FIRST IMPRESSIONS
A service is underway in Midchilda's memorial ground, attended by men and women in armed forces uniforms. Chrono gives his speech in a solemn tone.
Chief Enforcer and her junior Teana are also there, standing far back next to a lady dressed in grey white Air Armament Service uniform with a distant expression. Next to the Air officer stands Hayate, with a solemn face, accompanied by two women, a little girl, a tall man, and two tiny floating fairies, all in Ground Armament Service uniforms.
Chrono finishes his speech. A Sail Force soldier plays the trumpet, and a firing squad shoots volleys as the attendees salute. The service ends, and people begin to disperse. Chrono makes a round, offering condolences to the families who lost their loved ones.
Two men approach Teana's group. One wearing Executive Office uniform, the other wearing Ground Armament Service uniform. The former salutes Chief Enforcer, while the latter salutes the lieutenant general. The two women nod to what the men are saying. Teana, her boss, and the young general bid farewell to the group, and head towards their respective chauffeur-driven limousines; Teana riding with her boss.
.
Uniformed men and women shuffle into the conference room located in Sail Force's Cranagan complex, greeting, nodding to each other, taking their seats at the conference table. Most of them have come straight from the memorial service, dressed for the occasion. When almost everyone is seated a Sail Force officer enters the room to announce the arrival of the Bureau Security Adviser. All rise as a middle-aged man wearing a dark suit enters the room. He walks to the vacant seat next to Lindy and gives a nod to the room before sitting himself. The men and women sit, too, and the meeting commences.
"First of all, let me start by saying that was an excellent memorial service befitting the honorable men and women of Naval Intelligence. I see most of you came here straight from the service so I'm sure you all agree." Starts the Bureau Security Adviser. Chrono thanks the man as many in the room agree with nods.
"Now, Deputy Director Harlaown, Managing Directors have been briefed on what happened. My job is to advise them where we go from here. Would you kindly help?"
"We have salvaged what we can, sir, and the results are not satisfactory, to say the least. All we know is the estimated location of the origin."
It was indeed not satisfactory at all. He continues.
"We can at least make some guesses. Look how fast and deadly they responded once they encountered our men. That's some quick judgment, and focused decision making, Sir."
"Professor, how do we interpret this?" The Security Adviser asks Naval Intelligence's analysis consultant. Yuuno clears his throat.
"That leads to two possible interpretations: Quick and decisive decision making because they are a small group of like-minded people with clear predefined goals. Or... a large group under a firm and strong leadership that is borderline absolute."
"...I am told you were initially of the opinion it was a peace envoy?"
"I am proven wrong, sir." Yuuno accepts humbly.
"In fairness, sir, Lily was out there on my orders." Says Chrono in defense of his friend of a long time.
"Hey, I'm not pointing fingers here."
"But you are." Chief Enforcer hears Teana muttering under her breath. She elbows the junior officer.
Chrono brings up the recorded footage salvaged from the mana prism. It shows the crew desperately trying to hold off the intruder from entering the Bridge to no avail.
"Why was the self-destruct sequence activated?" The Security adviser asks. Chrono answers with a solemn face.
"Sir, Lily is an intelligence ship. Once the crew number reaches below a threshold and the ship is deemed not fit for sail, the sequence activates automatically."
The Security Adviser ponders this for a moment.
"Do we know who they are?" he asks. Chrono shakes his head. Lily's salvaged log only has a line or two about one hostile intruder ranked possibly A plus or up.
"Unfortunately there isn't much left of the attacker on the site either, but Enforcer Lanster was able to put one of the surveillance orbs in stasis. Our lab extracted the mana signature, sir, and is crosschecking against the registered mages database." Chief Enforcer reports.
"Anything turned up?" Bureau Security Adviser asks hopefully but gets a no as a reply.
"So we really don't know anything except...somebody doesn't like us very much. But we know where they are." He summarizes looking around the room.
Chrono leans onto the table slightly.
"Rough estimation of their whereabouts, sir. In that regard, I am preparing a deep recon mission."
Lindy sits up straight, concerned.
"Hold on a sec...off the record for a moment, please. Don't tell me you are going there yourself."
"Mom…please…" Teana hears Chief Enforcer muttering under her breath, sighing visibly and audibly from embarrassment. She elbows her senior officer.
