Endless Waltz

By: Daishi Prime

-23 – Molon Labe-

Yosho looked up as Journeyman Turo entered his office. Raising an eyebrow at the young man's hesitancy, Yosho activated the privacy shields, and waved him over.

Turo stopped in front of Yosho's desk, then held out a folded piece of paper. "We received a reply, Lord Protector. Apparently positive, if it was translated properly."

Yosho unfolded the paper, and found a single character: what price? He smiled slightly, and leaned back in his chair. "Interesting," he mused, turning it over, "most interesting. A potential traitor in the enemy's ranks, one beholden to us instead of to themselves, which should make them more reliable than Kriegsen. Yet such rank and position, how can we trust her not to be a double-agent, a plant?"

"We could set her a task, Lord Protector," Turo offered, "something a double agent would not do. She would have to be even more ruthless and cold-hearted than we expect the rebels to be, for some things we might demand of her."

"True," Yosho nodded, "but one test would not suffice. Too easy to fake one test with her handlers' support. So, multiple tests, one immediate test to earn our assistance, and one or two subsequent tests to keep it. Send a reply, 'the strongest', along with the rendezvous coordinates. Let's see how she interprets that."

"Yes, Lord Protector."

"If she follows through," Yosho said, "we'll extract her during the confusion around Szash's little expedition to this... Hong Kong." He grimaced slightly, "What strange names they have created in our absence. It stutters so, 'Hong Kong'." He waved shook his head, dismissing the irrelevant musing, "Regardless, we will extract her then. Make sure she is prepared, and that our own team is in place. Once she is here, we will second her to Szash for 'field intelligence'. Szash will put her right out on the front lines to try and get rid of her, and if she performs well there, we will be able to trust her information. If she doesn't, Szash will pay the price for not watching her more closely. Make it so, Journeyman. Thank you."

Turo left, and Yosho spent a few moment contemplating his upcoming intelligence coup. Potential coup, he reminded himself, her answer was too swift, too simple. These rebels have a long history of deep maneuvers. I think, even after Szash tests her, I will have to be very, very cautious of her. We'll see how she interprets the price, though. If her response is extreme enough, I may have a lifetime hold on her.

00000

Teri Maunders liked to think of herself as a master soldier. She had trained hard for many years in the demanding art of infantry warfare, and she was good at it. She had trained almost as hard in magic, and was passably good at that, but that was a family tradition. Her rank of Sergeant was entirely self-earned, and she was proud of that. Put a rifle in her hands, a platoon at her back, and she would take on anything with confidence.

She was also a firm believer in military nepotism. Not so much the family dynasties that cropped up every so often, as the habit of officers who could chose subordinates, picking those they already knew. It may give an 'unfair advantage', but it also created teams that functioned smoothly and efficiently.

She just wished Lieutenant Colonel Yost had picked her to back him up in his first battalion command. Instead, he was running an admin command, liaising with the Japanese Self Defense Forces, and she was stuck working a desk. Promotion to First Sergeant came along either way, but sitting in an office in Tokyo, she was a long, long way from any troops, and the nearest 'rifle' was a submachinegun at the guard-post on the first floor, half a building below her. It was enough to ruin her day, on those occasions when she gave it any thought.

Despite her distaste for the position, Maunders could see the utility of it. The JSDF was small, compared to the US Army, but just as professional and much more polite. Most of the liaison office's responsibilities were in the area of intelligence sharing, information on North Korea, China, and whatever else looked worrisome in East Asia. It was mildly interesting, seeing the information that informed decisions made in Tokyo and Washington that were sometimes so inexplicable. She would have given all of that up along with her left arm, to have some troops to keep in shape, but she could see the purpose. She just wished it was a field position.

It being a Monday, she was contemplating her distaste for her current duties as the day wound down. The latest twist was wondering if Hughes could be convinced to transfer her to the Black Dogs, or a team like them. She would almost be willing to take a voluntary discharge to escape being stuck behind a desk. Such thoughts were interrupted when Saeko gasped. Figuring it was something the other woman had read, Maunders turned towards her, until one of her fellow Americans commented in English, "Damn, I guess they make hot Amazons here, too."

That got her entire attention, and she shot the man a glare. "Don't be a bigger ass than normal, Rogers."

He grimaced, then gestured, "Tell me I'm wrong about that woman."

The office was a long, narrow room, stretching most of the length of the building from the elevators at one end to the officers' offices at the other. Looking towards the entrance, Maunders saw the long purple hair, and groaned in dread. "Oh, god dammit, what do those lunatics want now?"

"Maunders?"

She shook her head, pushing away from her desk, "I know that 'Amazon', and for once, Rogers, you're right. She's an Amazon. But she's not Japanese." Walking out into the aisle, she waved Signum over, gesturing for the Private moving to intercept to stand down. He looked doubtful, right up until Signum stopped by Maunders' desk.

"Hello, Journeywoman," Signum greeted her in English, "Is your Lieutenant Colonel available? I need to speak with him."

"He's in his office, I can check," Maunders replied. "What did you need to speak with him about?"

Signum actually cracked a smile, "Well, I'm stealing his favorite Sergeant. It's only polite to inform him of why."

Maunders choked on that one, then glared, "Explain."

Signum looked more amused, but answered, "We require a liaison with the Circles, during this crisis. Tai-yu cannot do it, as your people would kill her on sight. That leaves two people we trust not to sabotage the proceedings, and Hughes is rather busy where he is."

Maunders did not like the sound of that. Bad enough she was in an admin post, getting seconded to play messenger for heretics did not sound like a step up. "What about Marterosian? He should be more than reliable, given that you have his daughters."

