Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[WarpObscura]

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

It's a nice piece, however I think you should focus on writing something to establish things like how they fell in love and got together. Right now it feels like jumping into the middle of a movie. I have no idea what they were talking about when they were worried some one was following them.

Truth be told, I don't know how to write the establishing piece here. I have a vague conception of Yuuno freeing Rein from the seal and putting down the defence programme, the ending of which I had here, and the thought that this... mess would get started when Hayate realises that her "real wish" was to get the Book to bang Yuuno for her (I have got to finish working on that doujin). However, I have no idea how Yuuno is supposed to go about doing the former.

Also, mention of the Sissies was intended as a shout out, but in my usual moon logic lateral-thinking-needed fashion. I'll finish the omake and put up the explanation of the intended references.

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

Also, I don't think Yuuno would say "Aw hell naw"

Page claim for Rienno

I see you caught that.

Originally Posted by Nanya01

That's an interesting fic... *nods* YuunoxReinforce? ...Do want?

Maybe? I'd be interested in knowing where you go with this.

Truth be told? I was thinking of doing a twoshot for the night before, but I'm not sure what the ladies and gents could be doing on their sides. If you have any suggestions for what to ramble about, please do tell.

There are only so many times and ways you can do a wedding scene, so I put that thought out of mind, though the idea of Zwei and Vita as flower girls is just hilarious.

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

All righty, so I finally have my own Yuuno/Materials fic ready to go, so here it is!

Materials no Jikan trans: Time of Materials

Spoiler for Materials no Jikan:

“… You want me to what?” Yuuno gawked

“You heard me.” Chrono snorted. “It’s just as I told you.”

“Why should I? There’s no reason for me to do such a thing!”

“You’re the best for the job because you’re an amazing teacher… Is what Nanoha said.”

“… That’s cheap and you know it…” Yuuno muttered weakly.

“So you’ll do it then.” The older boy said matter of factly. “Well, good luck.”

And that’s how Yuuno found himself at the front of a classroom standing before the three materials.

After their defeat, it was decided that the three copies made by the Book of Darkness were to be re-educated so they could become productive members of society. To that end, they would be exposed to a classroom environment, the place most ordinary children learned how to behave properly, with Yuuno serving as their teacher. At nine years old he hardly thought he had any teaching credentials.

Not thrilled about his assignment, Yuuno still did his best to do the task, but it did prove to be exceedingly difficult. Thankfully the Materials had all taken some basic skills such as reading and writing from their originals along with their currently sealed magical abilities. So Yuuno was able to give them assigned readings and such to do, and he didn’t have to worry about them blowing anything up.

Glancing over at his students, he saw they were all seated at their desks with their text books. They all wore Nanoha’s school uniform for some reason. Yuuno figured that was probably Hayate’s choice.

Material-S, aka Seikou no Senmetsusha, aka Starlight Destroyer was an exact duplicate of Nanoha save for her shorter hair and perpetually flat expression. Reserved and courteous, she was obediently reading the passage in the text that Yuuno had assigned. Seikou, as most called her, was by far the easiest of the three to handle. Sometimes Yuuno caught himself doting on her for obvious reasons.

The next desk over was Material-L, aka Raijin no Shuugekisha, aka Attacker of the Lightning Blade. She preferred to be called Rai-chan and was a copy of Fate only with blue hair and a far more cheerful demeanour. She was certainly an energetic one who was currently fidgeting in her seat. It was an improvement over how she’d previously jump up and randomly run out of the room, though. Yuuno had to work out a system where for every hour she remained in her seat she earned a piece of (secretly sugar free) candy. The promise of sweets worked wonders on the child-like girl. She wasn’t very bright, though, as evident by how she was currently reading her textbook while holding it upside down. Even if Yuuno flipped it over, Rai would immediately look confused and study the book from all angles, leading to it being turned upside down again. It was rather exhausting but still a little amusing at the same time.

Finally there was Material-D, aka Yami Suberu Ou, aka Lord of Darkness. Hayate’s grey haired doppelganger insisted on being called ‘Your Majesty’, but that would only encourage her so she was called Yami to her displeasure. By far the most difficult, Yami was haughty, and downright mean at times. She never listened to Yuuno’s instructions, stating that she had no reason to obey a lowly worm and that she would do as she pleased. Pointing out how she was defeated and was now at the mercy of lowly worms just pissed her off. She sat at her desk with her book closed and was staring at Yuuno with a defiant smirk. The boy sighed and ignored her. At least she wasn’t causing trouble.

“Ok then,” Yuuno spoke up, deciding to resume his lesson. Due to his field of expertise, and his belief that the key to knowing the present is to understand the past, his lectures were primarily on history. “The passage I just had you read was on Igen Dleifgnirps, a great mage that once saved an entire world from destruction and was appointed as its king afterwards. Now, who can tell me in what year he took the throne?”

Seikou quietly raised her hand.

“Yes, Seikou?” She did not speak until Yuuno called on her.

“Year twenty-two.” She answered simply.

“That’s right.” Yuuno smiled and failed to stop his hand from reaching out and patting her head. Her face got a little redder, but that might have been his imagination. Whatever the case, Seikou herself didn’t object to the action, but Rai did.

“No fair!” She pouted. “Why does sensei only pat Seikou’s head?! I want to get patted too!”

“Uh, well…” Yuuno pulled his hand back. “It’s because she always answers questions correctly.”

“Then I’ll answer them too!” Rai declared, now leaning forward in anticipation of the next question.

“Next question then,” Yuuno continued. “What was the name of Igen’s most trusted knight?”

“Oh! Oh! Me! Pick me!” Rai jumped up, hand flailing in the air. Yuuno suppressed a chuckle.

“What’s the answer then, Rai-chan?”

“Uh…” She suddenly froze, her expression blanking out. The others could almost hear the gears turning in her head. “Um… Pudding!”

Yuuno sighed. “No, I’m sorry that’s not the right answer.”

“Then… um… Hot dogs!”

‘She must be hungry…’ He mused. “No, that’s not right either.”

“What?” Rai started to fume. “But…”

Seikou raised her hand again.

“Lady Anusa.” She answered.

“That’s right.” Yuuno smiled again.

“Seikou, I was going to say that!” Rai moped once more.

“You’ll get the next one, I’m sure.” Yuuno tried to placate her. He decided to ask an easy question next. “Igen had a loyal wolf companion named Oratouk. Now, what sound does a wolf make?”

Rai launched up out of her seat. “Moo!”

“… No, that’s a cow…” Yuuno put a hand over his face. Sometimes he wondered if she did this on purpose.

“Stupid wolf.” The blue-head began a low growl. “Why don’t you go moo?”

Yuuno began to sweat lightly, knowing what was coming next. Rai could be extremely happy go lucky, but her temper raged like an inferno. He had to defuse the situation quickly.

“There there,” He said, rubbing the top of her head. “It’s ok, I know you’re trying your very best. You’re a good girl.”

Rai’s expression melted into one of bliss, giggling softly as her head was patted. Yuuno could have sworn there was some purring in there too. He sighed in relief that a temper tantrum had been avoided. At this rate he’d get through another day without incident.

Yami would have none of that.

“Hey, mongrel.” She called, causing him to look her way. He was quite surprised to see she actually had her book open.

“Yes Yami, what is it?” He said cautiously. If she was speaking, it most certainly wouldn’t be anything good.

“Address me as your majesty!” She frowned briefly before returning to a smirk. “Anyways, it says here that this Igen fellow had one of the largest harems in recorded history. Is this true?”

“Er… Yes, it’s as it’s written…”

“Three, two, one…” Yami grinned.

“… What’s a harem?” Rai blinked.

“Oh yes, do tell.” Yami rested her chin on her propped up, interlinked hands.

“Geh…” Yuuno gulped. So that’s what she was after. “Well… How can I explain it… A harem is when a person, usually a ruler or some one with lots of power, has many… lovers. Igen himself had over thirty wives.”

“Lots of kings have harems, don’t they?” Yami asked.

“Well, yes, since there’s no one to stop them, really…”

“Fufufu, okay then!” Yami proclaimed, standing up on her chair and propping her leg up on the desk. “Then as your ruler I hereby decree the formation of my own harem! Be grateful, peon!” She pointed to Yuuno. “For I have decided to make you the first member of my harem!”

Yuuno balked. “Wha… What are you saying?! You can’t…”

“Yay! I want to be Yuuno-sensei’s lover too!” Rai pounced, wrapping her arms around his neck and clinging tightly.

“Er, Rai-chan,” He flushed, trying to sound persuasive. “You really should only be lovers with some one you really like…”

“I like Yuuno-sensei!” She cheerfully declared. “You give me candy and pat my head! I like you a lot!”

“Urg…” Yuuno’s face grew redder at her words. Desperate, he turned to his only possible saviour. “Seikou, please talk some sense into them!”

The brunette slowly rose to her feet and calmly made her way over to the others. When she reached him, she silently raised her hand and gingerly took hold of Yuuno’s sleeve before turning her face away.

The room went silent for a moment.

‘Eeeeeh?! What does that mean?!’ The boy cried mentally.

“Yay! So we’re all part of sensei’s harem!” Rai squealed happily.

“Yeah!” The other two chirped, Seikou doing it much more quietly.

“Oh boy…” Yuuno groaned. “What am I supposed to do about this?”

“… Hey, wait a second!” Yami suddenly frowned. “This is supposed to be my harem!”

To be honest, I thought D would be trying to nod off whenever she could as a show of contempt. Saw it in one of those Pixiv illustrations with the three.

Originally Posted by Yasanagi

Spoiler for Material Days IV:

'It was them who...?!' Yuuno had no time to think and quickly threw up a barrier to block the sudden attack that came out of nowhere. However, the sheer power that was behind that blast forced the Librarian to maintain heavy concentration just to ensure the defensive field wouldn't be broken. 'That spell back there... it's just as strong as Nanoha's Starlight Breaker but the casting speed isn't as long!' The effect of the attack spell caused some of the clouds to part, showing their male attacker wielding a gunblade device and dressed in a biker outfit. Magic circles surrounded his device which emitted a powerful aura of light to obscure his face although his short brown hair could be seen.

"Would you stop bawling already, Material-L?! We have to strike now while we have a chance!" snapped Material-D.

"But you'll just leave me alone again!" whined the Fate replica.

"Rai-chan, we have a battle to fight," said Material-S softly. "I promise that I will be fighting by your side."

In an instant, the tears vanished and Material-L had a happy little look on her face. "Kay!!" After releasing her friend and activating Vulnificus again, she spun it around a few times while singing a little song to herself. "Now is fighty time, fighty time! Blood, blood... BLOOD!!!"

There was a lot of emphasis put on that last word as her childish look instantly became malevolent while her magical aura erupted. To see such a sudden change in attitude startled Yuuno so much that the barrier wavered for just a moment and allowed the attacking spell to partially get through and graze his right side, leaving a rather nasty burn. "Guh!!"

"Ooh... that'll probably leave a nasty scar," commented the black-clad female hovering ahead of them.

"....!!" Even though she didn't say a word, the alarmed look on the face of Material-S was enough to spur Material-L into action. Transforming into into a lightning bolt and tackling the male Divider Wielder, it allowed the attack to stop and prevent any further danger to Yuuno's being. Now that he had a breather, he let go of the shield and started a healing spell on his injured side while he caught his breath.

Meanwhile, the Nanoha replica had summoned her own magic circle beneath her feet which was none other than the standard Mid-Childan circle but with mysterious spikes that protruded around the entire circle. "Fly... Phantasmic Fangs!!" The spikes then took on a life of their own as they peeled themselves off the circle before transforming into blue swords. They all flew towards the other woman, who summoned her shield thanks to the Tome she carried. However, the forceful impact of the swords against her own barrier drove her back into the thick clouds. Taking a moment to breathe, Material-S turned to address her fellow replica. "We need to get out of here."

"Excuse me?! Are you out of your mind?!" screeched Material-D.

"As we are now, we cannot defeat the enemy," stated Material-S in her calm tone.

The other woman wasn't too happy to hear that. "Just what is it that they have that's preventing us from beating them down like the mongrels they are?!"

"My attack spells haven't had as much effect on my opponent," recalled the Nanoha replica. "Any injuries he receives are healed quickly, most likely due to some self-healing factor. We need to move to another world to recover fully. Are you able to cast another teleportation spell?"

"There's one problem with that," said Material-D in a fake sweet tone before going back to her screeching. "YOU BUNGLED UP THE DESTINATION EQUATION IN THE FIRST PLACE DURING THE LAST TELEPORTATION!! How am I supposed to properly use Dimensional Transfer if I don't have the departure variables?!"

"Wait," rasped Yuuno, catching the attention of the two women. "I have a vessel in orbit. We can transport... there..."

"You... have a ship?" asked the Hayate replica in disbelief. It looks like she would have to re-evaluate this peon's worth.

"Just give me some time to prepare the transportation spell and make sure everyone's here before I cast it." He stopped his healing spell, which didn't really help too much against that burn of his, and started concentrating on the transportation spell.

"Understood." As the group now had a plan, Material-D began to administer whatever healing magic she could to Yuuno's side as he focused on the transportation spell while Material-S summoned her magic circle again, once again with the spikes. This time, as the multiple spikes peeled themselves off, they changed to green daggers instead of regular blue swords. "Phantasmic Fangs, Version Two... Tangle Bits!"

The green daggers flew off towards the battle while the Nanoha replica readied her device and had it load a new cartridge. "Maximum power..."

"Warning. Use of an S-ranked bombardment spell will leave mana reserves at critical levels. It is recommended that this action be aborted."

"Objection noted, Luciferion. Override," stated Material-S calmly.

"......" The device didn't respond which only added to the tense atmosphere.

"COMPLY." This time, the replica's tone was a bit more forceful, which finally got the device to start gathering magical energy and spring magical circles in front of the mage and underneath her feet.

"Order acknowledged, my Mistress."

As the ball of magical energy grew larger and larger from the residual mana in the atmosphere, the clouds begun to part and showed their opponents caught in the green magical web created by the daggers shot out by the Nanoha replica earlier and rounded up with the help of Material-L, who had returned to the group. "I'm almost ready!" shouted Yuuno as his own magical circles started to spring from his body.

The Nanoha replica nodded before beginning her aria in sync with her device. "Red stars gather... and tear through everything in a blaze of light!!"

"Oooh... this is gonna suck," grumbled the black-clad female from within the web as she prepared to muster up whatever defensive spells she had at her disposal.

"LUCIFERION BREAKER!!!"

Pointed out a coupla' spelling errors, but all is otherwise well.

[Yasanagi]

Yeah, I saw that typo but I already posted the episode to the Addventure.

Also, aside from the Nanoha wiki, any other place where I can find detailed info on how spacecraft in the Nanoha verse works? I'm tinkering around with the designs for Yuuno's personal shuttlecraft.

