Endless Waltz

By: Daishi Prime

-42 – Bad Moon Rising-

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Author's Note: There's a new Side Story as well, 'Can't Go Home Again'. It's actually set during last chapter, so this chapter will, to a minor extent, spoil the Side Story.

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Allina had parked herself on the roof of a non-descript brown two-story building on the north bank of the Thames. Externally, there was nothing to attract attention to the building other than the bewildering array of satellite dishes, which were what had drawn her there in the first place. The building below her was a BBC telecomm hub, heavily linked to television, telephone, and even weather satellites. There were other buildings, other locations, that had higher data-transfer capabilities, in line-rate and total volume, but this utilitarian building provided her a good mix of capability and anonymity.

Watching through the rain as the Guard shield platforms teleported in south of the city, at just shy of three in the morning, she needed a moment to still the shaking in her fingers. It was as much rage as fear, but both emotions were running strong. The last time she had pitted herself against the Guard, they had put her in a coma and the traitor had almost killed 'Jana-chan. Now she was going to do the exact same thing again, to deliberately invite the attack that almost got her last time, and there were not as many friendly faces overhead to help her feel safe about it.

'Calmly, Allina-chan,' 'Jana-chan whispered in the back of her mind, 'we planned for this, remember?'

"I remember," Allina said, aloud and telepathically, "but I'm still nervous."

'Do you want to try the alternate plan? Hayate-sensei agreed to let us try either.'

Allina thought about it for a moment, and almost said yes. The 'alternate plan' – a strictly local effort to confuse the Guard over London – was viable and would probably be even more useful to London than Allina's main plan. But the main plan would give them a chance to get at Al Hanthis itself, though somewhat later than the present.

"No," she decided, "no, we'll go with the main plan. HAL, status."

A screen flickered into being next to her, displaying a list of hosts and connections. "HAL online, uplinked. Saraswati-Primary online, Saraswati-Secondary online, Beowful Brasilia online, BBC-Comm-Hub online. Satellite links stable on all bands, channels clear. Thirty-two thousand seven hundred sixty-eight zombies report ready. All systems on standby, awaiting command from Primary."

She could not help smiling at that, at how eager he sounded. "All right then, HAL, route Beowulf Brasilia, initiate plan Beowulf Hong Kong."

Another screen flicked into being, listing programs and routing information, "Gatecrasher-Midchilda-Beta v0.6HK initialized, broadcasting…"

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Half the world away from London, in a network operations center buried in a boring cube-farm in one of the smaller skyscrapers, Hong Kong's government network specialists had their daily routine rudely interrupted. The center monitored the city's communications traffic, coordinating among the telecom providers to insure uninterrupted data flow, and that traffic abruptly spiked. Television signals corroded, radio channels hashed, trading systems slowed, and networks began to approach overload and failure.

"It's not a denial of service," Li, the young intern Shao was supposed to be training muttered, "the traffic level's high enough, but it's not hitting one location, it's hitting everywhere."

It took ten seconds for Han Shao, the lead administrator on duty, to realize someone was mounting a massive cyber-assault on his city, and another two minutes to realize who. Even then, he could not honestly take credit for the 'discovery', as she was not being subtle, not in any way, shape, or form. The traffic was originating all over the world, but one protocol kept appearing over and over again as he studied the firewall traffic from the city government's own network – Gatecrasher.

"Maricopa," he half-snarled. He had helped the girl set up the city-wide camera network for the defense against the Seed, and like every other system administrator that so much as looked at the girl, he had trusted her exactly as far as he could throw her. He had thought he cleaned out every backdoor and false-identity she left behind, but he – and his fellows all over the city – had apparently failed to get them all, as one network after another began repeating the 'Gatecrasher' routines into neighboring systems.

Li asked, "Isn't she supposed to be in New York right now?"

Shao shook his head, "No, she's in London. But she should not have time to do this, not right now. She should not have had time to set up such an attack before hand either, this number of zombies would take months to generate."

"Tche, barbarian probably thought it would be fun," someone else commented.

"No, that is not her way, and this is not her style," Shao objected, thinking quickly now that his initial anger was fading. Maricopa was the sort of criminal Shao trained to fight, yes, but she was not the destructive sort, not the type to foist a denial-of-service on an entire city just for the fun of it. She was doing something, but what…

"Oi, looks like the invaders finally got to London, too," Mao called from the door to the conference room, where they had a pair of televisions set up to watch the coverage.

London, Shao thought, Maricopa's in London, why would she trigger this now? She can't have the time to play, so it has to be something… something to help her in London? The attack she suffered! She's buffering against a repeat, while she goes after… "Mao! Check with emergency services, see if their systems are being affected, same with air traffic control and port control. If they're being affected, do whatever you can to clear their systems without halting the overall attack. Everyone else, get on the phones, contact every network security and maintenance officer in the directories, we should still have the lists from the December evacuation. Tell them that they are not to interfere with the current remote access attempts and are to cease and desist all attempts to break the connections. Inform them that the connections are part of allied efforts to repel Atlantis' most recent assault, and any interference with such efforts will result in criminal charges."

"Sh-Shao what are you talking about?"

