Chrono's Logs, #2: Transform and Set Up
This post is the first in a series, thought up in tandem with Chrono's post Sixth Order in SRWUG@. For the uninitiated (or those who don't care to look it up again) Yuuno told him he needed to take down official logs of his actions to have for the Admiralty later on. He's running them as narrated tales of his exploits; as such, he can't report on things he can't see, wasn't there for, or was shot down prior to. These'll be one-a-mission to catch up to Sixth Order and/or To Feel the Fire, then they'll pop up whenever I want to be a little more exposition-y about something.
===
Done~ Sorry if this feels quite confusing; Chrono isn't on the Chalice's comms channel, so he doesn't have names or know more than basic mission details.
===
Chrono's Logs, #2: Transform and Set Up
The sortie that heralds a new mission. If it's an easy battle, you feel good about what's to come. If it's a difficult battle, you're wary, but so long as you win you're pumped up for the rest of the mission.
Then there are the battles you wonder if you were even meant to survive.
---
The Asura's bridge was pretty quiet that day, all things considered. No major criminal activity, no dispatches from distant sectors, one quiet notification on the board... wait, a notification?
"What's going on?" I said, instantly alert.
"Large-scale battle in progress, localized to Unadministrated World #97," Amy read out from her monitoring station. "We're detecting magic, and a few... other things. The possibility for a dimensional disturbance exists."
I let out a sigh. "That's original. Anything more for me?"
"This signature looks familiar... pink? Wait, we only know one mage who uses pink on number 97... Chrono!"
Choking down the curse I most definitely didn't need to utter in front of junior officers, I formed a sending to Fate, elsewhere on the ship. 'Fate, there's trouble. It involves Nanoha. We're going to sortie as soon as you're ready. How long until you can meet me on the bridge for battle?'
'Two minutes, at most.' There was a tingle as the girl's voice faded from my head and the connection dropped.
That done, I drew S2U from my pocket, with a quick glance back at my second in command. "Amy, we're going to sortie. Set the teleporter as close to the battle as we can manage. Begin operation in approximately 90 seconds, on my mark." To the card in my hand, I added, "S2U, set up!"
Without the usual response and flash Nanoha and Fate's Devices had, my staff had appeared in front of me, and I gripped it with one hand. I'd long ago gotten in the habit of being in my Barrier Jacket while aboard the Asura; it meant I was ready to go more quickly in emergencies such as this.
As I thought this, Fate ran into the room, the blonde having already released her Device and brought her own Barrier Jacket online, wordlessly taking a place next to me on the teleporter pad. I cleared my throat. "Amy, we're pushing that operation time up. Everything ready?" I got a nod in return. "Excellent. Begin operation. Execute teleport!" A bright flash, and I was moving.
Amy's coordinate selection brought us in behind a building, which was good; we'd be sitting ducks if we came in amid open air. It took us only a moment to hear the conflict, and I took off. With a bit of magic to amplify my voice, I put on my best command tone and let out my warning: "By the authority of the Time-Space Administration Bureau, I am placing you under arrest! Disable your weapons and surrender!"
As the ultimatum echoed across the space, I looked around at the combatants at hand. Three large robots with faces, speaking aloud; they seemed to be divided into two factions. What appeared to be a man in a powered armor suit, seemingly formed from two joined halves. A girl, a little older than my age, flying around in a dress uniform top and with what appeared to be planes attached to her legs, apparently giving her magical capabilities, currently held by one of the robots with faces. Another, slightly larger powered-armor-like unit, with an impressive display of mass-based weaponry. A robot somewhat smaller than the talking units. And then Nanoha, apparently losing a fight with a girl in red with a hammer.
---
In retrospect, this is probably where I should have realized I had a problem. Two of them, in fact. The first, of course, was that the girl in red was Vita, assault-type active program of the Book of Darkness. The second?
That there was something on this, or any, world that had the power to beat Nanoha. Nanoha, who could take on a mage well beyond my power level as an equal and throw the strongest single attack I'd seen, and among the top ten I've seen to today. Not a happy thought.
---
Fate dashed over to Nanoha without a second thought, as the hammer girl swung out to take Nanoha out of action. The blonde made it just in time to save Nanoha, so I let out a breath and turned back to the large robots with faces in time for one that looked like an unfolded jet to utter, "who the heck are you?"