"Well, yes, I am going. If something goes wrong it's up against mages A plus minimum. I can't send my men alone into that." Chrono insists. The Bureau Security Adviser stops Lindy before she protests.
"Now now, please. Setting the motherly..." he glances at Chief Enforcer. "and sisterly concerns aside, Deputy Director has a good point. Can we get back on record?"
Lindy throws hands in defeat and pouts.
"Thank you. So...what would be the objective of this recon mission?" The Security Adviser asks.
"Covert intel gathering, sir. We go in as quietly as possible. Look around, and get out. As is now, we just do not have enough materials to make a viable threat assessment. I hope to gather those bits and pieces." Chrono answers confidently. The room murmurs agreement. The Bureau Security Adviser turns to Lindy.
"Let's say we find an army ready to invade us. How do we handle it?"
The Chairwoman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff shakes her head.
"It's too early to say without a proper threat assessment..."
"That's exactly why we need that recon mission." The Security Adviser points out. Lindy has no choice but to accept the fact.
"Yes, sir...Anyway, full mobilization across the entire administrated territory would take about 3 months. Mind you though, maintaining the full mobilization state indefinitely will have negative political implications." She does not need to mention the cost associated with such.
The Security Adviser considers this for a moment, drumming fingers on the table.
"Sir, I will have my Enforcers on alert while threat assessment is in progress. I think that would be more economical." Chief Enforcer offers.
"Yes, please do that, Chief Enforcer. JSC has also made a good point, but I want at least the Capital to be secure. Commander Yagami? How's it with Capital Defense?"
Lieutenant general Hayate Yagami speaks up.
"Sir, Capital Defense would take at least a week to complete its full mobilization, but Signum's Rapid Response Division can fully deploy anywhere within two worlds distance from the Capital in 72 hours. Of her two first response battalions, one can be up and ready within 24 hours."
The two first response battalions are widely considered as Rapid Response Division Commander Signum's personal shotgun, packing enough punch and flexibility to go with their reputation. The Security Adviser searches through his memory for the names of the officers.
"If I remember correctly, that'd be Vita and Nakajima?"
"Yes, sir. Anvil and Punchkid. They alternate on standby duty."
The Security Adviser digests this for a moment. The Capital is in good hands. He looks around the conference room.
"OK. Strategic Arms? Is Strategic Arms here?"
"Here, sir." A thin man in Air Armament uniform, a liaison officer, stands up from the back of the room.
"Despite the ad-hoc nature of Strategic Arms, we are fortunate both Lightning and Bookworm are here with us as you can see..." He nods to Hayate and Chief Enforcer.
"I tell you, I hate that code name." Hayate can be heard. Ignoring her complaint, the Strategic Arms officer continues.
"They are, obviously, informed up to date with the situation so there won't be any issues in terms of readiness...Doomsday, on the other hand...she is pretty much kept in the dark, I presume?" He throws an inquisitive look at Chief Enforcer.
"Yes, correct."
The Security Adviser waves it off.
"Doomsday is a retaliatory measure. I don't think we are at the desperate stage where we discuss a guaranteed retaliation, are we?" He looks around the room, seeking agreement.
"Threat assessment should come first, sir." Chrono points out.
"Right then. Nevertheless, we will double security detail on Doomsday and Lightning anyway...just in case." Says the Strategic Arms officer.
Chief Enforcer leans to Teana and whispers, grimacing.
"Oh god, more men hanging around our house."
.
The meeting has ended and people are shuffling out. Professor Scrya catches up with Deputy Director Harlaown.
"Hey, got a minute?"
Chrono doesn't need to hear what Yuuno wants.
"Sure. You want in?"
"Yeah." The ever-curious Professor pleads. Chrono has to warn him.
"This won't be a picnic like the last time, you know that." He looks at Yuuno's face and gives in.
"Alright...as always, I would need you to sign a waver...you know the protocol."
At this moment, Lindy walks out of the conference room with Chief Enforcer tagging behind.
"Son, we need to talk."
Chrono gives Professor the 'Uh oh' face, and reluctantly joins his mother and sister. Yuuno watches the three Harlaowns walk down the corridor, arguing.
