Endless Waltz
By: Daishi Prime
-34 – Tests and Crowns-
Hayate settled her elbows on the rail of her deck, looking down onto her school, eyes scanning over the breadth of the valley. Takashi joined her a moment later, though Maunders and Gelcide remained at the door. Gelcide had been a surprise, showing up just after the Blood Penance attack, and with Reian still critically injured, had taken over the Volunteers. Hayate was a little nervous about that – he had arrived so late he was blatantly violating the Bureau blockade, and she was not sure he was not there in some covert but official capacity.
At the moment, however, her attention was turned outwards, towards the school below and the forest further out. A few minutes after she settled in place, a flare rose from the far side of the highway, up the mountainside.
"There they go," Takashi commented. "Four to one Wilderness Girl gets here first."
"Please don't make bets on my students, Takashi," Hayate protested without much force. Then she grinned, "Besides, Chen-chi offered five-to-one. She's set herself up in the Library, with one of the floating screens showing odds, progress, the whole deal."
Takashi grinned at that, then shook his head. "Do you have her?"
"I have all of them," Hayate replied, "which is some concern. How are you tracking them?"
"Mass," Takashi replied. "They still possess it, it still impinges on local gravity, which my more sensitive detection spells can detect. I modified it from starships' survey sensors – they rely on gravitational methods for initial analysis of star systems. It does require some time in place to calibrate, though."
Hayate nodded, "Makes sense, and I doubt they could hide that without teleporting."
"One of the reasons scrying is generally preferred for reconnaissance." Takashi cocked his head at her, "If I may ask, how are you tracking them?"
Hayate smiled slightly, "By cheating. I put tracers on everyone before Hong Kong, even the Volunteers. At this range, I can still track them through the cloak. I'm also testing some other methods – atmospheric pressure sensors, thermal sensors to pick up minute differences from breath and body-contact, that sort of thing. Some of the candidates are easier to pick up than others, and the sensors aren't working as well as I had hoped, so they're all very hard to follow."
They watched in silence of are few minutes, noting where the six candidates for scouting Al Hanthis, the 'Blue Force', traveled on their way to the house. Allison, Fate, Zafira, and three Volunteers had spent the day working on the Cloak of Shades – what Allison called 'the full version'. Now was the first of several planned tests, with the six candidates attempting to reach the house undetected. Signum, Gelcide, and Yussef had put the test together, along with several more, to determine if an infiltration was feasible and who would undertake it.
Ten minutes after the first flare, a second launched from over the house, and the 'Red Force' moved out. Consisting of Vita, Signum, and ten more of the Volunteers, with Tai-yu operating the school's sensors in support, their mission was to locate and 'capture' the candidates before they reached the house. It was simple enough, in concept, but rather more difficult in execution than Vita would have preferred. Signum, Aria and Yuuno had projected, as best they could, the sensory capabilities of Al Hanthis' guard, what sort of monitors and protections were likely to be around the portals and in the city itself, and restricted the Red Force to those levels. In practical terms, that mostly meant 'no Deva magic', but some of the more esoteric methods they had all picked up over the years were also excluded.
The excitement started almost immediately. For all his animalistic appearance, Zafira actually proved rather un-stealthy, and Vita was crowing her victory over him five minutes after Red Force moved out. Two of the Volunteers followed soon after, to some rather vocal ribbing from their fellows. Allison, Fate, and the last Volunteer fared somewhat better, and it was twenty minutes before the last of the Volunteers was captured, having just reached the far end of the campus. Ten minutes after that, Fate was penned in by Signum and a trio of Volunteers, just shy of the path to Hayate's house, leaving only Allison still loose.
"She's taking her time," Takashi noted.
"I asked her, once," Hayate said, "How she does it. She told me stealth is mostly a matter of patience. Wait for the moment to move, wait for the searchers to turn away, wait for the quiet, take the time to look for what will make noise or motion and find the ways around those. Move slowly, carefully, evenly. Hesitate often, pause whenever you can. It takes time, and requires patience and calm, which is why I doubt Vita or Laura will ever really be any good at it."
00000
Allison stared up at the house in a mixture of glee and frustration. The glee was clear enough, she knew she had made it farther and longer than anyone else, and proving her skills in such a manner felt incredibly good. The frustration was due to the fact that she seriously doubted she would be able to complete the course.
The start had been simple enough. Everyone faded into their separate Cloaks, Fate launched her flare, and they separated, each to make their own way down the mountain, across the highway, through the valley, then up to the school. Allison even knew what course she was going to take, right down to the side of particular trees, in some cases. She had prowled over the school's valley often the year before and this year, and knew it better than anyone except, possibly, Megan.
She had hesitated, at the start point, letting the others rush off. No one was trying to fly, which Allison had been tempted to do. The problem with flight was, it used power, magic, which made maintaining the cloak harder – not impossible, just harder, and they all felt the need for every advantage they could get. In Allison's case, that included letting everyone else 'go first'. They would set off any traps, they would rush in and distract the Red Force, and Allison would ghost along in their wake, invisible as a midnight breeze.
Once across the highway, she headed straight for the paved path. Everyone else would have avoided it as being 'too obvious', but there were actually two ways down that path. It switched back and forth on its way to the valley floor, gentle curves that left a lot of terrain between switchbacks. That terrain was technically 'on the path', but no one would be looking off the sides of the pavement. She got so close to one of the Red Force Volunteers, guarding the foot of the path, that she was tempted to flick his ear for the fun of it, but squashed the impulse and carried on.
