Kaiden III Battlegroup, 7th Line Korp Command Center
West Central Mid-Childa, approximately 10 kilometers west of Feine
9-471-004M42
Vincent glared at the chart table as the black icon indicating 94th 1st Company, 6th Platoon approached the North flank, where two others had gone before, and died before. Commissar Einz' 'champion', and a squad of Grenadiers, had likewise been swallowed up by this… witch. Beta Two. The moment the feed from his pict-caster had cut out, Einz had ordered an entire battery concentrate fire on that point.
Everywhere else, things were going fairly well. Everywhere, the enemy was fleeing into the heart of their city. The assault along the road had slowed – it seemed that the gas did not have the effect they expected, no doubt some witchcraft protected the enemy, but it was moving steadily, the foe was weakening, and Hell's Postboy would soon attack, which would surely crush any remaining resistance.
"That… girl… must surely be dead by now." Einz said. "She proved quite a thorn... if they have another like her, I will become quite angry."
"We will know soon." Vincent said. "Even if not… we have encircled her. She cannot fight an army."
"We hope." Major Caulen said. "It strikes me that the enemy could not have expected the forces arrayed against us to be victorious."
"A delaying action." Vincent acknowledged. "No doubt they are marshalling their forces elsewhere."
"We'll wipe these out." Major Straushaum said. "And then we'll wipe them out too. We can set up a perimeter on the far side of this town. A methodical advance…"
"Is suicidal." Einz interrupted. "A Corp cannot fight a planet. Not like that. Our best option is to eliminate their centers of command. Kill the governor, lord martial, destroy their equipment, communications, utilities. With them crippled and in confusion, we have a chance of purging many more. Have you considered that they may have starships, which they could use to destroy us at leisure if we stopped?"
"No, I had not, sir." Straushaum said.
"But if they have orbital support, why haven't they used it already?" Caulen asked
"Enough questions." Einz snapped. He seemed a little less… volatile…Vincent thought, since they had landed. Perhaps he simply did not like starships.
The Commissar was also right, although Caulen had valid question. Vincent's suspicion was that they were too soft to order a bombardment on their own world. This city was evidence enough. Any competent general would have drafted the populace to fight, rather than letting them scuttle away like rats. But perhaps they would fire, if there were no 'civilians' in the way.
"Colonel von Ferrograd." Captain Weilkin's voice crackled over the vox. "I think I found the site you were looking for."
"Is the b – is the witch dead?" Einz demanded.
"No sign, Lord Commissar. There are a few dead psykers here, and the grenadiers, but no sign of this… Beta Two… or of the Commissar."
"I see." Einz replied, cutting him off.
"They took the body?!" Straushaum spat. "Vile, thrice cursed witches…"
"Or took him alive, perhaps?" Vincent asked.
"It's just like last time, isn't it?" Major Caulen noted. "In the bunker. She vanished, along with one of our men. Perhaps…"
Caulen stopped before he said, but everyone knew what he had meant. A sacrifice. Some form of… dark magik (not that there was another kind), that they used to escape… Vincent didn't know how it would work, and didn't want to.
"She can't outrun the Emperor's Justice forever." Straushaum noted.
"We're ready for the final push." Colonel Notting said, from the front. "Third Platoon will go first. What with their weapons, this might be disappointingly safe."
"Excellent." Vincent said. "Caulen. Order Fifth Company to begin its attack. Crush them."
City of Whithaum, 31st Ground Special Investigations Company HQ
Central Mid-Childa, approximately 295 kilometers south of the capital city
April 28th, Year 76 of the New Calendar: 0749 Hours
The Ork aircraft sailed overhead, trailing smoke. Well, they had always been trailing smoke, but seemed to be trailing more than usual as the light of half a dozen bombardment attacks trailed after them. One struck home, just under the right aircraft's wing, and the craft tilted and spiraled to the ground, sending up a plume of black smoke when it hit.
"I hope that didn't land on anyone important." A Ground Forces officer said as the second zoomed away, flame blasting from its engines.
Hayate looked at her survey view. It was hard to interpret, as contacts kept flickering in and out of sight, but it looked like that while the main mass of Orks was heading for the 6th and 8th Street bridges, a smaller detachment was breaking off, heading westwards.
She activated Battalion General, and said. "This is Lt. Colonel Hayate Yagami. All personnel report to headquarters immediately."
"I'll ready my section." Signum said, and closed the videopathic transmission.
"What? More of them?!" Someone shouted.
"Yeah." Inspector Langely said. He was still around. Hayate tried to remember what, exactly, someone could want to arrest her for, especially at a time like this… it had to be a mistake, or someone trying to get back at her for some real or imagined slight…
Her thoughts were interrupted by the roar of another aircraft sweeping directly overhead, leaving a thunderous crash in its wake. Two more followed it. Then another – some of these were bigger, huge engines on the wings, and armed with even more weapons…
Shells raked the pavilion in front of HQ – not hitting anyone, fortunately, it had mostly cleared of people – these versions could apparently fire backwards.
She took a moment to call up her armor, piece by piece, and it worked this time, although it still took much more effort than it should have.
An alert monitor flashed in front of her. Incoming transmission, 38th Aerial Command Training Company.
"Huh? Langley said. "38th ACT? Who the heck is calling now, of all times?"
One way or another, Hayate thought, the day was getting more interesting by the second.