[Jimmy C]

There are no details on how Nanohaverse ships work. The closest we've got is the Cradle's main reactor, which looked like a gigantic artifical Linker Core. But then, that ship is a Lost Logia, so we don't know if present-day ships still run on the same principle.

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by Jimmy C

There are no details on how Nanohaverse ships work. The closest we've got is the Cradle's main reactor, which looked like a gigantic artifical Linker Core. But then, that ship is a Lost Logia, so we don't know if present-day ships still run on the same principle.

The workings of a specific Bureau warship are somewhat described in the false light prequel fic, The Call. I basically took this cue from StrikerS and described the reactors as really big artificial Linker Cores.

As far as canon goes... there's no information at all. This is awesome for us, because it means we get to make shit up!

[Yasanagi]

That I don't mind but I'm a bit worried that whatever designs I may have in mind won't really fit in with the universe mechanics. Then again, I was thinking of handwaving it off as the ship being an alien design as a gift to Yuuno after cracking some ancient mystery for them.

[WarpObscura]

Well, here's the slightly revised version of Nonexistent Future and its omake.

Spoiler for Nonexistent Future:

“Sometimes I wonder how things would have turned out if you had never met me.”

Yuuno looked across the table, a piece of chili crab halfway to his mouth, and blinked. “That’s… abrupt, Rein. Why do you say… phrase it as ‘you had never met me’? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

Reinforce played with her fingers, offhandedly rubbing at her wedding ring. “I’m inconsequential.”

There was no trace of irony or sarcasm in her voice, something that made Yuuno stiffen and slowly put the piece of crab back on its plate. He involuntarily looked down at his own matching band, then back into his wife’s beautiful ruby eyes, sighing as he did so. “I thought we had this worked out with the counsellors by now, dear.”

“Centuries of self-loathing don’t disappear into thin air in just a few years.”

“T-that’s not a good attitude to have,” Yuuno uttered lamely. “Now, please eat.” He scooped up a spoonful of fresh scallop and eased it into Reinforce’s mouth. “We’re not here to mope about the past. We’re here…”

Reinforce stared at her husband, half expecting him to whip out a pair of sunglasses any second now. Any second…

“For our honeymoon.”

Reinforce broke down laughing.

“What?” Yuuno asked, confused. “What did I… What did… Eh… Eh, oh no.” He slapped an open hand to his forehead and could not help laughing in embarrassment either.

After she managed to calm down and stop laughing, Reinforce rubbed her tears of mirth dry and said, “Come on, let’s finish up and go. It would have been nice to find out how they make this, but getting the recipes can come later. I need to get you some shades.”

Yuuno chuckled again as he shook his head. Nanoha had suggested that, since she would be going back to visit her family soon, a whirlwind tour of the continent that terminated in Japan would dovetail nicely. She had also been of the opinion that it would be an eye-opener. Though it was an easy mistake to make for an outsider, or gaijin as Nanoha’s native tongue would have it, all the more so for an off-worlder like them, Japan was not the centre of the universe. It would be far too foolish to automatically assume that Japan was representative of the whole Earth. Thus far, the trip had proven to be most educational. As of the present moment, they were currently in Singapore, a city-state so tiny that it was barely locatable on a world map. This one had been… well, it had been described as a melting pot of cultures, something that was fairly accurate, but it did not really have many standout features. What did stick out most clearly in their minds was this fruit with a green spiky exterior, tasty yellow flesh and a most pungent odour. It was… what was it called again? Oh yes, a durian.

It was on the bus on the way to the next location when Yuuno said, “Maybe I would have been the one to become inconsequential.”

Reinforce raised an eyebrow and turned to look at her husband. “Is this about my question just now?”

Yuuno nodded. “I know it’s not wise to listen to the grapevine, but sometimes it’s just hard to not overhear.” He rested his head against Reinforce’s upper arm. “To hear Ramuta speak, you’d think that the Scaglietti Incident would never have affected me.”

“… What?” Reinforce sounded mortified by the thought. “That’s… impossible.”

Yuuno laughed, although there was a bitter note in it. “It gets better. Supposedly in another two years’ time, I’d have become such a non-entity that I would be unessential to the Library, not even appearing when… when…”

“You’re supposed to be there?” Reinforce finished. She knew Yuuno wasn’t quite the person to insist on his own importance.

Yuuno nodded. “After being forgotten by everyone else, including Nanoha,” he continued despite a sharp, surprised intake of air on Reinforce’s end, “that would be when I would supposedly be disposable enough for… them to get rid of me like they had always been hankering to do but could not while I still had some significance.”

Reinforce rubbed her forehead as if trying to get rid of a headache. “Some of these people have too much free time to think up wild scenarios.” She paused and licked her lower lip slowly. “None of the Sissies are following us, are they?”

Yuuno shook his head and ran a hand through Reinforce’s locks reassuringly. “That NIRTScan bit system I adapted and deployed hasn’t picked up anything. If Ib or any of those… those…”

“Mike Foxtrots?” Reinforce volunteered, unable to keep a hint of amusement out of her tone at the pilfered Earthling military lingo and what it really stood for.

Yuuno sighed. “Yes, those; if they had tried to portal in we should have known, between the two of us at least.”

Reinforce put an arm around Yuuno’s shoulders and shook her head. “Don’t trouble yourself with an impossible, nonexistent future. I know it must be tr-” She looked up as the bus captain informed them of their stop. “Come, let’s go. It must be troubling that others think so lowly of you. I’ll do my part, but it’ll take time and your own effort; two decades of self-lo-”

Yuuno broke into laughter, took Reinforce’s hand, and together Mr. and Mrs. Scrya got off the bus.

Reference List (Read at own peril if you haven't caught them all):

Spoiler:

• "We're here..." *Sunglasses (or not)* "For our honeymoon* YEEEAAAHHHHH!
• Tokyo... I mean, Japan was not the centre of the universe.
• "Ramuta" is syllables-rearranged from "Tamura", as in Yukari Tamura, Nanoha's seiyuu. A jab at the "Yuuno-free Takamachi family" mess.
• Yuuno not appearing in the Infinity Library refers to Vivid.
• The Sissies refer to NSIS... or should I say SISsies? Remember that I was asking about the Shadowsverse? If I had put a November in there, it would have been a dead giveaway.
• NIRTScan references NIRTSats from Dale Brown.
• Ib -> Ibrahim -> Abraham (Stele). I think I could have made this harder to guess, but enough people are missing it as it is.
• Mike Foxtrots = MFs = Mofos
• Did I miss anything?

Omake?

Spoiler for Omake:

“H-h-h-holy shit! Is… Is that…?”

Reinforce perked up as she overheard an exclamation seemingly directed in her and Yuuno’s direction.

“Eh? Isn’t that Selvaria Bles?” It sounded like an adolescent male.

“No lah, you dummy,” the first one said, “Selvaria doesn’t have those locks of hair sticking out and falling to her left side.”

“Uh, now, uh, uh…” a third said, “there aren’t any cosplay events going on around here now, are there?”

Yuuno caught Reinforce’s eye and stopped in his tracks. “Cosp- Are they talking about us?” He whispered.

Reinforce made an almost imperceptible bob of her head.

“I… didn’t think we look like cosplayers, do we? If we were, wouldn’t we be using our Barrier Jackets?” Yuuno’s voice betrayed his disbelief. Cosplay was not an alien concept to him; Mid-childa had its own visual entertainment industry and naturally there were fanboys and girls who demonstrated their passion in such a manner. He had been to such conventions before a few times and knew there were those who also took after famous mages of the TSAB.

He did not know whether to be disturbed or intrigued by the fact that various female players managed a startling likeness of himself. Nevertheless, it was something that Chrono had not let him ignore.

There was also the niggling fact that, as Admiral (Ret.) Lindy had told them, some Earthlings had come up with an uncomfortably-close-to-the-truth animated work that told of the Jewel Seed Incident, the Book of Darkness Incident and the Scaglietti Incident.

“No…” the first said again, “gee, I don’t know... You have to admit that they got the faces very correct.”

“So, you going to ask them? Or do I have to?” the third asked.

“Fine, genius, I’ll do it.” There were sounds of approaching footsteps. “Um, excuse me, sir, ma’am?”

Reinforce and Yuuno turned around to regard the speaker, who was not a particularly distinctive-looking teen.

“May… May we,” he pointed to two other young men, “take a photo with the both of you?”

Reinforce and Yuuno exchanged looks before saying, “Sure, why not?”

The young man gestured to his friends before calling out to a young lady whose hitherto silence had led to her not being noticed, “Em, you not joining in?”

“I’ll just take the photo for you!” The young lady replied. “You… You get me a shot with Zach Quinto and we’re even!”

After the photo was taken, the young men went away commenting on the “accuracy” of the apparently highly-dedicated cosplayers, leaving Reinforce and Yuuno looking at each other in confusion.

[RadiantBeam]

A short, featuring Miranda, since I haven't done one of those in awhile. I'm honestly a little mixed on this piece, but it was an idea I had that I wanted to get out.

Spoiler for Building Tolerance:

Lutecia eyed the bottle in front of her as if it were an enemy; narrowing her eyes slightly, she gave it a timid, almost uncertain poke.

“Alphine, relax, it ain’t gonna bite you.” Miranda laughed, watching her younger partner; she was firmly against the idea of the girl drinking any kind of alcohol while she was underage, but the simple fact was, that if she wanted to fit into a bar scene she needed to be used to drinking, if only grudgingly. She needed to know the taste so that she could tell if someone had mixed her drink with drugs or poison.

“What happened to not wanting me to drink?” the purple-haired girl muttered, giving the bottle another small poke as if it was a living thing. She dearly wished for a cherry Coke right about now; something she knew, something she was familiar with.

“Like it or not, you’ll have to have a sip sometime.” Miranda picked up her own bottle and took a sip, as if to demonstrate. “Pretty girl like you ordering a cherry Coke in this kind of bar will stand out like a sore thumb. ‘Sides, you need to know how it tastes in case your buddy slips something into it.”

“Like what?” Oh, Lutecia could certainly guess what; she was just delaying the inevitable at this point.

“Date rape drugs, something that could cause nausea or hallucinations, outright poison.” Miranda shrugged and nudged the bottle closer to her partner. “You’ve got no reason to like it, I respect that. But you’ve gotta at least know how it should taste when it’s done right, so you can tell when something’s wrong.”

“How do you even know I’ll have that many bar missions?”

Miranda just gave Lutecia a look.

Sighing and giving in to the inevitable, Lutecia picked up the bottle. “I’m underage, you know.”

“Alphine, you won’t look it when you hit that last growth spurt. And besides, I’m not askin’ that you drink enough to get sick; just take a couple sips, know how it should taste.”

It was sketchy at best, and Miranda knew it; taking a few sips of alcohol wouldn’t truly teach one how an intact, pure bottle was supposed to taste. But she wouldn’t always be there to keep an eye on things to ensure that nothing bad happened to the young girl sitting beside her; perhaps this wasn’t the best method in mind, but for now, it was what she could do.

Sighing one last time, Lutecia steeled herself and lifted the bottle to her lips, taking a sip; she didn’t immediately toss it away or gag, but Miranda saw her expression and knew she didn’t like the taste. Grimacing, she set it down again. “Miranda?”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t see how anyone could get addicted to this.”

Miranda felt a small surge of relief; if worst came to worst, Lutecia wouldn’t turn to alcohol and drink herself to her death. “It’s an acquired taste, kid, trust me. Gotta say I’m not too fond of it myself.”

Lutecia lifted a brow and took another small sip before she set it down again, licking her lips and shaking her head.

“Well, since you took it like a real trooper, why don’t I buy you a can? It’ll be on me.”

Lutecia gave Miranda a look.

“What?”

“I thought you were going to—never mind.” Hastily, the younger woman closed her mouth. The less she thought about what kind of jokes her partner could make concerning Vivio’s lips and how they might taste, the better.

No real comments this time around; Miranda is still alive, so that by itself should say where this takes place during the Shadowverse timeline.

[synaesthetic]

Well, Celica never has to worry about Lutecia drinking all the beer in her fridge...

Originally Posted by WarpObscura

Reference List (Read at own peril if you haven't caught them all):

Spoiler:

• "We're here..." *Sunglasses (or not)* "For our honeymoon* YEEEAAAHHHHH!
• Tokyo... I mean, Japan was not the centre of the universe.
• "Ramuta" is syllables-rearranged from "Tamura", as in Yukari Tamura, Nanoha's seiyuu. A jab at the "Yuuno-free Takamachi family" mess.
• Yuuno not appearing in the Infinity Library refers to Vivid.
• The Sissies refer to NSIS... or should I say SISsies? Remember that I was asking about the Shadowsverse? If I had put a November in there, it would have been a dead giveaway.
• NIRTScan references NIRTSats from Dale Brown.
• Ib -> Ibrahim -> Abraham (Stele). I think I could have made this harder to guess, but enough people are missing it as it is.
• Mike Foxtrots = MFs = Mofos
• Did I miss anything?

I lol'd pretty hard, especially over the November 11 bit.

[00-Raiser]

Originally Posted by WarpObscura

Truth be told, I don't know how to write the establishing piece here. I have a vague conception of Yuuno freeing Rein from the seal and putting down the defence programme, the ending of which I had here, and the thought that this... mess would get started when Hayate realises that her "real wish" was to get the Book to bang Yuuno for her (I have got to finish working on that doujin). However, I have no idea how Yuuno is supposed to go about doing the former.

Hm... I'm thinking maybe since in this timeline Reinforce sticks around after A's, perhaps she works together with Yuuno in the library since she has first hand experience of past conflicts and stuff. They become close, and when Yuuno grows up to appear as a similar age to Reinforce, the chemisty between them changes, if you understand what I'm saying.

Originally Posted by WarpObscura

Omake?

Spoiler for Omake:

“H-h-h-holy shit! Is… Is that…?”

Reinforce perked up as she overheard an exclamation seemingly directed in her and Yuuno’s direction.

“Eh? Isn’t that Selvaria Bles?” It sounded like an adolescent male.

“No lah, you dummy,” the first one said, “Selvaria doesn’t have those locks of hair sticking out and falling to her left side.”

“Uh, now, uh, uh…” a third said, “there aren’t any cosplay events going on around here now, are there?”

Yuuno caught Reinforce’s eye and stopped in his tracks. “Cosp- Are they talking about us?” He whispered.

Reinforce made an almost imperceptible bob of her head.

“I… didn’t think we look like cosplayers, do we? If we were, wouldn’t we be using our Barrier Jackets?” Yuuno’s voice betrayed his disbelief. Cosplay was not an alien concept to him; Mid-childa had its own visual entertainment industry and naturally there were fanboys and girls who demonstrated their passion in such a manner. He had been to such conventions before a few times and knew there were those who also took after famous mages of the TSAB.

