Endless Waltz
By: Daishi Prime
-25 – Save Tonight-
Maunders stalked into the conference room like she was entering a barracks full of discipline cases. Which, in a way, she was. Every mage beyond those doors was a Revenant, tacitly if not actively. The Moderns' contribution to Hong Kong's defense was due in that afternoon, and by agreement would be subordinate to the locals, who were in turn supposed to be subordinate to Hayate, which meant Maunders. Armed with nothing but a sidearm and a folder, she was quite confident.
The low rumble of voices cut off almost instantly, and every face in the room turned towards her. Most were flat non-expressions, but a few were actively hostile. Maunders felt the hatred and anger, and actually welcomed it. Mages or not, these people needed to be brought under control, just like any pack of unruly recruits, and she knew just how to do it. Their anger just made it easier for her to justify being as blunt and harsh as she planned to be.
Taking advantage of the Mandarin Aria had stuffed into her head that morning, Maunders announced, "I am First Sergeant Teri Maunders, United States Army, Journeywoman mage, and liaison to Hayate Yagami." Striding up to the head of the room, she continued, "Miss Yagami, by agreement of the People's Republic of China and the Circles, has been granted command of the defense of Hong Kong. Now, Miss Yagami is extremely busy, coordinating the evacuation and planning the defense of this city, and has thus left you unruly children in my care. I am here to give you your places and responsibilities, and answer any questions. You are here to receive your orders and follow them."
The glares hardened, but Maunders actually welcomed the challenge. She could handle disobedient subordinates, especially proud ones. Proud ones didn't know how to pretend to fill their rolls while sabotaging the mission. One of the older mages, one she had displaced at the head of the table, crossed his arms and tried to loom over her. "Know your place, journeywoman."
She turned to face him, and actually smiled. A challenge for command was easily handled, given the situation. She had no need to be diplomatic, despite her position, only to get obedience. Diplomacy would come later, once the Revenants were suitably afraid of her. "My place, Mister Zhei, is giving you the orders you will follow. If you have a problem with that," dropping the folder on the table, she flipped it open, and extended one of the narrow strips of paper inside towards Zhei, "here you go."
He sneered at the paper, "What is that supposed to be?"
"A first class ticket to Washington DC. I figure you would rather give yourself to Hughes' questionable mercy than to Hayate's. Those are your choices, because I am here on both their orders. You are here to follow those orders, and if you refuse, you will face their justice. Your choice is Hughes' justice," she waved the ticket, "or Hayate's," she gestured out the conference room's windows, where a young girl in black high-tech looking armor floated, ten stories up.
Laura, for her part, grinned maniacally and waved. 'Need some help, Teri-san?'
Maunders shook her head, but was unsure if Laura saw it. She had no idea how they managed telepathy, and was not sure she wanted any idea.
'Okay then, I'll be moving on. Sensei wants me to scout the infantry positions with the girls, but if you need help, just yell. We'll hear.' Then the crazy girl just dropped, like someone cut the line she was hanging from, vanishing from view.
The room shuddered in collective fear and horror. The girl was unmistakable. Some of the survivors from the Kyoto attack had reported the black-armored demon-spawn, and rumors about her and her fellow Fallen Angels were favorite topics amongst all the Circles.
"Make your choice, Master Adept," Maunders ordered. "Me, Hughes, or them. Me? I'll get you killed defending Creation from Hell itself. Hughes will have you executed for treason. Hayate? You don't want to think about what her people will do to you." Mostly because they'll forgive you and guilt-trip you into helping in spite of yourself, but you don't need to know that. That young woman's worse than my mother, with the sad eyes and disappointed tone…
Most of the others sort of relaxed back, removing themselves from the confrontation without moving. It was a reaction Maunders was used to. Troops with discipline problems who challenged their superior often did the same, when the challenge was answered, seeking to avoid punishment. Zhei noticed the sudden lack of support, but gave in to his own pride. "I'm no heretic's pawn," he growled, hand coming up glowing with power.
Maunders was far from the fastest person in the world, but with only Zhei to worry about, she saw the move coming, and matched his spell for her sidearm. "Twelve in the clip, one up the spout," she told him, "every one of them spelled to a fair-thee-well to go right through your shields. Dismantle your spell and behave, or I'll make you an object lesson, traitor."
Zhei's sneer became rather weaker, but he was obviously debating it, when a black arm slid around his neck, twisting tight and chocking off his air. For a minute, the three of them stood there, Zhei struggling with increasing weakness. When he went still, the man behind Zhei dropped him negligently, and sniffed disdainfully. Maunders got a look at his face, and very nearly pulled the trigger. "Early," she said, "What the hell are you doing here?"
Jubal Early nudged Zhei with a toe, then muttered disdainfully, "Pathetic. Should've snapped his neck."
"You were ordered to disable him, Jubal," Thorngrave commented from the door, "which you did. Good job."
Early shrugged, "Still should've killed him. Whatever, more challenge this way, I guess, but would've been more efficient to take him out completely. His kind never learn."
Leaving the gun pointed at Early, Maunders turned to find the rest of the Black Dogs already in the room, Thorngrave leaning against the room's long wall, to either side of the doors. They had not been there when she arrived, so they had to have followed her in, but she would have sworn no one did that. "Thorngrave," she growled, "control your animal. Where's Schuster and what are you doing here this soon?"
Thorngrave just grinned at her, "I am controlling him. You might want to stop pointing a gun at him, though. If you shoot him, you'll just make him mad."
"Early, go wait by the door with the rest of your team." Maunders growled, holstering her sidearm very carefully. Of all the Dogs, Early was the only one she distrusted, mostly because he terrified her like Hayate and her crew never had. "Thorngrave, what are you doing here?"
