Disclaimer: I own none of the 'verses this tale wanders through. This story is intended purely for my entertainment and hopefully yours as well. I'm far, far too broke to be worth suing.
-Chapter 12-
Usagi was trying to concentrate, and failing.
She'd been having trouble concentrating for the last few days – blast Subaru and Teana and their putting weird ideas in her head – but today was worse. She had a strange, niggling feeling that something was wrong, but she couldn't figure out what.
Worse, the others seemed to be having the same problem. Come to think of it, Minako had been troubled as well lately. Probably the same reason as me, she thought, remembering the Crescent Compact. And Rei had been a bit off yesterday, though not previously.
Nanoha seemed almost annoyed with them. They'd been doing so well, and yet today they were acting like a bunch of amateurs. She tried to get them to snap out of it with a few tactical problems, but to no avail. Finally, irritated, she called for a break.
"What's bothering you today, ladies?" she asked.
Rei put down her drink. "I can't quite put my finger on it, but I have the strangest feeling that something's very wrong back home."
Usagi started. "That's what I've been feeling too... Has there been any word from Setsuna and the Outers?"
Nanoha looked over her charges. They were looking, if anything, more distracted and worried. Little whispers seemed to indicate that they were all wondering more or less the same thing. "As far as I know, there hasn't been any contact from them. The assumption is that they would only contact us if there was a problem."
"Could you call them anyway? Just to check?"
"Certainly. I'll put in a request."
-----------
A few hours later, Nanoha stopped by the Academy Comm room. She didn't recognize the tech on duty, but he of course recognized her. "Good afternoon. I put in a comm request a few hours ago, has it gone through?"
"Instructor Takamachi! Uh, let me check." He busied himself for a moment, paging through his files. "It looks like an attempt was made but the contact didn't go through."
Nanoha frowned. "No answer, or no connection?"
"It doesn't say."
"Can you try to get through again?" She felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. Something about this, she did not like.
The tech hesitated a moment, then said, "Well, sure. One moment." He worked his console for a moment. "Aaaand... message sent. We should get a response in a minute or two." They made small talk as they waited, filling time. Nanoha could tell that the lad was one of her fans, and that he was barely managing to stop himself from geeking out. It was actually kind of cute, though Nanoha had seen it before many, many times. She honestly preferred it to the reaction she drew from field agents or marines, especially those she trained.
She might not follow the same path to power as her family, but some of the family traditions of instruction crossed over well.
After a few minutes, the tech glanced at his panel. "That's odd."
"Oh?"
"Well, if nothing else, it should have switched over to 'standby- connection established' by now. It's been long enough for a message to hit the receiver and send back the arrival code." The young man's fingers danced over the console. "Huh."
"Could it be waiting for the Senshi to reply?"
"No, it should have given us a signal that the message arrived. Aaaand we just hit the point were the transmission has officially timed out." He started up a diagnostic. "I don't think it's a problem on our end but..."
"Are there any aether storms in that region that might be causing interference?"
"Didn't see any in the morning report... And there's nothing wrong on this end."
Nanoha frowned. This did not strike her as a good thing. "There are other communicators on Earth, can you try and reach one of them?"
"Earth?" the tech glanced over, confused for a moment. "Oh, right, you come from there." He returned to his console. "Sorry, not used to checking local names for the Unadministered Worlds."
"That's fair enough."
"Yeah, database says there's two others. Gil Graham's and some reservist named Saotome. Weird name."
"He's another Earther. Can you try to contact them?"
"Already sent a query." A shrug. "Here's hoping." The two waited in unnerved silence. Finally, both comm requests timed out. "Oh, that's probably not good." The tech bent over his board. "I still can't see anything that looks like it would mess up a signal, not in these reports."
Nanoha rose. "Thank you for your help."
"Anytime. If you figure out what's going on, please let me know."
------------
Nanoha wasted no time in heading for Chrono's office. She seldom pulled rank, or called in favours from her more highly-placed friends, but the situation had her stomach roiling. Two things niggled especially: The other Senshi had implied that Rei Hino possessed some sort of divination abilities, and the magic the Senshi practiced had grown by leaps and bounds under her tutelage. Rei had been on edge for at least the last two days.
Nanoha's instincts told her that this added up to problems back home. She had not survived her years as a field agent without learning to trust those instincts.
