June 11th -2155 - Earth - location unknown.
Reimu Hakurei stared at the information on the Holopanel in front of her and wanted to do many things, chief among them being to ignore everything and sleep. Unfortunately that was not an option because she was, technically, the leader of all the Alliances Operatives.
Operatives technically reported to the alliance's leadership, but all Operatives themselves also reported to their own network where they could compile and process information, transfer data, and request information or assistance from each other. As the impromptu leader of all Operatives, Reimu herself did not often have to go on missions, mostly because little aside from other operatives causing trouble could give her a challenge, but this resulted in her handling most of the paperwork and administrative acts.
Including deciding upon the missions for the Operative entrance Exams.
Held once every five years, anyone above a certain rank could take them, however these Exams could only be taken once, and if one failed it they could never take it again and could not become an Operative. Often those who failed simply just went back into the military, though some also became teachers and the like if they were beforehand.
"May as well get it over and done with," Reimu grumbled as she tapped the screen before her, opening up the files on the various people taking the test this time around. The files were organized by groups as, due to the number of people taking the test, seventeen, there was no conceivable way they could have seventeen operative class missions just lying around. They currently had four missions, and six groups. "Unless another mission falls into our lap we'll have to merge some groups together. Won't be much of a challenge with that many people though."
"Want some help then, Reimu?"
"If you have help to give. But why now Sanae?" Reiimu asked as she turned to Sanae, who was standing in the door to the small Tatami room.
"I saw the list of candidates and figured you might need some help, right?" Sanae said as she stepped inside and slid the door shut before walking over to the low table that Remu was lying beside. "Everyone who usually would help with this is busy right now, right?"
Reimu nodded and sighed. "Eiren is on Tuchunka, Marisa is busy on the Final Spark and cannot help because a student of hers is taking the test, and Kiene is busy grading tests at the moment."
"I thought there were more who normally helped?" Sanae asked as she gently touched the teapot on the table and, upon finding it warm, poured herself a cup of tea.
"There were for a while, but they're the usual ones who help with this," Reimu said as she rested her head on the floor. "Though I recall you helping a few times early on, so that will help."
"Of course!" Saane said happily as she took a small device out of somewhere. "I also brought some information for another mission."
"From where?"
"Well, Desolas passed it along."
That made Reimu lift her head up. " What?"
"Desolas Passed it on," Sanae said again as she placed the drive on the table closest to Reimu. "He's still workin on his mission, but got some help from Lady Yuyuko, so apparently they wouldn't be able to investigate this one lead. He figured that a group for the Operative exam could look into it."
Reimu sat up and took the drive in a hand, then plugged it into a slot on the side of the table while dragging the holoscreen onto the table. A moment later the mission's very minimal information and parameters popped up. " This is pretty barebones. Little information, a lot of room for misjudgments."
"But also a lot of room for quick thinking, planning and group operations," Sanae said with a smile. "I think it would be a good mission for the best prepared group, right?"
"Well. . . it would be hard being in Council territory. A private planet makes that a bit easier though. It would have to be the best prepared group, otherwise the group could end up dead, not just failing," Reimu said as she tapped the mission parameters and added a few addendums to it for the Operative that would be overseeing the mission. "What do you think of these parameters then?"
"Lets see," Sanae said as she tapped the table, bringing a copy of the screen up on her side. "Missions parameters . . . . yeah, that looks safe to me. It gives them a broad objective and different ways to complete it, and will let their observer keep control of things and add more objectives if they feel the need to."
"Good, then that settles that. Now it's just a case of deciding who gets what missions," Reimu said with a sigh as she poured herself a cup of tea.
"There do seem to be a few groups," Sanae said as she looked over the test takers. Why not have . . . these two groups join for this mission, and these two go on these missions?" Sanae asked as she showed Reimu what she was suggesting.
" . . . . that could work. Still need to figure out the last two groups. Though . . . . Sanae, what do you think about sending Marisa's apprentice and her group to that council planet?"