He did not know whether to be disturbed or intrigued by the fact that various female players managed a startling likeness of himself. Nevertheless, it was something that Chrono had not let him ignore.

There was also the niggling fact that, as Admiral (Ret.) Lindy had told them, some Earthlings had come up with an uncomfortably-close-to-the-truth animated work that told of the Jewel Seed Incident, the Book of Darkness Incident and the Scaglietti Incident.

“No…” the first said again, “gee, I don’t know... You have to admit that they got the faces very correct.”

“So, you going to ask them? Or do I have to?” the third asked.

“Fine, genius, I’ll do it.” There were sounds of approaching footsteps. “Um, excuse me, sir, ma’am?”

Reinforce and Yuuno turned around to regard the speaker, who was not a particularly distinctive-looking teen.

“May… May we,” he pointed to two other young men, “take a photo with the both of you?”

Reinforce and Yuuno exchanged looks before saying, “Sure, why not?”

The young man gestured to his friends before calling out to a young lady whose hitherto silence had led to her not being noticed, “Em, you not joining in?”

“I’ll just take the photo for you!” The young lady replied. “You… You get me a shot with Zach Quinto and we’re even!”

After the photo was taken, the young men went away commenting on the “accuracy” of the apparently highly-dedicated cosplayers, leaving Reinforce and Yuuno looking at each other in confusion.

Heh, I guess they would stand out, especially Reinforce with her hair At least I know who Selvaria is

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

Well, Celica never has to worry about Lutecia drinking all the beer in her fridge...

Yeah, Lutecia is definitely not an alcholic or interested in beer/wine that much at all. She'll have a glass at most, but otherwise she prefers her cherry Coke.

Or Vivio's lips. *shot*

[Rising Dragon]

Poor Vivio. Can't even ply Cia with drink to get her into bed.

Vivio: *kicks bottle* Dammit.

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

Poor Vivio. Can't even ply Cia with drink to get her into bed.

Vivio: *kicks bottle* Dammit.

Not that she's ever thought of that method...

...

... Much...

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

A short, featuring Miranda, since I haven't done one of those in awhile. I'm honestly a little mixed on this piece, but it was an idea I had that I wanted to get out.

Spoiler for Building Tolerance:

Lutecia eyed the bottle in front of her as if it were an enemy; narrowing her eyes slightly, she gave it a timid, almost uncertain poke.

“Alphine, relax, it ain’t gonna bite you.” Miranda laughed, watching her younger partner; she was firmly against the idea of the girl drinking any kind of alcohol while she was underage, but the simple fact was, that if she wanted to fit into a bar scene she needed to be used to drinking, if only grudgingly. She needed to know the taste so that she could tell if someone had mixed her drink with drugs or poison.

“What happened to not wanting me to drink?” the purple-haired girl muttered, giving the bottle another small poke as if it was a living thing. She dearly wished for a cherry Coke right about now; something she knew, something she was familiar with.

“Like it or not, you’ll have to have a sip sometime.” Miranda picked up her own bottle and took a sip, as if to demonstrate. “Pretty girl like you ordering a cherry Coke in this kind of bar will stand out like a sore thumb. ‘Sides, you need to know how it tastes in case your buddy slips something into it.”

“Like what?” Oh, Lutecia could certainly guess what; she was just delaying the inevitable at this point.

“Date rape drugs, something that could cause nausea or hallucinations, outright poison.” Miranda shrugged and nudged the bottle closer to her partner. “You’ve got no reason to like it, I respect that. But you’ve gotta at least know how it should taste when it’s done right, so you can tell when something’s wrong.”

“How do you even know I’ll have that many bar missions?”

Miranda just gave Lutecia a look.

Sighing and giving in to the inevitable, Lutecia picked up the bottle. “I’m underage, you know.”

“Alphine, you won’t look it when you hit that last growth spurt. And besides, I’m not askin’ that you drink enough to get sick; just take a couple sips, know how it should taste.”

It was sketchy at best, and Miranda knew it; taking a few sips of alcohol wouldn’t truly teach one how an intact, pure bottle was supposed to taste. But she wouldn’t always be there to keep an eye on things to ensure that nothing bad happened to the young girl sitting beside her; perhaps this wasn’t the best method in mind, but for now, it was what she could do.

Sighing one last time, Lutecia steeled herself and lifted the bottle to her lips, taking a sip; she didn’t immediately toss it away or gag, but Miranda saw her expression and knew she didn’t like the taste. Grimacing, she set it down again. “Miranda?”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t see how anyone could get addicted to this.”

Miranda felt a small surge of relief; if worst came to worst, Lutecia wouldn’t turn to alcohol and drink herself to her death. “It’s an acquired taste, kid, trust me. Gotta say I’m not too fond of it myself.”

Lutecia lifted a brow and took another small sip before she set it down again, licking her lips and shaking her head.

“Well, since you took it like a real trooper, why don’t I buy you a can? It’ll be on me.”

Lutecia gave Miranda a look.

“What?”

“I thought you were going to—never mind.” Hastily, the younger woman closed her mouth. The less she thought about what kind of jokes her partner could make concerning Vivio’s lips and how they might taste, the better.

No real comments this time around; Miranda is still alive, so that by itself should say where this takes place during the Shadowverse timeline.

I like the gap between what Miranda says she's doing and what she's actually up to. Very Shadowy. Or mom-like. Or both.

(Also telling that Lutecia's reflex is to assume that Miranda's going to make fun of her about Vivio.)

[00-Raiser]

This is a short about Vita's past and present. I dedicate this one to Nanya, a true friend

Spoiler for Cold No Longer:

It was so cold.

Vita shivered as she huddled in the fetal position in the corner of the barren room. It was the room that their current master had decided to keep them in when there was no battle to be fought. At one point it had been a walk in freezer, and it still worked as one with the icy air still being pumped through the vents.

Her comrades were resting in various spots of the room, recovering their energy from the harsh conflict of the day, a few of their wounds were still healing, none of them having been properly treated and Shamal being too exhausted to heal them.

Their master offered no aid, only criticism. Why should she waste precious supplies on mere tools?

Yes, that’s all they were. Tools. Tools for fighting, destroying, and killing. Heartless murderers at the beck and call of the one who held the book.

Tools did not need first aid, nor did they need warm beds to sleep in, or clean clothes to wear. They did not need consideration, kindness or love.

Tools just needed to do what they were created for. They were just artificial constructs made for a single purpose.

Organic as they were, they still required sustenance, much to their master’s annoyance. A cold slop served their needs, loaded with the necessary nutrition, but tasting like the excrements of an elephant. Tools did not need hot, tasty meals after all.

Vita closed her eyes and attempted to sleep. Soon it would be over, she told herself. The book would be complete and then… She wasn’t sure. All she knew is that they would eventually belong to a new master and the tools would be used again, and again.

And again…

…

Vita shot up off the floor, frantically surveying her surroundings. Rather than the concrete of the freezer, she saw rows of lockers and benches along the walls. Glancing down, she saw she wore only her camisole and her panties with the rest of her clothes scattered about. Pulling herself out of the past, she returned to the present.

“Guess tonight’s training wore me out more than I thought…” She muttered. “I must have nodded off while changing…” Reaching out to grab her shirt, she noticed her hand was shaking. “Damn it…”

Pissed that the memory had unnerved her, Vita threw her clothes on and left the training grounds. The stars were out in full, making the red head wonder how late her evening session had gone over. She made haste in her return, the cool breeze making her mouth go dry as it sliced through her.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it…” She mumbled as she fumbled with the keys to the house. All the lights were off, indicating the residents had already turned in for the night. Making her way inside, she carelessly tossed off her shoes and nearly ran up the stairs. In a flash she was in the bedroom and under the covers, not even bothering to strip, and she instantly felt more at ease.

There was a rustling next to her as another figure rolled over.

“Mmm… Vita, what’s wrong?” She mumbled, half asleep.

“It’s nothing, Hayate, don’t worry about it.” Vita whispered back.

“Ok…” Hayate yawned as she reached out, wrapping her arms around the other girl and pulling her in close. She then planted a soft kiss on Vita’s forehead. “Good night.”

“Good night…” Vita said back, nestling her face into Hayate’s chest.

Things may have been horrible back then, but now they had a wonderful master who didn’t treat them as tools, who gave them comfy beds, hot meals, and most of all: love.

There, held snugly in her beloved master’s arms, Vita knew the nightmares couldn’t chase her.

It was so warm.

Spoiler for note:

I guess you could say it's Hayate/Vita... Personally that's one pairing I'm thoroughly opposed to, but I know Nanya likes it so it snuck in there

Also uploaded Materials no Jikan to FF.net. It was originally gonna be a short, but it ended up being long enough (by my standards) to stand alone.

[Nanya01]

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

This is a short about Vita's past and present. I dedicate this one to Nanya, a true friend

Spoiler for Cold No Longer:

It was so cold.

Vita shivered as she huddled in the fetal position in the corner of the barren room. It was the room that their current master had decided to keep them in when there was no battle to be fought. At one point it had been a walk in freezer, and it still worked as one with the icy air still being pumped through the vents.

Her comrades were resting in various spots of the room, recovering their energy from the harsh conflict of the day, a few of their wounds were still healing, none of them having been properly treated and Shamal being too exhausted to heal them.

Their master offered no aid, only criticism. Why should she waste precious supplies on mere tools?

Yes, that’s all they were. Tools. Tools for fighting, destroying, and killing. Heartless murderers at the beck and call of the one who held the book.

Tools did not need first aid, nor did they need warm beds to sleep in, or clean clothes to wear. They did not need consideration, kindness or love.

Tools just needed to do what they were created for. They were just artificial constructs made for a single purpose.

Organic as they were, they still required sustenance, much to their master’s annoyance. A cold slop served their needs, loaded with the necessary nutrition, but tasting like the excrements of an elephant. Tools did not need hot, tasty meals after all.

Vita closed her eyes and attempted to sleep. Soon it would be over, she told herself. The book would be complete and then… She wasn’t sure. All she knew is that they would eventually belong to a new master and the tools would be used again, and again.

And again…

…

Vita shot up off the floor, frantically surveying her surroundings. Rather than the concrete of the freezer, she saw rows of lockers and benches along the walls. Glancing down, she saw she wore only her camisole and her panties with the rest of her clothes scattered about. Pulling herself out of the past, she returned to the present.

“Guess tonight’s training wore me out more than I thought…” She muttered. “I must have nodded off while changing…” Reaching out to grab her shirt, she noticed her hand was shaking. “Damn it…”

Pissed that the memory had unnerved her, Vita threw her clothes on and left the training grounds. The stars were out in full, making the red head wonder how late her evening session had gone over. She made haste in her return, the cool breeze making her mouth go dry as it sliced through her.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it…” She mumbled as she fumbled with the keys to the house. All the lights were off, indicating the residents had already turned in for the night. Making her way inside, she carelessly tossed off her shoes and nearly ran up the stairs. In a flash she was in the bedroom and under the covers, not even bothering to strip, and she instantly felt more at ease.

There was a rustling next to her as another figure rolled over.

“Mmm… Vita, what’s wrong?” She mumbled, half asleep.

“It’s nothing, Hayate, don’t worry about it.” Vita whispered back.

“Ok…” Hayate yawned as she reached out, wrapping her arms around the other girl and pulling her in close. She then planted a soft kiss on Vita’s forehead. “Good night.”

“Good night…” Vita said back, nestling her face into Hayate’s chest.

Things may have been horrible back then, but now they had a wonderful master who didn’t treat them as tools, who gave them comfy beds, hot meals, and most of all: love.

There, held snugly in her beloved master’s arms, Vita knew the nightmares couldn’t chase her.

It was so warm.

Spoiler for note:

I guess you could say it's Hayate/Vita... Personally that's one pairing I'm thoroughly opposed to, but I know Nanya likes it so it snuck in there

Also uploaded Materials no Jikan to FF.net. It was originally gonna be a short, but it ended up being long enough (by my standards) to stand alone.

That was nice. Warmed my heart. I feel bad for Vita in the past, but Hayate made things work out for them all.

Amazing what being treated like a family member does to a person.

[NorthernFallout]

Spoiler for Vengeance on Darkness; 2 -The Tome:

She was lost. For three days she had travelled, making sure she stayed on the correct path that she'd laid out on the scrawny piece of paper some would call a map. She turned it, flipped it and shook her head in frustration. The landmarks were all wrong and the sky was too cloudy to navigate by the stars. Not even the moon could shine through that thick gray layer, and everything was close to pitch-black. She could barely see two meters in front of her and it was driving her mad.

As if that wasn't enough, she'd found herself on the outskirts of a forest. No matter how she tried to find a way around it, be it by map or alternate routes, she would always come back to the same place where she started. It was if some awful misfortune had found her during her journey and had only decided to pop up now, at this most inconvenient time. Everything had gone so well until now...

She sighed in anger. The only way to go was forward, through the forest, unless she wanted to backtrack to an earlier crossing. That was something she didn't have time for. She'd already lost time in a town the day before, where she'd spent some quality time with an old friend. She smiled thinly as she remembered that particular night, but she quickly returned to reality.

She looked at the map again. There was a forest drawn out on it with a name, although the positioning was all wrong. Still, it was the only forest within miles on the map. It was impossible for her to encounter another within a day or two. This had to be it.

Red Forest. She tasted the name, but no recognition catched on within her memories. Shrugging it off, she entered it, ignoring how malicious the red trees looked in the night.

*

For four hours she walked and the forest never seemed to end. She was tired and hungry. She needed to set up camp somewhere and rest. As if she could sleep in this forest.

She was used to owls at night. She could ignore the animals lumbering around in the darkness. But here, there was no sound. No critter scattering over the ground, trying to hide from predators. No wind to rustle the leaves of the trees. She could hear clearly the twigs breaking under her boots when she traversed the landscape. Her own breathing was deafening.

Old instincts had kicked in ever since she entered the forest. She was on constant alert for noise that didn't belong here. She searched the wall of darkness as she walked, trying to keep her eyes open for anything unusual, but nothing had emerged.

Her muscles began to ache. She had to find a spot soon before she became too tired to even prepare a camp. She needed somewhere relatively safe and easy to hide in, just in case bandits or hunters surprised her in her sleep. Although that itself would be surprising in this particular forest, she mused to herself.

A flap of wings made her freeze. Frost formed at her feet and icicles protruded ever so slightly from her palms in a battle-ready stance. She searched the branches of the trees for the noise. A few meters above her she could see something glinting, as gold would in the sunlight. It took off again with a rustle of feathers and a croak.

Without really knowing why she sprinted after it. It was an anomaly in this forest and in the back of her mind something told her that the bird belonged to someone. It had to.

Branches cut her cheeks, stones and roots nearly made her trip as she ran, all the while keeping an eye on the constant golden shimmer from the bird's eyes. It seemed to let her keep up. It didn't swerve away, nor did it take to the skies and disappear from her sight. At times it croaked, to announce its position and perhaps also to urge her on.

