Prologue

Gamble Under Fire:/Princess

A faint orange glow painted across and corrupted the star-covered night sky over Aurora, the royal castle of Aurelia. Smoke further corrupted that glow as thick wisps rose up across at uneven intervals.

"Put out the fire!"

"Locate the princess!"

"The assailants couldn't have reached far!"

The royal guard's orders were echoing all over the castle as one of its wings kept bursting into more and more flames. Explosions were set off at various points in the Princess's Wing at irregular intervals. Through those flames, a single girl ran.

"How long until we reach the area above the launch wing, Aileen?" The girl running spoke to a small portable terminal in her hand. She had a full duffel bag strapped over her shoulder, covering a largely bloodied portion of her cyan night clothes. Her black hair was completely disheveled as it ran down her upper back and across her shoulders. Despite the conditions of heat and smoke, she seemed unperturbed, barely winded, as if not a hair was out of place.

"It'll take another twenty minutes at this rate even through the shortest path!" A voice rang out from the disk-shaped device in her hand. Projected over the central screen was a holographic humanoid figure with red half-frame glasses, short, vivacious red hair, and an equally vibrant lacy formal dress. "This is too reckless! At this rate, the confusion will die down and the royal guard will catch you! Miss Sophie, even if you-"

"Which charge is closest to the destination if you ignore obstacles, then?" Calmly, Sophie questioned her holographic companion.

"There's one shortly after the upcoming corner, but you'd have to jump to its island if you-"

"That's good enough for me." With a grin, she veered towards the wall before pressing a couple of buttons on the terminal.

BANG! CRASH!

A pressure wave pressed against her run and shattered the glass in the windows only a few meters to her right immediately shattered. But as she was out of the fragments' splash zone, she continued to run unabated until she turned the corner and saw the hole in the windows she had opened up with the charge.

Without a second thought, her legs carried her straight through the hole and into a set of bushes. Regardless of how many branches scratched at her or how dense the foliage was, she maintained what momentum she had gained in her flight and pushed straight through until she reached a grassy field that ended over a cliff.

"THIS IS CRAZY! THAT'S A 100 METER DROP!"

"AILEEN! We're not letting this opportunity slide." Without another word, she pushed herself forward and leaped straight off the cliff. In that moment, all touch sensation seemed to disappear around her as gravity began to pull her down to the airborne island that was known as the launch wing. Once the ground of the castle's island had terminated, she immediately placed her mana beneath her legs and a crude and unrefined magic circle materialized beneath her feet. The arteries in her ankle and feet immediately began to throb and pulsate wildly as the magic slowed down her descent, letting her land on the road to the launch facility as lightly as a feather would.

See, Aileen?

That's what she would have said if she had a moment to relax, but her stumbling to regain her bearings was taking out what little time she had left. Even if she had to strain her legs, she pushed herself as far as she could, running into the launch facility.

Without turning on the lights, she ran through the long corridor until she found the door that was labeled 'Experimental Transports'. Quickly, she opened the door a crack and entered it before shutting it behind her and running down the stairs.

"The transport should be the first one we find as soon as we enter the launch space. It'll already be on the rails." Aileen chimed, giving off the position of their destination. "It should be right abooooooout...there! That one on your left!"

As she finally reached her destination, Sophie found what was an escape pod for a single person. It had enough space for a person to latch in some luggage and lay down in. It was what was known as the cryostasis pod. In order to allow for interstellar travels for long distances and accommodate for the effects of a crash landing on a solo trip, it was designed to place the traveler into cryostasis in order dampen crash impacts and centripetal forces on the user while keeping them in a state where biological functions would not progress while still being alive.

Ultimately, it had one huge downside, but Sophie was not currently in the position to be picky. Even though the entire set of technology was experimental, it was the best option she had if she needed to bring in external help.

After she had tapped on the screen a few times, the single door opened up overhead, she threw her bag into the sidehatch in the pod before opening up the connector for her terminal's interface.

She placed her terminal into the slot and much like a floppy disc into its respective drive, it slid straight in and started being read. Above the drive slot, a bigger hologram version of Aileen was projected and a command user interface began to display behind her.

"Alright. Begin setting our course. Find the nearest planet with sentient life on it." Sophie began to calmly throw out orders to her AI companion while she took her seat in the pod and clasped the seat belt on. "Let's get this show on the road."

"Are you still sure about this? There's still time to turn back. It will take a good fortnight to reach the nearest planet with sentient life and even then, we're taking an absurd gamble."

With a soft smile, Sophie let her eyes turn to face Aileen. "Yeah. I'm absolutely sure." With that, she pressed on the buttons that would allow her to shut the door. "We'll save this world. We have to."

The door finally clamped shut.

On that fiery night, a single transport pod ascended up the royal family's mass driver into the heavens.

"That actually sounds stupid. I've seen the Arthra's squad and equipment. You guys are nowhere near properly equipped for any form of search and rescue." An obviously annoyed voice rang out on Nanoha's communications headset.