#
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Vaizen is the heart of the technological development among the worlds in the Bureau's territory, the home of Caledfwlch Techniques company and alike. So it's not surprising to find Naval Intelligence has a Staging Dock on the eastern coast slightly north of the industrial sector. The Staging Dock serves, as its name implies, as a dock to stage Naval Intelligence ships trans-dimensional journeys. The Dock's technology not only serves its owner's purpose but also contributes to the regional dimensional travel network; acting as a major control node for the civilian teleportation network in the seaside area.
It's a sunny and clear morning, and now there sits a frigate sized ship, a covert operations ship named Helios, getting ready to sail. Professor Scrya has to clear multiple security checkpoints before finally boarding the ship. An officer greets Yuuno and leads him to the Bridge, where Chrono is conversing with the ship's Captain.
"Speaking of the devil. There he is." Chrono greets Yuuno. The Captain extends his hand for a manly handshake.
"Welcome on-board Helios, Professor. Captain Griffith Lowran."
"Yuuno Scrya, Infinity Library. Thanks for having me on board; I will be in your care..." Yuuno hesitates. "Erm...are you related to-"
"Yes, Yuuno. They are married." Chrono answers instead.
"Oh...I'm sorry about your wife, Captain." Yuuno honestly means it. After all, he was the one suggested the plan that got Lily blown up. But the Captain is not going to have any of it.
"Not your fault, Professor, please don't blame yourself." He turns to Deputy Director.
"Sir, I'm actually very grateful that you picked Helios for the mission. It's kinda personal for me now."
"Good, but remember; no guns blazing."
#
.
Same morning but back in a well-off residential area of Midchilda, a woman, mid to late 30s, wearing Air Armament Service uniform and spotting a lieutenant colonel rank, exits the front door of a large double story house. Spotting down the driveway a limousine parked on the road, she pokes her head inside her home to shout.
"Fate-chan, your ride is here."
As she approaches her car parked in the driveway, a black sedan comes to halt in front of the house, next to the parked limousine. Four suited men emerge from the car and approach the house.
As the lieutenant colonel stops and looks at the men with a puzzled expression, an armed group of Air Armament Service uniformed men appears out of nowhere, blocking the four men. The group's leader salutes the mysterious men.
"Excuse us, gentlemen. Security Force, Strategic Arms Command. May I see your identifications, please?"
The four men hands over their IDs and one of the security force scans them with his device. The lieutenant colonel approaches, curious.
"Good morning, Captain. What is this about?" The leader of the security team assigned to Doomsday and Lightning household salutes her.
"Good morning, madam. These gentlemen are from the Inspection Department. IDs check out."
One of the gentlemen from the Inspection Department smiles apologetically.
"Good morning, lieutenant colonel. We are here for Chief Enforcer Harlaown."
As if on cue, Chief Enforcer Fate Harlaown emerges from the house. Another group of security force appears out of nowhere getting in the way.
"Hey, you can't just take her away like that." One of them protests.
"Actually they can. Stand down, lieutenant." The Captain tells his man off.
Fate is visibly puzzled.
"Morning, Captain. Morning lieutenant…Nanoha, what's going on?" She asks her partner. The lieutenant colonel, Nanoha Takamachi, shrugs.
From the parked limousine Fate's driver emerges and walks up the driveway.
"Hey, what's going on? She's gonna be late."
.
Teana is on the road, riding her bike to work when a call comes in.
"Good morning, Nanoha...They who?... Inspection Department? Why?... Right, I'll check from my side"
.
Teana barges into the Investigation Laboratory located deep in the Executive Office HQ building. She is seriously pissed. She finds the person she came for; the Senior Lab Operator, a bespectacled lady in a white lab coat, sipping coffee at her console.
"What the hell do you mean you sent the result to the Inspection!"
The Senior Lab Operator sighs.
"Teana, like I said on the phone; I had no choice."
"But why? How could you do this? She signs your wage bill!"
"That's exactly why I can't have the report go to her. Nor you."
Frustrated, Teana storms out of the lab. She calls somebody.
#
.
On the Bridge of Helios, Yuuno watches the sailors getting ready to depart. He is fascinated. The Captain notices this and kindly explains what his men are doing and why. Chrono joins in, and the conversation naturally drifts to the mission.
"Wouldn't they know we are coming?" asks Yuuno. It is a legitimate question with a perfect answer.
"We will be traveling through a path so narrow they won't even notice." Answers the Captain.
"In that case, isn't this ship too large? How exactly do we travel such a narrow path?"