"Those kids came here to save our city," Shao said, "and the only reason Maricopa would pull something like this now, while she's trying to protect London, is if she needs the networking for something. She's got zombies all over the world accessing protocols she left in Hong Kong's networks, it has to be for something aimed at helping her in London. Helping her against the bastards that attacked our city and set those animals loose on us. Beijing has matched the Empress' promise to aid any who battle Atlantis, and I will not be the one to renege on that promise! Get on the phones, now!"

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As the last of the Guard materialized within their shield, HAL reported the first stage completing. "Fifty-two percent, that's better than I expected, actually," Allina admitted.

'Will it be enough?' 'Jana-chan sounded worried. 'We projected sixty-percent to be the lowest safe.'

Allina shrugged, "It'll do, sixty's just what I said to sell it to Hayate-sensei. Sixty'd be better, but fifty-two percent's still a lot more buffering and processing power than I really expected. Not very efficient, though, even with the zombies carrying some of the maintenance load."

'We turned half of a major city into an enormous distributed processing network, Allina. It's not designed for that, so of course it's not going to be efficient. Are you sure fifty-two percent is enough, though? I don't want something like Halley to happen again, and too much of the structure is dedicated to self-maintenance, it will not be available to distract and absorb Al Hanthis' attempts to counter-attack you.'

"Eh, the more HALs there are running around, the more fun life'll be, right?"

'No, they will not, especially not if it involves putting you in a coma again.'

"I wasn't in a coma," Allina protested, then shook it off, "but don't worry, this'll do. We'll just have to be real slick this time, and real fast. You ready?"

'Jana-chan hesitated a few seconds, just long enough for Allina to think she was going to back out, then sighed and said, 'I am ready… to pull the plug, as well as to proceed. Be safe, Allina-chan.'

"That's your job tonight, 'Jana-chan," Allina replied. Then she reached mentally, 'Aria-sensei? 'Jana-chan and I are ready. Can you pick us a target, please?'

'Wait until the shield is down,' Aria replied, 'they'll be vulnerable then, harder to teleport out if the Circles' suppression teams do their jobs right. But once the shield is down…' A mental image reached her, an older man, salt-and-pepper hair over a slightly wrinkled face. Data came with the image – magic strength, signature, and location coordinates. 'Go for him once the shield goes down. The insignia indicate a Master Adept and a Major, so he should have all the access you'll need, but he'll be well defended. Watch your eyes, the British are launching their distraction.'

While the infantry dug in south of the Thames, the British Army's support forces had dug in north of the Thames. Tanks were emplaced on both sides of the river, generally as impromptu bunkers, but the artillery, rockets, and surface-to-air weapons normally deployed close or on the lines were all north of the river. Now, despite a government-mandated blackout, London lit up, to tracers, rocket trails, and gunfire. Artillery, vehicle-mounted and man-portable SAMs, autocannons, and machine-guns opened fire in a rumbling roar, smashing into the Guard's shield in impotent fury.

The thunder and fury was impressive, but it was the smoke-cloud that was crucial. Behind its cover, the London mage force spread out and advanced, passing above the barrage behind Circle spells designed to disrupt magical sensors. The Guard was thoroughly obscured by the smoke and debris of the bombardment when Fate and Nanoha, spaced equidistant from each other to the east and west, smashed the shield between them.

The instant the shield was down, Allina and HAL struck. They tracked their target's signature easily as he tried to go up and north, and forced open a connection. "Diving," Allina said, "watch my back, 'Jana-chan."

'Redirects and spoofs on-line. I've got you.'

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Several thousand miles to the west, in the B-1R Lancer designated Apollo One, Colonel Grant Greer flexed his hands briefly, before taking back the stick and throttle from his co-pilot. He was just getting settled in when Specialist Bower came over the intercom, "Receiving targeting feed from Hi-Com, sir."

Greer tensed slightly at that, and Major Perrin in the copilot's seat sighed. "Here we go," the Major commented. Hi-Com was the AWAC bird controlling the air battle over New York, and responsible for feeding Greer and his fellows with the targets for the opening volley of the defense.

"'Bout damn time," Greer shot back.

"Vanessa's gonna be pissed," Perrin grinned at him. Vanessa Woznicki was the crew commander for one of the two relief crews crammed in aboard, and had been the most vocal about getting a shot at the Guard.

"Not my fault the Atlanteans picked my shift to attack. If she wanted to start things off, she should have won the draw for the evening shift." While talking, Greer shifted the stick slightly, maneuvering into a descending eastward turn. "Bower, inform Hi-Com that we are maneuvering towards IP, then verify the rest of the flight is doing the same."

Bower was silent for a minute, then reported, "I have acknowledgment of receipt and turn-in-to-IP from all three aircraft, sir. Thirty seconds to IP, thirty five for Apollo Four."

"Status on the payload?"

"Targeting data accepted by all birds aboard. Apollo Three and Four are flagging bad racks, one each."

Apollo Three and Four were two new birds, old airframes just converted to the R configuration, where as One and Two were both the original test-beds for the variant. Greer was mildly surprised the two new birds only had one bad rack apiece. "Order them to secure the bad racks and launch the rest of their birds on time," Greer told him. "Passing IP… now. Bower, verify target with Hi-Com."

"Targeting verified and confirmed. Guard shield over Upper Bay. Christ, these guys came in just above Lady Liberty, the arrogant bastards. Hi-Com reports target is live, wishes us good luck, and we are weapons free."

"Weapons free acknowledged," Greer said, "go ahead, Bower, you set up the programming."