"Come on, Arisa-chan. It's not like it's a-"

"No. This has been a long time coming. First we get this stupid assignment on leadership philosophies over history, which is clearly over our heads and the you get sent off on a wild goose chase after some engineer who went missing months ago and that the administration bureau still can't find even after numerous searches. It's stupid! You agree too, right, Suzuka?"

"Nyahaha~" With one hand on her headset, Nanoha continued to saunter at her own pace and laugh along with her friends' usual antics.

Beyond her chuckling, though, the world around her was mostly silent barring the sounds of the waves of the nearby sea crashed against the docks. The space was quite wide so the density of people at this time of night, even at Port Town, Ruwella, was sparse. Every so often, Nanoha would see a couple of dock workers who were probably on night shift wandering about, but there was hardly any sign of life or movement in the past fifteen minutes she had been there for.

"Well, I do agree that it does sound like a bit of a pointless assignment." On the third node of the call, a softer voice spoke up.

"Wait, are you talking the one for history class or Nanoha's sudden deployment?"

"Yes." Suzuka's deadpan single-word response crushed all hope of response as silence once again encroached, only being staved off by Suzuka's own laughter.

"It really wasn't that funny, Suzuka." Having been thrown off completely by Suzuka's laughter, Arisa let whatever passion she held towards the subject finally die down. "How long do you think you'll be deployed for, Nanoha?"

"According to Chrono-kun, we're likely going to be stationed on Ruwella for about a week."

"A week doesn't sound like enough for a thorough planet-wide search, though." Suzuka dropped a quick assessment of Nanoha's given estimate.

"It isn't. The planetary system has been combed over numerous times since Erin Crescent's disappearance. In the past few months since her disappearance, no sign has turned up on this planet or in the vicinity. If anything, this search is meant to be more of a final clean-up to confirm that she isn't here before the Administration Bureau closes the case and archives it." Nanoha sighed and stopped walking to look off in the direction of the sea.

"So, the bureau's already assumed the worst."

"Yeah..." As she uttered that single word, her gaze lowered as she felt her muscles relax in response to a feeling of complete dread. Nanoha was hardly a naive girl. Despite being only twelve, she still had seen far more than the average person her age would have ever been privy to see. Even so, she was still very much the type of idealist who wished to reach a hand out to everyone she could.

The situation could hardly be called ideal, though.

"If I was there, I'd smack you upside the head or butt right now! You're feeling downtrodden now, aren't you?"

"Eh, Arisa-chan?" Feeling her mind being snapped back into the conversation after dozing off, Nanoha reflexively spoke out the name of the friend who was brashly berating her.

"She's right. There's no need to go down in the dumps over this incident. Besides, what would Fate-chan think if she saw our dear Nanoha-chan was like this."

"She'd be all in your face for sure, probably pulling your cheeks with a straight, perturbed face until you start smiling plus-"

"Nyahaha. I guess so." Nanoha lifted her head back up and stared into the starry night time canopy above her head and laughed. "There's no point in getting bogged down with the ifs and if nots at this stage."

"Exactly! Speaking of Fate, what's she up to? She left a couple of days before you did, didn't she?"

"Fate-chan went to Headquarters for the Enforcer Examination." Nanoha could clearly remember the nerves of the girl as she and Lindy had headed off to Cranagan to take what was supposedly a hellish exam that even the mightiest in the TSAB had feared to tread. Though, that was what the word among those who had never taken it was. In actuality, a fair amount of the details of the exam were kept under wraps for obvious reasons due to gag orders on participants and organizers. All that was really known was that it was an exam that took place over two weeks to screen numerous candidates via alternating written, combat, and case study exams.

In retrospect, the gag order really didn't help, but bureaucracy was a snail-paced mistress. It would take a while before any actual changes on that front were ever to take place.

"So, that's what it was. Explains why she was so nervous at the surprise party we gave her when she got the selection letter."

The three girls stared off into whatever monochrome scenery awaited before them, be it the night sky or a pure white dresser.

"Perhaps we may have been a bit too hasty and tactless with that party." After enough awkward silence had formed between the three friends, it was Suzuka who once again pierced through that cold unfeeling void.

"Agreed."

"Definitely."

"Pfft-" "Nyahahaha" It took not even a second for the three girls to break into synchronous laughter, lasting for a good while before they all finally finished letting it all out.

"Do you think we should get another party ready?"

"Arisa-chan."

"I know, I know. Fate's going to probably be sleeping for a week straight once the exam's finally over but we should definitely plan another party for after she wakes up. Finishing that hellish exam is worthy of celebration regardless of the result."

"I think it'd make her happy." Suzuka politely chimed in, standing on Arisa's side.

"Plus, she'd make that same embarrassed look she did for the last one. I know you found that super adorable last time she did it."

"…" Nanoha could only respond in silence. There was hardly anything she could deny in her friend's statement. "Fine. We'll set that party up for after Fate-chan returns!"

"ALRIGHT! WE'RE GOING TO HAVE THE BEST DAMN PARTY EVER!"

