{ === + === }
After a period of three months, the long anticipated 'line ship' arrived in Elibe.
To the disappointment of the curious onlookers, the so-called line ship was rather small by Phoenix standards—it was about half as large as the Neverland—and didn't look like it had any interesting equipment.
The onlookers eventually noticed the large roller on the back of the ship…as well as the thick ropes being pulled through the ocean. Most considered the rope too thick to use for fishing.
"What do you think that's for?" Village A wonders.
Villager B doesn't care. "Who knows?" He gives his visiting buddy a slap on the shoulder. "Now let's go or the Market will close."
"What's the rush?" Village A yawns. "That place doesn't know the meaning of 'close'."
…
Lloyd Reed, the official representative for the Black Fang and the Phoenix company, also noticed the line ship and the strange rope. He was intrigued, but figured he'll get an idea later. Thus, he continued on his primary task of giving a report to the local leader of operations.
He arrives at the operation leader's office and knocks on the already open door. "Excuse me." He says as a formality while striding in, then stops dead in his tracks.
One of the walls of the rectangular office had a large wall in front of it. Lloyd was quite confused at exactly what's going on, and judging by the lead's frown, so was she.
"Uh…?" Lloyd vocalizes his confusion.
"I have no idea." Nino has no idea even as she watches the technician (or so he called himself) handle the installation of this new wall.
Lloyd gives this man a once over. He was large, not exactly well-built, wore a toolbelt around his waist, messily bearded...and he seemed to know what he's doing.
"Y'know," the technician grunts as he puts the forest of wires into place. "Never have I thought that I'd be installing a goddamn magically powered holographic flatscreen TV in goddamn magic medieval Mongolia."
Lloyd…understood none of that. "I'm sorry?"
"Not your problem, kid." The technician hooks one last line into place. "Alright, girlie, fire her up."
Nino understood none of that. "How?"
"That board over there." The technician gestures to a board of buttons connected to a bundle of garishly colored (and meticulously labeled) rope. "Big button labeled 'on'. Hit it."
Nino was confused, but did as she was told.
The new wall, the "screen", changed colors from a black to a dark blue, then translucently green.
The three of them waited for a few more seconds, but nothing else happened.
"Well, that's cool at least." The technician grumbles, walking over to the board. He rapidly punches in a series of numbers.
Silence.
"Before you ask, yes, something was supposed to happen." The techie waves Nino off. "Now shoo, I need to work."
Nino vaguely remembered Ash joking about never disturbing something called a "Sysadmin", so she decided to leave and let the man do his work.
Hint: the technie isn't a sysadmin.
"So what's that thing supposed to be?" Lloyd asks Nino as they pace down the halls.
"I think it's some kind of communications system." Nino replies doubtfully. "I don't know how it's supposed to work, though." She holds her hand out for the folder in Lloyd's hand. "How's the town?"
Lloyd hands his folder over. "For how much progress it's made over the past three months? Things are quite peaceful."
"Hmm." Nino open the folder scans the document inside quickly. "Any problems?"
"Minor banditry." Lloyd sighs. "But your security forces seem to be on top of things, especially with that new spell of theirs."
"The Boss made it a point for us to test those." Nino finishes reading the paper before her and tucks it back into the folder. "The first round of harvest is coming in, so can you look to the granaries and markets for me later?"
"Of course." Lloyd bows slightly. "I didn't think I'd be holding a governance job in my lifetime." He adds with a small smile.
"Better you than Linus." Nino replies with a playful grin.
"I heard that!" Linus calls out from around the corner. He pops out from the corner…with Hibiki sitting on his shoulder.
Lloyd felt his heart swell at seeing Linus without his cane for the first time in years. Granted, Linus's been cane-less for the past week now, but it certainly didn't lessen the impact. Then he noticed the girl.
"Um." Nino had many questions.
"Doctor said I should do some rehab." Linus smirks. "So I figured I should start with some running."
"And I need to get to the Market." Hibiki says calmly. "He's transport."
"Um." Nino still had many questions.
"Later." Linus waves cheerily and runs off. Lloyd and Nino then hear a dull thud followed by an "ow" of pain from Hibiki.
"I wish they paid more attention to the doorframes." Nino sighs.
…
[At the Market]
…
The Market was an unintended consequence of needing to establish a trading port quickly.
While the trading ship, the Carrier, held the starting material and the hefty equipment needed to make said construction happen, it lacked enough raw materials to actually build the houses and lay down paved roads. It did, however, contain a fair sum of money and a one-of-a-kind desalinizer.