"Well, she would know more about the council space maybe. But we don't know how difficult it could be," she said before looking over some of the files again and then nodding. " Oh, they are the group with the best chance out of everyone huh?"
"Yes. The other groups are, I suppose the word is lackluster. If some of them have difficulty they may need to take a secondary Exam.
"Alright, i think i know what you mean. So if that is the way the groups are spread out, and the missions they are getting for the tests, who do we set as their observers? And when is the test again?"
"In two days," Reimu said simply with a shrug. " they should be arriving on Arcturus sometime today."
"You left this so late?" Sanae asked with concern.
"I've been busy," Reimu defended. " Besides, if I hadn't left it this late, that mission from Desolas would not have gotten in."
"That's true. Who all have volunteered to be observers this time?" Sanae asked.
"Satori, Shinmyoumaru, Momiji, Desida, Suika and Vwen Bloodiron,"
"Oh. I feel sorry for whoever has Vwen as their observer. Wendigo's are a bit, um. . . . you know."
"I do. So, how do you think we should pass them out?" Reimu asked curiously.
"I think the better question is going to be who supervises the group with the best chances," Sanae said with a nod. "I think either Suika or Satori."
"Oh?"
"Well, they both likely won't get in the way unless the mission goes badly, so i think they would be best to observe them," Sanae reasoned.
"If they encounter a very strong enemy Suika will want to test them out herself. Satori would poke holes in their plans, and from the information all of them have decent problem solving and tactical skills."
"Oh, that is true. Who would you suggest then?" Sanae asked curiously.
"Sukuna or Desida. Though Desida would be my first choice," Reimu admitted.
"What? Why?"
"Desida is too lazy to do anything extra. She'll observe and keep track of their mission, maybe point out sub objectives and that's it. The only way she'll get in the way is if something dangerous enough to endanger her appears."
"Isn't she under a contract with Isika though?" Sanae asked.
"Yes. but I do not believe that will pose a problem. Isika won't break the rules, and Desida is too lazy too," Reimu said with a smirk.
"Okay, why would you suggest Sukuna?" Sanae asked curiously.
"She's small and can stay out of the way. She'd have little choice really. But if things went terrible the oracle mallet would help. Probably,"
"If she gets thrown around though they could lose track of her though," Sanae said in a worried tone. "She isn't very fast on her own after all."
"True, that's why I'm suggesting Desida," Reimu stated as if it was obvious.
Sanae simply sighed as she tapped the screen, dagging her fingers across it to position the observers with the groups before spinning it to face Reimu again. "Then how about this?"
Reimju looked it over and nodded."Looks good to me."
"Okay, then what is next?"
"Now the long and painful part, the paperwork, orders and allowances," Reimju said as she reached over and poked the screen, causing a flood of file screens to appear all over.
"This many?"
"If I was alone I'd be doing them into the night. With you here we should finish in time for dinner."
"Then we better get started," Sanae said. Sighing barely a minute later. "I hope this test goes well. It's always sad when people don't make it. Or die."
"They just get to join Yuyuko's legion of the dead, or get to go nag Komachi," Reimu said with a noncommittal shrug." Could be worse."
"Well, for some I guess," Sanae said, not pressing further because it was clear Reimu was in a mood. "I just hope everything goes well for them.
Chapter 1
June 11th -2155 - Arcturus system - Arcturus station.
"Now Arriving at Arcturus station, please make sure all your personal belongings are secured before exiting the vehicle, we do hope your trip was pleasant, and we hope to see you again soon." The shuttle pilot joked into the intercom, "Oh, and good luck girls. You are gonna need it."
Isika rolled her eyes and nudged The Moon rabbit next to her, who was sleeping on her shoulder. "Hey Uno, wake up. we're here."
The Lunatic groaned, her eyes blinking as she straightened up. 'Already?' She thought at Isika, 'I thought I would have longer than that.'
