Chapter One - An Opening

Location: The Transvaal Empire

Five Emblem Frames coursed towards the Eden Era ruins their target was just about to reach. The target was a lone man named Justin, and he had just managed to pull off one of the most heinous of heists there could be in the Empire: He had pilfered the Lost Technology. According to their briefing it was a DNA virus capable of infecting anyone with genetic code reasonably close the to DNA sample given to it. Team Twin Star hadn't been considered because of this risk: if one of them got captured, they both would go down. More than one of the angels was smug about getting a chance to show up the precocious ten year old brothers.

"If you surrender now, you might avoid a life sentence. If you don't, you're in for a hell of a ride." the eldest of the troupe transmitted to the thief.

Forte Stollen was keeping a cool head and tight control of her trigger finger. If it were up to her judgment, she'd just as soon blow the bastard to dust and to hell with the virus maker. She knew it would cause nothing but pain and trouble if put in use. But it was their job to retrieve Lost Technology, no matter how bizarre, dangerous, or unhelpful it seemed.

"He's blocking all transmitions." Mint broadcast to her from aboard the Trick Master.

"Damn it he's landing!" Ranpha yelled through the holoscreen. "If it weren't for those stupid meteorites that came out of nowhere I would have caught up to him by now!"

It was probably true considering Ranpha's ship was the fastest of the five. Even though she had had to hang back for repairs from Vanilla's ship the Harvester, she was already the closest to Justin. Of course it was fairly disconcerting that the meteorites had damaged the Kung-Fu Fighter at all considering that Emblem Frames were armored against impact from space debris.

They were coming closer and closer to the ruins. As they approached they adjusted their flight paths to the landing coordinates Mint's ship was sending them. As Milfeulle nudged the Lucky Star to her left, her mind was filled with a warm and soft, yet powerful presence. The presence formed itself into words. This same presence was manifesting itself in the others, each of whom listened in awe.

My children, it is vital that you know what lies ahead. Please listen to what we, Shatoyan are about to tell you.

"The Moon Goddess?" Milfeulle said half questioningly.

"She's speaking in our hearts," Ranpha half answered, overcome by the enormity of the situation. The others stayed silent in rapt attention.

The Moon Goddess Shatoyan had come to the Planet Transvaal hundreds of years ago, bearing technology that enabled its people to resume space travel and communication. She had come in a strange space station known as the White Moon, the same place the angels now lived and worked. Although rarely seen in person, she stilled lived there to this day and was a semi-religious figure to the people of the Transvaal Empire. The White Moon nowadays was where all Lost Technology that was recovered was sent to be tested. If it was useful in someway, Shatoyan presented it as a gift to the people.

The members of the Galaxy Angel brigade had been chosen because they had the power to link up to the HALO piloting systems the Emblem Frames used. Only women had this power, and it was very rare. Both the HALOs and the Emblem Frames were Lost Technologies Shatoyan had given to the people. As pilots of such important technology, they were part of the larger group within the military who were considered priestesses of the Moon Goddess. However, because of the bizarre nature of the missions they ended up taking, this was often forgotten and they were looked on with disrespect by the rest of the military.

Now the Moon Goddess was calling on them directly, and they knew she wouldn't unless it was very serious indeed.

The abandoned space station you are coming upon has the potential to end all existence. The man who has entered it will soon find devices inside of it which can grant him power beyond anything he could dream. We have seen what is in his heart and know that he will take everything he can grasp. But the power he seeks must not be used! When last it was touched it ripped apart the universe, causing a calamity like none before or since.

"The Chrono Quake…" Mint spoke as though her breath had been taken from her. The Chrono Quake was the name given to the disaster that had occurred six hundred years ago, and had destroyed all interplanetary communication and transportation. Without communication and transportation, human civilization had been devastated and set back tremendously. From Vanilla's ship, Normad spoke solemnly.

' I remember. That's when I ended up in that junkyard. '

That was a mere touch. When used fully, it absorbs universes.

