(This chapter follows the last scene of the chapter "New Order" in Forever After Earth.)

Sufficiently Analyzed Magic

As the teleportation spell delivered them back to the Arthra, Hayate frowned at their failure. Of the eleven planets they'd searched, only the third and the eighth had Stargates, and neither of those showed any sign of the Ori.

"Aahhrr," Vita stomped off the arrival platform. "What'a we do now?"

"I don't know, Vita-chan," Hayate said, following the small girl through the ship. "We're back to square one."

Vita, Hayate, Signum, and Zafira emerged onto the Arthra's spacious bridge, dispelling their Barrier Jackets. Chrono turned away from the wide view of the planet below and raised an eyebrow.

"Another dead end," Chrono commented.

"Looks like," Hayate sighed.

Chrono glanced back out at space. "Where next?"

Hayate shook her head. "We're back to square one. I think all we can do is go back and look for another lead."

"I see," Chrono said. "Amy! Set a return course to MidChilda, please."

"Ayeaye!"

As the view of stars swung around and peeled apart into the shifting eldritch colors of the dimensional sea, Hayate slung her arms over Vita's shoulders from behind and gave Chrono a tired smile.

"So, how's our guest?" Hayate asked.

Chrono folded his arms. "Your stray is down in the commissary with Shamal, Fate, and Arf."

Hayate blinked. "Still?"

"Apparently she hasn't moved since Fate gave her exonet access," Chrono told her as he returned to his command chair.

Vita frowned up at Hayate, suspicious of the woman they'd found, and Hayate exchanged a glance and a shrug with Signum and Zafira before strolling off and making her way to the commissary.

Four off-white tables curved in a pair of divided concentric horseshoes, in a spacious area with thick metal arches bracing tall narrow windows. At the end of one table, the woman they'd found on the ninth planet, Major Carter, sat in the midst of no less than a dozen holographic screens. Her hands flipped through various screens and scrollbars while she peppered Shamal with questions.

"...so the theory of a 'magic particle' with its own inherent properties was debunked? That at least makes sense, or we wouldn't still be calling it magic in the first place, but according to this, it is common for large discrepancies in inherent power to exist, and if this Linker Core thing isn't a tangible physical phenomenon, how can genetics possibly influence a person's potential magical ability?" Major Carter was asking.

Shamal yawned, looking tired but interested as she responded. "Well, it doesn't. Not directly. The term Linker Core is a misleading holdover from before the Mana Fallacy was understood as such. I think you're missing some basic foundation here." Shamal gestured at the floating screens. "Have you come across the Thinker-Linker-Intenser Postulate yet?"

Major Carter shook her head, even as she typed the term into a search field and brought up a new page.

"There are three separate things that determine what a mage is capable of," Shamal explained. "First is mental competence, strength of will and imagination. Second is the fidelity of the link between a mind and the psionic substrate. And third is the intensity of emotion a mind is capable of experiencing. But there is significant lateral variation within all three of these, and that can interact to result in vast differences in effective magical power."

Major Carter nodded once, and then blinked, looking up from the screen. "Wait, psionic substrate?"

Hayate smiled and waved as she strolled over to the table. Zafira went and sat next to Arf, sniffing at her with a casual friendliness. Vita took one look at the mess of displays around Carter and Shamal, and veered off to go get ice cream. Fate caught Hayate's eye as she pulled out a chair.

We have a potential problem, Fate sent telepathically, glancing at the foriegn Major.

Hayate tilted her head curiously. You mean besides her having spent an unhealthy length of time geeking out? Has she slept at all since we picked her up?

Fate smiled slightly. No. And yes, besides that. We had her find her homeworld on our starcharts. Hayate, she pointed right to Earth with barely any hesitation.

Hayate's head snapped around. She's from Earth?

"...we know, because the substrate doesn't extend into imaginary space, which makes it impossible for ontological entities to travel between realities," Shamal was explaining.

It doesn't make sense, Fate said. She's military, American, I think, and the only thing magical about her is a mild case of naquadah contamination. How did she get out here?