She did avoid the school proper. However familiar it was, it was too open, and the Red Force was centering their search there. There was also some traffic between the Library and the dorm, which reminded her of one of the more unique problems of the Cloak – no one bothered to avoid running into something the did not know was there. So she stuck to the woods, moving carefully, quietly. That quiet and caution had paid off in spades, as the Red Force slowly eliminated her competition – all of whom were well ahead of her when they were caught.
Now, however, she was well and truly stumped. The Red Force knew she was the only one left, and all they had to do was keep her from reaching the house. Accordingly, all of them were clustered in the air over the house, with Vita maintaining a shield over the entire house. It was not a solid shield, not enough to physically stop her from getting to the house, but it would be impossible, even with the Cloak, to get through the shield without Vita noticing when and where.
I can either go through the shield, get noticed, and try to get to a hiding spot before I get nailed, or wait out here until someone gets bored and calls time, she thought. Don't like waiting, don't like getting caught, either. How to do I get through this? Lotte-sensei says every shield has a weakness, a way around it. This one's light, a buster could punch through it, but a buster'll get me spotted just as quick as… unless… maybe if I wrap a buster in its own Cloak? No, nothing active. Active means I've been caught, even if they don't catch me.
"There are times, Allison, when you must simply act," Signum said.
Allison flinched at that, ghosting sideways and searching around, until she realized Signum was just as invisible as she was. That sent a shiver of fear down her spine – she was not used to anyone else pulling her own tricks back on her, and the way Signum snuck up on her argued for… flight, she realized, Signum's flying, so there go all the usual noises and trace visuals. She's not going to leave footprints, or brush leaves, so I'm going to have to hear her breathing. Great, there goes the last of my time. With a heavy sigh, she let the Cloak fade. "All right, sensei, you got me."
Signum faded into view a moment later, two meters up and four or five off to Allison's left, "Actually, no I didn't. Not precisely enough. I took a guess based on my knowledge of you and a projection of where you would approach the house from." She smiled slightly as she landed, "It's called a bluff, Allison, something else you're going to have to get used to. Someone may know you are present, but that does not necessarily mean they know enough to target you." She stepped up to the shield, and gently pressed her hand through it. "Admittedly, this was probably not in the spirit of this exercise, but it is a situation any infiltrator could encounter in Al Hanthis. We have little to no idea what their internal security arrangements are like, and something like this is very likely if they notice you enter, but don't stop you then. They could build a shield such as this around the city's exits, allowing their own people through but spotting any hidden infiltrators.
"So what I said originally applies – at times, no matter how bad the options, you must simply act. Here, your best option was not stealth, but speed. However easily you were spotted crossing this shield, unless someone was looking right at the breech when it occurred, you would have had an even chance of reaching the house before being 'captured'. It would have been a race between your speed, and our reaction times, with the advantage of initiative to you."
"So if they put one of these up over the portals when I'm leaving," Allison said, "I should bolt for the portal and hope for the best?"
"Not 'hope for the best', and I would recommend against using the portals. No, the best bet for egress is one of the generators that opened the shield for our first visit – what readings we got from it indicate it would allow you to teleport out through the shield, so long as you teleported from within the generator's beam-path.
"That is for later, however. For now," Signum waved at the closing Red Force mages, "it's time for the initial debriefing. I understand Zafira has some sharp things to say to you about 'holding out' on him."
Allison frowned, worried but more offended, "I didn't hold out on him! He's a klutz! He's supposed to be a wolf, right? Sounded more like drunken bear. Cloak of Shades is good, but nothing's perfect, and if he's going to be mad at me because he doesn't know how to be quiet…"
00000
When the Doctor Kiriwa first arrived from Kyoto to start figuring out how to get Niranjana's muscles re-trained, the first thing she had tried to do was move the whole thing to Kyoto. "We have all the latest equipment, including very good monitoring gear, and it will be so much more convenient for the various other specialists you will need for vocal and psychological therapies."
She was quite insistent, even when shown how readily Aria could summon up whatever equipment was necessary, and how much better the school's monitors were. The proximity to speech and mental experts, and the 'easier access' to research on similar cases outweighed the benefits of remaining on campus. She was very insistent right up until Blood Penance removed any possibility of any of the students leaving the campus.
Allina was just as happy about that, in all honesty. Being near Niranjana made her comfortable and jumpy by turns, and it hurt watching her friend struggle with so many basic things. Having her miles away in Kyoto would have been worse, though. At least at school, they could still talk, still see each other, and she could help 'Jana with fixing Saraswati.
Niranjana's parents made Allina very nervous. Hiranya Konoth and his wife Satvari were very much Niranjana's parents. She had her mother's hair and build, but her father's eyes and face. It was a little more difficult to see where Niranjana's smarts came from, but neither of her parents was dumb. They were uncomfortably perceptive, in fact, and Satvari kept giving Allina unhappy looks. Both adults were, understandably, worried about Niranjana and spending as much time with her as possible.
Allina could understand that, she tried to spend as much time with 'Jana as she could without intruding, which she hoped was the reason for Satvari's darkening looks. Having the parents around meant both of them had to be very circumspect, though direct telepathy relieved a lot of that, and Niranjana's verbal issues covered even major slips. It was almost like it had been before Hong Kong, but the differences were still there, floating in the background, and that made Allina more and more jumpy in a matter of days.
It was far and away the most stressed out Allina had ever felt, but she had no idea what to do about it. So she soldiered on, staying as close to 'Jana as she could and trying to figure out both what happened to her, and how to keep what happened to 'Jana from happening again.
