And here's Book 21. Can the heroes defeat the Dark Voice and Xehanort? Also, remember: this is not the last Book in the series. I have Books 22-25 planned, plus a long-overdue rewrite of Book 2.
THE FOLLOWING THINGS ARE THE PROPERTIES OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS; I DO NOT OWN THEM AND MAKE NO MONEY OFF OF THIS VENTURE
Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha (Teana, various other characters) – 7Arcs
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Shion, the "Keiichi Crew") – 07th Expansion and Studio Deen
Shuffle! (Kaede Fuyō, Rin, Asa & Ama, Sia & Nerine, Primula) – Navel and Asread
Erika's New Perfume (Marie, Sarah, Erika, Timmy, Veronica) – Deviant-Art artist Lance the Young
Mai-chan's Daily Life (Mai, Kizuna) – Waita Uziga
Star Wars (Ahsoka, Cody, Rex, Force Unleashed cast) – George Lucas, Lucasfilm
Halo (Forerunners, UNSC, Sangheili Alliance) – Bungie and 343 Industries
StarCraft (multiple characters, events, and devices) – Blizzard Entertainment
Naruto (jutsu, abilities) – Masashi Kishimoto
Mahō Sensei Negima (spells, abilities, characters) – Ken Akamatsu
Kingdom Hearts (Keyblades, Heartless, Nobodies, Unversed, Aqua, other characters and concepts) – Square-Enix
Neon Genesis Evangelion (Mana Kirishima, other characters) – Studio Gainax
Elfen Lied (Kaede K., others) – Lynn Okamoto, Arms
Red vs. Blue (The Blood-Gulch Crew, the ex-Freelancers) – Rooster Teeth
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic – Hasbro, Lauren Faust
Transformers Film Series – Hasbro, Michael Bay
Transformers: Beast Wars – Hasbro, Mainframe Entertainment
Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon – Naoko Takeuchi
Digimon – Google and Wikipedia won't tell me who presently owns this franchise
Yu-Gi-Oh! – Kazuki Takahashi, Viz Media
Sonic the Hedgehog - SEGA
Gears of War – Epic Games
Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles – Columbia Tristar (I think)
Mass Effect – Bioware
Metroid - Nintendo
Puella Magi Madoka Magica – Gen Urobuchi, SHAFT
The characters of Golden Tiara and the Alcorn Pantheon – DeviantArtist 'Alex Warlorn'
The character of Checker Monarch – Fanfic author 'Kendell'
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES
-BOOK 21 START-
Realm SC-29
Planet Ulnar
16:15 Hours
Multiple vessels settled in low geosynchronous orbital position, the largest of which was Arbiter Thel Vadam's flagship, the Divinity-class supercarrier Immortal Honor. People gathered in the Starshot's meeting room, either in person (Holland, Arum, Teana, Shion, Nanoha, Precia, Celestia, and Twilight & Rainbow) or via hologram, having decided that the enemy-controlled planet was probably too dangerous to set up a groundside base.
"Our scans show that the planet is mostly barren rock" Col. Holland said. "There are some Xel'Naga ruins, however; the Dark Voice may be using one such site as a base, though nothing is for certain. We'll need to get a recon satellite network up and running around the planet, maybe start sending in teams here & there."
"Also," Shipmaster/Captain Arum added, "we have received word that a UNSC official has information to reveal to us. They have already come aboard via translocation and will be here momentarily."
In less than a minute, Dr. Halsey arrives, accompanied by John-117 and Kelly-087. Teana nods respectfully in greeting to the woman, who returns the gesture."
"What do you have for us, Doctor?" Nanoha asked.
"A few things" Halsey replied. "First is that the UNSC has recently begun implementing a project that I am… not 100% convinced on, though I don't have enough pull to stop it. They have begun the Spartan-4 program, using volunteers hand-picked from UNSC personnel with sufficiently good CSVs."
"More Spartans?" Teana asked.
"Yes, though they will not receive the in-depth neural enhancements that the previous generations of Spartans did, for cost reasons. …I am concerned about their backgrounds; they may not be able to achieve the professionalism, the combat experience, the close bonds with their fellow Spartans, as the 2s and 3s. However, I was able to provide my official approval and an offering of my services so long as the project leads abide by two conditions of mine."