In the blind darkness and silence only broken by her feet stomping the ground, she could feel eyes watching her. While keeping an eye on the bird, she threw quick glances at the trees. Something white was obscured by some of them. A cloud of steam or fog perhaps. She shook her head and kept moving.

As she started to run out of breath, she saw a weak glow through the darkness. The closer she got the clearer she could see it. It had the familiar colors of fire and faint sparkles rose in the air, carried by the invisible winds.

The bird flew into the crevice where the light was, and Clara slowed down until she began to walk slowly. In front of her a cave began to take shape. The glow of fire became stronger and she could faintly hear the popping of burning wood. At least someone was here in this forgotten forest and it confirmed her earlier suspicion.

When she reached the edge of the opening, she peeked inside. In the odd shadows cast from a small campfire, she saw a human figure sit cross-legged, the bird, a raven as she could now confirm, pecking its wings on his shoulders. Despite the dark night and the light from within, the person noticed her and the raven croaked in confirmation.

"So you arrive at last. I was afraid you wouldn't follow my dear Martha. Please, take a seat." The man's voice was crude and deep, unfazed by her arrival.

Slightly hesitant, she entered the cave and sat down opposite him, putting the sparkling fire between them. There she could make out more details. It was an old man, his facial structure gaunt, almost like a skeleton, a large gray beard obscuring most of his face. He was wrapped in a dark fur coat, although she couldn't recognize it as anything that would be sold in normal stores. A man of the wilds, she concluded. She'd heard stories about them in other places around the nation, but had disregarded them as myths.

"You don't need to be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you." A shaky hand was withdrawn from his pocket and he gave Martha a seed. It picked it up with its beak gently and pecked it against the man's shoulder.

"I'm not afraid. Just... alert."

"Alert. That's good. Especially in these areas." He nodded, more to himself than her. "Are you lost?"

"You could say that."

"Exhausted?"

Clara tilted her head. "Yes. How can you tell?"

"Aside from obviously being short of breath and the sweat under your clothes so very visible by the fire, I can see a lot of things you wouldn't be able to understand."

Ignoring the first remark, Clara said; "Try me."

The old man chuckled. "Eager to learn or perhaps knowledge to be used?"

Clara shrugged.

"Do you know why this forest is called the Red Forest?" he continued.

"No idea. Although the colors of the trees caught my eye."

"Yes, that's an obvious sign. But that isn't it." He picked up a stick next to him and poked the fire. More sparkles flew, popping in short bursts. "A long time ago, there was a magical incident a few miles from here. An experiment to test new energy sources or some sort of military device. Project Sunlight they called it.

"I was just a young boy back then, in a time far before yours. I lived in a village just on the outskirts of this forest. It was much greener back then, I remember. I used to hunt with my father, too. There used to be a lot of animals around here."

He stared into the fire, suddenly falling quiet. Clara thought she sensed some longing in his eyes for a moment, but he quickly returned.

"Where was I... Ah, yes. The device, or experiment if you want, failed. As had many experiments before it, but this time it was special. I was in my bed at the time, trying to get some sleep after a long day. When I was lying there, looking out through the window, I saw a short flash in the distance. Wondering what it was I got up and looked outside."

He swiped his hand above his head, staring at the cave's roof. "The sky was as red as my blood. I could see rainbows among the stars. The light played tricks with my eyes. For a quiet moment I just stood there by myself, amazed at it all. My skin was tingling, although I couldn't understand why. Even now I don't really know what it was. I remember my head felt heavy and I went back to bed after a while.

"It wasn't until morning that I found out what had happened. When I woke up it was eerily quiet. I couldn't hear the rooster nor any other animals. I got up and went down the stairs. My parents were gone. I went out into the street. Empty. Everyone had disappeared. I searched and searched, but there was no trace. That's when I noticed the trees had turned red, and the village itself, too. Everything as far as I could see was bleeding."

He fell quiet and closed his eyes. Martha still sat on his shoulder, but had her beak tucked under her right wing, her eyes closed too. Clara was half-lying, her head supported on her elbow. She felt an inclination to listen, even though her body had started to recover. She sipped some water from her canteen.

"What happened then?" she asked.

The old man rustled as if awakened from slumber. "I lived as I had learned, of course. I hunted for food and stayed in the village, alone. It was only until recently I decided to move to the forest itself and live within it, not beside it. Thanks to that I've learned things..." He stopped there and something flashed in his eyes. "Girl, the Red Forest holds a lot of secrets, but none of them as great as what I have. The eyes you felt, that ghastly feeling of something being amiss... It wasn't without reason."

"Eh?"

"I've seen so many travel through this forest and never return. Either it's hunger they succumb to or the ghosts take them to their home between heaven and hell. But not you." From within his coat he retrieved a book, one of the largest Clara had ever seen. He held it out next to the fire and nodded at her. "This book has chosen you to be its next master."

She accepted it, taking it with both hands and couldn't help but feel frost tingle on her back. The front was ornamented with golden arrowheads pointing in four directions, held together by a circle. Despite its size it was remarkably light.

"Project Sunlight, while I still don't know what it was, created a destiny for me; to be the master of this book. I've carried it for years, seeing its true powers in action. The knowledge it carries goes beyond what you can possibly imagine."

Clara sighed, starting to grow a bit bored with the old man. "Listen, it's been very interesting to hear all this, but I really need to rest." She held the book out to him. "I don't have a need for it on my journey."

"You don't want help to rid this world of the Dark King?" the old man said in response.

Clara froze and slowly redrew the book back. "How do you know?"

"As I said... I can see a lot of things you wouldn't understand. This book, this tome, will help you defeat the darkness that has reigned over our world for so long. Trust it with your life and it will give you its powers."

She opened it and glanced through a few pages. Symbols and texts. Rituals and spells. Everything she could think of was written within, but in a language she could barely understand.

"How is this supposed to help me against the Dark King? I can't even understand what it says!"

The old man made a laugh that sounded like a cough. "When you wake up in the morning, seeing the daylight illuminating this cave, you shall place your hand upon it and repeat this phrase..."

What the old man said next turned into a whisper and echoed in her head until it became a storm of words. The book felt heavy in her arms and she let it fall onto her lap, her whole body soon following to touch the cold stone floor.

Her eyelids began to shut. A powerful sleep haunted her senses, her mind unable to resist. She could feel the souls of the Red Forest talk in distant murmurs, mentioning a name time and time again. A name destined to fall into the cold hands of corruption and travel through history as a diabolical device.

The Tome of the Night Sky.

*

When she woke up, the old man was gone. So was Martha. His fur coat laid on the dirty floor of cold rock and the fire had burnt out several hours ago. From the cave's opening, sunlight streamed in and touched her face. It was warm and comforting after the strange night.

She rubbed her eyes and tried to sit up. A vague sense of vertigo was present in her head and she had to steady herself. Looking down, she saw the book lying on the ground, its open pages taunting her to do something with it. What that something would be she didn't know, as she still couldn't understand the lang-

She drew a short breath of air when she read the symbols. They made perfect sense to her, their underlying importance standing out as a bright light. The context in which they had been written, the strange ornamental style fitting together with the explanation of spells and rituals. Everything made sense.

A feeling of dread washed over her body, when she realized it hadn't been a dream. The story the old man had told could actually be true. She shuddered and eyed the book with a cautious mind. What was it the old man had said...

She placed her hand on the book and took a deep breath. She had no idea if anything would even happen, but if there was the slightest chance of getting powerful help against the Dark King... It would be worth a try.

She repeated the phrase the old man had told her to use; "Start Up".

Light shone forth from the tome. Even though the light inside the cave was already bright, the light radiating from the book was even stronger. It left the floor, floating in the air and opened its pages. They fluttered as if a strong wind had caught them in its wake, and accompanying the howling of air were magic circles that began to materialize around it.
Clara held up an arm in front of her eyes to shield them and backed away from it. She felt her skin tingle and the mana inside her body surging in her veins, reacting to the powers of the Tome. It was disorientating, horrifying and so interesting that her mind was frozen into place.

Shapes began to form. Blue shards flew in a deafening storm and began to latch together, forming a human body, then two, then five of them. Slowly the color shifted to that of ordinary skin and they were all on their knees, bowing before her. Each of them was wearing some kind of black clothing. She was still standing far back against a wall, observing them. The ice circulating in her blood moved to her fingertips and a thin layer of frost began to form around her feet. Just in case.

The character closest to her, a young woman with long silver hair, got up from her kneeling position and spoke; "Greetings, Clara Statfield. I am the Administrator of the Tome of the Night Sky." She waved a hand to each of the characters behind her. "These are my companions: Signum, Vita, Shamal and Zafira, each a Guardian Knight in the service of the Tome and under my command."

Clara regained some of her posture and took a step forward, cutting off the hesitation inside her.

"It seems you know who I am so an introduction seems unnecessary."

"You have already been authenticated, Master. However, we do not have any current orders." She bent her head in a slight bow. "Master, what would you have us do?"

Clara gave the Administrator a wicked grin when she finally understood that these Guardians, and the Tome to which they belonged, would obey her every word. A warm torrent of satisfaction washed over her mind and an odd peace found her nerves.

"I want you to follow me, Adminstrator," she said in a cold voice, echoing her now regained confidence. She almost flinched at herself in surprise. "Follow me into the darkness."

[synaesthetic]

Not false light, but still has Lutecia & Celica! (Actually it's a prequel-ish thing.)

Also too big to fit in one post, so I shall double-post, for great justice!

Edit: Oh yeah, and it's also on FF.net right... here.

The Call (rev. 2)
The Shiva Incident

Spoiler for The Call (Part I):

Midchilda – Low Geosynchronous Orbit
Navy Cruise Patrol Warship “Shiva”
03.30.0083

Celica Iris-Lynnfield was bored.

Most of the crew was planetside for a day of shore leave, but Celica was stuck at her workstation, forced to sift through reams of long-range sensor data. It wasn't exactly her fault that her work had piled up, either—the captain of the Shiva had been sent a priority request from Navy Command to pick up the long-range sensor probes around Non-Administrated World #893.

So the battlecruiser—Celica was slightly annoyed with that, as well; the Shiva was not a research vessel!—was pulled from its patrol route and sent gallivanting across the multiverse to an insignificant dustball in the asscrack of known space. Even with the Shiva's advanced dimensional drive, which could make much longer dimensional jumps with shorter recharge times, the entire operation had still taken three days. The vessel had just now returned to Midchilda, leaving Celica with a tremendous amount of data to sift through.

Celica didn't know what the big deal was. NA893 was uninhabited by intelligent life of any type. The only thing that made it even remotely notable was that it was one of the planets involved in the “Book of Darkness” incident. Celica had no idea what Command expected to find there, if anything at all.

“Completed sensor packet analysis for probes A21 through A98,” Tizona's artificial masculine voice reported suddenly. Thankfully for Celica, her Interface Device, Tizona, easily cut through the hundreds of pages of data, isolating the important bits and discarding the countless hours of no activity.

“How much more do we have left to go?” Celica asked the Device, which currently took the form of an impressive array of holographic terminals and input panels. Tizona's default form was that of a long double-edged knife, but he spent most of his time in this form, assisting Celica with her work.

“There are sixteen remaining sensor probe sets to analyze,” Tizona responded. Celica groaned. Sixteen more sets of ninety-eight probes each. She would be here for hours. Celica quickly tapped in a string of commands, setting Tizona's beefy processor cores to work on a new set of sensor probes.

Then she got up from her chair, stretching her lithe frame and frowning at the sheer number of creaking and popping joints she could hear. At only twenty years old, she was much too young for such bodily complaints.

“Tizona, can you take care of the rest for me?”

“You'll be reprimanded for that,” a soft feminine voice said from behind her. Celica whirled at the sound of the voice and smiled. The short young woman with long blond hair and pretty green eyes was Celica's only close friend on board the Shiva.

She was also Celica's assistant, an Enforcer hopeful who was assigned as an operations analyst when Celica ascended to the position of senior analyst. The girl was only fifteen years old—only a few years older than Celica had been when she completed her training.

“Can you keep an eye on Tizona?” Celica asked pleadingly. “I need to get out of here for a little while.”

“Sure, Tizona likes me,” Fiore said sweetly. “Go on, Celica, I've got this. It's just analyzing and sorting the data from those long-range sensor probes we picked up yesterday, right?”

“That's all it is,” Celica deadpanned.

“Why does the captain have you spending your time working on that? Any one of the sensor operators could do it; the systems are virtually identical to the ones used for our shipboard sensors.”

“The captain likes abusing Tizona's processing power,” Celica explained. “If he had the sensor operators work on it, it'd have two of them and two primary workstations totally tied up for a week.”

“I think he also doesn't like you very much,” said Fiore impishly.

“This is also true,” Celica responded in a bone-dry tone. “A lot of the non-mages in the Navy aren't too appreciative of us. I don't know. There's just something about him that gives me the creeps.”

“Go away, Celica,” said Fiore without turning around, waving a delicate hand negligently. “Go get something to eat, stretch your legs a little. This isn't going to go anywhere.”

“I was rather hoping it would,” Celica chuckled, turning around to walk out the door. “Thank you, Fiore. I really appreciate it.”

“Just remember this next time I need a favor and we'll be even.”

“Of course,” Celica said as she walked out, heading down the brightly-polished corridor leading toward the ship's mess hall.

* * *

NSIS Headquarters
Cranagan, Midchilda
03.30.0083

Admiral Chrono Harlaown studied the young woman standing in his office for a long moment. He said nothing and kept his expression neutral, a standard tactic employed by ranking military officers to gain control over a conversation.

To the woman's credit, she did not fidget. She stood ramrod-straight with perfect parade-ground accuracy, waiting for the flag officer to speak, with her hands folded behind her back.

“At ease, Agent Alphine,” Chrono said eventually. He had made his decision.

The Naval Special Intelligence Service as an organization did not officially exist. Very highly-placed officials within the Time-Space Administration Bureau had created the agency as a stopgap against threats the normal military was ill-equipped to handle. Agents of NSIS were known among themselves as “Shadows,” due to the highly secret nature of their work.

They were the faceless ones that didn't exist. Though, that was not entirely true for all Shadows. Lutecia Alphine certainly did exist—and in a very big way. She had played a very integral role in the JS Incident that had taken place five years ago. It was for that reason Chrono had deliberately sought her out in her exile on Mau Gram... and gave her an offer she couldn't refuse.

Alphine had worked closely with the Director ever since her partner and handler had been killed in action. While she was not the most powerful mage within the ranks of NSIS—that particular honor was held by a huge Belkan knight known as Abraham Stele—she was considered one of the most successful.

“EAID intercepted an unauthorized encrypted transmission sent two weeks ago. It was received by Captain Eli Matheson, the master of the Navy cruise patrol warship Shiva. The encryption was difficult, but we managed to pry the unauthorized message apart.”