Signum's humor vanished. "We do not take children hostage. Your people attempted that last year, not us. Besides, Shiraz is no soldier, you are. Also, Hughes has already agreed, and is making arrangements with your military. It appears your president is less than pleased with Al Hanthis' seizure of the Suez. You can refuse, Maunders, in which case we will do without, but having you in this role will greatly ease our efforts. We have a common enemy, there is no reason not to cooperate."

Maunders could not really object to that, she had too much experience working with people she did not like and doing it well. "I'm not using a device," she growled. "I may have to work with you heretics, but I'm not turning in to one."

Signum's amusement returned, somewhat weaker. "That would defeat the purpose, Journeywoman."

"Maunders," she countered. "Journeywoman's too much of a tongue-twister. Just call me Maunders."

"Understood. Your lieutenant colonel?"

"He's not mine," Maunders grumbled, sitting down and reaching for the phone, "I answer to him, not the other way around."

"Much the same way I answer to Mistress Hayate, yes? We both take care of our superiors in spite of themselves, Maunders. It is what we do."

00000

Updating the device construction in the aftermath of Allina's and Niranjana's device activation tests added a day to the rest of the class's efforts. In the end, it was almost a full week before they finished, and despite Yussef's attempts to hurry his boys along, they all wound up finishing over the course of two days, right at the same time the last of the girls were finishing up.

That, naturally, started a running argument the first night after some of his boys finished. He wanted the boys to activate their devices as a group, and spent the better part of the afternoon and dinner arguing with Laura about letting the girls who had finished go first. Laura objected, on the grounds that Marcel finished before any of the remaining girls, and therefore he had to 'face the music' first and alone.

Predictably, it was Noriko who settled it. "Since none of the boys are willing to go first, we will wait until all of them have finished. If the girls finish before the boys, the girls will activate their devices first. If the boys all finish before all the girls, then the boys will go first. If everyone finishes at about the same time, we will have Chen-chi flip a coin for us."

"You mean decide for us," Laura grumbled. "Girl cheats worse than I do."

"But for some reason everyone trusts her," Noriko countered. "So, with Hayate-sensei's permission, we'll see who finishes first, the boys or girls. So do let the matter lie, and let me enjoy at least some of my dinner?"

Yussef had no problems with the arrangement, but it took a hard look from Noriko to get Laura to drop the subject. He was not even that worried about getting his boys to finish first – first or second, all he was concerned about was that they all activated their devices in the same class, or at least in successive classes.

He had been working with them long enough, working on making them a team long enough, that he was worried about some sort of rivalries developing over who woke their device first. There had already been some competition to see who could get the most construction done, who made the fewest mistakes, and the like. It was minor competition at this point, friends pushing each other to do better, but Yussef was too well aware of how important finishing their devices was, to each of them. Having them activate as a group would ease those tensions, turn competition into shared success.

When Luke and Toushiro finally finished their devices the next day, he breathed a sigh of relief. When he stepped into the workroom the girls were using, however, it was to watch Megan, the last of the girls to finish, mount her device in a testing rig. Glancing at Noriko, he asked, "You're all finished?"

"Just now," Noriko said. "You?"

Grimacing, he admitted, "Just now."

Noriko had the good graces not to laugh, but the smile was more than enough. "I would say, if you had time to come over here after that, you boys finished just before us. Any objection to letting the boys go first, ladies?"

There was some grumbling from Allison and Juliet, but none of the girls really felt like going against Noriko. "Look at it this way," Natalia offered, "we let the boys go first, so if there are any dangerous interactions between that many waking devices, they suffer the consequences." She actually grinned at Yussef, which was a distinctly creepy experience, "that's what boys are for, after all, to do the dangerous stuff, ne?"

So six days after Allina and Niranjana activated their devices, and after an almost continuous run of bad sci-fi movies insisted upon by Allina, Yussef's Myrmidons finally had their day. Yussef was unsurprised to find himself rather more nervous than his friends. They were all sublimely confident that everything would work fine, that there would be no problems or surprises. Yussef knew just how shaky the foundation on which their confidence rested was built. Zafira, Signum, and Hayate all tried to reassure him, Vita just laughed at him and told him not to worry, but he could not shake his nerves.

He did a fairly good job concealing it from his boys, though. The only one that noticed was Marcel, who just looked amused and shook his head when Yussef gathered them all together the night before the activations. The last minute conference – he refused to call it a 'harangue', whatever Toushiro said – was probably unnecessary, but it did salve his nerves enough for him to sleep, and there was never anything wrong with reviewing plans to minimize mistakes.

When Lotte's class came around, Yussef had to work very hard not to march out to the line of devices with his boys. Parking himself next to Hayate took an act of will. Not saying anything required even more effort. Apparently the effort was enough for him that Hayate noticed.

'I know you're worried, Yussef, but you need to learn to let it go,' she told him. 'You have chosen to lead soldiers, which will mean sending them off on their own. It is not as bad with my Knights, but even I had to learn this lesson. You plan as best you can, you train hard, and you trust in your soldiers to live up to their training.'

It had taken him weeks, but Yussef had finally gotten the trick of telepathy. He still had trouble with range, and could not reach through the workroom shields, but speaking privately with Hayate standing right next to him was easy enough. 'I am worried about something going wrong today, something happening to them, but that's not really what's bothering me right now, Hayate-sensei,' He replied, almost laughing at the thought. 'To be honest, I'm more worried about their success.' She gave him a questioning look, so he explained, 'We have never failed, sensei, never been defeated. Oh, sure, they know they can't take me, they know that even with a device Laura can pound the snot out of them. But that's different. We aren't enemies, not even opponents. Success breeds complacency, arrogance. I'm starting to see that in the boys, a sublime confidence against an enemy we know very little about. It worries me.'

Hayate sounded shocked when she asked, 'You want them to fail to activate their devices?'

