4. Strangers in a Strange Land
In orbit, the operation was rapidly going from bad to worse. First, one of Hayate's best officers and oldest friends had come back from the surface a shellshocked, paralytic wreck. Now, the safe haven around the planet had turned out not to be as safe as they had expected. The storms had closed in from nowhere, tearing into the Eventide with savage gusto.
"Dimensional keel at full capacity! Hull integrity under threat!" screamed one of the bridge crew over the ship's tortured groaning. "Estimated five minutes until a full breach!"
"No choice," Hayate sighed. "We're going to have to drop into realspace. Transport, can you retrieve Nanoha and Vita?"
"Negative, ma'am. The chamber's still recharging. We didn't know we'd have to use it again so soon, you-"
"Stow it," she growled. "Comms, can you at least send them a message? Tell them we'll be back as soon as the storm dies down."
"Aye-aye, ma'am." The communications officer sounded like he was on the verge of panic.
Hayate stood up and attempted to generate an aura of calm authority. "Helm, initiate the jump. All crew, brace for realspace transit."
Across the ship, all non-essential personnel leapt from their stations and secured themselves to the nearest solid object. The gentle hum of the engines rose to a piercing whine, and an enormous, wrenching lurch reverberated through the hull.
"Transition complete," Engineering reported. "Restoring power to primary systems. Wait, what the-"
The hull shuddered again, and warning lights blinked across the command desk.
"Report!" Hayate snarled.
"Energy weapon impact," Sensors said, disbelief creeping into his tone. "Glancing hit. Minor damage to the starboard hull. It... it went through our wards like they weren't even there!"
If it isn't one thing... "Engineering, do we have motive power?"
"A-affirmative, ma'am."
"Commence evasive manoeuvres," she ordered. "Sensors, can you please find out what is going on out there?"
The sensors officer looked up from his station, his face pale. "Well, ma'am... it looks like we jumped into the middle of a warzone."
Images started to appear on the main viewer, and an overall picture gradually emerged. On one side were eight enormous ships shaped like hollow, flattened teardrops with glowing hoop-like structures in their centres. Four of them were engaging their enemy, while the other four were taking up formation several thousand kilometres away. It was into the firing lanes of the first group that the Eventide had inadvertently jumped. On the other were a rag-tag flotilla of smaller ships of several different shapes and sizes, ranging from bulky, functional dreadnoughts to oddly angular saucer-shaped vessels with pyramid-like structures at their hubs, assaulting the hoop-ships with suicidal courage. The system's star had apparently collapsed recently, and near it was a blue-glowing ring-shaped structure several hundred metres across with the wreckage of several hoop-ships scattered around it.
"Helm, keep us out of this mess until the dimensional storms die down," Hayate ordered. "This isn't our fight."
"Aye-aye, ma'am. Entering low-visibility mode."
The Eventide cut its emissions, drifting in space as harmlessly as a passing asteroid. Satisfied that nobody still wanted to shoot at them, Hayate contacted the infirmary.
"Shamal, how's Fate doing?"
"She's calmed down a little, and I prescribed her some sedatives," the fourth Wolkenritter responded, her motherly voice etched with worry. "It looks like she suffered a nasty shock down there – she was saying something about her mother, of all people."
"I... see. Thank you, Shamal. Could you inform me when she wakes up, please?"
"Of course."
It was then that the four rearmost hoop-ships did something very strange indeed. Crackling beams of light emerged from their centres, intersected with each other, and formed a colossal ring fourteen thousand kilometres across.
"Colonel, according to these readings, those ships are generating some sort of dimensional disturbance," Sensors reported. "Magnitude is... off the charts."
A curious rippling effect appeared within the ring, and something huge began to emerge.
"I... think they're trying to drag that planet into realspace," he continued, aghast. "Is that even physically possible?"
Possible or not, it was indeed happening. The Eventide's crew watched in awe as the lost world nosed its way into the system, shyly displaying its scarred face to the surrounding ships.
The firing line began to retreat towards the planet, keeping up a frankly terrifying rate of fire as they did so. The battle began to swing in their favour as more and more of the opposing ships died... when one of the vessels maintaining the ring abruptly exploded.
