Chapter 2
January 19th 2003
Onboard a TSAB vessel, a XI Class Corvette ,the Kym, Contracted mage, Senior grade, Fate Testerossa-Harlaown was having a bad day. She was currently debriefing the captain of the Kym about the mission she had just wrapped involving a smuggling ring attempting move a D class Lost Logia. The mission was a complete success with only minor injuries from her team, unfortunately all of the smugglers were killed before her team reached their hideout.
As Fate continued her mission report from behind the sealed glass of the interrogation room, she tried her hardest to talk in a clear voice so that she could get this over with as soon as possible. But that was easier said than done since she was only inhaling once every 30 seconds and every time she did she had to suppress the urge to be sick.
As she got to the point that lead to her current predicament she thought for a second that the captain actually started to smirk at her.
They were pursuing a band of smugglers who had gotten lucky and stumbled upon a D class lost logia, The Amulet of the Water God, which supposedly let one control water with their thoughts. The smugglers had set up camp inside of a water treatment plant in a slum section of a city on a Non-Administrated planet. Fate's Team commenced a high altitude insertion to avoid setting off the locals; the Kym was not able to teleport them down without a gate. After they made planet side they created a Sealed Space Barrier and entered the water system through an abandoned pipe system. However when they made their way to the subterranean treatment plant they discovered it empty. It showed signs of battle and 2 dead smugglers were left behind. The possibility that the locals had found the smugglers and got their hands on the Lost Logia was very, very bad, however all evidence pointed to the smugglers having being killed by being drowned, and it also appeared that the remaining ones had moved down through a pipe into deeper sections of the plant. Considering the Amulet allowed the wearer to control water, it seemed like an internal issue, that or the lost logia had gone out of control.
So Fate's team continued down the pipes following the trails of dead smugglers and their broken base. The pipes lead to a large, empty storage tank that split up into 3 different directions. It was obvious which way they had gone, but an awful odor was coming out of that pipe. As they continued down Fate's suspicions were proven correct, they were moving into a sewage processing plant, a really old, poorly maintained, sewage processing plant
As her team started to trudge through raw sewage, Fate was never so happy to have been able to fly. So she just floated down the tunnel, but that didn't do anything about the smell, but at least she didn't need to be knee deep in the sludge. However her team mates didn't share in that bit of good fortune and they seemed a bit put off.
After another 20 minutes of marching through the sewage pipes they entered into a large room with a large rusted tank in it, sewage was dripping out of the tank and the entire floor, every surface, was covered in muck. And in the center of it all was a large mass of bodies, the smugglers it seemed.
Dealing with Lost Logia is never a safe thing, and you have to come to expect the unexpected, but as her team approached the bodies and began searching them, nothing stirred, the only sounds were the plopping of their boots in the disgusting sewage.
Since Fate could fly, she hovered over the team and acted as a look out while they worked in groups of 3 to search the dead smugglers. For 5 minutes her team went through and examined each corps, but they found no sign of the Amulet of the Water God. Fate was so absorbed in her look out duties that she didn't even notice that her team mates had stopped the search and were discussing where the amulet could be. It wasn't until one of them yelled out to Sergeant Patrick Fitzpatrick.
"Yo, Sergeant Double P, How many Smugglers did the Intel, mention?"
Without turning to look at the speaker, Sergeant Fitzpatrick grumbled out a reply.
"Private Stevens, what have I told you about properly addressing me?"
"Aw come on dude, your name is Patrick Fitzpatrick, not making fun of that is like, denying yourself food. I mean, seriously, what were your parents thinking when they named you that? Its freaking hilarious."
"Perhaps a formal reprimand would change your opinion of my name."
Private Stevens quickly stopped laughing and straitened himself out,
"I am very sorry about that Sir! I will not mention your name again, Sir! No matter how Ridiculous it is, Sir!"
With an exasperated sigh, Sergeant Fitzpatrick finally turned to face Private Stevens.
"Ok so what were you saying?"
"I was wondering what Intel had to say about how many smugglers there we were gonna run into."