He shrugged, "Did you know that a screaming General can violate the laws of physics? Hughes pulled some strings with some Air Force pretty-boys, and got us priority routing out here. Not the most comfortable – the C-130 out of Kentucky was older than I am, which is saying something – but fast. Hughes thought you could use a little extra muscle, to keep the children," he waved at the gathered Revenants, "from misbehaving."
"Fine, stand there and pretend to be dangerous. The rest of you," Maunders swept her gaze over her audience, and held up the ticket again. "The same options applies for each of you. Me, Hughes, or Yagami. My way offers a chance to do what we're trained to, to save the human race a second time. Hughes offers a relatively dignified death. Yagami offers what she offers all her enemies. Any takers on those last two options?"
No one moved forward to take a ticket, so after a minute, she dropped the ticket and begin passing out sheets of paper. "Good, because however much I may dislike the lot of you, you're going to be the first organized Circle response to Al Hanthis since the bastards got themselves banished in the Cataclysm. You've got thousands of years of tradition and history to live up to, and I'm not going to let you disappoint.
"The Al Hanthis assault force consists of approximately one thousand Seed of Leviathan, currently en route by ocean. There are submarines trailing them, and they are a little under a day away. The Al Hanthis Guard is also expected, but in unknown numbers. As Cairo demonstrated, they could very easily bring as many mages as Seed, but we expect fewer.
"The plan is this. Half the Circle forces will form wolfpacks. The Master Adept packs will provide high-cover and combat the Guard, under the direct command of Yagami and her Knights. The Adept packs and any Master packs will provide low-level support to the People's Liberation Army. The infantry will do most of the work fighting the Seed, the wolfpacks will provide heavy-lift support magic – shields, evac of wounded, tracking the Seed, and such like, as well as dealing with any Guard mages that provide close-support to the Seed. Those supporting the infantry will be under the command of General Liu, and he will have Circle advisors he has been vary carefully instructed to listen to. The Black Dogs, both Team One and the two follow-on teams, will provide reserve and reinforcement to the troops, again under General Liu's command. The rest of the mages will provide battle-field support – Ammunition to the troops, watching for other enemy forces, medical support, communication.
"Those of you on close-support duty and reserve duty, will be working with Yagami's students. Some will be providing communications and medical support, the girl you just saw out the window will be with top support, but the majority will be with the Adept wolfpacks. Keep that in mind, and do keep in mind that they are much more experienced than they were in February. You may think this is an opportunity to cheap-shot one or two and blame it on the fog of war, but believe me, those kids will wipe the floor with any wolfpack at your level. And then I'll get my hands on you, for making my job harder, and then Yagami can have what's left.
"Questions? No? Good, on to specifics then. Who's the highest ranked Master Adept and Adept, other than Zhei?"
00000
When Adept Reifenstahl coughed, Liu glanced at him. The mage gestured towards the front of the command tent, so Liu looked in that direction. He should probably have set up in the city's emergency management center, but it would have taken too long to adapt it for his communications and plotting gear. Setting up under a field command tent in a park on Hong Kong Island, with the sides rolled up for air, was faster. It also impressed upon his staff that, Hong Kong though this was, this was no drill, no exercise. Also, the view across the harbor into the city was inspiring.
Making their way through the crowd of staff were two young boys, barely old enough to shave, by his guess. They were wearing some sort of leather uniform, and each had what looked to be a ridiculous sword strapped to their backs, the follower's large enough he was having trouble maneuvering among the equipment and personnel. One was a European, but the other was an Arab, possibly African, and neither had any business whatsoever in Hong Kong.
"Heretics," Reifenstahl snarled.
That identified them for Liu, but even so he could not help starting a little. These kids are our 'strong support'? What idiot thought this was a good idea?
The two boys reached the map table, and the Arab managed a credible, if western, salute. "Yussef Al Khan," he said in passable Mandarin, "commander of Yagami Hayate's Myrmidons."
Liu matched the salute, seeing no reason to insult the boy if even half of what he had heard was true. "General Liu, People's Liberation Army. You're part of our mage support?"
Yussef looked back at him steadily, and shook his head. "Not quite, General. Adept Reifenstahl is your mage support. You have my apologies, but after last year, our teachers refuse to place us under another's command, however friendly. Therefore we are... independent reserves, you might say. We'll go where we're needed, and we'll accommodate ourselves to your plans and actions, but we are not under your command."
"In which case," Liu said, "I'll have to ask you and your boys to take yourselves elsewhere. This is China. It will be defended by the People's Army, not a bunch of vigilantes."
Yussef actually cracked a slight smile. "I understand your reservations, General, better than you might think. But I'm afraid we're not leaving. Much as your training and honor demands you defend this city, you do not have the requisite skills and experience in this specific instance. I would never presume to tell you how to fight a conventional foe, but these are Seeds of Leviathan backed up by Guard mages. We've fought Seed, we've fought mages, and quite successfully, as your own country has experienced to your detriment."
Liu felt a flash of anger at that reference, even though he had never in his life been anywhere near Lanzhou, let alone to the special research base next to the Circle's Asian headquarters. The entire incident had been humiliating for the PLA, and not just because their forces had been defeated. They had been duped, and knew it, and a private organization had very nearly begun a war over something as insignificant as a Japanese school.
But anger had no place in a General's mind, and he ignored the feeling. "Threatening me is not a good way to gain my cooperation."
"I'm not threatening you, General," Yussef countered, "but only a fool refuses to admit defeat. We defeated you at Lanzhou, but defeat provides lessons to be learned, so long as it is not final. We, in turn, learned a great deal, from each of our engagements with the Circles. You and your troops have never fought mages, General. You've never fought Seed. We've done both. And as I said, we will accommodate ourselves to your plans. But if we tell you something will not work, ignoring us would be like ignoring the engineer that tells you a bridge is too damaged to use. You might be able to get across it, but more likely it will collapse under you.