The energy beam lashed out, catching another of the generator-ships and obliterating it utterly. With two now gone, it flickered and disappeared. The rippling ceased, and the storm-wracked planet began to disappear into Chaotic Space once more. Two of the hoop-ships smoothly detached themselves from the firing line and took up position where their fallen compatriots had been, restarting the forced transit.
"Sensors, what just happened?" Hayate demanded.
"High-velocity kinetic impact," he replied. "As far as I can tell, it came from the planet's surface."
They have ground-to-orbit weaponry? Wonderful.
"Take us towards that planet," she commanded. "We're getting Vita and Nanoha out of there now."
The engines hummed smoothly to life, and they watched intently as the Eventide closed the distance to transporter range. Twenty thousand kilometres... nineteen... eighteen...
An alarm sounded, screaming across the bridge.
"Weapon lock!" the sensors officer shrieked. "One of the guards is bringing its main gun to bear on us!"
"Magical Interface System, open!" Hayate shouted desperately, slamming the palms of her hands onto the control crystals.
"Eventide, Flash Move!"
Two huge, magical wings unfolded from the heavy frigate's sides as it pirouetted away, the ravening energy beam passing within a mere hundred metres of it. Hayate reached a decision.
"Lieutenant Rostov, begin charging the Arc-en-ciel. Target the closer of the two guard-vessels."
The weapons officer saluted. "Roger that, ma'am. Commencing barrel expansion."
The Eventide smoothly rolled into position, a series of glowing white charging rings appearing in front of the two huge projector fins that formed its prow.
"Firing Lock System, open," Hayate said, and watched as a small, transparent box appeared above her command desk in a pillar of green light.
She took a nondescript red key from around her neck and inserted it into the box, nodding with satisfaction as the device turned the same ominous colour.
"Power spike from the target!" Sensors yelled. "It's going to attack us again!"
Hayate turned the key and closed her eyes.
"Arc-en-ciel, fire."
The charging rings vanished, replaced by a ball of pale blue energy that dwarfed the frigate. A gigantic, cloudy lens formed in front of it, and it shot forwards, reshaping itself into a beam a hundred metres across that struck the nearest hoop-ship dead centre. Space tore itself apart around the two remaining ships of the firing line, obliterating them on the molecular level in a dazzling display of pyrotechnics. The transit ring around the planet shut off, and the four generator-vessels advanced towards the Eventide, their energy signatures flaring as they charged their weapons.
As they did so, however, the flotilla opposing them closed in, presenting an artificial barrier between the hoop-ships and their prey.
"I think we made an impression," Lieutenant Rostov remarked drily.
...tain Takamachi... currents rising... realspace transi... back for you...
The communications officer's voice over the telepathic link was faint, garbled, and distorted, disappearing altogether at random intervals.
Say again, Eventide! Nanoha demanded. We're losing you!
...rry... The link went dead.
Vita swore colourfully, and Alicia looked at them in puzzlement.
"Is something wrong?"
"We've lost contact with our ship," Nanoha explained. "You wouldn't happen to know why, would you?"
The girl's forehead creased. "No, but Toji might. I'll ask him."
She held what appeared to be a muttered conversation with herself, before Nanoha realised that her outfit contained some sort of throat-mike.
Alicia looked up, her expression worried. "Toji says the warp-storms are back, and something's coming. Something bad."
"Bad like what?" Vita asked.
She shook her head. "I don't know. I hope it's enemies, though. I haven't killed anything yet. We should get back to the others. Follow me."
She set out over the rough ground, using the scythe as a walking stick. Nanoha and Vita shared a glance, and then followed.
Nanoha, is it just me, or is there something wrong with this kid? Vita asked.
I'd noticed that myself, she replied. Keep your eyes open, Vita. I don't like this at all.
A silence fell on the little group as they trudged across the plain. After a while, Nanoha decided to break it.
"Alicia, who is this Toji person?"
The girl gave a sunny smile. "Oh, he's my best friend! He's big and he's strong and he's in charge of a whole chapter of soldiers! I'll show him to you when we get to the base!"