Art Morris Public Elementary School for Gifted Children, Serial 381
Clanagan, Capital City of Mid-Childa
April 28th, Year 76 of the New Calendar: 0748 Hours
The school parking lot was completely devoid of cars - strange, since class started at eight, and a lot of parents dropped their children off beforehand… much like her.
Nanoha Takamachi drove through the drop-off zone, pulled into the nearest parking spot, wiped her nose – she had a bit of a cold - and shut off the car.
"Nobody's here…" Vivio observed, looking up at her mother in confusion.
She was right. There was no sign of anyone around – indeed, the streets had seemed almost empty as they drove, but…
"The lights are on in the school, though…" Nanoha said as she opened her door."I think school's out, but let's see if anyone's inside, first."
There wasn't any need, since a woman walked out the door as soon as Nanoha stepped out of the car. Nanoha recognized her as the school's secretary, although unfortunately, she couldn't remember her name… L something.
"Hey!" Nanoha called out. "Miss, eh…"
"Laures" Vivio transmitted, tugging on her skirt. She'd mastered that about three months ago – and hadn't spoken for three days afterwards in all the excitement.
"Miss Laures!" Nanoha corrected as the woman walked closer, looking a bit harried. "Is today a… planning day or something?"
"Planning day?" The woman replied. "You don't know? It's been all over the news… I expected you were there by now…"
"Know what?" Nanoha said, a feeling growing that it could not possibly be good news.
"I'd have thought you'd be the first to know, being an armed forces officer and everything…" Ms. Laures said, leaned in as if telling a secret, and whispered. "There's been an attack."
"An attack? On the school?" Nanoha replied – someone must having been trying to hurt Vivio, there were a lot of people who didn't...
"No, not on the school. In the west… there's an invasion, or terrorist attack, or something… everything's closed, except the hotels, since there's a large-scale evacuation…"
"No way! Another attack?" Nanoha exclaimed. "You're right, it is odd I haven't heard… but I didn't watch the news today…"
Nobody said anything for moment, as Nanoha tried to process what she'd just heard… who could possibly be attacking Mid-Childa now…
"Uh… I guess I'll be heading back in." Miss Laures said. "I need to wait here till eight."
"Yeah. I should probably go to work."
Miss Laures walked back to the school, and the Takamachis walked back to their car. Nanoha sighed as she sat down. Before she could do anything, she needed more information – a location, at least. Someone at the 38th had to know about this, so she keyed in the command center and set her car to auto-drive.
Vivio looked up at her as the car slowly drove itself out of the parking lot, her multicolored eyes wide with concern. Understandable, considering what happened to her last year…
"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Nanoha said. "Hmm… I could take you back home if you feel safe there, or you could come to work with me… you'd probably have to sit in my office though."
"I wanna come with you." Vivio replied.
"Okay." Nanoha said. "I'll call Mama Fate and Hayate, maybe they can help."
The car accelerated as it turned onto the main road, and Nanoha keyed in Fate's personal access code.
'ACCESS DENIED – THIS CODE IS NOT CURRENTLY ACTIVE' flashed in the side window.
"That's odd…" Nanoha whispered under her breath. The only reason that particular message would be displayed was if the code had been shut down… or that part of the network wasn't working. She decided to try contacting Hayate instead.
'SEARCHING FOR SIGNAL – STAND BY.'
'CONNECTED – WAITING FOR RESPONSE'
The image of Hayate Yagami appeared in the side window, dressed in her armor – black 'leather', white jacket, and oversized hat. A bus… a PL-541 personnel transport – passed behind her.
"Hey, Nanoha…" Hayate answered, clearly flustered about something. "I really wish I could talk now, but… I don't suppose this is business?"
"Eh… is this a bad time?"
"Kinda. Whithaum is under attack by aliens, and my company is helping in the defence. General Shendaler hasn't spoken with me yet, but I expect he'll be calling any moment. So… it's kind of a bad time."
"I see… that's… really bad. Aliens?"
"I think so. I don't really know what's going on… but… I'll call as soon as this is over."
"Stay safe. I might possibly be able to convince someone to let me come help…"
"I was afraid you'd say that. Fate was away too, yesterday… have you spoken to her yet?"
"No, I couldn't get in touch with her, it said her code isn't active."
"Really? That's odd… I hope she's alright… she was investigating the attack on Zolice."
"Yeah… I guess she must still be under communications silence… wait, there was another attack? More aliens?"
"Not from what I heard… Anyways, I think…"
"Colonel! Now's not the time." Someone said in the background, his (or possibly her) voice distorted over the telepathic communication.
"I think I'd better go. Goodbye. For now."
At that, the transmission ended. There were still a few minutes left to get to the base. Nanoha sighed.
"Is Aunt Hayate okay?"
"Eh. She'll be fine." Nanoha replied. "But… I am afraid I might be busy for a little while."
K3 Magical Energy Accumulation Type Power Station
Central Mid Childa, 401 kilometers south of Clanagan
April 28th, Year 76 of the New Calendar: 0751 Hours
"Everyone, form up and report. We still have a job to do." Chief Peel said, after what seemed like several minutes at least. "Come on. Stand to."
"What, go further in?" Someone quickly stammered back. "What if there are more of those things in there?!"
"Subaru, you hurt?" Hayes asked, extending an arm towards her. That was the first time she realized she was half-lying on the floor, and wasn't sure how she'd got there. The only thing of note she'd done during the intervening minutes was disengage her cybernetic power system - at Mach Caliber's behest, she probably wouldn't have remembered otherwise - before it gave her heat stroke.
