(I could not, for the life of me, come up with a good name for Kyoko's Device. The names for the Devices of all the other PMMM alts just clicked as soon as I started thinking about It Means Flame, but not hers. Nothing I could think up was quite right.)
(I wrote large parts of this chapter while listening to Absolute Configuration. Yuki Kajiura kicks so much ass.)
Reckoning (Part 2)
In the void between stars, a gas giant four times the mass of Jupiter drifted, cold and alone. This was the rallying point the assault fleet had agreed on. Those ships close enough to make it in time to join the assault arrived over the course of an hour, flashing in from hyperspace or surfacing from the dimensional sea.
The first ship to arrive was also the ship that had been assigned overall tactical command of the fleet. The TSAB dimensional cruiser Phedre, under the command of Captain Miya Ascari, had been at the forefront of the opposition since before the Battle of New Aln.
It wasn't long before the first Fae generation ship showed up, dwarfing the Phedre by several orders of magnitude. The agile dimensional cruiser was like a metallic insect facing a curving wall of pearl.
They hailed, "Willem Rin of the Rushing Colors checking in. You must be Captain Ascari and the Phedre."
The Qvothe, the Hawke, and the Nausica from the TSAB arrived next, followed shortly by the Odyssey and the Deadalus emerging from hyperspace. More ships arrived. The Arthra, followed by the Eliezera and the Tender Heart. The dimensional cruisers Mononoke and Morrigan. The generation ships Starswirl and Jubilation. The Leliana and the Howl, followed by the Rare Bell.
Finally, the last ship arrived, and with them a welcome surprise. "Wren Rin of the Appleseed checking in. Sorry we're late, everybody, but we brought friends from the rebel jaffa."
It was only five ha'taks and eight al'kesh, but with their leaders indisposed, it had seemed like the rebel jaffa would be sitting this one out entirely. With the Appleseed, in addition to the jaffa ships, they had a total of nine TSAB dimensional cruisers, seven Fae generation ships, and two USAF battleships.
Miya regarded the array of screens that filled the space in front of her command chair. Eight captains in crisp naval uniforms, or in one case a Barrier Jacket, looked back at her from one row, while a startlingly diverse array of nude Fae women, and one man, who for some reason all had nearly the same face under the wild variety, watched her from the next. The two tau'ri Colonels, and the five jaffa commanders, were drab in contrast, as were the backdrops to their images.
She looked at each in turn, and spoke, "Firstly, thank you for honoring me with this charge. For my fellow naval officers, I hope to live up to your decision, and for our welcome allies, I'll strive to live up to the trust you've placed in us. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Miya Ascari, and it was my ship that made first contact with the Ori four years ago. I have faced them in battle many times, and I have gained much hard-won experience combating the Ori."
Miya allowed herself a small smile as the faces arrayed in front of her remained respectful. On the bridge of her own ship, Matsu turned from her console to give Miya a thumbs-up, and Miya saw Kagari salute out of the corner of her eye. Miya settled herself to go over the assault plan one last time with everyone at once.
"Our attack will take place in three stages," Miya began. "First, we must breach Dakara's orbital defenses. The Phedre, the Hawke, and the Mononoke will approach through the dimensional sea to scout and relay enemy positions to the spearhead..."
Access to the dimensional sea was still their clearest advantage over the Ori. Three sleek dimensional cruisers powered through the eldritch colors of the sea in tight formation, and soon rose to touch realspace at their destination.
While the vast windows were still filled with the endlessly shifting colors, they were close enough to breaking through that their sydar could reach the other side.
"Beginning synced sydar sweep," Matsu reported. "Wait just a sec for threefolding... and we're populating the map."
"How's it look?" Miya asked.
"Twenty three Ori motherships in a loose net directly above the objective," Matsu reported. "Another fourteen in deep orbit."
"Calculate your best approach vector and relay to the Starswirl." Miya turned her attention to the planet itself. "Have they entered the temple?"
Matsu went to work on the sydar readings, and quickly came back with, "Faint energy readings at the base of the structure, but... whoa."
"Matsu," Miya prompted.
"I... I don't know what that is, but something is active inside the base of the structure," Matsu explained, sounding unsettled. "Look at these readings. I don't even know how to describe this!"
"Once we have eyes on the situation, the Starswirl will berth the Arthra and the Nausica and drop out of hyperspace as close to the planet as possible," Miya continued.
"We get the Arthra and Nausica through whatever orbital defenses the Ori have in place and into the atmosphere," Danielle Rin nodded along from the Starswirl.
"The Arthra and the Nausica are our landing party," Miya said. "Our best melee and ground mages will gather on the Nausica, while our nine Fae close-quarters specialists board the Arthra."
A spiraling braided ribbon built of glowing orbs connected by glowing blue threads, so it looked to be made of abstract constellations, swirled out across an area three miles wide. Like ornaments on a tree of every imaginable variety, hundreds of model planets nestled in the highway of stars, ranging from the size of a sofa to the size of a mansion.
Every planet was hollow, a shell of plush pillows with an entrance worked into the outer design. Inside, the exact nature of the cocoon of cushions depended on what the planet's exterior was styled to resemble. Water planets had slick water-filled sacs. Garden worlds mostly had some variation of squishy fronds and silky flower petals. Gas giants had some variety of air-filled balloons made of fluffy or sensuous fabrics. Then there were the less realistic planets, like the disembodied boob, which was a sphere of skin the size of a two-car garage with a porous pink nipple on it. After crawling in through the nipple, the interior was lined with breasts, as one might expect from the theme.
