Disclaimer – I do not own the rights to this anime nor its subsidiaries, any relation to real life people are purely coincidental.
Note to readers – please R&R, any tips to improve this and future chapters are appreciative. This story is an AU (Alter Universe) in the event of another reason of Nanoha.
Gateways opened, TSA ships flew into the system, cruisers, destroyers, hospital ships, all ventured toward a station orbiting the fifth planet of the Galison System, the station shuddered under a mysterious assault.
Alarms blared, explosions rippled through the corridors as people ran to the evacuation shuttles. Soldiers shouted orders, while people just ignored them, trampling woman and children while beat feting to the evacuation transports.
Amongst the group was a nine-year-old girl who was trying to find her family, but the crowd of people made it difficult as she was dragged away from her parents, "Momma!" she shouted as she lost sight of mother, and was soon carried into another part of the station.
Deeper within, near the stations reactor core, a large battle ensued. "Devine…. BUSTER!" A young adult shouted as she aimed her staff toward a man wearing a black robe. He turned around and threw up a barrier, which effortlessly blocked the attack, sending it scattering into the surrounding walls and causing further damage to already heavily damaged reactor core.
"This is not a place to fight…" Hayate said as she cried to throw a chain bind on the man, but failed in every attempt. She cursed when the man got closer to the spinning core, angry dark purple light emitted off the reactor shielding and onto the walls.
"You're pathetic, can't attack me without risking the destruction of this station?" he taunted them, grinning in the process.
He ran his foot across what appeared to be nothing more than mid air, but sparks spread, showing that there was indeed something under him. He braced himself before lunging toward Fate; she brought her Bardiche to bear and blocked the attack. "Why don't you stop holding back and worrying about these pathetic worms!" he shouted and spun his foot around, connecting with Fate's chest and sending her careening into the side of the reactor core.
The core pulsed several times in response to the sudden change in containment, then settled back to it's normal purplish color.
Elsewhere in the station, the young girl continued to fight her way through the crowd, she finally found a vacant hallway and quickly ran down the hallway. Her uniform in torn and tattered, blood streaking from a facial wound she got when she fell and something brushed aside her face, cutting her.
"Momma…" she said softly and continued her run. Suddenly the station shook violently, throwing to the ground with a loud 'thud' and accompanied by a loud 'crack' as her shoulder was dislocated, she screamed in pain as she laid there.
"aaa….." she said as she struggled to back to her feet. Something else had snapped in her body, she could feel her lungs become tense; breathing had also become difficult as blood filled her throat. She spat on the ground in an effort to make it easier for her to breath.
Back in the reactor room, the core had gone critical due to all the magic that had been thrown around. However, it was Nanoha's last attack that shattered the core.
She brought Raging Heart to bear on the man, "Devine…" she said as energy collected on the tick of her staff. Suddenly it shot forth when she shouted, "BUSTER!" and connected with the man's hand. What should've been him looking on in fear, turned into a devious grin as he routed Nanoha's Devine Buster into the reactor core's containment field.
Nanoha went wide-eyed at this and was barely able to bring up a barrier when the field shattered and the room began to shake. "Heh…. Catch ya later!" the man laughed evilly before vanishing in a blaze of blue and white particles.
The three of them looked at each other, each cursing in their own right.
Nanoha, Fate, Hayate! The stations' reactor core has gone critical! Get out of there now! someone shouted frantically over their comm. headsets.
They nodded before flying out of the core, explosions chained all around them, as the core was finally unable to contain all the energy it was producing. With a sudden, blinding, light, the core exploded.
Shuttles disconnected from their boarding tubes, but the explosions followed them, annihilating not only the shuttle, but those on board as well, but also killing everyone in the evacuation chambers. The explosions continued into the residential area, where thousands screamed in pain.
In a secreted part of the station, the young girl could feel the station as it was being torn apart. She huddled near a water pipe; water spurted out of small fissures that had opened during the trembling. Then a resounding and devastating explosion rippled through the station, literally tearing it to pieces.
The TSA Fleet looked on in utter shock; hundreds, thousands, dead in an instant. The bridge crew aboard the Asura could only watch in utter horror, knowing the full extent of what had just occurred.
"Ammy…." Nanoha said, her voice sounded sad, worried, if not empty. "Any chance of survivors?" she asked.
Ammy broke herself away from the destruction, her hands dancing across the control panel. "No- wait… I'm picking up a faint life sign!" she said, her voice full of excitement, however it was short lived when she pinpointed where it was. "It's coming from a part of the station that somehow survived the explosion, however it was quickly falling apart," she said.
Hayate looked toward the station, a barrier around them and protecting them from the harsh effects of space. "Vita took refuge in that same part of the station, I just told her," Ammy said.
I'll see if I can locate them, where are they Ammy? Vita's voice could be heard over the comm. set.
"Below you.. at least six decks.. you must hurry though!" Ammy said.