'You've had plenty of time, come on I'm not being late because you are jet-lagged.' Isika thought back at her, helping her to her feet.
Uno didn't have a response, and just yawned loudly, giving a long stretch.
Her partner now awake, she turned to the other occupant of the shuttle. "Jess, you good to go?"
The masked girl looked up at her from her book, and nodded, slipping it into her pocket, before she herself stood up.
After checking that they haven't left anything behind, they all stepped off the shuttle and onto the station proper.
"Now Ishi and Ika said they would meet us when we arrived…" Isika said, looking around the reception area.
"They are coming down the Hall." Uno said, speaking out loud this time, her red eyes faintly glowing.
Sure enough, Ishi walked into the room, followed by the Squid Girl herself, who appeared to be bickering.
"...told you they were coming into this berth, if I had listened to you we'd be on the other side of the station." they heard Ishi say as they walked over.
Ika didn't really retort, and had started sulking.
"Hey Ishi. Hey Ika." Ishi said, after entering polite conversation range.
"Hey girls, how've you been?" Ishi said. "Final Spark changed much since we left?"
"Not really." Isika said, naturally falling into her role as the voice for her less vocal friends. "What about you two? How's it been like in the Blade Breakers?"
She became aware of Jesamine writing something on her slate, and turned to see she had written [And What's with the new outfit?] in her own neat script.
"It's pretty awesome!" Ika supplied her, sulk forgotten, "They threw us a party at our departure, and are gonna throw us a bigger one when we pass."
"It's challenging work, I'll probably go back for a bit after I pass." Ishi said, hand on hip. "As for the new outfit…"
Ishi at some point since they had last seen her, had swapped out her shorts for full length cargo pants, and she had forgone her Jacket entirely. The only thing on her upper body was her backpack and a sports bra restraining her breasts, leaving her toned abs bare. Her cap remained on her head, but it now had a pair of high tech goggles sitting above the brim, and some sort of oxygen mask sat loosely around her neck.
"... The blade breaker work gets pretty rough, and I got tired of replacing Jackets." Ishi said, shrugging "Besides, it's pretty hard to find material more durable than my own hide."
[Fair enough.] was Jesamine's response.
"Now let's get going, I'm gonna miss taking part in the big operation on Virmire because of this." Ishi said, turning around "So I am not wasting this opportunity."
"Virmire?" Isika asked as everyone fell in step with the halfbreed.
"I guess you didn't hear about it." Ishi said. "Well you know this big hunt for that rouge spectre Saren that's been going on…"
The room the meeting was in was similar to a university classroom of a sorts. Tiered seating rose up from the floor where a single podium would sit in front of a large screen that could be calibrated to show anything.
The room was hardly full when Isika's group entered the room and sat down in a group of chairs near the top by the doorway, and when the lights began to dim it was made clear that they likely were the last group to arrive, even though they were still twenty minutes early.
"Ohh… lotta competition in here." Ika said, her gaze sweeping across the room as if sizing up her perceived opponents.
"This isn't a fight Ika." Uno said chidingly. "This is an exam. Hypothetically everyone here could pass."
Ika suddenly looked panicky, "What? An exam?! Why didn't anyone tell me? I didn't study!"
"Not that kind of exam Ika." Isika giggled. "Practical exam, we will be going on a mission."
"Oh, right, hehe." Ika said, embarrassed.
Behind her, Jesamine had written [How this girl reached N7 I'll never know]. Then Isika chopped her on the head before the girl in question noticed.
"Jeez, you really need to read up on this stuff. What would you have done if this was a written test?" Ishi said, shaking her head, as she lounged on the provided chair.
Ika shot her a watery eyed pout.
"If you think I'd help you cheat you've got another thing coming." Ishi said dryly
Ika started sulking again.
"Still, a lot more than I was expecting today." Ishi said, as she herself swept over the gathered Operative hopefuls.
[I wonder how much of them will make the cut?] was Jessamine's penned response, and Isika cleared her throat to draw everyone's attention to it.