Chrono's secretary took one look at Nanoha's expression and sent her straight in. She caught a quiet mutter about 'the White Devil' and ignored it. She'd been called worse.
"Nanoha, what's wrong?" asked Chrono, cutting to the heart of the matter. He recognized her expression.
"I suspect there might be a problem on Earth. I can't get any message through."
"You wouldn't be here if that was all."
"No. Your initial report on the Senshi said that they believed they derive their strength from the worlds they named themselves after, that they have a connection of sorts to them. They suspect something is wrong. My instincts tell me they're right."
Chrono rubbed his chin for a moment, thinking hard. "Your instincts are good. Saved my life a few times back in the day." He turned to his console. "I assume you checked more than just the Senshi's transmitter?"
"Yes, I tried the Senshi, Agent Saotome, and Gil Graham. The signals didn't get through."
Chrono was going over a dimensional map. "All three being out at once is too much of a co-incidence for my taste. All right, we've got a courier boat in the region, I'll re-direct them to take a look."
"So this is the situation, everyone," began Tom Manning, kicking off the BPRD's staff meeting. "Whoever these people are, they mean business. They've shot down several hundred aircraft that we know of, probably more that we haven't heard about yet. Lafayette AFB tried to put a B-2 Spirit in the air and they popped it on the runway without apparently trying hard, and one of the planes they got in the first pass was a SR-71 Blackbird doing mach 3. At this point, the Pentagon is assuming these people will continue to shoot down anyone or anything in the air and they've had the FAA ground all aircraft in the United States. They don't seem to be interdicting sea or ground traffic, but air travel is a total no-go."
"Do we have a casualty estimate?" asked Kate Corrigan, the BPRD's 'Enhanced Talent' liaison.
"Not yet." Manning's voice was very flat. At least twenty of the aircraft shot down had been passenger airliners. The casualty numbers, when they were tallied, were almost certainly going to be atrocious.
Manning paused for a moment, making sure his department heads were keeping up. "Their ships seem evenly distributed around the globe, and they don't seem to be doing much but orbit unless someone tries to put a plane in the air. According to the briefing I got from Washington an hour ago, a few Middle Eastern nations tried contacting them, looking to negotiate guarantees for the safety of Mecca, and more or less got told 'what part of unconditional do you not understand?' The Italians made a similar request about Rome and got the same answer. At the moment, it looks like they're serious about what they said." He paused, took a breath. "In two hours, I have to go brief the President on what we think is going on, along with NASA, the CIA, and the FBI. Is there anything we can add, or are we clueless so far?"
Dr. O'Donnell said, "Myself and some of the other occult specialists believe these Bradesons might be employing magic of some sort, and so do our consultants at Miskatonic U."
"Are you invoking Clarkes Law, or do you mean it more literally?"
"Literally."
Kate Corrigan said, "That matches up with what Hellboy reported on the one he fought in Tokyo."
Manning frowned. "Well, fair enough. But I don't know how much the President will like me telling him 'a wizard did it.' And I know what the stuffed shirts from the CIA will say."
The collected department heads frowned. They too could guess what the CIA would say to that.
After a moment, Manning continued. "At any rate, for now I want us all to be on the lookout for anything. Corrigan, Devon, get as many of your people who are in the field right now back home. If we end up needing them, I want them handy. O'Donnell, put together anything you can for me. If I do have to play the 'supernatural' card, I'll want some data to back it up."
Corrigan said, "A few of mine are overseas right now. What should I do about Kraus and Hellboy?"
"We're not getting anyone home via plane, they made that clear earlier." Manning's expression looked like he'd just swallowed a lemon. "I don't like it, but we're not getting them back for this."
----------
"...So that's the story as far as we know. I'm going to go harass O'Donnell and see what I can get out of him, but for now, stay calm and be ready for action."
Corrigan looked around the 'Enhanced Talents' briefing room, trying to gage her agent's reactions. Abe was all but unreadable, as usual, as was Roger. Liz looked unashamedly concerned. The others were a mix of composed and concerned. She gave them another look-over and nodded. They would probably be fine, but she'd get clear to go for information now, and let them talk out of earshot of an officer.
---------
Abe Sapien headed for the surface. Liz had disappeared when Corrigan left them to their own devices, and the fish-man suspected he knew where. Blinking against the sunlight he glanced around. Sure enough, there she was, in the corner that most of the nic-addicts used as a smoke pit. She looked frazzled, understandably.
