The tenth chapter of the "Bureau agent Potter" is here! Enjoy!
* Review Response:
FateBurn, puma1sunfire, Fellow, lordamnesia, Opinr, karthik9, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Jose19, I've answered your review via PM.
Impstar, celf, hehe. This chapter should answer that question.
LuxEterna1, he will switch to that modus operandi later on when he has greater understanding of how exactly his magic system works. Right now Harry is just not willing to 'experiment' as any mistake can result in huge collateral damage and, possibly, a few deaths.
SonicAnime2010, the answer for the first part of your review is the same with the one I gave to Impstar and celf. As for the test, the drones are the same as seen in episode one of StrikerS. This should answer your review as well, ultima-owner.
Ranmaleopard, Harry will be the one to propose the solution to the NachtWal problem that doesn't require Reinforce to sacrifice herself. But Hayate will remain as her mistress. Rein will also eventually gain a romantic interest in Harry, but that will happen only after a few months of just friendship between them... Which would be somewhere closer to the end of this arc.
serialkeller, no, Harry will not be bound by the Goblet this time around.
Penny is wise, he will.
Jerrac, well, the plot kicks off this chapter... Though the real action will begin only in the next one.
Guest, so, having a Lost Logia that provides him with nearly-infinite mana without any drawbacks (aside from a crystal being stuck in his chest) is not enough? Well, I think I will have Harry keep his parseltongue ability, which can actually be considered a Rare Skill.
* AN: The Book of Darkness / Tome of the Night Sky arc begins!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" or "Mahou Shojou Lyrical Nanoha". No profit is being made. Same goes for other books, anime & manga I may or may not use for ideas.
"speaking"
"telepathy"
'thinking'
"spells / devices speaking"
written messages
Special thanks to Lupine Horror for his help in polishing the idea and the chapters.
Bureau Agent Potter
chapter X: The first mission
Albus Dumbledore wanted to congratulate himself on a ensuring that the selection of the Triwizard tournament champions went without any problems. Indeed, exactly three champions were chosen – one for each of the three schools taking part in the tournament – and all of them had been in the Great hall of Hogwarts when their names had appeared out of the Goblet's flames.
That, of course, didn't mean that no attempts to rig the champion selection results were made. There was an actually significant number of too young to participate students trying to enter their names into the Goblet. But those didn't really have any chances of being selected anyway... More worrisome was the fact that the disguised Death Eater had also tried to put someone's name into the Goblet, while laying some additional charms onto it.
And while Dumbledore had no proof of it, he was still quite sure that the fake DADA professor tried to make Harry Potter into an unwilling and fourth champion of the tournament. And was Harry actually there, in the castle, and attending the classes with his classmates, that would have worked... Thankfully, the Goblet would choose only those who had written their names themselves, and Albus made sure to remove any and all papers bearing the young Potter's signature from the school's archives.
Still, it was too early for old warlock to relax. Not only he still had a Death Eater in his school, masquerading as a DADA professor, but the said man's attempt to tamper with the champions' selection was a proof enough that the Dark Lord was planning something grand, something that would likely plunge the world into the Darkness again. And, of course, Dumbledore as the leader of the Light had to prevent that from happening.
But knowing nothing about what his opponents were planning, how could he do anything to stop them? Thus, no matter how much he loathed it, Albus had to allow a known criminal who had never repented for his sins to walk among the children of his school, so that he could get a glimpse of the Dark Lord's plans through that man. And the aged warlock really hoped that no one would end up hurt or worse because of that... Every victory had to paid for in blood, but that blood had to be of warriors and adults, not of innocent children...
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It was near the end of November when Harry finally got to the point where he could maintain his flight almost subconsciously. At least, for as long as he was just hovering above the same spot. Moving around still required some concentration, but certainly not to the same degree it did when he first managed to take off. Back then even a single stray thought might have become a big problem for him; now... Now he could even shoot and reliably hit stationary targets while doing some simpler aerobatics!
