Eternal City, Crystal Tokyo
Chapter 87
Integra Hellsing (ageless vampire) looked across the table at the Vampire Empress of Blood, Ruler of Eternal Darkness and Keeper of the Core of Eternity.
Terakomari 'Komari' Grandesblood smiled back sheepishly, the innocent looking blond barely four foot tall and dressed in a frilly garment.
Her attendant, Villhaze, stood behind her, as did Crimson Lord Sakuna Memoir, Illustreous General Nelia Cunningham and Heavenly Goddess Arla Amatsu.
"So... you're intentions are peaceful?" Integra asked, the aloof, silver haired wioman studying the group dubiously.
"No, we intend to invade," Vill deadpanned, the blue haired woman smiling.
"Don't pick fights, Vill!" Komari growled.
"Sorry, ma'am," Sakuna said with a sigh to Integra.
Komari quickly addressed Integra, "Yes, we are interested in peaceful contact. As you know from the TSAB that we unified our planet's governments not long after I became Empress."
"After the previous Empress, Karen Helvetius suddenly resigned and dropped the job in Komari's lap," Aria muttered.
"And after everyone attacked Komari and she defeated EVERYONE," Vill added.
"So... you beat every nation on your planet up and put them under your rule?" Integra checked, visibly amused.
"It sounds SO bad when you put it like that," Komari sighed.
"So how did you end up crossing dimensions?" Miki Kaoru asked, there as backup representative of the palace.
"We were invaded by the Space Time Administration Bureau," Vill said.
"STAB," Aria sighed.
Miki winced. STAB was a malevolent counterpart to the TSAB they knew, and were interested in taking over other inhabited universes. Worse, their tech was about equal to Crystal Tokyo or the TSAB, which meant fighting them directly could get iffy.
"As it appears you won...?" Integra asked.
"They apparently weren't prepared to fight off a army of undying, immortal vampires and our allies," Komari smirked.
"Whom can use magic too," Aria added.
"We seized their ship and dimension jumped and made contact with the TSAB," Komari added. "That scared off STAB, for now."
"So why make contact with us?" Miki asked.
"Population," Komari said frankly.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Population?" Lady Jupiter aka Makoto asked.
"Same problem we've had off and on," Lady Mercury aka Ami agreed.
"Explain it for us dummies," Touga Kiryuu asked.
Ami shrugged, "They have a near immortal race and unless they want to impose draconian birth control, they'll swiftly run ojut of room."
"Why not ask the TSAB for help finding a new world?" Lady Mars aka Rei wondered.
"They're too busy patrolling WAY too many worlds, plus STAB to deal with," Lady Venus aka Mina offered wryly.
"HOW CAN YOU ACT NORMAL WHEN MY DAUGHTER IS MISSING?!" Queen Serenity blurted out.
"Usagi," Endymion patted her arm comfortingly.
"Sorry," she sighed, "it's just..."
"We have to at least maintain the illusion of normalicy," Mina added gently. "And we heard from Ran and Erica, they're on scene and investigating."
"I know," Usagi admitted.
"And Alicia and Subaru got Artura to agree to stay out of it too, mostly," Makoto added.
"Mind you, I sort of wish we could use her and her knights," Endymion admitted.
"They're too loud," Mina shook her head and said, "someone in the knights would leak whom they were looking for."
"Point," Endymion conceded. He frowned as he remembered, "Touga, did Nanami's meeting with Ms Konno go well?"
"Yes, she's agreed to keep quiet on the missing princess story," Touga nodded.
"Good," Ami sighed.
Touga added, "Of course, she expects a favor in return." As everyone looked curious he added, "Breaking the princess story when she's rescued."
"Fair," Usagi conceded. She looked at the group, "Anything else we need to cover?"
"Some minor security issues," Mina admitted.
"Let's hear it," Endymion sighed.