"Universes?" Forte boggled, remembering the alternate Milfeulles that their base had once been flooded with. The station can absorb entire universes?

Yes, and those who made the device mapped out paths to several which interested them. They discovered that they could draw in elements of those universes to the station by using a soul from the other world. They kept the souls in sealed capsules and experimented, manifesting things from the captive's memories. The calamity occurred when they first attempted to use the ultimate power of the station: to absorb all universes connected to the station through the captured souls and remake the universe in the form they desired. They failed and the other universes were spared at the cost of the destruction of the connecting souls.

How do we stop him? Milfeulle asked, terrified at the prospect of people losing their souls in such a way. Shatoyan had given them glimpses of the manner in which this occurred: people, most relatively human, were put into egg like containers where they stood frozen completely still. Gradually the life left them as their souls were drained to power the creation of various things for the sake of the researchers who imprisoned them.

You six must travel to the universes the man Justin will find in the logs of those who preceded him. The devices he will find will enable him to send droids from the station to these worlds. He will control them with a machine much like your HALO piloting systems. With them he will look for those who know much of whatever powers lie within their universe and abduct them. For each world, he needs but one soul, and it will be his. You must find other souls with strong bonds to these souls and bring them with you. Only through a truly deep bond can the connectors be freed and their worlds saved.

Six? But there are only five of us. Ranpha thought to herself. The Moon Goddess apparently heard this thought.

The one you call Normad, he is a child of ours as well.

Three jaws dropped.

' Of course, Shatoyan-dono, I am yours to command. ' the computer said reverently.

This is his universe to lose and protect as much as it is yours. We give our plea to him as we do you my daughters, and like you he is free to refuse us. The universe's best hope lies with you, because you are here and you know to believe us.

The Goddess' presence was silent of words and images as the angels thought on the tremendous choice set before them.

"If it were anyone else I would call their bluff and refuse…" Ranpha told her teammates, sweat dripping down her brow.

"But how can we afford to? This is the gravest crisis anyone could imagine." Mint responded, her eyes clenched shut.

"But is it even something we're capable of? How are we supposed to find soul bonds, or travel between universes?" Forte said, a tinge of defeat already in her tone.

' Capable or not, we must do everything we can. It would be unthinkable to abdicate a responsibility as great as this! ' Normad retorted bitingly.

"Right! We're fighters for justice and peace! No one else is in as good a spot to stop this as we are!" Milfeulle declared spiritedly.

"It is our destiny." the youngest member Vanilla intoned. As each member of the Angel Brigade thought over their feelings, it certainly seemed like that was the case. They formed a silent consensus.

"Either way, I know I'm going to regret this…" the blond angel sighed.

"But it's better to regret doing something than it is to regret not doing something, right?" her red-headed friend said with a small smile.

Thank you my children. We shall lead you to that which you must obtain to carry out this mission. And grieve that no other way remains.

In each of the angels' minds, and in the databanks of Normad, images appeared of the station ahead of them. They showed a path to a spaceship hangar, and passed through it to a hallway. Through the hallways the images led them, to a large room with several oddly shaped objects and machines. They were led to an open briefcase-like container. Inside were tile-like octagons of a glassy green-black material and hexagons of a lime green.

These are affixers. They will link you to the Drone, the abducting droid, as it passes from world to world. It has many operational receiving affixers within it already from its previous journeys. To use them, you must touch the eight-sided sending affixers to your spines. They will painlessly sink in through your skin and attach themselves. Whenever the Drone passes through to another universe, it will leave behind a rip. You will have a few hours to follow it through this rip. The six-sided receiving affixers will go on your ribs, and you will use these to bring the people who will aid you to our universe. You can only bring one soul from each world due to the limits of this technology.

The phrase 'sink in through your skin' gave a few of the girls heebie jeebies. Normad hoped he wouldn't have to remember too much of this information for the sake of the others; humans were notoriously bad at following directions, save for Vanilla. The mental images moved away from the briefcase to a pile of small golden spheres next to it on the shelf.