"Why thank you, sir, and can I just say, you're not nearly as bad as the Major says you are." A moment later Bower came over the squadron frequency, "Apollo flight, Apollo flight, launch all birds. I say again, launch, launch, launch."

Forty miles out from New York City, from race-track orbits at each cardinal point, four B-1R Lancers – two of them with less than a month in the designation – had turned as one towards the city. Each descended through the turns, from ten-thousand feet to eight-thousand, to give the AWAC and other observation aircraft over the city some extra clearance. As their course came to bear on the city, lights flashed green, codes input, and four triggers depressed. Well aft and below the crews, each B-1 had the bomb bays locked closed, and four external ordnance racks fitted. Each rack held six long heavy missiles painted white, and all four B-1s ripple-fired their entire payloads in pairs. In just over thirty seconds, eighty-four next-generation AMRAAM missiles roared into the night sky, each fitted with a month-old warhead design. Each one was locked by GPS and radar on the Guard shield, and the first wave was in the air just as the first Guard mage teleported in behind that shield.

Greer watched the missiles from his aircraft burn into the distance, but was already busy with egress. He brought up the squadron frequency, "Apollo flight, this is One. Payload on the way, execute bug-out. Our job's done, kids, let's go get some beer back at the barn. Last crew home buys the first round."

Payloads expended, two aircraft continued their turns right, Apollo Four reversed the turn, while Apollo Three simply climbed. As soon as their course came due west, all four pilots pushed the throttles to the stops and climbed for altitude. It was a rare opportunity, pushing the old aircraft up towards their maximum speed. Personally, Greer had to put some effort into not diving for the deck instead, as old pre-mage training demanded, but their briefing had been quite specific. After Potsdam, in a reversion to pre-rocket-age bomber tactics, altitude meant life against Al Hanthis, and he brought the nose up enough to trigger the stall warnings.

Perrin chuckled at him, then asked, "Burners?"

Greer grinned, but shook his head, "No need to go wasting the taxpayers' fuel. But let me think about it for a minute."

From the cramped cabin in the back where the relief crews had been sleeping came a rather disgruntled, "What the hell's going on, sir?"

Greer's grin widened slightly. "Perrin, didn't I tell you to wake everyone else up?"

"Not that I recall, sir. I'll be sure to reprimand myself for not thinking of it when we file our reports."

"Oh, don't worry about it, my mistake." Greer chuckled, glancing back to see Woznicki hanging onto the hatch against the aircraft's steep climb. "So, Major, since the relief crew's awake, maybe it's time we trade off. Once we're clear of the zone, of course."

"Certainly, sir, that sounds like an excellent idea. I'm feeling a little tired from the rigors of combat this evening."

"Respectfully sir," Woznicki said, "jump off a cliff. Everything's over?"

"Everything but the fireworks," Greer replied, sobering, "at least for us." The strike was a vindication of the Apollo project, which he was rather happy about. But he was also perfectly well aware that it was essentially a side-show, a distraction, and the real battle was going to be much less neat and pretty.

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Despite future reports, Apollo did not fire the first shot in defense of New York City. Nor did it go to the gunners on the Air Force Spookie IIs over the river, though the gunships opened fire several minutes before Apollo's strike. The honor of first shot went to a US Navy Ensign a hundred miles south aboard the USS Harry Truman, working one of the sonar coordination tables in the carrier's Combat Information Center.

Yussef was airborne over the Hudson when the Seed reached the shore shortly before midnight and the Americans kicked off. The drone of the sixteen propeller engines overhead of Yussef's position was uncomfortably loud. The four Spookie IIs were flying very low, even for the traditionally low-flying AC-130s, staying on the deck to avoid something the Army called Centurion, and Yussef and his boys had been warned not to go above seven hundred feet altitude for the same reason, though the officers telling them that only chuckled darkly at questions.

New York City itself was blacked out, every light in the city shut off. Only the lights of various emergency vehicles and the hospitals were on, leaving the city feeling unnatural and strange. Even Newark and the other municipalities across the Hudson were dark and evacuated. Some had suggested putting units there, and further south where the Upper and Lower Bays met, the New Jersey National Guard had deployed in force. But they were light on anti-armor rounds, light on equipment, and the Hudson offered too good a firing-line to give up. So the western shore of the Hudson was abandoned, by all but coyotes and the Seed.

In the days prior to the battle, there had been some concern that the Seed would cross the Hudson further north, in more rugged terrain where it would be harder to engage them from the air. There were even some concerns that they would attempt to swim down the Hudson instead of crossing it at the city. In response to the first, the Army's line turned east, closing off the whole peninsula just north of the city limits. The second fear turned out to be truest, as some of the Seed did just that, pacing their brethren down the river.

Thus the first casualties of New York were inflicted not by aircraft, but by sea mines. Placed by the Navy down the entire length of the Hudson over the preceding two days, each was equipped with a hydrophone and automatic detonator, keyed to the faint biological sounds of Seed in the water, and also equipped with command detonation. Sonar sensors had been scattered through the whole river at the same time as the mines, and the whole assemblage was controlled from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, at sea south-east of Long Island.

