Disclaimer: The characters used within this are mostly the property of others. I have a few originals, but the vast majority are not original. Everything here is fiction. This is for entertainment only and not for profit.
-=oOo=-
Araiansu - Chapter 25
-=oOo=-
"Would you look at that?" Jack said.
Chrono said, "That is tricky stuff Fate is doing. We are all taught to do the math for our spells ourselves. It takes a lot of training and concentration. Combat is usually almost impossible without a device to assist."
Amy snuggled up to him. "Chrono is just being modest. He is just as good."
"I'm not sure about that," Chrono muttered. "I'm not honestly sure who would win if we were both without devices."
Avon and the others came up to them. "Ki powered flight is no picnic either. None of us have truly mastered it. This is good practice."
"I noticed," Jack said. "She falls a bit every time she lobs one of those ki balls."
Chrono said, "The magical balls Fate is using are having a similar effect. You can tell by the fact that she is limiting it to two. She would normally be using ten or more. She just has practiced more, and has all her experience to fallback on, even if most of it was assisted by her device. The few times this thing has turned into ground fighting Dana has had the advantage, well ground or near air. High in the air they are just burning energy, well that and practicing flying."
Jack asked, "And if Fate was transformed."
"She could wipe out everyone here with no real effort, me included if I didn't transform fast enough."
"I take it you don't hand out the devices that allow this to just anyone?"
"Certainly not."
"Dana is not done yet," Avon pointed out. "Look."
"Oh hell," cursed Villa. "Hit the deck."
"She is just going in circles," announced Jack just as Dana finished her spiral and shouted, "Hiryu Shouten Ha!" Avon pulled him down.
Then all hell broke loose. Thankfully they were some distance away.
"Durandall Set Up!"
"Yes boss."
Fate was similarly undergoing an emergency transformation as they were both caught in the eye of the storm.
The others quickly grabbed onto whatever they could. Avon grabbed hold of the grill and secured himself to the ground with ki to prevent that from becoming a hazard or losing the food. Villa and Jenna shot to the patio heaters quickly shutting them off and holding onto them. Cally and Nafrayu dashed to secure Nanoha.
The other two tents flew into the air, ignored, even as Fate managed to grab Dana and keep her safe. She flew straight up and out of the storm, then shot blasts at anything approaching the crowd, pushing it off course.
Chrono finished his transformation and started diverting other things.. Five minutes later the sudden tornado was gone.
Fate landed softly with Dana in her arms.
Jack shouted, "Never do that again!"
"Sorry," Dana said meekly. "Didn't think it would get that big."
Fate said, "It wasn't her fault."
"I know. It just scared the hell out of me. Look just make sure your parents are around when you try something new."
"It wasn't new. I didn't even put that much into it."
Chrono said, "But its interaction with magic was new. It's some kind of resonant cascade using opposing energies right?"
Avon said, "That is a fair explanation."
Chrono said, "I agree we should put off anything related to that interaction until far better controls are established."
Fate said, "Agreed. I wasn't putting off that much magic. If this had been one of our normal fights and the cascade was started. Hell this would be worse than Nanoha's Starlight Breaker, particularly since it doesn't have the potential to be made safer by our magic."
Chrono said soberly, "It would seem I was possibly wrong. If there was a serious fight between us there is a very good chance we would all end up very dead."
Avon said, "There is some protection given to the user by being at one end of the spectrum. I agree though, it would probably kill everyone and everything if it continued to scale, particularly if everyone was pulling out the stops. They were thankfully pretty far away and remained mostly in the eye thanks to Fate's quick thinking. Had Fate acted any slower."
"I know," Dana said shaking briefly before giving Fate a brief hug of thanks.
Nafrayu returned. "Nanoha is fine. We kept her tent from being disturbed. Cally is staying with her."
"Good. Bardiche would have told me, but good."
Avon added, "And I did save, well some of the food, probably."
Dana said, "Give me a minute to calm down and I'll help look for the rest."
"Just rest," Fate said. "Chrono and I are transformed. We might as well take advantage of it."