The Desalinizer allows the Carrier to provide both freshwater and salt to the trading post. Since salt happens to be quite the rare commodity (especially when it can be easily transported), the port was then able to exchange that salt for building material.
Even so, the cost of constructions depleted Nino's allocated funds to dangerously low levels. Lloyd had a minor heart attack when he learned later that her budget for establishing the outpost was roughly 20 million gold.
The salt and freshwater sales made at most two hundred thousand gold.
Thanks to the large amounts of capital she had, Nino had the headquarters and the main docks built within a month of landfall. Afterwards, she could busy herself with the job of making the investment pay off.
Per standard (theoretical) operating procedure, she bought a copy of every book she could find and rolled out the ship's printing presses. She added these books to the ones stocked within the Enterprise—stories and manuscripts from Akaenea, Valentia, and Tellius—and established the Elibean branch of the Phoenix Library, immediately and viciously cornering the literary market. The library was easily more than a match for one belonging to royalty, and, like the main branch, it provided a service that allowed anyone to make copies of books with a nominal fee. With that, the port's importance skyrocketed, and prospective scholars, traders, and spies flooded in.
…Or at least that was the theory. In practice, only the flow of traffic around the river and the Mouth increased, and the effects tapered off dramatically the further you went from the port. The trading post was still pretty new, after all, and most dismissed the information (the warships, the salt, the library, etc) as hyperbole and rumors until their own agents could give them a better, more accurate read on things.
Still, the increase in population meant a rapid need for quick and cheap housing, as well as areas for people to just sit and read for hours on end. This rapid influx of housing meant a sudden spike in need for other services, and enterprising chefs, brewers, cloth makers, board gamers, adult service providers, and businessfolk of all manners quickly moved in to fill the demand.
Outrealmers from the Company then joined in. The ones with the business acumen and skill had no issues finding gainful work setting up their own shops, and it's not uncommon to see an Outrealmer shop filled to the brim with customers vying for either a well-made trinket or some new delicious treat. In particular, the Elibean locals seemed to have a taste for a good breakfast—bacon, eggs, a fluffy waffle drizzled with maple syrup. Or maybe they were just fond of the syrup, it's a bit hard to tell.
This ramshackle mix of buildings, people, and flowing money became known as the Market (for obvious reasons) and the name stuck. After some time in operation, "going to The Market" became a colloquial catchphrase for the people along the river if they wanted to spend some coin in the Phoenix Trading Post.
As always, it's not all puppies and roses. The speed at which the town sprang up, plus its rather bloated density, meant that the Market was bound to attract trouble, sometimes those that were legitimately—if unknowingly—dangerous. Linus was out to look for these troubles.
The two brothers have been assisting Nino in her duties out of both pride in their baby sister and professional curiosity about these newcomers. Lloyd, the more diplomatic of the two, tended to assist in negotiations between the Phoenix and the increasingly large presence of Elibean nobility. Linus was just out to bash some heads, and offered his assistance to the Stars girls in their peacekeeping efforts.
…though it should be said that Mad Dog Linus felt rather tame next to these children. Incredibly tame, in fact. The two of them were out on patrol, and the white-haired girl riding on his shoulders was attracting quite a lot of attention. Not that she cared any.
"There's one." Hibiki says, giving Linus's hair a tug. "Over there." She orients his head to her own field of vision.
Linus didn't even need to look to know that the girl has that strange thing over her eyes again. "Let's get him then." He says confidently.
A few strides later, Linus has his land on their target's shoulder. It was a small girl in her mid-teens, by his estimates. She had her hands on a fruit from an open-air stall, and froze upon feeling Linus's firm grip.
"Sorry to interrupt." Hibiki says sternly to the lady thief. "But shoplifting is a no-no."
"Pay for it, and get out." Linus adds gruffly, being the bad cop to Hibiki's good.
The girl grumbles about being caught, toss a bag of gold to the shopkeep (who only now noticed said larceny), and vanish into the crowds.
The two of them continue on this patrol for some time and stop a few more cases from occurring.
"Why don't you just shoot them?" Linus asks after the twentieth time or so. "It would save the both of us a lot of leg work."
"Yes, but having to clean up the mess is a pain." Hibiki replies professionally. "And I'll have to file a report for why I got my outfit dirty." Her armor's almost radiantly white, and if the sun was out, she would have likely blinded many with its reflection.
Or so she believes.
Linus seems surprised about her last point. "Nino cares about that?"
"She doesn't." Hibiki replies with a shrug.