I glared at the thing, annoyed that it wanted to challenge my authority. "I am Chrono Harlaown, Enforcer for the Time-Space Administration Bureau. This is your last chance!" I raised S2U at him threateningly. "Will you continue to resist?"
"How about yes?" The robot, without further preamble, tossed the girl with planes on her legs away onto a building, firing a beam at me without really caring; I guess I didn't make much of an impression. Without prior intel, I couldn't tell how powerful the beam was, which meant I couldn't count on my auto-guard to take it, and I'd need to shield it. One moment and a pulse of power later, and a shield was before me, ice blue like all my other magic. With a sigh, I deadpanned, "It always has to be the hard way with these types..."
Once the shield was up and tracking in front of me, I took off to ensure the safety of the discarded hostage, as the beam came in. The shield took the blow, but it was powerful enough that recoil and remaining kinetic force sent me off course and pushed me away from her again. While I was figuring out how to get past him, another of the faced robots - this time one apparently allied against the one that shot me - ran up with something looking like it was begging to be a Lost Logia. The other allied one shouted, "STARSCREAM! We have what you wanted! Come down!"
That gave me a bit more of the situation. An unknown magic item was in front of me, and the robots on our side were willing to bargain with the enemy robots in exchange for recovering the hostage. I have no idea how powerful the allied robots, enemy robot, Lost Logia candidate, or hostage are. Fate is engaged with another hostile elsewhere that has reduced Nanoha to a non-issue in this sortie. There are other possible friendlies of known strength, allegiance, and abilities.
Bureau training doesn't cover what to do with this.
Even so, I can't stop here; I've made my declaration, I've got to follow through or get shot down trying. "Bah. Guess it won't be that easy, huh? Looks like I'll need some help from the locals..." While I mused, the jet robot - Starscream - descended and was swooping in for the Lost Logia reject; one of the big robots on our side dove for the item as well, and the power-armor-like suit opened up with a hail of bullets. Starscream, for his part, folded into a jet and rolled to spread the damage out. I'm inclined to complain about this, but honestly, Devices do something similar enough that I'll let it go.
The large allied robot passed the Lost Logia to his friend, and Starscream took off after it, ramming the big one into a building and getting tagged with flame-retardant foam for his trouble. The two duked it out, until the power-armor-looking thing took a shot happening to be composed of confetti, streamers, and a bright flash. The flash managed to stun Starscream, as did a railgun shot from another unit, but the guy was nigh-impervious. I scowled as the carnage unfolded. "And THIS is why we don't get involved in the affairs of non-member worlds without an invitation," I scolded, knowing at most Amy could hear me. Nanoha and Fate were busy. "Weird things happen and we have to send people like the ferret-changeling to do research."
The small power-armor, which I thought I'd heard Nanoha call a Kamen Rider, questioned, "...ferret changeling?" Fair question, really. It's not exactly something that you see often.
"Ask me later!" I went to find cover and brought S2U to bear as soon as I was out of the way. As the usual magic circle appeared under me, icy blue and decidedly round, I called, "S2U! Stinger Blade!"
The end of the staff glowed and echoed, 'Stinger Blade', as several swords, made of pure magic, appeared out of thin air and descended upon Starscream. The swords struck home, bursting a few hydraulic lines (probably; hard to tell what those were), but the jet found the Lost Logia again and took off for it, snatching it back from the large robot currently holding it, and taking a punch to the face in return, throwing him into another building. It should be noted that while we could have brought up a containment barrier, we'd have left the robots outside to deal with their Lost Logia in realspace, which would be a bad idea.
Around this time, I caught a glimpse of Fate trying to keep Nanoha's attacker off of her, and suddenly having an issue as another attacker appears and takes a savage blow at her, cutting Bardiche in half, before preparing for another, while the hammer girl took up the attack upon Nanoha once more. The girl with planes for legs dashed in to cover Nanoha; I summoned up a burst of magic myself. "Fate! Hold on, I'm coming...!" And with that I let off a Flash Move. It's not a magic I'm well-versed in, but in a pinch it'll get me across a few hundred yards. That was enough to get in front of the sword and put up a hasty shield.
The shield was enough to dull the blow against Fate to only knock me aside, cut Bardiche in half along the shaft, and send Fate into a building; I don't really want to know how that would have gone without the shield and myself there. Coughing from the strength of the blast, I choked out, "I know I've said it to someone else already, but you're under arrest! Release your magics and surrender, and you'll be allowed to plead in your defense!" A stock phrase, but it's important.