Steven's question was answered by Private First Class Cloirizjk Rstyrins, a Chaaral, and Sergeant Fitzpatrick's attendant and second in command. The small hunched over creature, only half the size of a human, responded in its normal ultra high pitched voice.
"Our intelligence told us to expect 18 smugglers, possibly more."
"Man your voice is still the most annoying thing ever, and I hear that your voice is deep for your people."
"That is accurate, an average Chaaral's voice pitch falls within a range that humans can't even hear."
"Wow that would be awesome compared to what we have to deal with."
Sergeant Fitzpatrick crossed his arms and cleared his through,
"Stevens."
"Yeah, yeah, my bad. Anyways, so there are 18 of them, yeah? And we past what, 2, in the main room, 3 in the first bit of pipes, 1 in that tank, 1 in the sewage pipes, and there are 10 dead bodies here. So we're missin one.
Sergeant Fitzpatrick, Private Cloirizjk, and even Fate looked around and counted the bodies. It was the sergeant who spoke up.
"Team, we're missing a corpse. Stevens and Behir, I want you guys to head back to where there main base was, double check to make sure we didn't miss anything. Check out that tank, make sure they didn't get thrown down another path. Keep in telepathic communications at all times and be careful. The rest of you, standard grid search, we need to go over every inch of this room. Testarossa stay up there and keep watch, but I also want you to perform an Wide Area Search, see if you can target any magical signal in any of the other tunnels, look for Linker Cores and Devices.
"Um are you sure about that Sir? Lost Logia sometimes respond and activate when there is ambient magic in their environment, a WAS throws out an awful lot of that. Also my WAS isn't passive in nature, if there is any one here it will give our position away."
"That's a chance we are going to have to take, and if your search does give away our position, then the remaining smugglers will either come towards us our try to flee, and we have this area locked down tight. But just in case…"
Sergeant Fitzpatrick then turned and addressed the other team members,
"Team, Private Fate is going to cast an WAS, This might cause our target to activate, so be extra cautious, that especially goes for you two, Stevens and Behir, you'll be on your own. Oh, and if any of you guys want to see how to perform a WAS, watch Private Testarossa."
Fate blushed, she hated being singled out due to her magical powers. When her trial was over and she started working as a normal contracted mage with the TSAB, she had had a revelation of sorts, and she didn't like it. Fate's first contact with other Mages had led her to a completely wrong conclusion. Her mother, Nanoha, Crono, Admiral Lindy, all of the Wolkenritter, and even Yunno, were all extraordinary powerful Mages, But with her limited knowledge and broken memories she had assumed that they were all normal, or that she was in fact weak, since her mother was never pleased with her progress.
It wasn't until she started training with regular Mages that she realized how strong she was, and how weak the average person was. Were as she could instinctively create a flight field, an average Mage would train for almost 2 years to learn that skill, and many just lacked the raw power to ever master flight.
That point was hammered home, time and time again.
When she was reprimanded for disobeying a direct order from one of her teachers. The teacher had told her to remove her fields and she claimed she didn't have any up, the teacher had yelled at her before sending her to the disciplinary office, where, after doing a few tests, they discovered that she always had several A class strengthening fields operation on herself. It took her almost an entire day to figure out how to remove them.
Or when one of her classmates, upset that she had once again been ranked first, had claimed her strength came from having Bardiche. The student in question had demanded that they switch devices, he would use Bardiche and she would use the standard device. When Fate tried to send her magical energy though the device she ended up overwhelming it and it exploded in her hands, she spent the next week and a half sitting out of training while the burns healed. As for her classmate that proposed this idea, when he tried to activate Bardiche, the initial mana drain completely exhausted his Linker Core, leading to a core rupture, and when Bardiche couldn't get enough energy from that source it started to convert his physical body into energy, essentially eating through his internal organs. He spent 6 months in an Intensive Care unit and his Linker Core was completely destroyed.
Whereas all of these other people train for years to attain even a fraction of her power, she was created with it. Fate hadn't earned her strength like they had and that made her feel very self-conscious. And since the information pertaining to the Precia Testarossa Incident was classified, no one knew about her "Birth" they all just assumed that she was a prodigy and always heaped mountains of praise on her.