"Uh… no." Subaru replied as she took his hand. "Not bad."
"If you don't want to go inside, you can stay here, attend to the injured." Peel was saying.
"Good. At least some of us are okay." Hayes said, lifting her up. "Sure you're alright?"
"I guess." She replied, shaking her head, reminding herself to keep focused. "I've never seen anything like this."
"Shouldn't we get out of here, and let the armed forces handle this?" One of the officers from Ladder 1 asked. There were little over a dozen left out of a thirty-person unit, and only half of those in any condition to do anything…
"I know." Hayes replied, then turned to address Peel "She has a point, Chief. They're definitely better suited-"
A deep, buzzing alarm went off, and few moments later a synthetic male voice boomed over the station's loudspeakers. "Alert. Energy overflow in progress. Failsafe countermeasures disabled. Critical overload in -eight- minutes."
"What's that?" Someone said.
"I don't know." Peel replied, a monitor appearing before him "I'll try to access the computer system."
"Uh… there's too much energy collecting in the core. If it isn't dispersed, the capacitors will explode." One of the other rescue officers volunteered. "I uh… used to work in I17"
"Then we've got to get out of here!" Another person said.
"What's the point value on this place?" The former I17 worker asked.
"One point three billion." Peel replied. "That's bad, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I'm not sure how bad… it would depend on circumstances."
"Worst case scenario?" Peel asked. "Klein? Anyone?"
Subaru pushed away from the wall. It was starting to look like there was yet more to do… maybe it would help in the end, maybe not… but she wanted it anyways… she thought.
"Not sure exactly…" the officer from I17, presumably Officer Klein, replied. "But it could be… a hundred kilometers?"
"That's bad." Subaru said. "That town we passed by is a lot closer than that…"
"I can't reengage the failsafe from here." Peel said. "We'll have to go into the control room."
"Control room path – no contacts." Mach Caliber commented.
"That's good." Hayes said.
"Alright. Anyways, I'd like at least a ladder going in. Klein, we'll need you."
"Yes sir."
"And, any other volunteers."
Hayes immediately raised his hand. Subaru raised hers a moment later, followed by three others whose names she didn't know yet.
"I need you to get the others out, Hayes. Two of the EYs should still be operational. We don't want them attacking from behind. Klein, Taylor, Nakajima, Ericon, Cutler, with me."
Captain Hayes looked annoyed, but nodded. "Understood, sir. I'll get everyone back safe, and head back… in case I'm not here in time… give my regards to the Orks."
City of Whithaum, 31st Ground Special Investigations Company HQ
Central Mid-Childa, approximately 295 kilometers south of the capital city
April 28th, Year 76 of the New Calendar: 0752 Hours
"Who was that, anyway?" Langley asked
Hayate looked back in mild surprise. "Nanoha Takamachi."
"Ah, so that's what she looks like? I expected her to be a bit… younger, actually. You served with her?"
"I grew up with her… but you're right. We have a job to do." Hayate replied, and tapped Rein's code on her comm bracelet.
"I'm on my way to you!" Reinforce replied, audio only. "I'll be there in just a sec…""Thanks, but it might be better if you started getting ready in the control room…"
"I heard you were hurt, and I figured I needed to come help…"
"I'll be fine. In fact, I'm pretty -" Hayate began, and paused as something came screaming in and exploded in the center of Victory Plaza, wrecking a lot of expensive paving stones but causing no important damage. "- pretty much better."
"So what do we do now?!" Reinforce yelled as she coasted out of a second story window and drifted to a halt just behind Hayate.
Langley held his fingers out in front of him, measuring out about six centimeters "I swear, our officers are getting younger every year."
Hayate and Reinforce both chose to ignore him. "Well…" Hayate began. "First, we need to mobilize the company, already working on that. Then we'll wait for orders from General Shendaler."
"Are we going to go ourselves?" Reinforce asked.
"I'd recommend against it." Langley said. "You know High Command…"
Ah. So maybe that was what this was about, Hayate thought… whatever the case, it didn't matter for now.
"Not yet." She said. "If they need more help, we'll go… and then we'll worry about convincing high command later."
A second videopathic monitor appeared besides the survey view, showing a grey-haired man in a staff officer's uniform – General Shendaler. Below his image were all the other Ground Forces battalion commanders in the group.
Hayate and Reinforce saluted.
"Alright, Ladies and Gentlemen. I'm sure by now you all know the score. Home Zero, Away Two."
One or two of the commanders chuckled. Major Swen, 298th Ground, looked incensed.
"Har har." She replied. "We need help. Now."
"Alright, not funny. The enemy… 'Orks' I believe, was Colonel Yagami's designation, are launching an assault on the city. Hostile count is estimated at around three thousand…"
"Three thousand?" The newly promoted commander of the 103rd Battalion asked. "How could someone assemble an army that big without being noticed? Especially considering the sweep the fleet did after Scaglietti…"
"I have no idea. Investigation will figure it out…" He indicated in Hayate's direction. "But now, it's not important. Anyways, the Orks are launching a concerted on East Fork island – here."
The survey view flashed for a moment, and then highlighted the island furthest west in the Whit River Delta. Thin, and a little under two kilometers long, it was a popular neighborhood for the city's well-to-do, who, Hayate thought, probably weren't feeling so well-to-do right now.
"Ya think? We've got our backs to the bridge, and we need support NOW!" Major Swen said.