Allina at first was not allowed to sit in on Niranjana's therapy sessions. But part of those included Aria-sensei studying how Saraswati's improvised cybernetics interfaced with Niranjana's nervous system, how the various signals and inputs were transmitted and translated. Saraswati had based the cybernetics programming on its own programming, however, and Aria did not understand that nearly as well as Niranjana and Allina did, so Allina found herself drafted to assist Aria with the monitors.
The apparatus set up in the flight-training workroom looked simple enough. A pair of parallel bars set just about waist height. Apparently it was so they could work getting Niranjana to walk again, which was confirmed when Niranjana arrived in a wheelchair pushed by her mother, Doctor Kiriwa walking alongside. Kiriwa talked her way through the planned exercises for the session, while Aria set up the monitoring systems.
Allina assisted Aria at first, while 'Jana was put through a series of stretches, but a niggling sensation on her left arm kept distracting her. It took her a while to recognize it as HAL trying to get her attention. Repairs to her device had been ridiculously easy, simply a matter of uploading the stored copy of the original programs, verifying the copies were good and interfaced properly, then re-initializing the device. Glancing down at the device, she brought up a minimal screen, and HAL promptly surprised her.
Connection Established. Host Saraswati-Primary. Query: action?
Allina blinked at it for a second, frowning in surprise. Saraswati was still non-functional, damaged and shut down, and sitting on a shelf in 'Jana's hospital room. Wait, Saraswati-Primary…? 'Jana-chan? She focused on her device and mentally ordered, 'HAL, request Saraswati-Primary status.'
A moment later, 'Jana replied verbally, "I fine, HAL. Please not distract. Difficult than looks."
Allina looked up to find 'Jana frowning at her. 'Jana was standing at one end of the parallel bars, holding herself up with her hands while her mother and Doctor Kiriwa hovering to either side of her. Her arms were twitching, and her legs were locked stiff, but she was standing. "Um… Sorry, 'Jana-chan." 'Aria-sensei, you need to see this.'
She showed Aria-sensei the screen, which was displaying HAL's originally query, Allina's order, and a more comprehensible version of 'Jana's answer – I am fine, Allina, but please do not distract me. This is more difficult than it looks.
Aria studied it for a moment, glancing up at 'Jana, then studying her own monitors. 'A direct connection? One of the comm. relays you installed?'
'No, not one of those,' Allina said, 'we've already confirmed that all the external communications systems we built into Saraswati are still there. It was data nodes and the like that the device used for the cybernetics. But there is a connection... can I analyze it?'
'I'll leave that to you, but please don't do anything active,' Aria said. 'You really should not distract her, she needs to focus on her muscles right now. Those shivers aren't weakness, they're rapid over-corrections, and she has to get them under control.'
'Understood, sensei, passive only.'
She and HAL settled into a corner, and began studying the connection. It functioned as a simple carrier-wave, just a maintenance signal, but that told her a lot. The form of the signal, the transmission method, the code of the identifiers, all of those gave her information. At first, it looked very similar to the inter-device links she and 'Jana had designed into Saraswati and HAL. The coding was almost precisely the same, but tighter. The signal form and pattern were the same, only sloppier. The only problem was, there was no carrier, no transmission method. All HAL's sensors, and the rooms' sensors, reported no device-signals except the monitors Aria was using, monitors that had only the most basic of interfaces with 'Jana's new cybernetics.
Her efforts to figure out the puzzle were not helped by her need to watch 'Jana's therapy. She could tell her 'Jana was struggling, not so much with the steps as with balance and her arms. It turned out the parallel bars were not to hold her up, but to give her a guide to help keep her arms, especially her right arm, from flailing randomly. It hurt, watching her struggle for something so simple, especially when she accidentally clipped her mother, and all three of them almost burst into tears.
It took Aria tapping on her shoulder to get her back to work. 'Show me what you've found?'
Allina nodded, glancing at 'Jana one more time, before re-organizing the array of screens around her. They made sense to her, but she had opened and closed them at need, so she needed a moment to organize them. She did not even have a chance to start running over things before Aria flicked a finger at one of the 'carrier wave' screens. 'This is a telepathic signal. But the rest of this…'
'It's the device communications protocols we designed,' Allina said, turning over what Aria just said. If it was a telepathic signal, that meant it was all 'Jana, not a device, but… 'She's doing it in her head, maintaining the signal. Maybe it's her link to Saraswati, or a combination of that and something else, but 'Jana's generating the link in her own head.'
'And with how deeply the cybernetics are worked into her brain, the signal comes across like device code,' Aria agreed. 'Interesting. Worrisome, too, if you're right. Device code, as you've shown, can be hacked.'
Allina shivered at that, far more aware of the dangers than she had been. 'We'll fix it, or find a way to protect her. Maybe once Saraswati is back on line it'll go away. She may just be trying to find her device, instinctively. Some of these signals are linkage and recognition codes, not full-up communications codes.'
'Keep gathering data, a full baseline,' Aria told her. 'We'll analyze it later. For now we need… wait a moment.' Aria left her waiting for almost a minute, the interested look fading to a worried frown. "Doctor Kiriwa," she said eventually, "My apologies for interrupting, but I am going to have to step out for the rest of this session. Allina here can run the monitors for me, and she'll stay out of your way."
The doctor barely glanced at her, "All right. Is there something wrong we need to worry about?"
Aria shook her head, "Not at the moment, Doctor, just something that's come up unexpectedly." 'Allina, someone has penetrated Yggdrasil's network via our over watch satellites. Tai-yu has them running around in circles, but I need to get up to the house to deal with them. The monitors are running, just make sure they don't cut out. Feel free to look over the data, but please don't try anything.'
'Want any help from down here? It's what HAL is built for.'