At the very center, where the ribbons of interconnected stars converged, sat a ninety meter sphere, glossy black like something between liquid latex and black jello. Inside, tendon-like strands crisscross and subdivided the space, but the outer membrane was otherwise thin enough to be mostly transparent, and the view was very pretty.
A shallow crevice between two small parallel strands formed something like a sofa, where Joan sat across Danielle's lap with her back against Alex's shoulder and chest. The three of them had opted for luminous white-blue skin and jet black hair filled with glowing dots.
"And they're in," Danielle said, turning to kiss Joan.
"Time for the super sister slayer crisis crossover?" Alex teased.
"Yeah... do you think its gonna be weird?" Joan asked. "I think it might be weird."
"You'll be fine!" Danielle said with aggressive optimism.
Shrugging, Joan drifted up and swung around to kiss Alex and Danielle goodbye, then sprang towards the exit. She slid through the slit and darted away, pulling herself along a ribbon of stars. Joan shot off the path towards a circle of light in the spacescaped wall and zipped down the soft white tunnel.
Joan quickly reached the hangar Danielle had grown to accommodate the Arthra and the Nausica. A crowd of mages in colorful and elaborate outfits floated around between the two Childan ships.
And there were the nude forms of her sisters and one brother over by the Arthra. Joan darted over to them, only to find Beth, Anne, Wynter, and Buffy had beaten her to the punch being confused at Blake.
"Okay, this I gotta hear," Joan announced, bumping up against Anne because she didn't want to clash color-wise with Wynter. "Is he still a slayer? Are you still a slayer?"
Blake rolled his eyes. "Yep and yeah, I'm still one-hundred percent slayeriffic."
"You said it itches, though," Beth, who'd gone in for bubblegum-pink hair, said.
"Like, it itches in my brain," Blake said. "It's a brain itch. But I can do the ignoring it thing for a while. Trust me, making a Xandra sandwich with Willem like this is totally of the fun. I'm gonna change back, just... not yet."
"So..." Elyse, who'd gone for the garden nymph look, drawled. "Cuddlepile?"
Buffy snickered. "I bet Hayate'd let us borrow her officer suite if we let her join in."
Joan gave Buffy a skeptical look, and was not alone it doing so. Buffy rolled her eyes and started catching her siblings up on the gossip.
Madoka wafted over to the Nausica with Homura by her side. They'd talked it over and agreed that without foreknowledge, they'd be less effective in space than planetside. Signum and Vita were coming with them, but the Ace trio had gone with the second wave. Nanoha and Fate were each worth more than a whole squadron of F-302s or deathgliders, and Hayate could personally compete with the arc-en-ciels for raw destructive power.
Homura nudged her. Madoka looked, and saw a very familiar head of blue hair trailed by a flowing white cape.
"Sayaka?!" Madoka exclaimed. "Sayaka!"
The blunette head twisted around, followed by the rest of the girl, and her jaw dropped. "Madoka? What are you - what am I saying of course you're here."
Madoka flew over and hugged her friend. "Sayaka! It's been ages! I have no idea what you've been up to. How's... everything?"
"And who's fault is that?" Sayaka asked playfully. "You ran off with your new love to save the galaxy and forgot all about me!"
Despite the playful tone, Madoka had enough contact from the hug to feel that Sayaka kind of meant that for real, a little bit. Madoka chuckled sheepishly. "I guess I did kind of run off, but I didn't forget you! I'd never do that, Sayaka."
"Oy! Miki!" another young woman in a red Barrier Jacket shouted. "What's the holdup?"
Sayaka broke the hug to make a face at the other girl. "Be nice! Madoka and I go way back, y'know?"
Madoka studied the newcomer, tilting her head thoughtfully. She was familiar somehow, where had... "Oh!" Madoka exclaimed, then blushed a little as everyone looked at her. "Um, I remember you. You were there, in Mitakihara that day..."
"Right, right, poor Mami. I've heard of you! Kyoko Sakura," she introduced herself. "The gals call me Sarge."
"It's nice to meet you," Madoka said politely, slipping a hand into Homura's. "Did Sayaka mention Homura?"
Kyoko snorted. "Once or twice, if you know what I mean."
Sayaka flushed and looked like she wanted to punch Kyoko in the back of the head. "So anyway! How 'bout these Ori, eh?"
"We don't know how well our ships will stand up to direct hits from the Ori beam weapons," Danielle warned. "The possible results range from tasty snack to big ragged hole, so we're going to minimize how much time they have to shoot at us."
"Which is why the Starswirl in particular is going in first," Juniper added, from the Tender Heart. "Of our ships, they have the smallest population."
"Yes," Miya said. "So the Starswirl tanks a token shot or two, drops off the landing party, and jumps back to hyperspace before they hit the atmosphere."
Miya resisted the urge to wince and scowl at Matsu. She'd actually used 'tank' as a verb in a formal briefing! She and Matsu were clearly getting too familiar with each other, if the younger woman was rubbing off on her this much.