"We're working on it." Shendaler said. "Calm down. East Fork is our primary battleground… Police and Special Rescue are clearing out civilians as best they can, but it's more or less already overrun…"
"Mistress Hayate." Signum interposed, a purely mental transmission. "Sections 1 and 3 are ready to deploy. Vita saw the fighting pursing that aircraft…"
"Also, 84th has limited contact over the 8th street bridge…" Shendaler continued "We believe this is a second detachment, and Colonel Bello says his flyboys are engaging a large group of armor-types south of the river…"
"… so she's heading to West Fork." Signum finished. "By your leave, of course."
"Now. Your orders. 103rd, 718th, and 78th will all concentrate on the West Fork front. 27th will deploy along PEH 33. 31st Company will be reserve, deploy your forces as necessary."
"Understood!" Hayate replied, along with everyone else. "Signum. Tell Vita she can go ahead, and take 1st section there too."
All the images disappeared, except for the general.
"One last thing. The Orks are still transporting reinforcements over the southern half of the 6th street bridge… our rear attackers have damaged it, but it's still an effective conduit. Colonel Yagami, destroy it."
"Understood, General. Is the area clear?"
"As best we can." The general replied. "Our forces have cleared out, and there shouldn't be any civilians left… it's them or us, Colonel."
"Wait, destroy the bridge?" Langley interrupted. "It had to cost nearly a billion capital units…"
"I understand." Hayate replied. "Rein, I think I'll need your help for this."
"Got it!" Rein said, spreading her arms wide. "Unison… in!"
She vanished in a white flash. The weather that day, like most days in the city, was hot and still, but Hayate felt a cool breeze rushing around her, and through her; her body tingling with power that wasn't hers.
"Ready!" Reinforce's voice echoed from within her.
Hayate nodded – she wasn't actually sure if Reinforce could see/sense it, but did it anyways, and lifted a bit off the ground before speeding up into the air, rising a hundred meters or so, above all but the downtown skyscrapers.
She could just barely see the bridge, even without the steady streams smoke rising into a thick cloud over East Fork island. Fortunately, she didn't need to see. Hayate closed her eyes, and raised her staff before her, slowly gathering huge amounts of energy like a veil around her.
"I see the mark…" Reinforce said. "Solution… set! Ready when you are!"
"Come forth, the wind of snow…" Hayate whispered, opening her eyes. The book hovering at her side opened on its own, rapidly flipping through its pages. With a wave of her left had, the vortex of energy around Hayate coalesced, a blue-white magic circle blazing into existence before her, followed by six more around the central circle…
"And become the fletching that falls from the heavens!" Reinforce finished. With a final effort, and some help from Reinforce, Hayate imbued the ambient energy around her into the seven sigils, which began to glow sun-bright…
"HRAESVALGR!" Both shouted at once.
The beams fired off one by one with a rolling sound of thunder, starting with the main beam, and streaked away into the distance.
"Beams on target…" Reinforce said. "Impact in eight seconds! Second wave, ready!"
Hayate kept her concentration, channeling more energy into the spell, and six more bolts formed in the smaller circles, and likewise launched into the distance – she only needed to supply power, Rein actually controlled the spell.
"That's it." Reinforce said.
Hayate relaxed just a bit, not enough to disrupt the stability of the spell matrix, and wiped some sweat from her brow. The bolts themselves were barely visible in the distance, but were probably halfway to their target by now.
"Time?" Hayate asked.
"Ah…" Rein replied. "Three… two… one…impact!"
A immense white flash blossomed in the distance, followed by half a dozen more blasts close by. A second later, a row of flashes swept across the island side bridgehead. As the light faded, Hayate couldn't see what damage had been done at this distance, and she couldn't have taken out her sighting scope even if she had it – but the bridge was cable stayed. The initial burst would probably snap most of the cables, and then the bridge would collapse under its own weight – and of course, any Orks in the immediate area would be unconscious or worse anyways.
"I have images from the BDA searchers." General Shendaler transmitted. "Transpo's not going to be happy. Perfect shot, that should slow them down. Now take command of your unit, Colonel. Our rear attackers will be able to handle long-range support."
"Understood." Hayate replied. "I'll do what I can."
Hayate settled to the ground, and opened a survey window. The breeze ceased as Reinforce materialized on her shoulder, looking at the display.
"That doesn't look good." Reinforce said.
She was certainly right. In the southeast, where the bridge had been, the tan icons indicating Ground Forces sections were being drowned in a sea of red – most of the Orks, it seemed, had already crossed the bridge. To the southwest, a handful of aerial and ground forces fought along the Planetary Express Highway bridge. This was going to be a long day…
Grand Central Highway, City of Feine
Central Mid Childa, approximately 305 kilometers west of Clanagan
April 28th, Year 76 of the New Calendar: 0757 Hours
The PL-505 finally halted atop the Grand Central Highway, and the rear door unlocked. Bombardment attacks howled overhead, tearing dozen of tiny holes into the truck's hull.
Teana was next to the door, so she was among the first to exit. Outside was a… mess. The highway was torn to pieces, holes punched clear through in the upper deck, and strewn with the bodies of ground forces soldiers, some clearly wounded by the bombardment weapons, some with no visible injury. A row of mobile barricades waited nearby, it defenders struck dead at their posts. About another hundred meters beyond that was another row of barricades, this one manned by a dozen soldiers or so, and beyond that, yet another barrier. Defense in depth, ground tactics C. There would probably be another two or so past that, if the commander had been following 'standard procedure'.