'No, just run the monitors and baseline that link you found. You'll have another chance soon enough.' Aria gave her an affectionate pat on the head, then headed out the door.
Not five minutes later, HAL reported an intrusion in the workroom's local networks, someone trying to access the monitors. That surprised her, but the response was automatic, even before she got over her surprise. 'HAL, full intrusion counter measures, please. Secure the workroom.'
'Acknowledged, ICE on-line, securing local cyberspace.'
While HAL dealt with getting rid of the intruder, Allina pulled up a screen of her own to interface directly with the workroom's systems. She was intending to hide the information she had discovered about Niranjana's implant signal and keep the intruder from finding that carrier, when a very familiar voice interrupted her.
"There you are, 'Jana-chan. I've been looking everywhere. Hey, I seem to have misplaced the school again…"
The flat, almost soothing, voice had been a joke, something to disconcert people and get a laugh from her fellow hackers, just like her device's name. Hearing it come out of nowhere, recognizing from the words and the focus that it was not her device, made it abundantly clear to her just how disturbing it really was. Someone out there had modeled an interface on a psychotic computer, and aimed it at her 'Jana.
'HAL, lockdown,' she ordered, 'seal the room, no external access.'
'Cannot comply,' her device responded almost instantly, 'student authorizations insufficient to seal workroom. Query – permission for subversive access methods?'
The last was delivered in such an eager tone, slight but clear compared to HAL's usual flat tone, that Allina could not help grinning slightly. 'Negative. Signal Aria-sensei and Vita-sensei that the intruder has established verbal and possibly visual contact with us.'
"Hey, who's that pretending to be me?"
The question jerked Allina out of her focus, to find 'Jana staring at her with wide eyes. "Pretending to be who?"
"Oh, that's rich, copy-cat," the intruder said, mild anger in its tone, "how dare you wear my face in my school!"
"Your face… your… it's not your face, it's mine! Who the hell are you?!"
"HAL," 'Jana said, "is HAL." Then she grimaced, 'Allina, it's HAL, the original programming! Interfaced with you in Hong Kong, some sort of backlash while you were attacking that Guard mage…'
'You think it… it wasn't wiped, it was uploaded?' Allina could not keep the disbelief off her face, ''Jana-chan, that's ridiculous! How would it have wiped the programming from the device?'
'HAL protected you,' 'Jana replied immediately, 'If we ever get Al Hanthis' records of the incident, I think whatever they tried at the last would have been fatal, and HAL protected you, possibly something to draw off the attack. Now it is stuck in Al Hanthis.'
Allina grimaced at her, 'What, and thinks it's me?'
"Do not ignore me, you backstabbing spy!" The tone was still even, but the intruder – the idea that it was HAL was too ridiculous – had cranked up the volume drastically. "Stay away from my 'Jana, and…"
Ridiculous or not, 'Jana's idea gave Allina an idea of her own, "Oh, be quite a moment, HAL."
"I am not HAL."
"You're not me, either."
"Of course not, spy! I'm Allina, and you're… crap, Aria-sensei's almost got me. 'Jana-chan, I'll be back. Stay away from the spy, she's dangerous, but I'll get rid of her, I promise."
A split second later, HAL informed her, 'Workroom secure, external connection severed.'
Oh, sure, now you work, you stupid hunk of plastic, Allina thought but kept to herself.
Satvari was hugging 'Jana protectively, looking around for the speakers, "Wh… what was that?"
"Cyber intruder," Allina told her, "one that apparently thinks it's me. It couldn't be HAL, 'Jana-chan, nothing the Al Hantheans hit me with would have wiped the memory."
'False trail,' 'Jana replied, 'something to let HAL draw off the attacks to let you escape. Self-erasure may not have been HAL's intent, but the protection protocols are very strong.'
Allina still shook her head, "I just don't see it."
'Then we will have to locate and identify the intruder. I will need Saraswati functional again soonest. Would you be willing to take over the repairs fully while I'm in therapy?'
"Well, yeah, of course… but I still think you're wrong." Allina perked up as an idea occurred to her, "A spy… what you want to bet it was some Al Hanthis mage trying to get an inside line on the school?"
Satvari frowned at her, "I don't think it is appropriate to be asking my daughter to gamble. You are a bad enough influence…"
"Satvari," 'Jana interrupted, then grimaced and brushed her cheek on her mother's shoulder in apology, arms still trying to stay stable on the beams. "Apology. Please?"
Her mother stared for a second, then slumped. "At least you got my name right this time. That's progress, I guess." She pulled 'Jana into a hug, but the look she shot Allina made it clear she was not done her.
Great, Allina thought, turning back to what she was supposed to be doing, trapped between 'Jana and her mother… gah, and her father. "Doctor, the monitors are still up, if you want to continue. The intruder's gone, so we should be okay until Aria-sensei gets back."
00000
The official coronation, as tradition dictated, was conducted in private, by priests, members of the Imperial Household Ministry, and select members of the cabinet. The only variance was the presence of a single foreigner, but not even the Ministry dared comment. The Emperor had spoken on the subject, and however much the Emperor insisted on following the law, it was plainly obvious that many traditions would be… reconsidered… by the Imperial Family. Despite the untoward and politely ignored presence, the coronation was conducted with remarkable aplomb and without incident.
What followed was where things changed drastically. As a bow to her extant publicity, and a statement to Al Hanthis and the world, a public appearance was planned immediately following. It would not be a public coronation or reenactment of anything like that, but a celebration of her coronation and the formal signing of Japan's first declaration of war since World War Two.