Within about ten minutes most of the camp was restored. Dozens of trees were ripped out of the ground and could not be saved, but it could have been far worse. They managed to repair one tent out of the three that were lost. About half of the other food and drinks were recovered, but it was enough.
Jack said, "Of course fishing is out."
Chrono laughed.
Her mother's voice was heard near Dana, "Are you all okay?"
She responded, "We are fine mom. Tip, don't mix a Hiryu Shouten Ha with magic."
"Are you sure?" asked her father in concern.
"Yes dad we are sure."
"Okay, well if you have extra's we are beaming them up. We are hungry," added her father.
Dana rolled her eyes.
Sam asked, "How is Nanoha?"
Nafrayu responded, "She is well. She will likely sleep for… Actually I think she just woke."
"Smoke is blowing that way," noted Jack.
She peeked out the side of the tent, with Cally behind her. "What's for dinner?"
"Nanoha," Fate said fondly.
"Why ya transformed?" asked Nanoha, still clearly half asleep.
"Sparring went a bit wacky, but it is all good now."
Nanoha waved that off. "Happens," even as she started closing in on the grill, her mouth drooling a bit.
Fate sighed and took out a rather interesting looking salad before absently dropping her transformation. Chrono did the same with his though and settled on a hamburger.
A variety of food, including a barely saved set of barbecue was served. Many drinks were drunk, including of the alcoholic type.
The tents were all filled before the night was out, with Liberator beaming another two down from somewhere.
All could have beamed back to somewhere warm, but none really wanted to. Fate particularly loved the excuse to cuddle up to Nanoha as they slept. Nafrayu had decided to sleep near them in case they needed help. Cally curly up beside the younger seeming, yet actually older boy.
-=oOo=-
Heimdall completed the new dimensional drive and helped install it. Nozomi would store the old drive for a trip or two, just in case, but due to the size would likely use it as her first source of raw material when repairs were needed. One module was pulled from Atlantis and given to Rommie for her stores.
General Hammond, Daniel, Chrono and Amy would join them on the trip. The Artha would remain here as a token to their new alliance. Fate and Nanoha would also remain, as would the doctor to try to help more people figure out what they needed to fully heal safely. Jack was staying as well to lead in George's place. Ranma and Sam would also go, as representatives of the new alliance and to heal where they could.
They already had a draft started when Heimdall presented them with the original alliance of the four races cleanly translated into their languages. Daniel looked at their current version and glanced around before binning it. Heimdall smiled a small smile at that action before he left the room.
Ranma, in female form, asked Rommie, "How are you doing on ki levels?"
"I'm fine," she smiled. "My captain is stronger than you think." Kasumi blushed furiously at the complement.
Rommie asked, "Are we ready to go?"
Chrono said, "Amy and I would like to work with you on your telemetry detail level for this trip. We are going to need to submit this flight to get your certification, but I don't think we want the kind of detail we saw in your other log. Give them what they need, no more. I don't want them puzzling out drive construction details from your log."
Amy said, "It won't take long. If you could unlock this station?"
"Done," replied Rommie.
A few minutes later Amy said, "Also done. I'll have to send this when we get close, along with your interim authorization to run in our dimensional space."
"Thanks," Kasumi and Rommie added.
George said, "Well if we are all ready."
Rommie merged with Kasumi their voices automatically blending. "Nozomi is powering up from idle. Releasing locks one through seven on the new drive system. Drive is responding nominally. Receiving signal from Othalla. Putting it on screen."
"Greetings Sam, Ranma, General, others. I wanted to share the news. We believe we have eliminated the replicator threat. We are continuing to monitor and will likely do so for centuries to come, but we believe the threat is ended."
George said, "That is excellent news Thor. Congratulations."
"I congratulate you to on what appears to be the beginnings of a new alliance. We thank you for using the old forms. I have heard many good words from Heimdall. In a few years we hope this will form a basis for formally reestablishing what was weakened by time and fate."
George swallowed. "You don't mean with Earth?"
"No. The part you represent can of course be included though."
"Thank your Thor."
Chrono said, "I too thank you. I hope to meet more of your people soon and know that we will do our best to earn your friendship."
"Time will tell, but this has been a good beginning."
Sam said, "It is good to see you Thor."