The two Naval Intelligence gentlemen smile. Helios is equipped with a portable dimensional interference system. As she travels the system temporarily widens the local section of the pathway just enough for Helios to get through.
"Imagine a fat mouse running through a narrow rubber hose." Explains Griffith vividly.
"That's amazing." Yuuno is honestly impressed.
"Downside is we will be traveling slow. We estimate four days sailing like that."
One of the Bridge crew announces Helios is ready to launch. Griffith motions for Yuuno and Chrono to take seats.
"Right. Bring her up."
From the open communication, the voice of Naval Intelligence Mission Control's Senior Operator fills the Bridge.
"Helios, all clear from our side."
"Mission Control, Helios launching. We keep in touch." A Bridge operator replies.
"Helios, may the wind blow in your favor."
.
Helios rises. A dimensional anomaly appears in front of the ship. With a whoosh, Helios disappears, and the anomaly shrinks to football size.
#
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Fate is sitting alone at a small table in the interrogation room. She hears a loud heated discussion going on outside the closed door. Apparently, not everyone in the Inspection Department is happy bringing THE Chief Enforcer of Executive Office in for an interrogation. The noise ends abruptly and an inspector, Verossa Acous, an acquaintance of a long time, enters the room.
"Fate, sorry for the wait." He apologizes.
"Hey, Verossa. What's this about?"
"Let's get to the business. Where were you when Lily was attacked?" This catches Fate completely off-guard
"Wait, what?" Verossa just observes her, studying her reaction.
"I was in my office. Ask my secretary."
"We will." A holo-image appears on the table. "Do you recognize this?"
"Yes. It's a wide area surveillance orb."
"And?"
"Yes, of course. It's the one Teana brought in. What's going on?"
Verossa lets out a sigh, disappointed.
"So...you don't have anything else you want to tell me about?"
By now Fate is utterly confused.
"I don't understand your question, Verossa." She pleads.
Verossa sighs again and starts pulling out several holo-documents and charts.
"You see...when your lab digs something, they dig deep." He browses through the reports he pulled out. "So when they couldn't match the mana signature to anyone in the registered mages database, they dug deeper...For someone gone missing. Or someone presumed dead. They went through the past database snapshots. Just to be sure."
He finds the report he was looking for.
"Out of all the mages who ever lived and registered with the Bureau, there is only one matching the mana signature."
A chart and a text display appear on the table. It reads: "98.76% match: Fate Testarossa Harlaown"
"It's yours."
Fate blinks a couple of times, lost. She shakes her head in disbelief.
"Nope. Impossible. Not mine."
"It definitely is yours, Fate. What's puzzling us, though, is..." Inspector Acous points at the referred database snapshot date. He even enlarges the display so Fate can see it better. Fate, again, has to blink couple more times in disbelief.
"No way. That's more than twenty years ago!"
Apparently, as one ages, the mana signature changes, too. According to Verossa that is the reason why the Investigation Lab couldn't find a match from the live database.
"It doesn't make sense!" Fate is, obviously, frustrated.
"Yet this orb is yours."
Fate is the Bureau's head of law enforcement. Over her long carrier in the Office, she has interrogated thousands of suspects herself, and she knows where this is going.
"Are you accusing me of attacking Lily? You do know Lucino and I've been friends since the Riot Force 6 days, right?"
"It's a hypothesis logically based on the fact that the orb is yours. The question is how and why." Verossa slows down a bit. "Look, I'm sure this is all just some misunderstanding, and I want to help. But we need to clear the question marks first."
Fate is having none of it.
"Look, let me ask some questions myself then. First, you know surveillance orbs can't survive this long. How did it last this long? Second, if I were part of the attack, why didn't I stop my lab from extracting the mana signature? See? It's not mine. I didn't attack Lily, nor the Naval Intelligence soldiers."
"No matter what we say, these orbs have survived ever since they were made when you were... fifteen? sixteen?. Maybe you forgot about the orbs during the years?...and that's why you didn't stop your lab from analyzing?"
"Oh god, I can't believe this." Fate shakes head in frustration.
Verossa, seeing this is going nowhere, changes his tactic to a cautious approach.
"Fate...you know around that time Nanoha was badly injured. Almost died, even. Do you remember that?" He gets no answer. "Maybe...in your sensitive teenage years...seeing your close friend in intensive care like that...you thought it was all Bureau's fault that Nanoha almost died?"