"Hey," he said, walking up.
"Hey," she responded, not looking up from her cig.
"Don't worry too much, we'll come up with something."
"I know. I just hope... well, I hope whatever we come up with works."
"Agreed."
There was a moment of silence. Liz finished her cigarette and stamped out the butt. "I'm not worried about us so much as Hellboy and Krause. We've at least got the Bureau's resources to fall back on. They're stuck out in the field."
"True, but Krause is in a good position to go to ground if he has to, and Hellboy's got help where he is. He even thinks fairly highly of them."
Liz nodded. "I just wish we knew more about these invaders. Not knowing is driving me nuts. We don't have the full team together, and we don't know what we're facing."
"True, but we've proven adequate at being creative in the past. We'll come up with something here. As for the big monkey, I'm sure he'll be fine."
She pulled out another cigarette and put it to her lips. "Abe, you've know Hellboy longer than I have." The pyrokinetic snapped her fingers, lighting the cig. "Knowing his luck, do you honestly think there's any chance he won't be in the path of this?"
Queen Beryl wasn't entirely sure she liked her new home.
The Infinity Circuit into which she'd been inserted had been moved from the Samaris onto Mage-Admiral Kallson's flagship, the battleship Admiral Ander. She'd managed to find several ways to poke around the cruiser's computer systems before the transfer, and she found now that most of those tricks seemed to work on the larger battleship. She was taking some care in her poking around, for she didn't want to irritate her 'patrons.'
The Admiral had taken some time to speak to her, himself. She had been impressed with him, where she had not been impressed by Samaris' master. He asked intelligent questions, listened closely to the answers, and she had a niggling sense that she'd given away more information than she'd intended.
He also had a familiar, a large black cat by the name of Togo. It's jade-coloured eyes seemed to bore into her. She had never been terribly fond of cats, and this one did nothing to improve her opinion.
Still, if nothing else, she'd found a way to tap into the mighty battleship's sensors, and the view they gave of Earth was nigh godlike. She could also tap the comm systems, and for all she'd been worried when the Admiral had given his ultimatum, she'd learned that several nations on Earth had already refused to surrender. There would be a battle after all, and her enemy's beloved world would burn before being ground under heel.
And it would serve her purposes well. The plan, as she understood it, was to unlease a horde of her youma at the outset. They wanted to use them as cannon fodder. Beryl had no real objections to that, but they would be doing more. She had a taste of the living world in this Infinity Circuit. She wanted more. If her youma could gather enough life energy, they might just be able to restore her.
------------------
Evangeline sipped at her tea. "So. How are we going to react to these... interlopers?"
Konoemon Konoe sat back, sighing. "Right to the point, I see. I do not understand your haste, McDowell. You could not leave the grounds to fight even if you wanted to."
"Oh?" The vampiress' smile was almost playful for a moment. "Could you not repeat the same tactic you proposed for the Kyoto class trip? Trick the curse into thinking it's school-related?" The smile faded after a few moments. "Nevertheless, I would like to know. If nothing else, I am curious for Negi's sake."
The Dean sighed again. "The council has decided that we will not act."
"Do they still cling to the notion that the only defense against the non-mages is anonymity? Fools." Evangeline shook her head.
"Personally, I do agree with you, but this is not a decision for us to make. The threat was directed against the mortal world, and we are to keep out of its affairs once again." He sighed. "They also cite the threat of the Cosmo Entelecheia and their recent attacks. 'Why borrow trouble from abroad when we have so much of our own already?'"
"Averruncus is hardly the greatest threat they have faced. Fools. Still, I should not be surprised, I suppose." Another sip. "I seldom see the council taking a long view."
"Nor do I. I will admit, I'm rather worried that they are locking down all the portals between this world and the Magical World. If they haven't noticed us among the non-mages, it might help us stay hidden, but if they have... we would be very vulnerable here, and we would have nowhere to run."
Evangeline's response was a scornful frown. "Well. I suppose some good could come of that. If nothing else, it will prevent young Negi from responding to this outside threat as his father would."
"Take charge against it boldly?"
"Yes. I'd hate to see my best student in far too long be turned into an Ermine."
------------------
Shenhua wasn't quite sure where in Tokyo they were. The Yakuza had been in an understandable hurry about getting Balalaika and her team into a safehouse and off the streets where their quite spectacularly illegal arsenal might be spotted by the police. She doubted the Tokyo police would actually be able to stop their little army, but if they tried it could cause trouble.
