened... Lots of things, we became lovers that day."

"Oh... Wow..."

"So, Teana, when did you and Subaru become lovers?"

"..."

"Teana?"

"You know, you just kind of dodged my question..."

"Huh?"

At Ginga's curious tone, Nove stirred. "Come on, Wendi, this is--"

"SHHHH! I wanna hear what happens next!"

"You just said you didn't know... if you think Wendi and Nove are soul mates, why do you stay with them? If that's true, they can leave you at any time... just wake up one day and realize they love each other and not you..."

"I know... I can see them leaving me if they want to... But they make me feel really good. Even if they don't feel that way about me in the end, I'm glad that i helped them out..."

"Ginga... You... You're taking this well..." Teana sounded surprised.

"Hey, they kicked my butt when we first met, I think I've got a scar on my butt somewhere from that, but anyway, I honestly don't know why they stay with me. I'm glad that they do, but if they wanted to leave me, I wouldn't stop them."

"You love them... Don't you?"

"Enough to not hate them if they left me."

Wendi looked at Nove. "You wouldn't leave her, would you?"

Nove shrugged and grimaced. "No... Why would she think we would?"

"Now answer my question, Teana... Why did you fall for Subaru?"

"Other than her being stubborn and persistant?" Teana asked dryly.

Ginga laughed. "She is rather stubborn. She got it from Mom."

"Believe me, I know." Teana sighed. "I... she makes me feel so good. I always feel so confident, even if I'm just thinking of her. She loves me a lot, which honestly amazes me because I know I'm not as kind to her as I could be..."

"Ah..."

"Yeah... and, you know... when Nanoha-san was having her babies, and Subaru was all excited... I really wouldn't mind having her baby in a few years. If, you know, there was a way to do that."

Listening in, Subaru blushed hard and started poking her fingers together. If she had known that Teana would allow that, she would have brought it up. She blinked as Wendi clapped her on the back, grinning at her.

"Good job!" Wendi grinned at her as Subaru blushed more.

"Really? I honestly see Subaru as the one carrying your child more than you carrying hers."

"Wait? There is a way?"

"Possibly, you'd need to see a doctor first, but yes. But you seem more like the one who would get Subaru pregnant rather than she get you pregnant."

"Ginga!"

"What? It's true. You seem more masculine than Subaru is at times."

"Okay, so I take charge in the bedroom, Subaru's submissive. What about you?"

"Wendi's actually the one who's the most forward between the three of us. Nove likes getting back at her though." Ginga's voice was heard laughing.

"And you?" Teana was clearly amused.

There was a long moment of silence; finally, Ginga coughed quietly.

"Honestly, I... I don't really do so much..." Ginga's voice softened. "I thought maybe that would make things easier if they ever asked me to walk away. Mostly I just let them do whatever they want and take what they want to give me."

"Kind of passive, huh?"

"Yeah, I know... I'm actually a little worried." Ginga was chuckling softly.

"About what?"

"That... That if they do leave me... That I'll end up being hurt badly."

"Do you love them?"

"I... I don't know, honestly." Ginga sighed. "I think I do, I really think I do, and, it scares me that they don't love me."

"You think they don't?"

"I honestly can't tell... I just know that when it's the two of them, they seem so happy, like everything's right in their world, and I think... I'm afraid that I'm just something they're used to and don't need." Ginga sighed softly. "I could live without them, I know I could, but I really don't want to."

"Ginga..."

There was a knock on the door, the sound of the door opening and someone stepping in. "Signum, what can we do for you?"

"We're almost there. Get dressed, we arrive in two hours."

"Yes, ma'am." Both Ginga and Teana said at the same time as it sounded like Signum left the room.

"Turn it off..." Wendi sighed as Subaru did so. "Ne, Subaru..."

The blue-haired girl looked at Wendi. "What?"

"Why did you choose Teana? She seems mean to you sometimes? Why fall in love with her?"

Subaru frowned. "Well, yeah, she is sometimes, but... she was the one who always supported me, even when we were training with Nanoha-san. And we're alone and it's just us... she's so loving and sweet. It's hard for her to be public about it."

Wendi nodded and looked at Nove. "What's wrong?"

