Archangel's Amazing Adventures

by CSS Stravag

Mass Crossover fic. Chapter 51 UP! Powerful magic draws the Archangel and the ZAFT Creuset Team into a world of magic and intrigue like nothing imagined by the straight-laced CE residents. Their battles on Cephiro are only the beginning of their nightmarish journey as they give Odysseus a run for his money in the 'bizarre trip home' category...

26. Changing The Era

(Archangel's Amazing Adventures, Section 3, Chapter 10: Changing The Era)

Strikingly usual for him, Yzak's foul mouth had earned him a hand-print on his face and a dirty look from Umi. "Nothing unusual there," Ahtrun had declared about it before going about his own tasks pertaining to their new assignment.

Two weeks had passed since the coalition had brought the Empire down. There was little chaos in the streets of Vector, but little in the way of warmth, either. Athrun expected as much; they were close to the pinnacle of power and having that power usurped by 'foreigners' was likely not going to thrill them. Athrun did what he could to allay the issues and complaints when he could, but most of the outright power vacuum was being filled by Figaro and Doma, the remainder by the Espers.

The Espers had not themselves returned to their lands. They were supervising the disassembly of the Magitek Research Facility, which Natarle swore would be done thoroughly and all records of Magitek destroyed. There would never again be such machines used in battle, since the Archangel could provide far better ways to energize equipment than draining a living being of its raw energy to conduct the battle. In point of fact, one of the first things planned for deployment was diesel-electric motors, which would make more than enough of an energy replacement for the rather compact but horridly inefficient Magitek-Turbine units.

Athrun had no part of that clusterfuck and preferred it that way. He had been assigned to the Teleporter System, which had turned out to be its own facility and grounds on the north side of Vector when they went looking for it during the initial break-in assault. A powerful strategic tool it was, especially for moving forces around, but definitely not enough to break the North to the Empire's will. Too bad the Emperor learned a bit too late that such gambits came with too high a price if you lost, as Newman had proved with his exceptional rifle skills.

And it was his job to turn it from an impossible force-relocation device to an impossible dimensional-jumping device. By the numbers, he was about to break more laws of physics in this one project than he had ever dreamed possible, and that included the nightmare the Archangel had already faced. His inevitable conclusion was that all of Existence was mad, and this was only 'marginally insane' in the face of things.

"So, Yzak, have you figured out where we start?" Athrun asks.

"Actually, yes, I have," Yzak replies as he continues typing at a console he had imported into the facility. "We are going to start by understanding how it works right now. After that, we break it down and reassemble it with modifications to warp us home."

"And how do we do that?" Athrun asks.

"We take turns teleporting to places with it, and I have all manner of test instruments arrayed here to see what it does. Once we have that kind of empirical data, we can begin sifting through it to figure out how it relocates a person. Makes sense?"

"Yeah, sort of," Athrun replies. "Since you know what you're doing the most, I take it I am the test subject?"

"As am I," Hikaru notes as she approaches the main console.

"I'll help with collecting and analyzing data," Kira notes as he drags a chair over to the main console. "We'll probably need a lot of it to do this right," Kira notes as he sidles up to the consoles.

"We have to figure out how to use this thing first, Strike," Yzak notes, using his older derogatory moniker for Kira.

"That's easy enough," Kira replies as he reaches up to a lever and yanks back on it until it stops at the 'Chamber' setting, and then threads a locking pin into the lever frame to prevent it from being moved. "Origin set, now destination...here," Kira says as he begins adjusting dials on an extremely advanced machine that could have passed for a console somewhere in the Archangel. The console showed a wire-frame map of the palace right now, of which he dialed into the main banquet room since nobody would be in there. "Hey, isn't this thing part of...one of the Skygraspers?"

"You're right, it is," Yzak replies, recognizing the monitor in question. How it survived the explosion that shredded the plane and gave Nicol the first taste of an ejection he had ever had was beyond them, but they considered it a lucky break in terms of actually using the teleporter.

"Okay, can someone put something on the teleporter grid, center it, so I can place it as exacting as possible?" Kira says as he tries to zero it into just one specific location as possible.

"Can do," Hikaru replies as she heads out of the control room to the teleportation grid. She picked up a small crate on the way and set it down there, then cleared off the teleporter and gave the control booth a thumbs-up

"Charging...firing now," Kira notes as he activates the teleporter. In a moment the object was gone from their sight, with a little black-blue herald as to where it was. "That's it, Yzak, what did you see?"

"Freaking insane," Yzak mutters as he begins reading through the output tables on all the equipment he had set up. "If I'm reading this correctly, the teleporter used only a small charge from the Magitek systems and a huge amount of energy from somewhere else, with an expected output...here," Yzak points to the output graph in question.

"Whoa, holy shit," Athrun gasps as he reads through the graph in question. "The energy output from this thing is higher than the energy output on the Lohengrin cannons. But where the hell is the energy coming from? Magitek isn't that powerful, not by a long shot!"

"Not to mention the Magitek pipe into this facility is frigging dinky, no way it could supply that kind of charge that quick," Kira replies.

"Something else is at play here," Yzak notes. "Lemme run some numbers, now would be a good time for you to go find out if that crate landed where you put it," Yzak says as he bellies up to a table with several scratch pads and a graphing calculator. Athrun knew that when Yzak did that, things were getting long and complicated; the last time he had seen Yzak haul out that much scratch paper was in figuring out the best coefficient application of the Phase Shift in his Gundam and the other ZAFT Machines, which had resulted in over thirty percent more battery life per sortie.

"C'mon guys," Athrun says as he opens the door and gestures outside. Kira and Hikaru file out immediately, headed for the banquet hall that was significantly higher up in the superstructure. Thankfully Vector had installed copious amount of elevators, and all the three needed do was ride one up to where they needed to be. The elevator in question did indeed go as far as the guest level, and Kira stepped off first onto the guest level and into the middle of a crowd.

"Ah, Magic Knight Hikaru, an honor," Lord Cyan Garamonde nods to the Magic Knight as the three step off the elevator. Immediately Athrun recognized the King of Figaro, Commander Badgiruel, and the Goddess of the Espers. "Pilots Athrun, Kira, as well. All goes well?"

"Just experimenting with the teleporter system," Athrun replies. "We're up here to reclaim a box we warped somewhere up here, we think it may be in the banquet hall."

"Go ahead," Natarle orders as the crowd waits for the three of them to pass by.

"Think it got here, or the restroom next door?" Kira asks.

"If it made the can and not the hall, Hikaru's going to have to go in after it. That's a lady's restroom," Athrun declares as they pass by it.

"You have a point," Kira notes as he opens the door to the banquet hall for the others.

"It's here," Athrun says as he picks it up. "It appears intact."

"Let's head back down to the control room, then," Kira notes. As they moved back to the door they held it open for the four command personnel to enter the banquet hall, and immediately were outside and into the hall thereafter. "By the by, what is in this crate?"

"I don't know, but it looks like that fuzzy arm is trying to get friendly with you," Athrun declares. Kira visibly freaks out and sets the crate down on a table to inspect, but as Hikaru could have told him there was no such fuzzy arm in the crate. "Gotcha," Athrun declares with an evil grin.

"I will return the favor," Kira replies stoically. Hikaru could naught but laugh at the shock on Athrun's face, knowing that things were going to get interesting fast.

Down the elevator and to the right, then a left, another right, and another left, and they stepped into the Teleportation control area. The status panel showed the machine was still powered, which caused Kira to grimace. "Has Yzak been teleporting things and not telling anyone?" Athrun asks, looking over the readings that showed it had been used recently.

"Let's ask," Kira says as he takes the few steps to the control center and opened the door.

They found Yzak with his head down on the notepad he had been working on, laughing almost maniacally. "Not good, we've been at this for less than an hour and he's already roasted his brain," Athrun declares drolly.

"We're toast," Kira notes gravely. "We'll never make it home at this rate."

"What's so funny, Yzak?" Hikaru asks, not thus far having given up on the Duel pilot.

"This," Yzak says as he picks himself up off the table and holds a notepad out to Kira. "Check my math, please. Tell me I went wrong somewhere."

"Right," Kira notes as he takes the notepad and begins running his own quick set of calculations. It only took a minute. "No, you got it all right, Yzak. Are you sure this is the EO for the machine overall expenditure?"

"Yes, I ran a second test and got the same result," Yzak replies. Of course, he did not tell what he tested on or where it ended up, but...

"Then that means the whole rig is using effectively two hundred fifty times more energy than we are feeding it to accomplish its objective," Kira notes. "Where is all that energy coming from?"

"My best and only guess is that it is manipulating the pool of dark energy in the universe to do this, since the ratio of energy in to energy out matches the assumption that 75% of all cosmic material is dark energy and the remainder is gas, material, energy or dark matter."

"And only zero point three of that remainder would be where the energy for this thing comes from. Talk about an efficient device. And if you mean 75 and not 74, Yzak, that makes this dimension and its physical material older than normal, 74 percent was calculated at home, remember?"

"Jesus," Athrun swears. "We don't have to worry about breaking the laws of physics, this machine does it for us already."