The pink-haired mage I'd just saved Fate from pointed her sword at me. From here, I could discern her long white coat, and hair running just as long. Aside from that, her color scheme was a purple I didn't particularly care for. She delivered her own ultimatum: "You may have outnumbered us on the field, but you won't take us without losses. A Belkan knight will never lose, one on one."
I would have retorted, but Starscream found his way out of the building we'd knocked him into, shooting at us all again with a cry of "I AM TIRED OF TOYING WITH YOU PUNY AUTOBOTS!!!" that I personally found highly amusing.
As a beam came my way, I grinned at the pink-haired swordswoman with a shake of my head. "But the Bureau isn't about one-on-one duels for glory. We're about teamwork and a unified force!" I dove off to one side, putting a little magic into it to get out of the way; the beam flew off to one side. "Of course, some people won't stay down when we shoot them, but I'm used to that too."
...And then the other big robot had to go and lose his hold on the Lost Logia reject. Starscream dove in again and grabbed it, flying up high before looking reverently at it. "AT LAST! The All Spark is MINE!"
Oh, is that what it's called? The All Spark? I wonder what it- oh Sankt Kaiser help me, the thing's firing. Big blue laser, probably going to kill me if it hits. "Oh great, we gave the enemy the Lost Logia. This day just keeps getting worse, doesn't it?" I dove under the remains of an already exploded car, and threw up a shield at an angle to cover the rest. While keeping the shield up, I carefully started to build a bind. While Yuuno tends to be best at them among us, I'm more than capable of wrapping something up like a present you really want the receipient to work for. It also doesn't hurt that I know one of the better offensive binds.
After a few seconds of trying not to roast, I had a fairly good shot ready to go; I popped my head out of cover just enough to see Starscream's location and mutter, "Struggle Bind!" Thankfully, the attack struck true, holding him to one place... but wasn't fast enough to keep Fate and Nanoha from being threatened with the big blue death laser. Lucky for me, the large robot that had been arguing with Starscream earlier reached up and pulled both girls out of the way before they could cease to exist.
With the girls safe, that left Starscream. I only have so much magic in me, and even with good control you can only reduce consumption so far on any given spell. After a quick survey of my reserves, I grimaced. "Not a lot of magic left... I've only got enough left for one more big spell and my teleport home. In that case..." I glanced out of cover; one of the moderately-sized robots was attacking Starscream while my Struggle Bind held. And as long as that held, I could get another attack in too - Struggle Bind is nice because it doesn't require maintenance from the caster once it hits, along with everything else. I balanced S2U on the roof of the car and took careful aim; Starscream was a fairly big target, but I wasn't particularly close.
"S2U, Blaze Cannon!" My own white-blue beam of power fired back in answer, directed at Starscream's face. Amazingly, it hit, the would-be jet having completely ignored me; part of his face melted in the process, along with some more parts I didn't really recognize. He shook off the Struggle Bind in the process, but that was really all I needed it for.
Just after that, the small robot bearing what looked like a Neo-American flag grabbed a downed weapon and threw energy into it; after a yell I could hear even without being on their radio channel, the weapon fired... two sharks? No, much larger than sharks. I don't know what they're called, nor do I know why them came out of a gun. "I have no idea what's going on anymore." Even so, the sharks found their mark and dug in gleefully, taking rather large bites out of the jet.
After a brief shot into the air to destroy the sharks, Starscream brought the All Spark to bear once again, this time at Fate. Who was too busy charging a Plasma Smasher to do anything about it. The All Spark's shot brushed the electric attack aside and continued on toward Fate, but something got in the way; a sphere of black. After absorbing the whole thing, the black faded to reveal... the pink-haired swordswoman from before? "Barriers are... rather difficult here..." she panted, apparently exhausted from saving Fate from certain death.
Fate was staring in disbelief. "Did... she just help us?"
The swordswoman saluted Fate with her sword. "I could hardly stand by after watching you try to shield the first one." Honor among assault mages? That's new. "What is your name, Bureau mage?"
Fate gave a slow nod. Both of us were painfully aware that she'd have been dead with the woman's help, yet the swordswoman had been trying to do the job herself just minutes before. "I'm Fate Testarossa," she settled on after a moment. "And you are?"
"I am Signum. Belkan-style knight, and sword of the Wolkenritter," the lady responded.