"And those would be…?" Holland asked.
"First is that MCPO Mendez and the surviving Spartan-2s will devise training regimens for the 4s, periodically taking direct roles in their training to ensure they are up to Spartan standards. And second… Back during the 'glory' days of the Spartan-3 program, Kurt created three elite teams of 3s which he gave advanced training and equipment to, sticking them in specialized top-tier groups – Noble, Spearhead, and Scimitar, creating what I have dubbed Spartan 2.5s. Regrettably, all members – excluding Teana, Noble-7 – of Noble and Spearhead Teams are dead. But the 'core' three members of Scimitar Team still live. They will be folded into the Spartan-4 program, designated as Fireteam Crimson, to provide some needed combat experience to the project and some assistance in training the others."
She looked to Kelly, who nodded and opened the door, saying "Come on in" to someone just outside. Three humans in red Mjolnir Armor, not quite as tall as the 2s but definitely Spartans, walked in. The leader stepped forward.
"Spartan-3 Lieutenant-Commander Bellerophon-B047, team leader, reporting" he said.
"Bellre…" Rainbow Dash's eyes crossed a bit as she struggled with the name.
"Just 'Lero' will do."
"Oh. Alright."
"Warrant Officer Grade 4 Alisa-B296, team marksman and scout, reporting" the second of the trio said with a female voice.
"Warrant Officer Grade 3 Zeke-B147, team heavy-weapons and demo specialist, reporting" the taller male said.
"How many Spartan-4s are planned?" the Arbiter's hologram asked.
"150 in the initial batch, planned to be combat-ready within three-to-five months, with 300 more planned over the coming seven years" Dr. Halsey replied.
"450 Spartans…" Shion murmured.
"While they'll likely never equal the 2s or the 2.5s, they'll almost certainly exceed ODSTs and the standard S-3s in terms of effectiveness" Halsey said. "If I'm going to have to do this, I'm going to make sure it's done right – that Spartans remain something that can inspire hope in their friends and terror in their foes."
"We and Crimson will make sure they're up to snuff" the Master Chief said.
"Now then," Halsey continued, "there is one other matter that our intelligence agents have recently discovered. Arbiter Vadam, you'll want to hear this. It concerns the Sangheili terrorist Parg Vol."
"Have you discovered his whereabouts?" the Arbiter asked.
"No, but we have discovered the identity of his superior, the true leader of this anti-human splinter faction we've been hearing about: a Sangheili Kaidon named Jul Mdama."
The Arbiter frowned. "Mdama? He was always one of the more vocal human-haters. But we believed him perished when the Parasite took High Charity. You say he still lives?"
"Yes, and he's leading a massive force of like-minded Sangheili and followers from a Covenant colony world called Hesduros and its surrounding systems."
"One of our Outer Colonies near the edge of Old Covenant space; that cluster of systems has been out of contact for nearly two years now. We assumed them lost. If Mdama has convinced the people there, who likely have no idea of the truths behind the Prophets or the Halos, to follow him in his anti-human crusade…"
"He also preaches hostility against you and those who follow you, Arbiter. Though it seems he is smart enough to know a direct action against you is suicide due to numbers, so he's 'playing it safe' for the moment. We believe he is searching for something, likely Forerunner-related, to use against humanity and those allied with us."
"He could become a serious problem in the years to come. I'll have my people keep a look out for anything that might link to him or his followers, and I'll increase security at and around what Forerunner installations we have in our territory."
"Anything else, ma'am?" Teana asked.
"Nothing majorly important to the DDF as a whole," Dr. Halsey replied, "but… I have been studying and, as of recently, training in Midchildan-style magic."
She held out her hand, and a small deep-blue Midchildan rune-circle forms in front of it. Nanoha and Teana's eyes widen a little.