'No, but... I would not be too broken up if they did.' He grimaced, trying for the umpteenth time to figure out a way to explain without sounding defeatist. 'No group, no force, no nation, no person, has ever truly been undefeated. Even Mohammed was driven out of Mecca, to seek sanctuary in Jiddah. Even Saladin lost battles. We haven't yet, and I don't know how we'll handle it. There's nothing drastic, yet, but the guys have an... attitude, like we're invincible. I don't know how to teach them we're not, short of doing serious damage. Even sparring with them, or in my class, there's always thoughts of Laura hovering in the background, of you and the other teachers, a sense of, "well, sure, we lost here, but sensei could handle it easy." So, yeah, I'm worried that this will be too easy, and the only time they'll learn the lesson is when one of them dies.'

Hayate gave him a surprised look, that turned thoughtful after a few seconds. 'That is... very mature of you, Yussef. Most people never think to worry about too much success.'

Yussef did chuckle at that, 'Neither did I, until Faisal gave me a book on Alexander the Great, towards the end of summer. The writer pointed out repeatedly that Alexander never lost, and how that colored his thinking, how he never planned for what would happen after his death. There was more to it, but... it's an easy mistake to make, one I need to avoid.'

'It is a difficult problem. I doubt you will be free this afternoon, but perhaps you, Signum, and I could get together tomorrow afternoon and discuss it?'

'I'm supposed to work with Toushiro and Ichigo on sensing past barriers,' Yussef replied, 'but they'll agree to reschedule, probably use the time to practice with their devices.'

'Speaking of which, Lotte is done lecturing,' Hayate told him. 'Looks like she chose to have them go one at a time again.'

The boys' devices had been set in a line, one side of the workroom to the other, and with no conversation, they started on the right and began working their way down. Luke stepped up to his first, resting a hand on the core. He bowed his head and spoke softly, obviously trying to keep his activation phrase secret, but Lotte was not about to allow that, and after a second, Luke's voice was echoing off the walls like it came from a loud-speaker. "Dreams awake and nightmares ride, lessons learned and forgotten again, time to wake and Dream once more. Wake to my hand, Catalpa."

Yussef had not really been paying attention to the prior device activations, not as much as he was now, searching for any and every inconsistency. The Catalpa's change was rather faster than Yussef remembered his own being. He could easily recall the drawn-out process of Zulfiquar bonding to his linker core, forming itself into the sword. Catalpa's activation took only a second, a flash of light spreading from the processor core to engulf the entire device, then flowing down into a short double-edged sword similar in lines to Signum's Levantine.

"That was fast," Yussef muttered, wondering if this was the problem he had half-anticipated.

Hayate chuckled at him, "No, it wasn't. It seems longer in the moment, but it only takes a brief second, if that."

"I should have expected a sword," Lotte complained, inspecting Luke's device without touching it. Its blade was a little shorter than Zulfiquar's, but a single double-edged blade instead of twin single-edged blades. There was a solid square as a cross-guard, with an armored disc set in it, and Yussef saw a cartridge ejection port in one end of the square, but no loading port. Lotte brought that one up, "You have the practice cartridge?"

Luke nodded, pulling it out of a pocket. He said nothing, but a port in the pommel snapped open, and he loaded the cartridge there. "Tube magazine," Luke explained, "four cartridges."

"Cartridge loaded," Catalpa stated, in a far worse accent than Luke ever demonstrated, "warning, calibration error."

"Yeah, Cat, I know that," Luke muttered, then blinked and blushed slightly as everyone else laughed.

"Cute, Luke," Lotte said, "now, armor please."

Luke nodded, "Catalpa, Fortress."

"Aye, sir," the sword flashed slightly, and a second later Luke was wearing a remarkably familiar suit of armor. The flowing pants and shirt were white, the boots black, just like Yussef's, but the leather-like body armor and bracers were a sort of rust-red, instead of Yussef's grey. Instead of Yussef's family crest on his chest, Luke's armor had the Australian flag etched just over his heart. The Myrmidon pin was now set into the armor's left shoulder.

Yussef could not help feeling honored by that, right up until everyone turned to stare at him with a variety of expressions, from amusement to questions. He just shrugged, "What can I say, Luke knows style when he sees it."

That got a few chuckles, as Luke admitted, "Well, actually, I didn't give it much thought. It's just... this is what I think of when a barrier jacket comes up. No offense, senseis, but..." he trailed off and shrugged.

"Hey, so long as you're comfortable," Lotte told him, then jabbed him hard in one shoulder. It was enough to rock him back on his heels, but not, quite, enough to push him back. "Hmm, not bad," Lotte allowed, "not as tough as Yu-chan's, but you're better at shields than he is. Good. Now, stand there and try not to blow up." She spun in place, a huge smirk on her face, and in a sing-song voiced aid, "Oh, Shiro-chan, it's your turn."

Toushiro grimaced at the nickname, but stepped up to his device. Unlike Luke, he made no attempt to keep his activation phrase a secret. "In defense of my friends, in opposition of our enemies, in honor of my ancestors. Daikyu."

Yussef was better prepared for the speed of the reaction this time, and felt a little shame as he compared it to Allina's and Niranjana's activations the week before. He should have been paying more attention to the girls, learning from their activations. Instead he had treated that class like a ceremonial duty, his mind elsewhere. A mistake he would have to be careful not to repeat.

When the light cleared, Toushiro was holding an asymmetrical longbow in deep black, with an almost invisibly narrow bar in place of the string. Above the hand-grip was a small extension, incorporating a small sight, while below it was a larger armored cylinder with two short blocks to either side. Toushiro did not wait for instructions from Lotte to load his test-cartridge, slotting it into an opening on the rear of the right-hand block, receiving the same error message.

Lotte looked the device over for a moment, then flicked an ear, "A bow? Does it work?"

Toushiro looked a little confused for a moment, then shrugged and settled into a firing position. His form looked odd to Yussef, arms above his head, then draw them down, straightening his left arm and bending his right elbow... or at least, trying to. He gave a couple attempts, frowning more fiercely, "The string isn't drawing at all, but... Daikyu, Arrow."