Fate lets out a sigh.
"Briefly...yes...for a very short moment." She flares up again. "But please! The orb's not mine! and I have no part in the attack!"
Suddenly there's a commotion outside. People are shouting at somebody to stop. Then comes a loud bang of someone trying to kick the door open but failing.
"Pull." Verossa tells the person behind the door.
After a brief silence, the door opens gently and Hayate walks into the interrogation room, face red.
.
Hayate is giving Fate a ride to the Office in her limousine. She has flexed the power of the three stars on her shoulder to make Verossa let Fate go. In the process, she had to vouch for her friend in writing, though.
Fate is clearly in distress, mumbling to herself; "what have I done? Did I really?"
"Well…did you?" asks Hayate cautiously.
"16 years old me? No, Hayate-chan, no…or maybe I did? I don't remember." Fate bangs her head sideways to the window. Hayate tries to reason.
"Those might be yours, but that still doesn't mean you were a part of the attack. I mean how could 16 years old you help an attack on a Bureau's ship twenty-some years later?"
"We are talking about the orbs traveling through a space-time dimensional path...Who knows? Maybe my younger-self really is playing a part in this." But if she really did she would surely remember. The two ladies are confused and they shut up.
.
When Fate returns to her office Teana barges in, demanding to know what happened. The Senior Lab Operator tags along with an apologetic expression. Fate explains what happened at the Inspection.
"Sorry about that, boss."
"Don't say that. You did the right thing, though Teana here is seriously… pissed?"
"More than pissed." Snaps Teana.
"Is there any possibility the result is wrong?" Fate asks hopefully.
"No, boss." The laboratory had several 90 plus percent matches across several consecutive years worth of snapshots. She just sent in the peak match value one to the Inspection.
"Ok, then, you are the expert here, so let me ask this. How does a surveillance orb survive for twenty-something years?" Teana asks.
"It can't."
"What the bloody fu-"
"It doesn't make any sense at all." Fate interrupts before Teana utters the f-word. The Senior Lab Operator thinks for a bit.
"There is...one. Maybe your younger self is sending the orbs through the time?"
"Is that really possible?" asks Fate though she really doesn't want to think about the possibility.
"Well...no."
"What the bloody fu-"
The Senior Lab Operator quickly continues before Teana can finish the f-word.
"You'd need a virtually unlimited mana pool, which you don't have. I mean, you are an extremely powerful mage, boss, but you are not a god."
'Big mana pool? Hmm' thinks Fate, rubbing her chin.
"Let's say...Takamachi and Yagami helped me. Would that work?"
The Lab Operator shakes her head.
"No. The power requirement I'm talking about is way beyond that."
"So...if 16 years old me has access to a power that is way beyond myself, Takamachi, and Yagami combined..." Fate trails off. The Lab Operator nods.
"And blows up a Bureau ship?...then yes, boss, I'd consider you an existential threat to the Bureau-"
"And report to the Inspection!" snaps Teana angrily. Her colleague in charge of the lab shrugs.
"...but as I said it's impossible you are attacking the Bureau through the time. There simply is no such power."
"But then we are back to square one." Fate buries the head in her hands.
#
.
A group of masked people emerges from a dormitory onto the barren land. Walking among them is the person with a visible crack on the mask. The group walks up a rocky hill where another trans-dimensional anomaly magic is being cast by a dozen masked mages.
A small masked figure walks next to the person, a child aged 10, 11 judging by the height. The little one struggles as the group walks up the hill, lagging behind. The person waits for the little one to catch up.
The group has joined about a hundred or so mages standing in front of the recently formed anomaly gate. The person and the little one finds their group and join the others. A tall masked mage summons a dozen golden surveillance orbs and sends them through the dimensional travel path. The rest of the mages waits.
After a while, the orbs return, and the tall mage dissolves the orbs, shaking head.
"Did we find Midchilda?" the little one asks.
"No. Not today. Maybe next time." The person answers in a kind tone.
#
.
From her throne located in the top chamber of the large pyramid-like structure, the hooded woman watches her masked mages bruteforce the multiverse. She is upset; regretting.
'I should have taken the ship!'
Had she done that, she would be in Midchilda by now.