"We're not here to undermine your command, General, and if it were up to me, we would be assigned to you as support, under your authority. But our teachers – rightly so – trust no one but themselves with our safety." He grimaced slightly and shared a look with his companion, "To be entirely honest, they don't even trust us with our safety. Each of us has been tagged with an emergency teleport, which any of the teachers can activate at will from any range. It'll jerk us out of whatever situation we're in and drop us back on the campus in the medical office."
"So what you're saying is, I'm stuck with a wild card consisting of a handful of children," Liu commented.
"Pretty much, sir."
Liu stared at him in silence for a minute or so, turning it over in his mind. His superiors had told him to expect reinforcement from the Yagami woman, of course, and that he should cooperate with her and attempt to mitigate any disagreements between her people and the Circles. Hong Kong was important, not their petty foreign rivalries. It galled, putting a Japanese woman in charge of defending one of China's foremost cities, but Liu could see the both the practicality and irony in it.
Of more immediate concern was this boy in front of him. He stood solidly enough, had not even flinched at Liu's obvious displeasure. Liu did not know Yussef well enough to read him closely, but the boy presented a calm enough front, far more than Liu expected from anyone his age. The fact that his teachers trusted him in battle was equally telling, as meeting several of them over the preceding days had convinced Liu that, whatever they were, they were veterans.
If I get rid of him now, they'll just be hovering about overhead tomorrow, Liu thought, which essentially guarantees they'll cause just as much chaos as I'm worried about. If I keep him around, he'll know what to do, I'll be able to plan around him somewhat, but it'll put Reifenstahl's back up, and annoy the men. "Since I'm stuck with you, make yourself useful," he said. "Where are the rest of your troops?"
"The Myrmidons are scouting the airport and connecting highways," Yussef answered immediately. "The girls are scouting your positions, so they'll know where your troops are. An hour or so longer for each, and they'll switch. Allina and Niranjana are at the emergency management center, working on communications, Natalia and Cidela are checking up on the hospitals, regular and field. The teachers are currently placing wards and monitoring spells around the city, all of which will be monitored from our campus. Tai-yu can relay information instantly to any of us, using the campus systems."
"Scouting my positions? Almost sounds hostile."
Yussef shook his head, "Practical, sir. We're going to be looking for things in the terrain that you and your men, even the Circles, won't think of. For instance, we're looking for buildings that have minimal interior bracing and structure. We can blow through them quicker than go around them, and more easily use them for ammunition."
The captain that escorted them, still standing behind them, coughed aloud at that, "Ammunition?"
The other boy gave him a smile, "Best way to stop a Seed is to hit it with something much, much larger than it is. A building should do nicely."
Liu thought, for just a moment, that they were joking. Kids their age did not know how to make light in a battlefield situation. But the two boys shared a grin and muttered, "Luke's Castle," then chuckled. Liu had no idea what the reference was about, but the easy familiarity, the 'falling wall' gesture the other boy made, told him it was serious, something from their experience. "You can pick up a building?"
"That depends on the building," Yussef answered. "We've found a couple of skyscrapers already – incomplete, or getting old enough for demolition. Once we've scouted the city, we'll mark the buildings roughly at each floor, two floors for the narrower structures. Those we're fairly certain we can slice off and drop with reasonable accuracy. Smaller buildings, like a house or something, would be doable as well. The Seed are immune to magic, but that makes them impossible to shield, as well." The other boy leaned in and whispered something to Yussef, who paused for a moment, then nodded. "Can I ask you a question, General?"
Liu nodded, "Go ahead."
"How many more anti-armor weapons and heavy machine-guns are you expecting?"
Liu blinked, then frowned. "Reloads for the anti-tank rockets and missiles, why?"
Yussef shook his head, "You have fifteen thousand men, General, of whom one in five is going to be useful. Reloads are meaningless, especially if your missiles have as much trouble locking onto a Seed as we expect – they're much smaller targets than tanks, and much cooler as well. In the time it will take your men to reload man-portable launchers, the Seed will be on top of them. We've seen submachine guns and a light machine gun engage Seed, of which only the LMG made it bleed. Not stop, mind you, but bleed. Based on the autopsies, we figure an outright anti-tank round will take a Seed down, if it hits.
"You need more heavy weapons. To be honest, you should have brought an armored division, not infantry. For all the trouble maneuvering tanks in a city, the cannons and heavy machine guns would be far more useful, and the armor will stand up to the Seed for a bit. At worst, and with a little luck, you can use a tank to run over a Seed. Your APCs will help, especially the ZBD-Ninety-Sevens and Two-Thousands, but they aren't as tough as an outright tank. Seed will be able to peel them open easily.
The other boy took up the explanation, "In comparison, General, most of your troops are armed with assault rifles, firing five-point-eight millimeter man-killers. Given the high-velocity of the rounds, they'll go through most body armor, which means they may – may – break the skin of a Seed. A full squad, if they hit with most of their shots, would probably knock one down, but it'll just roll into cover and come at them a different way. Some don't even have that, just pistols and sub-machine-guns. Weapons designed to kill humans are insufficient against Seed."
"To be perfectly honest," Yussef said, "you're better equipped than I expected. When I heard your division was infantry, I thought you would have assault rifles and squad automatics with some artillery in the background. What you have is going to work, it's just going to be bloodier than I would prefer. The only serious complaint I have, the one that's going to cause us all problems, is the lack of helicopters. In the presence of air-borne mages to suppress enemy magic," he waved at Reifenstahl, "an attack helicopter is the best weapon for this battle. Maneuverable enough to handle the buildings, accurate as any other weapon, and unreachable by the main threat. Seed don't fly, after all. Without those, your troops are going to have to handle the Seed, and they're going to have to do it at close range."