Held secure in Alex's arms, Danielle let awareness of the Starswirl fill her mind. The hyperspace corridor terminated and they were suddenly right in front of a planet. They were decidedly not in orbit, and a rippling groan passed through the Starswirl due to tidal tension as it began to fall - the distance between the front of the Starswirl and the atmosphere of Dakara was less than the length of the ship at that altitude.
Danielle had a moment to get her bearings, and then her mind was dancing. Golden beams of high energy exotic particles lanced out of Ori motherships from every lateral direction. Danielle didn't dare get anywhere near stardrive thrust this close to a habitable planet, but she could counter the incoming blasts at their own level.
Thin streams of noble gas fountained off the Starswirl's pearly hull, slamming into the much slower golden beams. Space lit up with bursts of thermonuclear fire as the massive kinetic energies forced fusion in the colliding streams.
Danielle flinched as an Ori beam got through and speared into the Starswirl's flank. The hull managed to absorb most of the energy, but the golden beam still managed to rend the pearly membrane.
"Dangit! I'm not fast enough," Danielle muttered. "I think those beams are magically coherent, too, so the energy isn't - oh crap!"
Danielle jolted and scrambled to reinforce the damaged area - it was trying to heal, but the entire ship was under tension from being this close to a gravity well. The small round crater stretched and tore, becoming a faultline kilometers long before the protoscape had absorbed the damaged parts and grown enough of a reinforcing substructure.
The Starswirl took another hit while Danielle was distracted, then another and another, blowing craters in the ship big enough to drop an ocean liner inside and slagging tons upon tons of protoscape into uselessness.
"Grrr," Danielle strained to keep up, then, with a shudder, the front of the Starswirl plunged into Dakara's atmosphere. "Landing parties, launch now!"
Alex tensed against her back. "The Arthra's tunnel is caved in!"
As the Nausica passed through an undamaged section of hull and streaked towards the surface, the Arthra screamed to a halt. Danielle mentally glanced at the problem in between her now-frantic point-defense blasts. New tunnel or absorb and repair the damage? Both, duh! She didn't have time to figure out which would take longer.
"Arthra, if you or someone you've got can blast your way out, do it!" Alex ordered, coming up with his own solution.
"Negative, Starswirl," Chrono replied. "Our arc-en-ceil is not charged."
"How long if you backtracked to the Nausica's tunnel?" Danielle asked.
The surface of Dakara was getting alarmingly close, and most of the Ori motherships were behind them now. Danielle abandoned point-defense and focused on the collapsed tunnel. The new tunnel was forming too slowly, and the healthy protoscape had to go through a three-step process to get rid of the damaged part. Severing the damaged area with chemical explosives would be fast enough, but it'd leave a mountain-sized chunk to hit the planet, and that was not the plan.
"Minutes, without a straight-away," Chrono replied, sounding frustrated.
Danielle checked the progress of the tunnel against the approaching planet. Just barely. Just barely! They could make it!
Buffy waited with her sisters in the Arthra's launch bay for another tense minute. Finally, a new tunnel opened up in front of the Arthra, and Joan's Willow-a-like gave the command.
"Arthra, you're clear! Go very fast right now please!" Danielle's voice sounded.
Chrono didn't waste any time. The Arthra shot forward down the soft white tunnel. The floor lurched with sudden deceleration as the hull rippled around the Arthra, and then they were in open air, with the ground rushing up at them.
Buffy readied herself. It was time to show these Ori guys what seven of her could do.
Chrono's voice sounded through the ship. "All hands brace for impact!"
Impact? What - something smashed the Arthra hard enough to send Buffy and her sisters hurling into the walls of the launch bay hard enough to leave dents. The lights flickered as the metal walls tumbled around them, slamming Buffy around like a pinball.
Everything went blindingly bright and bizarrely colorful as deafening noise swept Buffy into the sky.
By the time Buffy flipped around into a stable skydiving pose, the Arthra was so much falling wreckage, and... holy fuck. There was an empty space in the air... a space actually empty of air slowly shrinking as she watched. A hole in the atmosphere so big that she could actually see the difference between vacuum and air plain as day.
Hey, sister-types? Buffy sent, deadpan. I think we just discovered a flaw in the plan.
Somebody's getting smacked for not thinking of this, Elyse agreed.
The wind carried Buffy and her sisters along as air rushed to fill the empty space. And as the void shrank, it began to spin. As the familiar funnel shape slowly formed, Buffy blanched.
It was a tornado. It was the mother of all tornadoes. It was what the mother of all tornadoes wanted to be after reaching a transtornado state! And the eye of the storm was forming directly above the ancient temple. Buffy squinted, and... was that the Nausica? What was it doing...?
We have to make it into the eye! Wynter exclaimed.
We can't let the wind throw us clear or we won't be able to reach the battle! Beth finished the thought.
Buffy grumbled to herself about having gotten that in a second even as she arrowed her body towards the forming vortex. She spread her Utility Cloud, trying to catch more air in an electrostatic net, but she started losing volume to the wind almost faster than her body could replace the Utility Cloud particles. She still managed to catch almost as much air as a skydiver's wingsuit.
It wasn't going to be enough.
Link up! Buffy ordered. I think we'll get through better in one clump!
Buffy banked and caught up with Elyse, clasping arms. Anne drifted up and grabbed on, followed by Blake. Wynter linked up with Beth and Joan, and the three of them slammed into the larger cluster, spinning them around before they formed a stable formation.