So under the curious eyes of her peers, Fate tried to hid her embarrassment and discomfort, and set up a massive Mid-Childan array, and then began her incantation for her WAS
"Wild and untamed forces of elemental Energy…"
As she started her incantation lines of electricity started forming across the surfaces in the room, after the formed they were pulled off and began to orbit Fate, and as more came up they started forming into six spheres of energy.
"Bend to my will and receive my command…"
As more and more electricity was pulled into the orbs, they began to change their shape into pillars of glowing yellow electricity.
"Extend my reach to find what I seek…"
The glowing pillars began to stretch. When they stopped, each was over 3 times as tall as Fate. The array underneath her feet was duplicated over head and 4 more were created on each of her sides, essentially creating a cube of Magical arrays.
"One flies North…"
One of the massive pillars stopped its orbit, rotated so that it was horizontal, and then moved into a position so that it was facing to the north and its tail touched the center of one of the Northern facing array.
"One flies South…"
Another pillar did the same, this time facing South.
"One flies East…"
Again, another pillar changed and went to the East.
"One flies West…"
And a fourth pillar took up position against her Westward facing Array.
"One to pierce into Terra's Heart…"
A pillar rotated 180 degrees and then went under Fate's bottom array, rested its tail against the center of the array and its nose against the ground.
"One to piece the endless heavens above…"
The final pillar moved up and connected to the top most array.
"Go forward to grasp my quarry"
Her arrays began to merge with the tails of the pillars, then they began to spin. The pillars, now connected to the arrays, began to spin also. The arrays picked up so much speed that they obscured Fate from view. From the center of the spinning arrays, Fate finished her incantation.
"Spring Forth!"
All at once the arrays burst into a brilliant golden haze and the pillars splintered into thousands of tiny lines. The lines shot out faster than the eye could see, slammed into the walls and then disappeared.
The team members were taken aback, not one of them had ever seen a Wide Area Search this, flashy. As the smell of ozone mixed with the scent of raw sewage the 8 members of the team who stayed behind just gawked at Fate as she floated above their heads, eyes closed with her head down.
As the WAS ended Fate opened her eyes only to see every one staring at her. Once again hiding her blush, she addressed Sergeant Fitzpatrick.
"Sir, my Wide Area Search is complete, there are no magic signals within a 25 kilometer radius."
"Uh, 25 Kilometers?"
"Should I have gone further? I don't think that this facility extends that far."
"Um no, that's fine, I guess. I was expecting something more in the, uh, 1-2 kilometer range."
"Oh"
There was an awkward pause as the rest of the team still gawked at Fate and she tried her hardest to not notice.
"So, you said you found nothing? Within 25 Kilometers?"
"Yes, the WAS entered the ground and searched for anything emitting any kind of energy, I had a few response, but they all turned out to be electric systems used in this plant."
"So that means that the Lost Logia either isn't with in 25 km, or is resistant to searches."
Out of the other members of the team, Private Rstyrins was the first to regain his composure, and in his squeaky voice, added,
"Also, the target could be emitting zero magical energy. If it didn't have an energy signature, Private Testarossa's search could have bypassed it."
Fate thought about that for a second, and it seemed like a sound theory, however it was unlikely that the Amulet would not have any magical signature, but if it had never been activated, and the smugglers had been killed in some other manner, it was possible.
"Yeah, that's possible, if the Target had never activated it would not have any signature, my search would have viewed it as a piece of scrap metal. If that's the case, and my Search did not force it to activate, then it might be impossible to find. Are only hopes would be to attempt to force it to activate, or that it is in this room."
"Hrmmm" Sergeant Fitzpatrick scratched the stubble on his chin while he thought to himself. Then he had a moment of clarity and looked up at Fate.
"Wait, you said it could be in this room still?
"Uh, Yes it could…."
Fate was slightly confused by his question.
"You didn't Search this room?"
"Um no I did not."
"Why?"
"Um, If I had included this room in the search I would have gotten responses from all of you and your device, and the smugglers. I would have had to alter the parameters of the search to avoid them, but I don't know anything else about the amulet so I had to search for magical signals."
"Oh that makes sense. So it could be in here with use then? And your Search could have woken it up?