"By all that is holy and unholy…" One of the Ground Forces men swore. "What happened here?"
"Neurotype gas, I think." Colonel Sochor replied, exiting the truck. "Lieutenant! Meet up with 18th Battalion's Subcommander... Captain Relin, he's up at the front. Squad Baker, stay with me. Lanster, go with the rest of them!"
Teana complied, running with the rest of the section along the highway, as bombardment attacks burst overhead, showering the area below them in tiny puffs of smoke as they impacted. In the distance, she could hear the crack of laser weapons, alongside deeper explosions, like their bombardment attacks. It was quite a long ways, but they reached the fifth and final set of barricades in just two minutes.
The front lines were being defended by a much larger group of soldiers probably an entire section on the top level alone, and no doubt more below. Teana walked up to the most likely candidate to be Captain Relin, a middle age woman about 65 or so surrounded by monitors.
The Lieutenant followed after her, shouting "Captain! Captain Relin!"
"Yes?" The woman replied. Teana stepped aside, clasped her hands, and awaited her turn.
"I'm with Section 1, 200th Battalion, where do you need me."
"We're employing defense in depth." Relin replied, "Concentrate your forces in the second line. And, I could use some people in the rail level. We're down to half strength, here."
"Understood!" The lieutenant said, snapping to salute, and went to order his subordinates into position.
"Sir!" Teana said, saluting. "Agent's Aide Teana Lanster, reporting for duty."
The captain stared at the bandages around her arm for a moment.
"Alright, if you insist…" She finally said. "I can't hold your hand, though."
"I don't need anyone to hold my hand." Teana snapped back, a bit harsher than she probably should have, but not as harshly as she wanted to. "Sir."
"Then take your position, Agent Lancer. They should have attacked four minutes ago, and I don't… do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Teana replied. Laser fire was still audible in the distance, but she other than that…
"Exactly." Captain Relin said. "Bombardment ceases before each attack. They're coming."
"Well, what are you waiting for!" The captain snapped. "Get to the barricade!"
Teana figured she was probably right, quickly ran over and crouched behind the mobile barricade.
"Nice jacket." The soldier next to her commented.
"Thanks." Teana replied, looking over the barricade – the highway ahead was choked with smoke – she couldn't see much more than a hundred meters.
"All personnel, this is Captain Relin." The captain's voice echoed over transmission. "Enemy movement inbound – prepare for contact."
Teana extended her right hand over the barricade, scanning for any sign of movement, and flexed her left hand. She had left it wrapped in static bandage sling, like the base doctor ordered, but she could use it if she needed.
"Condition All Green" Cross Mirage said. "No reactions, heavy jamming in area."
"Thanks." Teana replied, and waited. The smoke began to clear, but they could still hear the Krieg attackers before they saw them – the tramp of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of footsteps, and the distant rumble of armor types. She swallowed. This… might be a bit harder than she expected.
"We're detecting a type I… keep your heads down, and take it out if you can."
"Type Is are the big square vehicles, right?" Teana asked.
"Uh… yeah." The soldier who had complimented her jacket replied. "They shoot beams like, four times as fast, so watch out."
Well, at least she'd get to see if she could break through their armor… she was probably the best to try taking it out, so one way…
Without warning, dozens of Krieg soldiers emerged from the smoke like phantoms, and immediately opened fire. Teana flinched as a laser went zipping overhead, recovered from her shock, and fired back as the rest of the section did likewise. She thought she took one down, but couldn't be sure in the hail of multi-colored bolts – they were still far enough away most of the shots were missing, but a few hit their marks, and about four or so of the Krieg soldiers were down…
She aimed at a different soldier and quickly fired three shots – one hit him, driving him back, but it wasn't enough to take him down. A laser smashed into the barricade in front of her, chipping off a piece of metal, or carbon composite, or whatever. Teana ducked beneath the barricade, a crimson line flashing through the space she'd just been occupying.
About half a dozen Ground Forces soldiers were already shot and lying on the ground, but she couldn't worry about that now. Teana cleared her mind, and spent a few seconds concentrating, drawing the energy around her, and from Cross Mirage's cartridge, into ten orbs…
Having two pistols was convenient when shooting at lots of enemies, but it didn't actually make her magic any more powerful. She sprung up from behind the wall, a chance laser scattering off the center of her jacket. She ignored it.
"CROSSFIRE SHOOT!" Teana shouted, and two orbs each struck five soldiers – they all went down, although the last one staggered to his feet. They were only fifty meters distant now… and the Type I had made its appearance, moving up along the right side of the road – it was different, somehow, but she couldn't dwell on that now. She snapped a few shots at three more soldiers, and ducked again.
"First Group! Fall back!" Relin ordered telepathically. Teana wasn't sure which group she was in, but the soldiers around her quickly leapt up and sprinted towards the next barricade, so she followed after them, not pausing to look back as beams whizzed past – one struck the soldier from before in the leg, partially breaking through his jacket and tripping him up. One of the other soldiers immediately ran to help him… Without really thinking, Teana turned around, shot a Krieg soldier running towards the barricade, and then ran back to the second line – it was only about 8 meters away.
"Second group fall back!" Relin ordered. The Krieg forces were close, though, and the Armor-Type was racing up the right flank towards, where one of the squads was now trying to disentangle themselves. The rest of the groups were fleeing as best the could, but the enemy was right behind them. Teana fired at a soldier as he started to climb over the barricade – the second shot sent him tumbling backwards.