But what happened is what happened. She leans back. At least the Bureau now knows what she is up to. That means somewhere not too close but not too far a ship will be monitoring her gate. That would be grand, she thinks to herself. But they would try to attack and force the gate to collapse at the first sign of trouble like the last time. The hooded woman shuts her eyes, considering many possibilities.
She has come to this desolate world with nothing but hope, and she did gain what she came for; an immense magical power beyond recognition. So when she finally realized that it still amounted to nothing, she was stunned, to say the least. For more than half her life she has had only one goal, and just when she thought she had it, it went farther away out of her reach.
Her very first attempt upon arrival had failed miserably; resulting in an abomination that died and disintegrated within seconds. Then came a storm, which she miraculously survived. She wasn't so blinded with her goal as to not see the risk this harsh environment imposed on her precious jewel. Something had to be done. Unfortunately, the magical minions she summoned could not withstand the toxic ambient magic. Desperate and reluctant, she had no choice but to fall back on the technique that she had shunned and regretted. Hence came the masked mages. Strong. Loyal. And loathed by their creator.
Once the mages built her shelter, the hooded woman started experimenting again. Utilizing all her knowledge and experience and every single milligram of her genius, trying to crack the ultimate secret of all. She threw everything she had, everything she knew, but it was not enough. Countless revisions and rewrites and retries pointed to one single conclusion: the knowledge is beyond the realm of the mortals.
By coming to this world she had attained the magical power comparable to a god. She simply has to become all-seeing and, more importantly, all-knowing. And then, finally, she will reach her goal. That day will come. Hence, no matter how or at what costs, she absolutely has to reach Midchilda.
#
.
Helios has detected the trans-dimensional path from afar.
"Any idea where it was connecting to?" asks Captain Griffith Lowran. His Senior Bridge Operator looks up from his console.
"No, Captain. But definitely not Vaizen."
"How come?" Yuuno inquires, curious. The Captain turns to him to answer.
"If that was a path to Vaizen, it would have overlapped with ours at some point."
"Right...What do you think, Yuuno?" asks Chrono.
"This is interesting. They are sending the orbs again even after the last incident." If they are looking for a fight, there is not a reason for them to look for a new place. It did not make sense.
Chrono agrees.
"That's been puzzling me, too. Why didn't they establish a beachhead last time? If they are planning an invasion, it doesn't make sense to rile us up like that. That makes it harder for an attack."
"Maybe they want a juicier target?" Griffith suggests. Professor Scrya muses an alternative.
"Or maybe they are looking for a specific place?"
.
The very next day Teana storms into Fate's spacious office.
"Hah! I got the proof you are not involved."
Fate looks up from the report she was reading.
"Calm down, Teana. What are you talking about?"
"There was another dimensional anomaly appearance, and surveillance orbs, too." Teana excitedly pulls out reports from a monitoring agent located in the middle of nowhere
"And how does that prove my innocence?"
"You were having lunch with Saint Church's Carim Gracia at that exact time! Under my surveillance!" says Teana triumphantly. Her boss sighs and leans back on the chair.
"Is that why there were people secretly trailing me these days? Who are they anyway? I don't recognize any of them."
"Outside contractors. Because...you'd have recognized people from the Office?" Teana starts to think maybe it was not a good idea to tell her boss about it.
"Well, compared to our colleagues in the Inspection, who by the way are also on my tail, they aren't doing a very good job, are they?" Fate is in fact not very happy with an army of people following her around watching everything she does. Recently the Inspection Department has also assigned a team to follow her 'in secret'. She is used to the security detail from the Strategic Arms, but having two more groups is too much. Teana's 'contractors' were not only bad but so suspicious she had to stop the Strategic Arms security team from taking them out.
"By the way, I don't recall approving a budget for those contractors?"
Teana starts to back out of the office.
"...er...sorry, boss, I gotta go. I need to take care of something." She quickly leaves the office.
"Teana, get back here!"
"Sorry, boss! I really gotta go!" shouts Teana from the hallway, running. Fate leans forward on her desk shaking her head, but she is not mad.
#
.
A Bridge crew starts the countdown.
"Exiting the gate in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Captain, we've arrived."
.
High up in the sky middle of nowhere far from the dormitories, a little blip of the trans-dimensional gate quickly appears and disappears. Helios is is in stealth mode and is invisible.
.
A loud alarm beeping from a console fills the bridge.