"Yes, if it is in here, which it could be, it likely would have activated when it noticed the search. We still don't know exactly what its capabilities are besides its ability to control water…"
As Fate trailed off both Sergeant Fitzpatrick and Private Rstyrins stared up at her warily. As Fate looked around, they both mirrored her action. Private Rstyrins scanned his gaze over the crumbled scaffolding on the eastward wall while Sergeant Fitzpatrick looked between the Auxiliary Tanks to the side. Finally Private Rstyrins broke the silence with a single word.
"What?"
"The water is moving."
Both the Sergeant and the Private turned to look at the water.
"You're right, it is."
"Every one stop moving. Stand still."
As everyone stood still they could see the slight ripples in the sludge, and as they stood in silence the only sound was the gentle splashing as the ripples broke across their boots.
"Perhaps there is an opening where the sewage is flowing in."
"No, if the water was flowing naturally there would be an air current going with it, but the air is complety still."
"Testarossa, can you see from up there if there is a spot its focused on? Or anything to indicate were our target might be?"
"That tank in the center of the room, the one with the crack, the sewage is swirling around it. I think our target is inside of it."
"You sure?"
After Fate nodded a yes, the Sergeant motioned for the team to come over. After they circled around he began to outline his plan.
"Alright people, looks like our target is inside of that tank over there. I've already called Behir and Stevens back, but I don't think we have the time to wait for them, so we are going to do this now. You all good to go with this?"
One by one the team answered with an affirmative the sergeant went on.
" Ok first, Private Wilder, I want you to deploy the Portable Dimensional Transport Gate, If this goes to hell I want to be able to get out, and without that gate we won't even be able to get off planet. Set it up back in the tunnel behind us, away from this room. Keep it on standby incased we need to go fast. Got that?"
"Sir, yes Sir"
"Ok then, Testarossa, you're our trump card, you're on standby until we see how this develops. The rest of you, we are going to bring that tank down. Private Robinson I want you up on that drainage pipe over on the west wall, Ramirez, get back into the pipe we came out of and provide sniper support. Private Rstyrins, take Driver and Callow and position yourselves up on that scaffolding. White, I want you over by that smaller tank, the one behind the main tank, stay under Robinson and use it for cover. Private Eslad, you're with me. Ok people get moving."
As the team broke out of their huddle and moved into their positions, Fate continued to hover overhead, But she felt uneasy. Something was nagging in the back of her mind and was telling her this was probably a bad idea but she couldn't figure out why. And in the absence of a better idea, she was forced to go along with this plan.
After her team mates go into position the sergeant called out again.
"Ok, is everyone were they need to be? Good. Ramirez, I want you to hold off until we get this tank down, if anything comes out I want you to aim up a shot, but only fire on my mark."
"Got it Sir"
"Ok then, every one hit the tank with everything you have. Ready to fire on my command."
The sergeant looked around one last time to make sure his people were ready. Around the room The 6 remaining members of the team, partially hidden behind cover, readied their Staffs and prepared to fire.
"Fire!"
At his command the room lit up as a the team members opened fire on the tank. As the different colored energy bolts slammed into the tank, it started to crumble, holes were torn through the rusted iron while globs of molten metal oozed down and fell into the sewage. The sound of sizzling Iron mixed with the screech of energy bolts and that loud cracking sounds from the breaking tank drowned out all other sound.
As the tank started to break apart, Fate could see Private Ramirez kneeling in the pipe looking through the scope on his device for a clean shot, but even as things went according to plan she still felt like something was wrong.
While their energy assault continued, the top have of the tank started to splinter into pieces, a large chunk broke off and fell back into the tank and the rest started to tilt to the side, a few more shots were fired and then the Sergeant ordered a cease fire.
The team watched as the top section continued its tilt to the side as the cracks expanded across the entire surface. They with a loud screech the tank broke apart and the top half fell into the sewage with disgusting "Sploosh"
After the tank had broke, through the opening, raw sewage began to bubble out. It bubbled out, ran down the sides and splashed into the muck on the floor.