Mr. Chang had stayed back in Roanapur to pick up the pieces after their running battle and keep the other factions from doing anything too disastrous. Balalaika seemed to trust him not to screw her over. Shenhua didn't pretend to understand them, but they seemed to have some kind of understanding with each other.
She looked at her kukri. It was about as sharp as she could get it without defeating the purpose – too sharp an edge would just blunt itself the second she hit something. Which was almost certainly going to happen before too long. The Yaks were making themselves useful by digging up anything they could find on Happosai's current whereabouts.
Most of Balalaika's Red Army goons were there, backed up by a fair number of Chang's best fighters. Shenhua, Revy, Sawyer, Eda and several other nuns from the Church of Violence had joined the hunt. The girls had all been victims of the pervert troll, and they all wanted a piece of his hide. He'd managed to escape them before, but they wouldn't let that happen again. With the amount of ordnance they'd brought along, it was more or less guaranteed that none of them would ever be allowed into Japan again, but the exiled Chinese Amazon was entirely fine with that, so long as she got herself some honor-restoring revenge.
She looked around the room. A few Russians were watching something on TV, but most of them were servicing various bits of lethal hardware, as were most of the other mercenaries. Sawyer was working on her chainsaw with a file, it's quiet rasp undercutting the other noises. At the far end of the room, Eda and Revy shared a table, their respective guns in bits before them as they cleaned and oiled.
Shenhua gave her kukri another look-over. Yes, this one was ready. She was ready. Once they found Happosai, they would have their revenge. With all the uproar this 'alien invasion' hoax was generating, they'd probably even get away with it and get home without too much of a fight with the local authorities.
She still hadn't quite decided how to go about securing a piece of the troll's hide to take home with her, but she'd manage. She had time, it wasn't like she was going to run into a Chinese Amazon on the streets of Tokyo, after all.
-------------------
Lieutenant Forsythe tried not to be annoyed with his orders.
Miriel had been well on its way home when word had come down from on high to divert to Earth for a flyby. In truth, the courier boat would only be out about five extra hours to make the check... but he'd promised his daughter that he'd be home promptly today, for it was her birthday. The diversion meant he'd be late. He truly disliked having to break his word to little Klara, whatever the cause.
Still, he wouldn't be too late, and, hell, orders were orders. It wasn't like he could do anything about Admiral Harlaown and the bee in his bonnet. They were almost to Earth's solar system. In fact they'd be dropping into normal-space right about – now.
Miriel dropped out of dimensional space just outside lunar orbit, and every alarm on the ship started screaming. Earth's high orbitals were filled with ships of some unfamiliar but clearly militant design, and the courier boat had managed to pop out of dimensional space almost on top of one of them. Without a word, the helmsman got them off of a colision course with the thing.
"Who the hell are these people?" asked Forsythe.
"No idea, sir," came Alis at the sensor board, "They don't match anything I have on file."
"Open hailing frequencies!"
"No response, sir," said the middy at the comm, sounding slightly frantic.
Almost overlapping that came Alis, "Sir! We're being painted by multiple targeting systems."
"Sankt Kaiser preserve us," breathed Forsythe. Then, louder, "Evasive action! How soon can we jump back out?"
"At least two minutes, sir. Recalibrating the core now."
"Try to hail them again!"
"Still no response, sir!" There was a definite edge of panic in the middy's tone. Forsythe agreed completely.
His eyes danced over the tactical display, trying to spot something that might help. The nearest of the unknown ships were breaking their orbits to pursue the Miriel. Several other ships, in the higher orbitals, were shifting course as well, most seeming to be trying for a better firing angle on the courier boat.
"Record and transmit to Headquarters: 'Have arrived at Earth, planet is blockaded by unknown hostile force. Force at least twenty five, two-five, ships strong, has not responded to hails. We are under fire and attempting to evade.'"
A moment later, the middy said, "Recorded, sir."
"Transmit!" The ship rocked to a near miss.
Panicked, "I can't! They've got some kind of jamming field up!"
"Compensate and punch through it! Alis, help him."
The inertial compensators struggled to keep up with their frantic manuvers as the courier boat tried desperately to claw for open space. The ship rocked again as a shot brushed her shields.