"Bannings! Cease this shouting at once! Morning homeroom's about to start!" In response to Arisa's shout, an equally loud shout seemed to have been directed at her.

"I guess that's our cue to end this. Come on, Arisa. Hang up~"

"Right, right. Catch you later Nanoha~"

"Mm. Catch you in the morning." The inputs on her earpiece then cut off as her friends hung up.

In the end, interplanetary time differences were a strange thing. Differences in time between any random planet she could be on and her own were tended to be variable since it was hardly like every planet had a 24 hour cycle. It was hardly like being on two separate time zones on earth.

It was taxing to say the least. Regardless of how many times Nanoha had gone off planet, this was hardly something she had gotten used to. Though, if her career in the Administration Bureau ever ended up taking her further up the ladder like Fate's was, things were going to get far more demanding in terms of keeping up contacts.

Really, this should not have been a thing for a twelve year old girl like herself to worry about but alas, life was hardly kind enough to accede to 'should have's and 'would have's. Even so, those thoughts continued to remain on her mind even as she walked down the port area with genuine intent to locate Erin.

Though, the continued hour of nothingness began to dull her consciousness. She was beginning to let a yawn break when she saw a glowing light in the night sky that was growing to a far bigger size than any of the stars.

As her eyes trained to that slowly but ever widening luminescence, Nanoha directed whatever bits of focus she had shed from boredom and exhaustion towards it.

In those few seconds, that boredom and exhaustion were quickly replaced with caution and anticipation. As if some survival instinct set in, Nanoha's brain unconsciously began making calculations.

At the end of those few seconds, that bright light pierced though the star-lit night canopy of Port Town and crashed a great distance away into forestry. Dust, dirt, and greenery flew through the air, dragged along by the wind pushed out by the collision's inevitable heat.

Following through with her reflexes, the girl braced down and instinctively formed a defensive wave of pink mana in front of her. As the wind slowly died down, she kept her eyes focused on the landing site of whatever had landed. With her free hand, she began to dig into her shirt and grope around until she felt the red orb that was her intelligent device.

"Nanoha! How far away from the impact site are you?" A young girl's voice began to ring out in her head. Nanoha found herself found herself quite impressed by the response time of her colleague. "I'm about 50 kilometers away."

"I'll head over first, Vita-chan. I'm only about thirty kilometers away, it looks like." Considering Vita was combing through the opposite side of the absurdly large port town and its surroundings, it only made sense that she would be further away.

"Raising Heart! Set Up!"

"Yes, master!"

After being surrounded by a quick pink flash, her body was now draped in a pristine white, blue, and black armored dress while her left hand was now occupied holding a gold, pink, and white staff with a red gem at the end.

"First Lieutenant Takamachi Nanoha, sortieing." Having gone through as much proper protocol as she needed, she formed pink wings at her ankles and floated slightly upwards before accelerating to top speeds at an instant, leaving behind a trail of pink light and an explosive bang.

It didn't take too long for the scenery of Port Town to fade into the horizon and for the ground beneath her to be painted with lush greenery.

"Estimated time of arrival: 55 seconds. Should I initiate Wide Area Search?"

"Yes. Direct it to the target location ahead of us and transmit full audiovisual field."

"Understood. Beginning W.A.S."

A small, translucent pink orb trickled out of the core gem on the device and hovered beneath Nanoha for a second before picking up speed and going even further ahead.

As the Nanoha followed in pursuit, a display with the search's forward view popped up. She could finally see the dust cloud coming from whatever was at the center of the crater.

Within a few seconds, the search drone was finally in front of the object in question. It was a cylindrical capsule-like apparatus with a few rocket boosters and a window which was likely made from some rigid polymer. Through that window, she could see—

This is—

"First Lieutenant Takamachi. Have you been able to ascertain what it was that landed?" From her head, she could hear the voice of her commanding officer, one Chrono Harlaown, struggling to gather as much information as she could.

"Yeah." With a wave of her hand, she shut off the search program as she ground herself to a stop and floated down into the crater in front of the capsule. "The universe hath given to us the gift a young girl popsicle." She could almost swear that some of Arisa's and Vita's combined sarcasm was beginning to rub off on her.

Inside the capsule was a black-haired girl in what were slightly bloodied cyan pajamas. Her black hair was utterly disheveled and she was obviously out cold. It was an utterly bizarre sight to behold—an abrupt encounter that could only lead to a snowball effect of chaos and Nanoha was about to dive headfirst into it, as what counted for normality in her life, at least, would dictate.

"I think a rescue team is in order for this."

A/N: Well, this is my first time writing a Nanoha fic. I've kinda ended up doing this weird meld where I've placed this in a mix between the StrikerS and movie timelines since Reflection (and Detonation, by logic) take place before Nanoha's incident in the StrikerS timeline. As such, I ended up having a little fun.

I plan to write this with a certain theme in mind. Hopefully I haven't already laid it down too thick.

Hopefully, you all come to enjoy this.