The Type I rolled to a halt about a dozen meters from the line, where one of the soldiers stood up, rune circle glowing before him – and an arc of fire streamed from the vehicle's turret, washing over the squad like a wave. The machine rolled on ahead, crushing the barrier and their burning bodies beneath it.
"Cover me!" Teana shouted to no one in particular, pulling off her sling and gripping her pistol in both hands. "Cross Mirage! Aim Lock!"
"Confirmed!" The device replied, and a tiny videopathic monitor appeared in front of Teana's right eye. It showed the distance to the target, direction, and other things, but more importantly, could help her aim exactly where she wanted…
That was the difference she'd noticed. She centered the small reticule indicating her actual aim over the mechanism on the flame carrier's back – that had to be whatever it used to spout fire, and that meant it was probably volatile.
A laser bounced off her shoulder – that didn't concern her, although the armor-type was getting uncomfortably close to the second line. She focused, keeping her aim on the vehicle – Aim Lock couldn't work miracles – a glittering circle appeared in front of her.
"Cartridge Load! PHANTOM!!" Teana screamed, fully expending the energy of the cartridge, and anything else she could gather, until the pistol of Cross Mirage was practically shaking in her hands.
"BLAZER!!"
There was a crack of thunder as a golden-orange beam of light lashed out towards its target. It wasn't as wide as a small house or anything, like some bombardment attacks she'd seen – only about half a meter wide, but it was powerful enough.
To Teana, at least, time seemed to stand still as it punched a huge dent in the vehicle's armor, and then ripped through the mechanism. There was a moment's delay before a huge fireball mushroomed from the Type I, leaving nothing behind but a charred metal skeleton.
A shout rose from the defense line, but if it shook the enemy, they didn't show it. In fact, it seemed to mostly catch their attention…
Teana practically threw herself to the ground a moment before a dozen or so laser bolts rippled above her. She rolled over, unsnapped another cartridge, and loaded it.
"Barrier Jacket status?"
"Fifty-One Percent."
"That's all? Really?"
"Yes. And good shot."
Weapons fire began to die down, and Teana stood up just around the time the last attacker fell.
"Get the wounded back!" Relin ordered over transmission. "The next wave could be coming soon!"
Soldiers had headed out, checking on the dozens of TSAB soldiers laying out on the field, almost before the announcement was finished. Teana didn't really know what to do, but started out anyways.
"Hey." Someone said beside her – the soldier from back at the barricade, lying behind the second barrier, a bandage wrapped around his ankle. "Thanks for your help back there."
Teana paused half over the barricade. Medics summoned auto-stretchers from storage underneath some of the wounded, which lifted off the ground and floated towards the back on their own.
Teana didn't think she'd done much, but nodded back. "It's nothing."
"Try recongfiuring the sensors, it can't be that big." Relin said nearby, apparently talking over transmission. "Alright. We'll get back in position as soon as we can. But if it's really there…"
That didn't sound good. The other soldiers had mostly cleared the field of wounded or dead, apparently not feeling they had the time to make the distinction, so Teana sat down behind the barricade, closed her eyes, and focused on renewing herself. She hoped she didn't have to do this for long, because she wasn't sure how long she could last…
"Attention, soldiers of Mid-Childa." Colonel Sochor announced as 'loudly' as he could over transmission. "High Command confirms you have accomplished our mission the evac column is one hundred kilometers away and rising, and extraction is on the way, ETA, four minutes!"
K3 Magical Energy Accumulation Type Power Station
Central Mid Childa, 401 kilometers south of Clanagan
April 28th, Year 76 of the New Calendar: 0756 Hours
"Alert. Energy overflow in progress. Failsafe countermeasures disabled. Critical overload in –fii- -fiive- -six- minutes."
Subaru rolled into plant's control room – it was a long way away, about three minutes, but at least there wasn't anything in the way. It was pretty dark inside – she reached to the side for the lights, then realized she was inside a accumulator control room, and thought better of it.
"Mach Caliber, lights please."
"Illuminating." Mach Caliber responded, and the room flooded with blue light. It was a trapezoid shape, with door on the narrow side, and control consoles all along the walls. A man lay slumped up against one of the consoles, and another was lying on the ground in the opposite direction. She activated her life sensor subsystems – the man against the console was already dead, unfortunately – but the other was still living.
Subaru rushed over and knelt beside him – he'd been hit with their ranged weapons at least twice. She didn't know exactly what to do, but he was breathing, for now, so she rolled him onto his side, held her hands over him, and concentrated as intently as she could – she wasn't very good at this kind of magic, but at least she could keep him stable for a while - maybe.
"Nakajima. Are you inside yet?" Peel asked over transmission.
"Yes. There's one person inside here. Do you know how to treat projectile wounds?"
"No, but I should be able to stabilize them. For now, our priority has to be the accumulator itself. I'll be there in… about half a minute."
"Right. I'll try to keep him stable until you get here."
"I'm sorry, Nakajima." Peel replied bitterly. "We don't have any time. I need you to find the failsafe… activate that, and it should shut down the station."
Subaru focused, putting more power into the stabilizing spell - maybe it would at least last a moment, and stood up.
"Alright, how do I find it?" She asked.
"It should be on the central console." Klein replied a few moments later. "I'm not sure, design might be different."