As blast-columns erupted out of the river, the tactical radio attached to the shoulder of Yussef's armor crackled briefly, then announced, "Clear west bank, Spookies in five, four, three, two…"

Shortly after 'one', Yussef flinched as four Bofors and four chain-guns opened fire just a hundred or so feet over his head. The four gunships were flying northward in line, and as the Seed reached the bank, all four opened fire. The initial pass was a terrible sight to behold, four stuttering columns of light marching up the river, explosions and debris. Despite the black-out on both banks, in the explosions and tracer-glare, Yussef could see Seed being hit, see them getting thrown about, and, in fewer cases than he expected, see them still moving afterwards.

'Guard arriving,' Marcel warned everyone, 'Apollo strike is inbound.'

'Apaches are pulling back,' Luke added, 'they'll be overhead in a minute, so watch the rotors.'

'You know they made those an official variant,' Ichigo added, 'The AH-64G. The Army's talking about keeping them around for hunting insurgents instead of tanks.'

'Interesting but not relevant,' Yussef said, 'Keep an eye out for signal flares and for inbound Guard.'

'Yussef,' Signum's voice surprised him, none of the Wolkenritter were supposed to be contacting him unless things went wrong. 'Natalia is here, with Szash. Warn the Myrmidons.'

That made Yussef pause, then he shook his head, 'All right. Permission to contact Laura to swap out?'

'Swap out?'

'We planned for this, on the off chance the Russian showed up.' It had been more like Yussef planned for it when Laura asked him to let her know if Natalia showed up. But he had planned for it, and made sure Laura was aware of the plans.

Signum asked, 'You can cover your area without whoever you send to replace her?'

'As well as we can right now, once Laura has the Russian in hand,' Yussef said. 'We're spread so thin down here that missing two of my Myrmidons won't make a difference. Missing Laura will make a difference in London, though.'

'All right then, go ahead. Watch overhead, Apollo's missiles are here.'

Yussef glanced up, seeing a truly impressive volley of missiles streak overhead. He shook his head at the display, wondering what they were going to do to a carefully designed multi-generator shield that had no-doubt been recalibrated and reinforced since Postdam. But he made no comment, instead telepathically reaching London. 'Laura, the Russian is here in New York, with General Szash.'

There was a momentary pause, then, 'Well, crap, Gun-Bunny-sensei's going to be disappointed then, isn't she? She was looking forward to a rematch with General Bloodthirsty. Gimme a sec to see if she'll let me switch.' She was silent long enough for Yussef to see the after-effects of the Apollo strike. There was something strange in the explosion, something that made the whole area around the Guard's shield look oddly fuzzy and out of focus, but he ignored that as Zulfiquar painted signatures flitting out through the cloud – the Guard separating in trios, spreading out to attack the city.

Laura's mental voice jerked him back to reality, 'On my way, Yu-chan, send your boys. They've got the south-west quadrant, with Megs backing them up.'

Yussef already knew that, as did Luke and Noah, but he made no comment. Better to be reminded and there was always the chance of a last-minute alteration, especially given Megan's parents' objections. Yussef still had yet to hear how that had been resolved, if it had. Instead of sniping at Laura, he sent a more general telepathic signal to all his Myrmidons, 'Luke, Noah, the Russian is here. Laura's inbound. Get to London, as planned. Everyone else…'

'Problem,' Marcel interrupted, 'Some of the Seed are headed south into Newark. They're not all crossing the river, and some of the Guard are moving to cover them.'

'Shit,' Yussef muttered. 'Okay, Luke, Noah, get to London. Marcel, you're with me across the river. Everyone else, stick to the plan, and call for help if you need it.'

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Juliet rolled her eyes when Laura told them she was leaving, a notice accompanied by a typically garbled combination of warnings, advice, and anticipation about the battle. Despite her exasperation with Laura, though, part of Juliet really wanted to be in New York herself, now. She did not want to go after the Russian herself, she had promised not to, but she did want to watch. It would no doubt take Laura mere minutes to pound the Russian into paste, most of it spent just finding the coward, but would still be a pleasure to watch.

Instead of following, though, she hefted the canvas duffle loaded with rebar spears, and jumped off the roof she was on. She was not the least bit interested in going up high, there was far too much anti-air fire and the men on those guns did not have the best range or visual conditions for target recognition, in her opinion. The streets at night in the rain would not be much better, not with all the infantry dug in throughout the city, but at least at low-level she could only be getting shot at by a couple guns and rockets, instead of a division's worth. She was not quite willing to trust her teachers' assurances that Glaive's automatics would protect her from small-arms and light warheads.

A basic scan of the area, the first area scan Lotte-sensei had taught them last year, had proven to be the best way to locate Seed, with one modification to make it more stable. Wherever the scan returned nothing, there was probably a Seed. South of her there was no response from the spell, and there were pockets east and west of her that were worryingly far forward.

There were no Seed in sight, though, and that bothered her. So she dropped down to the sandbag redoubt blocking the north-bound street, touching down behind the squad of soldiers there. One flinched away from her, but the rest ignored her, until she stepped between two of them to rest a hand on the sandbags. Plain English was getting easier after three days in London, "See the critters yet?"

The man leaning on the sandbag glanced at her briefly, then returned to his launcher's sight muttering, "Not yet. Want to go find 'em for us?" The tube launcher – some variant of the old American LAWS, Juliet thought – looked ridiculous to her, considering how tough the Seed were, but there were a frightening number of the things. The squad had a pair of crates of the things, in addition to each man carrying two or three.