"Wait, wait, what are you guys talking about?" All three of them look at Hikaru, almost dumbfounded, until:

"Oh, yeah, duh, theoretical physics are not normal school courses unless you go to Morgenroete Tech College. It's a long story, Hikaru, but the easiest way to say it is that most of what you can see in the universe is less than five percent of what the universe is really comprised of." Hikaru still did not completely understand, but she was not going to argue the point with these three.

"Man, this is a long way away from just running numbers through formulas, we're playing with the real deal here," Athrun says.

"Well, we'd better make sure we do it right, or we could seriously screw up a lot more than just our chances to get home," Yzak says.

"So we get cracking," Athrun declares as he starts wiping unit lists off the chalkboard. "We now know what this machine is capable of empirically, so now we need to figure out how to derive the necessary energy to punch a hole between dimensions," and he records that as step one, "How to get the machine to punch an accurate hole through dimensions," listed as step two, "fabricate new parts and software to run the machine," as step three, "and run test jumps," as step four. "Consider this an oversimplification of the process, just general headings. We're going to have a helluva lot of work to do on each part."

"No shit, Sensei," Yzak replies drolly. "Not to mention, who would possibly have any idea as to how much energy is needed to cross dimensional barriers? We've done it three times by accident, Athrun, it's not like we've actually tried this before," Yzak adds sharply.

"Then we find the likely minimum amount to scale a given distance of dimensions, and overkill it by a factor of four just for good measure," Athrun says. "We'll also use a limiter circuit in the machine that prevents overpowering the device from depositing us somewhere were we don't want to go, but we must keep in mind that precision is the key here: if half of what I've imagined is true about jumping through dimensions, we miss our train-stop and we're fucked, plain and simple."

"By the Gods, I'm going to need a lot of coffee for this argument," Yzak grumbles, his head in hand already.

For her part, Hikaru had almost no clue what they were talking about, but seeing the three of them argue the finer points of theoretical physics was a refreshing turn from them arguing the finer points of mobile warfare.

-x-x-x-

(Commander's Log)

(Commander Natarle Badgiruel, Earth Alliance Mobile Assault Ship Archangel (Modified))

(CE Date unconfirmed, local date 4 October 986)

Three weeks have passed since the invasion of the Southern Continent. For the most part, things have gone smoothly since the invasion and subsequent combat actions northeast, west and south of Vector, and this includes the damage caused to Vector itself. The Imperial remnants are hard at work repairing the damage to Albrook, Tzen, Maranda, and even to Vector, and in due time it is expected that they will either join Doma, Figaro or settle into the land as civilians, their ways of combat having been defeated in battle and even their highest technology feel prey to the onslaught of the Espers and the Archangel's forces. For them there shall be no return to the glory days of the Empire.

Dissidents are few and far between among those on the Southern Continent, mainly because the Empire itself was less than thoroughly liked. Most the reaction to our presence was that of liberators, the underdogs that crushed the bully underfoot and made him repent. In reality, the losses were far from glorious on all sides, especially that of the Espers and the Imperials. Figaro lost over 1400 troopers in combat action, Doma over 900, though Imperial Losses easily number in the tens of thousands and may never be completely confirmed due to the haphazard system of personnel census and identification. Present estimates are now at 17,000 Imperials killed in the engagement, most by rifle fire from the forces of Doma and Figaro, as well as over 780 Imperial Magitek and ten of the large Metal Gear units that were built to counter the Archangel and Gundams. The whole static defense network to Vector itself was torn to shreds by the Espers, whom of the invasion forces were the only force really able to attack Vector directly. It is by their help only that we were able to complete our objectives in such a stunning fashion.

Despite the fact that most of the local command personnel despise such 'honorless' tactics, the Commando Team was able to bring Emperor Gestahl and Lord Kefka to a halt with sniper fire. Clearly shown, it is the stellar rifle work of Arnold Newman that stopped the Emperor before he was able to unleash a cataclysm by interfering with the sealed Gods on the floating island. It is my recommendation that Arnold Newman be given appropriate honors for taking actions that have undoubtedly saved millions of lives from likely instant death at the hands of the madmen running the Empire. Also of note was the swift and lethal action on the part of the Commando Team to eliminate any remaining Imperial officers on the floating island, thereby preventing anyone from the Empire using the sealed divinities for malicious purpose.

The Sealed Divinities—the Emperor's objective—have turned out to be an interesting case of duality. Much as the Rune Gods of Cephiro, they are beings of such influence over time and space that they do not age in a fashion that normal persons could understand. Despite this, they respect the Archangel Team and are not trying to take any more of a command role than that of the lead to the Espers. Their presence troubles more than just a few people, as the scars of the War of the Magi run deep among the human people of the planet, but thus far the Espers have shown every evidence of going the other way in their conduct, trying to help those that are willing.

It has been in open discussion among the command staff that Flay Allster should be released and removed from the crew of the ship, due to her obviously homicidal (and potentially suicidal) state of mind at this time. It is the opinion of the doctor that the longer she is held the more she dies on the inside, and in short order shall she become so closed that all her being exists only to kill Kira for 'failing her' and 'failing to kill Coordinators', these facts themselves barring that Kira is a Coordinator himself. The sheer inhumanity of her task does not occur to her, lending credence to the belief that she may be so totally insane that there is little to no hope for her. Options are being explored at this time, but few are promising for her sake or for that of affected parties.

For the interim, the Archangel is requested to serve in Vector as both deterrent and as administration personnel under the King of Figaro. Captain Ramius has already taken steps to secure necessary facilities and resources for preparation to move toward home, as present betting is going for Yzak being able to modify the Imperial Teleporters to work more than just spatially, and so far nobody can produce evidence that his attempts are pipe-dreams. My leaning is that he will succeed and with only about two years of effort, maybe three. Kira and Athrun are also assisting on the endeavor, which will definitely put more eyes on the task and more hands in its eventual completion, a fact that definitely brings hope to the possibility of returning home.

A year ago, I questioned the logic of allowing the ZAFT pilots out of the brig. Months ago, I questioned if it was even reasonably possible that we would survive the Inner Sphere without their aid. Today I know for a fact that without their assistance, the Archangel would become a monument to a war never seen on this planet, the crew doomed to never see home again.

End of log entry.

-x-x-x-

(8 October 986)

General Leo was doing nothing more than his usual reflecting on on the continuing changes in the lands, as word came to him in bits and pieces of the changing environs outside. It was unsurprising that without competent leadership the Imperial Armies were so thoroughly crushed as they were, though in the end he could not really come up with a decent counter to the Espers that assaulted Vector. Leo of course did not consider Kefka to be competent in any fashion, much less competent for leading an army into battle. Word of how he was slain brought unto the General a grimace, as deliberately targeting an enemy commander (much less an Emperor) was considered foul practice, but if the 'where' of how they had been killed was indeed true, then so much the better that it had been swift and merciless. Toying with the powers of the Gods was not something Leo had signed up for when he started out as an Imperial Knight.

The sound of the entry code being entered into his cell's locking mechanism immediately brought his attention to the person at the door, as well as brought Flay's attention to her as well.

"Hey, Miriallia, when are you guys going to let me out? War's over, right?" Flay asks.

"I am told that will be later today, Flay. Don't expect to be reinstated, though."

"What?"

"You heard me," Miriallia replies testily as she finishes unlocking the main door. A single armed escort was with her, and General Leo could not help but notice both the magical glove on her left hand and the holster on her right hip that looked unusually like a pistol of some kind, but far more refined than those Leo had used at one time. "General, you have an invite to speak to the command staff and King Edgar."

"I am at their service," Leo says as he stands and dons his heavy 'armored' coat. Looking at the armor the armed escort was wearing, Leo figured the simple mesh of mithiril scales interleaved inside the heavy coat was less than effective from where they hailed, and he already had cause to fear their ranged combat skills.

Leo followed at a respectable distance from the lady in question as she led the three-person procession around at least a dozen twists and turns, headed for somewhere else in the ship. It was only after passing a second mechanic doing his duties that they stopped at a room. Miriallia pressed a button on the panel next to the door, and declared: "Captain, I have General Leo as requested."

The door popped open with a mechanical hissing sound, similar to but a bit quieter than compressed air systems around Vector. Miriallia preceded him inside, then stood aside to allow him inside.

"Please, General, have a seat," Captain Ramius notes as she gestures to an open chair in front of the desk.

There were two things in the Stateroom that he always wanted to ask about: one, the amazing array of books, two, the array of flags. The flags were more of interest to him, as knowing where they had gone in times prior, whom they had called foe as they now called the Empire foe (and had one of the Imperial Banners to the right of the Captain) would be interesting.

"So, General Leo, the war is over. That being said, your next move is an open choice," Commander Natarle notes. "With the Empire now a possession of Doma and Figaro, you are effectively unemployed since the Imperial Army has been disbanded with option to reinstate as a provisional garrison force of the possession. Not very many of the soldiers are remaining, most of them former Templar and Commandos, as the rest were conscripts they are headed home to resume their civilian lives. As far as we are concerned, when the Army was disbanded your position was eliminated, but I don't believe that would be the end of it for you. The King has an unusual request for you, actually."

"Oh?" General Leo asks as he looks to the King. It was a strange thing to hear that your position had been eliminated but you were not going to be executed by the enemy. Leo was expecting to be court-martialed for (insert charge here) and be executed for it, but this was a somewhat welcome change of pace from those horrid thoughts.