"Does... Does Ginga think that we'll just leave her?" Nove frowned, she couldn't imagine just leaving her lover like that.

"Sounds like it." Subaru shrugged. "Honestly, Gin-nee's only been one or two serious relationships... and she's never been in love before."

"oh... Hey, Wendi..."

"Yeah?"

"We should take Ginga out on a date when she gets back."

Wendi grinned at that thought. "Yeah... A night where she gets anything she wants?" Seeing Nove nod, she chuckled. "Awesome."

(---)

"So, how close are we?" Teana asked as she walked up to the bridge with Signum, Ginga on her other side.

"Getting close, I think." Signum shrugged. "I just know they want us to come and meet on the bridge for something."

"Ah, good, you're here." The captain, an older man with a gray beard and hair said as he stood up, dressed in a blue uniform. "This is the planet, Ukuro." He said and gestured to the planet as it came up on the view screen. "A completely industrialized planet. Heavy pollution, smog, the rain's slightly acidic, so don't stay outside for too long if it does start to rain."

The three nodded and looked over the planet. "There's no vegetation here, how do people live here?" Teana asked no one in particular.

"Food's mostly imported in. There are factories that can grow food for cheap, so people can survive." The captain said and pressed a few buttons. "You'll need to blend in, make it look like you're the scum of the universe." In front of each of them were some worn brown clothes that would hang loosely around their bodies. "Anyone goes in looking like they belong to the TSAB, they aren't going to come out alive, or at least, not as pretty."

"You sound like you've had some experience with this." Signum said as she picked up her clothes. "I take it we should keep our devices on us."

"If you didn't, I'd say you're stupid. I know you can do magic without them, but it's better to be safe than sorry after all." The captain said as he pressed a few button, a display screen popping up, displaying a one-story building that was rather long. "This would be your best bet to start. It's a remodeled meeting hall that's used for auctioning off stolen goods. If anyone would have unstable or prototype TSAB tech, it would be here."

"What about Agito?" Teana gestured to the tiny Unison Device as she struggled into her clothes, grumbling and muttering all the while. "She kind of stands out."

The captain sighed at that. "Keep her close to you. You can't hide her completely, but don't let her attract attention to you. Unison Devices aren't common on this planet, so she'll attract attention either way. Try your best to keep her low-profile." He looked at Agito. "You got that? No crazy stunts, no flashy fireworks."

Agito nodded.

"What about your full form?" Teana asked as Agito shook her head.

"Can't manage magic too well with it." The redheaded device muttered softly.

"At least if she's near your group, you shouldn't be bugged too much. Unison devices are rare enough for the TSAB, if, say, criminals have one, other criminals are less likely to bother them." The captain spoke up. "Ladies, we'll arrive in 45 minutes, go get changed and head down there."

"Yes sir." The three said and turned to leave.

"Oh, and ladies..."

"Yes?"

"Good luck." The man smiled at them. You're going to need it. He thought to himself.

"Suddenly, I'm not looking forward to this mission," Teana murmured.

Ginga just shrugged as Agito finally got into her clothes, landing on Signum's shoulder. "So..." The purple-haired woman looked at the pair. "How do we hide Agito, or keep her from attracting attention?"

"My shirt has a pocket on the left front side. She can hide in there." Signum said. "Plus she's closer in case I need to unison."

"You all right with that, Agito?" Teana asked.

The small Unison Device nodded. She didn't mind hiding in Signum's pocket, it was actually quite comfortable.

"Alright." Signum said as she entered her room. "Let's get changed and get down there."

The younger two nodded at her as they went to their room to change.

(---)

Teana, dressed in brown, slightly ragged, clothing, grimaced at the air. "Bleah." She knew that she'd get used to it, but it was still pretty repugnant. It didn't help that the skies were fairly darkened by various smog clouds and other things.

Signum nodded and looked at the buildings, they were fairly unimpressive, slate gray, some windows, mostly metal and square. "Let's go." She said as she saw the building that they were looking for in the distance.

"It's close by?" Ginga asked.

Signum nodded again. It was one of the few blessings for the mission, in any case; they didn't have to go very far to get to where they wanted to be.