Lutecia remained silent as Chrono tapped a few commands into his holographic console, opening up a new display facing Lutecia's directions. A window materialized on the display and the fierce visage of a heavily-tattooed man appeared within.

“The exchange point is prepared. In fourteen days, bring the goods to NA447, at the fringes of IAFW-controlled space. Your reward will be waiting.”

The image disappeared. Lutecia looked up at the admiral, her expression thoughtful. The tattoos on the man's face were quite distinctive—Lutecia, as a Shadow, knew the habits of many different large criminal organizations. The tattoos marked the rough-looking man as a clan chieftain of the Vartis, a large society of spacefaring pirates based somewhere outside of Bureau-patrolled space and the IAFW system.

“The Shiva's captain plans to sell Bureau technology to the Vartis?” Lutecia asked curiously.

“Not just technology, Alphine,” Chrono said darkly. “We had EAID break into the man's financial records. Special Agent Stormhawk was sent two days ago to toss his house, and we found some other interesting things within.

“No, he's not just selling tech. He intends to defect, to join the Vartis and bring over the entire Shiva and everything inside it.”

A chill ran through Lutecia's spine at the admiral's words. The Shiva was undoubtedly the most advanced warship in the Bureau's entire fleet, an experimental ultra-long-range cruiser. It could travel further and withstand more damage than any other craft in the fleet.

Fortunately the Shiva hadn't yet been fitted with an Arc-en-Ciel cannon, leaving it to rely primarily on linear cannons and beam turrets, but still...

“Admiral, forgive me for asking, but why is this being handled by the Shadows? Isn't this something more a job for the Enforcers?”

“They couldn't legally gather the incriminating evidence,” Chrono explained. “The man covered his tracks too well—the only reason we even know at all is due to this transmission.”

“So the Enforcers can't act,” Lutecia reasoned.

“Right,” Chrono agreed. “I'm assigning this mission to you, Alphine. You must infiltrate the Shiva in the guise of a crew member, prevent the theft of the warship and protect the Bureau's proprietary assets.”

“And the Shiva's captain?”

“He cannot be trusted any longer. Kill him.”

* * *

Midchilda – Low Geosynchronous Orbit
Navy Cruise Patrol Warship “Shiva”
03.31.0083

“Celica, there's someone coming,” Fiore said softly, trying not to surprise the woman too much. Celica was lost in her work, trying to finish up the last few sets of data packets pulled from the sensor probes. The Shiva would soon set sail, returning to its normal patrol route and Celica would have to return to her normal duties.

“Who is it?” Celica asked, without bothering to look up from her work.

“I've never seen her before,” Fiore said thoughtfully. “The captain said something about supplemental crew being added for the remainder of this patrol.”

“Of course, he never bothers to tell me these things,” Celica grumbled as the door chime sounded. Without hesitation Celica pressed the button unlocking the bulkhead, allowing the newcomer to enter.

Celica examined the young woman with an appraising eye. The analyst could tell that she was a few years younger than herself, but her elegant beauty, complemented well by a sweeping mane of lilac-colored hair made her look older and more mature. She wore the blue uniform jacket and skirt of a Navy clerk, her rank insignia identifying her as a warrant officer.

“Ma'am, Warrant Officer Reika Jennings reporting for duty,” the newcomer said in an official tone, saluting respectfully. “Captain Matheson requested supplemental personnel to assist Operations with any backlog. I have been assigned to your care.”

“At ease, Miss Jennings,” Celica said, finally stepping down from her workstation and returning Jennings' salute. “I'm Lieutenant Commander Celica Iris-Lynnfield, senior operations analyst of the Shiva. This is my assistant, Enforcer Cadet Fiore. You may address me as 'Celica' or 'hey, you,' but if either I or Fiore hear you call me 'ma'am' one more time, we're going to kick your ass.”

Celica could feel Fiore's laughter, suppressed as it was, about to burst from her body at any moment. Warrant Officer Jennings cracked the barest hint of a smile at their odd behavior. I guess computer nerds are no different no matter where they work, she thought, amused.

“I will do so, Celica,” Jennings replied easily. Celica smiled in return, but there was a predatory edge to the expression.

“Your first assignment will be to analyze and categorize these data packets,” said Celica, trying very hard not to laugh. She gestured over to a stack of memory cards sitting on her desk. “Grab yourself a seat over there at one of the primary workstations and Fiore will bring the sensor data to you.”

The newcomer nodded silently and sat down at the terminal furthest from Celica's workstation. The gray-eyed woman noted that it was the one terminal she could not see from her own station. An interesting tidbit of information, Celica knew, filing that away in the back of her mind for later.

What do you think? Fiore's voice suddenly sounded within Celica's mind.

She's not who she says she is, replied Celica with amusement. I could be wrong, but I think she's a fighter, not a technician. Her movements are all wrong, and Tizona says her Linker Core capacity is 900% of the baseline.

I think you're reading too much into these things, Fiore chided her mentally. Maybe Tizona's sensors need some maintenance?

Still, I think it'd be prudent for the both of us to be aware. There's something weird going on here.

“Shiva has left the dock. All hands, prepare for dimensional jump,” the captain's voice blared over the intercom. Celica glanced up from her work with an irritated expression on her face and reached back behind her shoulders, pulling her crash harness around and fastening it under her breasts.

“Strap in, kids,” Celica called out, “we're about to cross half the known universe in a split second.”

The Shiva began to shudder, the hull material seeming to waver between solid and transparent. Celica watched, taking a moment away from her work, always enjoying the bizarre physical display of a cruise warship making a dimensional jump.

For a long moment, Celica could see the world of Midchilda below her, as if her chair, the floor and several meters of decks and hull plates suddenly vanished. Then they returned, as if they had never actually been gone.

The air in the operations office filled with energy, crackling and splitting at the edge of sensation as the warship powered up its massive reactors, gigantic power plants that were, for all intents and purposes, essentially enormous artificial Linker Cores. The deck plates began to vibrate violently—the entire ship shook like a leaf as the reactors placed incredible strain on the ship's superstructure.

The dimensional drive fed off the enormous energy flowing from the reactors, forcibly tearing a hole in the fabric of space-time itself, allowing the enormous construction of titanium, plasteel and reinforced carbon fiber to instantly travel from one point in the universe to another.

The vibrations suddenly ceased.

“Dimensional jump complete. Shiva returning to regular patrol route,” the captain said over the ship's intercom. Celica turned to her partner, a confused expression on her face.

“Fiore, can you check our current position against the patrol map?”

Fiore pulled up a star chart, comparing the patrol map to their current location. Her primary terminal made an agitated beeping noise a moment later. The blond girl looked up at her senior with the same expression on her face.

“There's a course deviation in the next leg of the patrol,” said Fiore in a troubled tone. “Near Non-Administrated World #447.” The girl tapped a string of commands into the console and sent the star chart to the big display on the far wall, enabling Celica and Jennings both to see.

“Well, well, what have we here?” Celica asked rhetorically, examining the patrol path, comparing it against the archived chart. “What the hell is the captain doing? Were there some last-minute changes to our orders again?”

“The duty log doesn't reflect that,” Fiore said, confusion evident in her voice.

“The star chart should have been updated to match the new patrol path if this deviation was authorized,” mused Celica aloud. “Only Command can update the star chart paths.”

“The sensors and navicomputer will record the deviation,” Fiore noted. “What the hell is he doing?”

“I don't know,” Celica said, “but I intend to find out.”

* * *

Lutecia, having assumed the identity of Warrant Officer Reika Jennings, did not react to the operations officer's discovery. Of course, Lutecia knew all of this already, but she would not blow her own cover unless it became absolutely necessary.

But now that it was absolutely confirmed—and was happening much faster than she had initially predicted—Lutecia had to gain access to the rest of the ship, quickly. Fortunately the admiral had provided her with a master override code which would give her absolute access to every part of the Shiva.

“Celica,” Lutecia said casually, “I'm getting a little hungry. Can I head up to the galley and get something to eat?”

“Sure, but you have to bring me some pizza back,” Celica said from her workstation, her hands flying across the input panels. “Do you need Fiore to show you where it is?”

“I already know where it is,” Lutecia replied.

“Off with you, then, and hurry it up. Those data packets aren't going to get organized on their own.”

“Okay,” Lutecia said, walking out of the operations room and closing the door behind her. Celica stared after the young woman for a long moment. There was something not right about her—most people would not notice, but Celica was a very observant person.

“Fiore,” Celica said after a long moment. The girl looked up from her primary terminal and nodded.

“I'll keep an eye on her from here,” the technician promised. “Well, she didn't lie—she really did go to the galley, but she seems to be doing something else now. She's heading toward the command deck now.”

Celica opened her mouth to reply, but the entire vessel shuddered with a violent, unexpected impact. Warning lights began to flash throughout the operations office and several alert notifications popped up on Celica's display.

“What's going on?” Fiore cried suddenly, staring openmouthed at the warning messages blanketing the display of her primary terminal. Celica scowled darkly and tapped in a few commands, silencing the blaring alarms inside the operations office.

“The ship is being boarded,” Celica explained. The warning messages spoke of hull breaches, damaged shielding systems and armor plating in certain sections. However, life support was still active and the emergency containment fields remained on standby.

Celica was smart enough to know what that meant; an unknown craft had attached itself to the Shiva's hull and cut through it using some sort of specialized boarding device.

“That shouldn't be possible,” Fiore objected. Celica knew she was right; the girl knew the Shiva's sensors and detection systems inside and out. Surely the enemy craft would have been detected long before it could get close enough to attach itself and cut its way through the hull.

Celica frowned deeply as her workstation terminal beeped an error code. Tizona's displays suddenly went dark as the link to the Shiva's core computer was suddenly terminated.

“Something is not right here,” Celica said grimly. “The primary workstations have been severed at the main hub. We can't access the core computer from here anymore.”

“What are you going to do?” Fiore asked, alarmed.

“I'm going to find out what the hell's going on,” Celica said, stepping off her elevated workstation terminal. “Tizona, Blade Form!”

“[Blade Form],” the Interface Device repeated obediently. Blue-white light flashed, consuming the array of holographic displays and input panels, the magic energy allowing the Device's intelligence to alter its physical composition into that of a long, double-edged knife.

“I'm going with you,” Fiore said resolutely, clutching her own dormant Armed Device, Glanzfaust, in one hand. The small bracelet would reform into a heavy armored gauntlet fitted with a mid-range blaster at Fiore's command.

Celica wrestled with her own thoughts for a long moment. She was sorely tempted to make up a reason to leave Fiore here in the operations office, but with the primary terminals cut off from the core computer, leaving her here would be useless.

“All right, let's go,” Celica said. “Tizona, Set Up!”

“[Barrier Jacket: Electron Form].”

Blue-white light flashed brightly, removing Celica's dark-blue Navy uniform and skirt, leaving behind the woman dressed in the protective clothing common to mages of the Midchildan style—the Barrier Jacket.

Celica's Barrier Jacket consisted of a skintight, sleeveless black bodysuit, trimmed with electric-blue detailing. Lightweight armor plates protected her waist and torso; her feet were covered by black leather ankle boots. Her hands went into black fingerless gloves, and the whole ensemble was finished by a heavy charcoal-gray duster that fell to her ankles, left open at the front.

“Glanzfaust, bestow me my armor,” Fiore said softly.

The bracelet, the dormant form of Fiore's Armed Device, began to glow brightly with green light, flowing across Fiore's body and reforming physical matter, leaving the girl dressed in her knight's armor.

A white tanktop and green vest covered her torso; her arms were left bare, her right hand encased to the elbow in a heavy gauntlet of dark metal. Armor plates protected her waist over a brief pale-green skirt; the girl's long blond hair was bound back in a single thick ponytail. Her feet and shins were encased in heavy plated greaves that reached her knees.

Appropriately armed and armored, the two young women made their way out of the operations office and headed through the corridors that would take them to the bridge.

Celica was already on edge; the halls were eerily empty. This was a Bureau warship—sure, it spent most of its life patrolling uninhabited sections of space, examining dead worlds and shadowy places where even more shadowy characters might congregate—but it was still a vessel built for battle.

The fact that Celica and Fiore encountered no one at all profoundly worried the gray-eyed analyst. Having been boarded by hostile forces, the vessel's corridors should be virtually clogged with Bureau clerks and marines, armed with a grim determination to protect the lives of their comrades.

“Coming up on the lift to the bridge,” Celica whispered. Fiore nodded silently, brandishing Glanzfaust and tensing for a potential battle.

Unknown contact detected, Tizona's voice echoed in Celica's mind. The Device had switched to thoughtspeech to avoid prematurely giving away his mistress's location to a potential enemy. Celica was thankful for Tizona's forethought.

Configuration? Celica wanted to know.

Modified Mid-type. Linker Core scan suggests the target was not trained by the Bureau. Core logic most closely matches Iron Fist Clan of the Vartis.

Shit, Celica cursed inwardly. Tizona's answer was not unexpected, but it was unfortunate. These were not enemies to take lightly.

The Vartis were a nomadic group of raiders. They had no homeworld of their own—most were malcontents, criminals and thieves who had escaped justice by leaving Midchilda. Several decades before, a powerful rogue mage and starship thief named Ryan Vartis had done just that, leaving the world in order to escape a murder charge. The Enforcers spent a good deal of resources searching for the man, but he was a master of illusion and stealth. He had simply disappeared.

After many years had passed, most in the Bureau had forgotten all about Vartis, having their hands full with new incidents to solve. When Bureau survey shuttles and smaller fast-attack vessels started to disappear, it was widely speculated by the Enforcers that Vartis had become active again, spurring an extensive manhunt. Several Enforcers left to hunt the man down, but none ever returned.

Celica knew they were dangerous. They possessed far more magical power and technological complexity than any of the other large pirate organizations. It was rumored that for every five members, one was a mage of at least C-rank.

Well, we're about to find out if that rumor is true.

“Glanzfaust!” Fiore cried, dropping into a fighting crouch as the pirate rounded the corner. Celica watched in amusement as the man nearly dropped his spear-like Storage Device as Fiore's steel gauntlet, wreathed in verdant fire, slammed heavily into the man's face. The gauntlet detonated on impact, sending the astonished pirate slamming heavily to the far wall of the corridor.

“That won't be enough,” Celica clucked disapprovingly. Fiore smiled sheepishly and brought Glanzfaust to bear, sighting down the length of her gauntlet, firing a vicious barrage of green-glowing magical projectiles from the blaster barrel fitted on the Device's main body.

The pirate managed to raise a defensive barrier, but Fiore's attack overwhelmed the shield, shattering the field as if it were made of glass.

Celica smiled and took advantage of the opening Fiore had created.

“[Pulse Lancer],” Tizona said as a quartet of blue-white magic missiles slammed into the man's unprotected body. The projectiles exploded one after the other, hammering the pirate with powerful shock waves. Celica watched in satisfaction as the light of consciousness left the man's eyes.