"The provisional garrison here needs honorable commanders to keep the troops from degenerating into the failings of the Empire as we rebuild Vector into something other than a conquest-leaning city-state. General Celes has already volunteered to lead one of the regiments, and we have almost a full second Regiment at the ready from the volunteers, but no general."

"You are asking if I would be willing to walk away from the ethos of the Empire I have served my entire life to lead a garrison force that protects the stripped-down husk of what was my Empire, correct?"

"Something to that effect," Commander Badgiruel replies evenly.

"A very dangerous request," General Leo cautions. "You do understand why, no?"

"It does not take much in the way of imagination to understand why," Captain Ramius notes. "Do you believe there is any hope for the Empire, even with a competent leader at the helm?"

Surprisingly, it did not take him long to answer: "No. Doma and Figaro both have more combat power now than the Imperial Army, much less the Espers if I am interpreting correctly what I have heard of the battles. In a matter of days, you managed to tear down decades of training and amassing an army. That kind of advantage cannot be overcome, nor would I try. Had I known what the Emperor's real purpose was, I would have walked away long ago."

"You did not know?"

General Leo looked to the deck below his feet, shaking his head slowly. "No, I was always told that his intentions were to bring order to the world, erase this factional infighting among what should be one people. He never mentioned amassing magical power and Espers as anything more than just a method to that goal. And not once did he ever mention taking control of the Sealed Gods for any reason." He sighs. "Was I...where did I go wrong?"

"You did not," Commander Badgiruel replies immediately, having thought the same more than once of late. "Soldiers do as they are told, often times never realizing who or what they take orders from may be scum of the earth. You are not the first CO to have been rolled by your command authority, General." If the Commander could sound any more grave, how was lost on the General.

That brought his head up to look at Commander Badgiruel and Captain Ramius. "You...two...as well?"

"Yes," Captain Ramius replies immediately. "The government that built this Warship, or its original variant I should say, was about as malicious as Imperial ambitions with a twist of racial animosity thrown in for good measure. And I intend on returning home to bring a halt to them, but that is for another day."

The General's snort was easily audible to all. "Is this some sort of sick trend in Existence?"

"May be," King Edgar replies for the three command officers. "May not be. Hard to say; I am not expert on nations other than on this planet, so..."

There was a silence between them for a few minutes, mainly as Leo looked to the deck, contemplating his new fate. After a few, he looked up to the Captain. "If you are willing to show enough honor to extend this request to a former enemy, I am willing to accept, on one provision between the former Imperial state and the Regency of Figaro," Leo prompts, looking to the King. "I know I am hardly in a position to make demands, but simply consider it a gentleman's request if anything," he appends.

"That in due time the right to self-govern is restored to the Imperial Lands, with the requirement that honorable leadership be maintained so as to prevent the mistakes of Emperor Gestahl," King Edgar replies. "As the history of our own world shows, much less that of the Archangel and her crew, it is sheer folly for us to believe that Figaro and Doma could hold the entire southern continent in effective subservience forever. Vector will regain its own government in due time, General. And you will have a say in how it is handled."

"I shall accept your gracious offer, King Edgar, Captain Ramius."

"Very well. You are released on your own recognizance, and shall assume your post at 1500 hours today. We are holding an interim staff meeting at the Banquet Hall in Vector at 1600 hours, you will be expected to be at that meeting, General," Captain Ramius veritably orders. "Afterwards, Commander Badgiruel will see you to your regimental post and officers. Some of them will be familiar faces, others will be personnel from General Celes' former command, and some from Lord Kefka's original command."

"Understood. If I may take my leave to prepare for the meeting?" General Leo requests.

"Commander Badgiruel, please see the General to suitable transportation to his quarters in the palace. Ensign Haw, please escort Flay Allster to this room under conspicuous guard."

"Aye, Captain," Commander Badgiruel replies immediately.

"Yes, Captain," Ensign Haw replies immediately before she ducks out of the door. 'Conspicuous guard' really only meant one of two things, the Elementals or the Commandos. Since the Commandos were back to cooking but this time for the Palace and the major guests of the new Imperial Command Structure, that left only the Elementals.

All five of which turned out to be in their barracks, a converted cargo storage hold that they had personally modified to properly house their Elemental armor and allow them to reconfigure weapons, refuel and reload easily, in fact easier than on their prior transport ship. A mechanic had been assigned to them from the support pool, which took a bit of the load off the Elemental troopers, but a lot of the overhead the Elementals still took care of themselves.

"Officer on deck!" one of the Elementals shouts as he notices Miriallia enter. All five immediately stop what they were doing and come to attention, including Point Commander Natalya, who for all intents and purposes should have outranked Miriallia by her own judgment. The formality of being treated as an officer was extremely unusual to her, but she said nothing about it.

"We have a potentially dangerous prisoner to escort to a hearing. Do you have small arms at this time?"

"Pistols only, Ensign," Point Commander Natalya replies.

"That shall do, though I would prefer better," Miriallia notes. "Holster your arms and prepare to follow me," she orders. Immediately the five moved to their individual beds and picked up their weapons, safed and holstered them.

"At the ready, Ensign," Natalya declares as the five congregate at the door near Miriallia.

"On me," Mir orders as she turns and heads out the door. The distance to the brig was actually quite short for the group, since Natarle had sighted the Elemental Barracks with an eye to where they could be of most help. As Miriallia entered, she saw Flay duck back from the bars to her bed and sit down.

"Come to get my hopes up again?" Flay asks snidely before Miriallia begins putting the code in to open her cell. "Huh? What is this?" she asks as the Elementals come into sight.

"The Captain is going to hold a hearing on your conduct and status, Flay," Miriallia says after she puts the last digits in to pop the cell lock. "Come on, she's waiting."

"This is bullshit," Flay says. "I am so taking this to higher when we get back."

"Hold," Miriallia orders. Flay does stop immediately, but the look she gave Miriallia was damn near lethal. "I don't think you get it, Flay. By all rights, you should have been executed for attempting to murder Kira. I think it was incredibly nice of the Captain to spare your life, and I suggest you keep that in mind, Flay Allster. You really are alive only by the graces of your commanding officer. Now move it."

"What the hell, Mir?" Flay asks. "The brass from that promotion seeped into your brain already?"

Miriallia bit back her desired response, which was to tell Flay that she didn't have to manipulate her boyfriend into sleeping with her, and simply gave her the kind of absent look that told Flay quite clearly that Miriallia thought she was scum. "I'll ignore you said that. Now shut up and move," she orders, pointing to the door. Flay did not argue the point any farther, given that all six of the persons in the room other than her were armed with pistols and Miriallia had her magic glove, meaning she could literally shoot through walls if needed, much less her.

Two of the Elementals proceeded her out the door, three behind her as well as Miriallia bringing up the rear of the procession. There was no hope of escape for her and she knew it, so she simply followed, sulking the whole time. The procession stopped at the stateroom, where Miriallia moved forward to press the intercom button for the room. "Captain Ramius, I have Flay Allster and guard as requested."

"Enter," the Captain replies before Miriallia trips the door open button. It slides open as normal, and two of the Elementals enter to take up sentry stations inside. Flay follows and enters, knowing full well that she was not going to like what was to come and knowing full well that she could do practically nothing about it. "Take a seat, Miss Allster," the Captain orders as Commander Badgiruel enters behind them and moves to her seat beside the desk.

"May I protest this?" Flay asks immediately after sitting down.

"Noted and disregarded," Natarle says immediately thereafter.

Natarle presses the record button on a tape recorder before the Captain begins. "This hearing is to determine the actions taken in response to the attempted stabbing of Pilot Kira Yamato by Crewwoman Flay Allster, incident file number Alpha-Charlie-0-0-8-4-3. Presiding personnel is Captain Murrue Ramius. Prosecuting officer is Commander Natarle Badgiruel. Defendant is Flay Allster, represented by Commander Mu La Flaga. Witness to the proceedings is King Edgar Roni Figaro of the Kingdom of Figaro. This hearing is now in session," Murrue says as she strikes a gavel plate with the butt of her unloaded sidearm. The magazine was sitting next to the gavel plate, making loading the weapon a very fast action.

"The prosecution would like to note clearly for the record that given the severity of the charges against Flay Allster, it was determined at the time of the incident that Flay be held in the brig for six months minimum, though as her sentence lapsed it was determined that Flay posed an operational hazard to continuing and evolving operations as well as the continuing hazard she presented to not only Kira Yamato but also other members of the pilot cadre, the ground forces cadre and the Elementals for much the same reason as she initially attempted to kill Kira Yamato."

"Noted," Murrue replies, which she already knew since it was her orders that had kept Flay under lock. "Prosecution, please lay out your array of charges," Murrue orders.

"Pursuant to Earth Alliance Uniform Code of Military Justice, Flay Allster is charged with two counts attempt to murder a superior officer, one count conspiracy to commit murder, one count conspiracy to torture a superior officer, two counts attempting to compromise the operational effectiveness of an Earth Alliance warship, one count conspiracy to compromise the operational effectiveness of an Earth Alliance Warship, one count conspiracy to commit genocide. That is all," Natarle notes.

"Defendant Flay Allster, how do you plea?" Captain Ramius orders.