All in all, it only took them a few minutes to reach the building. Thankfully, everyone seemed more interested in minding their own business than checking out the newcomers.

The inside was dark, but that was due to the low lighting and the dark paint on the walls than anything else. It was larger inside than Signum had thought, lots of round tables in the place. Finding an empty table, the group sat down, just as someone walked onto the stage on the far end.

"Welcome everyone. Thank you for waiting. Our next item for bid is this lovely control console for any space ship. Using this would allow anyone to plot a course anywhere in the universe easily. Salvaged off of a patrol ship that somehow exploded last month." There was a general chuckling from the people in the room. "The bidding shall start at 90."

Somehow exploded last month? Teana hissed.

Ginga sighed. My department's been tracking this. It's a black market trade for weapons and new Devices.

Signum nodded as she watched people bid for it. I'm not surprised about this at all. The law doesn't apply as much out here. It's like a cockroach den. Squish a few, there's millions more in hiding.

"Sold to the man in the blue fur coat for 200. Next on our list is this interesting Storage Device. It's said to be able to turn anything into ash within a moment of being exposed to its heat. I don't know where this one came from, folks, it's a total mystery to me. The bidding starts at 250!"

Teana raised a brow. You know...

Yes? Signum glanced at her.

I hate to be picky or anything, but this is some pretty low-grade stuff they're pawning off. I see these kinds of things back home all the time.

Ginga nodded. It's incredibly hard to get the rare stuff, but if we poke around a bit...

It took hours, but by then the low-grade stuff had gotten away and new stuff came up.

"And this... This is a fairly rare find, folks. An actual Intelligent Device from a TSAB mage that disappeared a month ago." The announcer held up a black cube. "As you know, Intelligent Devices are rare even within the TSAB, so finding one out here is a near miracle. Bidding starts at 10,000."

Teana nearly stood up but Ginga grabbed her and stopped her. Don't. You'll blow our cover.

But...

That's not even the best they could have. Ginga's voice was soft. Sit. Wait. That's important, but there's more to come.

Agito squirmed slightly in Signum's pocket. She was starting to get warm.

"And sold for 30,000. We're going to take a small break now folks. When we come back, a really rare treat! An actual Belkan Unison Device, just sit right back and relax."

As applause erupted, the three exchanged stunned looks. "Did he just say a Belkan Unison Device?" Teana whispered.

Agito growled, to her, that was more than enough to check out the back. "We have to check it out."

Ginga nodded at her. "Right, but if we all slip back there, it would be suspicious..." She trailed off and looked at Teana. "You can do it, right?"

Teana smirked and nodded. "Stealth and spying are a specialty of mine after all." At least they were with that invisibility power of hers.

Signum nodded at her and leaned close. "Keep us updated..." She looked around and saw that no one was paying attention. "Go, now."

Teana nodded and in a flicker, she vanished.

Agito grumbled. "I wanted to go..."

Signum sighed. "Fine. Just stay close."

Agito nodded as she slipped out of Signum's pocket, flew to the floor and raced over it, knowing that most people wouldn't look down for a small, speedy object, and then disappeared after Teana.

Slipping past the door to the back, Teana was glad that it was already slightly open. She had Cross Mirage in single gun mode out and held in front of her. Looking around the stuff, she grimaced, most of it wasn't very rare, but there were a few things that could be found here and there. Books, tomes, magical artifacts, a small cage with a whimpering blond-haired girl in a skin-tight black suit that looked weak, an orb that hovered in mid-air, a...

Teana blinked and turned back to the cage. "The device..." She whispered and went to the cage, making sure not to rattle it too much. "Hey..."

"Don't... Don't hurt me..." The girl whimpered and curled into a ball and trembled slightly.

Flickering, Teana came back into view as she undid the lock on the cage and gently, very gently pulled the device out of the cage. "Hey, I won't hurt you... I'm..."

"Teana!" Agito yelled and zipped over to her.

"Agito?"

"Hey! You!" Teana looked up, seeing a balding, fat, hairy man in a tank-top and black pants, yell at her. "Let go of that property!"

Teana sneered at him, pointed Cross Mirage and shot for his leg, only to curse as a shield appeared in front of him.