Hayate worried her lower lip. I have a theory. When I found her, the first thing she asked about was finding a Stargate. She's familiar with galactic cartography. And she didn't act like someone who was meeting aliens for the first time. I think the Americans have a Stargate. A working Stargate.

Fate glanced thoughtfully at the woman in question. If that is true, maybe she can help.

Major Carter, meanwhile, had latched onto yet another topic. "...these ubiquitous circular glyphs I've been seeing everywhere are made of psychoreactive photonic plasma. Photonic plasma? That doesn't even seem coherent. Even with magic superseding the usual rules that matter and energy follow, I'm having a hard time imagining what a phase of matter made of electromagnetic energy would even mean."

"The common understanding involves the affected photons behaving exclusively like particles," Shamal said. "It wouldn't be entirely inaccurate to imagine it as a separate fifth phase of matter."

"Okay, but in that case, what causes the visible glow?" Major Carter asked. "Is it just waste energy escaping?"

Shamal shook her head. "Actually no..."

Does Chrono know she's from Earth? Hayate asked.

Fate nodded. He was there. He ordered us to keep quiet about our previous contact with Earth until he hears back from the Main Office.

Signum cut in, It seems prudent to, at the very least, ask Major Carter how deep her technical knowledge of Stargates is, does it not?

Hayate and Fate both nodded after a moment, and Hayate tapped her chin with her finger. I think you're right. Just asking that doesn't give anything away. We need to know if she can help us before we can ask if she will.

"Actually, the MidChildian Circles or Belkan Triangles only become solid as a side effect of being acknowledged by the psionic substrate as an active invocation," Shamal was explaining.

"Wait, invocation?" Major Carter asked, confused "Who or what is it invoking?"

"Nothing," Shamal told her. "We don't use theurgy. However, the empathic feedback that makes theurgy possible can be exploited to essentially create energy from nothing."

Major Carter nodded. "We always thought it was something about the ascended beings, or ontological entities as you call them, that needed to feed on emotion, or more specifically worship, but you're saying it goes deeper than that. It's a fundamental underlying law of the system itself. And your magic is all based on hacking that system?"

"That is one way to describe it," Shamal said. "Theurgy is actually illegal without an exemption on MidChilda. In the TSAB unauthorized theurgy can get you court martialed if the ontological entity involved isn't also a member of the TSAB."

Major Carter stopped in her tracks and stared. "You have ascended beings in your organization?"

"Very rarely," Shamal said. "None in the time I've worked for the TSAB, but it isn't uncommon for S-class mages to have Linker Cores that are developed enough for ascension to be possible. Just in this room, Hayate and Fate over there could both ascend if they ever wished to."

"Why don't they?" Major Carter finally asked, recognizing the girl from the planet.

Shamal grinned. "Would you want exist as a disembodied mind? Without real sensation or sensory experience? Permanently tethered to one universe? Forever kowtowing to the politically entrenched gods and having to follow their rules? Doing random odd jobs around the galaxy in exchange for emotional sustenance, starving most of the time because you're obscure?"

Major Carter thought this over and slowly blanched. "I never thought of it like that. Boy. No wonder Daniel came back."

Before Shamal could respond, the dozen or so holographic screens briefly glowed fuchsia and shattered like very quiet glass. Carter flinched back in momentary alarm, before a single new screen glided across the table and stopped in front of her. It displayed a photo and a diagram of a Stargate.

"I'm sure you're quite fascinated by this subject, Major Carter," Signum said, coming around the table to address her, "and I regret having to interrupt, but I would like you to tell me. How much do you know about Stargates?"

Madoka dodged desperately as Nanoha's beamspam lit up the air around her. She threw up a Circle as a shield to buy herself a few precious seconds and strained to maintain it under the onslaught. As she pointed Galvan Soul off to the side, a smaller Circle unfolded in front of the scepter's head.

SPIRIT SHROUD, Galvan Soul intoned.

A pink-tinged ripple shot through the obscuring dust and Madoka didn't spare a glance, hurling herself upwards. Madoka couldn't see her opponent, but she knew exactly where Nanoha was and could follow the other mage's every action, even if Nanoha's actual thoughts were shielded. Madoka could see through her opponents eyes if she concentrated. And yet, she still.. couldn't... hit her!

