A/N: Ah the mood of the first chapter was indirectly dedicated to Allquall's "Name of War" in such that Hayate is featured as heavily stressed by the demands of what is asked of her (for totally different reasons here, but meh). Also, Syn is the property of Kereko, tho she has become something of a generally-accepted-and-used-OC. Finally, may I remind you that this is only a half-sequel "What is and What Could Be" continuation of the Shard Card universe. Many things have changed, but many have stayed the same. So please don't waste your breath telling me that it doesn't fit Shard Card /or/ canon and just enjoy it for what it is- fanfiction by yours truly. With that, let's begin.

P.S. I'm aware that the bit in the beginning with using silver as part of a fuel source and especially as being as plentiful as I say, is a bit of bull, but just consider it a space-filler. And also other discrepancies, but please remember that fanfiction need not be taken wholly seriously.

Disclaimer: I do not own Syn (featured in this chapter) or the characters of MSLN, or Tomoyo (from CCS), or anything else that's not mine.

Shard Card 2: Hayate's Story

"What Is and What If"

Short Summary: As a competant "expendable" TSAB official, Hayate has been assigned to explore the newest frontiers with a hodgepodge team that she handselected for the optimum performance in the long run. She knows not if her prowess is really needed on this seemingly mundane mission, but she will take responsibility for the task at hand regardless.

Chapter 2- It's all Relative

Hayate sighed softly as the soft rumble of Claudia III gently roused her from her slumber. She had caught up on much needed rest and was once more ready to tackle the world- or universe as the case may be- one planetary system at a time. She had her crew, a ship, a goal. Now all she needed was a specific destination and a time frame.

'We'll need fuel. Our gas tanks may be more efficient now, but that doesn't change that we'll have to refill eventually. Especially if this is a long-term assignment.' Half dressed with her jacket lying beside her on her freshly made bed, Hayate poured over several documents and maps at once, locating the nearest and farthest known fuel stations between their current location and the area of the frontier that they would start with.

"This one." Hayate tapped the photo of the planet that she had drawn up. "At 500 kly (kilo-light-years), that should take us close to the border of our known universe. Our fuel supply should be close to depleted by then, but this planet, administered planet 545, is made up of almost nothing but fuel. And I'm sure the occupants wouldn't mind seeing some faces from their far-off beneficiaries. What do you think, Rein? I've never been this far out before. Should be interesting, right? And we can get out and stretch our legs a bit."

Rein was watching Hayate from her shoulder, using said shoulder as a prop for her elbows as most of her body dangled behind Hayate. "Yes! It sounds fun. The natives of this planet are humans too, aren't they?"

Hayate nodded as she scrolled down the info page. "It was first colonized about 135 years ago, back in the Silver Age."

"Silver Age? Did we find a lot of silver?"

"It was already fairly plentiful, but that was when we learned how to incorporate silver into our fuels so that we could recycle the waste, so to speak, into colonial coinage, worth much less without the backing of the government. And then planets like this were found to be loaded with silver, so the Silver Age was all about acquiring more silver as well as refining how best to use it." Hayate paused and then continued on her original thread of thought, "There aren't many colonies, as much of the planet is still untamed, but those in the colonies are once-Midchildan explorers. They may have learned to speak a different language, but the translators in our devices should operate for us just fine, right, Rein?"

Rein nodded, still grinning. "Rein can speak 3500 languages and dialects!"

Hayate laughed. "As expected from the former Tome of the Night Sky. I'll be counting on you."

"Roger!"

As they were laughing about something and nothing at all, Hayate heard a knock at the door. Smiling, she permitted, "It's open; come in."

She heard muffled insistences along the lines of "You go first!" and "No, you go! You're older!" before the door slid open to reveal Syn with Vivio close behind.

Hayate smiled at her two youngest selections for her team, both prodigal children of famous friends of hers. It had been more whim than need, requesting that they join her, but with Nanoha alongside her, she was not wholly concerned with anything that might result from having the two onboard. "Syn-chan, Vivio-chan, good morning. What can I do for the two of you?"

They exchanged looks with each other, likely continuing their petty argument from when they were outside the room. Eventually, Vivio bowed and said, "We, uh, we just wanted to thank you for giving us the opportunity to go on this mission with you. So, um, thank you, General Yagami."

Hayate smiled with amusement as Syn bowed her head as well. "No thanks is necessary you two. If you want to 'thank' me, work to the best of your ability, especially while you're under my watch. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!" They were almost like twins, Hayate mused, when they were both nervous at least. 'Time for an ice-breaker.' "Are those your official uniforms? Hmm... brown doesn't really seem to suit you two, does it? Hold on just a moment, I want you to try on one of the prototypes I've been testing."