...Hold on a second. "The Wolkenritter... that sounds familiar..." I know that name. Nanoha's charging up a Starlight Breaker; she'll be fine, so I'm not worried about it now. Where do I know that name from? The guy in the superhero suit fires off a huge metal javelin as our big robot takes off to retrieve the All Spark from Starscream, the two of them dueling for it in mid-air just as the javelin flies through; it runs through the arm Starscream's holding the Spark in, causing him to drop it, and through Prime outright, who grabs the Spark just before the javelin carries him some distance away. I can feel it, it's got to be...
There's a cry of pain from Nanoha, probably due to the arm coming out of her chest holding her Linker Core. A voice somewhere far away calls something I can't hear, and the Linker Core begins to shrink.
...yeah. It's them. "I thought that's what it was. Nanoha...!" Even so, though, the Starlight Breaker goes off just fine, firing after Scarscream, and apparently vaporizing him. The big robot doesn't get up, apparently dying on the spot. That's the mission, I guess. After the beam fades, though, Nanoha's Barrier Jacket disappears and she falls onto the roof she'd been firing from. Fate rushed over to try and help her, and I started over myself. "Too many people died here today... Better save the ones we can! Hold on just a little bit longer...!" Some distance away, the large robot rises, the All Spark having somehow raised him; I'd deal with that later. The Bureau doesn't let its civilian collaborators get injured on our watch.
---
I'll freely admit, that All Spark scared me to death. It's not the most dangerous thing we've dealt with, considering our exploits after this, but it's still a dangerous artifact in its own right. After the battle, we returned to the combatants' ship, the White Chalice, which was a huge versatile-type battleship, well-appointed with almost anything a soldier would want access to. We brought the Asura into Terran orbit and set up a link from the transporter room on the Chalice to the teleporters on the Asura for easy access. Optimus Prime, the large robot, was up and running right away after the Spark's miracle; Nanoha was a bit longer to recover, and damage to her device was severe but recoverable.
We didn't see much of the Transformers after that mission - presumably they had another mission the Chalice's usual methodology didn't suit - but we certainly saw the Wolkenritter again. Signum, the sword; Vita, the hammer; Shamal, the lady of the lake; the guardian beast Zafira. As of this report we still haven't discovered who their master is. No, this was just the start of the Book of Darkness incident, and a larger incident outside it.
I still don't know how I got to a point where the Book of Darkness could ever be considered a small incident. I just know I'll be long overdue for a promotion before this is over.
===
Done~ Sorry if this feels quite confusing; Chrono isn't on the Chalice's comms channel, so he doesn't have names or know more than basic mission details.
===
Chrono's Logs, #2: Transform and Set Up
The sortie that heralds a new mission. If it's an easy battle, you feel good about what's to come. If it's a difficult battle, you're wary, but so long as you win you're pumped up for the rest of the mission.
Then there are the battles you wonder if you were even meant to survive.
---
The Asura's bridge was pretty quiet that day, all things considered. No major criminal activity, no dispatches from distant sectors, one quiet notification on the board... wait, a notification?
"What's going on?" I said, instantly alert.
"Large-scale battle in progress, localized to Unadministrated World #97," Amy read out from her monitoring station. "We're detecting magic, and a few... other things. The possibility for a dimensional disturbance exists."
I let out a sigh. "That's original. Anything more for me?"
"This signature looks familiar... pink? Wait, we only know one mage who uses pink on number 97... Chrono!"
Choking down the curse I most definitely didn't need to utter in front of junior officers, I formed a sending to Fate, elsewhere on the ship. 'Fate, there's trouble. It involves Nanoha. We're going to sortie as soon as you're ready. How long until you can meet me on the bridge for battle?'
'Two minutes, at most.' There was a tingle as the girl's voice faded from my head and the connection dropped.
That done, I drew S2U from my pocket, with a quick glance back at my second in command. "Amy, we're going to sortie. Set the teleporter as close to the battle as we can manage. Begin operation in approximately 90 seconds, on my mark." To the card in my hand, I added, "S2U, set up!"
Without the usual response and flash Nanoha and Fate's Devices had, my staff had appeared in front of me, and I gripped it with one hand. I'd long ago gotten in the habit of being in my Barrier Jacket while aboard the Asura; it meant I was ready to go more quickly in emergencies such as this.