Forsythe punched up the tactical controls. Miriel's weapons were poor, little more than a tithe against what she was recieving, but she would not go down without putting out some kind of fight. Magical beams lashed out, crossing the incoming fire and splashing harmlessly against the shields of one of the pursuing vessels. That ship's own fire struck home, with far greater impact. Miriel rocked, hull ringing like a hammer-struck bell. For a brief instant, the sound of escaping air could be heard, and was just as quickly cut off as emergency doors slammed shut.
"Got it! Transmission sent!"
"Excellent work! How long until we can jump out?"
Alis hurried back to her station. "Another thirty seconds. Sir! Reading incoming missiles, thirty plus!"
"All guns, switch to anti-missile fire! All other power to the drives, we don't need to dodge much lon-"
The ship vanished in a boil of plasma and magic as the Admiral Ander found her range.
Now that these strangers were no longer hiding themselves beyond her ability to scry, Setsuna had managed to learn a bit about them. They had enough protections on their ships that it still wasn't terribly simple to spy on them, but she was able to get more than a little informaion. Mostly about its goals, but little more than impressions of its masters. Those impressions were not encouraging, he seemed both intelligent and ruthless. There was another, more familiar presence there as well, but she could not quite place it.
She returned to her townhouse from the Gates. Listening, she heard the other Outers and who she guessed was Hellboy chatting in the living room. The conversation fell off as she walked into the room.
Hellboy, who was cleaning his hefty pistol on the table, broke the silence. "Any luck?"
"Depending on how you define luck. I've confirmed when and where they're coming."
"Right here, as soon as we hit their little deadline?"
"Not quite. They're landing in Tokyo, but I can't quite tell what their objective is. Something near the city, but not the city itself."
"Interesting. Any idea what they might be after?"
"I can think of a few posibilities, but nothing that really leaps out. Still, I saw something else that might end up helping us, though it isn't exactly... positive."
"Oh?" asked Haruka.
"About fifteen minutes ago, a Time-Space Administration Bureau ship showed up in orbit."
"We have help?"
"Not just yet... they didn't get away, but from what I could observe, they believe they got a message off before being shot down."
There was a moment of silence as that sank in. "So," said Hellboy, "They called home. Any idea how they managed that?"
Setsuna hesitated for a moment before answering. She really, really hated this. "Unfortunately, no. I don't understand how their communication gear work quite that well."
"Ouch," said Haruka. "Still, if they got a message out, we should have help coming."
"Which is a good thing, because I got the distinct impression that this 'BRD' had no intention of taking over peacefully even if we had surrendered."
Hellboy snorted. "We took that problem out of their hands. Nobody's gonna give unconditional surrender to an alien invasion, even after they shot down a bunch of airplanes. It would be political suicide." His tone turned serious. "So. We have, potentailly, an entire army of jokers like the one from last night coming to town. Theoretically, we've got TSAB re-enforcements, but we don't know when or if they're getting here. Are we gonna fight 'em head on, or do the guerilla warfare thing after they land?"
"In all honesty, I don't think waiting is an option. The JSDF will almost certainly resist, and without our help any battle would be nothing but a slaughter for the JSDF, especially given the way Schwarze was throwing around power."
"Assuming they fight like he did."
"Assuming that, yes." She sighed. "We need to come up with a better way to break that kind of barrier."
Hotaru said, "Pure power won't work. The shield Schwarze put up when I attacked him absorbed almost all of my attack's energy and didn't fail."
"Though it came close... that scared him more than a little." Haruka was looking thoughtful. "But yes, if you couldn't just blow through his shield, we certainly can't."
"Well, he did brag that he was the most powerful mage in his group... Hopefully that much was true."
"And by a lot."
"Even so... we need to decide how we're going to deal with this. An army of guys almost as tough as Schwarze is going to be hard to stop. And I only have a couple reloads of cold iron for my pistol." Hellboy sighed. "And it couldn't punch through his body armor afterwords anyway. So, we need some kind of plan."
Michiru and Haruka exchanged glances. The teal-haired Senshi said, "For all it might not work, I think we have to fight them head on. We don't know what their objective is... it could very well be something we cannot afford to let them take."
"True." Setsuna sighed. "We probably will need to figure that out. I suppose we should get ahold of our ally."