Ishi glanced over briefly before her gaze returned to the front of the room. "Who knows? I don't think I really know anyone else here so I can't really make any judgments."
"It's statistically unlikely everyone will pass though." Uno supplied. "It's rare to get a full 'passing class' as it were."
[Some will pay the ultimate price for overconfidence]
"Do you have to really put it like that?" Isika said, sweat dropping.
"Don't you ever get tired of being so gloomy?" Ishi said.
[Punch yourself]
"I'll think about it." Ishi said.
Further conversation was halted when the lights started to dim.
When the room darkened enough a purple line cut through the air behind the podium. It hung there for a second before opening up, revealing an endless abyss of eyes and dark energy, and a second later none other than Yukari Yakumo herself stepped out from within, her presence silencing the room in a bare microsecond.
"Greetings everyone. I know that you know who I am, so I will not waste time with introductions. You all are here for the same purpose, to take the operative entrance exam. Operatives have been around in essence since before the founding of the alliance, often called incident solvers in the past, they solved problems that others could not. Operatives solve problems to the peace and stability of the alliance, but they must be capable of protecting others and themselves or they will be unable to do their jobs. To that end, no one may take this exam more than once in their existence. As such, anyone who believes they are not ready, may walk out right now, and let no one challenge your decision."
No one moved from their seats, and it made Yukari smile in a way that made many in the room shiver involuntarily.
"Very well then. It should also be known to you, that the average casualty rate for these tests is forty seven percent. Again, if anyone believes themselves not ready, you may leave and not be judged."
Again, no one moved from their seats.
"Very well. Then this meeting shall begin in earnest," Yukari said as the screen behind het lit up, showing a number of hangar bays to the right side, while every person in the room's name was on the left. " In times past, when the alliance was still forming and there were rampant terrorism groups and other dangers, operative tests were done solo, and often contributed to the current average casualty rate. Now however, these tests are often done in groups, and shall be done so today," Yukari said as everyone's nams moved to various hangers. "Each group will have an observer for your tests who are waiting in the hanger you now see your names in. These are your groups, meaning these are your allies and comrades for these missions. Go to your assigned hanger where you will meet your observer, and on route to your mission you will be given your mission parameters, however strict or loose they may be. And remember, your actions will be watched, and your results will dictate whether you join the operatives organization, or are hung out to dry!" Yukari stated as suddenly the lights in the room flared back to their full brightness, and Yukari was nowhere to be found.
"She certainly has a flair for the dramatic, doesn't she?" Isika said. She doesn't think she will ever get used to randomly seeing the Border Youkai like this, she always pops up when you least expect her.
"At that age, most Youkai do." Ishi said, standing up as many already had, and gave a languid stretch
A wash basin hit the back of her head, pitching her forward.
"Can never tell when she's listening either." Grumbled Ishi from the floor.
Isika offered a hand to Ishi, who took it. "Come on let's go. Better not keep our observer waiting."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Pretty cool we got put together huh?" Ika said as they left the room.
"They try and group together friends and acquaintances, as it helps the missions go smoothly, less chance of infighting and better group cohesion," Uno explained "We are also a fairly balanced group, with a good spread of skill sets, and have all worked together well in the past."
"Eh, they do?" Ika said.
[How can anyone be this clueless?]
"Well anyway, I wonder who they have got to be our examiner?"
"No clue, a lot of operatives are busy with the hunt for Saren." Ishi said
Isika suddenly laughed. "I just thought, wouldn't it be funny if we got…"
"You have got to be kidding me." Ishi said, with disbelief.
"You're telling me." Desida said, lying on a fuzzy rug near the door of the hanger, eating chips, and playing on a small handhold. "Of all the hopeless cases they could have sent me, I got you jokers." She gave what might have been a wistful look into the distance, but still resembled her usual deadpan. "I had a whole bit planned too, but it won't work on you, what a waste."