"Nice try, girlie, but I've gone up against my fair share of TSAB mages, you're nothing but a little girl with a fancy gun." The man sneered at her. "I'll be glad to sell that for you once I'm done having my fun with your body." He grinned lecherously at her.

Agito knew the captain had said no fancy tricks, but this bastard deserved it. "Teana, stay put!" she called, zipping past the shooter.

The bald man blinked as Agito hurtled towards him. "What the.. hey, another Unison Device! I can--"

At that moment, Agito set off her pride and joy-her fireworks.

Right in the man's face.

Teana cringed. "Ouch," she whispered, before turning back to the Unison Device in her hand. "Don't worry," she said softly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Please.." The device whimpered and looked at her. "Help me."

"Don't worry, I will." Teana said and held her close. "They won't get you anymore."

She didn't look like Rein or Agito, which meant she probably depended on a different element... shaking her head, Teana looked up. "Agito, come on, we've got to go."

The redhead nodded and flew after Teana as she ran for the back of the room, only to stop and curse as she ducked behind a few boxes as more people piled in from the outside. "Agito!" She cried out as the device flew next to her. Signum! Ginga! There's a problem! I'm cut off.

What do you mean, cut off? Ginga asked.

There's a lot of people down here, and they're coming in fast. Teana cradled the Unison Device closer protectively. I can try to fight my way out, but I'm outnumbered and I can't tell if they have Devices with them.

We'll be there, just hang on. Signum's voice was heard over the communication.

The device opened her eyes, which were green. "I'm sorry... This is my fault." She whimpered.

"No it ain't." Agito growled and tossed a few fireballs out.

"Just be silent and get close." Teana muttered as Agito grabbed her shirt as she flickered and disappeared. Hopefully they could slip out without getting into a fight along the way.

Considering the way that her leg was hit as she moved by a thrown pipe, that threw that theory out the window. "Oww..." She grunted as her illusion flickered.

"Teana?" Agito asked nervously.

"I'm fine, give me a minute." Teana grimaced as she rolled to her knees, her barrier jacket appearing around her a moment later. To hell with secrecy right now. She pulled up Cross Mirage, smiling as it went to Dagger mode and sliced through oncoming debris. "Agito, cover fire." She said as several balls of energy floated around her. "Crossfire Shoot!" She cried out, the balls lancing out and smashing through several of the debris and into people.

"Behind." Agito grimaced as she fired several flames at some guards coming from behind Teana.

"Damn, where is..?" Teana sighed as the doors to the outside were blown off their hinges as Signum and Ginga broke through. "Thanks." She called out, shooting one of the guards in the knee, making him fall to his knees.

"I swear..." Signum shook her head and punched an oncoming guard in the face before blocking a piece of debris.

Ginga had rolled foward, dodging a crate thrown at her before she kicked one of the people in her way. "Come on!" She frowned as Teana limped slightly. "Hang on." She grabbed Teana and lifted her up and put Teana onto her back as she rolled out the door.

Signum twitched, grimacing slightly. This was all shot to hell. Finding out information... Why did things have to go to hell like this? She blocked a box with Laevantine as she covered the backs of everyone else, before blinking as a few devices fell to the ground. "Thanks." She said as she grabbed them and ran. There wasn't enough room to fight effectively here.

"Signum!" Agito went back to her master.

"Oh, hell." Teana winced. "Should I..."

"Let her go," Ginga muttered. "She can probably help more than you, in any case."

"Gee, thanks so much." Teana blinked at the small whimper before she remembered her cargo. "Wait, Ginga, put me down. She's hurt."

"Huh?"

"The Unison Device. She's really weak, and this is hurting her. Put me down. I'll limp."
Ginga nodded at hearing that and put Teana down gently as more people started piling out of various buildings, waving weapons at the small group.

"Holy hell, what's going on here?" Ginga yelled as she rolled forward, dodging an attack, before kicking the person in the face.

"Arrrr! Get the theives! They're stealing the goods!" An older man with one eye, a greasy white beard and wearing blue, ratted clothing called to the others, working them into a frenzy as his sword suddenly flashed and with a downwards slash, a wave of magical energy lashed out, slicing through the ground and a few people as Ginga and Teana jumped to the side to avoid it.