"Please excuse my daughter's exuberance," Precia said with amused tolerance. "The man she refers to is Primarch Toji Suzuhara, commander of the gods' forces on this world. He has been very kind to us – I think you'll like him."
"Then I look forward to meeting him," Nanoha replied politely. "Would that be your base, by the way?"
They had reached the edge of a massive indentation in the land. Ahead of them was a network of low, forbidding fortifications, amidst which soldiers and vehicles patrolled with subdued urgency. At the centre of the encampment was a gangling, armoured figure easily forty metres tall that moved like a giant human rather than the war machine it assuredly was.
Alicia nodded. "Yep. We built it around this big ring-shaped thing called a Stargate. Apparently, it can take you to other planets with just a couple of steps, though I've been looking at it when the scientists weren't around, and I think – wait, what's going on? What's happening to the sky?"
The two TSAB agents looked up, open-mouthed, as the very heavens split open. The glowing clouds fled unnaturally quickly, only to be replaced by cold, starry darkness. A band of flickering white energy arched from horizon to horizon, providing dim illumination of the surface below.
"What in the name of hell just happened?" Vita shouted.
"I... I think we just dropped into realspace," Nanoha replied. "Alicia, what does Toji have to say about this?"
After a few seconds of whispered conference, Alicia looked up with a secretive smile. "He says that you should watch the base."
Below them, the giant at the centre of the camp knelt down and picked up a long, thin grey object. It stood up, took a moment to aim, and then hurled the object skywards. A few moments passed, and then a colossal explosion lit up the sky and the band of light vanished.
Vita's jaw dropped again.
"Did that thing just use a javelin as an orbital weapon?"
Alicia watched their expressions with delight. "Evangelions are fun, aren't they?"
Her throat-mike crackled.
"Toji says that we should be expecting more friends to play with soon. I'm supposed to help provide aerial support. Wanna come?"
I doubt that Fate would particularly appreciate her sister getting killed, Nanoha said telepathically.
Damn straight, Vita agreed. I've got a really bad feeling about this, though, Nanoha. Like you said, we should keep our eyes open.
As one, they took to the air in pursuit of Alicia.
The first they saw of the 'friends' was a curious glittering in the air that gradually resolved itself into a swarm of bulbous dart-like fighters, the dim starlight gleaming off their hulls. As the three mages approached, they opened fire, a storm of energy blasts streaking towards them. Nanoha and Vita activated their wards, both trying to cover Fate's sister in their radius as well. Alicia, on the other hand...
"Lash of Torment," she snarled, her childish voice twisted into something inhuman.
A polychromatic energy whip appeared from the head of her scythe, slicing through the fighters with terrifying ease. It did something strange and terrible to the pilots within – their screams of agony were unnaturally loud, audible even over the noise of the dying aircraft.
Alicia giggled happily as the flaming wreckage rained down around her. She looked down, and the giggle turned into a full-fledged, delighted laugh. Several of the fighters were flying low to the ground, dropping what looked like stacks of grey-white rings as they did so. Once they had landed, the rings rose on top of each other and began to emit steady pulses of light, releasing a horde of silver-armoured soldiers onto the battlefield.
"Toji!" she shrieked. "Toji, they're landing troops!"
A shot from one of the fighters struck her and she snarled like an animal, flying after the offending craft and gracefully landing on its hull. Her scythe flared with unholy energies and she slammed it into the cockpit-section, peeling it open. The fighter lurched sideways and the pilot fell out, screaming in terror as he plummeted towards the earth.
Alicia wasn't done with him, though.
She shot downwards, impaling him in mid-air with a swing of her scythe. Glowing black charging rings etched with unfamiliar runes appeared around her hand, and her voice took on that strange distortion again.
"Soul Stealer."
She punched her open hand into the pilot's chest, ripping out his heart in a single fluid motion. A quick shake of the scythe, and the wreckage that had once been his body fell away, but a faint blue outline remained around the gory relic clutched in her hand. There was a crack of bone, and her mouth stretched inhumanly wide. She devoured the heart with a single gulp, smiling in satisfaction as the pilot's soul howled and vanished.
"Divine Buster."
A huge beam of pink light slammed into Alicia and she lost consciousness, the scythe shrinking into a tiny pendant around her neck.