Juliet cocked an eyebrow at the man's challenge, then grinned. "They're close, just down the street a ways. I've got a better idea than sticking my neck out, though. Glaive, Active Ping." The pulse of red light that swept out from her position in a sphere was visually spectacular, but not all that dangerous. Juliet was vaguely aware of several Guard triads momentarily retreating from the pulse, before her attention was riveted on the nearest vanished section of the sphere. "There," she said, pointing out the building half a block away as she fished out a piece of rebar.

The whole squad shifted, rockets coming to bear on the building, and Juliet hissed at them, "Eyes out, you idiots. Pack hunters, remember? This one's coming closer, a scout, testing our perimeter, looking for easy prey. Buildings around us?"

"Open," the man next to her muttered, "too many buildings to seal them all. We're supposed to pull back when they start getting into the last buildings across the way."

"I'll cover your retreat when that happens," Juliet told them, "but right now, let's see if I can't sucker one or two into your line of fire. Stay frosty, and mark your targets. Any of you shoot me, I'm going to be very unhappy with you."

Juliet lifted up into the air and floated down the street a ways, but drifting to the far side from where the Seed was. Going to have to be fast, she reminded herself, Seed like ambushes.

A glint of light was her only warning before the buster spell crashed down, not nearly enough time to react. Glaive's automatics engaged, but the attack still slammed Juliet into the street. A moment later she heard shattering glass and the roar of rocket engines, as two more busters slammed into Glaive's automatic shield. Juliet rolled to her right, away from the incoming Seed, and channeled energy into the ironmongery on her back, "Hedgehog!"

Glaive interpreted her will and the power she was shaping, and the rebar spears, each four feet long and sharpened on both ends, wrenched into V-shapes, sprouting from her back like spines and shredding the duffle bag. The Seed was just lunging at her when she completed the spell, "Claymore!"

The bent rebar sheared magically at the apex, and launched explosively, recoil bleeding through the spell to slam her into the street again. Juliet flinched at the hard/soft sound of rebar hitting the Seed, the heavier sound of it hitting the nearby buildings, and the shattering of more glass, but the desperation maneuver worked. The Seed was staggered by the impacts, and the pulse of power distracted the Guard mage attacking her long enough for her to re-engage her flight spell and rocket away, arcing up into the air.

The Guard mages that had attacked her were easy enough to spot, a trio of younger men in their spiffy red and black uniforms. A pair of Maunders' Dogs were engaging them now, low-powered spells coming fast and furious. Juliet was partly impressed by that – the Dogs were much faster with their spells than the Guard, and while the Guard were throwing more powerful busters, the Dogs were holding their own.

Unfortunately, that meant they were doing well enough for one of them to shout at her, "Remember your job, girl! The Seed are the Army's responsibility, not yours!"

Juliet snarled at him, then decided to show him what a device mage was really capable of. "Glaive, Triphammer." She felt the shiver of excitement, and the world took on a red tinge, as her hands and feet began glowing. She flipped Glaive up and over her shoulder, feeling it adhere to her armor, "Vivace." The world slowed delightfully, and Juliet grinned in anticipation, lunging forward.

The Guard saw her coming, naturally, but were fully occupied. She charged the triad that had attacked her, heedless of the Dogs' fire, and rammed her left fist into the nearest Guard's shield. The Triphammer magic exploded, releasing a charge equivalent to Testarossa's Plasma Smasher, and Juliet swept through the dispelling energies with her right hand.

The Guard she attacked was quick, twisting around her swing and trying to back up, but Vivace gave Juliet all the speed she needed, let her move almost as fast as Laura. She rolled with the missed strike and, even as the Guard tried to fall back, spun into a reverse kick that nailed the man in the gut, Triphammer exploding again. The detonation spun her away from her target, but slammed him into the building the Seed had been skulking through.

That thought alone kept Juliet from pursuing him, since down in the rubble she would be easy prey for a Seed ambush. Instead, she launched herself at the next member of the triad. The woman was smart, though, diving for street level. The soldiers' rockets would not be able to penetrate her shields, but the Seed would help cover her against Juliet. Dropping low reduced her maneuvering options, though, and she was bracketed by buster spells from the Black Dogs.

That left the last member of the triad for Juliet, but he was already retreating, backing away from her while trying to cover his two comrades with buster spells. Juliet let him go, widening the range, then teleported right next to him. He was a split-second slow in getting around, and her second Triphammer fist exploded right behind his head. His last-ditch shields, oddly similar to Noriko's Cascade discs, absorbed most of it, but he still went tumbling to the ground, unconscious. He teleported out before he hit, but Juliet thought he was done. At the least, he would be seeing double for a while.

A buster smashing into her armor got her attention, and she found her first target floating low, just above street level outside the building she had slammed him into. He seemed to be daring her to come after him, staring up at her and smirking slightly. She matched his smirk. "Idiot thinks I'm afraid of the Seed, I bet. I am, I'll admit," she grinned widely, "but I'm thinking I'm faster than the critters." She charged down to meet him.

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Laura popped into New York airspace with barely a ripple, and immediately had to twist clear of an incoming Guard mage. She writhed around his surprised reaction strike, then hit him full in the face with a Positron Buster. That took long enough to generate that he had a shield up, but he underestimated its power and was still staggering from the blast when she crashed through it. She planted a knee in his gut, which his last-ditch shields mostly absorbed, then elbowed him once in the back of the head as he folded around her knee.