In a voice that sounded remarkably like Noriko's bodyguard Hidan, Daikyu answered, "Hai, Tono," and the string began to glow slightly. The next time Toushiro drew the bow, the entire motion was smooth the 'string' glowing purplish, and an arrow of energy forming between his hands. He looked to Lotte, who nodded, and released the bolt down-range. The buster spell was fast, but it tracked oddly, not a straight line but a slightly ballistic arc, before impacting the workroom's shields. It was far enough away that Yussef could not tell if it the floor or the far wall.

"That's going to be tricky to block," Yussef commented, "that arc's going to throw someone expecting a straight-shot."

"True," Hayate agreed, "but only the first time or two. A guided spell will still be better in most respects."

Yussef nodded, "But any surprise you can give an opponent is useful."

"All right, Shiro-chan," Lotte said, circling him slowly, "Let's see you're armor.

"You're going to be disappointed, Lotte-sensei," Toushiro warned her. "Daikyu, Barrier Jacket."

Yussef held out a hope for a few seconds, as his friend flashed purple a moment, but it was a scant and vain hope. Toushiro's armor was black, and the symbol on his chest was kanji characters for Soldier of Heaven. Other than that, it precisely matched Luke's, which precisely matched Yussef's. Yussef released his held breath in a heavy sigh, reaching up to hold his face in his hand. "They're trying to embarrass me to death."

"They're honoring their leader, Yussef," Hayate protested.

"Jackboots."

She blinked at him, not catching the reference, "I'm sorry?"

"One of Laura's quips about the Myrmidons," Yussef explained, "Jackboots, a reference to the Nazis, specifically, but also to militarists in general. The worst part is, I can't even complain to them. The Barrier Jackets are theirs to shape, their choice. Maybe I can change mine."

Hayate grimaced, "You are in no danger of becoming that sort of monster, Yussef. Besides, a uniform will help identify you, to each other and to our allies."

"Let them have their pride," Signum added. "A proud soldier is an honest one, a reliable one. Pride will keep them from descending to barbaric actions, and will keep them from mindlessly fleeing an enemy."

Yussef could hardly argue with that, but having his boys so obviously modeling themselves on him was still embarrassing, so he settled for nodding ruefully. He still made a mental note to look into changing his own barrier jacket to something a little more distinctive. He might not actually do it, but wanted the option.

Lotte was finished prodding at Toushiro's armor by this point, and moved on to Noah.

Noah remained the smallest-looking of the second-year boys, wiry and starved-looking for his height, small enough he should have been thoroughly intimidated. But he matched Lotte's smirk with one of his own, and by the time she turned to him, he was leaning non-nonchalantly on an elbow on his device. "Ready, sensei?"

"What do you think, Noah-kun?"

He chuckled, his grin grew a little wider, and he said not a word as the processor core flashed once, and a blue light blinded everyone for a moment. When it cleared, Noah was upright, holding a long pole-arm. The haft was just shy of two meters, with a fifty centimeter blade half fixed to the pole, half extended beyond the end. Opposite the blade was a boxy arrangement, including a trio of vent cylinders, around a light blue gem. "Corregidor," he said after a moment, flipping the device to rest flat in his hands.

Lotte was outright glaring at him, "When did you really activate it? You were supposed to wait for class!"

"I did," Noah said, grinning back at her, "but no one said we had to speak the pass-phrase. The processor cores are capable of short-range telepathy pre-activation, they have to be in order to impress from the wielder. So I 'pathed the phrase, and Corregidor accepted it. Voila, device activated. Oh, yes, Corregidor, Blast Armor."

At least this time no one stared at Yussef. Noah's armor followed the pattern Luke and Toushiro set. The symbol over his heart was a simple cross in front of crossed sword and staff, and he, too, had his Myrmidon pin on his left shoulder. Aside from the blue color of the armor, the only difference Yussef could spot was that it looked harder than Toushiro's or Luke's.

"Ugh, you boys are so boring!" Lotte played up her exasperation, but took to poking and prodding at Noah's armor just like she had the others. After two pokes, though, she was truly frowning, and jabbing at Noah remarkably harder than she had the others. Then she hauled off and punched him right in the chest.

To Yussef's surprise, Noah moved precisely one step, staggering back a little. He did not even rock from the impact, just took that one step back and started looking worried. "Um, Sensei? Something wrong?"

"Wrong?" Lotte's frown became a grimace, "That's not wrong, it's ridiculous! A barrier jacket is supposed to be a final defense, strong but flexible and maneuverable, it's one of the most efficient defenses ever devised, in terms of energy-use and attention needed. But this thing!" She gestured theatrically at Noah, "this thing's almost as tough as a workroom shield! I'm getting nothing through it, nothing at all!" Then her smirk returned, "Guess playing punching bag for Allison was worth it, huh? We're going to have to test this, Noah-kun, see just how much it slows you down, and just how tough it really is. Allison, day after tomorrow the three of us'll set some time aside, right?"

Yussef smiled at the ribbing that followed that comment, but was just as happy. If Noah's barrier jacket was that strong, his shields should be even stronger, which was perfectly fine. Noah had repeatedly demonstrated that he was more than capable of protecting his teammates and using those shields in surprisingly creative ways. He was a becoming a little over-specialized, in Yussef's opinion, but that was not necessarily a bad thing. "Go easy on him, Allison," Yussef asked loudly, "he's got to work on showing the rest of us how to do it."

"I've never not gone easy on him," Allison said, "but I'm not about to baby the beanpole."

"Be nice, Ally," Noah countered, "or I'll tell 'em about that story about your little brother."

Allison stiffened slightly, glaring, "I told you no such story."