Hell, even his wings reflected just how much he had progressed. Whereas in the beginning those looked more like a bunch of prolonged rectangles sticking out of his back, by now his 'wings', both upper and lower pairs, became much more streamlined and actually resembled falcon wings. And given that his mana was naturally pale-blue, almost white in color, both Kyoko-sensei and Quint-sensei had joked that when he was flying, he looked a lot like an angel.
Yet, despite all of the progress he had made with his flight technique, the young Potter knew that a proper aerial fight would still be a little too much for him. For now, at least...
Anyway, gaining 'wings' wasn't the only thing Harry had accomplished in these past weeks. He had finally graduated from his special cadet program in the middle of November and joined the Mid-Childan Ground Forces' 95th Battalion as a Private Second Class shortly afterwards. Well, that's how it was on the paper. In reality, he continued training under Kyoko-sensei and Quint-sensei and appeared in his unit's headquarters only for the events that required his attendance.
~/ *** \~
It was December the fourth when counter admiral Gil Graham finally got his confirmation that the knights deployed by the Book of Darkness were finally on the move. The said confirmation came in the form of a battle the aforementioned knights fought against the mages stationed aboard of warship "Arthra" and one civilian collaborator from the non-administered world 97.
The said civilian collaborator, a girl named Takamachi Nanoha from Uminary city, Japan, ended up seriously wounded and got her Linker Core absorbed into the Book. According to the doctors, though, she will make a full recovery in just a couple of weeks.
What had surprised the counter admiral, though, was the apparent reluctance to kill the Book's knights had displayed. The Takamachi girl wasn't the first victim of the knights: the observation group stationed on the planet had been attacked earlier the same day, and neither of those two mages had been killed either... It was almost like Hayate Yagami – the current, and hopefully the last, mistress of the Book of Darkness – had made the knights swear an oath not to kill.
If that was indeed so, sacrificing the girl would be an even more terrible and despicable thing to do. Yet, no matter the circumstances, it had to be done: no matter how kind its mistress was, once the Book was completed, it would turn into an uncontrollable berserk that would indiscriminately attack everything in front of it. And simply destroying it was useless as the Book would just recreate itself on a different world to continue this cycle of death and destruction. It had to be sealed, which was what counter admiral planned to do with Chrono Harlaown's hands.
Still, sealing the berserk Book of Darkness required that monster to be defeated first, and that was not something a single mage could do. Hell, even the entire combat-capable crew of warship "Arthra" with addition of the Takamachi girl – a very strong mage all by herself – wasn't guaranteed to win that fight. More manpower was needed to contain the Book while Chrono was sealing it away,..
Yet, because of the various reasons related to the Bureau's internal politics and the chain of command, counter admiral Graham couldn't provide that manpower. He was already pushing it by issuing an order to activate the Arc-en-Ciel cannon aboard of "Arthra". Having another warship or a powerful team of enforcers to support them would immediately launch an investigation into his doings and ultimately ruin his plan to end that world-destroying monstrosity forever.
But he wasn't giving up yet: he knew there had to be something he could do to increase the chances of the Book being sealed successfully. He just needed to find out what that something was... If known powerhouses were out of question, what about those that hadn't earned themselves a reputation yet? Having some of those temporarily join the "Arthra"'s crew wouldn't attract as much attention and the plan to forever end the Book of Darkness might still survive intact. Now he just needed to find such mages... Which was not as easy as it sounded: those that fit the bill for power were extremely rare and they never remained unknown for long.
Still, Gil Graham wasn't about to give up just yet. So, he began looking through the Bureau's databases in hopes of finding a powerful mage or two that had joined the ranks recently and hadn't made a name for themselves. And it looked like Lady Luck was on his side: private second class Harry Potter of the Mid-Childan Ground Forces' 95th Battalion looked like a good candidate. He had graduated from the cadet program less than a month ago and thus had no chance to acquire a major reputation for himself yet. And the unique nature of his magic that allowed his spells to more or less ignore standard defenses meant that even the planet-killed monster that the Book of Darkness will turn into upon its completion would be susceptible to his attacks...