Linus nods slightly. "Yeah, I thought it didn't sound like her."
"But the boss did say that we have to keep our claws retracted until we have to fight, so to that end…" Hibiki pats down her coat. "…we stay our hand."
The two stop at the center of the market and find a place to sit. Linus briefly marvels at the odd, pointy, glasses-like fixture on the statue's eyes. How does it stay up like that?
Linus then notices the faint beads of sweat on Hibiki's brow. "Still, must be odd to be so shorthanded that leaders like yourselves are off doing patrols." He smirks.
"I like patrols." Hibiki replies calmly, dabbing the sweat away with a small handkerchief.
"Right." Linus felt a touch snubbed, and the two rests in slightly uncomfortable silence for a while longer.
After a fashion, Hibiki notes a tall woman with blue hair approach them. She immediately reaches into her cloak for her knife and keeps it at the ready. Any passing person would have thought that she was simply putting away her handkerchief.
Linus notices the woman as well. Reasoning that he can't detach from Hibiki and have it looks suspicious, he decides to simply cross his arms and lean against the statue.
The woman reaches him in short order and sits on the statue next to him. To everyone watching, she's basically resting and taking in the sights.
"Hello, Linus." The Woman says in a low tone. "Fancy seeing you here and relaxed…and whole."
"I have this town to thank for that." Linus replies levelly. "How are things back home, Ursula?" He adopts a very relaxed tone, like chatting with a friend.
Ursula. Black Fang. Assassin. Potentially dangerous. Hibiki remembers quickly from Nino's briefing. She takes the cue from Linus and pretends not to have overheard anything.
"It's stellar, Linus." Ursula says with a sigh. "What with the increase in Bern's military organization, Lady Sonja has us running ragged to keep tabs on all of the possible armed forces running around the capital."
"Ain't that just great." Linus stretches. "You didn't come here just to talk about your troubles, I assume?"
Hibiki suddenly touches Linus's shoulder and then (keeping out of Ursula's line of sight) her ear.
"Ok, I'll catch up in a second." Linus replies firmly. "You go on ahead."
Hibiki hops off the statue's base and makes her exit. Linus and Ursula both doesn't notice the tiny little thing dropped at Linus's foot.
"So who was that girl?" Ursula inquires curiously. "Don't tell me you've developed a strange taste after seeing your sister after all these years."
"Not funny." Linus rolls his eyes. "That is one of the captains of the guard around here. Supposedly she's pretty good, but I've never seen her fight."
"Oh?"
Linus nods. "Yeah. She's a magic wielder. Got any insights?"
Ursula has already lost Hibiki's small figure in the throng of people. "She knows a thing or two about stealth, that's for sure." She says. "But I certainly can't make judgments about her power with just that little meeting."
"Unfortunate." Linus sighs. "So what does mother have for us?"
"She's paid off a band of Sacaean nomads to raid this town." Ursula says casually. "Its prominence has some of our Bern and Etrurian contacts worried, and they would like to take it down a peg."
"That's…" Linus frowns. The rapid expansion of the trading post meant that there wasn't even a low hedge in sight for defense against external threats, much less a proper wall. One fire arrow and entire sections of the town would turn to ashes.
"It's a little extreme." Ursula agrees. "But it's the contract."
No avoiding it then. "So what should we do?" Linus asks.
"Nothing." Ursula replies blithely. "As far as Lady Sonja is concerned, the two of you are still at the Mouth, which means this attack means nothing to you."
Linus felt like he needed to clarify. "Nino's working here. We're not just going to abandon her, are we?"
"Sonja gave no orders pertaining to Nino." Ursula replies levelly. "She should be lucky enough to escape the attack." She takes out a book and begins to idly flip through its pages.
Lucky? Linus frowns. "There really wasn't a special order regarding Nino?"
"Not my problem, and by the sounds of it not Lady Sonja's problem either." Ursula smiles at a passing young man. He returns the smile (rather nervously) while walking by and head straight into a cart, causing a minor kerfuffle. "Remember that Nino has broken a contract taken by the Fang. She's no longer family."
Linus has heard that before and like before he could not have cared any less. "She's our little sister, and we're not going to abandon her."
Ursula's tone said she didn't care. "There are no other Fangs participating in this mission apart from Jaffar."
Linus had a baaaad feeling about this. "And?"
"It's his job to ensure that this town's head goes rolling." Ursula puts a bookmark at a random spot in the book and closes it. "So at the very least don't get in his way."