"All right, Flay, you have two choices. I can try to fight it or I can try to mitigate the end result," Commander La Flaga says.

"I did nothing wrong," Flay replies staunchly, glaring at the Captain. "I have nothing to hide, I tried killing a Coordinator. As Earth Alliance officers, it is your duty to kill coordinators," she replies.

"This hearing will ignore the direct insubordination from the defendant pertaining to our staffing of the mobile forces," Captain Ramius replies. "Additionally, the court strongly warns the defendant that such actions can be considered defaulting your right to defense, and in a capital case such as this a default is almost a guarantee of execution for your crimes. Is that clear?"

Faced with such a clear threat, Flay immediately tensed up, remembering what Miriallia had said in the brig to her about her dodging being executed on the spot. "Yes, Captain," she replies immediately though in a significantly hostile tone.

"What is your plea?"

"I have nothing to hide, nothing for which I have done anything wrong, your honor. Do what you want," she replies.

"Very well, the defendant's plea shall be considered a declaration of no contest to the charges. The prosecution shall submit their evidence and any testimony or affidavits that pertain to this hearing," Murrue orders.

"The Prosecutions submits all reports from the incident as evidence group one. The prosecution also submits the medical reports on Flay Allster and photographic evidence of her brig cell as group two evidence." Immediately Natarle hands over a manila folder to the Captain, who opens it and begins reading through. It only took ten minutes.

"Very well, Prosecution, do you have any more evidence or witnesses to call?"

"No, Captain Ramius," Natarle orders.

"Very well, given the evidence is overwhelmingly unequivocal, this hearing has no choice but to declare Flay Allster guilty on all charges as per Earth Alliance Universal Code of Military Justice regulations. Under the same regulations, the defendant's minimum punishment for most of the charges is execution by firing squad. Defense Council is advised to offer any possible mitigating circumstances and or alternative punishments equal to the minimum recommended sentence."

"Your honor, the defense requests time to parley with the defendant on possible outcomes."

"Granted. Take your time, Defense. This hearing is suspended UFN. (1)" A strike on the gavel brings it to a halt, and Natarle stops the recorder.

"C'mon, kid," Commander La Flaga says to a stunned Flay, who automatically follows him out into the hallway.

"Why...I am...I was following the intent of the Earth Alliance policies!" Flay demands as she steps out.

"You also directly disobeyed the Captain's orders, which takes precedence over Earth Alliance intent. Because while that intent may win the war, the Captain's orders in combat situations are paramount, you follow them or people die, people more just you. To hell with intentions," Mu replies immediately. "Now, listen to me. I don't think either Murrue or Natarle wants to see you executed, but that is really the only punishment in the regs. I think I can talk them into letting you live, though, but it will require a huge sacrifice on your part."

"What? Live in the brig until we get home?" Flay asks facetiously. Mu judged that the whole affair had not quite sunk into her head yet, but it would in short order.

"No," Mu replies immediately. "The Captain has made it clear that she does not want you on this ship, period. That gives me maneuvering room. It means you will be dishonorably discharged and kicked off the ship, likely with some extra restrictions, but at least you will walk away alive. Or you can go for the firing squad, your choice."

"Oh, my God, you can't—"

"Never tell the Captain of an already-renegade Warship what she can or can not do, Flay. That is half your mistake already, just because you are daughter to an influential party does not mean you can talk back to your CO."

That revelation made her clench her teeth visibly. "I can die, or I can never go home. Those are my options, right?" she asks after about thirty seconds.

"More or less, yeah," Mu replies.

Mu could tell the moment it finally sunk into her consciousness. She knew the reaper was here for her and it was time to pay or play. Still and all, human hesitation caused a bit of a wait for the answer. In the end, Mu predicted the outcome to a tee, as he knew Flay well enough to know she would much rather prefer living in exile than death, even if it meant she could not take her revenge out on Kira. "I'll go with being discharged, sir," she replies after a few moments of contemplating her new fate.

"All right," Mu says, knowing it was not but saying so nonetheless. She would forever be prevented from returning home at least by way of the Archangel, which probably would be devastating to her in the long run. The alternative, having her routinely try to kill Kira and the other Coordinators on board, was less than desirable as well. He opens the door. "C'mon," he orders, gesturing inside.

"Have you reached a suitable equivalent?" Captain Ramius asks as Flay and Mu are seated.

"Yes, Captain. The defense requests a reprieve of execution in return for dishonorable discharge and exile from the ship."

It did not take long for Natarle and Murrue to confer on the matter.

"Granted, with one addendum: Flay Allster is not to take employment in the Provisional Government. Otherwise she is released from the Archangel. Elementals, please escort Miss Allster to her quarters to claim her personal effects and escort her off the ship thereafter."

-x-x-x-

(20 October 986)

The Imperial Outpost at the Sealed Cave had actually taken upon a different fate than the planned dismantling it was slated to suffer. With the revival of the Gods and the coming of the Espers from their exile, the base had become an important transfer point for persons headed to or from the Esper Lands.

The Imperial Base had also become the main staging grounds for continuing negotiations between the Espers and the Humans. Over the month of fast-paced negotiations, Commander Badgiruel, General Leo (in his new capacity as Regimental Commander), Lord Cyan of Doma and the Regent of Figaro had hammered out a full set of governing treaty and principle meant to prevent the senseless war of annihilation that happened almost a thousand years prior, the War of the Magi, and to prevent another repeat of the Empire's malicious conduct. As the Espers considered this a paramount goal of any continued relations with anyone else (including the Gods), their best and brightest negotiator as well as two of the Gods were assigned to their half of the task.

A month the two sides worked on the treaties, but most of that time was actually spent on less-than-paramount issues such as trade and real-estate venture; the major issues of diplomacy, governing entity and peace were all dealt with in a matter of hours during the first negotiation session. The remainder came down to forging alliances of state between the involved parties and the Espers' input on the restructuring of the Imperial Government. Even that did not take much in the way of haggling, since the aims of the parties in question were not dissimilar from each other in objective or scope.

All that remained today was the signing of the completed treaties, to which the representatives of each of the major parties had received authorization to complete the signing.

"It is a strange thing," Doom notes as the Regent of Figaro begins the process of signing off on the document and applying the seal of Figaro to it. "When sealed, you have little perception of time. We three thoroughly expected to be awoken only at the end of days, the foretold battle Ragnarök, only to become victim to the bloody battles therein. Your assistance in the events here, and your presence at these talks, I do not think have been properly accredited," he declares to Commander Badgiruel.

"Thank you, Doom," Natarle replies immediately. "It is blind chance we came here, I don't know how things would have ended without our presence here, but from all guesses we have about the matter the destruction would have been extreme," Natarle muses.

"That much is a given," Doom replies immediately as the two watch the signing process. "As we were sealed, the process is always cursed. Disturb the sealed beings without releasing the seal properly, the planet upon which the sealed beings reside is sundered. For many beings this is less of a concern than awakening Gods, since once awoke we could be bound and transported to another location, planet or dimension, and to all nine hells with this planet as far as the releasing party is concerned."

"Okay, that makes no sense to me," Natarle notes. "Is not the sealing enough? Why curse the process?"

"Yes and no," Doom says. "Yes, the sealing is enough to contain the sealed entities. No, it can be externally broken, rather easily if you know what you are doing. Thus, the curse: you pay a price for interfering in the affairs of beings higher than even the Gods."

"Oh, let me guess," Natarle begins drolly, "The higher you go on the ladder of power, the more vain you get. Not that you or your comrades are, but..." Natarle appends to make sure she didn't piss off a God.

"Oh, we are not, not today at least. Back when we were sealed, we were about mid-range on the arrogance scale, maybe a little more, but that is immemorial to why we were sealed. We made a major mistake that cannot be easily corrected and has caused immeasurable suffering, both then and continuing through now. In centuries prior to our fall, we three moved as freelancer divinities, helping other groups of Gods do some less than pleasant tasks. Much of what we did or assisted was never really understood to be our hands, but the Aztec and Greek Gods of one planet had a real tough one that they called us in for assistance on, and like complete fools we joined them. By our hands, and with the assistance of the said, we locked several classes of beings, many similar to the Espers here, in a set of dimensions from which they could never leave without being called by Summoners into dimensions other than their forced homes. In the process of this forced relocation they rebelled, and we were partially responsible for the slaughter that accompanied locking the survivors away. Our sealing was our penance for those terrible crimes."

"Who...what could seal a God?" Natarle asks, not entirely sure what could be more powerful than a God.

"There are beings in Existence as far beyond Gods as Gods are beyond the common mass, Commander," Doom notes as the Lunar Maiden, the representative of the Espers, begins her process of signing and applying the chosen seal of the Espers to the documents. "They serve higher authorities that we Gods can only begin to understand, and that no mortal Religion will ever come close to properly understanding. One such being challenged us and defeated all three of us for our misconduct pertaining to our half-genocide and exile of the remainder of the Espers. We were almost completely helpless challenging her, our best spellcraft and strongest attacks nearly useless against her as what she did not outright absorb she shunted aside and struck back effortlessly. She used us as an example to the other Gods of Existence, that if they perpetuated the same crimes they would pay the price as well. We paid the price, and not a day goes by where I curse myself for my arrogance back then."