Vita flew down the various corridors, stopping every once in awhile to blow a hole in the flooring so she could progress to a lower level.
Six decks below her, the young girl struggled to find a way out of that section of the station, unaware that she was trapped.
Blood dripped on the ground, leaving a trial as she made her way slowly down a hallway. Emergency lights only barely lit the way, but they flickered as that section of the station was quickly losing power.
"Momma…." she kept her pace up until the section she was in rumbled, the sounds of screeching steel could be heard in the distance as gravity begun to rip what was left of the station apart. She soon heard something behind her, an explosion; she ignored and continued down the hallway.
She soon found a large metal door that blocked her way; she pressed her small-bloodied hand against the door. Tears flowed down her cheeks, she slumped onto the floor and resigned herself to the fact that she might not make it out.
The temperature around her suddenly went up, causing her to be alarmed. She struggled to get back to her feet and moved back the way she came, but only got a small distance before something exploded behind her, she a fraction of a light a white barrier appeared behind her but quickly flickered out of existence, throwing her partway down the hallway and into the sidewall. Blood pooled around her, her sight began to fade; she could feel her body becoming limp. "Mo…mma…" she said again.
Suddenly she saw something in her vision; it looked to be a person. Her eyes flickered as blood covered them, she couldn't hear anything before blacking out.
Vita ran over to the young girl, kneeling down. She cursed when she saw how bad she looked, "I found her," she said to someone. She picked up the young girl, blood dripped from her body and onto the floor. She brought up barrier around both her and the girl and flew back the way she had come.
Vita! Hurry! Ammy shouted. Vita grumbled something and flew out of the secreted section just as gravity ripped it to pieces.
She floated there in space, watching gravity as it twisted steel into shapes unknown. With a heavy sigh she turned toward an approaching frigate, a medical symbol painted on the hull. Nanoha, Fate and Hayate soon joined her, "so young…" Hayate said.
Vita's nose wrinkled as the smell of copper filled the barrier; she hated the smell as it reminded her of a previous case, one that she almost didn't survive.
They flew into the bay of the frigate where a medical team was awaiting them. A medic took the young girl off Vita's hands and placed her on the stretcher. As they carted her away another medic approached Vita, "where are you hurt ma'am?" he asked.
She blinked before realizing what he was talking about, "It's not my blood," she said. The medic nodded and left to tend to other needs, "Vita… you ok?" Hayate asked, noting Vita's worried expression.
Vita just looked at her before following the medic's to the infirmary. "What is that about?" Nanoha asked, Hayate just shrugged.
As they were about to follow her, a display appeared to their sides. A man wearing an admiral's uniform appeared, he looked worn and tired, his expression serious, a strip on his uniform said 'Admiral Harlown'. "Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, HQ wants you three to report right now…"
The group sighed, knowing what it was about. "I wonder if they'll blame us for the station's destruction…" Nanoha solemnly said, "it was my Divine Buster that shattered the containment field and caused the reactor to explode," she added.
"Yea, but if that man hadn't of routed your attack into it.. that wouldn't have happened," Fate said, her expression full of sympathy.
Hayate sighed. "Whether we like, or not, we'll still be blamed…" she said and the three headed off.
Meanwhile, in the infirmary, Vita watched the doctors as they tended to the young girls wounded. Once was searching her pockets for some sort of identification, soon his hand brushed across something, he pulled it out to find a school ID. He looked at it, sighed, and handed it to Vita.
Vita accepted it and looked at it. While most of it was covered in blood, some of it dry, she could make out the girls name and age, along with grade. "Sayuka Hastened," she said and looked behind the ID at the girl. "Nine year's old, third grade student… Time Space Military Academy…" she shook her head and placed the ID on a cart that had some of her torn clothing.
She stood there and watched, soon a nurse walked up to her. "Ma'am, you should be cleaned up as well, if that's not your blood then you'll get an infection.." the nurse said, holding a white hospital gown. Vita sighed and turned to the nurse, "I'll wait…" she said, the nurse sighed and then nodded, walking off.
For several minutes, she watched the doctors as they removed the girls clothing and placed it on another cart. She scanned her body with a device that was used for identifying any and all injuries.
Vita glanced to her left at a monitor, which displayed the girl's body. A red 'oval' appeared over areas that the scanner identified as an injury, and the red oval appeared a lot. She mentally winced every time it appeared, she knew that each appearance would have life altering effects on the girl, when it was finally done the doctor had a genuine look of concern.
The glass doors leading into the infirmary opened and Signum soon walked in. "So this is where you were," she said when she spotted Vita and her battle dress that was covered in blood. "How is she?" she asked.
Vita's expression went worry to sadness. "Just from what I can see… it doesn't look to good…" she said.
The doctor soon walked out of the room and over to the two of them. "What's the prognosis doc?" Signum asked him. The doctor shook his head. "She's got a dislocated left arm, one of her lungs is punctured, and her right kidney will have to be replaced. Her heart has serious stress damage as well, that's the most serious though, even if we manage to repair all the damage to it.. she'll be unable to do anything strenuous," he said and handed Signum the clipboard.