The team members couldn't see the important part, but from Fate's vantage point she could see it clearly. The sludge coming out of the tank was not mixing with the sewage already on the ground, as it fell it just pushed it away in a clearly visible line, providing one was directly above that line. It was almost as if they were liquids of two different polarities, or that one was under the effect of a powerful magical field. Fate decided to share this information with her team.
"Sergeant, the mass of sewage is our target, The amulet must be inside"
Fate's warning served no purpose; before she finished her sentence the mass had already started to rise above the ground forming a massive ball of sludge with thrashing liquid tentacles.
It was Private Ramirez who spoke up next.
"Sergeant, I am reading a large magical signature through my scope in the center of that, but it's too thick for me to get a shot in."
"Ok people before it starts doing something lets thin it out, Fire!"
As the mass of raw sewage started pulling itself out of the broken tank, the soldiers opened fire on it. Their energy bolts shearing chunks of it off while even more was turned to steam and floated away. Even with all of them firing at once, it was having very little effect.
While the TSAB mages continued to bombard it with attacks, the Lost Logia controlling the sewage finished pulling itself out and launched its own attack. Its tentacle arms shout out towards Privates Robinson and White, Smashing through the tank that Private White was using for cover, and knocking Private Robinson off of his position on the drainage pipe.
As it lumbered towards to two vulnerable mages, its tentacles were coming dangerously close to crushing the two Privates. At this point Fate decided it was time for her to enter the fight.
"Arc Saber!"
A Bright rotating blade flew forth and sliced of the outstretched tentacles, then turned upward and smashed into the ceiling right in front of the target. The force from the shockwave caused the other mages to stumble, and the target that was now off balance, to fall backwards, towards Sergeant Fitzpatrick and Private Eslad.
As the two hurried to get out of its way, Private Rstyrins called out to his squad.
"Privates Callow and Driver, switch from Bolts to Heavy Energy Ball attacks."
The three of them began charging up for their attacks, as the glow intensified on the tips of their weapons, the target began to right itself. Right as the blob got back up and started forming new tentacles, Privates Rstyrins, Callow, and Driver released their charged up attacks, the blue, red, and gray energy balls shot towards their target before ripping into its body and detonating. The Blob reeled backwards as large chunks of its body were blown away, but then it lunged forward towards its attackers, smashing its body into the scaffolding that they were standing on.
The Force of the attack created a crater in the wall with cracks going down to the floor and up the ceiling. The vibration throughout the landing caused Private Driver to fall off and into the muck.
Fate, who had been moving private Robinson to safety, launched her Photon Lancer attack as she took back to the air. The 6 Yellow energy Balls impacted and exploded across its back, but it shrugged off the damage. It flung itself sideways, slamming into Private Callow and sending her flying into the wall. As the Blob reared back and prepared to lunge into Private Rstyrins, Fate initiated a Sonic Move to get herself in front of the private. She brought up a shield to block its attack right as it lunged. Its entire upper mass slammed into her shield with enough force to pulverize stone, but her shield barely even wavered. Unfortunately its viscous body began to go around the sides of her shield, so she formed a defensive barrier around herself and Private Rstyrins, and then let her shield drop. Without the shield blocking it, the target smashed into the barrier and ground it into the wall.
After it pulled back so it could lunge again, Fate dropped her barrier and initiated another sonic move; she took Private Rstyrins off of the scaffolding and back to safety. After dropping Rstyrins off, she flew over the blobs body, all the while dodging its tentacles and returning fire with Photon Lancers. After she got above it she let loose with another Arc Saber. The spinning blade sliced right through its body from top to bottom, but its gelatinous body simply merged back into itself with no visible damage.
While Fate was keeping it distracted, Sergeant Fitzpatrick took the time to order his people into position.
"White, behind that vat, Driver get Callow. Rstyrins, Robinson stay back, keep firing. Ramirez when are you going to take that shot?"
"Sorry Sir, But its to thick, my shot wont reach the Amulet."
"God Damnit! Testarossa, You hear me? We need to thin its body down more, Ramirez doesn't have a shot!"
"Ok I have an idea, we need to hit it all at once, give me a second to get into position."
