Disclaimer: The Nanoha Franchise belongs to Tsuzuki Masaki and 7Arcs. I own nothing.

Mahou Senki Aggressor Nanoha

Prologue

The idea of shaping a soldier into a weapon is by no means a novel concept; it has been the obsession of many martial artists, the focus of many medieval knights, and it even found home during the age of mechanized warfare at the hearts and minds of special operations units. But never was it more relevant than today, where magic augments nearly every facet of our civilization.

Today an air force no longer needs to spend hundreds of thousands of credits to manufacture a single air-to-air missile complete with sophisticated radar and guiding system, proximity-fuse warhead, electronic counter countermeasures and super-maneuverable ramjet engine that can only be used once – a trained mage can produce an attack spell with similar capabilities only using their mana. And while they still have the need for support aircrafts – helicopters, airborne early warning and controls, cargo planes and others – the role of air superiority no longer lies on fighter planes but on air mages, who took only slightly longer time to complete their training compared to pilots while only needing armed devices as equipment, much cheaper than multi-million credits fighter planes.

But everything has disadvantages, and in this case it's lack of quantity. Not many has the potential to become an air mage – recent experiments concluded that one must be at least has B-rank magic power to be able to fly while anyone lower must content with basic levitation. The Ancient Belkans had solved this with the use of combat drones to complement their sky knights, but as the recently signed Hephaeston Convention forbids any research, development and production of offensive purpose military automatons that solution is no longer an option for us.

Quality is our only hope. Our air mages must be the best, taught with all the spells and combat tactics necessary to contest the skies and equipped with the best devices to assist them. Merely arming any mage who can fly with standard issue armed device and teaching them basic attack and defense spells won't do – to gain and maintain air supremacy our air mages they must at least be armed with the necessary techniques and devices to not only replace our fighter aircrafts but also perform much better.

Remember this well: never send a poorly trained mage to fight in the air. The sky may be vast, but there is no room for error.

- An excerpt from General Wilhelm Lancaster's The Dawn of Magic Based Aerial Warfare

"Ah, almost there." The young officer closed her reading material as she noticed that her transport was about to reach her destination. It has been a tedious journey – 17 hours from Midchilda to Phoenia, 3 hours at customs, and another 30 minutes from the interdimensional airport to here – and she was honestly tired, but all of that has the disappeared now. She could only barely contain her excitement as she read to sign outside and confirmed that this is indeed the location of her air combat instructor school: Richthofen Air Force Base.

Of course, it's not just any air combat instructor school. If that's the case the one in Midchilda would have been enough. No, it is the most prestigious air combat instructor program amongst the military, one that is reserved to the most potential candidates across the Administration Bureau, the Phoenian Air Force Combat Weapon Spell and Tactics School, more popularly known as JAEGER.

As she and the other soldiers were being given a quick tour around the base, the recently fifteen year old girl took a good look on the others and found herself being engulfed by a sudden outburst of nervousness. She hadn't taken a good look on the other passengers before, tired as she was, but now she has time to observe them more clearly. They're all older than me! She thought. And she was somewhat right, since all those inside her line of vision, men and women, were at the very least obviously taller than her. Deep inside, she couldn't help but wonder what they would think of her, a young slender girl seemingly out of place amongst the group of battle-scarred soldiers.

Thankfully for her, her worries had been baseless. Why? To become a candidate for Air Combat Instructor alone one must first at least completed 1000 hours of unassisted flight practice, 600 hr during daylight and the rest at night. Second, the candidate must have also participated in at least five A-class missions as a combatant, not just an observer or uncommitted backup. And last, one must pass the standardized Strikers Qualification Course, a mentally and physically brutal selection and training program designed to turn its participants into highly-trained combat specialists. In conclusion, only the best of the best can come here, regardless of age or outward appearance.

Ah, if she only knew what most others think of her…

"The eyes of a veteran. Huh, beware the cute ones I guess."

"So young and already eligible for JAEGER? Must be one hell of a prodigy."

"Wow, must be an elite or something. Maybe even S-Rank? Damn, can't wait to fight her."

…okay, so the last one would probably make her more nervous instead.

"…and this will be your dormitory." Her guide finished the little 'tour' and smiled. " Any questions? No? Good. Now get to know each other; y'er all gonna be here for a while. The program starts tomorrow, enjoy y'er last day of peace."

Having finished unloading her minuscule baggage, the recently promoted girl took a stroll to the nearby park located just outside her dorm. The vegetation was well tended, an unsurprising fact considering the Administration Bureau's generous policy regarding the residential comfort of its soldiers. The combination of the comfortable scenery and the fresh air thankfully has finally made her calm, no longer nervous about her current situation. Too bad it made her unaware of the person that had sneaked up from behind her.

"Excuse me." A small greeting was heard.

Had she been even somewhat aware of her surroundings, she would have noticed the person a while ago. Unfortunately, her being distracted meant that she was taken by surprise, preventing her to reply with nothing more than a "Nyhaaah?"

What followed was awkward silence as the fifteen year old tried to regain her composure while the girl who greeted her waited for a reply, her expression unchanged by the previous shriek.

The girl now in front of her was young, probably the same as herself, but two or three centimeters taller. Her black-colored hair grew barely past her shoulders while the brunettes' own was a lengthy brown. But what was most distinct was her stoic expression as can be seen by her silent stare, reinforced by the sight of her dark blue eyes donning those ice-cold stare.

"Uhm, how can I help you?"

"Midchildan?" the other female spoke, still with a soft voice.

"Eh?" She responded, before finally registering the vague question. "Technically yes, but…"

"2nd Lieutenant Mana Hanabishi," the black-haired girl suddenly introduced herself, "Previously 15th Interceptor Squadron. My former colleagues had advised that in the lack of any known individuals, I am to familiarize myself with at the very least those of similar origin world."

The way Mana worded her introduction, combined with her monotone delivery, had somewhat deterred the brunette, but she decided that it would be rude to not reply with her own introduction. However, before she managed to open her mouth, two male teens, one obviously larger than the other, has approached them.

"Hey, are you guys from Midchilda too?" said the taller male, probably 16-17 years old. "I've heard that there are four us for this batch."

In contrast to Mana, the large white-skinned blond who introduced himself as 1st Lieutenant Victor Petrenko from the 7th Tactical Fighter Squadron was quite cheerful. His smile was wide and his voice was clear. His golden eyes were expressive and the girl could've sworn that they actually glow when he seemed excited.

"And this guy is, um…what was your name again?"

The dark-skinned male didn't immediately answer, instead giving a quick glance on each of the other three. An ordinary person would probably not notice, but the girl could sense the analytical vibe from those emerald eyes, as if he's gathering extremely data that can affect his survival. Judging by the subtle reactions of the other two, she realized that they had also noticed.

"Actually, I haven't told you yet," the short-haired redhead politely smiled, "2nd Lieutenant Jalal Alphard, 9th Fighter Squadron." As he finished his introduction, he gave a respectful nod to the other three.

While Mana introduced herself to the other two, the brunette realized that she didn't feel so nervous anymore now that she had found herself some potential friends; she didn't feel lonely anymore. Sure, they might be a bit quirky, but her friends back at Midchilda were themselves quite eccentric and yet they've managed to get along fine. And so just as Mana finished speaking and all of them started to look at her, she gave them her best smile and introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Captain Nanoha Takamachi, 21st Tactical Fighter Squadron. I hope we can all get along well!"