"I'll never be able to challenge either of you," the old doctor said, "and my… advanced age means my energy reserves aren't as large as they could be, but the Midchildan system's underlying focus on mathematics made it fairly easy for me to get a solid grasp of. I don't intend to go rushing off into battle or anything of the sort, but now I can at least defend myself, and maybe experiment to try and figure out new things to do with this."
"How long have you been studying it?" Nanoha asked.
"Since Teana first came to Reach" Halsey replied. "Cross Mirage gave me the data I needed to start, and I worked from there when I had the time."
"Sirs," one of the bridge technicians contacts the meeting room, "there's a pretty big dead zone in our scans of Ulnar, and it's blatantly artificial. Something's disrupting orbital scans in a 1,000-square-kilometer region of the planet."
"Well, we know where to look now" Col. Holland replied. "Don't send anyone in just yet; we should get settled first, and wait for a few in-transit heavy hitters to arrive. I want a few cloaked satellites visually monitoring that zone and the surrounding areas."
"Yes, sir. We'll get the sats deployed ASAP."
"I almost wish I still had the Solaria right now…" Celestia thought aloud.
"The what?" Teana and Twilight asked.
"Oh dear, I said that out loud? …About 110 millennia ago, we – that is to say the Alicorns – came across a fleet of 19 large and advanced warships, dormant in a dimensional pocket. We each claimed one as our own; mine is called the Solaria, Cadence's is the Harmonia. When Cadence and I fled to within The Veil, we brought them with us; they're both in a subspace pocket anchored to a point above Equestria. Luna's, the Crescent Shade, was left behind when she was sent, de-aged, to Equestria; I don't know what happened to it.
"The Solaria and Harmonia have been in storage for a while – Cadence's ship for 16 years, mine for 3,000. But recently, when we made contact with the other coalition and learned about the Reapers, I began taking both ships out of mothballs; mine should be combat-ready in about two months, and Cadence's in two weeks. Hopefully they'll help us out a little."
"What are their specifications?" Shipmaster Arum asked.
"All 19 ships are of the same class – sister ships, as it were. They are 6,000 meters long, armed with various advanced projectile and directed-energy weapons. From what I can tell thanks to information from The Ark, they were originally dreadnaughts of the ancient space-faring human civilization from the universe that the UNSC calls home, the ones who ran into - and thus were attacked by - the Forerunners due to being chased out of their own territory by the Flood."
"Wait, what?" Twilight said. "I haven't gotten to that part of the data yet."
"Apparently, the ancient humans of that time were attacked by the Flood, which pushed them further into the galaxy, out of their own territory. They ended up having to forcibly take Forerunner territory to find a place to put all their people and avoid the Flood. Unfortunately, the Forerunners won the ensuing conflict. They demilitarized the humans and forcibly de-evolved them. …And then the Flood showed up in the humans' wake, and the Forerunners, finally understanding what had really happened, realized the magnitude of their horrible mistakes, but it was too late to undo what had been done. Weakened by their misguided conflict with humanity, and by internecine conflicts, the Forerunners were defeated and rendered extinct. …If they had just stopped to ask the humans what they were doing and why, the two races could've helped each other. They might have beaten the Flood… But instead they shot first and asked questions later, and that spelled the end of two great advanced civilizations: the humans', and their own."
"From what we can gather," Cortana said from within the Chief's armor, "the Forerunners were major imperialists. They could have asked; they probably just didn't want to. …Well, actually some of the castes, especially the Lifeworkers, thought the whole thing was stupid from the start, but they didn't have the power to stop the Leadership and Warrior Castes from going ahead with it."
"19 Forerunner-era heavy warships…" Col. Holland murmured. "It's a damn shame the rest of the family isn't on good terms with you, ma'am; we could really use that kind of firepower."
"Well, we have begun construction on a second Infinity-class dreadnaught" Halsey said. "It should be complete by late 2556 or early 2557 thanks to all the other coalition members pitching in to help speed up the process. And the Sangheili Alliance has three more Divinity-class supercarriers in varying stages of construction; the earliest is due to be completed in mid-2555. Not to mention the Saint's Cradle; the TSAB should have its repairs and overhaul complete within four months, actually. They're talking about renaming it the Olivie, after a central figure of their religion."