As Hayate stood up to move to the closet, she heard and saw Vivio snickering and grinning, likely in conjunction with the hot-red flush on Syn's cheeks that wildly clashed with her long blue hair. She also heard Syn mumbling, "It took me forever to agree to wear this and now there's something different just around the corner...? God hates me..."

Vivio giggled, whispering loudly to her best friend, "Aunt Hayate knows her clothes though. Anything she recommends, you'll love- 100 percent guaranteed."

"Didn't she design this one too?"

"Here it is!" Hayate grinned as she turned back to face them, two fresh uniforms in her hands. "You're about the right age and stature that you should fill them in quite nicely. Do try them on?"

"Yes, ma'am." Vivio was about to turn away when she realized, about the same time as Syn did, "Or... did you want us to change here?"

Hayate just barely managed to conceal the feral nature of her grin. "Why not? We're all girls here, aren't we?"

Vivio looked at her with open suspicion, which Hayate guessed was from having grown up with Aunt Hayate and knowing full well what she was capable of acting on. She glanced at Syn, who was aware yet blissfully unaware of the true dangers that lay ahead for her.

Syn did, at least, make a feeble attempt to get out of it. "General Yagami, I'm not certain that doing such would be... appropriate."

"Pfft." Hayate grinned as she slung an arm around Syn's and Vivio's necks. "If you're going to call me 'General Yagami' then you had better treat me as a superior officer. And as such, what I say goes. Now strip. Let's see how well you two have grown up over the years."

--The rest of this scene has been omitted at the discretion of a certain bluenette who requested the right to maintain a sense of privacy--

"Hayate-chan, you look like you just ate a canary." Nanoha laughed as she sat down next to Hayate in the cafeteria. "Who'd you grope now?"

Hayate giggled, too pleased to deny the claim. "You've done well with Vivio-chan, Nanoha-chan. She's very healthy, especially for her age."

It took a moment for Nanoha to catch on, but when she did, she merely sighed. "I'm not going to ask how you reached that verdict. But just FMI (for my information), is she wearing the right size bra? She wouldn't let me go shopping with her last time, so I'm a bit worried..."

Hayate flashed a grin. "She was just a little off, but that's probably because she's grown a bit since she bought that bra. No worries, I gave her a new one just in case. Syn, however..." Hayate shook her head sadly, as if she were talking a neighbor's troublemaker of a son. "Sadly, she's a bit of a late bloomer it seems."

Nanoha sighed. "Even Syn-chan? Have you no sense of mercy?"

Hayate pretended to look affronted. "Mercy? Hah! Mercy's my middle name. I-"

"I thought it was Re-"

"Oh hush you," Hayate narrowed her eyes although they still glinted with merriment. "Do you want me to dock your pay?"

Nanoha laughed. "I never said anything," she amended.

Hayate nodded resolutely. "Anyway, I gave them both new uniforms. The brown just wasn't cutting it for them. So if you see them in grayish suits, don't tell them that-"

"They're for support staff? They're smart enough to figure that much out."

"Ah, but I made adjustments," Hayate revealed. "The fringes are specifically tailored for their eyes so it's very distinct. They look cool- they thought so themselves!"

Nanoha laughed again. "I never said the support staff uniform design wasn't 'cool', you know. But as long as they're happy, that's fine."

Deciding to change the subject, Hayate asked, "Have you called Fate-chan yet?"

"Mm." Nanoha nodded. "I called her when we were passing by Andromeda. She's doing fine, as is Teana. They've had smooth sailing so far."

"Ah... where are they now?"

"They're nearing Galaxy West. You know, the one on the other side of Earth from Midchilda."

"Mm. How far out are they going?" Hayate added sheepishly, "I was too preoccupied to ask her for the details myself."

"That's okay. It's not too far, relatively speaking. Their mission destination is in Galaxy West. It has a lot of asteroids and debris in that area though; I hope she'll be all right."

"She'll be just fine, Nanoha-chan." Hayate's smile conveyed her confidence in her fellow Ace. "She'll be fine as long as she knows you're fine."

"Nyahaha... that works the other way around too." A quiet smile graced Nanoha's lips as she looked off into the distance. "How long do you think this mission will be, Hayate-chan?"

"I'm not sure. I'm sorry I'm dragging you away from Fate-chan for such an uncertain amount of time."

"What?" Nanoha snapped out of her daze at Hayate's words. "Oh! No, no, don't be silly, Hayate-chan. That's not what I meant. I was just wondering if you knew. If we can't return quickly then we don't return quickly, that's all. I'm happy you decided to ask me to join you out here. Sometimes I feel we haven't gotten to spend a lot of time together since we're in such different fields within TSAB... so... this is good... this is really good." Nanoha grinned, hardly recognizing that she had placed her hand over Hayate's while she was talking. "Yeah, I miss Fate-chan, of course, but it happens. No sense in dwelling on it, especially while M2D communication still works. Ah... I mean... well... let's just do our best, hm?"