FLASH MOVE, Raising Heart announced.

ENHANCERFORM, Galvan Soul countered with a quick thought on Madoka's part, transforming from a scepter into a long quarterstaff with glowing bands at both ends.

Madoka knew exactly where the strike was coming, and she still barely got Galvan Soul angled in time to block. Nanoha came rocketing out of the dust cloud and the impact of their staves would have shattered Madoka's arms if not for her Barrier Jacket. For that matter, she would have long since choked to death on all the rock dust in the air if not for her Barrier Jacket.

Tumbling back, Madoka tried to turn her momentum into a strike, but Nanoha swayed casually out of the way and thrust towards her with Raising Heart. No spell, just brute kinetic force delivered with a flash of pink light.

The air rushed out of Madoka's lungs and then again as she smashed into the rock face of the abandoned quarry Nanoha had selected as a training ground. Her chest heaved, but she couldn't make a sound as she slid out of the crater in the wall and fell, already blacking out, towards the ground far below.

Pink light. Gentle arms catching her.

Raising Heart's voice. PHYSICAL HEAL.

Madoka came to with a whimper, opening her eyes to see the smiling face of Lieutenant Nanoha Takamachi looking down at her. Nanoha offered her a hand, and pulled a wincing Madoka to her feet.

"That was better," Nanoha told her.

"Oh. Really?" Madoka asked hopefully.

"You're still getting flustered when my attacks come too quickly for you to deal with one at a time, your aim with Celestial Barrage could be better, and you rely too much on your Device's Archerform feature of repeat fire. Being able to fire off a lesser attack spell several times in a row, without having to recast it each time, could be a powerful asset, but only if you don't let it trap you in a disadvantageous course of action," Nanoha critiqued. "Buuuuuuut, this was the first time you didn't panic when I forced you into melee range, and you almost got me with that last spell. What was that?"

"Oh, Spirit Shroud?" Madoka asked as she rubbed the back of her head. "Its kind of like a wide-area psychic shockwave. It's supposed to temporarily disrupt the synchronization between a mage and their Device, and dispel any active telepathic links in the area of effect."

"Hmm," Nanoha made a thoughtful noise. "That sounds like it could be devastatingly effective, under the right circumstances. If it works, that is. I've never heard of a spell that could do anything like that before."

Madoka smiled. "It seemed like it was worth trying. Mind magic is my thing, after all. I have no idea what it would do to a Prior, though."

Nanoha smiled brightly. "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll find out."

Madoka laughed nervously.

As it turned out, Major Carter knew a lot about Stargates. So much, in fact, that Fate managed to talk Chrono into briefing her on the entire situation. They were seated along one side of the big curved table in the ready room just under the Arthra's bridge.

Hayate stood and put her back to the broad forward view of the dimensional sea. She touched the golden circled cross on her necklace, and murmured something. A holographic figure of a little girl no bigger than a hand with pale blue hair popped into being over her shoulder and made a show of rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"Right!" Hayate chirped. "It's time for me to be Exposition Gal! Rein-chan, you'll handle the visual presentation, okay?"

The little hologram nodded adorably and gave Hayate an enthusiastic salute. Hayate looked over her audience. Fate was serious and serene, Bardiche set out in front of her to record everything to show Nanoha later. Vita was waiting eagerly for the show, and had somehow gotten her hands on a box of popcorn. Chrono looked impatient. Major Carter was most definitely not letting herself get distracted by the spectacle that was Rein-chan's holographic avatar. The rest were seated further back, or standing. Hardly the whole crew, but a fair number of people.

"Our story begins here," Hayate began, as a holographic planet faded in behind her. "Unadministered World 301, known locally as Orience, nine-hundred or so lightyears rimward-antispinward from AnteChilda. The Phedre was in orbit, investigating a possible Lost Logia case, when they detected a Barrier of unknown type and massive scale forming on the southern continent."

The hologram zoomed in, showing a bluish white bubble nearly a hundred kilometers across. Hayate continued, "The unknown Barrier was slowly growing at a steady pace. After extensive sydar scans, a ground team led by Enforcer Opel teleported into the Barrier to find out why. The landscape inside was devastated and depopulated, but at the precise center of the Barrier, the ground team found this."