"Don't get in his way?" Linus repeats in disbelief.
…
In a nearby Inn, Hibiki sat with one hand to her ear. Her other hand's on a mug of milk.
She had alerted HQ to the conversation between Linus and Ursula, and listened with increasingly furrowed brows. The owner of the inn briefly wondered if the milk was bad.
"Well, shit, I guess." Akatsuki sighs over her radio, having heard the entire conversation. "Good job on that spider web, Hibiki."
The little node that Hibiki dropped was a piece of the "Spider Web", a set of microphones enchanted to pick up and separate incoming audio into different lines of communication. It's called a Spider Web because, back during the Valmese War, spider web nodes need to be deployed in a chain so they could repeat the audio information over any kind of respectable distance. These new ones have a much longer connection range (roughly eight hundred meters) but the name was kept for legacy purposes.
"Do we have a time estimate?" Inazuma asks worriedly. "I don't want to have these nomads suddenly appear from out of nowhere."
"We can probably set up a line of defense with reactive sensors." Akatsuki agrees. "Otherwise, with the way this town is set up, I won't be surprised if these nomads don't take the time to group into an attack force and just, y'know, go for it."
Hibiki scratches her head. "What should we do, captain?" She asks.
"I'll see to the lines of defense getting set up." Nino replies. "For now, make sure you're ready to deploy at any time, even if you have to do it with just the gear on hand."
Hibiki made a face at that. 'Gear on hand' meant she could possibly be expected to go into a fight with just her knife, pocket spellbook, and a pistol. She makes a note to visit the quartermaster for a bigger rifle after this meeting ends.
"Do we have something more than just, y'know, us?" Akatsuki asks, gesturing to the four people in the room.
"We have the trainees." Inazuma notes. Stars has expanded with more manpower, but…
"Yeah, all six of 'em." Akatsuki huffs. "They can man a gun just fine, but I don't think the trainees are gonna do much in an active fight. This isn't Risen we're talking about, y'know."
"Then let's make sure there isn't a possibility of it being an active battle." Nino cuts across the chatter. "We are still the Phoenix, and it's going to take more than just a small band of horsemen to screw us over."
"Hear hear." Akatsuki raises her glass. "I'll brief the trainee girls when we're done here."
"What about the assassin?" Hibiki reminds her. "He'll be coming for you."
Nino bites her lip. "I'll handle it somehow." She had a feeling.
…
Meanwhile, Linus has already reported to Lloyd.
"What should we do, brother?" Linus asks in no small amounts of worry.
Lloyd mulls things over. On one hand, if the warship is anything to go by then the city itself should be just fine against attack. On the other, without really understanding the doctrine of the city, he has no way to estimate just how much damage it will take from a nomadic raiding force.
Sacae has rebuffed all attempts to bring the area under the yoke of a neighboring nation due to the fragmented state of its hordes…and due to the fact that it was, y'know, Magical Mongolia, with Magical Mongolians. Sacaean horse archers were by far the most destructive force available on the plains, and Lloyd would wager that the civilians living and working at this port all knew this, save maybe the actual Phoenix personnel.
With that information in hand, he has no course of action but to assume that some level of damage will be done by the extremely fast horse archers, and that the damage will cause some level of panic, which will allow Jaffar to slip in during the confusion and…
Jaffar stayed with the Black Fang due to Sonja giving him a pardon for going against the fang, much to Ursula's indignation. Unknown to him, Sonja had originally intended to remove Jaffar from the field of play entirely, but Nergal had interceded, allowing the man to continue to serve in a limited fashion.
Lloyd did know about Jaffar's skills as an assassin, and the man's title as the Angel of Death was well deserved…and that new sword he received was certainly no mere showpiece.
And…while Lloyd will be the last person to trash talk his little sister, he had to admit that, in the months that he's been here so far, he's only seen Nino perform administrative tasks (which she did quite well) and has never actually seen her fight. Hell, he's never actually seen any of the Stars girls fight. So there's this (understandable) worry in the back of his mind that the Stars are, in effect, a parade squad made just for the sake of looking pretty.
Moreover, Lloyd's background is in assassination, and thus has limited experience in combat against nomadic horse archers. So he's really not in the position to assess the combat strength on both sides of the conflict here, a fact he realized with a little bit of embarrassment.
Sure, he's read the reports…but reports aren't the real thing.
So with that, the two Reed brothers discussed what they could possibly do to safeguard Nino while also staying in line with the orders of the Black Fang.