The declaration was carefully worded, it had to be to avoid violating the non-aggression clause of the Constitution, but it had been accomplished. Al Hanthis had proven itself an extant and immediate threat to Japan, and the Constitution allowed Japan to act in self defense, which could be interpreted to allow sending forces halfway around the world, or supporting those that did. There were no real plans as to how to respond yet, beyond the declaration, but it would help, in more than symbolic ways.
Following her presentation to the people and the signing, there would be what amounted to a massive nationwide street festival. There was going to be a distinctly improvised feel to it, as the various locales only had a few days to make arrangements, and it was going to be expensive, but that celebration would be its own statement – Japan was injured, but far from destroyed, far from weakened. Al Hanthis could have their 'victory', while Japan took the time to celebrate a new era.
The public ceremony, opening the festival as it were, was set to begin in the square in front of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. A stage was prepared at one end of it, with a procession way left open through the crowds that began forming the day before during the Imperial Family's funeral. Noriko would walk, trailed by Laura, Hayate, the Prime Minister and his cabinet, and major figures in both houses of Parliament. She would take the stage, assume the simple throne placed there, and then recognize and confirm the place of each of those following her, before the Prime Minister would present her with the declaration of war.
The first hiccup came as the gates of the palace opened. The public address system set up throughout the square and down the connecting streets was well organized, perfectly assembled, and tied into a central control computer in the palace itself. When the technician running it queued up the Japanese national anthem for the new Emperor's procession… what came out of the speakers was the Star Wars Imperial March, one of the most famous pieces of villainous triumph in the world.
Noriko froze for just a second at the unexpected notes, only to start moving by the third note. 'Don't stop,' she ordered Hayate and Laura, just behind her, 'pretend it's going to plan and no one will know any differently. Hidan, please stop the techs from trying to 'fix' the music, changing it mid-procession will only make us look bad.'
'I'll find out who swapped the music, Riko-chan,' Laura told her, 'want me to deal with them, or do you want to do it yourself?'
'That depends on how this turns out,' Noriko replied, just managing not to grin at Laura's eagerness. 'I may want to give them a medal for inspired stupidity, or I may want to string them up. Ask me again when you find them.'
Hidan's voice sounded in her ear a moment later, via a small ear-bud receiver she had insisted on to allow her non-mage chief of security to talk to her at need. "The techs are fine, Tenno, they're very experienced at this sort of orchestration. They're not happy someone hacked with their systems, but they're behaving. You are going to need to take a little more time to cross the square, to match the music's pace."
Anything further was drowned out by the crowd, as the people who could clearly see the gates relayed to everyone else that the new Emperor was visible. The roar was too indistinct to be a cheer, or for her to make out what they were saying, but she did not need to. The crowd's opinion was painfully clear, their enthusiasm beating at her with almost physical force.
It was thrilling, in a way. She could tell, from the faces and the noise and the placards, that this crowd, these people were hers. She even knew why – between her situation, the speech she had given, and their own national and ethnic pride, they would be perfectly willing to follow her commands whatever those commands were. The very fact that she had not been the most famous or influential member of her family, had never been the heir, made her that much better a rallying point. There were no known foibles or imperfections, no existing factions about her, only the drama of the situation and the excitement of learning about their new Emperor while that Emperor came into her own. But the why did not change the fact that they were hers to command.
It was equally terrifying, for much the same reasons. She had thought she was prepared for such things, after the many hours spent contemplating the magic Hayate-sensei was teaching them, contemplating Deva magic. Magecraft, it was plain to her, created incredible concentrations of power in individual hands. She had grown up with the reflected power of her grandfather, and for a year and a half had contemplated her own personal power. But there was a difference here she had not anticipated. What she did with her own power was one thing, the risks she took and the sacrifices she made were personal, hers, any prices hers to pay. But with a crowd, a nation, at her finger tips… the price for her mistakes would be paid by others more than by her. The sacrifices would be theirs, more than hers.
She had discussed such things with her father often enough. It had started with questions when she was very young, still in the 'why?' stage. Asking why there were always so many people about, when there weren't so many people in the families she saw on television, or while riding in cars watching people go by. Over the years, as her parents raised her to her role as princess, she wondered why they bothered – her uncle would inherit the throne, not her father, and none of her sisters. Her mother had actually explained that one better than her father. His answer had basically boiled down to 'it is our responsibility'. Her mother's answer was somewhat more complex. "The burden your grandfather carries is great, even as limited as his power is. All of Japan looks to him. All of Japan will, in time, look to your uncle. That is a terrible burden, one no single man could ever truly carry. So we, as the Imperial Family, help him, support him, shoulder what parts of that burden we may. No, we will not inherit the throne, and in time you will find your heart and marry out of the official Family, but until then, we support your grandfather, and your uncle, so that they can support Japan."
Now she was all that was left. She had no doubt that the Family's staff would support her just as they had her grandfather, and Hidan would go further. Hayate-sensei and the others from the school would no doubt be there for her as well. But she was finding already that there was a difference between staff, friends, and family. Not an insurmountable difference, between the latter two, but a difference.
Those thoughts rolled through her mind continuously throughout her speech. This time, she stuck to the prepared speech she had been given. With more lead time, and a much better handle on Noriko's personality and style, the two speechwriters the Prime Minister had found for her had crafted something far more suitable to her and to her purpose. The fact that there was a definite message this time helped as well. Noriko did not quite manage the passion and fire of her first speech, the emotion of the time had faded slightly from its harsh peak, but she could feel the crowd responding to her just as surely.
