Hey all. Chapter 13 is up. Just to let you know, I may not do some episodes from the show as they may not fit in with my changed universe. Enjoy!
The last few months have been mostly quiet for Bloom and the girls. She scanned for Seraphim, filed reports, went to classes, all normal for the most part. Not all had been quiet. Stella went on a date with a young man that she met at the ball, one Prince Sky. The date was revealed as a trap set by their favorite three witches. It ended with them finally getting Stella's ring and the young teen being returned safely to Alfea. The girl's then had the bright idea to go to Cloud Tower to get it back, an act Bloom abstained from as she had to be ready to defend the locals. They eventually returned in success, but were caught by Griselda and taken to Faragonda who removed their abilities. Then the Trix broke into the school, only to be caught by the girls, who were fulfilling their punishment, and Faraginda. The young fairies were given back their abilities as a reward.
It has been quiet since then, until now. It was one of the days that the students didn't have classes and Bloom was walking down the halls of the school, dressed in her UEF officers uniform. Her jacket was adorned with the many medals she gained in battle, her rank pinned to the collar. The students noticed her attire and gave her strange looks, looks that she ignored.
As she walked, Bloom came across her friends, who were chatting amongst themselves. They noticed her immediately and tried to stop her to ask questions, but she didn't. Bloom wagged her finger to them, asking them to follow. Without hesitation, they did.
Their walk took them down to Faragonda's office, where they immediately saw Madame DuFour with Faragonda. The two teaches looked at the girls, but focused on Bloom and her uniform, "Bloom, why are you in uniform," asked DuFour.
"I was just given a signal from HQ to have everyone here to talk to General Hall. They didn't say why."
"And the uniform," asked Stella.
"Protocol." She then placed a small, black disk onto Faragonda's desk and pressed a button causing three screens popped up. The first was instantly recognized by them as Princess Burke, remembering her image from Bloom's recording of the battle for Matar. The second was of an elder gentleman with graying hair and mustache. His eyes were hard and calculating, but held a small softness to them. His UEF uniform was similar to Bloom's, but it had more medals than her and different ranking pins. The final was of an elder gentleman with white hair in a suit, but there was something different
"General, Princess, Doctor," Bloom addressed them with a smart salute.
"At ease, major." Bloom complied to the elder officer's order and waited. "You must be Faragonda of Alfea."
"Yes. This is Madame DuFour, a teacher here at Alfea," said Faragonda as she introduced her companion. "And, you are," asked the elder fairy.
The UEF officer answered first, "I am General William Hall. This is Princess Rihanne Burke and Doctor Gustaf Brackman."
"A pleasure to meet you."
"Yes," answered Burke. "Although, I wish it were under better circumstances." At their curious faces, she continued, "Major, we were finally able to break the Seraphim soldier you captured. He revealed to us a set of co-ordinates deep in Realm territory and we sent a small stealth probe to it. What we found was disturbing. There were several Magix Realm signatures on planet… along with several Seraphim signatures attacking them."
The news froze all in the room. None spoke as the information slowly sunk in. Faraginda, Bloom and DuFour recovered first and turned back to the three leaders. "How did this happen," asked DuFour in fear.
"We believe that the Seraphim are planning to use this planet, one that the Realms call Paradise, as a beach head to begin an invasion, oh yes," replied Brackman. "We have therefore begun to mobilize Coalition forces to prepare for the coming war."
"Are we even ready for that," asked a worried Bloom. "We took massive casualties in the last one and our militaries were useless against them for two years. We lost much of our territory and military infrastructure. How can we fight another?"
"While we may have not had much time, everyone knew that war would come again as soon as we found the Realms," answered Burke. "In an effort to prepare, everyone who could work did so to rebuild to the point we could effectively reignite the fires of war once again and win. Many worked beyond what was required. Our militaries can now be sustained and we have had many new recruits enter the ACU academies. We can now defend our populated planets and help to defend the realms."
"We've rebuilt that fast?"
"It is the Cybrans that are producing the bulk right now. They took the least amount of damage of the three in the war," stated Hall. "Now then, let's brief you on the mission. It is simple: you will seek out and destroy any Seraphim on planet and defend the civilian centers. Two Cybran commanders have gated to Domino and are waiting for the signal to gate. Rhiza went ahead and is establishing a beach head."
"What of my responsibilities here?"
Brackman turned over to the young major, "Commander Dostya will take over for now my dear, oh yes. You will be gating shortly. Good luck."
With that, the three leaders cut the transmission. Bloom pocketed the device and dashed down the corridor as fast as her feet could carry her. The girls followed her down to the base and entered with her. Bloom didn't try to stop them as she didn't have the time. She just gave them one simple instruction: don't touch anything. She then entered into a changing room and exited soon after, dressed in her armor.
The girls watched from a raised Platform as Bloom climbed into her ACU. Their mouths were agape with awe at the sheer size of it, let alone the engineering expertise needed to construct such a machine. A sense of fear also hung in the air and left them to wonder why such a machine was even created in the first place. Even though they knew the history, they couldn't help but wonder why.
They were broken out of their thoughts by the intercom blaring a feminine voice, "Navigation systems, check. Power core, online. Weapons systems, check. Armor repair systems, check." The voice droned on with the list naming systems of the machine and their status. Soon, it just stopped and said, "Armored Command Unit final systems check complete. Integrating pilot controls. Quantum Gate Alpha-One is charged and ready for departure at your discretion."
"Girls," rang Bloom's voice over the intercom, "Behave and don't touch anything while I'm gone. I'll be back soon."
"Be careful," requested Flora.
"I will."
They didn't get to say more as the call for Bloom to leave was heard. The girls waved and prayed for her safe return as her ACU took a mighty step that sent shockwaves through the ground. They wobbly watched as the machine of war entered into the pulsing energy before disappearing in a flash of light. When it faded, Bloom was gone from Alfea and rushing off into battle.
I apologize for the wait, I kept changing my mind on what to do with this chapter, and I finally decided on this. I hope you enjoyed it. Review please.