"It is good to see you too Samantha Carter. Are your children well?"
"They are. Dana tried an attack during sparring that resulted in a cascade storm due to the magic in use, but no one was hurt."
"The combination is quite dangerous. You must exercise extreme care."
Ranma said, "We will, even more so after your warning."
Thor nodded. "Good Journey Rommie, Kasumi, crew of the Nozomi."
"Goodbye Thor," they all said.
The screen went black.
Kasumi and Rommie asked, "Shall we go?" Seeing the smiles at her she began slipping between dimensions. The ship was dead silent as she slipped unheard through the dimensional sea.
Amy said, "Look at this Chrono. This is our actual detailed telemetry. This is the down sampled version with some noise added."
"It still looks too good. Kasumi Rommie, can you perhaps drop back into normal space about an hour out and then resume but try to muddy up the last hour of your journey. We will submit that. We want no dimensional damage, but this is something I don't want to show them, not yet at least."
"We dislike doing this."
George said, "If I'm understanding, they don't want your true capabilities known. I'm afraid that if they are this concerned I have to agree with them."
"Very well."
"If I might ask, what exactly is your concern?"
"She is silent," Amy said. "There isn't a ship in the fleet that would detect her coming until she was within visual range."
"Are you sure you should be telling us this?" asked the General of the EDF.
"Who are we kidding?" Chrono asked. "The readings are clear enough. It wasn't a conclusion you could fail to reach, and I don't want the admirals to needlessly worry about one ship and mess up this alliance, or push to get the same drives, not until it is well thought out and probably not then."
"This isn't going to work," they spoke. "I will either have to continue to fake the bad drive from now on, at a lot of effort, or they will find out soon enough and we will be caught lying."
George said, "She does have a point."
Chrono said, "You are right. That drive that can't really be hidden, not for long at least. We will just have to manage the politics of it."
George asked, "Right now our biggest threats are internal. People using propaganda, including inciting violence to try to seize power to benefit their people with no care to how much they destabilize the country most of us come from. Our external threats are contained. There are two significant threats we know of in other galaxies, that for now we are staying the hell away from, at least till we have gathered some strength and I doubt we go looking for trouble even then. With the Asgard less tied up, they should be able to help maintain some kind of order. Things are looking better, but if push comes to shove and containment of the technologies we were gifted, found, or developed was in question our plan is likely to simply leave Earth entirely. Under no circumstances can we permit any of this to get into the hands of the propagandists. If they are willing to destroy the foundation of our government for power, they cannot be trusted with any of it."
Chrono said, "Well, our government is more stable. Not perfect but more stable. Our reliance on magitech probably pisses off a lot of people, but it also yields a rough kind of balance. There are those that push using more pure technological solutions." He trailed off.
Daniel asked, "Out of curiosity, what is the resistance there about?"
Amy said, "A lot of it is related to not killing. None of us really want to kill, particularly if we can avoid it. We often turn enemies into allies. That is not going to work nearly as well if the TSAB starts leaving a trail of bodies. The technological solutions generally kill. It is a lot harder not to kill. If we start creating ships based purely on technology, we will lose that. Personal weapons also lose that. Some can stun, but they don't work nearly as well usually and are pretty easy to shield against."
Sam nodded. "We brought our Asgard plasma beam rifle, and your right the threats they are intended to deal with do not give one the luxury of a stun setting."
Ranma said, "The Tollan have technology for Ion cannons. For all we know all the Goa'uld may know their weaknesses, but they are still generally fairly effective and generally non lethal."
Chrono said, "It would give us something non-lethal for ships at least, and remove some of our concerns. Dimensional travel is not like hyperspace. We use the one drive for all movement when we can, but given the danger to the barriers, we still don't want to see a lot of people with dimensional drives."
"What about conventional hyperspace?" asked Daniel.
"That is known and used by some. We have no real problem with that. The military doesn't use it as much since we are stretched thin."
"Well there you have it," suggested Daniel. "You can have a division that doesn't use dimensional drives, and does have Ion canons and whatever else you can think of, plus probably some other weapons. That would have to reduce your workload somewhat."
"Assuming of course the Tolan agree," pointed out George.
Daniel nodded.