As I thought this, Fate ran into the room, the blonde having already released her Device and brought her own Barrier Jacket online, wordlessly taking a place next to me on the teleporter pad. I cleared my throat. "Amy, we're pushing that operation time up. Everything ready?" I got a nod in return. "Excellent. Begin operation. Execute teleport!" A bright flash, and I was moving.
Amy's coordinate selection brought us in behind a building, which was good; we'd be sitting ducks if we came in amid open air. It took us only a moment to hear the conflict, and I took off. With a bit of magic to amplify my voice, I put on my best command tone and let out my warning: "By the authority of the Time-Space Administration Bureau, I am placing you under arrest! Disable your weapons and surrender!"
As the ultimatum echoed across the space, I looked around at the combatants at hand. Three large robots with faces, speaking aloud; they seemed to be divided into two factions. What appeared to be a man in a powered armor suit, seemingly formed from two joined halves. A girl, a little older than my age, flying around in a dress uniform top and with what appeared to be planes attached to her legs, apparently giving her magical capabilities, currently held by one of the robots with faces. Another, slightly larger powered-armor-like unit, with an impressive display of mass-based weaponry. A robot somewhat smaller than the talking units. And then Nanoha, apparently losing a fight with a girl in red with a hammer.
---
In retrospect, this is probably where I should have realized I had a problem. Two of them, in fact. The first, of course, was that the girl in red was Vita, assault-type active program of the Book of Darkness. The second?
That there was something on this, or any, world that had the power to beat Nanoha. Nanoha, who could take on a mage well beyond my power level as an equal and throw the strongest single attack I'd seen, and among the top ten I've seen to today. Not a happy thought.
---
Fate dashed over to Nanoha without a second thought, as the hammer girl swung out to take Nanoha out of action. The blonde made it just in time to save Nanoha, so I let out a breath and turned back to the large robots with faces in time for one that looked like an unfolded jet to utter, "who the heck are you?"
I glared at the thing, annoyed that it wanted to challenge my authority. "I am Chrono Harlaown, Enforcer for the Time-Space Administration Bureau. This is your last chance!" I raised S2U at him threateningly. "Will you continue to resist?"
"How about yes?" The robot, without further preamble, tossed the girl with planes on her legs away onto a building, firing a beam at me without really caring; I guess I didn't make much of an impression. Without prior intel, I couldn't tell how powerful the beam was, which meant I couldn't count on my auto-guard to take it, and I'd need to shield it. One moment and a pulse of power later, and a shield was before me, ice blue like all my other magic. With a sigh, I deadpanned, "It always has to be the hard way with these types..."
Once the shield was up and tracking in front of me, I took off to ensure the safety of the discarded hostage, as the beam came in. The shield took the blow, but it was powerful enough that recoil and remaining kinetic force sent me off course and pushed me away from her again. While I was figuring out how to get past him, another of the faced robots - this time one apparently allied against the one that shot me - ran up with something looking like it was begging to be a Lost Logia. The other allied one shouted, "STARSCREAM! We have what you wanted! Come down!"
That gave me a bit more of the situation. An unknown magic item was in front of me, and the robots on our side were willing to bargain with the enemy robots in exchange for recovering the hostage. I have no idea how powerful the allied robots, enemy robot, Lost Logia candidate, or hostage are. Fate is engaged with another hostile elsewhere that has reduced Nanoha to a non-issue in this sortie. There are other possible friendlies of known strength, allegiance, and abilities.
Bureau training doesn't cover what to do with this.
Even so, I can't stop here; I've made my declaration, I've got to follow through or get shot down trying. "Bah. Guess it won't be that easy, huh? Looks like I'll need some help from the locals..." While I mused, the jet robot - Starscream - descended and was swooping in for the Lost Logia reject; one of the big robots on our side dove for the item as well, and the power-armor-like suit opened up with a hail of bullets. Starscream, for his part, folded into a jet and rolled to spread the damage out. I'm inclined to complain about this, but honestly, Devices do something similar enough that I'll let it go.
The large allied robot passed the Lost Logia to his friend, and Starscream took off after it, ramming the big one into a building and getting tagged with flame-retardant foam for his trouble. The two duked it out, until the power-armor-looking thing took a shot happening to be composed of confetti, streamers, and a bright flash. The flash managed to stun Starscream, as did a railgun shot from another unit, but the guy was nigh-impervious. I scowled as the carnage unfolded. "And THIS is why we don't get involved in the affairs of non-member worlds without an invitation," I scolded, knowing at most Amy could hear me. Nanoha and Fate were busy. "Weird things happen and we have to send people like the ferret-changeling to do research."