"Heisenberg's Rule," she muttered, wrapping the binding around him before he could recover, and used the moment to look around.

Vita-sensei was closest, frowning at her slightly, and the rest of the Wolkenritter and Volunteers were doing a number on the Guard. There was a lot of missile and gun-fire in the city's northern reaches, and what looked like lasers firing from below her current altitude, but no threats immediately obvious.

"That was my target," Vita complained as she drifted over.

Laura shrugged, "Sorry, Vita-sensei, but you gave him to me all gift-wrapped and stuff, so I couldn't resist." She held up an offering hand, "you want me to throw him back? He is kinda scrawny."

Vita rolled her eyes, "Just give him here, I'll teleport him to the holding cells Hughes arranged. The Russian's off that way, towards the center. She's sticking close to Szash, so be careful. Hayate-sama's tangling with the General right now, and she's probably going to cut loose soon."

Laura looked over, and sure enough Hayate-sensei was glowing like the sun, Reinforce and Zafira following at her heels like well-trained puppies. It took her a bit longer to locate Natalia through the mess, but her target was definitely there, a triad backing up the General. "I'm on it. I'll trounce her then drop low to cover the Army, 'kay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Vita grumbled, "Just don't go stealing my targets anymore!"

Laura grinned and waved at that, taking off for Natalia. She wrapped herself in Cloak of Shades, as best she could, and slipped through the fighting without giving into the temptation to join in. Yussef's boys could handle the pressure for now, but she had to take care of Natalia quickly.

Laura was not nearly as good with the Cloak as Allison, though, especially not under combat conditions like this, and Natalia's escort saw her coming. She spiraled around the buster he sent in her direction, bombarding him in turn with a string of Zippers. Natalia noticed her then, but Laura stayed focused on her immediate target, the intervening Guard mage, merely noting Natalia's move to stick closer to Szash for future consideration.

Then the man in front of her detonated in a blue-white explosion. He dropped out of the cloud, apparently unconscious, then flickered out in a teleport. Laura waved to Reinforce briefly, then charged after Natalia. The Russian tried to reach Szash again, but with Reinforce and Zafira keeping Szash's other two compatriots busy, the General was twisting and turning through the air to avoid Hayate-sensei's collection of free-floating swords. When Natalia tried to maneuver around Szash, Laura took a swipe at the General herself on the way by. When Natalia tried to dive for another triad, Wormhole popped Laura out among them, and they scattered in surprise leaving Natalia nowhere to run.

Natalia was visibly breathing hard when she finally gave up trying to run, floating a thousand feet over the Statue of Liberty. Laura, having no difficulty with her breathing, floated up to Natalia's level, close enough to talk. She grinned at the fact that the entire pursuit left her feeling energized, where it was obvious Natalia was not handling it as well. "Hey, Talia," she said, "been a while."

Natalia gave her a confused, doubtful look, which made Laura giggle. "Not long enough," the Russian said eventually.

"You gonna come quietly?"

Natalia laughed slightly at that. "No one goes quietly to their own execution. I'm not going quietly, and I'm not going with you at all. My brother is in Al Hanthis, awake and waiting for me."

Laura quirked an eyebrow at that. "Really? Good for you. Noriko's sisters… aren't."

Natalia flinched. "I had nothing to do with that, Laura, I swear. They had information on us from somewhere else, before Hong Kong. How do you think Lord Protector Yosho knew how to approach me?"

Laura shrugged, "Doesn't really matter. That's not what you're going on trial for."

"I'm not going on trial."

Laura drew herself up and, with some difficulty remembering the wording Noriko had insisted on, said, "Natalia Morisovitch, by the authority vested in me as an extension of the Imperial Throne of Japan, I hereby place you under arrest for treason, attempted murder, and as an accomplice after the fact in the use of a biological weapon, all directly due to your actions during the defense of the city of Hong Kong by Allied forces. Surrender, seal your device, let go your magic, and you will be given a fair trial."

Natalia flinched and turned away slightly, as if the recitation was causing her physical pain. But as Laura finished, her face smoothed, her stance shifted, and her grip on Koschei tightened. "No," even her voice sounded different, just slightly. "We have come too far to fail now, have too much left to do. We have learned much these past months, Sims, learned enough to stand against you."

Laura smiled at that. "Really? I hope so, for your sake." Hicho Zwei formed in her hand, glowing white. "I've been pretty busy these past couple months myself, even with watching over Riko-chan," the cartridge in her left shoulder discharged, and she grinned as she whirled Hicho about. "Let's see how far we've come."

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"We Paladins are, by nature, overly theatrical and melodramatic. Partly it's the personalities we look for in candidates, but it also serves a practical purpose. A lot of would-be enemies are so intimidated by our reputation, that they will surrender when a Paladin shows up rather than fight one of us. Hell, people have surrendered to the rumor of one of us showing up. Being theatrical, especially in publicly humiliating a defeated opponent, helps encourage that sort of behavior, which helps us keep the First and Second Oaths more easily. So we each have our nicknames, our personal catch-phrases and threats that we indulge in at the drop of a hat. Also, we find our fun where we can, and it's all sorts of fun to indulge in that sort of theatrics.

