Hello all! Chapter 26 is ready to go and I hope you enjoy it.

The sun crept over the horizon as the people of Magix slowly rose from their slumber. The birds sang, the sun was shining, and the people were in high spirits. The only thing ruining the morning was the passing of another Coalition aerial patrol. Ever since the Coalition troops had arrived, the area around the city was turned into a veritable fortress. The trees were far too thick for ACUs and ground units to push through, with the exception of light assault bots and scouts due to their size. The roads were the only way to get through besides the tedious task of reclaiming all of the trees in the way. It truly annoyed the citizens to no end at having their city buzzed every half hour and all attempts made by the city to stop that were halted by the Coalition officer in charge each time.

It was that very same officer that woke from her slumber, dressed in her uniform, and went down to breakfast. Bloom wasn't in the best of shape as she woke up to a nightmarish memory, which in turn woke up her roommates. After telling them what happened, and crying herself back to sleep, her night got very strange. What had transpired left her in an even better mood than ever before and she was giddy with excitement at the prospect of telling the girls about it. She just couldn't wait to see their faces.

As she walked down the halls, she saw the many students of Alfea going to breakfast as well, some a little later than they should. Though, that didn't matter today. Classes worked by having certain classes on certain days, and today was one day the Winx didn't have any classes. It was also going to be a busy day for Bloom. While she may have had a vacation, she still had to do the paperwork she left behind, which was a lot. This was supposed to be a day off, thought a now irritated Bloom.

When she entered the cafeteria, she was greeted with the warm atmosphere of the carefree students. The table she and her roommates were usually at had one seat open between Musa and Tecna with Stella, Flora, and Amaryl sitting just across from them. The three of them were talking amongst themselves, Musa had some headphones on, and Flora was eating quietly. Bloom walked over and joined them.

They all greeted her, Musa simply giving a small smile, and asked Bloom about her night. She didn't talk about their "mid-night talk" and told them about what happened after.

"Someone spoke to you in your dream," repeated Flora. "Is that even possible?"

Tecna pulled out her computer and started to type at the screen. She searched for a few minutes before answering, "Yes, it is. However, the process requires a lot of concentration and even then may not work completely. Do you know them, Bloom?"

The red head nodded, "It was my sister. I recognized her from the paintings in the palace."

The girls started to pester her with questions: Why didn't she contact her before? How did she find her? Were they going to meet in person? All these and more were thrown at her.

The Domino heiress answered them each in turn. Daphne had found Bloom via a magical tracing spell, which, as the name suggests, allows someone to track another's magical energy. The reason they hadn't met earlier was because of the distance between them. Bloom wasn't anywhere close to the Realms at the time. As for meeting, they thought it best to meet after the Seraphim threat had been dealt with.

The rest of the meal was about them all telling of their plans. Tecna, Musa, and Stella were going to meet up with the Specialists in town and do something there. Amaryl was going to stay at school and laze about. Musa was going to get together with a witch from Cloud Tower she met, Mirta, and wanted to hang out with Bloom. The fire fairy told her about being in the base and working on some things there.

Flora seemed downcast, and then said, "Could we come with you? It would be a little interesting to see you work."

Bloom took a moment to think, "Alright, but don't touch anything. The objects in there aren't toys."

A nod was Flora's answer.

After breakfast, they all went their separate ways. When Mirta arrived, she was a bit surprised at Bloom's appearance, but quickly hid it, "It's nice to meet you. Flora's told me a lot about you."

"The pleasure is mine. Shall we?"

They then headed towards the door of the underground base. It hadn't changed all that much when they were there last time, just the addition of some lights and two armed guards outside the hologram protected entrance. They saluted their superior and went back to guarding when she returned it.

Entering the base, they found Bloom's ACU team, Hammer 2-1, dutifully going about various tasks. Helena was repairing a broken console, the screen flashing several times before the power died and a string of muttered curses left her mouth, James was taking inventory of the base supplies, and Desmond was turning from a radar console and walking towards them.

"Major," he greeted. Bloom returned it with a nod and he continued, "I'm glad I caught you. I had a weird radar signature pop up on the scope just before you came in. It may be nothing, or it may be something. I don't know. The scans are inconclusive."

Bloom hummed in thought at the possibilities and none of them sat well with her, "Send out a T-3 Spook and find the source. Report back when you have the results."

The young man saluted and returned to the station. Seeing as the base was in good working order, minus the broken console and Helena's sporadic cursing, she led the girls to her office and let them look around while she sat at the desk inside and got to work.

The office was fairly Spartan with a few pictures, some awards, her desk, two chairs in front, and a small com-screen to the left of the room. The paint also conformed to the UEF style: blue. The girls switched from talking to her, to looking at the different pictures, to looking over her should as she worked. Most of the paper work was of situation reports with a few supply requests and some more petitions from the city to stop the air patrols from flying over the city.

It was just another quiet, boring day. Until Desmond's voice came over the intercom, "Major, we have a big problem. The Spook has just arrived at the anomalies co-ordinates. They're power signatures, all of them Seraphim."

Bloom froze for an instant before dashing from her desk and out the room, the girls following close behind, "How many?"

"All of them, I think," he answered curtly. "Reading close to sixty ACUs to the north-east and forty to the north-west. They outnumber us 2:1."

The news didn't faze her as she started to bark out orders, "I want all ACUs deployed now. Lock down all sectors and get a message out to command. Tell them we need reinforcements!"

"I can't," called Helena. "We just lost all off-world coms. Some kind of jamming field unlike anything I've ever seen. We're on our own."

Bloom's only answer was a long string of curses.