Ranma asked, "How are you doing you two?"
Kasumi and Rommie yawned.
Rommie separated from her and got up. She said, "I've got it. Actually, the automatics have it. Heimdall does good work. Energy usage is even minimal. I could do this daily with no real issues."
Kasumi said, "We got bored. The other one was at least a challenge."
"We can't have everything," George said dryly.
Kasumi smiled.
"Your bored?" Ranma asked casually.
Sam smirked. Rommie looked on in amusement.
"I believe I am overdue for some additional training. Perhaps you can fit in a lesson?" said Kasumi in challenge.
Sam and Ranma grinned wider. Ranma asked, "Shall we go to the cargo bay?"
Kasumi said, "Let's."
Chrono asked, "Mind if Amy and I tag along?"
Rommie said, "By all means. I'd come to too, but I need to monitor our flight."
Amy said, "It is rare to meet anyone in the dimensional sea, but not impossible. If you see anything out of the ordinary…"
"I'll contact you."
-=oOo=-
Ranma was endlessly patient as he ran Kasumi through one form after another.
Sam did her own practice off to the side. Noticing Amy's curiosity she asked, "Want a lesson?"
"I don't fight. I always stay in the ship and do tactical."
"That is no reason not to know how to defend yourself," Sam pointed out.
Chrono smiled, but said nothing.
"Are you smirking?" accused Amy at Chrono.
"No, of course not," Chrono backpedaled.
Amy smiled.
Ranma turned from watching Kasumi to look at Amy more closely for several seconds. He asked, "Your not a mage?"
"No, I can do a few things, but I don't have the potential."
Ranma turned back to Kasumi and asked, "What do you think?"
"Of Amy?"
Ranma nodded.
"I'm not sure. Rommie and I have felt an echo from her at times."
Sam added, "As have I."
"What does that mean?" asked Amy.
Ranma said, "You might have some potential to use ki, or it could be nothing. I sense nothing from Chrono, but I usually sense something from most people and I've tested people with the echo and not found significant potential. You won't really know unless we check."
"What does that involve?" asked Chrono.
"Nothing dangerous. Kasumi could you, that is if Amy is interested?"
"Yes, please."
Kasumi smiled and motioned Ami to sit down. She sat down in front of her. "I haven't done this before, but I'm going to try to mimic what I think is your ki signature and make it act like a beacon. If you can sense it, we can take the next step."
"Sure, what do I do?"
"Just hold your hands out palm up."
Amy did so even as a brilliant white light formed between Kasumi's palms.
"Well, I can see it," Amy said.
"No," Kasumi said. "Close your eyes and see it, not with your eyes but your spirit."
"I don't think this is going to work."
She kept at it for several minutes. "This isn't working."
Ranma glanced at her wife who slipped behind Amy, and in perfect silence formed a flare of ki in her hands, but cupped so the suddenly harsh orange light did not show to Amy.
Amy twisted fast in surprise and rolled.
Chrono held out a hand to his wife and helped her up. "You okay?"
"I suddenly had this intense feeling of danger."
"Sorry," Sam said. "Using emotional ki to get a reaction is usually not plan A. Even that little flare will take me some effort to balance."
"It worked," Chrono noted.
Ranma said, "She needed to be surprised. She had already convinced herself that Kasumi's efforts would fail."
"I sensed nothing. I saw the light, but nothing more. Durandall."
"Yes Boss."
"Could you sense that?"
"Affirmative, though not well. I do not recommend relying on me for such detection."
"You and Amy may be all we have if there is such a threat."
"I will do my best sir."
"Thank you."
Amy asked, "What is next?"
Kasumi asked, "Shall we try again?"
"Sure!"
Chrono added, "I did not think life adept skills were common in our universe. For all I know they are more common than we thought. We will need to find a way to test."
Sam said, "People skilled enough to test are rare. We are trying, but it is a slow process."
Chrono asked, "If we found you a top class training mage, could you perhaps?"
Sam glanced at her currently female husband who tilted her head to the side. "Maybe. Our best bet would be one of our children. We aren't ready to make that decision and it would be their choice."
Kasumi said, "I know that Megumi is staying with Chrono's mother."