"Axel Fin."
Nanoha sped forwards, catching her as she fell. Come on, Vita, let's get out of here.
Fate isn't going to be happy, Vita commented as they flew away from the battle, hugging the ground.
She'll be even less happy when she finds out what these... people did to her sister, Nanoha replied grimly. Are those fighters still after us?
Nope, they got intercepted, Vita said, clearly shaken. Nanoha, it's really ugly back there.
The TSAB captain kept flying, not looking back. Vita was a centuries-old sentient combat program who had, until recently, been one of the heralds of an insanely potent magical weapon of mass destruction. If even she was nauseated, Nanoha had no intention of finding out why.
Their escape route was taking them past the main battle. The silver-plated soldiers were opposed by hulking behemoths easily eight feet tall, clad in bulky multicoloured armour. The former had the advantage of numbers, certainly, but the latter had vastly superior equipment, not to mention dark sorcery that crackled across the battlefield like a living creature. In the distance, Nanoha saw that the forces of what Precia had called 'Chaos' had set up several curious-looking artillery pieces that arced bulky, strange-looking projectiles towards the enemy. As they grew closer, she saw that said projectiles were in fact more of the giant soldiers, screaming battle-cries as they landed in the midst of their silver-armoured foes.
She shook her head in disbelief. This is madness.
Too right, Vita agreed. Nanoha! Infantry at twelve o'clock! Oh shi-
The photon flash grenade went off at a point precisely between the two mages, overloading their senses with a wall of light and sound. Nanoha screamed and dropped Alicia, desperately trying to raise a ward. A single shot rang out, and Vita fell to the ground, her body nearly bisected.
These soldiers of Chaos were even bigger than their compatriots, wearing ridiculously thick armour that nearly transformed them into self-contained walking tanks. Two of them strode forward to catch Vita and Alicia, and the former had an enormous weapon jammed to her head whose nozzles and fuel tanks identified it as some sort of flamethrower.
A third soldier, easily a head taller than the others, stared up at Nanoha, his helmet's ornately-decorated faceplate hiding his expression.
"All right, miss," he boomed, his voice amplified and tinny. "This is Primarch Toji Suzuhara, commander of the Sons of Toji, funnily enough. Deactivate that staff of yours, or your friend fries."
Nanoha obliged, the charging rings around Raising Heart's head vanishing as quickly as they had appeared. "Now what?"
"Now?" Toji replied. "Now, we get these two girls some medical attention, and you leave us alone, miss."
"You expect me to just stand here while you cart off Vita and Alicia?" Nanoha asked quietly. All she needed was for that one to lower his flamethrower for a moment...
"Oh, not in the slightest. Matter of fact, I think you'll be departing first." He nodded to a point somewhere behind the hovering mage. "Ladies? Get her."
She spun round, raising her staff just in time to deflect a blow from a huge, razor-sharp axe that sent numbing shocks up her arms. Said axe's wielder was a leather-winged, red-skinned woman clad in dull bronze armour with a belt of skulls around her waist. Behind her, seven identical creatures swooped in for the attack.
They were fast, they were vicious, and they hopelessly outnumbered her. Nanoha beat a hasty retreat, sending a barrage of pink energy blasts behind her as she fled.
On the ground, the Terminator holding Vita turned to his Primarch.
"May I ask why you wish this girl spared, Lord Toji?" he asked.
"OK, first, because I don't know many eight-year-old girls who could survive a direct hit from a bolter round, and I reckon the gods will be wanting a look. Second, because she's an eight-year-old girl. Who I just shot and then used as a human shield. Just... just get the apothecary working on her, will you? Warp's teeth, Hikari's going to have my hide for this..."
The Terminator saluted. "Of course, Lord Toji."
Toji stared at his subordinate suspiciously. "Wait... do you mean 'of course I'll get her to medical', or 'of course the daemon princess you somehow got married to is going to flay you alive when she finds out you've been brutalising children'?"
"... Of course, Lord Toji."
"Not encouraging, Hargreaves."
"My apologies, sir. It shall be as you ordered." The heavily-armoured Marine clanked off, his broken, bleeding cargo cradled gently in one massive hand.