"Mana sensor is overloading! She's gonna blow, Captain!"
"Turn it off!" shouts Griffith over the noise. The beeping stops as the sensor operator turns off his sensors. The Captain throws an inquisitive look at his senior operator.
"All systems are green, Captain, except the mana sensor."
"What just happened?" Yuuno asks innocently.
The operator manning the sensors explains.
"The ambient magic was overloading our sensor, Professor."
"What does that mean?"
Griffith answers grumpily.
"Well, Professor, let me tell you something. Our passive mana sensor can measure and survive an Arc en Ciel. And this world's ambient magic almost fried that sensor just now."
It takes a few seconds for Yuuno to digest that piece of information. He lets out a whistle.
"Let's go optical." Griffith tells his crew.
"Aye aye, Captain. Optical on the main display." The sensor operator brings up a huge holo-display in front of the Captain. It shows the barren desolate land under the twirling violet sky.
"Hang on, Captain, there's something in the distance. I'm zooming in."
The display zooms in and shows a series of dormitories surrounding a huge building in the center. Countless ants sized people are moving about in the field.
"Those are definitely man-made structures." The Captain comments. "Can we zoom in further?"
The display zooms in further.
"Can they see us?" Professor asks, slightly concerned.
"Nah. Helios cloak is way stronger than that of an individual monitoring agent. We are pretty safe." Chrono answers in a relaxed tone.
The Captain gestures to his two guests.
"Deputy Director. Professor. Your show now."
#
.
It has been some days since Helios arrived, watching silently. Observing everything.
Not knowing of this, the cracked mask person surveys a ruin site with several other mages. Judging by the arrangement of the rubbles it looks like there stood a walled house on this ground a long time ago. A very very long time ago.
The person goes through a pile of rocks, or ancient bricks depending on how one looks at them. The person digs dirt occasionally, trying to see if there is anything interesting. The little mage is doing the same not far from the person; visibly displaying the signs of boredom and irritation. The little one has had it enough and stands up with a sigh.
"Sister, I'll try to shock the area."
The person considers it for a moment. Subjecting the survey area under a light magical shock would induce whatever magical item hidden to react. It is arguably the fastest method to look for a magical item. The problem is one never knows what or how something would react. The person surveys the area. This is a dead-end. Heck, why not?
"Right. Everyone, off the ground!"
The mages in the area lift up into the air. The little one smothers the ruin site with a weak magic discharge, and immediately a pillar of twisting violet light juts out from a pile of rocks.
"Whoa! You found something!" The person shouts in excitement. The mages hurry down onto the pile and remove the rocks. The little one picks up something small, examines it, and shakes head.
"It's just some useless junk." The little one is clearly disappointed.
"We don't know that. Keep it and show it to mother later. She will know what it is." The cracked mask person tries to lift up the mood.
#
.
From the far distance, Professor Scrya watches in horror.
"For god's sake, they are trampling all over the place!" He winces as another magical discharge smothers another site.
"Please! Somebody stop them!"
.
And so for the next seven days, Yuuno watches in agony the atrocities done to what he describes as precious remains of an ancient civilization. So ancient he can't even recognize anything; an archaeological discovery.
"They don't know what they are doing!" He has complained over and over much to everyone's annoyance. Nevertheless, he has still found the time to do the math and discover the fact that more people are coming out of the huge pyramid-like building, which he has dubbed the Ziggurat, than those go in.
"What does that mean?" Lindy asks over the video conference with Lily. The Bridge crew are addressing the faces of Chairwoman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff and the Bureau Security Advisor. Professor highlights the Ziggurat.
"Around this building, some kind of a massive magic discharge is happening regularly. Although we can't measure the output quantitatively, the visual signs indicate something tremendous. Couple hours after such discharge, a large group of these workers come out and head to the smaller buildings."
"I still don't get it." The Security Advisor admits. Chrono gives a simpler answer.
"Sir, Professor and I have concluded that they are printing out the workers."
"Is that even possible?" Lindy asks, visibly shocked.
"Madam, anything is possible in this magic rich environment." Answers Yuuno. The ambient magic is so rich to the extent it's almost toxic, some of the lesser ranked crew have complained about nausea and vomiting.
"How many of these workers are we talking about?" asks Lindy. Chrono takes a deep breath before he answers. He knows his mom is not going to like what she hears.