Ursula, the cause of all this ruckus, found the magic of Ice Cream while everybody else was planning and spent a considerable amount of money in thirty minutes. She had no regrets.
…
[Two Days Later, 1000 hours]
…
The town could feel that something was going to happen. There was some strange electricity in the air that wasn't there normally. The air felt stiff for some reason, and everyone went about their business with a slight sense of muted dread.
Some of the sharp-eyed people realized that the Stars were nowhere to be seen…which was pretty normal, since there are only four of them (counting Nino) and quite a lot of hours in the day. But their disappearance seemed unnatural. Some of the sharp-minded of the sharp-eyed realized that they have been scarce for the past two days, not just the past few hours. They had a mind to panic, but at the same time…it's the Market, y'know? It takes ten armies to destroy this place.
Somewhere down the line the stories of the Trade Post's security got inflated.
On the inland edge of town there stands a tower roughly five stories tall. It was built as an early warning system against land-based threats by some surprisingly loyal merchants-turned-immigrants, and for the last two weeks have been manned on a daily basis by volunteers who wished to do their duty towards their new home.
One of these volunteers saw the dust being kicked up in the distance, and rang the bell.
…
While admirable, he really didn't need to have bothered.
Some twenty minutes ago, the nomads had crossed the first sensor line, set far beyond the village's visual range.
"The first line of defense has been triggered." An operator announced from within the Neverland's Command Information Center (CIC). "Approximate count, 300 units. Magical signature indicates cavalry."
"Understood." The officer in charge nods. "Alert Stars and the Admiral, and send out a scout. Keep tabs on their position."
Some minutes later, the Stars were on deck and were already mounting combat gear. It was considered too disturbing to the peace to simply run weapons through the town like a normal defensive operation.
"Stars!" Akatsuki calls out. "We have a likely incoming hostile group! Pack heat, 'cuz we're going in hot!"
Hibiki rates the speech a solid "Six out of ten." Especially since she made said speech while they were still loading.
"Shush and get the Jacket Armor attached."Akatsuki snaps, red-faced.
The Jacket armor is a set of high-output engines attached to a set of greaves…attached to something vaguely armor-like. The engines give the wearer an air-shoes effect in where they can hover over the ground while accelerating forward at incredible speeds.
The rest of the armor exists to provide balance for the greaves and additional hard points to hold other weapons, so the girls don't have to keep their hands busy at all times.
"What will it be, girlies?" The ship's quartermaster asks with a cheeky grin. Behind him are carts upon carts of oversized guns, boxes of ammunition, and more boxes marked "condenser".
"One Thor, one M20, and a switchblade." Akatsuki says quickly. "And two condensers."
"You got it." The quartermaster snaps his fingers. "Get 'em armed and ready! Time's a wastin'!" At his bellow, the sailors responsible for bringing out the equipment hustle to work.
So while that's going on…
[Equipment]
Thor: A rugged piece of equipment from the War against Valm (and later Grimleal) during the War of Awakening back in Akanea. This piece of gear fires rails at high velocities with large amounts of thunder magic for great effect, and goes on the girls' back like a piece of artillery. It's very similar to a 120mm Howitzer, only not as impressive.
M20: Basically a four-barrel chain gun. Like the Thor, the barrels of the gun are encased in a shell of magical electrical rails that accelerate the bullets (nails) to great speed. It doesn't really do anything else beyond spew nails at a rate of 300 rounds per minute in a Medieval setting at near-sonic speeds.
Switchblade: Despite the name, the switchblade is as long as Akatsuki is tall (so about five feet). It is not necessarily a sword in that it can't be used by itself—the switchblade is like a sword without a hilt—but instead it's designed to be attached onto some other weapon, like the M20, to give it a bladed edge while swinging it. The switchblade itself works by projecting a magical edge onto itself for cutting purposes…it also projects a bayonet tip because the designer had a very generous budget.
Condenser: These things collect water from the air and solidify them into thin shards of ice. These shards of ice are then encased with a shell of raw magic power and the whole thing is then used as ammunition. Each condenser can create around twenty rounds per minute, and can hold up to two hundred rounds in total.
And of course, the wind shoes, shoes enchanted with wind, that are standardized equipment on all Phoenix outfits. More speed, less troubles, and all that.
…
With Stars suited up, the understaffed equipment crew switched their attention to the newbies, who were indeed very new at this. As the newbies were corralled into their jacket armors, they heard the town bell go off.
"Well, fuck." Akatsuki hoists her gear over her shoulders. "Plan B it is! We'll set up at the firing point." She points to the newbies. "Arm up and follow as fast as you can."