These are universal translators. They are activated by swallowing. They will enable you to understand any language and to speak so that any who hear you will understand your words.

The visions left the orbs to focus on a machine much like a primitive blood pressure monitor. Above the area where one would insert their arm was a horizontal bar that appeared to be able to slide up and down, possibly to match the height of some part of a person's head.

This is the most important of all, the device that will give you the power to see the bonds between souls. These bonds will be thicker when stronger, and of different colors depending on the nature of the relationship. When you call upon the power, your arms will light up to show you what each color represents. The closer the color is to your wrist, the better a bond it is to use to break through the shell an entrapped soul will be encased in. You should take it in turns using this power, as it needs time to recharge.

The images left them, and they reoriented their flight paths to the hangar they had been shown. For several minutes they had all been drifting around the perimeter of the station as they listened.

Know that it will not be easy, nor are you guaranteed of success. But this task is achievable if you support each other and trust each other. Compassion, courage, reason, strength, and hope will guide you and be your greatest tools. Be well, my children.

Shatoyan's presence faded into an echo in their hearts. A few minutes later they came out of their ships and met at the exit of the hangar. Forte took the point position as they entered the first hallway.

"Not that I mind being told what to expect," the gunner said as she walked the path the visions had taken them down, "But that did give him a heck of head start on us."

"That's right!" Ranpha exclaimed indignantly, "We might have been able to grab him before he got to the devices at all if the Goddess had just spoken long enough to say it was urgent. I'm sure she had a good reason for giving us the long version, but what was it?"

"Well, suppose we had captured Justin without hearing the full extent of what lies in this station," Mint reasoned, "Can you honestly say none of us might have willingly or accidentally set off some of the devices ourselves? It is not as though we have an impeccable record with such things."

"Gomenasai!" Milfeulle blurted out, knowing that she had been the cause of several of those incidents.

"Humanity always suffers when it tampers with things it does not understand." Vanilla said sagely.

' How very true Vanilla! ' Normad gushed to the girl carrying him. ' If only others had your wisdom, such things as the Chrono Quake would not continue to occur. '

"Milfeulle, there's no need for you to apologize." the blue haired girl comforted her. "We've all made mistakes with the Lost Technology at times."

"But with Milfeulle around, accidents happen a lot more often," Ranpha whispered to her shortest teammate, a look of alarm on her face, "We can't just sit back and wait for her to trip or lean on something."

"Or get her head stuck in a hole." Mint agreed. "Let's put ourselves between her and anything that might go off in a moment of clumsiness." They began to walk along either side of her, with Forte in front and Vanilla behind them. The lucky girl wasn't too happy with this impromptu ceremonial guard.

"I'm not that clumsy! You guys are just being mean."

"We're here." Forte announced, hoping that there weren't any pointless arguments coming in their immediate future. She entered the room first, and after a moment's pause headed for the container with the affixers. She grabbed one of the darker octagons and scrutinized it. The thought of having it attached to her spine for an indefinite period of time wasn't that appealing, but far, far worse things had happened to her body in the past.

"Shatoyan-dono said it would go through the skin." Mint said contemplating Forte's thick coat. "I imagine it has to be applied when the skin is bare."

Forte watched the others stand motionless for a minute (except Vanilla, who was already swallowing a golden orb), and it became apparent that none of them were going to join in until she tried it first. Cowards.

"Grr, fine. If you're all going to be such wimps about it." Once she had disrobed enough to expose the needed areas she placed the first device over her spine. She kept her back turned to them so they'd have to witness whatever grossness the "sinking in" process entailed. The spot began to heat up, and become quite soft. Mint's ears stayed low and twitched uncomfortably and Ranpha looked a bit disturbed, but Milfeulle was utterly fascinated.

"Ooh, it's melting! It's just sliding right in!"

Eerily her skin closed up the hole as the affixer continued melting through muscle to attach itself to bone. Mint had to admire the simple genius of it. There were fewer more secure places to keep something than stuck to the skeleton.

"There, not painful at all." Forte said triumphantly.