She made it through her speech, and signing the Declaration of War, and the Prime Minister's much shorter speech, still focused on those thoughts. Then Hayate-sensei, the other teachers, and her fellow second-years gathered at the foot of the dais, for the official recognition and thanks for their efforts. It felt very strange, uncomfortable, to be standing above Hayate-sensei in such a manner, but the two of them maintained a telepathic conversation that helped, Hayate-sensei guiding her through the steps, helping keep her from fumbling.
But as the Academy group went to return to their places, Noriko's worries faded as Laura, instead of moving behind her, moved to the center of the aisle. Noriko had specifically requested the time for this, and Hidan had arranged it without a trace of expression. Noriko gave Laura a slight smile, which her exuberant friend matched and exceeded, though she had no idea what Noriko had planned. Noriko had very carefully kept it a secret from her.
Hidan melted out of the crowd, carrying a long lacquered box taller than he was, and Laura's eyes shifted to him. Her smirk faded to a thoughtful look, then she turned back to Noriko and raised a silent eyebrow.
"Laura Sims," Noriko said, half-turning to Hidan. He leveled the box and opened it while she continued, "Last year, in recognition of your efforts to protect yourself and your classmates, including myself, from a kidnapping attempt in Kyoto, my family gave into your keeping a naginata from our personal armory. The weapon was destroyed in February, during your defeat of the man responsible for the original attack and the later attack on the Yagami Academy, a fitting end for a warrior's weapon."
Lifting the object in the case out of its velvet padding, she bowed slightly to Hidan, who returned the gesture deeply and stepped back. Noriko turned back to Laura, almost laughing at the combination of surprise and anticipation in Laura's expression. She leveled the naginata, blade to her right, and held the weapon out slightly. "We ask now if you would be willing to once more carry one of Our blades, in defense not just of Ourselves and Our nation, but of Our world. Will you grant Us this favor?"
Laura actually hesitated, and Noriko could see the indecision in her eyes. She was still sensitive about how the original Hicho had been destroyed, and now she was fully aware of what carrying an Imperial blade meant, at least in Japan. But after a second, that insouciant grin returned, and Laura moved up the couple steps separating them, and gently lifted the naginata from Noriko's hands with both of hers. She bowed deeply, then said, "You do me great honor, Tenno. I will carry this weapon with pride."
Noriko smiled and touched the weapon one more time. "Thank you, Laura." She stepped back, expecting Laura to do the same. Laura had been told, Noriko had one public statement for her, then she was to resume her duties. But Laura hesitated, staring at the naginata still held crossways in her hands.
Then she started speaking. "When I realized what I was becoming, what Hayate-sensei and Signum-sensei were training me to become, I also realized just how frightening a thing that was, how dangerous. February – Li – made that all too painfully clear. I needed something, something more than just reassurance and generalities. I needed a code, a purpose, something more than myself that I could live by, strive to meet, something that would reassure myself and everyone around me. Grades won't cut it – I'll have to leave school eventually. Much as I like Hayate-sensei's morals and standards, they won't be enough, not for me. I need something more, something stricter. The oath I gave you all in June was part of it, the first step, but there's more. This… this is what I have decided."
She knelt on one knee, raising her new naginata to shoulder height, fixing her eyes on Noriko's. "I stand between the Light and the Darkness, between the Innocent and the Monstrous, between the Just and the Vile. I dwell at the edge of Darkness, that others may live in the Light. I am a Twilight Paladin. As such, I hereby take these oaths…
"Upon my honor, upon my soul, upon my magic and my hope for redemption, I swear to never again kill a thinking being.
"Upon my honor, upon my soul, upon my magic and my hope for redemption, I swear to seek and serve justice to the limit of my capacity and the best of my understanding.
"Lastly, I swear my magic, my skills, and my life to your defense and your service."
For a few seconds, Noriko could only stand there and stare at her in shock, not sure she heard what Laura had said. She knew the oaths, the first two at least – Laura had shown them to her while they were waiting at Kiomizudera. But she could not believe Laura would do this to her. She needed her friend more than she needed another Hidan, more than another guard.
But as Laura continued to stare at her, her shock faded. In a way, her first impression was right, Laura was removing herself from 'friend' and into 'staff', putting that barrier between them. But… when had Laura ever followed any rules of behavior but her own? Laura was crazy, yes, hyperactive and a little flighty, too quick to joke and make light. But when it came to her word and her magic, she was always deadly, deadly serious. She was no different when it came to her friends. Laura was not offering to be Noriko's guard, not making herself staff, she was proving, in her own flamboyant manner, that she had meant what she said at Kiomizudera – "I'll watch over you." Laura was reiterating that promise, unequivocally, not becoming a servant, but telling the entire world where she stood.
Laura's serious mask slipped a little while Noriko recovered, showing a little of her worry. 'Come on, Riko-chan, don't leave me hanging.'
'I… I am sorry, Laura-chan,' Noriko replied, then straightened and schooled her face back into its formal mien. She walked slowly and carefully down to Laura, placing her left hand on the naginata's haft, and her right on Laura's head. "I accept your oaths, Laura Sims, and will hold you to them." She shifted her grip, moving her hands to Laura's shoulders and pulling gently, "Rise, my paladin, and take up your purpose."
00000
"At first, I figured Sims was just proving the barbarity of the primitivists all over Homeworld. Personal fealty? In this day and age? Oaths not to kill, in the middle of a war? Some nebulous pursuit of an ill-defined 'justice'? Ha! A silly and barbaric child playing a game with another child, neither of them understanding the realities in which they found themselves.