Subaru went over to the row of consoles on the far side of the room, and activated one, semi-transparent labels appearing over the black surface. She searched for anything that looked like a failsafe control…
There was a sound of twisting metal, and with loud groan, a metal panel fell away from the room's wall, revealing a broken window behind it, and beyond that, the accumulator chamber itself.
"Alert. Control Room containment totally compromised. Hazardous radiation levels in control room area are now -.31 RHL- and –rising-."
Subaru's mouth fell open. She'd seen a dimensional ship's reactor chamber before, and been rather impressed by the sheer scale of it…
This was bigger. The chamber housing it was at least a hundred meters across, and many more deep, and all flooded with rainbow-colored light and a thin mist. In the center was the housing itself, the spherical core shimmering with light and darkness at the same time, an array of mechanisms and gantries surrounding it, a dozen tiny figures standing on them. With the blast door gone, she could feel the energy radiating off it in the air around her.
Subaru swallowed her amazement, and returned to her task – the radiation didn't worry her, it took 5 RHLs to be a serious hazard to humans. Fortunately, it wasn't hard to find the failsafe control, and activated it.
Nothing happened. A message flashed across the console. 'Error: Dissipation system inactive. Grounding mechanism has been damaged.'
"You found it?" Peel said as he entered the room and practically skidded to a halt next to the injured worker.
"Yeah." Subaru replied. "But it won't work."
"What? Why not?" Klein exclaimed, pushing in alongside her. "Grounding… damnation."
"What is it?" One of other officers asked.
"They've disabled the failsafe… and the emergency shutdown. Let me try the purge…"
The gantries inside the chamber retracted from the core… one of the distant figures lost his balance and fell into the pit.
"Yes! It's working…" Klein shouted. "You might want to cover your eyes…"
Nothing happened. One of the figures, obviously an Ork, angrily smashed a nearby console. Nothing continued to happen.
"It's not working." Klein corrected. "They've disabled all our power dissipation options... they must have schematics or something…"
"Is there anything we can do?" Peel asked.
"There's no way they could… they'd just fry themselves…"
"Maybe…" Subaru suggested – it looked like they were needed. "We could go into the chamber."
"There are Orks in there! How did they know what to…"
"Officer Klein!" Peel yelled. "Is there anything we can do. Could the blast be contained by an isolation barrier? Or channeled, somehow?"
"Alert. Energy overflow in progress. Failsafe countermeasures disabled. Critical overload in -five- minutes. Alert – Purge Error. Core ejection system destroyed."
The gangplanks began moving back into place as the one Ork continued pounding on his console. Subaru zoomed in on him, as he smiled a yellow toothy grin in satisfaction, - he was wearing rusted metal gauntlets, shoulder pads, and boots, as well as a facemask, and carrying a larger version of the same weapon the other orks had. He walked back over to the core. A human, kneeling on the floor, shouted something at him, only to get backhanded.
"Uh… uh… I dunno about that… maybe?"
"It looks like one of the Orks is working on the core…" Subaru said, as the big Ork looked into a large mechanism he'd opened up.
"Breaking it, most likely. Alright. We need to set up an isolation barrier around this facility. Hopefully-"
"Wait, wait!" Klein interrupted. "There might be a way to stop it. But you'd have to go inside, and manually restart the system…"
"Then that's what we'll do."
Subaru looked around the gangplanks – about three Orks were clustered around their presumed leader, four more guarding a small group of humans, and another three patrolling haphazardly around higher gangplanks. In addition, there were five of the smaller creatures trailing the leader, some carrying machinery of indeterminable purpose.
"But the Orks are in there! And besides, the chamber is absolutely flooded with radiation!"
"There are only nine orks… and if they can survive it, we should be able to as well." Subaru said, zooming out.
"Uh… it says .33 RHL here." An officer – one of the other girls in the group - said.
"That's it?" Peel asked. "Are you sure that's the right display, Taylor?"
"There's another here too, it says… 16.72 RHL"
"Damnation." Peel said, a monitor panel appearing at his wrist. "Well, we have a job to do. Optimize your jackets for high energy EMM radiation."
"Electromagnetic/Magical Radiation filter, set up." Mach Caliber said. "Estimated safe exposure limit, fifteen minutes."
"Well, either we'll be out of there by then, or out of here for good." Officer Taylor said.
"Possibly as much as twenty for you." Mach Caliber added privately.
"You know, the people inside have almost certainly received a fatal dose by now." Klein added unhelpfully.
"I don't care." Peel said. "Any idea how we get in there?"
"The window's open." Subaru said, focusing on shaping her energy. "Wing-"
"No!" Klein yelled.
"Huh?" Subaru asked.
"It's an accumulation reactor." He said, his tone annoyed. "It accumulates magical energy from the surrounding area. Inside that shield, any magical construct would only last… seconds at best, before all the power was drawn away."
"Okay… so how do we get in there."
"They'll probably have blocked the main maintenance access, but there'll be a second access in this room… a ladder leading down to the main level. So sorry. Looks like you'll have to stay with me."
"You're going with us." Peel said.
"But if I die, who will tell you how to shut it down?" Klein replied.
"We'll figure it out. In the meantime, I suggest you avoid dying." Peel said, looking as if he would have liked to toss him out the window right then.
"But…" He continued, looking down at Subaru's feet. "He might be right…"
"Don't worry." She replied quickly, and almost cheerful – someone had thought about this situation before.
"Roller Inactive Mode, set up." Mach Caliber said, and the wheels along the bottom vanished in a flash of light. It would certainly limit her speed, and how much Mach Caliber could help her, but at least she could get down the stairs.