"There is not an army aviation battalion in range to reach Hong Kong before the battle," Liu commented, "something about which I have complained rather sharply. I must admit to being impressed, however. Your analysis was much more detailed than I expected, and not nearly as insulting as some others I've heard. Let me guess, now you're going to tell me how to deploy my forces."
"Wouldn't dream of it, General," Yussef replied. "Mostly I'm here to introduce myself, see what you're plans are, and ask what the property damage limits are. The buildings we've picked out are optional, but we were also thinking about blocking lanes. Hong Kong has a lot of alleys and service roads. As the Seed will be approaching from the sea, and your forces are deployed to over most of the coast, we were thinking we could drop a few smaller buildings, maybe take down a couple of the marked skyscrapers, and fill those alleys and service roads with debris. It may not stop the Seed from going there – they can probably climb over – but they'll be noisy and slow while they're doing it."
Reifenstahl finally spoke, looking caught between sick and horrified, "Jesus, boy... I know you're a heretic, but how can you be that callous? You're talking about demolishing this city for the Lords! They won't need to attack Hong Kong, you're going to destroy it yourself!"
Yussef's polite look twisted into a slight sneer, remarkably effective for his age. "Don't project your own fears onto me, terrorist. There is a world of difference between a few controlled demolitions and wholesale destruction. Hong Kong is going to be damaged. Economically, the entire world is already being seriously hurt by this idiocy. We are suggesting specific planned destruction that will minimize future damage. If you're bitten in the foot by an asp, and there is no antivenin, you cut off your foot to save your life."
Liu almost let the two of them continue. Between them, their attitudes were making it quite clear that they considered him and his troops to be a side-show. While they tore into each other, he could get some work done while being entertained. But Reifenstahl had done nothing but say what his people would not do, the boy was making suggestions. "I like your idea of barricades – the best we could come up with was piling vehicles, which is taking time. Mao! Get over here." The Colonel stepped away from his computer to stand opposite Liu. "Yussef, this is Colonel Mao, my logistics officer. Talk to him, get him figures on how much you can move how quickly. Mao, we'll be using him and his fellows to build the channeling blocks. See how quick they can get everything in place."
"Marcel," Yussef said, "let me know what you two come up with."
The other boy nodded, and stepped over to Mao, gesturing back towards the Colonel's former post. "Sir?"
"If you don't mind, General," Yussef said, "I would like to review the specific placements of your forces. I won't bother you, but I need to know where to concentrate my own troops."
Liu nodded, "Just don't get in the way, either of you."
Mages, he thought, watching Reifenstahl shrink away as Yussef moved to the same side of the map table. Heavens spare me from would-be starlets. But I'm probably going to be dealing with these lunatics for the rest of my career, aren't I? I'll have to make sure someone from command survives this, if it all goes wrong, to pass on whatever lessons we learn in how to deal with these people.
00000
The evacuation was surprisingly thorough, given how suddenly it had begun, but – naturally – did not go according to plan. Even delayed, though, ninety percent of the population of the city was gone by the end of the last day before the Seed arrived, and those that weren't gone were directly involved in the city's defense – firemen, paramedics, police and the like. The speed was helped along by a draconian policy, enforced by the PLA infantry when they arrived – People went inland, goods went on ship. Any ship still in the harbor by noon of the last day would be towed into the channels and sunk as obstacles. Any people left after sundown on the last day would be arrested as a looter, given a surplus rifle from the police arsenal, and sent to assist in the defense.
The entire mage-force was being put up in the same hotel, to simplify feeding them and making sure the rest of the city was evacuated. Hayate and her people had been given the topmost floor, some twenty stories up, and Ichigo was guiltily aware that this was probably the nicest place he had ever stayed. By the time he got back to it near midnight the day before the Seed were due to arrive, he was in no shape to appreciate it. They had gotten up early for the teleport to Hong Kong, gone to the hotel long enough to get rooms and drop off their overnight supplies and secure their floor, then gotten right to work.
Ichigo was still getting used to Masamune, to the way it eased the drain of magic, but masked what drain there was, still adjusting his spells and expectations to the heightened power. He was better off than Yussef had been the year before, but the training devices did not match the output and flexibility of Masamune. So while simply flying over the city, marking troop positions and probable locations for the circle wolf-packs, had been easy enough, the heavy lifting of the afternoon had not been. Yussef had broken them up into their pairs, and Ichigo had found himself trailing along after Luke. The two of them had been given a building, given a series of locations, and ordered to drop one floor at each location. Their first attempts had been embarrassing, to say the least. The building they had been given depended on its complete structure for its stability, and had almost collapsed before they realized that. Slicing off the floors had not been difficult, but holding them together was very difficult, until they just started crumpling them up into easily-transported rubble balls. Laura, demolishing her own building with Noah, started telepathically humming tunes form Katamari Damarcy sometime in the mid-afternoon, just to make things worse. Ichigo even caught her trying to convince Noah to play catch with some of the rubble piles.
Luke and Ichigo eventually set up a routine. One of them would maintain structural support of the building by using a single shield to tie together the structural members just below the floor being demolished. The other would divide the target floor into manageable sections, and drag them off to their target location. Most of the floors could be handled in two to four trips. Once the targeted floor was demolished, whoever had been demolishing took over support, one floor further down, and the other started their demolition turn. Holding the building gave them a break, it was a single steady drain that required surprising little damage, but good balance of forces. The demolition and transport work was hardest, especially given the PLA troopers who were doing their own set-up work below them. By the time their building was down to street level, he and Luke were both dog tired.