Hayate smiled, acknowledging that Nanoha was merely trying to cheer her up. "Thank you, Nanoha-chan." A companionable silence drifted between them, but when she heard Signum summoning her to the bridge, Hayate slipped her hand out from under Nanoha's and stood up. "Duty calls. Would you do me a favor and make sure everything and everyone is operating at optimum capacity? And maybe organize some team exercises so that if anything does happen, we'll be ready?"

Nanoha nodded. "Of course. And I'll see you around then, Hayate-chan."

"See ya."

--

Hayate arrived on the bridge and Signum quickly noticed. "Is anything wrong?"

Signum explained, "We received an SOS signal from a non-Midchildan registered cruiser. At our current velocity, we would overshoot in less than two minutes, but there are too many obstacles in the way for this vessel to cross it safely. We could release a small cruiser to rescue any survivors, but we would have to stall this one in order to make a safe deployment, although that would delay us. Your orders?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Hayate smiled as she raised her voice. "Halt the engines to avoid passing the foreign vessel! Deploy officers Erio and Tomoyo on Cruzar N200 to rescue any survivors. All Strikers on standby until those deployed return to the ship safely. Send destination coordinates to the Cruzar computer and put up a shot of the target cruiser on the main screen. Show me what we're dealing with here."

Signum reinforced, "You heard her; get to it! Daidoji, Mondial, report to dock 3T, on the double!"

One of the people on staff repeated the orders in technical terms. "Deaccelerating at a rate of 19.47 light hours per second to stall at 60 seconds from now! All hands on deck, brace for stall position. Sending coordinates negative 85 RA degrees, 42 minutes, 13 seconds and 27 degrees, relative to the position of Claudia III when stalled, to Cruzar N200. Uploading data from local satellites to mainframe computer database. Footage incoming!"

While Erio and Tomoyo rushed to the designated dock, Hayate scrutinized the footage and it struck her that there was something very... familiar about the ship that they were stopping for. There was nothing special or glamorous about it, and yet...

"Hayate?"

Hayate looked over at Rein, who also seemed to have a vague sense of recollection at the picture. She smiled. "Let's leave it up to Tomoyo and Erio for now, all right? We'll keep an eye on them from here."

"Yes, Hayate!"

TBC

A/N: My last Astronomy class featured thinking of light years in perspective, and so I actually made new calculations based off of that to determine how fast a ship would have to go to make "intergalactic" travel reasonable. A long-term ship like the Claudia III moves at a projected speed of 3000 light-hours per second. Or, in scientific notation, 3.24 x 10(to the 12th power) km per second, or if you want to write out all the zeros... 3,240,000,000,000 kilometers per second. light-hours are projected in much the same way as cars move in kilometers (or miles, whatever). A small cruiser like Cruzar N200, averages at 60 lh/s, like a car might move 60 mph. Claudia III at normal speed can cross the Milky Way (100,000 light years across) in about 3 days give or take a little. The Cruzar N200 can move from Earth to the nearest star (besides earth) in about 10 min. I hope that makes sense. I made up "Kly" of course, as even traveling at the speed of light (that fastest conceiveable speed of any known material in existence) would take ages to even get to the nearest star. Hope you don't mind me taking liberties. :3

Strictly speaking, going at 3000 lh/s, the Claudia would never have been able to pick up the SOS from something so "close" to them, but... maybe it was a very carefully directed SOS signal or carefully projected radar that picked it up. I dunno.

Also, I'm not that great at directions and degrees in astronomy yet, so bear with me please. It is, however, featured in this chapter as well as the previous one.

Hah! I found a way to input my calculus! Used derivatives and antiderivatives and related calculations to figure out how fast the Claudia III would have to decelerate to go from 3000 lh/s to 0 lh/s within 35040 lh (or 4 light years) in 60 seconds (nice and short). Incredibly fast by our standards, (21 billion km/s) but like I said, this is practical space travel we're talking about here.

Featured from Theatre class was the overall aspect of this story. Aesthetic distance in that you, the reader, to not feel the need to react to Hayate's commands (nor are you physically able to) and so can enjoy it from a distance. Empathy... meh... that's up to you, I suppose, if you empathize with the characters. Pretty mundane stuff happened in this chapter. And ah, suspension of disbelief. Much needed for the aforementioned putting-space-travel-in-reasonable-perspective.

Finally, very remotely hinted in this chapter will be featured in the next.

Aristotle's Mimesis.

That's all the spoiler you get. :D Til next time!

P.S. I also have a class on Mental illnesses, but you probably don't want me to make anyone you know and love schizophrenic... So yes, Astronomy + Theatre + Economics + Calculus FTW!!