----------
Ranma was moving through kata at a pace that the human eye could barely track. He was coldly furious. He hated not being able to deal with something. He spared a moment to glare at the sky. He knew where they were. He had a reasonable idea what they were doing. He just couldn't do a damned thing about it. Even if he could fly himself high enough to reach one of those ships, there was no way he'd live long enough to get inside. Hell, even if he could get aboard, he didn't know enough about ships to really have a chance to do some major damage.
It was frustrating as all hell. He felt helpless, something he felt seldom and enjoyed never. It was infuriating! He had defeated a Dragon-Blooded lord! A Pheonix! Gone beyond the stars and battled numerous foes with unfamiliar styles! He'd taken on an entire army of demons and won, albiet with help. He'd mastered the secret of flight itself. He was more powerful now than he'd ever dreamed of becoming, powerful enough to challenge and possibly even defeat his own masters! And he couldn't do a damned thing against these invaders on his own.
He accelerated, to the point where he was more or less a red-and-black blurr in the back yard. For a long, timeless stretch he roared around the yard, venting his frustrations on the air around him. Finally he stopped, breathing heavily.
"You okay?" asked Nabiki.
Ranma glanced over. The middle Tendo sister was still under doctor's orders to take it easy, and as far as he'd thought she'd planned to spend the day 'catching up' on her information network. He'd sort of expected her to be inside, but right now she was sitting at the back door. "I'll be fine. I just... I really hate this situation." He straightened up and started walking over. "Didn't mean ta distract ya."
"It's all right. I got some good footage of you before you got really worked up."
"What happened ta not sellin' pics of me?"
"Our agreement was the sale of pictures, not video, correct?"
"Uh... yeah."
"Then I'm not violating the terms of our agreement, am I? Anyway, why do you think everything I gather is for sale? I'm in training again, some footage of the master could be useful."
Ranma sighed, sinking into one of the chairs. "Well... whatever. I probably should care about this more, but I'm just too frustrated here. Alien invaders from another dimension? When did my life turn into bad fanfiction?"
"When you agreed to help two magical girls track Ryoga down. Really, you brought this on yourself."
Ranma snorted a laugh. "Okay, fair enough. Still. I wish I knew what ta do about those bastards."
"Annoyingly, nothing leaps to mind. At least, not without them coming down here first. Do you honestly not have any ideas?"
"Well... nothin' better than stealin' some scuba gear an' seein' how high I can fly. But I ain't exactly confident in that plan."
"It has a flaw or two." Nabiki's smirk was almost weapons grade. "What about the Senshi?"
"I ain't talked to 'em yet today. We were pretty stumped last night."
He heard Setsuna's mental voice. Ranma? Are you busy?
"Huh," he said. "Speak of the devil." Not really, you got any good ideas for dealing with our friends up there?
Nabiki looked confused. "What is it?"
"One of the Senshi's talkin' ta me."
We're still brainstorming, but we've hit a snag. Their objective is something in or near the city of Tokyo, but not the city itself. Can you think of anything they might be after?
"Ah, not to put too fine a point on it, but, how?"
Ranma pulled the TSAB pendant out of his shirt. "This little magic dealie here." Nothin' leaps ta mind... I'm guessin' ya mean somethin' magic?
That was our assumption, yes.
I can think of a couple magical dinguses kicking around, but nothin' all that special. Ta' be blunt, I ain't intending to let 'em get what they're comin' for.
"Interesting. Can I get a closer look?"
That seems to be the direction we're leaning towards as well. There have been some developments. A TSAB ship appeared in orbit a few minutes ago and tried to run the blockade.
"I kinda need it ta talk right now... gimmie a minute." Did they make it?
Unfortunately, no. They did get a message out, however.
Damn. Well, if they got a message out we could be in business. I dunno if the TSAB cares about Earth, but they ain't gonna let someone blow one of their ships an' get away with it.
That was our guess as well. I'm glad you agree.. you know them better than we do.
Ranma didn't know if his mental speech could project his current feral grin, but he suspected it did. Yeah, that should bring 'em down on the Bradesons. Time ta start plannin' for the fight ta come. Gimmie an hour to round everyone up, an' I'll be down there.
----------
Akane Tendo sat cross-legged in the Dojo, meditating.
She and Shampoo had almost beaten one of those Youma themselves. Oh, Ryoga had definately helped, but they'd still been doing quite well. Somehow, in that fight, she'd found herself holding a hammer. She couldn't remember seeing one like it anywhere around before the fight, nor could she find it after. She'd found hammers at similarly opportune moments more than once in the past. Too many times to be coincidence.