Luke headed off to report to Yussef and get another check of the coastline done, but Ichigo called it a night, with Yussef's telepathic permission. Dragging himself into the lobby of the hotel, he paused on smelling food. The hotel restaurant had been opened up, and was no doubt cooking twenty-four seven to feed the various people using the hotel as a base. Ichigo was caught in a dilemma for a bit, before deciding hunger would keep him from getting any sleep. He found a short line at a buffet, and smiled slightly at the humor of traveling to glamorous Hong Kong just to eat like he did at school, though the food was different.
The only problem with eating now was, everyone in the restaurant were Circle personnel. The best ones simply ignored him. The majority stared with varying degrees of hatred and fear, which was not something he wanted to deal with. So he strolled back out into the lobby, and found one friendly face. Settling onto the couch next to her, he slipped easily into the corrupted Japanese they used at school, "Evening, Natalia. Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
She looked up from her book, left eye still covered by Koschei's patch, the device itself dangling from her free hand in storage mode. "Probably," she agreed, "but something told me you would like some company."
He chuckled, "little late for company. Sure you won't be tired in the morning?"
"You're the one who will be fighting, Ichigo," she said. "I'm just going to be taking care of Cid-chan. Besides, save tonight, for tomorrow will not end how you think."
He froze at that for a moment, before asking, "Have you... seen something?"
She shook her head, "I don't look at anyone like that anymore. But... tomorrow is war, Ichigo, a battle against an unknown force. I will be very surprised if all of us return to school after tomorrow. So, save tonight, make as many good memories as you can."
"Because there may not be any more after tomorrow. Depressing, Natalia."
She shrugged, "But normal. What have you been doing today? Laura said something about blowing up buildings?"
For half an hour or so, the two of them talked while he ate, comparing notes. Natalia had not done as much heavy-lifting as he had, but she had assisted with a few last-minute teleports to the inland refugee camps. Most of her time had been spent in the hospitals, helping Cid-chan and Shamal-sensei prepare them for mage-casualties. She would be with Cid-chan the next day at the PLA field hospital.
By the time he was done eating, they were on to debating the next day. "Poor Cid-chan," Ichigo commented, walking over to put his plate back in the restaurant, "dealing with all those strangers today, and more tomorrow."
Natalia shook her head, "No, she'll be fine tomorrow. Today she hid behind Shamal-sensei, most of the time, and tomorrow she'll have injured to distract her. Though, I'll be honest, I'm glad she's here, traumatic as it's going to be for her. Every injured soldier that gets to her will get to go home, after all."
They were halfway down the hall when a woman called out behind them. "Excuse me, Miss?" Turning, they found a Circle mage frowning at them. She did not look Chinese, so she might have been a Modern, but the two of them still tensed, and Ichigo noticed Natalia's face and posture shifting radically.
Natalia answered, her voice weirdly off, slower and suggestive, "Can we help you?"
The woman's frown deepened, then she stepped a little closer, glancing around to make sure they were alone. "I was wondering... were you at New Delhi in March, Miss?"
Ichigo tensed, hand slipping into his pocket for Masamune's stored form. "And what if we were?"
The woman barely glanced at him. "Were you there, Miss? Did you talk to two mages while one of your classmates fought them and the rest escaped?"
"I was," Natalia answered, smiling slightly, "A most satisfactory victory."
The woman's eyes fell closed, and she looked sad for a moment. Then she steeled herself, and bowed, awkwardly. "Thank you. Your warning gave my brother time to prepare before his last battle, to provide for his wife and to name his son. So, on behalf of my sister-in-law and nephew, thank you. Whatever your intent, you gave them that."
Ichigo focused on Natalia, expecting almost anything, but she just smirked a little wider. "You're welcome, for what it's worth. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more important things to do."
The woman almost glared at the rude dismissal, but nodded and left. Natalia turned and took two steps, Ichigo following her. In those two steps, the entire 'Precia' persona vanished, and Natalia was suddenly staggering, so he had to grab her. "Natalia?"
"I..." She swallowed hard, looking about, saying weakly, "I'm gonna be sick."
A gesture snatched a small trash-can from its place between the elevators, and he got it in time for Natalia to loose it. He had to call on Masamune, but he managed to lift the both of them with magic and get her around the corner into the alcove around the elevators. He was unsure what else to do, what was right, but he knew leaving her alone was a very bad idea. It took him a bit to remember who was on-duty, then he sent, 'Vita-sensei? Natalia and I just had an encounter with a Circle mage. Natalia's sick.'
'Did they attack you?'
'Not directly,' He said. 'She thanked Natalia for a warning Natalia gave one of the Circle mages Yussef fought in New Delhi.'
'Shamal will be down in a minute,' Vita told him, 'You're by the elevators? Don't go anywhere.'
Natalia was in control again by the time the elevator opened to let out Shamal. Ichigo got her to sit against a wall, putting the noisome trashcan around the corner in the hall for someone else to deal with. In control or not, though, his friend was still pale and shaking. She was not sobbing, but she was crying, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Shamal nodded to him, before crouching on the other side of Natalia. "Natalia? Little one?"
"It's real," Natalia whispered. "What I see. It's real."
Shamal pulled her into a hug, "Oh, I'm so sorry, Natalia. We had hopes it would be inaccurate."
"It's real," Natalia repeated, almost breaking down in sobs. Then she took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and said, "I... I think I'm okay, sensei. Okay enough. Can we go upstairs, now?"
Shamal nodded, "Let's get you to bed. Do you want some help getting to sleep?"
"Yes, please," Natalia said.
Ichigo went with them, filling in Shamal telepathically during the long elevator ride. As they were walking down the hall, Shamal started talking to Natalia again, reassuring her. "I know this is difficult, I know you hate it, but there is some good in it. You gave that man a chance to protect his family, to know he would have a son. You didn't kill him, Natalia, you gave him the warning he needed to prepare."