“Is he dead?” Fiore asked.

“No,” Celica replied. “His Barrier Jacket protected him from life-threatening injury. I'll go ahead and restrain him so he won't cause us any trouble later. Tizona?”

“Yes, mistress. [Static Field].”

Blue-white arcs of crackling lightning flared into existence, binding the man's body firmly to the metal deck plating. He probably wouldn't wake up for a few hours, Celica figured, but there was no sense in taking an extra chance. This particular bind wasn't one she had to constantly maintain, but it was also fairly simple to dispel.

“Shouldn't we contact the main office and send a Mayday?” Fiore asked. Celica nodded briefly and sent a mental command to Tizona. The Device flashed with blue light once, then was dormant. Celica snarled in frustration.

“Damn it, this is not good.”

“What's wrong?”

“The whole ship's covered in a powerful jamming field,” Celica explained. “We won't be able to send or receive any transmissions until the field is taken down.”

“What do we do, then?” Fiore wanted to know.

“We take the ship back, of course,” Celica said with a predatory grin. She motioned for the Enforcer cadet to follow, heading down the corridor toward the turbolift that would take them to Shiva's command deck.

* * *

Navy Cruise Patrol Warship “Shiva”
Command Deck, Section 4
03.31.0083

Lutecia Alphine smiled proudly as the tiny insect summon lit on her outstretched finger. The little bio-mechanical creature had completed its simple but important mission—it had disabled the electronic lock and alarm on the door leading to the captain's quarters.

Lutecia knew time was short. Secrecy was all but forgotten—the Vartis pirates had already boarded the Shiva, and it would only be a matter of time before they managed to secure the bridge deck and take over control. The lilac-haired summoner held little doubt as to what would become of the Shiva's crew.

Knowing the bloodthirsty reputation of the Vartis, Lutecia thought darkly, they'll probably just push us all into the airlocks... and then open them to space. If the radiation out here doesn't fry us within seconds, they'll get to watch us slowly asphyxiate.

Lutecia very slightly cracked the door leading to the captain's quarters. She was not terribly surprised to see the room was not empty; the captain, Eli Matheson, stood on the other side of the spacious quarters. A man Lutecia recognized from the intercepted transmission sat behind the captain's personal desk, his scuffed boots propped up insolently.

The two men were arguing, she realized quickly, and neither of them had detected her presence just yet. Lutecia nodded silently to the insect closest to her. The tiny summon flashed briefly with understanding as it flew through the ajar door. It only took a moment before Lutecia was able to listen in on the conversation between the traitorous Matheson and the pirate chieftain.

“This isn't what you promised me, Fulton!”

“I really hate to say this, Captain,” the pirate leader purred, his voice oozing sarcasm, “but I'm changing the terms of our deal. I take the Shiva and all of its technology, and in return, I will spare your worthless life.”

“Damn you, Fulton! What about my payment? The position you promised me in the Iron Fist Clan?”

“Oh, that?” Fulton threw his head back and laughed uproariously. “That was a lie.”

“You bastard—”

Lutecia heard the sounds of scuffling and the meaty thud as a heavy fist connected with the captain's face. Feet skittered across the deck plating as the man struggled to stay standing, but the blow was more an insult than a true attack. He did not fall.

“If you want, I can amend the deal again,” Fulton said menacingly. “Your—well, I suppose it's my ship, now... has been taken over by thirty of my best men. They're over half mages, Captain—not a one lower than C-rank.” The man spat contemptuously. “They've already disposed of your precious marines. That means your ass belongs to me, Captain.”

Lutecia frowned at that. The Shiva, being a patrol warship, had a complement of thirty-six marines, much tougher and more experienced in combat than the ordinary Bureau clerk. If the hijackers were able to defeat three full squads of TSAB marines...

Analysis complete, Asclepius spoke within Lutecia's mind. Linker Core scan results: Midchildan style, close combat specialization. Rank: S+.

Lutecia's heart sank slightly. The Vartis pirates had certainly stepped up their game for them to obtain such a powerful mage. She turned her mental attention back to Asclepius's scanning systems and probed deeper. Lutecia considered the risk of discovery to be minor—the pirate leader was distracted, and the young summoner was quite skilled at clandestine probes.

Linker Core signature abnormalities detected. Trace levels of N23 metabolites detected through atmospheric analysis.

Lutecia nodded. She almost expected that; true mages with a rank of AA or higher were exceedingly rare. According to Asclepius's analysis of the data the wasp collected, the pirate leader was an N23 addict.

Originally developed for Linker Core research, the magical compound N23 could be used for recreational purposes at high doses. The effects varied from user to user, but typically all subjects who consumed high doses exhibited intense euphoria and a drastic increase in Linker Core capacity and magical throughput. The drug did tend to cause Linker Core instabilities, however, and over time, tolerance was built up. Eventually the addict would have to take near-fatal doses of the drug to feel any effect.

An old memory floated to the surface of her mind; several years previous, EAID had finally located the last of the known N23-producing labs. NSIS Command assigned Abraham Stele to destroy them. As far as she knew, he had been successful. The Vartis pirates must have recovered the formula for the drug and established their own production facility to quickly bolster their own magical strength.

The admiral won't be happy to hear that, Lutecia thought grimly.

The argument began to die down. It was time for her to move. Lutecia recalled the wasp and quietly made her way back down the corridor, heading for a small maintenance room. Each deck had one, located aft, and Lutecia's override code should allow her to enter uncontested.

The door slid open silently and she slipped inside, sealing the room behind her. Asclepius glowed briefly as the Intelligent Device scrambled the door's activation circuits. Short of blowing the door off its hinges, so to speak, nobody would be able to follow her through here.

The maintenance rooms held access hatches to the space between each deck, allowing technicians to make repairs on parts of the ship that could not be reached from the decks themselves. Lutecia could use the crawlspace to reach the bridge.

The captain could wait. Securing the Shiva and protecting the Bureau's assets were her primary mission objectives. It would be an easy, if troublesome, task to kill the traitorous Matheson after she had completed her primary goal.

This is going to be a long day, the summoner grumbled to herself.

[synaesthetic]

Spoiler for The Call (Part II):

“How many more do you think they've got on here?” Fiore wondered aloud, stepping over the unconscious body of a fallen pirate. The bridge deck was thicker with enemies—already they had taken out four with surprise attacks.

Celica shook her head. “No real way of knowing. That jamming field is so powerful it's screwing with Tizona's instruments. He can't get a good reading beyond fifteen meters.”

“We've taken out five so far,” Fiore pointed out hopefully. “That's good, right?”

“If it's really Vartis pirates, they've got at least twenty on board. Vartis raiding parties are organized in units of ten and they rarely bring only one unit. For something the size of Shiva, I'd bet that there's at least three units, maybe four, spread throughout the ship.”

“Hunting them all down isn't going to be easy.”

“You're right about that,” Celica stated. “These ones haven't been too impressive, either... it's only going to get rougher from here. If we can get to the bridge, Tizona and I can access the core computer and lock down the helm. They won't be able to make a dimensional jump or activate the maneuvering thrusters.”

“Then it's just a matter of rounding the rats up.”

“Easier said than done,” Celica murmured. “We don't know what's waiting for us at the bridge. The Vartis are unpredictable and dangerous, and the leader of this group is likely a powerful mage in his own right.”

Fiore glanced at the doors lining the corridor leading to the bridge. All of the panels had been disabled through magic, sealing them shut, and the mage who had done so didn't do a very neat job of it. The control panels were blackened, the small status displays dark.

“They've been sealing off sections of the ship,” Fiore noted.

“Another tactic to prevent the crew from mounting an effective resistance,” said Celica seriously. “The crew complement of Shiva is one hundred seventy-five, not including our three squads of marines.” Which have likely been killed by now, Celica added silently.

If it were she hijacking the Shiva, the marines would be the first targets she would eliminate after commandeering the bridge. They were the most dangerous, three squads of twelve combat-seasoned Bureau clerks. Given the chance, they would be able to take the ship back.

We can't count on them, Celica reminded herself. The double-door leading to the Shiva's bridge was just ahead.

“Stay frosty,” Celica told Fiore. The younger girl nodded and hefted Glanzfaust menacingly. Fiore was young and inexperienced, but she had the potential to be one of the best Enforcers in the Navy. Her current stint as a data-sifter was just a stepping stone toward her eventual destiny.

“Tizona, open the door,” Celica murmured. The Device complied with a flash of electric-blue, the door sliding open soundlessly.

The bridge crew were lined up along the port side of the bridge, their mouths gagged with strips of rough cloth, their hands and feet bound with shimmering magical binds.

The pirates stood on the starboard side, a motley collection of men and women dressed in mismatched combat fatigues and Barrier Jackets. Several of the pirates carried low-end Storage Devices, while others gripped modern linear rifles or primitive chemical-based slugthrowers.

It was hard to believe that such a ragtag group of thieves had managed to hijack the Navy's most advanced warship. Of course, without the good Captain's help, they never would have even gotten close, Celica knew.

The leader of the Vartis pirates sat insolently in the command chair, his legs crossed and propped up on the console. Upon hearing the door open, the man swung his feet down and stepped down to the bridge, scrutinizing the two intruders for a long moment. Then he shrugged.

“Kill them.”

The dozen pirates and thugs on the port side suddenly exploded into motion. Mass weapons were brought up and fired, the still air filled with a hail of fast-moving metal slugs. The mages among the group activated their Devices and added blasts of glowing energy to the deadly barrage.

Fiore planted her feet firmly on the deck and brought her Device forward, holding her steel-encased palm outward.

“Glanzfaust, Cartridge Load!”

“Explosion!”

A green-glowing Belkan magic circle materialized in midair before Fiore's outstretched palm, bringing up a wide forward defensive shield that easily blocked the physical projectiles, the bullets disintegrating upon contact with the barrier.

“[Pulse Lancer],” Tizona barked as eight glowing points of blue-white light streaked forward with frightening speed. Celica intentionally targeted the pirates armed with mass-based weapons—correctly assuming they were not mages and could not easily withstand a magical attack.

To their credit, the Device-wielding pirates managed to bring up defensive barriers in an attempt to protect their non-mage allies. Fortunately for Celica, the shields were not solid enough to block the shots of an AA-ranked mage, even one who wasn't a warrior by trade. Tizona's magical blasts shattered the protective domes as if they were delicate glass.

A storm of homing bullets unerringly blasted into the bodies of the gunmen, knocking them to the deck heavily.

“Fiore!” Celica cried, dodging a brilliant blast of magical energy. The young Belkan knight nodded and charged into melee, slamming her heavy gauntlet into the midsection of a Device-wielding pirate.

The man doubled over in agony, the breath blasted from his body as a result of the hammer blow. Fiore wasn't done; using the counter-force of her blow, she pivoted on her left foot and slammed her plated boot into the man's head, snapping his neck back and sending him crashing to the deck.

The other pirates stared at the petite girl, their jaws collectively dropping in astonishment. Fiore was deceptively delicate, but the girl was packed with explosive power.

Celica took advantage of the momentary distraction, brandishing Tizona as she rushed into the fray. Melee was not her forte—Celica usually preferred to blast her enemies at range when she fought—but there just wasn't enough room in the bridge of the ship. She definitely did not want to inadvertently blast a hole through the hull.

The remaining five pirates were all mages, armed with variations on the standard-issue staff-type Bureau Storage Device. Some were heavily customized and modified, scarcely resembling the original weapons. Others were obsolete models no longer in use by the Bureau. Most were in poor condition, likely due to heavy use and inadequate maintenance.

All of them, however, were aimed at Celica and Fiore. The pirate mages responded to the defeat of their comrades with a roar of rage, loosing a thunderous barrage of glowing death.

The air filled with magic bullets. Celica put her long, muscular legs to good use, weaving and dodging to avoid the projectiles, trying to get into melee, where the ordinary Mid-style Devices would be at a disadvantage against Tizona's hybrid design.

Celica could hear the pirate leader laughing uproariously as Fiore beat a tattooed female pirate into unconsciousness. The man was testing his minions, watching how well they handled themselves against two powerful mages.

The red-haired woman decided it was time to end the show. She looked down at her Device and nodded. Tizona understood.

“[Overclock],” Tizona said ominously.

Celica's body blazed with crackling arcs of blue-white lightning. She felt her Linker Core pulse and resonate as the spell fed power back through her, momentarily boosting her abilities to extreme levels.

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl, the pirates' movements appearing as if they had been mired in a thick, invisible mud. It was only too easy for Celica to dodge the lazily-sailing blasts from their staves.

Tizona flashed brilliantly as she attacked.

“[Disseverment].”

Celica felt her hand guided by Tizona as the two of them, together, completed a complex, dizzying flurry of slashes and stabs, the Device's blade glowing fiercely with argent flame. Every swing connected, striking flesh or armor, and every hit detonated in a tiny but powerful explosion of magical light.

The red-haired woman reversed direction and bounded forward, not bothering to examine her handiwork; Fiore would take care of any stragglers. She could see now that the pirate leader was no longer smiling. The man had taken out his own Device and was in the process of ever-so-slowly dropping into a combat stance.

Celica charged forward recklessly, brandishing Tizona with murderous intent, but she had miscalculated. The pirate captain sidestepped at the very last second, Tizona's razor-sharp edge missing his throat by less than a centimeter.

A tremendous heavy blow crashed down on the back of Celica's head, sending her crashing against the deck. Agonizing pain radiated from the point of impact, and Celica's vision began to blur around the edges. The man had struck her hard enough to blast through the defensive enchantments of her Barrier Jacket.

“That should slow you down,” the pirate leader said, chuckling. Celica frowned and clambered back to her feet. Her eyes widened as she realized her opponent was speaking the literal truth—her perception of time and motion had returned to normal. Celica's Overclock effect had been dispelled!

“How the—?”

The pirate leader grinned fiercely and whipped around a heavy metal tonfa so quickly that the air whistled. So that's what he had struck her with, Celica realized.

“My Storage Device, the Silencer,” the pirate leader purred. “It is very useful for killing mages, as I'm sure you've noticed.”

Fiore, be careful, Celica whispered into her friend's mind. That Device can dispel magical effects on whatever it hits.

“Let's see what you've got,” the pirate leader hissed viciously, leaping forward, Silencer spinning around in a dizzying arc. Celica parried the blow with Tizona, correctly gauging the power behind the strike, deflecting her opponent's arm up high.

“I'll show you what I've got,” Celica said, smirking. She took a half-step back and lashed out with her right foot, catching the man squarely in the groin.

The pirate leader's eyes bulged and he wheezed in purely masculine agony, but the man was too experienced to allow the pain to compromise his stance. Enraged, he went on the offensive, striking blow after blow with Silencer, but Celica somehow managed to parry each blow.