Ranma had told her, at the beginning of her training with him, that 'you do this stuff all the time without realizing it.' Perhaps, she thought, the hammers were the same way. Perhaps, as with increasing her strenght and speed, she could find a way to find those hammers on cue. Though not primarily trained in an armed style, she was still quite skilled at fighting that way, and a hefty hammer made for an excellent force multiplier. The kind she could use against demons or, say, random insane martial artists who decided she'd make a nice captive or concubine.
Breath in. Think through the fight. Remember what she felt. Remember the flow of ki. Let her ki flow now. What had happened? What had she done? Breath out. Let the ki flow. Repeat. In theory, this should work. It had helped her become more conscious of how much ki she was using to enhance her speed and strength. This was something that had become very, very important to her. If it worked once, it could work again.
Breath in. What did she feel? What did she think? What did she do? Breath out. Concentr-
The door to the dojo shfff-ed open. "Hey, 'Kane?"
The youngest Tendo shot Ranma a glare. "What do you want?"
"Wanna get in on kicking the invader's asses? Throwin' together a war council."
Akane stood. "Absolutely. But... why? You normally don't want me to fight."
Ranma couldn't quite generate his usual smirk. The smile looked... strained. "'Cause this time around, we're gonna need all the help we can get. Soun ain't comin', an' I ain't gonna let Nabs in, even if she wanted to, she ain't good enough for this kinda thing. But like you say, yer a martial artist, too."
-------------
Haruka was on the second floor, keeping a watch down the street as the rest of the Outers prepared for their guests. Mamoru and Hellboy were helping them get set up, though Mamoru himself had only just arrived, having gone to get Luna and Artemis. The general consensus was that they'd need every mind they could get to plan this.
It was just about the end of the hour Ranma had asked for when she finally spotted him. He was chatting with another boy, the bandana-wearing fellow he'd beaten a Youma with earlier. Perhaps a step behind him was a boy she didn't recognize in voluminous robes. Behind them was a wizened old master type, a woman who appeared to be using a walking stick as a pogo stick. Then four young ladies, one with purple hair and a chinese-style dress, one with some kind of massive weapon strapped to her back, and two more or less ordinary looking girls. "Hey, Setsuna! Here he comes, and he brought a whole mob with him."
"Good. Try to contact him."
"Okay!" She concentrated. Ranma?
Hey Haruka. Just about there.
I just spotted you. That's quite the mob you've got there.
Everyone I could get ahold of on short notice who'd be useful. Wish I coulda found a few more.
It'll be fine, I'm sure. A pause. So. Do any of your friends have those fun Jusenkyo curses?
She caught the mental equivalent of a sigh. Yes. Don't test it, okay?
Why not?
Because if you do, it will start a fight, an' it'd probably level the house, an' we don't got time for that.
Now I'm really curious.
Another sigh. Look, I'll explain later. Just don't throw the water around, okay?
Oh fine, spoilsport. Bring your wrecking crew in, and we'll get started.
------------
It had been a surprisingly quiet train ride to Juuban, considering who was aboard. Ukyo, Shampoo, and Akane herself had kept a strained silence. None of them really liked the others. Konatsu, by contrast, was practically bubbling. The pseudo-kunoichi was looking forward to a chance to meet some of the Senshi. Truth to tell, Akane was looking forward to that as well... but there was the little matter of the other fiancees.
The three of them were at the back of the pack. Ranma and Ryoga seemed almost casual as they chatted, and Mousse was throwing in the occasional comment. Akane was fairly sure their ease was a front – considering what was coming they simply couldn't actually be that calm.
Ukyo seemed to have the same thought. "How are they so nonchalant about this?" she muttered.
Shampoo said, "Is big problem, can try to fix or panic. Arien too-too smart panic when need fix. Even stupid Mousse can pick fights. Sometime."
The three exchanged looks. They didn't particularly like each other, nor did they trust each other. But under the circumstances...
"Can we agree to a truce? At least until this is over?" asked Akane.
Ukyo nodded. "If the boys can do it, I think we can, sugar. Agreed."
The two Japanese girls glanced to Shampoo. She glanced back, exhaled. "Shampoo agree. Truce until this over."
"Good," said Akane, turning back to the road ahead. It was better than nothing.