"Children," Lotte interrupted, jabbing Noah's armor again, "I'm allowed to pick on you, you aren't allowed to pick on each other. Okay, Noah, you're good for now. So next would be Ichigo, the last of today's keniggets."

Ichigo opened his mouth to reply, then patently thought better of it and just shook his head. Settling his hand on his device's processor core, his pass phrase was simple. "To my friends, to my father and family, to the traditions which make us what we are, Semper Fidelis. Prove yourself worthy of that standard, Masamune."

When the red glow faded, Ichigo had a long-bladed sword in his hand. It was heavier than any katana blade, easily eight centimeters wide at the base, but followed the same gentle single-edged curve. There was no armored disc, though the shape of the tsuba was suggestive of it. A cylindrical magazine was mounted on the pommel.

Without waiting for Lotte's order, Ichigo loaded his test cartridge, to the same error as Luke and Toushiro, then ordered, "Masamune, Valor Ward." The armored portion of Ichigo's barrier jacket was a deeper red than Luke's, and had the US Marines' globe and anchor on his left chest, Ichigo's Myrmidon pin on his right shoulder.

Lotte prowled around him twice, arms crossed. She first tested his armor as she was finishing her second circuit, a surprise jab into his shoulder, then continued around, poking and prodding with abandon. "Hmm, you, Ichigo, are in dire need of Noah's help. This is barely up to standard."

"Yeah, but I bet I'm faster than he is," Ichigo countered. "I know I'm quicker at getting shields up and spells off. Sure his are tougher, but that won't matter if he gets hit before his shields go up."

"Really? How does your fearless leader feel about that?"

"Ichigo does better in an assault role," Yussef answered, "so, in general, I would prefer that he be faster, rather than tougher. We'll see if he's right today, and especially on Sunday."

Ichigo grimaced at the implied workout, but nodded. "Don't worry about it, Yussef, I'll handle whatever you throw at me."

"Yeah, yeah, loyal to the last and all that," Lotte interrupted, "you need to toughen up that barrier jacket. I'm not training targets. Work on that while I handle the rest of your fellow jarheads."

"I am not a jarhead," Marcel objected primly. "I am a highly trained mage and Myrmidon." Then he broke the image by grinning at Lotte.

"You're something all right," Lotte agreed. "You ready?"

"Nope."

Lotte checked at that, then huffed, "Brat. Too bad, today's the day. Go on, it won't bite... but I might, if you keep me waiting for the show."

"Ever with honor, in support of my allies and goals, stand at my side, Arondight." Marcel's device formed itself into a sword, almost a cross between Levantine and the Hellblade. It was a double-edged sword, with a blade almost as long as he was tall and a massive two-handed grip. The blade was set into a green gem, which was the center of a sharply angled S-shaped cross-guard that, on one side, reached halfway down the grip. The sheer scale of it would have been laughable, if not for the fact that Marcel was staring at it in utter shock.

"Wow," Lotte muttered, "you competing with Takashi?"

"Um, not by intent," Marcel answered, "but... apparently I am."

"Does it feel heavy? Unwieldy?" Lotte actually hefted the blade, the first time she touched one of their devices. "It should form itself to your personality, and be comfortable to hold."

"It feels fine," Marcel said, "it's just... nothing I expected. I was aiming for a sword, sure, but... this is a bit big."

"So long as it isn't unwieldy, you should give it a chance," Lotte said. "Reformatting an activated device is somewhat difficult. Not really hard, just finicky and delicate. So, give it a chance, and if it proves a bother, we can fix it later. For now, barrier jacket."

"Hai, sensei," Marcel responded, but sounded doubtful, "Arondight, Roland." Marcel's armor was a deep green, almost black, with a fleur-de-lis backed by two swords, one single-blade, one twin-blade picked out in white. He was also the first to change something else, swapping out the white shirt for gray and the pants for black to match the boots.

"Not bad," Lotte allowed, performing her usual tests on the barrier jacket, "not as happy as the rainbow crew behind me, but not bad."

Marcel twitched and almost glared at her for a moment, then shook his head and forced a grin, "Don't want to make the boss too nervous. He might fire one of us."

Lotte chuckled at that, "Maybe one of the boys, but he can't very well fire his brain, now can he? Not bad, Marcel. Which leaves one last student for today," she turned slowly, "Well, Mariachi-kun? Is the last of the Myrmidons ready to face the music?"

"I'm always ready for music," Mariachi replied, "here, I'll prove it." Mariachi did not move to touch his device, merely closed his eyes, following in Toushiro's footsteps. His activation was also somewhat longer than the others. The processor core began to glow first, then the light spread to the components of the device. As it became too bright to see through, Yussef could hear something, sounds, which rapidly rose into the audible range. It may have been Mariachi's activation phrase, but it was not his voice – rather, it sounded like an entire chorus, singing in German, backed up by an orchestra.

"Seid umschlungen, Millionen!

Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!

Brüder, über'm Sternenzelt

Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen.

Seid umschlungen,

Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!

Freude, schöner Götterfunken

Tochter aus Elysium,

Freude, schöner Götterfunken!"

By the time the last voice faded away, Mariachi's device was fully awake, resting across his shoulders and chest. It looked almost like an American football harness, only sleeker and more compact, and a surprisingly bright green. There was a case on the back, in the center of which was a large deep green gem-stone.

"Left his hands free," Yussef noted with a smirk. "I'd bet against Chen-chi, it's so he can keep a guitar handy."

"I would have though the device would be a guitar," Hayate replied.

Yussef shook his head, "No, not Mariachi. Magic and Music are separate to him. They go together okay, but it's like flying and fighting are for Laura – complimentary, but fun separately as well."

"Interesting choice, Mariachi," Lotte allowed, reaching out to test the device's fit by almost jerking Mariachi off his feet. "This thing have a name?"

"El Corazon," Mariachi answered, "as deep as the connection is supposed to be, it seemed appropriate."