“Damn,” Celica murmured. Her wrist ached abominably from the repeated deflections and parries—the pirate leader was physically powerful and definitely skilled in close combat.

Fiore took advantage of the pirate leader's focus on Celica and darted in, kicking high, driving the man back a few paces. She wound up and threw a devastating right hook that went wide, missing the pirate's jaw by a centimeter. The man was on the defensive.

“Tizona, do it,” Celica ordered. The Interface Device complied, conjuring three fiercely-glowing motes of electric-blue light.

“[Pulse Lancer].”

Celica sent the magic missiles streaking unerringly for the man's head. She meant to knock him unconscious, end this fight quickly. But the pirate leader had other ideas; he reflexively brought Silencer up to bear. The Device's unusual magic-dispelling aura caused Celica's attack to vanish as if it had never been.

“Now that wasn't very nice,” the pirate snarled contemptuously. He whirled around and kicked at Fiore; the Belkan knight brought Glanzfaust up and blocked the attack with the armored gauntlet, but the force of the blow still sent her skidding backwards, struggling to stay upright.

This isn't going to be easy, Celica thought grimly.

* * *

Lutecia poked her head out of the small access panel in the deck plating, peering around to make sure she was alone. The corridor was empty; Lutecia levered herself out of the maintenance crawlspace and shut the access panel behind her.

According to Asclepius's engineering diagram of the Shiva, she should be on the command deck within a moment's walk from the bridge. The sounds of combat reached her ears—either the pirates were fighting amongst themselves, or members of the Shiva's crew were fighting back.

Lutecia hoped it was the latter, but she would take infighting among the hijackers, too.

The lilac-haired summoner bounded down the corridor, reaching the double door leading to the bridge itself. The door was closed, and the sounds of combat became louder. The fight was on the bridge, she deduced, and it was still going strong.

“Garyuu, let's finish our mission,” Lutecia murmured softly.

With a flash of black-purple light, the insect guardian Garyuu appeared. The alien creature was not just a summoned monster, an expendable conjuration that Lutecia held with force of magic and will. Garyuu was an intelligent servant, almost a familiar in a way, who was utterly loyal to Lutecia.

He was also a strong warrior, particularly devastating in melee and unarmed combat. Lutecia's greatest strength lie in her ability to summon an army of insectoid creatures to attack her enemies, but in the cramped confines of the Bureau warship, Garyuu and her wasps were the most potent weapons she held.

The door to the bridge slid open soundlessly and Lutecia stepped into a raging battle. Two female Bureau mages were locked in a vicious melee against a heavily-tattooed man—the pirate leader, Fulton. Lutecia immediately recognized the women fighting against him as the officers from the operations office.

“Garyuu, attack,” Lutecia said softly. The insect guardian nodded and charged, razor-sharp blades springing from hidden sheaths above his wrists. The black-armored creature tackled Fulton bodily, knocking the man off-balance, but not off his feet.

A flash of purple light exploded around Garyuu, so intense that Lutecia was forced to shield her eyes. When the brilliant glow ceased, Garyuu was gone. The summoner's jaw dropped in astonishment. She knew Garyuu hadn't been killed—or even severely injured—but somehow the summoning link anchoring the insect guardian to this dimension had been severed.

“His Device dispels magic!” Celica shouted in explanation.

Properly enlightened, Lutecia grimaced at the unfortunate fact. Her summons were anchored to this dimension through her own magic. By striking Garyuu, the pirate leader had disrupted that connection, sending Garyuu back to his dimension of origin.

Even without Garyuu, I'm not defenseless, Lutecia thought angrily. She sent a mental command out and dozens upon dozens of her wasps began to gather, hovering around her body protectively. The pirate would have a hard time striking her insects.

“Insects, go,” Lutecia commanded gently.

The wasps flew toward Fulton, slashing and striking against his body. A veritable cloud of the bio-mechanical creatures surrounded him, partially obscuring his form. The pirate mage swung his tonfa wildly, occasionally striking the insects. Lutecia winced as a few of the wasps exploded from the impact, the tiny summons delicate enough that the physical blow destroyed them before the magic-dispelling club could unsummon them.

Celica didn't hesitate, taking full advantage of the opening Lutecia had created. She sent a mental command to her Device.

“[Cannon Form],” Tizona said. The Interface Device quickly altered its physical form, elongating the hilt and widening the pommel into a shoulder-brace. The dagger blade bifurcated and split, revealing a blue crystal aperture from which bombardment attacks could be fired.

Celica brought Tizona up and braced the weapon against her shoulder. A blue-white Midchildan magic circle blazed under her feet as she powered up for a devastating blast that would decisively end the battle.

“[Plasma Cannon].”

A torrent of blue-white fire poured from Tizona's aperture, blasting through the air and barreling directly toward the pirate mage. Lutecia's insect summons scattered at the last second, narrowly avoiding being instantly incinerated by the attack.

The pirate leader regained his wits and brought Silencer up to defend, shouting out a defensive spell and planting his feet firmly against the deck. The Device's magic-dispelling power was not enough to completely nullify Celica's attack, however. The rogue mage's shield crumbled under the assault, the blast of power sending him slamming against the starboard bulkhead.

“Fiore, now!” Celica cried.

The Belkan knight grinned fiercely and rushed in, Glanzfaust blazing with brilliant green flame. The Device's cartridge system cycled twice as it saturated its mana reservoir, preparing to deliver a debilitating blow that would send the pirate captain into unconsciousness.

“Magma... Hammer!” Fiore roared as she charged, her gauntleted right fist pulled back for a devastating blow. Green fire wreathed the mage's body as she struck—

“[Flash Move].”

—the deck of the ship. Armored metal plates buckled and consoles erupted in a shower of sparks as the powerful melee attack missed its mark and instead tore a gaping hole in the deck plating.

The pirate captain stood, his patchwork Barrier Jacket torn and damaged, but still very much alive—and very dangerous. The man grinned a death's-head smile.

Celica's eyes widened in horror as the pirate captain whipped Silencer around, pointing the shorter, open end of the tonfa baton directly at Fiore's heart.

“[Striker Shot],” Silencer said, the Device's sultry female voice sounding a death knell.

The aperture of the Storage Device flared with deadly power and a narrow midnight-blue beam of intense heat and energy tore through Fiore's chest. The beam slashed through her Knight's armor as if it were naught but tissue paper, utterly ignoring all her defenses.

“Fiore!” Celica screamed, watching the young girl fall to the deck. Blood pooled underneath her body as she struggled weakly, trying to stand up, but it was clear that there would be no saving her. The extremely focused beam of magical energy had pierced Fiore's heart.

“C... el... i...—” Fiore croaked. She coughed wetly, blood bubbling up from her lips and running down her pale cheeks. Her eyes fluttered weakly. Celica let out wordless cry of anguish, rushing over to aid the fallen girl.

“Not so fast, bitch,” Fulton snarled, brandishing Silencer threateningly. “You're next.”

Celica came up short and shot the pirate captain a glare so cold that Lutecia felt shivers run up her spine. Tizona whipped around with frightening speed, magical energy swirling in the air as the weapon changed forms, returning to its dagger shape.

“I will kill you,” Celica snarled, breaking into a deadly charge, Tizona's gleaming blade leading. The pirate captain stared disdainfully, bringing Silencer up for a second lethal attack.

“[Striker Shot].”

“[Overclock],” Tizona countered. Wreathed in argent fire, Celica's body moved at impossible speeds. The midnight-blue beam of incandescent death scythed through the spot where her head had been only moments before. Celica moved, dodging and charging into melee range.

“[Vertical Cleave],” Tizona shouted viciously, the Device mirroring his mistress's emotions.

The silver flame intensified, extending and shaping into an enormous blazing sword of magical energy. Celica gripped the Device in both hands and whipped the deadly blade upward, then brought it crashing down with sundering force.

Fulton screamed in horror and moved to bring Silencer up to deflect the blow, knowing that the blade formed of burning magical energy would be instantly dispelled by his Device's special ability. If only he could deflect the attack—even through the slightest contact, Silencer would nullify the energies.

Celica expected that. At the last moment, she altered the angle of her attack—instead of a heavy downward chop, she whirled around, slashing viciously at a sharp descending angle. The blazing sword tore through the man's body and Barrier Jacket, slicing him apart from shoulder to hip.

Fulton let out a horrible cry of agony that ended in a wet, strangled gurgle as his body—or rather, the two separate halves of his body—fell to the deck plating. The body cavities sagged as blood and entrails spilled out. The sharp metallic scent of vaporized blood filled Celica's nostrils.

It was over. The pirate leader was dead.

Celica took a deep, ragged breath and turned around. It was only then that Celica noticed Lutecia, already crouched beside the mortally wounded Fiore. The black gloves that held Asclepius's main body were soaked with blood as Lutecia put pressure on the wound, desperately trying to stem the flow.

Celica dropped Tizona to the deck, the argent energy blade flickering once before dissipating. She rushed over and knelt down beside Lutecia, desperately looking into Fiore's eyes, searching for some sign of life, some sign that the girl would survive this. The blue eyes fluttered once—Celica gasped in relief as they focused on her face.

“C... e... l...—“ Fiore whispered, barely audible. The voice was so weak, Celica felt her heart catch in her throat. Tears flowed unheeded down her cheeks, falling to the metal deck.

“I'm here, Fiore,” Celica murmured soothingly, clutching the girl's right hand in her own. Fiore's hand was ice-cold and clammy, sticky with her own blood.

“I'm... not going... to make it,” the Belkan knight gasped, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. “Cel... ica... please...—”

“Don't talk like that, Fiore! You are going to survive this! You can't die!”

“Sorry... Cel... ica...—” Fiore coughed again, blood and spittle spraying from her lips, wheezing painfully as her body struggled to prolong her life. It was a hopeless battle. Celica watched, her voice frozen in her throat as the light shining in Fiore's eyes slowly faded.

Fiore's right hand, still wearing Glanzfaust, clenched Celica's wrist with surprising strength.

“I... wanted to... tell you... but—”

“What is it, Fiore? What did you want to tell me?” Celica asked, placing her free hand on top of the cold metal of the gauntlet.

“I... I...—”

The lips mouthed the words silently, slowly as Celica watched the life leave Fiore's eyes. They stared sightlessly ahead, the body going limp, the pressure under Lutecia's hands suddenly dropping off.

“She's gone,” Lutecia murmured softly.

Celica nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes, leaving streaks of Fiore's blood on her cheeks, but she paid it no heed. The gray-eyed mage reached out and gently closed Fiore's eyes and kissed the dead girl's lips gently.

“I wish you had told me sooner,” Celica whispered. Lutecia watched, her reddish-brown eyes filled with compassion as the other woman stood up and retrieved her Device. The operations analyst walked stiffly toward the command console and tapped in a string of commands.

“Tizona, switch to Interface Form,” she muttered. The Device complied, altering his form into that of an array of holographic displays and input panels. Lutecia watched as the mage's fingers flew over the input panels, entering in commands, altering permissions and granting administrative access. Lines of code scrolled across the multiple displays as Celica worked to regain control of the ship.

Lutecia stood motionless, staring at the woman for a long moment before she walked away without a word.

The summoner had one more task to attend to.

* * *

Eli Matheson knew he was a dead man.

The woman standing before him—the supplemental crew member, Reika Jennings. It was a phony name, of course. Matheson had been in the Bureau long enough to have heard the rumors—the silent killers who worked behind the scenes, under a blanket of plausible deniability. Those faceless, unknown agents the Bureau used for problems that could not be solved through ordinary military or political process.

They were known as the Shadows.

“I've come to kill you, Matheson,” Lutecia said simply. There was no emotion in her voice whatsoever. She took no joy in murder, took no pleasure in killing. For Lutecia, it was simply her task—a task she would complete faithfully.

“No... get away! Stay away from me!”

Lutecia stared dispassionately at the man. She didn't like this at all. Her targets often fell apart when confronted with the fact that they were to be eliminated. It never made it any easier. She preferred those who met their demise with quiet dignity—but those individuals were exceedingly rare.

The once-proud captain of the Navy's most advanced warship was on his knees, blubbering and whimpering like a frightened child. Lutecia had pored over the man's dossier. He was not a mage, but his service record was well above average, putting him squarely in the company of the elite. As a reward, the TSAB had given him command of the Shiva.

And he had betrayed that trust. Lutecia felt the hatred swell within her and was thankful for the feeling. She fed that hatred, filling her mind with images of Matheson's exploits, the Bureau's trust placed in his hands.

It didn't make her task any easier, but it made it possible. Lutecia extended her right hand and summoned magical energy, sending a black-violet projectile of explosive force streaking forth from her index finger.

The single bullet of mystic force blasted through the unprotected Matheson's forehead, detonating upon impact. The traitorous officer's head exploded like an overripe melon, splattering blood and brain matter against the far wall. Lutecia watched with blank eyes as the man's lifeless body fell heavily to the deck.

Her mission was complete. The summoner felt a certain sense of accomplishment, but she did not feel pleased. The image of Fiore's innocent smile, her cheerful and animated face flashed into her mind.

This victory carried with it a heavy price.

* * *

NSIS Headquarters
Cranagan, Midchilda
04.02.0083

“You're really pushing hard for this, Alphine. I would like to know why.”

Lutecia Alphine stared hard at the admiral, her reddish-brown eyes flinty. “You've already debriefed me. You've seen the Shiva's activity logs. You've perused her dossier. What more evidence do you need?”

“I admit, she would be a tremendous asset to NSIS. Colonel Davidson in EAID would be thrilled to have an analyst with an Interface Device working under him. What I want to know,” Chrono said seriously, “is why you are getting on my case about this so strongly.”

“I... don't know, Admiral,” Lutecia said honestly. “I haven't gotten the chance to know her well, but I... I don't know. I like her, to be perfectly frank. And...” Lutecia trailed off meaningfully.

“You feel responsible for the death of her friend,” Chrono stated. It was not a question.

“If I had fought harder, Fiore would still be alive—”

“You have no way of knowing that for sure,” Chrono admonished her. “Even if you do feel like you owe her, what makes you think an appointment to NSIS would be any sort of recompense?”

Lutecia said nothing.

“All right, I'll run this past Colonel Davidson. Ultimately, though, the choice will be hers. We can't force her into NSIS.”

“I know that,” Lutecia replied, the gratitude evident in her voice. “Thank you, Admiral.”

“Don't ever mention it, Alphine. That will be all; dismissed.”

Lutecia saluted smartly, turning around and walking out the door. Chrono waited for a long moment before tapping a command into the console on his desk. The office door slid shut silently and sealed; a split-second later, a second, hidden door on the far wall of his office slid open.

A woman of average height and short brown hair stepped out. She was dressed in the dark blue Navy uniform and skirt, but her rank insignia marked her as a general officer from the Ground Forces. Her blue eyes shined with authority... and not a little mischief.

“What do you think, Hayate?” Chrono asked.