Plan A involved the Stars squadron deploying to eliminate the nomads from beyond the town's visual range, so as to avoid bringing up any more problems than necessary.
Plan B was the contingency. In the event that the nomads were sighted by the town, the Stars would make a big show out of mowing down the enemy with superior firepower.
Thus, with the bell ringing in the distance, the three veteran Stars slung some extra guns over their shoulders (so they're effectively dual-wielding chainguns) and jumped off of the Enterprise's deck.
"Make way! Make way!" Akatsuki yells at the top of her lungs, also amplifying her voice for effect. "Stars comin' through!"
The crowd of people in the Market, somewhat confused and worried by the sound of the bell, focused on Akatsuki's voice and cleared a path for her as she ordered.
"Excuse us!" Inazuma calls out clearly, bringing up the rear. "We're about to go into battle, so please be aware of your surroundings!"
"Kick their ass!" A merchant from within the crowd yells to general approval.
Knowing that the Stars are on task, the crowd's unease minimized and they went onto their daily duties.
Elsewhere, Ursula was spending time in the Marketplace, sampling wares and being very…confused, at the relative lack of tension within the general population. She had expected something more along the lines of families quickly returning indoors. Instead, she saw…at best a general interest, at worst a little bit of worry.
"Darling." She addresses the merchant manning the closest stall. "Can you tell me…why are you so calm in the face of danger?" For added effect she leans forward to enchant the young man.
The young merchant obligingly looks down the collar of Ursula's shirt. "W-well." He gulps and refocuses on her face. "This is one of the most well defended towns in all of Elibe."
Ursula…she has heard that line before. Many times. More than she cared to count. Some of them uttered by person or persons moments before they were eliminated by her hand.
She has, however, never heard that sentence spoken with such a matter-of-fact tone before, and that surprised her. "That's…quite a claim to make." She says slowly.
The man nods. "Surprised me the first time I heard it, too." He gestures to the buildings lining the edge of town, where the more curious civilians were already starting to gather. "You're free to watch."
"I must admit I've never had an impending attack treated as an attraction before." Ursula mutters. "This should be interesting."
…
The leader of the nomads figured he was getting overpaid for this job.
The man wasn't stupid. He's heard about this newcomer town and its supposedly extremely powerful warship. He heard about how those strange ships from somewhere fought off those strange ships from Jugdral at extreme range, and understood the value of being careful.
He also knew that correlation didn't mean causation, and figured that the stories of an "extremely long range ballistae sinking ships in one shot" were a bit of a hyperbole. It supposedly spins and shoots invisible fire, who'd believe that?
Thus, he now rode towards this…bloated trading post of a town that sprung up seemingly out of nowhere. A trading post town with just a single ship for defense (he can't help but giggle at that one) and no walls to speak of.
Though he was confident in both his archery and tactical foresight, he gently reminded himself that a town without a wall is either incredibly naïve…or incredibly well defended by a roaming force.
Still, there is zero visual cover from the town from his current position, and likewise no way for the defenders of the town to be hidden from sight. The nomad is thus rather surprised that there has yet to be a peep from the town. So much so, that their group is still travelling at that leisurely trot that saves their energy for the romp through the town later. He had a brief thought to maybe increase speed so they would get initiative.
Whatever his next thoughts were, it was suddenly replaced by the rather unpleasant vision of his decoy's head exploding.
…
"I got the gaudy looking one." Akatsuki cheers as she watches her now suddenly headless corpse twist exaggeratedly and fall off of its horse.
The Stars girls—all five of them—were perched on the rooftops of the Marketplace's outermost buildings. Each one of them were armed and armored to the teeth, and had their feet firmly planted on the wooden roofs with buckets of nails of wood and scrap iron varieties sitting next to them.
Nino and Linus were observing. Nino because she's in charge, and Linus because he wanted to.
3 stars and 2 trainees.
Currently, they're using the M20 chaingun for sniping, since the Thor has a tendency to tear up the land (more) and currently the nomads were riding over friendly turf.
"Good shot." Hibiki replies mechanically while snipe/mowing down a few more nomads.
"This feels a little unfair." Linus notes worriedly, watching the Nomads through an enhanced spyglass. He inwardly winces as one of the nomads' head is blown from its shoulders.
Inazuma laughs nervously. "Yeah, well…" She still doesn't hesitate to put a few rounds downrange.
Note that at this point "a few rounds" is basically about forty to fifty shots a second.