"Cute," Lotte said. "Barrier jacket?"

"Dampener," Mariachi replied. The gem on his back flashed, and a series of chords sounded, descending and softening into silence. Much like Laura's Gaussian Field, Dampener added plates to the existing armor, fully enclosing Mariachi's chest, and wrapping his arms and legs in more solid sections of armor, joined by a flexible body suit with integral pads over knees, elbows and gut.

That got everyone staring at Yussef again, but he just smiled and sighed loudly, "Thank you, Mariachi. Much better than I expected."

Mariachi actually looked slightly embarrassed at not matching the other guys, and shrugged. "Sorry guys but... I know you're all focused on the Circles and Al Hanthis, but it won't last forever, and the music..."

"Don't worry about it," Marcel smiled at him, "at least you aren't stuck with a monstrous pig-sticker. To each their own."

"I'm still a Myrmidon," Mariachi protested.

"No one's saying you aren't," Yussef reassured him. "Quite the opposite. Every military has different branches, Mariachi, different roles for people to fill. Believe me, I'm just as glad to have some variety in the group, you were all starting to make me nervous. Clones of me would be better than clones of the ditz, but that's not saying much."

"Just imagine how much fun a clone of both of you would be," Lotte countered. "Now, since you boys have finished stage one and your armor is up," she gestured towards the far end of the workroom, and structures began rising out of the floor, "I've prepared a little group test. It's similar in many ways to the obstacle course that Signum built, and the courses Yussef's been putting you through. Here, though, you're going to find out just how much different a device makes."

The course that formed appeared simple. It was a series of rings floating in the air, set into a long loop that started by Luke, went almost to the far wall, then looped back and forth to create an 'M' shape that ended by Mariachi. The height of each ring varied, just a little, creating a roller-coaster effect, and surrounding the course were a number of small targets in red, green and yellow.

As a zeroed timer appeared in the center of the room, Lotte explained, "The objective, obviously, is to complete the course in the minimum possible time and hit as many targets as possible. The trick is two-fold. Each time you slip off course, out of line with the rings, you are docked ten seconds. Each of the red targets requires a buster spell utilizing at least twice as much power as you have used in class previously. Each of the green targets requires a buster spell utilizing less power than you have used in class previously. Each of the yellow targets requires either a binding spell or a containment shield, your choice.

"This is not going to be easy, boys. Nee-chan and I can complete this course in under a minute, every target hit. We expect you to do it in two. You can pick and choose when and how to hit the targets, shots from across the room will count just as much as those from point-blank range. But you have to follow the course, stay in the path, and get it done quick. This is not so much to push you, as to show you the differences your individual devices create. Flight is going to be much easier, but you are going to have to overcome old reflexes. Same with the busters spells, bindings, and shields.

"First time through is easy, all you have to worry about is the course and the targets. Second time the same, but the third time…" She smirked wide enough to show her fangs, "the third time the targets will be shooting back! Now, since he's conveniently placed right next to the start, let's have Luke go first."

"Zafira-sensei's going to be sorry he missed this," Yussef commented as Luke took the air. The Australian repeated Yussef's first-flight mistake and almost rammed the ceiling, but corrected much more rapidly.

"He'll probably watch the recordings tonight," Hayate replied, "and want to discuss them with you tomorrow."

"Good. I wonder if Lotte-sensei would be willing to let me snitch this program. Or at least the targets, I hadn't thought of differentiating the power level separately like that." Watching his boys take their turns, Yussef was mostly pleased, despite his worries. Their barrier jackets made him uncomfortable, to some extent, and he could see where they were going to need work to adapt to their new devices. But he had to be pleased, generally speaking. They were fully equipped now, and he began thinking of how best to train, now that their major limitation had been removed.

00000

"Excuse me, Colonel? Admiral Dahvid from the Joint Chiefs' office is on the phone, requesting some time."

Hughes looked up from packing and frowned. Lieutenant Addler was getting used to fielding calls from surprisingly high up the chain of command, but looked visibly confused by this one. The current uniformed head of the United States military did not routinely call Army colonels, however politically connected. "Did he say what he wants?"

Addler nodded, "Not fully, sir, but he mentioned an incident involving A... Atlantis."

Hughes grimaced at that, then shooed Addler out the door. "I'll take it here, thank you." A second later, the line went live, "Good morning, Admiral, this is Colonel Hughes. How can I help you, sir?"

The Admiral sounded oddly serious for his first question. "All packed for your move cross-country, Colonel?"

"Halfway there, sir. I'm having to pack up a lot more than is usual, but should be done on time today, barring any emergencies."

"Leave the packing to your aide," the Admiral ordered, "I need you in DC now."

That was a surprise, most of the top brass had been ambivalent, at best, about having him closer to DC. They were – justifiably – worried about his loyalty to the Army and Armed Forces. "Sir?"

"An old six-eighty-eight boat, USS San Jose was on patrol in the western Indian Ocean until about eight hours ago. We received a priority message that the boat had come under attack from biologicals, and then ten minutes later the distress beacon. The Reagan and her battle-group were on patrol in the Gulf, and are now moving south for SAR, but we have reason to believe, based on other sources, that Atlantis' forces may have been involved. The Navy needs tactical advice, and the President needs any advice he can get. There's an Air Force jet waiting for you at the airport. Pack a day bag and have your aide finish the packing."

"Biologicals, sir? We – the Circles, that is – had reports of a force of Seed of Leviathan leaving Atlantis yesterday, that's probably what attacked the San Jose."

"We figured, but we still need advice on how to fight the damn things, and how to conduct SAR in the area without loosing more ships. Get to that plane, Colonel."