Now that he thought about it, wasn't Mr. Potter that boy with a reactor-type Lost Logia stuck in his chest that the investigatory ship "Leto" had found on one of the non-administered worlds a year and a half ago? Yes, that actually was him... And that certainly made getting him to temporarily join "Arthra"'s crew more challenging, but counter admiral Graham was sure that he will be able to do that. How?.. Well, he wasn't sure yet.
~/ *** \~
Even though he did buy himself that four rooms apartment as soon as he became a Bureau's soldier and a legal adult, Harry still lived in the room at the Magitek Research Department hostel – his new apartment needed a lot of new furniture and some other renovations which he didn't have money for at the moment. And while his new salary was far from bad, it would still take months if not a few years before he could finally move into that apartment... Thankfully, Kyoko-sensei didn't mind him still living at the hostel even if he technically wasn't a member of the department anymore...
Anyhow, December the sixth for the young Potter began more or less like any other morning would: with an alarm clock, at six in the morning. Shaking himself awake, Harry donned his training clothes and headed outside for some jogging and other light physical training. Light for the magic users of this world, that is... Whatever the case might be, the green-eyed teen was back to his room in about an hour, and a long hot shower later, he was finally ready to begin his day.
Which, of course, meant checking his inbox for any new post first. And he was a bit surprised to see a letter from Quint among the rest of his correspondence – the purple-haired Belkan Knight usually called him on a videophone if there was something they needed to talk about. Opening the letter, Harry immediately understood why she would use mail instead of just making a call:
Featured prominently in the message there was a photo of a tired but definitely happy Megane sitting in a bed in some random room at a hospital, holding her newborn daughter, Lutecia, in her hands. And Harry couldn't help but agree with Quint-sensei that 'little Lulu' might just be the most adorable thing in the whole damn world!
Smiling again at the scene depicted on the photo, the green-eyed teen began writing a congratulatory letter to Megane, who had become a good friend of his over the course of the last few months, wishing the very best to her and her little Lutecia.
~/ *** \~
"So... What did captain Steinmetz want from you today?" 'Doctor' Chidori asked as Harry walked into her laboratory in the early afternoon of December the fourteenth. This was the first time the green-eyed teen had been summoned to the unit's headquarters without a prior warning, so, naturally, his sensei was quite interested in what the commanders wanted from her student.
Instead of replying verbally, though, the young Potter merely handed her an official-looking paper he had been holding in his hands until now. Printed on that paper there was an order from the Ground Forces' higher-ups that basically told Harry to pack his things up and depart for the TSAB headquarters in the Dimensional Space. And once there, he was supposed to (temporarily) join the crew of a warship "Arthra", once its upgrade was complete.
"Oh..." Was all that Kyoko-sensei could say. Seeing this order was as big a surprise for her as it must have been for the green-eyed teen himself. While sudden transfers between the different branches of military like this one did happen, they were quite rare. And for one to target a person who had been an actual soldier for barely a month was almost unheard of. The lack of proper explanation as to why this transfer was happening also made the whole thing at least a little bit suspicious...
"Well, at least Amy-sempai will be there, right?" Harry finally spoke.
"Yeah, she will." 'Doctor' Chidori said as she nodded in response, while also handing the papers back. The blond scientist could see how changing collectives he working with so suddenly would be a great stress for her student. Having a familiar face aboard "Arthra" would certainly make the transition easier for him... Alas, there wasn't much if anything she herself could do to help him.
"Sensei?" Harry said after a long and uneasy pause. "You know that I have a pet owl, Hedwig, right?" Kyoko nodded – it was to forget such an unusual pet, even if it was months since she had last seen the bird. "Can you take care of her while I'll be gone?" He asked then.
"If nobody else agrees, I can look after her, but..." Kyoko replied. She was a bit allergic and while short-time exposures were okay with her, being stuck in the same apartment with an owl for God known how long would not be exactly a good thing for her. Even if Hedwig would without any doubts be out hunting most of the time.