"Sankt-Kaiser Olivie Segbrecht" Precia replied. "She was the woman who brought an end to the Warring States era, centuries of constant bloodshed between different Belkan factions. She near single-handedly got everyone to lay down their arms and go their separate ways peacefully; the group she led settled on Midchilda and evolved into the TSAB. All Belkan rulers were called 'Saint-King' or 'Saint-Queen', but she was actually canonized for her actions; she's even seen as an angel or an avatar of God's will by some of those who worship her."
"Colonel, Captain, the heavies have just arrived in the translocation room" Cortana said.
"Very good" Arum replied. "Let us go meet them."
-Break-
The group, minus the Spartans & Halsey but plus the rest of Gamma Team, headed into the slipspace translocation portal chamber. There they found several new arrivals waiting for them: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Hinata, Tsunade, Killer Bee, Goku, Vegeta, and two people – a short man and a tall alien – whom Teana recognized (thanks to Marie) as Krillin and Piccolo.
"We're really not taking any chances here, are we?" Teana thought aloud.
"Whatever the Dark Voice throws at us," Goku said, "we'll be ready."
"Yeah, those Hybrid things won't stand a chance!" Naruto chimes in.
"Don't be too cocky, kid" Krillin said. "You never know what they might throw at us. …All the same, yeah, I have a feeling this is gonna be cool."
"Sirs," one of the bridge technicians said over the intercom, "the Iacon just showed up, Maximals and Autobots on-board. Also, we've received a communiqué that Team Sora will be showing up in 40 minutes."
"Good" Holland replied. "I have a feeling we'll need all the Keyblades we can get for this op."
"The Vladivostok has begun deploying sensor drones to orbit the planet, and the Normandy-2 is requesting permission to dock with us."
"Permission granted" Shipmaster Arum replied.
As people began to file out, Vegeta called out.
"Teana" he said. "Could you come with me? There is something I need to discuss with you."
Teana felt a bit nervous, but since the Saiyan Prince didn't sound angry or irritated or anything like that, she figured she'd be okay. She followed him as he led her into a small adjacent lounge, sitting at the central table.
"Teana…" he said, hands folded, "I've been doing some research. Have you ever… felt an enjoyment of battle? Any type of battle, from a serious war to a friendly spar? A love of fighting and testing yourself that feels like it's a central part of you?"
"…A lot of the time, yeah" the redhead answered. "I don't really know where it comes from."
"And have you ever noticed, after recovering from serious injury, if your power level feels even just a smidge higher?"
"…Yeah. Yeah, I have noticed that a couple times. I always figured it was like how a broken bone or torn muscle rebuilds itself a little stronger. Where are you going with this?"
"…Did you know that I actually am the second of three brothers? I had an older and a younger brother. The younger one was… less adept than I, and our father sent him to watch over a minor planet on the edge of Saiyan Space. I haven't heard from him since our world's destruction, but that concerns me little as it is unlikely Frieza cared enough to go out of his way to hunt him down, so little a threat he was. My elder brother, however… He and I were actually fairly close growing up. One day, though, he went out on a mission… and never came back. He was declared Missing In Action, Presumed Dead; there was a funeral held and everything. After the loss of our world, I wondered if perhaps he stumbled upon Frieza's true goals, and Frieza killed him for it, or if something hit his ship and knocked it into a black hole.
"His name… was Tarlis."
After a few seconds, Teana's eyes go wide as can be. "That…" she whispered out. "That was my…"
"Looking at your genetic code proved it. Teana… You are my brother's daughter. You are my niece. …You are half-Saiyan."
-CHAPTER END-
Next Time: the fighting actually starts.
For those worrying about Teana's newly-revealed heritage making her even more overpowered, don't. For one thing, she's still more comfortable drawing on the genetic gifts of her mother's side. For another, the Super Saiyan transformation requires, among other things, the right emotional trigger – the combination of the despair of a loved one's loss and overwhelming rage at the person responsible. I do not plan to have Teana encounter this perfect combination any time soon; as far as I have planned, there will be no Super Saiyan Teana; she's technically capable of it, but she just won't encounter the required trigger.