Together, seven nude slayers hurtled into the roaring vortex.
Miya composed herself and continued to outline the plan. "Once the landing party is on the ground. The Odyssey, Daedalus, and the first three ha'taks should be coming out of hyperspace. They'll launch fighters, which we will supplement with our Air Mages."
"Our spaceworthy mages will be on stanby on the Mononoke, the Hawke, the Qvothe, and the Leliana," Captain Ginneta said, from the Mononoke.
"We'll form a counter-screen and engage the Ori ship to ship," Captain Triking continued, from the Qvothe.
"Saints! We just lost the Arthra!"
Fate gasped softly, and Nanoha looked at her in dismay. Fate's brother, and the ship that was a huge part of both of their childhoods, destroyed. Nanoha gripped Fate's hand and squeezed.
"Chrono's paranoid," Nanoha murmured. "I'd bet my left ear he was wearing his Barrier Jacket at full defensive strength. Even if he is hurt, there will be enough of him left to save."
Fate swallowed heavily and nodded once, her face hardening. Nanoha smiled and squeezed Fate's hand again.
"Space fighter team, standby," came the voice of Captain Ginetta. "You are clear to engage the enemy."
The bay doors slid open and air rushed out into space. Nanoha held herself in place against the decompression with a minor effort of will and narrowed her eyes as Raising Heart networked tactical data and started highlighting targets. Teardrop-shaped Ori fighters filled her field of view as the friendly F-302s and deathgliders flew in from the sides.
Half a dozen other mages let themselves be blown out into space while Nanoha and Fate stood at the edge of the bay.
EXELION MODE, LIMIT BREAK, Raising Heart announced, and Nanoha hardened her heart. There was no such thing as non-lethal force in a space battle where one side didn't have an overwhelming advantage. It did make her feel better that most of the enemy pilots could probably be retrieved and revived as Fae, if that seemed like a good idea after everything was over. FLASH FIN.
GLAIVE FORM, LIMITER NULL, Bardiche declared, reconfiguring in Fate's hand. SONIC DRIVE.
Metal buckled under her feet as Fate erupted out of the bay, cutting a line of yellow through the battlesphere. An Ori fighter exploded as Fate cut it in half on her way passed.
An Ori mothership swung its main weapon towards the Mononoke, and Nanoha launched herself into space. Golden plasma gathered and blasted out. Nanoha met it head-on, grinning fiercely as she swung Raising Heart forward.
DIVINE BUSTER.
A beam of pink magical force met golden and shredded it, punching straight down the center of the Ori beam, bypassing the mothership's shields entirely. The spell sliced into the projector dish and detonated the magitech focusing arrays. Thank you, Homura, for discovering that trick at the supergate.
The Ori mothership buckled and exploded. Nanoha thrust out her hand, and a pink Circle the size of a city block unfurled in front of her. Debris crashed into unyielding magic and stopped cold. Nanoha dismissed the Circle and flew through the wreckage to catch up with Fate.
Fate darted among the dueling fightercraft, firing off shooting spells or throwing arcs of magical lightning. She danced through the battle like death herself. cutting enemy ships to pieces with a lightning sword bigger than she was, evading every shot fired at her and retaliating with her spells. Small swarms of glowing yellow dots danced with her, punching holes in the enemy fighters and detonating. Saints and kami, she was beautiful.
Saving the surge of desire for later, Nanoha flew in front of an F-302 and blocked a barrage of blue plasma bolts with fast, precise barrier fields. She sighted on the scattering teardrop-shaped fighters as containment rings spun into existence.
CROSSFIRE ACCEL, Raising Heart intoned.
Six thick streams shot towards the Ori formation, targeting each individually and impaling them like glowing pink combat tentacles of doom. Nanoha made a satsified noise as four more fighters exploded.
Fate spun, reacting to another squadron from the planetary north,
PHOTON LANCER PHALANX SHIFT, Bardiche announced.
Orbs of yellow light sparked to life all around Fate, as countless as the stars themselves. It rained lightning on the Ori fighter squadron.
Off in the distance, Nanoha spotted Hayate's distinctive Ragnarok spell overwhelming an Ori mothership's shields with brute force.
"Meanwhile, our ground forces launch an all-out assault on the Ori defensive positions around the temple," Captain Lotus said with a nod, from the Nausica.
"It is critical that the Fae detachment weathers as much mundane weapons fire as they can, leaving the mages to pit their full strength against the Priors," Miya continued.
Homura huddled under Madoka's shield with the rest of their group. Finally, the winds calmed, but looking out, Homura saw a wall of wind surrounding them. They were in the eye of a vortex big enough to fit twenty dimensional cruisers end to end. Madoka dispelled her shield and slumped to catch her breath.
The luckier Ori soldiers likewise emerged from clusters all over the temple grounds as Priors dismissed their glimmering telekinetic shells. Homura stood guard while Madoka gathered herself, but many of the enemy soldiers were busy gawking at the tornado that had formed around the temple.
"No Fae," Sayaka said, gulping. "The Arthra... did they make it?"
Madoka straightened up. "Found Chrono... he says the Arthra's gone, and he's too injured to fight."
Kyoko punched a rock. "Damn."