Natarle could only nod at such story and wisdom. After a few more moments of watching the signing, she asks the inevitable question: "These beings, do they have a name?"

"Executors," he replies immediately. "They cross dimension, borders, galaxies with frightening ease, and are not afraid to challenge any being they believe is causing undue harm to Existence." He could sense what Natarle was thinking. "Even despite the nature of your journey and the Rune Gods that accompany you, it is unlikely you will ever cross paths with an Executor. And even whatever Gods are in the area could not help you should such an event come to pass. Steer clear of them and their ward, Commander, and yet may you live to return home."

"Oh," Natarle replies immediately.

"I do believe it is now your turn to sign and seal the documents," Doom notes as the signing table is vacated.

Natarle quietly moves to the table to sign off on the treaties. Her method was simple: she signed each document, then affixed a special enchanted wax seal to the treaties at her signature, affirming that it was a legitimate signature. Her signature came out to be Commander Natarle Badgiruel, Force Commander of the Archangel Team. To the end of the signature went the wax blank seal, and after pressing it to the page the seal changed color based on the spirit of the being that put it there and depressed into the form of a graphic also representative, in Natarle's case it came out to be a sapphire blue rendition of the Archangel Team symbol, the top-down view of the Archangel inscribed inside a circle but in miniature.

The first treaty was the main one that everyone wanted in place, the guarantee of rights and sovereignty of the Humans and Espers, that was to prevent the repeat of the wars past. The second treaty was the main permanent alliance between Figaro, Doma, and the Espers. The third was the bulk of Natarle's concern, the restructuring and establishment of the new Southern State as a separate entity and not as a territory of Figaro and Doma. Treaty four covered an alliance between the Southern State of Vector and the Espers into magical research and cultural exchange, as neither side wanted to see the Magitek mistakes repeated but neither side wanted to waste those lessons learned, either. Treaty five established permanent trade codicils and merchant exchanges between Figaro, Doma, Vector, the Espers, and provided provisions for other states to be added as those states opted into the trade. Tzen and Albrook were expected to join the trade pact within the month, if for no other reason to assist in the process of rebuilding. The sixth treaty was one that Natarle considered critical to the trade provisions, since it provided for the construction of rail systems in both the north and the south, eliminating the need and the immense hassle of using chocobo caravans for major industrial or long-range transport. Nothing short of full automobiles and road networks would ever replace the Chocobo as the main method of small-duty labor and personal transport, but railways would help so many things in so many ways.

Her signing done, Natarle stood up to allow the Representative of the Luna takes her seat at the treaty table and begins the process of signing the first document. Natarle stepped away from the table to mingle back into the crowd, and this time found herself nearby Jaide the Goddess, who was speaking rather amicably with Lady Elaine Garanmonde and Ensign (First Class) Chandratta, who was spending more time listening than anything else.

It was this sight that reassured Natarle the most: seeing a human lady, a crewmember of the Archangel, and a Goddess debating the possible course of commerce to come between the assorted groups of the new alliances. All things are possible with enough hope, Natarle thinks aloud as Elaine gestures her over toward the conversation, apparently eager for a Commander's perspective on the matter. If nothing else, Chandratta and the Goddess Jaide were both receptive to her presence as she approached and paid her respects to the group.

This may work, Natarle thinks about the whole matter as she approaches the three that wanted a word with her.

-x-x-x-

(23 January 987)

The appearance of a second Tonberry in the galley one morning spurred an unusual tasking for the Magic Knight of Rayearth: finding them all.

To Hikaru, it was as much a personal quest as it was a request from the chef crew and the rest of the crew at large. With Murdoch bringing in and training more personnel for the ship, the extension to the galley staff would definitely be needed, and Natarle knew this. Thus her allowed personal quest to chase down the Tonberries. Despite their lack of speed, the two Tonberries were impressive cooks as well as somewhat intimidating to anyone who entered the galley that was not part of the crew.

Of course, finding them was a totally different story entirely.

Rayearth was cruising at 2000 meters AGL, Hikaru looking down to the scenery with the occasional glance upwards to make sure she was not going to run into one of the world's two Airships. "It won't be long before the skies of this planet get crowded with airships," Hikaru muses to herself, knowing of the projects to begin mass-production of Airships. Right now they were crossing mountains southeast of the Veldt

Mobility is key to expansion and advancement, Rayearth replies. The immobilized society cannot itself become greater than it already is readily, without some form of external influence to push forward the hands of progress.

"That must be one of the reasons why America is so powerful on my home world," Hikaru notes. Studies had decried the fact that families in America had more than two vehicles per family, leading to massive amounts of pollution from that country, but Hikaru now realized that there was more to such stories. If mobility was really power and influence, America had it in spades

The other reason is far more simple, and something you do unconsciously. America is willing to be great by its own hand, even if such effort is disjointed, random, seemingly pointless. You have followed the same path yourself, Magic Knight, forcing yourself to do things that most would turn away from, forcing yourself to keep trying to find your home, all the while trying ever harder to do what you must. For that, there are few in Existence rival to you or the other Magic Knights.

Hikaru simply nods in response, not really wishing to dwell on such a subject. "You are sure you can find the Tonberries?" Hikaru asks after a moment, not entirely convinced despite Rayearth's claims to the latter.

They are an interesting lot, and quite unique among the many denizens of this world. Finding them shall be simple, getting to them shall be another story. And we approach the first of them now, Rayearth declares as on the bubble around Hikaru a square box dwells in on part of the forest several hundred miles ahead of their flight path. This box represents my best estimate where the Tonberry is. The forest is far too heavy for me to land inside, you will have to enter and hike overland to reach him.

"Can do," Hikaru replies. A short hike was nothing to her in the end.

And that is why you are respected, even revered by the Archangel's crew, the Espers, and your peers. Few can match your can-do attitude, Magic Knight, which makes you a powerful force when you apply the will to use it.

"Whoa," that was something that Hikaru had not really considered prior. Yes, the crew was definitely respectful, despite the fact that she was only just now pushing sixteen years old. Respectful, yes, not reverential, as far as she could tell, but when she got down to it, she didn't know the difference. She really didn't even know if there was a difference at all. "Still, we have a job to do, so we do it, right?"

I rest my case, Rayearth replies. The shortest approach is going to be from the south side of the forest, but you are still in need of several miles overland travel to reach the area the Tonberry is in.

"Understood," Hikaru replies as Rayearth lands. Moments later she was on the ground and inspecting her surroundings: a typical forest, and one that looked a bit scary from the outside. To make things sound worse, as she was taking her first step toward the forest she could naught but hear the sound of an explosion deep within the midst of the trees, accompanied by the startled screams of birds for some distance around. This did not stop her from continuing to walk toward the trees, but it did serve to remind her that the term 'wildlife' on this planet meant something wholly different and far more brutal than it did in downtown Tokyo.

Hikaru marched without complaint, without a thought against her seemingly insane plan, just doing it. She did have some choice words for the leg holster and the nine-millimeter pistol the mechanics had scrounged up for her, however, since the holster was definitely not staying in place almost at all she was having to practically hold it in place as she walked, and it chafed in unusual places which was not improving her mood any. After a few hundred meters she decided she would talk to Natarle about how a lady was to properly wear a leg holster since none of the mechanics or Commandos were female. After another hundred meters she stripped it off and simply carried it at the ready to draw.

It was luck on her part that she had stopped to remove the holster, as she stopped she could see the movement of something in the bushes to the side of her path of advance, something with the fair appearance of a cat and some form of self-mobile tumbleweed. Wildlife, indeed, Hikaru thinks sourly as she drops aside the pistol and draws her sword; the cat would definitely try to get in close on her, likely the tumbleweed as well. Her sword drawn, Hikaru prepares herself for what she figured she would have to do to get out of this one alive: use her new spellcraft skills.

Sensing what it thought to be a moment of weakness, the cat attacked first. Hikaru was not caught unawares, but was caught off balance as she was trying to prepare a spell for use on them, and her only recourse was to try and drive the cat away from her with the flat of her blade. It worked temporarily, though the cat was back on the offensive after a few moments of stun, and this time it dodged the sword and went right to Hikaru's arm with claw and fang. She was able to slam it aside but not effectively and not without being scratched up herself. On pure reaction her sword came around and into the side of the cat in question, the thrust of blade missing its body but severing both rear legs; After it started shrieking and squirming Hikaru gave it a backhand swing to remove its head, but instead ended up accomplishing chopping it roughly in half.

As the Magic Knight reoriented herself on the other part of the threat, the tumbleweed with an attitude as she thought of it, it turned out to be something completely different: a rabbit with a flurry of violet leaves around it, and the leaves seemed to swirl around it as it moved as if a mini-cyclone was centered on it. A wind-element enemy, my fire should be effective against it, Hikaru thinks as she readies: "The infernos of Ghenna shall bring upon this world the searing blaze of Firaga!" Hikaru chants, staring right to the rabid rabbit as she did so, with her hands circumscribing the intended area of effect of the spell. As she finished the last word the area that she indicated was engulfed in a massive wave of fire. What remained after the flames were gone accounted to a pair of glowing embers from a stick and the skeleton of the rabbit, the remainder had all been flash-fire cooked practically to char and dust.