“I agree with Lutecia,” the woman said without hesitation. “She would be a natural fit within NSIS. Iris-Lynnfield is dependable, loyal and intelligent. She has more than the rank required. Her record speaks for itself—her assignment as the Shiva's senior operations analyst should have told you that much.”

“I am not opposed to transferring her to NSIS,” Chrono replied. “I worry, though, about bringing anyone on so soon after such a traumatic event.”

“It's ultimately your decision, Chrono—yours and hers,” Hayate said softly. “I will be submitting my official recommendation, attached to Lieutenant Alphine's request for recruitment.”

Chrono smiled wearily. “I will talk to her.”

“Thank you, Chrono,” Hayate replied graciously, walking back across the office toward the hidden door, opened to a tunnel that would take her back to the central spire of the Ground Forces headquarters. It was one of many “black” entrances to the NSIS compound, where one of Hayate's public stature might enter without wild speculation.

Chrono glanced at the clock and sighed heavily. Another long day had ended, another near-disastrous incident nipped in the bud by his agency. The stresses of his office ground heavily upon him, but when his agents were able to pull off something like this...

“It makes all the pain worthwhile,” he said quietly. Gathering up his things, Chrono turned off the lights and exited through the “black” tunnel leading to the Ground Forces spire, where he would make an appearance in his “official” office before heading home.

I wonder what Amy has planned for dinner, the admiral wondered idly.

* * *

Midchilda – Low Geosynchronous Orbit
Navy Cruise Patrol Warship “Shiva”
04.03.0083

“I'm sorry, Celica,” Lutecia said softly. “If I had been faster—”

“It wasn't your fault,” Celica said glumly. Lutecia frowned at the expression that had painted the woman's face for days since the incident—since Fiore's death. Those gray eyes, usually so hard and focused, were reddened and swollen. Her cheeks were stained with dried tears.

“I still feel responsible,” the summoner murmured. “It was my mission to ensure that the ship and its crew did not fall into the enemy's hands. To make sure everyone came back alive and well.”

“Is that what it is?” Celica demanded, whirling around suddenly, glaring daggers at Lutecia. “You're upset that you didn't complete your mission? She's dead! She's dead and... and...” Celica's voice trailed off into quiet sobs.

Lutecia said nothing, waiting for the other woman to let it out. The summoner knew from hard experience that such feelings, contained within the soul, were like a poison for the psyche. They could be just as deadly as the real thing.

“She's dead,” Celica said in a desolate tone, “and she loved me. I didn't even know... she never told me before... before she...”

What Lutecia did next surprised even her. She leaned forward and embraced the grieving woman tightly, hugging her close, smoothing her hair and wiping her tears away. Celica turned her head and looked into Lutecia's eyes, sniffling once and smiling slightly.

“Thanks, Jennings—er, I suppose that isn't your real name, is it?”

Lutecia chuckled bitterly. “It's just an alias. My real name is Lutecia Alphine.”

“Nice to meet you, Alphine,” Celica said, smiling bravely through the tears. “What did you want to talk to me about that's so important, anyway?”

Lutecia said, without preamble, “I work for a little-known agency attached to the Bureau, the Naval Special Intelligence Service. I hold the rank of lieutenant in the and the title of Special Agent, Field Division. The agency specializes in 'black ops,' intelligence-gathering and securing the Bureau's technological assets.

“Due to your actions during the Shiva Incident, as it's being termed, you've been offered a promotion and reassignment to NSIS. I volunteered to be the one to tell you about it.”

“A promotion? Reassignment?”

“The Bureau values your skills highly,” Lutecia explained, handing Celica a sealed reassignment order. Celica broke the seal with her fingernail and withdrew the sheaf of papers within, scanning over their contents slowly, trying to prod her fuzzy mind into digesting the information.

“General Hayate Yagami and the Director of NSIS, Admiral Chrono Harlaown, have recommended that you be promoted to Commander and transferred to NSIS as an operations system analyst.”

“I... I don't know,” Celica said after a long moment, setting the papers down on her workstation.

“It's a lot to take in all at once, I know,” Lutecia replied, hugging Celica closer, smoothing her disheveled hair again. “Especially after the loss you just suffered. But I think that you'd be a natural fit within the agency. You can do a lot more good for the Bureau and the people of Midchilda there than you can on the Shiva. It's a lot more responsibility, sure... but...”

“I... all right, Alphine,” Celica murmured. “You can return to Admiral Harlaown and tell him that I accept the promotion and reassignment.”

Lutecia nodded and stepped back, releasing the taller woman from the embrace. The summoner's stance straightened and she snapped to attention, saluting Celica smartly.

“Understood, Commander,” Lutecia said in an official tone, but her eyes twinkled with mischief. “I will return to Admiral Harlaown with your answer.”

“Very good,” Celica replied in the same official tone, barely able to keep a smile from spreading across her face. “That will be all, Lieutenant. Dismissed.”

“Yes, ma'am!”

Spoiler for author's notes:

Revision 2 of The Call. I changed a few lines, made things flow better, but the largest change being the time this event takes place. Other Shadowsverse authors (including the Harem Mistress herself, RadiantBeam) advised me that Lutecia's characterization was wrong for 0081, and Miranda's absence from the story was something of a wallbanger.

So I changed a few things. This did force me to adjust some of Celica's personal history—with the changes, she's only been working for NSIS for five years, instead of seven, as of false light (year 0088 by the Mid Calendar).

I'll likely have to go back over false light a bit and make sure those chapters reflect the changes. It shouldn't be major, though.

Interesting highlights of this chapter:

-I never actually described Celica's Barrier Jacket in false light, so I decided to do it here! Yes, she really does have a Badass Longcoat.

Celica's character design is a big ol' Shout Out to the PROCEED girls from SoltyRei. Her name comes from Celica Yayoi (who, incidentally, is also voiced by Nanoha's VA, Yukari Tamura), her occupation from Accela Warrick (they're both hackers/programmers) and her personality/character design is pulled from Integra Martel.

-I really enjoyed designing Fiore, more than I thought I would. I was a little upset that I killed her off—I originally had no plans to do so, but it worked out better this way, I think. Characters that are intended to be killed off sometimes broadcast this fact before it happens and mess up the emotional impact.

-The bit about N23 is not just a plot device for this fic; it'll come back up again, specifically in an Abraham Stele-centric short (concerning the event referenced in this story).

-Designing the villain for this story was harder than I thought, but I think it worked out well. The canon Aces would have flattened him in three seconds flat, but Celica is an AA-ranked computer nerd, Fiore is a fighter, but she's only B-ranked right now (think Subaru at the beginning of StrikerS) and Lutecia was deprived of her most potent weapons by the limited space and Silencer sending Garyuu back to wherever it is he goes. So I think it went fairly well, considering the disadvantages the heroes were placed at.

Oh well, back to fixing things in false light and preparing for Chapter 6...

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

Spoiler for The Call (Part II):

*snip*

Spoiler for author's notes:

*snip*

Very fun fic! It's really only got one serious flaw, which is that being set in MC0081, it's set in Lutecia's pre-Miranda's-death days, which means that her "cool and competent professional" demeanor is a bit off, and the "unofficially the director's right hand" status is definitely off. (Her regret over Fiore's death is also very much in-character for post-Miranda Lutecia, when she started to become somewhat obsessive about carrying out her missions with the absolute minimum of collateral damage).

I'd suggest a date of MC0083, which would put things in nicely for Lutecia's characterization (including seeing Celica and Fiore, perhaps, make Lutecia more likely to act in "Never Confessed") and make Tizona seem a little more "cutting edge" (I'm assuming that he actually gets regular upgrades as Magitech Marches On, unless MGLN exists within the zone of standard sci-fi technology stasis), except that would immediately screw up Celica's history (okay, personally I'd find 20 and 15 a little less......than 18 and 13 for Celica and Fiore's ages, but that's got nothing to do with the background) and the extent of her NSIS service.

Let's see...the following paragraph uses "blaster barrel" twice in the same sentence, so some rewriting of that sentence would be good:

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

"That won't be enough," Celica clucked disapprovingly. Fiore smiled sheepishly and brought Glanzfaust to bear, sighting down the snub-nosed blaster barrel, firing a vicious barrage of green-glowing magical projectiles from the blaster barrel fitted on the Device's main body.

Spoiler for Spoilers referenced in complimentary review comments:

That pretty much covers the negativity. Otherwise--excellent story, nice set-up, gripping plot, sufficiently vicious villain, Fiore got enough screen time to make her death mean something and the fact that it happened wasn't terminally obvious. I had a lot of fun with the casual details that the story was sprinkled with that expand on the universe/setting. And the N23 issue actually does something nice--it gives Fulton sufficient raw power to be a threat, while explaining why he isn't able to keep up with Overclocked Celica despite supposedly being an S+ close-combat mage; he's not really an S+ close-combat mage, but a lower-ranked mage artificially jacked into S+ range, kind of like Overclock, actually, and he's not so much a "close-combat expert" as he is a "person who uses close combat as his preferred style and has one nice trick thanks to his Device." One gets the sense, for example, that Fate would wipe the floor with him in eight seconds. Three, maybe, if Silencer wouldn't negate Bardiche's energy blade on contact and she didn't get stuck having to fight in Assault Form.

Hm...oh, and heteronormative assumptions are heteronormative; I never realized Celica was bi. Now I feel embarrassed.

Oh, and for a quick reference, I've been trying to compile a timeline of Shadowverse stories, to get them more or less in order:

Spoiler for Shadowverse timeline (unofficial):

Timeline of "Shadowverse" Stories/Events

Key:


Boldface Text indicates events drawn from canon
Underlined Text indicates significant events in the Shadowverse


MC0001: Founding of the TSAB and formation of the Council
MC0065: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's occur
MC0065: NSIS Director Admiral Gil Graham removed from position after role in black-budgeted scheme to use freezing-magic "Durandal" to seal Book of Darkness; Graham allowed to retire to Earth to restrict exposure of NSIS from public exposure.
MC0065: Lutecia Alpino (Alphine) born
MC0067: Lutecia kidnapped by Jail Scaglietti
MC00??: Chrono Harlaown appointed NSIS Director.
MC0075: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS occurs. Lutecia rescued from Jail and sentenced to rehabilitation on Mau Gram until she is deemed psychologically capable of re-entering society. Vivio adopted by Takamachi Nanoha and Fate T. Harlaown. Vivio = 6 y.o.; Lutecia = 10 y.o..
MC0078: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Sound Stage X occurs. Vivio and Lutecia help research Ixpellia and Mariage for investigation of the Mariage Incident. Runessa Magnus convicted of murder and magical terrorism.
MC0078: "Shadows Fall" (DezoPenguin) Lutecia recruited by the NSIS under the auspices of Director Chrono Harlaown.
MC0079: "First Time" (RadiantBeam) Dating on this is based on the fact that it's Lutecia's first kill, and she theoretically kills again
MC0079: "Miranda" (RadiantBeam) Lutecia identifies herself as 14 here
MC0081: "Learn the Hard Way" (RadiantBeam) Vivio realizes that she loves Lutecia.
MC0082: "Never Been Kissed" (RadiantBeam) Vivio and Lutecia's first kiss
MC0082: "Like Mother, Like Daughter" (DezoPenguin)
MC0082: Miranda killed. Dating based on discussions with RadiantBeam
MC0083: "Burning Glory" (RadiantBeam) Another blind guess at the dating
MC0083: "Keep Your Thoughts Close" (RadiantBeam)
MC0084: "Never Confessed" (RadiantBeam) Vivio and Lutecia become girlfriends
MC0084: "Clearly Parenting Had an Effect" (DezoPenguin)
MC0084: "Mothers and Daughters" (DezoPenguin)
MC0084: "Daddy's Little Girl" (RadiantBeam) Dating of this story based on Nanoha asserting that Lutecia has "three years" to wait, ergo Vivio = 15 y.o.
MC0084: "Following Her Lead" (DezoPenguin)
MC0084: "Jealousy's Just Another Form of Love" (RadiantBeam)
MC0084: "Tongue Rape" (RadiantBeam)
MC0084: "Sinners and Saints" (RadiantBeam) Dating is post-"Never Confessed" but no idea otherwise
MC0084: "Within Our Own Shadow" (DezoPenguin) Dating listed as six years after Mariage incident
MC0085: "I Spy" (RadiantBeam) Dating uncertain but between "Daddy's Little Girl" and "The Christmas Locket"
MC0085: "Glasses" (RadiantBeam)
MC0085: "Romance Studies" (DezoPenguin)
MC0085: "The Deep Shadow of Chrono Harlaown" (spawnofthejudge/Dracis Tran) Dating purely pulled out of thin air but would seem more likely to be later in the arc due to Chrono's flirting with burnout.
MC0085: "Gentle Shadow" (RadiantBeam story + DezoPenguin omake) Another guess on the dating
MC0085: "Didn't Want to Hurt Her" (RadiantBeam) Lutecia mentions it's been 10 years since Jail
MC0085: "The Christmas Locket" (RadiantBeam) Lutecia 20 y.o. in this story
MC0085: "The White Devil is Scary" (DezoPenguin)
MC0085: "Bet on It" (RadiantBeam)
MC0086: "I Spy" (DezoPenguin)
MC0086: "Waiting Game" (RadiantBeam) It's post-"The Christmas Locket" since Vivio's wearing the locket. I believe that "Something About Fate-mama Just Bugs Me" was taking place during this one...
MC0086: "Something About Fate-mama Just Bugs Me" (DezoPenguin)
MC0086: "The Godzilla Threshold" (DezoPenguin)
MC0086: "Shadow" (RadiantBeam)
MC0086: "The White Devil's In The Details" (DezoPenguin)
MC0086: "Sunrise" ch. 1 (RadiantBeam)
MC0086: "Sunrise" ch. 2 (RadiantBeam)
MC0086: "The Shadows We Cast" (DezoPenguin)
MC0086: "Caught Within Shadows" (DezoPenguin)
MC0086: "Sunrise" ch. 3 (RadiantBeam)
MC0086: "Sometimes We Sweat the Small Stuff" (DezoPenguin)
MC0086: "Long Distance Goodbye" (RadiantBeam)
MC0086: "Excuses" (RadiantBeam)
MC0087: false light (synaesthetic/cori.writes.stuff)

Omitted as non-official fanon (either because they're in alternate timelines or just for fun):

"Alternate Realities FTW," "Sunset," "Broken," "Borderline," "The Perfect Gift" (RadiantBeam)
"Border Crossing" (DezoPenguin)
"Shadow in the Rain" (DezoPenguin), Crime Never Sleeps (deathcurse)
"Their Problems" (sniperk)

(not sure if "Excuses" needs to be here as well)

[TheShinySword]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Not that she's ever thought of that method...

...

... Much...

Valiant effort Vivio, Valiant effort

Page claim: Huzzah! I gots one.