Signum raised Laevatein as the closest Prior turned to stare at them. "For these stakes, we fight, even with our force reduced."
"Yes!" cheered one of the girls from the Nausica, named Musubi, as she brandished Bear Knuckle, her Device. "We'll fight until we're beaten and bloody and broken!"
"Heh, what she said," Kyoko said wryly.
Sayaka chuckled nervously and flourished Shining Edge. One cluster of Ori soldiers was leveling their staves at the group for a volley.
"She's right," Madoka said with a little smile. "It doesn't matter how bad our chances are. We're all there is."
"Yup," Sayaka deadpanned. "So hey! Did I tell you guys it turns out I have an affinity? You should see the awesome moves I can pull off in the rain. I can totally walk on water, too."
"Oh, that's great, Sayaka!" Madoka praised.
"...but not relevantly useful," Homura added.
Vita snickered.
Homura tensed, as nearly a hundred blasting staves lined up to aim at them. Then, they fired.
Signum exploded into motion, flame igniting in the wake of Laevatein's blade as she streaked along the earthen stone. Kyoko slid forward and planted the butt of her spear-shaped Device. A blazing red Circle snapped into place.
ECHO CHAIN, her Device declared.
A dense weave of diamonds of red light laced together and took the volley of staff blasts. A pink Circle unfolded under Madoka's feet as she pointed Galvan Soul at the spreading cluster of Ori soldiers.
CELESTIAL BARRAGE, Galvan Soul announced, as the Echo Chain faded.
A twisting helix of pink light blasted out, tracing a line from Madoka to the Prior, who raised his glowing staff to block. Madoka's bombardment spell met the Prior's telekinetic shield and fractured, but while the Prior was distracted, Signum swooped in low to the ground and slashed. The fiery blade cut through the Prior's spine.
Two charred halves of the Prior crumpled to the ground. Signum set her feet and launched into the air.
ENHANCERFORM, Galvan Soul declared, reshaping into a quarterstaff as Madoka flew off in the same direction.
Vita raised her hammer and blasted off, flying at Madoka's side.
Homura left cover, running with a steady stride. SLIDER DRIVE. Everything was stillness and grey as she closed on the platoon of Ori soldiers. Color and movement returned as Homura reached the men who were only just aiming at where she'd emerged.
Surprised cries greeted her as a leg sweep took down the first soldier. Homura grabbed his staff and used it to parry a second. She jumped over a blue plasma blast and brought Skjoldur down on the offending weapon, snapping it in half.
SLIDER DRIVE, Skjoldur droned.
Stillness and grey. Homura leaped lightly out of the crowd, using their heads as stepping stones. She hopped down outside their broken formation and leveled her stolen blasting staff. Homura dashed around the Ori platoon, firing the staff into the mass of bodies as rapidly as it could handle while she circled them. Bolt after bolt of blue plasma accumulated in a growing ring around the reeling soldiers, until the plasma was a solid mass.
Homura pushed the blasting staff into Skjoldur's sealing dimension and walked away as time resumed and thousands of plasma bolts obliterated the Ori platoon behind her.
Madoka dueled with a Prior, staff clashing with staff, telekinetic and other magical forces rending the stone in a stadium-sized area around them and blowing away several soldiers who dared to get within aiming range and hadn't been Vita'd yet. Signum crossed her blade with another Prior's staff, exchanging a quick flurry of strikes and blocks before a telekinetic blast nearly threw her all the way to the wall of wind.
Sayaka, Kyoko, and Musubi tag-teamed a third platoon. Sayaka waded into the soldiers while Musubi went berserker on the Prior's defenses and Kyoko came in behind the Prior and took his head off with her spear.
SCHLANGEFORM, came Laevatein, extending into a long segmented chain whip in Signum's hand.
Kyoko leaped towards Signum, her own Device declaring, SERPENT CHAIN.
Two mages with roughly the same trick came at the Prior from two sides, forming a meatgrinder of writhing blades. Every time he blasted away the encroaching chains in one direction, they'd get closer in another. Finally a blade pierced through, and with his concentration shattered, the chains tore him to bloody chunks in less than a second.
Madoka finally knocked her oppenent's staff out of his grip. She darted into the opening, got close, and ripped into the Prior's mind. He twitched in her grip and went still.
They solved the puzzle on the temple door, Madoka reported. But the mechanism is stuck, and the whole structure is... magically null? Somehow?
White rays of light suddenly shown down on Madoka, Vita, Kyoko, and Sayaka, and the ground around them blackened and crumbled. They'd killed four Priors in less than a minute, but there were over a dozen Priors on the temple grounds and by now they'd realized they'd need to do more than watch and pontificate on the blasphemers' demise.
Madoka cried out and covered her face with her arms. Sayaka shoved Kyoko out of the light and leaped after, screaming in pain as her Barrier Jacket failed -
Homura lunged forward. SLIDER DRIVE.
Homura dashed up to Madoka and pulled her into the spell. Madoka gasped in pain and fell into Homura's arms, shivering. Homura swept her off her feet and carried her out of the destructive light.
"Ow... thank you, Homura," Madoka said, managing a smile.
"Always," Homura murmured tenderly.
Madoka's gaze drifted over Homura's shoulder, and Madoka's head tilted as she blinked several times. "Huh. Is... that Buffy?"