A quick check of her environment confirmed that there were no other threats in the area. With that done, she picked up her pistol and continued the march, wary to skirt the circle of char she had just caused so as to avoid burning her feet by walking through. It did not take her much in the way of effort to patch the scratch that she received from the cat, and as she moved she kept her eyes high as well as checking the ground for more threats. It would not serve her well to be ambushed by more powerful monsters, in her opinion.

At least a mile, maybe as much as a mile and a half passed without incident, much to Hikaru's relief on the matter. In that time she heard another of the explosions, but this one was quite louder and closer. The explosion happened in her path of advance, leaving as much of a crater in the ground as the the missiles from the Launcher Strike did, at least back when the unit had a working Strike Gundam to talk about. From what she could tell, the explosion happened in contact with the ground, given the chunks of dirt and plant that had been flung an exceptional distance in her direction. Near the center of the crater was found a bird-style skull of some type, which adroitly answered what 'just' got blown to hell but not the 'how'.

As she continued, another mile of ground passed behind her without incident, except a shrub that turned out to be a thorn-bush that turned out to be a bit more painful than even she expected, but it was still not enough to stop her from continuing. It would be something far larger and more violent than a thorn-bush that brought her to a halt.

"Oh, shit," she mutters in dread, ducking behind a large tree to hopefully conceal her presence from the floating nightmares dead ahead of her. "Those...are Bombs," she completes the thought, realizing now what this forest was rumored for, the nasty and self-destructive Bomb creature, the product of fire spellcraft gone horridly wrong. The explosion of one of those creatures was said to be more than enough to level a modest town-house and damage any surrounding buildings.

After a few seconds she slowly peeked out from behind the tree she was hiding behind, and much to her aghast found herself staring down the front-end of one of those Bombs at half the range she had seen it prior. As soon as she locked eyes with it, the enemy explosive let out a feral roar and began charging her down, apparently intent on having her for lunch. The pistol did not go down to the ground as her sword came out, just in time for her to counter-swing at the charging enemy and drive it away from her for a bare moment, though she did realize that with only one hand on the sword she was at a disadvantage.

The second Bomb was nowhere in sight, which gave her a moment's respite from being attacked by a pair of enemies. As the first bomb was reorienting itself to try and close in on her she took the offensive first, using a combination controlled rising slash and a less controlled downward slash to dissuade it from closing in. The strike from below the Bomb reacted to, driving away from her to prevent being slashed from the chin up, though it was not expecting the faster follow-up swing from above, the sword of Rayearth slamming down on the top of its head and slashing through the body of the bomb without hesitation; the sword did not cleave completely through the enemy, but it did cut its face in half. What was left of the enemy collapsed to the ground and began exhaling some form of gas that Hikaru could not smell, but she knew was there and was making her lightheaded.

The roaring sound of the second Bomb from roughly behind her triggered a pure reaction on her part that saved her life. Rather than immediately trying to turn to face, she cleared left and away from it as it charged toward her, roaring and mouth agape to try swallowing her upper half. The bomb got her only with its left claw as it passed, though the strike was unable to penetrate the back of her armor it was still painful to her. Hikaru reversed her movement immediately after the strike, swinging her sword in a roundhouse arc in an attempt to get the Bomb as it flew by, but she only managed to scratch it, which made it scream in rage and enlarge itself by a factor of two. As it turned to face Hikaru and challenge her with mouth agape, Hikaru made another split-second decision, this one of the style seen in movies: she thrust her sword into its mouth roof and slammed the pommel into the lower rank of teeth, grazing her right hand on a jagged tooth in the process but accomplishing what she intended. With its mouth stuck agape all the Bomb could do was rage in fury and try to gash Hikaru with its exposed teeth and claws, but a few seconds of dodging proved that such tactics were ineffective against her. Remembering the pistol she had not dropped, Hikaru reached for it, pulled it clear of the holster, and drove the muzzle of the Earth Alliance 9mm Automatic into the left eye of the surprised and enraged bomb. It stopped, clearly unaware what was going on.

"Rage against this machine!" Hikaru half-shouts as she snaps back the trigger; in the heat of the moment she never remembered the sound of the shot, but she remembered she could clearly see the slide come back and the spent shell ejected from the weapon as if she was watching it in slow-motion.

The Bomb recoiled backwards after the shot took its eye out, clearly shocked and physically severely damaged from the shot. After a moment it reacted again, this time trying to clamp its mouth shut with all its might, and in this its own reaction was its undoing. The bomb forced its jaw closed, in the process forcing the sword in its mouth up through the top of its body and through what little brain it had, only for the sword to be driven through its skull and outward into the afternoon air. With that accomplished, all it could do was collapse to the ground and vent what gas it retained to the outside world.

Hikaru collapsed backwards and down the trunk of a tree, bracing against its base for support. She let go a massive sigh as she realized that the battle was finally over and neither of the bombs had exploded. She figured that fact alone was worth a rest and breather, so she sat there and looked over the scene of the battle. After a few moments she began giggling to herself about the absurdity of the situation and how close she had come to death in the space of fifteen seconds, though she managed to defeat both of these floating gasbags without anything more than a sore back and a few scratches on her left arm and armor.

Partway through her bandaging effort on her left arm (again), which was rapidly consuming the lower skirt part of her school uniform, she looked up when a shadow crossed her field of view, and immediately froze in dread. Another monster was here, this one already larger than a Bomb and colored a mottled gray. When it sighted her, it let loose a wicked laugh that spurred Hikaru to immediately take aim at it with the pistol. Shot after shot rang out into the forest air, and in testament to her training and continual practice not one shot missed the enemy, but by the same token every shot that hit made it grow by several centimeters as the slug itself caromed off its hardened body, headed who-knew-where. One round even managed to bounce off its underbelly, hit the ground halfway between the enemy and her, and buzz-sawed across the ground and into the back of her right calf, immediately eliciting a pained screech from her. (2)

She brought her pistol back up and on target, but immediately she knew she was done for as she realized that it had locked back on an empty magazine and there was no spare issued to her at the time she left. The enemy had already approached closer than her sword had been when she slumped against the tree, and since bombs were naturally immune to fire she had no recourse left to her. She was out of options and about to become dinner to a piece of overblown C-4.

I just wish...I could finish helping the team get home, Hikaru laments inside the confines of her mind, resigned to and readily expecting her fate. The lesson of the Archangel that had come to her before today was simple: Can't win 'em all. Today seemed to be the final fight for her, as fights prior had ended Dearka Elsman and Kristen Redmond, so...

The motion of a light some distance behind the Bomb in question drew her attention from her fate to whatever was moving in the distance, just before the light intensified into a series of beams that arced out of it and streaked to the enemy. For a moment Hikaru was not sure what was going on, then the larger-than-a-Bomb became engulfed in pearly light that disintegrated it into dust blowing in the wind. With the enemy no more, Hikaru could focus in on what was holding the light source, and then promptly gasped sharply.

The Tonberry had found her, and just at the right moment as far as she was concerned. It looked just the same as its comrades in the galley, the tan robes, the green head and body that Hikaru thought was some kind of lizard's body, the lamp, the kitchen knife, just the same. As it closed up, Hikaru could see that it had a different pattern of markings on its exposed head than did the others, which was probably the identifying trait between them.

You scent of two of my kind, human, the mountain dweller from the South and the resident of the desert expanse. Tell of how you came to meet them, the voice was definitely female, as opposed to the more masculine voices of the two that were already on the staff.

"I—we—they just showed up on our ship, first the one from the north, then the one from the south, and took residence in our galley while our chef crew was out on other business." Hikaru's speech pattern was ragged, the pain in her leg severe enough that it was interfering with her basic motor control skills and speech.

Your ship has a galley, and two of my ilk are already on it? Lead the way, young human, for no galley can be to rights if not commanded by a competent lady. If anything, the Tonberry sounded like it (she?) would enjoy such a thing

"I—I can't move, I took a hit in the leg," Hikaru notes.

A minor obstruction. Show me where to go in your mind's eye, and I shall teleport us there, it replies. In moments Hikaru had envisioned the galley of the Archangel, and a moment thereafter she was there in reality.

-x-x-x-

(4 March 987)

"This isn't much of a cave," Fuu notes, expecting a lot more of a challenge for their explorations.

"This, no," Nicol notes as he sweeps the entrance area of the cave once more for any activity. There was none. "I expect there will be a lot more over there," he says as he points at the dark recess across the spring. A turtle was lazily floating in the spring area off to one side, and as Fuu looked down into the spring depths with the barrel-mount flashlight on her weapon she could tell it was little more than shin deep all the way to the crevasse.

"I came out here to explore a cave, not a stone-enclosed walkway. I say we go for it," Fuu notes, wanting to live the real role-playing game that her life had become to its fullest.

Of course, the rules were significantly different for this 'game' than the ones she cheerily spent hundreds of hours of her life on at home. When everything was said and done, the games she was accustomed to had a reset button 'just in case of stuff happening' as she thought of it nowadays. There was no reset button here, and she knew it. One major mistake and she would be the third plexiglass shadow box on the wall outside the hot springs.