"Thank you, sensei." The green-eyed teen while mentally ordering his device to send Quint a message that he wanted to talk to her as soon as possible: calling her directly would be a bad idea since as an investigator her workload was ...fluctuating. That, and distracting her from doing her job would be a very thing...
The young Potter was quite surprised when the purple-haired Belkan knight rang him up in less than an hour. Then again, because of how erratic her work hours were, one couldn't tell, whether she was done for the day already or had just woken up.
"You wanted to speak with me, Harry?" She asked.
"Well... You see..." The green-eyed teen said, before doing his best to explain her the sudden order he had been given this morning. And much like Kyoko-sensei prior to her, Quint found the whole thing to be rather suspicious: the newbies normally weren't transferred around so suddenly. Especially across the military branches and to warships that already had complete crews... But she didn't say anything about it out aloud. Not to mention that she had her hands still full with the still-recent theft of the Shroud of the Saint King from the Church and could not launch an investigation of her own into this matter.
"So... You want a piece of advice on how act in this situation?" She asked instead. After all, as an investigator she had worked alongside with many many different people.
"That too..." Harry replied after a short pause. "However, originally, I wanted to ask, whether you and your family can take care of pet owl while I'm away at "Arthra". Hedwig might be quite self-sufficient, but..." He trailed off there. Still, Quint got what he wanted to say.
"Well, I don't see any problems with that." She said with a nod. "And I think it will do my little girls good to have some responsibility too... So, bring your owl over when you have time – I'm staying at home for the next two days."
"Thank you, sensei." The young Potter thanked, before asking: "Speaking of your girls, how are they? It has been quite some time since I've seen them last."
"Same as always,.." The purple-haired beauty replied with a shrug. "Ginga still tries to pretend that she's an adult already and Subaru is still just as much of a crybaby as you probably remember her to be." Well, yeah, when outside of martial arts training under her mother little Subaru could be seen with tears in her eyes a lot. And she was relying on others to support her or help her out quite often too.
"Good to hear that they both are alright..." Harry replied with a shrug of his own. "Anyway, thank you again, sensei. I'll drop by with Hedwig tomorrow morning, if that's okay with you." Quint nodded.
"We'll be waiting."
~/ *** \~
The next day, Harry found himself standing in front of the Nakajima residence's door. The green-eyed teen knew that he definitely wasn't giving his almost-familiar, Hedwig, away forever, but for whatever reason he still hesitated to ring the bell... And the said owl's desire to stay close to him – she had absolutely refused to go into her cage and rode all the way here perched on his shoulder – wasn't really helping him any. Still, with his shuttle to the Bureau's headquarters a little more than three hours away from now, he needed to get moving.
Taking deep breath to steel himself, the young Potter rand the doorbell. There were maybe fifteen seconds of silence, before he heard the sound of the locks being unlocked. Another few moments later the door opened, revealing Quint in ...some very homy clothes, with her hair down as well. And given that this was the first time Harry had seen her in anything other than her Ground Forces' uniform or her knight's armor...
"Come in, come in." The purple-haired beauty invited him inside, making the young Potter snap out of his momentary stupor from seeing her dressed so casually... Accepting the invitation, Harry stepped inside the apartment, immediately noticing the two daughters of the Nakajima family peeking from behind the corridor's corner, curiosity burning in their eyes. "So, this is your pet owl?" Quint continued meanwhile. "She's quite a beauty." Upon hearing that, Hedwig let out a haughty bark.
"Quint-chan, are you having more guests?" A new voice from within the depth's of the apartment. And the green-eyed teen recognized that voice as ...Megane's? Indeed, a few moments later the Belkan summoner appeared in his view, her little daughter in her hands. "Oh, hello there, Harry." She greeted then as he eyed drifted towards the snowy owl perched on his shoulder, something that didn't go unnoticed by Hedwig.