Desida… hadn't changed a bit since she became an operative, she was still short, her hair a mess, wore nothing but hoodies and projected the same air of listless indifference.
"Desida!" Isika said cheerily walking over, and picking up and hugging the demon, who put up zero resistance. "We haven't talked recently, what have you been up to?"
Desida slipped out of her grip and started floating, her rug, chips and handheld disappearing in a poof of smoke. "Ehh, don't remind me." She whined, "ever since that Spectre went and blew up Eden Prime, us Operatives have been running around like beheaded chickens. and the brass have been running me ragged."
She draped herself bonelessly over Ishi's shoulders and backpack like a fur boa. "So when Reimu started asking for volunteers to babysit a bunch of newbies, I thought this might be a nice break."
Ishi pushed her off without ceremony.
"Ow." said Desida from the floor.
There was a moment of silence.
"Are you done?" Ishi asked.
"Wait…" Desida said.
About ten seconds past.
"Kay, now I'm done," Desida said, floating back into the air. "Alright now that I've had my fun, let's get going." Desida said shamelessly.
Uno was frowning though. "Where is your ship?"
Everyone else looked around, sure enough, the hanger was empty.
"...Is it parked in a different hanger?" Isika asked uncertainly. She had honestly been looking forward to seeing Desida's new ship, what with Desida being an operative, and Isika being a student, there hadn't really been a chance up until now.
"It's already on route to the mission site, thought I'd save time and send it off early." Desida said.
She received five blank stares.
Desida gave a rare smirk. "You think I'm joking? Reverse-Summon sign ~ Hell and back!"
A pentagram lit up under their feet, and they suddenly found themselves standing in the entry hall of Desida's home in Hell, before just as suddenly, they found themselves in a room none of them had seen before but all of them felt the telltale sensation of a ship in the middle of the boundary slip.
In front of them was a flight console, with no one manning it, and in front of that, a cockpit window showing the eerie lights of boundary travel. Etched into the floor was one of Desida's odd pentagrams.
"Welcome aboard the Daydream." Desida said. "My personal craft. Come on, the back room is more comfortable."
They walked through a narrow corridor with three bunks on either wall, and at the end, were three doors, the one on the left led to a small kitchenette, and the right one was marked as a bathroom. Desida ignored them and went into the one ahead.
Desida's inner sanctum was exactly what Isika had expected, plush carpets, random piles of Pillows, a beyond-king sized bed (alasken king), complete with a comatose Gummi, surrounded by a pile of sweet wrappers.
The short, yet busty gluttony demon mumbled happily to herself curled up with a goofy grin on her face.
The group ignored her, and instead sat down on the soft floor. None of them really expected a formal briefing from Desida, least of all Desida herself.
"Right." Desida said, who had laid down on the foot of the bed. "We are now on route to the mission site, We probably would have already been there, but they didn't tell me where we were going until this morning, so we still got some transit time, we got a bathroom, a kitchen, and six bunks, use them, or if you want' just sleep wherever in here. You're friends so I don't care either way. Don't mind Gummi, she's a heavier sleeper than I am. Now the actual mission."
Desida tapped her wrist comp. And a holographic ice planet appeared in the middle of the group. "This is Noveria, a privately owned Planet under council jurisdiction, an Ice ball with no redeemable features besides a breathable atmosphere. Nevertheless, the planets owners basically lease out various laboratories on the surface to any company that can afford the rent, to perform dangerous, and more-often-than-not illegal experiments."
Isika frowned, she had heard of Noveria, basically any bored kid with access to the extranet has probably heard at least one wild conspiracy theory linked to the various experiments and labs. "Our mission is in council space?"
"Yup, and I'll explain why," Desida said. "As you've probably heard, the hunt for Saren has been occupying about eighty present of our operative assets, with all of us running around like lunatics hoping for the first shot at the guy."