"But plenty creepy." Ranpha added as she got ready to attach her own devices, a little miffed that she was looking cowardly compared to her senior partner. "Almost as creepy as how old that bra is. I can't imagine how many years it's been since you were a 38 D."

"Not as many years as they've been bigger than yours Ranpha."

' Um, I don't need to be hearing this. ' Normad said, a bit frightened of knowing anything more about Forte's considerably larger than average breasts. He was set down as Vanilla began to catch up to the others. ' Ulp… do not fear Vanilla-san, I'll avert my gaze. '

"That reminds me," Mint said, disappointed that the argument between the oldest angels hadn't escalated, "How is Normad going to use these when he has no bones?"

The troop surrounded him, and stared at him pondering. For some reason I'm more frightened than when they surround me in fury.

"We could stick something solid in his fluff, like a sheet of metal." the redhead suggested.

' Hey! '

"But we don't really have time to go looking for scrap metal now." the blonde countered reasonably.

"You could use one of your armbands Ranpha." Milfeulle offered cheerfully.

' Could you come up with an idea that doesn't involve roughly cramming something into me? '

"No way!" the martial artist retorted to the cook's idea angrily. "Do you know how hard it is to get training bands that look good with an outfit? Try it sometime!"

"Perhaps we should just experiment with his body as it is now." Mint offered.

' You all are impossibly rude! ' Normad fumed as Vanilla took one of the affixers from the container. ' Acting as if I'm not speaking to you while you plot to abuse my body! I… Vanilla-san?! What are you…?! '

Before their eyes, the device melted its way through the stuffed animal housing the missile guidance system. It stuck itself firmly to the computer chip that was his true form.

' Ugh! This is unpleasant, but I will bear it for the greater good. Eeh?? '

Vanilla began sticking the lighter hexagons on him, and soon almost the entire surface of the chip was covered.

' Thank you Vanilla-san! Such a thorough job! Now I should be able to take back more than my share of people. '

"Should we put on that many?" Milfeulle wondered, holding several hexagons in her hand.

"We should probably put on as many as we can fit." Mint answered. "But there seem to be only about fifty total. Let's hope there aren't more worlds than that."

Ranpha pressed one onto the skin above her ribcage in an attempt to be bold. She ran her hand over the spot once it hit bone and didn't feel much difference.

"It feels about the same, from the outside at least. What does it look like?" she asked a bit nervously.

"Well, other than it being a pale patch on your tan, fine." Forte said, placing a few of her own. She didn't have a meticulously maintained (and uneven) artificial tan to worry about.

Mint and Milfeulle were the first to pick up the golden pills after finishing with the affixers. It wasn't easy to swallow them without water, but went without mishap. Once again, the issue of Normad came up, but he assured them that his own translating software should be able to handle whatever the gold spheres could. No one talked much since they were beginning to worry about how long they had until Justin sent off the Drone. If they couldn't find the rip in time, it wouldn't matter how well they had prepared. One by one they stepped into the scanner, and stepped out able to see a series of colored words on their wrists and Normad's "wing".

"We're going to have to work out what order to use them in." said Forte. "How shall we go about it?"

"NOT janken." Ranpha snapped, remembering that horrible truck ride.

"No dice." Vanilla added, surprising them. They all understood her objection though. She had been gravely injured in an attack by giant dice, and had thought she had lost Normad forever.

"No drawing lots." added Forte, remembering that horrible dinner cruise.

"I know! We could flip a coin!" Milfeulle suggested brightly.

' How would that work with six of us? '

"Well if we can't do it by chance, we should do it by qualifications." Ranpha stated decisively. "I should be first because no one here understands love and relationships better than I do!" She was getting fired up about the idea of helping bring people together through this. It was a perfect setup for a knight saves the princess (or vice versa) situation. What could be more romantic?

"Which is why all your relationships end disastrously. Makes perfect sense." Forte said sarcastically. "I don't really care when I go, I could care less about this kind of stuff."