As Fate was speaking she continued to fire Arc Sabers down into its body while slicing off any tentacles that approached her. Finally the blob lunged upward trying to smash her into the roof. She initiated a Third Sonic Move and in mid move fired off another Arc Saber. As the blob stretched itself to smash into the ceiling her Arc Saber caught it in the center, cutting off the top section that had just stretched to attack her. As its top half tumbled apart and it struggled to reform itself, Fate ended her Sonic Move right behind the other members of her team.
"Please keep it from reforming while I prepare."
The others were slightly unprepared to have her suddenly appear behind them, but they quickly got over it and began firing upon the blob, slowing its reformation process. Meanwhile, Fate began her attack.
Sergeant Fitzpatrick had worked with Private Testarossa several times in the last few months. It had only taken one mission for him to realize, that even though she was not officially classified as such, she was defiantly an Ace, probably Ranked somewhere in the Upper A's. He also knew that he had never seen her fight using her true combat style. He knew she was fast and could use Sonic Move, He knew she had near impenetrable defenses, He had seen her use Photon Lancer and Arc Saber before, he had even seen her use an attack she called, "Thunder Smasher" to create an emergency exit out the side of a mountain. So sergeant Fitzpatrick was well versed in the skills that Fate had shown, and he used that knowledge and came to a conclusion; that whatever she was preparing for right now, was something new, and something big. So when a Massive Array formed underneath her, he was not caught off guard, but his men were clearly surprised. And for the first time, he heard her device speak.
"Phalanx Shift"
Bardiche's mechanical voice rang out and echoed across the room, even over the sounds of combat.
As massive orbs of magical energy coalesced around Fate, she continued her incantation.
"Arukas, Krutas, Eygias…"
The orbs got even larger, larger than the ones that formed during her WAS, and more numerous.
"Heavenly gods who shine over all, descend upon us now as I guide you."
The orbs began to pulsate with their contained energy, large sparks shot from the spheres and into the ground or each other.
"Baruel, Zaluel, Browzel…"
The air around fate became so charged with energy that the water around her started to evaporate, the plaster and cement in the wall behind her and floor under her began to crack and crumble.
"Photon Lancer, PHALANX SHIFT!"
As Fate raised her hand to direct the attack the energy condensed even more, the air around her was warped and the ground around her was reduced to dust. The glow from her magical energies illuminated the entire room, it was so bright that the others couldn't even look in her direction.
"Strike it down! Fire!"
As she finished her incantation and brought her hand down, all at once hundreds of bright balls of magical energy streaked forward towards the mass of sewage. They moved at such speeds that the air around them burst into short lived flames, the water under them was vaporized as they past, they tore apart the ground. They slammed into the blob with such force that it was lifted off the ground and thrown into the corner. With each explosion, a shockwave burst out and crushed the room; the metal scaffolding was smashed into the walls, the tanks were flattened, even the walls themselves were compacted and pushed deeper into the earth.
After the explosions stopped, the ambient magical glow faded, and the smoke cleared, the blob still stood. Its mass was visibly reduced and lines of electricity still flowed through its body. It stumbled forward trying to reform its body.
"Thunder Fall!"
As Fate launched her next attack, the area around the targets burst into activity as lines of electricity gathered to form bolts of pure lightning. The lightning bolts rained down and sliced through the Blob's body. The mass of sewage convulsed and withered as its body was vaporized. The storm of electricity continued as its body slowly got smaller.
Then from the other side of the room, from out of a pipe in the wall, a deep green beam, no thicker than a few millimeters, flew out. It sliced into the center of the blob's body, and continued on, pushing a bloated body out of the other side. As the body fell to the ground, a shinning silver necklace could be seen around its neck.
Without the Amulet of the Water God to control it, the blob stopped moving, so Fate canceled her attack.
Everyone slowly got to their feet and there was a moment of silence. The blob started to collapse, without its gelatinous form the water in it flowed into the ground and the sewage formed into a pile of filth.
Every one cautiously circled the blob, afraid it might start to attack again.
"Do you think it's dead?"
"It's a pile of crap, it was never alive in the first place."
"So, who wants to go over there and get the amulet?"