A smaller hologram appeared next to it, this time of a more terrestrial looking planet, albeit mostly ocean. "And now most of that has probably been for nothing, as Sarens brother, our very own Turian, tracked him down first. However as he is now joining the front line assault on Virmire, he apparently left some loose ends that he wants tied up, and that's where you girls come in."
The second planet hologram disappeared, replaced by Saren, and a corporate logo.
"Saren has been found to be a major shareholder in the company 'Binary Helix' and has made multiple trips recently to a leased lab on Noveria that is owned by the company, as has several suspected associates of Saren. This has been deemed suspicious enough to warrant investigation despite Saren having already been located. Your job is simple, find the lab, infiltrate it, and investigate, steal or break anything that seems important. Stealth is important but not essential. Just make sure you don't leave any witnesses that can complain to the council and try not to kill anyone who is unrelated to the objective. Unlike Desolas, we don't have one of the council's stooges covering for you, so we really shouldn't be here at all. Make sure that as far as anyone was concerned, we weren't."
The Hologram shut off. "And that's it. Make yourself comfortable, we'll be in transit for about a day."
Uno blinked. "That's all? What about intel?"
"You ain't getting any." Desida said, floating into the air. "I felt this mission was too easy for you lot so I'm gonna make you gather your own intel on the ground. I'll drop you off quietly near Port Hanshan, the ship dock, and it will be up to you to gather what information you can and then make your way to the lab by any means necessary. Understood?"
Uno sighed. "Crystal."
"Good, Imma take a nap, wake me up if we hit something." Desida said before vanishing all the sweet wrappers and squeezing herself into a little spoon position next to Gummi, resting her head against gummi's chest.
Everyone stared at Desida for a moment, before deciding that this was all they were gonna get and started loafing off in unison. Ika pulled out a handheld and started playing games. Ishi Shrugged off her backpack, and started tinkering with some small electronics. Jesamine pulled out a book and started reading.
As for Uno and Isika, Uno laid back and rested her head on some pillows, while Isika used Uno's stomach as a pillow she stared up at the roof.
'Well, this will be something, a mission in Council space.' thought Isika.
'Are you worried? If this gets out it could bring you a lot of attention from the council.' Uno thought back.
'I little, but not much, after all, if this goes well, I'll be an operative, the best of the best, the council can't touch me. And my parents said I shouldn't let worrying about the fallout hold me back from grasping my dreams.' Thought Isika. 'mother said youth is for recklessness'
Uno smiled at the thought 'Still, let me know if you start feeling nervous.' Uno thought 'I'm here for you.'
'Thanks Uno' Isika turned her head to look at the two demons on the bed. 'Hey, do you think they are…?'
'With Desida it's hard to tell. She's surprisingly snuggly for a demon. They could simply be platonic snuggles.' Uno said
Isika snorted and they lapsed into idle thought for a while.
'Desida's ship really is something, I wonder what it looks like from the outside' Isika thought out loud again.
'Considering it was designed by a demonsmith, probably terrifying.' Uno, said, shivering.
After another pause, Isika thought up again. 'Hey, if… when we pass, what do you want our operative ship to be like?'
'You speak like it's definite that we will share a ship.' Uno teased.
'You don't want to?' Isika pouted up at her
'I never said that' Uno said she thought for a bit. 'I'd probably want a ship like this, small, quiet and fast. We can just go wherever we want to, whenever we want to. Preferably a zero crew ship like this too, so it's just the two of us.'
'Heh, what about a nice snuggle room like this one?' Isika asked innocently.
Uno chuckled quietly 'if you want we can have all the snuggle rooms we can-'
"Do you girls have to mind-flirt on my ship?" Desida drawled from the bed. "The atmosphere in here is turning unbearably pink."
Isika and Uno blushed Purple and red respectively as Ishi and Ika giggled at their expense.
"Ok people, drop in 5 minutes." Desida said, surveying her motley crew. "I'll be dropping you off one klick outside Port Hanshan, there's a blizzard out there so I hope your gear is cold resistant."