Chrono nodded.
Ranma said, "We aren't saying no, but you have to understand…"
Amy said, "We do understand. Chrono and I haven't had children yet, though we have talked about it. Sending a child to another universe without support. We would certainly understand your hesitance."
Chrono said, "Nanoha is a top class trainer, but not for the beginning steps. She can be intimidating without intending to be. There are many teachers on Mid Childa for mages that are better suited for beginners."
Ranma said, "We will work something out. If need be we will make time to train Amy to that point. There is also Kasumi's father, though whether he would ever want to leave the dojo..."
Kasumi added, "You could always bring people to the dojo. You could fly with me as well. I know little compared to Ranma and the rest, but I think I could help with what I do know and we appreciate the company."
Amy said, "Chrono's mother would say that you can't expect everything to happen at once. That this is all going to take time."
"True," Sam said. "We will work out the details, of that I have no doubt."
"Yes we will," Amy added.
-=oOo=-
Chrono gave his mother a heads up when they were about to arrive, then using a one time personal encryption code he sent a more detailed message. After she reviewed it, she told him that she would take care of it, but requested they delay arrival for four hours. They agreed to do so.
-=oOo=-
Lindy Harlaown sat in the witness box at the emergency session of the Mid Childa council she had called. She even had the full complement from the church here. She supposed that having a good reputation had its benefits. She had earned the prompt response she had asked for.
"Why have you called us here all of a sudden?"
"As you know my son and I have been working with a group of people from a relatively distant dimensional space. It is of course no great problem for our own ships."
They all puffed up at that, content in their technological superiority.
She continued. "It is also, it would seem, even easier for their ships, or at the very least they can build a technological drive that is considerably better than our best magitech drives."
"That is absurd!"
"It must be a mistake!"
"There is no feasible alternative to magitech! We have studied for decades to find one!"
"Nevertheless, it is true."
"Where is your proof of this extraordinary claim?"
"I'll admit, we were less than certain on how to proceed here. They have no intention of releasing their design in general, and we have informed them that we consider it top secret. We also don't have their design, though we did get an earlier recording of their ship, that is still quite interesting."
"Let's see the data."
"The first is the original telemetry data before their final set of updates, which I have been told are significant."
They watched the data in surprise and were soon enthralled at the numbers.
"That is not an engine," One of the elder counselors said. "That is an intelligence making poetry possibly out of what they had. That is no real competition. I doubt they could sustain it."
"That is all true. This, however, is their current telemetry."
"That is not the same engine. Are those even real readings? The sampling rate is way down. It looks fake."
"I assure you that they are real. My son suggested not making the recording at the full fidelity. He was concerned that this would complicate our alliance. He was soon convinced this was pointless."
"Then you have the full fidelity recording?"
"I do, but we will have to go into closed session before I will show it."
"Do it."
Ten minutes later they reconvened. She brought the complete recording out. "Note that this is one of the rare living ships we have seen."
"That explains the first telemetry reading."
Lindy agreed. "Yes it does. We have confirmed the avatar is there of her own will and the captain is also there of her own will. Note the change about five minutes into the recording."
"The living ship part is irrelevant. It explains the other recording, though I can't think that was easy. Yes the quality degrades a little when presumably the captain slips out of the gestalt, but the quality is still ridiculous. This would change everything."
Lindy said, "If we released it. Right now the assumption is we would not. We would also have to persuade them to part with it."
"Part of it may be reverse engineered from this recording."
Lindy said, "True, but that is not far from just a theoretical simulation of what you want to target. I'm not sure how much help it will be."
"What do you propose?"
Lindy said, "For now? Nothing. I don't favor opening that can of worms without great thought, if ever. I would, however, like us to pursue this alliance."
"What can they offer us if not that?"
"A very great deal. I think we can offer each other a very great deal indeed."
They listened carefully as their proposals were laid out. They also got a copy of the original four races treaty which was suggested as a basis for an alliance.
"You have our attention. Is there anything else?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
"The living ship is from another time. We believe she dates back to the time near when Al-Hazard still existed. She is in fact from the universe that created Raising Heart. She shares some of the same principles, even if she was made by the Alterans likely with Furling help rather than the Furlings directly."