-------------------
"Good afternoon, General Jiiral," said Admiral Kallson as the heavyset groundpounder entered his office.
"Good afternoon, Admiral."
"How is the preparation coming for your troops?" Kallson gestured to a chair. Jiiral sat, nodding his thanks.
"All the troops here have been briefed, and a general plan of battle is being finished now. We've analyzed the information Enforcer Schwarze gathered. Our own Enforcers should be able to neutralize the indigenous mages, and the regulars should be able to handle anything the JSDF can throw at them, based on the intel your people managed to gather."
"Excellent. Do you anticipate any problems getting the forces on Siege of Tesephony ready for battle before the set jump-off time?"
"As long as they get here in the next twenty-four local hours, we should be fine. Major Holmon's troops are top notch."
"Do you know when Enforcer Schwarze will be able to return to duty?"
"Not yet, I'm afraid. He sustained some fairly serious injuries, and his Focus was destroyed."
"Ah. I hadn't realized that last. So if nothing else he'll be out of action until he can prepare another one. Well, I wish him a speedy recovery." Jiiral hesitated a moment before continuing, looking the wiry admiral over. His familiar seemed to be smiling. "What about that bogie from earlier?"
"My people assure me it didn't manage to transmit anything before we disposed of them. We should have a week or so before its owners notice they're missing a light unit like that, and I've already sent a courier off to Hydra Base. We should have re-enforcements before they become a problem." He frowned. "I'll admit, I wish my gun crews had left a little more debris for us to sift, but overall..."
Jiiral nodded. "Well, fair enough. I'll leave you to your business, Admiral. Good day."
"Good day, General."
Miriel's message went through TSAB headquarters like a bomb blast.
It had been slightly fragmented, but the salient points had gotten through – Earth, a backwater with poor magic and minimal spaceflight – was blockaded by an extremely hostile fleet. There was only one reason to blockade a planet like that, as precursor to an invasion. And while the TSAB normally wouldn't concern themselves overmuch with the fate of a non-protected world, this invader had destroyed one of their own ships. That offense would not, could not be tolerated.
In the hours after Miriel failed to return, the Fleet's commanding Admirals debated their response. A show of force would be needed, of course, but how great a show? How quickly did they need to respond? What ships could be spared for the effort? And perhaps most important of all, who would lead their strike?
The debate went nowhere fast, until their civilian masters weighed in. The response would come immediately, it would come as hard as possible, and it would include ground forces. These upstarts would be taught the error of opposing the Time Space Administration Bureau in the most blunt manner possible. The ground forces would counter any possible invasion that might be under way by the time the Fleet could respond.
Chrono, for his part, was glad to see a quick response. He'd done his part to get it – as much as they scared some of the Admiralty, Nanoha Takamachi and Hayate Yagami were popular among the people, and pointing out that it was their homeworld being threatened had gotten some extra support thrown behind the response. He generally disliked politics, but it was a game he could play on occasion when he thought it worthwhile.
With his Enforcer background, Chrono had been assigned to co-ordinate with the Ground Forces. They were going to throw some hefty forces behind this retaliation. With a little luck, they'd find Miriel or at least it's complement, when they responded. As Chrono had ordered them to check on Earth, it had fallen to him to inform the families that their loved ones were missing. It was a duty he hated, and if he ever stopped hating it, it would be time to resign.
His console beeped at him. "Harlaown here."
Nanoha's face filled the screen, expression hard. As he'd perdicted, she was not happy with the news. "Chrono? It's Nanoha. I've started contacting everyone I know who's both on planet and has the skills we'll need for this."
"Good. If you need a hand dealing with bureaucrats, let me know. I'll sort them out."
"Thank you, I'll probably need the help. I've gotten ahold of Agent Lanster, Subaru Nakajima, Schach, and the Wolkenritter so far."
"Great! I'm trying to get word to Fate and Colonel Yagami, see if they can make it back before we set out, but this place is pretty confused right now."
"Thank you. Let me know if you manage."
"I will. Keep me updated on your situation, too, please."
"Of course. Whoever these people are, they are going to regret this."
Chrono shuddered as the communication ended. Her tone, in that last sentence, had been a tone he hadn't heard her use in a while. Not since Quattro had stolen her adopted daughter and taunted her about it on national TV. He had a suspicion that some poor bastard was going to run afoul of the White Devil, and soon.