Homura peered upwards. It was. The nude blonde was paused a moderate distance above the head of the Prior who was casting the light of decay, poised for an epic dropkick.
"Ah, well it looks like it would've been okay," Madoka said. "Still... you should probably grab Vita too, just in case."
Homura nodded, shifting Madoka to one arm as she walked over and grabbed Vita's collar.
" - ucking shioo...oh, 'kay," Vita trailed off. "Hey."
Homura walked Vita out of the area of effect, let go of her, and turned to where Sayaka was paused in mid-leap. Madoka made a distressed noise as they got closer. Sayaka didn't have legs so much as leg-shaped clouds of ash that hadn't separated from her bleeding stumps yet.
"Can you bring her in long enough to keep her from bleeding out?" Madoka asked.
Homura considered. "I think so, I can't hold three much longer than that, though."
Madoka looked around. "Over there. We can take cover there. I'll heal her in real time."
Homura nodded, dashed over, and set Madoka down behind the stone block. Madoka went still and grey while Homura jogged back to Sayaka and got a good grip on the blunette.
" - eaaaaaagh!" Sayaka screamed in pain. "Aaaaag! Ah fuck my legs! My legs! Fuaaaaah!"
Homura dragged Sayaka over to Madoka as efficiently as she could and dropped her at Madoka's feet. Homura looked around in ensuing silence. Her eyes scanned the battlefield, taking in each detail carefully.
There, that Prior was looking in a direction that might let him see the blonde Fae. Homura sprang towards the Prior, bounding across the temple grounds. The stargate made a convenient stepping stone to leap up into that Prior's line of sight.
Homura landed on a Circle and pulled her stolen blasting staff out of Skjoldur. She aimed at the Prior and fired, filling the air with a cluster of blue plasma bolts. Once she had a suitable screen, Homura dismissed the Circle, dropped back to the ground, and ducked behind the stargate.
Motion and color.
A towering explosion engulfed the unfortunately observant Prior, and Buffy smashed into the Prior of decay's head at terminal velocity. The destructive light winked out as Buffy's heels crushed the Prior's head against the ground, spraying blood and brain bits all over the surrounding Ori troop.
Another naked body struck the ground like a meteor, beside the stargate. A female figure with icy blue skin came rocketing out of the resulting dust cloud and dashed towards the next Ori platoon.
The rest of the Fae detachment rained down around the temple grounds, and leaping into the fight. With breathtaking speed and grace, a variety of nude beauties dove into the Ori formations, and a moment later armored bodies were flying everywhere.
The Nausica made it back into air support range as well, and fired down into the Ori formations.
"Fuck yes!" Kyoko shouted. "It's about time you got here!"
Homura turned to the temple entrance, a wall covered in Alteran script and guarded by only a token force with a single Prior. SLIDER DRIVE.
"The Ori will probably have reinforcements patrolling the wider system," Rosie said, from the Jubilation. "The remaining ha'taks and the Morrigan and Howl will accompany one of the Jubilation, the Appleseed, the Rare Bell, or the Eliezera to hunt down these patrols."
"The Rushing Colors and the Tender Heart will hang back in reserve, since we've got the biggest populations by far," Willem said, from the Rushing Colors.
Nods of agreement.
"Once the ground force gains access to the temple, they are to evaluate if the precursor weapon can be safely destroyed, in the event that we fail to hold the planet," Miya continued. "If at all possible, we want the artifact captured for study, but depending on the specific nature of the weapon, we may not be able to afford any risk of it being retaken."
The last Prior fell to Signum's blade, and the lot of them gathered at the puzzle wall. Behind them, the stargate fell in the shadow of the Nausica as it settled to the ground, and opened to admit Kyoko carrying the maimed Sayaka. A wall of sideways sliding wind filled the sky beyond.
"Can you read that?" one of the Fae asked.
"Yes!" Madoka said. "Our Devices are translating. Let's see..."
Homura frowned. It was some kind of rambling semi-poetic parable. There were circles cut in around the words at various places, and Homura peered at the circled portions of text to see if there was something about those passages that would provide a clue.
Madoka approached the stone edifice, reading it carefully. Suddenly, it rumbled. Madoka recoiled with an eep.
"What'd you do?" Vita demanded.
Madoka shook her head. "I don't know, its..."
The whole temple seemed to rumble under their feet. Homura glanced up and pointed. Seams were appearing in the peak of the temple's structure.
"Signum!" Vita suddenly cried.
Homura spun around and icy fear gripped her chest. The grounds between them and the stargate were packed with grey metal creatures. Small skittering bugs, big lumbering beetles, and floating stingers with four wing-like limbs glowing blue. Through the mass of Replicators, the stargate was dialing.
With a kawoosh, the stargate opened and -
...times many and one, together and apart, fractured flow, conflicting phase space...
- Homura staggered, falling to her knees. Madoka's arms caught her as she blinked the dizziness away. What? What was that?
"Look above," Signum said sharply.
Homura lurched back to her feet. The top of the temple had split open in four parts, revealing some kind of mechanism hidden within, streamers and arcs of energy coursed around a brightening sphere, and there in the center of it... somber charcoal grey clothing, blonde hair, a woman, levitating amidst the roiling energy.
Homura slowly looked between the army of metal creatures and the woman.