"Go on."
"She has a prohibition, or probably simply her own stubbornness, but she will not normally ask for additional crew to share the captain's burden. She was probably also a little unstable because of being stuck on Earth for a thousand years while having to pretend she did not exist. We are fairly sure this has all been addressed adequately. Some of this information came from Raising Heart herself. She aided the ship and her captain and reported well of them."
"That is the device that just committed the serious violation."
"True, though when asked she paid the price. I didn't like it since it increases Nanoha's risk, but she paid it. We all swear that oath and for good reason."
"What are you proposing?"
"First, I want us to be alert to somehow who may be suitable to pair with the avatar and her captain. We can't overtly ask, but she has not ruled out a basic introduction."
"Do you have any images of the captain and the avatar?"
"Of course. This is Kasumi Tendo and Rommie, the ship's avatar."
"And what path did they take?"
"Kasumi is a life energy adept, if relatively new to the field. Rommie can no longer generate life energy due to her transformation. She is not strictly reliant on it, but we think it is inadvisable to make her wait another thousand plus years for a captain again."
"What else?"
"I want official permission to teach Kasumi what she can learn. It won't be much. She has a very small linker core, far below what we would usually consider training."
"Done. The risk is minor. Keep to the textbook."
Lindy nodded.
"How would the Liese twins bond with a ship like that?"
"How will teaching Kasumi help? Is magic even compatible with that ships design?"
"I am hoping we can find someone suitable with magic to represent our universe. We do not believe it would be incompatible with the ships design. She already does something similar with information management to what I do, and she enhanced the ships sensor fields during the recent earthquake rescue. As for as what the training will do for her, well we are hoping she will be able to cast the recovery cushioning spell, and maybe limited telepathy."
"The spells are nothing. The rescue was very impressive. Would their transporters be something we could obtain?"
"Easily? Probably not. They would probably be available to a full member of the alliance, which is another reason I'm hoping to give them a positive impression. How widely we would have them available, I do not know."
"We don't need them that widely. One ship per core world to be used for actual emergencies when we exceed our magitech limits."
"True," Lindy agreed.
"Is Doctor Camber returning soon?"
"Not on this trip. He stayed for another purpose, which I can cover next."
" What purpose could his staying serve? I thought he was there to make sure Nanoha got the right treatment."
"Nanoha is fully healed save for some tenderness yet. She will probably settle out at S+ or SS rank. She is further committed to the lessons Doctor Camber intends to give to allow her to better focus and think when running at high magic levels."
"Are you saying we may have an SS mage with SS ranked control?"
"That remains to be seen. We created the limiter system and then created the fiction behind it to reduce the amount of times high powered mages act at those levels where big mistakes become not just possible, but likely. Doctor Camber has few doubts that she will improve, but the amount is unknown. Even the fact that there is such a weakness in high level mages is a well kept secret, for good or for ill."
"How did she get cured? I had hear something about a true life adept. That should not have been enough."
"From my understanding, a bond was risked, the doctor took part, and Raising Heart snuck in as well. I don't actually have more information. Nanoha and Doctor Camber remain on Earth. The doctor hopes to help more of their life adept trainees reach the level they need to do true healing, though this is admittedly a long shot. We expect success, but probably not for years or more."
"This was an extreme oversight. We must have what happened documented in every detail possible. This must done as soon as possible. At minimum we should get Raising Heart's logs to the process."
"I agree."
"You agree," that easily.
"Sure, but we could also just ask the two that were involved that are on their way. They will be here in a couple hours. I asked them to delay in case it was required."
"Did they install that power module you requested?"
"I don't know."
"Is there anything else?"
"The two involved may have crossed the threshold of a true life adept. Really everything has been a bit rushed. The main thing I think is the alliance."
The president of the council said, "Initially we ask your first priority to verify that the technology they are using is not spread. Make that a condition of operating in our space. We do not have the capacity to deal with the headaches that could be caused by that technology leaking."
"It shouldn't be a problem or a concern. They have similar views."
"And the alliance?"
"It will probably be approved. Is there a hurry?"