"We're out numbered 60 to 1, so I think something like this is perfectly fine." Akatsuki says dismissively and takes down a few more targets. "Command, how far are they from the third line of defense?"
"Nomads are a hundred feet out, but they don't seem to be making progress." An operator aboard the Neverland replies.
"That's just unfair." Linus notes indignantly. "You can communicate with other people in different places instantly."
"Yes." Hibiki keeps firing. "It's reality." She glances at Linus. "You're not going to arm yourself?" She asks curiously.
Linus shrugs. "I can walk fine, but the doc said I shouldn't fight." He pats her on her head. "Not that you need me anyways."
"That's right." Hibiki replies with zero emotion or remorse.
…
The five Stars members continue plinking away at the nomads at extreme range until roughly a third of the nomadic forces are dead. The rest begin to flee in panic in a remarkably orderly fashion.
"They're starting to retreat." Akatsuki reports after confirming the sight with her own spyglass. "What's the plan now?"
"Let them." Nino replies very matter-of-factly.
"They're going to tell everyone you have that kind of gear." Linus points out.
Nino shrugs. "After this fight, everybody will know we have this kind of gear with or without their help."
Linus nods slowly. "That's…certainly true." He glances back at the crowd of fifty or so people watching the girls shoot. "So what happens now?" He says a little louder over their cheers.
Nino had a faint feeling that she may be missing a chance. "I changed my mind." She says suddenly. "Stars, capture the nomads as best as you are able. Priority on their captain."
"You wanna know what made them come here, right?" Akatsuki grins. "Alright. Saddle up, girls!"
"We're not mounted, though…" Inazuma sighs. "Trainees stay here, please be ready to respond at a moment's notice."
The three veteran Stars still kick their wind shoes into high gear and skate after the nomads.
…
The nomads rode until they were sure they were not going to be mysteriously killed. They found a convenient patch of trees that would hide their position against any pursuers coming from the town.
"Whatever bonus we were supposed to be getting, it isn't enough." One Nomad growls. "Boss, the hell's going on?"
The Nomad boss was gnashing his teeth. "I don't know either." He snaps. "They had a ship, fine, but at least we should be able to see it before it starts shooting at us."
The group traded comments with each other (mostly in the form of "what the fuck's going on") before a new voice, quite distant sounding, shocked them into silence.
"This is the Phoenix Expeditionary Taskforce 'Stars'." Inazuma's voice rang faintly in the sky. "We ask that you disarm and dismount."
Literally no nomads did as she asked. They were rather surprised at the bodiless voice and became more guarded, which was quite understandable.
"Um…I say again: disarm and dismount." Inazuma repeats. "Comply with our orders, or we will attack."
"Maybe we should do as she says?" Nomad NPC A says warily. "She's asking nicely."
"If I am to die, I'd rather die with a weapon in my hand." The Nomad Boss tightens his bowstring. "We fight!"
"Strictly speaking, we're just looking for your boss." Akatsuki's voice flies over the air next. "So if you can restrain him or something, that'd be great."
The nomads were a bit unsure about what to make of this request.
"Otherwise, we'd have to shoot all of you." Hibiki adds. "And that would be unpleasant."
"I don't think I trust the words of a girl that young." The Nomad Boss scoffs.
"We warned you." Akatsuki says cheerily.
The Nomad Boss's horse is then blown out from underneath him.
While all Nomads in attendance were rather shocked at this sudden display of bloody violence, Akatsuki zips into the gaggle of Nomads, grabs the boss by the cuff of his neck, and drags him away with a cheery wave.
The Nomad boss struggled for a second until Hibiki picked up his legs. He was then ingloriously carried away by a pair of girls who are way too strong for their physical size.
"Excuse us." Inazuma had the grace to bow apologetically to the Nomads before separating from them.
Understandably, the Nomads were entirely too shocked at the blitz attack to do anything.
"What just happened?" Nomad Sub-boss finally demands, after the girls were long gone.
…
Nino and her brothers (and some of her staffers) walked over to the town's main road and entrance while the three girls were gone.
After a fashion, a rather lopsided figure skates into the town to curious onlookers.
"Stars, returning from mission." Inazuma, the one person who has free hands, reports and salutes Nino.
"We're baack!" Akatsuki announces and drops the nomad boss unceremoniously on the ground.
The nomad attempts to scramble to his feet and makes a move to pull his knife.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Linus smiles threateningly from above him. The Nomad boss notes that the man's hand was already on his sword. "On your knees, and no sudden moves."