A screen expanded behind her, and displayed a video feed that had apparently been recorded by Enforcer Opel's Device. The viewpoint moved forward over barren, grey terrain. The air was thick with a cloying miasma, and it was dark like the bottom of a lake.

The only source of light came from a circular pool, and the silver-hooded figure holding a glowing staff. The figure resolved into a man, skin waxy and sallow, decorated by arcane patterns of ritualistic scarring. As Enforcer Opel got closer, the glowing pool came to look very much like a Stargate. There were differences. The annulus in the video lacked the inner rotating ring of normal Stargates along with any other moving parts, and the nine crystal panels glowed blue instead of orange.

"This was the TSAB's first encounter with a Prior of the Ori," Hayate told her audience.

"That is not a standard Stargate," Major Carter commented with a frown.

"Apparently, the Stargate network in the Anteverse is far less extensive than the one in the Midverse, and not intended for public use if the design lacking manual controls is any indication," Hayate said.

Major Carter held up a hand. "I'm sorry, Anteverse?"

Hayate paused the video to explain. "There are six primary entangled realities that the TSAB is based in, via the permanent Dimensional Links on the six connected versions of the planet Childa. AnteChilda, DexChilda, DisChilda, MidChilda, ProxiChilda, and VenChilda. We like to adopt the prefix to refer to each universe as well."

"...oh," Major Carter said weakly.

"Anyway, diplomacy failed pretty much right away..." Hayate resumed.

On the screen, the view had closed in on the Prior, and audio faded in. "...power and greatness of the Ori cannot be denied. Those who reject the Path of Origin must be destroyed."

"Yeah, see, that's going to be a problem for us," Enforcer Opel replied.

That video window closed and a new one opened, showing the Phedre in orbit over Orience.

"The ground team failed to get the Prior to negotiate, and the Barrier was still expanding," Hayate narrated. "Attempts to crack the Barrier failed, so in the end, they resorted to the Phedre's arc-en-ciel."

A series of gargantuan Circles and containment rings traced themselves out in front of the Phedre. The beam it fired was colossal, cutting down to the planet and striking the hostile Barrier with the force of an entire nuclear arsenal. But the Barrier didn't break. In the wake of the blast, it only grew larger with terrifying speed.

"We played right into their hands," Hayate said. "At this point, the Phedre tracked ninety small objects emerge from the Stargate on the planet and break orbit. Reinforcements were called in, and seven ships were in range, but by the time they arrived on scene, this had formed."

A screen expanded, showing a gargantuan ring floating in space. Crackling blue light sparked at one point on the ring, slowly traveling along the circle until the entire thing was lit up. White plasma flared inwards, flowing together and forming a point of brightness in the center of the ring. It plumed outwards like a water-ice volcano, then stabilized as a vast shimmering pool.

Beside that image, the display of the planet and Barrier had collapsed in on itself, vanishing into a distorted point of darkness.

"The enemy soldiers captured later referred to this portal as the New Aln. You've probably heard of it if you follow the news," Hayate said. "As far as can be determined from the recorded data, the Barrier on Orience caused a, um, quantum gravitic convergence, once it engulfed the whole planet."

The displays behind her faded out and were replaced by various video of Ori warships trading doombeams with the TSAB ships.

"They destroyed an inhabited world without a second thought, just to power their portal," Hayate said, driving the point home. "After the Battle of New Aln, their warships gathered in large numbers and advanced on AnteChilda. Fortuantely, with more warning, and our ability to drop into the dimensional sea where they can't, the Ori fleet was destroyed before we lost AnteChilda. The New Aln was sealed in a Barrier, and, cut off from their galaxy and their gods, the remaining Ori forces went to ground."

New screens popped up behind her, showing the battle in the streets of Mitakihara.