"Yes, sir." Different service or not, only flag officers argued with flag officers. Hanging up after the Admiral, Hughes shouted, "Addler!" His door opened, but before Addler could speak, Hughes carried on, "Finish packing my gear here, Addler, I've been ordered to DC soonest. If you have any questions, box it up, mark it 'classified', and I'll sort it out on the other end."

"Yes sir."

"Also, do me a favor and call motor pool, I need transport to the Air National Guard base immediately."

"Yes, sir."

Addler disappeared, and Hughes picked up the phone, dialing from memory. While it rang, he began pulling together the personal effects he would need – phone, planner, PDA, the usual. When it picked up, he said, "Sam? Gareth."

"Hughes. What can I do for you?"

Hughes winced at Sam's tone, reminded again of how distant his friend had grown since Hayate's counter-attack. Sam supported him, but was not very comfortable about it. "I need a favor. My move to DC has been stepped up, and I won't have time to pack up all the Circle materials I need to bring with me. Can you finish it up and ship it to me? The planned channels will work, I just don't have time to do it myself."

"I can handle that," Sam answered, "Jennifer will help. How soon do you need to be there, will you have time to give us some specific directions?"

"Afraid not. Seed apparently attacked a Navy sub in the Indian Ocean. The Joint Chiefs want me in DC to hold their hands and reassure them, and I can't really refuse. As soon as I hang up with you, I'm catching a car to the airport."

"Damn, they really are scared."

"Sub was attacked and apparently sunk," Hughes commented. "The Navy takes that sort of thing a little personally."

"Christ," Sam sounded horrified. "I'm sorry, Hughes. We'll get everything packed up and shipped soonest. Will you need any of us out there?"

Having his circle with him would have made Hughes far happier, but he was not willing to disrupt all their lives when it was not really necessary. "Don't know yet, but I appreciate the offer. I'll let you know."

Ten minutes later he was in the back of a staff car, pulling out his cellphone. Maunders' number was still programmed, she was too useful to completely let go. He almost regretted calling her when she answered, though.

She picked up the phone and, before he could say anything, said, "Hello, Colonel Grand Master."

It was plainly obvious she was angry about something, and he remembered too late that he had meant to call her earlier and warn her. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he said, "Hello, Maunders. I take it Hayate's been by already?"

"Signum, actually. She said the most amazing things, sir."

"They need a liaison, Maunders, and you're the only one that I can trust that far. I meant to call you earlier, but I'm in the middle of moving myself. And we have bigger problems."

"Hong Kong."

Hughes twitched, "What?"

"Signum is convinced that Al Hanthis' next target is Hong Kong. Is she wrong?"

"Maybe not. A US submarine was sunk earlier today by Seed, in the Indian Ocean. I would appreciate it if you would let Hayate know, and arrange a time for me to talk to her directly."

"You could call her directly, sir, she prefers that."

"You prefer that, and I'd rather establish the precedent of going through you early."

Maunders sighed, "All right, sir, I'll pass it on. We going to do something this time?"

"Cairo was too fast," Hughes answered. "If they're waiting for Seed to swim all the way, we have time to get ready for Hong Kong. Time we'll use to turn that city into a meat-grinder, with or without Hayate."

00000

Author's Note: When the Persian Emperor demanded the Greeks (there were more than just Spartans) guarding the pass of Thermopylae surrender and give up their arms, their response was two words – Molon Labe. Roughly translated, it means 'come and take them'. The phrase is the motto of the modern day Greek First Army Corp, and seems a fitting attitude for Yussef's Myrmidons.

Author's Note the Second: I'm a little unhappy with this chapter, mostly for the repetitive nature of the activation scene. Six at once is too many, but at the same time I could not see any of the boys agreeing to go separately. Not so much 'I want to go first' as 'I don't want to leave them behind' or 'I don't want the others thinking I'm arrogant'. While the boys are as competitive as any other teen, they're not that competitive. So all of them got to go at once, and the personalities of their devices will come through later. With regard to the variations between Al Hanthis and Atlantis used above, that is deliberate on my part – different people will refer to the city using different terms, depending primarily on how 'Terran' they are. Non-mages will usually use the mythological name, while Hayate's people generally use the city's real name, and the Circles will vary greatly. Also, for your edification, here are the origins of the boys' device names:

Catalpa – After the whaling ship Catalpa. Irish Phineans in America hired and crewed the ship to help them break out some comrades who had been condemned by the British to life-sentences in Australia, using whaling as a cover. Arguably the most famous 'break out' from Australia, certainly got themselves a fun song out of it. Sailed from New England to Australia, picked up two or three escaped prisoners, outran a steam-driven patrol boat, and returned to New England... without ever catching a single whale:). Luke's activation phrase is a reference to the Australian Aborigines' myths of the Dreamtime.

Daikyu – the asymmetrical Japanese long-bow.

Corregidor – An island in Manila Bay, pre-WWII it was a small fortress. When the Japanese invaded the Philippines in WWII, the Corregidor garrison was one of the last to surrender.

Masamune – a reference to the greatest sword-smith of Japanese history. Fits Ichigo's dual-nationality outlook better than the original idea for a device-name: Ma Deuce (for the M2 .50 machine gun developed for the US military prior to WWII, and still in use today).

Arondight – Sir Lancelot's sword in Arthurian myth.

El Corazon – Spanish for 'the heart'. The lyrics are the last chorus of the Ode to Joy, 4th movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony. The lyrics fall within the public domain, and are thus permitted under FFN's current rules.

00000

Tombadgerlock: Thank you for the compliment, and I don't think the end will be bad, but then, I'm a twisted bastard. You'll have to wait and see.

CrimsonDX: You should see the movie (or at least read the book, A.C. Clark is incredible), but yeah, HAL's thoroughly pervaded the popular consciousness. And yes, Allina's device does have movie-HAL's creepy monotone voice.