Defeated, the Nomad moves his hands away from his waist and slowly does as he's told.
"Hello." Nino pleasantly catches his attention. "I have some questions for you, if you don't mind."
Nomad Boss really wasn't in the position to disagree, and he knew it.
Nino smiles in response to the Nomad Boss's sullen nod. "I'd like to know what drove you to attack our town."
Nomad Boss didn't answer…though his eyes flicked over to the crowd of people gathering (but kept at a distance).
Nino caught the distraction. From behind her, she heard some…no, many people gasp.
A group of cloaked figures suddenly dart forth from the crowd and charge towards the group gathered in the center.
"Shit!" Linus draws his weapon.
"Nino!" Lloyd yells in alarm and draws as well. He quickly assesses the situation and moves to intercept the closest assassin.
Then, before his eyes, the assassin gets hit by something invisible and stops as if hit by a sledgehammer.
A series of rapid popping around him caused Linus to look around.
There were a total of fifteen cloaked figures that had charged at Nino's party from all sides. At the moment, all but three were dead on the floor, not five seconds after they had begun their attack.
Lloyd's attention turned to the Stars. Each one of them had their shattered gear in one hand, and a strange tube thing in the other…it looked like a smaller version of the large 'gun' they were using moments earlier. All three of them were pointing their smaller guns in all directions, and were probably responsible for killing the would-be assassins in cold blood.
For the record: the Stars are currently wielding an enchanted revolver.
"Rush me again." Akatsuki says with cold fury. "I dare you."
Though the two surviving assassins didn't know what hit them, they knew they were being targeted by a weapon of some kind, and stayed defensive.
Lloyd blinks. Wait, only two?
"We lost one." Hibiki warns.
Nino heard and felt the mysterious figure rush at her back.
"Cap!" Inazuma yells as a warning and turns her gun towards the assassin.
But she didn't need to have bothered.
The lone assassin felt the hair on his neck stand up, and threw himself to the ground second before an absurdly powerful beam of electricity tore into the sky. The strength of the spell was seen by the entirety of the Market, and the entire town fell silent.
Lloyd stares, dumbfounded, at Nino's outstretched hand.
"We didn't live through the apocalypse through just equipment, you know." Akatsuki chuckles…though her aim was unwaveringly pointed at the last assassin's heart. "So please don't think you can just send an assassin and solve your problems."
The assassin, from his prone position, throws a knife at the Nomad Boss.
The knife gets slammed into the ground by an absurdly strong blast of wind.
"That's quite enough." Nino says severely, one of her hands crackling with electricity, the other swirling with wind. "Keep your hands where we can see them." Laces of blue magical power arc around her body, backing up her threat. For the record, she's doing it intentionally.
The three remaining assassins, feeling the flight response scream through their body, dutifully dropped their weapons and surrendered.
In the crowd, Ursula watches this development with a scowl. If she's that powerful, then anything I can do here will be immediately overpowered. She surmises. Best lay low for a while.
…
After a little bit of pleasant suggestion (the Phoenix isn't big on torture) the Nomad Boss divulged what he knew about his mission and was allowed to go on his way. He returned a day later with his entire clan and swore fealty towards the Phoenix Empire.
"I like to play for the winning team." He explained when asked why. More specifically, his clan was in danger of being wiped out by a rival, and the deal from the Black Fang came at just the right time, and the money would have—in the worst case scenario—been enough to bribe their rivals to leave them alone. However, since the nomads lost, they now had few options, and surrendering to an overwhelming force seemed like the best bet. As their opening gift, they gave what they thought the Phoenix would need most: a detailed map of Sacae's trade routes.
With the information she now had, Nino now knows that the Black Fang was targeting the port and had intended to assassinate its leader, which at the moment was her. While she did know of the attack before (since Linus shared information), she now had confirmation from the offending party and a clear picture on who had ordered it. The information didn't make her any happier.
The lone, nearly successful assassin is indeed Jaffar, who was rather surprised and shocked that he had been ordered to assassinate Nino. Given he rather likes her it wasn't too difficult to get him to switch sides…after she dragged him tooth and nail out of a rather depressing period of self-loathing. Apparently she used figs according to relationship advice obtained from a friend of hers. That friend has henceforth discouraged from giving love advice.
Then they get into an actual relationship (with sex and everything), but since that isn't really the main focus here, we're going to sideline that entire subplot in favor of moving things along.
Be nice to the fourth wall. We only have one of those.
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{ === + === }
Author Notes:
I wrote this back during Christmas, which is why this update is coming around so fast.