"We do share two of those phrases in common, though. The one everyone else knows is 'ready to go', or its caveat, 'ready to go and then some'. It means just what it says. The caveat – the version everyone who works with us dreads hearing – means we're ready and we're tired of waiting, so we're going to kick off right then and there.

"The second one, though… if you ever hear a Paladin say 'let's see how far we've come'… run. Drop whatever you're doing, just grab any wounded or civilians in the area and run. If you're the bloody idiot who convinced us to say it, put your head between your knees and kiss your butt good-bye. It means we think you're good enough to take our very best, and we're going to give it to you. It means the power limiters, tactical limitations, and personal restrictions we habitually operate under – for the challenge – just got tossed out the window, and the only thing limiting our actions and power are the Three Oaths.

"It started out as a simple challenge Laura liked to issue, a 'you show me your best and I'll show you my best' sort of thing. These days, though, it is your last and final warning, and you've got three to five seconds, depending on the Paladin, to surrender. Laura and the Creepy Twin take a little longer, since they typically go in with more convoluted restrictions than the rest of us.

"Thing is, there are maybe two hundred people in known space that can stand against one of us at full hue and cry. The Wolkenritter and the other senseis at the Academy. Some of the Deva mages. A few of the Bureau's S-rank Enforcers, especially Harlaown's Knights. One or two of the independents. It's not a matter of arrogance, so quit making that face at me. We train, continuously, every day, to be the absolute best in mage combat. You have to have the potential for A-rank strength, minimum, before we'll even consider giving you a chance at the Year of Hell to earn an invitation to join. Mage combat is what we do, and we do it better than almost everyone.

"I've seen other Paladins cut loose, especially Laura and Allison. It's one of the most awe-inspiring and terrifying things I've ever witnessed, and I say that having had a front-row seat for Hayate-sensei's Armageddon spell, and the Dies Irae assault and the Goddess' awakening. So follow my advice, and if you ever hear one of us say 'let's see how far we've come', just run. You'll live a happier and more peaceful life.

"Thank God there are only nine of us."

– Juliet Van Saar, call-sign Stormtrooper, Twilight Paladin

Interview for Discovery's Praetorian Guard: History of the Twilight Paladins

Broadcast date January 31, 23 AF

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Author's Notes: Why yes, I am still alive. Sorry for the long delay, NaNoWriMo proved more and less difficult than I expected. Less difficult in that I hit 50K words with a day to spare, and would have done better if not for pesky things like Thanksgiving travel and RPG nights. It proved more difficult in that I had little time to work on anything other than NaNoWriMo, and once November was over I basically lost all energy to write for about a week. I got parts of this chapter written during November, but mostly just planned out which scenes this chapter would be.

As for the NaNoWriMo story itself… I am apparently stuck on 'epic', as the final story from the outline I put together over the summer and fall, based on what I got done in November, will actually be something like 200K to 300K words. For comparison, Endless Waltz here hit 300K words in Chapter 32 (Noriko's speech to Japan after the Blood Penance), though that includes these notes & review replies, so it was probably more like Chapter 33. The thing is, the 'book one' part that starts it all off is going to end up somewhere around 70K, so it's only two-thirds done, and in dire need of editing.

As a consolation prize for the delay, there's a new Side Story up, as well, that covers the situation with Megan's parents that Yussef wondered about above.

Spells

Triphammer – this is Juliet's 'exploding fist' spell refined and amplified by way of her device. It holds a moderately powerful charge around each hand and foot that, upon impact with a target, detonates. Like Laura, Juliet prefers to get up close and personal, to mix it up, but she lacks Laura's speed and technique, and so compensates with raw hitting power.

Vivace – this spell is similar in intent to Fate's Sonic Form, accelerating Juliet's speed and maneuverability up to the top end of human. Like Triphammer, it is intended to allow her to compete with Laura in hand-to-hand, and the acceleration is minimal for long-term distance travel.

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Lady Sekhmet Ka: Hope you did well on NaNoWriMo, as I mentioned above, it was rather all-consuming for me. UK law does limit firearm possession, yes, but the UK is also a nation of hunters – a shotgun on the mantle is nearly as British as tea, in some views. Nanoha won't be fighting Szash in this battle, that falls to Hayate, but I've got something planned for Nanoha. That is for next chapter, though, possibly bleeding over into the chapter after that.

Kell Shock: Fixed both errors, and a couple more I found digging through (typos all, the bane of my existence). Thanks! I've known since I started this how Hayate was going to get past Al Hanthis' shield, but all I will say now is that everything that will be used has already showed up in the Deva Series somewhere. The side-effects from Megan's dragon form are more lingering aspects of the form – getting back to it is the easiest shape-shift she can do, now, which is part of the problem for her, mentally. So far, the draconic characteristics she retained are permanent, in all her forms, though that may change, as she, Lotte, & Yuuno get a handle one what precisely happened to her – it was not just the 'unprepared form', but also the Seed's nullification effect, Maunders' EMP spell, and the emergency teleport that capped it all off.

GeshronTyler: Last chapter was groundwork, every battle needs preparation, and surprises should be in tactics and outcomes, not equipment used. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. The two-month delay is a bit much, but not all that extreme – it's been two months in story since Hong Kong, after all. Much can happen, yes, but that extends in both directions. As for how the Emperor comes to rule the whole world, more of the groundwork on that will be in the next couple of chapters.