"They mentioned two technologies that stand out. The first is the tech of the Asgard, or at least they are the most likely to be able to recreate it." Whispers broke out.
She continued. "They may be able to help us create a set of gateways much like their own universe where people can travel from planet to planet within a dimension simply by setting an address."
"That would help a great deal. I do not even see any obvious downsides, but we need to study it."
"I didn't either, but if you find one let me know."
"And the other?"
"They have another ally, who may be persuaded to part with the technology to create massively powerful Ion canons which disable most ships. This is pure tech. It could be mounted on a conventional ship, with conventional troops, giving the possibility of non lethal disabling of targets. I'm sure I don't need to do the math to explain how that helps us."
"The gateways might be enough."
She nodded.
"What do they want for all this?"
"That alliance treaty pretty much outlines it all. They aren't perfect by any means. They have taken over their planets defense because they do not fully trust their own government. They have the usual corruption and propaganda we sometimes see before failed states. They are working on it, and have made some progress. It remains to be seen if it will be enough."
"I assume they are not putting such dangerous technologies in the hands of propagandists."
"No, they are not."
"And do you believe this technology is secure. How bad are these propagandists?"
"They have a democratic system of government that has been close to democracy in name only, since people vote not on what is a true discussion of issues, but often lies and falsely created issues designed to rile emotions. It is a very serious problem, and the advances they have had lately may not hold, but I think the technology will remain mostly secure. They have threatened to take back any that is taken. The Asgard will also likely enforce this, if they must, and if necessary they are willing to abandon their planet to keep it secure."
"So, the situation is stable and there are safeguards to make sure it remains so, even if they are not the outcome we would want."
"More or less. We would not be making an alliance with their planet, but instead with this smaller group, as well as the Asgard and others. They have an actual ship the size of a city that can travel through hyperspace."
"Would it make sense to annex them?"
"Not at this time. The propaganda would just be used to paint us as the new enemy. We might be able to overcome it in time, but for now I recommend we support this group, within reason."
"If they have all this power, I'm surprised they don't just take over."
"I assume they wish to respect their form of government, but I don't know. We know from our own experience that people ultimately need to choose to reject this nonsense or the form of government doesn't necessarily matter, that even if order is imposed, it may fray as soon as the force that imposing it lessens."
"Can we do anything to help? If we have a rising new power, I would prefer it was stable."
"Propaganda can be fought with truth and progress."
"You are hoping this alliance will help here as well."
Lindy nodded.
"You have our support to continue all of this. Just keep the pace in increments. We will of course review the proposed alliance. The size of the group we are dealing with it make it likely that we will, at minimum, add certain conditions and time frames until parts are ratified."
She said quietly, yet clearly, "She. Excuse me. Rommie offered, without prompting, to fight for us. Would you like to see how that might have gone?"
"You are no doubt referring to a theoretical prediction made by yourself and your device?"
"She nodded."
"Then by all means."
"Sandry and I created this using the known records of the final battle against the artifact known originally as the Book of Darkness who's avatar was later named Reinforce by Hayate Yagame. This used visual battle data, and not sensor records, so our estimates have a fourteen percent margin of error."
"Understood. We may ask for an updated simulation if you are able to obtain the full records. Begin."
"Sandy."
"Yes mam."
"Interface with the holographic network here and begin simulation Dancer 01."
"Aye mam."
They saw a view over the Sea of Japan when Nanoha, Fate, the Knights, Chrono, and Yuuno were beginning to fight the monstrosity that was the defense program of the Book of Darkness. They were clearly all exhausted when out of a clear sky at extreme speed came the Nozomi. The atmosphere was like fire around it as it forced its way through it an attack vector.
Suddenly coming from the ship they heard loudly. "Please remain well clear. I will do what I can." Her voice faded and music began. "I can no longer remember the start of this journey.."
"What is this music?"
"Rommie and Kasumi tend to like such things."
"Mute the music."
"Do it Sandy."
"Aye mam," said her device sulkily.
From Nozomi strange orange missiles began to pummel the creature, even as Nozomi kept fading from view and back.
"What is the fading?"
"It is believed that she now has the control and engine design to allow in place gliding between dimensions."