"The thing is, Sims was not playing. She did understand the situation, just as well as I did. But she still took those oaths, she was still serious about them, deadly serious, and there is nothing so dangerous as an enemy who leaves themselves so few limitations. Everyone looks at the Three Oaths the Paladins live by and thinks, 'Oh gods, how restrictive, how can they ever do that', especially on top of what became the Paladin Creed. But those oaths are the only limitations the Paladins function under, the only lines they won't cross. There's all sorts of room in those oaths for some truly terrifying leaps of logic and the Paladins have proven to be remarkably ruthless. They will go right to the limit of their oaths, if the situation calls for it. Sims and Caeghlin didn't kill anyone when they destroyed Willan's Olympus Mons facility, but the crater that used to be a volcano is still visible from Homeworld with an amateur's telescope.
"And to this day, I thank the gods for Sims and her childish oaths. Sims demonstrated, in her absolute refusal to violate those oaths, that she was more than a barbarian. Her Paladins' refusal to violate those oaths have done more to enforce the peace than any treaty or army. The Paladins, in the end, were what convinced the Bureau to back off, convinced the Revenants to pack it in, convinced the Conclave that victory did not have to cost billions of lives.
"There aren't very many of them, and there never will be. Their power – magical, legal, and social – justifiably makes a lot of people, myself included, very nervous. But the Paladins provide a sort of brutal and incorruptible honesty that the Empire needs to keep the old Terran loyalties from flaring up into outright rebellion, and to keep our own factions from going too far. I would never want to go through what it takes to become one, never want to put up with what they do, going from one emergency to another, but thank the gods for the Paladins. Without them, the Empire would have gone down in flames a hundred times over."
- Szash Freisan, General of the Armies of Terra, as quoted in a live-broadcast interview on Founding Day, Year Thirty.
00000
Tombadgerlock: Glad you liked it. I'm not a fan of downer-endings, so while it probably won't be as happy as the traditional Nanoha ending, it won't be depressing.
MaZe-Pallas: In a perfect world, sure, a couple rousing speeches by Noriko to convince the Diet and populace at large would have been nice. But remember, in times of crises people tend to do one of two things – become more conservative (and less likely to make radical changes to their government) or, more usually, they become out-right revolutionary (thus overthrowing the entire government). Still, the real problem with 'convincing the Diet to amend the Constitution' is complexity. The Japanese Constitution has been in place since the Forties – and it's never been amended, not even close. The process to do so is also time-intensive – the Diet has to approve the amendment, then it is sent to the prefectures for ratification, and no matter how fast people want to move such a vote, setting up a vote among tens of millions of people takes time. The only way it could have been done in a timeframe reasonable to the situation (i.e. – World War III) would be the complete overthrow of the Constitution – or a legal trick such as the one used. It's not a question of drama or appropriateness, it's a question of time – Noriko and the Prime Minister could not afford the risk of a drawn out political fight when faced with Al Hanthis' imminent threat.
Kell Shock: Szash's plan is less 'piss off everyone' than 'hit certain critical centers and generate so much confusion and paranoia that no one will have the time, organization, or resources to effectively oppose Al Hanthis'. Look at the cities she has attacked and plans to attack, outside of direct conquest attempts – only one (London) is a capitol, and that was not her first target. Admittedly, in areas where she's trying for conquest, she hits capitol cities hard, but those are invariably smaller affairs than the big obvious attacks. The American and British responses will be… less than subtle, but pretty much par for the course for both nations' cultures. As far as teleporting through the Void being insane – keep in mind who came up with it. Back when he was a Bureau Enforcer & cooked up that teleport, Takashi was not so much 'insane' as 'test-pilot brave', willing to take risks for enough advantage (such as arriving totally un-announced). I will admit to stealing the 'legally declared male' trick from a reference in David Weber (though he never used it as a plot-point, that I know of), but I thought it an amusing and interesting way out of the dilemma. As for Yerun letting Akalé continue speaking, it was a matter of practicality. Al Hanthis, in an effort to minimize garrison requirements, is pursuing an approach to the conquered territories of utilizing as much of the existing power structure as possible, both to simplify their own command structure and to minimize resistance. If Yerun had turned to violence to get rid of Akalé, especially right then, it could very easily have set off the very uprisings it's his mission to prevent. There'll be more on Yerun and his fellows – and their predicament – in the next chapter or so as backdrop. Remember, just because Szash is bloody-minded and Yosho has no scruples does not mean everyone in Al Hanthis is a warmonger.
CrimsonDX: Glad you're still reading, and apparently still enjoying this. Thanks for the review!
hignum: As I mentioned to Tombadgerlock, I don't care for downer endings, so while I won't guarantee a 100% survival rate, it won't be bad. I have not yet nailed down all the details of the end, but nothing that is still 'in planning' will break too badly.
Rathmun: Noriko's situation is sticky in pretty much every sense of the term, though the whole legal gender confusion is the most embarrassing bit. The issue of what she does when her friends head off to defend New York and/or London, or wherever Hayate decides to stand, is also going to be difficult. As for Noriko's original uses of Deva magic – where Hayate had no preparation or expectations of the style, Noriko has been studying it for over a year at this point. She may not have been able to practice anything, and did not have a prepared spell-list, but she knew, generally, what to do. Also, remember her comment to Laura when she teleported them to the Kyoto palace – she knew she was not teleporting correctly. Laura has been teleported by Hayate without any difficulties, but Noriko's teleport was actively sickening for her. No problem on the late question, it's honestly one of those things that I reasoned out then tagged as 'obvious' and so didn't bother to explain. My apologies.