"What the hells? No seriously what the hells?" Vita exclaimed. "Who's she supposed to be?"
Madoka stared in determination then flinched away. "I can't touch her mind."
"It wouldn't surprise me if the metal creatures attack as soon as we make an aggressive move towards her," Homura mused.
"This is the weapon we came for," Signum said, shifting into a stance. "It doesn't matter who she is. We stop her from setting it off."
Homura kind of thought she looked like Major Carter. Homura estimated the distances, and the size of her companions, checked with Skjoldur, and tossed her hair back.
"I can take three of you," Homura said. "Any more and I won't be able to maintain Slider Drive long enough to matter."
The air suddenly filled with clacking sounds and the hum of electrical charge. Eyes widening, Signum threw out a Triangle just in time to block a volley of electrical bolts.
"Um, I think they can hear us!" Madoka exclaimed, as Galvan Soul went, ARCHERFORM.
WARP SPLINTER, Skjoldur droned.
Homura threw several shards of purple light at a stinger's wing, while Madoka launched pink bolts and Vita leaped forward, swinging her hammer in a wide cleave. The blondes and the blue ones sprang into the onrushing mass, while two more Fae threw a third at another of the flying stingers.
"Madoka and two Fae!" Signum suggested.
"Elyse and Anne! Go!" The two Fae in question dashed towards Homura.
Homura leaped back as an electrical bolt blew stone chips into the air. SLIDER DRIVE.
Stillness and grey. Homura grabbed the two Fae first. Elyse had skin that was chlorophyl green, darkening towards her extremities and lightening towards her torso. Her hair, lips, nipples and folds were sakura-blossom pink with faint floral patterns radiating out from each in shades of pastel sunlight yellow that matched her eyes. Anne's skin was gold, and her hair and eyes were black, with braids running down her back.
"Hang on to my shoulders," Homura told them both as she grabbed Madoka. "Hurry, please."
Madoka nodded quickly and levitated all four of them. Homura grimaced and forced her spell to remain. The amount of effort it took to maintain Slider Drive went up exponentially with the volume she had to affect, and four petite girls was only just within her limits.
They reached the peak, and Madoka formed a Circle for them to stand on. Homura glanced up, and blinked. It really did look like Major Carter. Her paused eyes were alive with triumph as blinding streamers of energy coursed through her chest.
Madoka took an archer's stance and raised Galvan Soul. A containment ring drew itself out. Homura trembled and had to drop the two Fae out of Slider Drive. She sighed in relief.
PSION FINALE, Galvan Soul declared.
The pink blast slowed and lost its color as it left Madoka's bow. Homura braced herself and pulled the Fae back in.
"If you don't have a better idea, just throw us in there and we'll start breaking stuff," Anne suggested.
Homura glanced at Madoka, who shook her head. Madoka telekinetically propelled each of them out after her bombardment spell. Homura prepared to either catch the unconscious probably-not-Carter or to pull Madoka out of the way of a retaliatory attack.
Motion and color. The torrent of glowing pink force reached the crackling cloud of energy, and vanished. It wasn't deflected, or blocked, or absorbed. It simply ceased to exist.
Homura gasped. "W-what?!"
Eylse and Anne sailed into the area, and seemed to continue to exist without problems. Eylse grabbed a girder and swung down into the mechanism while Anne kicked off shot towards not-Carter.
The woman growled through clenched teach, and both of her arms melted into silvery whips. One caught Eylse's ankle while the other swung and slammed into Anne hard enough to rip an unprotected human in half. She hurled Eylse back up into Anne's path, but Anne twisted and broke free of the coiling tendril, severing it with a sharp hand strike.
Elyse caught the severed limp and rode it back towards its owner. A fist lashed forward and not-Carter's head burst like a melon, spraying silvery goo.
"This looks important," Anne commented as she landed on a glowing component. She dug her hands in and tore.
More improvised limbs snatched Anne away and hurled her out into open air before she got more than one hit in. She suddenly changed directions in mid-flight, snapping towards a girder like a magnet, but it gave not-Carter enough time to reform and spot what Anne was doing.
The Replicator's eyes widened in complete horror.
Replicarter's plan was actually quite simple, if absurdly grand in scale. She was baiting a trap. She'd gleaned more than just the Seed of Wonder's location from Daniel's mind. It was a trap on several layers, with several ways it could succeed, some more preferable than others.
It was a trap for gods, and either way it would end in deicide.
And yet, despite all her precautions, despite how heavily she'd stacked the deck, she hadn't been prepared for what happened. While she was channeling the reorigination wave through the Seed of Wonder, she had only her physical abilities to defend herself with, and once she began, the entire process was unstable.
She intended a precisely targeted strike. With a Fae wreaking havoc in the mechanisms, the delicate balance of energies unbalanced.
Replicarter had just long enough to stare in horror, and cry out, "No you fools!"
The metal woman exploded violently, and Madoka reeled, raising a second Circle as a shield. Nothing hit it.
The explosion was remarkably contained. A brilliant blood-red sun that somehow remained contained within the glowing nimbus that was rapidly bleeding to the same color. Suddenly, it all shrank to a tiny point, and for a heartbeat all was silent.
The red blast wave burst outwards, and where it passed rock, stone, metal, everything disintegrated, leaving nothing in its wake but dust. Elyse and Anne's eyes both suddenly burned white-hot for a bare instant, before their lifeless bodies were erased.