They all looked nervously amongst themselves until Fate stepped forward. She cautiously walked around the mountain of sewage until she got to the body that had fallen out. The corpse, one of the smugglers, was covered in filth and because it had been submerged in water for so long, was horribly bloated. The Amulet was pulled tightly across the swollen neck, and there was no way she was going to be able to get it off, not to mention that fact that just looking at the body repulsed her, let alone touching it. Being resourceful, Fate channel pure electricity into the body, the electrical current caused the body to break down and it slowly turned to dust.
After the former smuggler had disintegrated she pulled the Amulet form its remains and made her way back to the squad. It was at that point that the blob exploded.
Wrapping up her report to the captain, Fate wanted nothing more than to take a shower, a really long, hot shower. After the blob had exploded without warning, Fate, who had been standing right next to it, had been hit with a wall of rotten sewage. So now with the reports being filled by Private Rstyrins and Sergeant Fitzpatrick dealing with the other loose ends, Fate just wanted to get clean.
"Um Sir, If that would be all…."
"Yes well everything is in order here. Unfortunately, the Kym is a small short range transport ship, we don't have a shower system. We will be transporting the other members of the directly to the barracks back at naval Headquarters , except for Private Callow who is being sent to a medical unit. Do you want to go with them? Or we can divert a little bit and send you back to your home on Earth."
Fate really didn't want to be seen by any of her colleges while smelling like a cesspool, so she decided to be sent home.
"Sir if you wouldn't mind, could we divert long enough for me to be sent home? I don't have any assignments waiting for me and I would like to relax for a while."
"Yes that's fine, we will be at the transport site in 10 minutes, but if you wouldn't mind could you stay in that room until we arrive? Its air tight."
For the next 10 minutes Fate took the time to plan out her next few days. She wanted to spend as much time in school as she could, so that would be taking up her days, but she was unsure what to do with the rest of her free time. It was still mid January and really cold, but there was no snow, so that limited any outdoor activities. She had enjoyed that karaoke thing that Arisa and Suzuka had brought her to. Nanoha had insisted that they both sing this song called "Take a Shot" she said it reminded her of the first time they had worked together. Maybe if everyone was free they would want to go do Karaoke again. She made a note to ask her friends about that.
She also wanted to go see Arisa's dogs again, Fate seemed to have a soft spot for them. Oh and she wanted to go to a movie theater, Hayate had mentioned that before, she said it was like watching a giant TV. Speaking of TV, she was intrigued by these "video game" things that Suzuka was into. It was like some kind of combat simulation that only used your fingers. Nanoha had also mentioned something about going sightseeing in Tokyo, she wanted to show Fate all of the landmarks and to go shopping in Shibuya, and to show her what Earth people thought Mages were by taking her to Akihabara.
While Fate planned out her week, the Kym had reached the transport point. Fate quickly made her way to the teleportation room while trying to avoid meeting anyone else. After she got there, the Gate was powered up and in a burst of energy, Fate was launched through the Dimensional Lines and sent to the Gate in the Harlaown Household on earth, that she currently had exclusive use of.
As Fate emerged from the Dimensional Line she was in at the gate way in her house, she realized something was wrong. In the split second since she had reemerged she noticed a sensory barrier that was blocking sight and sound in her living room, but through it she could sense intruders in her house, 18 of them. This should be impossible; the house was protected by several high level defensive spells. One of which made it impossible to perceive unless you knew it was there, which meant that whoever was in her home, knew she lived there, and was powerful enough to bypass all of her defenses.
Before the glow from the teleportation had died down, Fate had already dropped into a defensive stance and began calling up defensive and strengthening fields. She was halfway through summoning Bardiche when the sensory barrier was dropped. Several loud bangs went off and she was momentarily blinded by light as some material was thrown over her head. Then while she was still stunned, 18 people jumped out from behind the furniture and yelled.
"HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY, FATE-CHAN"
Real World Refrences.
"Take a Shot" Insert Song that plays during Episode 12, Season one, when Fate recovers and enters the garden of time to help Nanoha.
Shibuya-Shopping district in Tokyo, known for its Fashion stores.
Akihabara-Shopping district of Tokyo known for its otaku goods and electronics.
Chapter Glossary.