The small power-armor, which I thought I'd heard Nanoha call a Kamen Rider, questioned, "...ferret changeling?" Fair question, really. It's not exactly something that you see often.
"Ask me later!" I went to find cover and brought S2U to bear as soon as I was out of the way. As the usual magic circle appeared under me, icy blue and decidedly round, I called, "S2U! Stinger Blade!"
The end of the staff glowed and echoed, 'Stinger Blade', as several swords, made of pure magic, appeared out of thin air and descended upon Starscream. The swords struck home, bursting a few hydraulic lines (probably; hard to tell what those were), but the jet found the Lost Logia again and took off for it, snatching it back from the large robot currently holding it, and taking a punch to the face in return, throwing him into another building. It should be noted that while we could have brought up a containment barrier, we'd have left the robots outside to deal with their Lost Logia in realspace, which would be a bad idea.
Around this time, I caught a glimpse of Fate trying to keep Nanoha's attacker off of her, and suddenly having an issue as another attacker appears and takes a savage blow at her, cutting Bardiche in half, before preparing for another, while the hammer girl took up the attack upon Nanoha once more. The girl with planes for legs dashed in to cover Nanoha; I summoned up a burst of magic myself. "Fate! Hold on, I'm coming...!" And with that I let off a Flash Move. It's not a magic I'm well-versed in, but in a pinch it'll get me across a few hundred yards. That was enough to get in front of the sword and put up a hasty shield.
The shield was enough to dull the blow against Fate to only knock me aside, cut Bardiche in half along the shaft, and send Fate into a building; I don't really want to know how that would have gone without the shield and myself there. Coughing from the strength of the blast, I choked out, "I know I've said it to someone else already, but you're under arrest! Release your magics and surrender, and you'll be allowed to plead in your defense!" A stock phrase, but it's important.
The pink-haired mage I'd just saved Fate from pointed her sword at me. From here, I could discern her long white coat, and hair running just as long. Aside from that, her color scheme was a purple I didn't particularly care for. She delivered her own ultimatum: "You may have outnumbered us on the field, but you won't take us without losses. A Belkan knight will never lose, one on one."
I would have retorted, but Starscream found his way out of the building we'd knocked him into, shooting at us all again with a cry of "I AM TIRED OF TOYING WITH YOU PUNY AUTOBOTS!!!" that I personally found highly amusing.
As a beam came my way, I grinned at the pink-haired swordswoman with a shake of my head. "But the Bureau isn't about one-on-one duels for glory. We're about teamwork and a unified force!" I dove off to one side, putting a little magic into it to get out of the way; the beam flew off to one side. "Of course, some people won't stay down when we shoot them, but I'm used to that too."
...And then the other big robot had to go and lose his hold on the Lost Logia reject. Starscream dove in again and grabbed it, flying up high before looking reverently at it. "AT LAST! The All Spark is MINE!"
Oh, is that what it's called? The All Spark? I wonder what it- oh Sankt Kaiser help me, the thing's firing. Big blue laser, probably going to kill me if it hits. "Oh great, we gave the enemy the Lost Logia. This day just keeps getting worse, doesn't it?" I dove under the remains of an already exploded car, and threw up a shield at an angle to cover the rest. While keeping the shield up, I carefully started to build a bind. While Yuuno tends to be best at them among us, I'm more than capable of wrapping something up like a present you really want the receipient to work for. It also doesn't hurt that I know one of the better offensive binds.
After a few seconds of trying not to roast, I had a fairly good shot ready to go; I popped my head out of cover just enough to see Starscream's location and mutter, "Struggle Bind!" Thankfully, the attack struck true, holding him to one place... but wasn't fast enough to keep Fate and Nanoha from being threatened with the big blue death laser. Lucky for me, the large robot that had been arguing with Starscream earlier reached up and pulled both girls out of the way before they could cease to exist.
With the girls safe, that left Starscream. I only have so much magic in me, and even with good control you can only reduce consumption so far on any given spell. After a quick survey of my reserves, I grimaced. "Not a lot of magic left... I've only got enough left for one more big spell and my teleport home. In that case..." I glanced out of cover; one of the moderately-sized robots was attacking Starscream while my Struggle Bind held. And as long as that held, I could get another attack in too - Struggle Bind is nice because it doesn't require maintenance from the caster once it hits, along with everything else. I balanced S2U on the roof of the car and took careful aim; Starscream was a fairly big target, but I wasn't particularly close.