It made sense to Ichigo, but he could see in Natalia's face that she was not buying it. Natalia felt her eye was nothing but a curse, and now it would be even worse. Kami-sama, I hope she didn't see any of us dying soon, he thought, dragging himself off to the room he was sharing with Toushiro. I have no idea how she'll react to that.
00000
Allina managed to miss Natalia and Ichigo by a couple of minutes, and had she known, would have been just as glad. She had not had to deal with Ichigo's heavy lifting, but her eyes were burning, her fingers and wrists hurt, her back was killing her, and it felt like her brain was on fire. She had spent the day doing what she did best, doing it with HAL's and 'Jana's expert help, but with none of the thrill.
By order of the Chinese government, every network in the city – public or private, home or corporate – had been opened to the defenders. Everything from little home-networks to massive corporate mainframes to the city government's own networks was open. Not completely, only a select few had been given access keys, in most cases, but open enough. Allina and 'Jana had spent the day merging those networks, tying them into a centrally coordinated and accessed network. They were not interested in the information on those networks, per se, but in the communications and monitoring potential in those networks. By merging those networks, cribbing some protocols from Allina's Beowulf programming, and putting together a very dirty compatibility program, they could now monitor almost every security, traffic, ATM or web camera in the city. They had near-total visual saturation, able to look almost everywhere, in real-time, and the computational power to run it all. The system was kludged together, and Allina doubted it would last through the battle, but they had put it together in a single day. Just for the bragging rights alone, the day had been worth it. Having it work through tomorrow would just be gravy.
'Jana had called it quits much sooner than Allina had, but Allina had not been able to resist peeking a few places she should not have. Most of the really interesting networks had been thoroughly but incompletely vacuumed by their owners, sensitive information moved elsewhere, data-servers disconnected without disabling the networks, but there was still some interesting tidbits. Even better, she had a chance to slip a few back-doors into those networks that, hopefully, their regular network people would not notice in the post-battle clean-up.
Allina was a little disappointed by that. She had been looking forward to talking to 'Jana on the way back, since Signum had put them in two different rooms, 'for security'. Talking with 'Jana would help distract her from tomorrow, and Allina really wanted that sort of distraction. But her friend was probably asleep by now, so Allina would have to deal with her growing nerves on her own.
So Allina was a little surprised to find that, instead of her assigned roommate Allison, 'Jana was sitting at the side-table at the back of the hotel room, patently waiting for her. "What are you doing up, 'Jana-chan? Megan kick you out?"
"Come in, Allina," 'Jana ordered, "we need to talk, and may not have time after tomorrow."
The lack of the usual 'chan' made Allina very nervous, but she sidled into the room anyhow, letting the springs pull the door shut behind her. "Talk about what, 'Jana-chan?"
'Jana looked at her, then turned to Saraswati on her wrist, whispered something, and runes flashed into place on the windows and door, shields sealing the room against sound and preventing anyone from leaving. "I'm sorry," 'Jana said, "but you keep running away from me, whenever I try to talk to you about anything but computers."
That told Allina precisely what 'Jana wanted to talk about. She tried to be exasperated by the repetition of last year's joke. But most of her attention was firmly involved in panicking. 'Jana was about to ask questions Allina did not want asked, and that meant she was about to piss off her friend terribly, and she could not handle that right now.
"Um... talk about what? Tomorrow? I know it's going to be..."
"No, Allina," 'Jana frowned. "I know you're scared of this, but we have to talk about it, and we don't have time anymore. I've talked to Noriko several times, including this evening, and I'm tired of you dodging me."
"I haven't been dodging you," Allina protested, then managed to fake a yawn. She could feel her heart accelerating already, and a distinctly trapped sensation. "But it's really late. Are you sure this won't wait until tomorrow?"
"No, it cannot," 'Jana said, rising from the table. "Noriko has been telling me to push, so that's what I'm doing. I know how uncomfortable you are with the idea of being anything other than sisters, but do you realize how much you've been hurting me this year by refusing to even think about it? Ever since the Circles took you last year, I haven't been able to stop worrying about you. I don't worry about my own parents as much as about you, and they have no magic to protect them from the Circles or Al Hanthis."
Allina tried to back up as 'Jana walked closer, but wound up pinned against the door, 'Jana just a foot or so away.
"Last year, you were the third person I ever met to realize how smart I was and not treat me weirdly. The first two were Hayate-sensei and Vita-sensei. Even my parents don't really know what to do with a girl-child that can argue computer programming and economics and whatever else, like she was twice her age. You just thought it was cool and ignored it, where everyone else was always disturbed. You know I have never been especially interested in your hacking – I am not one to habitually conduct criminal activities. But you were interested in those things, and I had more fun spending time with you than doing anything else, even the magic. When the Circles took you, and you saved me, I realized that, of everyone I know, you're the one I like the best, the one I want to spend to time with, the one I can't picture being without."
Allina tried to say something, but 'Jana just kept on talking, tears in her eyes now, which made Allina feel even worse. "I don't know what it all means. But I do know that you are more than just a sister to me. I want to explore that, to see what I feel, what you feel. But I can't do that if you keep running away from it, from me. I know the statistics on relationships, all relationships – even if you keep falling asleep when I explain what statistics mean – but I also know I have never ended up in any majority save gender. I want to see where this goes, to find out if there is anything here.
"But I can't do that if you won't meet me half way. I don't really know how to do this, and I understand how nervous you are, how scary this can be. But I think it's worth it, worth the attempt. Will you meet me half way? Will you see where this could go?"
Allina wanted to say something, anything, she really did, but her throat would not work. This was one of her worst nightmares made real. Niranjana pursuing that rumor, that idea, that Allina's mother had come up with as a joke. It had to be a joke, anything else was just... too frightening. 'Jana's family would explode, especially since her mother did not care for Allina at all – it was easy enough to see where 'Jana got her attitude about stretching rules, her mother equated all hacking with virus-spewing spammers and worse. 'Jana herself would probably figure it was a mistake, would have to be more than human not to accept her parents' opinion, and then she would be gone. The smartest, nicest, most fun person Allina had ever met would be gone, lost to distance and a silly idea.