The Primarch sighed and checked his helmet readouts, his brow already crinkled in worry. The technicians were reporting more activity from the Ori supergate. Tzintchi's predictions had been accurate as always.
"Commence Operation Leliel," he ordered. "We're done here."
And may the gods have mercy on our souls.
The four hoop-ships opened fire, the deadly energy beams appearing from their prow dishes once more. The blocky dreadnoughts moved to intercept them, their shields taking the brunt of the damage.
"Four minutes of power for the Magical Interface System remaining, ma'am," Lieutenant Rostov reported. "Time until the Arc-en-ciel is recharged... five minutes."
Hayate nodded. "Understood. Rein, you ready?"
The diminutive Unison Device gave her a thumbs-up. "Ready!"
Clutching the interface pads, she began the incantation. "Come forth, wind of snow, and become the fletching which falls from the heavens."
Outside the ship, four large white charging rings began to form.
"Eventide, Hræsvelgr!"
A quartet of magical missiles launched from the rings, each half the size of the frigate itself. They slammed into the four remaining defenders in rapid succession, overloading their shields and blasting chunks out of their hulls.
Hayate took a moment to assess the damage, and then commenced a second incantation. "Resound, horn of judgement."
This time, the charging pattern was a triangle rather than a series of rings, suspended beneath the ship.
"Eventide, Ragnarok!"
The points of the triangle grew into a trio of crackling spheres, before collapsing into a mass of blue beams. They closed in on one of the two central hoop-ships and tore it to pieces, punching through it like wet tissue paper.
"Change in the enemy's engine profiles," Sensors announced. "They're retreating."
"One minute until the Arc-en-ciel's ready," Rostov added.
The colonel lifted her hands from the interface pads, letting them sink back into the command desk.
"Do not pursue," she ordered. "If they don't want any more trouble, that's fine by me."
As she sat down in her chair again, a thought occurred. Due to the ready availability of extremely potent non-lethal weaponry, battles between mages tended to have a fairly low body-count. People had died before on missions she had commanded, mostly due to some demented Belkan fighting-style, but not very often. Space battles, though... they were different. No matter what effect the weapon you'd been hit with had on living flesh, your ship exploding around you would still be rather difficult to survive. Hayate realised that this was quite possibly the first time she had been directly responsible for the deaths of other people. Likely lots of other people. They had been big ships, after all.
It was... curiously numbing, as feelings went.
"Another energy spike, colonel," Sensors reported wearily. "Looks like something big's coming through that gate-thing near the star."
The new arrival was absolutely enormous, based on the same design principles as the hoop-ships but bigger, bulkier, and generally more intimidating. It approached the planet with disconcerting speed, powerful beam weaponry lancing from its flanks. Those flotilla vessels struck simply exploded, their shields unable to handle an assault of such magnitude.
"We won't have time to fire the Arc-en-ciel," Hayate decided. "Helm, let's move. We'll use the planet as cover."
"Aye-aye, ma'am."
"Are we in transporter range yet?" she asked.
"That we are, ma'am," one of the technicians replied. "Got the ground team's marker pinned down, too. Well... one of them, anyway. Can't find Lieutenant Vita's signature."
Please be a glitch, please be a glitch, please be a glitch... "Keep looking. Comms, patch me through to Captain Takamachi."
"Affirmative, ma'am. Going live... now."
Hayate, is that you? The TSAB's Ace of Aces sounded tired, strained, and more than a little frightened.
Nanoha, report.
It's bad, Hayate. I'm under attack, Vita's been captured, and Alicia... Hayate, they've turned her into a monster. The things I've seen... even Scaglietti wasn't this bad. Not by a long way. This is evil, Hayate. Pure evil.
Wait – Vita's been captured?
Captured and injured. There was... there was nothing I could do. I think I might be able to get her back, but it'll take time. Several hours on the inside. What's the situation in orbit?
As if on cue, the sensors officer piped up. "That big fellow's taken up position just outside the atmosphere. It's powering up, and the readings... well, they're pretty enormous, is all I can say. Colonel, if you want me to keep doing my job, I'm going to need some bigger charts."
Hayate sighed. I don't think you have that long, Nanoha. What are they doing down there?