"Agents from the Space Time Administration Bureau may have already visited us," Mina admitted ruefully.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"WE SHOULD GO AFTER THEM!" Nadessico Kinomoto said.
"SHHHH!" the group shushed her.
Jun Fudoh, the Devil Lady, noted, "Venus has me on standby, I assume if needed."
"Should you be telling us that?" Catrine asked, there as a reserve Hardsuit pilot.
"I wouldn't if you weren't already in the know," Jun admitted.
Natsuki Tokhia, the daughter of Mai and Mikoto, noted, "We could be WHEREVER they are in a few days."
"The problem is, we don't KNOW where," Catrine pointed out.
"New Londonium!" Nadessico offered.
"It's a big planet with a lot of ground to cover," Catrine added.
"Plus we don't know if they're STILL there," Jun pointed out.
"Hmph," Nadessico pouted.
"And we don't know how dangerous whatever grabbed them is," Natsuki conceded. "If we rush in and ALSO get taken, that makes things even worse."
"My mothers would tear down Londonium brick by brick if I disappeared there," Nadessico conceded thoughtfully.
The waitress at Arisugawa's Locket hurried over. "Another round, ladies?" Yuna asked, the blonde space adventurer beaming.
"I think we're done," Jun decided.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Tanya von Degurechaff was on vacation. Or at least, that's how the small, pretty blond woman was looking at it...
"It's so pretty!" Viktoriya Serebryakov exclaimed, the taller, busty auburn woman pointing at a glorious crystal tower.
Tanya smiled, also happy at how delighted Viktoriya was.
"Tourists?" a handsome young man asked, smiling at them.
"Ah, yes," Tanya smiled back, "we're from out from the former Belkan regions."
"Ah, that's way out from our territory," he nodded, interested. He asked, "So, what do you think of Crystal Tokyo?"
"It's incredible!" Visha beamed.
"I'm looking forward to seeing the planet, too," Tanya added, taking Visha's hand as she noticed him taking in her figure.
"You should probably visit Arisugawa's Locket," he added before moving on.
"I wonder why he said that?" Visha wondered.
"We'll add it to our list," Tanya agreed.
Officially, she and Visha were there as scouts for the Space Time Administration Bureau, shortened to STAB. Yes, unfortunate name, moving on... so far, what she had seen indicated her bosses should stay far, FAR away. Or negotiate a non-aggression treaty.
Coming into the system ob a cruise liner, Tanya had gotten some good scan data on various ships, including a Swordbreaker. It was as tough as stories about them said.
(Tanya did NOT buy that the ship's shields were unbreakable, tho. She had been in the military a LONG time, she was certain there would be a way to break through eventually. But even she had to concede there was nothing in their conventional weapons that could do it.)
The GENERAL tech level of the military ships were at least equal to anything STAB had. Plus friendly ships in system from the League, Khanite and Jurai. Even ATTEMPTING a military strike would almost certainly trigger a wide ranging diplomatic incident.
"I'm not seeing many devices," Visha touched her broach, "but I AM picking up a lot of powered entities. I'd guess more than half we've passed."
"THAT MANY?" Tanka started. She fired up her device to do a passive scan... and paled.
In fact Visha had underestimated the case... over sixty percent were innately powered in SOME form. Some quite powerful too. If even half were even moderately trained...
"EXCUSE ME," a tall redhead scowled.
"Yes?" Tanya squeaked.
"Scanning unaware people with.." she looked her over, "a Belka device is RUDE. I assume you're from a outlying region, but still!"
"Sorry, miss," Tanya quickly said, then she and Visha fled.
"I thought our devices were supposed to be undetectable," Visha whispered.
"Another thing to tell command...," Tanya answered.
To be continued...
Notes: was recently reading Vexations of an Introvert Vampire Princess, decided to work them in.
This is NOT canon Tanya from Saga of Tanya the Evil. I may or may not do a one shot on her, STAB and her run ins with Nanoha.