"We see about a dozen thousand moving about at any given time. Overall, Helios AI estimates roughly one to two hundred thousand total." He can see the Bureau Security Advisor's jaw dropping.
"Oh my god…Any possibilities they are pumping out soldiers, too?" The Adviser asks.
"We have to assume so, sir." Chrono answers. "Everyone is wearing the same attire as the intruder on Lily. They also match what Enforcer Lanster has described."
"We've also seen them…" Yuuno adds. "We've seen them assembling around the gate whenever they do send out the surveillance orbs."
Lindy doesn't have to wonder what that means.
"Response force...in case they stumble upon whatever they are looking for?"
"Exactly, madam."
.
The Bureau Security Adviser asks if Helios has seen some kind of a leader among the inhabitants. Chrono knows where this is going. If there is a leadership that can be reasoned with… 'Ha! Only if!' he thinks to himself. He sees Yuuno also shaking the head, thinking the same. Over the past week and some days, they have not seen any sign of leadership.
"We've seen some rudimentary organizational structure, sir. The taller ones seem to usher around a bunch of smaller ones, but that's about it." Yuuno answers. He has been wondering. These structures are serving obvious purposes, clearly built by the inhabitants. Such requires organization, planning, and management. Whoever did all that is now nowhere to be seen. Professor continues.
"And they gather bush roots, but there is no sign of any cultivation nor irrigation. Nor roads. I'm pretty sure the Ziggurat houses the top boss, but all those basic things are lacking."
"It's like a big family, big brothers and sisters taking care of the little ones. Except there is no mama and papa." Chrono summarizes.
"What about their magic capabilities?" Asks Lindy, reminding everyone the mission is about threat assessment. Helios has seen some flying and rock blasting, but with the sensor overloaded nothing definitive could be determined.
"Alright…Professor, - idea - place is?" The Security Adviser asks, but the communication quality is deteriorating.
"No, sir, but I have a vague-" Professor tries to answer when the communication goes offline.
"What's going on?" Captain Lowran demands. One of the Bridge operators points out the large window.
#
.
"How bad is it?" The Captain asks. His Senior Operator brings up a zoomed image onto the main display.
"Doesn't look good, Captain. Never seen a storm forming up this quick, this strong."
Yuuno points to the display.
"Locals are packing up, too."
On the main display, the zoomed image shows the local workers hurrying off the field, rushing to their dormitories. A thunder-like mana discharge strikes one of the masked workers, who falls to the singed ground, dead.
"Shit…"
More and more of such mana discharges appear on the horizon, eventually filling the air like bright fireworks with their flashes, rumbling over the rocky ground, getting closer and closer to Helios. Chrono taps on the Captain's shoulder.
"Captain, can Helios tank this?"
"Hell, no." The Captain shakes his head. "Let's get out of this shitstorm."
.
A trans-dimensional gate appears in front of Helios, only to collapse immediately.
.
"What the fuck?" The Senior Operator is baffled.
"Looks like the mana storm has excited the ambient magic." His colleague suggests an explanation. "Dimensional tear can't sustain its hole."
"Alright." the Captain makes his decision. "So we can't get out. Anchor her down. At least let's not get blown away."
.
Harpoon-like anchors are shot out of the invisibly cloaked Helios, digging into the ground far below, tethering the ship in the air.
.
"Pressure front hitting us in 20, 19, 18…" The Senior Operator starts the countdown, reading off from his console.
"All crew, brace for impact." Griffith speaks to the PA system, maintaining a calm voice. Checking first everyone on the Bridge is seated and buckled up, he takes his seat and gets ready for a rough ride. As the pressure front sweeps past Helios the ship starts to shake violently.
.
The storm's massive force is trying to blow Helios away, but the ship is holding its position up in the turbulent air thanks to the anchors. And then a thunder-like mana discharge hits Helios with a bright flash accompanied by a deafening noise.
The invisibility cloak is gone.
Another one hits Helios immediately after. The air erupts in white flashes as the ship is hit by thunderous mana discharges again and again.
With a whirling down sound, the main propulsion dies out. Helios begins to fall. Its falling speed is somewhat reduced thanks to smaller vertical thruster jets which sprung into action as soon as the main propulsion died. Nevertheless, Helios crashes down hard, letting out metallic groaning and creaking sound.