Some sort of ritual. It's lighting up everything for miles around. Her tone was both disgusted and horrified. Even from this range, I can smell the blood.
Roger that. You think they're trying to protect themselves?
It seems likely. Precia said some of them can see the future. They must have expected this... whatever it is.
Hayate pinched her temples again. There was no good decision here.
We can't afford to lose anyone else. Nanoha, we're pulling you out. Leave Vita where she is. A little piece of her soul died as she said it.
... Affirmative, ma'am.
A few minutes passed, and then the comm-link to the transport chamber crackled.
"Captain Takamachi is back on board, ma'am."
"Understood. Send her to the infirmary for a check-up, will you? She sounded like she was at the end of her tether." Her and me both.
"Estimated two minutes until that dreadnought-thing does whatever it's about to do," Sensors reported. "Wait, what's happening down there?"
An odd rippling motion passed across the surface of the planet, before simply disappearing with the same lack of ceremony that had heralded its arrival.
"Colonel, according to these readings," he said, his voice shaking, "someone just managed to swap that dirty great chunk of rock with its own shadow. What we're seeing now is a simple illusion while the real thing makes a jump into dimensional space on the sly. Very sneaky, and violating more laws of physics than I care to name, but I'm starting to get used to that."
A massive flare of light appeared from beyond the horizon.
"... And that, I believe, is our dreadnought friend opening fire," Sensors continued lightly. "Guess he didn't get the memo."
The bridge crew watched in silence as continents cracked and the atmosphere boiled away.
"It's a very... realistic illusion, isn't it?" Hayate said at last.
"Oh yeah," Sensors agreed. "Doubt you could even register it as one without a full dimensional sensor suite. I could try calculating the amount of power it'd take to produce and sustain something like that, but then I'd have to lie down and take my pills, and I hate it when that happens. Speaking of dimensional bullshittery, though, the storms have dissipated. If you want to take another dip in Chaotic Space, now's the time."
Hayate nodded in acknowledgement. "Helm, prepare for transit. We're following that planet."
The jump in was rather smoother than the one out had been. A perfectly circular portal to dimensional space opened in front of the Eventide, and it glided straight in. The only thing anyone on board who wasn't paying specific attention would have noticed was a small jolt as they exited realspace.
Ahead of them was the daemon-world, looking positively pristine in comparison to the illusory wreckage in realspace. Hayate grinned wolfishly.
"All hands, finish the safety checks and then prepare for planetary assault. Mission profile is hostage retrieval."
The bridge crew saluted and returned to their posts. Everyone, that was, except the poor beleaguered sensors officer.
"Ma'am," he said in a tiny, overly formal voice, as if reading from a manual, "the dimensional storms are rising again. According to my calculations, they will destroy the ship unless we leave for the breach in the Wall within the next six minutes. As an officer of the Time-Space Administration Bureau, I'm afraid I cannot condone military action under these circumstances."
Hayate stared at him for a moment, and then lowered her gaze. "Very well, I concede to your expertise. Comms, belay that last order. Helm, plot us a course for Wild Space. Lieutenant Rostov, you have the bridge."
Not waiting for an acknowledgement, she stepped down from the command platform and strode out of the room. She stared straight ahead as she passed through the corridors, the only sounds the rising hum of the engines and the tapping of her shoes on the hard floor. Eventually, she reached her room, inputted the security code, and stepped in. She waited for the door to close behind her, and then collapsed, sobbing, on her bed.
A few minutes, later, the door reopened, and Signum, Shamal, and Zafira filed in. They walked over to where Hayate lay, knelt down, and hugged her wordlessly.
Author's notes: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a crossover story in posession of a space battle must be in want of funky, fleet-based technosorcery. Or if it isn't, it damned well should be.
Why did I change Operation Leliel? Three reasons. First, Bloodhaven's a pretty useful place. I can think of a few characters who'd be interested in keeping it around. Second, it seemed more thematically-suited to the overgrown tennis-ball's M.O. in Evangelion. Third, it was just plain cool, and a nice display of what the forces of Chaos can do if they put their minds to it.
Now, what was Kyon up to in the meantime, I wonder...?