"Are you sure?"
"Without testing no, but the prediction fits the data."
"Continue."
Explosions rocked the monster taking large chunks that were quickly regenerated. From the ship came a shout of, "Get a lot farther away."
They did. When they were approximately two miles out the glow of the missiles suddenly became painful to look at, The detonations started forming massive waves. The mages quickly established barriers that were soon hard pressed to hold back the waves.
"That is S class power controlled and precise."
"Our ships can do that."
"Not at that rate."
"The book is nearly defeated, if only temporarily. At this point the Artha is assumed to talk with the ship and inform it of the original plan."
They see how, once the monster is nearly destroyed, the mages rush back in to transfer it to space. They also see how Nozomi rapidly follows right behind it engines roaring all the way.
It ended when a final fully charged set of drones impacted just before an Arcenciel shot blew it the rest of the way to atoms.
Sandry announced, "The simulation is complete," just as normal lighting was restored to the room.
"Our performance was unacceptable. The energy levels used by the foreign ship are not beyond our technology. As much as I hate to admit it, this greatly supports the group of us, including me now, that believes we need more than just the Arcenciel weapons on our ships."
Lindy nodded.
"You are authorized to proceed at your discretion. The rest of us will remain and discuss what we have learned. We should not be depending on S class mages in place of weapons that should be mounted on at least some of our ships."
"I fully agree. Our S class mages should never be asked to run at that level without great need, particularly for long durations. The risk of a critical mistake because of being basically high on magic is serious. Doctor Camber's specialized training now that he has someone who he thinks is ready for it, may help, but we still must avoid this whenever possible."
"We of course agree."
She bowed and walked out a small smile on her lips.
After she left, a woman who had not spoken yet said, "I also wish to discuss how their transporter and targeting sensors far outstripped our own, even when it was only our people running them."
"The energy usage rates."
"We know, and we know that module we gave was anything but cheap. Surely there is some balance we can make to bring such resources to bear on some problems with the resources we have?"
"We will have to send our engineers a problem statement and see what they can tell us. I would like to know what we have of our own potential before we ask for resources from what appears to be our new allies."
"Shall I create a requirements document and send it out for everyone for review? Once we approve it, we can get an expedited initial review from our engineering group."
"The planetary travel technology?"
Another said, "I'll take the action to review what we know about it. We can just send both requests to the engineering group and let them assign them."
"Pay?"
"Reserve and overtime is authorized for these tasks."
"Good."
"Long term we don't have the budget to build new ships."
"We should consult with the new group and get an idea of their manufacturing costs. Perhaps a joint project could reduce them?"
"It is worth a shot," a third person asked. "It would also be a good start to this partnership. Unfortunately, we also may need an additional tax levy."
"If we are building non magitech ships, then that could increase popular appeal particularly to those who resent our reliance on magitech. It may even be a popular measure."
"It is still a mess. Hybrid designs are crap, so we have to pick only tech or only magictech. The only thing that we know that can merge them is ancient designs that incorporate a living soul. We don't have that technology and no one particularly wants to open that can of worms again."
"Agreed. One or even a few ships that have this as a basis are fine, as long as it is well protected and the ship self chose this path. Widespread usage is not to be permitted or studied. We have cleaned up too many Lost Logia that used the dark version of this path. I'd rather release a version of a pure non technological dimensional drive to go with everything else than let that knowledge spread again."
"We do have some devices that are not sentient, but do, nevertheless serve as more than adequate aid to up and coming mages. They are limited to basically B class spells, but they are a lot better than nothing. Perhaps a similar device to link a person to a ship for certain operations? It wouldn't solve the problem of merging technologies, but would make use of the tech that does exist better."
"Someone put it on the list."
"I've got it."
"I believe, or at least I hope we are done here."
It turned out that they were.
-=oOo=-
Admiral Gil Graham continued his research. He was getting closer. He knew it. There was a way. All their research pointed to it. It was less than certain he would live through it, but if the time came they would be ready.
-=oOo=-
Author's Note: If your reading this and actually used the feature on that updated you as to new stories, well, they disabled the setting. You have to turn it back on, apparently periodically now.
You could also go to AO3.