Shinjai: I have plans for Allina and Niranjana, even as soon as Hong Kong. Natalia will have part of her day in the next chapter, and all of them should get a chance to shine at Hong Kong. The future quotes will begin making a little more sense in a couple chapters, as the Dark Witch's identity will be revealed in a few chapters. The Emperor's identity is going to take longer to get to, though.

Baughn: Speed of hacking is mostly dependent on familiarity with the system, and Niranjana and Allina know one another's computers backwards and forwards. As far as hacking those two devices, devices are actually very easy to protect, as Hayate demonstrated. So are computers, so long as you're willing to completely disconnect them from any networks. Computers are almost useless if not networked, but devices remain fully-functional. It's things like Bureau ships, Terran networks, and any such networked technologies that are vulnerable. Thanks for the information on Subaru, as well. The Al Hanthis implants are nowhere near that extreme – details on those are planned for Hong Kong.

pfeil: I'm afraid last chapter is probably about as detailed as I'll ever get with the computer activity. There will be more scenes of similar content, but not much more in the way of details. I'm an MCSA myself, so I know enough to be dangerous (to my own systems more than anyone else's:), but despite 'Jana and Allina, I'm not really writing a hacking story. Maybe a Side Story of them getting into something they shouldn't... I do have some ideas for Nanoha and the kids, though I'm not sure how much I'll detail it.

Kell Shock: Glad you liked it, but there was some serious stuff last chapter, as well... somewhere. Unless you were laughing at some of the ironies I've been setting up? Glad you liked it, either way.

A006: Glad you liked the computer descriptions, but I didn't think there was that much detail – if you're studying C++ you know more about programming than I do. I know enough of the hacking from studying networks to know how it works. Allina and Niranjana will handle the electronic and cyber warfare, but those are going to function somewhat differently in a mage-battle than their conventional forms. I'm not familiar with Negima – not enough to catch your reference, at least – but the devices don't run on batteries, they run on people. The duo can hack 'traditional' networks, and the ability of their devices to operate independently and to multi-task, as well as their sheer computational speed, will make them frighteningly effective at it. But the Al Hantheans don't use traditional networks, they have their own versions, that even the Bureau won't be familiar with. Activating the Alpha's is not painful, Szash took no damage, it's just disgusting (imagine sticking your hand in the mouth of a panting dog, for example, and letting it lick your hand while you do. Ew.), and she is personally uncomfortable with using the Seed. Cidela's power is true healing, whereas I gather from elsewhere that Inoue's is manipulation of reality, but yes, Cid-chan is very powerful. Note, however, that she and Shamal thought they might be able to regenerate his arm – awesome of them just to contemplate it, let alone accomplish it. As for Hong Kong, there's at least one more chapter before that kicks off, to get the last of the second-years' devices activated.

Advent000: Niranjana and Allina will have some odd-ball tactics, should be fun. The Alphas won't be that much different from regular Seed, just bigger and tougher. And yes, some of the consequences Yussef and Noriko were trying to avoid, with Ekavir and Niranjana, are happening. It's a still-resolving situation.

AluciusDawn: I've been addicted to TVTropes for over a year now, thanks to someone (can't remember who, unfortunately) who reviewed Academy Blues. Still kind of embarrassed this is recommended over there, I'm not trying hard enough for it to be that good. Oh well, at least I haven't been flamed yet... Regardless, I'm glad you're enjoying this, and thanks for the review. Regarding Nanoha's absence, when I started this way back in PoV, I was just more attached to Hayate – she had more potential for going off in strange directions. The first two series did too good a job defining Nanoha and Fate, compared to Hayate. I don't dislike Nanoha, I just had more room to work with Hayate and her Knights. Keeping the large number of characters individual and interesting is difficult, but worth it. The trick is to have a few defining characteristics for each character, and stick to them whenever they show up. Laura, for instance, is always eager, fast, intuitive, almost obsessed with combat, and doesn't use real names if she can help it. I keep similar lists for each character, and hers is actually more extensive than what I just listed. I don't pull it up each time I write her lines, but the lists are always there in the back of my head. As far as being believably unpredictable, I think it was Orson Scott Card who said in one of his books on writing, 'surprise only works when you tell the reader ahead of time.' Or words to that effect. Basically, whenever I have a big surprise, I always try to work in hints and clues, or even outright warnings, in places where it makes sense. The return of Al Hanthis is the clearest example – there were hints and suggestions all the way back in the prologue, though I did resort to some dirty tricks to keep the surprise. There are a few things that are more subtle, such as who the Dark Witch is, or Hughes' membership in the Circles in Academy Blues, or Kriegsen in all three stories. With the zoom, it's a compromise I'm still trying to figure out how to balance. I don't really like doing 'large sweeping scenes', I prefer focusing on individual's views, but for the scale of these stories, especially Endless Waltz, I have to show some big scenes just to clarify why a lot of things are happening. It's not entirely conscious, but I snitch a lot of the style for that from David Weber, trying to have characters in situations where they have to stand back and contemplate the larger picture. As for the Side Stories, reviews and the like, I've found that separating things out like that helps me clarify and remember things in my own mind, and the Side Stories often give me ideas for tweaks to the main stories (such as Allina and Niranjana's relationship, that first occurred to me with the first Side Story). I'm glad it helps, though I do wish it wasn't as necessary for the 'full picture' (that 'All There In The Manual' entry is a pet peeve... I hate it when authors do that!). All in all, thank you for the compliments, and for the review. I hope you enjoy what's coming.

Lady Sekhmet Ka: Hacking the Shiva would be more of a fun run than serious. Allina and Niranjana will be focused elsewhere shortly. As for HAL, yeah that's deliberately done for creepiness, just because it's how Allina would think – a dangerous and powerful computer in complete control of its surroundings, answerable only to her! I almost had her name it SHODAN, after another more murderous computer, but I'm more familiar with HAL. Here's the new chapter, and thanks for the review!