Contracted Mage-
A mage that works for the TSAB, but is not formally part of their military forces. A mercenary of sorts. Most Contracted Mages eventually enter the military, but some only work for the duration of a single case.
Contracted mages also include specialist mages that are not combat oriented but that are asked for help from the TSAB.
Contracted mages are given honorary ranks, usually non officer positions
Lost Logia-
Artifacts of long lost civilizations. Lost Logia can have any number of effects and can be extremely dangerous. They defy conventional wisdom in regards to magical artifacts in that they can activate and operate themselves, with varying degrees of control.
Teleportation Gate-
Teleportation works by encasing the mater to be transported within a special designed barrier, and then injecting the barrier into the Dimensional Lines. The barrier has a receiving code imprinted in it that guides it towards an exit point in the lines. A single Receiving code only works for one point.
To teleport without a gate involves using a specific kind of search magic to probe through the Dimensional Lines and figure out what exit pathway leads to where you want to teleport to. The Search magic requires enormous magic that only dedicated teleportation facilities have.
Teleporting with a gate is much easier. The gate is connected to a certain exit path, so no matter where the gate goes it will always connect to the same Dimensional Lines, which means the same Receiving Code will always work for the same Gate. This eliminates the need for the Search Magic.
Also, when using the gate, a signal is shot through first that activates the gate. The gate then sends an energy stream through the line at the same time the main gate is imputing the mass. The energy stream fortifies the barrier reducing the overall amount of energy needed.
Sealed Space Barrier-
Barriers used to hid magical combat from normal people.
Barriers used to create a sub-dimension within the barrier. A sealed Space barrier is cast on top of an area, making a copy stored in the sub dimension. The barrier does not copy organic matter, so any life forms caught within it are either kept in the main dimension, or shifted into the Sub dimension.
The barrier can be set to differentiate based on magical signatures, that means that beings without magic will stay out and beings with will be sent in. this allows mages to operate at anytime in places that would normally contain witnesses.
Chaaral-
Alien Race, Hunched over posture and only 3-4 feet tall. Skin is usual dry and thick. Skin tones are various shades of blue. Voice ranged around 18,000 to 40,000 Hz. Only a small fraction of Chaaral speak within a range that humans can hear.
Chaaral rarely become mages, their Linker Cores are sized appropriately for their bodies, the strongest Chaaral almost never go above B Class.
Telepathy-
A way of sending thoughts over distances by using the mind.
The power and skill needed to perform telepathy is very dependent on what form of telepathy. One way connections can be created easily and dropped after sending the thought. 2 way connections require more energy and skill to maintain. The longer the range, and the presence of obstacles between increased the powered needed. Telepathy through dimensions is almost impossible. Telepathy between more people is harder to maintain.
Devices can help maintain connections.
Wide Area Search-
WAS for short. A WAS is a type of search magic that covers large distances. Different from Scrying, a WAS searches everything within a distance around the caster. Effectively searching a sphere around the caster. Scrying searches a location away from the caster. WAS has less range than Scrying, but covers more area.
WAS is a broad term. Magic that sense vibrations, heat, magical energy, electrical signals, or anything else is considered a WAS. Magic that creates sentries that transmit image back to the caster are also considered to be an WAS. Magic that goes out and physically feels for things is also considered to be WAS
Mana Drain-
The drain received from operating a Device. Different levels of device require different amounts of energy, giving low level mages high level devices will exhaust the mage and serve no good.
Changing the devices form can change its Mana Drain. In their device form they Drain the least mana, while in combat forms they drain the most.
If a device drains all of its user's mana it will revert back to device form, and if the user still isn't regenerating mana, it will enter standby.
If a user runs out of mana a device can convert the users physical body into mana. This often causes long term damage to the mage.
Incantation-
Phrase that is verbally spoken or written inside of an array, that increases power and control of a spell.
Incantations are often specific to a certain spell, and are not interchangeable. Verbal incantations do not work unless an actual sound is produce, so in space they do not work.
Some high level spells are nearly impossible to cast without an incantation, or if they are their control and power drop drastically.
Incantations require an array to serve any purpose.
Incantations obviously increase the casting time of spells