"Good morning." The young Potter greeted back, before turning to Quint, as he continued: "Where can I place these?" He asked then, while nodding towards his owl's cage and other related things he was holding in his hands.
"Hm..." The purple-haired knight replied thoughtfully. "Why don't you leave them in the girls' room?" Nodding, Harry kicked off his shoes and followed the lady of the house into the apartment – which actually was surprisingly modest, considering that Quint herself was a very successful investigator and her husband was a Ground Forces captain, almost a major actually...
Soon the two of them were standing in the room belonging to Ginga and Subaru. Which didn't quite look like Harry imagined a girl's room to be. Then again, the two daughters of the Nakajima family weren't your average princess-like girls... If anything, those two were destined to be the future magical martial arts experts. And it showed.
"I'll ask you to keep the window open at all times so that Hedwig can return to her perch whenever she wants to." The young said as he placed the cage onto the windowsill and began arranging other owl-care supplies there. "She'll normally hunt for her food herself, somewhere." He continued. "So all that you will need to do is make sure that she has some water waiting for her. And clean the cage once in a while." Quint nodded: so far, taking care of an owl didn't sound like something overly complicated. Ginga and Subaru who were currently standing in the doors of their room probably thought something along the same lines.
"Alright." The purple-haired knight said. "Anything else?"
"Nothing that I can think of right now." Harry replied. "But if something happens, you know how to contact me." Quint nodded again. There was a rather lengthy pause, before the young Potter continued: "And once again thank you for agreeing to look after my Hedwig while I'm away."
"Don't worry about that, I'm sure your owl won't be a bother to us, she seems to be a very clever bird." His sensei replied. Her two daughters nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
"She can be quite stubborn too, though..." The green-eyed teen commented as he did his best to get his 'pet' to leave her current perch, his shoulder, much to the said owl's displeasure. "Now, be a good girl and listen to Quint-sensei and Ginga-chan and Subaru-chan." He said to Hedwig as he finally managed to pry her off himself. "And don't worry, I'll be back before you know." The owl let out a displeased hoot and defiantly showed her backside to Harry, before taking off and flying out of the window. Quint seemed to find the whole scene to be amusing, if her giggle was anything to go by.
"Will you be leaving now then, Harry?" She asked next. The green-eyed teen nodded in response.
"Probably." He said with a shrug. "My shuttle to the TSAB headquarters is in less than three hours, and I better not be late for it."
"Good luck then." The purple-haired knight said as she gave Harry a one-handed hug. "Make sure to bring us some interesting story about your adventures out there." His only response, though, was an embarrassed smile.
"Already leaving?" Megane, who had somehow sneaked into the room without Harry and, apparently, even Quint herself noticing it, asked. "But what about us? You haven't even said 'hello' to Lulu yet."
"Alright, alright." The green-eyed teen said as he walked up to her. There was no hug between them, though. Instead, the lavender-haired beauty conveyed her deep trust in him by letting him carefully take her young into his hands... Little Lutecia looked so small and fragile, even in his hands, yet... "She's beautiful." Harry whispered.
"She likes you." Megane said in a whisper. Though, how she could tell that, he'd never know as 'Lulu' was soundly asleep. Probably something to do with a link connecting a mother and her child... Giving the pretty summoner a soft smile, the young Potter carefully returned little Lutecia to her mother.
He then knelt in front of Ginga and Subaru and balled his hands into fists. It took the girls maybe a couple of seconds, but when they finally got what he wanted, they quite eagerly bumped their fists with his ones, bringing a chuckle out of their mother.
"Now, be good girls and take care of my Hedwig while I'm away." He said. "And I'll be back with some interesting stories for you... Uhm... Soon." Dammit, he really had no idea for how long he will be away: all that his orders said was that he will be temporarily joining warship "Arthra"'s crew...
"Of course!" The two daughters of the Nakajima family chorused. Giving them a smile as he ruffled their hair a bit, Harry stood up and looked at his watch. Somehow, his saying goodbyes took much more time than he imagined. No, he wasn't late for his shuttle yet, but he better be going now if he wanted to still be on time.