"I... 'Jana... wha..."
"You know what I'm talking about, Allina," 'Jana said giving her a sad smile, "you have to know, because you've been too good at avoiding it all year. I don't want much, Allina. I'm not asking to be your one and only, just to see... what we might be. Please?"
"Family," Allina managed to choke out, trying to find an objection that would not cost her her sister. "What about your family."
'Jana looked away for a moment, then her face hardened and she turned back. "We will deal with that problem if we have to. As Laura has pointed out, however, our parents are a very long way away, and won't know what we don't tell them. If... if it's just friendship, they would never have to know we tried anything unusual. Your family is already okay with us, if a little uncomfortable. Our friends support us, our teachers aren't worried about it. We have all the time we need to find out what there is between us. Please?"
If I say yes, and it doesn't work, she'll hate me, Allina knew that for a fact, had known it since March. But now, she was faced with a new problem, If I say no, she'll hate me just as much. "I... I don't know," she finally managed. "'Jana-chan... you're my best friend, my sister. I don't want to hurt you, but I don't... I've never..."
"Neither have I," 'Jana-chan replied, "but I trust you."
"What about Ekavir?"
"What about him? He's a smart boy, but all of us need help."
"You don't... like him?"
'Jana frowned at her for a moment, then her eyes went huge. "You... thought... you thought I like Ekavir? Allina-chan, he's Rajput, from out west. He's smart, but he's a country boy and a warrior. I think he's a friend, but not like you and I. I don't like him, Allina-chan. I like you."
"Ah... 'Jana-chan..." Allina could not figure out any other way to delay, so she slumped a little, "Okay."
'Jana-chan's smile was dazzling, far from her usual gently reserved expression. "Thank you, Allina-chan," she said, leaning in to hug Allina.
Allina froze for a moment, then returned the hug, feeling far more awkward about it now than she would have half an hour before. It was different, now, just by one simple 'okay'. Already their relationship was changing, and already Allina was uncertain if it was a good thing or not. Please don't hate me, 'Jana-chan, even if it doesn't work. Please don't hate me.
00000
Morning dawned cool but bright and clear. Breakfast was light, most of them too nervous to eat much, though the teachers insisted they all eat what they could. Yussef was nervous, but not as badly as he expected to be. Mostly, he wanted this to be over, and his boys and classmates and teachers to be fine. He had known all his life he would be military in some way, but facing the situation now was rather sobering.
Currently he was airborne over one of the condemned buildings near the center of Kowloon, Marcel just behind him. His classmates were spread out in pairs over other condemned buildings, covering the whole of down-town. The PLA was deployed in thee lines, one a loose spread of squads along the shore, a second line roughly four blocks behind them for reinforcement, and a third ringing the center of down-town and Hong Kong Island as mobile reserves. The wolfpacks were spread out more than the Myrmidons, positioned with individual PLA platoons. The teachers and more powerful wolfpacks were already airborne, a thousand feet over the center of the harbor. Allina was in the city's emergency management office, coordinating the video feeds and communications. Niranjana was at the field hospital to coordinate transport of wounded, while Cid-chan and Natalia were there for actual medical support.
"Everyone's in place," Marcel told him, "ready and waiting."
Yussef nodded, "Now we wait."
"Not for long," Marcel commented, pointing out to sea.
The surf was a little high, and the low angle of the sun reflected a lot of light off the water, but not enough to disguise a pattern of small objects surfacing out in the East Lamma Channel. Zulfiqar brought up a screen at his command, magnifying the view. Seed were popping their heads out of the water, scanning the shore, then going back under. Broadcasting to his team, Yussef said, 'Look alive, troops. Main force is here, we're going live.'
A distortion formed in the air over Hong Kong Island itself. A barrier formed, and individuals began appearing within it.
'And here come the drums,' Mariachi said.
Yussef actually laughed at that, 'Only problem with drums, Mariachi, is drums are built to be beat on. Focus on our jobs, everyone. We're defending the PLA, not handling the Guard. Any of them come below five hundred without an escort, they're our problem. Until then, focus on the Seed. Luke, looks like they're heading straight in to the docks. You should have a good enfilade shot for Rainbow Serpent. Get it ready. Everyone else, prep your ammo and watch out for the PLA. No friendly fire casualties, please, in either direction. Good luck and good hunting.'
00000
Kell Shock: okay, yes, I admit I should not be re-checking my stories at two in the morning. Thanks, and all corrections are up. As for the 'needs must when the devil drives', it's an old saying: basically, when your choice is between 'bad' and 'worse', go with 'bad' and hope for the best. The Admiral was saying that, basically, there was no time to sort out Hughes' position or loyalty in a nice calm orderly fashion. With Megan's device, the weight issue would be no different than that of Yussef's Zulfiqar, or Fate's Bardiche – the dimensional pockets containing most of the workings can be used as an inertial sink to redistribute and simplify weight and balance. The problem with a forty-mile engagement range is mostly time – a target fired on at that range has plenty of time to shield, dodge (if mobile), and counter. Bombarding Hayate's school from forty miles straight up, it would be almost impossible to be certain the real target (Hayate & her teachers) is still in the strike-zone when the attack arrives. It's a similar issue to navies attacking fixed defenses around ports – the ships have mobility and can choose their attack time, but the fixed defenses are tougher than the ships, and probably mount bigger guns. The bigger guns may or may not apply to Hayate's school, but the tougher defenses do. Guaranteeing elimination of the school before it could be evacuated would require most of the Guard, arriving as a single unit in a mass-teleport and firing their most powerful spells. Even then, depending on the school's defenses (which information in Kriegsen's intelligence is suspect, since he is suspect), Hayate may have enough time to counter-attack. Where would Al Hanthis be, if the majority of the Guard (and the strongest mages in the Guard) were lost in a single action? Basically, it's tactically possible, but strategically too big a gamble – no sane war-planner would gamble a war on a single battle, unless they had already lost and were desperate. This chapter and the next two (the Battle of Hong Kong) will show the general shape of the war. There will be small discrepancies, but... well, analysis will follow combat, so I'll tell you later, if the in-story analysis isn't clear.