She looked over the information and sighed. "I see…" she said and handed it to Vita, the girl was visibly concerned. "If I had gotten to her sooner… perhaps she wouldn't be in this condition…." She said angrily.
Signum placed a hand on Vita's shoulder. She looked up at her and smiled slightly, before looking back into the room.
TSA Temporary HQ "Asura"
Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate walked into the large circular room that the admirals were using as a temporary headquarters. A long metallic table led from the front of the room, to the back. Ten chairs were on either side, but only lower ranked admirals occupied five of each side, with the chair located in the back occupied by a higher ranking admiral.
Nanoha knew what this meant and walked past several of the admirals, stopping just a few feet from the head admiral. That's when it started, they started blaming her for the deaths of thousands, not even willing to hear her own opinion.
"You realize what your actions brought?!" A female admiral shouted, standing up from her chair and slamming the table with her hand. "Nine thousand people dead and all because you couldn't control your damn magic!"
Nanoha stood there, behind her Fate and Hayate watched on. Both of them felt this inquiry was in jest, "those admirals 'know' what really happened… so why are they blaming her?" Fate said in a furtive whisper to Hayate so that the admiral's couldn't hear.
The other admirals through in their own comments, some going back to previous missions, and pointing out her 'flaws' and mishaps. This only made Hayate and Fate angrier as they knew that there were lie's amongst the various admiral's comments.
"What are we to do with her?" A male admiral said his voice gruff and old.
"I don't know," Another said. This one was a bit younger.
Amongst the admirals, Chrono shook his head. No investigation, no evidence… they just put her on the spot and accuse her… what is their game I wonder…
While Chrono was thinking the rest of his fellow, admirals continued to look through Nanoha's mission reviews. Some went as far back as when she first discovered she could use magic, pointing out that it was a mistake for her, as a child, to be given such responsibility not even bothering to point out that she was, in a way, forced into the job.
Others also pointed out unofficial missions outside of the TSA purview, as in when Nanoha had got off to rescue a group of people who had been held up by a mage with suicide on his mind.
Each time they pointed out a 'mishap' Nanoha would try to counter it, but never got as far as a "that's…" before being interrupted by one of the admirals.
Finally, after over an hour, the head admiral stood up. "Under article twenty five, subsection five it reads 'air force mages shall not engage in combat in or around civilian population centers without permission from their commanding officer or the officer in charge of the operation," he said and placed the slate down on the table and then looked up."Captain Nanoha, you have a choice here… you can either resign your commission without contest… or we can have you thrown out forcefully with a full media present," he said. Nanoha looked angry, her fist in a ball, she stood there for several minutes. "Well?" The head admiral asked, his voice irritated.
"I'll…. Resign…" she said, turning away from the admirals and leaving. One of them voiced disapproval but stopped when the head admiral raised his hand. Hayate and Fate followed her out, "Nanoha-chan…" Fate said, Nanoha grumbled, she felt that something was foul, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
As they exited the room they were approached by two TSA security officers, each wielding a weapon. "You'll have to come with us," they said. Nanoha stood and stared at them, "mind if I at least check on someone?" she asked.
The guards nodded and escorted the group to the ships hanger bay where they boarded a shuttle for the medical frigate. Once on board they were brought to the ships massive infirmary. The room could easily treat well over a hundred patients, but this was only one room, and on one deck. There were ten decks to the ship, each having eight massive infirmaries' to treat the wounded.
They walked into the room that Vita and Signum were in. "Nanoha…" Vita said. Nanoha smiled, "Already heard.. huh?" she asked. Vita and Signum didn't say a word to that effect, instead just nodding their heads. "New's travels fast," Nanoha added and walked past them and to the large window.
"How is she?" Nanoha asked.
"The doctor says she's lucky, she's lost almost seventy five percent of her blood, and yet is still alive," Signum said. Folding her arms over her chest and staring at the girl who was lying on the medical bed, around her doctors and nurses tended to her dislocated arm, and numerous internal injuries.
"The doctor also said that there's brain swelling, so it's possible she may also have brain damage. How severe,? He won't know until after she comes out of the coma," Signum said. Nanoha nodded, sighing at the state the girl was in. "Family?"
Signum sighed and shook her head. "From what I was able to find out, her family was aboard the station when it blew… the odds of survival are low, in fact, some within the fleet claim she's the only survivor so…"
Nanoha shook her head. "Poor thing… to lose a family at that age," Nanoha said and placed her hand on the window.
Author Notes – cruddy start I know , not to mention that 'how' it starts is eerily similar to how StrikerS did (the only difference is that instead of an airport, it's a space station, but that's about where the similarities end) this chapter is subject to change with improved details and spelling/grammar.
This chaper has been revised with improved spelling/grammar along with some added content. This chapter has gone through five revision's since 10/28/07