"All right, I'll take point," Nicol says as he shoulders his combat shotgun and flips the light on to illuminate the path ahead of them. Fuu steps back far enough to make sure she was clear of the side of his oversize camping backpack as he slowly skids his way down into the spring waters. "Whoa, this is warm water, it would make a great bath spring," he notes as he starts stepping through, wary to keep his shotgun forward toward the 'unsecured' area.

And that was another thing that Fuu had come to grips with since she began living the adventure instead of playing it through a console and television: in these games the team always had an apeshit massive inventory, some had a somewhat limited inventory, very few games actually gave a system by which the amount of material a team could carry was limited by how much the team could physically carry. Not so in real life, as she had found out that her first idea for a good load of gear to take had weighed in at almost double her weight. Nicol had been kind enough not to laugh at her definition of 'preparation' but she could sense he wanted to. After some judicious restructuring on Nicol's part, most of which leaned away from camping and medical gear and more toward arsenal, they both had hashed out a pair of packs that carried everything they would need that their spellcraft could not handle. Even with everything pared down to bare bones, however, it still weighed a helluva lot more than she expected, especially just the web harness over her Magic Armor that held sixteen magazines for her Rorynex and two grenades. At least Natarle had worked out a better holster arrangement for her 9mm leg holster and magazine holster, so she would not be chafed by it while walking.

Fuu followed in after Nicol did, careful to keep her footing solid as she moved down into the deeper part of the springs. The turtle floating in the springwater bounced off her leg but continued its lazy swimming around without any other indication of having run into someone. On the far side of the twenty meters of spring they climbed up the far side and into the crevasse as it cut sharply left.

A third issue that her old games did not get right: most real life 'adventuring' places were extremely poor of lighting, and even the tactical light on the end of her Rorynex was not a hundred-percent solution to that darkness. Caves in particular were susceptible to being flat-out creepy dark, and every step of entering was both exhilarating and terrifying to her at the same time. The irregular formations of rock also gave denizens of the cave plenty of hiding space, and to be safe they had to check every area thoroughly. It was part of their tactical training that nothing be left to chance in such matters, they checked everything.

"It's really hard to believe we have been away from our homelands for over sixteen months now," Nicol notes. "I wonder when we shall arrive home, sixteen months after we left, or the same time period as when we left?"

"Either would be really strange," Fuu replies. "If we arrived at the later time, it would be that many years never spent with our families. If we arrived at the same time as we left, it would be a much older us that met our families that never changed." A pause ensues as they dodge through some stalagmites. "Another few months and I shall be older than my elder sister, were that the case," she notes with a clear tone of embarrassment.

"That puts you how old now? Fifteen?" Nicol asks.

"No, actually sixteen," Fuu declares. "I think I turned fifteen on Romulus, if not then on Twycross for sure," she replies. "And you should be seventeen?"

"Yeah, I think so." The two were silent, focused as they crossed a rope bridge across an underground ravine that neither wanted to think about how far it went down. "Bouncing between dimensions like this, it is hard to keep track somedays, even with the automation of the Archangel to keep track."

"A moment, Nicol, plug your ears," Fuu requests as she centers her light on what the locals called a 'Bleary', a somewhat weak and very slimy caterpillar. Fuu waited two seconds, then unleashed five rounds into it from ten meters away, shredding its body into two pieces and flinging guts of it all over the surrounding rock.

"Bats, down!" Nicol shouts as he dropped down on the ground and killed his tactical light. The cacophony of terrified bats lasted for a good two minutes, but thankfully neither of the two cave-divers was injured by their passage.

"That was fun," Fuu notes sarcastically as she stands up and flips her light on again.

"Shall we continue?" Nicol asks before they resume their trek deeper into eh cave area.

Yet another thing that the games missed: caves tended to be residency of bats, and while some game publishers could argue that bats don't exist in the timeline of their games, so far Fuu had not found a case where bats did not exist. Any loud activity would definitely had stirred up bats in the course of the party's actions in the games, so why was a bat attack not normal course for cave-diving in these games?

"At a guess, I would not say there is much more in the way of cave to come after this," Nicol notes as they reach a fairly large open area. Wherever his tactical light went, there was not much indication of a continuing path forward, except for two branches roughly south and east from the large done-like chamber.

"Oh, no, Nicol, we have a problem here!" Fuu-half squeaks.

"Oh, shit," Nicol swears when he sees what Fuu's flashlight was highlighting. "That's the biggest damned spider I've ever seen."

"How do we—oh no, it moved!" Fuu gasps as she centers her Rorynex on it and begins firing short, five-round bursts that appeared to be causing damage but far from enough damage to make a real difference.

Her peripheral vision caught something white, possibly yellow fly toward it, and once it arrived the spider deftly caught the object in mouth and began eating it. Three seconds later a muted puff could be heard from the stalled spider, and after a few moments its head began smoking from the inside out. A mere second later, the Spider appeared to go berserk, running toward the ravine that they had just crossed, then diving down into the groundwater river below with a tremendous splash.

"Water will not help that thing now," Nicol says coldly.

"What was that?" Fuu asks.

"White Phosphorous grenade. When it goes off, the phosphorous bits it blows out burn at over 2000 degrees centigrade. The only way to save a person with that stuff burning into them is to cut it out of their body before it burns through and kills them. Taken internally, there should be no hope for that thing," Nicol finishes up in a matter-of-fact fashion. "We should check the nest, make sure there are no others," Nicol says as his tactical light passes over the webbing it had built.

"Nothing, no enemies, Nicol," Fuu notes. "Should we...erm...?"

"Fire the web to be assured? I will do it," Nicol says before he unslung his gearpack and began rummaging in it for something. "Ah, perfect, I did bring these," he declares as he hauls out a red stick. "Emergency flare."

Nicol pulled the cap off the exposed end and struck the end of the flare against the top of the cap, scraping fast to ignite it. The first one did not ignite it, the second one did, and immediately the area around him was illuminated by a red, almost sinister light. He approached cautiously regardless, the flare in left hand and his pistol drawn in his right, and whence close enough he touched the lit flare to the webbing. Spider silk is a highly flammable medium; as it burned it lit the whole cavern up gloriously, showing them the scale of the room they were in like no other way possible. As for other branches of the cave, there were only the two they had prior seen in the distance, though something else came of note as the webbing burned:

"Look, Nicol, remains of people and their equipment," Fuu declares, her light centering on the pile of dead bones and long-unused gear nearby one of the two branches.

"Follow me," Nicol says as he takes point again, though as Fuu angled for the equipment Nicol went first to the branch mouth and checked it for threats. Assured it was clear, he then ducked back to the deceased and their remains as Fuu was carefully picking through it with the end of her weapon just to make sure there were no traps or anything similar awaiting them. Satisfied, she dragged the one sheathed sword clear of the rest to examine at length. "All this equipment is solid Mithiril, I'll bet it would fetch a handsome price for a collector," Nicol notes while inspecting the armor.

"Nicol, look," Fuu says as she turns to face him. She had pulled a few centimeters of the blade clear, and what was exposed above the tang recess to the hilt was glowing violet.

"This sword...it is amazing," Nicol notes. "And it is a big one, like a claymore," he gasps as she pulls the whole blade clear of the sheath.

The sword you are witness to is the Imperial Arc, a blade with a checkered history. It was conceived by the most foul and arrogant of Gods as an insult and a way to counter and control a band of mortals that they were at odds with, but the sword took a liking to its own whims and not those of the Gods. It never struck a blow against the enemies of those Gods, and in due time they were slain or exiled by the beings they sought to control and counter. Yet another lesson in what arrogance will cost you, Windam declares coldly, even for his usual dictum on such matters. It is of no use to you, for your weapons are of equivalent power or greater, but in due course it will serve purpose on this world. Best you retain possession of it to be taken to the Archangel for disposition.

"I shall do so," Fuu notes as she straps it to the outside of her gearpack. The blade was physically large, but the thing barely weighed as much as her sword did, and her own sword had practically no weight to it at all.

"We'll be back for this stuff later," Nicol notes, indicating the remaining swords and armor from persons killed in their travels through here. "C'mon, we still have cave to explore," he notes as he shoulders his shotgun again and begins headed down the nearby branch.

"Not much cave at that," Fuu notes as the two take the first turn in the path of the crags and come face-to-face with a wall of stone.

"Well, we do have one other branch to check," Nicol notes as they about-face and head for the main chamber.

"I shall go first, unless you object?" Fuu asks as they approach the next tunnel.

"By all means, but first, swap out magazines. Your Rorynex is empty."

"Oh," she moans as she pulls the used magazine and replaces it with a fresh one. The bolt went forward and picked up one of the amazingly small but explosive rounds and rammed it home into the chamber, and just like that her weapon was ready again.

The stock to her shoulder, Nicol was reminded that Fuu really was a lot older today than she was when they first met in the forests of Cephiro. He had no doubt that he had changed quite a bit since this mystery tour had begun, but he definitely knew that he had neither grown nor matured as much as the three Magic Knights had. For him, this was simply a side show of the war at home, something he was not really trained for per se but something as a military officer he was mostly prepared for. In contrast, the Magic Knights had learned hard and fast that this was not school, this was cold hard reality and they were stuck in it until further notice. Given that fact, Nicol could not help but wonder what Fuu thought of her life now, though he could not work up the courage to ask her. Nor could he work up the courage to ask her more than a few other questions.