CrimsonDX: Glad you liked last chapter, it was more fun than Molon Labbe. Hava Nagila is a Jewish celebratory folk-song, that – like most folk-songs – has a number of interpretations. The specific one I was thinking of in last chapter is an orchestral version by Andre Rieu I found on YouTube: watch?v=BFtv5qe5o3c (titled 'Andre Rieu – Hava Nagila'). Basically, it has several crescendos, and a whirlwind feel, that fits the girls personalities and last chapter's all-over-the-place scenes, complete with a little kicker at the end.
Lady Sekhmet Ka: There are two activations left, but those'll happen much later. This chapter & the next two constitute the battle of Hong Kong, with the next two chapters being the actual fight. There was some action, though, I swear (Jubal almost killed someone, even!:). As for the activations, I wish I'd thought of splitting them up like I did for the boys as well.
AluciusDawn: I'm glad you enjoyed the activations. The Myrmidons have been working towards soldiers since the Kyoto trip in Academy Blues, and I decided even then that, if they got devices, their armor would mimic Yussef's. They're not quite true uniforms, as the color vary, but they're close enough for most purposes. I'm not done with Megan's shapeshifting, her ability to assume chimera forms will play a big part. Glaive's not so much 'difficult to control', as 'eager to go beyond' – it won't push Juliet to extremes, but it won't stop her from going there, and will help her along, so it will be up to her to reign herself in, especially as a lot of Glaive's bloodthirstiness is Juliet's. Not showing Natalia's activation in detail was mostly because I wasn't sure how – there are enough conflicting elements for her that I have trouble explaining what's going on in her head. I understand it (which says some scary things about me), but I have a hard time writing it coherently. Allison's a hunter by nature, and you'll see how that works probably next chapter. As for the kids' power compared to modern military, now that they have their devices: in terms of sheer destructive ability (what they can dish out), the general equivalence would be a armored platoon to an armored company, depending on the student. The conventional forces would have a slight edge in instant firepower (power on target per second), depending on terrain and how many of the subordinate tanks can spot & range on said target. They would have a larger edge in ability to spread out (more numbers) and ability to engage multiple targets, but the kids can produce just as much 'bang'. In terms of survivability, the kids are probably tougher than an armored company – they're smaller, faster, more maneuverable, and their shields are stronger than tank-armor (mostly). That being said, conventional forces do have some advantages, mostly in terms of numbers – a handful of mages may be able to obliterate a city, but they'll be hard-pressed to hold it against an opposed population. Also, mages have to sleep sometime, where an armored platoon or company can stage members up and down and effectively function 24/7.
nolrai: Lotte's form of address to Megan is deliberately wrong, on her part, because she sees Megan as several things all at once. Megan's a 'sister' because she can shapeshift, and a 'little sister' (imouto) because she's younger, and a student. But Megan's also a 'big sister', because she's fully human and not a familiar (an attitude Hayate & Megan would object to), and because she's so good at shapeshifting. The 'chan' is because Lotte considers her a sort-of-adopted sister. If you've got any formal education in Japanese, you know more than I do – feel free to correct me if I make a mistake. I do my best to back-check what I've picked up from anime and on-line, but I don't actually speak the language, which is why I only throw in a few words that I know really well. Lotte's nickname for Megan is the most complicated I would ever try, and even then I know it's technically wrong. It's just cute and fits how I see Lotte. Megan, in contrast, sees Lotte as an adoptive elder sister, before she sees Lotte as a teacher.
Jack Inqu: The Circles are working together, but – as shown above – not entirely happily. I originally called the girls 'rabid individualists', but that wouldn't cover the twins, or Mercedes, now that they're around, eve if they don't have devices yet. Megan is the most dangerous melee fighter among the second years. Her 'war form' is based on the krinos form from White Wolf Publishing's Werewolf role-playing game. Longinus will allow her more complicated forms (the war form wouldn't work without Longinus, for instance), and boost her melee abilities, but ranged combat is not really her forte. Combat actually isn't her thing, the war form is just her way of not being a burden in the face of the Al Hanthis threat. Natalia's barrier jacket actually bothers me – it's plain, which fits her, but is... plain. But her unique spells will show up in Hong Kong. Allison's ability to disappear is now vastly improved, and Gallóglaigh is geared towards close-range and surprise combat. The Velka system helps with the 'surprise combat' – what would be a single damaging strike becomes deadly with a cartridge behind it. As I mentioned to AluciusDawn, Glaive's not so much 'encouraging' as 'being helpful'. Juliet will have to control herself to control Glaive, which is one of her lessons, and most of what she senses from Glaive (indeed, a lot of what all the students sense from their devices) is her own personality reflected. The twins will have their day in the sun, but not for a while yet. The second years are indeed an army, though that was not Hayate's intent, it's a sad reflection of the situation she and they have found themselves in. There is, though, already a ranged fighter in the group – Toushiro, and to some extent Noriko. Most of them are close-in fighters, though, like their teachers. The problem with quality over quantity, in comparing Hayate and Szash, is that both sides rely on quality:) Szash has more enhanced mages, but Hayate, through Hughes, can draw on the Circles, who even with wolfpacks can't quite match enhanced mages. How that works out will be shown in later chapters.