"We'll be fine. After all we got weather girl here, and I can stand a bit of a chill." Ishi said, whose only concession to the weather was a fleecy jacket, the same blue as most of her clothes.
"Speaking of which…" Desida said, turning to address Jesamine. "From this point forward I declare this mission started, and as your acting commanding officer, I give clearance for your mask to be removed, do so now."
Jesamine nodded as the mask clamps on the base of her jaw flashed green. With a pneumatic hiss, she lifted the iron facemask off, and put it in a pouch on her belt. She started running through her scales to massage life back into her vocal cords. She then turned to Ishi.
"Punch Yourself."
Before the halfbreed could react, her fist met face with a thunderous boom.
"Jeez, why'd ya go and do that?" Ishi grumbled, her until recently balled fist massaging her jaw. "What did I even do this time?"
"I wonder if someone remembers in the auditorium when I asked them to punch themselves." Jesamine asked ponderously, in her careful, slow manner.
"That? Good grief you can hold a grudge," Ishi said.
"This is well established," Jesamine said.
"Play nice you two." Isika chided.
"You know, if this mission goes well, that might be the last time someone gets to tell you what to do with your mask." Desida said conversationally, "so maybe avoid screwing around."
"It's so nice to hear concern that is as comforting as it is genuine." Jesamine stated, her voice dripping with slow, deliberate sarcasm.
"Are we there yet?" Ika said impatiently.
"Barring anymore banter, probably not long now." Uno said placatingly.
"Ok thirty seconds, everyone on the Pentagram." Desida said, "We're doing this like Star Trek, prepare to beam down."
"What's Star Trek?" Isika asked, as they did as instructed.
"Ask me later." Desida said. "T minus twenty."
"It's a really old television show about space travel. The original is like centuries old." Uno supplied. "My Dad is crazy about it."
"Heh, My mom was more of a Star Wars fan." Ishi said, cocking her hip. "She raised me on the old clone wars cartoon."
"I prefer Doctor Who." Jesamine added.
"T minus ten seconds and no one is taking this seriously." Desida said dryly.
"I'm still lost here." Isika said.
"Me too." Ika said, feeling the need to contribute.
"Nobody cares Ika. T minus five…" Desida said
Ika pouted before pressing a button on her collar, and liquid metal slowly formed a helmet around her head and tentacle hair, covering each in a silvery armoured sleeve, her eyes covered with green almond-shaped domes .
"Four…"
Jesamine whispered a spell, and an invisible bubble of still, warm air formed around her head.
"Three…"
Ishi adjusted her backpack, before pulling her gas mask over her mouth, and her goggles over her eyes.
"Two…"
Uno pulled out her rifle, adjusting the settings, before pulling a pair of wraparound shades from her belt, and placing them over her eyes.
"One…"
Isika merely grinned with excitement, as she adjusted her hand-me-down hat on her head, and cracked her knuckles with anticipation.
"Stay safe down there guys. Reverse summon sign ~ demonic translocation!"
With a red flash, they found themselves standing on a snowfield, with the wind blustering around them.
"Your test starts now!" Desida's projected voice echoes in their heads. "Try not to embarrass yourselves."
Authors notes:
Touhoufanatic: Okay, so the first chapter of these specials focusing on the Noveria mission, and what XYZdreadnoughts character from his spin off will become by the end of his spin off. Yes, Isika is trying for operative, but will she succeed? We'll have to see. In other news one request I received in a review was to link all the spin offs i know of at this time, and i will do so, at the end of these spin off/ noveria chapters. Hope you enjoy the start of this little section.
XYZDreadnought: Hello, didn't think I'd get an opportunity to co-write a chapter or two in the main story, much less an entire story arch, I just wanted to start by Thanking TouhouFanatic for this opportunity. You might notice several of these characters haven't even appeared in my spinoff yet and probably won't for quite a while, but they will be fairly important cast members, so I hope you like them.
And yes, that is Squid girl, what of it? I thought it was funny and ended up liking the idea too much, sue me.