"One question, Nicol," Fuu begins as she starts down the branch. "If I died, what would you do?"

Nicol's answer was not immediately forthcoming, though she did get one. "I don't know what I would do, really, I've become so used to you being there, being part of the unit and being a close friend that I just do not know."

"You would...at least tell my family what happened, right?" Fuu asks.

"Oh, certainly, I would tell them the whole story," Nicol replies immediately. "I won't have to, though. You will get to tell them yourself," Nicol notes.

"It is all right, Nicol. I know the longer this goes on, the fewer of us will live to tell about it," she says. "I've...mostly come to grips with the fact that this is not one of my video games, this is real and real scary." They continue in silence for two twists and one forking path, but nothing major in the corridors taken. "If you don't make it out, who should I contact to tell what happened?"

Nicol bit his immediate response back, since the fate of one Dearka Elsman was evidence enough that the Gundam Pilots were not immortal, were not Superman, or were not even likely to survive this nightmare. "Yuri Amalfi, part of the ZAFT Supreme Council. If you make it to my home without me, you will need to arrange to meet with the Amalfi in neutral territory, it is unlikely you could get into the PLANTs. Captain Ramius or one of the other senior officers can arrange it." Not to mention, my family will come running if anything is heard about me dying, Nicol thinks aloud.

"Oh, wow, this must be part of that same spring we walked through to get here, but this one is much deeper," Fuu notes as she steps down into the water that was quite a bit warm. The small cavern that the spring occupied was its own dead end, meaning they had just completely run out of cave to check. "This would be better for a spring bath," she declares.

"This is the end," Nicol notes. "Now what?"

"We planned on being here several days, and I really don't want to head back early," Fuu notes. "Would you object to camping out here for the sake of camping?"

"A getaway, basically, escape all the hustle and grind of the Capital and the ship? You don't have to ask me twice," Nicol replies.

---

Author's Chapter Afterword:

I, being a former Chicago resident, have no problem with snow whatsoever. Let it snow, as far as I am concerned, gives me excuse to laugh at the dipdunks that have problems on the road because they don't understand how their cars react to snow. Ice is another story, however. Ice makes it rough enough that even I don't want to play with the roads and enough ice usually kills off the power to my place, which delayed this chapter by pretty close to a full week deploy time. Oi. At least it did not kill off any of my source, so I still got it done.

This is just the beginning of the blatant end to the adventures in the FFVI world, but keep two things in mind: one, there is a lot more to come than this, maybe enough for two more chapters before they leave, and two, even when the Archangel has left, the fun is not over. This may be the first area I do a side story on for this story, and if what I am planning peters out how I want it, it is going to be one hellishly bloody side story at that. Hint: you can rest assured that the Empire was not alone in setting up the Metal Gear units to try and take down the Archangel, even though they failed they are not through yet.

A step away from the grotesque battles is indeed a good thing, gives me time to focus on the non-combat aspects of the story. These forays are going to prove to be events to shape the future of the crew, so I have a little pressure on to do it as I envision it, do it right, and do it right the first time. This does not detract from the writing, if anything that makes it more fun knowing what you do is a linchpin for the rest of the long-ass story to come. Now if I could get enough slack from my jobs to write faster, this would be less of an issue...

Not much else to say about this chapter, except you can expect the politics of this chapter to get a lot more involved as the nest two evolve, and you can expect some serious surprises in the chapter or two to come.

Next up: An outstanding political problem is solved and Yzak begins the bread-and-butter work of modifying the Teleporters to work interdimensionally.

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Review Replies:

I received a lot of reviews, as well as reviews with very poignant questions. I will be block quoting those reviews that I already replied to that I think would be appropriate for everyone to know. Here goes:

Deathzealot: Two month wait is out, comrade. I'm back to closer to normal, hopefully back to normal soon enough.

Kelvin: There will definitely be a revisit of Cephiro, that is one destination I reveal because I have some real evil plans about it, but other than that the future is still uncertain...

CHM01: It could have been quite a bit bloodier, but the dice seemed to favor the Archangel this time around. Next time they may not be so lucky.

One-Village-Idiot: Block quote of my original reply:

OVI: Yes, Volt was the Tales of Phantasia version, but a little more than just that.

The Mechs will get reclaimed and repaired, but not all of them will survive to be used again. And keep in mind that 'mechs are practically useless in space combat.

The Personnel deployment doors are simply the crew hatches on the legs of the Archangel, as well as a pair about midships and a pair toward the rear. The Commandos modified it so they could use them for fast-rope, long-rope or zip-line deploy. As to the Cook, oh yes, Ryback is his name, and there will likely be a fight sometime in the galley somewhere.

Not going to comment on the Knights and their post-death experience at this time, going to save that for another day.

Well, keep in mind that there are a lot of Gods, Attempted Gods, not-quite-gods and Trans-Divine beings in Existence. it is only logical that the Archangel is going to run into them from time to time.

As to profit from the world, that is hard to say, but you can expect to see that in the next chapter. Two words: Arms Race.

More is on the way, stay tuned.

FraserMage: The extended info is always a pleasure. And you can rest assured they will get a restock, but the cost to the hearts of the crew may be significantly heavy...

Akalon: Block Quote of my initial reply:

he weapon in question is a heavy rail gun, and if you read the other reviews (specifically Barricade's review) it is the primary purpose of the Metal Gear REX. The MGS Canon REX uses the rail gun for stealth nuclear deployments, but in this case since the Empire does not have nukes they use it as a kinetic penetrator weapon...with alarming success. Those kinds of rail guns are not pleasant weapons to face down in an Omnimech, but they did. And they paid for it.

My only advice for the FF Anthology is this: level up like it's going to save your arse, because it will. If you get to the final boss with most your team around 60, you're low-balling the battle. Thankfully, the core game and story line is easily long enough to put you there, so getting up to 75 or so should be little trouble for you.

Barricade: Block Quote again (just too much juicy material to pass up)

You guessed it, Metal Gear REX is the nasty de rigeur. And you can guess that some of its armaments will be joining the ship, but I'll leave where and how to your imagination for now.

I have not thus far sorted out how the Espers are going to play things, but you can guess that the dice may be involved. Stay tuned on that front.

As to reading material, they will get something far better than just books.

The Archangel does evolve, but it does not restock itself. Resupply is handled locally. Mods tot he ship may continue, depending on the whim of the dice, but mods to the units are out, and I will explain why in literary. Not to mention, is it not interesting to watch one Warship go through mobile carried units like a chainsaw? Lol.

Ehh, Gilgamesh is good for a laugh, but not epic battle worthy laffs. There will be more summoning in there somewhere, though, so stay tuned.

Knives91: Kristen may be dead but she is not forgotten...nor shall this be the end of what you see of her.

NHO: Yes, you are referring to the Dominion, a rather interesting ship with an interesting fate. Unfortunately, though, I cannot divulge if there will be possible encounters with the other extended-class monitors (Archangel, Dominion, Minerva, Girty Lue) in this story, all such information is classified as usual and UFN (Until Further Notice). Sorry, comrade, it be the rules.

EtienneOfTheWestWind: Last block quote, here on out it is original material:

There are so many nasty surprises I could play out right now, but I think I have one of the deepest, darkest recesses of Archangel hell lined up to come, so I'll save any more fun in this arena (the world of FFVI) for another arena. Keep in mind, I deliberately showed there was only half a world known, so...

I'm pretty much lucky right now, my cat is asleep, with his head buried under a paw and his tail. The longer he sleeps, the better for me. Put your power strip under a small object so he can't get to the button, works for me.

I'll have to look into the real Hitchhikers Guide, the movie didn't do much for me.

Stay tuned, far more antics to come.

NHO (Round 2): Your ideas have been recorded but as usual destinations are classified. Stay tuned, you may like where this nightmare is headed...

Archaon83: To answer your questions:

1: No pilot for the Stone Rhino, no dice there. It may get dusted off soon enough, though.

2: This is the Archangel were talking about here. They'll find a way to compromise enemy shields or die trying, it is the ship's motto.

3: I have not thus far seen Crest or Banner of the Stars, but they are on my list of anime to see in the next ~1.5 years.

Thanks for the questions and tip, keep 'em coming.

Akasui: Like usual, destinations are classified, but you aren't the first to ask about Xenosaga, which I find to be a very interesting and entertaining game series.

As to the Life Spell, What I illustrate here is part common sense, part cold hard reality, part bringing the story in line with my unified theories of wizardry. The fact that everyone just got knocked out when they took otherwise lethal hits (doom spell just as one example) never set well with me. So I play it by way of death is death and the Life spell is what you use to unscrew a dead guy. More and more powerful spells of that nature will be coming this way soon enough.

Much thank yous to all who reviewed and especially to all who read! Stay tuned, the fun is only beginning, people.

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The Gripe Sheet:

No notable gripes from the last chapter.

On an aside, I am in negotiations with someone at this time to beta this story to keep me from posting a major screwup, so hopefully there won't be much in the Gripe Sheet from now on...

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Footnotes:

(1): Until Further Notice.

(2): Look upon this incident and know that it can happen IRL, so ALWAYS be sure of what you are shooting at. People have been killed by incidents like this, make sure you use firearms in a safe and responsible manner. Always be sure of your target and backstop, as is normally worded.