Eternal City, Crystal Tokyo
Chapter 76
"I'm actually a bit surprised at how little you've colonized your System," Alicia Testarossa admitted, the pretty blonde walking with them to school.
"I think we're doing okay," Catrine countered, her short hair a pretty lime green.
Subaru nodded, "Earth, Aqua/Mars, two huge space colonies, and stations on or around all the other planets."
"And the asteroid belt, though that's pretty lawless," Erica noted, her black hair falling stylishly into her eyes.
"True," Alicia conceded, "I guess I still think in Mid standards. Or El Hazzard, that pretty much uses 100% of available space."
"How do they...?" Subaru had to ask.
"Dyson Sphere," Alicia said. "They functionally took all the material in their Solar System, built a shell around the star and live on the inside..."
"Wow," Subaru blinked, trying to wrap her head around that.
"Good morning, Sir Knight," one cheerful young lady called to Alicia.
"Uhm, morning," Alicia waved back as the bunch of girls giggled.
(Over her Summer vacation, Alicia had traveled to another dimension, fought in a Knight's tourney, and ended up winning a knighthood. Worse, it had been a slow news day in Crystal Tokyo, so it hit the news there too.)
"I think the novelty will wear off eventually," Erica noted.
"Oh, I really hope so," Alicia sighed.
"I think it's cool!" Subaru beamed.
Alicia just sighed again.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The meeting room had a tense atmosphere as they waited for news. Saionji stood as he reported, "Our joint fleet with Jurai and the Khanite encountered the Tyranid spores as expected, and the seed-ships were destroyed."
"Okay, I think I missed something," Makoto noted. Lady Jupiter was sitting in on the meeting, in case their power was needed.
"It's a bit complicated," Saionji admitted.
"A while back, in Arisugawa's Locket, we were visited by a group of our allies from the near future," Minako explained, "They told us that Crystal Tokyo would be functionally destroyed by attacking aliens called Tyranids."
"Shit," Makoto blinked.
"The Tyranids are nasty buggers too," Miki Kaoru noted. He continued, "They have organic ships, they grow tailored fighting beings, and they devour anything organic. They strip a planet of all life, launch spore-ships at the next nearest planet, then do it all over again."
"Exactly. So we got as much information as we could out of them, and used it to intercept the Tyranid force in deep space," Minako concluded.
"So they'd be away from organic stuff and be their most vulnerable," Makoto nodded.
Serenity sighed, "The potential Tyranid threat is the main reason we developed the Sword Breaker class ship."
"And I'm proud to say they worked out great," Saionji added.
"Do you think we got them all, though?" Ami Mizuno asked intently. With her science background, she had a very clear idea how bad this could get.
"We think so," Minako answered.
"Think?" Ami echoed.
Rei patted her wife's arm, "Space is big, love."
Ami sighed, "I know, I know. I'm also concerned where the Tyranids could go from where we fought them."
"It's nearest to the League and Jurai," Saionji sighed.
"Both of which would be disasters," Ami added.
"Okay, why?" Makoto had to ask.
"The League is too decentralized to organize an effective defence," Ami sighed, "they'd take forever to respond, giving the Tyranids plenty of time to settle in."
"While the Jurai Royals have mostly biological ships and weapons. The Tree-ships, etc etc. I have no idea what would happen if the Tyranids absorbed that, but I'm certain it wouldn't be a good thing," Saionji noted.
"Ugh. Point," Makoto nodded.
"We'll continue to patrol the region, even if the League isn't happy," Serenity noted. She looked at Minako, "Could we put a bounty on Tyranid remains?"
"It's a thought, but I'd be worried some clever fool might try farming Tyranid for more bits to sell us," Minako admitted. "I'll put the word out, informally."
"All right, that pretty much concludes that...," Serenity carried on.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Yuuki Konno smiled warmly as she met the two women. "Thank you for seeing me," the good looking purple haired woman said.
Jun Fudoh smiled wryly, her long brown hair flowing down her back. "You were fairly insistant," she noted teasingly.
"Jun!" Nadesico Kinomoto yelped, poking her lover's shoulder.
"Ok, that may have come out harsher than I intended," Jun conceded.
Yuuki just looked amused, "It's fine, really." She took out a small device, "Do you mind if I record us?"
"Certainly, go ahead," Nadesico. "We reserve the right to go 'off the record' though."
"Understood," Yuuki agreed. "Recorder on," she ordered, then recited the day and time.
Both Jun and Nadesico sat up straight, but otherwise just looked attentive.
"Now, one of the biggest news items recently has been your engagement," Yuuki smiled, "I understand the announcement happened by accident?"
Nadesico chuckled as Jun made a face. "Yes," Jun admitted, "I was talking to Sophie, my publicist, and I was only trying to make sure the planned dates were free."
"She thought it was an announcement, and passed it on to the media," Nadesico added.
Yuuki chuckled, "How much trouble did she get into?"
"I scolded her, but that's about it," Nadesico shrugged. "It was a misunderstanding."
Jun, Yuuki noted, scowled at that. Clearly there was a bit of ill will there still.
"Now, I understand you met not long after Jun arrived in Crystal Tokyo," Yuuki said, "and started seeing each other not long after. Do you sometimes have people question that knowing each other just three years is too soon for marriage?"
"No," Nadesico said promptly. "To be honest, I think the extreme long lives we all have have made us hesitant to act."
"What she said," Jun agreed.
"Fair enough," Yuuki accepted that. "Now, I understand you've pushed back the ceremony until spring of next year?"
"Correct," Jun said then explained, "the original date was near to when Princess Usagi and Lady Hotaru planned to marry."
"it's already going to be a huge, planet wide event, we don't want to add our wedding to the mix," Nadesico added.
"As a member of the Press covering it, I thank you," Yuuki drawled.
Both Jun and Nadesico chuckled.
"I understand Archmage Sakura and Guardian Tomoyo will be coming to both events," Yuuki observed, "how are you getting along with your future Mothers-In-Law?"
"Surprisingly well, actually," Jun admitted. "Guardian Tomoyo and I, especially, found common ground watching over our... uhm... flightier mates."
"Hmph," Nadesico pouted.
Yuuki fought back a chuckle.
"We are getting along," Jun mused, "though I could wish that the Archmage would stop blowing up the scale of the ceremony."
Nadesico nodded, "We wanted something small and intimate..."
"She's gotten carried away?" Yuuki sympathised.
"She's dragged PRISS ASAGIRI in to be our wedding singer. It's gotten completely out of hand..." Nadesico lamented.
"I've only met the lady once," Jun added, shaking her head.
To be continued...
Notes: Small tie in to Magical Atoner Lyrical Alicia. This chapter takes place just after the recent update Chapter Twenty Three.
The Tyranids lost easily because our heroes caught them at their weakest. They had just crossed the gulf between Galaxies, they were low on fuel, and really needed to hit an inhabited planet and build themselves back up.
I'm not sure if I'll do anything with the Orks or Tau. Will think about it.