"They sound like cheap pirate imitations," Teana gasped out, pulling Cross Mirage up to her face and held in a defensive position.

"Yeah, well, they're pretty damn dangerous--" Ginga muttered as she dodged another swing at her head and kneed the woman in the gut, driving the air out of her attacker's lungs, driving her to her knees.

Teana heard the shot before she saw the flash of light; cradled in her hand, the Unison Device let out a small cry. "Look out!"

Teana turned around and braced herself.

Just in time to see Ginga stand in front of her, her hand held forward and take the shot, the bullet ripping right through her back, causing her to fall in a spray of blood.

Ginga gasped and stumbled backwards. "Barrier... Piercing... Great..." She mumbled, the bullet piercing just above her right breast, blood pooling out of both holes. Slumping to her knees, she grimaced. "Heh... Well, if I have to go, at least I'll go down fighting."

"I'm sorry..." The small device said in Teana's hands as Teana got close to Ginga and shot at a few of the criminals, some of them pulling out various magical and non-magical weapons.

"Just be quiet." Teana grimaced as she saw Signum fly through the air, flaming wings blazing as her unison powered through as she rained flaming destruction on various enemies. "We'll get you out of here."

"But..."

"No buts." Teana knelt over Ginga. "Are you okay?"

"... Ow..." Ginga twitched feebly. "Oh, man, my karma sucks. First I'm worried about my relationship, then this happens." She laughed weakly.

"Hey, as long as you can laugh about it." Teana pressed her free hand to the wound, trying to stem the blood flow.

"I can help." The device said softly as she winced and stood up. "I can fight them..."

Teana shook her head. "No... You're hurt, my ankle hurts and Ginga's injured, you can't do much."

"I can do this much..." The device floated up and tossed an arm to the side as she looked at Teana. "Unison..."

Teana's eyes widened. "Wait..."

"In!" In a flash, the device merged with Teana, getting a gasp from the orange-haired girl as she felt filled with a new sense of power rip through her. Winds ripped around her as Teana's orange hair turned blond, her eyes green, her uniform went from white and red to blue, green and yellow as the unison completed, even Cross Mirage looked slightly yellow.

Looking at the people around her, Teana shifted Cross Mirage to dual-hand mode and fired a few shots, they were far faster and far more deadly as the bullets went ripping with the speed of the wind, spiraling, twisting and skewering people, objects and attacks, rendering them useless.

Above her, Signum and Agito looked down and were surprised at the unison that had happened. "Quite a strong device." Signum muttered as she turned and lashed down with Laevantine's snake form, knocking several people away with ease and injuring some of the others. "I think we're going to need a clean up crew..."

"Or we can burn them all to ash!" Agito grinned suddenly, one that was nearly mirrored on Signum's face as she smirked softly.

"Indeed."

If you're going to do that, please watch your aim, Ginga pleaded mentally.

Will do. Signum smirked, then blinked as the men crashed into barriers. "Huh?"

Ginga smirked as she sat up, ignoring the blood that gushed from her wound. "I can do something, at least," she murmured.

Continued in the next post...

Nicely done.

I like lesbian couples/threesomes as much as the next guy. But what I like in this chapter, and story for that matter, is that they aren't used gratuitously. There's some thought and development going on under the skin, and I firmly approve of that.

[Jimmy C]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

These things... They aren't too smart for anything but battle... Stripped of nearly anything but the most basic AIs... They'll grow, but then they need to have their AIs stripped again... But they're able to allow any weak mage to use magic that you'd expect from an A-rank mage or higher.

I can't tell how you wanted the idea for this type of Device to go, but Devices of all kinds (other than Unison) do not provide power for spell casting. That all comes from the mage. As a result, an C-rank would only be able to power spells up to C-rank level, whether he's using a storage device or intelligent device. You could have a sufficiently creative mage use spells to cause physical effects that are out of purportion to their power level, but a veteran mage (like all the ones in Nanoha) can tell that those guys are smart, and not throwing around more power that they should be.
The only cases where devices boost the power of a spell are the cartridge system and the Starlight Breaker, both of which are rather obvious when used.