"Alright." The green-eyed teen said. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but I really have to go now."
"Sure." Quint said with a nod. "Let us see you off then."
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Some eight hours later, Harry found himself in the huge internal docks of the Bureau's headquarters, looking at warship "Arthra". He'd have entered it and introduced himself to his new colleagues already, but all of the warship's entrances were sealed and, according to the foreman, the captain and her men were away on a meeting with one of the counter admirals at the moment. Thus, all the young Potter could do was waiting... And not knowing when captain Harlaown will be back, he couldn't even go and have a live meeting with Mariel-sempai!
Still, he did give her a videocall and had a small chat with her... Which ended with him listening to a very interesting story about two intelligent devices requesting the installation of the Cartridge system so that they could better protect their masters. Despite the fact that Mid-Childan devices of really any kind were not meant to work with Belkan technology. Still, Mary said she had installed the requested components into those devices and, according to the reports she received from their owners, they were performing exceptionally so far.
The young Potter wasn't sure for how long he had been waiting, but, eventually, captain Lindy Harlaown showed up – given her distinctive long tealish-green hair, she was not someone you could easily miss. And yes, once he had gotten over his initial shock about being transferred, Harry did some research on whom he will be serving under in the foreseeable future. According to what he managed to dig up, she was a reasonable authority figure, sometimes said to be too kind even, but still a very effective commander. Anyway...
"Good day, captain." Harry saluted as Lindy Harlaown, followed by the rest of warship "Arthra"'s crew – among whom the young Potter could spy the captain's son and enforcer-in-training Chrono – got close enough. Lindy paused for a moment, before replying with a salute of her own.
"You must be Harry Potter." She said. "Counter admiral Graham said that you will be joining my crew for the duration of our current mission." Judging by her tone, though, she wasn't sure she agreed with her superior about this new addition to the crew. "Anyway..." She continued as she used her authority to unseal the warship. "I'm sorry but your briefing will have to wait for a little bit, we need to make sure that all systems aboard of "Arthra" are working fine after her refitting. You can settle in in your room, meanwhile. Chrono will show you your quarters." She finished, while looking at her son – who despite supposedly being as old as Harry himself was, looked more like he was about ten.
"Of course, captain. Follow me, Potter-san." The maybe-teen enforcer-in-training said. Then, without really waiting for Harry to gather his belongings, he headed inside the warship...
It was only after "Arthra" finally set sails a couple of hours later when the young Potter was finally invited to the briefing room for, well, his briefing. The said room, much like the one he had seen aboard of "Leto", was a spacious hall with a long rectangular table in the center. Right now, though, out of many chairs around the table, only two were occupied by both Harlaowns. Lindy was actually having a cup of... – was that green tea with milk? – in front of her.
"Alright, shall we begin our meeting?" She asked, once Harry took a seat at the table. Upon his nod, the teal-haired Dimensional Navy officer continued: "Have you been informed about the nature of our current mission?" The young Potter shook his head.
"No. I was only informed that I will be joining your crew for the time being, ma'am." Lindy sucked in her breath, somewhat annoyed by how secretive the higher-ups can be.
"Hm... Let me first ask you what you know about Lost Logia then."
"Considering that I have one stuck in my chest, I did some research on the topic." Harry replied.
"Yeah, your file does mention that you have class three reactor type one merged with your body." There was a short pause, before the teal-haired captain continued: "Then, I'm sure you've heard about one called 'the Book of Darkness', hm?" Yes, since it was one of the most documented Lost Logia, Harry had read more than a few entries about it during his research.
"Class one Lost Logia that is responsible for the destruction of a number of inhabited worlds in the past?" He asked cautiously, already fearing the direction this 'briefing' was taking. This time, it actually was Chrono, who answered him.
"Yes." The enforcer-in-training replied as an image of a thick leather-bound tome with a Belkan cross on its cover appeared above the center of the table. "And it appears that the Book of Darkness has resurfaced yet again. This time on the non-administered world 97. We do not know who is the Book's master yet, but we've seen all four of its guardian knights." The image of the tome was then replaced by photos of four people.