SLIDER DRIVE.
Stillness and grey and Homura's arms around her. Madoka let out a shocked gasp and fell to her knees on her glowing pink Circle. She couldn't tear her eyes from the wave of destruction, and oh saints she couldn't breathe!
"Oh saints... oh saints... this is our fault," Madoka choked out.
But before Madoka could panic completely, Homura was there. She pulled Madoka into a hard, rough kiss, and like it so often did, the purity of Homura's love bled through to Madoka and grounded her.
Madoka ducked her head against Homura's chest and clung to her. Homura was trembling, trembling with the horror of failure, because there had to be some way, some way to...
"Homura," Madoka murmured, lifting her hand to Homura's face.
Homura stilled.
Madoka shifted back up onto her knees and looked Homura in the eyes. "It's not over. It's not going to end like this. We're not going to let it, okay?"
Homura rested her forehead against Madoka's. "How?"
Madoka pulled herself together. She had to think straight about this, had to get it right, so to start with, she went over what she knew.
"You got dizzy when the stargate opened," Madoka said slowly, firmly taking Homura's hand as she stood and looked down at the glowing portal. "We're within an hour of when your precog failed, and you got dizzy when the stargate opened. Come on!"
Hand in hand, Madoka leaped from her Circle. It went grey and still behind her as she flew down in front of the stargate. Homura landed lightly beside her, keeping a tight hold.
"Galvan Soul!" Madoka prompted.
AREA SEARCH, the Device declared.
A pink orb formed on Madoka's fingertip and shot towards the event horizon, going still less than an inch from the shimmery blue surface.
"What are you looking for?" Homura asked, glancing back at the paused disintegration wave. "Even if you're right..."
"Homura, think about it!" Madoka exclaimed. "How would a stargate activating break precognition? I just need a quarter of a second to see!"
"...alright," Homura agreed, figuratively glowing with faith in Madoka. "Get ready."
Color and roaring destruction resumed for the blink of an eye... and the search spell shot into the stargate. Stillness and grey, and Madoka recoiled with a cry, clutching her head.
"Madoka!" Homura exclaimed in worry.
Madoka rode out the information overload and steadied, and when she turned to Homura she was smiling brilliantly. "I'm okay."
The red wave of energy had advanced. There was only just enough room to stand comfortably between it and the stargate, but that was okay. Madoka had hope.
"What was it?" Homura asked. "Where does the gate go?"
"Everywhere," Madoka replied a bit breathlessly. "I think... that's how the terraformer was meant to work. The energy wave goes through the stargate, and gets duplicated across every stargate in the galaxy."
Homura made a small distressed noise. "That's... we've as good as doomed an entire reality."
Madoka shook her head fiercely. "No! This is a terrible disaster, but I refuse to let everybody die!"
Homura was definitely getting scared for her now. "Madoka, what are you going to do?"
Madoka hugged her tightly. "There's something I've been saving. I'm not even sure it'll work the way I think it will, but meeting the Fae... it got me thinking. Nothing is truly unrecoverable so long as the important information exists somewhere, in some form."
"You're talking about Spirit Clone," Homura breathed in realization, and her heart swelled with admiration. "A reverse Spirit Clone?"
"I've never gone that deep in someone else's mind," Madoka said. "I've always been scared to try, but if I take everything, all at once..."
"...then what?" Homura asked softly. "How many could you save that way?"
Madoka pulled back and gave Homura a gentle kiss. "Enough... if I go through the stargate."
"But... you'll be torn apart..."
Madoka took another step back, and a nimbus of pink light wrapped around her body, an aura of pure magical power. "The wave is meant to go through the stargate. If you stand directly behind the puddle, I think you'll be protected."
"Then you can be protected the same way!" Homura's voice broke as tears filled her eyes. "Let the world burn, so long as you're safe!"
Madoka smiled sadly. There was nothing she could say to that, that both of them didn't already know, so she just kissed Homura again instead.
"I love you, Homura," Madoka said. "I promise. We'll find our way back to each other, because neither of us will ever give up."
"Never," Homura agreed with a sob.
Madoka took a deep breath. "Galvan Soul Omnia! Clear all data that isn't the Spirit Clone template, remove all nonessential software, repurpose all conjuration nodes to psionic storage space!"
STANDBY... READY. SET.
Madoka turned to face the stargate.
OMNIFORM.
Madoka's Barrier Jacket shifted. There was no weaponry, no life-support fields or physical boosts, and no ruffles. Just an elegant, flowing white gown.
"I have the power to save them," Madoka declared. "Whatever it takes, I'll save everyone!"
Madoka launched herself forward, tearing her hand from Homura's as she plunged into the rippling blue event horizon of the stargate.
(Well... that was a thing than happened. You can be assured that this will be the last cliffhanger in this story... because there's only one more chapter to go! I anticipate finishing this out sometime this month, baring unexpected developments.)
(Sekirei is a thing that belongs to people who are not me.)
(References! Shout outs! Alts! Oh my. Miya and the other recognizable names were indeed alts of the Sekirei, and if you get the reference the name of Miya's dimensional cruiser could not be more ironic. I bet you can guess what the names of all the ships are from... because yeah, I totally named the Fae ships after ponies.)