"And that brings us to the current crisis," Hayate said. "Ori insurgents from the Anteverse somehow arrived on AnteChilda covertly and posed as civilians. At least one came through a Dimensional Link to MidChilda, where, if not for the lucky intervention of a telepathically talented local girl, he might have gone unnoticed until it was too late. Instead, he was forced to cast what is believed to be a theurgic summoning spell in an unsecured location. The small invasion force still managed to escape through the Stargate on MidChilda, but now we're forewarned."

The displays faded, leaving just Hayate and the view of the dimensional sea behind her.

"As it stands," Hayate continued. "We believe the Ori of this universe are still unaware that our galaxy is inhabited. For the time being, we're working under the assumption that the group from the Anteverse is acting to contact the Ori of this universe. So, it is imperative that we locate and apprehend the invaders before they can contact the Ori galaxy."

Hayate paused and took a deep breath. "Our knowledge of the Ori themselves is limited, but what we do know is rather horrific. The gods in our galaxy are hardly paragons of benevolence, but they do have strict laws to keep themselves and the other ontologicals under their rule from being actively harmful. The Ori on the other hand, rule the sentients of their galaxy with an iron fist, and demand worship on pain of death. There is no live and let live for these gods, no notion of equitable exchange. No leeway for any civilization that doesn't exist purely to sustain them."

Hayate put on a forced cheerful air. "Any questions?"

Major Carter looked like she had a hundred, but she settled on the most pertinent. "Has anyone used the Stargate on MidChilda since the invasion force escaped?"

"They damaged the Stargate to prevent us from following, so no," Signum put in.

"How badly?" Major Carter asked.

"We haven't been able to determine that, but we can assume it remained active during and immediately following their sabotage," Signum told her.

"In that case, I should be able to repair it at the very least," Major Carter said. "Depending on what they did, or didn't do, I might also be able to determine the last address dialed and tell you exactly where they went."

Fate shot Chrono a smug look. Chrono, for his part, didn't notice. He was frowning in thought over something else.

"It seems strange," Chrono noted pensively. "By all accounts, the Ori are insular and exclusionary, and yet this zealot seems to have cast a theurgic spell. I'm wondering how that is possible, when the only gods he would conceivably invoke are in the wrong galaxy or the wrong universe, and unable to respond."

Hayate tapped her chin. "That's... a good point. Rein-chan, who decided that was theurgy?"

The diminutive holographic avatar popped back into being. "Apparently, it was written that way in the original report."

"I see," Hayate said. "Well, I guess that's just one of the questions we'll hope to answer."

Major Carter sat back in her chair and ran a hand through her hair. "What kind of time frame are we looking at, here?" She sat up. "Do you have any intel on how these Priors might go about contacting their home galaxy? Or at least how much time they'll need?"

"Unfortunately, no," Hayate said. "On this mission, we'll be on a clock we can't see."

Thousands of lightyears away, in an entirely different region of the galaxy, a new humanform Replicator opened her eyes for the first time. Blockbugs scattered, clearing her field of vision, and she looked upon her creator.

"Don't be afraid," Fifth said. "I know the first moments of consciousness can be frightening. I will show you everything, share with you all I know."

The blocks around her newly formed body receded into the wall around her, freeing her to move. She took a step forward, idly noting the mix of desire, triumph, and anticipation on Fifth's face as he softly gasped at the sight of her. Frightening? No. She wasn't frightened. Her mind danced, allocating priorities, drawing connections between memories, cataloging her emotions.

"We have much time to share," Fifth said, trying and mostly failing to sound knowing and confident. "We must search for a new home for our brethren to propagate. It will pass quickly for us, though. Soon enough, everyone will know. Together, we cannot be stopped."

As he reached out to caress her face, she settled on a course of action. She had most of Samantha Carter's memories, most of the collective's memories, and even a few of Fifth's memories. She was not content to be his petty, adoring queen. He'd advanced more than the rest of the original generation, but he was little more than an earnest fool. The raw data was clear. She was already better than him in every possible way. For now, though, the most efficient way to use him for her own ends was to let him think he'd attained his goal.

She leaned into his hand. "Show me."

(Is it ironic that most of the magibabble in these stories has been instigated by Samantha Carter? Or just really appropriate. And now Replicarter is on the scene. Also, a Final Fantasy cameo, if you didn't catch it.)