Daughter of ether: I'm afraid the NaNoWriMo project's going to be a while longer – two-thirds to three-quarters of 'book one' is done, but it's going to be a while for the rest to follow. Glad you're still reading this, though, thanks!

Mooniecat: Thanks for the link, I found a full ToE listed on there that's close enough. I was close to right, there's basically an over-strength Aviation Assault Battalion supporting New York, say the left-overs from the Tenth Mountain's Combat Aviation Brigade that were not involved in harrying the Seeds' march south from Potsdam.

Pfeil: sorry to disappoint you, but no Nanoha this chapter. That's planned for next chapter. Current plan for next chapter has two scenes outside the cities, and one scene each for Laura, Nanoha, and Allison, though the order of all of the above is up for grabs.

hignum: Most of the kids actively hate Natalia at this point, witness how they all refer to her as 'the Russian' instead of by name. But they're all good kids as well, and willing to let Laura have a crack at bringing her back for trial, rather than go after personal vengeance. There is a lot of mutual assistance going on at the moment, but General Truman's comment about 'The Allies' was slightly premature (only slightly, though). Lastly, I'm afraid I'm not much of a romance writer, so beyond the pairings already in play, I don't think much more will pop up. I've got vague ideas for a couple of pairings, especially as part of a distant epilogue I'm considering, but nothing involving Singum I'm afraid. She's too stoic and dedicated to her purpose for such frivolities.

Baughn: I'm glad you're enjoying this, but you really should know better than to make predictions before you read the end of the story. Victory, after all, frequently depends on the definition. I'll tell you what I tell everyone who makes these predictions – you're wrong. I won't say how you're wrong, that would be cheating, but there you go.

Templar Prime: Sorry for the long delay, but as I said above, NaNoWriMo. The Pave Spectre and the Spectre II differ primarily in concentration of armament. The II trades a pair of Vulcans for what is basically the front end of an A-10 Warthog – half the guns, more hit per bullet, effectively the same rate of fire. The Spectre II also replaces one of the Pave Spectre's Bofors with a full-up artillery piece. All the AC-130s are being converted to the Spectre II currently, though, so by the time this story's set in five years or so, they would all be converted over. You are correct that Allison & Megan never had much on-screen interaction, though there have been mentions of them prowling the campus woods together (more than just last chapter, I think). Megan would not have the least clue what Allison is always going on about with the Navajo, but would find the Navajo history just as horrific as Allison does, if less personal. Allison's reactions to Megan are more complicated. Megan's status as 'English' would not be as much of a factor – Allison's prejudice is more general and not applied to specific people. Megan isn't 'English' to Allison at this point, she's Megan. The problem would stem from Megan's shapeshifting, and Allison's familiarity with Navajo mythology of the skinwalkers. Look them up – they're beyond unpleasant. For the shapeshifting alone, Megan makes Allison nervous, though continued exposure mitigates that somewhat.

The Sandman: Part of the reason the Guard is still hitting New York has already been mentioned – Szash wants to hit Hayate and the Wolkenritter, to eliminate them. Szash wants to hit strengthened fortified positions and destroy them, to prove that the Guard is strong enough to do it. She can't reach her toughest foe directly in Japan, so she's drawing that foe out while also hammering the local powers-that-be. She does also want to avoid civilian casualties, though that hasn't gotten much play, hence hitting someplace she's warned. As for why they're going after New York instead of DC or Norfolk, that is part and parcel of Al Hanthis' view of the world and of political, social, and economic forces. That'll play a part in how they react to everything, and there are hints of it throughout their plans and their reactions to other events. The secondary forces moving during these attacks will also be hitting some 'strange' targets that make sense from their perspective, but are going to be off the wall by modern standards. Something else to keep in mind is teleports – Szash is used to thinking in terms of teleportation time-frames for strike and response. Yes, swapping targets at the last second would mean avoiding America's conventional armed forces, but she does not consider those a threat to anything but the Seed, which are just there for terror tactics and general destruction anyhow. Hayate could respond to counter Szash's mages wherever Szash attacked, in a matter of seconds. So why not hit the same city as the Seed, where the Seed will be there to provide cover from Hayate's mages if things turn sour? Lastly, there's numbers to consider. Szash simply does not have the manpower to attack the US industrial complex on that scale, even as degraded as that complex has become since the sixties. Any forces she sent out like that would either have to be large and thus take a great deal of time to hit that many dispersed targets, or small and spread out and thus easy pickings for Hayate. Hitting one central location concentrates the enemy's forces, yes, but also draws them off from Szash's other targets, just like Hong Kong did. Like any general, Szash has to make trade-offs between what she can do, what she wants to do, and what she needs to do. What she most needs right now is not victory, but the destruction of Hayate's device-mages (the Circles' lack the flexibility and strategic speed to be a real threat) and territory with useable resources. Hitting New York and London lets her use relatively small forces to tie down and possibly eliminate the device-mages while lower-tier forces handle the conquest duties.

SAMAS: I'm aware that I misspell Nanoha's last name, which is why I try to avoid using it. I've gotten a slew of corrections over the years, and to be honest I don't pay much attention to it anymore. Yes, I know, that makes me a lazy slacker who isn't fit to put pen to paper and all that, but… eh, I've screwed it up often enough by now people would probably complain if I got it right:). Thanks for the concern, though, and the info on the familiars. I've got the movie sitting on a disc, but haven't watched it yet.