Ho ho ho… this is a great chance to toy with people's emotions. What delightful entertainment it will be! The young telepath could already do this sort of thing by reading people's minds, but the psychological strain it put on her kept her from doing for too long. It was a perfect excuse to as be as manipulative she could be.

"Ranpha, what is needed is a sound mind and an understanding of psychology. I'm the one most qualified to interpret relationships."

"Look at that pretty pink at the top! Pink for love, the best one!"

They all turned their heads to the childlike Milfeulle, who was admiring the color of the first of the personal connections listed on their arms.

"We can't really avoid it…" Ranpha said sadly. "Her luck would have put her in first if we used any of the other deciding methods anyway."

"Agreed." Mint said resignedly. "Milfeulle, you can go first."

Suddenly a loud pinging sound was broadcast throughout the station, followed by a message.

' Drone 34G-78 initiating dimensional jump. 180 seconds until departure. 179, 178… '

"Then I'm second!" the blonde quickly exclaimed.

"Third!" the blue haired one swiftly followed with.

"Fourth." the redhead sighed.

"Fifth." the green haired devotee said finally.

' Well now that that triviality is settled we should all start looking for that Drone! '

"We know that!"

' 162… '

"Which way?"

"The way we didn't come in from!"

' 158… '

"There's a sign! It's this way!"

' 83… '

"Not this room!"

"Then keep moving!"

' 15… '

"There!"

It was shaped roughly like a robotic flea, and about as large as a grill. And it was almost done creating an area of bizarre distortion that it would no doubt leap through to head for the first universe on Justin's itinerary.

"Last chance to bail out girls." Forte said as they approached the center of the room. There wasn't time to look for where Justin might be or for anything else.

"We'll be fine as long as we go together." the lucky girl said bravely. There was nothing else to say. They steeled their nerves and followed the Drone through the rip one by one.

-----------

Beyond the rip there was a void. There was no light, no sound, no temperature, nothing. They couldn't feel their bodies or their surroundings.

((Ahhh!!!))

((Ranpha?))

((Incredible, we seem to have no physical forms, but our consciousness remains. And we can communicate with our thoughts.))

((Yeah, yeah. All very fascinating.))

((This is weird! Do you think this is what it's like when you go in a black hole?))

((Don't you remember that giant black hole in the center of our galaxy we set off? Time slows down in a black hole. We'd still have had our bodies until we died of old age once we went beyond the event horizon. This is nothing like a black hole.))

((No body… I have no body… I'm dead…))

((You're not dead! You're just… disembodied. Like astral projection. Remember, when you were fifteen you were really into that? Remember?))

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There was a shock to their systems as there were suddenly things to sense around them. Colors had never looked richer and smells had never been sharper. For an indeterminable period of time they stood, moving their bodies in fascination after having lost them during the travel between universes.

"Air, there's air."

"It's so yummy too!"

"Shatoyan would have told us to use spacesuits if there weren't air." Mint said curtly.

"Or maybe she assumed we wouldn't be stupid enough to forget them." Forte said ruefully.

They were lucky enough to have arrived it what seemed like an ordinary temperate forest, with grass and shrubs not unlike those on human terraformed planets.

"Fluffy…" Vanilla sighed happily as she hugged her admirer's plush form. It was a delightful texture after the nothingness.

' Oh Vanilla-san, truly this must be an expression of your love for me. '

"Sorry, but I think she's just happy to have something to hold onto." quipped the shortest angel.

"Such a beautiful man…"

"Huh?"

All eyes turned on the boy crazy angel. She had apparently seen another human. Three of them shuddered when they saw the Mars symbols flashing in her eyes.

"Oh dear lord not this…"

"Over there!"

There was a blue haired man and a red haired woman who looked to be between Ranpha and Forte's ages coming through the woods towards them from a long way off. With them was an animal that seemed similar to a cat, or more like a walking fortune doll. They both were dressed in white clothes with black boots and gloves. Both were emblazoned with giant red R's, meaning these were probably uniforms.

This human presence was enough to make them forget for a minute that there was a robot on the loose searching for souls…