"Good enough. Let's get this done."
Sunset Gardens Commercial Park, City of Feine
Central Mid Childa, approximately 305 kilometers west of Clanagan
April 28th, Year 76 of the New Calendar: 0800 Hours
The ambulance finally halted about three minutes later, and two new medics opened the rear doors. One waved a scanner at Fate while the other helped the aerial forces officer out.
The scanner wielding medic grabbed Fate's wrist and pressed the bottom of his scanner against the back of her hand.
"Alright, come on out." He said. "And don't run off."
Fate complied, and found that the ambulance was sitting in a parking lot next to a large, flat building that could only be a shopping mall. The medic promptly devoted his attention to moving the stretchers out of the ambulance, leaving her alone. Fate looked at back of her hand – there was no visible mark there, but presumably it had done something…
"Ultraviolet stamp. Triage Code 3." Bardiche explained.
"What does that mean?"
"Low numbers, good condition."
"I see."
The Special Rescue service had set up a field hospital here, and there had to be about three hundred people laid out on the padding surrounding the central building – a general use auto-assembly model, from the looks of it. Further away, a group of officers spoke with each other behind a ring of armed guards and a glittering area barrier. It looked like the control center for this place, wherever it was, so she headed that way.
"What did you do, drive through an oven?" A man – police, from his appearance – asked no one in particular, indicating the back of the ambulance Fate had rode in on.
It did indeed look distinctly like it had – the paint had clearly bubbled and warped in the heat, and was even scorched in some places… Fate wondered how kinds of weapons the Krieg had, anyways. If they still had their officer prisoner, he might be more helpful, but she was doubtful he would be even as cooperative as their other prisoner…
Although… they did have their telepaths. With all respect to Inspector Acouss, active telepathy was kind of creepy, which was why they were only used in the most desperate situations. Even so, it was no guarantee…
That uncomfortable line of thought was mercifully interrupted by a flash of recognition. Fate was now close enough to get a good look at the officers in the circle, and thought she saw her brother in a videopathic monitor.
She had – Admiral Chrono Harlown was her brother by adoption, not actually related to her, of course, but they remained close. One of the officers in the circle noticed her approach, and signaled to the guards to let her pass.
"Chrono!" Fate exclaimed, static buzzing across her body as she they let her through the barrier.
"Fate, good to see you're okay." Chrono replied. "Major Farrell was worried you might be dead."
"I'm not. But… what's going on here?"
"We're getting out of here, that's what's going on." Colonel Sochor said over another nearby videopathic monitor. "The convoy is clear now… I just told our forces."
"Is the headquarters?" Fate asked. "What happened to the 18th's building?"
"Shell penetrated the command room. Killed Captain Merlo, Major Colvert, half a dozen others, and set the whole building on fire." The commander of the 200th Ground explained.
"Officer Nolan too." A feline familiar standing off to the side commented, a few officers glaring back at her in response.
"Yes, from the third permanent. We'd better recall them." The colonel said.
"It looks like we're almost all here." One of the other ground forces officers said.
"Capital Defense is calling me things normally reserved for malfunctioning appliances." Chrono said. "But I can stay on station as long you can hold out…"
"Let's try rerouting a few to this area. I think with the public park, you should have enough space."
"Hmm… it could work. I've got Ferdinand." Colonel Sochor said
Captain Ferdinand of the Third Permanent Striker Section appeared just behind Fate, the image of a hard-edged looking sandy haired man in a grey custom Jacket distorted by static.
"Colonel, g'day …. We have c-c-confirmed … on the enemy jammer." The image shifted away from him to show what looked vaguely like a row of heavily modified Type I armor types, although the image was just as unclear. "As well as … platform. Heavy neutrino… we're down … members. Have a … shot, repeat a clear sh… we are tak-"
"Negative, captain." Sochor said. "You are to get out, or exfiltrate, or whatever you say, immediately."
"Sorry, Colonel. … was unclear. Contact, forty … right" A laser bolt zipped past the video display. "May be able to … warheads. Should … ahead?"
"NO! You are to fall back immediately!"
"We're already ...ed! I can … complete. Let's … this, and get … Others … or die, we do. Cindy. I'm … Sorry."
At that, the transmission cut off.
"Strikers…" Colonel Sochor muttered. "Admiral, I don't think we have time. I think they're getting ready for another assault, they have something big… I can't tell, there's… there's too much jamming."
The Survey View choose that moment to refresh itself, revealing dozens more Krieg contacts – a veritable sea. As well as a single gold mark in the midst of them. Red dots vanished around it as it moved away.
"Damnit, I don't know what killed the jammers." An officer spoke. "But there's a hundred armor types headed our way."
That was probably true too – the survey view was indicating a swarm of contacts moving in from the southwest of the central highway. Back in the Krieg base, the gold icon flickered to grey.
"Well… sh-" The familiar in back started to say, then just… dissolved… into thin air.
"Damn Strikers." Colonel Sochor repeated.
" I'm on my way in." Chrono said. "Get your to landing zones, Claudia will cover you."
"You're going to attack from orbit?" Fate asked – it didn't seem like the kind of thing he'd do… and could kill everyone.
"Not exactly." Chrono replied. "My squadron will provide extraction."
"Your squadron…" Fate said, wondering aloud. "I think I know what you're thinking, and it's crazy."
Chrono just smiled.
"I think I like it."