One of them was a rather tall blue-eyed woman with long pink hair in a high ponytail. She was wearing pink and silver battle dress and her armed device looked like a single-edged sword. The second knight had the appearance of a preteen girl with her red hair made into two braids. Her clothes consisted of a blood-red battle dress and a red hat, while her weapon of choice was a metallic hammer. The third of the four knights was a woman with short blond hair, who was wearing a greenish dress and a matching hat. She had no visible armed device. The final knight was actually a familiar, whose human form looked like a tall and well-muscled man with tanned skin and bluish-white hair. He was wearing a sleeveless blue jacket, blue pants with a chain hanging from a thick red belt and a pair of heavily-armored gauntlets.
"Now." Lindy Harlaown continued. "Our job is to prevent the guardian knights from completing the Book – which requires them to drain Linker Cores of defeated mages or more powerful magic-capable beasts – and unleashing it upon the planet."
"With all due respect, ma'am." Harry interjected. "I'm afraid, I'm not exactly the right person to be assisting you on this mission. I don't have any experience when it comes to actual combat, and I'm seriously lacking when it comes to defense."
"Unfortunately, our superiors think differently." The teal-haired captain replied. "I will admit that the recorded ability of your shooting spells to pierce all standard shields and protective barriers of both Mid-Childan and Belkan systems does sound like something that can be very useful for our mission, but... Like you yourself said, you are simply not ready to enter the combat against the opponents of the Book's guardian knights' caliber." She made a short pause, before continuing: "Which is why I won't be sending you into the field unless there is absolutely no other way. However, you might find yourself doing other jobs that will assist our main fighters. And in case we fail to stop the Book from being completed..." Here she trailed off.
"I see..." Harry breathed out. "I thank you for your understanding, ma'am. I shall do my best to ensure the success of your mission."
~/ *** \~
Warship "Arthra" was already en route to the non-administered world 97 – an alternative Earth – when they received a call from Amy Limietta, the officer currently in charge of the forces left back there on the planet. Harry didn't hear what exactly his sempai had said to captain Harlaown, but as soon as the call was over, "Arthra" immediately changed her course and headed for an uninhabited mostly-desert planet in a nearby dimensional fold instead. Apparently, a fight between the Book's guardian knights and two of the Bureau agents was happening there.
By the time the warship finally reached that world, though, the fight was already over and a jamming barrier that prevented any forms of communication with the combatants was gone as well. And not a minute after "Arthra" settled on the planet's orbit, the bridge received a request for a transfer from the surface. Along with a request to get the medical bay ready, unfortunately.
And since the ship was operating with the minimal possible crew at the moment and Harry himself was not occupied by something more important, he was ordered to help getting the wounded fighters from the transportation chamber to the medical bay by the captain. The young Potter didn't really mind this though: he higher-ups had transferred him there so that he could help the crew with whatever mission they had and, well... not doing anything while everyone else was busy just didn't sit right with him...
Thus the green-eyed teen found himself moving towards the transportation chamber as fast as he could without actually breaking into run. And despite the said chamber being pretty close to the bridge, he still arrived there only moments before the agents who had requested the transfer teleported in.
These agents turned out to be a pair of women – actually, a woman and a preteen girl – and they both were someone whom Harry had seen before, even if just once. The orange-haired woman with canine ears was no one other than Testarossa's familiar, Arf. And while she sported quite a few bruises and some minor cuts, not to mention being more or less on her last legs, she still looked much better than her mistress, whom she was carrying in her arms: Fate was unconscious and her battered form looked a whole lot paler than was healthy.
But before he could voice his surprise at seeing those two here, "Arthra"'s nurse arrived at the scene and snapped him out of it. By ordering him to take the Testarossa girl off her familiar's hands and carry her to the medical bay, while she herself assisted the orange-haired dog-girl there.
That's all folks!
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