"S2U, Blaze Cannon!" My own white-blue beam of power fired back in answer, directed at Starscream's face. Amazingly, it hit, the would-be jet having completely ignored me; part of his face melted in the process, along with some more parts I didn't really recognize. He shook off the Struggle Bind in the process, but that was really all I needed it for.
Just after that, the small robot bearing what looked like a Neo-American flag grabbed a downed weapon and threw energy into it; after a yell I could hear even without being on their radio channel, the weapon fired... two sharks? No, much larger than sharks. I don't know what they're called, nor do I know why them came out of a gun. "I have no idea what's going on anymore." Even so, the sharks found their mark and dug in gleefully, taking rather large bites out of the jet.
After a brief shot into the air to destroy the sharks, Starscream brought the All Spark to bear once again, this time at Fate. Who was too busy charging a Plasma Smasher to do anything about it. The All Spark's shot brushed the electric attack aside and continued on toward Fate, but something got in the way; a sphere of black. After absorbing the whole thing, the black faded to reveal... the pink-haired swordswoman from before? "Barriers are... rather difficult here..." she panted, apparently exhausted from saving Fate from certain death.
Fate was staring in disbelief. "Did... she just help us?"
The swordswoman saluted Fate with her sword. "I could hardly stand by after watching you try to shield the first one." Honor among assault mages? That's new. "What is your name, Bureau mage?"
Fate gave a slow nod. Both of us were painfully aware that she'd have been dead with the woman's help, yet the swordswoman had been trying to do the job herself just minutes before. "I'm Fate Testarossa," she settled on after a moment. "And you are?"
"I am Signum. Belkan-style knight, and sword of the Wolkenritter," the lady responded.
...Hold on a second. "The Wolkenritter... that sounds familiar..." I know that name. Nanoha's charging up a Starlight Breaker; she'll be fine, so I'm not worried about it now. Where do I know that name from? The guy in the superhero suit fires off a huge metal javelin as our big robot takes off to retrieve the All Spark from Starscream, the two of them dueling for it in mid-air just as the javelin flies through; it runs through the arm Starscream's holding the Spark in, causing him to drop it, and through Prime outright, who grabs the Spark just before the javelin carries him some distance away. I can feel it, it's got to be...
There's a cry of pain from Nanoha, probably due to the arm coming out of her chest holding her Linker Core. A voice somewhere far away calls something I can't hear, and the Linker Core begins to shrink.
...yeah. It's them. "I thought that's what it was. Nanoha...!" Even so, though, the Starlight Breaker goes off just fine, firing after Scarscream, and apparently vaporizing him. The big robot doesn't get up, apparently dying on the spot. That's the mission, I guess. After the beam fades, though, Nanoha's Barrier Jacket disappears and she falls onto the roof she'd been firing from. Fate rushed over to try and help her, and I started over myself. "Too many people died here today... Better save the ones we can! Hold on just a little bit longer...!" Some distance away, the large robot rises, the All Spark having somehow raised him; I'd deal with that later. The Bureau doesn't let its civilian collaborators get injured on our watch.
---
I'll freely admit, that All Spark scared me to death. It's not the most dangerous thing we've dealt with, considering our exploits after this, but it's still a dangerous artifact in its own right. After the battle, we returned to the combatants' ship, the White Chalice, which was a huge versatile-type battleship, well-appointed with almost anything a soldier would want access to. We brought the Asura into Terran orbit and set up a link from the transporter room on the Chalice to the teleporters on the Asura for easy access. Optimus Prime, the large robot, was up and running right away after the Spark's miracle; Nanoha was a bit longer to recover, and damage to her device was severe but recoverable.
We didn't see much of the Transformers after that mission - presumably they had another mission the Chalice's usual methodology didn't suit - but we certainly saw the Wolkenritter again. Signum, the sword; Vita, the hammer; Shamal, the lady of the lake; the guardian beast Zafira. As of this report we still haven't discovered who their master is. No, this was just the start of the Book of Darkness incident, and a larger incident outside it.
I still don't know how I got to a point where the Book of Darkness could ever be considered a small incident. I just know I'll be long overdue for a promotion before this is over.