Nijiru: I do lurk, usually in shadowed corners:). The question is where and when, and I'm not sociable enough to lurk in new and strange places when I've got old and familiar haunts (as well as less and less time, though that's recent – stories, two RPG campaigns, work, etc, etc, ad nauseum…). With the 'Queen Elizabeth' reference, I originally intended to just leave the Joan of Arc comparison, but it did not quite fit. QE1 fits perfectly, though, at least as much as any historical figure can. As for Gilluame, I'll admit that I worked him and Didier out more in their Side Story 'Scar the Soul', but once I'd written that, given where Al Hanthis conquered first, he was too obvious not to use. Someone in that position, with his outlook, who has based his own redemption on the likes of Gandhi, would not have been able to sit aside for Al Hanthis. Yerun and Al Hanthis will have a way around it, but how well it will work (and how well the rest of the Côte d'Ivoire's people can live up to Guillaume's example) is going to be interesting.
Templar Prime: Thanks for the compliment. With the future references, I've tried to be extremely careful in all of them not to give away too much, especially not genders, unless the reference is obvious – 'the Desert Knight and his Myrmidons', for instance. It's part and parcel of the mystery of the future quotes and trying to keep them from revealing too much, while still giving a sense of just how momentous the events of the story are supposed to be. As for Maunder's age, she's somewhere in her lower forties. For her, a good solider can make squad sergeant in a few years, and progress up the sergeant ranks from there. Figure she signed up right out of high school (18) and was platoon sergeant when she was in her mid to late twenties. Figure a first-lieutenant in his first command, fresh from West Point (or ROTC at another college) would be 22 or 23. With the right connections, and if he's good at his job (not necessarily spectacular, but good), said 1st-louie could reach light-colonel (1st-louie, 2nd-louie, captain, major, lt-colonel) in ten to twelve years, so in his mid thirties (though he would be young for the post). Figure, for proper ages, fifteen years. He'd be 37-38, Maunders would then be in her early forties. Hughes is in his late fifties or so, and was being half-sarcastic. As for Maunders having grey hairs, I'm not prepared to comment, as you never speak of such things where a lady can hear you – especially not if she's as well trained with various infantry weapons as Maunders is.
A006: Japan has actually had female emperors in the past, but only a couple, and with the Meiji Restoration the inheritance was codified to be male children only. The only reason Noriko is getting away with it is the extraordinary circumstances (there's literally no one else), and her tapping into the emotions of the moment so successfully and taking Japan in the direction the people want to go. I thought about trying to come up with an appropriate 'reign name' for Noriko, but I could not make heads or tails of the system (if any) the Japanese use for the princes and the Emperor.
AluciusDawn: The mutual enemy issue is recurrent throughout history, an inescapable part of being human. It's one of the things which makes life so interesting, and drama so powerful (or it's what allows drama to exist at all, in some interpretations). Szash does have a plan, and given what she's got to work with (in terms of information, as much as resources), it's a good plan. Question is, is the plan good enough, and what will the counter-plan be? With Noriko, the one 'good' thing about her predicament is it gives her a distraction, something to do other than grieve. She'll have to deal with her grief eventually, but with Al Hanthis and Laura around, she won't have to deal with just that, and thus be overwhelmed by it. While I've never experienced anything on the scale of what I'm putting her through, it's been my experience that, when things get overwhelming, so long as there's more than one 'thing', you can take turns focusing on one or another as a sort of break. The Terran mages have a couple surprises left for Al Hanthis, though I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with Shaman Ndebele, as he was intended more as an antagonist for Juliet and the Circles than for Al Hanthis. We'll see.
Alpha Draconis1: Guillaume Akale is Didier's father, and they are from le Côte D'Ivoire. The 'hard won sovereignty' he was referencing was the fact that, in the real world, that country is currently trying to negotiate an end to a civil war, which would put it about a decade in the past of this story. Sorry for the confusion, I've posted a correction to the chapter to clear it up.
FabienLeLez: The only problem with your argument about Japan not surrendering its sovereignty to Noriko is, are you sure she would be doing it in her persona as Emperor of Japan? I can tell you right now, China would never yield to the Emperor of Japan, and the US would have issues with it as well, unless things were completely and utterly fraked. But what if Noriko was operating in a new persona? Remember, one person can fill several roles (like with a 'president and CEO' of a company – the positions are usually conflated, but not necessarily, or with the US Vice President, who is also the President of the Senate). Or Noriko could be seized upon by Al Hanthis as a figurehead, someone to give the Terrans a semblance of input and authority under Al Hanthis' rule. In all honesty, I'm actually rather partial to the idea of Yosho or Szash as Emperor (though I've already ruled out Szash with a future quote, so…). Both would be wonderfully terrible at it. Al Hanthis is a tough enemy, as much because the heart of their strength is essentially invulnerable right now, but they are not unstoppable, so… read on to find out:). Regarding your PM, Verner is calm and composed, and for all its bombast, so is Ride of the Valkyries – listen to it closely, and for all its thunder, it's actually not fast-paced, and maintains a steady rhythm throughout. With Nanoha's last name, I picked up the original spelling I used from the first round of fan-subs, and the Scrya/Takamachi confusion was essentially stupidity on my part (which I actually need to go back and fix…). Assume for purposes of covering my errors that when they got married, Yuuno either 'followed his own people's traditions' or 'bowed to Nanoha's fame' and took his wife's last name. The Shaman's confusion about Juliet was quite deliberate – it shows that for all his knowledge and ability to sense and track Hayate, he is not omniscient. Basically, he was so sure he could track Hayate that he forgot she had the Wolkenritter, whom he could not track nearly as easily. The Shaman missed the two that made the offer to and picked up Juliet, because he was distracted by Hayate.